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Arwin had time to dodge. He could have dropped to his stomach or flung himself to the side if he’d wanted to — but he did neither. This was a vision. It was a contest of wills, and it was more than that. It was a test. The yet to be made shield was testing him, but he was also testing it.

This goes both ways. If you want me to make you, then show me what you’ve got.

Arwin drove the blue tower shield down into the ground before him and braced his shoulder against it. His muscles tightened and he bared his teeth. Arwin dug his feet into the ground and gritted his teeth, bracing for impact.

An immense force slammed into the shield. Wind roared past Arwin’s head like the howl of the dragon. Bone crunched. Splatters of wet, black matter flew past him and painted across the floor.

Arwin staggered back, nearly losing his grip on the shield, but he just barely managed to keep his balance. His teeth clattered from the force of the impact and his arm ached, but the shield hadn’t moved.

It had taken a direct hit from a Wyrm without so much as budging from the spot that he’d planted it. A grin crawled across Arwin’s features and he lifted the shield, locking eyes with the Wyrm as he moved it out of the way.

The end of the monster’s tail looked like it had gotten caught under a falling boulder. Fragments of bone jutted out from brutalized, weeping flesh. It hung askew and limp. The rest of the tail was still completely functional, but Arwin had actually hurt the enormous monster without an offensive weapon to aid him.

Hatred burned in the Wyrm’s dark eyes. Its tongue ran along the cracked tooth in its mouth and it reared back, rising onto its two hind legs. A hiss rolled from its undead tongue, wet and wheezing from the gaps in its throat.

Oh, shit.

The Wyrm dropped.

He swung his shield up. Two massive paws slammed into him with all the force of a crashing freight train. The air exploded from Arwin’s lungs. His arms screamed and he was forced down to one knee.

The Wyrm leaned harder into the shield. Arwin’s feet dug furrows through the ground and he clenched his jaw so hard that his teeth flared in pain. The shield held strong, but his own body was a different story. There was only so much force he could muster.

His arms trembled as he fought to keep the shield from pressing into his chest. If the Wyrm pushed it all the way down, it would just crush the air from his lungs without even having to finish him off itself.

Black, bloody saliva dripped around Arwin and the monster’s hot, rancid breath stifled his breathing and squeezed his lungs. He coughed. The Wyrm pressed harder. His arms started to press closer to his chest.

“Come on,” Arwin wheezed. The shield ground into his chest and started to bite into the dirt at his sides. His last line of defense wasn’t too far from turning into a coffin. He reached for [Scourge] instinctively, but nothing responded. His magical energy and powers were completely missing. Arwin turned his strained attention to the shield and sent a desperate call down the dull connection running between them.

Give me more than this! Are you just a useless lump of metal? What do you want to be? Show me what you’re capable of! How pathetic is it that you’re going to lose a fight to an undead remnant of your former self?

A crackle of irritation rolled back through the connection. The anger stored within the Wyrm Scale drove into Arwin’s mind like a spike. It wasn’t so easily baited into aiding him, but the response was all that he was looking for.

The shield pressed lower. It drove his arms completely into his chest and pressed against his face, stifling the breath from his lungs. Arwin fought back — but not through strength alone. He sent his own will racing back down the mental connection to the shield, driving into it like a blade.

The Wyrm let out a hiss of pain above him. It relented, lifting its foot for a brief instant. That instant was enough. Arwin rose with a roar, swinging the shield to the side and sending the Wyrm’s claws crashing down beside him. He shot to his feet and reared back before bringing the shield down on the Wyrm’s head like it was a metal chair in a wrestling ring.

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A loud, echoing clang split through the forest. The Wyrm let out a surprised whimper and its head snaked back. There was a small dent at the top of its mushy, rotting skull where bone shone through. Arwin drew in ragged breaths as he slammed the shield down into the dirt beside him and pounded a hand against his chest. Recognition burned in the dead monster’s eyes at the motion.

“That’s right,” Arwin growled, lifting the shield once more. “I’ve beaten you once. My guild beat you a second time, and coming back from hell isn’t going to change anything. It doesn’t matter how much stronger you are when my magic is gone. I don’t need more than a big piece of steel to put you back in your place. We didn’t have to be enemies. We never sought you out — but I’ll be more than happy to finish this once and for all. Try your luck.”

It was bluster. Arwin knew it, and the Wyrm probably did too. Pushing it back a few times was nowhere near the same thing as killing it. He wasn’t even sure if the monster was capable of dying. He wasn’t sure if anything was capable of dying here. This vision was just too different from the ones he’d had before. And if he couldn’t die, then he’d be damned if he gave up.

