Page 62 of Whispered Warnings: Part One

I don’t know how long I spend looking around the store, but I get completely absorbed in it, and Raiden must sense this because he just follows me around quietly and watches what I pick up. After a while, I realize that his silence might have to do with the supe behind the checkout, who is watching him with distrust in his eyes. Unfortunately, I don’t notice the way that he is looking at Raiden until I’m at the checkout, otherwise I would have insisted that we leave.

He quickly rings up everything, clearly wanting to get rid of us as quickly as possible.

“Well, that wasn’t nearly as pleasant as the coffee shop and Neera,” I say as we step outside.

“Sorry,” Raiden replies, drinking the last of his coffee and then throwing it in the trash can.

“Don’t be, it’s not your fault,” I reply, doing the same thing. “Do you want to just head home?”

Raiden shakes his head, “I’m good. Do you want to look at another store?”

“Well, if you are sure, I would love to check out the blacksmith. I saw it when we came through town on the way to the mall, and I wasn’t going to risk looking at all of the prettyswords in case my one got jealous, but I think that may be a bit ridiculous,” I explain as we start to walk down the street to the blacksmith’s store.

Both of Raiden’s eyebrows rise as he shrugs, “I don’t know, your sword does seem like it has a pretty big personality. I think if it knew that you were here, then it would definitely be jealous, but as you said, there is no way for it to know. Enchanted swords are powerful and amazing, but they are not able to know what you are doing at all times. They are also supposed to work with you. It’s not like one of you is in charge, and the other one has to listen. It’s supposed to be a partnership when it comes to enchanted weapons.”

I frown, “I bet that not all of the supernaturals that have had the privilege of an enchanted object have stuck to that hierarchy.”

“No, many of them assume that they should be the master of the weapon and then wonder why their weapon doesn’t come when it’s called or why it abandons them completely.”

“They can do that?” I ask. “Just decide that they don’t like you anymore and leave?”

Raiden frowns, “In most situations, it’s not that they don’t like you anymore, it’s that they have fulfilled their purpose with you, and it’s time to move on. I don’t know how they know that they are no longer needed, and I don’t know how they make sure that they are found by the right person. No one does, and there has been extensive research on the subject.”

“They don’t always find the right person,” I comment.

“How do you know that?”

“I’m just assuming because there is a really big market for stealing enchanted objects. All enchanted objects, not just weapons. Dimitri had a team that would go and locate the objects and then sell them in the Obsidian market,” I explain.

The Obsidian market is the equivalent of the human black market except for a few significant differences. The human black market is pretty much just a name, a place where unsavory humans can sell services and stolen goods mostly, but usually business is conducted online.

The supernatural Obsidian market is an actual market. It moves location every day, which obviously can only be achieved with magic, and it sells all things supernatural. Ingredients for spells and potions, and by that, I mean body parts of supernatural creatures and things that are really fucking difficult to get hold of. They also sell stolen goods and services. I have been to the market a couple of times, and the place disgusts and fascinates me all at the same time.

It's a really dangerous place to be, especially for a human, as humans are needed for some spells, well parts of humans at least. The only reason that I was safe was because of Dimitri, he was, is, feared amongst most supernaturals including the ones at the Obsidian market. They either feared him or wanted to get into his good books so that he would do business with them.

“Yeah, that’s true. I think it has become a lot harder for the enchanted objects to find the next person that they should be with, but I do like to think that even if they do end up getting sold at the Obsidian market, they still manage to find their person,” Raiden replies, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“Yeah, maybe,” I agree. It’s a nice thought.

Magic is obviously heavily involved with the enchanted objects, and I am sure that it has a way to make sure that the object, whether it’s a weapon or something else, still ends up in the right place.

Our conversation is put on hold as the blacksmith comes into view, and I grin with excitement.

“Hang on a moment,” Raiden says, and then adds with a chuckle, “sorry, I know that you are excited to get in, but I thinkone of the guys has an order here. I can check on the progress of it since we are here anyway, but I need to check which one of the guys had the order first.”

I nod, and try to wait patiently as Raiden taps away on his phone, thankfully he gets a response straight away, at least I assume he does because his phone makes a noise.

“Can we go in now?” I ask. I’m aware I’m being impatient, but honestly, bladed weapons are my absolute favorite thing, well, one of my favorite things.

Raiden chuckles and pulls open the door for me, “Yeah, we can go in. It was Evander who had a sword commissioned with him. He lost the last one on our last job, but he said that it won’t be ready for a while yet.”

I nod. I don’t bother to reply because I’m too excited, and I just want to get inside and see how good he really is. I need some swords made now that I’m an agent at SID. Guns have a tendency to go a bit wrong around some supernaturals, so they are good in some instances, like, for example, shooting a raging hybrid intent on eating you. In other situations, guns won’t work, and I will need a sword. If in doubt, chop the head off is usually my motto.

I could buy one readymade, but I would much rather have one made specifically for me. I know I have my enchanted sword, but I need more than the one sword, and my sword will just have to get over it if it does get jealous.

“Hey man,” the guy who is obviously the blacksmith says.

I smile, I like this guy simply because he’s talking to Raiden like they are friends and not like he is terrified of him.

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