Blude.
25th of Trescia, 1492.
Kasian Empire, Flate Wildlands. Joim Rift. 327 km east of the Rhar-Kasia-Chaulort Tri-Point.
5:29 AM.
***
It seemed ironic, how I had all the time in the realms, yet seemed to have little time to reflect. To think of the wild ride these last several- or few- months have been.
I went from an urchin in a backwater town to a royal overnight. That was something I was sure few in all the Mortal Plane could say. None could say, though, that they went from an orphan to a divine empress of the sea in only a few hours. Nor could they say they ventured to what was possibly the most dangerous country in the land to learn how to kill from perhaps the most dangerous creatures in all the realms: ancient drow monks. It was something I still found trouble believing. That me, Redd, Sam, and Iris learned to fight from Abbot Eiriol of Nydorden Halls. We learned to fight well. But we learned much more. Elven secrets of the arcane. Dark elven secrets of divinity. Deception. Manipulation. Intrigue. And also things of the divine. Classes. Core annexes. Divine aphids. Trees of Life and more.
At times, I couldn't wrap my head around it. The one thing I could reminisce on, over these months, was my taste of what was to come. The Walk, as the drow called it.
We weren't like Iris, who adopted much more than the name Cole. Seeing the kingdoms of Shujen line themselves up for slaughter was shocking, to say the least. I had killed before. But seeing so much pointless death and destruction made us- or at least me hope such events wouldn't transpire wherever we went.
Well, not that it was pointless. Geri and Freki joined us. And, for the most part, our journey since then hadn't been as dark and dreary as Shujen. Still, though, we returned changed in ways I still can't describe. Matured, would almost be the word. But not quite. I couldn't explain it. I could notice it, though. When we returned to Winwell and saw Chloala, Jayde, and Kali squatting in our sauna, they almost looked at us as we looked at Amun or Lana. With reverence.
I thought it was because of something they experienced or heard during our absence. Perhaps it was, seeing the pirates that plagued our waters forcefully removed. But that was not us, so perhaps not. When we arrived in Chor, we went out hunting. All of us. Geri and Freki killed most of them. Sam and Redd killed one or two, and Iris none. Regardless, those we returned with looked at us the same way. Despite them hardly knowing us at the time. Ironically, those we recruited from Chor were not of those rescued. Mostly, at least, they were of those beaten into submission.
Gwehn, a large girl Amun assured me was a barbarian, came with six little dimwits who've been addicted to the concept of extreme sports since they entered the Cuttleship. They even went as far as to claim a different type of sport each. Summer and Winter sports. Extreme and casual sports. Water sports. And, per Amun's suggestion, sky sports. But like everyone else in this group, they had another job in my growing mafia. Defense and protection. Hired goons. Bruisers.
Lizlee, on the other hand, stayed far away from them. Being a bardic half-elf, she and her gang of seven other orphans instead spent her time with Kali and her eight subordinates, singing to them while they practiced their witchcraft. But singing seemed not the true style of Lizlee's bards. Bards of Entertainment, they called themselves. Journalists, broadcasters, publishers, and hosts of all sorts of media that was soon to be beamed across the Peninsula and beyond.
Likewise, Kali seemed to be learning witchcraft for a different reason. Namely, to kill both fast and slow. To poison. To assassinate in the light of day as a witch who did her best against all odds. The case was the same for everyone, of course. Emily and her five were all alchemists of some type. But whereas they could and often would make potions, their eagerness came from refining as many narcotics as they could learn to create; much to Amun's delight.
Chloala was studying grandmaster artificing like many gnomes. But unlike them, she was starting a retail business that had a darker side that dabbled in the black markets. Jayde had five subordinates, all studying some type of financial field. One was studying the principles of law. Another banking, and then insurance, real estate, and lobbying; and yet, they also studied gambling, loan sharking, offshore banking, and other things.
And then, of course, there was Redd and her industrial pod of 14; and Sam, with her 13 chefs. And then me. The Prime Matriarch.
"Today's the day we change."
"What was that?"
I turned to Redd, looking curious but eager. Then to Sam and the others before I pulled their gaze above, to Mani and all its glory.
