Chapter 4: Consolidate
Green ethereal eyes fluttered open to grey clouds suffused with white light.
A young woman atop a lonely boat awoke wistfully, feeling as if she had both gained, and lost something indescribable.
What was it?
The question remained unspoken, perhaps knowing it would go unanswered.
At the same time there seemed to be a tightness in her chest, which she oddly felt would not go away, no matter how much time passed.
Was it sorrow? Anxiousness?
Clouds of fog passed by as she was thinking, and whimsically she thought that they were exactly how she was feeling inside.
Blurry. Muddled. Unclear…and drifting. The truth before her, her very thoughts and emotions, felt obscured.
‘Huh…’
Now she thought about it, this endless luminous sea was filled with more fog than ever.
The black-haired and black-eyed young boy sat up on the deck, looking all around him.
Purposefully he ignored some of the more mystical elements on the boat, wanting to digest all of that later, and looked at the ocean surrounding him.
It was unlike last time where the fog clouds were sparse, and spread out.
Now, they were as common as flowers were in the spring, or as numerous as stars were in the vast night sky. His boat pierced through one every few seconds, and at times he couldn’t even see ten feet in front of him.
In that moment, an intuitive inkling seemed to have descended upon him— dozens of words appeared and disappeared within his mind in a haze of blurry meaning, and out of the confusion, one rose from above the rest, and anchored itself in his mind.
‘Congested.’
An odd word to describe the fog clouds, he thought, before brushing the phenomena off entirely.
‘Well…I guess as long as they aren’t poisonous.’
‘Or…worse. A natural aphrodisiac.’ Now that would be a pretty bad problem!
Sitting on the deck, watching as they passed by, a sense of serenity and calm mystery seemed to fill him.
‘...There’s no sea horrors to jump out of the fog or something right!?’
‘Ahh, whatever…’
Now…he turned to those things he was previously ignoring. Those magical, almost unbelievable things that he would have outright denied if he wasn't seeing them with his own two eyes.
Just a few feet away from him, was the unassuming brown book. It couldn’t really be described as unassuming anymore, considering the way it took her consciousness inside of one of its pages. If that wasn't enough though, there was also the fact that it was still floating in midair.
Reverberations of essence pulsed from it from time to time, and white-rainbow energy spiraled serenely around it in a graceful dance.
The pages were still flipping, albeit more calmly as if in a state of rest, or even…in a state of relaxment and leisure.
Those were odd words to describe a floating book, and yet, he felt it was most fitting. As for why he felt that way…he just…did.
‘For all I know, this book might be able to think and feel.’ He thought jokingly to himself, brushing off his odd notions and…unique perceptions.
He then looked upwards, and was now ready to face that other thing he previously ignored.
The skeleton still stood there, just as it had…well, when it…first stood up? He thought to himself, before correcting it with a more accurate statement.
‘When it…first pulled my mind into the book.’
Now thinking about those events, it was not as simple or whimsical as he made it out to be.
An inferno roared as mystical green flames manifested in its skull. Divine voices resonated from within its lifeless body, before its whisperings grew so profound that it felt like a knife was splitting her brain. Then, yes, the powers that were, yanked her very consciousness into a story.
Looking at it now however…there was no trace nor remnant of the skeleton’s mysterious and divine powers.
Its eye sockets were dark, dim, and empty. It looked as ordinary as any standing skeleton would.
…Except, yet again, the more she gazed at it the more she could sense something behind that dead and motionless front.
As she stared at it, it stared at her, and by the moment she unearthed in its hollow sockets an odd element of expectation.
It was…not difficult to tell of what either.
It wanted her to keep listening, to keep experiencing, and to call what she felt within her curiosity, was an understatement. It was now a yearning, a burning desire to see how the story would continue, and how it would end.
Even further beyond the tale, there was a yearning for her to know that vague thing called the truth, although she felt that she had many truths to unravel.
The black-haired child immersed himself in that feeling of yearning, letting it burn his heart, mind, and soul. His eyes started to fill with a calm resolve, his body straightened to better hold the weight of his aspirations…until a stray thought suddenly struck him, to which he stumbled out of that resonance.
“...He– Hey wait! It’s not gonna be a totally different story now is it!?” At the thought of that possibility, he panicked— although the experiences he went through weren't exactly warm and affectionate, he felt bonded to them in a way.
Like two trees planted too close to each other that inevitably grew entwined, he wanted to see the story through. He didn’t want to dive into some totally new tale.
Was it…his mistake for assuming that it was guaranteed? But…it had to be right?
The black haired and black eyed child…had to make sure.
