Ultima Thule - The Peak of a Journey

"Hello There" -- Characters speaking

'General Kenobi' -- Character thoughts

"You are" 'a bold one' -- Thoughts/Conversations in flashbacks

The Negotiator -- Titles

"Ah yes, the Negotiator" -- ??? speaking

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Sizzle, sizzle.

In the middle of a room, a feminine figure covered by a blanket could be seen blissfully sleeping on a bed. The woman slept with her mouth open, bits of drool sticking on the side of her lips, as a small wet-spot was visible on the pillow her head lay on. She snored, her nose sucking in air and expelling it out in a rhythmic manner as her bountiful chest rose and fell.

However, slowly but surely the air became mixed with the scent of fried meat, as the mouthwatering smell of a hearty breakfast drifted through the air towards her. In response, her stomach gurgled as the smell reached her, her nose greedily sucking it in an effort to quell her empty, rumbling stomach.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, her mind couldn't decide whether to stay put and go back to sleep on an empty stomach, or wake her body up in an effort to fulfill her bodily needs. In the end, hunger prevailed. The woman stirred, slowly sitting up on the bed, her eyelids barely open. As both her mind and body were still half-asleep, she did what she found most natural to her at the moment; she followed the smell of the food in to the kitchen.

The kitchen was directly connected to the bedroom, separated by a wall and a single doorway. It consisted of a stove—which was more of a cooktop situated on a brick hearth, a small sink to wash dishes, and a few cupboards to store dishes, utensils, and things like spices. There was also a small storage area for storing raw ingredients such as vegetables, fruits, and a few different kinds of meat.

In front of the stove stood a tall man. He wore black pants with a brown shirt, covered by an apron that was snugly wrapped around his upper body, displaying small traces of his chiseled physique. His long hair was tightly wrapped in a bun, making sure that no strands fell into the running stove, lest he burn his hair. He hummed a song to himself as he held a pan with one hand, moving the spatula in his other hand to flip the strips of leftover rabbit meat from the day before.

As the woman entered the kitchen, she spotted the man frying the meat. With a tired gait caused by sleepiness, she slowly trudged towards him. Reaching him, she wrapped her arms around his neck, fully leaning her weight on to his body as she buried her face into the crook of his neck. Despite the fact that she practically hung from his neck with gravity pulling her weight down, the man did not budge at all. With a sigh, he advised the woman behind him as he continued to cook.

"Callie, go back to bed. Breakfast isn't ready yet."

"Noooo... Erden... am hungry... and sleepy..."

"I know you are. Just gimme a few minutes and I'll call you, 'kay? I even cooked your eggs the way you like them."

"Alrighhttt..."

She let go of his neck as she lazily made her way back to the bed, not realizing that she had almost knocked over a few things while doing so. The bed creaked as she plopped headfirst into the pillows, pulling the blanket over her as she slowly rolled herself into a burrito, closing her eyes for a few moments.

True to his word, a few minutes later Erden called out to her as he walked into the room with two plates in his hands. One plate contained scrambled eggs that were well-done, while the other contained a plain omelet with salt and pepper on it. Both plates also had strips of rabbit meat placed on them.

Noticing that Calamitas wasn't responding, he placed the food down on the small table that was situated a few meters away from the bed. As he walked over to the bed, his form loomed over her as he shook her slightly in an attempt to wake her back up. Feeling her body shaking and her mind still in a state of sleepiness, she let out a few words of choice—her voice muffled by the pillows—that conveyed her desire.

"Don't... want move... pick me... carry me..."

Shaking his head at her antics, he picked her up—blanket burrito and all—and carried her over to the table, setting her down on one of the two chairs. As he settled on his own chair and started to eat, he noticed that Calamitas hadn't touched her food at all. She was just sitting in place, her eyes almost shut as she tried her best to not doze off on the chair. He was about to shake her again, but chose not to. Instead, he used his spoon to cut a piece of the omelet from her plate as he let her know what to do.

"Callie... Callie, open your mouth. Callie, say ahh."

