Their first night at the foot of the mountain was a long one. Aiden could not sleep and so he decided to sit on a rock, next to the campfire. He was still very close to the tents and took it upon itself to feed the flame and keep it bright and warm throughout the night. As the cold had already set in and dug deeper, gnawing on the bones of his comrades, Aiden was fine. He could feel a difference from the considerably warmer weather of Pinewood, but he wasn’t feeling any cold, even when it would be abnormal to be warm. Aiden was certain that it had something to do with Thar’gorol, the demon that lived inside of him, like a spiritual parasite. The demon had already played a big role in awaking Aiden’s Sun Aura and had already found a way to communicate with him when Aiden was conscious, albeit a limited form of communication.

All this time Aiden was sitting completely still. His eyes fixated in the flames, moving unpredictably, consuming the wood that was being given as fuel. The only other light, apart from the flickering fire, was the silver light of the Moon that showered the short and rough grass that surrounded their campsite. Occasionally there would be a bush bearing red, edible berries and a more common sighting would be that of white and blue flowers that Serena would look out for and collect. She claimed they gave the tea a pleasantly sweet aroma that was especially effective against the frost of the mountain. Aiden heard a pair of feet step on the ground and took his eyes off the fire, turning towards the tent Duran and Serena used. He noticed the latter, wearing her travel boots on top of thick, woollen socks while her body was wrapped in her cloak, covering the rest of her clothes. “I noticed you weren’t sleeping. And…and I thought you would get lonely out here.” Serena said as she took a few steps closer to Aiden. Aiden smiled as she got closer to him. “Oh no, don’t worry about me. I just can’t sleep, that’s all.” Serena ignored Aiden and took a seat on a log next to him. “Are you feeling alright? If there is a problem, please let me know. I will do my best to help you.” Serena said and leaned slightly closer to Aiden, examining him and trying to estimate his wellbeing. Aiden shook his head. “I told you, I’m perfectly fine. Just a bit worried about, you know, the Ice Elementals, the Mines, those assassins. Stuff like that were not something I’d have to deal with back in my world.” Aiden turned back at the fire and Serena used her breath to warm her hands up. “Mr Aid… I mean, Aiden, I believe you need to think of yourself as part of this world now. I don’t want to tell you what to do, but since you’re here now, I see you as a member of our company.” Serena responded as she turned to the fire shortly after Aiden. He thought for a moment, and decided to ask a question he had since the very beginning of this journey. “Say Serena, do you know why Lord Lloyd picked me to come with you? Was Duran the one who requested it, or was every other guard and soldier busy?” Serena didn’t respond right away. She looked at Aiden with a look slightly more serious than usual. “Neither. Lord Lloyd sees you as a very interesting man and a valuable aspect. Not every soldier is able to burn a hobgoblin down to a crisp without any training. And more importantly, your pyromancy can help us against the Elementals.” Serena paused to grab his hand and rub it between her fingers. “We’re in the middle of a freezing night…and you’re warm. You may not realise it, but great power flows through you. It’s just a matter of time, when you’ll learn to control it.” She paused again as she let his hand go. Aiden was about to say something, but Serena didn’t notice it and resumed. “A few days ago, when you attacked that bandit on the tree. Were you scared?” Aiden looked at her, surprised by her tone, and the question. “Yes… I was. But not because of the Bandit himself. After I hit him, I was worried that I took his life. Luckily, it was not but a flesh wound.” She looked at him with her yellow eyes shining under the moonlight. “Don’t be afraid Aiden. We…I…will be there for you. Even when you decide to take a life.” Serena stopped talking and there was silence. Aiden was shocked by the severity of the conversation. To him Serena was the sweet and innocent maid that worked for Lloyd, this was totally unexpected. “You mean that you’ve killed before…?” Aiden broke the silence and after a still moment, Serena nodded. She immediately let her cloak drop just below her chest, she then proceeded to spread the neck-opening of her top to show Aiden a generous part of her chest, of course her breasts were still mostly covered. “What?!” Aiden was ready to look away but on the last second, he noticed something. On the centre of her chest, slightly above her breasts there was a rough, deformed part of skin. A scar of sorts, it looked like a deep and painful burn. Serena let Aiden look at it for a moment and then she covered herself up, shielding her bare skin from the low temperatures.

