The Forging Of The Fulcrum Hammer/Part 1

The 12th Day of Resplendent Wood, 602 in the Year of Our Empress.

Being part of House Mnemon had its privileges and its obligations. For one of the bloodline, the obligations often outweighed the privileges, unless you saw eye to eye with the House founder. When you were the only child of Mnemon herself who hadn't Exalted before the age of 14, the all-consuming pressure to show his Blood outweighed all other considerations.

Mnemon Matthias was almost 17 and he felt every day of it like a stone, one piled on top of the other until a would-be Dragon-Blooded was crushed beneath the burden. Most mornings, he awoke out of breath from terrible nightmares. By most afternoons, he was exhausted by his personal regimen coupled with his extensive duties. Most evenings, it was all he could do to keep his eyes open but still he studied and practiced. When he slept at all, it was with fear of what he'd see in his dreams, a fear born out of another day's failure to Exalt.

It was early evening, just before dinner, and Matthias was just finishing cataloguing a recent acquisition of books to round out someone's collection in the House. His calligraphic High Realm filled several pages with his small, straight script. It lacked the ornamentation most students acquired but it was undeniably clear. He was a straightforward adolescent in all things, which was why he was trying to avoid thinking about his future.

Matthias was going to be married off. He didn't know that for certain, of course. The fact was, most of the people in his household didn't like him and didn't spare a word they didn't need to. No one had told him anything about what was to happen to him but Mnemon, if no one else, would eventually put him to use doing more than these odd jobs around the House.

It was only logical. He'd graduated from the Adamantium Coals of Ezerha, his Primary School, at the top of his class, beating out even the Dragon-Blooded students. He was one of Mnemon's own children, a grandson of the Scarlet Empress. Matthias might have failed his family already but he was still a resource for his mother.

"You're looking even more sour than usual, Matthias." The woman's voice turned his head and he looked down at his visitor. Of course, he tended to look down on everyone. He was the tallest man in his House and he was not even 17 yet.

"I didn't ask for your opinion," he said, with a dismissive lift of his eyebrows. His niece, Cora, was just a little younger than he was but her skin had already turned a light blue only a few years after her Exaltation. Great things were no doubt being planned for her but they, and she, had nothing to do with him.

"You don't need to bite my head off, just because you're sulking," she said, sounding sulky herself. "Grow up. It's not like you're going to be put out on the street."

"My future isn't any concern of yours," Matthias said sharply. "I'm busy. Go play with your latest boyfriend, whoever he is now." One of the burdens of living in a large House was the lack of privacy. Even in the library, he could count on being interrupted by an idle Dragon-Blooded his own age.

"I am. He's passed out though so I'm bored."

"Already?" Matthias glanced at the waterclock in the corner of the room and furrowed his brow disapprovingly. "It's not quite dinner time. You've picked another keeper, I see." His sarcasm was not lost on her and she planted her fists on her hips, fixing him with a glare that chilled his skin. Or maybe that was just the cold radiating from his incensed niece.

"He's a Cynis, what do you expect? At least he's got a future. Did you know Alaraj is being groomed to take over his grandfather's vineyards? It's an excellent asset to their House!"

"You're...dating Cynis Alaraj?"

Matthias' astonishment blackened at once into an utter loathing. Of all his classmates at the Adamantium Coals, no one offended him more than Alaraj. The oaf seemed to be interested in nothing but his own self-gratifying pleasure. Among the bottom of the class in every subject, Matthias would have had nothing to do with him if he hadn't roomed with him.

But then Alaraj had Exalted.

He still remembered coming home to his dormitory room, only to find Alaraj downing as much smuggled alcohol as he could to the cheers of other students. It had been some kind of wager. Already very, very drunk, it had been a miracle the Cynis hadn't poisoned himself with that much liquor. Matthias had tried to sleep in his corner bed until the shouts went up.

Never would he forget the hazy but visible lines of yellow diamonds that wreathed the oaf's body. Never would he forget the empty, vacant look in his eyes changing into the briefest moment of Exalted awareness. Never would he forget his absolute contempt when the first act of his roommate's new Dragon-Blooded life had been to finish the last bottle.

