A wet tongue lapped at my face, as if trying to erase the annoyed expression from it.

"Aren't these stupid things supposed to be nocturnal?" I barked at Maya, swatting the tongue away. She laughed and pet the bat harassing me lovingly.

"They're fox bats, not micro-bats, so they're fine in daylight. That's why they're so cute and not a little freaky looking. Fun fact: they actually don't even use echolocation, they just see with their eyes like we do!"

"You already told me that. How do I get them to see that I don't enjoy being licked?"

She scoffed, waving a dismissive hand. "Whatever, just deal with it. They'll probably give up eventually if you don't pet them. Honestly, though--you should befriend one. They saved our lives and can help out a lot in the future. Besides, how can you not love those adorable fuzzy faces?" She cooed at the scarred bat, rubbing its head.

A sharp clinking noise rang loudly through the air, sending the two beasts into a state of alarm. It was an unpleasant, hollow sound, and one birthed of steel crashing into wood. Maya and I drew swords and slowly advanced into the courtyard.

"Maya, I'll take the armory tower and you man the parapet. If you notice a breach, let's meet up here, okay?"

She nodded in agreement, but another bout of the noise halted us. It was slightly less harsh this time, forming a rhythm: one, one-two-three, one-two. Emanating from the entrance gate, rattling across Lake Augr.

Is someone. . . how can this be possible?

I turned to Maya, wanting to ask her thoughts, but the hollow gaze she wore gave me pause. I was looking, for a moment, into the empty eyes of a doll that sits on its shelf, helplessly watching as a busy world whirls past.

As she shook the look off and started forward, I grabbed her arm. "You get closer to the gate--I'll head up into the armory and check our surroundings to make sure it's not some kind of distraction. Don't open the gate until we're both there, just in case, okay? Promise me."

"Fine, fine. I promise. Just don't take too long, okay?"

We jogged along the lake's edge and I broke off at the tower, bounding up its twisting staircase in groups of four. Cresting the top floor, I grabbed a spyglass and scanned the castle's rear wall and weak points for signs of an invasion. There was nothing but still forest, gently swaying in a nurturing breeze, and a strangely dark cloud to the south.

A storm must be coming. But such a small, isolated one?

I ran downstairs, skipping as many steps as possible. Just shy of reaching the courtyard, the thunderous creak of poorly-oiled iron hinges grated inside of me.

Oh, for God's sake.

Sure enough, as soon as I popped out, enormous wooden doors were splitting outward as if Moses himself were parting them. I sprinted, hoping to at least get there before anything could swarm through our gate and spread out. As the gap widened, I was expecting to see the Yuurish army waving their swords and laughing at how easy their siege had become--and yet, instead, there was but one man who stood before us. A very, very hairy man. Maya was running back down the barbican's interior staircase when I intercepted her.

"Why didn't you wait for me?!"

She merely shrugged, and I let out a sigh that could've blown a tree over before turning my attention to the figure standing at our front gate. Immediately, I whipped Somnior from its sheath, sending streaks of emerald light dancing across the courtyard.

"Maya, look at his armor." The beast was clad in black and red metal from head to toe. His left arm was in a makeshift sling, the armor around it twisted and gnarled.

"Yeah, I know. It's strange, though. You, Zoxan! I thought all of you committed suicide at the King's command. Why are you still alive? Did he order you not to join in, so you could try and kill us when we'd least expect it?"

I chimed in. "Postmortem assassination. Not a bad idea if he knew there was no chance to win the battle."

The Zoxan bowed its head, using a healthy right arm to pull its helmet off. A face of short, light brown fur surrounded by a mane of darker hair was revealed; bear-like, just as the King was. There were also thin lines running from his eyes out to his ears, but they were blue rather than red. Its facial features were mostly humanoid, despite having a bear's ears and subdued snout. A thin gash, freshly healed, disturbed the fur on his throat.

"I am indeed Zoxan," the bear grumbled with a low, grinding voice, like sandpaper on my eardrums. "That much I cannot deny. However, I am not your enemy."

"I'll ask you again: your entire race killed themselves at the snap of a finger, and yet you're knocking on our front door." Maya's arms were crossed, with one hand fingering Vesper's pommel. "Why?"

"That King of ours, he had a telepathic link to our entire species, one that was impossible to block. From birth, he would fill our heads with orders, strip us from our mothers and break us into beings without will or character; machines that perform at his whim. We could not say no, for his thoughts ruled our minds--he could control any of us like puppets. The reason our army seemed like a swarm of mindless drones was because the King cannot give specific orders when trying to control everyone at the same time. He was so hellbent on being in control that he chose to entirely remove their fear of death and have them flock to you, overriding their personal traits. I saw many great swordsmen fall before you without even putting up a fight.

