Kayden could have slept forever that night.

He only woke up because of Tham falling to the floor from the top bed of the bunkbed with a yelp early in the morning. Kayden instinctively sat up in the bottom bed as he heard him, hitting his head hard with the wood below the top bed. The sun had just risen, and all the others whom they shared the room with were still asleep.

“You okay?” Kayden asked Tham, grunting because of his own unfortunate bump in the head.

Tham got to his feet in pain. “...Yeah. Think so. At least I didn’t fall out the window or something. Wouldn’t be surprising in this place.”

“Were you sleepwalking?” Kayden asked.

“I wouldn’t have gotten far sleepwalking atop a bunkbed. More like sleepfalling,” Tham pointed out. “But, no. Just… a nightmare. I dreamt of my mom and friends… like I usually do these days.”

Kayden pursed his lips. “Yeah, it’s painful. Have you had them often since… it happened?”

“Two of the three nights since we left Stumpborn,” Tham nodded. “The night with the beowolves –though that was to be expected– and tonight. I did wake up abruptly, but I just didn’t have anywhere to fall from before. Surprisingly enough, I slept better the night we went to the Field of Memories than this night here in the Wandering Wonderinn. The soft swinging of the moving Wonderinn did feel nice, though.”

“...Well, at least you’re awake now,” Kayden said, feeling kind of guilty for not adding any more words of comfort but still groggy because of the sudden awakening. “You didn’t hit your head?”

“Nah, I’m fine,” Tham said.

“All right,” Kayden nodded. “Let’s go down, have some breakfast, and see if there’s any quests that need to be completed. Let’s make the fact that we woke up so early worth it.”

“Sure,” Tham agreed. They took turns using the wondrously-hot tub, then, dressed in the same clothing as ever –but that was now spotlessly clean for some reason– prepared to go down.

“Hey, Mimicker,” Kayden called out. “You wanna come?”

“I was waiting for you to say that!” the Mimicker replied.

Kayden knew bringing swords to the dining table was bad manners, but he didn’t care. He smiled and hung the Mimicker in the sheath at his back. As they headed down to the common rooms, they realized the Wonderinn wasn’t rocking back and forth anymore. The front door was wide open, with adventurers going out for quests or coming in to rest. The bar zone was full of hungry adventurers, and there were barely any tables available. As they settled down on one of the few tables left, Abner Chafter approached them with a smile, greeting them and handing them two menus: the ‘Foods’ menu and the ‘Quests’ menu.

“What can I serve you today, gentlemen?” Chafter asked.

After analyzing both menus for a while and after a lot of discussion between the three of them, Kayden spoke in the name of the group.

“We’ll have two portions of fried eggs and milk, along with a ‘Valley of Broken Statues’ quest for two and a half.”

“Coming right up!” Chafter nodded.

Minutes later he brought them the requested breakfast, along with a small scroll containing basic job instructions. The chosen quest, of which they had gotten a small synopsis before selecting it, had straightforward instructions. There was a deep valley a few hours north of their current position, a junkyard for statues of wars past. As the legend went, those statues held treasures in them, war loot no one had yet been able to recover. Those statues were now broken in mind and body, motionless testaments to what they once were.

The Wandering Wonderinn had to surround the Valley of Broken Statues to keep going on to the Airtronic mines, so the quest said to cross through the valley, grab the biggest gem they could, and meet the Wonderinn on the other side. Straightforward enough. In exchange, they’d keep one third of the bounty and get free stay in the Wonderinn for a week.

Early as it was, Kayden and Tham had breakfast and then headed for the common room, to burn some time before the Wonderinn reached the entrance to the Valley of Broken Statues. As they pulled out a deck of cards, an individual approached them. It was just a single right hand with legs, a face, and a fedora.

“Mind if I join you for a game?” the hand asked with a slightly high-pitched voice.

“Uhh, sure,” Kayden shrugged. “What’s your name?”

“I’m the Right-Hand Man,” the hand said. “Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, you’re Chafter’s assistant,” Tham said, recognizing him from the day before.

“His right-hand man,” the Right-Hand Man corrected. “I’m there when he needs a hand.”

“Checks out,” the Mimicker agreed.

As Tham handed out the playing cards, the Right-Hand Man leaned forward on the table in a conspirational tone.

“Hey,” he started. “I know you already chose the quest and cannot step back from it, but as you’re the new guys around here, I need to warn you about something. Something I found out about that place a long time ago.”

How ominous, Kayden thought with a frown. “What is it?” he asked.

