ISLAND OF FETTERS

“We’re here.” Hilda said, signaling the ship to come to a complete stop. Ian rushed to the deck, admiring the view below. The Islands of Fetters were considerably smaller than the continent of Iolite. But it was dark, the lands were dark and bare of any vegetation.

“I’m coming too!” Jade complained.

“You lost, didn’t you. You’re on guard duty.” Hilda barely lifted her brows.

“You don’t really need to come with me. Stealth operations are easier alone.” Ian said to Hilda.

“Stealth is my specialty,” Hilda answered. “Alright. There are three objectives. To capture Krystol, to seal the Abyss opening, and to save Gloria.”

“Why are you giving orders? You didn’t even want to come.” Ian asked.

Jade’s eyes widened as he furiously shook his head. Ian received the signal, but he was questioning Jade’s intent.

“Oh, unlike you, the Princess put me in charge. You’re just some tag along runt.”

Ian gulped lightly, feeling the anxiety rising against his throat. “Right.” She should be smaller in size than him. All fairies were. But for some reason, something about her was so intimidating. Was it the gaze or the body language?

“You see that tall castle down there? I bet the tunnel leading to the Abyss is just down there. Your top priority is to seal off the Abyss. You can do that, right?” Hilda’s eyes locked onto his.

“Of course.” Ian said, giving a grin.

“Suspicious. You won’t tell us the methods?” Jade asked.

“There’s not much to tell, honestly.” Ian said. “Cracks of Abyss have already been thoroughly researched in the Berlag empire. The Abyss cracks because there’s an overflow of Abyssal energy from the inside. They call it the ‘flow’. To seal it, you just need a raw form of energy to reverse the flow.”

“Reverse the flow? How do you do that?”

“Basically, you should direct energy into the Abyss itself. That way, the reverse of energy would cause the Abyss to close up.”

“So, it closes up on its own?” Hilda asked.

“Yeah.”

“Where are you planning to get a large chunk of energy? Humans don’t have any magical energy, right?” Jade asked.

“Ahh, about that. I was planning to ask you if it’s alright to borrow these.” Ian said, pulling out large sack filled with magical runes.

“B-Borrow?! Where did you even get this from?”

“This seems awfully familiar.” Hilda released an ominous aura from the back of her head.

“You have four engines, right? I took these out of three of them. Theoretically only one working should suffice.” Ian said.

“You’re swimming back to the mainland.” Hilda commanded.

“But there’s no other way. If I bring any less, there’s a chance that it won’t work. And your ship will survive, no doubt that.” Ian explained, but his smile didn’t fade.

“Once I confirm Gloria’s safety, your job is to bring her back. I will go kill Krystol myself.”

“Sure, but just to be clear. You won’t be able to defeat him.” Ian said.

Hilda just gave a smug, “And you have a great chance. Did you forget your own race?” Without warning, she leapt off the ship, using her wings as a glider.

Jade picked out a parachute from the crate. “Here, for the human.”

“It’s alright. Save it for yourself.” Ian chuckled, warming up his arms.

Jade watched in bewilderment as he saw Ian jump down from the ship. He extended his arms out wide, feeling the air blow against his skin.

“I feel the resonance with the stars so strongly. Is it because we’re nearer to the south pole?” Ian asked. The blue barrier dome became closer to him, slowly opening a small gap in the presence of the ring. With a few barriers, Ian gracefully landed on his feet.

Ian took a quick glance, trying to search for the emotionless, stoic fairy. “Hilda’s gone?” Ian gave a sigh. He was in the barren side of the Island of Fetters. Oblivious to the sight from the top, the ground was actually moist and warm a huge contrast to the dry land he anticipated.

“As if. I was waiting for you.” The familiar voice appeared from his back.

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“No, you don’t have to.” Ian said.

“I will be going off then to find Lady Gloria.”

“How would I find you?”

“Well, don’t bother. I’ll find you.” Hilda said. As the fairy closed her eyes, a bright, shimmering light engulfed her tiny body. The light grew brighter and brighter until it was blinding, and then suddenly faded away. Where once was a fairy, now stood a small, furry brown rat with beady black eyes and twitching whiskers. The rat shook its head, adjusting to its new body and surroundings, and scurried away on all fours.

“That’s practically cheating.” Ian mumbled, making his way through the woods, following Hilda’s tiny footsteps.

The forest trees were bare and dry, in contrast to the moist lands he was threading on. Despite having such fertile land, there was no grasslands or vegetation. Instead, fungus and moss overtook the grounds. They flourish in lands that were fertile and dark, after all. After a while, he noticed the small brown rat stopped in place.

“What’s wrong?” Ian asked.

“Oh, shit. You scared me. Give me a lift.” Hilda said.

“Oh? Not so nice to be small and helpless, huh?”

“No, my feet. I’m not going to sink my bare feet into these yucky things!”

“Have some respect for the mushroom. Some areas consider it as a delicacy.” Ian said, offering his hand.

