Vern walked towards the bar, holding four large mugs between his two hands.

»Do you want a refill«, asked the young lady behind the counter.

»No, we're good, thanks. How much is it?«

The lady smiled. »It's free of course. I can't charge those who will save the city, can I?«

Vern chuckled and wanted to reply, but shouting from behind interrupted him.

»Vern, how much longer you need to bring us more?!«, bellowed his brother from their table. »I am gagging for another one!«

»Are you sure you don't want to order another one?«, the woman asked.

»No, no«, he quickly glanced over to his table and saw Irina trying to calm Alvyn down. »We‘re going to be on the move tomorrow. No celebrations till it is done.«

»Very well, hero.«

Despite her insistence on not getting paid, Vern put a silver coin on the counter in front of her.

»Here you go. And, please, don‘t call me hero. I am just a companion of theirs.«

The woman pocketed the coin after staring at it for a few seconds.

»Is that so? I could have sworn you are. That golden–blonde hair of yours as well as your general appearance … aren't you the wielder of flames?.«

»Well, you are certainly not entirely wrong with your observations.« Vern smiled. »However, the man you described would be my twin brother, the one longing for another drink.«

»Oh?« She looked over at the table. »I've always thought a hero like him would be less noisy and more composed … just like you are.«

»He usually is, well, certain weaknesses like having a drink too much aside, he is quite the nice guy.«

»That wasn't what I was hinting at«, she said, putting her hands on his.

He felt her warmth even through his leather glove.

»I am afraid that won't be possible.« He took his hand up and removed the glove.

The woman's smile vanished, but then she said playfully: »I see one brother's vice is booze, the other one's is women … though I might not necessarily mind …«

Vern's face twisted. »No, no, no. Only this one is my wedding ring«, he explained hurriedly and pointed at the golden one embedded with a red gem on his ring finger. »These other four aren‘t anything like that. They are just mana rings.«

»Mana rings? Never heard of anything like that«, she took a closer look at the plain silver rings. »You surely aren‘t pulling my leg, are you.«

»Hahaha, no. I swear«, answered Vern, having realized by now that she was just playing with him. »Anyway, I am afraid I have to look after my comrades now. Thanks a lot for the drinks and the chat.«

He put on his glove again and left the counter. When he reached their table he said: »Booze is out for tonight, Alvyn. You'll have to wait until the day after tomorrow.«

»You sure talked a lot with that girl at the counter«, retorted Alvyn. »I am not married, but you know, I still know what that entails.«

Kieran, who has been quietly finishing his meal so far, nudged Alvyn with his elbow. He seemingly put some force behind it.

»Don‘t talk when you're drunk. You always regret it later.«

Alvyn rubbed his ripped and lowered his head. »I'm sorry«, he said. And looked apologetically first at Vern and then at Irina.

»Well, it seems like you're ready for bed«, said Irina to break the silence. »We all are. Let's get our share of rest before we set off tomorrow.«

They all nodded in agreement and went to their lodging.

After Vern had helped Alvyn in his room, he jumped on the bed in his own. For a while, he stared at the wooden ceiling contemplating today's events and tomorrow's possibilities.

Irina joined him and snuggled herself close against him.

»Do you think tomorrow will be successful?«, she asked.

Vern took her hand and gently stroked it before he touched the ring on her finger.

»We will be fine. I am certain of it. You are all so strong, and our coordination has been great as of recently.«

She kissed him on the cheek. »If you say so, I feel confident to succeed.«

On the next day, they slept until late in the morning. Alvyn seemed to have fully recovered, and everybody was excited. They carefully double-checked their equipment before leaving the city.

The gate they passed was heavily fortified and as unbreachable as the rest of the outer walls. Since the city was the one lying deepest in enemy territory and still standing, that was a given.

The guards wished them farewell and just like that, they stood in the unprotected open.

In front of them, a few hundred meters in the distance, a treeline was visible that would eventually transform into a dense coniferous forest before ending in a mountain range. The chilly air brushed Vern's hair, even though it was summer. He looked at his comrades, who were equipped with their respective artifact weapons. Alvyn had his sword and Kieran his spear, while Irina carried a bow on her back.

