The drums and the singing stopped abruptly when the leader of the Elementalist, Declán, stood up and shoved the table to the side. The sand spikes were jutting out of his knuckles, looking like dehydrated bones. The other Elementalist on his team stood up with their field leader, also forming weapons out of their elements.

Harqu was also on his feet with his palms facing Declán. Raya and I stood together, not sure whose side to be on. Raya had her blade tonfas ready, but my claws were still retracted.

Mindplay, along with the rest of the denizens of the Do-Not Inn, watched with shocked intrigue.

Everyone was as motionless as the silent air.

"Don't run," commanded Declán to Harqu. "You'll only make this harder on yourself if you run."

"I wasn't going to run!" proclaimed Harqu.

"He's here with us," I interjected. "Let's just calm down--"

"This is not your jurisdiction, Silver!" Declán snapped at me.

I stood up straight, and my face twisted as if I had tasted the worst kind of sour thing. I was disrespected, but I didn't know why I cared. No. I knew why. I was the Iron Wolf and the Right Hand of Claymore, King of Skyland. Who was this person who thought he could silence me?

Even then, the fear on his face, the quick turnaround from being in charge to a scared servant, was a shift I wasn't prepared for. But I couldn't back down now.

"We need Harqu for this mission," I said. To me, I sounded as I did any other moment, but my words felt heavier than usual.

"Would you really take the side of a criminal just to finish a mission?" While Declán still spoke confidently, his words didn't hold the same kind of authority as they once did.

Criminal.

"What do you know about him?" I asked. BD spread her wings wide as they doubled in size to be as long as I was tall. There were no individual thoughts between us as I continued to speak to Declán. "What evidence do you have for his 'crime'?" When he didn't answer, I walked up to him and was close enough to see my reflection in his eyes. "Did you think I made a mistake? Who do you think I am?" I spoke in a calm whisper, but deep down, I was angry that this low-ranking soldier would use such a tone on me. I was the Iron Wolf, Silver. The right hand of Claymore, King of Skyland. I was…

…I was…

I blinked. BD's wings snapped back in a folded position to a size better suited for her small frame. There was no memory. I was offended by something I shouldn't have been. Or was I right to be offended? Why did I interrupt my thoughts? I was--

Suddenly, I felt my ears perk up in reaction to a sound that didn't seem to fit with the current goings-on. It was a sound that was distinct from the loud turning of gears and the chugging of engines from outside. Undeniably, it was the sound of birds with their high-pitched symphony of chirping accompanied by a cavalcade of wings flapping.

It was a sound I only ever heard back home when a roost was disturbed, causing a massive flock of birds to rise in the sky. However, there were no trees on this part of the mountain or any good places to roost.

Raya was also listening intently, as if she was hearing the sound as well.

"You hear that?" I asked the huntress.

"Yes. What is that?"

"What are you guys talking about?" asked Mindplay.

"It's a flock of birds. And, is that wind?"

Declán stood up straight at the mention of wind. The tone of his voice was laced with unbelief when he asked us to confirm that we didn't mishear.

"I don't know about wind," I answered, "but it is definitely birds."

"No. It's too early."

All of the Elementalists, excluding Harqu, ran out the door to look outside. I was close behind them. They were looking up at the sky in confusion as snow lightly fell on their faces. I tried to see through the light snow in the direction of the sound but couldn't see anything.

"Up there," Declán pointed at an upward angle, inviting me to see the massive swarm of flapping wings circling around the mountainside.

"What is that?" I asked.

"The storm. I said it was getting worse, but it's here earlier than it should be."

Many civilians hadn't noticed the ice birds coming, meaning that there would be those caught in the swarm. Declán quickly ordered his team to help as many people as they could before the storm descended on the town. I was about to follow them, but Declán put a hand in my path.

"I meant no disrespect in the inn, and the same can be said now. You are the only person in this city who can end this storm, and I do trust that you will find a way to end it. If working with a thief will end the storm, then I trust you. We all do."

Declán slid down the street using his sand as alarm bells echoed off the cliff face. Those still outside ran to the closest entrances they could reach or made a mad dash to their homes. The Elementalist worked efficiently to remove those still trying to fix broken equipment from their high places, but they wouldn't be fast enough to collect everyone.

