"Sir Thrain, are you sure this is the place?"
"Bah! Nag me again, and I'll shove my hammer up your arse!"
"But-"
"I know what I'm doing!"
"But... one wrong step, and..."
Climbing up a tall, practically horizontal mountain isn't something Lyra and Alyssa thought they'd ever do. Especially when their only protection was a rather dilapidated-looking rope.
But Thrain Deepstone, their boss, wanted to reach the monastery at the top, no matter what.
Sometimes, Lyra wondered why she even bothered agreeing to join Thrain.
To remind herself wasn't complicated. As terrifying as the adventure had been, it was a brilliant distraction from a harsh reality.
Matthew, her older brother and companion, was killed in a tower she later learned belonged to a Witch. The source of her harsh reality was, of course, not his death. Rather, it was because she would have to go back alone and explain to her father that his 2nd son - his favorite child - was dead. That thought terrified her.
As for love among the siblings? Matthew detested her, and the feeling quickly became mutual as they grew up.
But for Alyssa... she couldn't be happier. There she was, high in the sky, her red tail swinging behind her, her long red hair free in the wind. Matthew's death meant a nullification of her contract. Nobody could control her anymore. However, it would be stupid for her to go out alone. After all, that's how she ended up in that situation in the first place.
Plus, Thrain was a good man, a crude, violent drunkard of a man, but still a good one. He paid her her share! She could finally save money for when she returned to her homeland.
Then, there was the freedom he offered for them both.
All they had to do was meet him at a designated time at each destination, and the rest of the day was theirs.
Both Lyra and Alyssa liked that.
It allowed Lyra plenty of time to train her magic, which she usually spent her whole day doing.
Alyssa, because it allowed her to roam the area, hunt wildlife, eat, drink, and train.
Their motives were similar; they could trace the spark to a single encounter not even a month prior.
They recalled meeting the Elf, Naya, at the Silent Forest in Rella like it was only moments ago. Alyssa, how she was so effortlessly overpowered and felt like a mere blade of grass swept up in a hurricane. Lyra, how Naya mocked her purpose, disdained her strength, but most of all, how she had been right.
Matthews's death meant something to them both, but it stood out prominently as a torch lighting the start of a new path.
Suddenly, an audible clunk amidst the wind,
"Ugh! You fat bastard!" Alyssa shouted up at Thrain, who made climbing the mountain look easy. Yet his foot hit a rock that fell and hit Alyssa's head. She had to resist the reflex to rub the spot.
She knew he did it on purpose.
"Haha! You girls are too slow, Firehead, so I thought I'd give you a little boost!"
Firehead, a nickname brazenly given her by the old Dwarf upon first contact. Outside of crafting, giving out nicknames was his favorite hobby.
There Thrain was, above both the girls, effortlessly holding on to the mountainside with his large silver hammer strapped to his back.
He moved his head to gaze down at them; he enjoyed watching their struggle. But more than that, he enjoyed watching their tenacity. The complaints were annoying, but neither would give up on their tasks.
Thrain enjoyed the company of the two women climbing beneath him. Though they were a little too weak. The potential was there, which is why he kept them around.
Best of all, they had the same desire to kill Witches. Thrain knew it came from Matthew, and while Thrain did not care for him in the slightest, his death did serve a good purpose. The two ladies took training seriously after it. Well, Alyssa may not be as serious as Lyra, but she similarly got stronger each day.
After a short time with them, he began viewing them similarly to how he'd view a chunk of steel in a smithy. A beautiful piece waiting to be molded.
His mind wandered to a similar thought the girls went to. Perhaps it was the Elf who served as the catalyst for their growth. The fire the metal would be shaped in.
He didn't appreciate her calling him weak, but that's just the kind of people Elves were.
He'd prove Pointy Head otherwise when his name echoed across the land as Thrain Deepstone, Witch Hunter, and Greatest Blacksmith in the World. The order of which he hadn't decided yet. It was only a shame he hadn't gotten into that tower to kill the Witch there; he was sure he discovered her before Naya.
Thrain Deepstone 1, Pointy Head 0.
As for her heritage... Thrain couldn't care less. His purpose was like a raging, unshakable fire in his heart. His daughter, who was still in his village under the care of a family friend, trying to sell her beautiful art to make some money.
He shook his head and looked upward. They were almost at the top, and he would soon be able to obtain a dragon bone.
A piece of information from a random village in Thrarl led him to the very edge of the continent, climbing one of the tallest mountains in the world.
But he'd even let go of his left arm for a dragon bone.
Even if it was fake, the trip had been fun, and he would be able to potentially add mountain climber to his titles.
The thought of a longer title made his smile wider.
What other Dwarf could say they climbed one of the tallest mountains?
But, of course, it would be difficult to explain to his two companions that the trip had been in vain.
"Thrain... are we..." Lyra panted as she struggled to hold on to the mountainside. "Almost... there?"
Gone was her flowing dress, instead replaced by practical clothes and leather. A black leather vest on top of a white long shirt, then form-fitting black leather pants. Each one had intricate white and gold flowers embroidered in them. Courtesy of herself.
Alyssa said it was stupid and gaudy, but she liked them anyway.
"Yes, I can finally stop hearing your nagging."
