Penitence Lost

Stage

Gofri looked out into the city outside from inside his father's castle, standing near one of the many windows that sat across the walls. He took a deep breath before looking down at his feet, glancing out the window periodically before noticing Guillermo in the distance entering a room nearby.

Gofri crossed over to the room, opening the door and following behind Guillermo, looking at a large painting of the God, Kas. Guillermo turned his head to look at Gofri, giving him a quaint smile.

"Guillermo..."

"Gofri, did you know, I knew-- same as our father..." He sighed, looking back at the painting, "I knew, Kas. He would often reveal himself at parties and the like... the first time I had seen him was when I was but a boy. The last time I saw him was due to our father's illness. I asked for assistance and I showed him the drawings Yaretzi made of our father and his illness... I didn't get a response... He just screwed his lips to the side and said, 'I'm not sure what illness that is.' What good a God is he if he wouldn't know something like that? What good a God who lacks omniscience?"

"I-I... I don't know."

Guillermo nodded, "It makes me wonder... what is above a God? Is the only thing that makes a God their strength? Surely one has some semblance of omniscience...? I had confirmed it..." Guillermo turned to Gofri, "You know why mother praises Kas as so?"

"Why?"

"A man considered the most beautiful man in the world with his short blonde hair and loose and thin clothing that only amount to rags. A man such as he..." Guillermo trailed his fingers across his arms, "Across his left arm, from his shoulder to his wrist, and just his shoulder." Guillermo tapped his right shoulder, "It was a sign of respect to the Giants due to him being part Giant himself, but due to his blond hair he believed that he wasn't a true Giant... so... to prove his loyalty he tattooed his own arm. Now he's considered a significant figure within the Giants." Guillermo sighed, "I've gotten off-topic, I believe." Guillermo paused, "What was I speaking about before?"

"You said that you confirmed something... something about a God's omniscience?"

"The God of the North and the God of the South. This also includes the God of Dealings. I went to them as well... it went nowhere." Guillermo paused, "They gave me no answers... practically kicking me to the curb."

"Is that where you went?"

"It was quite a journey... and it went nowhere. I had lost all hope. Let's just... believe that Yaretzi will make whatever she's making in time. I don't believe though. Not anymore... I'm just waiting... hoping for Gabriel... Father... to have a peaceful sleep, once and for all."

"Guillermo..."

"Go, don't you have something to do today?"

Gofri sighed, leaving the room and making his way down the hall, stopping halfway as he looked out the window once more, taking in the view of the city he'd lived in for all of his life.

Gofri made his way down the hall, taking a few turns and making his way down a flight of stairs leading to a smithy. Gofri sighed as he rummaged through a box full of metals and materials before spinning around and crossing the room to grab a large cylinder of metal, placing it into the forge and waiting for a few minutes for it to heat up. A pipe next to the forge with a lever could be seen, Gofri grabbing onto the lever, periodically cranking the lever to heat the forge more, air from the pipe shooting into the forge and giving the flames inside more oxygen to bolster the melting process. Gofri whipped the sweat off his forehead as he put on a pair of gloves, thick leather ones that'd help with the heat.

Gofri exhaled sharply as he grabbed a pair of pliers, took the metal rod out, placed it onto an anvil, grabbed a large hammer, and slammed it into the rod multiple times, shaping it to his liking, sometimes placing it back into the forge due to it cooling down too much for it to be viable to continue smacking the hammer into it.

He repeated the process a few times until it finally shaped itself into what a sword would look more like. Gofri took it into the water, cooled it down, and then took it to various machines to grind it down and make it sharp. Gofri paused for a moment as he looked at the finished blade, walking over to a bowl of cold water connected to a miniature waterfall system, grabbing one of the nearest rags and placing it into the water, wiping himself down with the rag.

"Gofri?" Yaretzi entered, clutching a bag.

"Yaretzi? What're you doing here?"

"I wanted to ask you to make various tools for me, is that okay?"

Gofri nodded, "Show me."

Yaretzi nodded back, going over to the nearest table and opening the bag up for Gofri, multiple blueprints and the like spilling out. "Some are new and some are what you're already familiar with... just figured it'd be helpful to you if you saw them again, including some of the new stuff."

"Want me to make a needle again?" Gofri crossed over to her, looking at the various papers that now sat atop one of his tables. Gofri sighed, separating the papers from one another and examining the contents.

"I'm planning to attempt surgery on our father."

Gofri raised an eyebrow and looked at Yaretzi, "Surgery?"

"I could... I could check if maybe his organs..."

"Yaretzi..." Gofri shook his head, "No... this... this won't help anything."

"Gofri."

"Yaretzi... he's turning to stone. It isn't something about his organs... it's definitely a curse."

"A curse?"

"A powerful one... I don't... I don't understand it either, but there really is no other explanation, Yaretzi. No surgery, no medication... none of it has worked. Only painkillers helped in subsiding the pain."

"Can you... can you still make these for me?"

Gofri shook his head, "No... for all I know, you'll go to our father and continue the surgery, it'd only make things worse."

Yaretzi's expression looked sour, "Why... why do you think that?"

"It'll only make things worse for you. You'll begin blaming yourself," Gofri crossed the room, grabbing the finished blade and placing it onto another table, grabbing the premade hilt, pommel, guard, and then the blade itself. "And it's because it'll lead nowhere. You won't find anything of note but some extra pieces of stone forming on his organs, just like any other part of his body." Gofri grabbed a hammer, placing all the pieces together and hammering them into each other from the butt of the sword and upward. First, the guard, then the hilt, then the pommel.

"W-What if... what if we cut the ston-"

Gofri turned to Yaretzi, cutting her off, "Yaretzi... you know that isn't the direction we should take this and it'll only bring father closer to his death faster..."

"W-What... What do we do then?"

Gofri's eyes narrowed and began biting his lower lip, eyes watering, "I don't know... I don't..." Gofri took a deep breath, exhaling sharply, both hands gripping the table he was at, jaw visibly tightening. "We can only wait."