Gilles vs the Volcano (Job)

job:

It had been a few months since Gilles had first came to this country that was blessed by her god. The land which water was driven out of, Heliohapt. Since then she had attempted to spread her influence through the various groups of bandits that had deigned to call such a desolate landscape their home. She had also found herself in the midst of a war between three factions that all wanted to claim the land for themselves. The nobles who seemed to be the remnants of the government of Heliohapt, the Al something something that gilles decided not to remember the name of that consisted of former slaves of the shattered nation, and finally some new nation of Tartarus that was founded in the destruction of the previous country by some creep she hadn’t met yet. She did not care for the remnants of helio but she did like the area that bordered Reim. It would be a perfect land to offer to her king, Xerxes the ruler of Sassan.

As she builds her relationship with the factions of bandits she had met some very interesting characters. The first being some woman who was leading a group that seemed to be neither pro jiryi or connie but focusing on their own goals. The second was a man that seemed to nurture the talents that he saw deep inside a chosen few, gilles being one of them. The man had given each of the trio that had visited him a map that would lead them to something that was supposed to help them in some sort of fashion. This was what she was currently trying to deal with. She was wanting to see what this map would lead to and what she could possibly gain from this.

She would scowl as she looked at the map. All of these landscapes looked the same to her. She would sigh as she plops down onto the ground as she stares at the map. She was not used to doing the small menial tasks such as map reading. Normally she relied on her cult to do most of the small, trivial items while her inner circle served as her personal companions and entourage, helping her with all sorts of tasks. She had recently lost her whole inner circle in a freak accident at sea, they were all taken by the grace of her god in a wave of holy heat, once again proving that she was the chosen champion for her god, her and her alone. She would grin and giggle to herself at this thought. Either way she would most definitely have to feel those positions, the sooner the better.

She would take this moment to take a break and eat some food while to collected her thoughts and try to figure out how to read and follow this map. After about half an hour she would finish and get up in order to continue making her way to the location on this map. She had figured out that she had apparently spent the past several hours traveling in the complete opposite direction. So she would turn around in frustration and begin to make her way to the correct location.

It would take a couple of hours to arrive to the location which would have been quite a surprise to the woman. The location turned out to be a massive volcano, something special that she never had the opportunity to lay her eyes upon before. She would look towards the volcano with admiration and astonishment. Normally she would not care about landforms and the like but this was a creation of her god, something that produces liquid flames from the depths of the earth, the essence of life itself. She would eagerly look around for something that would be helpful for her, yet there seemed to be nothing on the surface level itself. She would frown as she decides that she will have to end up doing more physical labor in making an effort to scale up the sheer side of the volcano.

She would find it quite simple to make her way up the lower half of the volcano which was not nearly as steep as the stoop of the mountainous landform. However, once she had passed the halfway mark she would begin to find it to become quite a bit more cumbersome and difficult. If she had two full arms she would be able to easily scale this surface with the skills and muscular build she had developed through years of training in the knights of Sassan. Yet she was no longer at full capacity for such a thing as she once was. She was persistent though, she would struggle every inch of the way to the top of the mountain until she had finally made her way to the peak of it. She would stand up at the top, staring down into the chasm that served as the hollowed interior of the natural structure.

Down in the bottom of the volcano would be something that would yet again take her by surprise. The interior had turned into an oasis, there were trees and other forms of vegetation that probably thrived off of the nutrient rich volcanic ash that mixed with the earthen soil at the bottom. In the center of the oasis was a deep pool of water. She would scowl as she saw the pool, it made sense that it was the center of the oasis but she still hated the idea of water. She would look around to see the best way to scale down into the basin of the volcano and down into the oasis. She could not see any way that she would be able to climb down easily so she would have to use magic to get down there. She would activate the magical tool that was implanted into one of the vertebrae in her spine. Wings of a bright orange flame would sprout from her back that would allow her to soar down into the oasis.

Once she reached the floor of the volcano she would look around to try to find the source of what she was looking for. This was when something would catch her eye, a quick blur of movement in the corner of her range of vision. She would turn on a dime to see the source of the commotion. In the center of the pool was a glowing light emanating from it. Upon a closer look she would see a large glowing shark that circled around in the body of water. Gilles would scoff at this, why did there have to be a giant fish. But if there was a creature like this here then there must have been something work protecting at the bottom of the pool.

