"That's your sister. "

Wha...What did she just say.

"That is your sister, she must of tracked you down. Stay silent, let Khalid deal with this."

My sister?!? Why is she here? Did she stop the train? Based on how long we were riding we must only be an hour away from the Talsin at most, and there's no station here for the train to stop at. I look around and see smoke coming from behind us, they must of damaged the train somehow. But how?? The spears and swords they have couldn't have damaged the train.

And who are these people with her, they almost look like a group of bandits. Ragged clothes and hoods, swords and spears. Dirty. All men in their middle ages, she looks around there too.

My sister...did she come here to.... I need to talk to her!

"Stay silent. Let Khalid speak, he can calm them, mislead them, simply follow his lead. We don't know what her next move is, aside from trying to kill you."

Getting constantly pulled in and out of the dark when I'm trying to focus on the present is annoying. But if Khalid can do what she's claiming then...maybe I'll let him take the lead for now. But I need to speak to her, my sister....

Back in the real world now.

"I finally found you. I heard the soldiers stationed in Berksans were looking for someone who matched your description, but I never thought it would actually be you. You...you ruined everything. If you had stopped her, none of this would have happened."

I can hear the pain in her voice. Whatever she's saying means a lot to her.

She points her sword at me. The men behind her do to. Their too far to cut us down, maybe its an intimidation tactic.

Khalid yells out.

"Wait. I don't know what this man did to you, but you wouldn't kill two innocent travelers would you? Please, just explain what happened and maybe we can come to a solution."

That's the dark lady's plan? Let Khalid beg for mercy?

Wait, the men behind my sister, their lowering their weapons, only a little bit, but they seem a little less agitated. My sister is holding steadfast though. Her face shifts from angry to concerned.

"I've never met a breath changer as powerful as you, I didn't even know one could do that at this large of a scale. Who are you? You must be someone special...Men, don't lower your guard no matter what your mind or body tells you. He is pulling at your mind, tricking you."

I can see looks of confusion popping up on the men behind her, they must not of known a breath changer as powerful Khalid exists either. I wonder why he never tried to manipulate me....wait, is the dark lady protecting me from that?

"You are clearly a wise woman, but I was not trying to deceive anyone, only protect me and my nephews life. You would do the same for your family wouldn't you?"

Nephew...family...Khalid doesn't know, the dark lady never told him...Damnit.

My sister's face shifts back to anger.

"So you too must not know each other, I wonder why someone as powerful as you is travelling with my brother then. Are you working with those demons too?"

"Demons? Please allow u-"

Khalid chokes on his last word and dives backwards. I see the sword my sister was holding sticking into the spot he was just standing in. Did she throw it at h-. No, she's still standing in the same spot. I look closer and...the sword...it's in her arm. Her arm is metal, wait, all the men behind her...none of them were holding swords or spears, all those weapons are just apart of their body...they must be transmuters! My sister, she was able to stretch out her sword several feet in an instant. Its wider too, went from a normal short sword to a giant cleaver in moments. It looks so heavy, but her arm doesn't look any more strained than it did when it was a normal size... wow, could I do things like this before too?

The men behind her jump into what looks like a formation. They start enlarging and changing their arms too. In what seems like an instant, a group of 8 with small arms are now a group of 8 with giant, but somehow easy to wield spears and swords. Some have even transmuted both arms now. The way they moved, they must have practised this maneuver, they almost seem like their soldiers. But why are they dressed like that then?

"Please. Before you kill us, at least here us out. Yes, I lied about him being my nephew. But only because I did not want to see an innocent young man killed. Wouldn't you do the same in my situation?"

I can see the soldiers in the background fighting themselves after hearing his words. Their metal arms start to shrink a little, then they'll jostle themselves and return them back to their full sizes. It seems like Khalid's tricks don't work as well on people who know what he can do, but the fact that only my sister was able to detect his ability...he's clearly a dangerous man. He's even affecting these hardy looking soldiers, without the dark lady protecting me from him....He could of killed me in an instant I'm sure. Imagine what he could do to a common town-person.

"Take out your weapon brother, if you ...if you still are my brother. Transmute your arm, show me the power he, you had. The power you should still have..."

Why did she say 'if you still are him'???

My world goes black. This time it almost felt like I was being pulled in aggressively.

