"You know, for a wizard, this guy sure has a small wand." We'd parted the dead mage's robes and, unfortunately, he seemed to value comfort over decency.

"Maya, he's a mage, not a wizard. Mages don't use--whatever. Have you found anything on him besides that? Something useful, maybe? We need to figure out what's going on here. . ."

"I know, I know. I just don't see anything on this guy that could indicate where he came from. I mean, if he can even be considered a he with that lil' thing." She stifled laughter as I continued to turn out empty pocket after empty pocket.

He came at us wearing nothing but a robe and doesn't have a single possession on him. What the hell am I supposed to make of this?

With nothing useful on his front, I flipped him, blood and dirt wedging into my fingernails. To my surprise, at the nape covering, there was white text woven into the velvety purple material that read: 'Tagless for maximum comfort. 75% silk, 25% cotton. Made in Fundaa.' What an astonishing level of detail, even by my standards.

"Where's Fundaa?" I asked.

"I do not know of such a place," Zoxan replied, bowing his head. "I apologize I cannot be of more help."

"Is that even a real name? I've never seen it on a map before, and it just sounds terrible. Fundaa. Gross." Maya held her tongue out and scraped at it, as if the word had left a foul taste behind. "Let's go check a map again, there should be one in the armory."

"There's no point, we control the geography and neither of us know what this place is. There has to be some other clue here, something about who this guy is. . ."

"Reza, there's nothing left to search. Unless you've got a pair of gloves you don't want anymore and no dignity, let's just go check the map." She started walking back downhill, tracing the lake's edge.

I sighed in defeat, following suit. "Fine. Let's go, Zoxan."

It was a short walk, but we took it casually. There was a sense of urgency to be sure, but nobody ever talks about how draining the aftermath of an adrenaline spike is. Burning thighs, a pounding head. . . it's a bit like a hangover, where all the negativity previously avoided finally catches up. On our left, Maya was slipping and sliding around, waving her arms around in wild circles to balance herself on the massive icicle floating in the lake. Since it was conical, the pointed end sank first, leaving a massive, perfectly smooth surface exposed. Damn, that thing has already risen the water level so much. When the other one melts. . . well, it's a good thing we don't keep anything important on the first floor of the armory, I guess. How did she get on top of that thing, anyway?

Maya was doing her best to remain upright despite her feet betraying her on the slick, glimmering ice glowing blue in sunlight. After a little struggling, she seemed to gain control of herself, thrusting her arms into the air. The victorious motion threw her body's equilibrium off, sending her reeling to the ice, which bobbed under her weight, tilting over and dumping her into the lake with a loud splash that quickly muffled her shouting.

I laughed, allowing much needed levity to seep through aching muscles. Zoxan met my eyes for a moment, then released what I can only describe as a choppy. . . growl. The laughter caught in my diaphragm, choking off with a cough.

"Are you. . . copying me?"

His eyes sunk to the dirt.

"Do you not know what laughter is?" I pressed.

His gaze remained downcast. "I think I understand the concept, but we were very heavily restrained with little interpersonal contact. It seems to be an expression of enjoyment, one that is shared. . . but it won't come naturally for me. It seems to be acquired through group learning, so perhaps I will grasp it with time."

"That's pretty sad, Zox. But yeah, if you hang around with us, I'm sure you'll figure it out. Maya keeps things interesting."

He cocked his furry head at me. "Zox?"

"Yeah, it's a nickname. 'Zoxan' is a little rough to say over and over, but Zox is a pretty cool name. It's shorter."

"You are shortening the value of my people?"

"Wh--no. No, it's just easier to say out loud. It still has the same meaning, but it sounds cooler. It's not literally cutting the meaning in half just because the word is shorter."

"Oh, okay. I accept. I am, henceforth, Zox."

"Uh. . . yeah. We should go help Maya out now, she probably needs a towel." I patted him on the back and walked into the tower, where I'd stashed several linens in a thick, carved chest for situations like this. I grabbed one, hand-dyed deep with lapis lazuli, and shut the oak's mouth shut. Walking back out to the shore, Maya was shaking the water from her body like a dog, a tornado of wet hair whipping violently around her. Her face was glowing, split from ear to ear with a bright, pearly smile, even though I could see the skin and hair on her forearms tightening and raising with little bumps. A light, mid-day breeze was rolling in on us, and even I felt a chill setting in.