Normally appearing no larger than my thumb when held at arm's length, the moon had grown to dominate the sky as an alien eye of silver and gray as large as my palm wrapped around my fist and held at the same distance. The sky itself awoke from its brilliance, pushing back the ever-present darkness to allow a swath of glimmering blue to illuminate the ground from above. But there were no stars to glimmer in that night, only worlds. A stormy mountain; a crowned jewel of a forest; a smoldering sun of metal, and others; all locked in an eternal dance around the world so large.
So divine, the way they silently weaved and spun amongst one another, the woven worlds of the Legio Noctis.
"Planeta Supra; and the Blue Moon," I explained to the wide-eyed girls. "The first means blessings are to come today, for all the Legions. The second means great change is coming to these lands. Orpheus Redd. Samejima." I turned a smile between them. "You hear them too, right? Our other halves.
"We become whole with them today. As do you lot." I said loud enough for the other girls to hear. "Today, we become like Geri and Freki. Touched by Mani to become one with the wolves of the sea.
"Today, the Orcinus Mafia is born."
"Well said, Blude."
I wheeled around to see Amun approaching with Etan by his side, like always. He trailed Amun more than Iris, even. But he wasn't so bad. He was a great teacher and an even better fighter. He even managed to get Freki to adopt a combat style and start fighting with his mind for once. But, with his blessings, we all began to wonder if he was still a drow.
"Alright, Iris, Etan, put your friends away."
Etan's golden iris' squinted incredulously and focused on Amun before Iris sent her short-legged dog into the Cuttleship. Then he followed suit with a snap to disappear the jaguar cub.
"Are you ready to go?" Amun then asked, seemingly to no one in particular.
Still, though, I asked. "Where?"
A snap of the finger pulled the ground from under me, flipped me upside down, and blinded me in silver light. A hell of a response. One that ended with the heavily inclined ground of a mountain firmly planted beneath my feet.
Still seeking an answer, I looked up to Amun, pointing up the silver-limned hill. "Up there," He said. But I was already swimming.
Within moments I crested the hill and came upon a nostalgic land that I'd never seen before. White moths fluttered in dreamy circles amongst blue-trunked trees and silver flowers with veins of reds, oranges, and blues. Rocks outgassed a thick mist across the ground that seemed to bubble and froth as it rose past the maws of wolves and foxes chasing rabbits. I froze as my eye caught the sight of something familiar. Not from fear, though. From astonishment. For a many-pointed crown of silver waded from behind a particularly thick tree. Its eyes were the color of rich blood, as was the otherwise white fur of its maw and the magnificently menacing weapons that gave the Bladehorn Stag its namesake.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
It was the first I'd ever seen. Said to be dangerous carnivorous deer. Pack predators akin to wolves. But this one was... beautiful. This one was blessed. And so too was I.
I began to approach with such thoughts running through my mind when I froze once again. A guy, probably no older than me, appeared from the bend of the same tree, patting the stag while he smiled at me warmly. "It is my honor, Chako Blude."
I titled my head as he bowed, taking in the loose blouse and trousers of white with blue stitchings. A seemingly plain design, I thought, until I caught the visage of a stag emblazoned on his back. "You know of me?" I gave a curt nod when he finally turned back to me.
"Of course. You are one of the few who walk by Mani's side. We of the Order know of you and the other chosen ones. We have been expecting you." He motioned further up the hill- to a cliff, I realized and seemed to understand simultaneously.
The silver-straddled path led to the cliff's edge, where it seemed to merge with the blue skies seamlessly. A simple design that forced a sense of insignificance upon whoever entered the forest, looked ahead and felt themselves standing at the edge of an endless sea. Which, for all intents and purposes, it was. A sea of fluids; liquid and gas, that stretched between the realms ad infinitum. A perpetual sea with but a few islands found in its waters. Worlds in the cosmic void, nearly aligned in a perfect column beneath their foundation. Mani.
"I will see you on the other side. It would not be right for me to see Mani before the Silverskin Lady." I recoiled and turned to him, expecting some explanation as to who held such a strange title. Instead, I found he'd leaped over the edge, leaving his stag to snort at me once before it turned to walk calmly off the edge.
