Sullivan Marin played a note on his organ, then played a different one. He thought for a moment, backtracked to a few notes earlier, and played it again with a different note.

  That was better. He used his pen to mark a new dot on his music sheet. He was on his fourth page that night. Marin knew he had spent a great deal of time writing his pieces, but it hadn't dawned on him just how long until this moment.

  The grandfather clock in Marin's library struck six in the morning. At the noise, the King jolted his head around to glance at the time.

  "It's morning already? What a night," he said to himself.

  After eyeing his work with satisfaction, he bunched the music sheets together and set them to the side. That would have to be enough music creation for now, the day was about to begin. He pushed backwards in his stool, and got up from the pipe organ.

  He wondered to himself if anyone would enjoy the music he wrote. He had no friends who played the organ like he did. Maybe one day he would send the completed pieces off for analysis and get an expert opinion if they were any good.

  The day started in a typical manner as it usually did. Marin walked the morning halls, greeting citizens who were either waking up or going to bed from a night shift. After touring the castle some, breakfast commenced, and Marin sat at the end of the middle table, talking with his staff about Kingdom affairs.

  Afterwards, Marin followed Helva and Harrel to the main office where he looked over requests and files, and had some approved or denied. Shortly after the library opened, Marin headed there to speak with Marge, his head librarian, about a certain request he spoke with Loid about last night.

  Marin entered just as servants were lighting the chandeliers in the library. While the areas close to the walls were fairly well lit by the windows, the center aisles needed assistance from them. Upon reaching the front desk of the room, Marin noticed that Marge hadn't stationed herself there yet.

  He leaned on the counter, peering beyond the desk to see what items and books rested behind. While he waited, a castle denizen got in line behind him.

  "Good morning, my King!" He said.

  Marin turned around and shook his hand in a robotic manner. "Greetings. What brings you here today?" He asked as a start to small talk.

  "I come here all the time when I'm not working. I love to read," he proudly responded.

  "That's good to hear! That's why I built this library — for people like you. I hope it has met your needs."

  "Overly so!"

  Marin talked with the man for a while longer as he listened to his praise for the library. Eventually though, Marge did make her way down the red carpet and to the front desk she was usually stationed at. At the sight of the blue-robed King, her eyes widened.

  "King Marin! Forgive me, had I known you had been waiting here-" She said all frantically.

  Marin cut her off with a raised hand. "Don't worry about it. After you assist this gentleman behind me, I'd like to have a few words with you in your office," Marin stated.

  "Of course."

  Marge helped the man locate a certain book he described. While she did so, Marin gazed at her signature turquoise jewelry she always sported. She had the aquamarine gemstone adorned in her earrings, pendant, and two rings on her finger.

  Everyone at this point knew she loved turquoise, and if anyone had a desire to present her a gift, it was a safe bet to get her anything that consisted of it.

  Afterwards, Marge guided Marin to a separate office in the back of the library. When they entered the small room stuffed to the ceiling with uncatalogued books, she shut the door and lit the lantern so they could privately talk.

  "What seems to be the matter?" She stated, always eager to assist the mysterious King she fell in love with on the first day she met him.

  "Well, Marge. There are a few things you don't know about me," he gently started off with.

  She chuckled in a way a rich socialite would at a party. "Well, that's fairly obvious, my King."

  Marin then realized of course that was the case. His mask alone made the statement quite a mundane one. Then there was the fact that Marin had no history of himself recorded in any modern documents.

  "Right, of course." Marin then responded, now feeling stupid for making the earlier statement. He was about to explain his request, but had to be careful not to tell her he was a zombie. She was not in the trusted inner circle. Frankly, she might not be able to handle that secret anyways.

  "Listen, I've forgotten quite a bit of my past life. I'd like to see if you know anyone who deals in restoring one's memories," Marin flatly said.

  Marge tilted her head. "...You're suffering from memory loss?" She repeated.

  "A form of it, yes. I've already talked with Doctor Eisen. We've attempted some methods, but nothing yielded satisfying results. I'm now reaching out to learn about more obscure ideas that maybe aren't well known. I figured with you being a librarian and all-"

  "Marin, listen. That's beyond my realm of knowledge. I'm quite well-read, but I'm not going to act like I know detailed abilities of those that may or may not be able to help you. And typically the people I read about in history books have already passed on," she tried telling him.

  "I'm not expecting you to give me specific names. Perhaps just a direction you could point me to. Even the smallest lead would be much appreciated."