Hilda gave a face of disgust, climbing on to Ian’s hand. “Well, bring me out of this forest.”

Ian walked a while, carrying Hilda on his shoulders. They passed by a few wandering demons, in search of some prey to hunt.

“Why are you helping us?” Hilda asked Ian, who was hiding behind a boulder from the patrolling demons.

“Pure curiosity.” Ian whispered back.

“You’re going against a war monger for the sake of curiosity.”

“Well, you could say that.”

The demon behind them started to make a growl. The other demons in the area heard the cry and ran towards it.

“Time to run,” Ian said, sprinting over to the next boulder. But as he was running away, he noticed a small peculiar creature caught by the group of demons. The small creature was out of the world, helpless against the demon’s grasp.

The blue bear was an unusual sight, with its vibrant, cerulean fur shimmering in the sunlight. It had a round face with a black, button nose and dark circles around its eyes like a panda. Its small paws were armed with sharp claws, and its muscular build belied its cuddly appearance. As it struggled against the four demons, its fur bristled and stood on end, making it appear even larger and more imposing. Despite its predicament, the bear fought back with ferocity, snarling and biting at the demons with a deep, rumbling growl that echoed through the air. It was a striking sight, a creature both beautiful and fearsome, with a tenacity that belied its diminutive size.

Ian made a stop for the creature, stirring the dirt up beneath his feet. He loaded his crossbow, charging towards the demons. Two of its arrows pierced through the skull of two of the demons.

“I’ll have to politely ask you to let it go!” Ian said, taking out the short sword from his waist. With a few swift stabs, the demons fell to the ground. The blue bear was free from its captors, turning its back and fleeing from the human.

“Wait, wait!” Ian plead, chasing after the bear.

The bear seemed to understand him, stopped for a while and stared absent mindedly back. It looked so cuddly.

“Are you looking for the castle?” Ian bent down, peering closely to the bear.

The bear replied with a nod and pointed to the direction of the castle.

“Would you believe it? You went the wrong way this whole time.” Hilda said, staring at the boy.

“What can I do? I had to make a few detours! This place is swarming with demons!”

“I’m inclined to follow the bear from now on.” Hilda said.

Ian followed the bear closely a few steps behind. They reached a small den filled with berries, usually out of sight because of a few trees blocking it from plain sight.

The bear took a small rag and snuggled right inside. Soon after, both Hilda and Ian heard a small snore.

“Hm, I’m inclined to follow the bear, huh?” Ian said, looking back at Hilda.

“I can’t cast magic in this form. Why are you human? Cast a mind reading spell or two!”

“Don’t be unreasonable.” Ian sighed.

Hilda’s nose picked up something. “Wait, the scent of demons is very strong here.” She leapt down from Ian’s shoulder, swiping a berry from the stash.

“Was that necessary?”

“Mice have a high metabolism rate.” Hilda answered, stuffing the berry in her mouth. On all fours, she found a door deeper in the den.

“This leads to the castle.” Ian whispered, looking closer at the architecture. It was a plain black door, etched into the rocks.

“Do you think the bear knows where the Lady is?” Hilda whispered back.

He looked at the bear, snuggling in its rag. “He’s sleeping. Do you really want to wake him up?”

“The castle is a maze. And we have our guide. Wake him up.”

Ian’s lips clenched, unwillingly shook the bear slightly. The bear didn’t wake up, so Ian pulled a red berry from his pocket.

“I wanted to use this in times of emergency.” Ian placed the berry in front of the bear’s nose, shaking it around slightly.

“What’s that?” Hilda asked.

“You should know what you keep in your pantry. Well, just have a look.” Ian sighed.

The bear slowly opened its eyes, rubbing it with his tiny pink paws. His nose drawn to the small, red berry in front of him. Without notice, he ate the red berry from Ian’s hands.

“W-wait, you’re supposed to only sniff it!”

The bear chewed the berry, mouth closed. What Ian couldn’t stand was the large eyes that sparkled of innocence. “Oh no…”

The blue bear jumped on its pink paws, roaring with its entire might and its arms raised. Ian could tell that it wanted to look intimidating, but it was an adorable miniature bear.

“I’m looking for a hole in this place. A large hole that demons come out from.” Ian said.

“No, Lady Gloria takes priority here.”

“It’s alright, I believe they might be in the same place.” Ian explained.

The bear nodded its head, rushing to the door. But the door was too tall for it, so it just pointed up, waiting for Ian to open it.

“You should really think about things through,” Ian smiled, looking at the door. His face still wore a smile. Ian knelt down, offering his hand out to the rat. Hilda scoffed, running up to his shoulder.

“Let’s go. The faster we save Lady Gloria, the better.”

Ian placed his hand on the door handle, twisting it open. A stench of miasma rushed out the room, flooding his senses.

“Urgh, it stinks.” Hilda said, closing her nose.

“Let’s hurry then.” Ian said.