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I jogged up the hill toward the store, the weight of a heavy, pure silver wristband on my right arm weighing me down. As I approached the door, I took off the wristband and replaced it on my left hand. Its length was from my wrist halfway to my elbow. I entered the store, rubbing my red arm and my tired wrist; a chunk of silver sitting on my wrist had left some marks on my skin. I headed toward the dairy section, where they had the eggs. It was an old store, mostly wooden. It had stood here ever since, and it had always been my preferred shop. I picked up a carton of 4 grade A eggs; one of them were cracked. I picked up the second on the pile, and returned the imperfect one. It was $1.85, as usual. I grabbed a nice-looking stalk of spring onion and headed to the counter. I fished out a few bills and coins from my pocket, and handed the correct amount to Earl, the storekeeper. He grew all the produce in the store, so they were all seasonal. Sometimes, the eggs would be $.85; other times it would be $2.60. Summer yielded an average amount of eggs. It was quite rare that he had spring onions; he hadn't quite grasped it yet. The stalk I had was a very small one – just enough for a single meal. After a small exchange of greetings, I ambled back to my home. The walk lasted about 5 minutes, and the Sunday afternoon was relentless. The buzzing of insects and the rustle of dry grass softened the mood a little bit. Navigating through the dense forestry that surrounded my home, I wiped the sweat pouring down my forehead. As I locked the door to my small, square wood cabin, I looked at the clock on my left wall. It was a bit past one, and my stomach confirmed it so. My feet were slightly sore, and my arm was being torn apart. I carried my eggs to my Bunsen burner. My cabin was about 400 square feet, so the smell of spring onions filled the house with its aroma. Once again, I swapped the location of the wristband. Still rubbing my sore arm, I started up the burner. I kept it at a small flame at first; I didn't want to waste my fuel. The trip into the city would take an hour. With a little mental muscle, the silver slowly melted and formed a simple frying pan that extended from a now very thin wristband. I prepared a bit of salt and pepper, and I cooked a simple meal of egg and onions. I sat cross-legged on the floor, and ate. When I finished eating my lunch, I gingerly washed the silver pan. When it was sparkling clean, I examined my features to make sure I was looking normal. Black hair straight, tilted to one side, almond eyes clear and keen, slightly fat nose free of snot, and firm mouth covered with egg yolk. I scrambled up toward my drawer, where I produced a sheet of tissue paper. I wiped my mouth clean, which was easy compared to Earl's long, grey beard. I'd heard that he had a mouse live in there once. I pushed the mental muscle just a teeny tiny bit again and the perfectly clean pan returned to a heavy wristband.
It was like a willful thought – if I willed it to become a pan, so it did. If I willed it to become a hammer, so it did. I wasn't born with this ability. That would be a ridiculous idea; how could people manipulate metal with their mind? No, my ability came from the ground. I was walking home from a store one night when I found a peculiar blue gemstone. It was about the size of a bean, but longer and translucent – like a teardrop. It was shiny and rough when I first found it; now it is very smooth. It had caught my eye when it reflected the moon's light. When I bent down to pick it up, it seemed to glow a dark, dark blue. As I straightened up, stone in my palm, it began to grow a film of silver around it. I continued on my walk home, fascinated by this stone. By the time I had entered my house, the silver had stopped growing. It was a round lump of silver, and deep inside it was the stone. Because of this, I called it my blue core. I sat on the floor, and I held the lump gingerly with both hands. I had no idea what it would do next, so I began to imagine what I wanted to do with all this silver. It was fairly tough; I couldn't bend it much with my fingers alone. I imagined having a sword, and suddenly the silver in my hands melted and reformed into a beautiful sword, exactly as I imagined it. It didn't go burning hot, nor did it leave pools of liquid silver. Every little atom of the silver had rearranged themselves into a sword. Every little design was intricately formed. I held the sword, and I began to understand. I imagined a golf club, and in an instant I wasn't holding a sword anymore. I stayed up the whole night, toying and experimenting what I could do with such a wonderful thing. I finally decided that I would wear it as a wristband.
The flavor of onions and eggs lingered in my mouth as I contemplated what my plan for tomorrow would be. My work at the local granary was only on Wednesdays and Fridays, so I had nothing to do on a Monday. I could perhaps take my truck into the city to get it cleaned up, or I could spend the whole day fixing my leaky roof. Either way, I had to do something. The sun was still quite high up, and the heat just made everything unbearable. I pulled out my sheets and a pillow from a shelf, laid them down on the floor, and proceeded to sleep.

I woke up around 6 in the evening. The smell of onions had long faded away, but the egg carton was starting to smell. I quickly picked it up and tossed it into my single trashcan. Then, stretching my muscles, I headed outside to meet the setting sun. The birds were already starting to settle down, and the trees began to whisper secrets to each other. I strolled between trees and through trails to my favorite spot; a small creek about 1000 feet directly behind my cabin. Using my silver as a cup, I drank some of the refreshing water that had kept me lively for every single one of the 9 years I had been here. I threw pebbles into the creek and watched them disappear. By the time I had returned to my cabin, I could barely see the road in front of me. I glanced at my clock, which read ten thirty. I sat down, legs straight and relaxed. I stared at the clock; the second hand ticked toward 12. I watched it go around the clock 3 times before I yawned. I slowly clambered up and headed for my toothbrush. I didn't get too hungry nowadays… life was simple and not demanding. As I brushed, I kept wondering what tomorrow would bring. As I'd later find out, there was no need to worry.
I woke to the sound of a polite knocking on my door. I stole a look at the clock, which had stopped working at 1 in the morning. The sun was yet to completely emerge, but the light told me it was around 5 in the morning. I gruffly opened the door to meet a very well-dressed man; black suit, leather shoes, nice tie. He had the complexion of one who'd been working for some high-end business for years. Clean shaven, sharp chinned, sharp eyes, and sharp nose. He greeted me first:
"Good morning, sir. Pardon me for waking you up so early, but it is of an important matter that I seek you."
He had a small accent (British, maybe?) but he spoke well and humble. His voice wasn't as sharp as expected; it was quite refined. I replied, while inviting him in:
"Good morning to you too, sir. Please take a seat anywhere you'd like, though I'm afraid I don't have any chairs."
He sat down gingerly on the floor, and glanced nervously at my still open bedding, which I promptly stuffed back up the closet, and he waited for me to take a seat before beginning to speak. His voice was full of a repressed urgency, and I knew immediately it was something important.
"Well, my good man, it is the simple matter of war."
He spoke the last word with no signs of emotion, as if it was a very normal thing.
"The neighboring territory has threatened to attack us if we do not do as they say, and we have been doing our best to protect you and all the citizens. However, we cannot hold out much longer, for their demands are growing out of hand. I have been sent here to gather only the finest of warriors as recruits, and to enter them into training in preparation for the opposing territory's attack."
At this point, I began to laugh.
"Why are you here, then? I am no warrior; I have only held a sword in my hands once! And that was not even for a few seconds! I cannot do anything to help Eviston fight against Fitguarld! They have one of the strongest military, and with their numbers they will wipe us all out!"
It was the truth – Fitguarld had gained its might by conquering many surrounding small territories. They had as many soldiers as the rest of the land combined. Many tried to rebel – they were instantly crushed.
"You are quite knowledgeable, my friend. I see that news spreads quickly. It was expected that word of Fitguarld would be leaked. But understand this. We aren't looking for tough men, nor smart men. We are looking for a type of warrior that is far superior to any normal man."
I interrupted him here:
"So you want a superman? Or a few of them?"
He looked at me grimly.
"Unfortunately, your humor is pretty much the truth. Good man, we are looking for the people who can manipulate metal" he snapped his fingers "just like that. And we have located you by means of questioning the neighbors. We know you hold one of the stones, and that you can manipulate a certain metal as long as you are in contact with it."
I stared blankly at him. I did not attempt to deny it, nor was I going to give in to his speech. He nodded, as if understanding my thoughts, and spoke on:
"We have already found others with the stone. The reason we want the person and not the stone is because once the stone has been used by a person for long enough, they become attached, and the stone will not function properly if it is not in the person's vicinity."
I sighed. I take off the silver that encased my arm and I picked up the blue core. As soon as it left the silver, the metal immediately grew hard.
"The metal I control is silver. There isn't much to do with that now, is there? It isn't tough like iron or steel, nor is it light like aluminum. Or both, like titanium is. It only conducts electricity very well. And its transformation speed is quite fast, if I may mention."
Armed with this information, the man spoke firmly:
"True, everything you've said is quite true. However, we have someone who manipulates another metal, and if you fuse it together you get an outstanding alloy; it is firmer that silver, and very conductive. But that person can only manipulate the metal that is not touching their stone, unlike you who can manipulate only metal touching the stone."
I began to grow angry. He looked confused, not knowing where my anger stemmed from.
"Why are you hiding so much from me? You do not give a name, nor a specific metal. Not even the gender of the other person who you speak so highly of! If you want me so badly, you shan't hesitate to tell me everything, correct?"
I paused, then continued.
"I am sorry for my outburst, but not for what I said. Tell me everything, and I shall do my best. My only terms are that I do not have to kill anyone directly, nor must I harm anyone that is not with the army of Fitguarld. And I must have the freedom to go wherever I wish."
The man finally smiled.
"I thank you, my man, for your help. It is truly appreciated. In 7 days, a car will drive by to pick you up. Bring whatever you'd like. Once you arrive, everything will be made known to you. I can't tell you anything for secrecy, but I will be making preparations."
"It is my pleasure to be of use to my people. Next time, please do come at a more suitable time."
