“If you sign that deal Jay, I’ll personally come over here and chop off your arms again.”
Akira grabbed his sword and shook it, as if Jay didn’t know what the word chop meant.
“I’m not kidding. You’d have to be fucking stupid to agree to that shit. It removes any chance you have of getting past D Grade, you’ll pretty much become her lapdog for the rest of your life! Lyra, I can’t believe you even took us to this building full of psychos.”
“Let’s walk and talk. We’re right outside, they can probably hear you.” Said Lyra.
“I don’t give a fuck if those wackjobs can hear me. That’s a shit deal and you know it. They saw he had potential, had power, and they tried to take advantage of him.” He replied, his voice raising to a shout in defiance as he remained standing in front of the building.
“Look. We can have this conversation, but not here. We’re leaving. Now.”
Lyra paced off, leaving Jay awkwardly stuck between his two friends. He felt the simmering anger radiating from Akira, he recognised his friend’s complaints, but he also agreed with Lyra. This wasn’t the place to talk about it.
Any conversation where Akira might spew curses at the High Matron was not one he wanted to have anywhere near Mystic's Avenue. He wanted to be as far away from here as possible.
“Let’s go. We can find a place in the pavilion and speak there. I know how you feel, but I don’t want to rule out any options. Not with my future on the line”
“Fine.”
----------------------------------------
“Does here work?”
They’d left Mystics Avenue and were part way around the coliseum when Akira first suggested stopping.
Lyra scanned their surroundings, pausing on the nearest statue for a fraction of a second before responding.
“Sure. But I want you to know that you’re not being funny or helpful.”
Jay turned to the plaque beneath the statue.
Doctor Mundane
307-1
Embrace Creation.
The description seemed inoffensive, but Jay truly understood Lyra's comment when he looked up. Dr. Mundane had a rather forgettable human face. He had a rather forgettable human torso too, although memorable torsos were admittedly far less common than forgettable ones. What wasn’t forgettable however, were his arms and legs.
Or rather the lack thereof.
Joining his body at the hips and shoulders were four mechanical monstrosities. The legs had two knee joints and bowed backwards like a goat before ending in six-inch-long talons. A slim set of biceps emerged from giant bulbous shoulder joints before connecting to forearms ending in seven-fingered hands.
Jay got the message. He recognised that there were always different solutions to the same problem, even if mechanical arms were a bit of a stretch.
“As I said before, you simply can’t take that deal. Maybe it’s a good option in the short term, but in the long term it’ll fuck you up big time.” Said Akira.
“Look, I see what you mean, but what else can I do?” Said Jay. “Lyra trusts those guys, at least a little bit, and from what they said it sounds like I’m fucked fucked. I’ve only got a week. What else can I do?”
“Literally anything man! We can figure something out that doesn’t involve selling your future to some weird creepy witch coven.”
“Literally anything doesn’t inspire much confidence mate! I’m hearing a lot of dude just trust me bro and not a lot of solutions.”
“Okay let’s take a step back for a second.” Lyra said, interrupting Jay and Akira before they could get too heated. “Akira, you’ve got a point. The high matron’s offer definitely comes with strings attached, but we can’t flat out refuse the offer.”
“Yes, we flat out ca-”
“Stop acting like a child! Did you forget that I brought Jay there because I knew Agatha? Is this the way you speak about one of my friends? Seriously, I expected better from you. Watch your words or they’ll get you killed faster than anyone in the coliseum.”
Akira stopped for a second, thinking about what to say before responding. “Okay, I’m sorry for saying that about your friend. But you can’t seriously recommend those guys to Jay. I mean come on; they’ll probably turn him into another bald tattooed weirdo!”
“Like Jay said, I’m hearing a lot of complaints and not a lot of solutions. Do you have anything better?”
Akira paused in thought, occasionally glancing furtively towards Dr. Mundane. Jay met each glance with a stern frown.
“Not yet. But I just know we’ll be able to find something. We’ve got a whole island to search, give me a day and I swear I’ll find you something better.”
“We don’t have a day. We have until this evening.” Lyra's words cut through the air, leaving only silence in their wake.
Jay knew it too. The witches at Pavan Hall were suspicious, but so far they were all he had. Each minute they spent searching was a minute taken away from his recovery time.
“How about this. We all split up and search until sundown.” Jay said. “Let’s meet back here then. We can each try and find a solution. When we meet up, we’ll assess all the options and choose.”
