House of Omen: The Indomitable Smitersmith

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Early in the morning, at the crack of dawn, a young man was hammering an anvil with all his might. Over and over again. As he lifted the hammer, strong winds would blow, circling around him and displacing the leaves nearby, as if to celebrate the incredible feat the young man was performing.

From his initial movements to the grip on the hammer and even to the swing, everything looked perfect. So perfect, in fact, that each swing was exactly the same as the previous ones. Even the sound made by the hammer hitting the anvil was exactly the same each time.

The boy kept hitting the hammer continuously until a loud voice entered his ears.

"Darius! Enough! The matron has called us for lunch!"

"Hhmm... lunch?" As soon as Darius heard the word lunch, he stopped his rhythmic swinging and tossed the hammer aside as if it was weightless. Yet, the moment the hammer landed on the ground, vibrations spread from the impact point.

Darius was an average-looking young man. Short, black hair, black eyes and brown skin that made it difficult to tell what race he was.

Darius completely ignored the visage of the boy who had called out to him and walked straight back home. The other boy stood there befuddled and snorted in disdain.

"Hmph, this is why you have no friends you freak!" Thought the boy as he looked at Darius's shrinking back. The boy looked around and looked at the hammer and anvil. After a moment of hesitation he strolled towards the object and decided to see if he could give it a go.

The hammer itself had a few unusual characteristics. It had a long handle, about one meter long. Its head was also not too common, as either side of the head had a blunt surface one could use to strike with, meaning it was a double-sided hammer. Beside the unusual handle and the head, nothing else was strange about the hammer. It looked old and was rusted in some areas, so it also didn't look too special.

The boy had heard rumours from the other children at the orphanage that no one except Darius could lift this hammer. The boy found this hard to believe and bent over: he steadily gripped the handle... and pulled with all his might!!!

Pull!

Pull!

Pull!

And yet, this hammer, just like Darius himself, would not allow itself to be moved by anyone...

...

As Darius walked down the mountain toward the village, thoughts filled his mind, making him completely ignore his surroundings

"The sound is coming closer and closer to what that expert said was the requirement. Very soon I will be able to get rid of this curse and live my live like a normal person!"

Yoko Village was a small village, with the population not passing five thousands. For a village of this size however, it was nicely developed. Of course, it was mainly due to the fact that it was close to a major city.

Darius walked past a few houses and headed straight for the orphanage. As usual, his hands felt like they wight a ton, his body was feeling hot all over and his mind was dizzy. However, Darius had long gotten used to these sensations. As far as he was concerned, nothing was more important than his life, so some pain was nothing.

The orphanage was a three-story building. In fact, it was one of the larger buildings within the village and had quite a bit of financial support, thus it was able to support a hundred orphans with ease.

As Darius walked in through the front entrance, a myriad of gazes washed by him as many children and workers at the orphanage began to gossip about him. Darius ignored the attention and did what he always did everyday: he walked straight to the cafeteria, took some food and sat at a table that was as far away from the crowds as possible.

One of the new cooks at the cafeteria looked at Darius and noted his strange behavior. A cook beside him saw him: "You must be a newbie right?"

The cook who had been starring at Darius was surprised and shyly scratched his head. "Is it that obvious? I thought I was doing quite well to avoid being noticed as one."

"Well you were, until you stared at Darius like that. Anyone who finds his behavior strange is definitely a newbie." Said the more experienced cook.

"Darius? Is he the legendary Darius? 'Ten Thousand Strikes' Darius Omen? That's him?"

"Yup. That's him."

"I'm surprised. The rumours made him sound more..."

The experienced cook chuckled: "Tell me... what exactly did you hear about Darius?"

With a gulp, the new cook responded, "I heard that every morning he would climb up one of the mountains behind the village. Then, he would lift up an hammer and strike an anvil. He reportedly does this at least ten thousand times a day. I also heard that this hammer weighs more than the average mallet, yet Darius is able to lift it with ease. I also hear that many fear him because of his monstrous strength and that he has a short temper..."

"Haha the rumours get more and more extreme with each day that passed!" Laughed the experienced cook.

"You mean... they are not true?"

"Well... you could say that half of it is true." As the experienced cook dished food for the other orphans he continued: "He does climb the mountain and hit the anvil ten thousand times a day... however the hammer part is false."

"Really? Senior, can you explain more?"

"It is true that the hammer is ridiculously heavy, but the moment Darius touches it it becomes extremely light." Said the experienced cook in a cool manner.

"You mean... it's enchanted?"

"Yup. Darius was the son of a village chief within another village. Him having an enchanted hammer isn't a surprise. Because it is enchanted to only work in his hands, that hammer is useless to everyone else. As for his temper, you couldn't be any farther from the truth! Darius is a coward before anything else. He couldn't fight to save his life! Look." The experienced cook pointed in Darius's direction with his chin.

The young cook looked to Darius's table to see what his companion meant, only to be surprised: Darius was being bullied by the other children! They were throwing food at him and he was not retaliating at all. Darius meekly covered his head with his hands and waited for it to stop.

