I wake up to the sight of criss cross bars made of a brown metal encrusted in a weird, green scum material. The pink wood behind the bars indicates that I am still on the boat. Looking around, my apparent prison is the size of a bedroom with a curved roof that reminds me of a crab cage. I'm also sitting on multiple layers of a weird fabric.
I wonder for a moment if Raze went against his word and locked me up, but I look to my right and see that the little door to the cage is tied wide open with a piece of twine. I realize I'm in Raze’s room again, in the corner on the floor. I can imagine Raze being worried for me sleeping on the floor so he (I assume anyway) set up a tiny room in his quarters for me to rest in. How oddly wholesome.
I consider leaving the cage to find Raze, but just because he death-stared one Headra into not taking me doesn't mean the rest wouldn't get any funny ideas.
I wonder if I should continue to wait in the cage for Raze to return, as he probably intended, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was all quite absurd irregardless.
“En Garde!”
Before I could even react, I got smacked right across the face by some sort of blunt, foamy object. An odd fellow in a full suit of black plate appeared before me. They are holding what looks to be two sabres with a wrapping around both of them.
What the f-
The person whacks me across the face again with the sabre.
“I SAID En Garde! Take your weapon!”
They reel back to whack me again, and I scramble to grab the sword in their other hand. This causes the person’s stance to ease up.
“You’re awake, good.”
I stumble into a standing position, half on guard in case they try to bop me a cross the face again.
“What in the fuck is going on here?!”
“En Garde!”
The person in black armor lunges at me, and reflexes from fencing I thought I had long forgotten came crawling back into my brain. I quite easily parry the strike with my own weird foam sword, and take a step back.
“Who are you?”
The person goes for a pretty obvious feint and in my head I hear my old teacher yelling at me for falling for a similar one in school. I take the initiative and instead of going defensive, make an amateur lunge at the person’s chest. This made them stumble back, apparently I caught them off guard.
“So you know what you are doing…”
They flip up their helmet to reveal a female face. She looked overall African; with dark skin and black, unkempt curly hair. She had an odd pale blue glow around her head and neck, and I assume the rest of her body underneath the armor.
“Dion Langely, the one and only.”
She picks up on my stance relaxing for a bit and goes for a flunge, stabbing me in the stomach before I can parry. Though the sword is made of foam, it still knocks some of the breath out of me.
“You didn’t say En Garde!” I wheeze out.
“You must be prepared for an attack at any moment. En Garde!”
I barely make it back into stance before she performs an underhanded sweep on my shins. This is way out of line for fencing, and she manages to hit me pretty hard on my leg because of it, leaving a bruise.
“OW, you motherfu-“
“You must also be prepared for an attack at any angle!”
Okay, now she’s making me mad.
“En Garde!”
I am getting sick of this strange woman called ‘Dion’. She now takes the defensive. Instead of thrusting at her with my pool noodle of a sword, I bat away the Sabre and I take a swing to her nose with my free hand.
Bong!
My fist goes straight through her face and into the back of her suit of armor, hurting like, well, punching a metal wall at full force.
“Haha! That would have hit me if I wasn’t incorporeal, good job.”
“Can you PLEASE stop dueling me and tell me what’s going on?!”
“Never! En Garde!”
She attempts to get back into stance, but by this point I am so done. I rip the foamy sword out of her hands, giving me two swords now.
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“Look I disarmed you, okay? Battle is over. If you don’t start talking I’m going to bop you with these sabres until you do.”
She stands awkwardly, looking at her hand like she is struggling to process not having a Sabre in it.
“... Impressive. You have bested the great Dion Langely. What is your name?”
“... Tara. Tara Button.”
“It has been a long time since I have seen an outsider, what are you doing here?”
That’s a good question actually, what am I doing here?
“I don’t really know, I just sorta appeared on top of a giant lion and it’s all gone downhill from there.”
“Sounds about right, I have been hearing a lot of chatter from the crew about an outsider appearing in this very boat. I came to investigate.”
I am getting more and more confused as she talks.
