The final stretch of the kingdom's grand thoroughfare dissolved behind them, replaced by the imposing, breathtaking vision of the Headstone Palace. It was a monolith of power, a structure built not merely from rock, but seemingly carved from the very essence of the earth, as solid and enduring as the Stonehead name itself. Every towering wall was fashioned from pure, dark stone, giving the palace the look of a mountain range that had been meticulously sculpted. Bands of polished obsidian ran through the façade like ribbons of dark glass, reflecting the harsh, midday sun and giving the palace a cold, majestic glitter. The architecture was a testament to the kingdom's mastery over the Earth Element, a colossal fortress that looked less built and more grown from the bedrock beneath.
Jai, still holding the slumbering Princess Morisa easily on his broad shoulder, felt the weight of the moment pressing down on him. They needed to deliver the child. Yet, the moment they stepped before King Borin Headstone, the immense risk of exposure would hit its peak. The King was a figure of tremendous power, one whose innate elemental senses might instantly recognize the practiced layers of the Barne identity suppression techniques. The faces of Arthur Barne and Clement Barne, which they wore now, felt like thin, fragile masks.
"Almost there, James," Jai murmured, the words barely audible against the ambient hum of the powerful city.
James, ever the more nervous of the pair, shifted his weight. "Yeah, but the minute we're inside... what if the King has some kind of truth-sensing magic? We can't let him look at us too closely, Jai. Not yet."
Jai nodded, his eyes scanning the palace gate, his mind already formulating a strategy. They couldn't just drop the girl and run; that would raise catastrophic suspicion. They needed a legitimate, even royal-flavored reason for a delayed audience.
He gently shifted the young girl. Her breathing was light and rhythmic against his neck. "Morisa," he whispered, waiting for her eyes to flutter open.
Morisa blinked up at him, her gaze clear but still heavy with sleep. "Brother?"
"Morisa, listen carefully. When the guards take you in, I need you to tell your brother, or whoever meets you first, that your father, the King, must wait to see us."
The princess tilted her head, confused. "But why? Don't you want to meet my dad? You saved me!"
Jai reached for the most plausible cultural excuse he could conjure, one that might appeal to the superstitions often embedded in ancient royal houses. He softened his voice, making the lie sound like a solemn, grave conviction.
"It's not that I don't want to meet him, little one. It is a matter of tradition, of deep culture. In the land we come from, it is considered extremely bad luck—a terrible omen for the Kingdom's prosperity—to meet a great ruler or any high-level person immediately after escaping a grave danger. We must cleanse ourselves and wait for the stars to align. We call it 'bad timing,' and it must be avoided, or the entire kingdom suffers."
He paused, then added the second, crucial piece of the puzzle. "Also, Morisa, we are in desperate need of work. We lost all our savings, all our zuo—our lifeblood currency and magic essence—in the chaos of the journey to rescue you. Could you please tell your brother we are seeking honest work and ask him to recommend us for some good positions?"
Morisa, still young and trusting, accepted the story instantly. Her brow furrowed in sympathy. "Oh, that sounds very serious! Don't worry, Brother, I will tell my brother Zayn exactly what you said. I will make sure you get jobs, too."
With the plan in place, Jai and James stepped onto the main courtyard, Morisa now walking beside Jai, clutching his hand firmly.
The sight of the princess did not bring the expected relief. Instead, it triggered a primal, protective, and violent response.
Two heavily armored guards, clad in scaled steel and bearing shields emblazoned with a mountain crest, immediately noticed the trio. Seeing the small, exhausted princess accompanied by two imposing, unfamiliar men, they reacted with trained ferocity.
"Hold! Stop where you are!" one guard bellowed, and within seconds, four more joined them, forming a tense semicircle. Swords flashed, the tips of the gleaming steel immediately leveled at Jai's and James's throats.
James instantly recoiled, his face blanching. The disguise technique, while effective in suppressing their visual identity, could not mask a lifetime of nervous habit. His eyes darted, searching for an exit, his muscles tensing, ready to fight—a move that would instantly betray their deception and ignite an unnecessary battle.
But Jai, in the face of death, was a pillar of stillness. His heart remained an unnervingly calm, cold space. They react as any guard should, his internal voice noted clinically. Their fear means they love the child.
"We have done nothing," Jai stated, his voice even, his eyes locked on the closest guard's helmet.
Before the guard could reply with an accusation, Morisa stepped forward, placing herself between the shining swords and her saviors.
"Drop your weapons!" The little princess commanded, her voice surprisingly strong, echoing in the vast courtyard. "You fools! These are the men who saved me! They are my friends!"
The guards froze. The order was direct, the source unimpeachable. The sharp, metallic clatter of six swords hitting the stone courtyard echoed through the space, the sudden noise puncturing the silence. The guards instantly bowed low, their heads nearly touching the ground.