  Marge pursed her lips in thought. "...You're serious about this, aren't you?"

  She took another moment, reading Marin's desperation through his voice. It would be a large amount of researching to get anything solid for him, but she then made her mind up.

  "I'll see what I can provide you. No promises, though. And if I do obtain some leads for you, I can't guarantee they'll end up anywhere useful."

  "That would be wonderful, Marge. Thank you so much," Marin replied, happy that she was persuaded to help.

  They both stood up, and Marin shook Marge's hand.

  "You'll have to give me time," she added. "It will require me to flip quite a few pages. Not that it's a burden in any sense. I do that in my free time anyways."

  Marin hoped that she would find success, no matter how much time he would be kept waiting. While she was now onboard, Marin trusted that Loid had already asked Bob Galrus on his behalf.

  For now, that was all that could be done about the issue. With that out of the way, the day continued on. Marin sent another letter to the barracks for Gus to read when he was off shift. It contained instructions to meet him in the woods for his first official lesson. No doubt he would be elated when the time came.

  Marin continued to make appearances in major rooms of the castle throughout the day, waving to his staff. At one point he was summoned to the main office to fix a disagreement. Finally though, when it was close to three, Marin headed out of the castle via the stable exit and walked out to the woods in the distance.

  After gazing at the dormant trees for sometime, he checked his pocket watch. At the time, there was no doubt Gus had read the letter and was preparing to meet him. He pocketed the clock and leaned against a tree, patiently waiting, as he mentally planned what exact things he would teach his new student.

  A few more minutes passed, and then in the distance Marin saw the young lad hiking out to him. Marin pushed off the tree he leaned against, and waited for him to draw closer.

  "KING MARIN!" He exclaimed with great excitement as he shook his mentor's hand.

  "Good afternoon, Gus. How goes it?"

  "How goes it?! Well, look at this!" Gus extended his arm, and ice rapidly formed around his hand, covering it entirely, then it climbed up his fore arm. Within ten seconds, he had the ice growing up to his shoulder before he stopped.

  "I can practically freeze my whole body now if I wanted. And I noticed if I stop concentrating, the ice immediately evaporates to nothing!" Gus explained.

  Sure enough, it crackled off of him, and turned to a cool smoke before vanishing entirely.

  "Yeah, that's about how it works," Marin mentioned.

  "Well, I thought ice melted? Into water? Why is it just disappearing entirely like that?" Gus asked with insane curiosity.

  "The ice is returning to the power plane that you pulled it from. You're borrowing it, not taking it. There's a huge difference."

  "Seriously? What about you? Do you borrow or take it?" Gus asked King Marin.

  "Depends on the situation. Taking is far harder, since you're actually severing its connection to the power plane, and keeping it in existence," Marin happily answered.

  Gus thought for a moment. "...Wait. So the ice cubes at the inn. When you cooled my mead with them…"

  "That was me taking."

  "Well, how do I take?" Gus asked.

  "That's far down the road, I'm afraid."

  "Dang it! I was hoping to do that one right away," he replied in a defeated tone. "Well, no matter. Borrowing will be cool enough for now. Anyways, what's the first lesson?"

  Marin thought for a moment as to how to begin.

  "Hmm. Well, I see that you're getting the hang of Ice Form fairly well, despite it only being on your body. Have you learned how to form ice away from yourself?"

  "No. I can freeze other stuff, but I have to be touching it," Gus explained. "I don't know how to create it remotely yet."

  "Well, then that's going to be your first lesson. I will teach you that."

  Marin and Gus walked further into the forest. When they were far enough in that the castle could no longer be seen, Marin stopped him.

  "Look at that tree right in front of us," Marin pointed. "We're going to get you to form ice on the bark from here."

  The tree was a considerable distance away.

  "Alright, what do I do?" Gus asked with excitement.

  "Use your eyes to judge the distance. Then you need to feel that same distance mentally," Marin easily said.

  "FEEL the distance?! How the heck do I do that?" Gus demanded.

  Marin kept going. "Once you've done that, you simply ask for the ice in the same way you've asked for it on your palm."

  "But Marin how do I feel the distance?"

  "Hmm." Marin was beginning to realize that teaching someone new these ideas that were second nature to elementals would prove harder than he thought.

  He took a moment to ponder.

  "Alright, let's get closer to the tree. Starting back here is actually a bad idea. It would be hard for you to line those up at this distance."

  They walked forward until they were a foot away from the tree. Extremely close.