As he left the forestry, I began to wonder about what would happen next. I fixed the clock and I went and asked Earl what the exact time was. He had a digital clock that was synchronized via satellite – an object that could only be obtained in the city. I returned my clock to the proper time. As I hung it back up the wall, the second-hand fell off. Following it was the number 3. It was an old clock, so that didn't surprise me. At least I had a plan for what I would do for today.  When the sun was about halfway up, the birds were chirping, and the heat began to build, I grabbed about 50 dollars from my locked box. It was full of money, but it was limited. I clambered into my old truck whose branding had long fallen off. It's engine hummed steadily as I drove out my driveway. The car was a faithful one, and it had never died on me, not even once. Its rusty blue color had long faded under the bleak sun, but the dirty metallic gray gave the car a sort of good ol', good ol' feeling. Its hum might have sounded like noise to others, but to me it was like music. The hum never wavered – it was a simple rumble that seemed to say 'I'm working. I'm fine. Don't worry.' My fuel tank was running low again, so I pulled over when I saw a roadside gas station. It was quite rundown – not many folks came by this road – but it functioned. After my tank was full, I was back on the road to the city. It was impossible to miss – you could see its tall structures from quite afar. But this wasn't an ordinary, bustling city. It was a small city, some might even describe it as a town. But to us, the people who come from the horizon, it was a magnificent sight. I started to smile as I drove into city limits, but then I started to feel sad again. I would be seeing this day over day once I joined the army or whatever. My thoughts were interrupted when I passed by a McDonalds. It was considered a treat for the people who lived in the outskirts. They were called outsiders by some, but mostly they were known as the horizon people. I bought myself a Big Mac to-go which was tiny compared to the steak I could get in Earl's store. I quickly ate the burger in the car, and then I drove off toward the street known for its small stores that were filled with home appliances, tools, and bits and pieces of junk. It was heaven for a metal manipulator like me. I picked up a nice looking clock that matched the wooden feel of my house, and I drove back. City trips were always quick – one never wanted to get used to the sight of tall buildings. At least, not one of the horizon people. I felt most at home in the sight of yellow and green grass, weeds, and trees. I stayed in my house for the rest of the week, only coming out when I needed food. Earl seemed to know what was going on – he eyed my silver wristband every time I dropped by. It was Saturday – one day before I would leave – when he finally spoke.
"Aye, my man, Silverarm. " It was a nickname I had got because of my silver wristband. My real name was lost when I first arrived in this unnamed town. Even I can't remember. He sighed, and repeated:
"My good Silverarm. I wish you didn't have to go. You will be terribly missed."
He handed a package, the size of a sugar cube, to me. I extended my hand, and he cautiously placed it into my palm.
"What is it, Earl? Not free sunflower seeds now, are they?"
He looked sad, so I thought that I had guessed right and ruined his surprise. I was about to apologize when he replied.
"No, Silverarm. Open it and you will understand. I cannot explain it to you without breaking apart."
I could tell that he was being dead serious. I nodded my head, and I opened the package. I stifled a gasp when the object was revealed.
"I'm afraid I should have given this to you some time before. I regret not doing so, but better late than never."
It was another core; this core was completely transparent. It was glowing quite brightly, and even Earl was surprised.
"It ain't glowed like that since I've found it! Must be your stone, Silverarm, that's makin' it glow."
I made no reply to his comment, although I knew that it was the most likely cause.
"What is the manipulative metal of this core?"
Earl paused, then replied with hesitation:
"I think it doesn't manipulate a certain metal. I've used it to control metal beyond my reach, but only tiny pieces, like a screw or nail. I can't manipulate anything I'm touching, though." He sighed. "I haven't touched that thing for years now… and it's fine if you take it – I only used it five times before I totally freaked out."
I tried to imagine old Earl freaking out – I couldn't do it. He was probably lying - but I thanked him for his special present, and I left him to the comforting silence of his store. I went straight home; I needed to figure out how to fuse the two cores together. I knew it was possible; it would be similar to creating an alloy, except I would be able to have more control with one core. I sat cross-legged in the center of my cabin, and I plucked my blue core out of the pool of silver. The clear core had remained in the package for I was afraid to pick it up. Now would be the moment of truth. I carefully picked up the core with two fingers. It was already rounded and smooth – probably due to the fact that I had experience with cores already. I held one core in each hand; transparent in my left, blue in my right. They glowed brighter when close together. I felt a surge of power travel right through me. It continued to tingle, but it didn't hurt. I guessed that it was the energies of the two cores channeling to each other. I clasped my two hands together, still holding the cores, and I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting excruciating pain. There was a sudden flash of light even brighter than the sun, and then everything returned to normal. When I looked in my hands, there was a beautiful core that was blue on one side and clear on the other. At the center, the colors danced in a swirl so perfect I couldn't believe this was real. The stone no longer looked like a smooth rock – it looked more like a glass shard. Its two pointy sides were jagged, but weren't sharp. I looked at the lump of unmoving silver that I had left on the floor. Using the same mental muscle and willpower, I began to manipulate it without touching it. It formed several different sculptures before I became too exhausted. I made the metal, whose volume seemed to have increased, wrap around my arm. It now stretched from wrist to elbow in a perfect way so as to not cause discomfort. I pushed the core into the silver, and I dropped onto the floor, already dead asleep.
The man in the suit arrived better timed than before. This time, he introduced himself as John, and that he was ready to escort me and anything I wanted to the training center.
"It's all very simple, really. I just want one thing – my cabin. The whole thing. Forget the trees, the creek, the grass. Just pick up my cabin, and we shall be off. "
John laughed at this. It wasn't a mocking laugh, it was genuine humor.
"I know your kind, Silverarm. So I was prepared to move everything, even the creek – but since you've told me that you only want your cabin, that is what I shall bring. We will bring everything inside your cabin – but the process will take a few days to complete. I will take you now directly to the headquarters, and in a few days you shall see you cabin exactly as it was here. Is that alright?"
He was in a good mood, so I agreed. I stepped into the shiny black car with terribly dark tinted windows. He explained that they wanted to keep as much of this action a secret as possible, so they had to tint the windows so that I didn't know where the headquarters for training would be. It was fine with me – I didn't really care where it was as long as I had my house with me.
After driving through several cities, we finally arrived at the center. It was an underground complex, almost like an underground skyscraper. We entered the parking lot and he led me to a huge, open area. Speaking into a microphone on the wall, he motioned for me to wait. Almost immediately after his call, a girl came into the room from another door. The room was about the size of a soccer stadium, with many doors on all sides.
"This is the center of the building. The girl coming towards us is the only other person we've found with a stone. Her name is Goldenhand. Well, that's what she calls herself, much like your nickname Silverarm. We have no intent on finding your true name – Silverarm will do."
Goldenhand approached us, and by glancing at her I could tell she was a city dweller. Definitely not a horizon person. Her hair matched the color of her stone, and her blue-green eyes shone brightly. If seen from afar, she would look like any average girl, but she was slightly small. Her right middle finger had a ring that was holding a yellow stone. She hadn't fused it; it was still a smooth stone and not a shard. I offered her my hand, and she shook it politely. There was a faint tingle between our hands; probably because of the cores. She wasn't like most city-girls; they usually refused to touch a horizon person, and they treated them with contempt. It wasn't a fake show either; her eyes told me that she had no contempt for different people.
"I don't want to start off the wrong foot," spoke John, "but we are here to evaluate your skills. Silverarm, are you able to wield a weapon and use it?"
"I can, John."
He had no idea that I had fused mine – the shard was hidden deep inside the silver. This was my ultimate secret weapon.
"Then let's have a fight. Whoever has their stone stolen loses."
"Wait! It's unfair!" shouted Goldenhand, stepping backward a few steps. "I can't see his stone!"
I laughed, and I assured her:
"Don't worry. It's in here," is said tapping the silver shell "and it will show once we start to fight."
"… fine. I trust you. Alright then. Ready or not, here I come!"
John had already left the room to us. A sword suddenly grew behind me and made a mad swipe. I dodged it easily – years of practicing fighting with a friendly bear had taught me a lot. A golden rope caught me by surprise, and it wrapped around my bare arm. I ran toward her and I enveloped her hand with the ring. I couldn't pull it off; she was curling her fingers. I decided to use my special dual ability against her. A silver string materialized behind her, not attached to the silver on my arm and out of her point of view. I forced the silver around my arm to grab her other hand instead, and she instinctively pulled her ringed hand away from me. I took this chance to slip her ring off her finger using the secret string. All the gold that she had been manipulating suddenly froze and fell to the floor. She spun backward, to find that her ring had been taken by a floating piece of silver. She stopped moving for a few seconds before she realized that it wasn't possible.
"How did you do that?! Your stone is only supposed to allow you to manipulate things it is touching, and nothing else! It's impossible!"
She muttered a whole string of inaudible speech. I pluck my blue shard out of the silver. Since I was still holding it, the silver remained soft and movable instead of hard and uncomfortable. John, now wearing a lab coat, returned. The look on his face wasn't anger, but he didn't seem too pleased either.
"Silverarm. I see you have succeeded in fusing 2 stones together; the other I presume someone gave to you. For now, your shard is in a stable state. Only certain stones can be fused together – you were lucky. You should have heard about how our leader lost his arm in battle; that was all a lie. He tried to fuse a red stone, capable of manipulating palladium, and green, which controlled iridium. I warned him against it, for the colors were dull when he took one in each hand. The standard alloy for the two is cunife, a magnetic metal, but he was using these stones to fuse. He created a black shard which released so much magnetic energy that it tore his arm off and disintegrated both itself and his arm. He doesn't hate stones or stone-keepers, but he does hate himself for doing that. Next time, be sure you know what the outcome is."
