Hodekin (Not Moderated Kobold Quest)

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Tap-tap tap-tap tap-tap

Metal ground upon metal. Oily pieces of precisely engineered machinery interlocked and seperated in a perfectly timed sonnet; their song one of both harmonious existence and chaotic contrast. Gears clicked in matrimony, pulling rods and hydraulics that together created a cacophony of clanging.

This room, to me, was hell. But it was supposed to be. It was supposed to distract me. It was supposed to irritate me.

I sat, cross legged and still, on the iron mesh floor of this collusion of Alerarian industry. My eyes were shut. Enpera's smooth, beautiful blade lay across the bridge of my lap, glinting in the ambient light. I tried to regulate my breathing to cope better with the humidity created by the soulless machines that surrounded me, but each lungful of air felt like inhaling magma. My legs ached from sitting on the hard floor. My back ached from supporting my rigid body in the same position for almost two hours now.

Meditation was usually easy, but this was pure hell. A neccessary evil. The objective here was to learn to commune with Enpera in the harshest of environments. A Telgradian could never truly be in tune with the soul in his sword without forging unbreakable bonds with it, and like any kind of training, physical or otherwise, results were rarely gained without pain or sacrifice. I had grown apart from Enpera in recent times; the Brotherhood had taken over so much of my life that its voice had dulled to the point where I would barely recognise it calling me.

I had relied too much on flesh and faith to protect me when it mattered. Enpera, being sentient and my most important partner, had disconnected. So now I worked harder than I ever had to re-establish that bond.

I could no longer depend on anyone but me.

As I focused the entirety of my energy into the blade across my legs, an un-naturally loud clang boomed around the boiler room of this former Brotherhood training complex. It was enough to force me fully from my meditation, and sever my connection to Enpera. Angrily, I slammed my fist into the iron grating and growled, each breath burning and serving only to irritate me more.

CLANG

Another loud, unnatural bang. Like a piece of iron smashing into stone, or a heavy metal grate being dropped nearby. This time I was convinced that it wasn't a machination of the room, but a disturbance outside the heavy, rusting door to the chamber.

What the hell is going on?