Hearing Erden's voice, she responded to his command. She leaned forward slightly, her lips parted halfway as she took the spoon within her mouth. Her mouth wrapped around the spoon as her lips acted as a barrier that kept in the food while only releasing the spoon back into the air. She slowly chewed her food as her tongue pulled in the food, sending it slipping down her throat. Upon tasting the food, she immediately let a reaction out, in a set of almost incoherent words.

"Uhhmmm... very delish... very gooodd..."

Wanting to do the bare minimum, Calamitas brought out one of her hands from within the blanket as she picked up a glass of water that Erden had placed beforehand. She took small sips to help digest the food easier before opening her mouth again, asking for more. Again, Erden fed her small bites while eating his own food at the same time, until both plates were wiped completely empty.

After they were done eating, Erden picked up the plates, utensils, and glasses as he carried them over to sink in the kitchen as he proceeded to wash them. She on the other hand, simply went back to bed wanting to get more sleep before she would finally wake up later in the morning. Once Erden was done with the dishes, he strolled over to her as he bent down and whispered something in her ears.

"Hey, I'll be in the smithy today so I can create 'that' weapon. If you need me for anything, I'll be up there, hammering away."

He then pecked her lightly on her lips before equipping his boots, as he walked out of the room to finally get started on his day. It was only a minute after he left that Calamitas shot up; awake and startled. Her mind finally caught up to what he had said before he left. It was 'that' day. Erden had finally gathered all the resources that he needed to forge 'that' weapon.

Upon her realization, she let a smile show on her face, happy that he was finally able to reach one of his milestones that he had told her about in the past. Milestones that he set for himself when he had arrived in this world. 

'So, you're finally going to create that sword, huh? Your greatest creation yet... your masterpiece.'

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Leaving his room, Erden followed a set path as he walked downstairs. Once he spotted the exit, he marched through, pushing the door open as he was greeted by rays of sunlight and the smell of dirt and morning dew. He took in a deep breath as he stepped out from the exit, walking away from the building, his gait slow and relaxed.

Once he was an adequate distance away from the building, devoid of any obstructions, he unfurled his clear-red wings, flapping them a few times to clear out any stiffness before he straightened them out, preparing to take flight. Only to be stopped by the voice of a man, which he recognized immediately—a voice that froze him in place.

"Good morning Erden, I see that you are off to the forge. Though isn't it a bit too early to be enduring such heat, repeatedly toiling away and hammering on heated metals?"

Hearing the voice, he turned around in its direction, his body rigid and his movements stiff. As he laid his eyes on the source of the voice, for a moment, he saw the face of his old friend. He blinked his eyes, trying to drive the illusion away, as he saw the real face of the figure that had called out to him. Breaking out of his stupor, his inner voice mentally chided him for mistaking the figure for his old friend, even though it wasn't the first time he had made such a mistake.

'Snap out of it, Erden! He is not Joe. He can never be Joe! Didn't you already accept the outcome long ago?! Joe... is gone.'

Even though he repeated his thoughts to himself, both his mind and heart couldn't help but compare the two of them. Bearing the same dark-gray eyes resembling those of his friend, but with a lighter shade of orange, spiky hair was an eighteen-years old boy. Similar to his predecessor, he wore a dark-colored jacket and dark-blue pants. If the boy was a few years older, he could've passed off as the twin to his old friend.

"...Steve."

"Why yes, I do believe that is my name. Pardon my curiosity, I simply wished to inquire of your goals for today."

"Hmm, you are right in that I was on my way to the forge. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a weapon that I need to forge. So I'll be on my way."

Quick, curt, and cold was his response. His tone of choice was neutral with not a single emotion behind it. Though this choice was not born out of anger and hate, but rather from the sadness and guilt that he felt towards Steve's predecessor. He wished for nothing more than to get away from him, lest he brought up unpleasant memories.

"Ahh... I see. Then I wish you good luck in your endeavors."

Although he tried to hide it, Steve felt slightly sad upon being treated as a complete stranger. Even though he and Erden had known each other for more than three years, in truth he barely knew anything about Erden, other than the fact he was a strong fighter. Whether or not he noticed his emotions, Erden chose not to comment on it, instead pushing himself off the ground as he beat his wings and took flight.

Other than encountering harpies—feminine creatures with wings that extended from their shoulders, replacing their arms and hands—and the occasional wyvern—a white serpentine creature resembling an eastern dragon, with cyan hair-like protrusions that ran along its entire back, from the head down to its tail—Erden's journey was mostly unobstructed.