"He's handsome, gets drinks you wouldn't believe!" Cora giggled. "He's fun and talks. Completely unlike someone I know."

"Tell me, Cora...enlighten this stupid mortal." Matthias bared his anger and contempt, for he had nothing to gain by hiding it and little to risk losing. "How does someone like Alaraj represent spiritual perfection? Explain it to me. Am I supposed to...respect and obey someone whose only idea of leadership in the Realm is to drink more than anyone else?"

"Alaraj has depths you can't even imagine," Cora said nastily. "Obviously he does or the Dragons wouldn't have Chosen him. Obviously you don't or they would have Chosen you."

Mnemon Matthias went white as the cruel words hit home but his face was a mask of composure and control. He made fists with his hands. Then he managed a passably civil tone.

"I'm sorry, Cora. That was out of turn. I apologize."

"It's not to me you should be apologizing, Matthias," she snickered harshly. "I'll go rouse Alaraj and you can tell him yourself."

She sauntered out the door and Matthias turned his back, leaning heavily against the table. He was so tired. Martial Arts every morning, House work every day and further study into mathematics, history and the Immaculate Texts every night were taking their toll. And now humiliation would be heaped on top of him. Leaning on his hands, Matthias realized his arms were shaking and he couldn't stop them.

There was only so much a mortal body could withstand, no matter how jade-like the mind and will were.

He took a deep breath, then another, and then another as he realized he couldn't breathe. Matthias clenched his eyes shut tightly, trying to concentrate on keeping air in his lungs, but then dizziness seized him and he fell back, almost missing the chair behind him. He lay in the upholstery, gasping like a fish out of water, and trying not to waste what little air he could find by screaming.

He was so weak. How could he be so weak? He couldn't be found like this. Not by the one teenager he hated the most. Not by his ex-roommate, Cynis Alaraj.

"Drink this, it will help."

A cup of something hot was pressed to his lips and he drank it without looking. It wasn't that he was naive enough to innocently trust a cup pushed his way. Rather, he was too unimportant to kill off, Mnemon's son or not.

The bitter liquid squeezed his throat shut...and then it went down. He gagged, almost retched at the taste...but slowly he could breathe more easily. A leaf was pressed into his hand and Matthias opened his eyes to see his benefactor.

"Chew this. It's good for those with lungs like yours."

The woman before him was beautiful. She was veiled in a creamy leaf-green veil and her robes were just a shade lighter but he could still see beneath her garments that she was lovely. A cloak of raiton feathers hung from her shoulders, not at all fashionable in the Realm. Only someone with her looks could make it look anything other than bizarre.

"My lungs are fine. It's just...something that's been happening to me lately. This is a kind of mint, isn't it?" Matthias asked as he chewed slowly on the leaf. It was helping, or maybe it was that foul brew she'd passed him.

"A kind, yes." Her eyes were a gorgeous green. An unusual pattern of black specks crisscrossed her irises like latticework. And she was looking right at him, not ignoring him like all the others did.

"My name's Matthias. Honored to make your acquaintance, my Lady," he added hastily, remembering his manners. He pulled his shirt down, smoothing any wrinkles that might be on it. "Are you visiting House Mnemon?"

"Actually, I came to visit you."

Matthias, infatuated as he was, still had a mind. The corners of his eyelids creased as he took in the import of her words. Taking a deep breath, he stood back up. His legs were still a little shaky but the fit was passing. They always did ever since they started happening last year.

"I'm honored, my Lady, but I'm not certain why a visitor of your station would waste their time on an unExalted Dynast like myself. How can I be of service?"

"You're well mannered," the woman in green said, smiling in approval. "Intelligent. Quite pretty in your own way. Tall too, and you're not done growing, are you? You'll be a very tall man when you're full grown."

"Thank you, my Lady." Matthias folded his hands together to keep them from betraying his nervousness, for he still didn't know why she was even noticing him.

"You're a remarkable young man, whether your blood is awake or not." She moved at last, pulling a chair up before the one he stood before. Sitting, she leaned forward, close enough that he could touch her face with his fingers if he wanted to. "You're not like the others, are you? You're not a politician or a dilettante. You want Exaltation so you can use your gifts to better the Realm. Tell me the truth. What is that you really want?"

