“Even if we’re apart. I’ll always be with you.”

Winnie the Pooh

Once settled, I activated the skill to soar into the ether. Then, I turned to follow the frequency of the string that tied my heart to my mother's. I shot along the vector through the void; soul stars streamed past me before I found myself bathing in the warmth of my mother’s soul once more.

My time was short; this time, I searched for my sister’s soul. It was not far from my mother’s, and mental fingers steepled in anticipation, I approached a soul fundamentally very similar to mine. Formed with the same nurture of my parents, we shared a lot of similarities.

Concentrating, I used Mind Sense to look within her soul to find the mind I wanted to communicate with. Telepathically, I transmitted. “This is the voice of the Mysterons. We know you can hear us, Earth Woman.” I failed to pull it off completely and couldn’t help but laugh before I reached the end of my monologue. I momentarily wondered how I could attempt to leave circles of light floating around in reality, but I was instantly interrupted.

“KAI!” She practically shouted in her mental voice the emotions accompanying the single word, a mix of surprise and joy.

“Yes?” I grinned. Sure that my smugness, along with my happiness in her voice, was also conveyed.

“Mother told me you’d survived, but I never doubted you would do so again. Thank the gods.” Despite her words, I could sense the relief beneath them. I could tell she was reassured to hear my voice, even if it was only within her head.

“She told me you’ve raided my journals,” I replied, disliking how she had looted my stuff at the first opportunity. Considering her words, I’m sure my anger was equally well transferred.

“Well, it was possible that you might not be returning too soon even if you weren’t dead.” She defended herself. “We couldn’t wait forever. Besides, Mother said it would be a while before you returned, so I wasn’t exactly wrong, was I?” She explained her reasoning.

“Yes, but . . .” It was my stuff, my secrets from another world. I wasn’t precisely a hoarder by any stretch of the imagination, but I liked to collect resources, and everything was in its place. Technically, they weren’t my discoveries or knowledge; I was merely the recipient of another world’s ideas. But knowledge was power, and it wasn't easy to not feel that she had somehow usurped mine. I needed to remember a rising tide rose all boats. It was not me against the world; I had my family. What was done was done.

“They weren’t exactly easy to get to.” She grumped, continuing. “Those tunnels are a little on the tight side.”

“Well, they were made for me, not you,” I said, imagining her ducking her head along them. At least she wouldn’t have to walk doubled over. I should enlarge them to accommodate my growing frame when I return. “You’ve handed out stage one to our cousins, then?”

“Yes.” She answered, accepting my grudging forgiveness.

“What did they think?” I looked forward to watching their faces as they received the gifts I had prepared.

“They were excited to try out some of the ideas.” We had many ideas but not the practical knowledge to realise them. We outlined different technologies that helped my world and handed them to the appropriate Adal Household supporting the Silvereseas.

“How did you explain the knowledge?” I asked.

“Silversea secrets.” She succinctly replied.

“They accepted that?” I asked sceptically.

“I alluded that the knowledge came from the elves through Lady Acacia.” There had been many changes since she arrived on the island, although most had come from me. She was a suitably rational shield to hide behind. Besides, she had brought her gifts of knowledge and the Elendil tree itself.

“I look forward to seeing the changes when I return.”

“When you return? Not if?” She teased.

“We’ve found a patrol of giants escorting us back to their Thorp. Once there, we hope to head south through the Northern mountains or along the coast, whichever is easier.” I reassured.

“How long?” she questioned. But beneath the words were the worry that I would not be able to return before she had to present herself to the capital.

“Who knows, but we will surely be back before then.” I checked my PSI, “Running low on resources for this call. Just wanted to check in.”

“Thank you. Next time, speak to Dad and Arawn. They both felt terrible watching you get swept up into the storm. They don’t talk about it, but you can tell.”

“Will do,” I replied. “I’ve time to now if I do it quickly. Till next time, big sister.”

“Till next time, big brother.” She replied.

. . .

Ding! Astral Projection (Lv4 ->5)

. . .

Ding! Mind Sense (Lv37 ->38)

. . .

Ding! Telepathy (Lv7 ->8)

Withdrawing from my sister's mind, I searched for my father’s soul. Finding it nearby but isolated. He was fishing and drawing close to the soul through the void I reached in with telepathy and mind sense to see his mind stewing in self-recrimination and regret.

“I’m alright, Dad.”

“Kai. Thank goodness.” He replied.

“Your mother said but . . .” What he left unsaid but not unthought was the fear that she was merely imagining things.

“I’m safe and sound,” I repeated.

“The sea giveth and the sea taketh. It’s given us so much I was worried that the bill had come due as I watched the pair of you disappear into the storm.”

