Sayed took his mop and soaked it in the bucket on the back of the deck before gazing over the nightsea around the ship. The engines hummed as bright light flickered in the darkness beyond. A trail of purple gas and dust stretched out in the empty black sky above him, flowing in a slow, lazy spiral around a center point.

He sighed, picking the mop out of the bucket and getting back to swabbing the deck. As he cleaned, he occupied his mind. Flights of imagination filled his head as he moved the mop back and forth. A dragon with great fiery wings cast a shadow over the ship. Little green creatures with pointed ears and sharp teeth patted across the deck, demanding a fight.

Sayed had so many great ideas for his new abilities. He just wanted the chance to try them out. It would truly take a great opponent to push his new blessing to its limit. He smiled as she soaked his mop yet again in the bucket.

"We've got a new course!" Alex yelled out from the cabin.

"Great!" Sayed rested the mop over the bucket, setting it so that it would drain inside as he walked over to the cabin. "How is this any different from the last three times?"

Inside the cabin, Alex and Erin were looking over a glowing chart on a screen. Erin's eyes had bags under them, and Alex looked about as frustrated as he could be. Mari sat in his lap, touching the screen with her fingers and frowning in disappointment.

"It isn't a touchscreen, Mari," Alex whispered.

"We're getting closer," Erin said, pressing a few buttons on the console. "We've narrowed it down to a section of the nightsea with about twenty separate charted islands."

"Oh?" Jean asked as he walked up the stairs to the cabin, a plate with a few pieces of fruit on it in hand. "What quadrant are we in then?"

"The far northwest quadrant," Erin said, pressing some buttons and zooming in on that part of the nightsea. "First Quadrant."

It looked no different than the first map to Sayed. He squinted his eyes as he walked closer to the map, rubbing at his beard as he leaned over the chair. About twenty bright dots were spaced out over the map, each one representing separate islands.

"So, why not check each one?" Sayed asked.

"We can when we get closer," Alex said, picking up Mari and setting her on the ground. "Can you watch Mari while we set the course?"

"Certainly, brother." Sayed smiled, leaning down to Mari. "Would you like to hear one of my stories today?"

Mari looked up at him with her glowing eyes, a faint smile crossing her lips. She nodded, and Sayed picked her up, carrying her out onto the deck. The engine hummed, and the ship began to move through the nightsea again.

He set her down away from where he had just finished mopping and sat down in front of her himself.

"Now, what tale to tell on such a day? How about a tale of discovery, adventure, and people going out into the unknown?"

"Yes. I would like that very much," Mari said, wrapping her arms around her knees as her eyes flickered.

"Then, let me start the tale with the beginning."

Sayed opened his gate, and heat flared up from his heart, burning through him like the hot blood pumping through his veins. From his heart to his fingertips and from his heart to his toes, the blessing of his god burned within him, and he refused to stop just there. He pushed it further, calling on his new power and spreading his arms wide.

"Mirage Story."

Waves of heat rose between him and Mari, and a faint image appeared. A vast stretching desert opened up before them, right at the edge of a valley between two tall plateaus. A group of mostly shadowed people stood between the two pillars, looking out over the desert with their pack animals beside them.

"My people once did not live in deserts but on the wide plains to the east. We were driven out by invaders and sought a new home. That was when a grand vision was given to my ancestors. We would go to a new land where no invaders would dare try to reach us again."

Mari reached out to touch the illusion, but her hand went straight through it.

"That will not work, Mari," Sayed said, shaking his head. "One does not simply reach out and touch a story. One must live it."

Mari nodded, moving back to her original position with her arms wrapped around her legs.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"A great man in our caravans led us on this path. Abbas was his name, and he told our people that our future rested in this new desert. He told our people that a great god waited for us out there and would bless our people if we could but reach it."

Sayed did not know what Abbas looked like. His face was lost to history, but he conjured the head of a man with dark skin like his own people. He gave Abbas a strong jawline and a great beard. Abbas was the best of them, and his appearance reflected what Sayed considered a true hero.

"However, all was not as easy as Abbas thought," Sayed said, dispelling the image and calling a grand bonfire up in front of them.

Mari gasped as large shadows rose around that fire, rising high into the night. They danced back and forth with spears, clubs, and axes. Mighty horns topped their heads, and red eyes glowed from the shadows.

"The giants ruled this land with an iron fist. Time and time again, our people met others who had come to this land for freedom, only to be enslaved by the giants and forced to work for their new masters. Abbas saw their plight and made a decision."

