Arthur made his way through the early morning streets of Arendaile. He vaguely knew the location of Mr. Welkin’s house. He’d been there before when he had asked to see the man’s sword collection. Arthur now knew why he kept those swords.

Eventually, after taking one too many wrong turns, Arthur had arrived. A small little cottage home on the far north side of town. He knocked on the door and waited. Within few heartbeats, Mr. Welkins had arrived and answered the door. He was in a pair of black pants and wore a white dress shirt.

“Arthur?” he asked. “What brings you here so early?”

Arthur was repulsed by his horrible acting. He knew damn well why Arthur had come. “Can I come in?” Arthur asked politely despite himself.

The man smiled and welcomed him forward. Arthur obliged and entered. The house was quite small, though that made it feel very cozy. In that aspect, it reminded Arthur of the cabin. He looked around and saw a small kitchen to the right, a dining set beside it and a small circular table with two chairs to the far left. There was also a door that lead away from the main room. Arthur knew that lead to Mr. Welkin’s bedroom.

“Have a seat.” Mr. Welkins said, gesturing to the small table and the wooden chairs.

Arthur accepted graciously, first hanging his coat which he had worn to hide himself. Last thing he wanted was someone making eyes at him for wandering around town alone.

Mr. Welkins went to the kitchen and poured two cups of tea. He then placed them on a metal tray and came to the table, sitting opposite to Arthur after having placed the tray down.

“So what do I owe this visit to?” Mr. Welkins asked, hands clasped together.

“You know why.” Arthur declared. “I want to know about the Guardians and the forest.” Arthur added.

“Your mother would probably kill me if I did that without her permission.” Mr. Welkins countered while he smiled and sipped his tea.

“That didn’t stop you from lending me the book. So why draw the line here?” Arthur retorted, looking at the man with fierce eyes.

“Lend you the book?” Mr. Welkins began as he let out a small chuckle. “If I recalled correctly, you asked for the book and I said nothing. You then took it and waved it to my face. After that, you left.”

“I thought you were okay with it since you didn’t say anything. You heard me clearly when I said I was going to burrow it. You’ve never had any problem with me burrowing books before so I figured that you’d feel the same.” Arthur defended himself.

Mr. Welkins blew on his tea and then returned his eyes to Arthur. “I’m not mad at you for taking the book, if that’s what you’re wondering.” He said calmly.

“Then why won’t you tell me what I need to know?” Arthur asked, his hands squeezed against the sides of the table.

“I never said I wouldn’t tell you.” Mr. Welkins sipped his tea. “I’m just saying that ignorance might be bliss. Are you sure you want to involve yourself with the Guardians?” he asked.

Arthur replied, his orange eyes burning with determination. “Yes.”

Mr. Welkins smiled and got up. “In that case, I want you to come with me.” He gestured to the door which lead to his bedroom. Arthur followed cautiously. It was here where Mr. Welkins kept his sword collections. Blades of all kinds decorated the walls. And right above his bed head was Mr. Welkins’ most prized possession, a one of kind sword as he had once told Arthur. The man grabbed the blade but didn’t unsheathe it.

“Long ago, there were many different creatures. Magical creatures.” The man walked around the room, rubbing the blade. “But because of this, there were also many wars. Each kindred spirit wanted to have the most land, the biggest armies and the most power. Humans were the weakest of all these creatures.” Mr. Welkins looked at Arthur. “We were at their mercy.”

“But one day, after centuries of turmoil and anguish, mankind found hope. A gift from the Gods – a Golden Gemstone. With the power of this blessed orb, a powerful wizard was able to separate the worlds forever.” Mr. Welkins stopped his trotting. “But it was not perfect. Some magical creatures remained in the human realm unable to return back to their homes. The wizard, wanting to rid mankind of all threats decided to imprison those that remained. With the last remaining shards of power he could muster from the gemstone, he hid them from the world and wiped the memories of the humans so that none would remember the horrid acts of war. Only those with magic were immune. And those people became the Guardians.” Mr. Welkins looked at Arthur, holding forward the unsheathed blade.

