Mask of the Fire Keeper

It has been three days since Jon, Jonrad and Wulfur shut themselves in the laboratory with orders to send only three meals each day. Some said that the snow around the building all melted away after a few strong waves of heat started to come every once in a while. Also, strong thuds were heard in the past three days.

The news was not really the hottest topic in town as the new Alchemist in town attracted a lot of attention as the well known 'White Phial' alchemy store from Windhelm opened it Winterhold. The Dare Dragon Company people established a big store for the famous master of the shop and an Imperial called Quintus was the central figure of the shop as it seemed that Master Nurelion was busy with some research. The Alchemy Store, however, provided a long lost service that Winterhold hasn't seen since a very long time and all the residents went to see the new commodities.

With all the noise around the lively town, the most notable villa in town, the Seamist Manor was having it peaceful. A lot of beauties were living in this house as it got expanded by another floor and some more rooms. It was now much larger than the estate Jon had in mind.

In the basement, the new lady of the house, Alina, was having a bath in the large stone tub with Nurina as the later was trying to figure out a way to suppress the immense power of Alina's eye with her magic.

"This is really strong, I could suppress it with just my Magicka but I will run dry in no time at this rate." Nurina analyzed Alina's eye power with a Magickameter in her hand trying to block Alina's power with her Magicka.

"I understand, Master. It is okay, I am not really sad about it or anything." Alina said as she returned the blindfold back to where it was.

Nurina could tell that Alina was really depressed for the fact that she has to keep her eyes closed all the time, even though she went through a rough childhood because of her different eyes, it all started to make her suffer once again.

Nurina sighed and pulled Alina to her side and kept embarrassing her.

"Don't worry, my son will figure something out."

Alina, who was a bit tense for the sudden hug, eased a bit and put her head on Nurina's shoulder.

"I know, mother."

Nurina made a prideful smile as she was called the way she liked and kept caressing Alina's hair.

Outside the house in the front yard, there was no snow in the area as four women present and their strong presence melted away the snow long ago. Two of these women were having a spar and the other two were watching while taking care of some big animals on the side.

"Aaaaah! Take this…" Jullanar shouted as she gave her best combo of punches.

"Seriously! Is that all what you have?" Hilda was toying with Jull and blocked her attacks with ease.

"It is far from over!"

"Come at me!"

Jull's move resembled Jon's a lot, her legs were flying around carrying waves upon waves of attacks enforced by her Grey Battle-Spirit (Aura) yet Hilda simply took it all down with her standard Golden Aura and her fast reactions.

With a fast counter-attack, Jull was sent back flying with her face in the dirt.

"Not bad! Want to go again?"

"It is not done yet!"

"Hehe, stupid girl. I would have eaten you alive if Jon doesn't like you."

Hilda was still going to teach Jull a lesson in combat but it seemed that both the style and the level of power were way above Jull.

"Aunt! Let her have a suitable weapon."

"Yes, it is hopeless if she keeps fighting that way."

Bjorna and Brenda, who were taking care of the big beasts of the Firemanes, commented on the spar between Hilda and Jull. They could tell that Jull was having a hard time in close quarters combat which didn't seem to be her area of expertise, Hilda was toying with her left and right and Jull looked really pitiful.

"Fine, girl, pick a melee weapon."

With Hilda's words, Jull stood up and walked for the weapon rack on the side, Jon has left a ton of weapons to train with here.

Jull took a dagger and faced Hilda.

"Are you stupid, girl?" Hilda bashed Jull's head.

"Hey, why is that?"

"What would a tiny thing like that do? Pick something big."

Jull was comfortable with knives but the idea of using a big weapon wasn't even something she would think of, her build was simply not suitable for big weapons.

"Tsk, take this."

Hilda took a spear and gave it to Jull.

"Big weapons shouldn't be heavy, still, they all have a better reach."

"Fine."

Jull took the spear and tried to get the right way to grip it based on how she saw Jon do it.

"Hey, girl. Get some real notes from her, she is not called the 'Most Complete Fighter' for nothing. Learn all what you can learn." Brenda called for Jull.

The Most Complete Fighter was the style which Hilda was known for, she indeed preferred big weapons but her skill proved that she is the best all rounder in the clan, her speed, strength, reaction and all other aspects were terrifyingly accurate as her only talent was fighting. A lot of people wanted to learn from her but few like Brenda and Jon were lucky enough to get her guidance, now it was Jull's turn.

"Now, Girl. Show me something good."

The spar got ignited once again and Jull's talent was starting to bloom as a spear wielder, Jon couldn't really determine which weapon was the best for Jull due to her style of fighting but Hilda figured it out in an instance. Jull was now carrying a spear and a buckler was tied to her left, her stance was low and she was moving around and striking with strong frontal attacks while dashing ahead and jumping backward. If she would get closer, she would switch to a short blade to get the perfect pin on her opponent.

