Zalia landed amidst the snowy obsidian fortress built out front of the Heat and Stone denizen’s mountain. Snow blasted away from her at the impact and a number of humans in jagged obsidian armour with shields and spears approached her. At the same time, some of Glemp’s people lining the walls began to melt the obsidian around them for use with their lava magic.

  Boreal landed beside her, making no impact in the snow whatsoever as she prowled around Zalia with teeth bared. Zalia wasn’t scared of either group of people, knowing that with the rank of Heat Resistance the lava would not hurt her and the ranks of the humans with spears giving her no pause.

  Not that any of them had any reason to attack her anyway.

  Zalia stood up and stored her armour, only for a blast of lava to hit her square in the face. It cooled quickly, becoming solid before sliding off her face to hit the snow with a quiet hissing sound.

  Heat Resistance - Passive

  Tin - You take reduced damage from high temperatures and heat related magics.

  Iron - You may manipulate fire and heat to a minor degree.

  Bronze - You are able to channel heat from the environment to minorly boost yourself or allies

  Silver - Your ability to manipulate fire and heat is increased. Additionally, you may alter your form to take on a fiery visage.

  Gold - Your body is capable of maintaining a heat level so great that it can cause nearby objects to combust.

  “Seriously?”

  “You’re Zen’s friend, right?”

  One of the humans had spoken and Zalia turned to them.

  “Yeah, and a friend of Glemp. We good here?”

  The man shrugged.

  “Try to use the door next time.”

  Zalia huffed and ignored the man, summoning her armour once more to step straight through the giant stone doors that barred the way into the mountain. She smiled as she heard their exclamations of surprise. It wasn’t often she found a use for the ability her armour had to allow her through physical objects anymore, since most walls blocking her could just as easily be destroyed.

  Boreal, queenly as ever, appeared from the shadows and strutted down the hall with head held high.

  The familiar warmth of the mountain grew and they came out of the tunnel to the interior, a mess of winding tunnels, stairs and paths most of which were open to the inner tunnel leading straight up to the sky above. She would probably come in that way next time.

  Rather than take the paths as she normally did, Zalia dropped off the side and flew down a few levels to the floor that held Glemp’s home. With all of her abilities and practice with stealth, she and Boreal both snuck into their home, where Glemp was working on something that looked delicate. Zalia waited for Glemp to put down the fragile vial, then jumped at them.

  “Ah!”

  “Gah!!!”

  The yell of surprise escaped Glemp as their eyes lit up with a fiery red glow, before realising who it was that had jumped them.

  “Zalia of the Snow. Yes, you are devious, yes.”

  Glemp leaned back against the bench, hand to chest.

  “Good to see you friend,” Zalia replied warmly.

  “Yes, yes indeed. I see that you are close to Gold. How far you have come, yes, since the day of our meeting.”

  Zalia walked around the benches, inspecting Glemp’s latest experiments. She still didn’t understand what most of it was, but that was okay.

  “Yeah, I have come a long way. And you thought I was going to die pretty quickly, hey?”

  Glemp nodded the affirmative.

  “Still, yes, I find surprise in your life.”

  Glemp had learnt the language of the Endarian people quite well since Zen and his few people had started to live here. While they still used yes way too often, the words were much easier to understand.

  “Well, I’ve come with something you might be interested in, old friend.”

  Glemp looked up from their experiment with caution in their eyes.

  “Yes? Is that so?”

  Zalia tapped at her leg, then began to explain.

  “Much further north of here there is a bridge made of ice that spans between your lands and another. There is something spreading there, some type of flesh warping and mind controlling disease spread by a worm. I thought you might be interested in studying it and we would love a way to stop it or even a way to make someone immune to it, if possible.”

  Glemp stared at her, the ember behind their eyes burning with the passion she knew them to have for their work. An interest was sparking there, and she knew she almost had them.

  “I have a piece of the worm securely stored away, since this disease spreads through touching the fluid that comes from it, its blood perhaps. Would you like to have a look?”

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  “Yes. Yes, yes, yes. I will look.”

  Zalia grinned.

  “Alright! I’m not going to take it out of the storage it is in though, it’s just too dangerous for now. I’m actually considering whether it is a good idea for me to bring it out while here at all.”

  She opened her vault and they stepped in.

  “If not here, no, how will I study this thing?”

  Zalia leaned against a shelf in her vault and pointed to the storage space holding the chunk of worm.

  “By coming with me somewhere far, far away from other people.”

  “Perhaps. Why are you interested in this?”

  Zalia thought about it, then shrugged.

  “Someone who helped me has spent their life protecting these lands from the disease by killing anything that has it that dare come across. All of their time is spent doing that and another friend of mine might end up taking over the job.”

  She looked over at Boreal, who was sniffing around Glemp’s workshop.

  “I’d rather they didn’t have to. Beside that is the fact that it is a constant danger to you and the rest of Endaria. I’d rather it not be.”