»We will be going straight north from here, about 100 kilometers. Considering the forest, we will probably make it in about two hours or so. Make sure to avoid anything that slows us down.«

Kieran, Irina, and Alvyn nodded, and without a word, they moved in formation.

Alvyn in front followed by Kieran and Irina. They started running at an immense speed, and as soon as Irina was about 20 meters away, Vern focussed his mana into his feet and pushed himself off the ground as well. In no time, they had reached the thick part of the forest, and they made sure not to lose sight of each other.

As they circled the trees, their encounters with monsters became more frequent.

Every time the vanguard, consisting of Alvyn and Kieran, spotted one, they slightly adjusted their course to waste no time on them.

Finally, as it got darker, they reached the end of the forest. The mountain range in front of them seemed to pierce the heavens with its ice-covered peaks.

They stopped for a moment to watch them in awe and to take a few breaths.

»We shouldn't rest for too long«, said Alvyn. »The monsters we passed will start to encircle and attack us. Everyone, just do a quick check on your mana reserves, before we look for the right path.«

Vern closed his eyes and felt the mana swirling through his body. He inspected his rings and noticed that, as anticipated, two of his nine mana rings were completely depleted.

While Alvyn and Kieran were studying the map, Vern asked Irina: »You alright?«

She nodded, still catching her breath. Since she was the weakest of them when it came to physical enhancement, Vern wanted to make sure she was feeling well.

»Ah, over there right?«, Alvyn exclaimed while also sounding unsure.

Kieran inspected the area of the map Alvyn had pointed at.

»Are you sure? Shouldn't we be further west, considering where we started?.«

Vern approached them and took a look himself. Since no one lived in this area, there were no reliable maps available. Therefore they had to make do with what they could get, which wasn't much.

And he didn't have any clue where they were either.

He made sure not to voice this out loud and tried to figure out a way forward instead.

»Well, I think we should just move eastwards along the mountains and try to find landmarks that will help us orientate«, said Kieran. »That way, we should get closer and have the best chances of finding it. Otherwise, we will have to keep searching another day if we can find it in the next hours.«

They couldn't come up with a better plan, so they went on the move again. This time, however, they encountered a large group of monsters that had clumped together. As soon as Alvyn spotted them, he signaled to the others, and they came to a sudden stop.

»We will have to go around them in the forest if we want to avoid them«, remarked Kieran.

But before they could discuss the situation further, a large bird flew above their heads and alerted the rest of the monsters to their position with its screeching.

Irina immediately pulled the string on her bow back, shooting an arrow, which had just formed in the air between string and arc. It traveled through the air at the speed of sound. When it hit the bird, it was sliced in half and each part tumbled to the ground in the distance.

»Guess we have no choice now«, said Alvyn and readied his sword. »Here they come! Kieran, go for the ice carpet!«

While they prepared themselves for battle, the monsters started to rush at them at breakneck speed.

But before they could reach them, the ground they ran on froze over, making the monsters tumble and crash into each other. Alvyn had positioned himself next to Irina and Vern to protect them with a flame cocoon that originated from the tip of his sword. At the same time, Irina was shooting down the flying ones in rapid succession that weren't affected by Kieran's attack.

And while all this was going on, while everyone was pulling their weight, Vern was forced to watch all this unfold without being able to help his comrades.

Sure, he could have assisted Irina in sniping down the birds. But since he had only a few shurikens as long-range weapons, he didn't want to waste them like this. Not that Irina needed any help in the first place.

Fortunately, Vern was used to the fact that the others would carry him in combat, so he didn't feel particularly bad.

Kieran ripped his spear out of the ground and shouted: »That wasn't too effective! They're too used to the cold here!«

The monsters were starting to compose themselves, and some didn't seem to be affected very much.

»Let's go!« Alvyn canceled the fire cocoon and jumped forward next to Kieran, and together they ran forward to meet the monsters head-on.