“Well, to be blunt, there’s some kind of giant monster lurking in there,” the Right-Hand Man said with a sigh. “Many adventurers have braved it; few have returned. None with any treasure. I’ve heard reports first-hand of something preying down on them from above. Most don’t even get a look at it, they just flee. Those who have, describe it as massive. But they’re all vague reports; nothing’s confirmed. Therefore, the monster isn’t even mentioned in the quest archives, and the quest’s handed out to anyone. That person fails, and the quest is left for the next one. So be careful out there.”

With that, the Right-Hand Man stood from his seat.

“That sounds… dangerous,” Tham muttered.

“Yeah, well, thanks for the warning,” Kayden nodded, trying not to sound nervous. “Aren’t you staying for the card game?”

“I’m just a single hand,” the Right-Hand Man said, doing what could be seen as a shrug. “I’ve never been good at holding cards.”

Kayden nodded in understanding.

“Will we see you around?” the Mimicker called out from beside the seat.

The Right-Hand Man winked. “Count on it.”

And so Kayden and Tham, after finishing their card game –of which Tham emerged the winner– got up from the table, going back to their room and putting on their equipment. Kayden hung the Mimicker in the sheath over his back, and Tham fastened his dagger to his belt. He didn’t really know how to use it well yet, but it was better than nothing.

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Kayden approached Abner Chafter in the bar as they waited to arrive.

“Hey,” Kayden started, “you, um, seem to know a lot about the world. I’m looking for something called the Megalo Sky. I’m not even sure why, but I’m certain it exists. Have you ever heard of something like that?”

Chafter didn’t stop washing jugs as he replied.

“That’s an ancient name, one I’ve heard mentioned but never understood. Dunno if I can be of use, Kayden. What do you know about it?”

Kayden perked up. “I know nothing about it. Just that it’s the key to reaching a perfect future. But it does exist, then?”

Chafter chuckled. “I thought you were certain already. Yeah. Miss Wonder referenced it all the time.”

“Miss Wonder?”

“She once was my mentor,” Chafter said. “Is that your dream, Kayden? To reach the Megalo Sky?”

“I’m… actually not sure,” Kayden confessed. “It’s definitely a goal, but I’m still struggling to come to terms with my ‘dream’. Not that I talk much about it anyway.”

“I see,” Chafter nodded. “Well, better get to it soon. That’s how you unlock Airtronic Distortion, kiddo. It’s all the rage nowadays. Airtronic vials will only get you so far.”

Before Kayden could reply, though, Chafter loudly announced their next stop: the Valley of Broken Statues, heading over to see some patrons off. Kayden had a hunch their conversation had not yet ended, but he let it go.

Minutes later, Kayden with the Mimicker and Tham stepped out of the door of the dazzling Wandering Wonderinn, right in front of a zigzagging path crossing over a small hill before plummeting into the Valley of Broken Statues. A few more adventurers got down there too, all heading in different directions with their various companions and pieces of equipment. After everyone had disembarked, the Wonderinn grew up wooden extremities that lifted it off the ground, and it marched away, rocking back and forth.

“Cool place, that one,” Kayden said as they watched the inn they had once thought to be a mere wooden cabin walk away into the distance.

“Yeah,” Tham admitted. “Hard floor to fall onto, but a nice experience nonetheless. At least we managed to avoid walking a big chunk of the way, and will now probably reach our… destination… even before the imperial caravan does.”

Kayden nodded. “Now we just gotta cross through this valley, pick up the biggest gem we find, and try not to bump into any giant monsters.”

Tham nodded, evidently trying to hide his nervousness.

Kayden, without giving himself time to hesitate, headed up the forward path, which started as moderately steep. Nothing too bad, though. Tham followed close behind, watching Kayden’s step. As they walked up, the barely-visible road twisting and turning up the slope, the mountains soon opened up before them –only visible at a certain angle– and the steepness ended. In fact, what had once been an ascent was now a sharp fall, into a long and wide valley hidden among the mountains, featuring layers upon layers of statues of all kinds. Statues of giant warriors, statues of kings, statues of princesses, statues of monsters, statues of inanimate objects.

It all made Kayden feel tiny. Knowing there was so much history behind everything, and that all had been just thrown here to decay, caused a strange feeling within him. Maybe it was because he knew he was history too, just another kind of history. Kayden –and the Skyguard– was part of that unavoidable secret lore that no historians wrote about but was whispered even in the noblest of places. It also made his stomach lurch. He hated heights. At least the situation seemed to be under control this time.

“How are we meant to get down?” Tham asked.

Indeed, the way down was so steep it was impossible to walk, even zigzagging or using other hiking methods.

How would the Swordsman of Time have done it? Kayden thought before he realized he did. He winced. The Swordsman of Time. The Swordsman of Time would’ve taken the wildest approach possible, and in case of failure, regressed time on himself. The problem was, he’d applied that method to life too. And there are some things one just can’t regress time on. Pain threatened to rise, not through memories –most of those were still lost– but through feelings. He forced himself to remain cool and keep his head on the moment.