  Glemp shook their head.

  “Always jumping straight into things, no thoughts, no considerations. Just run straight forward, head down.”

  Grinning, Zalia lay a hand on their shoulder.

  “Yeah, that’s why I’ve got you. What do you think?”

  “Hard to say, this thing interferes. I will have to see outside, yes.”

  Zalia shook her head, mind made up.

  “Not here. Do you think you could come with me to my Grove?”

  “No, no. I cannot go far from this mountain, we are sustained by the spirit. Without it, we will freeze.”

  Zalia raised an eyebrow, cocked her head and tried something. She used Heat Resistance to move the heat around the room and pushed some of it into Glemp. They stood up straighter.

  “What is that? How can you do that?”

  “I’ve been able to do that for yeeaaars now, you can’t?”

  Glemp shook their head.

  “No, no, of course not. It is the spirit’s gift of life that allows us to exist and it is the spirit’s continued grace that sustains us. It is strange, yes, that you are able to do as they do.”

  Zalia found it strange as well, though not for the same reasons as Glemp. If they were sustained by the spirit, did that mean that they could potentially live forever as long as they didn’t leave the mountain for too long?

  “Well, do you think it will be enough for me to sustain you while you study it at my Grove?”

  Glemp nodded their head quickly a few times.

  “Yes, yes. I will come.”

  Zalia opened the portal from her vault to the Aurora Grove and led Glemp through, Boreal close behind.

  The second she stepped through the portal, Lumin flashed past with Aylie close on their tail. Zalia had to stop suddenly to avoid running into them.

  “Hey, watch it you two!”

  As their forms vanished into the plants of the Grove, Zalia moved aside for Glemp to join her.

  “Welcome to my Grove. What do you think?”

  She started to push heat into Glemp’s core so that they wouldn’t die.

  “Interesting. Your magic, yes?”

  She nodded.

  “Very interesting. Ah, and of course I know of Ember, blessed by the spirit.”

  Glemp gave a tiny bow, showing respect as Ember approached them.

  “Hey Glemp, nice to see you. I’m surprised Zalia managed to talk you into actually doing this.”

  Glemp stared up at Ember and then gave their best approximation of a shrug.

  Lumin and Aylie rushed past again and Zalia stopped them, grabbing Lumin by the scruff and Aylie by the arm. They were followed by a pile of large cats that crashed into them, only Zalia left standing amongst their fallen forms.

  “Alright, play time over. I’m going to get that cursed flesh out of the vault so you all have to behave, alright?”

  Boreal began pulling her children away from each other by the scruff, depositing them on the floor again. She managed to unearth Glemp, who was looking slightly frazzled but okay.

  “Sorry about that, what are you going to need?”

  Glemp looked up at her, then around at all the animals.

  “You have more of them, yes. Many more…”

  Zalia laughed, nudging Glemp.

  “Come on, focus.”

  Shaking their head, Glemp looked up at her.

  “Right, yes, of course. I will need a room and some of my equipment.”

  With that Glemp walked back through the portal to get some of their things. Zalia opened up a nearby hut and oriented the room much like Glemp’s own workshop was, creating several workbenches that were low for her but the correct height for the diminutive Glemp.

  They eventually started to bring delicate glass equipment through, placing it orderly along the benches, along with various vials of liquids that Zalia couldn’t identify. Once everything was set up, she went back to the vault for the creature’s flesh. She took it out of the storage with all of her protective magic in place, then cut off a smaller bit for Glemp. Placing the rest of the flesh back, she took the piece in a deep stone bowl to Glemp, placing it safely on the bench.

  “Let me be clear about this. Do not touch this with your skin under any circumstances. If you do, cut it off immediately. I’ll be here to do just that, though both I and the Grove are capable of regrowing your limbs. Understand?”

  Glemp stared at her.

  “Zalia, dear friend, yes, which of us is the more careful one?”

  “You, of course. I’m just letting you know that I’m gonna cut your arm off if you touch it.”

  Zalia met their eyes, completely serious.

  “Yes.”

  She stepped back and summoned her sword, then gestured for Glemp to start.

  Glemp got to work, pulling on a pair of gloves made from hide that were lined with some type of obsidian. They experimentally poked at the flesh, finding that they were able to touch it without being warped. With a method of handling it achieved, they began to cut little pieces off, mixing both flesh and the liquid coming from it with various liquids and watching their reaction.

  Zalia stopped paying attention after an hour of mind numbing experimentation, her thoughts fading away while she waited, using Heat Resistance to manipulate the heat around them and maintain Glemp’s inner core.

  Her blank thoughts were broken by the sound of wind picking up outside. A strike of lightning created thunder that rocked through the world, undamped even by the thick foliage of the Grove. Zalia gestured for Glemp to stop and left the hut, looking to the sky above, where a storm was brewing.

  This wasn’t a normal storm, though. It was one that heralded a much more powerful being.

  “Ah, shit.”