The afternoon following Astra's "soul-training" with Elian was one of the quietest and most profound the trio had shared since arriving in the mountain kingdom. In the guest suite of the Iron Palace, the atmosphere had shifted from a clinical training camp to something resembling a home.
During lunch, Elian had finally stopped waiting for permission to take a bite of bread. He sat between Aster and Astra, his eyes darting between the two silver-haired geniuses as they argued about the logistics of the upcoming stage.
"If we use a mahogany base, it will absorb the bass notes," Aster argued, pointing to a sketch. "We need Orestian Iron-Wood. It's denser. It reflects sound like a mirror reflects light."
"But Iron-Wood is heavy, Aster," Astra countered with a small smile. "If we don't treat the surface, the singer's voice will sound cold. We need a layer of resonance runes engraved."
Elian listened, mesmerized. He didn't understand the logics, but he understood the passion. Later that evening, their mother, Arliene, joined them. She sat with Elian and asked him about the different types of moss that grew in the lower mines—a topic the boy actually knew about. For the first time, Elian spoke for ten minutes straight without stuttering. He was no longer just an orphan caught in a prince's wager; he was a boy being seen. By the end of the day, Elian was no longer just a "project" to Aster; he was a friend whose eyes finally held a flicker of hope.
***
The next morning, the sun broke over the mountain range like a hammer hitting an anvil—sharp, bright, and sudden. Aster and Astra were already prepared, their travel packs filled with high-grade mana stones and hydration salts. However, before they could depart for the day's training site, the heavy, iron-reinforced doors of their suite were pushed open.
A girl, exactly the same age as Aster and Astra, stood in the center of the room. In a kingdom dominated by greys and blacks, she was an impossibility. Her hair was a vibrant, dusty pink—the color of cherry blossoms in a world of granite. Her eyes were a matching shade of rose quartz, sparking with an intensity that rivaled Aster's own.
"I can't believe I missed the first two days!" she chirped, skipping into the room without waiting for a formal greeting.
"Princess Lumine?" Arliene asked, rising to greet her with a surprised smile.
"Lady Arliene! Prince Aster! Princess Astra!" Lumine skipped forward, grabbing Astra's hands and shaking them enthusiastically. "I am so sorry I wasn't here to greet you at the gates. My father sent me to Ferrum, the neighboring city, to oversee a refinery opening. I rode through the night as soon as I heard the 'Snowflakes' were actually here! I didn't even go to my own rooms—I came straight here!"
Aster observed her with a clinical eye. She's a high-mana individual, he noted. *And that hair... it's not a natural Orestian trait. A specific elemental affinity, perhaps?* He didn't know that his sister, Astra, was simultaneously looking at Lumine and feeling a strange sense of kinship.
"We are honored by your visit, Princess," Aster said, offering a polite bow.
"Oh, stop with the 'Princess' stuff! I've heard your Sound Stones," Lumine said, her eyes wide. "A merchant smuggled one into the palace last winter. I listened to it until the mana ran out. It's the only thing in this city that doesn't sound like a hammer hitting a rock. I love music! I've always felt like I was born in the wrong kingdom!"
Lumine turned her gaze toward Elian, who was trying to merge with the shadows of the cedar wardrobe. "And this is the one? The boy from the Slums? The one you're going to turn into a legend? My father thinks you're crazy, Aster, but I think you're a genius."
She walked up to Elian, sniffing the air around him as if she were a mountain cat. "Wind magic. I can feel it. He's perfect for learning your ' technique, isn't he?"
Aster raised an eyebrow, impressed. "You know about singing"
"I read," Lumine said with a smirk. "Just because my father thinks I'm a 'delicate flower' doesn't mean I don't study. I'm a Sensor-type mage. I can feel the vibrations of the mountain. And right now, this boy's mind is... messy. He's nervous."
"We were just heading out to climb the Sentry Hill for his first real singing training," Astra explained.
"Then I'm coming too!" Lumine declared. "I'll ask my father, and he'll let me go if I tell him I'm 'supervising' the foreign royals. Plus, I brought my guardian."
She pointed toward the doorway. Standing in the hall was a man who looked less like a human and more like a suit of armor that had been possessed by a mountain spirit. He was nearly seven feet tall, clad in overlapping plates of dark "Orestian Plate." He wore a closed helm, and a massive war-hammer was strapped to his back.
"This is Sir Korg," Lumine introduced. "He's the First Sentry of the Iron Guard. He doesn't talk much, but he makes sure I don't accidentally fall into a ravine."
***
The climb to Sentry Hill was a grueling three-hour ascent. While the twins were used to the flat, manicured gardens of Wynfall, Orestes was a vertical world. The path was nothing more than a series of narrow ledges carved into the side of the obsidian cliff.
Aster moved with a surprising, focused efficiency. In my past life, I spent a lot of days walking here and there. he thought, his lungs burning but his rhythm steady. This is nothing compared to walking 10km in an empty stomach. But this body is still only fifteen. I have to pace myself. He glanced at Astra, wondering how she was holding up.
