Phos and Antarc were walking ahead of me, talking about the changes that had happened since the last year. I wasn't paying too much attention, while I really wanted to meet Antarc there was another reason why I couldn't sleep.
I hadn't forgotten it. The words of Ventricosus about the humans, and the two figures that were among the Lunarians, specially the one with the sword. I knew her... but at that point I didn't know how or from where. I knew, however, that if they came back, Antarc wouldn't stand a chance against her, and I didn't know how strong Adamant really was. Even if he was truly indestructible, she could probably collapse the building and crush everyone inside. I couldn't allow that to happen.
I knew I needed to tell them, especially Phos. She was my best friend, but after what she had said to Adamant, I started to notice something on the other Lustrous. They were all devoted to Adamant, blindly so. As I have said to her, I didn't thought he had bad intentions, but there was something about him that didn't sit well with me. Maybe it was just his voice, or his attitude, I didn't know. I didn't had enough information, so I could only keep going and hope for the best.
Antarc took us all the way to a beach, with Phos barely managing to get there crawling. I offered to carry her, but she said it would be pointless if she didn't do it herself. On the ocean, there were large ice formations that resembled Lunarians, but Antarct told us they were Ice floes.
—Sensei once called them "Sinful ones" and I couldn't get that out of my mind. And also...
One of the ice floes started to sink under the ones next to it, and there was a horrible roar produced by the ice scraping against each other. The sound and the vibrations was enough to make Phos crack a little and fell to her knees.
—Their screams makes it difficult for the others to sleep, so we will crush them.
He leaped directly to one of the ice floes, digging the heel of his shoe on its surface several times and then using her serrated sword to give it the finishing blow, making it explode into several pieces.
—Give it a try.
—NO WAY!! —Phos yelled.
I wasn't too interested in that task, so I just acted as a watcher in case the Lunarians were to appear. Phos and Antarc had a conversation about knowing and exploring their limits, and that seemed to convince Phos to try it. Her first attempts were a bit lackluster, breaking her own face and almost falling to the ocean a couple of times. Antarc resigned to not see any improvement on Phos, so he made her cut the ice slowly with his serrated sword, while he kept breaking them at record speed.
We also had to remove snow from public places back at the school, even the rooftop. Phos fell a couple of times from it. We had to visit the place where everyone else was sleeping regularly, because they all had quirks that would become a problem if they were left unchecked. Bort would walk while sleeping, and the only solution was to throw a blanket over her. Dia will kick around, and the only solution was to throw a blanket over it. Jade will slip out of her clothes, and guess what the solution was? Even Adamant would start crashing into pillars after spending some days without meditation.
—ANTARC! SHIRO!! —Phos yelled one day where we were again crushing Ice floes. I got closer too since I got worried— This is the end for me.
—Are you going to give up now?
—No, it's not that, but the ice floe talked to me! I must be going crazy. The winter is scary after all.
—No, you are fine, they do that —Antarc said nonchalantly.
He told us that the ice floes were crystals just like them, with minerals inside, and could make noises that sounded like words.
—But I heard it clearly, "it hurts", "it's painful", "I wanna go home", they say.
The screams of the ice scared Phos enough to make her want to go home, and for one, Antarc allowed us to return earlier. I looked back once more before following them, and felt something like dread and despair coming from the ice, but I convinced myself that it was just autosuggestion after hearing what Phos said.
When we got back, Adamant told Phos that while the Ice could make noises and even words, they didn't have a will of its own, they only reflected the unease of those who were around it.
—Keep your heart at peace when you face the ice.
—Yes sir.
—Phos has been keeping up better than I expected —Antarc said—, but I would wish that his arms where as powerful as his legs.
Those words stayed with Phos even when we went back to the Ice floes the next day, she looked to immersed on her own thoughts to do any actual work. There was a moment when I saw her putting her sword dangerously close to her own arms.
—No, no, what am I thinking —she said to herself, dropping the blade—, Rutile told me there aren't more replacements.
As I got closer, I heard something like a murmur, but couldn't figure what it was, and saw Phos looking too intensely at the ice, getting too close to a hole that gave me the impression of a mouth full of teeth. Phos was right in front of the hole, with her hand hovering over it, as if it was being dragged by an invisible force.