Walked, it did, in the same way I swam through the air. Down and through a barrier of blue that rippled as it breached, giving me a glimpse of a world of farms, fields, and chapels surrounded by floating islands. Swim, the people within did to travel between the islands, and in the same way we did. As quickly as it came, though, the sight faded with the distancing ripples. And so, with a shrug, I turned to wait for Amun and the others to catch up.
It didn't take long. However, they somehow managed to gain another companion along the way. A woman in her late twenties, maybe. She had brown eyes and hair of the same color, tied back into a ponytail that bounced with her pointed steps. The true curiosity was what she was wearing, though. A skin-tight suit adorned with many streamlined pouches and pockets. But it had no gloves. Her feet were bare. And, strangely of all, it seemed to be made of spotted fur.
"Who are you?" I asked once they approached, seeking honesty and intrigue rather than unbiased information from the Net.
She smirked proudly and threw her chin to the realms below, to the northwest- to a great bay encompassing the coastal borders of Rhar, Ligin, Vruria, and Bakewia. "Folks in these parts know me as She Who Sank Captain Burns and cleared the coast from Shujen to Bakewia, Bella Hampton! The rest of the seas knows me as Captain Seadog."
Despite the great service she did for my homeland, I couldn't help but laugh, gesturing to her suit. "Like a Pinniped? You fancy yourself a leopard seal?"
Her chin and smile dropped instantly. "Is that funny?"
I gestured to the girls, snickering amongst themselves. "The Pod eats those."
"Pod?" She canted her head with a snap. "You fancy yourself an orca or something?"
"Exactly."
"So, you're saying I should become one?" She snorted.
"Well, you're already a rogue." I shrugged. "Master class or not, I'm sure that can turn into a prestige class, given the right blessing."
"I'm an Admiral in the Noctis Fleets." She pointedly mentioned. "Soon to be Fleet Admiral."
"And you can be the Fleet's liaison to the Mafia. Safe houses and shore leave and all that."
"Hmm." She slowly nodded, tossing her head. "Being a liaison sounds good. But I'm good otherwise. Can't change my character."
"I respect that."
Rather than a nod, 'Seadog' turned to Iris as she stepped before the group to approach a woman with bulbous red eyes and skin so pale it seemed to be silver. Plainclothes covered her frame in white and silver with traces of red. But it seemed to shine upon her skin in a nearly unexplainable way.
But of course, Iris found a way.
"You're so pretty! You look like a vampire angel!"
The Silverskin Lady's face melted in a mix of emotions that bashfully turned her away with exaggerated weeps; weeps that halted once she met the eyes of Amun, smiling in a way I've never seen before.
"Hey." He said lowly.
"Hey, hot stuff." The vampire said in an equally low tone, raising her brows repeatedly in a seemingly joking way, given by Amun's laughter.
"This is for you." Amun pulled his hands from behind his back with a silver flash, revealing a blooming bouquet of silver roses with red vines cradling a hand mirror of white and blue that somehow reflected her visage perfectly.
Seeing it made her truly melt. Right into Amun's arms, she collapsed. Hiding eyes I was sure to be watered as she cracked his ribs in a tight hug.
"And I have another surprise." He wheezed in her ear. Then grabbed her by the waist with one hand and heaved her overhead with ease.
"OH MY YOU!" She scrambled, collapsing into his arms to reverse the roles and lift him overhead. "You're so strong!" She giggled, lowering him for a peck on the cheek. And Amun's smile couldn't have been wider.
"Your lover is a vampire," Etan said in his usual monotonous tone. "Somehow I am not surprised. But I agree with Iris. You two are... perfect for each other."
I don't know why, but the way he said it earned him a scowl from the likes of me. Not that he noticed.
Neither Amun nor Zakira noticed either. The former only stated it was 'complicated' before introducing her to the Troupe. Then the latter embraced him a final time and whispered. "They're waiting for you."