"More than anything?" he asked, wincing at how stupid he sounded. Mother had always told him that people who repeated themselves or others only diminished the importance of their every word. "I would join the Immaculate Order, my Lady."

"Would you now?" Her eyes seemed to glow in the soft candlelight, a green and black smudge of color just noticeably unnatural, if he'd had the presence of mind to notice. Right now, he didn't for she was suddenly the most irresistibly appealing woman he'd ever seen. Teenage crushes and fantasies fell aside as obsession claimed his mind, a driving need to have her transcending all other things. Almost.

"Yes," he gasped, despite how hard he was. "I want to make...the Realm better. The Dragon-Blooded better. The people are not faithful...not enough, even in my own House." He didn't know why he was telling a complete stranger this nor did he understand how he was able to profess his dreams even as he desperately wanted to do things with her that no Immaculate Monk would ever be permitted.

"Very good," she said, smiling just like a Professor who had seen a student pass a difficult test. Matthias took an easier breath as his lust faded, though it did not subside entirely. She was, after all, a very beautiful woman...but she'd used a Charm on him! She had to have! How...how could he have resisted her?

"My Lady, what's your name?"

"I don't have one anymore," she said distantly, as if remembering something from very long ago. "Nor will I ever again. I do bear title but it is not for you to know now. If you must have a name...why not Ya'moire? I was never her but I liked her name, a very long time ago."

"Why are you here?" It was bold but Matthias had had enough. He knew when he was out of his depth. Arrogance and intelligence had carried him far but he wasn't a match for a mystery like this one and he didn't want to wind up dead or disappeared...because right now he had the strange notion that she was part of the All-Seeing Eye and people who brushed up against them were never seen again.

"I'm here to see you, Matthias. I'm here to give you this."

Ya'moire drew a sheathed knife from the folds of the black cloak, as if the blade had been a feather on it, taken and made a weapon. She pulled the knife out of its sheath with a little difficulty and then placed it on the library table next to them. Matthias ran his fingers through his hair unconsciously as he looked at the blade. He'd never seen the metal before, nor heraldry as horrific as the handle bore. Screaming faces worked across the hilt and the pommel was a single enraged face, carved in intricate detail to show its all-consuming hate.

"Why?" he asked simply.

"Because Matthias...you will be the Fulcrum Hammer. I read the stars, you see. Certain stars. I've drawn your horoscope and I see very dark things in your near future. You could say it's meant to be...or you can say 'Thank you' for a gift that can turn your destiny aside."

"Thank you," he said awkwardly, still looking uncertainly at the knife. "I don't understand. Would you explain it to me?"

"You're a good student, Matthias," Ya'morie said and suddenly she looked as tired as he did. "But I haven't the time and you haven't the experience to understand yet. You won't remember this conversation anyway so don't worry about it. All you need to remember is that this blade can help you get what you want...if you have the wits to use it."

"What is it?" Matthias' fingers caressed the hilt with his snarling faces. He picked the weapon up and wondered at its weight. It wasn't jade but there weren't many materials that were as heavy as the Magical Materials. At least, to a mortal.

"That is a very rare device from the First Age. In its time, it was one of the Ghost Knives of Thiokol. Now...it, never common, is exceedingly rare." Ya'morie rubbed at the corners of her eyes with her gloved hands. She looked exhausted. Matthias sympathized.

"What does it do?" His curiosity had prompted his questions so far but, for the first time in many minutes, Matthias' attention sharpened. Why was a Dragon-Blooded, obviously using a false name, giving him an artifact? What kind of a plot was he getting involved in? There was certainly no other possible reason for her to come to a mortal except to make use of him somehow. Was she an adversary of Mnemon?

"For your purposes, it's very simple. If the wielder uses the Ghost Knife against an Exalt, it can draw on their Essence. Corrupt Anathema used to use it to restore their squandered strength in the First Age. It does have a little known-side effect though. When held in the hand of someone with dormant Terrestrial blood, it can awaken an Exaltation in them. It requires a great passion and a great deal of blood but the Exaltation of another might be used to wake your own, Matthias. If you have the courage for it."