“Okay, slow down. PLEASE just tell me who or what in the world are you and we can go from there.”
She gives me a defiant look.
“I already told you, I am Dion Langely, are you slow?”
Actually, my confusion is now turning into extreme annoyance.
“Let me specify. Why are you dueling me, what is that armor, why are you incorporeal, are you an outsider, and please explain in detail anything else I might need to know before I start bopping.”
She stands there leaning on one leg, her lips pursed. Finally, she decides the answer.
“I came here to test you, you see, long ago I was a mercenary for a far away kingdom. I was sent here to assassinate the ruling king Headra for some political reason. I succeeded, but during my return trip my ship capsized and I drowned. Over time my body and armor got encased in natural stone, and a couple centuries later another headra dug my body up and turned me into an amulet out of novelty. That amulet is somewhere on this ship, and no Headra would ever help me because I assassinated their king. That’s why I’m incorporeal, I am a spirit, and my suit of armor absorbed my soul, tying it to this plane. Also no, I am not an outsider, I am a descendant of an outsider. As for other things you might need to know…”
She pauses for a moment.
“Don’t ever encounter a being named Dogson.”
“I uh, got that last part, thanks. Is that the whole story?”
“There is a lot more to it but that's the short version.”
We both stay still for a moment, my brain hurting with all of the information being given all at once. Although I suppose I should get used to that.
“Dion, what were you testing me for?”
“To see if you are capable of getting the amulet back of course!”
Ahahaha
“And… what makes you think I would do this for you?”
Dion stands there, stiff, for a moment, blinking.
“Why… wouldn't you?”
“In order to get your amulet I would have to go against the wishes of every Headra here, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And a Headra could kill me in about one movement of their giant paws, correct?”
“Also yes.”
I pause expectantly, waiting for Dion to come to the conclusion that I want her to. She never does.
“So… Dion… why would I risk my life to run around this giant ship full of semi truck sized tigers for a random person I just met?”
“... Well it is the right thing to do.”
“What’s the right thing to do?”
Both of us jump as we turn around to see Raze standing at the doorway.
“Who are you talking to, Tara?”
“I was ju-“ I look back and Dion is gone, along with the two foamy swords from our duel. Raze is raising an eyebrow.
“Now, Raze, you might have a hard time believing me, but-“
“You were talking to the centuries deceased ghost of Dion Langely, assassinator of a member of the royal family, and she wanted you to retrieve her corpse stored inside of a Headra made stone amulet?”
“... How did you know?”
“I overheard most of it, thought you were going crazy at first but then you started talking to worldstring specific historical figures.”
I sit back down in my little cage, blown away by his ability to guess everything that is happening, as per usual. No doubt he would never be invited to play a board game. Raze calmly sat on the floor some distance away from me.
“Were you intending to accept, Tara?”
The way he said this gave me an extremely strong primal urge to choose my words carefully.
“To be entirely honest, no. I had no stake in her life, and she made it sound like a suicide mission.”
“And it probably would have been.”
My eyes fall from his face to his mane, where there I can clearly see a new necklace. Made of rope, it holds a large stone the size of a boulder, although for Raze it would be the size of a baseball.
“Raze, i-“
“Yes, this is the aforementioned necklace.”
To say I am surprised by this point is an understatement. I am floored. This Sphynx is predicting my every move and countering it.
“Tara, do you wish to know about the human sized armor within this stone?”
“I suppose so?”
Raze clears his throat.
“The armor is called ‘ Y’mestor ‘ which comes from a long dead race of-“
“How did you make that noise with your mouth?”
Raze looked shocked, suddenly knocked out of his cool explanation, “Huh?”
"I sai- You know what, forget it, continue.”
Raze slowly nods, clearing his throat.
“As I was saying, the name ‘ Y’mestor ‘ comes from a long dead race. Very roughly it translates into ‘Dual Souls’. The armor has magics in it that make it really powerful when used right, enough to make an ordinary person able to fell a Headra and much more. The armor also lets the wearer summon a Sabre made of Moonstone.”
