Chapter 5: The First Priest (2)
Too slow.
Zephyr watched from The Eternal Forge as the bone club descended. To the Lizardmen, the blow was a blur of violence. To Zephyr’s divine perception, it was a frame-by-frame schematic of bad form.
The attacker—Vark—was overextended. Weight too far forward. Grip too tight. He was banking on intimidation, not mechanics. He expected the victim to flinch.
Krug didn’t flinch.
Zephyr leaned forward in his throne of silence.
He’s stepping inside the arc.
Suicidal. A tool-maker against a bone-breaker. In Theos, this mismatch resolved in a single damage tick. Vark’s Strength was D-rank. Krug’s was barely an F.
But stats weren’t everything.
A chime rang out—sharp, urgent.
A System window expanded, hovering over the image of the small lizardman stepping into death’s shadow.
[ALERT: POTENTIAL FOUND]
[Candidate: Krug]
[Condition Met: Absolute Conviction.]
[Trait Discovered: IRON WILL]
Zephyr blinked. *Iron Will?*
He tapped the window.
[Name: Krug]
[Race: Lizardman (Desert Variant)]
[Class: None]
[Faith: Devout (New)]
[Attributes]
[Strength: F]
[Agility: E]
[Endurance: E]
[Intelligence: C]
[Willpower: S]
Zephyr froze.
S-Rank.
He read it again. In Theos, S-Rank attributes were mythical on a starter planet. You found them on Raid Bosses. On Guild Masters. Not on a starving lizard in a desert.
Willpower wasn’t muscle. It was the ability to override reality with intent. The stat that let a tank hold the line with 1 HP. The stat that let a mage cast one last spell after burnout.
He’s not just a believer, Zephyr realized, a grin spreading. He’s a catalyst.
The club was inches from Krug’s head.
Zephyr checked his reserves.
[FP: 100 / 500]
He could cast a Shield. Smite Vark. Deflect the blow.
No. Don’t fight for him. Empower him.
If Zephyr fought, the tribe would fear the God but pity the follower. To build a religion, the follower had to be the miracle.
He opened the [CLASS REGISTRY].
Most trees were locked. Paladin needed a Temple. Cleric needed Scripture.
But one tree was always open to the Forge.
[Class: ACOLYTE OF THE FORGE]
[Cost: 50 FP]
[Description: Imbue physical objects with the weight of conviction. Unlocks: STRUCTURED MIND, REINFORCE.]
Fifty points. Half his capital. A dangerous gamble.
Zephyr looked at Krug. He looked at the S-Rank Willpower driving a sixty-pound lizard to step into a killing blow with a stick.
Rule one: When you find a unicorn, you bet the house.
"Approved."
He swiped his hand.
[FP: 100 -> 50]
[Class Granted: ACOLYTE OF THE FORGE]
[Recipient: Krug]
A beam of golden light shot down from the void. Invisible to the eye, blinding to the soul. It didn’t strike the ground. It struck Krug.
It didn’t look like a blessing. It looked like an impact.
Zephyr watched the connection snap into place—not a thread of prayer, but a cable of power.
Show them,* Zephyr thought. *Show them what a maker does to a breaker.
***
The stick met the bone.
There should have been a crack. The dry wood should have splintered into dust under the petrified thigh bone. Vark was three times Krug’s weight, swinging for a kill. Krug was one-handed, swinging upward from a crouch.
Krug’s arm should have broken. The club should have split his skull.
But physics bowed to Faith.
THOCK.
A dull thud. Heavy. Impossibly solid. Like a sledgehammer hitting a tire.
The bone club stopped dead.
Vark’s eyes bulged. The shock traveled up the club, vibrating through his wrists, his elbows, his teeth. It was as if he had struck a stone wall.
Krug didn’t buckle. He didn’t tremble.
The heat in his chest had moved. It wasn’t a pulse anymore. It was a roar. It flooded his veins, hardening muscle, locking joints into a geometry of perfect resistance.
He looked at the stick. It glowed faintly—an ember-red pulsing within the grain.
Iron bends to heat. Wood bends to will.
"Is that all?" Krug asked.
Vark roared, tearing the club back. "Die!"
He swung again—horizontal, a sweep meant to take Krug’s legs.
Krug stepped forward. He pivoted. He brought the stick down—not with force, but timing. He struck the incoming club near the handle, at the fulcrum.
REINFORCE.
The concept bloomed. Sharp. Clear.
The stick hit the bone.
CRACK.
Something broke.
Not the stick.
The petrified bone club—a weapon that had shattered armor—snapped cleanly. The heavy end spun away into the dark, thudding into the sand.
Vark stared at the broken handle. He looked at Krug. The hunger in his eyes replaced by confusion.
"My... my club..."
"Stone breaks," Krug said. His voice was deeper. Resonant. "Everything breaks. Except the Truth."
Tor and Runt stepped back. They looked at the stick, then the broken weapon. Their instinct screamed that the rules had changed.
Grak saw it too.
The Red-Ridged Leader stood frozen. He looked at Krug and saw something that made his blood run cold.
Not strength. Grak understood strength.
This was different. Krug held the stick not like a weapon, but a tool. A hammer. He looked at Vark not like an enemy, but a flaw in the design. A rough edge to be smoothed.
"Kill him!" Grak screamed, voice cracking. "Rush him!"
Vark roared, dropping the handle and lunging with bare claws.
"I will tear your throat out!"
Krug moved.
He swung the stick—compact, precise. Aimed at the knee.
Impact.
Bone snapped. Vark screamed, collapsing into the sand.
Runt charged from the left. Krug spun, the stick a blur. He thrust the end into Runt’s solar plexus, using the thug’s own momentum.
REINFORCE.
Runt doubled over, retching dryly.
Tor, the last one, looked at his fallen brothers. He looked at Krug. He looked at the obsidian knife.
He dropped it.
Silence rushed back.
Absolute. The wind died. Hiss’rak stared, mouth open. Mothers clutched their young.
Krug stood in the center of the carnage. Breathing steady. The heat in his chest burning with clean efficiency.
He turned to Grak.
The leader was alone. His authority lay in the sand with the shattered club.
Grak took a step back. Another. His back hit the ridge.
"You..." Grak whispered. "What are you?"
Krug lowered the stick. The red glow retreated into the wood.
"I am the Hammer."
He turned his back on Grak. He looked at the tribe. Twenty-three scared, starving faces.
"The East is death," Krug announced. His voice carried. "The Leader was wrong. We do not walk to die."
He pointed North-East.
"We walk to the water. We walk to the Architect."
No one moved.
Then, Hiss’rak dragged himself forward. He pulled his broken leg across the sand until he reached Krug’s feet. He touched the hem of Krug’s tail.
"Water," Hiss’rak rasped. "Lead us."
Another lizard stood. Then another.
Krug looked at the horizon. The first hint of dawn bled into the sky.
"Gather the young. Carry the wounded. We march."
He started walking.
He didn’t look back. He knew they were following.
Iron bends to heat.
The column formed behind him, a ragged line of survivors turning away from the sunrise, marching toward the smoke.