In Eric's story, there are multiple artifacts sprinkled through each character (Eric has Roulette, Jacob has Paradox, etc). But in Zul's story, not many people have artifacts. The reason? Well, Zul takes place 10 years before Eric's story so the artifact arms race hasn't started yet, but it still raises the question: will there be an artifact in Zul's Book? The answer: yes! I am going to outline the artifact I already have and currently creating; I need some help fleshing out these items and how they function...
Dante - The Greatest Swordsman in Jaihara - wields the legendary artifact of "The Colossal." I've mentioned before that Dante, with this artifact, took on every Red Knight king at the same time and WON. This sword is incredibly strong, but it isn't strong yet in Zul's book. While Zul goes on her adventures, Dante, her Shadow adversary, has a goal of his own. His goal is to create "the best sword on Jaihara," and he has a blade for that exact purpose. The catch? He doesn't know how to EMPOWER the blade.
Example scene:
“I already tried that,” a voice said from the darkness. Whispers crept into my ears, speaking in tongues as my blood iced. Footsteps stomped behind me, and the voice grew louder. “Didn’t think you’d lead me here.” Of course. Of course, it was him.
“Dante,” I turned around and saw the Shadow Icelord with his hands behind his back. His face was masked in the black shadow of a statue, though his blue pupils lit up and the white of his eyes flickered.
“Zul. I hate to end our little back and forth, as you have been such a great finder of wonderful materials,” he stepped forward, “though, sadly, I have a bounty to uphold.” He ran his fingers through the edge of his sheath, inching closer to the grip of his sword.
“Still playing mercenary?” I quipped and cocked my head back. The water bolt crackled, sounding like it laughed with me.
“Playing mercenary,” he mumbled. “Oh, this has been such an eye-opening experience. You know, first meeting you on that ship, I saw what a rusty legend you’ve become. Sad, disheveled. Tried everything you can to match my sword mastery.” He chuckled, as he cast a long stare into my soul. “I seriously doubted if you were the legend I’d studied about, but… after chasing you for this long. I have to say, my respect has grown in tandem with your spell-casting.” He stepped into the light, revealing his pale face. “But, you could never outmatch me, could never outpace how strong I’ve grown.” From his sheath, a thick razor-sharp blade screeched as it left the Icelord’s side. This wasn’t his regular iron broadsword—it was something different. “Let me show you what I’ve been working on…” The bejeweled hilt shimmered, revealing symbols upon the base of the blade. As he traced his fingers toward the tip, his skin tore and trickled drops of blood upon the metal, saying, “I have fed my sword all I could offer, nurtured it like a pet of mine. Consuming everything I have given it.”
“It’s glowing,” I tensed up.
“Oh, it does more than glow.” His smile stretched from ear to ear. “Ever since I fed it that soul from the Graveyard Village, it’s craved more. It already devoured hundreds of those poor little ghost souls inside these Catacombs,” his lips grazed his upper lip, “but it still has this lust for organic ones.”
Organic ones? What did he mean by—oh, no. I gulped my fears down, and shouted, “Quit hiding behind your sword, Dante. Fight me! Magic-on-magic!”
“Not today Azurilina,” he snickered, eyes daggering toward his bloodied hand. While his blade’s glow matched the color of his blood, Dante smiled as he looked up at me, a red flush filling his eyes, “No, not anymore…”
Now, we just established that Dante's blade consumes things. It consumed a soul, it consumes his blood, it consumes A LOT of things.
Moving toward the next artifact, the item where I need help fleshing out. It's called "The Seal of Jaihara," and Zul finds it in the aforementioned scene. I want this seal to be consumed by Dante, empowering him so that way his sword is one step closer to becoming the greatest sword in all of Jaihara. The problem? What does this seal do? What is the exact ability? This is excerpted from my worldbuilding documents:
The Colossal;
Constant Ability:
Gives the user the ability to wield and apply all base 4 elemental abilities without exhaustion.
Activated Ability:
When activated, the artifact fires a burst of continental power.
Now, I need to create "The Seal of Jaihara," and I need ideas for what it should do. I'm thinking that the seal can be applied to anything and, when it's applied, it'll "mark" the blade by seering a symbol upon the sword. But then what will the seal do? Give the user more power, perhaps? Let me know what y'all think!