Chapter 7 – The Forge of Minds
The dimension slept in a low hum, a quiet that wasn't silence but pressure—the kind that builds before a storm.
Sozo stood alone in the center, one hand outstretched, palm glowing faint blue. Thin threads of energy spilled from his skin and burrowed into the ground.
The Arc of Embodiment responded. From the cracks in the pale floor, ore veins began to bloom—crystalline roots pulsing like slow hearts. Each one carried a different tone: coppery red, obsidian black, deep ocean blue. They were raw matter, drawn from his own energy.
"Beautiful," he murmured. "But raw beauty's brittle."
Behind him, a spark of green light appeared. Deku stepped through, already shifting into his Grey Matter form, the transformation almost casual now. The smaller alien body blinked its bright yellow eyes, scanning the air.
"Energy signature stable," he said in that clipped, analytic voice. "But your lattice symmetry's a mess."
Sozo snorted. "Morning to you too, scientist."
"Morning, creator." Grey Matter crouched, studying one of the glowing veins. "You're mixing elements without stabilizers again. No wonder your last batch turned to dust."
Sozo shrugged. "Dust teaches faster than perfection."
Grey Matter rolled his eyes—a movement that somehow managed to look both alien and human. "That's not how metallurgy works."
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The Forge Begins
Hours slipped by inside the dimension, time stretching like thread. Sozo shaped, Grey Matter calculated. They didn't speak much. The rhythm between them was its own language—creation and logic trading breath.
At Sozo's command, a new node of crystal rose, transparent and humming like glass under pressure. Grey Matter leapt onto its surface, small claws leaving no mark.
"This structure's fascinating," he murmured, tracing symbols into the air. "It's alive."
"It has to be," Sozo said. "Inert metal can't handle hydra energy. It cracks."
"So you're growing metal."
"Exactly."
Grey Matter's eyes widened. "You're insane."
Sozo smiled faintly. "Compliment accepted."
The creature-creator planted his palm against the ore, pushing a pulse of power into it. The light spread through the veins—flame-red through one, ocean-blue through another, then white where they crossed.
Grey Matter's instruments flickered. "Atomic density exceeding adamantium baseline by thirty percent. Resonance response equal to vibranium at 2.6 terahertz. It's… impossible."
"Not impossible," Sozo said. "Embodied."
The ore groaned and cracked, splitting open to reveal a glowing core—a perfect sphere of metal, shifting between solid and liquid state.
"Name it," Sozo said.
Grey Matter tilted his head. "Adravium. A fusion alloy. Living, self-healing, energy-conductive."
Sozo nodded slowly. "Adravium. I like that."
---
Testing the Alloy
They spent the next hours shaping the new metal into something usable. Grey Matter handled precision, building thin plates and filaments so fine they shimmered like mist. Sozo supplied energy, molding and cooling it through sheer will.
Finally, they had their first prototype: a bracelet, simple but alive, its surface pulsing with soft light.
"Try it," Grey Matter said, hopping down from the forge table.
Sozo slid it onto his wrist. The Adravium adjusted instantly, forming grooves along his veins. The hydra mark beneath his skin responded, flaring brighter than before.
Power surged through him—not raw, but focused. It didn't burn or break. It flowed.
He clenched his fist. The air rippled faintly around his arm. "It channels perfectly."
"Of course it does," Grey Matter said smugly. "I balanced your chaos with symmetry."
"Show-off."
"Guilty."
Sozo lifted his hand again, letting the energy hum through his bones. He turned his thoughts outward. A shard of stone rose from the ground, then another. They circled him like planets. The Adravium glowed brighter, stabilizing every fluctuation of power.
The hydra's voice echoed faintly in his head. "The bond between you two thickens. Maker and thinker. Balance and spark."
He ignored the shiver that followed.
---
Armor and Purpose
When Deku reverted from Grey Matter, he looked tired but alive, grin sharp and boyish again. "We could make gear for both of us," he said. "Stuff that adapts mid-fight. Plates that grow. Blades that heal."
Sozo nodded. "And armor that remembers its wearer."
They began sketching rough designs directly into the air. The dimension's walls responded, lines of light forming around their gestures.
Deku traced a suit—sleek, flexible, glowing with circuit-like patterns. "Mine'll need energy translation channels. To keep alien forms stable longer."
Sozo drew a heavier frame, dragon-shaped plating along the shoulders. "Mine has to survive transformation feedback. Maybe link directly to the hydra's energy."
For a while, they worked in silence again, both lost in thought.
Finally, Deku broke it. "If anyone saw this…"
"They won't," Sozo said, voice steady. "Not yet. This is ours."
"Think we're ready to test?"
Sozo looked at the Adravium bracelet again. "Only one way to know."
---
The First Trial
He raised his hand, energy flaring. The ground obeyed—crystals blooming, forming a humanoid test dummy. A replica of Drago, built of the same living ore that now wrapped his wrist.
"Target locked," Deku said, switching to Grey Matter again for precision monitoring. "Try a low-level blast."
Sozo focused. The hydra within stirred, curious. Heat gathered around his hand, flame and frost blending into one glow. He released it in a single, sharp strike.
The blast hit the dummy square in the chest—and instead of shattering, the construct absorbed the force, its body flashing white.
"Feedback loop," Grey Matter said instantly. "It's reflecting the energy back!"
The ground erupted. Sozo leapt aside, the blast searing past him. For a second, his Adravium bracelet glowed blood-red, cracking under strain. He forced his will into it, stabilizing the energy flow.
The explosion faded, leaving the air thick with smoke and static.
Grey Matter reverted, coughing. "Okay," he said weakly. "Maybe next time, lower output by fifty percent."
Sozo exhaled, examining the bracelet. The cracks healed themselves slowly, glowing like veins sealing a wound. "It's alive," he murmured. "But too responsive."
"Which means," Deku said, grinning, "we can teach it."
---
A Shared Realization
They sat side by side on the still-warm ground. The air buzzed with faint echoes of creation.
Sozo turned the bracelet over in his fingers. "We just made something this world can't explain."
"Correction," Deku said, smirking. "We can explain it. They can't."
Sozo laughed softly. "Fair."
The hydra whispered again, deeper this time. "Each step binds your fates. The more you make together, the harder it will be to walk separate paths."
Sozo didn't answer out loud. He looked at Deku—small, brilliant, stubborn—and just nodded.
"I think," he said finally, "we've only begun to forge ourselves."
The Adravium on his wrist pulsed once, then went still.
And somewhere in the unseen layers of the dimension, new veins began to glow—ore that hadn't existed moments before, forming quietly, waiting for purpose.
End of Chapter 7 – The Forge of Minds