After listening intently to his lecture, I asked with good reason:
"As long as I fuse two cores together that have colors that match and that glow within the proximity of each other, I am safe? It appears to be the case. I knew that the clear core would allow me to use detached-attacks, and the blue core defined what metal it was and enabled attached-attacks. Nothing went against each other, nor is the clear specific to any metal."
He nodded his approval.
"You are right, Silverarm. You are so young, yet you know so much – by the way, how old are you? I haven't been able to tell. You look just over 14, but you act with the strength and knowledge of 20."
I could see what he meant. I was stronger than all the other boys in my neighborhood – that's why I got the job at the granary so easily. I'm not bragging, but I could beat adults in arm-wrestling.
"I am turning 16 this year. You were close – right now I am 15. What about Goldenhand? I know it isn't polite to ask a girl her age, but I still want to know. Her fighting skills are quite developed, but she still reacts like a child. I'll guess 13?"
Goldenhand beamed.
"That's right! I'm 13 this year!"
John smiled. He led us into a dining hall, and offered to buy us lunch. My stomach was grumbling, but I didn't notice. I was too busy organizing colors in my mind. I was planning on finding a stone capable of manipulating palladium. It was a powerful element, and it would probably release a lot of radioactivity if I changed the neutron-proton ratio properly.  And it would be a good energy source, which I could convert into electricity. It would do some good far-range damage, but I had to be able to control it perfectly. John placed a dish of spaghetti in front of me, which snapped me to attention. I thanked him, and began to enjoy the pasta. As I ate the last strands, I questioned John about when my house would be arriving. Goldenhand dropped her fork and spilled spaghetti all over her white uniform. John informed me that it was currently being reinforced so it wouldn't break while transporting. He handed me a white t-shirt uniform, and instructed me to change into the uniform as soon as possible. After that, he left the dining hall to what I presume was his office. I watched Goldenhand finish her spaghetti, and when she was done I asked her for my temporary room.
"Oh, you'll have to wait. John needs to prepare one for you. While we wait, can you teach me how to fight like you did? You seem so much swifter than me, even though you have dual-control."
"Alright then, come along."
I led her back the room we sparred in. I lunged for her, straight on. She flinched and dodged off to the side.
"That won't do, Goldenhand. You try it. Lunge at me, straight forward, holding whatever weapon you wish."
With a battle cry, she sprang. In front of me, coming out of my wristband, formed a silver wall. She rammed into it and fell backward, stunned. I told her to stand up, get herself back together, and to try again. She did, but instead of running into the wall, she rolled underneath and thrust her hand at me. Her gold attacked me from behind. My silver immediately melted and proceeded to wrap itself around me, and she punched metal. She howled in pain, and her gold thudded weakly against my shell. As soon as she stopped her attack, the silver returned to my arm.
"You see? I didn't make even the slightest move to attack you. My main goal was just to protect myself; you inflicted the pain upon yourself. Just like our first fight – my goal was your ring, not to hurt you or tear off your arm. You stuck your arm toward my detached silver, and so I took it. That's what you need to learn first. Have your opponent hurt himself instead of you hurting them."
She nodded, took a deep breath, and told me to try and strike her. I shrugged, and silver grew from the ground and held onto her feet. She looked down in surprise – I took this chance and lunged. She looked up in time and caught my fist in mid-air with her gold. She smirked, then turned pale. I had struck her very lightly on her back with the silver extending from my other hand. I had switched the core over before I attempted to strike. She let go of my hand and sat on the ground, shocked.
"I… I had no idea… I would've…died…"
"Don't worry, Goldenhand. That's what I'm here for. You have good reflexes – but you just need to be more aware of your surroundings. For example, you can drop the gold rope behind me."
Her eyes widened. I smiled at her then turned around. One strand of golden rope was floating in mid-air. It disintegrated slowly.
"How did … how'd you know?"
I laughed. My sixth sense, which had developed primarily due to a certain bear who kept trying to ambush me to get me to play, had done well. The bear did a good job, and it got me 3 out of 10 times.
"I have eyes on the back of my head. They grew from something called training."
She groaned, and looked completely displeased with herself. She looked sharply at me, and then ordered me to try again, to strike her. This time, I wasn't allowed to hold back, and I had to at least bruise her. I refused to hurt her, because she was my teammate now, but she insisted. In the end, I gave in.
"Fine then. I will bruise you lightly. But I won't be the only one to attack. The first person to get hit loses. Alright? That means you have to attack too."
"Agreed. Now let's get this started!"
She immediately put up her defensive mode – she enveloped herself with gold in a shell-like structure. I couldn't see in, nor could she see out. I stopped to do a little thinking, and I smiled. She was trying to trick me. She wasn't really in the shell; she was behind it, waiting for ambush. Her shadow protruded slightly out from behind the shell. I wasn't noticeable to other people, but my honed senses immediately picked it up. She was probably facing my right, so her left. If I attacked from her right, she wouldn't see me. With the silence of a tiger about to strike, I swiftly ran up behind the shell. I was right; she was in the exact position I had assumed. Her back faced me, and she completely did not notice that I was directly behind her. I punched her in the arm, and she let out a shriek. It was so loud that John came running in, asking what had happened. After she explained the situation, teary-eyed and still shaken from that terrible fright, John shook his head and returned to his office.
"You scared me so badly! Creeping out from behind someone is a terrible fighting tactic! And my arm" she rolled up her sleeve "is already starting to bruise! Argh!"
She lay down on the concrete floor and pouted. I sat down next to her, explaining exactly how I had deduced her plan and location and ultimately her direction. She still pouted, so I offered to teach her how to get eyes on the back of her head. She didn't budge. I sighed, and said the thing that I knew would tip the scales:
"Someone just turned 5."
She leapt up in anger, then noticing that she had reacted to sarcasm, sat back down embarrassed. We sat in silence for a few minutes, and she whispered,
"Teach me."
I looked at her, and nodded. I produced a small piece of cloth out of my pocket. I instructed her to tie it around her eyes.
"Now stand up. Closing your eyes usually helps. My hand is directly on front of you. Strike it hard."
She flailed her arms in front of herself, before taking off the cloth. My hand was indeed in front of her; she had missed it by just a few inches. She tried again, but I moved backwards. She began to catch on, and she could touch my hand if I went backward, left or right. But she was still flailing. We kept this up for about an hour when she finally hit my hand with just one go. She ripped off the cloth and cheered.
"Good job. You took way less time than I did – I spent about a year before I could do that. Now, keep your cloth off, but don't see with your eyes. Try to hit me the same way as just now. No using metal. Feel with your aura where I am."
She nodded, stared intently at me, and then charged. I was able to dodge away from her attacks by a narrow margin, but she was pretty fast. She stopped, panting. She had kept her attacks up for about 2 minutes non-stop. I smiled.
"You are improving very quickly. Now duel with me again, still no metal. I will strike you as well, and this time I won't hold back. Allow me to apologize in advance. Loser is the first one to fall."
"Can I rest a bit at least? My head hurts…"
"The only reason I don't want you to rest is to exhaust your body. That's how it will last longer and longer in battle. Now pull yourself together, and let's fight this out."
She slowly stood up. She did look tired, but she was still capable of having one last, good fight. She struck first; I blocked and struck her arm. She winced in pain, but charged again. This time, she blocked by counter-attack, and proceeded with her own. I dodged away, and I landed another hit on her arm. This did more damage; she began to use only her other arm. Fists volleyed between us, with a kick here and there. She was a good fighter; several times she countered my counter. At last, she collapsed. She was overly exhausted – I had pushed her a bit too far. I helped her up, and walked her to her small room. We navigated white, brightly lit tunnels that were just wide enough for two people to pass and no higher than a bear. When we arrived at her room, she had already fallen asleep and was tugging at my shoulder. Her door automatically slid open and I gently placed her on the fluffy bed. I quickly surveyed her room; it was small, just enough to live. Two shelves, a cupboard, and a closet, a small table with two chairs, a bathroom, and assorted items that probably belonged to her. And there was a digital alarm clock. I looked for a light dimmer on her walls, and to my surprise there were none. I flipped a few switches around the room, trying to find the light switches, and I retreated to the cafeteria after finally turning off most of the lights. I was sipping at my 3rd bottle of water when John finally reappeared.
"Where's Goldenhand?"
"She's sleeping in her room. She was too tired after I taught her to use her 6th sense. She's fine right now."
"I see. Well, your room is ready. If you wish to use it, feel free to. Your house will arrive in 3 days. 4, if traffic is bad. 2 if everything goes extra smoothly. Your room is #502, right next to Goldenhand's. There is a joined door if you two wish to combine rooms"
"That won't be necessary. I will be only using the bed and bathroom. I will spend the rest of my time either training Goldenhand or walking outside. I thank you, though."
John smiled and walked away. He hadn't left the hall for 3 minutes when Goldenhand limped over. She was still half asleep. I brought her a bottle of ice cold water, and it woke her up immediately.
"How are you feeling, Goldie? You put up a good fight."
"Don't call me Goldie. I'm fricken' sore…"
She spread herself over the table, whining non-stop about how tired she was. I told her to stop acting like she was 5, and that She needed to train with me as much as possible in order for us to effectively work together. She was quiet, and I thought she had fallen back to sleep. Suddenly, she jumped up.
