The wind whipped Maci’s pale cheeks, gently bruising them salmon, but the young girl barely noticed it, as she was enthralled by the entire track up the hill. She felt her calves burning up from the climbing, but at the same time it felt familiar, it reminded her of her training days with her team. The boost was enough to keep her ahead of her guide, Arim and the tag-alongs;

Temitayo was the third in the line, alongside her coin guardians; they felt responsible that Ecne has been ignoring his duty to train the humans in their abilities. And they had years of experience in tracking the lands of the Domains, the group felt that the city life made them a bit too indolent.

Finley, on the other hand, could barely track his feet at the back of the line, even though they insisted on joining Maci. He moaned and complained, as expected, about the length and rocky path; Arim was the only one who tried to cheer him on, but what kept the teen climbing was the jabs Maci kept hurling at him.

Their destination was the tree at the top, which from afar looked like an installation made out of rubble and corroded concrete, with green steel bars extending upwards. It didn’t grow leaves, just black bags filled with ash-like seeds, that fell and gathered only at the base. Its roots lifted way above the ground, leaving enough space for something, or someone, to hurdle underneath it. No one longer knew what came first, the tree or the creature sleeping beneath it. And Ashen never told the truth about it. 

When the visitors reached the top, they found the dragon tensed and eyes bulging from frustration, staring at the cards in front of him while his elderly opponent grinned, sure of his victory in the game of Belote. 

Ashen- “ Emile, you cheated somehow, didn’t you?”, asked the beast, sweating in front of the puny old man who only shrugged as a reply. 

Emile- “ I’ve already amassed more points than you; why wouldn’t I cheat to crush you entirely?” The firbolg grunted and puffed smoke out of his nostrils; a useless act, as the cheeky grin was still plastered on the Frenchman’s face. A cry then made him turn around. 

The old man changed his tune the moment his ears caught his favorite word in the wide world:

-“Papou!” yelled Maci, still stacked with energy, to Finley and Temitayo’s shock. 

Emile- “Mon petit moteur!”, cried out the old man, forgetting everything about the game or his smoldering opponent. “Qu’est-ce que tu fais ici?”, he asked joyfully, with a smile soon to be lost as he noticed the entourage. “Sa-lut”. His voice rose a pitch, and cracked with him from the simple act of saying “hi”.

Arim nodded, while the rest politely greeted in return.

…

Emile- “ This is quite a surprise”, whispered the grandfather to his niece, “ I thought that we’ll be having another kind of talk today, you know.”

Maci- “ Yeah”, she replied, without being on the same wavelength as Emile’s remark, “I had to pester him to show us how to use our abilities, but you know me. I can be very diplomatic”, the girl flaunted while repeatedly smacking her fists into one another as a possible trigger for her swapping ability.

Emile frowned his bushy eyebrows, a bit confused, but then decided to avoid the topic for now. “So…are those your new friends?”, he asked, nodding at Finley and Temitayo. 

Maci shrugged, unsure of how to call them. “ Pals? The one with straight, blonde hair is a bit annoying, but they’re the only person around to talk football with. And the girl is kinda of an airhead sometimes, but I’m getting the hang of her personality. Reminds me of the girl in defense-”

Emile- “ The one who volleyballed the balle in your face?”, and Maci only nodded. “Ah, I understand now”.

A clap from Arim drew everyone’s attention to him. “ Alright, I guess we can begin. I kinda hoped to have Finley help me out with the demonstration, but since both his and mine pact partners are on a field trip with Lian-”

Maci- “ Boo! Traitors!”

Arim- “ AND Brigit is also busy being operator for Ogda and Giol”,

Maci- “ Mega traitor!”

Arim- “ we’ll split like this: Grushie and Scramble will explain how the ability works (instead of their Lord), then we’ll split into two groups. Me, Emile and Ashen will test out the old man’s ability, while the rest will help Maci figure out an activator signal. “

To his surprise, the teen tacitly accepted the conditions; even Maci, after seeing what happened to Lian, wouldn’t dare to try to activate her power without Brigit around. “What about Temi?”, the teen then thought to ask, without knowing that the new girl wanted to just sit and watch. The name shortening also took the young archaeologist by surprise, feeling her nose and ears flaring up. She hoped her brown skin would hide it, but her rosy cheeks couldn’t hide her disposition. 

Temitayo- “  We barely know each other, how can she just? I just need to calm down and ask her to not do that again”- “Stop it…Maaaaa…qi?” The rosiness now expanded all over the face, conquering the lands under the eyes, forehead, with the capital at the top of her nose. Fortunately, though, that poor attempt of a comeback never left her thoughts, as she feared, so no one actually heard it. 

Temitayo- “Right…I’m fine just watching. Not planning on doing some Fect Pact anyway. “

Finley- “ Suit yourself, but just sitting there seems boring. Especially after climbing this GIANT-”, he then looked down the hill. 

Maci- “ It’s only a 50 meters hill, man”

Finely- “ SUMMIT!”

Maci- “ Eh, manageable. Anyway, Temi, this doofus isn’t entirely wrong. And I’m still not sure what my activation signal should be, so having another set of hands to inspire me wouldn’t hurt. So, what do you say?”