Matthias held the blade up in hopes that a better angle to the candlelight might portray more detail. He'd never been very interested in magic but this was obviously something important. He couldn't afford to miss any detail if he was going to be enmeshed in something. Frustratingly, it didn't matter how he turned the weapon, it seemed perpetually cast in shadow.

"I don't know what kind of person you think I am, my Lady, but I'm not a murderer."

The doors slammed open abruptly, causing Matthias to conceal the dagger behind his back. It was a guilty reflex, which was funny since he hadn't done anything wrong. As it was, he needn't have bothered. The party that staggered into the library weren't sober enough to notice much of anything.

"Matthias!" It was Cynis Alaraj, along with a few of his old school friends. And Matthias' niece Cora, naturally. He looked at the drunken face of his enemy and he couldn't help but bare his teeth. A violent tempest of rage stormed over his soul and it took as much willpower to stay polite as it had to resist Ya'moire. Speak of Ya'moire, where was she? She'd been standing next to him a second ago...

"Alaraj. I can truthfully say I never expected to see you here." Matthias spoke in low, measured tones but with an undercurrent of anger he hoped wasn't noticed. Regardless of his feelings, Cynis Alaraj was a Dragon-Blooded, he was not. This was Matthias' home but he owed the other teenager a certain respect.

"What's the matter with you?" Alaraj bellowed. "You know, I thought you got over your stupid jealousy by the time we graduated but then my girlfriend tells me you still don't respect me. What's wrong with you?" The handsome blonde boy was half a foot shorter than he was, and the adolescent was inebriated on top of it, but Matthias gave ground to him.

"Jealous? Of you? You have nothing I could want, Alaraj." Matthias moved around the table to put it between him but, for some reason, he didn't want to rein his tongue in like he should. The target revealed, all of his reservation fled away before the need to strike down the one person he hated more than anyone else.

"You're a drunken sot," Matthias continued. "When you say 'we graduated', you almost couldn't include yourself in that category, isn't that right? And it wasn't even the alcohol, it was your proximity to those two 'accidental' deaths. It's a good thing your mother bought them off or you'd still be in School. Or worse, not."

"What did you say!" Alaraj made it to the table and pounded the surface with his fist. Seen this close, the blonde, tanned former classmate's skin looked like it was covered in sand, as if he was perpetually just back from the beach. "Just because you were first in our class doesn't give you the right to show me disrespect. I'm a goddamn Prince of the Earth!"

"You're a pathetic excuse for one, you mean." Matthias relished the look of shock on his adversary's face and how his niece and the two friends of theirs gawked at him. All of these Dragon-Blooded, so utterly complacent in their superiority, they couldn't believe a mortal was talking back. "What good is your blood if you don't use it for good? Have you ever had a thought in your life that wasn't about you?"

"I'm going to...I'm going to kill you!" Alaraj roared, circling the table unsteadily. His friends and Cora went with him, which made the whole effort laughably easy to avoid. Mnemon Matthias looked down on them all, the one advantage he had, and sneered.

"Well, that's brilliant. Kill anyone who disagrees with you, just like the rumors said about you and those two back at the School. In a century, your families orchards are going to be ruined because you're too stupid to run a business. All your workers are going to be dead, thanks to your intolerance, and the slaves you can keep won't know or care what they're doing. To think I even slept in the same room with you. I should have smothered you before the Dragons Exalted a useless piece of garbage!"

"Get him!" Matthias didn't know if it was the contempt or the blasphemy that had finally set them off but Alaraj went up over the table and his friends went on either side. Right about then, Matthias realized how much trouble he was really in. Three Dragon-Blooded against...him.

Matthias backed off, tucking the sheathed dagger under his coat in the waistband of his pants. Then, he threw his arms out and assumed the basic form of the Five Dragons Fight as One style. He was only a mortal but his fists and feet were better than nothing. Using a knife would guarantee they beat him to death. If he was lucky, he'd only have trouble walking for a few days.

Drunk or not, they weren't entirely stupid. They rushed him together. Matthias held back, then threw himself to the side. He was tall, he had a long stride, and he covered a lot more ground than they expected him to. He rolled across the ground and came up outside of their ring.

