Chapter 24: Ashen Wyrm [2]

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“The First Sinner War…?” Louis wondered. Information from the lore William had read flooded his mind as though he had just finished a book on the subject. “Oh, that…”

“There were two, both short but devastating to the planet’s surface,” his father explained. “The first occurred when Nine Suns created the Binding Crucible after crushing the combined military forces of China, Korea, and India… The second happened in Africa when the Abyssal Mother transformed the entire continent into the Weeping Nest.”

“How awful,” Louis sighed. “And to think such entities have now set their sights on our Kingdom… Why can’t that woman mind her own business?”

“I don’t know. Her goal doesn’t seem to be merely creating her own Fantasy Realm,” Gustaf replied. “Whatever the case, please step onto the platform, son,” he instructed, activating the console. “I’ll begin with a passive scan. It shouldn’t even bother you.”

Louis complied, standing tall as the rings began to rotate around him, each glowing with a different hue. His Aura responded instinctively, flaring with iridescent light before condensing into a dark spiral that hovered just above his heart.

“Initializing Spiral Resonance Matrix,” Gustaf muttered, fingers dancing across the console. “Let’s see what you’re hiding, Ashen Wyrm…”

The chamber dimmed. The rings pulsed, their energy reaching Louis and prompting his Spiral to react with its own powerful pulse.

Then—

FLASH!

A surge of black-gold light erupted from Louis’s chest, disrupting the rings and causing them to malfunction abruptly. The machinery groaned. Runes flickered. One ring cracked.

“Damn it!” Gustaf cursed, slamming the failsafe. “It’s resisting the scan—no, it’s feeding on it?!”

“W-What’s happening?! Ngh! You said it wouldn’t hurt!” Louis growled. “You lied to me!”

“Wait, Louis! I didn’t lie—I just didn’t know your Spiral would react this way!” his father exclaimed.

Louis gritted his teeth, his body trembling as the Hollow Spiral expanded. The air in the laboratory grew still. All light vanished. Gustaf and Louis found themselves suspended in a pitch-black void.

“W-What is this place?!” Gustaf looked around frantically. “A Fantasium Domain?! No… this is Psychic Power?! A Mind Domain that infiltrated my head without me noticing! Louis! Louis, are you— Ah!”

And then he saw it.

Gustaf’s eyes widened as something emerged from a spiral of ashes floating above his son’s chest.

Louis’s Spiral revealed a coiling wyrm-shaped silhouette within. Its eyes opened—eight of them—each staring into the lab, into Gustaf, into the world.

“…It’s sentient?! This isn’t the Incarnation, is it?” Gustaf asked desperately.

“Go…! Go back!” Louis roared, seizing the creature and forcing it back inside his Fantasy Heart. He vomited blood.

Then the darkness vanished. Louis and Gustaf returned to the lab as if nothing had happened. Louis even realized he had not actually vomited blood.

“What the fuck was that…?” Louis muttered, annoyed. “Y-You made that thing come out of me…!”

“No, Louis, you don’t understand!” his father said urgently. “That thing is inside your Spiral…! It’s almost like some kind of sealed entity…”

“Sealed entity?!” Louis repeated.

“Whenever someone awakens a Spiral, they hear verses whispered into their minds by something else—something we’re still trying to identify, though most believe it’s the Spiral Voice itself,” Gustaf explained. “But that’s beside the point. When you heard that voice, what did it tell you about the Ashen Wyrm Spiral?”

“…! T-That’s…” Louis quickly recalled the entity’s words.

{The Hollow Spiral of the Ashen Wyrm}

[“When the First Dragon died, its soul did not ascend—it coiled inward, forming a Spiral of ash and memory. Those who walk its path do not live. They persist.”]

[A forbidden Spiral born from the corpse of a dying world-serpent. It is the only Spiral that begins at death and spirals inward, not upward. Each tier is a descent into deeper metaphysical hollowness, where the soul is slowly devoured by the Spiral itself. Yet, paradoxically, this devouring grants power—if the bearer can retain identity long enough to reach the Spiral’s core.]

[You have become the {Ashen Heir}, born of dragon flame and human fragility. Fated to become the {Fate Bearer}’s antagonist, you instead seek to rewrite the Spiral itself. Each death you suffer feeds the Spiral but also reveals a deeper truth. You cannot awaken your dragon powers because they were sealed by the Spiral itself—until you reach its core.]

“It’s…” Louis hesitated to reveal the truth but ultimately decided to share it. “Well…”

When Gustaf heard what his son described, he was utterly awestruck. Never had he encountered a Spiral born from the corpse of a dead entity, a “world serpent” or whatever it was. Moreover, this Spiral promised that at Tier 0, within its Core, Louis would finally gain his rightful Dragon Form.

“Louis, your Spiral isn’t just anomalous. It’s a sealed entity. A Fantasium-bound consciousness,” Gustaf said. “I don’t know how else to explain it… We’ll need to analyze the data we managed to capture. Luckily, the scan worked to some degree.”