"Silverarm, let's go to the surface. We have to find another stone for me. I need to be able to do close combat with my metal. C'mon, John won't mind. Let's go! Get up! Get UP!"
It was my turn to whine.
"Where are we going to find another one? There are so few in this world…"
"The mines just a mile away! Miners claim to have found some glowing stones! None of them were taken, so they are probably still there! The mineshaft is abandoned anyways, so no one will care!"
I considered the dangers. Then I remembered that I had silver which could save us from any collapse. I nodded, and followed her into the huge elevator. The floor plan was made so that the soccer-stadium-sized room had one elevator at each of the shorter sides, the cafeteria at one, and rooms at the other. She pressed 'ground' several times and began to jump excitedly before remembering that she was supposed to be tired. She caught me staring weirdly at her, and grew pink. I laughed, and she blushed red. The elevator doors slid open with a small whoosh and we headed out into the city. I was still in my original clothes, and I noticed that she had changed out of her white t-shirt into something more colorful.
"Crap! I left my uniform on the cafeteria table!"
"Don't worry. John's a nice guy, so he'll probably put it into your room for you."
I stayed quiet, and she glanced at me. I kept walking toward the mountain that was undoubtedly the one with the mine. She seemed to understand, and she didn't say another word for the duration of the walk.
I cautiously stepped into the mine, Goldenhand trailing after. We had picked up a few flashlights from the abandoned shed, and plenty of extra batteries.  We made our way down the shaft when she tugged at my shirt and pointed. Embedded in the wall, was a small, glowing stone. I plucked it gingerly from the dark walls that were once full of coal. It was a beautiful, dark, rich red. It pulsed unlike the smooth, steady glow of my blue shard. But they pulsed together, and from what John described, this was palladium. It would be quite radioactive, and after decaying would become silver; perfect for me. I explained to Goldenhand who agreed that I should have it since it didn't glow as brightly with hers. I placed it in my pocket so that I could experiment with it later before fusion. We kept walking, and she found another stone about 500 feet later. This one was dark gray, but still translucent. I placed a drop of silver in her hand as she held the gray stone. The silver began to melt and morph, but its actions were limited.
"This is it, Goldenhand. It glows brightly with yours and has no reaction to mine, so you can fuse them together. You can do it now or back in your room."
"I don't want to do it in here. Let's get back to the training center."
I nodded, and I followed her back to the surface. She asked me about what I was like when I was little on the way back. I told her about how I could only remember what happened after arriving at my little town, and playing with bears that were my neighbors. The sun was settings, and it was quite dark when we arrived at the center. The streetlights were all on, and the cats were beginning to prowl. She was in the middle of telling me about her school when we met John at the door. Goldenhand produced her new core from her pocket, and John's expression changed.
"I thought you two went and ran away! Oh well, now that you're back, you should get some sleep."
He turned, and we followed silently.
Goldenhand returned to her room and beckoned me to go in with her. I followed, and she whispered,
"I want you to teach me how to fuse these stones together, and how to use it."
It took just about 5 minutes as I walked her through the process. There was the same blinding light and the shard. Hers remained completely yellow, unlike my mixed blue and clear. She found immediately how easy it was now to control gold, and she began to play with the gold, exploring how gold melted and the sculptures she could make. I slipped quietly out of her room when she wasn't noticing, and I entered my temporary room. Things would be quite interesting tomorrow.
I woke up to the sound of a siren, the flashing red light on one of my walls, and the voice of John over the intercom:
"Parts of Eviston are under attack by forces from Fitguarld. Metal manipulators please remain here and conceal yourself. Do not attempt to leave. Other armed forces prepare to defend this building."
I threw off my sheets and ran into Goldenhand's room. She was still asleep, so I shook her gently. She jumped up with a start, and immediately asked,
"What's wrong? What's happening?"
I quickly repeated the announcement, and she leapt out of bed.
"C'mon, Silverarm. Let's go to the camera room. I want to see what's going on."
I agreed, and she led me into the elevator. Before I could react, we were on the ground floor. She ran out the door, and my silver caught her before she got too far. She struggled, then tried to attack me with her gold. She failed miserably. I brought her back inside, and I took her back into her room.
"Why'd you lead me out there? You could've gone by yourself."
"No, John knew I would try to join the fight. He made the elevator non-functional if I was the only one inside and it was during an emergency."
"I can see why. You are staying in here. Open the connecting door between our rooms if you want company, but I'll be in my room training my mind to become stronger."
"Can I also do it? I'll be really bored otherwise…"
"I guess you could try… but you should stay in your room. "
We did a little bit of preparation – the joining door was jammed, so we had to break it off its hinges. Then, we began. I told her to start off by relaxing completely, and to sit cross-legged on the floor. She did so obediently. I instructed her to release all feelings, emotions, and thoughts from her mind. It took some time, but after about 15 minutes, she was close enough to go n to the next step.
"Alright, Goldenhand. Now is the most difficult part. Our goal for today is to escape from the physical limitations of our bodies, and the mental limitations of our brain. In simpler words, we are going to attempt to detach our spirit from our bodies. By doing so, I think we will be able to better use our stones. They also seem to have a spirit."
"Are you crazy?! Won't we die if we do that?"
"We won't. Our brains will remain, doing just the basics to keep our bodies going."
"That's just stupid."
"You don't have to do it. I really don't care. All we need to do is remain quiet, and to concentrate on nothing but leaving."
"Fine…"
We must've sat there for a few hours, because a sudden grumble snapped me to attention. Goldenhand flushed red. It was a little after noon, so we went to get some lunch. The chef wasn't in such a good mood, so we ordered a quick lunch. Goldenhand teased me:
"So, how was it? Did you succeed?"
"Don't mock me. You fell asleep, I know that much."
She laughed, then dug into her noodles. I tore a piece of my sandwich and started to nibble, when John ran into the dining hall. He saw us, and then he dashed towards our table.
"Are you two alright?"
Goldenhand was slurping her noodles, so I replied,
"We never left. I made sure Goldenhand" I glanced at her "didn't try to join the fight."
"Good, good. The battle is over. They lost because Fitguarld underestimated us. Our army is quite strong. But 2 of their soldiers escaped – I'm sure they will tell their general what we have. This was a test, I think."
Goldenhand piped up,
"Then let us catch them! We can do it from far away, and we look like normal people!"
John looked thoughtfully at us, then laughed.
"I had no idea you two looked so much alike. Alright, go ahead. They went straight towards Fitguarld. If anyone asks, you are brother and sister. Bring them back alive. Understood?"
"Yes." we chorused.
"Then off you go. If you aren't back by 3 hours, I will assume something is wrong."
I replied okay, and Goldenhand ran back to her room to change. I trailed lazily after, and I threw on a simple t-shirt and jeans. They were specially made to be extremely flexible so that I could react faster. When John saw us walking out together, he burst out laughing. He later told us we had never looked so normal before.
Goldenhand knew the city well, so she took us to the battlefield. It was still inside the city limits, and many buildings were destroyed. Smoke poured from the buildings around that were still standing, and the debris left covered the ground. Cars were smashed beneath the rubble, and store goods were spread among the wreckage. I told her to lead us East, toward Fitguarld. She nodded, and then we jogged toward the distance. We had jogged for a while when we came upon a dense forestry. It wasn't unusual to have forests around a city; they were a natural place to find wildlife. I kept walking, but Goldenhand hesitated.
"What's wrong? You aren't scared, are you?"
"Well, no, but I've always disliked the forest. Aren't there bears in there?"
"True. But this will be good training for emptying your mind. Bears can somehow feel your mindset. If you fill your heart with kindness, friendship and love, the bear will respond kindly toward you."
"But…I am scared!"
"Too bad then. Let us go, Goldenhand."
I began to walk, and she reluctantly followed. It was her unlucky day – we met a bear after 5 minutes of navigating through the trees and marking our path. I greeted it with feelings of friendship, but even I could feel the fear emanating from Goldenhand. The bear looked at her, then returned the gaze to me. I began to talk to it. Goldenhand stared at me, as if I was crazy.
"Hello, friend. We were just passing through. Would you know if two other humans have gone past?"
The bear walked off, and I followed, with Goldenhand trailing fearfully behind. The bear eventual lead us to a small camp where the two losers had stayed. The fire pit was still warm, so they hadn't left for too long. The bear sat down, signaling his choice of staying here and munching on the leftover food. I nodded, said thanks, and kept walking forward.
"Silverarm? How are you sure they went that way?"
"The bear pointed it out. You would notice these things if you spent 6 years with them."
"I… see. But I'm still afraid of the,. They're so big and, and…"
"Alright. Now come along, we are catching escapees here. No time to worry about your fear of bears."
"Mm…"
We kept walking, occasionally stopping to ask a bear for directions, and stopping at a stream to have a sip of water. We came across about 2 other small camps. It was obvious that someone had been here, but we knew for sure that they had ran off during the first few stages of battle. We heard voices near the 4th camp, and they were both male, speaking with an accent that was unmistakably from Fitguarld. Goldenhand, who was dosing off, snapped to attention when she heard them. I quietly whispered to her,
"Use your far range attack. Knock them out, make sure they don't see it coming."
She paused, and then nodded. A snake of gold quietly slithered through the grass. It lightly wrapped around one of the person's left foot, and tugged hard. He fell, face forward, and did not move. The other jumped up, picked up his rifle, and fired a shot into the forest. Goldenhand repeated her attack, and they were both stone cold when we approached. I motioned for her to wait before advancing, and I swept the area with my 6th sense.
"Go ahead, I don't think anyone is nearby."

