The advancements we’ve made in technology have been astounding! The Champion is a wellspring of knowledge and ideas. The world he came from had technology far more advanced than our own. And though his world had no Ether, already he and our scientists are theorizing about ways to mix and combine the power with his home world’s technology. We are already on track to completely change life as we know it within just a few years. If we manage to maintain this pace of advancement, just what will the Empire look like decades, or even centuries from now?!

  -Excerpt from “The Champion’s Technological Revolution”

  Galen felt antsy waiting for the medication for his Ether Intolerance. Two days have passed since he was let out of the clinic. During that time, he kept up with his studies and physical training with Aleksi. However, they didn’t touch upon the subject of Ether again. Though his tutor had given him permission to study the matter on his own time, Galen had purposefully avoided it.

  He didn’t want to be tempted to try to use Ether again. Even knowing the side effects using the power would have on him, the allure of it was far too titillating. So, he’d decided to put it off until he received the promised medication.

  To keep his mind off of his troubles, both Ether and otherwise, he threw himself vigorously into his studies and physical training.

  Aleksi, for his part, had been busy as well. He’d only been around for Galen’s hand to hand and sword training, but had left him to his own devices with everything else. When he pressed his mentor about his sudden aloofness, the man merely laughed and said he was working on his own way to help Galen with his Ether troubles.

  He, of course, asked what his tutor had meant by that. Aleksi, however, cheekily replied that it was to be a “surprise.”

  This afternoon, Galen would find out what that surprise was.

  He had been in the middle of studying Avani’s history when Aleksi had all but barged into his room.

  “Lad!” his mentor called out to him with a wide grin.

  Galen, spooked by the man’s sudden and unannounced entrance, reacted by instinct.

  He hurled his book at Aleksi.

  His tutor hadn’t expected that, so the spine of the thick tome had smacked him right on the nose.

  “Oof!” Aleksi rubbed his nose soothingly, “jumpy one, aren’t you, lad? That’s good! It’s good to be alert for danger. Just make sure you don’t accidentally hurl a knife at someone who doesn’t deserve it.”

  Galen noticed that his mentor’s nose wasn’t broken or bleeding. The man had no doubt used Ether to enhance his durability before the book had hit him. He tried not to feel envious about that.

  “Considering you barged into my room without announcing yourself, I’m guessing this is important?”

  “Very!” his tutor’s eyes seemed to beam alongside his smile, “remember how I told you I was working on a way to help you with your Ether troubles? Well, rejoice, lad! I’ve managed to get the approval I need for that!”

  “Approval for what?”

  Somehow, Aleksi’s grin widened further, “To get you a powerful weapon, of course!”

  Galen felt his lips twitch upwards, “NOW we’re talking! What kind of weapon is it?!”

  “It won’t cure your Ether Intolerance, but it is a powerful tool that will serve as a good workaround from what I’ve been told,” Aleksi began to walk towards the door, “come, it’ll be explained once we find you a fitting weapon.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Why…” Aleksi turned with his brows raised in a theatrical fashion, “the armory of Ignis, of course.”

  ***

  Student and teacher eagerly walked through the halls of the castle, and upon reaching a specific stairwell, Aleksi had grabbed a lantern, lit it up with an Ether-light. Much of the technology here, Galen found, somehow ran on Ether rather than electricity. Which isn’t to say the Dominion didn’t use electricity, just that Ether was preferred.

  The two begun to climb down.

  And down.

  And further down, still.

  Galen’s feet and knees were starting to hurt.

  “How much farther? How far down are we going?” Galen cringed at how whiny he sounded.

  “Patience, lad,” Aleksi gave him a glance over his shoulder, “the armory is several floors deep under the castle. The specific area we’re heading to is in the deeper levels. We’ll be meeting with some guards that will guide us to that area, since I have no idea where it is.”

  “You don’t?”

  “Heavens no! Before you showed up, lad, I wasn’t so important that the Dominion shared all its secrets with me. Even now, that remains true. Athanasius is very cautious about who knows what, and he’s not known to share all his secrets with those outside his innermost circles. So don’t be surprised if our guides are a bit… secretive.”

  “Noted.”

  After who knows how many stairs, Galen and Aleksi finally arrived in front of a set of double doors that were absolutely MASSIVE. They were at least twenty feet tall, and wide enough for a herd of elephants to easily pass through. In front of the doors, was a group of armored soldiers who no doubt guarded the entrance to the armory.