…

An hour later, the teens and the coin firbolgs ran over a couple of hand combinations, which quickly devolved into messing around and inventing a power system hierarchy for each finger out of tiredness. Unanimously, the thumb was agreed on as the strongest, while the pinky kept getting switched between the last and penultimate place.

In another corner, Ashen grinned and enjoyed seeing his old pal acting all flustered and shy around a young man, young enough to be his grandson. 

Emile- “ Ça fait si longtemps. Com-Comment vas tu?” He tried to maintain eye contact, which Arim found difficult to do, especially with him.

Arim- “ My French isn’t that good, Emile. I’m guessing that the right answer is…fine?”

Some ancient sparked in Emile. He had a set of comebacks, hidden deep in the bowls of his stomach. The response was composed with blisters and pus, he was close to admonish the boy for forgetting his roots, and his mother for not teaching him his father’s language. ; a reaction from his previous years, for which the old man almost suffered dearly for.

Emile- “ That’s good, that’s good.” He paused, to let the young man say something. Nothing, though. “Heard anything from your father, lately?” His awkwardness didn’t jell with the rough, thin, rugged face covered by a thick, white beard, but the man tried. 

Arim- “ Uhu. We had lunch a few months ago. He seemed fine. Talked about life…and that”, he remarked, tilting his head towards Maci. “ Care to explain what happened?”

Emile- “ Ah”, he reacted, back to his usual tone. “ Maci. We…still don’t know exactly, but it seems like she might have suspected her father of hiding…things. Like your monthly meetings.”

Arim- “ Of course.”

Emile- “ Qui. Le petite moteur, wickedly snooping around the house. I've caught her once at his work computer. Couldn’t pass the protection barriers, but she was insistent. Which brings us to here. Have you thought? About telling her that your brother?”

Arim- “ No”, he cried out firmly, louder than expected. The young man got closer, almost angrily whispering his words, “ Absolutely not. I’m not causing another family feud!”

A set of words which brought back shame on himself, but also anger at his grandson. “ Boy, I’ve told you already, this was never your fault. I’m-”, but before he could finish, Ashen chimed in, hoping to calm things down a bit. 

Ashen- “ Youngling, chin up. Why would you think you’re capable of something like that, huh?”

Arim- “ I…It happened before, right? With mom and dad? And I want to understand that I’m not at fault, I know…but I-”

Ashen coughed and looked at the tree. He then turned towards the laughing teens- “ Arim, how old do you think I am? Over a millennia, right? And I’ve died 8 times so far, with only two more tries to go. And I’m the last one from my friends that managed to survive with the curse for so long.”

Arim- “ Ye..yes? I know, sir, and I… What, where are you going with this?”

Ashen- “ And you humans are much more limited than that. Maximum a single century. Gone, forever. Not even able to be recreated from the Primordial, like us firbolgs. Limited life, with limited choices.” He waited for a moment, to get his thoughts straight. “ I’m not sure, boy, what the right answer is. For you, or this weird family. I just want you to think of what will make you content. Can you do that, for me?”

While he already made the same kind of promise to his teacher, Masso, Krass, Zinc; Arim always forgot about it and moved on. What’s one more promise now? “ I… Alright, sir. I’ll consider it.”

Ashen- “ Good. And you, I thought the years taught you to pick the right time for your battle. Not just jump in whenever.” Emile just looked to the side, annoyed, but happy that Ashen jumped in.

Arim- “ Alright then. Guess we can move on? Should we try this again?”

The old man followed Arim’s instructions and did what felt the most natural for him, pressing his two hands together, like a prayer. He concentrated, like his nephew said, on the tingle from his pact signs imprinted on his fingertips, to feel the whirlpool that went on inside of them. A few moments later, slivers of colored lights started to spring out of his fingers, traveling in pairs towards Emil's arctic hair. One by one, each of the lines dimmed, until only the violet one remained. It circled around his forehead, forming a thin halo that glowed in a dim purple.

He then opened his eyes and stood quiet. A few seconds later, Ashen giggled. The teens stared at the two, unsure of what happened. Maci then heard a knock inside her head.

Arim- “ Just imagine that you’re opening a door.” And she followed his words.

Emile- “ Alo? You can hear me, right?”

Maci jumped, scared by the sudden voice of her grandfather talking to her. “WHAT!? YOU HAVE TELEPATHIC POWERS?”

Emile- “Qui. Pretty cool, right? Like that mutant proffeseur?”

Maci- “Don’t know who that is, but that’s so cool, grandpa! Can you talk with multiple people like this?”

Emile- “Ah, good question. Let me try?”

The old man concentrated on extending his knocks, founding eight doors in the area…wait, eight? He then turned around, crying out to whomever was hiding around. 

Ashen- “ Ari…tsz…Tuatha coins, can I entrust you with the safety of the children?”, but Temitayo was already rushing through her list of masks for Grushie and Scramble. 

???- “ There’s no need for that”, said the voice, slowly descending from the sky. “ Fiars, heed your lord! Embark on my mission.”

Behind the Lord of Masks slowly descended his ship from behind the clouds, showing it’s mutated, battle form. It was thinner, sleeker, with cannons and other weapons sticking out. 

Before any could ask what was going on, Finley cried out towards the city. “Smoke?!”, he tried to guess, pointing towards a veil rapidly spreading around Caer Sidi. In just a matter of seconds, the entire city was captured by the white tissue, covering everyone in it.