She accepted the towel as though it were merely some sort of decorative hood, wrapping it around her hair haphazardly, completely dismissing the rest of her body. Through the soaked comfortwear sticking to her skin, I could see the musculature of her upper thighs and the outline of her ribs where the chestpiece left a gap. Ugh, the thought of wet clothing chafing beneath armor. . .

Amidst fidgeting with fitting the towel to her head, she asked, "Did you check the map?"

"Oh, I forgot about that. You kind of distracted me. I'll run and grab one."

I scaled the winding stone staircase, entering the armory and scanning the room. The one we took with us to Zoxum was lost in the midst of battle but, thankfully, I always kept extras. In a corner, tucked under some older, worn-out armor, I found one rolled up.

When I got back downstairs, Maya had fully abandoned drying herself off and had begun playing rock-paper-scissors with Zox, who looked extremely focused on their game.

"Rock, paper, scissors, go!"

Zox held his fist out, and Maya had her palm open and held up like she was going to hit Zox with a karate chop. Upon seeing the result, she gave him a scornful look, like a dissatisfied teacher. "Zox, you gotta mix it up. I'm going to keep beating you if you just play rock over and over! This is no fun."

"But stone is strong. Stone would tear through paper. Why do I keep losing with it?"

"Ugh, that's just how the game works. Paper beats rock--that's the rule! It wouldn't make sense if rock beat everything, no one would play anything else."

"That rule doesn't make sense. I don't like this game. How do I pick one?"

I stayed back a moment to let them continue their bit, biting my lip to keep any laughter contained.

"You just pick one, dummy! Paper beats rock, rock beats scissors, and scissors beats paper. Got it?"

"What are 'scissors', again?"

She opened her mouth, but held the words in for a moment. "Well, uh, good question. . . they're just--a part of the game! They cut things, like paper, I guess. So they beat paper."

"What are they made of?"

"Metal? Why are you asking me all these questions? Can we just play the stupid game?"

"So you are telling me that a stone smashes metal, but does not smash paper? This game makes no sense. Metal would shatter stone."

Maya wrapped her hand over her face, like one would paper over rock.

"You should automatically lose for bringing paper to a fight," he continued, as if she were listening intently. "Such poor instincts."

"Sorry to, uh, cut in, but I have a map here." I was gesturing my index and middle fingers in a scissor motion, but Maya was still hiding her face and Zox was just staring at my hand like it had a disturbing infection. "Right, well, let's see. . ."

They gathered around me as the map unfurled.

"Yeah, this is probably bad." My finger was pressed against the map, just a few miles east of our castle, across the Litmus river. How the hell. . .

"'Oh, there's nothing on the map, it can't just change.' Aren't you glad I made you grab one of these and check?" Maya asked rhetorically, each word intending to stab my pride.

"You're definitely screwing with me, then. You just knew it'd be on the map, something that's impossible without one of us editing it? Please."

The look of playfulness and warmth evacuated her face quicker than I could keep up with. "I'm getting tired of you accusing me for this. These maps are set to represent the layout of this world, right? Well what if someone else is in here with us, and they added this place?"

I rolled my eyes. "Am I supposed to take this seriously?"

"Okay, you need to cut the crap. I know I act silly all the time, but that doesn't mean you can treat me like this isn't my world, too. You think you're a genius, right? Well tell me this: why is that idea so impossible? How did we get here? This isn't your personal domain, O Mighty Reza. Unless you're insinuating that I'm not a real person, why would it be so hard to believe that someone else found their way here? If they claimed land, this map would probably change to reflect it. Are you just scared, is that why you keep blaming me?"

My eyes lowered, jaw clenched. "I never thought of it that way." And I sure hope you're a real person, Maya.

"Exactly. Please get over yourself already, so we can move forward."

"Sorry," I muttered.

Zox let loose a jagged laugh-growl. It sounded like an obese bear walking down a flight of stairs while roaring at intruders, and quickly cut off with a sharp glance from each of us. "Sorry, inappropriate time? You two seemed to be emotional, so I thought the response was. . . I apologize."

I rubbed my eyes, turning around to take a deep breath and think. "Maya. . . did you mess with the dead body?"

"Ew, what is that supposed to mean?"

"Like, did you do the thing where you hide dead bodies in trees again?"

"THAT WAS ONE TIME--wait, why are you asking me that?"

"Because it's gone, Maya."

She ran up alongside me, squinting, using her hand as a visor. "We're downhill, our view is probably just blocked. Go check if you're worried."