The bookcases and chairs offered opportunities to break them up, to use the environment, but this was Mnemon's House library and she would strip the skin from his body if he actually damaged anything. So, when the came again, Matthias kicked Alaraj square in the stomach and promptly went down beneath the other two.

In a tangle of thrashing limbs, he fought tenaciously. There were two of them but they were drunk and in poor shape compared to his condition. Getting punched in the face was nothing new for him. He hit one in the throat and crashed his elbow into the temple of another and then he was up.

Right until Alaraj got back on his feet. The angry Dragon-Blooded grabbed a nearby chair and Matthias realized he was in trouble when a phantom nimbus of gemstones flickered around the wooden seat. Then, Alaraj hit him square in the chest and he blacked out.

Water hitting his face woke Matthias up. He blinked groggily, then cried out when someone hit him in the face. He tasted blood in his mouth before he realized this wasn't the first time they'd hit him.

It was raining over the Imperial City and they had a good view of the storm, as they were on top of the roof of the House Mnemon complex. Matthias was being held by two of the other Exalts and Alaraj stood before him, gloating. His ex-roommate had never seemed so angry, nor had their interactions ever been that hostile, but all pretense at politeness was over.

Alaraj wound up his fist and drove into Matthias' stomach. The punch folded him over but at least he was still breathing. Matthias groaned as another punch caught him across the face. Spitting out blood, he glared at his attacker hard enough to pause the drunken idiot.

"...that's right...beat up a son of Mnemon...on the roof of her own House...that'll look good when your...family hears about it." Matthias found each breath painful and there was a grinding in his chest where the chair had hit him. That wasn't good.

"Like she cares what happens to you," Alaraj sneered. Behind him, Cora hovered anxiously. Her cheeks were flushed with liquor and the rain but she did not look like she was having a good time. Good.

"...takes all of you...to fight me? ...tough guy...you'll wind up in...someone's song being that heroic. Come on...Alaraj. ...do you have the...guts to take me on by yourself?"

"Get out of here!" Alaraj demanded. He pushed his friends and Matthias dropped to the ground as they released him. "You too, Cora. I'll be down in a little bit. Don't worry, I'm not going to kill your brother. Just make sure he never steps out of his place again."

"Good, kick his ass!" Cora did not look like she was happy with it but Matthias knew what she was like. She either had to join in or step in. He wasn't surprised in the least at the choice she'd made.

Alaraj turned his back to him as he shouted incoherently after his friends. Matthias looked at him...and felt black rage rising, a hate so total that he'd never known its equal. He was surprised to find he'd pulled out the Ghost Knife of Thiokol but he didn't give a second thought to putting it away.

Cora and the two other Exalts went back to the trapdoor and headed inside to get out of the downpour. It left the two of them on the roof top alone. Matthias kept his weapon beneath his arm, trusting that Alaraj wouldn't notice it in the dark and rain.

"This is it, Matthias," the Cynis said, turning back around. There was no amusement on his face, just a besotted look of equally powerful hate. "I lied, you know. I am going to kill you. Oh, it's not my fault you slipped off the building after all. I'll even come to your funeral, maybe shed a tear for my poor former roommate. It's so unfair that you mortals are so fragile...but that's what happens when the ant tries to fight the boot that crushes it!"

"What's that?" Matthias said weakly when he saw the Dragon-Blooded Cynis slowly draw a knife from behind his back. He tried not to gawk. It wasn't that the both of them had had a knife behind their back...it was that the blade in Alaraj's hand could be a mirror of his own.

"It's a knife, who cares what it's called? I found it walled up behind my bed, can you believe it? And it's so strong, roomie. It pulls the Essence right out of someone. You know those two students who died? It wasn't the fall for Sesus Ayer or the potion mishap for Sesus Shola. It was this. Just the tiniest cut from it and it can pull the power of your blood out of you. Feels pretty damn good," Alaraj giggled wickedly. "I don't know what it'll do on a mortal...but I'm going to find out. Right before you take a little fall."

Alaraj bent down and hefted Matthias onto his shoulder, expecting him to be too badly hurt to put up much of a struggle. Sadly, that wasn't far from the truth. Only Matthias was in better shape than his enemy realized...and he had his own Ghost Knife.

