Fire soon found his friends in the Alchemist Guild. They were located in the lab of one Egis Degons, an Eye-and-Claws alchemist who had no small part in the discovery of the leader of the conspiracy. As a whole they looked fairly battered. freeZe was starting to properly recover from her wounds but was still in pain when she tried moving too much. Unchosen was only barely awake, having insisted to wait for Fire's return after spending a night brewing. Fire wasn't off that well either, it would take several days for him to be back in good condition. TehLulz had it the worst, the potion had worn off and he was now feeling the aftermath, it was unclear for how long it would last.
Fire advised his friends to get some rest before their departure, they gladly agreed and made their way over to Shadow's house, leaving Fire at the guild with Egis and Undira. He would have liked to lie down as well but he had a couple of things to take care of.
"Hello again Undira." Fire said.
Undira replied. "Hey Fire. I'm glad you're not… dead."
Fire nodded. "Give me your hand. I need to finalize your mark."
Undira eagerly extended her right hand. Fire took it with his own, then hovered his left index finger above the unfinished mark. It took a few seconds to gather the energy for the process, the silver's influence on Fire still had not gone away entirely. Undira flinched as the claw scratches appeared beneath the eye and finalized the mark.
Fire said: "Egis, I need your hand as well."
"Of course." Egis said.
What Fire did now was a little more complicated. Finalizing a mark was one thing, raising a mark's position in the hierarchy was another. Of course the only thing that made it difficult was, again, the silver. After Fire was done with Egis' mark he stepped back.
"You two now possess the highest rank within the Eye-and-Claws." He looked to Undira. "It is not standard procedure to immediately grant the highest ranking mark to new recruits but you have more than proven that you are suitable for the position, especially since you know what I really am."
"Thank you." Undira said.
Fire continued: "Both of you are formally invited to Drandin, your skills are very welcome there."
Egis spoke first: "I am honored. Now that my longest standing research project is finished, a change of scenery would be welcome."
Undira said to Egis: "Just let me know when you're leaving, it would be nice to not have to travel alone." She turned to Fire. "Fire, you aren't going directly to Drandin, with that hacker situation and everything, right?"
Fire nodded. "Correct. As nice as it would be to stay and talk to you, I need to meet back up with Shadow. There is an Axe to be collected."
After leaving the Alchemist Guild, Fire's next destination was the royal palace. Shadow was waiting for him outside the gate, still far from her usual appearance.
As Fire approached her he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulders and pressure on his back and chest. A look to the ground confirmed his suspicions.
He said: "Wodahs, I know you're glad that I'm back but no sudden shadow hugs please."
Shadow chuckled. "Sorry, she gets a lot more confident when we're in this unbound form."
The writhing mass of shadows on the ground retreated from Fire and returned to her owner, doing her best to conform to a believable shape. Only a few seconds later Wodahs gave up and went back to being a writhing mass of shadows.
They entered the palace together and proceeded through the entrance hall, towards the throne room. Everyone immediately made room for them.
Shadow turned to Fire and said: "Jack will probably follow us after we leave. Any plans for that?"
Fire replied: "He knows that attacking us is a bad idea, I am fairly certain that he will do nothing to get in our way. I don't know whether this applies to the other hackers though, so best be on your guard, the rest of us are quite defenseless in our current state."
Their conversation came to a halt, they had reached the throne room. The throne room was mostly made from artificial bedrock, the decorative quartz pillars on the sides stood in an intense contrast to the otherwise dark room. A masterfully woven red carpet extended all the way from the door to the throne. The throne had a simple, yet imposing angular design. On the throne sat Hadrin Lichslayer of Rockhaven, to his left stood Captain Bedrock, no one else was in the room.
Fire and Shadow stood before Hadrin and bowed, he said: "You may rise. Thank you for both of your assistance in defending Rockhaven, my decision to give the Axe into your custody was without a doubt the correct one." He nodded to the side. "Bedrock, the Axe."
Bedrock reached behind the throne and presented the Axe of Eric the Viking. It was an ornate two-headed battleaxe made from a black metal with elaborate golden decorations all over, the blades seamlessly transitioned into the handle. One might believe that the black metal was firesteel but on closer inspection it looked somehow different. In truth, the Axe was not made of any known material, as a component of the Ban Hammer it was unique and refused analysis.
Fire reached out and carefully took the Axe from Bedrock's hands. An immense but undirected feeling of power radiated from the Axe into Fire's palms, this truly was a powerful weapon.
"We thank you." He said.
With a nod Hadrin said: "Take good care of it, my friends."
Fire and Shadow turned around and left. The people in the entrance hall gave them even more space now that Fire was holding the very thing that had been the symbol of Rockhaven for thousands of years.
After leaving the palace they slowly walked through the streets towards Shadow's house.
Shadow asked: "Do you think Jack still believes that they can succeed somehow? Does he have any doubts?"
Fire thought for a moment. "He seemed quite convinced when I talked to him. It might change after he reports back to Q, it might not. I don't know enough about him to reliably judge him. If we act correctly we may be able to sway the outcome."
Shadow unlocked the door to her house. "Perhaps. But in case something does go very wrong… The restrains placed upon me are wearing thin, though I would hate to betray the trust of the scientists after all they did for us."
Fire said nothing. In secret he had suspected as much, you could only contain his sister's ever-growing power for so long. Sarah, Anna and Harald knew this too, maybe they even feared Shadow. Fire had no reason to fear her, he knew that he would be the one person she would never turn against.
Shadow seemed to guess what Fire was thinking. "They really did create an abomination when they made me, a real monster, but perhaps that's what it takes."
Fire nodded. "Perhaps."