  They weren’t what surprised Galen.

  It was the fact that Milton was among them.

  The nerdy scribe beamed as Galen and Aleksi approached, “Ah! Honored Champion! Welcome to the armory of Ignis. It will be our privilege to aid you today.”

  From the look on Aleksi’s face, Galen figured his tutor hadn’t expected Milton to be one of the guides.

  His mentor recovered quickly from his surprise, however, as he gave a polite smile to the scribe, “Ah! Milton, it’s good to see you again. I suppose I shouldn’t be shocked that they sent a scribe to aid the Champion. Especially one such as you.”

  Milton returned the smile and greeting, “It is good to see you as well, Aleksi. And your words do me honor.”

  Huh… it seems Aleksi’s on a lot better terms with Milton than he was with Arawn, Galen noted, that’s good, I guess. That means this trek through their armory won’t be too awkward. Now, if it had been Arawn instead of Milton…

  Galen shuddered at the thought. That man rubbed him the wrong way for some reason.

  Milton noticed his shudder and asked, “Are you alright, Champion? Feeling a bit chilly?”

  Now that the scribe mentioned it, it was noticeably cooler here than it had been in the castle. And considering the castle had air conditioning, something which he STILL couldn’t get over, that meant this underground area was quite cold.

  It was especially noteworthy considering how damn perpetually hot Ignis was.

  Did I mention how much I hate summer already? Galen wondered to no one in particular.

  To Milton, he answered, “I guess it is a bit colder here than I had been expecting.”

  Milton chuckled, “Everyone who comes down here says that. Worry not. A bit of cold won’t kill you.”

  The scribe then began to look bashful, and even awkward, as he pulled out two white cloths, “Now, this is going to be awkward to ask of you, honored Champion… but both you and Aleksi are going to need to put these blindfolds on.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Well…” Milton shuffled his feet awkwardly, “you see, Champion-”

  “You don’t trust me enough yet to see what kinds of weapons you have stored in here. Am I right?” he interrupted.

  Milton had started saying something, but he waved his concern away with an understanding smile, “It’s fine, Milton. I haven’t exactly proven my worth to the Dominion yet. So this doesn’t surprise me much. What I am wondering though, is that if you’re gonna go through this much effort to maintain secrecy, why not just take the weapons out and bring them to me for choosing?”

  “A fine question, Champion,” Milton complimented, “the reason for that is because the weapons you’ll be seeing are… special. They won’t take kindly to being moved about like that only to be brought back later.”

  Galen frowned at that, “You almost make it sound like the weapons are alive.”

  Milton and one of the guards exchanged a glance.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Something like that,” Milton said with a nervous chuckle.

  Galen felt a bead of sweat drop down the side of his face.

  “Don’t worry, Champion. I can assure you that you’ll be safe as you choose your weapon…” Milton reassured him.

  He could have sworn he heard the unspoken, “Probably…” in that statement.

  He glanced to Aleksi, who simply shrugged. Apparently his mentor was just as much in the dark about this as he was.

  As the two put on their blindfolds, Galen wondered, Just what am I walking into here?

  ***

  It felt unnerving walking in pitch black darkness. Though Milton and the accompanying guards were gentle in guiding him and Aleksi, Galen still didn’t trust them all that much. Milton, he was coming around to, since the scribe seemed nice enough. But he wasn’t on Aleksi’s level in terms of how much he was willing to trust him.

  So, with his nerves flaring and heart racing, he allowed the guards to guide him through the darkness. It felt like an eternity passed by the time he was stopped. He heard the sound of massive doors opening, and Galen was reminded of the same sound earlier when the guards had opened the entrance of the armory.

  Those doors had to weigh who knows how many pounds, and yet the guards had managed to open the entrance… Galen marveled.

  He hoped he would get over his Ether Intolerance soon. The idea of going against people with that kind of strength was terrifying. At the same time, the idea of wielding that kind of power himself was… exciting.

  And that made the prospect of learning to use it equally scary.

  Power tended to corrupt those who wielded it. Galen hoped to God that he wouldn’t end up a power hungry tyrant.

  He was gently ushered into the room that had just been opened, shaking him from his thoughts. Once they were inside, he heard the doors slowly closing, and then his blindfold was finally taken off.