"Our deepest apologies, sirs," the first guard stammered, shame radiating off him. "We feared the worst had brought you back."
"Apology accepted," Morisa declared with the authority of someone far older than her years. She pointed toward the largest structure. "Now, go! Immediately summon my brother, Zayn Stonehead! Tell him Morisa is found."
The guards hurried away, their movements quickened by both relief and fear. They found Zayn Stonehead in his private quarters, a room in the highest tower. The young crown heir was not the image of a composed royal. He sat slumped in a high-backed chair, his young, handsome face with white hair with black golden eyes etched with raw fear and crushing tension. He was eighteen years old, ,but he carried the burdens of an old man.
"Yes, what is it?" Zayn asked, his voice strained.
"Your Highness," a guard reported, kneeling. "Princess Morisa... she has been found."
Zayn's eyes, a shocking pale blue that mirrored the ice element he mastered, widened. "What? Really? Who found my sister?"
"Two men, Your Highness. They brought her to the gate."
"Well, where are they? Bring them to me at once!" Zayn sprang from his chair, adrenaline finally overriding his fear.
"They are... they are waiting, Sire. Morisa commanded it. She insisted that they wait—"
Zayn cut him off, his face contorted with a mixture of confusion and building rage. "Waited? You dared to make my sister wait, after what she has endured? Out of my way!"
He sprinted down the hall. Morisa was the most precious thing in his life, and the thought of her waiting a moment longer was unbearable.
He burst into the waiting room. There she was. His sister. He saw her, and all the stress, all the elemental power he controlled, and all the royal decorum evaporated. His face crumpled, and he was nothing but a frightened older brother. Tears welled up in his pale blue eyes, and he ran to her, wrapping her in a fierce, protective hug. Morisa and Zayn clung to each other, their tears soaking the fine fabrics of their clothing.
Jai and James watched the deeply human moment. It was the first time they had seen true, unfiltered emotion in the royal court, and it was deeply disarming. Wait. He's human? Jai's thought cut through the emotion. Zayn Stonehead was tall and slender, undeniably human in appearance, a significant detail that contradicted their intelligence reports on the pure dwarf lineage of the rulers.
The reunion ended, and Zayn finally pulled back, his gaze sharp and calculating. His pale blue eyes, now dried, settled on Jai and James, taking in their strong, capable appearances—their current identities as Arthur Barne and Clement Barne. The joy in his eyes instantly morphed into suspicion, then blinding fury.
In one devastatingly swift motion, Zayn materialized a spike of pure, crystalline Ice in his hand. He was a Tier 9 elemental master—of Ice, Earth, and Storm—and his attack was a reflection of his elemental rank: perfect, sudden, and devastating. He drove the ice spike directly into Jai's abdomen.
The sound was a sickening, wet thud.
Jai barely had time to tense his core before the blow landed. The spike did not pierce his skin—the body-strengthening techniques that he learned by mastering one of his defensive techniques prevented that immediate penetration—but the sheer force of the Tier 9 elemental strike was immense. The shockwave of Elemental Ice bypassed his surface defenses and exploded in his internal viscera, crushing the air from his lungs.
He collapsed instantly, a searing, crushing pain igniting in his gut. The wind was knocked out of him, and he gasped, hitting the ornate marble floor with a heavy thud. The internal damage was devastating, a silent, invisible ice bloom spreading through his organs.
Morisa screamed. She tore herself from her brother and rushed to Jai, cradling his head in her lap as she sobbed in terror.
"Brother! What have you done? He's hurt! You hurt him!"
Zayn stood frozen, the residual ice on his hand melting into steam. His eyes were wide with a dawning horror. "I... I thought—I thought they were the kidnappers! That they manipulated you, Morisa! That they were pretending to be saviors to infiltrate the palace for some greater, darker gain!" The tension and fear he had been carrying had finally snapped, leading to this brutal, preemptive strike.
"No, Zayn!" Morisa cried, clinging to Jai. "They are not them! The kidnappers ran away! These two brothers—they saved me! They are good!"
Zayn's shoulders slumped. He approached Jai cautiously, his expression a mixture of guilt and self-loathing. He knelt, placing a trembling hand over the spot where the spike had struck. Immediately, a gentle, soothing light blue elemental energy pulsed from his palm, radiating warmth and melting the deep, structural internal damage the Ice Spike had caused. As a triple-elemental master, Zayn could utilize the gentle aspects of his elements for rapid healing.
"I apologize, Arthur," Zayn said, his voice thick with remorse. "It was unforgivable. My fear... it made me blind. Please forgive me."
Jai, finally able to draw a full breath without the crushing agony, managed a weak nod. "It is... understandable, Your Highness. Your sister is safe. That is what matters."
James quickly stepped in, filling the awkward silence. Jai introduced himself as Arthur and James as Clement. James then carefully explained the full sequence of the kidnapping and rescue, omitting any mention of their true affiliation or the organization's existence. He presented them simply as two wandering warriors, brave enough to intervene.