Aiden was not really sure what he was supposed to say in a situation like this. Luckily, Serena spoke first. “Aiden, I am a maid. I live to serve the household belonging to the Lord of Pinewood. But in this world, even I don’t always have quiet and calm days. There are times where you will be forced to make a decision, stand your ground…kill someone.” She brought her hand over her chest and held it. “This scar always reminds me: This world can be cruel, sometimes too cruel. We both have dreams, goals…something we need to have dangling in front of us, so we can continue running. I don’t know what yours is, but you must never forget that there will be obstacles you need to overcome…and there are moments when the only option available is as cruel as the world itself.” Serena stopped talking and turned back to the fire that burnt in front of them. Aiden seemed sceptical, trying to think of a proper response. He didn’t want to disagree with Serena, after all there weren’t many things he knew about this place. “Serena, I get your point, but also I’ve learnt many things from my world. Violence and cruelty, realistically, can’t be avoided. But they can be greatly limited and postponed.” Serena looked at Aiden waiting for him to finish. “I hope, one day, I find my way back home. But there are things I must do in this world first, things I will be forced to face somehow. When the time comes, I’ll be ready to both stand my ground and fight for my myself and for others, although I hope to kill only when there truly is no other way…when the sins I will commit are fewer than the sins I will prevent.”

Serena listened carefully to Aiden and then looked at him with a familiar smile. “You’re a good man Aiden, I am sure you’ll make the right choice when…I mean… if you’re ever forced to face more than a nest of goblins.” She then stood up and yawned, quickly covering her mouth with her hands. “I’m very glad we talked. Goodnight Aiden!” Serena said happily and walked over to her tent, crawling inside of it and inside her bedroll. Aiden remained outside, tenting to the fire. After the bandits attacked, his mind often wandered to the situation with Thar’gorol. He was told that every moment the demon is inside of him, he grows stronger, eventually he will be strong enough to take his over his body. It’s unclear what will happen to him, but the most likely outcome is that he will die. Aiden looked up in the sky, the night sky was something he found incredibly beautiful, at least in this world. The lack of light provided not only a clear of view of countless stars and the moon, but also the blueish and purplish colours of the galaxy. Everyone else thought the sky was pretty, but they were used to it. For a modern city dweller that was Aiden, such a sky was a rare and cherished sight. He sighed, since there was nothing he could do about the demon and was not sure whether or not he would be speeding up his demise if he told anyone. Slowly feeling his eyelids getting heavier, he too crawled inside his tent and fell asleep.

The second day of climbing went by relatively quickly as they followed the old and barely used paths that swirled and turned, creeping up the mountain side. They reached a point where the cold was numbing both during the day and the night. The second night was considerably harder to sleep through for everyone, except for Aiden. The morning of the third day and Serena woke up a bit earlier than the rest. She carefully, and reluctantly, woke up Aiden as well so he could lend a hand in getting the fire going strong before Duran and Elianor got up. Aiden was happy to do so and after using his pyromancy to create his kindling flame, a skill that he had plenty of opportunities to train during this trip, the flames grew once again. While Aiden wore his armour, Serena boiled some tea made from the mountain herbs she had been gathering and they all enjoyed a hot cup of it before they set out on their journey once again. After they drank it, they all seemed to cope with the cold slightly better, even Aiden, who wasn’t affected by the cold as much as the rest, felt like a strain he never noticed before was now gone.