—No, no, no! —she suddenly said, jumping back—I can't do something like that!
She slipped, and was about to fall to the cold ocean.
—Phos! —I jumped, trying to catch her, but we both fell to the water.
The ice started to launch against us as we sunk, I held Phos with my arm and tried to protect her with my body, but I got struck between two pieces of ices hitting my sides, as another came directly from the front, where Phos was completely unguarded.
Antarc managed to take Phos away just at the right time, but the ice still hit me. It wasn't enough to even crack me, but it still hurt a lot. Both of them grabbed me by my arm and tried to pull as hard as they could, but I was extremely heavy, and the ice shards didn't let go. I couldn't hold my breath for much longer also, but at the last moment, I remembered my special ability, and let spikes grow out of my body, piercing and destroying all the ice around me. Phos and Antarc managed to get me out of the water somehow, their hands and arms were all cracked.
—What were you doing?! —Antarc yelled at us, angry and worried. Her fierce glare started to turn into a sorrowful one—... You could have been smashed into pieces, I- I'm sorry.
—Wait, it isn't your fault! —Phos tried to intervene, but Antarc wasn't having it.
—Yes, it is. It's because I'm not used to work with anyone else that I got careless, I was just thinking about myself... if you had been smashed... I wouldn't know what to do... I have never failed like this before...
He started shivering and fell to her knees, Phos looked at me like trying to seek for an answer, but I had none. After being perplexed for a few seconds, Phos approached Antarc and hugged her.
—I fail like this all the time, so don't worry about it.
—OF COURSE I'M GOING TO WORRY, IDIOT!
—We can make it work, somehow. At least I didn't lose any limbs today.
Antarc threw a glare towards Phos, but that helped her calm down a bit.
—I think we can leave the Ice floes for tomorrow —Antarc said—, so why don't we go search for an arm for the new guy?
—Huh? —I muttered.
—Phos said you were very strong, but just now you saw how little you can do with just one arm, let's go look for a replacement.
Antarc made us follow him to the place where they had found me, or more specifically, the giant stone near there, the cliff of origins.
—So, how did you figure I didn't had one arm?
—You always stay on "watch duty", and you keep hiding your left side all the time. You also didn't try to use it to fight the ice under the water.
I blew up air from my nose. This guy was really perceptive. I moved my cape away to show him the lack of my arm.
—So, what happened?
—I lost it on the sea, and I intend to go and search for it once the ice melts.
—What do you think you were going to do if you happen to need it before then?
—What am I supposed to do? Steel can't be found easily in nature, and it would be near impossible to make enough from iron to replace my arm.
Antarc smiled and with a swing from his blade, he blew away all the snow that had accumulated over the beach, there were countless fragments of gems there.
—Oh! I see! —Phos said—, it doesn't have to be steel, as long as your inclusions accept it, like my legs. Even if it's weaker, you can change it later if you recover your arm.
—Exactly.
I wasn't too convinced, but allowed them to try with different materials. The ones that were more metal-like had a better effect, but nothing stuck to my arm for more than 4 seconds.
—What about this one? —Phos said, trying to lift up one that was an alloy of gold and platinum. It was so heavy she could barely get it off the ground a couple of centimeters.
Antarc helped her and they put it on place. It seemed to have stuck, and it even moved and wiggled a bit, but it fell off after six seconds. Phos tried to catch it instinctively, but it only dragged her down, and the impact made her skin crack all over.
—I guess that's enough for today, we'll come back another day...
Suddenly a strong wind hit us, and it seemed weird to me as it was coming from the island instead of from the sea. It didn't waver either, hitting us constantly. Among the snow that it raised, I saw a figure approaching, too small to be Adamant. Worse, it was carrying some sort of spear. It had to be one of the two I saw before, with a new weapon.
—Antarc, you asked me what I would do if I needed my arm, right? This is my response.
I recreated my arm temporally and readied my blades. Antarc was a bit surprised, but took also a defensive stand along me.
—Um... guys, could you help me out a bit? —Phos said, breaking our concentration.
I tried to give a quick glance towards her without neglect the enemy approaching. However, that sight was completely unexpected. The gold alloy was seeping into the cracks on her skin, breaking her even more and taking strange patterns and shapes.