As the blizzard began to descend onto Vig Faldir, I went back inside Do-Not Inn. One of the workers locked the door behind me with a loud click while others covered the windows with metal blinders. Many of the other occupants were no longer in the dining area. They had either gone to their rooms within the inn or used backroom tunnels to go deeper into the mountain, according to BD.

Harqu, Mindplay, and Raya were still as they were before I went outside. I walked up to Harqu and got enough to hear him breathing. I did not break eye contact, wondering if he was considering running away from me. My mind was buzzing. Beth left without any hint of her alternative motives, and Mindplay was still holding back something that was making me reconsider whether or not I should still trust him. Was Harqu going to be the same?

"Tell me what happened at Cobanks," I demanded. "No lies."

"It's like I said. I took the vessel that held one of the few fire jinns that were captured by Elementalist back when all kinds of elementals were running rampant on Skyland. I believe it was tampered with, causing its power to leak out and creating the fire that almost took a whole district. I found out when I returned home with the vessel that I might have been the only one in the city with the capacity to contain the power of the jinn and eventually control it. Once I could control the power, I made my way to Riyou, hoping to explain things there."

"And the reason you didn't was because you wanted to help Silver first," Mindplay deduced. "So, where is home for you?"

"That's the part I can't say."

"Why not?" I growled. Harqu remained calm as if he believed he wasn't in danger.

"I'm sworn to secrecy just as you are Silver."

"I don't know what you are referring to. But I guess that doesn't matter." I grabbed a chair and flopped onto it. My head wasn't buzzing anymore, but I felt tired. I sigh with relief, trying my best to relax since we think out of the sky. "I was afraid that I made a mistake in trusting you."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I've been trying to relearn how to trust people again."

"What do you mean?" asked Raya.

The blizzard started to rattle against the windows and the doors. The loud chirping from the bird-shaped elementals began to warp into gunshots in my head. I was sent back to a day that I had lived a lifetime ago.

"Eight years ago in South Africa, my twin brother died in a shooting. I was closer to him than anyone else I knew. I would tell him things that I haven't told my parents. After coming to America, I refused to get close to anyone else, and I didn't make many friends in the process."

"Why are you telling us this?" Raya looked uncomfortable. "Have you forgotten who I am and what I'll do once this alliance is over?"

"If telling you my past won't change the end result, then it shouldn't matter what you know about me. Besides, the more we know about each other, the easier it will be to work together."

Everyone was silent for a time. Raya pierced her lips as if she was trying to withdraw from the conversation. Suddenly, Mindplay spoke up, breaking the silence.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"Well, now is as good a time as any to speak up. However, before I reveal anything related to me, everyone should know that Raya here is almost one thousand years old."

"What?!" The question was asked simultaneously by everyone else who was a part of the group. Even BD was surprised. It must have been confirmed since Raya grabbed Mindplay by the collar of his shirt. She effortlessly lifted him off the ground and nearly ripped the cloth with her clenched fist.

Through gritted teeth that looked sharper than regular human teeth, she asked, "How could you possibly know?!"

Mindplay, unnervingly calm, replied. "I can somewhat read minds."

"Were you lying then when you were calling yourself a technopath?" asked BD.

"I am both a technopath and an empath. At least, I don't know what else to call it."

"I didn't know humans could have two abilities," said Harqu in amazement.

"We can't," I replied bluntly. Upon hearing that, Harqu became confused. "I don't know the exact science behind it, but humans only become ascendeits after going through traumatic or life-threatening events. It doesn't always happen, but it can only happen once."

"Under 'normal' circumstances." Mindplay continued to explain his status while still suspended by Raya. "There are those in criminal spaces that perform experiments on people to push the limits of human potential."

"Like Reptilian?" asked BD.

"Like Reptilian. I wasn't one of his experiments. I was effectively sold to another criminal mastermind along with my older brother and younger sister. My brother and I moved on from that life."

"And your sister?" Asked Raya. When Mindplay's eyes darken at Raya's question, the huntress gently put him down. "How much did you learn from my mind?"