I walked uphill, past the massive glacier slowly turning the earth around it to mud. Tiny streams trickled through gleaming blades of grass, trailing into the lake.

"MAYA! PROBLEM!"

Both she and Zox came running toward me, churning mud beneath their feet.

"What's wrong?"

I pointed to the blood pooling in our courtyard, which had become marginally more visible now that there was no body resting atop it.

"Uh. . . there's a trail of blood, and it ends at the splatter on the wall here. How is this possible, Reza?"

"I don't know what's going on. Maybe he was some sort of glitch, and disappeared after dying? Or something took his body away? Hungry bat, maybe? This is just-"

Thunk.

My eyes slowly turned to the ground next to me, where a small needle was lodged in the dirt; it was a transparent light blue and a little puff of smoke was pooling around it. I bent over and reached to pull it out, but recoiled in pain immediately, sending it back to the grass.

"Damn, it burns if you touch it. The air around it feels cold, though. . . oh, God."

Thunk. Clink.

There were ice needles landing all over the place, arcing from over the castle wall just in front of us and landing in the dirt or shattering against stone. Maya took off toward the front gate, presumably to take him on again. When I tried to stop her, another thunk rang out, this time from my left forearm, right near the elbow. I yowled in pain, the needle freezing flesh and blood around it. The pain felt real, far more real than anything else I'd experienced. I tried to remove it myself, but it was far too sensitive to the touch; my flesh was freezing to it, visibly tugging with every pull of the ice. Zox and I stumbled forward, pressing ourselves to the castle wall for cover.

"Zox, yank it out. This thing's going to freeze my veins shut and it hurts too much for me to do it myself."

"As you say."

Without even hesitating, he grabbed the icicle and ripped it from my arm, bits of frozen blood and meat still attached to it. I screamed as it parted my flesh, which visibly upset Zox.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to harm you. I'm sorry, I can put it back." His head was bowed to me.

"Why would you put it back? I'd be in worse shape if you hadn't pulled it out, but please, God, warn me next time so I can brace myself. We need to go after Maya."

"Your wound needs tending, shouldn't we let Maya handle things herself?"

"Don't worry, it's still mostly frozen shut so I'm not going to bleed out. It wasn't very big, either. Maya can't handle this by herself, let's go."

We ducked down, hugging the wall to avoid the incoming barrage of ice that spanned almost the entire length of our courtyard, and made it to the front gate just after Maya had finished opening it. All three of us ducked down and ran along the forward wall, then peeked around the corner. Sure enough, the mage was standing at the forest's edge, arms raised above his head where I could just faintly see mist condensating into small needles through a haze drifting up into the sky. He noticed us peeking around the corner and redirected his volley, forcing us to remain pressed against the wall until the barrage ceased.

By the time we could safely step back out into the open, he was already slipping into the thick, twisting forest. Maya tried to chase him down, but I grabbed the back of her breastplate and held her in place.

"Don't. That's an ambush waiting to happen, with so much for him to hide behind. He's gone for now, and we should collect ourselves inside."

She swatted my hand away and scoffed, storming toward the forest with Vesper drawn. Zox looked at me, to which I responded with a shake of the head before following her.

Luckily, the mage was leaving a trail of blood behind him as he ran through the woods. We had difficulty catching up to Maya, who was charging forward without trying to maintain any cover, but we didn't lose her.

"Maya, he's going to target you if you won't try to use the trees to protect yourself. You're giving him an opening!"

I got nothing in response, but as if taking it upon himself to answer the question, an icicle flew straight at Maya. It wasn't enormous, about the size of a carrot from my judgement, but it was enough to kill anything it hit. She leapt up and turned sideways to thin her profile, just dodging the projectile, which blasted through a tree, scattering splinters into the air like terrified toothpicks.

For about two kilometers, we tailed Maya as she ducked and dodged through the trees. At last, we'd reached the forest's edge and the treeline began to thin--which was simultaneously a blessing and a curse.

It was good because our visibility increased, and we were able to see the mage pushing off of Stonepoint shore on a small raft of ice, nearly translucent such that he looked to be standing on the river itself. We were also able to see him amassing a flurry of needles above his head again, a tiny blizzard in the distance.

Therein lied the bad--we had much less cover, and he was not playing around this time. There had to have been at least a thousand needles collecting in the air, swirling in mist and haze, if not more.

We ran back into the forest, each ducking behind again tree, waiting for the impending volley.