As she took a step closer she would get a better look at the creature, it seemed to be quite docile. She would take another step and that is when the shark rushes at her hitting her with its tail dealing a great deal of damage and knocking her off her feat and onto her back. She would gasp for air as it all left her chest and lungs. She would struggle to get up and glare at the large fish that was not watching her attentively as it swam at a safe distance. She would scowl tired of this and upset that she was now wet.

She would use her still active wings to fly up above the pool trying to be faster than the shark. She would use the magoi in her body and her wings to create a large 200m sphere of heat around her body. The shark would use its dive shield to block all of the heat damage directed at it. However, the entirety of the pool would be evaporated and the and shark would just be thrashing about at the bottom of the recently made dry bed. Gilles could grin at the site of this sad, pathetic creature that once thought of itself as some proud guardian. She would leave it there to thrash about and gasp for the water that it requires to breath. She did not care about giving it any mercy since it was not something that had any sentiency like people. It was a creature that was helpless from the warm loving embrace of the flames of her god.

She would look around and notice a strange rock that stood out from the rest that littered the dry bed. She would go to pick it up and realize that it gave off a warmth that was continuous and not fading like the rest. She would grin believing this to be what the creep had wanted. She would grab the stone and use her wings to leave the volcano and dying creature behind her. She would then spend the next couple of days returning to the mountain and climbing to the top of it to meet the man that gave her the quest in the first place.

120/180Magoi
170/220Stamina

Items and Abilities:

The sound, sight, and scent of evaporating water-filled the cavern as Gilles left, leaving what she had perceived as an enemy to perish in a place it had called home. However, she had received what she came for and that was all that although it would have its own impact. Her decision left their impact, just as they had in the war and she would continuously spread this influence where she went like the flame she desired to be, to represent.

Gilles would find the journey back to Bahadur the same as it had been before, nothing would change at the same time and the same places passed her mind. When she would finally arrive there she would even find him already outside, enjoying a drink as he stared off into the sky. It seemed like something was on his mind as he didn't even pay notice to her before he suddenly spoke to her.

"You've obtained what I've asked for, now shall your journey begin as well as your lesson." He stood up as he would walk over to get the stone from her before he would start walking away to his forge. "You've done what you need at the moment to get what you need, but where will all the dominoes you push lead to as they fall upon one another over and over."

It was a cryptic question, but there was a point to it as he would stop right before he walked into his forge having one more thing to say to her. "This shall take about three days, please be patient, but you are welcome to stay here during the time and enjoy my amenities."

It was after that he walked into the forge and as he closed the door behind him the sound of a furnace roaring to life could be heard and seen as smoke started to come from the chimney within his building. Whatever it was he was doing in his workshop it seemed like it was going to take some time as he started with plenty of time still left in the day. This would be the trend for these upcoming days as he prepared to make something truly special.

As day and night started to pass the sound of metal being hammer and stone being chiseled would fill the air around his home. It sounded like he had limitless supplies as he kept working, throwing away things he didn't like, or making extra parts to try from the sounds of it. Each night he wouldn't leave the forge until only a little over six hours were left till sunrise during which he would eat, wash, and sleep before waking up when dawn came next. Even if it was only for three days his dedication was inane as he kept himself to this schedule without ever seeming as if he would collapse even with his age.

Finally, at the end of the fourth day he came out holding something wrapped in cloth, and as he unwrapped it the rising darkness of night was suddenly blasted away from where they stood. Attached to an elegant shaft was the stone Gilles found at the center of a sun-shaped arc at the top of the hammer. The entire head glowed brightly as the bludgeoning weapon seemed to have a natural glow from the stone used in constructing it.

"You're brutal but unbiased, like a hammer you bring yourself down on whatever needed as hard as possible." As he held it out to her he looked at her, staring into her eyes before he would let her take it. "However, you need to consider the past, the present, and the future in all your decisions, and it is when you can see the world at all points will you be able to share what you see with us all."

"Return to me once you've had time to ruminate on this, to ruminate on your hammer and its nature." He would turn around slowly walking to his home as he gave his farewells for now. "Remember to hold onto your brooch, and I'll see you in the future my student, I'll be watching."

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