Day 4 of Midwinter, Nightfall

Lower City, Gorias

Annwn

I was immediately stabbed in the chest and stomach with two other daggers. The third man, who must have been the original owner of the dagger on the bar, tried to punch me in the face. He DID have meat hands, I thought.

Thankfully, my meshmail managed to prevent the pointy bits from biting into my flesh. Even so, I was thrown back against the bar, and the punch barely missed my nose. The daggers hurt, but honestly, not as badly as I had expected.

I lunged at one of the men with my own dagger, but to my surprise, it had transformed itself into… half of a pair of nunchucks? That’s right, one nunchuck. When had that happened?

The man just stared at me as I essentially poked him with a blunt stick. Then he and his friend stabbed at me again. Meat Hands launched another swing, connecting with a dinner plate-shaped flat rock that was suddenly floating in mid-air in front of my head. I heard his hand smush against the stone and he shrieked, falling back to cradle his broken fist.

I barely felt the stabs the next time. The men seemed rattled by this, and I brought the nunchuck thing around, connecting with the closest man’s temple. He crumpled.

Another stab came at me, and this time, I reflexively brought my right arm up to block. Having no armor on my right forearm, the blade bit deep into bone. Wow, that hurt. I think someone may have let out a scream, but it wasn’t me…OK, it definitely was. I readied the other half of the Stone and sent it zooming toward the man from the other direction and crashed into his face. Blood splashed up and over his forehead.

I finally had a moment to look around. The sprites on the stage had stopped and were staring in our direction. The other patrons were forming a ring around the bar area, some of them looking like they wanted to do more than watch the fight.

There was a commotion behind me where Ruadan and the four men were still fighting. There was also a strong citrus smell. The potion, maybe?

I tried to focus on what the best course of action was. Should I turn to help Ruadan, or should I keep my focus on the… one, two, three, four people coming toward me?

I pulled out the dagger that the last man had so helpfully left in my arm and turned to face the new group. Two men and two women. They looked almost human, as had the previous three men. Were these changelings? Probably not in this tavern.

I brought the stones to either side of me and began spinning them in the air. I kept the nunchuck in my right hand and the dagger in my left as a blue energy began to pulse from my weapons.

“Bren?” Yet another person approached, this one calling my name. I knew that voice… was that…?

“Fern?” Shocked, I lowered my weapons. The stones stopped spinning and floated near my shoulders. I looked more closely at the group that had been advancing on me. It was Fern, alright. The men and women next to her lowered their weapons.

The man standing closest to Fern turned to her. “This is Bren?”

She nodded and smiled. “This is Bren, alright.”

Relieved that I probably wouldn’t have to fight another group of people, I turned to check on Ruadan, only to find him sitting casually at the bar, sipping on his drink. It had somehow not spilled in the commotion.

To his right, there was a mass of three men stuck to the bar and barstools by what looked like sticky orange Jell-o. A fourth man lay unconscious and naked on the floor. His clothes, laying in tatters next to him, looked like they had been neatly cut off his body.

“Told you this is what you needed.” Roo gave me that wicked smile, raising his glass in a toast. I shook my head and heard a voice in my head.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Name: Bren Búachaill

Race: Undetermined

Current Power Rank - Level 4

Current Progression Status:

Physical Progression +3

(currently bound by Power Rank Level)

Mental Progression +2

(currently bound by Power Rank Level)

Spiritual Progression +3

(currently bound by Power Rank Level)

You have been gifted with the following boon:

Control Energy

Three magic items are in your possession.

You have acquired:

The Rings of Identification

Urias’ Meshmail of Adaptation

The Dagger of Transmogrification

Two relics are in your possession.

You have acquired:

The Stones of Destiny

Relic abilities unlocked:

Shrink/Enlarge- Stones of Destiny

Return to Sender- Stones of Destiny

Telekinesis- Stones of Destiny

My throbbing forearm brought me back to reality… or as much reality as being in a fantasy world can be. Someone clutched at my arm and I turned to find Fern rolling up my sleeve and looking at the puncture wound.