  He had to blink several times, his eyes watering, as he adjusted to the surprisingly bright room he was in. Once his sight adjusted, his jaw dropped.

  “Whoa…” Galen gasped.

  This room of the armory was absolutely massive. He figured the size of the room to be about the size of a football field. Sealed barrels, boxes, and other containers filled the space, and along the walls hung a myriad of weapons.

  Swords, bows, axes, shields, etc.

  Every kind of medieval era weapon that one could think of and more hung along the walls. And every single of them had a unique design. They all appeared to be diligently well maintained, and each held a shine to them that testified to that fact.

  “This,” Milton announced, “is the room of the Sentient Weapons.”

  Galen froze, “Did you say… ‘sentient?’ So these weapons are alive?!”

  “Yes, though you shouldn’t worry, Champion. They are currently asleep. And have been for a long time,” the scribe explained.

  “Incredible,” Aleksi suddenly whispered.

  He and Milton turned to see the man turning in a slow circle, taking the spacious storage in.

  He looked nervous for some reason. Galen figured the man was just as unnerved as he was about the “Sentient Weapons” bit.

  “Are you alright, Aleksi?” Milton asked.

  The man took a moment to compose himself, “Yes, I’m fine. It’s just… it took us a few minutes of walking to get here. And this is just one room! I shudder to ponder upon just how large this entire armory must be.”

  “It is a lot to take in, is it not?” Milton smiled, his eyes shining with pride, “this room we’re in… the weapons you see in here are the result of technology that was created over centuries of study and experimentation. The Sentient Weapons Program was one that was made to help combat against the other Realms…”

  Milton suddenly paused, and then hastily added, “In case they ever invade us, of course! Such a scenario can only come about if they manage to find a reliable way to trek the Void Sea. Which, admittedly, isn’t very likely. But Lord Athanasius, in his divine wisdom, would rather be prepared. And who are we to question his holy highness?”

  “The Void Sea…” Galen echoed, “what exactly is it?”

  He had seen the term here and there in his studies, but all the books he’d read and studied so far had been rather vague about it. Almost to the point of being evasive.

  “That’s a subject that I’ll leave to Aleksi to teach you. Should he see fit to include it in your lessons, that is,” Milton said.

  Galen turned to his tutor, who smiled, “We’ll cover it eventually. It is a rather long topic. For now, I’ll just say that the Void Sea was created after the Great Fragmentation, and it is a spacial rift that tenuously forms an unstable connection between the Realms of Avani.”

  That only made him even more curious, but he dropped the subject for now. He was here to claim a weapon, not receive a lecture.

  Galen returned his attention to Milton, “So, you mentioned this… ‘Sentient Weapons Program…’ These weapons are the result of that?”

  “Correct!” Milton said excitedly, “to make a long story short, there were many experiments done in an attempt to create a weapon that could fight and think alongside its Wielder. Most of the failures were scrapped. The ones in the containers and barrels here are also failures, as their makers failed to bestow intelligence to them. However, they were still good enough weapons that scrapping them was deemed to be too much of a waste. The ones on the walls… now those proved to be successful. The ones you see here are the first generation. They were the first to be made after the prototypes proved fruitful. Each weapon, as it was made, was also created with an artificial intelligence.”

  Galen nearly let out a choking sound at that bit.

  Artificial Intelligence?! The Dominion has access to Artificial Intelligence?! What’s with the inconsistent technology of this world?!

  The inconsistency utterly baffled him.

  Air conditioning, television screens, airships, and now artificial intelligence were all achieved by the Dominion.

  Yet they didn’t seem to possess widespread wireless communications. Nor did they appear to possess firearms, as many of the soldiers are seen wielding medieval weaponry.

  He doubted he’d get any answers if he asked about this strange technological conundrum, so he didn’t bother to ask.

  Putting that matter aside, he cleared his throat, and tried to keep the fear from his voice as he asked the excited scribe, “So, are these weapons the only thing that were made with an Artificial Intelligence?”

  The scribe nodded, and surprisingly looked bashful as he remarked, “Yes… The first generation of Sentient Weapons were made so that their artificial minds would grow the longer they were… alive? No, I believe operational is a better word to describe them. However… there was a problem…”

  Galen stared at the scribe, waiting for him to explain.

  Milton frowned as he reluctantly finished, “Well, you see… the problem was that the minds of the first generation developed… strangely. To this day, we don’t know if it was because of their Wielders or because of the people they interacted with but… the first ones developed rather eccentric personalities.”