Astra, meanwhile, was fascinated by Lumine. The pink-haired princess was practically leaping from rock to rock, her energy seemingly limitless.
"Don't you ever get tired?" Astra panted, wiping sweat from her brow.
"The air is my friend!" Lumine shouted back. "I'm a Sensor, remember? I don't just walk on the ground; I feel where the mountain wants me to step. The rocks here have a rhythm. If you step on the 'beat,' you don't lose as much energy!"
Astra paused. Stepping on the beat? She closed her eyes for a moment, letting her Sound Magic reach out. She felt it—the low-frequency hum of the earth. She adjusted her stride, matching her footsteps to the internal "tempo" of the mountain. Suddenly, the climb felt significantly easier.
Aster didn't tell me that, Astra thought, glancing at her brother. *Is he doing it instinctively? Sometimes I wonder how he is learning everything very fast.
In her past life, Astra had been a listener. When you are confined to a hospital bed, the world becomes a symphony of small sounds—the rustle of sheets, the rhythm of a heart monitor. Here, the mountain was a roar, and she was learning to harmonize with it. She felt a deep sense of gratitude for this new life, even if she couldn't share the truth of her past with Aster.
Meanwhile, Elian was struggling. His small frame was trembling, and the thin air was making him dizzy. Every time his foot slipped on the loose shale, a massive, gauntleted hand would reach out and catch him by the collar. Sir Korg was an engine of silent support.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Sir Knight," Elian gasped. "I'm too slow."
The knight's voice rumbled from deep within his chest. "The mountain tests the spirit before it tests the legs. You have not turned back. That is the only metric that matters in Orestes."
Finally, they reached the summit of Sentry Hill. It was a flat, windswept plateau that overlooked the entire capital city. The wind was ferocious up here, a constant, howling gale that whipped their hair into silver and pink frenzies.
"Perfect," Aster said, his eyes gleaming. He dropped his pack and pulled out a large resonance stone. "Elian, stand at the edge. Face the city."
The boy obeyed, his legs shaking slightly as he looked down the thousand-foot drop.
"The wind here is traveling at forty miles per hour," Aster shouted over the roar. "If you try to sing here, you can learn to control your magic along with it. You have to use your Wind Magic to create a 'Slipstream.' I want you to use your mana to pull the air into a tight, spinning tunnel directly in front of your mouth. When you sing, the sound will enter that tunnel and be carried by the velocity of the wind."
Lumine sat on a jagged rock, leaning forward. "He's trying to turn the boy into a living megaphone! That's brilliant!"
"It's more than that, Lumine," Astra added. "He's trying to make the wind itself the instrument."
"Alright, Elian," Aster commanded. "Give me a single note. Sustained. Use the wind!"
Elian closed his eyes. He summoned his Wind Magic. A faint, swirling aura of teal mana began to gather around his throat. He opened his mouth and let out a note. The sound was instantly swallowed by the gale. It didn't even reach the ears of the people standing five feet away.
"Again!" Aster shouted. "Focus the tunnel! If you can't hear your own echo from the North Peak, you aren't trying hard enough!"
Elian tried again. And again. For an hour, he shouted into the void, his voice cracking. He looked exhausted, his face pale from the effort and the altitude.
"Aster, he needs to rest," Astra interjected, her heart aching.
"He rests when he hits the North Peak," Aster said, his "teacher" persona fully in control. "In ten days, he will be standing in front of ten thousand skeptical miners. The wind in the plaza is just as chaotic as this. If he fails here, he fails there."
Lumine stood up, her pink hair whipping wildly. She walked over to Elian and placed a hand on his chest. "You're trying too hard, focus on your mind you already have what it takes to be a singer." Lumine has the power to control other people's mind if they are mentally weaker than her, So she guided Elian by removing the doubts he had on himself
With Lumine pointing out the invisible currents of the air and Aster providing the technical frequency, Elian took one more deep breath. He thought of Astra's warmth, Aster's confidence, and the bubbly spirit of the princess who believed in him.
He opened his mouth. This time, the teal mana solidified into a visible cone of air.
"AAAAAAAAAA—"
The note hit the air. It sliced through the 40mph wind like a hot knife through wax. The sound traveled across the chasm, hitting the North Peak a mile away and bouncing back with a clear, resonant ring. because that hill was known for hearing echoes when people shout at it.
Lumine cheered, jumping up and down. Astra let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Even Sir Korg struck his gauntlet against his chest-plate in a silent "Orestian Salute."
Aster checked his resonance stone. A small, satisfied smirk crossed his face. "Not bad, Elian. Not bad at all."
As the sun began to set, casting long, orange shadows across the mountains, the group began their descent. Lumine chatted incessantly about the "stage outfits" she wanted to design, while Elian walked with a new, quiet strength in his step.
Aster walked at the back, looking at the city below. He felt a strange sense of peace. He was building something here—not just a business, but a shift in the soul of a nation. Behind him, Astra looked back at her brother. She saw the weight he carried and vowed to be the one who kept him grounded.
Neither of them knew that the other was a traveler from a different world, but in that moment, as the wind died down, they were perfectly in sync. The mountains were finally starting to listen.