The sun was, now, way past its highest point on the sky and had started slowly dipping towards the horizon. Aiden paced next to Elianor, as usual, while Serena and Duran, who knew the way better than them, walked in front. Unfortunately, the cold but kind, so far, weather decided to make the journey even more challenging for them as a reasonably powerful blizzard broke out. Since they were fairly careful with their steps the blizzard was not enough to pose a great danger to them, although it did limit their visibility range by a significant amount. It was then that they took some rope and tied it on Duran’s belt, while the rest held it tightly with one hand, using the remaining arm to protect their face from the incoming snow. The snow was now up to their shins as they made their way higher and higher. Suddenly Serena felt the rope become still as she faintly saw Duran stopping dead in his tracks, the others saw Serena stop as well and got closer to them to find out what was going on. Through the howling of the wind they heard a strange, eerie humming sound. It was never stopping, but due to its frequency and volume it was not as annoying as someone would expect, definitely a sound Aiden heard for the first time and judging by her reaction, so did Elianor. After they all stood next to each other the blizzard begun to calm down around them and the humming got clearer and clearer. After a few seconds the blizzard, even though it was still going strong further away, had completely died out in the area around them. They all wiped as much of the snow as they could off of their clothes and then looked around to spot the cause of this sudden and peculiar incident. “Aiden, Elianor! Ready your weapons!” Duran instructed them and immediately, all four of them, had their respective weapons ready to strike. In front of them stood two ice statues, their bodies had the shape of natural point crystals, not entirely random but not perfectly symmetrical. On the side their bodies there were attached pieces of hard ice connected with a light blue light, they had the rough shape of human arms, but instead of five fingers they only had three large ones. Their legs were thick and similar to their arms when it came to how they were held together, they of course looked differently than their arms. A blueish light appeared on the top of their bodies forming two eyes and a wide mouth, the humming continued but this time it seemed to be slightly more aggressive as the elementals walked closer to them. They seemed slow but Aiden could clearly see that they even dwarfed Duran, the biggest person in their group. The creature made from ice stopped moving a couple of meters away from them. Aiden had no experience with this type of foe, but a quick glance towards Duran showed him an expression of worry, he could tell that they were leagues above that ogre that Duran had to fight in the Goblin Town. Duran was gritting his teeth and looking at them with eyes of absolute focus, he held his sword up and assumed the wrath guard. The humming noise of one of the elementals got distorted and formed into words they could understand. “What business do you have on this mountain, humans?” The left elemental asked with a voice that seemed to have multiple soft echoes following it. Duran tightened his grip around his sword and answered with a loud and clear voice. “Let us pass! We are sent here by the Lord of Pinewood and the Royal Guard!” The humming became even more aggressive and threatening. The right one talked this time. “Pinewood? You are sent here by the same people that drove us away and built their hot mines in OUR mountain!” The left one continued. “Your posture and weaponry show your intentions. We will give you the option to turn back, but if you refuse, we have to protect our land.” The elemental finished his sentence and everyone stood still for a second. -So, if we go forward, we’ll engage with the elementals, but we can’t go back… Should we risk it? No, I’m not ready to take on enemies that their very presence can seal out a blizzard. – Duran gripped his sword and was a moment away from attacking the elementals, then a thud was heard behind him. The two elementals as well as Duran. Serena and Elianor quickly turned to Aiden who had just dropped his zweihander on the snow next to his feet. Obviously, Duran seemed confused and shocked, such a reckless action could easily lead to their death. Aiden didn’t say anything and unsheathed his dagger before letting it drop as well. Duran was about to talk but Aiden raised his hand and gestured him to keep quiet. Needless to say, Duran was once again surprised by Aiden’s action, but he decided to let him speak, in case he had a plan. Aiden took a few steps forward and got near the two elementals who were not attacking him just yet. “We have absolutely no intention of turning hostile, unless we have to. We are also not here because of an old and abandoned mine, our goal is not to steal your land from you, we are after some answers, it’s that simple.” The humming was toned down and now it was less aggressive than before. “What answers do you seek, human?” The elementals asked and Aiden looked back at the group. Serena and Elianor let their weapons down and Duran, even though he was reluctant, he did so with a sigh. Aiden then turned back to the elementals. “Please, call me Aiden.” The elementals looked at the weapons that now rested on the snow. “Very well, Aiden-human.” Aiden pulled off his friendly smile and continued talking. “I don’t know if you’re interested in the affairs of us, humans, but a group of assassins tried to take the life of the current King. We believe the mines may hold the answer to who did it, if you’d be kind enough to take us to your leader. If you have one, of course.” A few seconds passed after Aiden finished speaking. The elementals seemed to be considering his statements. Then, both of them took a few steps closer to the group and grabbed the weapons laying on the ground. They then turned around and began walking higher up the mountain. “Follow us, humans.”

