Can you imagine how exhausting it would be if you had to command your heart to beat? Remember, we only achieve muscle memory through hard work and practice. And muscle memory will decide if you end up a hero or a dead soldier.

~Scathach, the Goddess of Darkness and Martial Arts

Crow, Otto, and Mara fled. Beasts that looked like a cross between a bear and a beaver chased them as a family unit. There wasn’t much they could do except run through a mountain pass and scramble up some scree to reach a ridge several hundred meters above the pass.

Once they were out of reach of the beasts, Crow pulled out his soul-linked arrow. The milky white shaft still looked like bone after all these years of using it. Under constant refinement, the Ice Hippo Hair had become more pliant, and the Ember Star arrowhead had become sharper. It no longer looked like someone crudely chipped the head out of shale. However, the shaft still appeared like bone.

“You ever decide on a name for that thing?” Mara asked with a grin. It was a conversation they had off and on for two years.

“Saighead Rionnag,” Crow said and pulled out his new bow. Grandpa Niall had given him the Shield Imprints for his parents, which he already used, but the old man also gave him Sealladair. The bow was his grandpa’s favorite, and it was made from Ghost Oak and Dragon Bone. Crow couldn’t use it previously, but he could draw back the string now that he had his Shield. However, it expended a lot of mana, and he’d have to rest after he used it a handful of times.

“What does that mean?” Mara asked.

“Star Arrow and the bow’s name roughly translates to Seeker.” Crow grinned and drew back the arrow, letting it fill with his Night Fire. Only when he was afraid he couldn’t control it anymore did he let the arrow loose. It barely arced as it shot down toward beaver-bear bastards.

“Star Arrow… that is fitting, I suppose.”

“Boom,” Otto said as the arrow hit the ground near the beasts. Crow didn’t want to hit one and have the explosion contained within one of them. It would probably kill it, but he was trying to run them all off.

Whoomp!

It didn’t make the ‘boom’ sound that Otto wanted but turned into a black-flamed fireball that coated a dozen of the creatures like a fiery ooze. Even from their height, they could hear the screeching of both pain and anger. At least three beasts died almost instantly, but instead of fear, they became more agitated than not.

Summoning his Star Arrow, he felt it enter the space surrounding his Soulscape. Technically, he could store his soul-linked items in his Soulscape but wasn’t sure if he could refine the arrow inside. Regardless, the Night Fire charge would replenish within a day. He could choose not to activate the charge too, but then it did not differ from an ordinary ice-imbued arrow.

“Now what?” Mara asked and chucked a rock into the small horde below. They were lucky the beasts couldn’t climb.

“Ridge. Man.” Otto pointed up the mountain. A wooden pole the size of Otto’s leg had been driven into the ground. It looked like some type of bridge was built into the mountainside.

It was impossible to see from the ground, but it was hard to miss once on the ridge. Crow scrambled up to check it out and was surprised by the crafty design. Someone had driven wooden poles into the side of the mountain and then laid a sort of suspension bridge between each. He couldn’t see the end of it because it wrapped around a gap between the mountain and a stone spur that broke away. The strange thing was that it looked like a metal beam connected the spur to the mountain.

The other two joined him, and Crow hesitated after looking at Otto.

“Otto small,” the big guy said and triggered his ability to shrink down to the size of Crow. Crow tried to lift him but found that the giant didn’t lose mass.

“Shorter, but not lighter. I’m pretty sure you are heavier.”

“What do?”

Crow looked over the side of the bridge.

“Can you survive that fall?” Crow asked him seriously.

Otto looked down and then shrugged. “Maybe yes. Maybe no.”

Mara chuckled.

“C’mon, man. Give me something. I’m thinking it might be safer to send Mara first, then you, and I’ll go last.”

“Why are you going last?” Mara asked, not liking this arrangement.

“Because I know I’ll survive that fall. My techniques have methods that will allow me to fall from great heights and survive.”

“No!” Mara shook her head fiercely, and Crow thought back to the Hunt when she acted this way. He half expected a ‘mommy’ to come from her mouth and couldn’t help but smile at her protective nature.

“It’ll be fine. Just go. Look how sturdily built this thing is. Walk closer to the mountain, less stress on the bridge,” Crow told her, and she stamped her foot before following orders. But she clamped her mouth shut and glared. He knew she was mad, but she was the one he worried about the most.