As Mindplay spoke, he straightened his shirt and noted frustratingly, a few holes had formed. "Believe it or not, my abilities to read minds are weak. That's why I referred to them as empathic. I can read surface thoughts, but emotions can never be hidden from me. I learned how to piece together what is going through someone's head via that small amount of information. If I dig deeper, I risk someone noticing their brain is getting hacked."

"So, how did you get my age out of all of that?"

"It's like looking at the file size of a computer folder. Even if I don't know what's in it, the bigger file means it either has a lot of small stuff or a few big stuff. In your case, your mind was holding a lot of memories. More than any human should have at age 20. For a while, I thought Silver was the same way."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You have a lot of memories, but they are separated. Compartmentalized. It wasn't until I tried to wake you up to fight Jurya that I realized the memories weren't all from the 'same' person. "

"So you know what is in my memories? "

"No. I thought I was grabbing the current you. Obviously, I was wrong."

The blizzard was getting worse outside as the bird-like elementals bartered the windows. The remaining dwarfs didn't seem bothered, so we continued our conversation.

"And what about Beth?" Asked Raya, beating me to the question.

"I honestly don't know. She was genuinely trying to help us and resented the Amazons. I didn't think to dig deeper into her motives, but I also didn't want to risk it. "

"What harm would come to you if you revealed your second ability?" Asked BD.

Mindplay took a moment to gauge whether or not he should answer, only for him to shake his head. "I didn't want to explain how I got my powers. Each question answered would lead to a damning revelation about myself that I'm unwilling to talk about. "

I had already assumed what Mindplay was referring to. Unless the people who experimented on him were dealt with, it was likely he was still in their services. It explained his ability to secure plane tickets on short notice. Mindplay was working illegally.

I turned to Raya, hoping to take the heat off of the PI for a bit.

"A thousand years old."

Raya smiled but scoffed at the idea. "I don't think I'm that old, but I stopped counting after 50 or so."

"Are you immortal?" Asked BD.

"As opposed to what?"

"Some spell casters find ways to extend their lives, but very rarely can they live for more than a few hundred years. Immortality for a human mainly comes from boons or curses granted by those strong enough to grant them."

"What I have is definitely a curse, "Raya said bitterly. "It was known as the Curse of Gahara, the Body Snatcher. Whenever a man killed Gahara, their bodies and minds became Gahara. For some reason, not only was I able to kill Gahara, but I gained its strength and an extended lifespan."

The windows rattled again for a moment. Harqu turned to an old man dwarf who came out of the kitchen area. He was lighting a pipe with a lighter he most likely made himself. Wrinkles on his biceps indicated that at one time, he had twice the muscle mass he was currently at but was now lost to time of inactivity.

"How much longer until the storm lets up?" Harqu asked the dwarf.

The dwarf looked up, confused. He answered slowly, carefully choosing his words as if he hadn't spoken to another person in years. "Until day's end."

"Declán said the storm was getting worse," said BD with a trembling voice, "but I thought he was just referring to the intensity." BD didn't like the cold, and the thought of the storm was enough to make her scales rattle.

"It's not just a storm," the old dwarf was slowly speaking with more confidence than when he started. "It's an attack by whatever is throwing it at us. All in the attempt to destroy this place."

"For what reason?" Mindplay asked.

"This part of Skyland belongs to the dwarves. If enough of us fall, it could either lead to this section's destruction or, if done right, give the storm's master a chance to reshape it."

"But that won't happen," BD said confidently. "Dwarves live within this mountain and deep underground. The storm will never be able to reach them."

"That may still prove problematic," said Raya. "Even if the dwarves stay underground, that would mean the storm would have no one to contest with on the mountain's surface."

"So the goal is still the same," I said. "We have to defeat whatever is controlling the storm as soon as possible."

"I'll need a vessel in case we are dealing with a jinn," Harqu looked worried as he spoke. "But will there be any stores open tomorrow?"

"What makes you think there won't be?" asked the old dwarf. He almost sounded offended.

"The problem is time," Raya added. "We need to get back to the White Castle as soon as possible. I know dwarves can work fast, but we will need armor and weapons that can stand against a jinn as well as the vessel our Elementalist needs."

"What if it was just Harqu, BD, and I that went after the jinn?" I interjected. Raya didn't look pleased by my suggestion, but I continued. "The three of us are the best suited for that kind of fight, which means only the vessel has to be made."