Description
I jogged up the hill toward the store, the weight of a heavy, pure silver wristband on my right arm weighing me down. As I approached the door, I took off the wristband and replaced it on my left hand. Its length was from my wrist halfway to my elbow. I entered the store, rubbing my red arm and my tired wrist; a chunk of silver sitting on my wrist had left some marks on my skin. I headed toward the dairy section, where they had the eggs. It was an old store, mostly wooden. It had stood here ever since, and it had always been my preferred shop. I picked up a carton of 4 grade A eggs; one of them were cracked. I picked up the second on the pile, and returned the imperfect one. It was $1.85, as usual. I grabbed a nice-looking stalk of spring onion and headed to the counter. I fished out a few bills and coins from my pocket, and handed the correct amount to Earl, the storekeeper. He grew all the produce in the store, so they were all seasonal. Sometimes, the eggs would be $.85; other times it would be $2.60. Summer yielded an average amount of eggs. It was quite rare that he had spring onions; he hadn't quite grasped it yet. The stalk I had was a very small one – just enough for a single meal. After a small exchange of greetings, I ambled back to my home. The walk lasted about 5 minutes, and the Sunday afternoon was relentless. The buzzing of insects and the rustle of dry grass softened the mood a little bit. Navigating through the dense forestry that surrounded my home, I wiped the sweat pouring down my forehead. As I locked the door to my small, square wood cabin, I looked at the clock on my left wall. It was a bit past one, and my stomach confirmed it so. My feet were slightly sore, and my arm was being torn apart. I carried my eggs to my Bunsen burner. My cabin was about 400 square feet, so the smell of spring onions filled the house with its aroma. Once again, I swapped the location of the wristband. Still rubbing my sore arm, I started up the burner. I kept it at a small flame at first; I didn't want to waste my fuel. The trip into the city would take an hour. With a little mental muscle, the silver slowly melted and formed a simple frying pan that extended from a now very thin wristband. I prepared a bit of salt and pepper, and I cooked a simple meal of egg and onions. I sat cross-legged on the floor, and ate. When I finished eating my lunch, I gingerly washed the silver pan. When it was sparkling clean, I examined my features to make sure I was looking normal. Black hair straight, tilted to one side, almond eyes clear and keen, slightly fat nose free of snot, and firm mouth covered with egg yolk. I scrambled up toward my drawer, where I produced a sheet of tissue paper. I wiped my mouth clean, which was easy compared to Earl's long, grey beard. I'd heard that he had a mouse live in there once. I pushed the mental muscle just a teeny tiny bit again and the perfectly clean pan returned to a heavy wristband.
It was like a willful thought – if I willed it to become a pan, so it did. If I willed it to become a hammer, so it did. I wasn't born with this ability. That would be a ridiculous idea; how could people manipulate metal with their mind? No, my ability came from the ground. I was walking home from a store one night when I found a peculiar blue gemstone. It was about the size of a bean, but longer and translucent – like a teardrop. It was shiny and rough when I first found it; now it is very smooth. It had caught my eye when it reflected the moon's light. When I bent down to pick it up, it seemed to glow a dark, dark blue. As I straightened up, stone in my palm, it began to grow a film of silver around it. I continued on my walk home, fascinated by this stone. By the time I had entered my house, the silver had stopped growing. It was a round lump of silver, and deep inside it was the stone. Because of this, I called it my blue core. I sat on the floor, and I held the lump gingerly with both hands. I had no idea what it would do next, so I began to imagine what I wanted to do with all this silver. It was fairly tough; I couldn't bend it much with my fingers alone. I imagined having a sword, and suddenly the silver in my hands melted and reformed into a beautiful sword, exactly as I imagined it. It didn't go burning hot, nor did it leave pools of liquid silver. Every little atom of the silver had rearranged themselves into a sword. Every little design was intricately formed. I held the sword, and I began to understand. I imagined a golf club, and in an instant I wasn't holding a sword anymore. I stayed up the whole night, toying and experimenting what I could do with such a wonderful thing. I finally decided that I would wear it as a wristband.
The flavor of onions and eggs lingered in my mouth as I contemplated what my plan for tomorrow would be. My work at the local granary was only on Wednesdays and Fridays, so I had nothing to do on a Monday. I could perhaps take my truck into the city to get it cleaned up, or I could spend the whole day fixing my leaky roof. Either way, I had to do something. The sun was still quite high up, and the heat just made everything unbearable. I pulled out my sheets and a pillow from a shelf, laid them down on the floor, and proceeded to sleep.

I woke up around 6 in the evening. The smell of onions had long faded away, but the egg carton was starting to smell. I quickly picked it up and tossed it into my single trashcan. Then, stretching my muscles, I headed outside to meet the setting sun. The birds were already starting to settle down, and the trees began to whisper secrets to each other. I strolled between trees and through trails to my favorite spot; a small creek about 1000 feet directly behind my cabin. Using my silver as a cup, I drank some of the refreshing water that had kept me lively for every single one of the 9 years I had been here. I threw pebbles into the creek and watched them disappear. By the time I had returned to my cabin, I could barely see the road in front of me. I glanced at my clock, which read ten thirty. I sat down, legs straight and relaxed. I stared at the clock; the second hand ticked toward 12. I watched it go around the clock 3 times before I yawned. I slowly clambered up and headed for my toothbrush. I didn't get too hungry nowadays… life was simple and not demanding. As I brushed, I kept wondering what tomorrow would bring. As I'd later find out, there was no need to worry.
I woke to the sound of a polite knocking on my door. I stole a look at the clock, which had stopped working at 1 in the morning. The sun was yet to completely emerge, but the light told me it was around 5 in the morning. I gruffly opened the door to meet a very well-dressed man; black suit, leather shoes, nice tie. He had the complexion of one who'd been working for some high-end business for years. Clean shaven, sharp chinned, sharp eyes, and sharp nose. He greeted me first:
"Good morning, sir. Pardon me for waking you up so early, but it is of an important matter that I seek you."
He had a small accent (British, maybe?) but he spoke well and humble. His voice wasn't as sharp as expected; it was quite refined. I replied, while inviting him in:
"Good morning to you too, sir. Please take a seat anywhere you'd like, though I'm afraid I don't have any chairs."
He sat down gingerly on the floor, and glanced nervously at my still open bedding, which I promptly stuffed back up the closet, and he waited for me to take a seat before beginning to speak. His voice was full of a repressed urgency, and I knew immediately it was something important.
"Well, my good man, it is the simple matter of war."
He spoke the last word with no signs of emotion, as if it was a very normal thing.
"The neighboring territory has threatened to attack us if we do not do as they say, and we have been doing our best to protect you and all the citizens. However, we cannot hold out much longer, for their demands are growing out of hand. I have been sent here to gather only the finest of warriors as recruits, and to enter them into training in preparation for the opposing territory's attack."
At this point, I began to laugh.
"Why are you here, then? I am no warrior; I have only held a sword in my hands once! And that was not even for a few seconds! I cannot do anything to help Eviston fight against Fitguarld! They have one of the strongest military, and with their numbers they will wipe us all out!"
It was the truth – Fitguarld had gained its might by conquering many surrounding small territories. They had as many soldiers as the rest of the land combined. Many tried to rebel – they were instantly crushed.
"You are quite knowledgeable, my friend. I see that news spreads quickly. It was expected that word of Fitguarld would be leaked. But understand this. We aren't looking for tough men, nor smart men. We are looking for a type of warrior that is far superior to any normal man."
I interrupted him here:
"So you want a superman? Or a few of them?"
He looked at me grimly.
"Unfortunately, your humor is pretty much the truth. Good man, we are looking for the people who can manipulate metal" he snapped his fingers "just like that. And we have located you by means of questioning the neighbors. We know you hold one of the stones, and that you can manipulate a certain metal as long as you are in contact with it."
I stared blankly at him. I did not attempt to deny it, nor was I going to give in to his speech. He nodded, as if understanding my thoughts, and spoke on:
"We have already found others with the stone. The reason we want the person and not the stone is because once the stone has been used by a person for long enough, they become attached, and the stone will not function properly if it is not in the person's vicinity."
I sighed. I take off the silver that encased my arm and I picked up the blue core. As soon as it left the silver, the metal immediately grew hard.
"The metal I control is silver. There isn't much to do with that now, is there? It isn't tough like iron or steel, nor is it light like aluminum. Or both, like titanium is. It only conducts electricity very well. And its transformation speed is quite fast, if I may mention."
Armed with this information, the man spoke firmly:
"True, everything you've said is quite true. However, we have someone who manipulates another metal, and if you fuse it together you get an outstanding alloy; it is firmer that silver, and very conductive. But that person can only manipulate the metal that is not touching their stone, unlike you who can manipulate only metal touching the stone."
I began to grow angry. He looked confused, not knowing where my anger stemmed from.
"Why are you hiding so much from me? You do not give a name, nor a specific metal. Not even the gender of the other person who you speak so highly of! If you want me so badly, you shan't hesitate to tell me everything, correct?"
I paused, then continued.
"I am sorry for my outburst, but not for what I said. Tell me everything, and I shall do my best. My only terms are that I do not have to kill anyone directly, nor must I harm anyone that is not with the army of Fitguarld. And I must have the freedom to go wherever I wish."
The man finally smiled.
"I thank you, my man, for your help. It is truly appreciated. In 7 days, a car will drive by to pick you up. Bring whatever you'd like. Once you arrive, everything will be made known to you. I can't tell you anything for secrecy, but I will be making preparations."
"It is my pleasure to be of use to my people. Next time, please do come at a more suitable time."
