The light from the two suns, Szin and Motsui, shines across the surface of the Everseas. Marn stands in front of a large steel ship, checking her blade for any imperfections when Adelie walks into view. “I thought you’d be more excited, we’re going to be on the seas for a few days. You look like crap.”
“ I couldn’t sleep well last night. I don’t know if it was because I ate too much or how cold it was, but I only got a few hours of rest.” Adelie yawns and moves his hand through his hair, separating the mat of twists. “Hey, I also had a dream about the Naka Hunt.” A pair of dockworkers carry a box of cargo past Adelie and Marn and into the ship.
“Reliving the glory days already?” Marn performs a series of quick slashes before looking along the edge of her blade. “Gonna need a new one soon,” she says to herself.
“No it’s not that, but for some reason I’ve been thinking about what happened in the colony. Something about that day didn’t sit right with me.”
“What about it? The betrayal? It happens”
“Not that, well not just that,” Adelie says. “When we were stuck there and waiting for backup, I felt something in the room.”
“You felt something? But your ather sensing is awful.”
“That’s the thing, it wasn’t ather..at least I don’t think so. It felt like a-”
“Oh you guys are awake?” Izia walks to the pair, wearing a long black blouse with purple trim, a purple sash around her waist, and a black tights that end in her purple, ankle high boots. “We’re still loading up so you guys can get breakfast if you need to.”
“I’m good, I think I’m still digesting from last night.” Adelie looks to Marn, who is still inspecting her weapon. “ I think she’s gonna pass on that too. That’s a pretty big ship, how’d you manage to get something like this?” The ship is easily large enough to carry an entire garrison. Dockworkers continue to pile into the ship with mountains of supplies.
“I might have convinced the captain to look the other way,” Izia says as she winks to Adelie.
“So you used your crafting to what? Trick the captain into giving you his ship?” Marn stares disapprovingly at Izia before looking at Adelie with the same expression. “You sure it’s safe to go on this mission? We can make our own way to the Caisin islands.”
Adelie puts her arm around Marn and pulls her in close, “You’re worrying too much, it’s not like she used her crafting on us. Besides, if we don’t come up with the lim, we won’t have a guildhouse.” He lets go of her and turns his attention back to Izia, “If we’re early, is there anything you need us to do? Carry the supplies or something?”
Izia smiles, “No, that won’t be necessary. Although..” she looks closely at Adelie, “maybe you want to take a nap inside the ship? There aren’t any rooms but there are makeshift beds and sleeping areas.” Izia catches the attention of a passing dock worker and runs over to him, giving him orders as to where to place the next shipment of supplies.
“I don’t like that girl, but she does have a point,” Marn says. “ We don’t know what’s going to be waiting for us when we arrive, and I don’t need you half awake. Go rest up.” She walks away before he can respond, headed in the direction of the Longhouse. Adelie, either too tired to respond or actually lacking anyone to respond to, steps into the cargo hull of the ship. The boxes are stacked like towers, easily dwarfing Adelie’s entire body yet somehow still not reaching the ceiling of the ship.
“Seriously, this is a lot of supplies. I guess she’s really prepared to be here for two weeks.” Adelie makes his way past the crates and through the bulkhead. A few sets of stairs later, he finds himself in a large cabin with several hammocks and mattresses strewn about, far more than they’d need. “Whatever, I just need to nap for a second.” Adelie makes his way to the hammock and lays on it. As he sways gently from side to side, all of his exhaustion starts to slowly overwhelm him until he dozes off.
“Well, this is unexpected. I didn’t think you’d be back here so soon,” the ith says, floating around Adelie. “Did I forget to explain something to you earlier?”
“It’s been 5 years! And what am I doing here?” Adelie tries to move but can’t feel his body at all. He looks down at himself and sees a blue vapor in the shape of his body. “What the hell did you do to me? I wasn’t like this the last time I entered the Atherspace.”
“Apologizes. The passage of time for you is much different than my own. If it has truly been 5 of your years, then that explains how you’re able to come on your own accord.” the ith gestures to the space around them, “ Look, this is not the same space as before.” The ground is covered in snow white grass with a slow, viscous substance flowing upwards towards the starless night sky. Adelie looks carefully at the ground and sees that the white grass is actually covered in stardust coming from the black substance bleeding into the sky. “You have questions I presume?”
“Aren’t you just going to do that reading thing?”
“I cannot, you are not in a state that allows me to do so. If you want me to do that, then please stop using your spiritcrafting.”
“Spiritcrafting? I didn’t do anything but fall asleep though,” Adelie says, “so how can I be doing any kind of crafting?”
“Though you say you didn’t perform any spiritcrafting, you are indeed using spiritcrafting at the moment. I assumed you used your ability as an Auger to augment your spirit and enter this space. Judging by the tone of your voice, this was not an intentional act.”