“Okay, but why didn’t he just kill them?” Arthur asked bluntly.

Mr. Welkins raised an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t know that for sure. But it was probably due to the power left in the gemstone. Killing thousands of magical creatures is no easy task.”

“I guess that makes sense. But why were you so insistent on helping me know all of this?” Arthur asked eagerly, some part of him hoped that there was some special reason.

“Because of this.” Mr. Welkins held out the sword again, this time with one hand. “I feel that you would be a valuable asset for the Guardians in the upcoming battle.”

“The sword?” Arthur asked, taking it from Mr. Welkins’ hand.

“You held it before when it was not sheathed.” Mr. Welkins stated.

Arthur recalled the time when he had pulled out the blade without permission. But what was so special about that? “Yeah, so what?” he asked.

“Pull it out.” The man commanded.

Arthur did as he was told. As he remembered, the blade was beautiful. Arthur traced the glimmering silver in a trance. The handle was decorated with gold markings that connected together to form a dragon. But other than that, it was just a normal blade.

“No reaction. Just as before.” Mr. Welkins hovered around Arthur, examining him. The man tried touching the blade but a spark of light flashed and he pulled his hand away. But Arthur didn’t feel any pain. He was fine despite the light. Was this some kind of magic?

“I still can’t touch it.” Mr. Welkins expressed, flapping his finger as if he had just touched a hot stove. “Well, Arthur. That blade is yours now.” He said as he looked to Arthur. “Do with it as you will.”

~

Arthur returned. Steven watched as he walked through the door, a sword now grasped in his hands. A part of Steven wondered what Mr. Welkins told him. But Steven figured that it would just lead to even more questions on his part. More questions which he couldn’t answer. Right now, all he wanted was to know more about the WorldWalker. Perhaps he should have asked Sarah. He doubted that she would know much. After all, Teya actually met the WorldWalker and she hardly knew anything about him.

Steven watched as Arthur strutted through the kitchen, aiming for his room. Sarah stopped him. “Arthur, don’t you want breakfast?” she asked as if nothing was out of place.

“No, I’m fine.” Arthur replied and walked towards his room. Why was he so bothered? Did he not get what he wanted? Steven figured he did, judging by the mere fact that he returned with a sword. Honestly, Steven was surprised that Sarah didn’t scold him the minute he walked in.

Steven looked over to his adopted mother. He was worried for her. A normal mother had enough to deal with, she had even more problems than that. And Steven and Arthur had probably complicated things for her. Steven didn’t care for these Elves and Guardians, he just wanted to know more about himself. But if it came to choosing over himself and his family, he would most certainly choose the latter.

Maria soon came out of her room. She looked around with sleepy eyes. Steven figured that she had a lot on her mind as well. Without saying anything, she made her way downhill. Everything seemed so out of place today. Steven wished it would go back to being normal.

“Cheer up.” Sarah said as she placed a plate with bread and bacon in front of him. She then reached for the kettle and poured him a cup of tea. Despite feeling down, Steven wouldn’t refuse the offer in front of him. He ate.

~

He finally understood everything. Arthur now knew about the Guardians and the Elves. There would be a battle soon and Mr. Welkins was expecting Arthur to be a part of it. What Sarah thought about that, he didn’t know. And he didn’t care. His fantasies were finally becoming reality. Arthur clutched the sword and lifted it up while lying down. But before any of that, he would have to learn to use this sword. He got up and unsheathed the blade. Arthur took a stance and swung at nothing. In his mind, a great battle was occurring and he was fighting in it.

~

Maria was practicing. She didn’t return immediately to the cabin after bathing. Instead, she picked flowers and drained their life. And then she tried to return it. For sure, she had gotten better. Now, she could somewhat tell how much energy she took but still hadn’t gotten used to returning exactly that. With the flower, she could return a little less than usual. This way, she didn’t end up killing it. But she knew that is would be different with the barrier. If it were too little, the barrier would still fall. It needed to be exact for it to be fixed. Else, the cracks made by the Elves wouldn’t heal. She looked towards the forest. The barrier was invisible even to her eyes. But she knew it was there, and that it was the only thing keeping her town safe from harm. Maria continued practicing.