As he left the forestry, I began to wonder about what would happen next. I fixed the clock and I went and asked Earl what the exact time was. He had a digital clock that was synchronized via satellite – an object that could only be obtained in the city. I returned my clock to the proper time. As I hung it back up the wall, the second-hand fell off. Following it was the number 3. It was an old clock, so that didn't surprise me. At least I had a plan for what I would do for today.  When the sun was about halfway up, the birds were chirping, and the heat began to build, I grabbed about 50 dollars from my locked box. It was full of money, but it was limited. I clambered into my old truck whose branding had long fallen off. It's engine hummed steadily as I drove out my driveway. The car was a faithful one, and it had never died on me, not even once. Its rusty blue color had long faded under the bleak sun, but the dirty metallic gray gave the car a sort of good ol', good ol' feeling. Its hum might have sounded like noise to others, but to me it was like music. The hum never wavered – it was a simple rumble that seemed to say 'I'm working. I'm fine. Don't worry.' My fuel tank was running low again, so I pulled over when I saw a roadside gas station. It was quite rundown – not many folks came by this road – but it functioned. After my tank was full, I was back on the road to the city. It was impossible to miss – you could see its tall structures from quite afar. But this wasn't an ordinary, bustling city. It was a small city, some might even describe it as a town. But to us, the people who come from the horizon, it was a magnificent sight. I started to smile as I drove into city limits, but then I started to feel sad again. I would be seeing this day over day once I joined the army or whatever. My thoughts were interrupted when I passed by a McDonalds. It was considered a treat for the people who lived in the outskirts. They were called outsiders by some, but mostly they were known as the horizon people. I bought myself a Big Mac to-go which was tiny compared to the steak I could get in Earl's store. I quickly ate the burger in the car, and then I drove off toward the street known for its small stores that were filled with home appliances, tools, and bits and pieces of junk. It was heaven for a metal manipulator like me. I picked up a nice looking clock that matched the wooden feel of my house, and I drove back. City trips were always quick – one never wanted to get used to the sight of tall buildings. At least, not one of the horizon people. I felt most at home in the sight of yellow and green grass, weeds, and trees. I stayed in my house for the rest of the week, only coming out when I needed food. Earl seemed to know what was going on – he eyed my silver wristband every time I dropped by. It was Saturday – one day before I would leave – when he finally spoke.
"Aye, my man, Silverarm. " It was a nickname I had got because of my silver wristband. My real name was lost when I first arrived in this unnamed town. Even I can't remember. He sighed, and repeated:
"My good Silverarm. I wish you didn't have to go. You will be terribly missed."
He handed a package, the size of a sugar cube, to me. I extended my hand, and he cautiously placed it into my palm.
"What is it, Earl? Not free sunflower seeds now, are they?"
He looked sad, so I thought that I had guessed right and ruined his surprise. I was about to apologize when he replied.
"No, Silverarm. Open it and you will understand. I cannot explain it to you without breaking apart."
I could tell that he was being dead serious. I nodded my head, and I opened the package. I stifled a gasp when the object was revealed.
"I'm afraid I should have given this to you some time before. I regret not doing so, but better late than never."
It was another core; this core was completely transparent. It was glowing quite brightly, and even Earl was surprised.
"It ain't glowed like that since I've found it! Must be your stone, Silverarm, that's makin' it glow."
I made no reply to his comment, although I knew that it was the most likely cause.
"What is the manipulative metal of this core?"
Earl paused, then replied with hesitation:
"I think it doesn't manipulate a certain metal. I've used it to control metal beyond my reach, but only tiny pieces, like a screw or nail. I can't manipulate anything I'm touching, though." He sighed. "I haven't touched that thing for years now… and it's fine if you take it – I only used it five times before I totally freaked out."
I tried to imagine old Earl freaking out – I couldn't do it. He was probably lying - but I thanked him for his special present, and I left him to the comforting silence of his store. I went straight home; I needed to figure out how to fuse the two cores together. I knew it was possible; it would be similar to creating an alloy, except I would be able to have more control with one core. I sat cross-legged in the center of my cabin, and I plucked my blue core out of the pool of silver. The clear core had remained in the package for I was afraid to pick it up. Now would be the moment of truth. I carefully picked up the core with two fingers. It was already rounded and smooth – probably due to the fact that I had experience with cores already. I held one core in each hand; transparent in my left, blue in my right. They glowed brighter when close together. I felt a surge of power travel right through me. It continued to tingle, but it didn't hurt. I guessed that it was the energies of the two cores channeling to each other. I clasped my two hands together, still holding the cores, and I squeezed my eyes shut, expecting excruciating pain. There was a sudden flash of light even brighter than the sun, and then everything returned to normal. When I looked in my hands, there was a beautiful core that was blue on one side and clear on the other. At the center, the colors danced in a swirl so perfect I couldn't believe this was real. The stone no longer looked like a smooth rock – it looked more like a glass shard. Its two pointy sides were jagged, but weren't sharp. I looked at the lump of unmoving silver that I had left on the floor. Using the same mental muscle and willpower, I began to manipulate it without touching it. It formed several different sculptures before I became too exhausted. I made the metal, whose volume seemed to have increased, wrap around my arm. It now stretched from wrist to elbow in a perfect way so as to not cause discomfort. I pushed the core into the silver, and I dropped onto the floor, already dead asleep.
The man in the suit arrived better timed than before. This time, he introduced himself as John, and that he was ready to escort me and anything I wanted to the training center.
"It's all very simple, really. I just want one thing – my cabin. The whole thing. Forget the trees, the creek, the grass. Just pick up my cabin, and we shall be off. "
John laughed at this. It wasn't a mocking laugh, it was genuine humor.
"I know your kind, Silverarm. So I was prepared to move everything, even the creek – but since you've told me that you only want your cabin, that is what I shall bring. We will bring everything inside your cabin – but the process will take a few days to complete. I will take you now directly to the headquarters, and in a few days you shall see you cabin exactly as it was here. Is that alright?"
He was in a good mood, so I agreed. I stepped into the shiny black car with terribly dark tinted windows. He explained that they wanted to keep as much of this action a secret as possible, so they had to tint the windows so that I didn't know where the headquarters for training would be. It was fine with me – I didn't really care where it was as long as I had my house with me.
After driving through several cities, we finally arrived at the center. It was an underground complex, almost like an underground skyscraper. We entered the parking lot and he led me to a huge, open area. Speaking into a microphone on the wall, he motioned for me to wait. Almost immediately after his call, a girl came into the room from another door. The room was about the size of a soccer stadium, with many doors on all sides.
"This is the center of the building. The girl coming towards us is the only other person we've found with a stone. Her name is Goldenhand. Well, that's what she calls herself, much like your nickname Silverarm. We have no intent on finding your true name – Silverarm will do."
Goldenhand approached us, and by glancing at her I could tell she was a city dweller. Definitely not a horizon person. Her hair matched the color of her stone, and her blue-green eyes shone brightly. If seen from afar, she would look like any average girl, but she was slightly small. Her right middle finger had a ring that was holding a yellow stone. She hadn't fused it; it was still a smooth stone and not a shard. I offered her my hand, and she shook it politely. There was a faint tingle between our hands; probably because of the cores. She wasn't like most city-girls; they usually refused to touch a horizon person, and they treated them with contempt. It wasn't a fake show either; her eyes told me that she had no contempt for different people.
"I don't want to start off the wrong foot," spoke John, "but we are here to evaluate your skills. Silverarm, are you able to wield a weapon and use it?"
"I can, John."
He had no idea that I had fused mine – the shard was hidden deep inside the silver. This was my ultimate secret weapon.
"Then let's have a fight. Whoever has their stone stolen loses."
"Wait! It's unfair!" shouted Goldenhand, stepping backward a few steps. "I can't see his stone!"
I laughed, and I assured her:
"Don't worry. It's in here," is said tapping the silver shell "and it will show once we start to fight."
"… fine. I trust you. Alright then. Ready or not, here I come!"
John had already left the room to us. A sword suddenly grew behind me and made a mad swipe. I dodged it easily – years of practicing fighting with a friendly bear had taught me a lot. A golden rope caught me by surprise, and it wrapped around my bare arm. I ran toward her and I enveloped her hand with the ring. I couldn't pull it off; she was curling her fingers. I decided to use my special dual ability against her. A silver string materialized behind her, not attached to the silver on my arm and out of her point of view. I forced the silver around my arm to grab her other hand instead, and she instinctively pulled her ringed hand away from me. I took this chance to slip her ring off her finger using the secret string. All the gold that she had been manipulating suddenly froze and fell to the floor. She spun backward, to find that her ring had been taken by a floating piece of silver. She stopped moving for a few seconds before she realized that it wasn't possible.
"How did you do that?! Your stone is only supposed to allow you to manipulate things it is touching, and nothing else! It's impossible!"
She muttered a whole string of inaudible speech. I pluck my blue shard out of the silver. Since I was still holding it, the silver remained soft and movable instead of hard and uncomfortable. John, now wearing a lab coat, returned. The look on his face wasn't anger, but he didn't seem too pleased either.
"Silverarm. I see you have succeeded in fusing 2 stones together; the other I presume someone gave to you. For now, your shard is in a stable state. Only certain stones can be fused together – you were lucky. You should have heard about how our leader lost his arm in battle; that was all a lie. He tried to fuse a red stone, capable of manipulating palladium, and green, which controlled iridium. I warned him against it, for the colors were dull when he took one in each hand. The standard alloy for the two is cunife, a magnetic metal, but he was using these stones to fuse. He created a black shard which released so much magnetic energy that it tore his arm off and disintegrated both itself and his arm. He doesn't hate stones or stone-keepers, but he does hate himself for doing that. Next time, be sure you know what the outcome is."
