Chapter 4: Filling In The Blanks

“Long ago, two families had came across a mysterious crystal.” She said as she look at his blade. “Both families did not know what think about it but knew it had a peculiar color, in accordance to other crystals. As they slowly began to mine it, they discovered that the crystal was almost impractical. Anything they had used to remove the crystal started breaking. It had seemed that God had placed it so that it may never be removed. Finally after multiple attempts the crystal was finally broken free. They began to try to manipulate the form of it, but found out that the shape could not be altered. Right when they were going to give up, one suggested that it be take to a  blacksmith to see if heat could subdue the crystal. Finally the blacksmith found out that after reaching an an extreme temperature only then the crystal could be worked. However, the crystal had turned soft, like a ball of fresh clay."

Ka-Rin stopped for a moment as she picked her head up and looked at X. “The crystal was stubborn, once it cooled down it immediately shattered into dust. The black smith was in agony upon his failure. He set out to tell both families of his discoveries. He had asked if there was more of the crystal so that he may attempt again. It was then that the families agreed to go back find more to mine. Time had passed as they struggled to remove all the crystals they found. Finally years had passed as they came back to the blacksmith, with two other chests the size of wine barrels.”

“The blacksmith was over joyed for he had though he had been forgotten. He immediately went back to work again. On his second attempt he better prepared as he had time to contemplate possible solutions. He had made a mold out of fresh clay. When the crystal was heated up again he placed the clay mold. He laid in the fire and smoothed it out. Finally the crystal had been molded. The black  black smith quickly went to plunge the mold into the water. All was going as planned until the blacksmith retrieved the mold from the water. Once the crystal hit the air it shattered into dust.The black smith had an idea as he took the smallest piece and redid the process. This time he left the crystal in the water and to his guess it did not shatter but lay sparkling at the bottom. Immediately the blacksmith knew what had to be done.”

“He asked if two of the families could send with him representatives on his journey. Both had agreed reluctantly. They both sent one representative from each family. Both were with a bag of the crystals. All of them traveled to the coldest part of the earth, where snow and ice were in abundance. Soon the blacksmith and the representatives began building a mighty forge. The process had taken a half a year to complete. Upon its completion the blacksmith began to subdue this transcending crystal. As the blacksmith repeated the process, again he instead plunged the mold into a subzero iced water bath. There the crystal stood before them. None had the courage to remove it. The blacksmith gathered all his thoughts and pride to remove the crystal. The representatives watched in curiosity to see how the crystal was going to react after being removed. Slowly the blacksmith took the mold out of the freezing iced water bath and was in awe. The crystal had become translucent! The entire party was overjoyed! They had successfully managed to manipulate this forbidding crystal!”

Her gaze had not left X's as she took a deep breath and continued. “The blacksmith quickly took the rest of the crystals and forged two picks and one long sword. As soon as the forging was done they set off back to home. When they arrived everyone was in awe. The crystal had became translucent. The black smith had showed them both picks and the long sword. He gave one pick to each family and left them the sword. The families were anxious to test the sword.  Various material were gathered to began setting up a rigorous test site. Bundles of straw all the way to armor were fashioned to a large wooden stakes. The wooden stakes were the size of adolescent tree’s.”

“The family had chosen their strongest warrior for the test. Each one would make a simple hacking motion at each item. Soon they had found out that the sword itself could though anything! Even metal did not stand a chance. The long sword did not obtain one chip let alone nick. The final test was to cut a Boulder in half. The warriors from each family took a turn. Both were equally shocked to see that each one was able to slice a Boulder cleanly in half. It was unprecedented. Non one had ever witnessed such a feat. There had been legends of maser smith’s forgetting the ultimate sword but none could slice a boulder in half, twice. It was then that the name for crystal was obtained. ‘Transcending Ice Crystal’ because it transcended all physical boundaries and stayed as cool as ice after being forged.”

There was a long pause as both X and Ka-Rin stared at each other. X did not know what to think. In one night a mysterious person had answered all the questions that he had about his translucent blade. Still it did not answer the rest of the questions that ran in circles in his head.  Who were these two families and if Ka-Rin was related to him. Ka-Rin could see thoughts trying to fit together but stood as a mesh of cogs. She decided to wait as she knew it was much information to process. Finally x could no longer take it and asked “What happened to both families?”.

Ka-Rin expression grew dark upon hearing the question. She took a deep breath before speaking. “Both families faced many perils after discovering the Transcending Ice Crystal. Many kingdoms were jealous of such weapons and had sought to rob them of their possessions. Such a weapon is considered a god send as nothing could stop it. Everyone lusted for that power. There was little they could do to stop them. All the kingdoms slowly hunted both families were and killed. Some were tourched to give up the location of the mine. All of that and resisted had died.”

She slowly continued with a slight pause. She knew for what she was going to say cause stirred emotions. “Many years later both families betrothed their eldest children and send them off in to a remote part of the world to continue the legacy. They knew if they did not do this,  both families would perish. You are the product of the marriage. The Han clan was known for their grey eyes and the Ming clan was know for their purple eyes. Having pure storm grey eyes shows you are the last direct descendant. Your mother was like myself, in the matter that she did not have pure eyes.” She lowered her head she said this.

X grew angry, bitter and sad recalling the scenes of his parents murder scene. He clenched his hands so hard that this finger nails drew blood in his palms. “Who could have killed my parents?” He asked coldly? Ka-Rin though about it and said “I do not have an answer for you, we were wanted by many. Did you see or notice anything that was of any peculiaritie?” “No, I was not there with them when it happened. I was out hunting, by the time I came back, they were already in the after life.” The room had grown deathly quiet.

A few breaths were taken as he started to calm back down. Finally he asked, “What is your relationship to me?”. Ka-Rin blushed and quietly said “I am to be your mistress.” X was stumped! He exclaimed  “What do you mean by mistress?!” He was full of consternation. Ka-Rin started to blush and said calmly, “When you bowed, and said my lady, that was an accurate description.” X was in utmost disbelief. In a blink of an eye his entire world had been turned upside down. From a solitary life of a wolf to that of one betrothed. There was no amount of words that could have been spoken to express his feelings.

Ka-Rin stood in silence, and slowly took from her rob a small satchel. She slowly undid the knot, and pulled two jade rings. One was blue and the other was purple. She took them in her hand and said “Each color represents one family. The blue represents the Han’s and the purple represents the Ming’s. I am to take the blue and you are to take the purple.” She slowly came to a stop as a tear rushed down her rosy cheek. “These were made for your parents. Once your mother was expecting and it was believed to be a male they sent them back. It had previously been agreed upon for us to be together. They  believed that when the time when you going  to need them, they would no longer be here.”

X rarely showed emotions but at that moment he could no longer hold anything in and started crying. As he was crying Ka-Rin embraced him in her bosom. Yells full of sorrow and moans of agony were audio through the inn. He knew not how long he was there, as he longer cared. To X the only thing that mattered was he was no longer alone. As the wailing came to end X was longer awake.