He sucked in a deep breath, before standing up to face the skeleton. At his height, it felt as if some huge monster or great adversity was staring down at him. In between them, the floating book pulsed like a living heart.
At that moment, he had totally forgotten about the most important questions he wanted to ask. Those questions of, “Who am I?”
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Who are you?”
“How did I get here?”
“Why am I here?”
“Where is here!?”
And instead the boy asked, “Is…that the end of the tale?”
He spoke with audible anxiousness. His senses, doing their best to perceive even the tiniest subtle change in that undead body.
Yet in response to the boy’s question, the skeleton did not move nor did it speak. Which, in all fairness, kind of what skeletons did.
“Uhh…”
“He— Hello?”
Nothing happened.
“Umm…”
“Wait, maybe…”
An idea then struck him. Remembering the first words the skeleton ever said, the boy spoke, “I…want to hear a tale.”
He said those words hoping the skeleton would awaken, while also hoping that a new story would not arise.
…Yet still, silence reigned.
‘...What do I do now?’
Splash! Luminous green waters whooshed and swashed through the air in a flurry.
From behind him something broke through the glowing ocean’s surface, and leaped out of the water!
The child started to turn his head, but before he could react, a force thwacked him from behind and laid him out flat!
THWACK!
The sound of his body colliding with wood resounded next, before a wet thrashing and slippery waggling could be heard just beside him.
A floundering tilapia fish landed on the wooden deck. Next to him, was a boy face down on the floor.
“Ughhh…” He groaned.
“Hehe. You called?” The fish said.
“I definitely did not!” He said while rising up from the vessel’s deck.
“So hey, hey, hey! Its been a while ain't it?” It said whimsically and almost cheerfully.
At that moment the boy remembered the many questions he had for the talking fish, but swept up in its momentum, he couldn't help but to reply, “A while? How long…has it been?”
“Its been…a few decades.” It said gravely and solemnly, its tone shifting to that of someone who had weathered countless years.
“Wha— what…”
The implications of what the fish just said— there was simply way too much information to glean from in that single sentence.
Literal decades!? Was the fish immortal? Am I unaging? Or maybe it was this mysterious place, that had suspended time itself!?
“Hah. Got you. Just kidding, it's only been a few seconds.”
“...” The boy’s jaw dropped.
“...This! Damn! Fish!” he stomped his little kid feet.
“Hey! No bad words, little one!”
“Ugh!” He wanted to tear his hair out hearing that, but resisted.
Inevitably he sighed, “But…are you serious? It's really only been a few seconds?”
That would mean that up to the days he had experienced in the tale, only seconds passed by here. And that would also mean that the tsunami wave his little boat rode earlier, had only just dissipated moments before.
That was…magical, if not intriguing.
“Huh? No, I lied.” The fish said casually.
…This time he was truly speechless.
“Time’s always been a weird thing, y’know?”
“No, I don—”
“...Okay, whatever.” He said defeatedly and dismissively.
Then his eyes lit, “So…are you gonna help me?” The boy asked.
“Hmm hmm…Depends.” The tilapia contemplated.
“What can you do…for me?”
“...Uhh well…” It wasn’t as if he had anything to give, nor promise.
“I can give you…my good company!” He said on the fly, a full innocent smile on his lips.
“Hmph! I’m the one gracing you with my presence.” It said matter-of-factly.
“No, actually, you’re terrible company.” Is what the boy wanted to say…but he had to sucker up to this talking fish first.
“Ye— Yes…yo– your highness. You are oh so great!” He tried to say shamelessly, but his tone betrayed his deceptive intentions.
“Hahahaha! You’re too young to do this kid! You think you’re cunning?”
“Alright okay, hmm I’ll hear you out.”
“Yay~” He cheered.
“But in exchange…”
The black haired child looked at the fish with his full attention.
In turn, the fish’s eyes seemed to pop out of their eyeballs, scrutinizing him in extreme detail.
Feeling those eyes scan him, the boy’s thoughts ran wild. No doubt this evil and slightly insane fish would ask for something outrageous. What could it be…? Was it going to ask for three favors? He wasn’t sure if he could uphold that deal. What if…it asked for an arm or a leg to eat? Wait, didn’t he say he didn’t need to eat? What if…instead of my flesh it wants my soul!?
“Mm yeah…” The tilapia seemed to have found an answer.
The boy clenched his fists.
“Come…” With rapt attention, he was readying himself to deny this ungodly being, and its sick, twisted fetishes.
“Come…”
“Come massage me’ scales.”
“...What?” He replied with a blank look on his face.
“And mah tail.”
