The passengers of The Aegeusson sat around the deck chewing on cooked Slaughterfish, courtesy of Rep’s flames. The crew glanced at Zalan with gratitude in their eyes and smiles on their faces. Zalan felt a little shy under their gazes, especially when each of them were bleeding from several small bites from the defeated Slaughterfish.

Zalan took a careful bite from his Slaughterfish and chewed slowly. He swallowed glumly. It tasted like processed food again. It was uncanny how much the dead monster tasted like a frozen fish stick that had just been thawed in an oven. Zalan felt like he was the only one that felt displeased by the flavor of the meal. But he couldn’t deny it was filling.

“Delicious, is it not?” Captain Buttonwillow said, bobbing from side to side with glee.

The crew nodded energetically. Rep shoved another Slaughterfish in his mouth. Zalan gave him a half smile, trying not to damper the mood.

Zalan stopped eating and excused himself to have more fruits from the captain’s room. Nold followed close behind him.

“Level Seven, eh? Impressive. Have you tested your newfound power?” Nold asked.

“Nold, I literally just gained the Levels. It’s been minutes. You know I haven’t tested anything,” Zalan replied, rolling his eyes.

“Would you like to test it?”

Zalan nodded, admittedly eager to see the difference in his power. Nold waited patiently for Zalan to finish an apple, then walked to the port side with his student. Zalan held out his hand and looked to the sea. There was a stream of dead Slaughterfish floating around the boat, drifting aimlessly behind the course of the ship. Zalan blasted lightning into the sea. The lightning was larger than ever. Where before his electricity was about the thickness of a rope, it now looked to be the width of his fist. His Elemental Power could probably be mistaken for real lightning from the sky at the right angle. This was the lightning he expected to start with when he first got the Elemental Power. But seeing it actually emit from his fist was energizing. He was excited by the possibilities.

“And redirection?” Nold asked, watching very carefully.

Zalan frowned, not wanting to see his weaknesses after seeing such an improvement in strength. But he knew that his Wisdom had grown significantly, which meant he had to have a better grasp over his power. He blasted the lighting and watched it curve downward much more sharply than before. It felt amazing, like he was manipulating a laser pointer. He still couldn’t quite turn something a direct ninety degrees, but he was at least halfway there which was leaps and bounds better than before. He was loving the improvements.

“A welcome improvement,” Nold said. “Try and wiggle it. Send it down and then back up.”

Nold held out his hand and released some Elemental Sand to demonstrate. The sand spun down then up several times like a sine wave before Nold released it into the sea. Zalan nodded, trying to reach this new benchmark. He fired some lightning and forced it to wiggle once before he lost control and it crashed into the water. He tried to make it dance a few more times, but failed to do more than one wave.

“Can’t really do it,” Zalan mumbled.

“You can! You have the power. You just require a little more practice. A slight wiggle is much better than none at all,” Nold assured him.

Zalan stood a bit straighter, proud of his accomplishment.

“What’s the purpose of the wiggle, anyway? When do I need to do that?” Zalan asked.

“I do not know that it is ever useful. It is simply a good measure of your redirection.”

Zalan nodded, wondering if there was ever a scenario for a bouncing attack.

“Now then… How would you feel about trying to call lightning from the sky? You could do it occasionally at Level Five. Surely you can do it even easier now,” Nold suggested.

Zalan nodded and focused on the air above him. He felt around for the same sensation he pulled at to kill all the Slaughterfish, but nothing came to him this time. He reached desperately, his face straining as he put more effort in. He couldn’t find it. The static feeling and the sky were fleeting. He knew what he should be feeling for, but had no idea where it was. When he wasn’t under pressure, it was like the power didn’t exist.

“I can’t,” Zalan lamented, looking to Nold to see his disappointment.

To Zalan’s surprise, Nold seemed unbothered by the fact. He simply nodded, accepting the information.

“Then we have more training to do. Remember, that is my end goal as a teacher to my student. I wish to see you master the ability to call lightning from the sky,” Nold said. “Perhaps we can gain more Levels on the way and find whatever it is you are missing.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Zalan gave Nold a half smile, glad to see support instead of the beratement he was used to seeing from Nold. Nold was a good teacher to Zalan when he wasn’t being too demanding. He knew a lot about different Elemental Powers and seemed genuinely enthused about harnessing Zalan’s power.

“Hey, Nold,” Zalan said as a thought came to mind. “You’ve said that you needed my help with something. My lightning, specifically. Does it happen to do with me being able to call lighting from above?”

Nold smiled a crooked grin.

“That is exactly what I require from you,” Nold nodded. “Try and practice by firing lightning skyward and redirecting it down. Perhaps familiarizing yourself with the sensation will make it easier to recall the larger lightning from above. Any training is good training in this regard.”