"Thank you, truly," Zayn said, bowing his head slightly—a sincere gesture of respect. "And once again, my deepest apologies for my mistake. You are heroes." He straightened. "My father, the King, is not in the kingdom right now. He is away on pressing state matters and won't return for a few weeks, so you must wait for your full, royal reward until then."
Jai looked at Morisa, who immediately piped up with the pre-arranged excuse. "See, Zayn? They can't meet Father yet! It's because of the bad timing and the bad luck in their culture. They have to wait!"
Zayn, though highly suspicious of the convenient excuse, saw the earnestness in his sister's eyes. He didn't want to disappoint her further after the disastrous greeting. "Very well," he conceded. "We shall respect your cultural traditions, Arthur and Clement."
Morisa pressed on. "And they need work! They lost all their savings and need zuo!"
The request for employment immediately solidified Zayn's suspicions. Why would two capable men, who had just risked their lives for the princess, be so desperate for a job? It smelled of pretext. But he was trapped by his sister's request and his own debt.
He clapped his hands once, sharp and loud. A servant immediately appeared, and Zayn ordered the presence of Minister Valerius.
"Minister," Zayn instructed the arriving official, "these two heroes, Arthur and Clement, are to be given employment within the Royal purview. Find them secure, legitimate positions where they can earn a good living and remain within the city."
The minister pondered the request for only a second before an idea sparked. "Your Highness, the Alverian Academy is the largest and most prestigious in the kingdom. We are actively hiring new instructors to train the coming wave of awakened youth, as the dwarfs usually awaken their elemental powers around the age of fifteen. Mr. Arthur Barne seems a capable man. We can offer him a post as a probationary instructor."
"Excellent," Zayn approved.
"And for Mr. Clement Barne," the minister continued, "The Academy is currently undergoing a major expansion of its Earth Arts Wing. They desperately require skilled labor. We can offer him a highly paid post as a specialized construction worker on the site."
Jai and James exchanged a brief, subtle glance. The Academy. The heart of the kingdom's future elemental strength. It was the perfect entry point.
"We gratefully accept, Your Highness," Jai and james said, his voice now strong and sincere.
Morisa, delighted by the outcome, immediately tugged on Jai's sleeve. After everything was over morisa sees a confusing look and asked : "Now that the work is settled, can I tell them why you look different, Zayn?"
Zayn sighed but nodded. "Go ahead, little star."
Morisa turned to the brothers, finally revealing the answer to Jai's earlier shock. "Well, you see, we are not from the same mother. My mother is a dwarf—Verona Stonehead—but Zayn's mother, Rebecca Stonehead, was human. She died when he was born, and Father later married my mother."
The explanation clicked into place, resolving Jai's brief moment of confusion. The Stonehead line was integrating human genetics—a deviation that was rare but strategically useful—a fascinating piece of intelligence to file away.
"That's enough," Jai said kindly. "Thank you for the kindness, Morisa. We are indebted to you."
"No," she insisted, giving him another fierce hug, "I have told you: I am indebted to you for rescuing me."
The guard, now overly deferential, led Jai and James to a luxurious chamber. It was far grander than anything they were accustomed to on their missions: thick carpets, a sprawling bed, and a lavish meal waiting for them. They ate, got fresh, soft clothes, and quickly prepared for sleep. The day's physical and emotional toll finally settled in.
James collapsed onto the massive bed and was asleep almost instantly, his breathing deep and rhythmic.
Jai, however, lay awake. The residual ache from the ice strike was a dull throb in his core, a constant reminder of the raw power wielded by the Stonehead heir. Tier 9, and barely eighteen, he thought. This kingdom is more formidable than the initial reports suggested.
His mind churned through the events: the flawlessly executed excuse, the successful deployment of their new aliases, the unexpected job placement at the Alverian Academy. The mission to understand the kingdom's defenses and allegiances had just been handed to them on a silver platter.
But beneath the strategic satisfaction, a familiar shadow began to creep in.
As he stared up at the high, ornamental ceiling, Jai saw it again: the flash of black hair and the terrible, searing intensity of red eyes.
It was the same persistent fragment of a memory he could not grasp, that had haunted him since he could remember. A faceless, terrifying figure who stood over him, whose shadow seemed to consume the world. The image was always followed by a sickening sense of falling, a profound, internal wrongness that defied logic and reason.
He didn't know who the figure was, or what the dream meant, but the feeling of cold, impending doom was always the same. He closed his eyes, steeling himself against the subconscious torment. The new journey was set to begin tomorrow—a teacher and a construction worker at the premier elemental academy of the Stonehead Kingdom. It was the next stage of the mission, a path into the heart of power.
But Jai knew, with a certainty that chilled him more than any elemental ice. It was about something deeper, something tied to the black hair, the red eyes, and a destiny he couldn't yet see.