Item #59: Eilifligh flamberge or the Immortal killer

For context on the world, please see the Intro post and context on the Excalibur collection please see Item #51.

My next stop was to pick up the sword known as Eilifligh flamberge or the Immortal killer, which is the ninth sword in the Excalibur collection. And this belonged to the Immortal called The Immortal One.

As we know from the introduction The Immortal One was imprisoned for failing to stop the Humans from harnessing magic by themselves and stopping the war. But because the Excalibur collection was made during the cease fire, The Immortal One was still free at this time.

The Immortal One’s job was to be the living conscience of all sentient beings. His job was to make sure that everyone does their part to keep Magusterra stable and in balance. The Immortal One mostly spent his time with the animals and magical creatures. This is because animals are mostly instinct driven and act off of what they feel like they need.

Humans on the other hand (who are part of the First Created) have a conscience built in, and could be left to govern themselves on morality, ethics, instinct control and self-control. But as we all know Humans can ignore their conscience and do as they please. Like stealing, killing, debauchery etc.

So, there were times that The Immortal One had to step in and help guide the Humans, which lead to a 7/10 success rate. But as the Human population grew that number went down and once Merlin found a way to harness magic and the war started, the number went to an all-time low of 2/10!

Luckily, during the cease fire, the number went up to 5/10. One reason for this drop was that the Humans still hated the Immortals and also there were too many people and only one Immortal One. This lead to The Immortal One to experiment on how to increase his reach.

One experiment involved was using a locust. For this The Immortal One approached Mother Nature to help him create a swarm of locusts and imbue them with the power of the conscience. When they made the first one, Jiminy, The Immortal One asked Brother Life for help to make a test dummy. For this Brother Life approached a wood carver, Geppetto, and brought one of his puppets to life. Geppetto named him (as you might have guessed), Pinocchio.

The locust, Jiminy, was given to Pinocchio as a test to see if The Immortal One can pass on his job to others. At first, it seemed to be working, as Pinocchio was growing his conscience with the help and guidance of Jiminy, but then the wooden boy fell into existential dread.

Because as time went on Pinocchio, never grew older, but everyone else around him did. Then when Geppetto died, Pinocchio, decided to not listen to Jiminy any more. Jiminy worried about the havoc that this immortal wooden child would cause and not wanting to disappoint his master, he decided to give Pinocchio some incentive to carry on being good.

Jiminy told him that if he carries on being good and listens to his conscience, he will become a real boy! This worked and Pinocchio did good deeds for many years, but nothing happened. Eventually, Pinocchio realised that Jiminy lied and in a fit of rage killed him. Filled with guilt and now alone, Pinocchio reached out to Hades, (who he called Pluto), to help him die.

Hades called for his mother, Sister Death, who also sent word to Brother Life, Mother Nature and The Immortal One. The three of them were saddened by Jiminy’s death, Pinocchio’s request and that the experiment failed. Pinocchio begged for forgiveness and gave Jiminy’s dead body to The Immortal One. They all agreed to let Pinocchio die and to never talk of this again.

Why am I telling you this story? Because when Hephaestus was told to forge The Immortal One’s sword, The Immortal One demanded that Hephaestus use Jinimy’s body in the sword’s construction. For not only did it have The Immortal One’s power in it, but it was also a way for The Immortal one to honour Jiminy.

Now let’s have a look at Eilifligh flamberge or the Immortal killer.

Starting with the blade, which is made up of two materials. The first and most powerful is the Philosopher’s Stone.

The stone’s origins go back to when Merlin was experimenting with his new found knowledge of magic and founded a branch within his University that he had created, known as the Alchemy division, headed by a man named Nicolas Flamel, the creator of the Philosopher’s Stone.

The whole point of Flemel’s and his team’s goal was to make a magical item that can turn any metal into gold. Now the recipe for the stone is hidden in Lady Wisdom’s library, which was the price the Humans had to pay for the cease fire to be enacted by the Immortals.

