I rolled through the snow. The white powder obscured my vision.

  The weapon in my hand disappeared back into my soul. I hit something hard and firm.

  It bounced me up into the air, and I came flying back down face first.

  Thundering footsteps announced something approaching me fast. I had no time to think. I rolled away from the sound. Just in time to miss long, pointy claws swiping at me.

  I pushed myself further away and shot up back to my feet.

  I blinked to get the snow out of my eyes and took a few steps back. And came face to face with a furry torso.

  “Get him, Sheeba,” a woman’s voice ordered.

  The bear snarled and slashed down at me. I jumped backwards, using a bit of mana to step away from the bear. And had to roll and dodge another blow from the bear’s other paw.

  Then a woman appeared out of the snow. She was dressed in furs and leathers. Her brown hair was tied in a long braid on her back, and two blue lines painted her pink cheeks. One on each side. Something about her felt oddly familiar and yet off. As if she was hiding something.

  She aimed a bow at me and snarled. “Die, you evil scum.”

  The woman released her shot. I raised my hands and took the shot heading towards my head on my vambraces. Deflecting it away from my head.

  I looked at the woman and quickly said, “Stop, or I will have to fight back.”

  The bear rushed at me. I went low this time.

  I jumped and took out my steel sword from its sheath to deflect claws coming at me. I didn’t want to use the Dark Hunter's Edge. That blade would cut through anything, and these two were not Damned, Doomed, or dead. They were just normal creatures. And I didn’t want to take their lives if I didn’t have to.

  “Die, death caster!” the young woman shouted and released her bowstring.

  An arrow came at me. This one aimed at my chest. I couldn’t deflect or dodge it this time.

  It hit my chest plate, and a wave of cold covered me head to toe. Ice magic?

  I chuckled and danced away from the rushing bear.

  “Oh, you think this is funny, do you?” The young woman narrowed her eyes.

  I smirked and held up my hands. “I am sorry. I shouldn’t have laughed.”

  The young woman waved her bear off. “Stand back, Sheeba. He is a death caster. I will deal with this scum on my own.”

  The bear growled at me and shuffled back.

  “Can we talk about this?”

  “I will not speak to death casters who work with evil creatures and laugh at natural magic.”

  “I am sorry about...” I was suddenly cut off by a spike of magic.

  A wave of cold shot towards the woman. It created a snowdrift obscuring my vision. The air turned white with snow. It spun around the woman in swirls, her silhouette rapidly stretching and expanding inside the storm, before the whiteout got sucked in, leaving bare rocks behind.

  It even tugged at the seed in my spine. My seed rotated faster in response and shrugged the effect off.

  I took two quick steps back to get away from the snowstorm and raised my hands to defend myself. The mana in my body told me that whatever this magic was, when it finished collecting, it would be impressive and I needed to defend myself.

  I prepared myself to…

  “What do you have to say now?” The snow settled, and a crystal blue eye looked down at me in anger.

  I stopped and looked at her. “Wow.”

  I couldn't help but stare. Her furs lay thrown to the side. Her brown hair had changed to white, with a bluish hue. Her pink skin had changed to unblemished snow white, just like the snow she was standing on. Swirling blue patterns covered all of her body. I could see all of them.

  Moreover, I could see almost all of her. White straps just barely covered her intimate regions. And I had the perfect view. Seeing as she was now taller than me, standing at twelve feet tall.

  “Wow?” the woman asked.

  “Wow.” I nodded.

  “Stop drooling at me and fight me, scum.” Her hand began to move, and the snow on the ground around us lifted back into the air. It began to combine into needles of ice which aimed themselves at me.

  I shook myself and realized what I was looking at. A Manaborn. I needed to be careful with this one. If she could do half the things Ilya could do, I was in serious trouble.

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  I flicked my torc and exhaled. I spread my legs to the side to keep my balance and began to grow. It only took three seconds, and now I was looking down at her.

  Roar? The bear kind of roared up at me.

  “What?” the young woman asked.

  “Hello.” I waved my hand to greet her.

  She ignored my greeting and pointed at me accusingly. “I see. No wonder I could sense death from you. You are a Manaborn too.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you were born in a place of death and destruction. No wonder you have brought those stinking drakes here. You will die for that.”

  The ice-attuned Manaborn clenched her fist, and the needles shot towards me. I wasn’t surprised. I expected an attack like that. I dug my feet into the snow and rushed her.

  The Manaborn woman released her magic to back away. It was too late. With my next step, I pushed through the snow with mana. In a blink of an eye, I was next to her. She punched out. I ducked and tackled her.

  We both flew through the air and landed on a pile of snow. Me on top of her.

  She didn’t give up. A wave of cold hit me. I returned a wave of cold of my own.

  She grunted and tried to hit me with her hand. I grabbed it and pinned it over her head. She punched with her other hand. I grabbed that one and pinned it with my knee. She bucked with her legs and, when that failed, started hitting my back with her knees.

  I grunted with every strike and asked, “Will… you… listen?”

  “Curse you, you evil scum.”

  “Agh…” I growled and summoned my Hunter’s Edge and aimed it at her. “Stop.”

  She stopped and glared at me.

  “Thank you.” I exhaled and asked, “You said something about the drakes. Where are they?”

  “Even if you kill me, I won’t tell you,” the ice Manaborn snarled.

  “Why?”

  “Because you will join them to kill my family. Better to die and let that happen.”

  I leaned down and looked into her eyes to make sure she understood me. “I am here to kill them. Not join them.”

  “Lies.”

  I sighed and asked, “Why don’t you believe me?”

  She didn’t answer and looked away.

  “Because she is a Lisk.” The answer came from somewhere behind me. Ilya continued. “I told you they were stubborn.”