With a pat on the head, Amun pulled away and approached the edge to first look down on the hidden world; and with that, his frame began to glow with silver-blue light that soon outcompeted the world above. A stream of moonlight flowed into the minds of the Mafia and the Order alike, sending cascading illusions through our minds of grandiose, gargantuan creatures settling into our otherwise insignificant spirits. It told us without words of the sole chance to become like Geri and Freki and to also evolve into something completely unlike them. Where their entire beings were merged with celestial creatures, we would coexist with the divine. Our spirits and souls would meld; our bodies and minds would be like a coin. Two-faced. Human and beastly, bisected and simultaneously joined by the silver line of the moon.
Moontouched. But only if we so wished.
"If it's Chako's wish then it's mine too," I told him. "And so too is it our wish for every made member of the mafia to be Moontouched as well."
If there was any acknowledgment of my words or the prayers of those below, it came in the form of a wave rippling up to the skies above like a wave lapping against Mani's shores, soaking the surface until it ebbed away, only to leak its enriched contents onto the surface with the force and brilliance of a concentrated beam.
Not a beam, I soon realized, but a road or river of silver light. A Silverstream, ridden by a pod of sky orcas, Silverhorn stags, moon moths, and lunar canines of all types. Those magnificent creatures swam, galloped, and raced to us and those gathered below while the eldritch song clicking from Amun's tongue and his clergy below infected our minds.
I felt myself rising as I collapsed. My vision fluttered, and I soon found myself floating in an infinite field of blue, numb and immobile as I drifted in an endless sea; eyes locked with a behemoth of black and white blubber, approaching to eclipse my vision wholly. Its song was as if every dragon in existence had roared at the same time, leaving my spirit shattered and my soul fragmented; waiting and ready to be blown apart by this oncoming mountain of a beast. Yet it never came. There was only... darkness.
A pit of darkness, containing a point of silver light. A window, more like. In that pit, we changed. Through that window, we watched. For years, I watched Chako and Chako watched me. Dreaming. Hoping. Then we were released to make those dreams come true. How opposite, our dreams were though. Chako's dream was to spread her family across the World Seas and the surface realms they surrounded. My dream was to have a family and give us the world. How easily those dreams merged.
How easily we merged. How natural the absurd amount of power and knowledge and… everything Chako passed onto me felt; like it was always mine. Even her name. Yet, somewhere deep within, she remained.
"You are the Prime Matriarch of this pod now, Chako Blude. Name it as you wish. Lead it as you wish. Make our children great enough to scour the realms."
As her voice faded into mine, the cascading memories of the realm above dissipated to a cloudy recollection of a foreign ocean and a strange, long-eared kid swimming through the blue like a sailfish, approaching us three to throw us into a pit of darkness. And so that darkness remained, broken by that distant point of silver light until my eyes opened to the city-sized husks of midnight blue and silver blubber floating in the air belly up.
I wiped away the tears before opening my eyes around at the floating bodies of stags, wolves, moths, squids, and octopuses. All so small in comparison to the 78 sky corpses belonging to the Mafia. My Mafia.
"Worry not." Amun's voice boomed, lifting the long faces of the still cadavers. "Like their spirits, their flesh will be born anew. Not into clothes or armor. But," He paused to allow a glimpse of the Cuttleship to flash through everyone's mind. "Mobile temples. Homes. Fortresses. Take them and weave the threads of freedom to the furthest corners of these lands so that all may bear witness to the coming tide."
Those words invoked a frenzy of movement across the Order of Worlds. Taking heed to the words of their priestess, they arranged in predetermined groups and took to the air, setting off in differing directions to liberate the oppressed through both honorable and illicit means in all corners of the peninsula. The cities of Redagh. The frozen sea- Chako Sea, in Kasia. The city of Chor. Chaulort. And Vruria.
"You have something else to do, however." Amun tugged at Zakira's sleeve with a charming smile. "We have Iris to raise."
'She is adorable.' I thought as she turned away with exaggerated bashfulness before she agreed to meet us 'up there' later; and in a flash of silver, she was gone and Amun was back to his old self, grinning wide as he threw several boards with boots fastened to them onto the ground. "Now then." He flicked his gaze between the Troupe. "Who's up for a little race down the mountain?"