Zalan nodded to his teacher. Again, he couldn’t figure out exactly what was going on with Nold. He was aloof at times, pushy at others, and perfectly reasonable on more occasions. Zalan couldn’t figure out a pattern. Sometimes he wanted Zalan to call Elemental Lightning from the sky more than anything else, and now it seemed he could wait a bit longer. The favor he was asking of Zalan seemed to be the most important thing to him until they started going on this journey. He didn’t even help with monsters until it became clear how much of a threat they were to reaching the Island of Remains. Zalan was at a total loss with him. Overall, he felt somewhat trusting of him. But he wasn’t a friend like Rep.

Lightning from above was definitely a goal of his now. He saw how powerful it was against hundreds of deadly monsters. To be able to call it at will would be a great enhancement to him in this realm. He could hardly imagine a scenario in which it wouldn’t be helpful to call upon lightning from the sky. Even as an intimidation tactic, Zalan imagined it would look really impressive against man and monster alike.

Zalan walked back to the rest of the crew, reflecting on his time in this realm. As much as he wished to be back in his own world, he found such comfort in his hold over lightning. Even though it was a part of him, he felt constantly amazed by the ability to summon such an incredible element at will. His Elemental Power made him feel like he could overcome anything he came up against. And as much as he knew he probably wasn’t the only person in the world with the power, he never met anyone else with it. It made him feel unique in that way. It gave him gratitude and patience in this realm. He could deal with the trade of being stuck in this realm so long as he had power in return. He could wait to go home, so long as he had this kind of control over his surroundings in this realm.

“So,” Rep said as he approached. “This is the first time you have been at a higher Level than me. How do you feel?’

“Stronger than you,” Zalan smirked, sitting down next to him.

“If only gaining a Level came with an increase in intelligence.”

“Zalan is plenty intelligent!” Captain Buttonwillow said indignantly, coming immediately to his defense. “Look how quickly he dealt with an army of Slaughterfish! No fool could come up with such an effective way to free us from such harm!”

“Perhaps,” Rep said, then grew a mischievous smile. “But watch what happens when you ask Zalan to recall even the most simple of names. For instance, do you recall the name of Captain Buttonwillow McKittrick’s neighbor at the port? The one that kept heckling our fine captain before we disembarked?”

Zalan gave Rep a look, already feeling embarrassed. The boat creaked in the silence that followed. He dug into his memory trying to bring up the several times that Captain Buttonwillow yelled at the other captain and piece together the name. Captain Buttonwillow leaned forward eagerly, a serious look in his eyes. Rosemary and Enzo were mouthing the name silently for Zalan to put together. Clearly this was a contentious topic to get wrong. Zalan put his memory and the mouth shapes together and cobbled an answer. He was already cringing.

“Yeah, of course I remember,” Zalan said with totally false confidence. “It’s his rival, Captain Luxembourg Winfrey.”

“Rival!?” Captain Buttonwillow jumped up so fast his hat covered his eyes. He began pacing as he rambled. “Lexington Winchester is not worthy to be called my rival! He floats in a cobbled together raft and has no loyal crew! He… his Elemental Ice Power is as inferior as it is in-superior to mine!”

“He even has the same Elemental Power as you?” Zalan asked, amazed by the similarities that kept popping up between the two. Captain Buttonwillow was too far in his mind to have heard Zalan speak.

“He should be grateful that people call him Captain at all with his track record! He is nothing without his ship, and even that is already a pathetic waste of wood! Have you seen his vessel and how it oozes envy toward The Aegeusson?”

“Captain!” Magnolia said, standing suddenly.

“And he always feels he needs to get the last word, that sad man!” Captain Buttonwillow continued.

“Captain Buttonwillow McKittrick!” Magnolia shouted.

“At your service!” Captain Buttonwillow said automatically, the rest of his rant abated for now.

“Do you hear that?” Magnolia asked seriously.

The passengers stood silently. Zalan couldn’t hear a thing. But for some reason that sounded wrong to his ears. He felt a sense of dread. He concentrated on his hearing, trying to catch something.

“I do not hear anything,” Rep said, confused. Zalan nodded in agreement.

“Exactly.”

Zalan realized exactly what sounded so wrong. The boat wasn’t creaking or groaning anymore. It didn’t bob from side to side, nor did light waves patter against the bottom of it. It was totally quiet except for the light sea breeze passing by them. The rest of the crew stood tensely, looking around in horror. Zalan and Rep stood as well to try and get an idea of what was going on.

As soon as their eyeline rose above the sides of the ship, they gasped. The entire sea was flat. There were no waves of any size for miles around them. It was like the boat floated along a giant pond. Zalan had a sense of vertigo by just how uncanny it looked. The sea was characterized by its movement. Flat water could hardly be called a sea.

Rep and Zalan noticed that the crew were looking in a particular direction and followed their gaze. A few miles away was a giant creature the size of The Aeguesson standing on the water.

With massive white eyes and crazed pupils, it was staring directly at The Aegeusson.