As soon as Alvyn had left their side, the cold started to assault Vern, and he quickly covered his body in a thin layer of mana to block it off as best as he could. He stepped on the frozen ground and fixed his eyes on the forest. Since Alvyn and Kieran were slaughtering the main force and Irina assisted them by picking up air targets as well as anything that moved past them, Vern had only one thing to do – protect their flank.

After a few moments, he spotted something moving in the forest and immediately closed in on it. A huge bear emerged, his fur as white as snow and his paws larger than a man's torso. While running, Vern took one of his shurikens in hand and focussed as much mana as he could before flinging at the bear. The dark metal reached its target in less than a second, and the bear growled in pain. However, it had just pierced a few centimeters into the bear's skin.

How much Vern wished in these moments to also have an artifact he could wield. But he had to make do with only his physical enhancement. He prepared to evade the bear. However, it didn't come close. It just glared at him from this distance with its red eyes, slowly moving backward into the cover of the trees.

So Vern actively reduced the distance himself. He wanted to accurately hit the bear's weak spots, such as the eyes, with the next throw to finish it off. The moment he aimed his second shuriken, a white blur appeared in his field of view. No, it wasn't a blur – it was a wolf flying at an unbelievable speed through the air straight at Vern. He knew he couldn't dodge in time and protected his whole body with mana, hoping he wouldn't die. Just as the wolf's mouth was mere centimeters away from his head - he could have easily counted all of its long sharp teeth from this distance - a breeze brushed his hair, and the wolf's latter half tumbled in a different direction than its front half. But the front was only slightly diverted from its initial trajectory and still crashed into Vern. He was swept off his feet and slid several meters along the ground until he hit a tree trunk. The bear barked in anger and immediately rushed toward him.

Luckily, the impact didn't discombobulate Vern, and at the right moment, he pushed his feet against the tree to slide just beneath the bear jumping on his earlier position. He threw the shuriken that he still had gripped tightly at the bear's open mouth.

This time, the bear did not roar and instead just slammed into the tree lifelessly. Vern panted. He hadn't expected those beasts to be intelligent enough to lure him into an ambush. He quickly calmed himself, extracted his shuriken from the bear's skull, and moved back toward Irina.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

»Are you hurt?« she asked worriedly as he came closer while still shooting at anything that passed by Alvyn and Kieran.

»I … I am alright just a bit shocked … but still alright. Thanks a lot for the assistance.«

He wiped off some of the blood covering his face.

In the next two minutes, the three others finished the remaining monsters, and they assembled between their corpses.

»Everybody alright?«, asked Alvyn and watched Irina inspect every inch of Vern's body.

»Yes!«, Vern insisted and moved away a little. »Do you think that might be what we've been looking for?«

He pointed at a path between the mountains, in front of which the horde of monsters had gathered.

The others followed him, and they had a closer look.

»Looks like our best bet.«, voiced Kieran. »The map we have is pretty useless, anyway.«

Everyone was on board with it, so they followed the path. It winded along the mountains, getting steeper and steeper the further they went. Accordingly, the temperature kept dropping, and eventually, snow covered the rocks under their feet.

Occasionally, monsters came down the path, and the encounters became more frequent the further they went up. But these stragglers were very easily slain by Alvyn, who led them up the path. The sun started setting, and they stopped for a moment to watch it in the distance.

»Do you all feel like you can keep going?« Vern used the moment to ask since they had originally planned to have finished their mission by now.

They hadn't eaten all day aside from a hasty breakfast in the morning and didn't have much food on them right now.

»I don't mind either way«, said Alvyn, and Irina nodded in agreement.

»Well, I, for my part, would like to at least find out where this path leads«, Alvyn said. »So we don't have to walk this twice … if it's alright with you.«

»Sure thing, sounds good«, said Vern and checked on his mana reserves. He had used up three of his nine rings completely and was currently draining his fourth.

They continued walking, and the sun hid behind the mountain peaks within the next minutes, only leaving behind a fading red shimmer in the sky.

Alvyn ignited his sword and moved to the back of the group, leaving the vanguard to Kieran so that the flames would illuminate their path without blinding them.

