ORIGIN - Glory's Glorious Gold

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The dragon was a little baffled, all in all.

He had no idea what the sand was for. He'd thought the gold would just be poured into the hammered metal, somehow, or--shaped, perhaps, on its own.

Dread wanted to ask, to slow Glory down and have him explain the entire thing a little more clearly--he wanted to understand. But he could see that the eagle was well ahead of him in his process, absorbed in his work, and he felt awkward and lost about slowing him down and interrupting him.

Instead he settled, watching with a sort of lost child's confusion, even emitting a small dragon's whine. His eyes followed Glory's work carefully, nonetheless. And after awhile, perhaps against the odds, he began to understand.

He spoke, each word slowly wrung out, his thought process clearly gradual and deliberate--like a great machine only eventually grinding its way to a destination. "You make a shape--in wet sand... And then put melted metal into it, and it--turns hard? Why sand?" he went on, curiously. "Can you make any shape like this? Can you combine metal? Can you put gemstones in when you use sand?"

Not that he wanted that, himself--but he was imagining, even as Glory pictured a final horn-ring product, dozens of glittering objects of vaguely incoherent purpose but threaded with silver and gold, and studded with myriad gemstones.

@Glory

As soon as the metal was heated up enough, Glory carefully lifted it out with his tongs and laid it across his anvil. Still holding the tongs with one talon, he reached down and picked up a second tool with his other - a flat thing with a diamond-bladed edge that he began to press down on one side, creating two long lines spanning the whole of the metal. He dropped the tool and picked up a hammer, scooting the sheet over so that it was hanging off the edge, and then began hacking away with the hammer until it broke along the line he had made and the hot metal clattered to the ground. He released his grip with the tongs and picked up the hot metal, laying it in the trough to more loud sizzling noises. He did the same to the other side of the metal, but this time laying the excess on top of the center piece. It was smaller then the base and he began to work, tapping the hammer along the edges of this excess, fusing it down onto the metal below.

As he did this, he spoke to Dread, although he was intently focused on his work. "The sand will not be wet when it is used. More like damp, but dry is fine as well. What I do is I create an object out of hard metal. It must be the exact shape I want for the final product. I press it into the sand and the sand holds its shape. I take out the metal and create a small hole in the sand so I can pour the gold into it. I put the two molds together so there's an empty space in there thats the perfect shape of what I want to make. I pour the gold through the hold and into the mold and wait for it to harden."

He continued to work as quickly as possible, the edges of the excess bending down so that it looked like a natural curve up. Well, not yet - it was rough and a little ugly but it was just a base. There was still work to be done. "Sand is easy to work with. It's easy to create shapes and it holds the shape in the right conditions. It doesn't melt easy when pouring hot metal into it either. And yes, I can make any shape I want! If I don't change the mold, I can make multiple as well. Combining metal is actually vital to the process. Usually I only do that for weapons and armor, though, since it is used to make stronger versions of metal. A pretty good combination, I've found, is with iron and charcoal. I can't really put the gemstones in the sand, no, they'll get damaged or they'll move around in the molten gold and end up not where I want them. I apply them once the gold is set."

The metal sheet's glow was beginning to dim so Glory picked it up again and thrust it right back into the fire. Holding it there for a few moments before bringing it back, glowing hot again, and working the metal further.

@Dread

Dread shuffled closer, his draconic head tilting.

He listened, silent, to Glory's long explanation--and for awhile he did not speak, simply observing, as if trying to memorize the method.

"Is it done yet?" he asked at last, hopefully, a demanding (though likely not deliberately) edge to his voice. Despite his size, he seemed an impatient, or at least an eager, child in many senses.

He really wanted his rings. But even so, Glory's words rattled around in his head, and the information combined with this desire to form a new thought, a new question: "What else can you make out of metal?"

He was not a particularly creative being, despite the sudden surge of interest in Glory's method. All he could really imagine, even after a moment of thoroughly racking his brain, were rings--and the sword and shield that Glory had already made.

Dread shifted his wings a little, the long finger-bones drawing the leather to slither over his back, his neck-spines rattling some as he idly waited.

@Glory

For a while, Glory worked in silence as Dread waited, not pausing for anything. When Dread asked that question, he sighed softly. "No. There are many hours of work remaining until this is complete." He had finally merged the metal together and was in the process of measuring out with the strips of leather he had used earlier to measure Dread's horns. At the width he wanted, another line with the blade-like tool and each end was hacked off before it went back in the fire to heat again. "You can hang around if you wish. I need to finish crafting this one, polish it so its smooth and shiny, and make the other one as well. And then I still have to set the gold and engrave one of them."

Once it was hot enough, he set about curving the ring, using the curved edge of his anvil to hammer it down, shifting and hopping around, using things to hold it up and working as quickly as he could before, finally, it was in a circular shape. A few more seconds for the ends in the fire and he was merging it together. It was rough, as was the whole thing, but it's shape was much more even and pleasant then the molds. Not perfect, of course - with what Glory had to work with, perhaps he would never get a perfect shape, but it was close enough.

