Sitting in a brown leather chair in the cockpit of the ship, Alexander sent a prayer to Nidra in his heart. Once he laid eyes on the elegant metal frame of ship Nidra had gifted him, he had leapt out of the rowing boat and swam back into the tunnel in a frantic attempt to return to the dragon’s lair. A wave of water carried him all the way to the shore where the ship’s staircase awaited him. With no option to thank Nidra in person, Alexander resorted to shouting blessings towards the mighty king of the beast faction.
The exterior was colored a dark violet, almost resembling the color black, and thin streaks of a bright red on either side added a brush of contrast that brought the machine to life. The flying ship was cylindrical in nature, only separating from the shape in its nose, its tail, and the long wings on either side. Upon entering the luxurious vehicle, he was again flooded with a sense of shame and need to express his thanks, but Nidra had been quick to teleport the group back to the oceans near Kedra Island.
A single tear trickled down Alexander’s face. This gift was greater than anything he could have ever imagined. Not too long ago, he had sworn he would one day own one of the flying ships created by the Sabians, and now, he even owned one of the more luxurious models- it frankly made the one sold at the auction look like trash in comparison. However, he was forced to bottle up his feelings and save them for whenever he met Lord Nidra again.
His greedy desire to take a piece of the dragon’s lucrative goods had blinded him to the magnanimous actions Nidra had taken to care for his group. This gift was something he would never be able to pay back, and he hated how narrow-minded he had been in the cavern.
Thank you, my Lord. Thank you for the… private jet. The name sparkled in the middle of a holographic screen a few inches away before it transitioned into an automated tutorial leading him through the different functions of the jet. After a few seconds, the jet had created a personalized AI as its interface and bound itself to Alexander’s voice.
A few rows back, Thomas absentmindedly continued to pour mana into the stone as he looked up towards Alexander. “Yo, are we almost ready to go? I know Lord Nidra said someone had saved Kai, but we should probably make sure he’s okay if we’re gonna take down the Green Mamba with him.”
“Brother… I’m coming!” Pola groggily clamored from a couch as she reacted to her brother’s name.
“Squawk!” Pengu ran her flipper through the little girl’s hair as she sought to calm her down. Alexander had already explained Pola needed to sleep for a while to get better so the penguin had assigned herself the job of keeping her comfortable.
Multiple screens flickered to life, shifting between camera angles and different charts as Alexander continued to progress through the tutorial. “Hang on a second. It says I’m 70% through the lesson and then I we can fly over to the fisherman’s shack.”
With nothing left to do, Thomas fashioned himself a belt out of ice and lodged the stone on to it before exploring the jet.
The cockpit held most of the screens and computers in the jet with three leather chairs in the room. The one Alexander was sitting in was elevated in comparison to the other two, although Thomas couldn’t tell if this was to indicate leadership, or he had adjusted it in the settings.
Stepping away from the cockpit, a short hallway led to the main cabin of the jet. A long couch on the left of the cabin currently held Pola and Pengu. Beyond the couch, a wooden counter with bar stools hung attached to the wall, facing a holographic display that operated as a window. The right side contained two rows of recliners followed by two sets of leather seats facing each other with a mahogany table between them.
Another short hallway at the back led to a room equipped with a closet and, thankfully, a bed. Carefully detaching the stone from his waist, Thomas did away with his ice belt and jumped under the covers. Appreciating its cool aura, he placed the stone right up against his face and closed his eyes as he prepared to enjoy a nap. A sudden yank of his mana brought his reserves very low and caused him to fall into a deep sleep.
15 minutes later, Alexander had grown comfortable enough with the basic controls of the machine and commanded it to fly to the shore. He peered out through the window in admiration. This thing practically flew itself, his voice commands only necessary to provide detailed information on where he wanted to land and how fast he wanted to get there. Nevertheless, the Sabians had added the tutorial to ensure, in case of an emergency, the pilot would be able to do a manual landing.
The many failsafe devices installed into the jet allowed the manual override to still be a fairly simple procedure. It would only be complicated if absolutely everything failed, but in that case, Alexander felt Kai could just use his powers to break their fall. Remembering Kai had slaughtered their sand boat in the short trip to the forest, Alexander was unwilling to leave him be the first plan but the back up to the failsafe devices should be fine.
Stepping away from the cockpit, he saw Pengu and Pola sleeping together on the couch, while Thomas had taken over the bed as his resting spot. With nothing better to do, he began to empty their backpacks into the jet’s storage, hoping to organize everything before their arrival at the fisherman’s shack.
