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Every Star Smith Has a Secret

That Lion in front of me in heavy armour wasn't a pleasant being I could tell this from the way she looked at me: Teeth bared, claws out and ready to jump in any second. But the older one next by her was more like curious and would like to come closer and say hello. I think she was who received my mails, so she must be the Chief Healer Master.

“I am the Star Smith." I told them as they were asking who I am. That title I got from my adoptive parents as I was smarter than the most of my people. They offered me everything I need in return I have to be me… invent things, expand the boundaries of science. But it was long time ago. I became the Star Smith and I like this name.

“You can't be him. He is a Lion!" the armoured lioness protested but I just laughed a little. I saw they cornered me from every direction. Oh I was sure I could beat them but not the reason I was there.

“I never mentioned my species in my biography." I just said and folded my arms.

“Biography? You mean the Star Forge? That is just a novel, a figment of imagination." The older one took a step closer.

“No, it is my biography. It tells you where I came from and what I did to became who I am right now… what I am right now." One of the Lion was about to lunge at me I could see with my extended senses. I was about to evade when something happened; From the bare sky a huge four legged creature came and blocked the way, with one slap the Lion was meters away bemoaning his wounds.

***

***

“What the hell is that?!" I heard the others shouting all around me, fearful gasps and words of surprise. The creature was defending the Star Smith. It looked like a huge wolf, but it's skin was made from iron and flames, it's eyes were made from red gems, it breathed fire from its nose and lightning sparked on its skin. I felt the ground rumbling, it vibrated around the creature. I thought it was the monster he created and called Seventy Names of Death despite in the Novell it looked like a dragon not a wolf.

“Geri! What have I told you?!" He scolded it. I dropped my jaw as that thing turned to him and for a fragment of a second I saw regret on its face. It had thoughts and feelings.

“I'm sorry but they were about to attack you." It answered and I dropped my jaw despite it was almost on the ground already. He was a male according to the voice; It was deep and manly. I saw on Jara she was planning an attack with the terrified soldiers and I was about to intervene when another thing happened.

“Sir, we told him too but he wasn't listening." A buzzing phenomenon appeared near at the Star Smith's head. It was like a bird but without the wings, thought it was flying around… and speaking! Another metallic creature with the ability to speak and seems like they were living, thinking and making decisions. How much wonder he made? A person like him could save us all. I must defend him from Jara, as muscles tensed in her legs and she was about to storm the Star Smith.

“For crying out loud! All right everybody: Show yourselves!" He cried then another Flame Wolf and Bird Thing came from different directions. I saw on the scouts and soldiers they were ready to die when they saw there is two from that fire breathing metal creature. I was sure they would kill everybody without difficulties.

“Jara, wait." I whispered her and took a step closer to the Star Smith.

***

***

Freki and Munnin came closer. I knew it was a bad omen as I was about to offer my knowledge and abilities to save them. I knew they were desperate and hopelessness… or at least the healer. She took a step closer to me and my guardians were ready to defend me. I waved them not to. An old Healer will not attack me. Freki showed me his uncomprehending face and Huginn was ready to assist me in the conversation. I made them. I invented them to be my company.

My first children were Huginn and Munnin. I named them after Odin's ravens as I gave them the same purpose. Huginn was the thought of mine, she was whispering information and giving ideas to me anytime I needed. She was good at debates and I was glad I could speak with someone like her despite the fact she was an Artificial Intelligence in the body of a flying drone.

Munnin were my memory, as I was always forgot the basic things like eating and drinking, having a rest when I was obsessed with something. I used to work on my ideas all day and night which wasn't healthy even for me. She brought me food and asked me to eat, she brought me water and asked me to drink, she once even drugged me because I wasn't willing to go to bed thought I was up for three days and working on a new invention. Then after an upgrade I uploaded my memories into her. I thought it might help me one day.

But after I was attacked I had to do something to protect me and my work. So I made soldiers, weapons with intelligence and personality. They were the wolves of Odin, Geri and Freki. I'm proud of them as they have advanced weapons, shields and sensors. They can replace a huge army with their combat abilities. Impenetrable metal armour, carbon based muscle structures, kinetic shields, gravity missiles and energy weapons. And of course teeth and claws like on any wolves. Geri was the first so he became the Alpha. As I was his father he was always helping me and protecting me from others. Then Freki came and he got a Brother besides he had two Sisters. They became friends so they can protect me in turns or in case of huge trouble at the same time.

But of course in cases like these, over protecting AIs with weapons of mass destruction could be troublesome itself.

“Everybody just calm down." I raised my hands as the Lions were about to lose their mind. It was too much for them.

***

***

“We won't attack you." I told him. “We won't!" I told to the snort behind me. “But please tell your guardians not to kill.“

“All right. Let's agree with something: if you won't attack, we won't attack. I came here to help you, save your species because I like your folk." He kept a little pause while patted the head of one of his beasts. It seemed a rote. The beast was less excited after the gesture.