“You heard me, c’mon kid!”
“Youth is where you gotta put your back into it!”
“I’ll answer your questions as you give me the best spa treatment, I’ve ever had in my life!”
“Uhh…”
Was he really going to do this right now?
“Come! Come!” It floundered excitedly.
An unsure look appeared on the boy’s face, but remembering those things he desired and needed answered, he came closer.
The boy sucked in a deep breath, before he rolled up the sleeves of his tunic and…kneaded the fish’s scales.
“Higher. Add some pressure, you weakling!”
“Ugh.” The boy continued with his pressing motions.
“...You said you were gonna answer one of my questions.”
“Hmm. True.”
“Hold on…” The tilapia said, and in the next moment it floundered and jumped all over the small deck. It bounded heights way too high for a normal fish, going ten feet into the air, before landing and doing it again and again.
‘What is this thing doing…’
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Chaos ensued. The fish splattered water everytime it whipped its body in the air, and everytime it floundered on the deck in some weird fish dance.
Fitting of youth, he couldn’t hold his patience and through gritted teeth shouted, “...Stay still if you want your damn massage!”
He was already frustrated enough, giving this weird fish a full-body and tail rubdown!
Yet…as he shouted, his loud words miraculously turned into whispers.
“Huh? What?” He muttered in a hushed tone.
“...AHHHHHHHH!” The boy meant to shout, but all that came out was a breathy and airy exhale.
In the next moment, the fish landed back on the deck. Although they both should have heard a loud THUD!
All that resounded was a muffled, almost silent plop.
“What did you do?” He whispered.
“It's a kind of barrier, a veil— don’t worry bout it too much.” The fish whispered back.
This talking fish can cast magic spells…
He wanted to ask how, why, and maybe even…could you teach me too? But instead his mind prioritized the most curious question relevant to the topic at hand.
“Do we…need this thing or something?”
“...We can’t let them hear.” The tilapia replied in a hushed whisper.
“So…there really are sea monsters!” He gasped…silently.
Wait, no, that didn’t make sense. They were making lots of noise earlier.
His thoughts ran at high speed, trying to figure out the situation.
“So…it's not how loud we are…it's what we say?”
“...Hmph. Looks like you’re not that dumb!”
Quickly the curious boy followed up, “So then…who is it we don’t want us to hea—”
“Don't worry bout it, amnesiac.” The fish interrupted.
”You're much too weak anyway.”
“Hmph! Hmph! When the sky falls, it's up to people like me to uphold it!” It said grandly and haughtily.
To which, the black-haired child fell silent.
…Too many. Way too many questions that he needed answered, and they only kept piling up.
He sighed, ‘I’ll take it step by step I guess…’
“So…do you have any ideas to awaken the skeleton? Wait, do you even know what happened to me?”
“Duh. I’m the best.”
“Okay…so tell it to me.”
“Ahem, well it's part in part.”
“Huh?”
“Your problem.”
“It's this and that. It's more than one thing you’re doin wrong, is what I’m tryna say.”
“I have an inkling about the second, but the first part is obvious.”
“It's because you haven't consolidated it yet.”
‘What…was this fish even talking about?’
“Consolidate what?”
“What do you even mean by that word?”
“What? Consolidate?”
“Never read a dictionary have you? Kids these days, always on their phone.”
“Phone? What’s that?”
“Uhhhh— don’t worry bout it.”
The fish went silent as the boy awaited an answer.
“...Hello?”
“Is the pizza here already? I don’t have money for tips.” The fish said.
“…What?” The boy said confusingly.
“Can’t you shut up? I’m thinking how to explain it to you.”
…Truly, the boy was left speechless. He didn’t even bother to wrap his mind around some of the fish’s nonsensical ramblings.
“Hey, don’t stop!” The fish shouted…hushedly.
“Keep up the service until the customer is satisfied! We shall never deny a guest even at the most ridiculous reque—!”
“...What was I saying again?”
“Ahh right there, just below my fin!”
“Ugh…”
His hands were wet and…slimy. Extra emphasis on slimy.
“Hey kid.”
“Yeah…?”
“Don’t you feel…odd?”
“Like…you can’t take the number two!” It said confidently.
“...What?”
“I bet you feel…constipated! Don’t ya!?” The fish spoke exactly like someone holding out on a solution, as if wanting to show off and toot his own horn.
“...No.” The boy replied curtly and unimpressed.
“Do you even—”
“Yes I know what that word means!” He muttered frustratingly, his raised voice turning into an angry whisper.
“How bout…backed up then?”
“Got a…tightness in your chest?”