Louis exhaled slowly, his voice low. “I guess I always knew the origin of my Spiral wasn’t normal. At the same time, I didn’t want to reveal what it was… Maybe I feared a reaction like the one you just had.” He sat down, lost in thought.

“No, son, it’s fine,” Gustaf said quietly. “I’m not saying it’s necessarily bad, but… that thing could potentially be some kind of Grievance.”

“Grievance?” Louis asked.

“Even now, fifty years after the Dimensional Convergence, after the Dimensional Labyrinth appeared, after Anomalies emerged from Fantasy Worlds, after Entities manifested from Dimensional Rifts, and after Sinners began being born across the globe… we still don’t fully understand what Fantasium truly is,” Gustaf said. “However, we do know one thing: Fantasium is not merely a substance. Every particle acts as a gate to an alternate dimension, a plane we’re still working to name. And that dimension, that plane… it is very much alive.”

“…!” Louis recalled what the entity within his soul had said about Fantasy being a cancer upon the Universe, slowly destroying it. “…What?”

“It is as I said. Grievances are… for lack of a better term, fragments of the purest form of Fantasium—of this living Dimension, or something,” Gustaf said, shaking his head. “Your Spiral… how did you awaken it?”

“…It’s complicated,” Louis replied. “I absorbed some of the Resonance Heart’s power while I was dying… and then I obtained that power. My wounds healed, and I heard that verse.”

“I see… You were dying?!” Gustaf panicked for a moment, quickly taking some pills and drinking his coffee. “Haaa… You really make your father go crazy with worry, Louis.”

“…I’m sorry, but I don’t regret my decisions, father,” Louis said. “I did what I needed to do…”

“I know…” Gustaf shook his head, lighting a cigarette to calm himself before sitting down. “So… that thing could be a Grievance. And now Grievances… I suppose you don’t know much about them, right? To most people, they’re worse than Entities. But the difference isn’t only in strength. What turns an Entity into a Grievance is its connection to the Dimensional Labyrinth, to the Fantasium Dimension, and… to Emotions.”

“…Emotions?” Louis raised an eyebrow.

“Most Grievances weren’t born from nothing. Some emerged from the destruction of entire worlds. Others were once someone—an Alien, an Anomaly, or something—that transformed into a monstrosity after their Mind, Soul, and Heart were shattered,” Gustaf explained. “There are so many variables, but each is unique, even more so than ordinary Entities.”

“So you’re saying the Ashen Wyrm is a unique Grievance holding an inconsumable power?” Louis asked. “But why did it choose me then?”

“Maybe you were the most compatible. I don’t know,” Gustaf replied. “Spirals aren’t usually like this… and it stated it was dead, right? Perhaps your Fantasy Heart resonated with it. This isn’t the typical ’chosen one’ scenario. I would have preferred a hundred times over that you had awakened a known Spiral so I would know how to handle it…”

“It’s fine,” Louis said, standing up. “I guess you… did what you could. Nonetheless, you will still make that equipment you promised, right?”

“I will work on it,” his father nodded.

“Speaking of equipment, I would like to meet the Kingdom’s Royal Blacksmith, the one chosen by my mother years ago,” Louis said. “I want to commission something from him. I have the Resonance Heart.”

“So you wanted to meet Sir Dorfus?” Gustaf asked. “Ah, I mean… it’s not impossible, but it’s also not easy.”

“What’s wrong, father? Don’t tell me you’re afraid of that dwarf?” Louis asked, raising an eyebrow. “I need a new weapon, a personal weapon I can truly call my own. I’m tired of using garbage that breaks after a short time. I want a special Artifact that I can later link to my Soul, possibly with the potential to evolve into Soul Gear as well.”

“Hah, you’re asking for a lot, my son,” Gustaf said. “Sir Dorfus is a very busy man… Don’t misunderstand, he loves his work, but I would say that’s the only thing he loves.”

“Your little scan just put me through a lot of pain, so how about you make up for it and introduce me to that gentleman?” Louis asked with a smile. “Maybe your son will forgive you if you do.”

“I guess I can’t decline now,” Gustaf said, rolling his eyes. “Okay, let’s go.”

Gustaf stood, brushing ash from his coat as the lab’s lights dimmed behind them. “We’ll take the direct route. I’ll send a request to the Royal Armory, but Dorfus doesn’t respond to titles or bureaucracy. If he doesn’t like you, he won’t forge a damn thing… I know it sounds ridiculous, but your mother appointed a man like him to that position.”

Louis smirked. “Then I’ll make him like me.”

“Or you’ll make him hate you more,” Gustaf muttered, tapping his wrist console. “He’s stationed in the Deep Forge, Floor 94. You’ll need clearance, and I’ll have to vouch for you personally.”

As they left the lab, both entered the elevator and descended dozens of floors for several minutes until they reached Floor 94. The Fantasium-lined walls gave way to reinforced alloy and ancient stone. The air grew thick with heat and metallic dust.