“So you know about the Rotten Blood Syndrome." I concluded. It was a huge discovery that our blood isn't strong enough and we had less and less cubs. And the cubs were often handicapped. We found out it started somewhere three hundred years ago but we don't know why. It poisoned our bloodline and if the math has right we have another three hundred years and we will become sterile so the species will extinct eventually. We had thirty percent of population decline in the last seventy years and it is getting worse year by year. We have some cure that will slow down the rate but we don't have much time.

“I know. But it's complicated. We have to find the cure but the complicated part is to make sure everybody gets it. I have ideas but I need to coordinate with you." He told me and I saw in his strange orange eyes he was really worried about the situation. It made shivers in my spine. Someone so clever and talented as the Star Smith is unsure… bad prospects.

“You will find out am sure. But first we have to find the cure. For that we have to find the source of the… RBS… “ I sighed. “We did not succeed despite our best minds were working on it." I shook my head in sorrow. He laughed and I looked at him with the question in my eyes.

“Don't get this in the wrong way but if I put a nail into my head I would be still smarter than your 'best minds' together. And I declare this isn't an insult, before she commits suicide by attacking me." He pointed to Jara, sure she was about to do something stupid and lethal. I stepped between them.

“My dear, if you want to kill him you should kill me first." I told her and she was taken aback. Not just because I'm defending something human… ish. But because I accused her she would do it. Since the Artalian Convention every Healer is protected by the Kings Association. It means if you attack or hurt a healer intentionally you will be executed. If a country has more than five cases of this deliberate attack the Green City will remove every healer from that country which is almost the same as a death sentence for a whole country. So we Healers are protected above everything. Jara could take my words as a threat or an insult but she is smarter than that. She knew by the look of her face that the Star Smith is considered as Healer from that moment.

“All right Helena. I hope you know what you are doing." She looked at me and shook her head in disbelief. “Everybody, we are going home. Come on!" She ordered the others while I stepped closer to the Star Smith.

“You can ask me anything I will answer or I will do accordingly." I told him and meant. He is our last chance and he is our best chance.

***

***

We were walking back to the Keystone and I was surrounded by heavily armed lions. Of course Freki and Geri were more than enough to persuade them not to do something, despite the fact I sent them away. It seemed the order of the Chief Healer Master was enough. Muninn and Huginn was my only companion as I always kept them close to me.

“What do you think?" I came back from a thought when Helena asked me. I did not know what the question was about. Thankfully Munnin was ready to help me. 'She had an idea about the main cause of the RBS. She thought there is something in the food' she whispered into my head. I forgot to mention that my neural implants were connected with them so I can speak to them, let's say telepathically.

“You are right and wrong at the same time." I told her but she motioned me to continue. “Around three hundred and twenty five years ago there was a volcano eruption somewhere at the Yellow Island."

“Never heard of that place" She noted.

“It's not existing anymore. The blast destroyed the whole island within a second" I smacked with my finger. “The sound of the explosion was heard even at the Monks of Timbulus. Maybe they even saw it as they are living high up on the Mount of Timbulus at north." I shrugged as I wasn't sure. “The problem is with the amount of sulphur it pushed into the air. The winds and the sea currents carried the sulphur away and all around the world. It caused mass exaction on the east and made the birds grow ten times bigger on the west. It has strange effect on every creature of this planet." I whispered the last sentence just for myself. “So the rain made the ground swallow the sulphur and the plants used it to grow bigger and healthier. But which made the vegetation healthier it made the animals weaker. Only in this country seventeen avian and mammal species has extinct in the last hundred years. All because of the sulphur in the plants."

“Sulphur is not dangerous to us." She remarked. “We use it in medicines. It has good effect on us."

“You are right and wrong again." I smiled as she shook her head. “The sulphur you use is produced in a laboratory. It is clean and in the good concentration. The sulphur in the plants is tinted with other chemicals." She nodded but I was sure she did not understand it fully. “For example. If you eat a Borian Apple with its seed, you will be fine. But if you eat just the seed or just the meat you will become sick and you could even die. Why? Because the seed and the meat alone is a strong poison but if you eat them together it will be each other's antidote. Yummy food together, deadly poison separately." She nodded again but now I saw she understand my point. “Same case with the sulphur but in the opposite. It's fine if you apply alone. It's deadly if you combine it with the plants."

“So the volcano eruption and the plants combined with the sulphur caused the Rotten Blood Syndrome. Because of this I think the cure itself won't protect us. We have to find a way to cleanse the plants." She told me and I saw she is smarter than I thought first. Maybe this is the reason she earned the Chief title. She was good.

“We can't cleanse a whole planet. But I can make you immune to the tinted sulphur. As the root of the problem is the sulphur made your DNA wrong. Because it's altered you can't have child or if you can it will be ill as well. So either you can't reproduce or reproduce something abnormal." I took a small pause. “But if I modify your DNA to tolerate the sulphur it won't alter your DNA anymore and you will be able to have healthy children."

“What is DNA?" She asked and I forget that she is a species on a feudal level. But if I save them maybe they will become advanced like me. They will build ships to travel the stars and find other planets they can help on. Maybe one day they will reach my home planet and do something extraordinary.