  That made sense. He remembered hearing a similar story back on Earth, where an A.I. was made and allowed to explore the Internet. In a completely unsurprising and highly amusing twist, the A.I. had quickly become horrendously racist and even began quoting and praising the manifestos of some of the most evil dictators in history.

  Funny that something similar seemed to have happened here, though it seems like it wasn’t nearly as bad as that experiment on Earth. Makes me wonder if human nature is universal in all humans, regardless of world.

  Galen took a moment to take in all this information before he asked, “So… what exactly do these Sentient Weapons do for their Wielders?”

  “Many things,” Milton took off his glasses and wiped them clean as he explained, “for one, Sentient Weapons can think independently from its user. It can alert its Wielder to dangers and give them advice among other things. They can also independently take in Ether, and can pass that stored power along to its master to replenish their Capacity as the Wielder sees fit. Most amazingly of all, however, is that Sentient Weapons can either use the Ether it has stored or tap directly into its Wielder’s Capacity to cast Arts on behalf of its master. As well as granting their user access to the accumulated muscle memory and instincts of all its previous Wielders..”

  “What?!” Aleksi cried out.

  Galen flinched. He had nearly forgotten his tutor was here.

  “Are you certain?” Aleksi quickly approached Milton, “they can really do that?”

  Milton took a step back in surprise as he put his now clean glasses back on, “Uh… yes. That’s what I was told, anyway.”

  Milton’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, as if asking, “Why the sudden interest?”

  Aleksi grinned and turned to Galen, “Looks like this is going to help you with your Ether Intolerance more than I realized.”

  Milton’s eyes widened in realization.

  Galen simply frowned, confused, “How?”

  “Don’t you see, Champion?” Milton began, “with a Sentient Weapon, you’d be able to cast Arts without using Ether yourself, bypassing the negative effects of your Ether Intolerance!”

  “Seriously?!” Galen asked with surprise.

  “You seem to be able to store Ether just fine without triggering an adverse reaction,” Aleksi reminded him, “if these Sentient Weapons can do what Milton says they can, then your weapon can simply pull the Ether from you and use it in your stead.”

  Milton quickly added, “Just to be clear, this wouldn’t be an entirely perfect solution. Sentient Weapons, to my knowledge, cannot empower your body for you. That is something that you will still need to do yourself. But they can, at least, cast Arts on your behalf. And with how powerful Arts can be… this should prove to be a massive boon for you, Champion!”

  Galen slowly nodded, and turned to Aleksi, “You’re gonna need to teach me about Arts. If I knew what those were and what they did, I get the feeling I’d be more excited.”

  Aleksi nodded, “We’ll get to it when we get to it.”

  This man is such a tease… Galen thought with amused annoyance.

  “Alright then,” he looked around the Sentient Weapons hanging on the walls, “how do we go about this? Do I just pick one or…”

  “You can. However, something to keep in mind about the first generation is that they can be… rather picky about who wields them. It’s another unforeseen flaw that likely resulted from forming their eccentric personalities,” Milton answered.

  “Well, that naturally raises two questions,” Galen pointed out.

  Milton eagerly nodded, and waited to answer.

  “For one, how many generations of these things are there?”

  “I believe the current models are the third generation,” Milton answered.

  “Okay, next question. Why don’t we just get me a third generation Weapon then?” Galen pointed out.

  “A good question,” Milton paused, pushing his glasses up further his nose, “well… I mean no offense, Champion… but you yourself said it at the entrance…”

  “I haven’t proven myself to the Dominion yet…” Galen grumpily quoted himself.

  Milton nodded apologetically, “That is one reason. Another is that if you can master a more flawed, older variant, then you’d be that much more effective with a more up to date model.”

  “I guess...” he muttered.

  Aleksi grinned, “Well. The way I see it, you’re still getting access to a weapon many can only dream of having.”

  “That’s true…” Galen admitted, mentally kicking himself for being ungrateful.

  “Well. You should get to it! The sooner you pick one-” Aleksi paused, frowning in sudden confusion, “or one picks you… however this works… the sooner you can train with it.”

  Galen looked around the spacious room and saw all the Sentient Weapons hanging from the walls. He took a deep breath, and began to slowly walk down alongside one side, looking at each weapon.

  This was going to take a while…