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Barrett could feel the metal shard, and knew his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him… but he didn’t know how accurate what he felt was. As he continued to heat the metal, he actually started to feel less of anything. That continued as the end of the shard that was further into the forge heated up. Barrett pulled his hand away- it wasn’t so hot that his hand was damaged, though he could feel the heat. Then again, it would have to be at least as hot as lava to cause him any damage in a short time at his current toughness.
Since he wasn’t getting any useful sensory feedback, Barrett let the metal shard cool… but as it did so, he suddenly felt it again. It seemed being too hot reduced the senses he could just barely get from it.
Barrett continued trying things for a few days, before he finally felt he had a good sense of the metal shard. It never really ‘felt’ much. It required significant heat to feel anything, but after a certain point the sensation dulled again. Perhaps if he heated it to an extraordinary degree he might feel something again… but that was only if he didn’t damage himself. Strictly speaking, normal lava wasn’t as hot as one might think- forges could be quite a bit hotter. Barrett knew for sure his hand would give out before the taspum did- he’d seen the forges brought to full heat and the taspum glowed white hot and still seemed nowhere near melting- it remained as firm as it did at room temperature.
Now that he had a sense for the metal shard, he tried connecting to it through Pure Body Tempering. The stone pit had been much easier… but then again, he’d had a hand in growing the tree- and it was alive. As it was now, Barrett was certain this taspum wasn’t living metal… but perhaps it could be. Maybe it was impossible… but that was what everyone said about everything related to Pure Body Tempering.
Barrett carried the metal shard with him outside of his magic bag, either in his hand or sometimes in his stomach, anything that made it feel like a part of him. He felt a sort of connection with it, but something seemed to be missing.
Kail let Barrett try to gain something from the Metal Heart. It wasn’t like it was something that could be used up, and he knew Barrett wouldn’t try to steal it. Though Barrett felt a strong sense of ‘life’ from the Metal Heart, it didn’t seem to give him any insight on how to connect to the metal shards. If the Metal Heart was alive, the shards were as lifeless as one would expect. No, not lifeless… dead. Barrett had that feeling, but he couldn’t be sure why.
The elders of the Anokoni clan had significant good will towards Barrett, so they humored him in his requests for guidance. Though Kail knew more about Pure Body Tempering, they still had more experience overall. When Barrett brought up the feeling of the shards being dead to Makana, Kail’s uncle, Makana nodded seriously. “That does seem to be the case. It is dead.”
“Can metal really be dead?” Barrett asked and then shook his head, “Well, I know of the plants around here… but this isn’t like any of them. I don’t get the feeling that it was ever alive but…”
“But it is still dead,” Makana crossed one arm in front of himself, as if he would be folding his arms… and he likely would have done so, if he currently had two arms. Makana looked around the garden they were standing, his eyes settling on a boulder. “Unlike the plants here, this boulder is not alive, but I would not say it is dead. However, that shard, well… it is a shard after all.”
“Oh…” Barrett looked down at it. That was right. Shards came from something whole. So it was broken rather than dead… but dead still felt more right. “Hmm, I see. I think that might help.”
Makana smiled, “I am glad to be of assistance. Without you, sitting in this garden would be just a dream anyway.”
—–
Barrett poured out his entire pile of metal shards- which currently amounted to over two tons, piling in a heap up to about his waist level. He had no way to piece them together. Besides the fact that he didn’t have all of the shards anymore, he doubted they all came from one thing. However, so far he had been trying to communicate with what… a finger? Maybe it was an ear or a liver or some other thing, but the point was it was not a whole thing. He couldn’t say there was a whole to be had among the shards… but trying to communicate with more disjointed pieces of something still seemed more practical than one small bit of it.
The shards were very sharp, but without force behind them they didn’t do any significant damage as Barrett buried himself mostly inside the pile. He didn’t really know what to do as he sat there in the pile, but that was the point. He was figuring it out. He just tried to be part of everything. He wasn’t sure how long it was, maybe hours, but he continued to feel the cold- or at least the seemingly cold- shards of metal on him. He thought about moving, both himself and the pile.
As much as he would have liked to suddenly have results, the only movement that happened was him shifting around trying to get comfortable. However, he was starting to feel just the slightest bit of connection. Maybe it would turn into something or maybe it would fade away. Eventually, he fell asleep.
As sunlight came into his room, he stood up… and a number of shards stood up with him. Besides the couple that had accidentally gotten stuck in him, there were some that had just moved with him. He had to catch them as they fell away after he started thinking, but he was quick enough to grab all of them before they fell back into the pile. One of them was definitely the shard he had been working with for the longest- he recognized its particular shape and jaggedness. The rest he carefully kept track of as he tried to regain that unthinking, unconscious connection. He knew it was possible… so he just needed to do it again.