“Luviet!” the young man shouted to his friend. “Hurry!”

The young soldier named Luviet charged through the field with six others following desperately by his side. With each step taken, a small explosion rocked through their ears but cut off mid sound like a broken record. Behind each of their steps, the ground erupted. But the dirt stopped mid detonation, frozen in time like a flower mid bloom.

Luviet shouted back, “Pulse! Fling them away!”

“I can't concentrate enough for that! Just hurry!” Pulse replied. “I can't hold on much longer!”

As he said so, on the opposite end of the minefield, the explosion was released from the hold of time. The blast sent up a pillar of dirt. A second followed closely. And a third. Like a domino in chain, the mines detonated in sequence, chasing after the soldiers as they continued their desperate run.

Luviet raced straight towards Pulse, the latter straining all he had to prevent the mines in front of them from continuing their detonation while attempting to hold off the ones behind that had already exploded.

“Get down!” Luviet yelled, diving the last leg towards Pulse.

The time mage was tackled off his feet, falling backwards into the trench. His hold over the mines vanished and the resulting simultaneous blast rocked the very ground they landed on. Five of the other soldiers slid into the trench just as the shockwave blasted dust overhead. The sixth and last member jumped in and used magic to pull a blanket of earth over their heads just before the sound of shrapnel cuts through the air above them.

The earth mage pulled off her mask and helmet before jumping straight into Pulse's arms. “You were amazing!” She kissed him on the cheeks.

Still panting hard from his exertion, Pulse managed to reply with a smile. “Thanks, Gallena.”

His eyes crossed gaze with Luviet. The latter gave Pulse a thumbs up with a tired smile. “Good job, buddy.”

Within the cramp makeshift trench of dirt and mud, under a blanket of dust and shrapnel, and surrounded by a field of explosions and gunfire, the group of eight let out a victorious cheer.

***

The Watcher was awoken from his nap by a tap to his shoulder. His eyes opened to Miguel walking by. He had fallen asleep on the log outside the small cliff-side cave that Adelaide called home. Snow had begun falling again, and, despite having been told that the season was a quarter into winter, it was only the second time he had seen snowfall on Tearha, and both times were within the forest of Valendra. Miguel sat on the edge of the log. The campfire had been restarted, and the rest of their motley group of five sat around it. Night was settling, and the only warmth was the burning flame.

Though the deal with Valent had been made, they feared returningasr the crowd had continued their rowdiness after Adelaide's sudden appearance in their town square. They had decided to hide in Valendra Forest at Adelaide's old camp-site until the commotion died down.

Nadier had just arrived and took the seat opposite Watcher, positioned to the left of Luce and right of Adelaide. The dark elf noted, “This is the most pathetic army I have ever seen.”

The Watcher sat up with a stretch and corrected, “We're not an army.”

Adelle asked, “So what are we?” She held a pouch of snow to the back of her head, still nursing the injuries she received from her fight with Light.

Silence caught the group and everyone exchanged uncertain glances.

Miguel leaned closer to the fire to bring the conversation forward. “Let's review what we know. Light is planning something with the portals. We do not know what, but the fate of The Watcher's home world is at stake on that. I think it's safe to assume that aside from Luce, none of us will be allowed back into Everwind to find out more.”

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Nadier added, “Not to be rude here, but I don't think Watcher's world is of a big concern to us.”

Luce commented, “The dark elves are planning a war. And they somehow got their hands on the alchemy formula for siege golems. If they attack Everwind, even with Light at the helm, they'll kill thousands of people.”

The group turned to Adelaide, waiting for her to chime in.

“What?” she replied exaggeratedly, setting her snow pouch to the side. She pointed to Luce. “I'll just agree with what she says. She's my boss now, right?”

While the group gave a collective sigh, The Watcher let out a laugh to which Adelle replied with a chuckle. He was glad to have hit a rapport with the elf, despite their relatively rocky beginnings. He found her an interesting individual, and he liked keeping himself in the circle of fascinating people.

Adelaide continued, “Look, seriously though, I don't know what you guys think five of us can do. Sure, we have Miguel, but that's just one Clover. That's not enough to fight two armies, a master spellblade, and the strongest photomancer on Tearha.” She leaned back onto her outstretched arms and taut her back in a cracking stretch.

The Watcher asked, “What's a 'Clover'?”

Luce answered, “They are a group of powerful individuals that are either physically, intellectually, or politically strong. Or a combination. They fought the last Exceed War with the gods. It's said that having just one Clover is enough to turn the tides of a war.”

The time traveller looked to the Enhancer, eyes wide with reverence. “I don't know what this Exceed War is, but it sounds impressive.”

Miguel shook his head uncertainly and replied, “We're really not all that great. Don't count on my power alone being able to fight this battle. And don't count on the others coming to help. None of them are really within reach right now.”