"Maybe if you..." Lyra grunted and put in as much effort as she could into her next few steps to catch up to Thrain, "Didn't force us to come with you... on some wild goose chase!"
"Bah! You could use the exercise!"
Thrain quickened his pace.
Even Alyssa, the beastkin with exceptional physical prowess, couldn't keep up with him. It would have been horrifying to see the strength packed in his small body had she not already been used to it.
Another reason she stuck around was the enigma that was the Dwarf's strength. Even without magic, he was absurdly powerful.
Lyra bottled up further complaints. She knew that Thrain lived off it like it was some drink he was addicted to. Launching quips at any complaint she could muster seemed like his favorite pastime.
But her worries were unnecessary as Thrain pulled himself up one last time and disappeared above.
"Finally!" Both girls shouted simultaneously.
They tried to quicken their pace. But, it didn't amount to much, as they were too terrified of the land beneath to take any risk.
Thrain's shiny, bald head poked out from above with an annoying smirk as he tugged on his long, red beard. "Heh, you two are a little slow."
"Shut up!"
Alyssa and Lyra pulled themselves up a final time, and Thrain moved backward as both girls propelled themselves the last distance.
"Welcome! Been waitin' for ya." Thrain turned and gestured around him. "Beautiful, ain't it? I'd even say it was worth it for this alone."
Both girls bit back quips because he was right.
The top of the mountain was almost entirely flat ground, definitely artificially, as it was smooth as paper. On the far side was a simple, small tower. Its base was white marble, and atop it was a long building of some kind of ivory-colored wood and black metal. It was imposing, but not the massive monastery any of the trio expected.
"What we want should be in there." Thrain moved forward, and he barely kept the excitement out of his steps.
"What you want!" Alyssa followed.
Lyra didn't say anything, but she followed along as well. She just wanted to sit and rest. The trip to the mountain then up was exhausting, and she didn't have the physical capacity of the Beastkin and Dwarf.
Thrain stopped before the entrance, where a sign rested atop the open doorframe into the building.
But he wasn't reading the sign; he looked inside.
The interior held nothing. No furniture, no doors, no stairs. It was a long, hollow inside up the top of the building.
In the center of the room, a white marble stand extended from the floor. Atop that stand was an ivory bone, long and thicker than Thrain's muscular arms.
"No way!" Alyssa shouted.
"Is it really that easy?" Lyra mumbled.
"That's it, I can feel it!" Thrain laughed boisterously and moved inside.
"Wait! There's no way it's that easy! There are probably some kind of traps inside!" Lyra shouted in a hurry, to the sound of Thrain's footsteps not slowed in the slightest.
"Bah! Traps don't work when you're as strong as I am!" Thrains steps didn't falter, and he stood directly before the stand.
Alyssa and Lyra exchanged a glance, then both shook their heads. In unison, they took a few steps backward.
Yet right as their last step ended, Thrain had already moved out of the building, an ivory bone in hand.
On his face, a mocking smirk. "Cowards."
Both girls looked down in embarrassment.
"Now let's see..." Thrain turned and looked up at the sign. The one he purposefully ignored when he entered the building.
The sight of the bone took his full attention, so whatever the sign said meant nothing. He spoke strongly, but he was not without worry. A dragon bone wasn't something one came across lightly. Yet here it was, in his hand with no resistance.
"Here is my assistance to you..." Thrain's brows furrowed, and his smirk turned into a frown. "... Witch hunters..."
"What?!" Lyra and Alyssa snapped their gazes at the sign.
Thrain was just as confused, but he kept reading, "...My people don't need this, and I trust it will prove a boon in the lesser races hands. Do not disappoint me, Witch Hunters."
"My people. Lesser races." Thrain scoffed, then spit at the ground beneath the sign. "Pointy bastards."
"Elves..." Lyra stared wide-eyed at the sign. "Where... where did you get that information again?"
"Some hooded bastard at the inn a little ways from here."
"Fucking moron." Alyssa spat. She didn't care for the significance, but she knew how powerful Elves were after her encounter with Naya in the forest. "Is this from her?"
Alyssa would happily charge down the cliff and back to that inn if it meant a chance to fight Naya again.
"I would have recognized the voice," Thrain said. He tapped the heavy bone in his hands. Every fiber of his being told him to toss it off the cliff. The arrogant Elves didn't deserve to make light of him like that; he didn't need the bone, he wanted it. But alas, it was the dream of any craftsman to make something with a dragon bone. If he were to forge this into his hammer, it would easily become an artifact worth a whole nation.
Which again showed Thrain how mystical the pointy ones were. He didn't care for them prior to Naya, but it now seemed they were trying to stick their dainty fingers into affairs outside their homeland. If what his people passed down was true, then he didn't like what that could mean.
"I don't like this, Thrain..." Lyra's gaze was glued to the bone resting in Thrain's hand. She was nobility, so she had some experience with politics. That bone meant not only was there more than one Elf outside Aleria, but they were willing to play an active role. The only question was the motives behind Naya and the Elf who gave them the bone.
Was it a sign of their race's emergence? If that were the case, depending on what the Elves wanted, the world would never be the same again.
"I don't care; I was gonna hunt Witches anyway, even without the pointy heads offering."