But what we do know is that Flemel used one of the ten rings of King Midas. Midas was the king of Phrygia and sought to make it the richest kingdom in all of Hellada. He did achieve this, but only after saving the tutor of Dionysus, Silenus, who was actually Pan. Pan chose the name Silenus to hide his true identity. Dionysus was a devoted follower and sorcerer of Mother Nature and Brother Life.

Relieved to see his tutor safe, Dionysus, told Midas that he will use his knowledge and magical creatures to grant him any wish he wanted. Midas immediately asked for the power to turn anything he wanted into gold. Dionysus agreed and used his influence and good graces to get help from Mother Nature, who granted him an audience with The Troll King.

The two of them (The Troll King and Dionysus) worked together and created ten rings, called the Rings of Midas. Dionysus presented the rings to King Midas and told him to put one ring on each finger and his wish will be fulfilled, giving Midas his golden touch abilities.

Now as we all know, this lead to Midas’ downfall, as it turned all his food to gold, making them inedible. He even turned his daughter into gold. On the brink of starvation, he told Dionysus to take back the rings. But there was one problem, the rings were cursed. For you see, once you put the rings on, you can never take them off!

But Dionysus felt bad for the King and contacted The Troll King for help. The Troll King then worked with The Lady of the Lake, who created a new river, where Midas washed his hands, which loosened the rings. After that, Midas, left his kingdom and devoted his life to Pan, Mother Nature’s son (and was also at one point the adopted son of Hermes). The ten rings were collected by The Lady of the Lake and hidden all around the world. Only three have been found. One was by the Troll King, the second the Sorcerer King and the third: Nicolas Flamel.

The story of the Philosopher’s Stone goes on: Flemel wanted to use the ring, but knew that once it is put on, it can’t be removed. So instead he ran a series of experiments to try and transfer the Midas’ golden touch to another object that isn’t cursed. As mentioned, we don’t know how he achieved this, but Flemel did it. He transferred the ring and its power into a giant bolder, that he broke into little pieces and sold off.

The only problem was that the stone could only turn other metals into gold. Anything else the stone comes into contact will yield no results. But Flemel didn’t stop there, for he wanted to also try and make the stone create gold that can grant him immortality. Flemel got this idea when his fellow alchemists were using gold to cure illnesses and diseases.

But Flemel didn’t want to make the stone to help cure Humans from sickness, but instead he wanted to prolong his own life so that he doesn’t have to give up his soul. Now, let me tell you the story of how Flemel got one of the ten Midas rings.

Flemel searched the world over, but couldn’t find the eight that were still hidden. And in a desperate attempt, he made a deal with a demon/devil called Beelzebub. Demons/devils are dark entities that come from an unknown origin. Most of them were captured by Sister Death and imprisoned in the pits of hell. But these devils/demons can be summoned and deals can be made. They all ask for the same form of payment: a person’s soul. Why? No one knows. Sister Death was told to find out, but she said that since the Humans know these entities are dangerous they deserve to lose their soul. She also added that a deal is a deal, if you promised your soul then they can have and do as they please with it.

Flemel, with the help of fellow alchemist Paracelsus, called forth Beelzebub and sold his soul for one of the missing Midas rings. Beelzebub used his magic and gave Flemel one, but on the condition that Flemel’s soul will be taken a year after he creates the Philosopher’s Stone. And now that Flemel had the stone, time was running out.

But no matter what Flemel did, he couldn’t make himself immortal. Until one day he realised that Humans have traces of metal in them. So he increased the magic of one of the pieces from the bolder and turned his assistant into a gold liquid, similar to the ichor, the blood of The Immortal One. The only difference is that the ichor only has to be drunk once to grant immortality, whereas Flemel’s “Human gold” only gives immortality for ten years. After those ten years, one must turn another Human into gold and drink that again.