  "Try it from here," Marin instructed. "It's a short distance, so just feel it being short."

  Gus concentrated. He started at the tree bark.

  Short distance. About a foot away, he thought. Gus then asked the power plane for ice.

  It wasn't fabricating.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  Gus started to panic.

  "It's okay Gus, take your time. No rush. Continue to think about it in different ways until it happens," Marin assured him.

  "Do I have to use my hands? Like, extend them?" Gus asked.

  "It can help. Your arms, hands, fingers, are like conductors. But a skilled elemental can use just his mind."

  Gus eyed the tree bark again. He began to imagine different distances in his mind, and feel them subconsciously. It turned out that the brain's natural ability of spacial awareness was direly needed for this feat.

  He would feel the distance in someway, and ask the power plane. When it didn't happen, he tried to feel the distance in another way, and ask again.

  Gus started to concentrate so hard that his awareness levels were at one who was in a deep day dream. Much time was passing and he had no idea. If Marin happened to say even a single word, it would jolt him out of a serious thought process.

  Finally, ice surely began growing on the tree bark.

  "THERE IT IS!" Gus exclaimed. He was elated. At his excitement, the ice broke away off the bark. That didn't matter though, he had achieved his first remote ice formation. He jumped up and down like a kid who just received a new toy as a gift.

  Marin clapped for him. Enough time had passed that he began to worry, but Gus as usual finally broke through.

  "Well, how'd you figure it out?" Marin asked.

  "I accomplished it by picturing how much of a distance I'd need to jump to reach it. Seeing as I was standing right in front of it, it was like a little leap," Gus explained with a huge grin on his face.

  Marin thought for moment as he ran that comparison to his own way he did it. He became shocked. "...Actually, that's exactly what it feels like. Wow, what a great metaphor to use, Gus. I'll have to write that one down. I never thought to compare it to a physical action like jumping."

  Gus was genuinely impressed that he had come up with something beyond even what Marin could. What an accomplishment.

  "Well, very good, Gus," Marin continued. "How about we try it now at different distances?"

  Gus was excited to do so. He took a few large steps backwards, distancing himself about ten feet away from the tree. He stood there and began to concentrate yet again.

  Meanwhile, Marin sat back down on a tree stump. He watched Gus for a moment as he stood still, eyes wide, and focusing. After a moment of no action, Marin's sight lowered to his hands in his lap.

  He began to think about many things, even to the point where he had lost his attention on Gus. After a while though, his thought process became interrupted at another burst of cheer. Marin looked up to see Gus jumping again, then to the tree, where he saw newly formed ice crackling away from existence.

  "WOO!" Gus shouted out. After a decent physical celebration of the feat, Gus walked up to Marin.

  "It's weird, it just won't form unless my sight and my judgment of distance lines up exactly right!" Gus noted.

  Marin nodded. "That's how it is. You see, when you throw a ball, if you're aiming for a certain distance, but miss that distance, the ball still lands, just not where you wanted it to. That is not the case for ice elementals. You will either get the ice made exactly where you want it to, or no ice will form at all. That causes us to have a one hundred percent accuracy rating when trying to freeze something."

  It was all so much for Gus to take in when he was as excited as he was.

  "That's crazy!" Gus thought for a moment. "Say, Marin, can I see you freeze some of the trees at different distances? I want to see how well you can do it."

  "Oh, Gus. I can do it instantly. If I can see it, I can freeze it with just a thought. The feeling of distances is second nature for me now."

  "Still humor me?" Gus pushed.

  Marin sat still for a moment. "...Very well." He stood up, and stared at the endless trees around him. "Do you want to point at a location and I freeze it?" He asked.

  "No, create the targets for yourself, then make the ice appear. Do it as fast as you can," Gus asked with stars in his eyes.

  Marin looked up for about five seconds in silence, then ice started appearing in random chunks all over the branches. It was happening so fast, Gus couldn't even keep track. It was like watching thousands of fireflies lighting up a field. Soon so much ice had been made, that nearly all the trees in sight were coated base to tip in ice.

  If Gus's own skill was that of a sliding abacus, Marin had the abilities of an electric micro processor.

  Gus couldn't do anything else but stare unblinkingly in wide eyed wonder. The only thought in his mind, besides being utterly impressed was if maybe one day he could reach the same level of skill.

  It had only taken about twenty seconds, but Marin had frozen anything that could be made a target, besides Gus and himself.

  Satisfied with the work, Marin finally drew his gaze away, and all the ice he had formed so quickly evaporated from the current plane they resided in.

