The Forge SHORT STORIES
Spring 2021
life and her teacher By: Alex Wright
A giant sits at a grand stone table in what would otherwise be an unimpressive wooden home. The quick, heavy breaths escaping his long white beard suggests he’s tired. There is a low rumbling behind his large stone belt begging for a meal several days overdue. The open bay window to his left lets in a soft breeze which carries the comfort of the mountain air he’s come to enjoy. Before him is an empty mug. He shifts his attention to a clamoring in
the next room. Out walks a small gnome with skinny metal legs. Her right arm is covered by a large iron gauntlet and her left eye is a spherical crystal, partially encased in steel. Various wires run across and under her loose
leather apron, which covers grease-stained clothes. In her left hand, she carries a tray with a teapot and a cup. “So, you’ve come to my home after all this time and you won’t even teach me something new?” she asks. “Some god of knowledge you are.” “Ha, it is good to see you, sister,” he responds. She sets the tray down on the table, fills the giant’s mug before hers, and sits down on the chair across the table from him. She takes a sip of her tea and looks up at him. He studies her peculiar prosthetics and frowns. “It was Bliss, wasn’t it?” he asks before finally picking up his steaming mug. “Who else?” she replies, taking another quick sip. “Quite fair,” he laughs. “You, too, have always had a bit of a rivalry, I suppose.” “It comes with the job.” The giant peers into the next room. From where he is sitting, he sees a lavish workshop filled with many metal skeletons, all in various stages of construction, and glowing crystals scattered around the room. Pulsating tubes run along the walls to a blue light deeper within the room. He makes out faces within the tubes. Happy, sad, even terrified expressions flow through toward the blue light. The giant takes another sip of his tea. “Tell me, Duella, why these metal creations and not flesh? Surely as the god of life you can reserve his actions.”
Design by Ethan H. Reynolds
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