"I, however, have always had a weaker link with him for some reason. I'd hoped to learn why, to break his hold on our race, but his greed took hold and wiped my people from existence. When the order came through, I resisted with all my might. Even with a sword pressed against my throat, I refused to push any further. I think the pain of my broken arm helped clear my mind.

He turned his gaze to Maya, stone-faced.

"When I heard you speak to the King, and shame him for his actions, I was confused. I'd not seen anyone stand up to him before, and in that moment, I realized that no one can tie my will down. When he died, I understood that no one is invincible--even the almighty King, towering so high above us. I am the only Zoxan left, so I am the free will of my entire people in a way; I would like to live a life that all of them would be proud of. Our last moment in history will not be the day that vile coward ended us."

We looked at him, unsure of whether or not he'd finished.

The Zoxan shifted uncomfortably, turning his gaze to the dirt and bowing again. "I apologize if I've been too outright--I have never interacted in this manner before. We've never been a freely speaking people. Always, he was listening."

Maya's arms relaxed, shifting to her hips, and she cracked a warm smile. "Don't worry about that. I like you, Zoxan. What's your name?"

"Name? I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Oh, you must have another word for it. Uh. . . what are you called? How are you referred to, when spoken to?"

"We are not called anything, we recognize--recognized--each other mostly through a. . . connection, I suppose would be the way to put it. A unique feeling, though the King could override it at will. What is a 'name'?"

I decided to cut in. "Names are unique words given to every person, something to refer to them. It's our way of telling each other apart, and communicating easily. I am Reza, and this is Maya. With these names, we can call to each other specifically. Normally they're given at birth by parents."

"I see. Would it be easier for you if I had a name, then? What should I be called?"

"If you can't think of anything, I have a few suggestions," Maya offered, a sly look on her face.

Oh, God, please don't let her name you.

"Well, actually, I thought of one. But thank you--Ma-ya, correct? May I be called Zoxan?"

I chuckled, rubbing my face to try and hide the laughter. "Well, you're not really supposed to name yourself after your race or country. A name isn't a description or something."

"Why not?"

"It's just. . . strange. You're not a race, you're a person. An individual."

The bear chewed on my words for a moment. "Well, Ree-za, I would suggest otherwise. I have never been a person. Under the King's regime, I was a slave, and now I am the remnant of all that was Zoxum and its people. I am Zoxan."

I couldn't help but smile at that. "Well spoken. It's a bit odd, but I'll get used to it. Nice to meet you, Zoxan. Now, don't get me wrong here; I like you so far, but we don't know you at all. There's also still the chance that your intentions are malicious. I'm going to ask that you hand over your weapons, at least for the time being. Is that okay?"

Without hesitation, he dropped a belt with two swords and his dagger as well. "I would expect no less. You may restrain me, if you wish."

I tossed his weapons into a crate by the main entrance. "That won't be necessary. You picked a hell of a time to come by, though. We're preparing for a siege that should be hitting any moment."

"Is that so? May I help you fight for your home, then?"

Maya's face contorted. "Why would you want to help us fight? We killed your whole race and stole your home."

"Such is life, Ma-ya. Despite us being enemies, you still showed compassion for us when you heard the King speak. You didn't eradicate Zoxum--he did. And when you killed him, you set me free. I get to experience something my people never did, and for that, I will fight by your side. I believe I can accomplish some kind of good if I stay with you."

"You can have these to help us during the battle," I said, returning his belongings. "But I'm warning you--one misstep and you're dead. You saw us for yourself."

He accepted them graciously, slinging his belt back on. "I believe you. The skills you two displayed in the Motherland were incredible, to say the least."

"Good. Welcome to our home, Zoxan. Pull your weight and we'll help you find your place in this world."

"Thank you, Ree-za. Tell me, what is your home's name? You said all things have names.

I shrugged at Maya, sharing a laugh.

"I apologize if my questions are strange," he continued.

"No, no--sorry, we weren't laughing at you. You bring up a good point, Zoxan. Now that I think about it, we never actually named this place. That's kinda weird, isn't it, Maya? We should have a name for our home."

She stroked at her chin. "You're right. How about. . .Castle Lakefront?"

"That's a bit too blunt, isn't it? Take a little longer to think about it. The name should be meaningful." She hissed at me, but I ignored it and kept thinking.