The group of four accompanied by the two ice elementals walked up the snowy and rocky terrain for a few more minutes before they reached what seemed to be a small town made from igloos and a couple of swallow crevices carved into the side of the mountain, that still rose higher, but its summit was hidden by the blizzard surrounding the place. There they saw more of the natives of the mountain. Most of them looked at the group with suspicion and their humming was clearly not a friendly one. But since they were being guarded and had no weapons the rest of the elementals did not interfere. They continued their walk until they reached a crevice larger than all the rest. The outside was closed with a wall of hard ice that cracked to reveal an entrance at the presence of the two elementals. As soon as they all walked inside the entranced closed itself and the wall became solid again. Inside the place had no furniture. The ground had some piles of snow while the whole place was lit by a blueish light that flowed inside the ice that layered the floor, walls and ceiling. On the far end stood another elemental, bigger than the other two and with a more complex light burning inside his icy head. This one had a multitude of colours: green, yellow, blue, red, purple and the list went on and on. Aiden found himself captivated by the sight. “Aurora Borealis…” He muttered to himself, but at the cold silence of this home his voice reached the ears of all those who were inside of it. “Indeed, I am. I was not expecting a human to know the name of this tribe’s leader, but then again, we never were on good enough terms to banter.” The colourful elemental spoke with a deeper hum as it moved and walked closer to them. He hummed something in their own language and the other two left quickly through another temporary hole in the ice wall. “No need to repeat your story humans. I already know. The hums of my peoples travel a long way. You seem to have come to terms with the way of nature. I respect your decision to not try and reclaim my mountain.” The elemental said and Duran raised his voice, not being able to stay quiet any longer. “Don’t think too highly of yourself! We are here for answers but if you keep reminding us of who is the rightful Lord of the Mountain you will bring great ruin upon your tribe of walking snowmen.” The leader hummed in a weird way as a response. It almost sounded like a laugh. “Very well. I will not continue talking about that subject. Now, ask your questions so you can rid us of your presence.” The leader paused and let them decide who would speak for them. Duran took a long step and whispered to Aiden’s ear. “How the hell did you know his name?” His tone was not very hostile but it was charged enough to make Aiden worry. “I had no idea! Aurora Borealis is the name of a rare phenomenon in my world. The northern sky lights up with the same colours as the energy that he has inside his body.” Duran nodded and pulled back patting Aiden on the shoulder. “You speak.” He then went behind Aiden while the latter presented himself in front of Aurora Borealis. Aiden took a moment to think of what he should say and then began talking. “My name is Aiden Read, although you probably know that already. Just to be clear I come from a place very far away and there, Aurora Borealis is the name of an event when the sky is lit up by colours similar to yours. I had no knowledge that you had the same name.” The elemental hummed with notes of agreement. “You seem to be telling the truth. It is a large world after all.” Aiden nodded at the statement and continued. “Are you going to let us see the mine? I mean you already know that we want to check for any clues that may help us find the whereabouts of the King’s assassins. We would very much appreciate it if you didn’t delay us any longer.” Aiden finished talking and the leader responded without skipping a bit. “No humans have been allowed to enter the mine in the past years. You are wasting your time. You may go back and report to that Lord of yours.” With such a straightforward answer Aiden was not sure whether that would suffice. He glanced quickly at Duran who shook his head in disapproval. “We really need to take a look. We have no weapons and we can be escorted in and out of the mine by your guards. We will be an inconvenience to you only for slightly longer.” Aiden said as he turned back towards Aurora Borealis. “I refuse. Now leave.” Said the elemental. Aiden knew Duran was about to burst, and that would be bad for everyone, so he decided to try and solve this by bursting himself. “Look, Aurora Borealis, you really have no idea what you’re doing to you and your people by