“Sounds good.” Akira said.
“Good idea. We don’t have time to waste, I’ll see you guys later.” Lyra said, leaving without another word.
“You got any idea where you’ll head?” Asked Akira.
…
“I’ve got somewhere in mind, but I don’t know if it’ll work. And I’m kinda hoping it doesn’t.”
----------------------------------------
The salty mist of the southernly ocean caressed Jay's face, a far more comforting touch than the mists of Mystic's Avenue. Jay was still something of an intruder here, he felt the sea breeze prod and probe at his spirit, but their intent felt less malevolent than before.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Jay ran his hands through the sand he sat on. He couldn’t feel it, but he did it all the same. He knew why he came here. He knew what he needed to do, but he also knew it was gonna be a pain in the arse to deal with. Heavy footfalls crunched into the ground behind Jay. Jay knew who it was, but he didn’t want to give him the pleasure of turning around so soon. He could already feel the smugness boring a hole in his back. Shaking his resolve and almost making him turn.
“What do you want?” Jay asked, bracing himself for the reply.
“Oh. What do I want? Interesting. The young upstart wanders into the handsome sage’s domain, sulking, yet he asks me what I want. Perhaps the young buck’s energy should be focused more internally. For it would be better used there. Maybe it should be focused on learning some manners instead. In your culture is it not rude to face away from the one you’re speaking to?”
The only thing worse than speaking to a smug old man, was speaking to a smug old man who was right.
Jay had come all the way to Tranquillity tower, sulked on the beach like an angsty teenager, and snapped at the man he’d come to visit in the first place.
But he didn’t want to admit that.
Jay stood up and faced the storm sage, meeting the sage’s star-studded gaze with anticipation. He’d come here to ask for help but didn’t want to appear desperate.
“Much better lad. Now, let me ask you a slightly personal question – although it’s far less rude since I’m in my own house and you’re the one who’s come to see me – What do you want?”
The sage spoke and the world shook.
Jay froze for a split second before calming himself. The storm sage’s domain felt different to the SunSpear’s. But Jay felt it all the same. There was no warmth, no protection, or promise of growth. But there was power behind those words. There was power and there was a challenge. Jay looked at the man stood in front of him. It felt like facing a hurricane. A churning mass of wind, water, and lightning spitting the ocean in his face.
Jay stood strong. His conviction anchoring him through the storm. Eventually, the sage’s wave of pressure washed over him and only his expectant stare remained.
What do I want?
“I need help. I injured my arms in my last fight.” Jay lifted his limp arms up slightly, flopping them about in the air to illustrate his point. “I went to see a friend of a friend. They said my essence pathways have been completely obliterated. My nervous system too. Everything below the elbow is dead weight now.”
Jay focused on the sage’s face. Looking for any change in expression.
“She offered to redraw my pathways, whatever that means.” Jay paused after speaking. He tried to glean anything he could from the sage’s face, but it remained perfectly still. “The two friends I went with said that was a terrible idea and I should probably do something else. But the thing is, I just don’t know. I still don’t know what I’m doing here. Fighting I know, it’s been my whole life for the last seventeen years. But essence, and all this new shit, I haven’t got a clue. And just as I was starting to wrap my head around it, it turns out I might have fucked it all up. I don’t really know what’s wrong with me, but I think it happened because I channelled more lighting and thunder than my body could handle. If anyone would know about that it’s you. Please, if you know anything, please can you help me."
Jay laid everything out in front of him. If he hadn’t, he could never have forgiven himself.
Cold wind whistled around them, the only thing piercing the stifling silence.
The storm sage’s pensive face remained stalwart. Not revealing anything that went on behind it. Was he mulling over what Jay had told him, debating whether to help him or not? Or was he simply trying to make his next line rhyme? All Jay could do was wait.
“At least your humility is better than your timekeeping.”
“What?”
“I seem to remember asking you to return in three weeks.” The sage frowned and looked at an imaginary watch. “But three weeks is hmm… According to my calculations… about two weeks away.”
You’re not fucking funny. Is what Jay wanted to say, but he held his tongue. His chances looked slimmer now, but the sage still might offer some help.
“Do you want me to leave?”
“You must realise Jay. That I am a man of my word. To break it goes against every fibre of my being. But…”
Where is this going?