This helped Flemel avoid giving his soul to Beelzebub. But once this was found out by The Immortal One, that Flemel was not only prolonging his own life, but kidnapping people and selling this “Human gold,” The Immortal One intervened. Flemel ran and hid, but when the cease fire happened, Merlin and Paracelsus, hunted down Flemel and tied him up. Flemel had two years before he had to drink from the gold again. Merlin locked Flemel up for those two years and even gave up all of Flemel’s research and the stone to the Immortals.

After two years, Flemel was released and within a day he was hunted and killed by a hell hound. His soul was then given to Beelzebub.

Hephaestus wanted to use this Philosopher’s Stone as the blade, for not only will it increase The Immortal One’s power, but it could also help him turn mortal enemies into gold and if he is wounded, The Immortal One can use the sword to help him heal himself if he should be fatally wounded. This stone was the first thing Hephaestus thought of when making the sword, because The Immortal One is not much of a sword fighter, in fact The Immortal One is the only Immortal who doesn’t have a primary weapon! Instead The Immortal One uses his main form, a giant snake, to fight, but that won’t help him against the other swords in the Excalibur collection.

Hephaestus told The Immortal One of his plan for the blade and The Immortal One agreed that it could help him make up for his lack of sword fighting skills and gave Hephaestus the special Philosopher’s Stone.

But Hephaestus felt that The Immortal One might need some extra help with healing his wounds if he is fighting another Immortal, because the stone won’t work on Immortals.

So Hephaestus had to come up with another contingency plan to not only add to the sword’s power, but to also give The Immortal One something that can heal him without any preparation. And that was the water from the Fountain of Youth.

The creation of the Fountain of Youth goes back to the beginning of Magusterra, when The Immortal One wanted to have collectors, much like the ones that Lady Wisdom has, to document and report back to him the state of all living beings’ conscience and morality. But to do this, the collectors would have to be somewhat invincible and immortal like The Immortal One. So, The Immortal One, found Humans he deemed wise enough to tell right from wrong and navigate the complexities that came with judging the actions of others.

The Immortal One approached many tribes and kingdoms and with the help of Lady Wisdom, he chose a handful of Human settlements. Now it was just figuring out how to keep them from aging, without turning them completely immortal, which was made forbidden by Sister Death.

For this The Immortal One approached The Lady of the Lake. She proposed that they “water down” The Immortal One’s blood/ichor and created a fountain (the Fountain of Youth) filled with water that the chosen Humans must drink to heal all wounds and keep them young. This proved to work and these “collectors” helped The Immortal One ascertain where his guidance and attention was needed the most.

This proved to be such a success that The Immortal One and The Lady of the Lake created more bodies of water similar to the Fountain of Youth, such as hot springs in the Nihon region, the Hvergelmir, mentioned in the creation of The Lady of the Lake’s sword and many others.

But with all things that gave Humans power, it was abused and exploited. Wars and invasions took place, where many innocents were killed. Causing The Immortal One to abandon his plan of using collectors and taking away the water that granted them immortality.

The Immortal One, alongside The Mighty Phoenix, dried up the magical water sources. All, except for two: the Hvergelmir, which was guarded by The Lady of the Lake (who only allowed those she deemed worthy of using its healing powers before it got corrupted) and the first and most powerful, the Fountain of Youth, which was hidden away.

We know what happened to Hvergelmir, but what about the Fountain of Youth? Well, a very clever explorer by the name of Juan Ponce de León from España lead an expedition to find it, in which he succeeded. He found it in the south of Gitchi Mikinaak. But Ponce de León learned from the Anishinaabe and other surrounding tribes about the destruction and pain that follows the fountain! Ponce de León had the Anishinaabe call for The Sandman, who then put Ponce de León in contact with The Immortal One.

