Long ago, when the Immortals granted the Humans magic and the war was in a state of ceasefire, Merlin and King Arthur, were concerned that the Immortals still overpowered them and thus met with The Lady of the Lake, who was fond of the Humans and even secretly harboured romantic feelings for Merlin.
Arthur informed her that all the Immortals have a powerful weapon each, but they, the Humans, had none. The Lady of the Lake brought this concern to the other Immortals. At first they laughed it off, but remembering that the humans have the potential to cause more trouble for them, they decided to create a set of swords, known as the Excalibur collection, to appease them and keep them calm.
All swords will be more powerful than the weapons that each Immortal already possesses, but the swords themselves will be equal to each other, thus levelling the playing field. But these swords will only be used as a last resort or when the First Created declare one final war on each other or if one of the First Created has gone completely rogue.
But since the Immortals already had their own weapons, their swords in the Excalibur collection were scattered to parts unknown and locked away until the time came. The Humans however where allowed to keep theirs, since they were new to the concept of magic and with a safety lock on the sword, they could only wield a small fraction of the sword’s power. The full potential of their sword will only be available to the Humans once any of the other swords’ full power is activated.
And the one to wield this sword was none other
than King Arthur, who Merlin trusted and vouched for. To test this, the
Immortals put the sword in a powerful stone that could detect a heart of pure
good. The Immortals allowed the other Kings and Queens to try and pull it from
the stone. All failed, except Arthur. Arthur pulled it out and used it to bring peace,
balance and slay the beasts who turned into the grotesque monsters to protect
his people, as well as elves, gnomes, mermaids and dwarves. But I am getting
ahead of myself here.
This
entry isn’t about the sword given to the Humans, but rather the first sword,
the Glacies Gladio or the Ice Sword, that was given onto The Lady of the Lake.
The project of overseeing the creations of the
Excalibur collection was allocated to The Lady of the Lake, who first made a
sword for herself as a prototype, as she wasn’t sure if this would work or how
to go about this.
First she sought out different blacksmiths and weapon forgers to find the right person who was up to the task. The Humans, although she adored and loved very much, couldn’t be trusted, for The Lady of the Lake knew that the Humans’ urge to weaken the Immortals’ swords so the Humans can get the upper hand, was far too great for them to ignore.
For some time, The Lady of the Lake went to different species and beings, but they were either to primitive to understand the task, or, similar to the Humans, would most likely pick their favourite Immortal and make their sword stronger than the others.
All seemed lost and The Lady of the Lake was in fear of failure. That was until she found the dwarves, a race of creatures who had blacksmithing and weapon forging infused into their DNA. The problem was that they refused to share their magic abilities with anyone!
So, the
dwarves went into hiding and started their own community underground, living in
harmony with the trolls, who provide them with metal and other forging
materials. The Lady of the Lake lived among them and observed that all they
wanted was to live in their own world and that they also show no favouritism or
even hatred towards any of the First Created, for they fear and loathe all
eleven beings equally.
For he
knew this would elevate him to god status, which did happen for he is
worshipped by not only the dwarves, but other blacksmiths as well.
But as mentioned The Lady of the Lake was unsure if this would work and thus gave him a trial run, by making Hephaestus make her sword first. Honoured, Hephaestus, went to work and researched everything that falls under The Lady of the Lake’s domain and element, as he would do for the other nine Immortals.
When the
design was approved, he gave a list of materials he needed and The Lady of the
Lake gave the task to recover these to her twin sons Neptune and Poseidon.
When everything was given, Hephaestus, toiled day and night, recruiting and receiving help from his most trusted assistants, elves, trolls, merpeople, gnomes and even some magical creatures/animals. After many moons, the first sword in the Excalibur collection was ready.
Hephaestus was lead by a Kappa to the island of Avalon, an island that one can only enter if invited by a trusted member of The Lady of the Lake’s court or by The Lady of the Lake herself. There, Hephaestus, met The Lady of the Lake in her throne room and proudly presented the sword, her sword: The Glacies Gladio.
