Page 25 of Frostforge: Passage Two

"Whoever is behind this knows exactly what they're doing," she said softly."They're counting on no one noticing until it's too late."

"They didn't count on you," Luna replied, her voice equally soft but filled with certainty."That may be their biggest mistake."

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Thalia cradled the steel ingot in her palm, its weight familiar but its essence wrong.The metal felt hollow, devoid of the thrumming energy that normally pulsed beneath her fingertips when she handled Frostforge materials.Dawn had barely broken over the academy's frost-encrusted spires, casting long shadows across the empty forge as she arrived early, determined to have Instructor Wolfe confirm what she already knew — someone had replaced their high-quality ores with inferior substitutes.

The forge itself was eerily quiet without the usual clanging of hammers and hissing of quench tanks.Embers glowed in the main hearth, casting flickering red-orange light across the stone walls.Thalia's footsteps echoed as she navigated between workstations, her breath creating small clouds in the frigid morning air.

Instructor Wolfe stood at the far end of the forge, inspecting a set of tools with methodical precision.Her weathered hands moved with practiced efficiency, sorting tongs and hammers by size and function.She didn't look up when Thalia approached, though the subtle tightening of her shoulders indicated she was aware of the intrusion.

"Instructor," Thalia began, her voice cutting through the quiet with unexpected volume."I need to report something."

Wolfe turned, her expression impassive."Greenspire.You're early."

Thalia held out the ingot, balancing it on her open palm."The metals, Instructor.They've been changed.This isn't the same steel we've been working with."

Wolfe's eyebrows rose slightly — the closest thing to surprise Thalia had ever seen on the woman's face.She took the ingot, hefting it with expert hands, then ran a fingertip along its surface."Looks standard to me."

"But it's not," Thalia insisted, fighting to keep frustration from her voice."The currents are different.Weaker.Less...pure."She struggled to articulate what she felt so clearly — the absence of that singing resonance that had guided her hands when crafting her golem components.

Wolfe's gaze sharpened, studying Thalia's face with newfound interest."Currents?"

"In the metal," Thalia explained, gesturing vaguely."The magic flow.It's like...like comparing fresh spring water to stagnant puddles.The same basic substance, but fundamentally different."

Wolfe turned the ingot over once more, her expression betraying nothing."And you can...feel this difference?"

"Can't you?"The question escaped before Thalia could stop it, and the realization struck her like a physical blow.Wolfe couldn't sense it.Her Instructor — one of the most accomplished metallurgists at the academy — couldn't detect what seemed painfully obvious to Thalia.

Wolfe handed the ingot back, her movements deliberate."I appreciate your attention to detail, Greenspire, but this steel meets academy standards.Focus on your golem.First-years with half-built constructs shouldn't concern themselves with material sourcing."The dismissal in her tone was unmistakable.

"But—"

"That will be all."Wolfe turned away, effectively ending the conversation.

Thalia stood frozen, the ingot cold against her skin.The revelation of her unique sensitivity left her mind reeling.If Wolfe couldn't sense the difference in the metal, who could?And if no one else could detect the substitution, how would she ever prove what was happening?

With reluctant steps, she made her way to her workstation, where her partially completed golem waited.Unlike the rigid, militaristic designs favored by her Northern classmates, Thalia's construct bore more organic lines — a fusion of function and fluid form.She'd chosen brass for its superior conductivity of certain magical currents despite the odd looks it had earned her.The golem's torso, head, and arms were complete, the metal polished to a warm golden sheen that caught the light from the forge fires.

She ran her fingers along the smooth brass shoulder joint, feeling the faint magical signature she'd painstakingly worked into the metal.Hours of careful tempering, cooling, and infusion had created a vessel that could theoretically house a magical core.It was beautiful, in its way — a testament to what she'd learned since arriving at Frostforge.

But would it be enough?The thought of creating a permanent core from the substandard materials now available filled her with dread.She had dug through the metal stores for quality brass, but what if there were impurities within the metal that even she couldn’t feel?

The forge's heavy door creaked open, and students began to file in, their voices shattering the morning quiet.They moved to their workstations with varying degrees of confidence, some eyeing their half-built constructs with obvious pride, others with thinly-veiled concern.Northern accents dominated the chatter — sharp, clipped syllables that still sounded foreign to Thalia's ear after months at the academy.

Instructor Wolfe strode to the front of the forge, placing a golem heart on the demonstration table with ceremonial precision.Silence fell immediately.

"Today," Wolfe announced, her voice carrying effortlessly across the space, "you will test your constructs for animation compatibility.Consider this a checkpoint.Many of you —" her gaze lingered briefly on several workstations, "— will likely need to start from scratch after today's test."

A ripple of anxiety passed through the room.Starting over would put any student weeks behind, a potentially devastating setback.

"When you craft your permanent cores, you will have one chance.One."Wolfe's voice hardened."That is why we test now — to avoid wasting valuable materials and time."

With a few deft taps of her fingertips, Wolfe activated the heart.The sphere hummed to life, a soft blue glow emanating from within, pulsing like a heartbeat.The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees as ice magic radiated from the device.

"We'll proceed in sequence," Wolfe said, lifting the now-active heart and moving toward the first workstation.

A Northern girl with platinum braids stood stiffly beside her iron construct — a hulking, broad-shouldered design typical of Northern military specifications.Her face was pale, hands clasped tightly behind her back as Wolfe approached.

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