Once she had enough of a lead, he saw Otto turn to him and raise an eyebrow. The smile on the big guy’s face was like he had already read Crow’s mind.

“If anything happens—”

“Protect. Go Rosdoe. Meet there.”

Crow sighed. “I think I liked it better when you were simple-minded.”

Otto’s laughter boomed out over the chasm below and startled Mara, who saw the two brothers joking around. Their antics actually help her relax.

“Keep two of the wooden poles between you and her at all times. Even if you fall, it shouldn’t take her down with you.”

Otto nodded and stepped out onto the bridge. It held, but there was some creaking and groaning. Crow felt it should be fine until they reached that metal beam about three meters in front of them. After that, the support might not be as sturdy.

Strangely, Mara stopped the moment she reached the rock spur.

“What is it?” Crow called out.

“A mist-filled valley. All I can make out are the tops of the trees far below. It’s strange though, it doesn’t look natural. Come on over. There is a stone platform around the turn that is part of the mountain.”

Otto moved forward the moment Mara disappeared, and Crow followed. Soon, all three of them were on the overlook. Mara was right. Crow didn’t think the valley below was naturally formed. It was created in the center of five mountain peaks, and it was like something scooped out the center, leaving a hole with sheer cliffs on all sides.

A suspension bridge, a true one, went from the overlook to a pass or gap between two mountains. It didn’t cross over the center of the mist-filled valley but cut across a small corner of it. After they finished taking their rest break and staring out over the breathtaking view, Mara once more led them across the bridge.

They were more than halfway across when Crow suddenly felt something wasn’t right.

“Big guy?” Crow called ahead, but not loudly enough to get Mara’s attention. Otto stopped and turned to look at Crow, who hadn’t stopped walking.

Shriek!

“RUN!” Crow shouted to Mara, who was already surging ahead. Her instincts had been honed over the years of traveling with Crow. A giant bird swooped down, trying to grab her, and the talons ripped into the bridge instead.

“This is going to hurt, bro, but punch that thing dead,” Crow jumped up and charged his Coiled Ghost Hop ability, and the moment his feet landed on Otto’s ass, he activated it. They both shot away from each other at tremendous speeds. Crow might have overdone the spell.

Regardless, Otto reacted like the born warrior he was, and his fist snapped the bird’s wing in an explosion of feathers. The problem was that while the bird crashed to the valley below, Otto’s momentum wasn’t slowed in the slightest. He shot forward like a comet, and Mara’s instincts were on point as she jumped up. Otto grabbed her and hugged her close to his chest.

The giant’s body hit the end of the bridge, and then he flipped and rolled while trying to shield Mara from the worst of it. By the time they climbed to their feet, the bridge had already collapsed.

“CROW!” Mara jumped up and ran to the cliff’s edge. However, she couldn’t see him anywhere. Tears streaked her face, and she felt as if her heart was torn in two. Otto struggled to his feet, but not because of his tumble. Most of the abrasions were minor. Crow’s kick almost broke his ass, and it hurt to walk. He did not know what had just happened because it all happened too fast for him to follow.

“Come,” Otto said and tried to help her stand.

Mara jumped on him like a hellcat and unleashed a salvo of savage attacks against the giant while she cried and raged. Otto didn’t stop her and knew she wouldn’t listen if he talked. So he let her exhaust her grief and burn off her berserk state. While he was slow on some things, he wasn’t so slow with emotions related to combat.

Finally, she collapsed to her knees and sobbed silently. Otto slid a finger under her chin and lifted her grief-stricken face.

“Done?” Otto asked, and Mara nodded. “Brother, fine. Feel.” Otto tapped his chest, and Mara realized she overacted and flushed. Her fair skin turned red in embarrassment.

“We go. He catch up.”

The two continued through the pass and found a winding path down the mountain. Weeks later, they entered Matun and heard stories of a tiny tyrant called Nin. Otto had never met Nin, so it was doubtful he understood what was going on. However, Mara knew Nin quite well and couldn’t stop laughing at all the stories she was hearing.

“What funny?”

“Nin is Crow’s woman, and she’s a dragon.”

Otto chuckled and shook his head. His brother sure was capable.