The impending star was not kind to the seas today. Even in the early morning, its heat was unforgiving. One would not be wrong to fear its boiling of the water should it get any hotter. A block of fragranced animal fat was melting in his hand. It had some time before it was no longer solid, but it was quickly losing worth. "You think it'll piss off Yazzalo? I sure hope so," Zolton said with a smug smile.
"Seeing as it takes him quite a while to make those soap blocks and how he told us to wash up during the night, likely to avoid the heat… I presume that he will be. Well you'll have to be the one to explain this to him. I followed his request since I am not a fan of sleeping outside— but clearly you have a contrasting opinion."
"Not my first time sleeping with the elements. It's actually pretty nice, especially here… at night. But truthfully, I just wanted to spite him."
"Right…" Pyrei responded, swaying her head and rolling her eyes. He'll likely take his anger out on you during practice. I hope you don't mind that either."
Zolton smirked. "Maybe I'm pissing him off for that reason. Give him less reason to hold back, yeah?"
The boat pulled aside the lowest pillar. "Interesting. Well now you can go tell him," Pyrei said curtly.
"If he beats me it's because it's hot out here, aight?"
She chuckled with a slight smile. "Of course. Just like every other time too, correct?"
"You know it,” he groaned as he underestimated the gap between land and sea. With an attempt to jump from the boat to the stone, Zolton’s eyes soon shook hands with the grand blue. Following his plunge was the great soap block, bubbling vivaciously as if celebrating its expert escape. His large fist pierced the ocean’s surface like a breaching marine mammal before grabbing onto the stone, and his other hand soon followed suit. He pulled himself to the land he was made to be upon and choked up saltwater as his lungs debated whether to breathe or expel.
“Keep your eyes closed. You have the soap on your face, it’ll burn them,” Pyrei cautioned, “Don’t bother with thinking about drying off. Go to the other side and hop into the water there to rinse it off. We don’t have freshwater here to waste on trivial matters.”
“Yes woman, I know how soap works. Goddamn it…”
Stumbling opposed to the soap-tainted portion of water, the giant once again fell into the water prematurely, although more prepared this time around. He scrubbed the slippery substance from his face and dark hair, continuing until he was no longer annoyed by its presence. And for the (hopefully) final time today, he pulled himself up from the water. As he proceeded to remove his soaked shirt and drenched pants to set them beneath the furious sun, a terse “Zolton!” from Pyrei struck him like a tempest-tossed wall. Her utterance was brittley calm, yet it was clear that anger and a mix of dumbfoundedness was within it.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Problem?” he replied.
“You know what the problem is.”
“We’ve seen people melt into a puddle of black goop yet me letting my clothes dry is too much?”
She sighed. “Fine, do what you want. I’m going up to the hut to begin lessons with Yazzalo.”
After freeing his lower body from the near-ankle length cloth cover and setting it aside to dry, he sat staring at the glistening water beneath the seering star. He observed the giant mass of suds and bubbles drift across the ocean, becoming more and more distant as he remained unmoved on the rock, alone. He felt an emptiness in his heart as the bubbles drifted off. A profound sadness consumed him and as the mass eventually disappeared from sight.
Auxuth has its warm days, but never anywhere near this type of heat. Hmm… I should take a look around there soon, see how things are. Hopefully improvements And Pa… I wonder what he’s doing. Hope he hasn’t gotten himself into trouble, but knowing him he’s probably shot someone over them looking at him the wrong way. I probably shouldn’t have just left him alone… he already wasn’t working with a full deck… And what has it been… a year? Maybe even a bit over… I guess I am a shit excuse for a son. Lost his woman in a war and then his only kid, the one he made with her, just dips off for a year. Did I even send him a letter? I hope I at least did that. I need to go fight with Yazzalo so I’m able to give Pops a good scrap when I see him again. That should put a smile on his face.
For some mind-slipped time, Zolton sat staring at the sea in silent lament. His eyes locked on a mass in the far distance of the water. It appeared as only a black dot from his view, but he could not be bothered to think about it too much, other than the fact it existed in some space before him. After the sun reached nearly center-sky, he placed his hand upon the black plants and indigo shirt, examining for any damp areas. He sighed and shook out his pants, flailing at least some salt out of it and repeating the action with his shirt, although he only bothered to put on the pants before ascending the stones.
Shine Has No Prison Epilogue:
Bowing to Helios' rage, a massive red object drifted on the ocean. It seemed to have been folded partially on itself, held up some just enough by something in between to separate its two sides. A bubbling mass drifted across the water and engulfed two feet hanging off the red anomaly. The slipperiness of it irritated the toe-wielder’s owner, so it pushed the half of the red fold, exposing itself to the star’s hate. Now sprawled, the red object revealed to be a titanic-sized caudal fin with a figure that was formerly between, but now upon, it.
"This sun is hot as a whale's god for-fucking-saken sphincter…" the shirtless man growled. From the looks of it, something was eager to be his doom-bringer for his barely white pants were horrendously tattered from huge gashes and great burns. His face was plastered with thick soot and he was left shoeless. "Did a damn octopus suck on my foot? Why the hell is it so oily?" He wondered in an agitated mumble, looking at the yellowish-white, bubbly substance in the water slowly drifting by. He leaned in for a sniff. “That’s strong…” he said, gaining a face of skepticism. “Not seafoam… a bacteria? No, I wouldn't be able to see it - then again I am great, so maybe… Do fish puke? Doesn't smell like it. No… I know what's going on here. This is your doing isn't it you big shining yellow son of a bitch?!" He cried in a fierce shout to the sun and the flaunt of his hands beckoning his fury generally towards it, but mostly aloft. "Do you expect me to believe that fish are using soap now?! Are you trying to piss me off?! I've dealt with enough horse shit already! I'll fuck you up!"
He fell to his hands and knees, causing the fin to dip into the ocean a bit before its buoyancy allowed it to rise. What the hell was that? This heat is driving me mad. I need to get back to the Golden Households for a good drink. I don't think Marge's place is nearby, tragically. One of her strongest drinks sounds good right about now after dealing with that piss-bearded asshole's shit.
"Hey!" Called a soft voice from his left.
The man on the fin turned up to it at an elder tortoise's pace. He was met with a Grand Navy patroller ship on the medium side of sea craft. "What happened? Do you need help?" She questioned.
His stare was unchanging, locking his eyes into hers. She gazed confused for a moment until her heart began racing and fear-sweat glands took control, the place of the former born from the heat. Her lacrimal gland entered a state of overdrive instinctively from the horrific omen, irritating her eyes and drenching her face in tears as her legs gained ever-increasing stress through the simple act of propping her up before the shining beast. The bold fiend's soul-crushing aura reached its fist into her chest and strangled her lungs. Overwhelming terror-thought adrenaline overpowered the young soldier's body and sent her heart into a frenzy. The red fin rider bestowed a sinister, toothy grin, triggering her fleeing to the opposing end of the ship's side in search of salvation. And alas, the horrified young navy seafarer cried, "He’s alive!"