While I was thinking how to put in a way she could understand we reached an old temple of them. I saw it was built thousands of years ago. The pillars were still intact but the most of the building was destroyed by the force of the nature. It was abandoned but I saw something interesting.

Among the pillars there was a statue or at least what remained. Nothing much but a face, four paws and a worn body. It was cracked and had missing pieces all over. But I know once it was a female lion, a goddess. She had patterns in her pelt, curves and oval forms and according to the fresco on the pillars it radiated some kind of energy or… or light. The realization shocked me.

***

Not long after I made the Star Forge I created an experiment. I made a machine it can bend the time around the Star Forge. My plan was simple. If I put myself out of the time-space continuum I will become immortal and my enemies won't find me… because I never existed in their eyes. I thought I was ready to solve the time paradoxes it will cause, but I was wrong. I built the machine but I faced with a strange problem so I delayed using it.

First I had to make something extraordinary, popped into my head, and as I was found the planet of the Lions shortly before, I thought I could make it similar to them. It was my arch invention. It was bigger thing than the Star Forge itself. It was better than my companions Huginn, Muninn and even Freki and Geri. It was the ultimate invention.

I made a machine which has the ability to open a gate to the Akashic Field. It's the zero dimensional space where everything merges into one. Time, space, matter, energy, thoughts and memories. Theoretically the Field also stores the experiences and the knowledge of every ever existed intelligent being. I thought if I could tap into the Akashic Field I could do anything and everything I want. I talking about the infinite knowledge.

I made the machine but I thought I won't be able the understand the information I will extract so I made The AI to translate. Mind Integrated Recognizing Awareness how I called her. I know it's a stupid name but I'm bad with names.

With her help I would have been able to understand the true nature of Akashic Field but I made her too perfect. I gave her a body, a lioness body and the ability to speak and think. I made her fur white as it was easier to replicate and as I was in hurry I did not hide the main neural pathways either. So It was curving around and under her pelt, glowing in bluish lights. Then I activated the device and she vanished into the Akashich Field. I thought I made a mistake and I accidentally destroyed her. I never repeated the experiment as I was afraid. I even abandoned the project to concentrate on something else.

Months later she turned up. Her body was steeped with the medium or energy… I couldn't even tell what was that, but it was all over her. It made her glowing like a star. But the ultimate discovery was that I could feel her presence. It was a consciousness. A strong and experienced consciousness so I was sure I hit the jackpot. She fulfilled her destiny and came back with all the knowledge she collected.

Then I realized what I made. She was an AI with intelligence far above the Humans, then I filled her with the Akashic Field which made her understand the universe like nobody else. With that power she was able to alter the time, space, matter and energy only with a thought. She was a superior being in all means. But the bound I made with her made her chained to me, she must have obeyed and did what I said. And I realized… I forged a Goddess from flames, lighting, metal and thoughts of all the intelligent beings that ever existed. So I thought I should release her. But there was a little problem. The bound I made was unbreakable till one of us is alive. So I made myself never existed with the Time Altering Machine. It broke the connection and set her free. The price was high. I lost my memories, my right arm, a few organs and my eyes. She was sent back into the past but she was free and alive. I also drifted away a couple of thousand years.

Huginn then uploaded my memories she stored, Muninn kept me alive while the Star Forge replaced my damaged and missing body parts. The problem was with the Time Altering Field around the Star Forge which was wild and I did not know how to undo it. What made the problem worse the habitats of the planet were in danger. If the Time Altering Field will reach them, it will destroy them once and for all. It will erase them from the existence. So I came to find a way saving them. But first I must solve another problem. The DNA problem they have because of me. That volcano did not erupt by itself. The first wave of the Field hit the planet already and it made unstable. They do not know but before the wave there wasn't any human being here. After the wave they appeared from another time line… and it's getting worse.

***

The statute in front of me was her it was out of the question. But how? Did I mess the time that much? Did I make something more?

“Who is she?" I asked Helena. She came closer and looked up the statue.

“She is Mira. The goddess we believed in long time ago." She told me and I had to lean to a column. 'Goddess' the word hit me hard. Mira i.e. Mind Integrated Recognizing Awareness, she kept the name but she shortened.

“Goddess?" I asked but my mouth was dry.

“The legends says she made us able to speak and think. I have a book back in my home if you want to know more." Helena offered but I was fighting with the urge to freak out. I did not even know why. Maybe because it had no sense? Before I made Mira, there were Lions, so it couldn't be that she made them. Although the time is working strange because of me. It could be.

“I would like to read it." I said on a low voice while I was breathing heavy just to calm myself. I know she was casted back in time, but I did not know she used her abilities to become a goddess to this species.

“Hmm… It just came to my mind. In the legend she said she was not born like us, she was forged." Then Helena looked at me and her eyes went wide. “You are the Star Smith; you are living in the Star Forge." She gasped in realization. She had more common sense than I believed.

“I… I just…" I stammered.

“You forged Mira the Goddess!" She shouted. Everybody looked at me like they saw me at the first time and I'm ten times bigger than I used to be.

Oh bloody hell what have I done! And what I will do to save them!