Then, a question returned to The Watcher's mind, and he asked, “I've been meaning to ask this, but what is up with the weather? You said it was winter, but it has only snowed twice so far.”

Miguel answered, “The Titan War in the south has burnt the atmosphere, so winter has been coming in later for . The full snow season starts around now. I think your world calls it global warming.”

The Watcher scratched his head in frustration. “Good to know some stupid never changes.”

Luce, realizing The Watcher kept going off tangent, added, “Is this relevant?”

“Environment is always relevant when fighting a war.”

“And you know this how?”

The Watcher smiled at her. “Oh, I'm very old, my dear ranger. I can lose count of the wars on the fingers of my hands.”

Abruptly, The Watcher's eyes opened wide in surprised remembrance of a piece of information. Reaching into his heavy coat, he pulled out the black tome that was given to him by Stella. He began flipping through the pages before stopping on the chapter on the dark elves.

Miguel asked, “What's wrong?”

“Dark elves are vulnerable to light, which is why they have a skin of 'aeronium'.” The Watcher read aloud and looked to their resident dark elf.

Nadier pulled up his sleeves and held out his forearm to show his darkened skin. “It's basically a layer of shadow,” he explained again. “We wear it to prevent ourselves from being burnt in the light.”

The Watcher's eyes darted to-and-fro the corners, as if a wall of information was out before his eyes in thin air. He stopped, looked to the dark elf and asked, “So, the soldiers, they need aeronium as well, right?” Nadier nodded a confirmation. The human continued, “It says in this book that aeronium is limited on Eltar. I'm guessing that means you have to transfer aeronium from one person to another?”

“That's right,” Nadier confirmed. “We have a pond of aeronium. The ancients dwarves built this gate that transfers aeronium from person to pool, depending on the direction you walk through the gate.”

“Interesting...” The Watcher mumbled, quieting down as he held his chin in thought.

Adelaide's eyes lit up. “The ritual...”

Nadier snapped his fingers as the idea hit him as well. “Oh, that's brilliant.” Noticing the confusion on the other three, Nadier leaned closer to the fire and explained, “The dark elves have a ceremony where before a major fight, they are all called back to the pond to return the aeronium for redistribution.”

“Everyone?” Luce clarified.

“Yes. Everyone,” Nadier confirmed. “If, at the moment the last elf walks through the gate, we destroy it, there will be no redistribution of the coat. No more army.”

Luce shifted in her seat. “But the siege golems will still be a problem. Knowing your kind, they'd still attack with the golems, just to even the score.” She placed a hand on her chin, her eyes shifted blankly for a second, her voice toning down as if reminiscing on the past. “I'm not eager to have these Titans running around, stomping the land.”

Adelaide brought up, “Nads, during the fight with Light, you stopped with that stupid look on your face, like you figured something out.”

“Ah!” The dark elf piped up, reminded. “Yes. I figured out why Light wanted you, me, and Watcher out of the equation so badly.”

Save for The Watcher, who continued in his thoughts, the rest of the campfire gathering listened intently, even as the Twins were setting fully and the shadows from the fire fought with the twilight shine. The crackling of firewood continued to uneven the beat of the whispering wind.

Nadier drew one of his daggers and unloaded the vial of cartridge into his palm. “Neverite. It's a substance created by dark elves to cut through mages' shields. They are hard to make, because one of their ingredients is dark elf blood.”

“Ah...” Miguel let out, as he himself pieced the puzzle together. “The only dark elf not bound to Ta'Galadul could make neverite to fight mages. And... an elf with the ability to teleport multiple people across a vast amount of space will easily slip through Light's sight.”

“And The Watcher,” Nadier continued, “Can manipulate time, arguably, the only thing faster than light itself. We're the perfect trio to sneak up on the human.”

Without warning, The Watcher jumped to hit feet. “Oh! Oh! Oh!” He got out of the circle and ran around the campfire excitedly, jumping and punching the air. “I got it! I'm so smart! I'm a bloody genius!”

Hopping the gap between Adelaide and Nadier, he stopped between everyone, standing above the flames of the pit, the flickering fire reflecting in his dirt-brown eyes.

Miguel got to his feet with a toothy grin, waving his fingers knowingly at The Watcher. “I think I've got the same plan as you do.”

“Of course you did,” The Watcher replied with a confident pat on his chest. “You're as smart as I am. And I don't say that often.”

Adelaide interrupted, “When you two are done feeling each others' egos, mind telling us the plan?”

The Watcher turned to the rest, and with a smile, said, “Here's what we'll do. We're going to do everything, in one swoop. Stop the war, stop the golems, and infiltrate Everwind. And we'll do it all before winter ends.”