Gram and Balmung

A shadowy apparition of Ascalon, Gram was forged by the elves, fascinated by the awe-inspiring might of the original Dragonsbane. It was forged as a sister blade to Ascalon, but because the elves did not know the inherent nature of Ascalon’s power scaling, Gram became unstable and unwieldy. It would destroy its own users from its fluctuating power. To balance this, the smith forged a true sister blade to Gram, Balmung, to balance out the fluctuating energies of the sword. Split between the two, Gram came to be known as the “Might Blade” and Balmung as the “Meek Blade”, and together their powers mimicked Ascalon’s perfectly. Though they could never truly achieve the godlike powers of Ascalon, they reached the utmost mortal limit of possibility, and mortals have come to accept the set as one of the true Dragonsbane weapons. Separated, Gram is as dangerous as any city-scale explosive, though far more volatile, while Balmung is a magic canceler. When paired, Balmung drains excess energies from Gram in order to stabilize it, and uses its unique energy signatures to empower itself. However, without Gram it attempts to drain any surrounding mana, but can barely use it, and is little more than an anti-magic blade at that point.