With a savage scream, Matthias drove the evil-looking dagger into Alaraj's back. The Dragon-Blooded cried out and the heads on the handle cried out with him. Matthias' lips were drawn back to expose teeth and, without a thought of compassion, he twisted the blade, yanked viciously on it to open the wound wider.

They fell together, their tangled bodies hitting the roof...then slipping off of it. Pure concentrated fear blew his fury away and then the ground dropped on him.

Sometime later, Matthias woke on the grassy lawn of the House's gardens. He was surrounded by a ring of people...not the least of which was his mother, Mnemon, herself.

"What happened?" she said, her voice cutting across a murmuring from the crowd he hadn't even noticed he was hearing. "Matthias, what happened?"

"Alaraj...he tried to kill me." Matthias spoke softly, so not to damage his insides any further. It was a wonder he was even alive. Was he bleeding to death as they spoke?

"Why?" Mnemon asked.

"Because I didn't grovel at his feet. Because I didn't think a Mnemon should grovel before a Cynis in his own home, Exalted or not!" Matthias did his best to keep the anger from his voice and found it was surprisingly easier. The fall and the rain seemed to have dispelled most of that intense rage he'd felt all night. "He was an impious teenager, Mother, and I couldn't stand his blasphemy. I admit I should have been a little more even headed but it's not as if I tried to kill him!"

Try as he might, he couldn't feel the least bit guilty about how things had gone. Alaraj had been a waste of an Exaltation and the Dragons were better served by having their good names preserved from the scandal he'd certainly bring down on them. Yes, he'd had the Ghost Knife of Thiokol but he'd only used it in self-defense. Not like Alaraj who was going to murder him with his own Ghost Knife.

...the Ghost Knife...

Matthias turned his head to look...and found himself side by side with the corpse of his enemy. Eyes staring wide, Alaraj would never see anything ever again. He'd landed on his back and the fall had forced the dagger out through his chest. It was a shockingly gory sight and Matthias felt sick just having seen it.

"Then the Dragons favored the right child," Mnemon said. A peculiar light shone in her eyes. Matthias couldn't understand it, couldn't place it...until he realized it was pride. Pride? In him?

"I don't understand."

"Look."

Mnemon reached down and lifted his arm up. His hand was intact, if dirty, but it was the hazy yellow cloud of broken diamonds swarming around it that made him sit up straight. Matthias didn't even notice any pain, so shocked was he at the sight of the Anima display around him.

He'd Exalted! He...he was a Dragon-Blooded after all!

"The Immaculate Dragons witnessed what happened and they chose accordingly." Mnemon looked about at the other Mnemon family members here, as well as the few guests among them. No doubt, gossip of this would hit the streets tomorrow and Matthias realized how cunning his Mother really was. "I won't hold Cynis responsible but I trust the point has been made. Overstep your place, forget the lesson of the farmer's obligations to his flock, and the Dragons send a reminder. My son, Mnemon Matthias, is that reminder. Can any here dispute Pasiap's favor?"

More murmurs. But one by one, resolution crossed the faces of the witnesses. Matthias didn't blame them. He'd hated Alaraj for his obsession with selfish pleasure...and the Dragons had rewarded him for it!

Unless it really had been the knife...

"I am proud of you tonight, Matthias," Mnemon said, crouching down and helping him to his feet as the crowd began dispersing. "Perhaps Pasiap simply had plans for you and waited until His own time to show His will. Either way, you've done very well."

"Thank you, Mother," Matthias said, bowing. It didn't help that his shoulders were higher than Mnemon's head but he gave himself space to bow and made sure his head dipped lower than hers. No one showed a lack of respect to Mnemon.

"And we won't talk any further of how it happened...or of how he happened to wind up stabbed with a knife, where it came from or what any of his two friends and my granddaughter Cora have to say about what happened before. My favor overlooks such things."

The genuine smile that had been finding its way to his lips died where it stood and, instead, Matthias managed a tight quirking of the corners of his mouth. Oh yes, Mnemon had made herself quite clear. His value had increased...and she'd just guaranteed her control kept pace.

...so what. Tonight, he was a Prince of the Earth, thanks to that strange knife. Where had he gotten it from anyway?