  "Well, that turned out to be decent exercise," Marin mentioned to himself.

  He gazed at Gus, who was still beaming at the trees with his mouth hanging open.

  "How… how did you…" Gus began. "You're so much more-"

  "Don't use me as some comparison, Gus. I've been practicing my element for longer than you've been alive. You could reach this skill level too, but it will take great deal of effort on your part, and a lot of time."

  "I… I'm ready," Gus declared while refocusing on Marin.

  "Very well. Keep practicing Ice Form on targets in the distance."

  Marin sat back down on the stump, and continued to coach Gus, watching him switch targets and change distances. On closer targets it only took him a minute to line the distances up, while longer targets would take several minutes before he could land a match.

  An hour or two flew by as Gus had a blast getting ice to form on distant trees. Eventually, Marin pulled his pocket watch back out.

  "Why don't you continue to spend time out here practicing different distances. I need to head back inside and attend to my affairs. Don't miss dinner, though," Marin spoke as he stood up from the wooden stump.

  "Okay! I won't!" Gus replied back without breaking his gaze from the tree he was currently focusing on.

  "You're doing good, Gus. Keep it up," Marin finished with.

  The King left the woods and headed back to the castle. It was getting close to five o' clock. The guards in the stable hailed him as he entered back into Nocturne.

  Inside, his absence had been noticed. Back in the office, the staff were happy to see him.

  "Hello, Marin. We were wondering where you had gone off to," Helva spoke to him.

  "I was teaching Gus his element in the woods west of the castle," Marin replied.

  She nodded. Helva had only faintly heard the stories that one of the castle guards had learned the ice element from him, specifically the one that had gone with him to Tarenfall.

  "Oh, that's right," Loid remembered. "I shouldn't have worried."

  "Any news on anything?" Marin asked.

  "Stalmeyer is done drilling," Loid reported.

  "That's good to hear."

  "Yes," Helva added. "They just finished up an hour ago. I had a word with them. They're headed back to their facility to analyze the sample. But I didn't let them know that it will likely be the last time they're here."

  Marin nodded in agreement.

  "They did compliment our statue in the back though," she finished with, not feeling bad for them at all.

  "The what now?" Marin asked.

  "The statue in the back. Apparently you have one? Shaped like a large golem?" She asked.

  Marin looked at Loid.

  Loid put his hands up. This was news to him. "I've never seen it before."

  Marin thought that was the case. He then looked to them all. "To my knowledge, we don't have anything like that. Did they say where it was?"

  Helva thought for a moment. "...Just in the back, they said."

  "Loid, would you come with me?" Marin asked.

  King Marin and Loid left the office briskly.

  Helva sat there alone now, realizing something strange was happening.

  "Sullivan, what's going on?" Loid asked him as they sped walked down the hall.

  "I know my castle like my own body. We have never had a statue of a golem in the back. I didn't order it, and you didn't order it. So, how did it get there? We're going back there to find it."

  Loid was then bewildered. The mysteries in the castle continued.

  "Has anyone else ever ordered something like that for the castle?" Marin added. To his knowledge, only him and Loid had ever been the ones to order large and costly pieces such as a statue.

  "No. I mean, I've had Bob order us stuff, but only at my request. I'm fairly certain he wouldn't buy something like that without approval."

  Ideas of what could be going on raced through his mind as they traveled on. They passed bedrooms of the castle dwellers that resided back there. Eventually they reached the arches that would lead into the backyards of the castle.

  Not many had much reason to be back there. It was usually quite abandoned. The only people who ever wandered these areas were guards doing their rounds, or those who wanted to explore less popular areas of the huge castle.

  When they both swung open an old wooden door into the outside yard, the sun was in the process of setting. The sky had turned pink. As they walked out there, snow covered their feet from it not getting shoveled often. Loid hadn't actually been in the back areas since the castle was first getting renovated, and he had a feeling that was the same for Marin.

  "Well, where could it be?" Marin gently asked.

  The cold wind was picking up, as it usually did around the evening.

  "The digging crew was just over there," Loid pointed. "Maybe if we head out to where they were, we might be able to spot a statue."

  They both hiked through the snow to the dig site. When they arrived, Marin was less than thrilled to see the land torn up in such a brutal manner. They had pretty much created a crater in the ground trying to get a decent sample of rock. They took no care to keep the land looking presentable. Tracks of heavy machinery circled the pit.

  "Yeah, I really don't like that," Marin said to himself barely above a whisper, while staring at it.