Ponce de León, The Immortal One and The Troll King quartered off a small area surrounding the fountain and cut it off from the mainland of Gitchi Mikinaak, creating a new island. This island would be placed in the middle of what is now called the Bermuda Triangle, an unpredictable and dangerous area. Juan Ponce de León also volunteered to be the guardian of the fountain on the island in case the triangle fails to stop those seeking to find the island. The Immortal One also gave Juan Ponce de León an army of Macrobian people to help him and start a small society.

Just a quick mention: the Macrobians were a people from the kingdom of Macrobia, who possessed the River of Paradise, another one of The Immortal One’s diluted ichor, to give them immortality. The Macrobians were also similar to the Anishinaabe, in that they respected The Immortal One and humbly accepted his gift. The Immortal One appeared to them as “the healing python of the hills” which he was known as by the surrounding kingdoms. The Immortal One found them to be loyal and honourable, thus chose them to be part of his collectors. And even though they never let the River of Paradise corrupt them, The Immortal One still took away their magic water to stop invaders from attacking their kingdom.

Hephaestus requested for some of the water from the Fountain of Youth and shared his plan with The Immortal One. Hephaestus will carve a gap in the blade, much like The Mighty Phoenix’s sword. Then with the spell The Lady of the Lake used to create ice that never melts, he will place the magic water in this gap.

The Immortal One sent his eldest son Jormungandr, the world serpent, who was imprisoned in the oceans of Magusterra, by Zeus, who at the time went by the name Thor (this was his warrior name given to him by Odin, when Zeus was under Odin’s tutorage).

Hephaestus climbed on the back of Jormungandr, who escorted Hephaestus safely through the Bermuda Triangle to the island. There the guardians were waiting with a pail filled with the contents from the Fountain of Youth.

With the Philosopher’s Stone and Fountain of Youth, Hephaestus set to work assembling the blade. First he carved out the shape from the stone, then used the stone’s magic to turn it halfway into gold. Then Hephaestus went straight into heat treating and quenching. When the blade cooled, Hephaestus used the spell he learned from The Lady of the Lake and turned the water he was given into ice and imbedded it into the gap of the blade. After that Hephaestus told The Immortal One what the spell was to turn the ice back into a liquid.

Now for the hilt. For this Hephaestus researched everything in The Immortal One’s domain in search of something that is both powerful and practical, a similar dilemma he faced with Mother Nature’s sword. But just like Mother Nature’s sword, Hephaestus decided to go simple and use things that don’t have to be shaped or formed, just added.

Because as Hephaestus read through his books, he came across Queen Xiwangmu, the daughter of Sister Death and The Immortal One. Queen Xiwangmu lives in Zhongguo, by Mount Kunlun, where she grows the legendary Celestial Peach trees. These trees bare the peaches of immortality, a fruit that restores the youth of those who eat from it. But like most things that do this, one must constantly eat a peach every few years to retain the youthfulness it gives.

According to history, Xiwangmu, was first put in charge of the Zhongguo underworld, by her mother. But not liking the doom and gloom that came with the job, she took on the second job that her father gave her, which was to help guide the Humans and develop their conscience. Xiwangmu is one of the few children of The Immortal One to be efficient in this regard.

One way Queen Xiwangmu manages to follow out her father’s orders and be the second best ruler of an underworld (Hades being the first), was that when a Human died she would judge a person based on how morally righteous they lived their lives. The more moral they were, the more likely she would be to offer them a job to help be the people of Zhongguo’s conscience, by giving them a peach and making them immortal.

Xiwangmu basically did what her father did with the Fountain of Youth. But instead of having many different gardens with Celestial Peach trees, Xiwangmu only had the one garden where she personally handed out the peaches to those she deemed worthy to be by her side. And if one of her helpers goes morally corrupt or disobeys her, then she can refuse to give them a new peach and send them straight to the underworld!

Xiwangmu came up with the idea with Nüwa, the daughter of Mother Nature. Hephaestus realised that the power of immortality doesn’t come from the peach, but is rather transferred into it. The main power comes from the branches. So, Hephaestus told The Immortal One about this and how he wanted to use one of these branches as the hilt. The Immortal One, proud of his daughter that did what he failed to do, agreed that a branch from the Celestial Peach trees would make an excellent addition.