The other children laughed at him, and once they felt that they had had enough fun they walked away. Darius looked up and, noticing that the bullies were gone, resumed his meal as if nothing had happened.

"My word! I... I had no idea." said the new cook with a helpless expression.

"Well, if you feel sorry for him I have one piece of advice for you. Don't waste your time. Today will be his last day here anyway." Said the experienced cook as he took out his old pipe to smoke.

"Senior, why is today his last day?" said the young cook with a curious look in his eye.

The older cook took a puff of smoke: "Today, he is coming of age."

The office of the matron was quite simple. There wasn't anything fancy. Just a few bookshelves with some books and the odd object here or there. After lunch Darius headed straight for the office because he knew it was time. The moment he entered the office, Darius saw the Matron looking over some paperwork.

She was a bit of an oddity to Darius. When he entered the orphanage six years ago she appeared to be a middle aged woman who was on the verge of having a head full of while hair. She only had a few strands at the time so Darius assumed after a few years he would see more white hair and some wrinkles on her face. Yet none appeared. She had no more white hair, and just like before, not a single wrinkle was on her beautiful face. The caused the already cautious Darius to be even more cautious around her.

The moment Darius entered, the usually strict matron showed a kind and loving expression. "Welcome Darius, please, take a seat."

"Yes ma'am." Darius replied meekly.

As soon as he sat down, the matron couldn't help but frown. "You know Darius, even though you are now too old for the orphanage you can still leave with the other children in your age group at the end of the year. You don't have to leave so early."

"I'm sorry ma'am. These past few years you have treated me with the utmost kindness. You have raised me as if I was your own son. In this life there is nothing I can do to repay such kindness. I am forever indebted to you..." The usually meek Darius then put on an expression to show that he was resolved.

"However I have made my decision. The Spiritsmith Guild in the capital will only start accepting students within the next few weeks. If I miss this chance I will have to wait another year. Which means I will have to suffer for another year. I'm sorry ma'am but I can't take this anymore. I have already made my decision, and not even you can change it."

The matron was stunned. She had only seen Darius make such a face when he was using his hammer to strike the stone at the top of the mountain. Although she had never said so to his face, she thought he looked manly when he did so. Now that he finally showed this side of himself when socializing with someone made her feel proud.

"Perhaps he has finally healed inside. Perhaps he is now ready to face the world." The matron sighed as she thought about Darius's growth. "Very well, you can leave today as planned. However first I need you to listen to me for a few moments. The capital is a dangerous place, especially for those as young as yourself. So I need make sure you are as prepared as you can be. Despite the foolish face you make in public, I know very well how cunning you are. That won't be enough to survive in the capital. Now listen up."

As time went on, Darius's face couldn't help but become ugly, because he knew that the matron had entered her rambling mode. This was the true reason she was feared throughout the village. Once she started her lectures, she could go on for hours. She even lectured adult men and women if she felt like it.

"I will probably miss this." Darius was about to think of an excuse to cut the lecture short, but he realized that this was his last lecture within the orphanage, and perhaps the last time he would see her for a long, long time. He decided to brace himself and accept the full brunt of her earth shattering banter.

After a few hours she was finally finished. Even though she was the one speaking, she was still as energetic as ever. Darius on the other hand was mentally exhausted to the point where he felt that he could easily go to sleep in his bed right now. "That witch! Maybe she wants me to go and sleep! I won't fall for it! Besides the bus to the capital leaves in about an hour or so. I must push on!"

Darius quickly stood up and did a deep bow. "Ma'am, one day I will comeback and repay your kindness to me a hundredfold. I swear it!" As soon as Darius said these words he ran out of the office like prey running from a predator.

The matron couldn't help but to shed a tear when she saw this. "Silly child. He was always bad with goodbyes..."

...

Darius quickly packed what liitle belongings he had and headed straight for the mountain top which he was familiar with. He picked up the hammer and strapped it to his back using a specialized leather strap he got with the hammer itself. He then touched the surface of the anvil. The anvil immediately shrunk till it was the size of a pebble. Darius then put the anvil within his pocket and began his journey toward the village entrance.

As he walked through the village he started reminiscing about the times he spent here. Unfortunately, no matter how much he tried, no good memories came up. He spent the majority of his days doing the same thing. Going up the mountain, striking the anvil continuously, coming down for lunch, going back up again to continue striking the anvil, then he would come back down for dinner and sleep. Waking up at the crack of dawn to eat his breakfast and continue the same process.

"Damn curse." Darius couldn't help but curse when he realized he barely had any memories of this village. He had repeated the same process of going up and down the mountain for six years every single day. When he was walking through the small village he realized he barely knew it at all. If it wasn't for the fact that he could see the entirety of the village from the mountaintop, Darius was sure that he would get lost completely, despite the small size of the village.

As soon as he arrived at the village entrance he saw a group of people, who like him, were taking the bus to the capital. Many people dreamt of making it big in the capital, rumour had it that one could achieve anything there so long as they were skilled and fortunate enough.