[IMG]

He tried to distract himself, thinking about other things instead of the prior conversation, his mind doing its utmost best to avoid drudging up painful memories. As he reached a high enough altitude, he spotted varying sized clumps of clouds littering the sky. Observing carefully, he soon spotted a stationary clump that was far larger than the others. He batted his wings as he flew up towards the specific cloud, effortlessly covering the distance within a few seconds. 

He flew over the giant cloud before coming down, landing on solid ground silently as he felt not a single sign of exertion. Checking his immediate surroundings, he saw grass-covered land occupying every inch of the cloud he was standing on, because the cloud in truth, was actually a floating sky island. Other than the grass and dirt, he saw a few trees nearby surrounding a very distinct, square building unlike any other.

The entire exterior of the building was made up of glowing blue bricks. There were blue and purple particles floating in the surface of the bricks, as if an entire galaxy existed inside every individual brick. These were the cosmilite bricks created from the carcass left behind by the Nameless Serpent. The building was blocky in nature, with the only openings being a closed door at the front and a few vents on the sides of the building to circulate air throughout the inside.

As Erden walked towards the building, the door automatically opened as he neared within five feet of it. The door had a darker metallic sheen to it compared to the bricks, as it was with a horizontal slit in the middle. It consisted of two halves as the door had no hinges. Instead, when the door opened, both halves retracted either up or down in their respective directions. As he walked in through the doorway, he was greeted by a sight similar to what he saw outside the building.

Shining blue covered the entirety of the interior walls. It consisted of a single room which expanded out to all four corners of the building. In the center of the room lay a beautiful forge. It was of a metallic gray color that had a blue sheen to it, caused by the blue lighting from the interior reflecting off of it. It was almost three meters in length and two meters in height, as it was slightly taller than him.

The forge was shaped in a pyramid-like fashion, with metal projections jutting out from the visible sides of the pyramid. These projections were shaped in a horn-like manner, with their ends resting at the apex of the pyramid. The ends of the projections were made from a transparent glass-like substance, allowing anyone to peer into the forge from the confines of safety. There were also small slits on the projections, as a means to let air circulate through the forge.

In the front of the pyramid was a transparent panel that opened up. It contained the hearth that extended to the back pyramid, creating enough space to hold many different shapes, sizes, and types of metals. There were Auric rods covering the inside walls of the pyramid that were capable of generating enough heat to mimic the sun, when fed enough Exo energies.

In the middle of the hearth was a grate connected with a metal tube, that lead directly to the bottom of the forge. The grate was used to direct smelt ores downwards. Finally, at the bottom was a plate that extended from the forge. The plate had a square cut-out in the middle, which was actually a placeholder for holding different kinds of molds, depending on the situation they were required in.

The forge was called Draedon's Forge, but it was not because it belonged to him. The blueprints for the forge were found within one of his old labs that he no longer frequented, while the most important materials used to create the forge were scavenged from his creations.

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With a steady stride, he made his way over to the forge, admiring its beauty and the nature of his surroundings. This was his reward earned after four years of constant suffering. He had created this forge a few weeks before he met Calamitas.

Erden recalled when he fought the Exo-Mechs for the first time. The battle lasted for hours as he came close to dying multiple times. By the time he had defeated all four of the mechanical monstrosities, his body suffered from the pain of broken ribs and cracked shoulder-blades as a result from the machines repeatedly ramming themselves into him.

He snapped back to reality as he remembered his purpose in coming to the forge. With a thought, he brought out the Ore Bag from his inventory. Other than the Inventory and the Map, the Ore Bag was one of the gifts he had received on his arrival to this world. It used Spatial Magic to expand the inside, creating enough space to store tonnes upon tonnes of different ores and resources. It also helped to keep his Inventory organized as he didn't have to worry about ten different ores occupying the slots in his Inventory.

As he made his way towards the forge, two platforms extended from the ground on both sides of the forge. Situated on the left platform was an anvil, similar in color to the forge while the other platform consisted of an empty metallic table. As if responding to the presence of its master, the forge roared to life, slights wisps of heat and golden flames escaping from the hearth.

