“Land! Look, land!”

Seven sleepy adventurers were ripped away from their comfortable dreams, the voice of their friend like an annoying bird in the morning, squawking or shrieking until they groggily opened their eyes and welcomed reality once more.

How many days had the eight of them been traveling over the seas? Twelve? Sixteen? Twenty? Just an endless expanse of a rich dark blue color, hiding the creatures and secrets within, and finally, their next adventure was within their sights.

“Istha, go set up the engine please,” one of them requested, still rubbing his eyes with his large hands. “I’ll go take down the sails.”

“Right on it, Tama!” Istha replied with great enthusiasm.

“It’s Tamarkrh,” Tama groaned. “Youth these days…”

“I’ll remember it, Tama!” Energetic and excited, Istha rushed down to a dark room, protected by a layer of metal and filled with all sorts of mysterious stones and substances. With the light from the lantern, the gleam of a pile of polished stones seemed to stare at her like many eyes. Just nearby, a strange machine of sorts protrudes out from the walls, the metallic color making it almost like it’s an offspring from the wall itself.

They were lucky to be in possession of such an object. The engine, as alchemists liked to call it, was a machine where it converted special stones, Rausum, into energy, which then would power another machine to push the ship forward. Istha knew little about the details, but it certainly made their life easier by saving them the effort of rowing. Sometimes, she wished she was raised in a family of alchemists other than a family of mages.

She didn’t know how to build or maintain a ship. She couldn’t cook. She wasn’t nearly the strongest in the adventuring party. She had little experience in adventuring, if exploring the local caves counted as such in the first place. She was only recruited because she was a mage, experts on the flow of energy and utilizing it in various areas, from powering machines such as the engine of their ship, to killing any hostile creature with focused blasts if needed be. She had heard of mages who were great warriors in battle, their incomprehensible might holding off armies. Perhaps this was why everyone called the use of energy “magic”. No one could understand it completely, not even the greatest and wisest of mages.

“Alright, three or four rausum should do the trick…” she mumbled, picking a few larger stones and inserting them into the engine. Immediately, the engine roared as if it was brought to life, vibrating, the rausum consumed like food.

She ran back onto the deck. By this time, everyone had woken up. Tama(rkrh) the former soldier and the party’s leader, his friend Rhu, Nal the alchemist, Luri the doctor, Kaius the cartographer, Deilsa the fisherwoman, and Ulin the hunter. Their party was a ragtag one, brought together from the ends of the earth. However, all except Istha had some experience with adventuring before, and to her, they were all legends in their own way.

They were now in uncharted territory, seas where no previous mortal had ever dared to explore, and at last, the reward awaited them. An island of lush green forests, a stream exiting out into the ocean, and perhaps even a host of exotic wildlife.

“To think we are the first people to step foot on this beautiful land…” Kaius said, letting his voice trail off. “Just think of what we will be to the future generations!”

“Wait,” Nal interrupted, looking into his telescope. “There’s something already there.”

“What do you mean?” Tamarkrh asked.

“We’re not the first.”

As the ship approached closer and closer to the island, they could see a tall tower, crawling with vines, stretching to the skies on top of the island’s only hill. Its architecture was simple, having barely any windows save for the small gaps in the crudely carved stone bricks. Seen from afar, it was more like a pillar or an obelisk, a memorial for a civilization long lost to time.

“Will there be someone living on the island, then?” Istha wondered.

“Unlikely,” Nal said. “We’ll just have to see.”

The rausum inside the engine began to be completely consumed, the ship gradually slowing to a halt just off the coast of the island. A boat was hoisted over onto the sea, a satisfying splash as it made contact with the transparent waters. One by one, they climbed in, carrying the necessary supplies to survive at least for one night.

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No one knew what to expect, only marveling at the pristine waters as they made their way to the shores. The gentle waves massaging the rocks, a soft beach welcoming their presence, seabirds soaring far above… It felt surreal.

“This place is beautiful,” Deilsa commented. “It’s almost as if we are defiling this untouched paradise by our breaths alone.”

“Just amazing!” Ulin exclaimed, kissing the sand.