Darius like most of these people was gambling his fate on the fact that he was skilled enough to enter the Spiritsmith Guild within the capital. "Surely striking that accursed anvil for six years has to have brought me some benefits."

As Darius was busy thinking about his future prospects a loud rambling noise made its way into his ears: the bus was here.

"Name?"

"Jonathan Haze."

"Enter. Name?"

"Elisha Andrews."

"Enter. Name?"

As the conductor looked at his list, he called out names to check wether these people had actually booked the ticket to go on the bus. If one had booked, he would receive a ticket and his name would be on the conductor's list. When the conductor requested for his name, he would then show him his ticket and state their name. If his name was on the list, then you would be granted entry into the giant hunk of metal.

When Darius first saw the bus he was stunned speechless. Since it was his ticket to the capital, he had been expecting something magnificent looking. Yet, right now, what came his way was a giant rusty metallic cuboid with wheels on the bottom shaking from side to side.

"Am I really going to be safe in there? Can that thing even hold human beings? Ah I'm starting to feel like this was a bad idea..." Darius thought to himself. Darius was by nature a coward. He valued his life greatly and wanted to avoid anything that could possibly endanger him as much as possible. As far as Darius was concerned, courage was a word made to cull the stupid from humanity's ever-growing population."

"Name. Oy, kid, I said tell me your name!"

The conductor's shout brought Darius out of his stupor. "Uhm, ehem... sorry about that! Darius Omen. My name is Darius Omen."

The conductor raised a brow when he heard Darius's strange surname, but then again this wasn't the first time he had heard a weird name. He grunted in approval and waved to Darius for him to enter the death tra... ahem, bus. Darius stepped into the large, metallic vehicle with a large gulp.

He quickly found a seat and hugged his duffle bag as if his life depended on it. As soon as the grumbling conductor was done, a sharp whistle was emitted. Darius assumed this was a signal from the conductor to the driver, who was probably somewhere in this rust bucket. There were only windows by the side while in front there was only more metal and the conductor's seat.

The conductor himself sat down and began to read a newspaper as their journey began. Darius began to quiver as the bus started moving at a speed that made it difficult to even recognize what was outside.

"Th-th-the bus wasn't moving this fast before." Uttered another frightened passenger behind Darius.

The conductor merely chuckled and continued reading his paper: "If we arrived with our normal speed, none of you would have the guts to enter the bus."

An old sounding voice came from nowhere as it echoed throughout the bus. Darius looked around and tried to figure out where that sound came from. However, just like the other new passengers, he was unsuccessful. The passengers who had already been on the bus for quite some time ignored this phenomenon as they seemed used to it.

Darius hugged his bag and started praying. He didn't know who or what he was praying to, but he did so anyway:

"Please don't let me die young!"

...

Spirits were mankind's worst enemy. They had appeared out of nowhere centuries ago and had been plaguing mankind ever since. They came in many forms with many strange abilities, however they all had once thing in common: they loved to devour humans. The war between mankind and the spirits had been going on for a long time.

As far as Darius knew, there were only two existences keeping mankind alive.

The first were spirit knights, mighty warriors who had the ability to challenge the mighty spirits on equal footing.

The second existence were spiritsmiths. Such people were expert craftsmen who were able to use the bodies of dead spirits to create incredible things.

Darius's current goal was to become a spiritsmith. Not only did they enjoy a high status in society, they were also richer than any other type of person in existence outside royalty! Darius knew that to be a spiritsmith, one needed to have two things: the first was incredible willpower. Darius believed that he had plenty after hitting the anvil continuously for six years without stopping;

The second requirement... was spiritual affinity.

This was something Darius didn't quite understand, but he knew that one's spiritual affinity could be tested as soon as one reached the age of 12. Darius was found to have below average spiritual affinity. This did not stop Darius from pursuing his dreams, because he knew those esteemed spiritsmiths would also need assistants.

Darius's goal was to become a spiritsmith's assistant, and over the course of time, learn how to become a spiritsmith himself. This path was one chosen by those who were not that talented in terms of spiritual affinity. Darius believed he could make up for his lack of talent with his intelligence and willpower. It was wishful thinking, but this was Darius's only hope to be able to live a somewhat normal life.

Not to mention spiritsmiths made a lot of money! Darius's wish was to become extremely rich and marry many wives. He was a very perverse young man. Unfortunately after his hammering sessions, he would never have the time or energy to pursue his desires. Darius had seen many of his fellow orphans go to brothels. All he could do was look on in envy.

"Damn curse." Darius would always inwardly swear when he saw this.

He was afraid of the consequences of him sleeping with a woman while the curse was still active. Thus, all he could do was hammer on.

"But I'm close... this time I'm close... I can feel it. I'm this close to breaking the damn curse! Hahahahahahaha." In the bus Darius put on a smirk as he thought about what he would do when the curse was finally broken: "Every brothel in the capital will know the name Darius Omen! Ahahahahahahaha..."

Due to the fact that he was completely enraptured in his daydreams, Darius was completely unaware of his surroundings. The constant shaking and bouncing of their transportation had ceased. In other words:

The bus had arrived at its destination.