He walked over to the empty table where he placed the Ore Bag, slowly taking out the required materials one-by-one, placing them in the order they would be used; five Auric Bars, five Ashes of Annihilation, and five Exo-Prisms. Placing his hand near the opening of the hearth, he felt the level of heat generated from the Auric rods. Satisfied, he equipped thick gloves that went up to his elbows directly from his Inventory. Picking up one of the Auric Bars, he placed it on the grate within the hearth, his gloves protecting his skin from the stinging heat of the Auric rods.

After that, he picked up one of the Ashes of Annihilation, unfolding the cloth that contained the flaming ashes inside... before yeeting the ashes along with the cloth into the hearth. He swiftly moved away as not even a second later, dark-red flames erupted from the hearth with a loud noise, as if it was a dragon's bellow followed by flames erupting from its snout.

Acting quickly, he picked up an Exo-Prism, crushing it in his hands as he threw the pulverized shards of nigh-limitless fractal energy into the hearth before closing the panel, trying his best to contain the flames within the forge. Through the panel, he saw the dark-red flames melt the shards, freeing the energies contained within. They then mingled together, causing the red flames to gain a rainbow-ish color.

He observed through the panel as the Auric Bar heated up, slowly absorbing the rainbow-colored flames around. As it did so, its form started to darken considerably until every last wisp of flame was sucked into it. All that was left was a single, dense bar of black. The bar was of the same size as the Auric Bar, and also had electricity constantly sparking around it. But that was when the similarities ended.

Instead of the golden hue, there was only darkness. The surface of the bar was dark, so dark that it was as if a void existed within the confines of its boundary. Similarly, It also emitted dark clouds, constantly forming around it just like the sparks of electricity, before dispersing into the air. This void-like metal was the Shadowspec Bar, the highest-grade bar that Erden was able to create at his level.

As the flames of the hearth slightly dimmed, he retrieved the bar from the forge using a pair of tongs, covering it using the same type of cloth used to cover the Ashes of Annihilation before putting it on the empty table. He then picked up another Auric Bar, placing it inside the hearth as he proceeded to repeat the same process for all of the remaining materials, until the only things left on the table were five of the Shadowspec Bars.

After carefully checking all five bars to make sure they were stable, he took out two final items from his Inventory that would be crucial to the creation of his weapon. The first item was colorful, shaped like a four-pointed star. Its base was orange with Its outer edges being divided into four different colors; red, yellow, green, blue. Each colored edge gradually pulsated, filled with the memories and emotions of different civilizations. A memoriam—a Spatial Memoriam of what once was.

The second item was a shining silver branch, directly broken off from the Celestriad Root; a sapling found in the heart of the universe. It was unknown as to who found and planted the sapling in the Observatory Hyperborea, but it grew into a magnificent size as its branches covered a good portion of the sky. As he held the branch, he recalled the time he acquired it, accompanied by two different people, both of them being twins.

"Hmm, I wonder if I can break off a part of the tree to use it for a weapon?"

"Erden, no!"

"Erden, yes!"

It was quite the funny sight, being chased by two midgets who barely came up to his chest.

As his mind focused back on the task, he mentally went through the steps necessary in forging the weapon. He knew he had to be extremely careful, lest he damn the entirety of Terraria into oblivion. He brought out a high-grade Mana Potion from his inventory, chugging it as his body overflowed with dense mana. He made sure that the grate inside the hearth was covered as he de-equipped the gloves back into his Inventory. He grabbed all five of the Shadowspec Bars with his bare hands, placing them in the already burning hearth. This time, he chose not to close the panel and turned the heat of the hearth to its maximum.

"Alright, now that I have the bars, here comes the hard part. Haaahhhh... man, this is gonna hurt like a bitch."

Doing one final check of his Inventory to make sure that he was stocked up on both Health and Mana potions, he finally began the grueling process of forging the blade of the weapon. He covered his entire body in mana as he touched the Shadowspec Bars with both hands on each side, fingers evenly spread out as he covered them in layers of mana. The outer layers acted as a barrier to keep the flames out as much as possible while the inner layer made contact with the bar, sending in waves of mana which the bars greedily sucked in, using the mana to enhance their already dense structure.

