Bound by Hellfire

Chapter 18

"What business do you have here?" A burly voice questioned from my left.

The sigh I had released quickly turned into a yelp as I jumped to the opposite direction, knocking over a barrel of tools. Metal crashed to the floor, and my face winced as the sound of the breaking instruments echoed through the room. I turned to look toward the voice, more embarrassed than afraid.

A large man stepped out from the darkness. His fur was golden blonde, but the light of the furnace revealed the gray hairs that intertwined. His face was stern, and feral, lined with three scars that trailed down from a patch of baldness on the right of his face. The scar in the middle sliced through his eye, leaving only the left to glow a fiendish yellow from the darkness.

"Do you understand me?" His voice boomed.

I blinked a few times. Trying to shake away how startled I had become.

"Y-yes, I understand you," I replied.

The man grumbled as he lifted one of his hands to his face. He scratched at the fur that hung from his chin, which I noticed now, looked very similar to a human beard. Specks of ash sprinkled down from the web of hair, whisking away into the stretches of the room.

"What is your business?" He grumbled again.

"I'm looking for someone who can answer some of my questions. I don't know anything about where I am or what's going on and Hakura said that the people in the village might be able to help me."

The man limped toward the furnace. His stature covered the light, leaving a halo of radiance in the room.  He gripped a rod from the side of the furnace, poking and prodding at the smoldering coals within before sitting the tool back on its rack.

"The chief said that there would be visitors."

He turned his head to face me. His one working eye sending a chill down my spine.

"But I am in no mood for company, or questions, therefore your business is unwelcome here."

His body turned back toward the furnace, once again fiddling with the coals.

"Please, sir! No one has helped me and the last thing I want to do is be unprepared when that thing comes back."

This wasn't a total lie. Technically I hadn't talked to anyone else besides Hakura and that had been brief, to say the least.

"You can't prepare."

The door of the furnace clanged shut, dimming the light in the room. The man stepped back toward the darkness on the walls, pulling on a rope that hung from the ceiling. In an instant, the walls ignited with light as a trail of fire slithered through indents in the stone. The room was now alive, burning brightly as the flames reached each corner of the room.

The walls were now visible, revealing hundreds of beautifully crafted weapons hanging on every inch of surface area. The silver blades glowed under the firelight, glinting my reflection back at me. Swords, spears, knives, there were variations of every type of weapon. Each with its own crafted textures.

"This is what it looks like to prepare," The man grumbled. "And look where that got us."

My eyes glanced back toward the man. 

"They're beautiful," I exclaimed.

"Beauty doesn't kill," The man mumbled in response.

"You're saying that all of these weapons are useless?"

"Against a Sin. You'd be lucky to get your blade anywhere near it, and even if you did, there isn't a metal that exists sharp enough to pierce its skin."