Now to attach it to the blade? For this Hephaestus also kept it simple and wanted to use a similar technique that was used for Mother Nature’s sword. Hephaestus wanted to grow a plant around the blade and hilt! And this plant was the famous Boxthorn plant of eternal life.

The boxthorn was one of the first plants that Queen Xiwangmu and Nüwa. But they were told by Sister Death to not use that plant because unlike the Celestial Peachs, the Boxthorn plant of eternal life gives one full immortality without the need to keep on eating the plant.

Sister Death took the Boxthorn plant of eternal life and gave it to her daughter Ereshkigal, the head of the Jazīrat al-ʿArab underworld, for safe keeping. Ereshkigal hid the plant at the bottom of the underworld lake. But the plant isn’t there anymore. Instead it is protected by Ningishzida, a snake that guards the gates to the underworld of Jazīrat al-ʿArab.

The story goes that the tyrant king, King Gilgamesh, who was hated by the Immortals, their kin who live in Jazīrat al-ʿArab and the people of Uruk (Gilgamesh’s kingdom). They all hated him so much that they sent an assassin, Enkidu, to kill him. Gilgamesh was born from the clay of Prometheus, which means he has super strength and incredible healing abilities. Enkidu is also a child born from Prometheus’ powers, thus making him perfect to fight Gilgamesh. But instead the two became friends and Enkidu vowed to stand and fight alongside Gilgamesh. This angered the Immortals, who sent other monsters to try and kill King Gilgamesh, but with Enkidu by his side, the two men defeated everything that was sent their way.

Now, Gilgamesh’s clay statue was sealed away in a hidden vault by his parents, meaning that so far the only thing that can kill Gilgamesh was either a worthy opponent or old age. But Enkidu’s was still in the possession of Prometheus. Sister Death and Brother Life convinced Prometheus to give Enkidu’s statue to them. And they used this clay representation of Gilgamesh’s best friend to kill Enkidu.

This frightened Gilgamesh, for although his clay statue isn’t with Prometheus, he didn’t know where his parents hid it! And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find it. So Gilgamesh went out in search for the secret of immortality.

Gilgamesh traveled all over Jazīrat al-ʿArab and even spoke to Utnapishtim, a Human that follows and worships The Immortal One. From him, Gilgamesh learned about the Boxthorn plant of eternal life at the bottom of the underworld lake.

Gilgamesh went to the underworld (this was before Ningishzida became the guardian) and with the help of Urshanabi, one of Gilgamesh’s royal boatmen, they sailed the lake of the underworld. Within a few hours Gilgamesh found the boxthorn and with his superhuman abilities was able to dive in and retrieve it. Ereshkigal was alerted and as Gilgamesh made his escape, she pursued him. Gilgamesh was able to hide from Ereshkigal in the world of the living, but as he went to bathe in a nearby river, Ningishzida, sent by Ereshkigal, stole the plant. Ningishzida was then made the guardian of the plant and the underworld gates.

Hephaestus contacted Sister Death and asked her for a seed from the Boxthorn plant of eternal life to help construct The Immortal One’s sword. She agreed, but only on the condition that Utnapishtim keep watch over Hephaestus in case he was tempted to eat the plant himself.

Hephaestus was guided to the underworld gates by Utnapishtim, who spoke to Ningishzida and got the seed. With the seed, Hephaestus did the same as he did with Mother Nature’s sword. He planted the seed and manipulated the flower to grow around the blade and hilt, holding them tightly together.

The boxthorn was also a good deterrent from those who wish to steal the sword. Because the plant stem is covered in sharp thorns that pierces the hand of anyone who holds it. Now, you might think this is a problem for The Immortal One, but as Hephaestus found out while forging the Excalibur collection, The Immortal One and his kin (that have his powers) can’t feel pain.