"I like the sound of Dawnbringer Castle. Whether we're waking up or going to sleep, it's dawn."

"That's surprisingly clever. Dawnbringer Castle. Anyway, we should probably be in the towers watching for signs of advancing armies, it's almost noon now. I'll close the gate."

"Sure, but I want you to see the new armor I'm working on! Maybe I could make you some too, since yours is. . . old."

I fired a death glare at Maya, who recoiled and ran off to the armory. "Zoxan, you'll stay with me today. Maya will certainly lose you when things get crazy. Honestly, she'd lose you on a tour of the castle."

Gears churned as massive wooden slabs swung shut and the locking bar engaged, creaking in protest at the labor. Zoxan was still waiting right where I'd left him--it didn't even look like his feet had shifted position. I led him up the armory tower, walking behind him, ascending the swirling staircase that wound from floor to roof, peeking at a toiling Maya on the way up. She looks good swinging that hammer around.

We crested the tower's crown, and Zoxan stepped as far forward through an embrasure as he could without plunging to the ground, wind whipping his fur into a frenzy.

"This view is amazing," he said with awe, looking across the vast, expansive ocean of leafy green. "I never knew how much existed outside of my city."

"Well, there sure is a lot of forest. Which is why I need your help to look for signs of enemy advancement. It's impossible to see through the canopy, but if ten thousand men are marching toward us, you'll notice the trees rustle with a violence that doesn't come from a breeze. I still don't see anything, though. They must be having difficulty mobilizing that many men through this terrain."

Zoxan turned in place, scanning the region. "Reza?"

"What is it?"

"Is there some kind of garden to the south of here?"

"It's a forest, I'm sure there are plenty of garden-looking things around."

"Yes, but that is quite a lot of orange."

Following his gaze, there was, as he had said, a garden of orange littered through a thinner part of the forest south of us. Or was it orange?

"Zoxan, do you know what two colors make up orange?"

"Yellow and red, no?"

"Correct. Yellow and red. The Yuurish flag is solid yellow, with no insignia. They believe that Yuura is a land of light that will fight off the darkness by conquering it. I postulate that they chose yellow because it tends to invoke happiness when seen, helping conquered nations stomach their presence."

"That is very interesting. Are you suggesting that they are the yellow in this equation?"

"Yes."

"Then, the red would be?"

We shared a glance, then sprinted downstairs.

"Quit whatever you're doing, I need help!" I hollered at Maya, clamoring into the forge.

"Ah, come on! I'm almost done with my new armor," she whined, a familiar tone meant to annoy me into submission.

"There'll be time for that later! Something is horribly wrong, here." We walked out into the bailey, standing lakeside. "When we were scouting, we saw them in the distance. Not yellow, Maya, but orange."

"I don't understand what the meaning of this is," Zoxan said.

I turned to him. "You bleed black, but most other species are red inside."

His eyes widened. "But what could have done such a thing? There must be thousands in the distance."

"More than that, Zoxan. I think there are nearly twenty thousand dead men rotting in the forest"--I turned to Maya, who was idly staring into the distance--"and I don't have the faintest clue as to what could have done--"

She leapt through the air, knocking Zoxan and I to the ground. Less than a second later, darkness swallowed our piled bodies as something devoured the sky overhead, making it look like the warped gloss of painted glass. It passed quickly, however, and crashed into the lake with a force that sent waves splashing across the courtyard. For several moments, it was raining, without a single cloud overhead. Mist swirled through the air and a rainbow sprouted, trying to connect the tiny droplets of water around us. It would've been a beautiful sight, had we not been preoccupied with the imminent threat of death.

Still lying in the dirt, I tried to analyze what was in the lake. How did someone get a goddamn trebuchet through the forest without me noticing?

"I don't know what's happening, but we need to find that trebuchet and destroy it before we're crushed like bugs. What are they firing, anyway? That looks like. . . ice? How did they haul a fucking glacier through the forest? No--why did they haul a glacier through the forest?" Thoughts ran laps around my mind as I laid in the glinting glare of a slick iceberg, scattering light like a frigid diamond.

I understand that sometimes the minor details are out of our control, but. . .

The three of us regained our composure, and I noticed another oddity about the glistening chunk of ice floating in our lake.

"Maya, am I crazy or is that thing pointed? Like giant, fat icicle."

She approached it, scanning the abomination. "Yeah, it's cone-shaped."

"Someone found glaciers, then carved, transported and fired them at us? This is. . . it's silly. It's goddamn absurd. It's impossible."