“He will be fine, princess,” Roo called from his seat at the bar. “Trust me.”

She shot him a dirty look. “Looks like you single-handedly took out my new crew.” I looked around at the men picking themselves up off of the floor. They just glared at me, holding various parts of their bodies.

“It could have been worse. They’re just lucky my dagger turned into this.” I held up my nunchuck.

“What even is that?”

I shrugged. She was standing close to me. Like really close. Suddenly, I couldn’t feel the pain in my arm. All I could feel was the closeness of her body. She smelled sweet. Her eyes were like deep, dark tunnels, and I felt myself moving slowly toward them.

“Aren’t you going to formally introduce me?” A man’s voice brought me back to reality. It was the man who had been standing next to Fern as the fight ended.

Fern was bandaging my arm, I realized. When had she started doing that? I felt woozy. “Swoonzy” was probably the more accurate word, I thought.

She nodded back to the man without taking her attention off of my arm. “This is Flide.”

Flide walked up to us and appeared to be doing some mental arithmetic. “Her brother.” He held out his right arm for a fist bump.

I could see it now. They had the same dark hair and black eyes. They even had the same freckles. I extended my unoccupied left arm and pounded it out. It was weird what traditions seemed to have made it to this world.

“She told me what you did for her.” He held my gaze for a long moment. “Thank you.”

I nodded to him. “Are you going back to sea with her?”

“Someone has to watch out for her.”

Fern laughed and rolled my sleeve back down. “Is that what you are going to do?” She motioned to the rest of her crew. “Actually, Bren, these aren’t just my new crew mates. Many are members of my family.”

“Good thing I didn’t kill them.”

“You aren’t a killer.” I heard Ruadan snort behind me. Apparently he’d been eavesdropping on our conversation.

Fern gave her brother a meaningful look, and he promptly walked away. She turned back to me. “I was afraid I wasn’t going to get a chance to say goodbye.”

“When are you leaving?” I couldn’t believe I’d been lucky enough to run into her again.

“Tomorrow. Early.”

“You don’t have to go…” I said, putting my true feelings out into the open for the first time.

She sighed. “Bren… I can’t.” She took a step back from me. “It just wouldn’t… work between us.”

Clearly I had misread the moment. I took a half step back, a little angry at myself for being so vulnerable.

“Not because I don’t…” she trailed off, seeing my expression. She dug around in her cloak, looking for something. “Isn’t it a gift-giving holiday where you come from?”

“Christmas… Yes, it probably is Christmas morning on Earth.”

“Here.” She put a small object into my hand. “This is my gift to you.” She stretched up and kissed me. It wasn’t a passionate, Hollywood-style kiss. But it also wasn’t a peck on the cheek. We stood there for a few seconds with lips locked. Her eyes were closed, but mine were wide open. Her eyelids fluttered just a little bit when she kissed me, and I saw traces of moisture leak out the bottom.

When she pulled away, I reached for her hand. “Then you will watch over this for me,” I placed one of the Stones in her hand. “Won’t you?”

She looked down and her eyes got wide. It was likely the first time she had ever seen a relic, let alone held one. She looked like she wanted to give it back, but knew what it meant. She knew one day I would need it back, and that meant we would see each other again.

She nodded, then turned, fading back into the crowd and out of my life.

I turned toward the bar and sat down heavily next to Ruadan, “Morias is going to be pissed with you,” he said.

I nodded. “I still have one of the Stones.”

“What did she give you?”

I had forgotten about it. But I still held the object she had given me in my hand. I opened my hand so that Roo and I could both see it. It was a small seashell.

“Damn…she gave you her shell.”

I activated my Rings.

Fernawen’s Shell of Promise

They say you can hear the ocean in a regular seashell. With this item, the ocean can hear you. Once placed into salt water, the selkie bound to this shell will know the owner’s exact location. This shell is bound to Fernawen of the Eastern Segais Reddeshorate.