“Please be mindful of your sanitation, Ulin,” Luri warned sternly, still staying on the boat. “I shall be fishing with Deilsa soon, and I certainly do not want your foul mouth to taste the fresh seafood these waters have to offer.”

“There is much to do,” Tamarkrh said, unloading the supplies. “For today, let’s just set up camp and take a good rest. It has been a while since we last touched the ground.”

“I’ll go get some wood!” Ulin volunteered. Before Tamarkrh had even said a word, she had already rushed in.

“I’ll depart with Luri now!” Deilsa said, the two of them rowing out to the open seas once more.

“I’ll try to mark down our location and the nearby coastline at least,” Kaius said seemingly to himself as he set out with a pen and a fine sheet of paper.

“That leaves only Rhu and I to set up camp,” Tamarkrh noted.

“What about me?” Istha asked.

“Just observe how we set up camp for today,” Tamarkrh dismissed. “You are a mage, but you are still young and inexperienced in these situations. A woman also shouldn’t exercise physical labor so often. You’ve already done enough on the ship.”

“But Luri, Deilsa, and Ulin…” she protested.

“I’ve seen their capabilities. They are more than capable of the tasks at hand despite being who they are. You, however, need to rest after providing so much during our journey here.”

“I think I can still help.”

“Rest, Istha,” Tamarkrh sharply ordered.

“... Fine, Tamarkrh.” Frustrated, Istha marched off into the distance, climbing up a short tree and staring off into space.

“Youth these days…” Tamarkrh sighed, unfolding the hardy leather fabric and unraveling the wooden poles. As he looked at Rhu, his friend only shook his head, agreeing in disapproval of Istha’s immaturity. They were once just as eager and reckless, but after years of quests and explorations, they have long since calmed and silenced their instincts.

“I didn’t join this adventuring party to be babied,” Istha murmured to herself. She looked up at the tower in the distance, her view partially obstructed by the trees. What treasures, artifacts lay within it? The tower did not answer. There was a certain attractive mystery to it, almost calling for her to burst open its aged gates and climb the stairs. The bricks were silent, but in the gaps, the wind seemed to be whispering to her.

“There’s just nothing to do…” She held out her necklace, holding a reddish gem. A family heirloom, it had formerly been a cheap piece of jewelry bought from a common market by one of her ancestors. Yet as the years went by, the necklace passed from father to son, little bits of energy was stored inside until it became a sort of conduit for their magical practices. Istha was the first female in her lineage to wear the necklace, being the only child in her immediate family. It always gave her a kind of warmth, reminding her of the comforts of home no matter where she went. As she stared at the gem, her own distorted image looked back at her like a doll mimicking her every movement.

“Guess I’ll just practice a bit.”

She held the gem in her palms as she closed her eyes. She couldn’t be distracted as she focused her energy into the necklace. A small ball of weak energy would be enough, she thought to herself. It was her way of materializing the energy into a tangible being, a toy only able to be touched by her. One of her cousins would focus the energy into his arms when he trained his strength, giving him more endurance. Another cousin would use the energy to quickly heat up the stove and boil the water. Compared to them, her way of utilizing energy was childish and impractical as it always made her tired afterwards, but she enjoyed it. It was a fun process, and as she convinced herself, helped her develop her control and usage of magic.

She felt the necklace becoming warmer and warmer, an indication of the strong presence of energy. Any moment now…

She opened her eyes. Nothing. The necklace was still warm, but it was rapidly cooling as she lost her concentration. There was not even a bare spark of energy. The wind blew in her face, almost mocking her failure to do the basics as a mage.

She tried again, focusing the flow of energy instead to her palms. It was a skill she learned as a child, obtained before she had even received the necklace. She felt her strength being sapped away gradually, her arms warm compared to her face. Soon, she felt the tips of her fingers almost as if they were barely touching a piece of hot coal.

She placed her hands on the ground, and almost immediately, they cooled off as if they had never received such a concentration of energy. The energy inside had simply been… sucked out.

She couldn’t do magic on the island.

“Great. Just great,” she muttered angrily.

Just behind her on the borders of the forest, a small bush rapidly appeared from the ground, bearing a blackish, reddish fruit.