She threw her arms up in defeat. "Well, this siege was your plan. Don't ask me why it's going berserk, I'm just trying not to die here. Wait. . . Reza, what the hell is that?"

Squinting, I traced the path of Maya’s finger, uphill, toward the castle. A figure in a dark purple robe, probably shorter than myself, menacingly loomed over our doorstep.

How did he get in here? The walls are ten meters high. . .

I turned to the bear, his face considerably more odd when flattened by water. "Zoxan, you furry asshole! Did you sneak him in somehow?"

He half-bowed at me again. "You were with me the whole time. I would not dishonor my people with such tricks."

"Reza, are you screwing with me? What's going on?" Maya's eyes had glazed over once more, and her words were lacking their usual emphasis.

I stared at the robed man, wondering the same thing. "No, I don't know what's happening. Besides, this guy is the least of our problems--I'll kill him, you worry about whatever is launching glaciers into our front yard. We'll get to the bottom of this, I promise. Zoxan, with me."

Before we could set off, a maniacal laugh echoed through the castle walls, and the robed man raised his arms into the air. A white powder accumulated above him, swirling in a vortex that concentrated at a focal point which grew in size with each second, like a blizzard had apparated at his command. The swelling snowball appeared solid, but its shape was altering as if it were made of putty, slowly clarifying and forming a point. It was the probably forty times the size of a grown man. The three of us just stood there, gaping at it, and I felt a deep chill settle in.

"Reza. . . what the fu--"

We barely had time to scatter before it came barreling straight at us, a frosty mist trailing behind it. The three of us managed to escape its path somehow, and it slammed straight into the dirt where we'd been standing, catapulting mud across the yard and into the lake. The point was so sharp that it cut right through the earth, raising the ground around it while burrowing deeper and deeper before finally coming to a stop. It rooted itself deep enough to remain there, upright, like a poorly cut diamond had sprouted from the ground.

Maya crawled toward me wildly, her face turning bright red. "Reza! You idiot! We agreed--no magic!"

"Oh, but giant bats are fine? That's totally realistic, right? Bear people? That was your idea, too. I didn't even come up with whatever this is!"

"I like animals, okay?" she fired at me, as if trying to fight ice with ice. "He probably doesn't appreciate being called a 'bear person', by the way. It's insensitive."

"I'm afraid I don't understand what's happening," Zoxan whispered to the dirt.

"Never mind all that--I don't know who this guy is, and we need to handle him quick before he kills us or destroys the place, or both. Maya, you-"

"I'll attack from the front, you run along the wall and get to a blind spot so you can flank him. One of us will have an opening!" she shouted at me, already running up the hill.

I scrambled to my left, trying to catch up with Maya's placement. "Zoxan, you stay there, okay? Don't move until we have this handled."

"Understood," he replied, closing his eyes. "I will die here, if it comes to that."

"No, you can move if he's trying to kill you, I just meant. . . whatever."

I crouched low, pressing myself against the mossy stone wall and treaded lightly as I traced it. Thankfully, I'd left some of the forest's trees in tact when the walls went up, and they returned the favor by providing cover as I advanced. The biting cry of steel against steel rang out and I hastened my pace.

Here's hoping that if she presses him constantly, he won't have time to form any of that ice.

I reached a thick patch of brush and cut across to approach him from the rear, quietly rushing forward low with Somnior in hand. I halted, sighing as I stepped out into the open and saw a lump of robes on the ground.

"Did you tell me to flank just so you could kill him yourself?"

All I got in response was a light giggle and a big smile, though it melted away quickly. "Seriously, though--does anything go, now? Cause if we're going to have enemies that can do this kind of thing, we need to be able to match it. Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I didn't know, I swear. I didn't do this."

She squinted at me, sneering. I cocked my head in response and followed up with, "Oh, so you're telling me you didn't do this? It's is the exact kind of prank you'd pull on me."

She sobered from dramatacism and fired me a stare that was both colder and sharper than the strange man's ice. "We set rules, and I told you I wouldn't break them."

I nodded sternly, shifting my attention to the robed man. The two of us stood over his dead body, blood trickling downhill, like a trail of fire ants marching through the grass.

"Why is Zoxan just standing there, looking at the sky, by the way?"

I let a bit of air through my nose and sheathed my sword. He hadn't moved an inch, not even shifted his upper body, as if the ice had frozen him solid where I'd left him. Channeling the wrong part of your heritage with the whole statue thing, buddy.

"He's a bit off, that one,” I said, kneeling by the fresh corpse. “Fantastic listener, though. You could learn a thing or two from him.”