Hilda also tested Jull's archery and was really impressed by her movements. A strange style of a strong yet a very light fighter with the ability of archery was the perfect way to describe Jull's new training style. She kept sparring like that with Hilda for three days. Hilda wouldn't really think of a proper name to Jull's style but when Jon sees it, he will think of one style, 'The Amazon'.

"Good work for today." Hilda offered a hand to the all beaten up Jull on the ground.

"Thanks for the guidance." Jull stood up while leaning on the training spear.

Hilda shook her head then held Jull like a small cat from her clothes.

"I'll take you in."

With a bewildered face, Jull got carried into the house on Hilda's arm.

A minute later, the two arrived at the stone bathtub in the basement where Alina and Nurina are. Hilda put Jull down slowly then undressed in second and jumped into the tub.

"Seriously! How old are you? Nine?" Nurina, who was relaxing and got splashed away, grumbled at Hilda.

"Just give me that!" Hilda snatched the red wine bottle from Nurina and sat beside her.

The two started to have a drinking contest and Jull slid beside Alina.

"Rough training?" Alina asked.

"... yeah."

"Come closer."

Jull got closer to Alina and the later hugged her closer then cast some healing spells all over Jull's body.

"Keep doing it! It feelth tho good."

The harmonious mood was still going around until a fifth person appeared in the bathtub room.

A little girl in a black robe disregarded all the gazes on her and jumped beside Alina.

"Nefertiti, did you deliver the food?"

"Yes."

"How are they doing?"

"Busy."

"Did they tell you when will they come out?"

Nefertiti shook her shoulders.

Alina sighed and didn't say anything more.

Jon has been absent from home for three days, she was the one running the company in his absence as the newly recognized lady of house Dare, life was good but she was worried about Jon. The only thing she knew was that Jon, Jonrad and Wulfur are crafting some artifacts from a very rare alloy that required a lot of patience and power. Wulfur's level as a blacksmith seemed to be going through a serious upgrade during this process and both Jon father and son were helping him.

Bjorna could get from Wulfur that they are crafting a piece of accessory that power is going to be very powerful to help Alina control her eye powers and according to Wulfur, the beauty of that piece is going to be a master level piece of art that the world has rarely seen any like to.

Just as she finished recalling that, Bjorna came through the door with a wide smile on her face.

"They are out!"

With that said, even Nurina jumped up as fast as she could and went to see what these pieces of art turned out to be.

All the ladies in the bathtub went up in a second leaving the blindfolded Alina behind.

"Sigh! They really did it, huh?"

Alina didn't know whether to laugh or cry but she loosened the blindfold and went out gracefully then wiped the water with magic and dried her hair. A few minutes later, she walked out while wearing a gorgeous white dress that exposed her cleavage and shoulders which she later covered with a shawl.

Upon her taking the steps up to the upper level, she was met with only Jon.

"I came to take you." He said as he approached her.

She extended her hand to him which he took and kissed.

"Take me then."

"Okay, open your eyes, no one is around."

Alina slowly opened her eyes to see Jon who looked a bit roughed up after three days of constant working.

He pulled her closer and kissed her on her lips with a lot of longing and passion. She didn't offer any resistance and even pulled him closer.

"Sorry, I stink." Jon said as he realized that he didn't bathe in three days.

"Do you? You taste just right though!"

Alina was pressing closely on Jon who was looking at her gently.

This gentle look in his eyes was something he only showed to his loved ones, Alina was one of his family and she always got the gentlest of his looks.

"Want to see what I made?"

"Mhm, but let us stay like this for a while."

Alina was smiling playfully as she wanted to make the ladies who went before her wait longer.

Jon didn't mind if he would make the world wait for some time alone with Alina but someone came to bust them.

"Playing again without me?"

Jull seemed a big upset and clung to Jon, Alina closed her eyes to not harm Jull and directed her face down with a shy smile. She was a shy girl around anyone but never minded anything with Jon, he was already a lot to her.

"Do you want to play with us too?" Alina grinned at Jull.

"What? Am I allowed to?"

Jull replied playfully and squeezed herself between Jon and Alina while facing Alina, she then approached Alina playfully and seemed to be going to kiss her, Alina's face blushed but Jon was already dragging Jull away from her ears.

"Don't tease her!"

"What? She invited me personally, she likes to get teased… ouch ouch! Okay!"

Jon was having the two girls on his left and right while holding them close, the three were having wasting time together until Nurina called at them with a stern tone.

They went out with an apologetic and awkward look on their faces, Jon led the other two to the large table of the dining room, there a few things were being covered under some white clothes and everyone was gathered around the table.

"Alright, everyone. We created quite a few stuff with the Mithril we could cook, I don't know how it was done or if we were lucky or not but it is mostly a joined effort." Wulfur said as he started pointed as the things on the table.