As soon as The Lady of the Lake picked it up, she knew that she made the right choice. For the power she felt coming off of it, was more intense and awesome than even her Trident, which was her primary weapon. Pleased with Hephaestus’ handy work she held a meeting in the Celestial Plane with the Immortals and Merlin, where she demonstrated how powerful it is by swinging it and splitting the Celestial Plane’s sky, which should have been impossible, for this plane is nowhere and everywhere. It is both tangible and intangible, but most importantly it is endless and indestructible!Impressed, it was voted that The Lady of the Lake will go on with the construction of the other ten swords and that the dwarf can design them however he wanted, except for the humans’ sword, Caliburnus. For that will be designed by the Immortals themselves. Merlin found this agreeable and accepted this decision.
Charybdis is the brother of Scylla, another
powerful sea creature, but between them, Charybdis is the most powerful.
Charybdis is the guardian of Atlantis, the lost city under the sea that was
sunk by The Lady of the Lake for their insolence towards her. It is now a
prison that holds the most dangerous creatures and beings that pose a threat to
Magusterra and the Immortals.
Those who encountered Charybdis, only saw the terrible whirlpool he creates with his mouth. The only accounts we have of how he looks is descriptions from The Lady of the Lake and her kin.
His size
is described as: “If he positioned himself vertically, his tail would touch the
bottom of the deepest part ocean and his head would just touch the top of the
sea where the water and the air meet” (a quote from Orisha Yemaya, Queen of the
Ocean and merpeople, she is also the second eldest daughter of The Lady of the
Lake).
Charybdis
has been seen as having a body mixed between a whale and a serpent, with a
circular mouth, that when opened showcases a horrific display of rows and rows
of sharp and blood stained teeth, that seem to go all the way from the front of
his mouth to the entrance of his throat.
The creature has no eyes and relies on his
senses to detect enemies. It is said that Charybdis is so harmonized with the
ocean that he can pick up on the slightest disturbance or vibrations in the
water. This is how he knows a ship or creature that does not belong in that
area is approaching.
His skin and scales are impenetrable, only The Lady of the Lake’s Trident and his own teeth can pierce it, which is why Hephaestus requested for The Lady of the Lake to retrieve it. As mentioned her twin sons (Neptune and Poseidon) were sent, but they both feared the creature and drew straws. Poseidon, was the unlucky one to draw the shortest and went to speak to Charybdis.
After a long journey, Poseidon, made it to the
forbidden and cursed waters where the Atlantis Prison is located. There
Poseidon used his control over the water to not create any disturbance or
ripples in the water’s tension, but this was useless, as the monstrous fish,
Charybdis, still detected him!
After nearly being eaten twice, Poseidon, made
it to Charybdis’ ears, which are very small and hard to find. There Poseidon
announced who he was and his mission that was given to him by his mother and
Charybdis’ master. The creature calmed down and allowed the son of his master
to take a tooth from the far back of his mouth.
Through many cuts and bruises that Poseidon endured while traveling down the pit that devoured so many ships, mortals and other unspeakable horrors, he made it to the entrance of the throat. It was there that Poseidon found a loose fang that cut his hands as soon as he tried to pick it up. It is said that when this happened, Poseidon (who screamed in pain), heard the creature laugh.
But then Charybdis filled up his mouth full of water, slammed his head against the ocean floor, lodging the tooth completely loose, and as soon as that tooth was free a new one immediately jumped out of the beast’s gums, replacing it. Then the creature spat the tooth and Poseidon out onto a nearby island.
Charybdis then picked up the tooth and used it to cut a piece of its skin and wrapped it around the tooth, so that Poseidon can safely take it back to The Lady of the Lake. And just like the tooth, the patch of skin that was cut off, immediately healed and a new piece replaced it in instantly.
With the tooth recovered, Poseidon swore at and called Charybdis all sorts of rude names. But Charybdis was unfazed and went back to his duties as the protector of Atlantis.
While the tooth was being brought to Hephaestus, Neptune was on his own quest to recover ice from the ice giants’ kingdom, Niflheim.
Hephaestus wanted to use this as the hilt for Glacies Gladio, because the ice was made from the Hvergelmir, which was once a spring that healed anyone from all sorts of ailments, but when the Humans found a way to use magic, the spring (like all other magical things in this world) slowly became corrupted and cursed, turning into a poison that instantly killed anyone who touched it.