“Dorfus doesn’t just forge weapons. He crafts Artifacts. Soul-bound, evolution-capable, Fantasium-reactive constructs. He’s the best we have. Our technology can’t even compare to his craftsmanship,” Gustaf said. “In Yggdrasil, he was known as the son of the Great Onyx Hammer Venerable, a Legendary Dwarf God. He learned everything directly from his father. Benladra always said the man was incredibly grumpy and strict, so no wonder his son turned out rather… eccentric. Hah, but that’s hypocritical coming from me.”

“Hm?” Louis raised an eyebrow. “Define eccentric.”

“He once threw a Tier 9 Spiralwalker Agent into a smelting pit for asking him to ’make something flashy.’”

“Oh?” Louis chuckled. “Sounds like the kind of man I’ll get along with.”

The elevator rumbled through layers of reinforced bedrock until it opened into a vast cavern illuminated by molten rivers and rune-forged anvils. The heat was oppressive, but Louis barely flinched. His Fantasy Heart pulsed faintly, absorbing the ambient Fantasium like a sponge. The prince quickly realized this was a Contained Pocket Realm within the deepest layers of VPI HQ, the environment was far too distinct to be anything else.

“There he is,” Gustaf said.

“Hm?” Louis looked into the distance.

At the center of the forge stood a squat, broad-shouldered figure wrapped in a mantle of dragonhide and soot-stained runes. His beard was braided with metal wire, and his eyes glowed like embers.

He was surrounded by several workers, half Dwarves, half Fire Giants, the two races from Yggdrasil capable of withstanding this heat and enjoying such heavy labor. Many large Golems with blazing heart cores, crafted by Dorfus himself, served as guardians.

Gustaf and Louis approached. Many of Dorfus’ apprentices and disciples noticed them and bowed to the prince and the king.

But the dwarf they approached did not bow.

“Gustaf,” the dwarf grunted without turning, still hammering what appeared to be a plate made from hard, Entity-derived metal. “You brought me a brat.”

“I brought you my son,” Gustaf replied, sighing. “Louis, this is Dorfus. Dorfus, this is my son Louis. This is the first time you two have met formally.”

That made Dorfus pause. He turned slowly, eyes scanning Louis with the precision of a master craftsman. “You’re that crippled brat who couldn’t turn into a dragon, aren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s me, Sir Dorfus,” Louis nodded. “I want a weapon. One that can grow with me. One that won’t break when I face the Church.” He spoke directly, almost demanding.

Dorfus snorted. “You want a Soul Gear! Hahaha! Look at this damn brat! He thinks he can just ask me to make him Soul Gear?!”

The disciples exchanged glances and laughed quietly, though they quickly fell silent under Louis’s sharp gaze.

“Is there any way for you to craft me a weapon? Preferably a spear?” Louis asked, revealing something precious.

“A Resonance Heart?!” Dorfus’s eyes lit up with fascination. “I haven’t seen one of these in ages! They’re such rare, natural crystals, said to grow only inside the Dimensional Labyrinth or, very rarely, within Fantasy Fields…!”

“Indeed!” Louis said. “And I will give you the privilege of working with this precious material—as long as you make the spear I want.”

“Heh…” The dwarf grinned, showing white teeth. “Fine! All right, ’your majesty’! I will do it… But you’ll forge it with me. I don’t make weapons for cowards. You’ll bleed, you’ll burn, and if you survive… you’ll wield something worthy of your Spiral.”

“…What?!” Louis clicked his tongue. “I don’t have time to hammer away at stone! In a week we must depart, old man.”

“Hoh, you’re one damn insolent bastard,” Dorfus said. “Son of Lady Benladra or not, I won’t hesitate to smash your face with this burning hammer the next time you call me ’old man.’ Understood?”

“Understood,” Louis smiled. “Then how about decrepit old bastard? Maybe stupid, arrogant dwarf? If it wasn’t for my mother, you wouldn’t even be here. How about showing some respect to her son?”

“Louis?!” Gustaf asked in disbelief. “Wait, Dorfus, he’s my son!”

“You dare speak to me like you’re above me?!” Dorfus roared, his Aura blazing with immense Mana. “What your mother did for me has nothing to do with you, damn crippled child! You’re a disappointment to your family! How about I burn that petty face of yours and teach you humility for once?!”

“How about this?” Louis countered, his own Aura surging. “Let’s fight! If you only value violence, then let’s do violence! If I defeat you, you’ll do what I say. If you win, you can take that heart from me.”

“Heh… you think that just because you’re a Prince you can tell me what to do?!” Dorfus growled. “But fine! Let’s see you try, little lizard prince!”

In that instant, Prince Louis Drakeheart Yggdrasil and Dorfus Onyx Hammer clashed, sending shockwaves of flame and ice roaring across the forge.

“I definitely didn’t teach him to act this way…” Gustaf facepalmed. “I’m sorry, Dorfus…”

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