“We survived.”

“Not many a man or boy could say that faced with such a storm.”

“They tell me you made it as far north as you can sail.”

“Yes, now we sail a sea of ice instead.” Not having time to explain the giants or the sledge, I was running low on resources. “I was talking to Aleera first, so I am running out, but I wanted to let you know I was alright,” I replied.

“Take care, fair winds and smooth sailing.”

“You too.” I ended the conversation, rushing back through the void. The soul stars flashed past me as I raced back to my body before running out of resources.

. . .

It took me a second to reorientate once I returned to my body. I kept my eyes closed to assess my situation before opening them in alarm. How had they missed them? I burst forth from my layers of fur, flinging Nyx into the sky. Cold or not, she would be safer there.

“Wyrms!” I screamed.

The giants froze before jumping towards the sledge and landing heavily in a circle around us. Namir was out of the encirclement of the rising beasts, which is probably why he missed them when passing through ahead of us, but he turned back to race toward us at my shout.

“Where?” Bjorn demanded, not bothering to ask how I knew or even question it. Time was of the essence.

“There, there, there, and there.” I frantically pointed out the directions they were approaching from unseen and unnoticed. Not a ripple of their passing showed on the endless ice despite their speed in passing through it unimpeded.

“When?” was the next question demanded. He didn’t need to ask where they were heading for. All of them seemed to be targeting the sledge I was sitting on. Whether it was because it would be the largest moving object or the fact that Nyx and I had been sat on it, I knew not. Perhaps it was because the giants had all landed so loudly around it.

No time to say, ‘If they don’t slow,’ I quickly fired the answer, “8 seconds.” Three of them unslung their weapons, pointing them at the ground. I wasn’t waiting for a response and was ready to launch myself into the sky when Bjorn did it for me. Quick as a flash, he grabbed me off the top of the sledge and flung me toward Namir, who was still running back to us.

My stats and traits gave me the time to focus. When I concentrated on activating my skills, I could turn in the air and watch as the disaster unfolded. There was no way for me to hit the wyrms without hitting the giants and no way to remove them, either from where they would emerge. They would be on their own for the opening strike of the battle, but I had no desire to leave our new friends behind to die while I flew off to safety. Four arose to eat us all, but there were six of us. Seven if you counted Nyx, which I didn’t, but still.

Then, as if they had practised it, the four giants leapt out of the circle of rising wyrms just as they emerged from the ice in an explosion of snow as they rose to feast on the rapidly destroyed sledge. They appeared, thrashing and snapping their maws on the frame of the sledge, four white ice wyrms. The lack of blood did not deter them from ripping the sledge apart between them. But it did distract them enough not to notice as the four giants jumped back into the fray.

Bjorn and Erik laid into a wyrm, each with pairs of axes on their belts. They looked smaller in their hands but still would have been gigantic war axes if wielded by humans, elves or dwarfs. Ivar and Ragnar attacked slightly further out, one with a spear and the other with his human-sized bow. Peppering their hides with arrows, he continued to step back. Focused on their foes, none of the giants noticed that I was now hovering above their heads outside of the melee and out of range of all. The air step allowed me to stand still rather than race through the air.

Three ice wyrms could tell who their foes were and turned on them with piercing shrieks. One, however, did not. Despite being peppered with arrows, the fourth and final one seemed to ignore the irritation and turned to attack the closer combatant, Erik. Ragnar had not leapt in close, preferring to release his arrows further away. He cursed in giant as he realised his mistake but would not be in time to intervene.

Namir was still too far to distract the wyrm, and the arrows were not making enough impact to halt the beast’s turn. With Bjorn and Erik facing their snapping attacks, it was up to me to make the difference.

“Bala fotia,” I shouted, launching a ball of fire at the turning Wyrm. Where the arrows had penetrated, my ball of fire made a more significant impression, causing the Ice Wyrm to scream in fury as the ice covering its hide and even its flesh melted. Furious, it turned to face the direction it had come from. Finding only the archer, it launched toward him and away from Erik. Who unknowingly continued to battle his own beast.

The giant's strength allowed their axes to carve their way through Wyrm's flesh with ease, and their size allowed them to meet them in melee, provided they managed to avoid their snapping maws. Even the ice that almost seemed to steam off the wyrms failed to harm the giants wrapped as they were in various fur pelts. It wouldn’t be long before Bjorn, Erik, and Ivar ended the sudden clew of worms writhing in pain from their wounds.

Though maddened beyond belief, there was one that was racing toward Ivar, and the arrows would not stop the beast in time.

There was only one problem.

I was out of psi.