After listening intently to his lecture, I asked with good reason:
"As long as I fuse two cores together that have colors that match and that glow within the proximity of each other, I am safe? It appears to be the case. I knew that the clear core would allow me to use detached-attacks, and the blue core defined what metal it was and enabled attached-attacks. Nothing went against each other, nor is the clear specific to any metal."
He nodded his approval.
"You are right, Silverarm. You are so young, yet you know so much – by the way, how old are you? I haven't been able to tell. You look just over 14, but you act with the strength and knowledge of 20."
I could see what he meant. I was stronger than all the other boys in my neighborhood – that's why I got the job at the granary so easily. I'm not bragging, but I could beat adults in arm-wrestling.
"I am turning 16 this year. You were close – right now I am 15. What about Goldenhand? I know it isn't polite to ask a girl her age, but I still want to know. Her fighting skills are quite developed, but she still reacts like a child. I'll guess 13?"
Goldenhand beamed.
"That's right! I'm 13 this year!"
John smiled. He led us into a dining hall, and offered to buy us lunch. My stomach was grumbling, but I didn't notice. I was too busy organizing colors in my mind. I was planning on finding a stone capable of manipulating palladium. It was a powerful element, and it would probably release a lot of radioactivity if I changed the neutron-proton ratio properly.  And it would be a good energy source, which I could convert into electricity. It would do some good far-range damage, but I had to be able to control it perfectly. John placed a dish of spaghetti in front of me, which snapped me to attention. I thanked him, and began to enjoy the pasta. As I ate the last strands, I questioned John about when my house would be arriving. Goldenhand dropped her fork and spilled spaghetti all over her white uniform. John informed me that it was currently being reinforced so it wouldn't break while transporting. He handed me a white t-shirt uniform, and instructed me to change into the uniform as soon as possible. After that, he left the dining hall to what I presume was his office. I watched Goldenhand finish her spaghetti, and when she was done I asked her for my temporary room.
"Oh, you'll have to wait. John needs to prepare one for you. While we wait, can you teach me how to fight like you did? You seem so much swifter than me, even though you have dual-control."
"Alright then, come along."
I led her back the room we sparred in. I lunged for her, straight on. She flinched and dodged off to the side.
"That won't do, Goldenhand. You try it. Lunge at me, straight forward, holding whatever weapon you wish."
With a battle cry, she sprang. In front of me, coming out of my wristband, formed a silver wall. She rammed into it and fell backward, stunned. I told her to stand up, get herself back together, and to try again. She did, but instead of running into the wall, she rolled underneath and thrust her hand at me. Her gold attacked me from behind. My silver immediately melted and proceeded to wrap itself around me, and she punched metal. She howled in pain, and her gold thudded weakly against my shell. As soon as she stopped her attack, the silver returned to my arm.
"You see? I didn't make even the slightest move to attack you. My main goal was just to protect myself; you inflicted the pain upon yourself. Just like our first fight – my goal was your ring, not to hurt you or tear off your arm. You stuck your arm toward my detached silver, and so I took it. That's what you need to learn first. Have your opponent hurt himself instead of you hurting them."
She nodded, took a deep breath, and told me to try and strike her. I shrugged, and silver grew from the ground and held onto her feet. She looked down in surprise – I took this chance and lunged. She looked up in time and caught my fist in mid-air with her gold. She smirked, then turned pale. I had struck her very lightly on her back with the silver extending from my other hand. I had switched the core over before I attempted to strike. She let go of my hand and sat on the ground, shocked.
"I… I had no idea… I would've…died…"
"Don't worry, Goldenhand. That's what I'm here for. You have good reflexes – but you just need to be more aware of your surroundings. For example, you can drop the gold rope behind me."
Her eyes widened. I smiled at her then turned around. One strand of golden rope was floating in mid-air. It disintegrated slowly.
"How did … how'd you know?"
I laughed. My sixth sense, which had developed primarily due to a certain bear who kept trying to ambush me to get me to play, had done well. The bear did a good job, and it got me 3 out of 10 times.
"I have eyes on the back of my head. They grew from something called training."
She groaned, and looked completely displeased with herself. She looked sharply at me, and then ordered me to try again, to strike her. This time, I wasn't allowed to hold back, and I had to at least bruise her. I refused to hurt her, because she was my teammate now, but she insisted. In the end, I gave in.
"Fine then. I will bruise you lightly. But I won't be the only one to attack. The first person to get hit loses. Alright? That means you have to attack too."
"Agreed. Now let's get this started!"
She immediately put up her defensive mode – she enveloped herself with gold in a shell-like structure. I couldn't see in, nor could she see out. I stopped to do a little thinking, and I smiled. She was trying to trick me. She wasn't really in the shell; she was behind it, waiting for ambush. Her shadow protruded slightly out from behind the shell. I wasn't noticeable to other people, but my honed senses immediately picked it up. She was probably facing my right, so her left. If I attacked from her right, she wouldn't see me. With the silence of a tiger about to strike, I swiftly ran up behind the shell. I was right; she was in the exact position I had assumed. Her back faced me, and she completely did not notice that I was directly behind her. I punched her in the arm, and she let out a shriek. It was so loud that John came running in, asking what had happened. After she explained the situation, teary-eyed and still shaken from that terrible fright, John shook his head and returned to his office.
"You scared me so badly! Creeping out from behind someone is a terrible fighting tactic! And my arm" she rolled up her sleeve "is already starting to bruise! Argh!"
She lay down on the concrete floor and pouted. I sat down next to her, explaining exactly how I had deduced her plan and location and ultimately her direction. She still pouted, so I offered to teach her how to get eyes on the back of her head. She didn't budge. I sighed, and said the thing that I knew would tip the scales:
"Someone just turned 5."
She leapt up in anger, then noticing that she had reacted to sarcasm, sat back down embarrassed. We sat in silence for a few minutes, and she whispered,
"Teach me."
I looked at her, and nodded. I produced a small piece of cloth out of my pocket. I instructed her to tie it around her eyes.
"Now stand up. Closing your eyes usually helps. My hand is directly on front of you. Strike it hard."
She flailed her arms in front of herself, before taking off the cloth. My hand was indeed in front of her; she had missed it by just a few inches. She tried again, but I moved backwards. She began to catch on, and she could touch my hand if I went backward, left or right. But she was still flailing. We kept this up for about an hour when she finally hit my hand with just one go. She ripped off the cloth and cheered.
"Good job. You took way less time than I did – I spent about a year before I could do that. Now, keep your cloth off, but don't see with your eyes. Try to hit me the same way as just now. No using metal. Feel with your aura where I am."
She nodded, stared intently at me, and then charged. I was able to dodge away from her attacks by a narrow margin, but she was pretty fast. She stopped, panting. She had kept her attacks up for about 2 minutes non-stop. I smiled.
"You are improving very quickly. Now duel with me again, still no metal. I will strike you as well, and this time I won't hold back. Allow me to apologize in advance. Loser is the first one to fall."
"Can I rest a bit at least? My head hurts…"
"The only reason I don't want you to rest is to exhaust your body. That's how it will last longer and longer in battle. Now pull yourself together, and let's fight this out."
She slowly stood up. She did look tired, but she was still capable of having one last, good fight. She struck first; I blocked and struck her arm. She winced in pain, but charged again. This time, she blocked by counter-attack, and proceeded with her own. I dodged away, and I landed another hit on her arm. This did more damage; she began to use only her other arm. Fists volleyed between us, with a kick here and there. She was a good fighter; several times she countered my counter. At last, she collapsed. She was overly exhausted – I had pushed her a bit too far. I helped her up, and walked her to her small room. We navigated white, brightly lit tunnels that were just wide enough for two people to pass and no higher than a bear. When we arrived at her room, she had already fallen asleep and was tugging at my shoulder. Her door automatically slid open and I gently placed her on the fluffy bed. I quickly surveyed her room; it was small, just enough to live. Two shelves, a cupboard, and a closet, a small table with two chairs, a bathroom, and assorted items that probably belonged to her. And there was a digital alarm clock. I looked for a light dimmer on her walls, and to my surprise there were none. I flipped a few switches around the room, trying to find the light switches, and I retreated to the cafeteria after finally turning off most of the lights. I was sipping at my 3rd bottle of water when John finally reappeared.
"Where's Goldenhand?"
"She's sleeping in her room. She was too tired after I taught her to use her 6th sense. She's fine right now."
"I see. Well, your room is ready. If you wish to use it, feel free to. Your house will arrive in 3 days. 4, if traffic is bad. 2 if everything goes extra smoothly. Your room is #502, right next to Goldenhand's. There is a joined door if you two wish to combine rooms"
"That won't be necessary. I will be only using the bed and bathroom. I will spend the rest of my time either training Goldenhand or walking outside. I thank you, though."
John smiled and walked away. He hadn't left the hall for 3 minutes when Goldenhand limped over. She was still half asleep. I brought her a bottle of ice cold water, and it woke her up immediately.
"How are you feeling, Goldie? You put up a good fight."
"Don't call me Goldie. I'm fricken' sore…"
She spread herself over the table, whining non-stop about how tired she was. I told her to stop acting like she was 5, and that She needed to train with me as much as possible in order for us to effectively work together. She was quiet, and I thought she had fallen back to sleep. Suddenly, she jumped up.