~

How could they win? Rion thought about it endlessly while staring out the window in his room. Though people passed in the streets, Rion didn’t see them. His mind was but a collection of plans, traps and various scenarios. His most notable personnel included Sarah, Roon, Jaiken, Welsh and himself. Maria had potential but she was too inexperienced to be much use in battle. And the Elves, though Rion didn’t know exactly what their troops were capable of, he knew that they would have those that match the skills of those he noted. On average, a single Elf that knew magic was worth about two human mages that had the same level of proficiency in magic. Though those humans gifted with abilities could easily best normal Elves. But even so, the power of the Elves on a full moon would be tremendous. They couldn’t win on a full moon. Their best means of winning would be to launch a pre-emptive strike. Starting from today, he would send troops in to whittle down the forces of the Elves. And on the night before the full moon, the Guardians would attack with everything they had. Rion called to Roon, who he knew waited outside of his room. As Roon entered the room, Rion stood up and faced the little man. A war would begin now.

~

Roon had waited behind a lone Elf that was frozen near the edge of the clearing. Midnight was approaching and as it reached, the power of the Elf flowed through him and broke the spell. But before the Elf could even move, Roon struck a dagger through his back from behind. The other Elves soon appeared, but Roon was ready. He had drawn runes near the Elves, in locations where they could not see when frozen. And as his eyes glowed red, fire spiraled from the runes and engulfed nearby Elves. He heard them chanting, most certainly saying spells to counter the flame. But that was expected. As they summoned ice from the air to freeze the flames, the fire sunk into the Earth and melted it into magma. It was spell to change and combine nature at the trigger of a countering spell. A sort of specialty for Rune. He watched as the Elves sunk into the magma and melted skin and bone. A horrid sight.

Blades of wind soon came, and Roon retreated through the woods. Of course, he couldn’t simply outrun the Elves. They were much faster than he could ever be. But for that too, he was ready. As the Elves foolishly followed through his tracks, Roon signaled Jaiken who set his own traps into motion. The trees around Roon moved their branches and lashed and grabbed and tore at the Elves as they dashed through the forest. Some died, others merely broke a few bones, though most were relatively unharmed, only bearing a few scratches after narrowingly avoiding the trees. And within moments, Roon was surrounded.

A huge, horrid looking Elf approached him. Roon let a small smirk upset his usual stiff features. They wanted to use him for information. It had seem that they had learnt after killing Dave. A dead man was worth nothing, a living one still had its use. But Roon was ready for even this, his eyes glimmered and he vanished into thin air with a small flash. His act of being captured was but a ruse to buy Jaiken time to escape. But Roon was still amongst the Elves. The flash of light was but a fire spark used to make it look like he had teleported himself. But that wasn’t Roon’s ability. His skill only allowed him to disappear from one’s senses. You could not see him, nor hear him, nor smell him or even taste him. Touch, however, was still a viable option. So Roon had to make sure not to make any noticeable movement to the leaves on the ground or to touch any of the Elves. Slowly and surely, he made his way away from them. As he made his escape, he heard a few Elves curse. The huge one was especially angry. Roon smirked a butler’s grin and made his way out of the forest.

~

“How many?” Rion asked. “How many did you manage to kill?”

Roon replied, his hands held together behind his back. “Four.” That was a great deal of Elves considering they were less than a hundred. Though it would not be enough to hinder their forces. Not to mention, the element of surprise was now lost. Surely, the Elves would make preparations to brace themselves for another attack.

“Good work. Make sure to do the same tomorrow.” Rion said as he gestured Jaiken and Roon out of his room.

If they continued witling the forces of the Elves, the Guardians would be able to launch an attack before the full moon. But would it be enough? Going into the forest where the Elves have a field advantage was dangerous. They were faster and more agile than humans. A simple slip up would be all it takes for someone to die. Rion looked outside his window and sat down on the wooden chair beside him. Plans filled his mind, and he slipped away from reality.