"As agreed, I will do the presentations." Wulfur said and started removing some clothes on the smallest pieces.

"These are the 'Heart of the Sea' series, forged by me and Mr. Jonrad, and enchanted by Jon."

The 'Heart of the Sea' series were three very gorgeous looking necklaces that were forged by a platinum-like metal that had a bit of golden gleam to it, as the necklaces seemed really thin and delicate, they carried three blue gemstones that were shaped like a water drop and were surrounded by an artistic cage of Mithril that gave the gemstones a sacred aura and a beauty over their beauty.

"This one is for you, Bjorna." Wulfur presented the one that was on a black stone display to Bjorna.

"For me?"

Bjorna's eyes almost fell from their sockets as she saw the beauty of the necklace she was being gifted by Wulfur. This thing was literally the most precious piece of accessory that she ever saw in her life.

Why not? Mithril itself was metal from legends that wasn't known if it was made as an alloy or had its own ore in nature but Wulfur said it was an alloy that required some freakishly rare substances.

Jon had the highest understanding of the Mithril as Shadow has told him a way to create it. Even though it was impossible to get, one of the components to create it was a Dragon's Blood, which Jon had no problem in acquiring at all, he himself was a walking 7 liters of Dragon Blood.

Anyway, Wulfur walked behind Bjorna and put the necklace on her with the cheers and winks of all the people attending the event.

The second necklace was presented to Hilda by Jonrad which was rather getting romantical except for Jon's chilly glare that made Jonrad want to cuss at him. And finally, the last necklace was for Nurina which was gifted by Jon.

"This is an interesting enchantment." Nurina read through the enchantment right away.

"Like it?"

"It is great. I love it."

The Enchantment was indeed powerful as Jon described it as 'an all sort protection enchantment' which would shield the wearer from all harm once the gem is charged. Once the gem is activated, it would become red and its power will be something to behold.

Of course, only a high-grade material can withstand a highly advanced enchantment. When Jon crafted it, he was enjoying to his heart's content as enchanting on Mithril was totally unhindered by no law. It felt like he can make a godly artifact if he wanted to.

Still, Jull was starting at Jon as if saying 'I better get something good or else'.

"And now, for these two big pieces of awesome. First, Jull is known for her reckless style and hates to put a helm on her head, that is why we made this… Jon called it 'Crown of the Valkyrie'."

Wulfur announced and removed the cloth from the first piece to show a strange circlet with wings over its sides.

It greatly resembled the Valkyrie helmets from the Norse Mythology as it had the same winged pieces to the side and protected the forehead splendidly. It didn't cover the whole head which made it very light.

Jon carried it and stood in front of the bewildered Jull.

"This is way more expensive than my head itself." She thought so.

Hilda helped Jon to hold Julls hair to the back and Jon fixed it on Jull's face.

The color of the Mithril overlapped with her ashen grey skin and made her skin give more luster and glossiness, now, Jull's skin was akin to Mithril itself.

The enchantment on this crown was very bizarre, Jon said that he used the largest Soul Gem he had to make this strong enchantment. Jon himself was in wonder of how good he made this piece.

Jull broke into tears and hugged Jon tightly until Hilda dragged her by force.

"The last piece… it this beast." Wulfur revealed the last artifact crafted by them.

"Another crown?" Nurina asked.

It indeed looked like a crown, no a warrior crown like Jull's but an actually big crown. Its appearance was different in style to the delicate things created before and the amount of Mithril in it seemed to be more than three times the necklaces and the Crown of the Valkyrie combined.

"It is a mask." Jon said.

The people around looked at it and imagined if such a thing was indeed a mask. It looked like a circlet but was wide and big, its design was somewhat High Elven but seemed far thicker and sturdier. The feeling of the magic it gave off was different from the other pieces as it didn't give any peaceful or a tranquil aura, it only emitted power, lots and lots of overbearing power.

Jon carried it and went in front of Alina.

"Here it is… It was made from the regular components of Mithril and a Dragon's Blood, it was enchanted by no Soul Gem but by a Heart Stone that contains the power of Shor, this is the mask that can be used to shield you and destroy your enemies at the same time."

Jon said as he put the mask on Alina's face.

He put it on her face and it fitted her like nothing else as if it was made for her from a long time ago, even though it hid the top half of her beautiful face, it added to her beauty even more.

"Open your eyes, Alina."

With Jon's words, Alina opened her eyes.

The Mask made a strong pulse of power as if it was being awakened from an old slumber, its power was felt by all and everyone stepped back except Jon.

"What a power!" Even Jonrad and Nurina were scared.

The Mask resonated with Alina too well as if it was singing for the long-awaited return of its owner.

Alina touched the Mask and it calmed down immediately. Jon couldn't help but smile.

"What did you call this, Jon?" She asked.

"Sadly, it had a name before I recreate it so we will stick with the original."

He smiled and continued.

"Mask of the Fire Keeper."