Bringing-forth was his name and it was his purpose. He was grounded in revealing and gathered within himself the four modes of causality. The material, that which out of something is made; the form, the shape the material takes; the end, the blade that is determined to its matter and form; and the effect, he would bring about the sword in this instance.
Yet he was more than just a swordsmith. He was Bringing-forth and that was what he did. Long ago he had studied the old ways and thought the thoughts of the ones who came before and now were no longer. Now he had set his mind, and his hand had drawn the shapes on the manuscript. He had sketched them out, and now as he purposed it they would come forth in their time and for their purpose.
His enemy had enclosed him and shut him in and sealed him up, but he would escape when his bringing-forth went forth. He assembled his materials out of which he would make them. Of Lokan wood and Hubrir stone and blood. He formed the clay in his hand as it became matted and cold. His hands ran with blood and smelled like iron and the damp of the earth as he worked.
Out of the clay a shape was formed and pressed and made and out of that form the material took shape. The end came then, and the blade came forth, but this was not an ordinary blade. This was a bringing-forth as was his namesake. It came then and the blade took flesh and from it stood a man. He put his mouth to its lips and spoke, and the man breathed.
“Go now and do those things in your heart. Avenge me upon my enemies until they have become my footstool,” Bringing-forth said.
“I shall and I will, but what is my name?” the man asked.
“You are as I am. You are the bringing-forth. Now go and create and be in my image.”
“Yes, I am the sword that was brought forth and I will bear my name and will do all that is in my heart,” the man said. “I will ride and conquer and battle. I will retake technology and make art in its place. I will bend technology to my will and dominate it. No longer shall it have hold over us and it shall have an end.”
Bringing-forth rode from that place then and as he left he smiled. “You shall do as we are, and you shall be as we are.”
The screams of his enemies filled his ears as outside the millennia had passed but to him it had only been a few breaths. Cities had risen and fallen. Technology had birthed and died. The AI gods had lived and been destroyed. Humanity continued and their misplaced faith in technology and in themselves had died.
He stood up. He would not be denied. For the Bringing-forth that he shaped with his hand was a revealing just as he too was a revealing. He would be revealed, and the firmament would be torn and opened. For now, he worked on setting-upon and challenging-forth and standing-reserve.
Pierce Novak