Item from Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson
Anomander Rake's sword — a two-handed bastard blade containing a pocket universe where every soul it kills is chained to a wagon pulling the Gate of Darkness away from Chaos forever.
Dragnipur was forged by Draconus — an Elder God, Anomander Rake's rival, and the sword's first prisoner — as a weapon to preserve the Gate of Darkness. Inside the sword exists an entire realm: a vast, grey wasteland where the souls of everyone the sword has killed are chained to a massive wagon. The wagon carries the Gate of Darkness, and the souls must pull it eternally, dragging it ahead of the pursuing forces of Chaos. If the wagon stops — if Chaos catches the Gate — Darkness itself dies. Every kill adds another soul to the traces. Anomander Rake carried this burden for hundreds of thousands of years, killing only when necessary because every death meant condemning another soul to an eternity of hauling. The sword was not a weapon of war but a tool of cosmic maintenance, and Rake hated every moment he wielded it. When he finally allowed himself to be killed by Dragnipur — falling on the sword deliberately — he entered the realm within, shattered the chains, and freed Mother Dark to reclaim the Gate. The sword shattered, its purpose fulfilled. Dragnipur was not a weapon. It was a sacrifice in the shape of a sword.
A two-handed bastard sword of black iron, longer than most men are tall. The blade absorbs light — its surface shows no reflection, no gleam, only a darkness that seems to pull the eye inward. The crossguard is simple, functional. The pommel is unadorned. There is no ornamentation because the sword needs none — its presence is felt before it is seen, a cold weight in the air that makes nearby shadows deepen and stretch toward it.
Also known as: Dragnipur, the black sword, Rake's sword, Draconus's creation