As he felt his mana quickly draining, he kept a close eye on his Mana Gauge, seeing the once full silver stars becoming empty, slowly but surely. Realizing he had severely miscalculated the amount of mana required to enhance the bars and imbue the desired traits into the weapon, he was forced to take drastic measures.

He took out an Astral Injection from his Inventory, filled with a bluish-orange liquid. He injected it directly to his neck, making sure to avoid any important blood veins. As soon as he did so, glowing orange veins started appearing on his skin, covering his entire body bit-by-bit, flooding it with pain. He chose to ignore the pain even as his body was starting to break down from the intense overflow of mana because he knew, that his natural regeneration would completely out-do the rate of damage that his body was incurring.

Once he felt that enough mana was used, he stopped sending it into the bars; instead he used his remaining mana to enhance the blistering flames, bringing them to new heights. Observing closely, he noticed that the Shadowspec Bars were starting to change states, as the bars slowly started to soften and soften, until they completely melted, entering the state of liquid. 

Seeing that the bars had liquefied, making them easier to manipulate, he took a few seconds to drink a Mana Potion to replenish his mana as much as he could. Adding on to the Mana Potion, he injected himself with another one of the Astral Injections to boost his mana regeneration to its utmost limit.

Briskly, he spread out his mana as he formed a "bowl" around the liquid metal, carefully picking up every last drop of it and bringing it out of the forge. He slowly transitioned the "bowl" into a sharp rectangular-shape resembling a "blade", guiding the liquid metal to fit in the makeshift mold. While doing so, he picked up the Spatial Memoriam, forcing all four colored-edges to break apart using his mana. He positioned the traces of the Spatial Memoriam around the "blade" before merging them into the liquid metal.

An immense pressure rang out throughout the entire room as dense energy rippled from the metal that, like a void, tried to grow and consume everything around it. Erden tried his best to contain the energy, to make sure that it didn't expand and destroy his surroundings, especially since the town was located right underneath where the floating island was situated. Seeing as the energy showed no signs of stopping or even slowing down, he did something that was quite frankly... really stupid.

He shoved one of his hands right into the center of the energy field as he grabbed on to the liquid metal, still held together by the makeshift mold.

"Gaahhhh!"

Pain. Pain flooded his body at the same time the energy did. His mind was submerged in a state of listlessness as he was almost knocked unconscious, something he knew he could not afford to let happen. In an attempt to stay awake, he bit down on his tongue... hard. Feeling his nerves overwhelmed with the pain of having such a sensitive organ being treated so roughly, he managed to stay awake, giving him the ability to try and regain control over the situation.

He created a thick mana barrier surrounding himself and the rampaging energy as he once again injected his mana into the liquid metal, his eyes burning with determination; with the desire to force back the energy and imbue the attributes that he wished to imbue into the weapon. He thought back to the Inception of his journey, to the advent of the Apocalypse with the descent of the impending doom, to the Annihilation of almost all of his foes that he encountered in the years he spent in this world, and finally, to the Salvation he found in Calamitas.

He pushed and pushed as the "blade" absorbed his mana. As he proceeded to push one final wave of mana into the blade, the barrier cracked. His eyes widened in horror as the rampaging energy pushed against the barrier he constructed, chipping away at its durability rapidly. He tried to reinforce the barrier, even going as far as to drink another Mana Potion, but it was all for naught. The barrier broke faster than he could repair it.

Repair, crack, repair, crack, repair, crack, repair, crack,...

After many attempts to repair the barrier that only ended in failure, Erden could only shake his head, his eyes misty as he sighed in resignation, realizing that he had set the entire world on a one-way train to extinction. He watched with trepidation, as more and more cracks appeared on the barrier, until all that was visible were spider web-like cracks that filled his entire vision. He closed his eyes as he waited for the final crack to appear... but nothing happened.

Erden felt confused as to why he felt no cracking sounds or a void absorbing his existence, but all of his worries went away and he slightly sagged in relief as he felt another hand on top of his, and the assuring voice of a woman beside him.

"Gosh, I leave you alone for a few hours and this happens. You really are hopeless without me, Erden."

