Jenso frowned as he fell into the water. 'Darn...if only I could fight this thing on solid ground..!' He thought, as the cold temperature began to overtake his body. 'No...I need to get out of here..!' He thought, attempting to grab ahold of the ice nearby in order to pull himself out.

Jenso's attempt was futile. The monster had grabbed his leg and pulled him further down into the depths of the water. IT seemed he was a goner, victim to the water beast's claws. But his momentum suddenly stopped. The beast was caught in something strange, a pillar of ice that stemmed from the surface, spiked like a vine with millions of little thistles. It struck the beasts tail and bottom arms, causing him to let go of Jenso. Then, from behind, two little puffy monsters grabbed Jenso with their razor sharp claws and pulled him to the surface. No, it couldn't be!

It was the Warbly birds!

Jenso grit his teeth as the beast dragged him under. 'Shit...!' He thought, as he did his best to hold his breath and his lungs began to burst. He attempted to move, but he was unable too anymore. 'I guess this is it, huh..' He thought, closing his eyes. His eyes flashed back open however as the monster came to a halt, and something pulled him back to the surface. He smiled as he caught a glimpse of the Warbly Birds.

Jenso was torn from the icy waters with a large splash of ice and water. The birds landed gracefully on the sheet of ice, but Jenso hit his head. Still, he could see Paulie's sillouette crouching over him with his glove placed flat against the lake's surface. He frowned and shook his head, running towards Pharie. The warbly birds dragged Jenso after him, while three more of the little puffers joined the group and rushed towards the shore. Looks like Jenso was saved in the nick of time.

---

Paulie had layed Jensos mostly-paralyzed body down by a quickly-made fire near the edge of Pharie's island village, but not before unfreezing his hand with his magical glove. The hunter had a large pack, and opened it to reveal a set of bandages. But to his surprised, upon inspecting Jenso's back, the cuts had already scabbed, and his yellow shirt was mysteriously undamaged. He cocked an eyebrow back, shrugged, and put his bandages away, not saying a word while Jenso was allowed to heat up.

As the heat from the fire reached Jenso's body, his strength returned to him and he managed to sit up. "Paulie...thanks, you saved my life.." He muttered, and looked over at the Warbly birds. "And thank you too, guys!" He shouted. He tried to stand up. "I shouldn't have been so careless...I didn't know exactly what I was gonna be dealing with."

"I told ya so," Paulie said shamelessly. The warbly birds all sat around Jenso and shared their heat with him, sitting down like little balls of feathery fluff. "The Qual has never been too kind to invaders of Pharie. It didn't do much to stop the Golems though. It hunts base on heartbeats..."

"Oh...so that thing's a Qual and it's always been around, huh?" Jenso said with a frown. "Well, I wanna help Pharie out, and I guess killing that Qual wouldn't really improve things...it's pretty dangerous to be around, though." He said, and clenched his fists. "Thanks for the help man. Do you have any idea where those golems came from? I was told they come from Noir, wherever that is.."

"You're still on that? You can't even deal with the Qual and you're still on that?!" Paulie asked angrily.

Jenso smirked at Paulie despite his anger. "Hey, you can't win em all, right?" He responded. "I'm gonna try to defeat them anyway...but it would be great to know where I have to go.."

Paulie chuckled hysterically and fell onto his back, resting his head against a rock behind him. "Just like him, ahaha... Such a fucking idiot.." Paulie shrugged and laughed out loud before rising to face Jenso head on. "Buddy, you're somethin' else."

Paulie fell back down, reached up towards the rock that he rested on and gently stroked it with his hand. "The only things I know about noir is what the old texts taught us. My brother knew a lot more, but I do know this... Noir is a mobile parasite that feeds on uh... Magical energy. It drains it from the atmosphere or something until it's all gone, and uses it to sustain their false bodies. Golems, they're like magical Frankensteins. Noir is the biggest organization of golems that anyone knows of, and they exist in the north due to the amount of untapped magical artifacts and residual burials," Paulie explained, raising his gloved up above his head and clenching his fist. It glowed softly before he dropped it back down. "They kill anything in their way and erect huge fortresses to suck the energy right from the ground.."

"I'm not gunna stand in your way anymore, but you gotta think, kid. Think about how you're going to defeat them. If you run in blindly, you're going to be throwing your life away. Raw strength won't work against those things."

Jenso nodded. "Well, fire would be useful, but..looks like I'll have to rely on my wits, too." He responded to Paulie. "I'm going to do my best to beat those golems, no matter what!"

"No, listen here, Jenso," Paulie started, getting up and walking over to him. The warbly birds scurried out of the man's way as he approached and hung overhead. "You're not going in without a plan. I won't stop you, if you have some sort of idea of what you're actually going to do. You need a STRATEGY. You won't last ten minutes without one!"

Jenso frowned as Paulie spoke, but then grinned. "Yeah...you're right. Let's think here.." Jenso muttered. "The Noir are a parasite that control false bodies, right? So does that mean they're inside the golem's heads?" Jenso asked Paulie.

"No, Noir is merely what that group of golems is called. Golems themselves are parasitic," Paulie explained, "I don't really understand how they work. All I know if that they don't like the heat. It should be obvious why."

"Do you think there's a way to lure them into a trap of some kind? They're drawn to magical energies, right? If we can lure them in one spot, and then expose them to a lot of heat.." Jenso said to Paulie. "Do you think that could work?"

"I don't know. They aren't exactly made of the stuff you'd find in your freezer. It would take a lot of heat to melt them down. Besides that, how would we even get that kind of distraction running? Magic aint exactly my specialty. This isn't even my glove.." Paulie explained, raising his gloved hand dismissively.

"Wait, where did you get that glove then?" Jenso asked, curious about where Paulie got it. "I don't know much about magic either...maybe if I got some kind of powerful artifact with a lot of magical energy? That should lure them right? But even if that works, we'd something that gives off a lot of heat.."

"It was my brother's. I took it from his grave after the first Noir encounter was over. Thankfully he was buried on the edge of the village," Paulie said, turning back towards the stone he was resting on earlier, "Right here. The glove is certainly capable of magic beyond anything I've seen before, even those golems, but I don't really know how it works. It just kind of... Listens to me."

Jenso took a closer look at the glove. "The people in Orobo had bracelets that were able to control rocks and stuff. Maybe this one is made from the same material, too!" He said. "It's not the same like ice, but..I think it draws energy from the closest elemental, and in this case that should be Pharie.."