Mari leaned forward as he showed her camps of slaves and people working in mines. They cut away at rock and stone for the giants, quarrying what was needed to build the great stone cities that the giants favored. It was not about efficiency. It was the cruelty that the giants craved.

"Abbas knew he could not do this alone, so he hatched a plan. He freed camp after camp, making allies of those who had been enslaved, and when all was done, he turned the might of the oppressed onto the giants, taking them in a grand war and driving them to extinction."

Lights flashed across the mirage, and people battled massive shadowy figures with torches and fire in their hands. In the end, Sayed showed Abbas on the edge of a balcony, looking out over the lands his people had taken.

"That was to be the land of our people. The sands of Hajh. With the giants defeated, my people went on to form a nation that was like no other, safe from outside invaders, and built on the idea that no one should ever be in chains."

Mari leaned back, her eyes glowing as she took in his last image. Sayed dispelled it with a wave of his hand, delighting in the ease that his newly changed blessing let him conjure the images. It was a side benefit to the actual power, but it was the most valuable aspect to Sayed.

"Now, what story do you want to hear next?"

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"So what's the problem?" Alex asked, looking over the chart with Erin.

Several of the islands had data attached to them that said to stay away. Every time Alex went through one of them, they were marked as restricted for one reason or another. All by order of the Military Police, no one was supposed to go to any of the islands.

"The problem is that all of those islands are actually dangerous," Erin said, pointing between each of them. "Diamond Peak is abandoned due to an aetherstorm. Verdant Green had a sudden climate change that left it an iceberg. I've heard Blue Lagoon has a ten-year hurricane still going in its bounds."

"Wait." Alex held up his hands and shook his head. "Can we take a moment and just appreciate that someone had to name these? I swear. Every time."

"Your problem with names notwithstanding." Erin sighed. "Going to any of those islands is going to be dangerous. What are we going to do if the ship points us to one of the dangerous ones."

"Why are they all like that?" Alex asked. "I've been around for a while now, and most islands are stable. The worst weather events I've seen are heavy storms."

"Zoom out the map," Jean said, resting one of his bony arms on the top of Alex's chair as he walked up. "I think I can explain this best."

Alex pressed a few buttons to do as he asked, and the map of the nightsea expanded further and further until all the islands were just tiny dots on the screen. Jean pointed directly at the center of the map with his bony finger.

"That is the Empyrean, the center of the Scions' power," he said before trailing his finger in a wide circle around it. "Around the Empyrean are the Twelve Kingdoms and the various military installations and minor areas directly operated by the Military Police, also known as the Core. They have outposts beyond that, but any of the islands outside the core are considered part of the Fringes."

He took his bony finger, drawing a line far out to the space they were in. It was on the farthest edge of the map, to the northwest. Alex found himself wondering what was beyond the edges of the screen. Surely, it didn't just end in nothing.

"This is where we're going. The furthest humanity has supposedly been in the Nightsea. Out there, instability is the norm. Any attempts at settlement have failed, and we have been forced back. The islands themselves don't seem to want people on them."

"What's out beyond them, empty space?" Alex asked.

"No one knows," Erin said, crossing her arms. "There's a wall out at the edges of the world. It is invisible, but anytime a ship tries to get too close, it is forced back and away from it. Nothing is able to get through."

Alex tilted his head as he looked up at the screen. As near as he could tell, Mari was pointing them directly toward those clusters of islands. He wanted to know what happened to Roald, and a few storms weren't enough to stop him.

"What do you think?" Alex said, nodding to Erin. "You're the most level-headed of us. Do you think we can handle getting the ship on an island with a natural disaster?"

Erin bit her lip as she looked between the two of them. Alex could see the indecision in her eyes as she looked back at the chart. Her mission for the People's Revolution was to find Roald. If his ship were on one of those islands, she wouldn't abandon it easily. He, Sayed, and Jean were the type of people who would rush headlong into danger, though. Erin always was a little more hesitant.

It made her an important check to make sure they didn't do anything too crazy, even if they ignored her advice sometimes.

"We don't have any reason not to try," Erin said slowly as if she were forcing out each word. "I say we go and figure out which island it is. If it is a restricted island, we take it from there. If it isn't, then we can just go in."

"See, Erin, this is why we always want you along." Alex smiled. "You justify our bad decisions for us."

She shook her head at him as he turned in his chair over to the console. Alex began pressing a few buttons on the console to adjust the map and set a few coordinates in the system. When he was done, he stood up, stretching his arms as he looked over to Jean.

"Who wants first dibs on the helm? This is going to be a long trip."