Chapter 2: A Knock at the Door

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

The door shook like the mountain itself had groaned.

Sköll growled, louder this time, tail stiff as he planted himself in front of me.

My heart thudded as I reached for the handle—but Sköll beat me to it, blocking my path with a low warning rumble.

I eased the door open—

Outside stood four strangers. Two were tall-ish. The other two barely reached their shoulders. All of them were yelling at the tallest one.

“Bardock! Hit the door any harder and you’ll break it down!”

The blond giant blinked. “Sorry! I didn’t think I hit it that hard.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “For a second, I thought we were under attack.”

Sköll, sensing no threat, snorted and padded back toward the fire.

I narrowed my eyes. “Who are you… and why are you all the way up here?”

No one came this deep into the Wolfstein Mountains unless they had a reason.

One of the taller strangers—a woman with sharp green eyes and a loose brown braid—stepped forward.

“My name is Lily. Vice-captain of the Red Wings. I’m also our mage.”

She motioned toward the towering blond beside her. “This is Bardock. He’s our tank.”

Bardock grinned sheepishly. “Sorry again about the door.”

“It’s fine,” I said, still wary. “Just startled me.”

Lily nodded toward the smaller woman behind them—white hair, crimson eyes, and a quiet, almost nervous aura.

“This is Sasha, our beast tamer.”

“H-hi,” Sasha squeaked, avoiding my gaze.

She barely reached my chest. I frowned. “Why’d you bring a kid into these mountains?”

Lily burst out laughing. “She’s twenty-eight.”

I blinked at Sasha. Her entire face shifted from anxious to deeply offended.

The last of the group—a black-haired man with a cocky smile—snorted with laughter.

Big mistake.

Sasha turned and kicked him right in the groin.

He dropped like a sack of potatoes, groaning.

Lily didn’t flinch. “That idiot is our captain, Stewart. He’s also our swashbuckler.”

I raised an eyebrow. “So… why are you here?”

Lily’s expression sharpened. “We’re looking for someone. A man named Orpheus Fenrir. We think he might’ve hidden somewhere in these mountains.”

My father’s name.

The words hit like a punch. My stomach twisted.

I tried to sound casual. “Why are you looking for him?”

“Because,” Lily said, “he’s the son of Duke Durak. The rightful heir to the throne. He disappeared eighteen years ago—vanished right after refusing a proposed marriage.”

Stewart, still wincing from Sasha’s kick, chimed in. “Apparently he ran away with a woman named Penelope.”

“If he’s alive,” Lily added, “he’d be around thirty-six now.”

The silence between us stretched.

I forced myself to speak. “We might know who you’re talking about. But this isn’t a conversation to have outside.”

I stepped aside. “Come in.”

They filed inside. Sköll watched them carefully from the fire.

Sasha froze. “Is that… a dire wolf?!”

“I think so,” I said. “He attacked me this morning, but he was starving. Collapsed after the fight. I brought him back. Fed him.”

Sasha’s eyes lit up. “Feed him a mana crystal. You’ll know for sure.”

She pulled out a glowing orb and tossed it before I could stop her.

Sköll lunged, caught it midair, and crunched down.

A faint glow wrapped around him—his body shimmered, stretched, and grew slightly.

He stretched and wagged his tail, clearly pleased.

“Yep,” I said. “That confirms it.”

Stewart gawked. “Where’d you find a dire wolf?! Let alone tame one?!”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I don’t know how I did it. When I touched him… there was this flash of blue light. Chains linked us. Then vanished.”

Sasha stared. “Wait… who taught you tamer magic?”

“Nobody. I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

She turned to Lily. They whispered.

Then Lily asked, “Do you know how magic works?”

“My father said he’d teach me someday,” I said. “But he died before he could.”

Sasha stepped forward. “Magic needs three things: visualization, enough mana, and your element.”

“Element?” I asked.

Sasha nodded. “Most mages are Conjurers—they create and control specific elements. I use tamer magic, which falls under the Null element. Lily’s a rare triple-element user—Fire, Water, and Wind.”