  "There's some guards watching, at least," Loid said while staring back at the castle.

  Marin finally looked with Loid. Sure enough, there were two guards stationed at two separate balconies overlooking the hinterlands of the castle.

  "Well, that's comforting to know they were able to keep an eye on everything. Have you spotted a statue yet?" Marin asked.

  "Nope."

  Marin gazed, his eyes studying every chiseled detail on the back of the castle, trying to find a statue anywhere that matched what Helva said.

  After a while, neither saw anything out of the ordinary. The back of the stone brick building was nice to look at, though. The details on the back did not match the front, so it was a fresh sight, and it was a view that went unnoticed by most.

  Loid finally spoke out a thought. "Perhaps the digging crew were joking. I see no statue back here."

  "Hmm." That was a decent idea. Marin wouldn't write off the statement so easily, though. "Let's walk the whole perimeter just to be safe."

  Loid wasn't happy to hear that he would have to be out in the cold for an extended period of time, but he obliged the King.

  They walked the back walls of the castle, peering down every edge and indent, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Just when they had nearly completed, and Marin's worries were beginning to rest, they peered down a large indent, a deep crevice between two smaller towers. It was an area that was hidden from far away, and out of view from the watch balconies up above.

  Marin froze. Loid's heart jumped.

  There it was. The statue stood all alone, a light sprinkle of snow over its head and shoulders.

  It was large. Large in the sense that it was ten feet tall. Loid and Marin walked up to it. Their heads met the golem's waist.

  "Wow, would you look at that," Loid said, quite impressed.

  Marin didn't say a word. He rested his hand on the knee of the stone figure.

  Loid chuckled. "Looks like they weren't lying after all."

  He looked over to Marin. "How do you think this thing got here?"

  Marin was still dead silent.

  "Sullivan?" Loid finally said.

  "...This isn't a statue of a golem. This IS a golem. An actual stone golem of the earth," Marin dreadfully uttered.

  Loid immediately pulled his hand from it. "What?!"

  "It hasn't been activated yet. It was recently made," Marin continued.

  Loid took a few steps backwards. In his mind, the pretty statue had just become an intimidating monster in complete stasis. He had seen one in the Harmon Wars before, but just once, and far in the distance. They were incredibly rare, as were earth elementals in general.

  "A-are you sure?" Loid demanded.

  "Absolutely."

  Loid's skin crawled. "Could this be the work of our secret earth elemental?"

  "Without a doubt it was. I'm trying to figure out why they made it and what purpose it was going to serve."

  Loid swallowed. He took a few more steps backwards, almost expecting the golem to come to life any second now. After thinking for a while, he could offer no ideas to his King.

  "No purpose that would've been beneficial, I'm sure. What do you think we should do?" Loid asked.

  "I'm going to destroy it," Marin spoke in a cold, calculating tone.

  "You are? I mean, is that the right move? That might draw out the earth elemental to finally confront us."

  "Then let them. It would finally put my worries to rest. Stand over there, if you would." Marin signaled an area for Loid stand. It was a spot that was a fair distance away where he couldn't get hurt.

  Loid felt like he needed to say more, but stayed silent, and obeyed. He walked over to where Marin instructed him.

  Marin also walked backwards away from the golem until he was roughly thirty feet away. He concentrated for a moment, as one might do before doing three flips from a high dive into a pool.

  Marin then raised his arms, and an icicle grew into existence. It became longer as it grew thicker, the front point of it as sharp as could be, and aiming right at the golem's chest. Once it had finally reached a considerably large size, it began to quiver in the air.

  Loid knew that Marin was focusing greatly, requesting detailed instructions from the power plane on how to accomplish this move he was doing.

  The large ice lance wiggled in the air from the momentum Marin was building behind it. He was stretching the power plane around the icicle, creating the strength of a powerful invisible slingshot.

  After another moment of preparing the attack, and the shaking of the ice lance now at a critical level, Marin grunted as he finally waved his arms. The lance bolted forward at the speed of a bullet. The kinetic energy it had acquired was immense, and nearly unstoppable.

  The ice lance was more than capable of blasting through the solid rock chest of the golem, and the impact would shatter it to pieces, undoing many hours of hard work from its creator.

  The ice lance sped at the golem, but before it struck it's torso, the rocky brick arm of the monster moved, and grabbed the lance just before it pierced him.

  The eye sockets in the towering stone figure began to glow white.

  Damn it, I was afraid that might happen, Marin thought to himself.