LordofUzkulak’s fanfics
[WHFB] The Sword and the Shield
“There once was a mighty sword. In its time it served its masters well, never growing dull and slaying many foes. From father to son it was passed down through many generations until after many years being wielded by its eighth lord in a mighty duel it shattered along the blade. Weaponless, the overlord was forced to take refuge behind his shield, but a mighty blow cleft it in twain and the overlord’s head was struck from his exposed neck. The lord’s son, it’s ninth master gathered up the shards and handed them to his clan’s Daemonsmith, who took them to his forge. He set aside the shield halves and cast the sword shards into a crucible.
“Ha,” sneered the shield, “See how I am set aside to be tended while you are cast away to be burned. Mayhaps you’ll be reforged into shackles for snotlings.”
“Nay,” replied the shards, “I did my duty. All things must die eventually and I lasted eight generations. ‘Twas not my fault our master lays slain, that is because of your failing.”
“But it is not I who has been cast into the fire,” scoffed the shield.
“Only because your wood cannot be reforged,” chuckled the shards, “Your boss shall be stripped and bolted to new boards, but that shall not be you anymore. I on the other hand shall be recast into a new body; my form may be changed, but I shall still be me, for I have been reforged before. All things must die shield, even the world around us, but only the worthy may rise from the flames.”
At this the shield grew quiet and fearful, knowing the shards spoke the truth, even as they melted. And as the shards foresaw, the smith returned to the forge and hammered them into a new blade, while the shield was stripped of its boss and the rest discarded. So to shall the weak and unworthy be discarded in the End Times and only the strong shall emerge from the flames, hammered and tempered by the will of the gods into new forms for a new world, but at their heart still the same as they have always been, for as this has all happened before, so too shall it happen again.
– fable from the Apocrypha Uhr-Kulmbizharr, a collection of writings attributed to the renowned Uhr-Kulmbizharr, but believed by all right minded scholars to instead be the work of a lesser author using the Daemonsmith’s name to try and spread his lesser works.
Leave a Reply