Raze pauses for effect
“Wow, that sounds pretty powerful…” I said, being generally unimpressed due to desensitization of cool weapons via Anime.
“Do you want the Armor, Tara?”
“... Not really. I am no powerful sword fighting badass, Raze, and I have no intention to be.”
Raze’s stance relaxed.
“Of course Tara, if I may make a guess, you wish to return to earth, yes?”
Thinking about it, I very much do. With everything going on I haven't had a chance to think about it, but my whole family is still back home. How long have I been gone at this point? A couple hours? A day? Maybe even a week? Worse too, I'm technically not dead to my loved ones, just missing. They might spend years trying to find me but they never will. I'm gone in a far flung universe an infinity away.
“Raze, how am I going to get back home?”
Raze looks at me, and sets his chin on the floor. He says nothing for a while, but I can see the cogs turning in his head as he contemplates his words.
“I don’t think there is going back, Tara. Not easily at least. I have never heard of an outsider leaving the worldstring once they are here… You can get in, but you can't get out…”
“Like Pinocchio…”
Raze gave me a confused look.
“Okay, so like, there is a whale in the story-“
“Whale?”
“Really big fish. Anyway, this Whale swallows a boy on a ship whole, and the boy is alive in the fish's stomach. It was easy for the boy to get in, but not get out.”
“Interesting… what did the boy do?”
“He started a fire inside the whale, and the smoke caused the whale to sneeze him out.”
“Hm… I don't think that will work here…”
I just kinda stare at Raze.
“Raze, it’s a metaphor.”
“Oh…”
Raze was silent, and we just sat there. I have a feeling Raze expected me to burst into tears, or freak out, or something. But I guess I'm not? I mean I probably should be right now, but I am feeling relatively calm. I suppose that's probably shock doing that. I have a habit of getting upset the night after something bad happens to me. So for now, I guess I'm fine?
There is a tremble through the floor.
Before I had a chance to properly go through the stages of shock and sorrow like a normal person, the entire ship lurched, sending me sprawling on my back. The force knocks the wind out of me. While I'm gasping for breath and staring at the ceiling, I hear a loud meaty thud against Raze's bed. With some effort, I manage to recover and start gasping for breath like a fish out of water. What on earth was that?
I manage to prop myself up just in time to see Raze unconscious with a rectangular wound on his temple. Concern and worry wash over me before the ship lurches again, sending me back onto the floor.
Outside, I hear the commotion of Headra and the sound of a gong going off urgently. The ship starts jolting around violently, keeping me on the floor. Raze's body is rolling around like a Christmas ham on a trampoline, but his front paws are caught around the legs of the bed, sparing me the risk of being crushed. Suddenly, there is a loud boom reminiscent of a cannon and everything suddenly stops. Everything’s quiet and calm now.
I quickly take the opportunity to get back on my feet. What the hell was that? I look over to the wound on Raze's head, and it's bleeding thick, mahogany red blood. That doesn't look good, I'm not a Headra expert but I bet if that wound isn't tended to he's going to be in trouble. Fear overtakes me, and I start venturing a couple tentative steps towards the massive lion.
“Raze?”
No response.
What am I going to do? Is there a doctor on board? Are there Headra doctors? Who will help me if Raze is gone? One thing’s for sure, asking stupid questions isn't going to help the situation.
I start running, looking to grab anyone who might be able to help Raze. I take steps to the door, but I fall flat on my face. My ears are blasted out by a roar which I can only describe as what one hears before the world ends. Like a volcano screaming in anger at god himself. The vibrations reverberate through my skull and I feel like I'm about to explode. My heart stops for a second. And then silence. This is not a good thing, as though I am screaming, it is quiet. I have gone deaf. The only sound I can register is my heartbeat trying desperately to keep oxygen going through my veins.
Next, gravity itself betrayed me. Before I even knew what was happening, the floor was no longer the floor and I began falling towards the wall Raze’s bed was up against.
And then, blackness.