“You have done well my champion,” Kalesa said behind me walking around me.

  “It’s been awhile,” I said. “but I’m glad I’m fully dressed this time.”

  “You have completed your quest and I thought if fitting to give you your reward,” she said he shark teeth snapping together with each word.

  “That’s fast, why the rush?” I asked.

  “Your enemies are quickly closing in on you,” Kelesa explained. “And I fear you underestimate them.”

  “I fought an Exarch and lived I think I can handle a few of these champions,” I said.

  “You overestimate yourself!” Kelesa snapped. “The last time you faced your peers you were much more powerful than them, but you have been gone a long time. They have caught up with you and many have surpassed your power level.”

  “You have so little faith in me?” I asked.

  “I do not have so much arrogance as to risk my champion without giving you every edge I can,” Kalesa responded. “I am going to take you into my realm, time there will pass as I choose. When we emerge, you will be rearmed and ready to face your rivals. Your concubine can fight beside you too if you wish.”

  “Don’t refer to Guinevere like that in my presence again,” I said coldly.

  “Your attachment to this woman is unbecoming of you,” Kelesa said. “Whatever bond you think you have with her, she is still your enemy.”

  “That is my concern, not yours,” I said my voice hard as dragon scales.

  “If you must learn the hard way, then so be it,” Kelesa sighed and opened a portal stepping through. “Follow me.”

  Stepping into the portal after her I was once more at the top of the ziggurat where I had first gained my powers. Kelesa sat down and I sat across from her.

  “So, what weapon do you want for your artifact?” she asked. “I assume you want a weapon this time.”

  “I don’t want you to make something for me,” I said. “I want you to help me create my own weapon.”

  Kelesa raised an eyebrow. “I have been unable to view you for quite some time, what weapon do you have in mind?”

  “An energy blade,” I said placing the Star of Mordred on stone block between us.

  Kalesa picked it up and examined it. “Yes, there is much power within this item, in fact if you push yourself hard enough it may be possible to turn this from a tier IV artifact into a tier V one.”

  “How much time do we have to work on it?” I asked.

  Kelesa gave me smile that chilled me to my core. “We have all the time in the world. When we are done you will return and continue what you have started.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The work apparently was never done.

  --

  For what might have been weeks I worked without rest. I never felt tired, and my mind never grew fatigued. Under Kalesa’s guidance I carved each rune with the utmost care and precision into the Star of Mordred. When it was done the runes along its smooth cylindrical sides glowed golden as Kalesa poured her divine mana into them.

  However, the work was not finished yet. I took a single ingot of the radioactive metal from the fallen star and used it to form a hilt around the crystal. Kalesa showed me how to nullify the effects of the blight to keep it contained within the blade the new runes and enchantments vastly expanding what I could create. Finally, taking the scales of Exar’kun I moulded and shaped them with Hell Dragon’s armory creating a grip around the outside of metal hilt.

  I held up the blade and with only a thought a blade of crimson lightning emerged from the tip of the crystal. The sword didn’t look like a lightsaber as I had envisioned it at first. Instead, it looked like the sort of thing some wizard might create based on the description they received of what a lightsaber was. The sword literally roared a constant stream of never-ending thunder emitted from it.

  Kelesa frowned and took a knife, cutting a long strip of skin from her arm. Dipping my stylus in her blood she drew a long series of glyphs along it. Taking the hilt of the sword from me she wrapped and tied the strip of her skin around the hilt. Taking it back from her I ignited the blade again, the thunder was gone instead only a low rumble remained like the purring of a giant feline.

  “What will you name your weapon?” Kelesa asked me.

  I looked deep into the ever-shifting stands of scarlet lighting that formed the blade. “Its name is Clarent,” I said.

  As soon as I read the description I blinked and found myself back in the world in same position I had been in before Kelesa had come for me. The frozen effect on the world ended and everything was as it was except for one thing resting in the palm of my hand.