“…I may have to break it, just this once. I know I told you to return in three weeks, and I intended to keep to that promise. But I know of an opportunity, only available to you at this present moment. As much as I am loath to break my word, I cannot in good faith deny you this opportunity. All that’s left is for you to grasp it.”
“With what hands?”
A slight, almost imperceptible, smile peeked through the storm sage’s frown before going back into hiding.
“Hmm… I think I can help you.”
Jay stared at the dark folds on the storm sage’s weathered face.
It was no use trying to spot the strings attached from here. He had to go deeper.
“What do you mean?”
“I know a way for you to heal your arms without damaging your future Harmony. In fact, they’ll be more powerful than before. I know a way that you can get stronger. Strong enough that in your next fight you won’t need to destroy your arms just to eke out a narrow victory.”
What’s the catch?
“But for the next three days you must do everything I say. No questions asked”
For fucks sake.
----------------------------------------
Jay was pissed off because he had to fight in the coliseum every week.
Jay was pissed off because he had to destroy his arms in his last fight. He was too weak to win any other way.
Jay was pissed off because of a great many things. But the thing that pissed him off the most was the thought of having to do everything the storm sage said for the next three days.
Actually, that wasn’t strictly true.
The thing that pissed him off most was the fact that he said yes.
After Jay agreed to his terms, the storm sage grinned. There was more than a hint of sadism in his face, but Jay tried to ignore it. He’d decided to place his faith in the storm sage, there was no point second guessing himself now. The evil you knew was always better than the one you didn’t. Jay didn’t quite trust the sage the same way he’d come to trust Akira and Lyra. But he trusted him a hell of a lot more than the High Matron or anyone his friends could find on less than a day’s notice.
The sage had already turned him down once over fears that he would ruin his future Harmony. Of course he had his own interests at heart, but Jay hoped that they were somewhat parallel to his own. Hopefully anything he needed from Jay could be repaid without too much trouble.
The sage snapped his fingers. Sand and sea gave way to reddish wood and a desk full of ink-stained paper.
Jay stood behind the sage’s desk this time, two people stood on the other side of the room looking at him.
One was Selena, the blue-skinned, cat-eyed meditator who’d been the good cop to the storm sage’s poet cop the last time they’d met. Next to her was a bald, wiry man in loose fitting, green martial arts robes. The mystery man looked at Jay with wide eyes and his mouth ajar.
“Good morning, Jay.” Selena said. “Congratulations on winning your fight.”
She turned to face the mystery man. “I told you he’d say yes.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think he’d be that stupid.” He said, looking at Jay with further scrutiny before pointing at the storm sage. “Why the hell would you agree to a single thing that idiot asks you?”
The storm sage bellowed in laughter “Thane, how many years have we known each other? Were you not aware of the warrior poet’s myriad methods of persuasion?”
“Oh please, if you were so persuasive maybe you- You know what never mind.” Thane took a deep breath. “Hello Jay, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Thane, a friend… actually, friend is a bit strong, I’ve known this asshole since before he demanded to be called the storm sage all the time.”
He spat the last line out with the derisive tone reserved for only the oldest of friends.
“We help each other out from time to time. I harmonise with regeneration essence – don’t ask me to explain it, we’ll be here all day – if you don’t mind, would you let me look at your arms?”
Jay was already starting to like the new guy. Having the balls to call the storm sage an idiot and an asshole in his own home was a green flag in Jay's book. Hopefully, Thane would decrease the amount of alliteration over the next few days.
Jay held up his injured arms. Thane didn’t prepare any ritual like Agatha, or the High Matron. He simply clasped Jay's lifeless hands with his own and closed his eyes.
“He’s right.” Thane said, releasing Jay's arms within seconds and speaking directly to the storm sage now. “The nervous system is damaged almost beyond repair, the essence pathways in his arms are non-existent. He’ll probably need the extra day.”
“Fuck!” the storm sage slammed both his hands on his desk.
Selena let out a giggle.
“Care to explain the joke?” Jay asked.
“You agreed to do everything he said for the next three days, right?” said Selena. Jay nodded. “Well, the wise old storm sage had a suspicion that your injuries could be healed in two. Leaving a full day left over for poetry class.”
Jay turned slowly to stare down the sheepish storm sage, sat at his desk and avoiding Jay's daggers. Jay looked back to Thane and Selena.
“If I ever think about listening to this guy again. Please remind me not to.”