refusing our pleas.” The elemental picked up Aiden’s threatening tone. “Are you trying to intimidate me? Inside my own home? Surrounded by MY tribe?” The elemental laughed once again. Aiden looked at him and said nothing until he stopped. “If you’re so confident about your powers then kill us. Right here, right now. But there is a slight problem with that. When I said I come from far way, I meant it. I’m a former resident of another world. A world where humans rule over nature, to such a degree that they destroy it. They bring disasters upon themselves and our Earth, but their rule has been etched so deeply into the ways of nature that they’re changing the very climate of the planet. Machines all over the world, spitting smoke and fire, increasing the temperatures, going higher and higher every year with little hope of fixing the desolation we’re causing. Forests are burning, the ice all over the globe is melting, the water levels are rising, drowning more and more organisms as they go.” The elemental seemed to be greatly upset by Aiden’s claims. “Stop trying to scare me human! I know you speak the truth, but the terrible glimpse of your world will die with you!” The elemental’s hum became menacing and aggressive. The whole group except Aiden got scared and thought they were done for, until Aiden spoke. “That’s where you’re wrong! Since you can tell if I’m lying, listen to this: Right now, back in Pinewood, there is a small device that I brought from my world. If I don’t return there is an elf capable of opening it and gaining access to a whole bunch of information that could very well be the first step in turning this world into an uninhabitable wasteland for your kind. Kill us now and all the otherworldly knowledge will be released and change this earth forever!” Aiden spread his arms apart ready to take the strike that Aurora Borealis did not deliver. The hum was still hostile, but not as aggressive. “Curse you and your burning world. Is this what all of you are? Beings that wreak havoc whenever they are given the chance?” The elemental was furious and was left with no other choice, but before he gave the order to have them escorted into the mine Aiden turned to him once more. “I never said I wanted this world to be changed in the way mine was. I will try to only bring harmless changes, if I bring any. I would say I warned you, not threatened you.” Once again, Aiden was not lying. And with the elemental now slightly calmer they were escorted to the entrance of the mine.

The entrance was not far. As they got closer the mountain had a deep wound carved on its side. The hole continued deep inside of the stone and was supported by old, dirty, but sturdy wooden beams that were some of the very few signs that seemed to reveal the presence of humans in this, otherwise, all-natural scene. They all began looking around the ground and inspecting the outer stone walls of the mineshaft. It didn’t take too long to realise that this placed seemed to have hosted no humans for many years. Three of them grouped together and walked to the entrance, only to see Aurora Borealis standing silent in front of them. His massive body was enough to block them from entering. Duran’s anger seemed to brew inside of him once again. “What is this nonsense? Let us Pass!” He said in a loud voice. The elemental did not speak, his guards had already left the site and he stood alone, still too powerful to be defeated by four unarmed adventurers. Aiden was listening to everything going on but he trusted Aurora Borealis, he wouldn’t dare to kill them and Duran wouldn’t attack him in this state. Although his behaviour was still odd. All this time Aiden was crouched down and was digging around the snow because he thought he caught a glimpse of something black with the edge of his eyes, but nothing was found. Duran was trying to get the elemental to talk, but since he could only shout at him there was no response. Suddenly, as Aiden scooped up a bit of snow, he saw that some of it had a black and dark grey colour, bringing it up to his nose he realised that he was clearly smelling some ash that had blended in with the snow, possibly due to the blizzard. Aiden swiftly sprung up to his feet and looked at the rest with a dreadful face. He felt the same rush he had experienced before return, this time there was no clear urge to look at one specific direction but his eyes focused intently and his hearing was amplified by the adrenaline that was pumping throughout his whole body. After a split second he heard the sound of moving snow, the ground was still kept steady by the elemental so someone was there and apparently the demon inside of him thought so too.