"We can't let him get away, goddamnit." She was out of breath, but I could see the razor-sharp focus in her eyes hadn't dulled a bit.

Sure enough, a faint whistling sound cut through the air as thousands of needles thunked around us, covering the trees and ground in glistening spikes. Dense fog released into the air as they underwent sublimation, billowing all around us. So it's dry ice, then. That's why it burns so much. And why bother with a boat? Can't he just freeze the river solid, or float in the air?

Once the hail ended, Maya ran out to the shore. When Zox and I caught up with her, she'd stopped at the rocky shore, balancing on the point of a jutted rock. There was a thick mist over the opposite bank, completely obscuring our vision of what lied beyond, swallowing trees and any secrets they hid from us.

"Maya, let's go back home for now. There's nothing more we can do." My entire left arm was throbbing with each heartbeat.

With a sigh, she turned around and stormed back towards the treeline.

Upon returning to the keep, the three of us were greeted by two black blurs erratically flapping down from the reddening sky. They landed, licking Maya's face in hopes of getting some fruit. Zox fleed at the sight of them, which earned a stiff laugh from both of us.

"Oh, I get it. Come by for food and attention, but not when we're being attacked!" I scolded them upon my approach. The scarred bat flapped his wings in disapproval of my quip.

Maya hadn't said a word since we'd arrived; she'd just been staring forward, eyes glossed over, a slow hand petting the two bats. Without breaking her hollow, statuesque gaze, she spoke up.

"I think we should take a break for a couple days. Something's not right here, and I need to think it all over. If someone else is in here with us, and he's doing whatever he wants, we need to be prepared."

I wasn't going to argue with a somber Maya. "That's not a bad idea. A break wouldn't hurt, and I could use a night of actual sleep to let this wound heal. In two nights, we'll meet here at the usual time?"

"Sure. Let's head up to bed."

As we walked back into the castle, I noticed Zox had already curled up beside a tree near where we'd fought the mage.

"Hey, Zox. What're you doing? Come sleep inside the castle."

He looked up at me, and though he was a good distance away, I saw his eyes light up like candles in the dying light. He caught up with us, stopping on his way in to rest a hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you, Reza," he said with a smile before shifting his attention to the grand interior of our home. "This place is marvelous. Absolutely stunning."

"Thanks. Some day, I'll take you around and explain some of the stuff," I told him, noting Maya had gone straight upstairs. "But not today--I should follow her. If you go to the left and follow the hall, there's a guest bedroom before the dining hall. Make yourself at home. We'll be awake in two days."

"Humans sleep a lot."

"So do bears."

"Oh, this is where I should laugh!" He exclaimed with sudden fervor, grunting awkwardly. It wasn't even close, but it sounded better than the previous abominations.

"Your timing is better! Next time, don't announce it beforehand. It won't be long now before you get the technique down. See you later, Zox."

I found Maya sitting on the bed, eyes full of thought. I've never seen her like this before.

"You okay?"

She snapped out of her daydream, warmth returning to her face. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I guess I'm just worried we're losing this place, that's definitely part of it. I'm fine, though! Let's get out of here and take a little reverse vacation, huh? That wound looks pretty bad, by the way."

"Yeah, it hurts like hell, but it'll be fine by the time I'm back." I climbed into bed, watching sunset through dark, pinkish windows. "By the way, I have a question."

"What's up?"

"Do you think Zox is a real person, like us? Or just part of the world?"

"Well, I guess I haven't thought about that. If the mage is just this place running wild, couldn't Zox be as well? Even if the mage isn't, I feel like Zox has to be. He's so weird."

"That's a good point. Well, whatever--let's go to bed." I turned to her.

She's already asleep.

With a kiss on the cheek, I whispered goodnight to her and pulled a yellow crystal, like a lemon geode, out from the nightstand. Once it clicked into the lock above our bed, a low hum washed over the keep grounds as a protective barrier surrounded our castle. It blanketed the sky, swallowing us in an aurora like a dome of slick oil.

It's really weird, falling asleep in order to wake up. One minute, the sun's going down, my eyes are closed and I'm thinking, the next. . .

My eyes opened to darkness, and I stretched across an empty bed. I checked the alarm clock on my nightstand: 4:52 A.M.

The next, I'm sitting in a dark room, waiting for sunset to come again.

I set my left arm down as leverage to push myself out of bed and pain seared through it, my nerves screaming for help.

My. . . my left arm feels like it's being stabbed. Am I still dreaming?