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A sharp kick knocked Thomas out of the bed and rudely awoke him from the sweet dreams he had been having. “What the hell is your problem?” He grumpily snatched the stone that had thankfully remained on the bed and stared daggers at Alexander who was standing beside the bed with arms crossed.
“Dude, trust me. I tried everything to wake you up. You were sleeping like a log. Now, come on. We are here, and Pola can’t wait any longer to check up on her brother.”
Scampering after Alexander, Thomas wet his hair and slicked it back, making sure the now medium-length hair wouldn’t stick up. He was reattaching the stone to his waist when he heard Alexander say something about cloaking, and the stairs beneath his feet vanished. “Wow! I’m… floating?”
Alexander chuckled. “Get over yourself. This my baby’s ability. It has reflective panels on the outside that help it become near invisible to the human eye.” Angry squawks followed the comment, forcing Alexander to add, “Right, of course. My second baby’s abilities fall short of Pengu, if that wasn’t clear already.”
Shaking his head, Thomas smiled as he trudged up the familiar pathway leading to the old shack. Getting used to Alexander now being able to understand Pengu was going to take some time, but it sure was entertaining. Beginning to imagine how his friend looked fighting side by side with a flaming penguin, he sank into his thoughts until he bumped into Alexander’s back. “Umm… hello? Why are you standing in the middle of the path, bro.”
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Pola, who had been walking behind the two boys, called out urgently. “We’re almost there! Can we not take a break until we see how my brother is?”
“That’s what I’m saying, Pola! But this guy over here isn’t getting out of the way for some reason.” Anxiously tapped by Pola, Thomas stepped into the unruly weeds to get around Alexander. Now able to see Alexander’s front side, Thomas noticed he had outstretched his arm. Following the pointed finger, Thomas rubbed his eyes. “Is- is that?”
Alexander slowly nodded his head. “Yup, Kai is dressed like a butler, and he’s holding up a platter of minced fish for the sea lion with a smile.”
“I-I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I, but he just took out a lotion, and I’d rather figure out what’s going on before I see whatever he plans to do to the sea lion.”
Tired of standing around, Pola squished her way through and ran towards her brother as she spotted him.
Afraid of how she might react to the strange scenario, Alexander called out. “Pola, wait! Let us approach first.”
The child did not even offer them a second look, and Pengu quickly waddled after her. Shrugging his shoulders, Thomas started walking again. “Well, we might as well go over there. What’s one more weird thing. We were trained by turtles, bears, and reindeers, my guy. I don’t think it would be outside the realm of possibilities if the sea lion is some sort of expert.”
“I mean I totally understand that, but what kind of expert treats you like a butler and makes you rub lotion on them?”
“Ehh, I mean it’s strange for sure, but to each their own. For all we know, this might be Kai’s doing, and the sea lion expert hates it.”
Walking closer to Kai, the two could now hear as the sea lion was audibly laughing as he rubbed the lotion on the crown of her head. Alexander managed to overhear the last of Kai’s sentence as he reached the lawn chair the sea lion was laying on. “to always greet Master Susanne with a bow. It is imperative to show experts the respect they deserve.”
Eager to understand the situation, Alexander spoke out. “Hey, Kai. Good to see you in one piece. We heard you were attacked and came as soon as we could. It seems you are better than okay, though. Care to introduce us to your friend?”
“My friend? Could I be so lucky? No, no, this is Master Susanne, an incredible Elementalist with power over the king’s path for wind and lightning, as well as my savior. I was ambushed by one of the Green Mamba’s execs along with some guy from the Jupiter clan, but Master Susanne here was able to interfere in the nick of time.” A glint of fanaticism shone in Kai’s eyes as he spoke.
“Did you just say Susanne was a master of the king’s path? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day! Gertrude, get a load of this. Our little apprentice is a jokester. Hahaha.” The old man, still sporting his fisherman’s vest and boxer briefs, walked over from another trail. “Here, kid. Go slice this fish up. It’s gonna make for some delicious soup.”
Out of reflex, Kai ran over and grabbed the large yellowtail the old man had handed him. Slumping the catch over a flat tree stump, Kai took out a set of knives in a rolled-up pouch in his back pocket before stopping. “Wait, what do you mean jokester? I saw what master Susanne did back in the beach the day I was ambushed. I’m no idiot. She clearly erased the enemy magic.”
“Oh, ugly boy.” The old man shot a look at Gertrude, swimming in the bowl he was carrying in his left hand, before returning a pitying gaze to Kai. “That’s a sea lion. How in the world would it become a dual element black color master?”
