Walking through the terrain, he couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the planet despite his mood. The rolling grass and high-rising trees gave such a surreal experience. Durax wondered how no sentient species had come int existence on this planet: it had a climate where life could prosper. He didn't have a fantastic sense of how life usually came to be, as his race was created and not naturally developed, but the fact that only plants existed here surprised him.

While pondering these thoughts, the dragonborn completely lost track of time and the scenery around him. As he was walking, his foot caught on a deeply wedged rock, causing him to fall over... in a topographically diverse climate... in a full suit of armor. He tumbled down the slope he was on, clanking and cursing in draconic the entire way down, until he reached the bottom.

Durax laid there for a second, wondering if getting up would be worth it. Finally, with a heavy sigh, he picked himself and checked for any damages to himself or his equipment. No serious damages to his equipment; it seemed as if his armor (and body) had absorbed most of the impact. He went through his pack and drank some water, then examined his body for any serious injuries.

Looking over himself made him very glad for his draconic heritage. Examining his body for wounds, he found that if not for his metallic scales and superdense skeletal and muscular systems, he would have broken several bones, snapped his spine, and probably have a bad concussion. The only thing that still was bothering him was his foot that had hit the rock.

He looked at his foot, and received a shock.

His foot had had a piece of the rock imbedded into it, but that wasn't  the issue; Durax could heal that. The surprising part was that the rock was glowing.

Durax stared in amazement at the beautiful blue hue for what seemed like forever, despite it only being a few minutes. The calming turquoise color seemed to be calming, as if it was meant to protect. Durax eventually yanked the crystalline substance out, and was surprised to find that the wound on his foot was much bigger than the size of the crystal, as if the light had contributed to it. He pumped some healing magic into it, and the wound closed up. 

Durax began to climb the steep slope he had fallen down, determined to find that rock.

After what seemed like ages, he finally reached the top, breathing heavily. Despite the advanced physical prowess given to him by his draconic heritage, it was still tough to climb such a steep slope in full armor and equipment. He looked over his right shoulder, and immediately scolded himself. If he hadn't been trapped inside of his own thoughts, he easily would have spotted it. laying there was a huge two-meter wide chunk of glowing blue crystal jutting out of the ground. Durax went over to examine it, and prodded it with the end of his sword. According to their description, this was the rock that he was sent to get for the Immortals, but something seemed off about it, almost as if there were some supernatural property to it.

Durax got to work, taking the digging equipment from his pack, and furiously working to dig up the crystal, getting it out in no time at all. The crystal only had a diameter of about half a meter: not too huge to fit into his pack, but large enough to be a decent specimen for research. The sun was setting, and Durax hurried back to his ship, wanting to get to a safe place before the land was covered in darkness. Durax stored the strange rock on the shelf next to his bed, taking special care to keep it in a safe, tucked-away spot. Durax laid down on his bed, ready to return the next morning. His reptilian eyes closed, and the dragonborn fell into a peaceful, undisturbed sleep.

The next morning, Durax woke up, and began to make preparations for exiting the planet. Before leaving, he planted a marker upon the hill where he found the crystal, made sure he had enough fuel, and checked that he hadn't lost his supplies. After assuring that everything was in order, he loaded everything onto his ship, and set in the coordinates for Apex 122: Immortal HQ. The ship lifted off of the ground, and flung itself out of the beautiful planet's atmosphere.

Space fascinated Durax so much. He remembered the times he spent as a child on Cre'sarak, staring up at the night sky. There was no light pollution there, and there he could see the entire galaxy spiraling through the universe. He had heard his father talk about spacemen who traveled around the stars, who went on breathtaking adventures from planet to planet. Durax let out a chuckle. It was ironic that the things that so fascinated him as a child had become a pard of his adult life: things he took now for granted. He guessed that everybody got that way; the wonder of the universe seemed to dim as one aged.

