Before I could settle back into considering things, Felix raised his head, and my Olfactory caught a whiff of Sinmot sneaking up on me. That was careless of him. I looked around carefully and didn’t see anything upwind. I made sure to check all around as I had been tricked before, and then my Clearsight spotted him downwind. Clearsight had bonuses for seeing through stealth, but I had to be looking, and these dwarves generally had journeyman-level stealth as opposed to my apprentice-level Clearsight, powered by my Physical and Spiritual Perception attributes.

  “Evening,” I greeted him.

  “Morning, actually,” he replied, “The scent tipped you off, didn’t it?”

  I nodded.

  “I pissed upwind and thought it might give me time,” he said.

  “Eric got me that way once,” I said. “I learned that lesson.”

  He nodded, “Good. Only a few hours to go.”

  I nodded, and he left. I have had them double back before as well, so you don’t stop watching. This is part of training as a Guard, always being alert, even in the long hours of a watch and even when you are thinking about other things.

  One moon was setting, and the second was skimming the horizon. The stars were clear to me even though whisps of clouds were forming. This was the missing piece: the stars, moons, and, I guess, the sun in summer. The vastness of space and the objects in space resonate with me, and this is the feeling I get from the cavern.

  If the cavern was a creature, I am sure it did not come from the ocean but from the stars. My knowledge of the stars and the void between them is pretty rudimentary. It is only enough for me to navigate with them, and then it has large margins of error without instruments. I don’t need to know a lot to feel an affinity with them.

  I shuddered as a feeling of cold and emptiness flowed through me, followed by a rush of heat. I had plenty of cold resistance, but I had no heat resistance, and it felt like fire burned through me, touching every small part. I heard Felix whimper in pain beside me, so this was affecting him as well. I should have waited before bonding, but it was too late now.

  I lost awareness of what was around me, which was dangerous. I didn’t know this was going to happen or how long it would take. It was an idiot mistake on my part. Sinmot has just been, so he won’t be back for a while. We have several hours on watch left before we are replaced.

  The cold was there, and the heat burned through at the same time. It seemed to go on and on, with a feeling of vast emptiness. My pain resistance will be going up. Funny how my mind flicks to things like that, like it is disassociating from the pain.

  We didn’t pass out, but it was a near thing. When I became aware, I immediately checked my surroundings. It all looked quiet. The wind had picked up and lifted loose ice particles and blew them around. The clouds were thickening and obscuring the stars. I checked again carefully, especially the places somebody with stealth would choose to hide.

  It looks like I got away with the lapse. I know nothing has happened for weeks, but it is the one time you slip up that it will happen. Except this time, I seem to be OK.

  Or not.

  There is movement out on the ice. Is it animal or people? This is where Farsight is needed, and I don’t have it. Time to get someone who does.

  I check on Felix. He seems OK, but I can’t send him with a message. I scoop him up and push my stealth with speed.

  Sinmot, who is stationed above the mine entrance, can’t see out on the ice, which is why my guard place was chosen. I am not blowing a whistle, as that will alert whoever is on the ice if it is not animals.

  Sinmot sees me coming fast and is alerted. I give him the hand signal for unknowns and point to the direction. He signs back, “swap posts,” and moves out. I take his position and wait. Sinmot has Darksight and Farsight. The blown ice might interfere with his sight, but none of us have everything. He is certainly more experienced than me.

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  While I wait, I catch a quick look at our statuses. We both now have Heat Resistance. I assume Felix’s is about the level of mine, which is 5. My Pain Resistance has risen, and Felix now has that as well.

  The big thing, though, is we now both have an affinity. It is one I have never heard of. We have an affinity to the Astral. I assume it is an affinity to the stars, moons and void of space. I am seriously going to need to learn a lot more about them. Nobody here knows more than Yoboc, and he has taught me what he knows. He is a scholar of the natural world, not the stars. He only knows enough to navigate. This means I need to visit a city with a large Lore Society.

