The Library of Ancients; a building that would have been non-descript…if not for the fact that it was the only building to appear in Heritage. Dull and drab, one needed to approach the building with a torch to see the words inscribed outside, which wouldn’t make any sense to natives of Orb. Gaius himself had heard rumours about how only the geniuses of the world were permitted to enter the place, but given that otherworlders like him often carried knowledge that would be ground-breaking in this world, it could be that only people from another world were permitted to enter the Library.

How the building differentiated between natives and non-natives was another question, however. What kind of artefacts were needed to indicate if one’s soul was from another world, and what were the principles driving it? If his hypothesis was wrong, then what definition of ‘genius’ did the Library operate on? And most importantly…where were they now?

Gaius frowned as he flew towards the Library of Ancients, but as he neared it, warning bells rang in his mind. His instinct was at work again. Narrowing his eyes, he took in his surroundings and examined them closely.

A mound of snow, that clearly originated from the larger one to its side. The snowpyre corpses he’d left behind subtly moved; he could see the indicators of where the bodies used to be, by virtue of being covered by a week’s worth of snow. Although someone had worked to erase evidence that these corpses had been moved, it was not a thorough job. Footsteps, too light for people to see on the ground, were barely visible from the sky.

The little boy narrowed his eyes and circled the place. Three figures, clad in light blue, were squatting a few hundred metres away from the Library.

“They’re not Harvesters,” murmured Gaius. “Or rather, not our Harvesters.”

Clearly, these foreigners had been attracted over by the snowpyre corpses, and were lying in wait here for some reason. Gaius could tell that they were not Ark City’s Harvesters, from the looks of their equipment. Three giant swords on their back — they looked ridiculously armed even from afar. Ark City’s Harvesters all wore the same cloak; light fabric that was grey in colour, which was a regulation prescribed for recognition’s sake.

The only one who wore a different cloak was Gaius, who preferred his white lecturer’s cloak instead, for camouflage purposes. But by and large, other than anomalies like him, Harvesters of Ark City wore grey.

Gaius licked his lips, and descended behind the trio silently.

At first glance, there was no visible beast trait on them, but Gaius wasn’t really expecting the newcomers to be beastfolk in the first place. Two teenage boys and a woman crouched behind the slightly larger mound of snow that had tipped Gaius off their presence earlier, and he pricked his ears up as he snuck up on them.

Gaius caught the latter half of the taller boy’s sentence. “…wasting our time.”

The woman shushed him. “To kill so many snowpyres like this indicates the use of Sigil Manifestation or some powerful artefact. If we can rob the killer, it’ll be worth it!”

Not if the killer is watching you talk right in front of him, lady. Gaius snarked in his mind.

“But if he can kill so many snowpyres this easily, what makes you think that we can take him?” asked the shorter boy.

“Karna, Karna,” the woman shook her head at the shorter, brown-skinned boy. “You don’t need to be so cautious. Surely the Moonshot is powerful enough to kill or incapacitate anyone under twenty years old, right? Before my birthday next week, I at least want to try shooting someone in Heritage with it.”

The shorter boy, Karna, fell silent. “But what happens if he can dodge it?”

“Then he’s not twenty years old, or the beastfolk somehow summoned a champion of their own. And if that’s the case, they wouldn’t have gotten their asses kicked that badly.” The woman shook her head.

Actually, Gaius reflected, calling her a woman was probably wrong, given that she definitely is under twenty…and damn, the way she keeps raising death flags.

The taller of the two suddenly staggered.

“Edmund?” Two voice rang out in concern. “What’s wrong?”

“Danger.”

“Danger?” The two echoed his words. “It’s your ability, right? What do you mean?”

Gaius tossed out three knives, each of them finding their mark in the trio’s right heels. “It means this, children who know not the height of heaven.”

Shrieks echoed around the place as the three foreign Harvesters toppled over in pain. Gaius trod over and stabbed their legs a few more times, before he stopped for a moment, satisfied.

“A child…AHH!”

Gaius retrieved his knife from the woman, and stabbed it into her arm next. “Make a noise again, I dare you.”

The three stared at the little boy twirling his knife with a sunny smile, their expressions twisting in fear. Gaius, still playing with his weapon, took out a Straight Shot with his free hand. “Now, here’s how it’s going to work. I ask, and you answer. If I don’t like your answer, I’ll shoot you. Or stab you. I’m not particularly fussy about this. Got it?”

The three nodded like little chicks pecking at grains.

“Excellent,” Gaius drawled. “Let’s start with your names, shall we? Ladies first.”

“M-Michelle.”

“Michelle, is it? What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re…erm, keeping an eye on the snowpyre corpses! Our friend killed them all, and we were tasked to guard them!”

Gaius snorted. The Straight Shot trembled, and Michelle’s right leg blossomed with blood. She screamed, and Gaius said, “Wrong answer. The next one goes onto the left, and that won’t be good when you leave this place. Think about your answer before I ask you again. How about you, shorter boy?”

The little boy chuckled inwardly as he addressed someone who was taller as ‘shorter boy’, but he didn’t let any of his amusement show on his face.

The teenager in question, however, didn’t look all that amused…which he obviously didn’t show on his face. “I’m…Karna.”

“Karna, eh?” Gaius echoed quietly. “What are you guys doing here?”

“I’m…” The boy fell silent.

“Not talking, eh?” Gaius levelled the Straight Shot at his right leg and smiled. “You sure about that?”

He paled, and said, “We’re looking for the person who killed all these snowpyres.”

“Just looking?” Gaius let the smile on his face slide off. “Wrong answer.”

Like the woman, his right leg erupted in a fountain of blood. The shorter boy, Karna, howled in pain as he sought to stem the bleeding.

“Do you really think I’ll forgive those who were conspiring against me?” said Gaius, his tone wintry as he pointed the Straight Shot at the taller boy. “Let’s see if you, mister Edmund, would lie to me too, or at least, are stupid enough too.”

Gaius’s target trembled. “We were intending to rob the killer of these snowpyres.”

“Finally.” Gaius smiled again. “Now, I wonder if you guys like irony? Let’s start with Michelle. I heard you had a Moonshot, eh? Not too sure what it is, but it sounds great. Hand it over, and you get to walk.”

Realisation dawned on her face at Gaius’ words. “You…you were eavesdropping on us!”

“You aren’t that brainless after all, eh?” The little boy mocked the woman. “But surely someone who has been plotted against should be able to do something of this level.”

“You…killed the snowpyres?”

“Every last one here, and then more.” Gaius grinned. “Frankly speaking? I would rather kill the whole lot of you here, but I’m not that evil. But you’re free to try me.”