The Hvergelmir spring was diverted away from Human civilisation by The Lady of the Lake and into the far snowy northern lands of Niflheim, where it froze and formed a moat around the kingdom, protecting the ice giants. The ice from Niflheim is very dangerous, for if anyone besides a powerful water elemental, such as The Lady of the Lake or any of her children, touched the ice, they will instantly perish. Hephaestus thought that this would be a good deterrent to prevent anyone besides The Lady of the Lake or one of her chosen warriors from taking it.
This was easily recovered, for all Neptune needed was a pickaxe to break a piece off from the Hvergelmir moat. Which after a journey that took several weeks, Neptune was easily able to achieve.
Lastly, Hephaestus wanted to decorate the sword with something that no other weapon will have, and that was the gold horded by a water dragon. But not just any water dragon, but the Dragon King himself. For it was said that all dragons steal and horde diamonds, gold, silver and other precious metals and stones.
It is unclear why dragons do this, but it is speculated that the dragons do this for protection. You see, dragons are strong and have armoured scales, but they have one weak spot: their bellies. So to protect themselves they use the treasures of the earth to make armour.
And if
this is true (which Hephaestus believes it is), then the Dragon King (who is a
water elemental himself, for he can control water and rain and is the ruler of
dragons, as well as worshiped as a god), should have some of the rarest,
strongest and beautiful precious metals in his collection.
The Lady of the Lake went forth and met the
Dragon King at his cave located at the top of the frozen mountain peaks of Zhōngguó.
There she climbed the mountains without the use of her powers to show respect
to the Dragon King. But she was aided by her three faithful Yuki-Onna servants,
who sheltered her from the snowstorms and creatures that might seek to harm The
Lady of the Lake in this vulnerable state.
When she met with the Dragon King, she was
kindly received. The Dragon King was honoured by her gesture to see him as any
other being would and allowed her into his sacred vault. There he told her to
take whichever metal or jewel she wanted.
In the vault, The Lady of the Lake was drawn to 3 gold bars, which she was
informed came from a meteorite that fell from the heavens. She was offered all
three, but The Lady of the Lake only took one, for she was, as I hope you can
tell, a kind and humble soul. But do not confuse this for weakness, for she has
a limit and is still extremely powerful, she did cause many floods and sank
Atlantis after all!
As mentioned, it is unclear how Hephaestus assembled the sword or how he managed to pick up the tooth of Charybdis or the ice from the Hvergelmir moat. But what we do know is that he cut off his left hand and replaced it with an instrument that allowed him to pick up and hold any object, no matter how cursed or sacred it was. This instrument (like everything else dwarfish) is a close guarded secret only known to the dwarves. But regardless how he did it, the point is that he did it and I was sent to find it.
The request was sent to me by The Lady of the Lake herself, who also sent Orisha Yemaya along with me, for her being an elemental and daughter of The Lady of the Lake. Queen Yemaya is similar to her mother, in that she is kind and very protective. She is also nurturing, but just like her mother, if you cross her, she will exact an unspeakable and terrible vengeance.
With the
Ark and the Queen, we teleported to a vast and empty ocean, far away from any
land or islands. Here for many days and nights, Queen Yemaya, in her mermaid
form, along with other merpeople, searched for a floating glacier, that has the
Glacies Gladio suspended in its ice.
After a month, we finally found it. I was escorted by Queen Yemaya, in a row boat to the glacier.
In the ice, the Glacies Gladio, shone in the sun light like a diamond. The sword’s beauty was indescribable and rivalled only by the beauty of Queen Yemaya, who caught me staring at her on more than one occasion, but I believe that she was flattered... But I digress.
When the Glacies Gladio was found, Queen Yemaya, with her blood being descended from The Lady of the Lake, was able to melt the glacier and retrieve the sword. With this we went back to the Ark, where the Queen placed it into a special display case that was made from the same ice as the glacier, that she had commissioned to be built by the merpeople who helped us. For this ice was eternal and could only be melted by The Lady of the Lake and her kin.
When it was all done the Queen bid me farewell,
which was sad because I grew quite found of her, but as the Queen of the Ocean
and merpeople, she had more important things to do.
With the Glacies Gladio secured, I set off to my next target: Item #54, ThePhoenix Blade.
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