  Without the cavern, I would never have discovered my affinity—or maybe awoken my affinity. Come summer, a shipload of specialists will arrive to study the cavern. The chances they have somebody with knowledge of the stars and astral are slim, as they think the monster is from the ocean. They did take samples with them.

  This is now a priceless find. This is unique. Where else would you find the carcass of a space monster? And that is what I am sure it is. This news will get out. They have smart people, and I am sure by the end of summer they will know. Wars will be fought over this.

  Wars will be fought over me if they find out about my Astral affinity. Affinities are rare anyway. Someone with a previously unknown affinity? Everybody will want to control me. I looked down at Felix. Controlling him is the obvious method of controlling me. I assume they will come with rich offers first, but the threat will always be there. This has to stay hidden, and I need to work on ways to escape if I need to.

  I don’t even know what the affinity does, and now I have to work it out on my own. Yoboc will help if I ask. Should I ask? Will he let it slip or tell his bosses? Dwarves do silly things when they are drunk.

  There is an even bigger problem. The Forgemakers home city is Obalno in the Kingdom of Kirghiz. It is also the easiest city for me to get to. However, they have five years of compulsory military training for all affinity users. I am not a citizen, but I am not sure that will stop them. Affinity users are key national resources, and they won’t want a loose one wandering around.

  Can I even keep it a secret? Displaying unknown abilities will trigger questions. People have sensing skills I have never heard of. How do I protect my mind, status and Spiritual signature from being sensed?

  I don’t have to decide now. I have time. The spring thaw is still a month or so away. What I have decided is that I don’t want to stay here next winter. I need to get away from here as I am quite literal when I say there will be war over this. The Kirghiz Kingdom and the Nystad Empire are both within striking distance of here. The Forgemakers are from the Kingdom.

  How am I going to pay for passage out of here? Maybe I just need to keep wandering along the coast. The trouble with that plan is it does not help my lack of knowledge. For that, I need a Lore Society or something similar.

  From what I hear, the Nystad Empire is worse than the Kingdom. However, I must remember that all my information has come from citizens of the kingdom, so they are probably biased. The fact that the Nystad Empire keeps slaves turns me off, but I need to keep an open mind.

  What I want is not to have to join anybody. I just want to live my life in peace. Wandering the Arctic alone is looking increasingly attractive. Just me and Felix. The trouble is I now know how weak someone with a lack of knowledge is. Look at how far I have come with the dwarves.

  Peace could come if I have a powerful backer. I could join the Kingdom and do their training. Or the Forgemakers are a large clan, maybe they would protect me and I could work for them? If they know about my affinity they will not have me working as a simple guard. They will want to make use of it. I will be bound to them. That means I will not be free.

  Pause, Ivan, I tell myself. Take some deep breaths. We don’t have to decide anything now. Learn from Felix and chill.

  I see Sinmot returning. Felix stirs and gets up. He rubs himself against my leg.

  “Definitely animal,” he tells me. “In fact, I don’t know how you even thought it could be people. Your eyes need fixing. Wait here, I am going to get the others. They are all going to want to see this.”

  I waited, and soon, those not on duty appeared, and we went to see what it was. Sinmot was right. I am not sure how I could have mistaken huge 4m-6m tall multi-ton mammoths for people. Long shaggy fur and huge tusks. It was a family group with two adults and one small one. The ground shook when they moved. They were an amazing sight to see.

  Mammoths were monsters with a core, but nobody even suggested attacking them. These things could probably fight off griffons.

  We watched as they meandered along the coast, staying near the shore and using their trunks to pull off some branches to eat. Majestic. This was the pull of the Arctic. You don’t see this anywhere else. Why shouldn’t I just stay here? The clear starry sky, the empty space and the majestic monsters.

  The reason is I am not strong enough yet. My thoughts went back to the Sabertooth tiger. It was strong, but I don’t really know how strong. You don’t need to be able to beat everything here. You just need to be able to hide or run if necessary.