“Well, I’m not quite sure, but I don’t even know how one even learns the black color!”
“Oh, I can help with that.” Thomas chimed in but was quickly hushed as Alexander elbowed him.
The old man continued. “Did you never try to gauge Susanne’s power? She’s only a Grandmaster tier Elementalist. Pretty good for a sea lion, I guess, but nowhere near strong enough to have defended you on that day.”
“Of course I didn’t! I don’t have a detection ability. To check her power would have been invasive and rude. I just took the events at face value. If she didn’t do it, then who?!”
Rolling his eyes, the old man shot a perplexed look at Alexander and Thomas. “Of all things, how did the stupidest member of your group get stuck with me? This guy definitely would’ve benefited from the dragon’s ruins.” Picking up a moldy banana peel from the ground, the old man twirled it around in his hand before throwing it in his mouth. “Obviously, Gertrude did it. I mean… can’t you tell. She’s a goldfish.”
Leaning over to Thomas, Alexander whispered. “Is there some big secret about goldfish that I just don’t know, or are you also super confused?”
“Uber confused.”
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Lady Tenia did not dillydally. In her own words. “Fate waits for no one,” and with that proverb in mind, Venus’ mission had been approved in record time. As it should have been, Venus heard Lady Tenia had shown up personally to the Frigg Council Room and demanded they speed up the approval.
Her reputation was not for show. Despite being one of the few noble Elementalists with only one-color affinity, she had stood at the helm of fate mountain for decades. It was basically habit for leaders of the clan to listen to her, even if the plan she was supporting sounded like a fever dream.
As Lady Venus looked through her bags one last time, her mind wandered to the mission she had so vigorously pushed for only a few days ago. It was one thing to bring it up to the Listener, but now that it was actually happening, she felt a heavy burden settle on her shoulders. She was the only person who had heard this prophecy. She was the one who had persuaded Lady Tenia to support this mission. And most importantly, she was the one who must lead this expedition into a foreign planet. She hadn’t even visited all the mountains in Anima for crying out loud. Fog crept into her thoughts, bringing a deep haze with it, and sharp ringing nestled into the deepest crevices of her mind.
“Hey! V! It’s okay… we are going to be okay!” Placing a hand over Venus’ nose and mouth, Maia concentrated oxygen into her friend.
A few seconds later, Venus waved her away. “That, that was embarrassing. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“Oh, please. Drop your guard a little bit, V! It’s just me.”
Venus’ shoulders visibly lowered as she finally realized it was Maia who had come into her room. “Thank you.” She whispered way too softly for anyone except a wind Elementalist to catch.
“It is my pleasure, but why is the little princess in such agony this morning?”
A hand formed of a pink fog and threatened to flick Maia’s forehead. “You better quit it with that nickname. It has never stuck, and it doesn’t even make sense!”
“So long as it riles you up, I’d say it does its job, but don’t change the subject. Spill the beans.”
Rubbing the back of her neck, Venus sighed. “The mission… What if I was wrong. What if the Listener was right all along when she said I made up the prophecy as a means to bring hope for the children.”
“That’s bullshit. There’s plenty of other methods you could’ve done that.”
“But I’m taking you and my troop of Emerald Warriors to certain death if I’m wrong about the prophecy! Lady Tenia has already mobilized the council on my behalf. Everyone will be paying attention to the results. It’s not just me doing my duty as the inheritor to fate mountain anymore. The entire clan along with Tlaloc and Kukulkan will be paying attention to what happens. What does it do to moral if the old leader and new leaders of the fate hearers are both wrong about a war altering prophecy?”
“Well then, it’s lucky you have never been wrong about a prophecy before. If you ask me, this is mostly your big chance to show the alliance why you were chosen as the new leader of fate mountain. Plus, if you’re correct, and everything you’ve told me so far makes me believe you are, think about the lives we’ll save!”
The calm, reassuring words of Maia strengthened Venus as she gracefully rose from the ground. Pink fog lifted her bags and once Maia had handed her a cane, the two headed towards gate mountain: home of all the gateways in Anima. “I will succeed, Maia. I have to.”
“Never doubted you, V.”
“You have to be ready, though. Lady Tenia informed me earlier today that the closest gateway to the Tecon Desert is in what we believe to be the base of operations of the Jupiter clan in Kedra Island. There are two other gates in the north of the island, but-”
Cracking her neck, crystalline emerald gauntlets formed over Maia’s hands. “Don’t worry about it. You do your thing, and the Emerald Warriors and I will do ours. I would love to demolish a few of the Jupiter clan scum while we’re at it.”