Durax was lost in thought until the computer came on, telling him that they were soon to land on Apex 122. He turned off the autopilot, and landed in the dock of HQ. The ship doors opened, and he walked out. He read a quick map, and began walking toward the science wing, where he hoed to find who he had been instructed to: a man named Klaut.

Durax was not prepared for the dwarf.

As he walked into the laboratory, the first thing he spotted was the gleaming red. The dwarf's hair and beard were large, even for a dwarf, and gave such a hue that it would make a cardinal jealous. Durax recounted flames he had seen that paled in comparison. Thankfully the dwarf's back was turned, and Durax had the time to stop staring before realizing that he had intruded without knocking. He stealthily took a step out of the door, the knocked on it. 

"Yes, yes, come on in," said a friendly voice which Durax assumed to be the dwarf. The dragonborn obliged, and stepped into the room once more. 

"Hello, sir. I am sir Durax Zveldheim. I have been sent to see mister Klaut, and I was wondering if you might point me in the direction of him." Getting a better look at the dwarf, it was apparent that he had been fidgeting with a socket wrench while scribbling down some notes. Whoever this was, it surprised Durax that they were even allowed to be near the dangerous scientific equipment, though the dwarf's warm smile beamed kindness.


The dwarf cocked an eyebrow, then pointed a thumb at himself. "You're looking at him, son."

Durax marveled at the enthusiasm. Very rarely does a person work for so long, and still enjoy their job, but the dwarf obviously enjoyed himself as if this was his first day there. He went to work straight away, measuring the dimensions and mass of the object, taking samples of the some loose bits of the crystal, and smiling all the way through. After what seemed like very little time, the old dwarf turned to Durax with a friendly eyebrow raised. "Did Sylvia specify what this crystal was for."

After realizing that the dwarf was talking about Ms. Roothearth (he wasn't used to her being called Sylvia), he mentally scolded himself for not mentioning it before. "Oh, yes she did, I apologize, sir. I don't exactly remember, but it was something about a shield."


The dwarf's smile went so wide that Durax thought his head was going to tear in half. 


"OH, YOU'RE THE DRAGON GUY!!!! Yes, please stick around, we have work to do!"

Over the next couple of days, Durax acted as a "lab assistant" to Klaut, although most of the time, his clumsiness got him in the way instead of him helping. On the third day, however, the dwarf came up to Durax with a pondering look on his face.

"Have you noticed anything strange about these?" He gestured to a pile of crystals at the side of the room. On the first day, Klaut had asked Durax to show a scouting party where he had found the crystal, and since then, they had been bringing back a small shipment every day.

The dragonborn pondered for a moment. he was sure he had noticed something odd on his first trip, but he wasn't sure what. Finally, the lightbulb clicked in his head. He went and got the chunk that had gotten stuck in his foot, then pulled off his boot to show the wound. He explained teh situation resulting in the injury, then continued.

"This wound is significantly larger than the crystal shard itself. Perhaps it was reacting to me touching it, or something in my blood?"

The next day, the dwarf told Durax the news that he had tried enacting blood on the crystals, bit nothing had happened. "Is there anything special about your blood?" Klaut asked kindly. It was clear that he didn't handle blood well, and Durax, considering his kind nature, guessed he didn't like sticking needles into people.

Durax pondered, then responded. "Draconic blood tries to carry a certain energy to it. Could you try to test it with my blood." He placed his arm down onto the table, and closed his eyes. 


It sounded silly, but Durax HATED needles. It didn't help, however, when the blood draw had to happen several times to get sufficient samples and that the needle constantly broke on his metallic skin. a couple of times, the when the needle actually got through the scales, it would hit an incorrect spot, and it would have to be redone again. After about an hour and a half the  draw was complete. Klaut sent Durax home to rest, and told him to get lots of fluids. He requested that the dragonborn come back the next day.

The next day Durax came in to the room, only to experience a beaming dwarf, and in front of him on a desk was a small object, which seemed like a toy version of a shield. Durax pointed at it and cocked an eyebrow, and the red-haired dwarf laughed a hearty chuckle.