She held up her hand. “There are five main elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, and Earth. Most people can use one. Two is rare. Three is incredibly rare.”

“What about Null?”

“Null doesn’t create like the others,” Sasha said. “It changes. It’s a wild card. As long as your spell doesn’t use one of the five main elements—like tamer magic or healing magic—it falls under Null.”

She pointed toward Stewart. “Then there are people like him. Benders.”

“Benders don’t conjure elements,” Lily explained. “They manipulate what’s already there. They can infuse weapons with mana, move terrain, reinforce their bodies. It’s not flashy, but in the right hands, it’s deadly.”

Stewart gave a cocky grin. “I’ll take enhancing my strength over tossing fireballs any day.”

There was a beat of silence before Lily tilted her head. “I guess we forgot to ask, who are you?”

“Oh. Right.” I straightened. “I’m Arthur. And the girl in the other room? That’s my sister, Rias.”

“Nice to meet you!” Sasha chirped, though her gaze lingered on me with curiosity.

Lily leaned in. “Arthur, if what you did to tame that wolf was instinctual… you might be Null-aligned. That’s extremely rare.”

Sasha nodded. “And even among Nulls, most don’t have the mana to do what you did. A tamer contract—especially with a dire wolf—that’s supposed to be impossible without training.”

I glanced toward Sköll. “I just thought of him as… family.”

“Family,” Sasha whispered. “That’s why it worked.”

“It just felt like… that’s what he wanted.” I hesitated, then asked, “Why don’t you use healing magic?”

Deep down I felt as if I knew the answer why, but I want to one day fix Rias’s eyes.

Sasha sighed. “Healing’s complex. You need precise control—veins, muscles, nerves. I can’t visualize all that yet.”

“Elves are the best at it,” Lily said. “They live in the Forest of Silvanus. Hidden, secretive. But they can regenerate lost limbs.”

My thoughts drifted to Rias.

“…Could they fix her eyes?”

No one answered.

Then Stewart looked into the next room. Surprised, he said,“Wait. That’s your sister? Not your wife?”

I nearly choked. “What?! No! We’re sixteen!”

A wave of surprise rippled through the room.

“…Sixteen?” Bardock echoed.

Sasha nearly dropped her bag.

“You’re bigger than Bardock!” Stewart laughed.

I shrugged. “I just thought everyone else was short.”

Lily smiled faintly. “You really are something else.”

Then Bardock frowned. “Aren’t we forgetting something? Orpheus?”

Before I could answer, a soft voice broke the moment.

“…Father?”

Rias stood in the doorway, her voice barely a whisper. “You said his name…”

Her hands trembled at her sides. “Is… is Father really out there?”

I stepped toward her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Yeah. They’re here looking for him.”

I know he is dead, but Rias still has hope he is out there. I want to stop her delusion but I don’t want to hurt her further.

Stewart looked at me. “So Orpheus is your father?”

I nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think so.”

Lily stepped forward. “Do you have anything that could prove it?”

I reached into my shirt and pulled out the pendant Father left behind.

Lily opened it—and her eyes widened. “It’s the same as the Duke’s.”

The room fell silent.

“Well,” Stewart said, stretching, “looks like we’re taking these kids to the Duke.”

Lily turned to me, her voice softer. “Will you come with us?”

I looked at Rias. “What do you think?”

“…We might as well,” she whispered.

Lily gave a faint smile. “This pendant will prove your blood. If it glows… there’ll be no doubt.”

She added with a half-laugh, “Though we probably won’t get paid. We were hired to find your father, not his kids.”

Stewart clapped his hands. “Alright, let’s get camp ready. Arthur, Rias—pack what you need. We leave at sunrise.”

The others began moving.

I stood by the window, watching the sun set behind the mountains.

I thought of Father—of the man who vanished, not out of fear, but to protect us.

I turned to Rias. “Don’t worry. I’ll handle everything.”

She nodded slowly.

That night, we shared one last meal in the only home we’d ever known.

And as I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, one question echoed in my mind:

What does the world look like… beyond these mountains?