"We will need numbers for this fight," the tone of the huntress was like that of a mother scolding her child. Knowing her age made the thought all the more unnerving. "Harqu will be the main way to stand against the elementals. He cannot be allowed to expend too much energy."

"Ok, ok." I turned to the dwarf and asked, "Do you have any recommendations?"

The old dwarf blew smoke rings from his mouth after each inhale from his pipe. He didn't respond outside of the crackling of embers that came from his costume pipe. One of the other dwarf workers answered my question once they realized the older dwarf wasn't going to.

"I have no doubt the stores will still be open after the storm, but you'll be hard-pressed to find one willing to offer their services to you. Everyone who has gone up the snowy tip has never returned. It would be a waste of talent for many of them."

"Then you should do it," said Mindplay, referring to the old dwarf. "You didn't just come out of the kitchen for a smoke. I bet your mind was filling up with ideas while hearing us talk."

I wondered if Mindplay was peering into the thoughts of the dwarf as he spoke. The dwarf didn't react either way. He wasn't in the room when Mindplay revealed his second ability, but we weren't being quiet about it either, so I wondered if the old dwarf knew.

Based on how old he is, he might have encountered mind reading before.

Did he even notice his mind was being read?

"I gave up making such equipment years ago," the dwarf said, not leaving any silence after Mindplay's proposal.

"I'm willing to disagree." Mindplay began to walk toward the kitchen, to the dismay of the dwarven workers. They stood in his way, with the old man remaining where he was, as if nothing special was happening.

"Mindplay…" I said concerningly. If it came to blows, I would take Mindplay's side in the conflict, and I was confident that he knew what he was doing. Still, he was not familiar with this world's laws. There was no telling what would happen to him if he made the wrong move, even with me by his side.

"Ever since I stepped foot on this mountain, I felt more alive than I ever had. I could breathe data like it was oxygen. The ground surged with ethernet currents. With a snap of my fingers, I could send ripples of my influence across the mountain in ways I have only dreamed about. But this place--"

SNAP!

Mindplay snapped his fingers, and the building began to shake. The tables and chairs were pulled towards the two inner walls as if the seemingly wooden furnisher was magnetized metal. Booths were pushed into the walls to the point where I couldn't see their outlines. Everyone, other than Mindplay and the old dwarf, dodged out of the way of the moving furnisher. The old dwarf remained sitting in his chair even as it was being dragged away.

The wall separating the kitchen folded like a room divider, revealing the kitchen as it was going through its own transformation. The stove in the middle turned into a furnace that connected a black chimney to the ceiling. The sinks spun around and were replaced with wellsprings of flowing water.

In the center of the dining room floor, multiple holes were opened that sprouted mechanical arms alongside a crafting table with various tools such as hammers, saws, and sanding paper.

All the while, Mindplay had a toothy grin reaching from ear to ear. His eyes glistened with power through his red-rimmed glasses, and his blonde hair ruffled in the dispersing air. It was clear the PI had never been more in this element than in that moment.

"--is on another level!" Mindplay continued, doing his best not to cackle while telekinetically moving the robotic arms. "I may not have a reference to how advanced dwarves are compared to humans, but this isn't the equipment of someone who gave up on crafting."

I noticed that all of the worker dwarves looked terrified. They were staring at the old one, who was still just as calm as before Mindplay messed with the layout. The old dwarf merely raised his hand, and it was enough to extend my claws.

"Mindplay!" I screamed as the robot arms turned on everyone I came with.

Raya's bladed tonfas were ready to block one of the arms, while Harqu had fire dancing across his fingers. Mindplay, not looking too surprised by the events, struggled to keep the electronic appendages at bay. The old dwarf glared at Mindplay. Though he showed no sign of working, he clearly wasn't able to enforce the whole will of his own establishment while Mindplay was around.

I rushed towards the old dwarf, but from one of the walls, a flamberge sword shot into the dwarves hand, and he used it to block my claws. Notably, the metal was golden and had similar die mark patterns as seen on my claws. It was the same kind of metal.

"You're no ordinary dwarf," I said, not sure if I should have been surprised at how well the dwarf was holding me back despite being out of shape.

"I was trying to be. I was once Numig Anvilmane, the Master of Soul Molding."