Opening his eyes, he was met with the beautiful visage of Calamitas, her face covered in droplets of sweat as small particles of energy pricked at her skin. With a thought, she reinforced Erden's barrier with her own, the once invisible barrier taking on a red hue. With no longer having to worry about the barrier, he gave her a smile full of gratitude as he focused most of his efforts on the weapon. He formed a tentacle made of mana, using it to grab the branch of the Celestriad Root. 

He pulled the branch towards himself, grabbing it as he held it behind the forte of the blade, with the branch and the blade coming in contact with each other. He used his mana to force parts of the branch to bend around the forte, practically wrapping themselves around the blade, forming a hilt. Seeing that he was near the finish line, Erden drank one last Mana Potion as he sent the last of his mana in a tsunami-like fashion, practically drowning the entire weapon and the area in front of him in his mana.

As if responding to his efforts, the blade released one last bout of energy, strong enough to push the both of them back. While Calamitas was able to keep on her feet; Erden, who was completely battered and exhausted from the constant use of mana and also having his hand destroyed by volatile energies, was slammed into the wall behind him, right beside the entrance door. Hearing the loud bang that came from behind her, Calamitas looked back, only to see Erden slumped down on the ground, his eyes closed.

She rushed over to his form as she straightened his body, her fingers on his neck as she tried to check for a pulse. Upon feeling a pulse, she sighed in relief, some tension being released from her body. She tried to wake him up as she shook his body repeatedly. Seeing as he didn't wake up, she resorted to drastic measures.

"Erden, Erden! Wake up!"

Slap.

"Owww! What was that for?!"

"Because you weren't waking up! I was really worried for a second ther- Erden! Your hand!"

In her haste to check his immediate condition, she had neglected to inspect the rest of his body. Only after she had calmed down did she notice the puddle of blood, forming from the lack of a hand on one of his sides. Erden on the other hand, was completely calm; whether it was out of apathy or simply exhaustion, he didn't know.

"Ehh, it'll be fine. Not the first time I've lost an arm so It'll grow back. Besides, it's not like a potion couldn't fix this."

"But still, your hand is missing! Like gone-missing! Like missing-missing! Gone, Completely reduced to atoms!"

"Yes, I know. And like I said, It'll just grow back again like the times before... actually, why are you the one freaking out right now, it should be me honestly. Anyways, just watch."

As soon as he said so, he brought out a high-grade Health Potion from his Inventory. He chugged it down his throat and moments later, he felt his hand slowly grow back. First came the bone, then the veins, flesh, and finally the skin... although the skin was slightly discolored compared to the rest of his body.

"Gahhh! it's just... haaahhh. Why are you so damn reckless all the time..."

Hummm...

She trailed off at the end of her sentence as her and Erden's focus was brought towards one particular direction, to the area where the weapon was. As they both laid their eyes on it, they were both awestruck.

"So pretty... wow! It's just... really beautiful."

"Yeah... it really is."

As they kept observing the weapon floating a few centimeters from the ground, a thought entered Erden's mind—specifically a name. A name that he had decided from the beginning that he would bestow upon this weapon. 

"Ultima Thule."

"Hmm, what?"

"Ultima Thule. That is its name."

"Ultima Thule, huh... a beautiful name for a beautiful blade."

As the adrenaline in his body started to wear off, Erden started to feel the exhaustion and pain from his previous stunts. As his mind became muddled and his body tired, he let out a few words for Calamitas before he lost consciousness.

"Now that this is over with... I'm feeling really tired... I'll leave the rest to you..."

"Yeah, you've done enough. Rest now, and leave everything else to me."

She took off her robe as she used it to cover his body. She picked him up in a princess-carry and was about to leave, before she looked back towards the floating weapon. She mused, her thoughts showing on her face.

"Now then, what should I do with you?"

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And cut!

Honestly speaking, I was hoping to move onto the world of Teyvat in the next chapter, but me and my stupid desire to be thorough with my story got in the way, and here we are.

HOPEFULLY, next chapter will be the last that we spend in Terraria for a while, as we start the first TRUE arc of the story. Expect the next chapter to be out in 3-4 days. Sorry, but I don't have an exact date for you guys, as even I don't know how long the next chapter will take.

Anyways, 5.3k words! LETS FUCKING GOOOO!

Adios!