"Silverarm, let's go to the surface. We have to find another stone for me. I need to be able to do close combat with my metal. C'mon, John won't mind. Let's go! Get up! Get UP!"
It was my turn to whine.
"Where are we going to find another one? There are so few in this world…"
"The mines just a mile away! Miners claim to have found some glowing stones! None of them were taken, so they are probably still there! The mineshaft is abandoned anyways, so no one will care!"
I considered the dangers. Then I remembered that I had silver which could save us from any collapse. I nodded, and followed her into the huge elevator. The floor plan was made so that the soccer-stadium-sized room had one elevator at each of the shorter sides, the cafeteria at one, and rooms at the other. She pressed 'ground' several times and began to jump excitedly before remembering that she was supposed to be tired. She caught me staring weirdly at her, and grew pink. I laughed, and she blushed red. The elevator doors slid open with a small whoosh and we headed out into the city. I was still in my original clothes, and I noticed that she had changed out of her white t-shirt into something more colorful.
"Crap! I left my uniform on the cafeteria table!"
"Don't worry. John's a nice guy, so he'll probably put it into your room for you."
I stayed quiet, and she glanced at me. I kept walking toward the mountain that was undoubtedly the one with the mine. She seemed to understand, and she didn't say another word for the duration of the walk.
I cautiously stepped into the mine, Goldenhand trailing after. We had picked up a few flashlights from the abandoned shed, and plenty of extra batteries.  We made our way down the shaft when she tugged at my shirt and pointed. Embedded in the wall, was a small, glowing stone. I plucked it gingerly from the dark walls that were once full of coal. It was a beautiful, dark, rich red. It pulsed unlike the smooth, steady glow of my blue shard. But they pulsed together, and from what John described, this was palladium. It would be quite radioactive, and after decaying would become silver; perfect for me. I explained to Goldenhand who agreed that I should have it since it didn't glow as brightly with hers. I placed it in my pocket so that I could experiment with it later before fusion. We kept walking, and she found another stone about 500 feet later. This one was dark gray, but still translucent. I placed a drop of silver in her hand as she held the gray stone. The silver began to melt and morph, but its actions were limited.
"This is it, Goldenhand. It glows brightly with yours and has no reaction to mine, so you can fuse them together. You can do it now or back in your room."
"I don't want to do it in here. Let's get back to the training center."
I nodded, and I followed her back to the surface. She asked me about what I was like when I was little on the way back. I told her about how I could only remember what happened after arriving at my little town, and playing with bears that were my neighbors. The sun was settings, and it was quite dark when we arrived at the center. The streetlights were all on, and the cats were beginning to prowl. She was in the middle of telling me about her school when we met John at the door. Goldenhand produced her new core from her pocket, and John's expression changed.
"I thought you two went and ran away! Oh well, now that you're back, you should get some sleep."
He turned, and we followed silently.
Goldenhand returned to her room and beckoned me to go in with her. I followed, and she whispered,
"I want you to teach me how to fuse these stones together, and how to use it."
It took just about 5 minutes as I walked her through the process. There was the same blinding light and the shard. Hers remained completely yellow, unlike my mixed blue and clear. She found immediately how easy it was now to control gold, and she began to play with the gold, exploring how gold melted and the sculptures she could make. I slipped quietly out of her room when she wasn't noticing, and I entered my temporary room. Things would be quite interesting tomorrow.
I woke up to the sound of a siren, the flashing red light on one of my walls, and the voice of John over the intercom:
"Parts of Eviston are under attack by forces from Fitguarld. Metal manipulators please remain here and conceal yourself. Do not attempt to leave. Other armed forces prepare to defend this building."
I threw off my sheets and ran into Goldenhand's room. She was still asleep, so I shook her gently. She jumped up with a start, and immediately asked,
"What's wrong? What's happening?"
I quickly repeated the announcement, and she leapt out of bed.
"C'mon, Silverarm. Let's go to the camera room. I want to see what's going on."
I agreed, and she led me into the elevator. Before I could react, we were on the ground floor. She ran out the door, and my silver caught her before she got too far. She struggled, then tried to attack me with her gold. She failed miserably. I brought her back inside, and I took her back into her room.
"Why'd you lead me out there? You could've gone by yourself."
"No, John knew I would try to join the fight. He made the elevator non-functional if I was the only one inside and it was during an emergency."
"I can see why. You are staying in here. Open the connecting door between our rooms if you want company, but I'll be in my room training my mind to become stronger."
"Can I also do it? I'll be really bored otherwise…"
"I guess you could try… but you should stay in your room. "
We did a little bit of preparation – the joining door was jammed, so we had to break it off its hinges. Then, we began. I told her to start off by relaxing completely, and to sit cross-legged on the floor. She did so obediently. I instructed her to release all feelings, emotions, and thoughts from her mind. It took some time, but after about 15 minutes, she was close enough to go n to the next step.
"Alright, Goldenhand. Now is the most difficult part. Our goal for today is to escape from the physical limitations of our bodies, and the mental limitations of our brain. In simpler words, we are going to attempt to detach our spirit from our bodies. By doing so, I think we will be able to better use our stones. They also seem to have a spirit."
"Are you crazy?! Won't we die if we do that?"
"We won't. Our brains will remain, doing just the basics to keep our bodies going."
"That's just stupid."
"You don't have to do it. I really don't care. All we need to do is remain quiet, and to concentrate on nothing but leaving."
"Fine…"
We must've sat there for a few hours, because a sudden grumble snapped me to attention. Goldenhand flushed red. It was a little after noon, so we went to get some lunch. The chef wasn't in such a good mood, so we ordered a quick lunch. Goldenhand teased me:
"So, how was it? Did you succeed?"
"Don't mock me. You fell asleep, I know that much."
She laughed, then dug into her noodles. I tore a piece of my sandwich and started to nibble, when John ran into the dining hall. He saw us, and then he dashed towards our table.
"Are you two alright?"
Goldenhand was slurping her noodles, so I replied,
"We never left. I made sure Goldenhand" I glanced at her "didn't try to join the fight."
"Good, good. The battle is over. They lost because Fitguarld underestimated us. Our army is quite strong. But 2 of their soldiers escaped – I'm sure they will tell their general what we have. This was a test, I think."
Goldenhand piped up,
"Then let us catch them! We can do it from far away, and we look like normal people!"
John looked thoughtfully at us, then laughed.
"I had no idea you two looked so much alike. Alright, go ahead. They went straight towards Fitguarld. If anyone asks, you are brother and sister. Bring them back alive. Understood?"
"Yes." we chorused.
"Then off you go. If you aren't back by 3 hours, I will assume something is wrong."
I replied okay, and Goldenhand ran back to her room to change. I trailed lazily after, and I threw on a simple t-shirt and jeans. They were specially made to be extremely flexible so that I could react faster. When John saw us walking out together, he burst out laughing. He later told us we had never looked so normal before.
Goldenhand knew the city well, so she took us to the battlefield. It was still inside the city limits, and many buildings were destroyed. Smoke poured from the buildings around that were still standing, and the debris left covered the ground. Cars were smashed beneath the rubble, and store goods were spread among the wreckage. I told her to lead us East, toward Fitguarld. She nodded, and then we jogged toward the distance. We had jogged for a while when we came upon a dense forestry. It wasn't unusual to have forests around a city; they were a natural place to find wildlife. I kept walking, but Goldenhand hesitated.
"What's wrong? You aren't scared, are you?"
"Well, no, but I've always disliked the forest. Aren't there bears in there?"
"True. But this will be good training for emptying your mind. Bears can somehow feel your mindset. If you fill your heart with kindness, friendship and love, the bear will respond kindly toward you."
"But…I am scared!"
"Too bad then. Let us go, Goldenhand."
I began to walk, and she reluctantly followed. It was her unlucky day – we met a bear after 5 minutes of navigating through the trees and marking our path. I greeted it with feelings of friendship, but even I could feel the fear emanating from Goldenhand. The bear looked at her, then returned the gaze to me. I began to talk to it. Goldenhand stared at me, as if I was crazy.
"Hello, friend. We were just passing through. Would you know if two other humans have gone past?"
The bear walked off, and I followed, with Goldenhand trailing fearfully behind. The bear eventual lead us to a small camp where the two losers had stayed. The fire pit was still warm, so they hadn't left for too long. The bear sat down, signaling his choice of staying here and munching on the leftover food. I nodded, said thanks, and kept walking forward.
"Silverarm? How are you sure they went that way?"
"The bear pointed it out. You would notice these things if you spent 6 years with them."
"I… see. But I'm still afraid of the,. They're so big and, and…"
"Alright. Now come along, we are catching escapees here. No time to worry about your fear of bears."
"Mm…"
We kept walking, occasionally stopping to ask a bear for directions, and stopping at a stream to have a sip of water. We came across about 2 other small camps. It was obvious that someone had been here, but we knew for sure that they had ran off during the first few stages of battle. We heard voices near the 4th camp, and they were both male, speaking with an accent that was unmistakably from Fitguarld. Goldenhand, who was dosing off, snapped to attention when she heard them. I quietly whispered to her,
"Use your far range attack. Knock them out, make sure they don't see it coming."
She paused, and then nodded. A snake of gold quietly slithered through the grass. It lightly wrapped around one of the person's left foot, and tugged hard. He fell, face forward, and did not move. The other jumped up, picked up his rifle, and fired a shot into the forest. Goldenhand repeated her attack, and they were both stone cold when we approached. I motioned for her to wait before advancing, and I swept the area with my 6th sense.
"Go ahead, I don't think anyone is nearby."