  “What do I do?” I asked. I couldn’t afford to lower my guard and let her go. What if she started throwing magic again?

  “In that position? You usually kiss.”

  It took me a moment to realize what my sister was saying. Then I was suddenly aware of the fact how close my head was to the woman’s face, how close my hand was to her chest, and the fact that I was on top of a woman who was very scantily clad.

  My eyes widened and so did the ice mage’s.

  “Don’t you dare…” the Manaborn started.

  I shot to my feet and jumped away from the girl.

  The woman rolled to her feet and looked around. She glared at me and then looked up until she spotted Ilya flying over us.

  Her mouth flew open and she squealed. “You are Ilya Truechild!”

  “Yes. Ice Manaborn,” Ilya nodded.

  “I am Selly Lisk.” Selly waved at Ilya and continued, “You are my hero. Can I have a mana print?”

  “Sure.” Ilya lowered herself to the ground and smiled. “Do you have a parchment?”

  “Oh, no. It’s at home…” Selly stopped and glared at me. She pointed her finger at me. “He is a death caster.”

  Ilya nodded. “Yes.”

  “We need to take him down. Sheeba and I will harry him from the ground. You crush him from up above.”

  The bear moved behind me and growled. My shoulders slumped. This again? What was wrong with this girl?

  “Selly Lisk...” Ilya started, only to be cut off by the crazy girl.

  “Yes, Ilya Truechild,” the crazy girl nodded rapidly.

  “That is my brother. Voss Truechild.” Ilya smiled down at Selly.

  “What? Really!” Selly asked loudly.

  “Yes.”

  “But he is a death caster.”

  “Yes, he is,” Ilya said slowly and added, “He is also an ice mage.”

  “But he is a death caster,” Selly repeated her earlier statement.

  Ilya just looked at Selly.

  “Death casting is illegal in the empire,” Selly continued.

  Ilya sighed. “By the stars, girl. We are imperial royalty.”

  Selly frowned at me for a long moment.

  “Selly?”

  The girl's eyes focused back on Ilya.

  “Are you going to be alright, girl?”

  Selly's shoulders slumped and she nodded. “I am confused.”

  “Aww.” Ilya pulled the crazy woman to her and hugged her. “Sometimes life is confusing. There was a time I had to battle a flock of seagulls. That was confusing for me.”

  I scratched my head. What was going on here?

  “I know they look so nice, but birds are awful.”

  Selly nodded and then her blue eyes lit up. “Is it true you sunk a pirate armada? How did you do it? Is it true you hunt krakens? How do you deal with the tentacles? Is it…”

  Ilya let the crazy Manaborn go and held up her hand. “Selly. We are here to fight the Damned.”

  “Oh right. Yes. The evil lizards.” Selly shot a glance my way, as if their existence was my fault. “Uncle Gral and Uncle Ert are leading them into a trap. I was sent here to make sure that they don’t get away.”

  “Ert. I see.” Ilya was silent for a moment. She and I both came to the same conclusion in that moment. Selly was sent here to keep her out of the way of the fight.

  “Do you know what they are doing here?” Ilya asked.

  “They want our ice breakers,” Selly snarled and stated. “They think they will be able to take on Shazed Voss with those. Silly fools. We Lisks would rather die than hand over our weapons to unnatural creatures like them.”

  Again, Selly shot a look at me. I rolled my eyes.

  “Was Baz with them?” I finally asked.

  Selly jutted her chin and asked, “Who is Baz?”

  “A Damned. He should be their leader. A drake with one eye,” I explained.

  “I knew it.” Selly glared at me. “You have been consorting with evil.”

  “No.” Ilya stopped the girl with a hand and elaborated. “Voss took that eye from that Damned with his death magic.”

  “What?” Selly looked back at Ilya.

  “Selly.” Ilya said the girl's name comfortingly and continued, “Sometimes you need dark magic to fight darker magic.”

  Selly furrowed her brow. “But…” The confused Manaborn girl stopped and bit her thumb.

  “Will you take us to the Damned, Selly? We need to stop them,” Ilya asked in a soft, gentle voice.

  Selly frowned, looking at me, and then slowly nodded. “Yes.”

  Ilya looked up from Selly’s face and shouted, “Grisslow?”

  A pile of snow shifted near the bear, making the bear yelp and snarl. From the snow, three Punishers appeared. One of them held a crossbow, one a bow, and Grek remained unarmed.

  “Your Grace?” Grek nodded.

  “Punishers,” Selly mouthed in wonder and muttered, “The Emperor's blades.”

  “Miss,” Grek greeted Selly with a smile.

  “Are the soldiers ready?”

  “Ready and waiting, Your Grace,” Grek continued. “The scouts have caught a trail. They are following it down. The rest... They were enjoying the show before you intervened, My Lady.”

  Ilya chuckled. “Yes. My brother getting distracted by…” Ilya looked down at Selly’s scant clothing. “It was entertaining.”

  Selly looked down at herself and shrugged. “I don’t have clothing that shifts.” She grumbled, touching her hair. “And now my illusion enchantment is gone. I will have to remain this way until it recharges. All white and blue.”

  “I think you look pretty. Those pink lips really stand out.” Ilya patted Selly’s head.

  “Really? But I don’t look human,” Selly frowned.

  “Oh, sweetie, I don’t think anyone minds.” Ilya smiled down at Selly and turned to look at me. “Right, brother?”

  I turned away with a blush. I needed to find some way to stop Ilya. Something embarrassing. And quick.

  “I am... I am...” I pointed at my sword that was lying a dozen steps away. “I am going to pick up my sword. And walk. In silence.”

  I missed the dark waters sometimes.