Aiden kicked the ground next to him, much to the surprise of everyone, he launched himself towards the right and as his head snapped to look at that direction, he saw a man standing a bit shorter than him, a couple of meters away, on his hands was a dane axe. Even if the opponent held a strong weapon and wore what seemed to be hard leather over a bunch of thick gambesons, Aiden’s speed, while he felt like this, was shocking, especially for someone that was supposed to be surprised. The attacker tried to respond but before his axe had any real momentum, Aiden was already holding onto it and could get a good look at his headgear. It was a plain mask, it was supposed to be a simple and generic face, the material seemed like painted wood, but Aiden didn’t have the time to make sure. The two engaged in a battle of strength while more masked people rose from the snow. The rest immediately ignored Aurora Borealis and engaged in a fight with their opponent. Serena stayed in the back while Elianor and Duran tried to take on the four masked men that held a number of weapons: two of them bastard swords, one had a warhammer and the last a rapier. Elianor was trying to stand in front of the sword wielding ones in hope that she would be able to tank their hits and avoid engaging with the warhammer one, thankfully Duran was there and had brawled more than he could count. “I held heavier hammers when I was twelve! Come hither if you dare! Run away if you value your skins!” Serena seemed to be the most scared and worried of them all, failing to hide it like the rest. She was reluctant, but when the rapier wielding opponent attempted to find an opening and get behind Duran, she raised her hand. “Flash!” She exclaimed, Duran and Elianor closed their eyes as soon as they saw the hand up in the air. The enemies got blinded by the powerful light and one of the sword wielders felt a fist coated in steel plate armour hit his mask. The mask cracked and splintered under the force of Elianor’s punch and after getting launched a little more than a meter away, he laid there motionless. The remaining one lost no time, running closer to Elianor and attempting to throw her on the floor, he seemed to know what he was doing and thus the both of them kept moving closer and closer to the edge of the mountain. Duran was trying to wrestle the warhammer out of the attacker’s hand while blocking punches from the buckler he held on his left hand. The man with the rapier had advanced and was now facing off against Serena, his rapier had a purple light shine around the blade, a quick jab towards her released a powerful purple beam that effectively extended the range of the rapier by a few meters. Serena had no option but to dodge. A couple of purple beams were not hard to get around from, since Serena was pretty nimble, but the third one seemed to be right on the mark, until the powerful swing of a large axe cut the rapier’s blade in half and surprised the wielder so much that the force was enough to throw the rest of it on the ground. The masked man turned to see Aiden standing tall in front of him, a bit of blood on his bottom lip, as he held the axe behind his head ready for another hit, this time on the man himself. Behind Aiden there was the first of the enemies that revealed themselves, he was on the ground, he hurried to stand up but his attention was brought to the edge of the mountain as a man screamed. Duran had just managed to get the hammer for himself and ignored the scream, pounding on the man in front of him until his face was a mangled flesh soup with pieces of wood mixed in. Aiden hesitant to deliver the final strike he looked at the edge and saw Elianor’s fingers having penetrated the snow and holding onto the stone while the grunting of the scared man was still heard, he was hanging from her leg.

