By the time Cid made his way to the top of the cavern, the forging was almost over.
Cid could have left in that moment, but sat up on a leery edge, waiting to watch what unfolded next with bated breath.
"Hmm!", Kaunga's face scrunched as he looked at the crucible, his energy flowing in large amounts through his body into the divine jade placed just above the crucible.
Slowly, the jade lit up, and with a deafening bang, flashed the entire cavern bright white. Some of the apprentices who forgot to wear protection winced in pain, rolling around, screaming.
The contents of the giant crucible slowly, one inch at a time, compressed itself as if fighting the force of nature.
Kaunga saw this, and let out a humph as he opened his arms, and summoned a giant river of energy that led to him, extending throughout the cavern.
"Quick! Everyone, pour all your strength into the stream!", he yelled, his neck veins popping out.
All of the blacksmiths and apprentices helped in every manner they could, some straining themselves to the point of exhaustion. The streams of energy from all directions entered the main river, feeding back into Kaunga, who grunted loudly at having all this energy flow into him.
He directed all the energy to flow through him and into the rune, feeding it with more energy. This was a crucial step, and if he put not enough energy, then the final product would be a failure.
And if he inputted too much energy, it would all explode with a giant bang, potentially killing most of his apprentices. Luckily, he had some experience with this.
Kaunga stared with a grimace, his face stern.
"Come on, you bastards! Give me more!", he yelled, some of his flesh flaking off, and his skin turning purple in some regions.
"HHHRRRGGHHH!", the increased power output manifested itself through the river, streams getting thicker.
The rune slowly got brighter and brighter, now bright enough to expose the spot where Cid was sitting. But at this moment, nobody was staring in his direction.
As the jade reached its critical point, and the crucible's contents compression slowed down, Kaunga watched it with a careful gaze.
The energy flowing through him was taking quite a toll on him and his body, but Kaunga did not waver for a second in his concentration.
"Get ready! Slow down when I say it!", he yelled, as the mass in the cauldron got smaller and smaller.
"Now! Slow down!", Kaunga spoke, now stopping the flow of energy on the mass, instead channeling it into himself.
He got up, and granted as he used a special technique, the energy transforming his skin and body into a more purple version of himself. His muscles got tenser and larger, and his body expanded to almost double his original size.
He then grabbed his 500 KG hammer made of adamantium, and took the mass which was at the perfect critical point, and placed it onto his anvil, hammering it with great force.
Thump!
Thump!
Every strike reverberated throughout the cavern, its walls shaking with thunderous force. Some loose rocks even fell off, falling deep down into the lava pools below.
However, Kaunga wasn't happy. The product didn't look as it should. Deep down, he knew the final product wouldn't become an artifact, even with all of his efforts. It was an instinct he had honed from watching his grandfather forge artifacts.
Where had he gone wrong?
His frustration mounted, and he hammered the mass with more and more strength, forging it into the shape of a small sword. After a few minutes of heavy metalworking, Kaunga's fears were getting realised. It wasn't right.
It would not work out.
He grimaced. His life's work had culminated here, and he still couldn't forge an artifact to show for it.
"It's come to that, huh?", Kaunga thought. It wasn't as much of a failure as he believed. His father too, hadn't managed to make an artifact in his lifetime. He merely used some of the family secrets to achieve the final goal.
"Bring up the sacrifices!", he came to a decision.
A platform opened, and 1,000 men and women, bound and gagged, could be seen wriggling around in sheer terror inside a large metal cage.
Kaunga steeled his heart, and muttered some phrases that were taught to him by his grandfather.
"Hsea anzahwlls naapjsn xvsjaks bshsl....."
"....."
Cid's ears heard what he was speaking. Runespeak worked very differently from normal language or spirit talk in that it could be heard across many different realms and yet could also be heard by nobody at the same time. If it wasn't directed to you, you would normally not be able to decipher what it meant.
Unless, of course, you had a secret technique like that which Cid had. The main limitation with his Crypt technique was that he had to be within a few kilometres of the speaker to forcefully decipher the runespeak being spoken. The audibility of the runespeak would then get weaker and weaker with every kilometre.
[Oh, great deity of Heat and Weapons, listen to my wish, grant me this opportunity to make with what I have a supreme blessings, that which you have asked for and that which I have delivered....]
Cid knew that these lines didn't mean anything profound. To put it more bluntly, it was a signal that contained an address and an intent, being delivered across realms.
And it seemed to be working.
Although they were underground, chariots of flame seemed to be descending from somewhere, and everyone could feel the presence of a sun striking them from above.
Faint murmurings made themselves clearer across the caverns, and the illusion of a great blue sky striked everyone. Though they were underground, they believed that they were now in the great open, filled with bliss and hope.
This affected even Kaunga, who had to keep chanting to recover his sanity and focus on the spell.
As he chanted, he heard a whisper in his ear.
"Do it."
Kaunga's eyes rolled back, and he nodded his head, as if to agree. Kaunga's hands stretched out to the left, and all the people in the cage immediately melted, bones and all. Their souls, sceaming and crying, and cursing, flew towards the great big sun in the sky, as if moths drawn to a flame.
[I have given you this sacrifice out of my will, oh great deity...]
Kaunga muttered, his mind now slowly regaining sanity.
The sun in the sky swallowed the souls whole, as if taking them into another dimension. It then strangely smiled and licked its lips, and spit on the mass of metal that was present on the anvil.
Suddenly, with a flash of light, everything ceased.
There was now, only silence.
All of the workers seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, as if seeing something that shouldn't have been seen. Not one person was awake aside from Cid and Kaunga, who barely clung on to consciousness.
Kaunga looked at the mass on the anvil before him. It twisted and warped, going from a purple, undeveloped mass of roughly shaped steel, to transforming itself into a fine sharp edged shortsword. The weapon had no handle, but miraculously, a wooden base grew from its bottom, giving it a complete transformation.The lines on the sword were divinely crafted, and the sword hummed with a faint sound as he took it into his hands.
Kaunga then knew that it had been successful, and he had an artifact in his hands.
He had complex feelings at this point. His decades of hard work and struggle did not merit an artifact, but a few seconds of invoking a deity and sacrificing hundreds of people could get it done, as easy as breathing air. He had half the mind to cast it into the fire, but held back, at the final second.
Sighing, he put the artifact away, and sat down on the ground, as if pondering.