“Mimicker, can you change your consistency?” Kayden asked.

“No,” the Mimicker replied. “I’m no Shardbender; I can only change shape.”

Kayden pursed his lips, deep in thought.

“All right,” he finally said. “This is gonna sound far-fetched, but hear me out. You can turn into anything as long as you keep your mass, right?”

“Yes.”

“You can only mimic things you’ve ‘seen’ before –however that works. And you keep your hardness for whichever shape you choose,” Kayden continued. “Can you stretch?”

“Correct,” the Mimicker replied. “I’d get thinner, though.”

“So can you make stairs for us?” Kayden asked. “Really long and thin, but keeping the hardness?”

Silence.

The Mimicker spoke again a while later. “...At least you didn’t ask for a parachute or something. Stairs I can do… I think. I’ve never tried before. It’s like a really anticlimactic way to use a sword, but sure.”

“Think smart, not hard,” Tham agreed.

So, as Kayden reached behind his back and retrieved the Mimicker, it stretched and bent until it resembled a paper-thin set of stairs that reached almost to the bottom of the steep fall. Kayden started walking down them, trying not to focus on the fact that the slightest wrong move from the Mimicker could send him and Tham tumbling down into the rocks far below.

“Hey, Kayden,” Tham called out as they were halfway down. “Not to alarm anyone, but I was thinking and… if there really is a monster in here, it probably saw us already because of, you know, the ridiculously long set of black stairs the Mimicker just turned into. Maybe this wasn’t the, uh, stealthiest way to do it.”

“Well, as a wise man once said,” Kayden replied, trying to comfort Tham, “‘The one afraid of dying better not be born.’”

Tham frowned but was unable to suppress a smile. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works, but sure.”

They did reach the bottom of the valley peacefully, though. Seeing the rock statues face to face, at arm’s length, was even more imposing than before. The Mimicker snapped back to sword form, as an elastic band after being stretched for too long.

“There’s a lot of knowledge in here!” it said. “The taller statues here are Kosmics, you know. An ancient race of infinitely-powerful humanoids who could control the laws of physics. Like Lawbenders, but, well, better.”

“Ouch,” Kayden said. “Cool, though.”

The Mimicker then gasped loudly, making Kayden flinch.

“What happened?” Tham asked.

“Whooooaaaaa!” the Mimicker said. “That’s me!”

“What? Where?” Kayden asked, turning around.

“You can actually see?” Tham said, genuinely surprised.

“Yeah, over there, to the left!” the Mimicker said, and as Kayden turned toward it, he saw it.

It was the fallen statue of a knight in what once must have been shining armor, leaning on a massive black sword with teeth along its blade and a tongue wrapped across its crossguard.

“It was a weird phase, but I still remember Sir Night fondly,” the Mimicker said. “He taught me to fight and kill. He gave me a purpose as a sword.”

“Sir Night?” Tham asked.

“As I said, it was a weird phase.”

“Well,” Kayden said, frowning, “your purpose doesn’t have to just be ‘fight and kill,’ you know. Swords are not just for killing. Besides, you can shapeshift. You can be anything.”

“Like what?” the Mimicker asked.

“Like, uhh…” Kayden hesitated. “Stairs. Why do you remain a sword, having so much freedom?”

“I don’t see myself as anything more than a sword,” the Mimicker said. “Having been a sword for so long, I can’t just–”

But as he talked, a loud noise from beyond some rock statues interrupted him, vibrating throughout the valley and shaking the three of them where they stood. A roar. A column of pure fire erupted skyward from the spot of the source of the roar at the very same moment, and Kayden yelped.

“I told you we weren’t being stealthy enough!” Tham complained, sporting a look of terror in his face.

“Whatever!” Kayden said, himself scared too. “Hide!”

The column of fire angled downward, melting through some statues and burning a rock statue’s head a mere two meters from where they were.

“Follow me!” Kayden then told Tham as he ran in a crouch in the opposite direction, heading toward an opening in the ground between two statues as more roars split the air. “We’re not abandoning this quest, Tham.”

With that, Kayden jumped down into the opening, expecting a small crack to use as a barricade for whatever came next. Instead, what welcomed him was a ravine in the ground several meters deep, into which he fell with another yelp, hitting the ground hard on his arm and getting something that probably wasn’t broken bones but would definitely leave a mark. He grunted as Tham fell onto him as well, already in pain as he was. To worsen everything, he accidentally bit his lip with Tham’s impact on him, which seemed to hurt even more than the fall itself.