He spent the next many minutes heating the ring and hammering out obvious imperfections until it was much better looking. Still rough, however, and not shiny just yet.

@Dread

Dread dipped his head in a nod.

"Then I will stay. And if anybody comes, I will eat them!" He paused--Wait, that didn't sound right, and then rephrased. "If they attack you! If you want me to. I will guard," he clarified at last, turning to curl up outside the forge.

His body length shifted, sinuous black scales glinting as he took up a lying position just outside Glory's workspace. He waited, apparently with surprising patience, though now and again he twisted his head over to watch Glory work, and to ask a question, now and again.

"What is that thing?" of the hammer.
And, "Why are you doing that?" about the hammering itself.
"How will you--POLISH, it?" and so on.

@Glory

Glory almost laughed at Dread's announcement, but he knew it would probably be a bit rude to do that. He liked Dread, but he didn't want him to get angry at him in any way, shape, or form. Especially not with the dragon's head stuck inside his cave, where a single breath of fire could ruin his life's work. So instead, he chuckled. "Of course. I trust you to guard me well!"

As he continued to work the ring, he answered any and all of Dread's questions as they came. "This is a hammer. I use it hit metal. It's much stronger then claws. I am hitting the hot metal so that they merge together. Hot metal is soft and can do that. You will see soon how it is polished." He continued to work for maybe another half hour before, at long last, he set down his hammer.

Before him was a fairly crude, but what could definitely be seen as a large ring. He dipped it into the trough, sizzling and steam bursting through the room and he lifted the cooled metal out of the water. It was smudged and gray, with obvious imperfections, but Glory seemed quite pleased with it. "Alright, here's the base! If I can, I would like to see if it fits correctly." Hoisting the massive metal in both claws, Glory lifted himself up, beating almost frantically to lift the metal and tried to fit it around Dread's horns. Whether the dragon would allow him to do so or not, it would fit quite well. Not perfectly, as the inside was still rough and bumped, but it was the right shape.

Glory pulled it back, letting it fall to the ground with a heave. He stood for a moment, catching him breath after that exertion, before turning to his pile of tools and easily pulling out what looked like a chunk of rock with a finely grooved surface. Without explaining what he was doing, Glory began to rub the grooved rock against the ring, creating a loud, scraping noise that didn't seem to bother him, but was definitely highly unpleasant.

@Dread

Dread bowed his head dutifully, holding quite still with his snout near to the ground as Glory did his thing. When the eagle pulled back, he lifted his own head again to slowly look around.

Then... the screeching.

The dragon hurriedly got back to his feet, his wings lifting him so that he quickly waddled some distance away, letting out a quiet moan of a roar in protest. He shook his head, the spines along his neck clattering.

"That's LOUD," he complained.

Loudly.

He moved a little farther away, each thump of his limbs sending up a bit of the dust and sand that he'd shaken up with his spells--then tucked his head beneath his wing, trying his best to shield himself from the screeching.

"What are you doing?!"

@Glory

Glory continued to grind the stone against the ring, so used to the screeching by now that he didn't really mind. However, Dread's moaning roar got him to pause and look up. "I am polishing it." He held up the stone. "I made this myself. It's got little bits of corundite that scrape against the metal and clear up imperfections. Unfortunately, this does take quite a bit of time."

He returned the stone to the side of the band and began to polish again, running it over the entirety of the band, inside and outside, moving it around, flipping it over a few times, and all the while the screeching sound continued. He did this for quite some time before pausing to grab a different one from the tool pile, with a quick explanation of "This one has more, smaller bits of metal," before continuing on with the finer grit. For a straight hour he did this, completely focused and unflinching.

@Dread

Dread grumbled, turning and tucking his head more closely under his wing. He shuffled a little farther away, again, but soon he'd drifted off to sleep--a huge, black curl of dragon, the occasional twist of smoke rising from his nostrils. His breathing had grown slow and steady.

He was oblivious, now, to Glory's work--lost in sleep and dreams.

It was only when the screeching stopped that he slowly stirred, roused by the change in his environment. He raised his head, turning, and then pushed up. After shaking himself like a dog just-woken, his spines all clattering together, he hauled himself back over to the forge.

"I fell asleep," he explained, matter-of-factly.

@Glory

It had been another couple of hour since Dread had fallen asleep - the entire time, Glory had done nothing but polish and polish and polish the band until, at last, it gleamed. It was smooth. It was beautiful, but it wasn't gold yet.

He was actually in the process of pulling out a few more sheets for the second ring when Dread's voice startled him. He flinched and turned around, eyes wide with surprise. There hadn't been any speaking in the cave for some time so the dragon's sudden voice seemed loud and booming. "Oh, yes. That's fine. I was about to start on the second ring." He pointed with his wing to the completed one on the ground. "I've finished polishing the other one."

He dragged the rest of the steel back to the forge and tossed them right in, getting ready for another few hours of work, although it would most likely take less time then the last.

@Dread

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