After another hour of walking, the path leveled and widened. A sudden meteor shower lit up the dark sky and exposed a cave entrance in the distance. Although this beautiful sight was captivating, Vern had to focus his attention forward, as a few bears rushed at them from near the cave.

Kieran impaled the leading one with his spear, and the bear turned into ice before shattering into a million pieces. Meanwhile, Alvyn jumped over Vern and Irina, swinging his sword midair. A volley of flames flew toward the charging monsters. The heat made them stop or slow down, while the fur of some bears even caught fire.

In just a few seconds, the two had cut down and shattered all remains of their enemies.

Then they cautiously approached the cave, ready for any surprise that might come out of it. However, nothing happened.

Alvyn hurled a ball of flames into the darkness. It went on for almost a hundred meters before hitting a wall and vanishing within a few seconds.

»I didn't see anything«, he commented. »Did any of you?«

»Nah, but maybe they are hiding, and it's a trap.«, answered Kieran. He touched the inner walls of the cave with the tip of his spear, and a thin layer of ice appeared, expanding further and further until it covered the entire inside.

»There's no reaction … so it might be clear … maybe«, Kieran mumbled after he was done and looked at Vern. No – not just Kieran – all of them looked at him.

So Vern readied himself while Irina told him to be careful. That was the main reason, well, probably the only real reason he was part of this group – playing decoy.

If he died, it didn't impact their combat prowess in any meaningful way.

But it wasn't like he was just cannon fodder. Since he could use his physical enhancement better than any in the group, he could easily avoid most things coming at him.

Vern looked back at Alvyn, who held his sword up and nodded. Then Alvyn counted down: »Three … two … one … go.«

On his signal, he fired several flames into the cave, much faster than the initial one.

At the same time, Vern started pressing his feet against the ground and shot forward like a rocket following behind the flames. The inside of the cave felt eerie, almost making him shiver, so he focused instead on what he could see and hear.

The flames in front of him danced through the dark and were reflected in the frosted walls as if the cave was made out of mirror shards.

But there was nothing. As soon as he saw the wall at the end, he decelerated to not body-check it.

Simultaneously, he prepared himself to flee to the entrance, however, there was still nothing.

The flames hit the wall and glowed for a moment, allowing him to spot a small side path just at the end. He jumped up, pressed his feet against the wall, and pushed himself back to where he came from, only a faint light in the distance.

This time though, he didn't give it his all and slowed down progressively until he just casually jogged along. He didn't sense any danger and paid no heat to his initial feelings when entering.

»Come! It's safe!«, he shouted as he came closer. The others entered as well, and they met up in the middle. »Feels even more chilly than outside … weirdly chilly …«, commented Irina arriving a few seconds before the other two. »Nothing in here?«

»Well, there is a small passage at the end we should probably investigate.«

»Hmm, strange«, Kieran said. »The monsters must be coming from somewhere … maybe there were just bunched up in this area by chance … ?«

»Theorizing won't help if we can just find out by looking« Alvyn barged his way in front of the group, holding his sword high above his head and marching forward.

»Hey, don't move ahead«, exclaimed Kieran, and tried to stop him but to no avail. So the group just followed him to the passage.

»Should I check it first?«, offered Vern, but Alvyn didn't seem to care.

»Let's not waste any more time on this tiny cave«, he answered and entered the passage.

After a few turns, they reached a massive compartment – at least they couldn't see the ceiling or the other side with their meager light source.

»Well, that is something«, Alvyn said, intrigued. »Let's look around.«

They quickly each lit up a torch and spread out, still staying in proximity to one another.

Alvyn unleashed a few fireballs around him to get a rough idea of the cave's scope. Surprisingly, there were still no monsters. It was only littered with rocks and boulders.

»Hey guys, I think I found a monster spawner«, voiced Irina, and the others gathered around her immediately.

On the ground lay a little black box that looked like tossed-away trash. Vern concentrated a small amount of mana in his fingertips and felt a slide pull as he did so.

