“You two are something,” Ave said, looking at Shango and Thorn who both had ice between their legs, staring at each other hatefully.

“What kind of hero hits a man between the legs?”

“The kind that gets summoned to another world and keeps experiencing all kinds of new pain. One that gets another man’s vomit on him. That’s the kind of hero that hits a man between the legs,” Shango said, looking at Thorn.

Clap, clap.

“Now, now children, that’s enough from both of you. Shango, like I was saying, how did you get those marbles to become those?” Ave said as she pointed at the gauntlets on Shango’s hands.

Turning his attention towards his once free hand, he said, “I do not know. I heard a voice and then felt a pain that made what the Elder did to me seem rather cute, then I woke up with that drunk standing over me hitting my face. That’s all I remember,” Shango said as he removed the ice from his manhood.

“A voice already? You shouldn’t be at that point yet and the bonding has already caused physical changes. This is just getting stranger.” Thorn said as he leaned back in the chair, still holding the ice pack between his legs.

“Physical changes? Drunk, what are you talking about?” Putting the ice to the side, Thorn pointed to Shango’s hair. “Is something wrong with my hair?”

“Here.” Stepping from behind Ave, Rolla handed Shango a hand-sized mirror.

Taking the mirror from Rolla, he could not help but admire how pretty her hands were. Looking into her eyes, her usually playfully self was missing. He completely understood why she hid that part of herself, but he still felt weird interacting with her when she was like this.

“Thanks, Rolla.” he said as he took the mirror from her and examined his hair. “What the—how?” Looking at his hair in the mirror, Shango was at a loss for words. His once black hair was now pale green at the ends. He grabbed a few strands of his hair and moved his fingers just to the edge of where the two colors merged. Moving his other hand right above them, he pulled his hands apart, breaking off the green parts of his hair.

“No big deal. See, I will just cut the ends off.” 

“I would not be so sure,” Thorn said with a hint of ridicule in his voice.

A few seconds later, the hair that Shango had just pulled out regrew back, the ends still a pale green.

“What in the hell? What is this all about?”

“It’s the Artifact Weapon on your hands, it bonds with its user and changes the user’s body. It’s a very rare type of weapon, so you should be proud. You are now the second person in this kingdom with a bonding Artifact Weapon.”

“Bond? I don’t like how that sounds. Is it going to do anything else strange to me?”

“That’s the thing, I have no idea,” Thorn said, shaking his head. 

“That Artifact weapon that you somehow managed to equip is an unknown one. I guess you could say you took its virginity, so it’s your responsibility to explore it and look after it and see what becomes of it.”

Looking at his hands, Shango felt a bit shocked. Despite being a little worried about the unknown Artifact Weapon on his hand, he could somehow feel that the gauntlets were a good thing for him.

I’m fine with that, Shango thought to himself.

“Now, back on topic. Can you try and communicate with the voice you heard before?” Thorn asked.

“How?”

“I don’t know, but the princess should have some insight since her brother is the only other person who currently has one,” Thorn said as he turned his attention towards Ave.

“Well, from what Second brother has said, it’s like talking to a voice in your head and it answering you back. That’s all he’s said say”

“Is it that easy?”

“From what I was told, yes, it should be that easy.”

“Alright then, I’m going to give it a try now.” Going to a corner, Shango took a seat, and similar to a patient in the loony bin, he started talking to himself.

Two hours went by while Shango sat in the corner trying to talk to the voice he heard while Ave, Thorn, and Rolla looked over him. After a while, they could see that he was becoming quite frustrated.

“I know you are there, and I want to talk for a bit. Just a little conversation, you know, to get to know each other since we will be spending a lot of time together.”

It went on like this for another hour, Shango constantly trying to persuade whatever that was in the gauntlets to talk to him. After a few more tries with no response, he said, “That is it, it’s not working,” He got up and let out a sigh.

“Maybe it was a one-time thing,” Ave said.

“That could be it. It probably was its own unique way of choosing its master. Or maybe he is doing something wrong.”

“How am I doing something wrong when I don’t know what to do in the first place?” Shango replied angrily.

“He is right, Thorn. What worked for second brother may not work for Shango. We should just let it happen naturally, I’m sure Shango will get it to talk sooner or later.”

“You’re right, princess.”

“So, what now?” Shango asked.

“Well now that you got your Artifact Weapon and you know your element, it’s time for you to get some in depth training.”

“That’s good. So when do we get started?”

“We were supposed to do it today, but we spent so much time here, I think it’s best to get started first thing in the morning,” Ave said to Shango.

“I’m ok with that, but there is one thing I must know first. How do I get these off?”