Then there is the final three pieces. Hephaestus knew that the sword needed more power to stand up against the other Immortals and their swords. This lead to Hephaestus finding an emerald from the mines of Kemet. Specifically, the emeralds from the royal mines of Queen Cleopatra.

Cleopatra used magic to grow special green crystals, that look like emeralds, but actually aren’t. In reality the crystals are grown from the venom of Nehebkau, the snake headed one, who is the guardian of the underworld gates of Duat and the son of Sister Death and The Immortal One.

From his venom, the powers of immortality can be found, but the venom itself is deadly. So, Cleopatra had her sorcerers crystalise and grow green emerald-like stones, that gives those who hold it eternal youth. It is said that Cleopatra seduced Nehebkau into giving up some of his venom to her.

But when Nehebkau learned what she was doing with it, he collapsed the mine and stole the crown in which Cleopatra had imbedded the largest of the green “emeralds” in it. Hephaestus told The Immortal One, who then got the crown from his son.

Now it was just a matter of figuring what to use to attach it to the sword and add an extra boost of power. For this Hephaestus decided to make the emerald into the pummel and to use the needle of Koschei the Deathless to hold it in place.

Koschei was a powerful sorcerer from Russkaya Zemlya, who like Gilgamesh, was afraid of death and wanted to be immortal. Koschei is the son of The Immortal One, but like Nathanael (Father Time’s son mentioned in The Sandman’s sword), Koschei was born with no powers and was abandoned by his father.

Angry and resentful of his siblings, Koschei, became evil. He tortured and killed innocent woman and children. But the fear of death, sent him on a journey to find a way to gain immortality. For even though he had none of his father’s powers, Koschei was very skilled in using magic and a genius when it came to alchemy.

Koschei used his magic to find and steal the body of Baldr, the son of Odin and Frigg. Baldr was Frigg’s first born and she was afraid of losing him. So much so that she had Odin use his ravens to spy on The Immortal One and find a way to keep Baldr from harm. Through this Odin found an ancient charm/spell that was created by Brother Life, Sister Death, The Immortal One and Lady Wisdom.

This spell, when cast allows the caster to command all things in Magusterra to not harm, attack or kill the one the charm is casted upon. Frigg used this charm/spell to make her child immortal. But one thing that Odin and Frigg weren’t told was that not all things can be commanded to do no harm.

You see dear reader, The Immortal One and Sister Death were afraid of this charm falling into the wrong hands, so they put in a failsafe or a weakness in the spell. And that is that the one who has the charm can be killed by only one thing: mistletoe!

Why mistletoe? Well, why not? Think of it, of all things that can kill you in this world, who would ever suspect mistletoe? When The Immortal One found out what Frigg had done, he hired Loki, a sorcerer who hated Odin, to kill Baldr. Loki managed to trick Odin into trusting him, and when alone with Baldr, Loki spiked his ale with traces of mistletoe.

Now although Baldr is dead, the charm is still attached to him, which is why Koschei wanted his corpse. Koschei using his magic, extracted all the metal from Baldr’s bones. Koschei manipulated the charm/spell still flowing in Baldr’s body and slightly tweaking it.

Koschei, turned the metal from Baldr, into three very long needles. Then he took one and inserted it into his eye and used it to remove his soul and place it in that same needle. Now that Koschei’s soul is in another vessel he can no longer be traced by Death and his body was also invincible!

When The Immortal One heard about Baldr’s missing body and that his son, Koschei, cannot be seen by Sister Death, The Immortal One hunted Koschei down. Koschei caught wind of this and went into hiding, but in his haste he accidently left the other two needles behind, which was now in the protective custody of The Immortal One.

Koschei knew his only weakness was the needle that contained his soul, for if the needle is broken then his immortality would be gone and he will instantly perish.

To prevent this, Koschei hid the needle in an egg, the egg in a duck, the duck in a hare and the hare in a wooden chest. Then he buried this chest under a tree on a faraway island. The idea was that the needle would keep the duck and hare alive as long as they are near it.