"This here is the *ahem* 'prototype of the invention you were sent to receive the crystals for: the light shield." He sounded like he was trying to stress the word prototype, but still maintained a happy expression. He motioned to the small object, and said "When I subjected the crystals to your blood under a microscope, I found that when the crystals came in contact with your draconic energy, they made the light radiating off of them vibrate extremely quickly. So quickly, in fact, that objects and even many forms of energy could pass through the barrier due to the rapidly moving particles cutting them off." The dwarf had that "Christmas" face again. Durax pretended to understand, but science had never been a strong suit for him.

The dwarf went on, pointing to the prototype. "This sends an electrical surge through to the crystal, making tose light waves. There are slots on the sides, which allow it to come out in a shield-like pattern."

Klaut's expression soured, however.

Durax, speaking for the first time today, asked, "But what's the catch?" cocking an eyebrow. He had learned that usually when things were going well, there was always a wrench thrown into it.


The dwarf scratched the back of his head, sheepishly. "We can't.. exactly... shape it well. The shield breaks fairly easily, and the power supply doesn't last for long."


Durax chuckled. "That doesn't make for much of a shield then, now does it," he said jokingly. He realized that that could be considered as taunting too late, but thankfully, the dwarf chuckled as well. "Perhaps I could put some enchantments on it to help with those?"


Klaut nodded, and Durax was sent back home with the prototype, instructed to do his work, and take as much time as needed.

Simple runes had been fairly easy for Durax in the past. Too bad these were no simple runes.

He spent the next week creating enchantments upon the shield. Some of them would fail or not be drwn properly (the shield was small, so the writing was difficult), causing Durax to have to erase the runes most of the time. He only took a break to eat drink and sleep; his loyalty to his new family motivated him to continuously work. The excessive use of his magical power was exhausting, and he would even fall asleep while working at times.

Finally, the dragonborn wasfinished. He looked at the draconic runes that he had inscribed on the shield. 

"Troth," meaning "protect." He used this to further the protective capabilities of the shield.

"Dastudr," meaning "strength." This was in order to combat the shield's original fragility. It would no longer shatter unless under extreme amounts of stress.

"Adon," meaning "form." This would keep the light in a normal, rectangular shape, so now it would be more easily used.

Finally "enel" and "clax persvek": "trust" and "take in." He did this to solve the problem with a worn out battery. He put "trust" in order to make it more reliable- less easy for the battery to falter. The "take in" rune was meant for a combat use; the shield would now absorb a fraction of the energy applied upon it, whether kinetic from bullets or radiant from plasma, and add it back to the shield's battery. The shield would still eventually run out, but it would take significantly longer.

Seeing that his work was done, Durax collapsed on his bed, and passed out from the exhaustion.

Upon waking up: he looked at the clock and nearly choked. He had been asleep for 2 days. He quickly got up and got ready. As he was running out the door, he took the now-enchanted prototype from his desk. He proceeded to sprit the mile and a half to Klaut's lab.

He burst through the door. "OhmygodsosorryI'mlatesosorryI'mlatesosorryI'mlatesosorryI'mlate," he said, rapid fire, breathing heavily. The dwarf looked at him, cracked a smile, and then began dying of laughter. 


"I told you to take all the time you needed, don't worry!" Klaut said in between spasms of laughter. "Bring the prototype over here, and we'll see the work you've accomplished."

After Durax showed him the runes, Klaut nodded and grinned. "Good work, son. Now it's time to put our new equipment to the test."

They spent the rest of the day testing the shield. They tested it's durability and battery life, and Durax was proud to hear that they had improved drastically. They returned back to the lab, giddy because of the results.

"Looks like quite a "BRIGHT" future for us immortals," the dwarf joked, elbowing Durax in the side.

The dragonborn chuckled. "Indeed it does, friend."


[End]