Aiden was quick to turn his attention to the man standing in front of him. Thankfully, he was able to see an incoming attack from the man who had just picked up the hilt half of his broken rapier. Aiden grabbed the incoming arm and even though the tip of the broken blade penetrated some of his gambeson, it was still far from getting to his skin. The man was now so close to Aiden that he had no space to swing his axe and the man seemed to try and keep that way while some magic still flowed through the rapier and was slowly charging up a purple beam that could deal a fatal wound to Aiden. To the surprise of both men, Serena swiftly picked up the top half of the broken rapier and drove it through the masked man’s neck. Aiden wasted no time in pushing the dying man away and running towards Elianor while Duran attacked and finished off the original owner of the axe. As he got closer, Aiden, let go of the axe and fell on his knees grabbing Elianor and preventing her hand from slipping. Unfortunately, the hanging man was not about to let himself fall and as soon as Elianor tried to climb he jumped up on her back, so he could get closer to Aiden, and pulled a small dagger from his belt. The man was about to leap on the edge and stab Aiden while Elianor fell down the mountain, but a few golden sparks ignited around her armour. Aiden was hit by a painful electrical current, he couldn’t help letting go of Elianor just as the same current reached the masked man who had a more violent reaction to it and jolted off Elianor, missing both Aiden and the mountain’s edge. As both of them plummeted to their death a platform made from hard snow erected from the mountain and cut Elianor’s fall short while the attacker disappeared as the blizzard below swallowed him.

Aiden turned around shocked and saw that the silent elemental had lifted his right arm and with a move of his three fingers the platform slid up the mountain side, placing the shaken up Elianor on stable ground. “You fought valiantly.” Hummed the elemental as Aiden used his flame to warm Elianor’s freezing armour. Duran gripped the warhammer tightly and with a dash brought it down on Aurora Borealis’ head only to be stopped by the elemental’s powerful hand. “Do not make me fight you. I am willing to talk, but if you provoke me further, I will not take into account Aiden-human’s warning.” The elemental said and let go of Duran’s arm. He immediately pulled the warhammer back and replied with an understandably aggressive and angry tone. “What in Gods’ names was that? You drove us straight into a trap!” Duran held onto his weapons and seemed to be in a fighting stance, ready for any other ambush. “I apologise for tricking you, but I had to. We are allied with a group of people…perhaps, I should say ‘were’ allied with a group of people that gave us information in exchange for some Kurlim from the mine. They said you were preparing for an attack, a raid to exterminate our tribe and reclaim the mountain.” Aurora Borealis paused and Duran commented on his words. “Nonsense, we were preparing for no such thing! And even if we were, no low lives would know of it!” The elemental hummed in agreement and continued. “After listening to Aiden-human’s words I was worried and doubtful, but my magical ice was unable to detect any lies from both parties. In the end I decided to let you battle and the winner would get to have a discussion with me.” Aurora Borealis stopped talking and Aiden looked at him intensely, trying to think of the best course of action he could follow. “As much as I’d like to partake in a discussion, can we talk here while two of us go inside and investigate the mine?” Aiden said as he removed his heated hands from Elianor. The elemental nodded and allowed Serena and Elianor to go through the entrance while Duran and Aiden remained outside. The discussion went surprisingly well, Aurora Borealis was open and honest while Duran seemed to slowly shape a better opinion about him and his people. After the two girls came out of the mine all four of the members compared their information. Apparently, the assassins had lied to the elementals to gain access to the mine and extract a small quantity of Kurlim before sending it off to another location, so it can be used and leaving these five masked men behind to monitor the mine and tribe in case they needed them again in the future. From a journal they found it was clear that these five thought their statements were legitimate and so the ice couldn’t detect any lies from them. After they went back to Aurora’s hall, they thought of a deal that could benefit both parties greatly. The people of Pinewood would make a settlement at the foot of the mountain and, with the help of the elementals, go to the mine and extract as much Kurlim as they wanted as long as their smelters and all other heat-based machinery was moved to the main town or to the settlement below. Since winter was cold and unforgiving in these parts the elementals would allow them to heat up their housing and also protect them from the horrible weather, but if their tribe was ever in danger Pinewood should dispatch as many soldiers and guards as necessary to assist in its protection. Duran and Serena seemed thoughtful, Aiden was happy with the terms and voted for the peace treaty while Elianor remained indifferent since she wasn’t a citizen of Pinewood. In the end all three of them agreed and Lord Lloyd would be instructed to meet up with Aurora and make sure no loose ends or loopholes were present in the deal. They remained on the mountain until the morning hours and then with the heat of the sun on their backs they departed for the journey back home.

Chapter 9: The Ice Elementals.

END.