"Kill her. Khalid's tricks are up, and he won't be able to kill a group of well trained transmuters like this on his own. If you surprise attack her, you both might have a chance, at least to wound enough of them to force a retreat."

Kill my sister? No I need answers.

"No. I need to talk to her first. I need to find out what happened between me and my family. And why did she say 'if you still are him', do you know something about that?!?"

I can sense a stern look on her face, I can't see it through the darkness, but it's definitely there.

"She knows you can come back from the dead, but she's never seen your new power. If you surprise her first, you have a chance. If you don't, she and her men will capture you, and you'll never see your mother again. And remember, your mother was the only one in your family not trying to kill you. So your choice, never see your mother again and have the chance to maybe ask this killer a question, or do what your mother asked of you."

....Dammit...I need more time to think...wait, I have as much time as I want in here...

"Khalid doesn't seem that ready to kill, he is still talking. Maybe we should follow his lead and wait."

"His only plan was to try and use his powers, he never bets on anyone being able to call him out like your sister did. It's just too rare of an occurrence. it takes someone with exceptional will power to ignore his miracle, and even rarer is someone who can deduce that he can do what he can do. He knows he can't talk his way out of this now.

He is not panicking because he believes that they will either capture you and hold you captive, which is something he was hoping would happen to you by his own hand, or that you will teleport him and yourself out of this place any moment now."

"Teleport!?!? Why would he tha-"

"I saw it in his mind, when I was in him. He saw you in the park seemingly teleport away from that group of soldiers. That is an extremely rare, almost unheard of power in this world. It's giving him a misguided sense of confidence, but its one we want him to keep having. If he over-estimates you he won't try anything, and it will force him to keep working with us. If he asks later, just tell him that teleporting requires the my assistance, and that I refused to allow you to use that power and didn't say why. He knows we in the dark don't share to many details about our powers, so he won't question it too much.

But, back to the matter on hand. We can spend all day, all year debating this in here, but it's not necessary. If you don't want to kill her fine, for now at least. Just cut her enough to force her men to rally around her and stay on the defensive, and then Khalid will do the rest to ensure they retreat. "

I don't see any other way out of this. She's right, Khalid failed, and if she holds me captive then my mom... I'll just try and cut her somewhere non fatal, push my lines towards her arm or something. She seems very strong, and people with miracles seem more resilient than normal people anyways.

The dark lady lets me back into the real world.

I look at my sister straight in the eyes. Her expression changes a little, I think she can tell I am about to do something. But if she's expecting a giant spear...

I pull my fist back like I am about to punch, and it goes black. Black lines start to form all around me. I look at my sisters right arm, I focus on that spot. I throw a punch with as much force and speed as I can. From several feet away my black lines start to rush towards. In a split second their already have way to her. Her eyes go wide, and the giant sword coming out of her starts to get smaller, is she about to ru-wait she's not moving. She's planting her feet... ! Her skin on her right arm, I can see it, the metal she's retracting from her giant sword, she's covering her upper arm with it, like armor!

My black lines reach her. Like last time, lines that I push don't explode into cuts. They seem to just fade away after they make contact with something and cutting them. My lines push into her ragged clothing. exposing the metal armor covering her upper arm. Most of my lines hit the armored skin, a few straggling lines hit her unprotected ribs... Wait! Her metal sword is getting even smaller, she's armoring her ribs too now!

I see a little bit of blood start to drop from her body. From several feet away, the best I can tell is most of my lines hit her miracle, but a few managed to hit her plain skin. She must not of been able to armor her ribs fast enough, but it does look like she covered enough of them to prevent too much damage...I'm amazed, so transmuters can play defence and offence...could I do this before too?

The men around her are staring at her too, and they look equally amazed. She armored so much of her body so quickly, and even her sword arm expanded so fast and seemed so light, compared to the way her companions are swinging their arms I can tell its not as easy for them to wield their weapons. Their weapons aren't as big either. I'm going to guess they can't armor themselves as fast/well either.... maybe I'll have an easier time fight-

I feel some liquid filling my mouth. I spit it out, and see red on the rocks in front of me.

I start seeing a lot of red. Everywhere I look is red. I feel heat...wait..Is this bloo...Is this bloo....my speech is starting to slur. I feel heat, but nothing els- I look down. Six or seven giant swords and spears are sticking into me. The largest of them all, a giant sword, is...is in my he...my che-

...I'm in the dark now. I think I just died. Damnit.