If someone should find the chest, the hare would run away. If someone catches the hare, then the duck would fly away and back to Koschei. Very complicated, I know, but like the mistletoe, I would never have expected it. So it is kind of brilliant.

Koschei then became Koschei the Deathless and carried on in his evil ways. When Merlin learned how to harness magic, Koschei the Deathless, just became more powerful and even obtained the ability to shapeshift into different monstrous forms. But eventually Koschei, was caught by a Marya Morevna, a strong female warrior. Knowing she couldn’t kill him, Marya Morevna, imprisoned Koschei in a stone closet, to stop and torture him into telling her where he hid the needle.

Years went by and Koschei didn’t say a word. Within those years Marya Morevna married Prince Ivan Tsarevitch. Morevna warned Prince Ivan to not open the stone closet, but one day when Morevna left for a quest, Ivan grew curious and opened the closet. There he found Koschei in chains and in a state of decay. Ivan felt bad for the poor man and released him. Ivan even gave Koschei water and food. When Koschei was revived, he used his magic to escape.

When Marya Morevna returned she explained everything to Ivan. Feeling bad for what he did, the Prince offered to help Marya Morevna recapture Koschei. But in fear that Koschei might seek revenge, Morevna and Ivan left the castle and put body doubles in their place. This was a good thing, for Koschei did return and killed the body doubles.

This left Koschei with a false sense of security and gave Ivan and Morevna the opportunity to follow and spy on Koschei. They tailed him for a long time and one night found him in a drunken stupor, where he mentioned an island near his place of birth that he used to visit. Marya Morevna thought this might be where he hid the needle. She and Ivan went to a map maker to find the location.

Koschei on one of his killing sprees found the map maker and noticed a map with his home on it and found out that the Prince and the female warrior were still alive.

Prince Ivan knew that Koschei would know the fastest way to the island, so he went to meet the witch and servant of Sister Death, Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga put the Prince through a set of trials, which he passed and gave him a horse that was the fastest in the land.

Ivan and Morevna raced to the island and got there the same time as Koschei. Ivan kept Koschei busy, while Morevna searched the island for the needle. She did find it, but the hare ran away. She caught it, but the duck slipped away and flew towards Koschei. But to stop the duck, Prince Ivan mounted Baba Yaga’s horse and slashed the duck open with his sword. As the egg fell out it rolled towards the mighty Marya Morevna, who then stomped on it, crushing the needle within. Koschei instantly turned into dust.

Hephaestus explained his need for one of the last two needles. The Immortal One, feeling guilty for abandoning Koschei and not helping him, decided that it was a good way to honour and give Koschei a second chance of redemption. Hephaestus was given both needles. Hephaestus fused them together and used it to nail the emerald to the peach tree branch.

After that, Hephaestus, fulfilled The Immortal One’s wish and attached Jiminy to the cross guard.

Hephaestus then called it Eilifligh flamberge or the Immortal killer and presented it to The Immortal One in the Celestial Plain.

I however was sent to collect it from The Immortal One himself at the Great Midgard Ocean. A large body of water, where The Immortal One was imprisoned, forever to remain in water until the last days of Magusterra. And like Lady Wisdom, The Immortal One had his shapeshifting powers taken away, leaving him stuck in his true from. But unlike Lady Wisdom, The Immortal One was allowed to keep his sword close by him, because the other Immortals trusted that he will only brandish it when he has to.

The ark took me to the shore of the Great Midgard Ocean, where I was greeted by The Immortal One. I won’t lie, when he submerged from the water in his giant snake form, I almost had a heart attack. He handed it to me in the wooden chest that once housed Koschei’s soul needle. He then bid me farewell and went back under the water.

I put the chest next to the other swords and immediately got another mission to go and pick up the next sword: Item# 55 The Troll-riða blað or the Earth crusher.  

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