The man with divine eyes spoke. His presence, his speech, his glare, all of them were paralyzing. I could neither move my body nor hear him, whereas my eyes were still locked with his. I still do not know what he said to me at that moment, eyes alone were not enough for his words to reach me. After his muted goodbye, he turned his back and walked away. It took me a little but noticeable time to take my senses back. When I fully regained my control, he was already gone.
Then, a silhouette tapped on my shoulder. The feathers on his winged arm felt nostalgic and comforting. I knew who he was before he even spoke, but I didn’t want to interrupt him.
“Council member Great White! I am back from my latest travel. Would you be interested in the log?”
He was a close friend of mine, the eccentric sapphire Travelling Drizzle. His stubby wide body was always covered with thick chunky wooly clothing and a pair of goggles hung under his massive brown beard. A lovely shade of red covered his forehead and circled around his eyes, like a dancercrane’s. His more obvious trait from the dancercrane was his wings. The wings were as big as his body, as beautiful as the gentle snow of Soilpeak. When I turned around to reply, his wide smile made me quickly forget the previous petrifying encounter.
“You are always a warming sight Drizzle. Of course, I would love to see the log but let’s get some air first.”
We climbed up the stairs of Threadseeker to make our way toward the balcony area. Threadseeker was as massive as it was impressive. It was made by an alexandrite, who is rumored to be possessed by Alexandrite himself, and used as a vessel to create this magnificent carrier. The most cryptic and awe-inspiring part of the ship is its gemcraft engine that infinitely sustains itself. To this day no one managed to replicate this process.
Threadseeker is as big as a small city and the balcony area is one of its larger areas. This grand area is at the uppermost part of the ship, naturally, the sight you get from there is gorgeous. We leaned against railings, the ship hadn’t taken off from the flaming continent so the air was warm and tranquil. Drizzle perched on the rails to get to my eye level and put his satchel on his lap. His legs tapped against the cold steel railings of Threadseeker, Drizzle’s eyes were shining as he spoke.
“He’s on the ship as well, have you noticed? I’ve had quite a jolly conversation with him.”
I assumed he meant Carmine Count by that but I wasn’t quite sure. I thought about the people Drizzle would get excited about and Count wasn’t a good contender. So I curiously asked him.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“And who is that person that I missed, dear Drizzle? I wouldn’t want to miss a jolly conversation, even though your joyous energy is fulfilling enough.”
A toasty breeze picked up, carrying the sulfuric smell of the burning continent. Drizzle’s neatly-groomed white-brown mohawk swayed with the wind. His amber eyes looked at me in shock. Since Drizzle was an expressive person who liked to exaggerate his gestures, I assumed the person was just someone we both knew. I was wrong.
“You are on the same ship with your Eji’derr, and you didn’t realize it? I know you don’t like using gemcraft but you are going blind! Must I remind you that you are a member of the Heptagon, White? When was the last time you even used gemcraft…?”
I immediately sensed an incoming lecture. His wing was moving towards his beard, a scolding was on its way indeed. I tried my best to avoid this lecture but I only trod water.
“I- I still use gemcraft fairly often! And I never need to use it for my job so the only times I dabble in gemcraft is when I practice. You know how pearl gemcraft is… And you also know how awful I am with emotions. Prolonged practices usually end up… bad.”
He squawked out a heartfelt laughter. I was too flustered, too proud to look at him directly but I knew he had a massive grin on his face. Soft white-brown feathers met my face, pressing against my cheeks. It took him time to stop laughing and start talking.
“The Great White. The cold-hearted pearl representative. If only those people knew you, darling. I know you try your best, at everything. But, you also need to understand White. You can’t be perfect at everything, all the time… That still doesn’t mean that you can run away from your emotions or gemcraft.
Darling White, you will learn this as you grow, but I’ll give you a forewarning. We can change and improve only a few things about ourselves. When you make peace with who you really are, then you can soar freely.”
Thankfully his lecture was relatively short. It didn’t matter to me if he was right or wrong, he was rightfully named Travelling. By the time we had this encounter, he’d probably visited every little part of Gemsoil, twice. With such experience comes wisdom I’m sure but… I can’t help but feel differently.
“Thanks for the wisdom, as usual Drizzle. I will do my best to accept my innate lack of gemcraft talent… But like you said, I am the Great White, the cold-hearted pearl representative. Maybe that is not who I really am, but it’s what the people of gemsoil need. Also… enough work talk, let me see the log! Where have you been this time, dear Drizzle?”
He got so excited to talk about his travel that he almost fell down from the railings. Even though he can fly, I panicked just a bit. Another burst of laughter escaped from him as he restored his balance.
“This one was quite… wild! You see darling, this adventure of mine took place at the Sacredwoods. I shouldn’t spoil the log any further, why won’t you take a look at it yourself?”