»It's definitely absorbing mana … but I doubt this is the cause of all we have been seeing.«

»Yeah, I don't see this thing creating such a huge monster bailiwick and also an expanding one a that.«

Kieran tipped it with the spear to freeze it. »Just smash it and move on.«

Alvyn stabbed his sword through the box, and it shattered. He turned around and said: »Let's quickly finish searching this cave and head back to …«

He stopped talking as the others suddenly moved backward.

»Move away!«, Vern shouted at Alvyn while black smoke rose from the shards of the box behind him.

Immediately, Alvyn reacted, taking a step forward, but as the smoke touched his body, he froze in place. The flames around his sword vanished in an instant, and the others could only see his silhouette in front of them.

Seconds passed. Absolut silence. Then Alvyn fell on his knees.

»Are … are you okay?«, Irina asked timidly before turning to the others. »Did he get poisoned or something?«

No answer – from any of them.

»Don't move.« She took out her bow, aimed in Alvyn's direction, and released. A wind arrow brushed just a few centimeters past him, pushing the air around away in the distance.

»Let's quickly pick him up and treat him when we're out of here.«, said Kieran, who has composed himself again.

Vern slowly moved closer, trying to sense if any of the poison was still left in the air.

»Can you stand?«, he asked, but he still did not answer.

Alvyn's head was facing down, his body held up by his hands on the ground. They twitched as he held on to his sword and a small rock.

Suddenly he raised his head, and at the same time, he flung the rock in his hand. It darted through the air and smashed into Irina's leg. She cried out in pain and tumbled, trying to find some hold on a boulder. Instinctively, Vern stepped back and positioned himself in front of Irina to protect her from any further attacks.

»What the hell, man?!«, Kieran exclaimed and pointed his spear at Alvyn. »It is just us. No one else.«

He assumed him to be confused by the poison and tried to calm him down.

»I know that very well.« Alvyn's voice was cold as ice and sent a chill down Vern's spine. After uttering these words, a twisted smile appeared on his face, and he stood up.

»I am going to kill you … all of you … I will crush your bones and gut you like a pig.«

Kieran moved over to the other two and erected an ice wall between them and Alvyn.

»Get out of here«, he said, his eyes fixated on the enemy in front. »I will stall him and join you la–«

Before he could finish the sentence, Alvyn had propelled himself forward and burst through the thick barrier as if it was fragile glass.

He swung his sword at Kieran's neck who just in time managed to move his spear into a blocking position.

The sword hit the spear but kept going, shoving it aside with ease. Kieran's weapon was catapulted away as his head left his body and landed in front of Vern's feet.

The next few moments felt like an eternity while Vern tried to process the events he had witnessed.

Was Alvyn possessed or something? – Probably.

Did Kieran just die in front of him, butchered like a chicken? – He sure did.

But the most important question. How are we not going to die as well?

His only real option was to run and maybe, maybe get away somehow. He understood this, but how could he leave behind Irina, whose leg had been shattered into pieces?

Consequently, Vern rushed forward at his maximum speed while drawing his short sword.

In mere milliseconds, he reached his target, but a hand suddenly appeared in his trajectory and swatted him like a fly. He flew backward and slammed into the boulder Irina was leaning on.

A few breezes passed by his face while his head spun and he slowly lost all feeling in his body.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Alvyn coming closer, easily avoiding Irina's attacks.

Then he stood before her and lifted his sword, ready to strike her down. She stumbled and fell on the floor, trying to crawl away.

Vern closed his eyes, using all the mana he could, and jumped between them as the sword swung down. The next moment his right hand flew away, freed from the rest of his body, and surprisingly, that was something Vern still could feel.

The pain numbed him as he cowered between the two.

»You know, I have always hated you the most.«, Alvyn said and slowly moved his sword into position again. »You always get in my way. You never let me have what I want.«

The sword came at him. He tried to raise his left arm to block it, but he was too weak – not that it would have ultimately mattered. With one strike, his head was severed from his body and toppled down. Everything went blurry.

Suddenly, a white light appeared in a corner of his view, and Alvyn's face, which had been unmoving as stone, twisted in anger. Black smoke rushed towards Vern as everything went dark.