The Wyrm’s lips pulled back to reveal black, sore-covered gums. It locked eyes with Arwin and its head lifted into the air to loom above him. A shadow rolled over his shoulders and into the forest beyond.

Its intimidation was equally as ineffective as his had been. Arwin just matched the monster’s gaze, then lifted a hand and beckoned to it.

“I’m not waiting around all day. Come get your shit rocked again. I’ve got a number of good swings left in me. How much more can that mushy, decaying head of yours still take? We can run an experiment and find out.”

A crackle of intent ran down the line connecting Arwin to the shield. Amusement. A new emotion. It did not come alone. A flicker of knowledge curled through Arwin’s thoughts. It was a desire — one borne from neither him nor the Wyrm. The knowledge came with power.

His connection to the shield strengthened. Trails etched across the surface of the blue metal. Jagged patterns formed and the metal itself changed. Two thick spikes rose up from its top, curling like horns. The item shortened until it only covered around half of his body. Its sides pulled inward and curved down to a point at its bottom.

The Wyrm let out a pained scream. Half the teeth vanished from its mouth and the rotted scales covering its body crumbled, falling away to dust. Arwin looked from the shield to the monster across from him.

Then he smiled.

He’d misunderstood the vision. This wasn’t a three man fight. There were only two parties. Two souls balanced on opposite ends of a scale fighting over a shared pool of power — a pool that he’d just taken a chunk out of.

The Wyrm screamed in fury. It lurched forward. A pulse of energy traveled down the shield and into Arwin’s body. He could feel it like an extension of his arm. It spoke to him, and it told him to wait.

This wasn’t a fight anymore.

It was a demonstration.

The Wyrm swiped at Arwin with a paw easily as big as he was. Enormous talons howled through the air and sought his head, aiming to carve him to pieces. Arwin’s feet remained locked in place.

His hands did not. The shield pulled itself into motion. It used his body as a tool, drawing magic from his soul. Power gathered within its metal. It thrummed in synchronization with Arwin’s pounding heart.

The claw approached.

The shield flashed.

It snapped out, black energy flashing around it at the last instant before the Wyrm’s blow struck Arwin. They connected in the air, and for a brief moment, the world slammed to a halt. Then the Wyrm’s claws shattered.

A scream of pain tore through the air as the Wyrm’s limb snapped back. Its bones crunched and its arm bent back at an impossible angle. The few scales that remained on its body exploded like they’d been struck by a hammer.

It skidded back and lost its footing, falling into a roll that sent it crashing back into the treeline in a huge cloud of dust. Loud crashes followed after it as trees pitched and crashed all around it.

Arwin looked down at the shield in his hand, his heart slamming even harder than it had been a moment ago. He hadn’t even felt the impact. Every scrap of power that the Wyrm had brought to bear against him and been reflected back.

But, even as he knew the shield’s strength, he knew its weakness. Its power — was immense, but its window was thin. He had to use it the exact moment he was struck. If he didn’t, the shield was nothing more than a hunk of metal.

“I can work with that,” Arwin said, striding toward the Wyrm as it struggled to rise again. He felt the shield’s intent pull back, his connection to it fade. It was still present, but not nearly as strong.

The demonstration was over. Now it was time for him to take matters into his own hands. Arwin came to a stop before the Wyrm. He made no move to attack the monster as it found its footing.

It snarled in fury, the noise garbled by all the vile blood welling in its throat. Arwin met the monster’s eyes one last time. The Wyrm seemed smaller than it had been before. It didn’t give him time to figure out if it actually was or not. With a roar, the monster charged.

Its head snapped down, the few fangs remaining in its mouth glistening as it bit down at Arwin. He raised his shield. Magic coursed from his body and into the blue metal. Wind from the Wyrm’s charge blew his hair back, and yet he made no move to do anything but watch.

The Wyrm slammed into him. Arwin brought the shield to bear. Jaws slammed home. Black light flashed.

An ocean of black flame, the same color as the fire that the Infernal Armory had formed a portal to Wallace’s armory with, rolled from the front of the shield. It swallowed the Wyrm whole.

The world shattered.

Shards of the forest sparkled as they fell, glistening within fragments of glass, and rained down all around Arwin to leave nothing but an endless void of black. Then he was gone, and the vision ended.

The shield had chosen who deserved its power.

Now, all he had to do was make it.