“Of course it wasn’t, I just told you I went to sleep. Since you know so much about this, send me back. I’m on a boat headed to the Caisin Archipelagoand I’d like to be around for that.”
“Caisin islands. A moment.” The ith stares blankly at Adelie for a moment, “I sense the presence of an Aith. I don’t recommend you travel there unless you have a sufficient understanding of your abilities.”
“Aith? Did you just mispronounce your own species name?”
“An Aith is an Ith that has gained a sense of identity. We egoless Ith follow the will of the Atherials whereas the Aith follow their own goals.”
“Enough with the cryptic stuff, if you know so much about Augers and what I can do, tell me!”
“Very well,” the ith replies, “though I only know the basics. The path of an Auger is wholly dependent on the practitioner.”
Marn makes her way to the lounge area, holding a bag of food for Adelie. When she arrives, she’s met by the group of warriors from the meeting with Izia. Unlike before, her abilities aren’t being suppressed and she immediately gauges everyone; 8 people total but only 4 are armed with weapons. They’re most likely Gladius, which would mean the others are either Evokers or Engravers, though with a group of that size it would be safe to assume at least 1 is an Engraver. If a fight were to break out now, the space is large enough for her to have no mobility issues yet not so big that an Evoker could use any highcrafts without harming their allies. Good, that means Marn wouldn’t need to worry about any of the non Gladius.
“Sizing us up are ya?” Marn looks down to her right and sees a shock of red hair walk by her. Zav continues walking until he’s just out of blade reach and turns to face her. “Well then, do we pass?” He smiles a crooked smile with teeth so jagged they could be mistaken for knives. “That’s a good habit to have, unlike your friend over there,” Zav says as he jerks his head in the direction of Adelie.
“You’re awfully talkative for a person who hasn’t told me who they are.”
“Ah, where are my manners? Name’s Zav Torna Halgan, at your service.” Zav takes a half bow and looks back at Marn. She could have guessed by his hair, a shock of red hair in a sea of black, that he was from Torna. His accent and yellow eyes also did very little to hide his place of origin, though nothing about Zav screamed stealth to her in the first place. Marn looks at the rest of the lounge area, most of his group shared features similar to him, except for the man in the back. “Ah, our Engraver caught your eye?” Zav says as if able to read her mind. “ He's a quiet one, but his work?” He runs a hand over the top of his hatchet and a green glow emits from the point of contact. “If you join my crew, I’ll make him give your blade a once over.”
“You’re a bandit,” Marn says flatly. Zav offers no correction and she continues, “ You roam around Grezia with your crew and if someone proves useful to you, they’re forced into joining or they die. I’m on the money right?” Marn didn’t need Zav to answer; one look at his so-called crew was all she needed. For starters, none of them had on anything close to what would be considered a uniform. Zav has on the most armor but it’s not the kind anyone would sell at a supply store, just a patchwork of different leathers he must have gotten from the corpses he either found or made.
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“Those senses of yours are sharp,” Zav says, “I think it’s obvious that boy over there doesn’t know what he has. Tell me, how much is he paying you? I can double it.” He reaches into a pouch on his waistband and pulls out a bag of lim.
“No thanks, I don’t need your money. Besides, judging by the way the rest of your crew looks, you’re not one to share in the spoils.”
“That’s not...entirely true. I make sure my people are fed, armed and clothed.” Zav tosses the bag into the air and catches it, “I just also make sure I’m more so.” The floor of the lounge vibrates as a loud sound emanates from below. “Looks like they’re about ready to leave the dock. If you change your mind, just gimme a holler.” Zav flashes a smile before walking across the room and yelling at his crew for not getting him something to drink from the bar.
“So, that guy kind of sucks doesn’t he?” Marn spins around and instantly draws her blade, only for Adelie’s hand to intercept it. “ Hey, take it easy! I didn’t mean to offend your best friend.” Adelie inspect his hand as Marn stares at him in surprise. “ At least that didn’t leave a mark. So he tried to poach you and you didn’t even tell him you’re in a guild? I was gonna make you my Vice Guildmaster, but now…”
“How did you get here?”
“What? I came here before you.” It dawns upon Adelie that Marn was referring to how he was able to sneak up on her. “Oh, is the Amazing Marn asking how I, a simple boy from Mwinda Village, eluded her senses?” Adelie starts walking around Marn, making grand gestures as he continues to mock Marn’s inability to sense him approaching.
Marn sheathes her blade and slaps Adelie on his right cheek. He grabs the side of his face and starts rubbing the area. “What? Did I, the Amazing Marn, elude your senses?” Marn says with a satisfied smile.
“You need to work on your temper,” Adelie responds. “ To answer your question, it’s something I learned from the ith that was at my Awakening, but I’ll tell you more when we’re alone.” The only people who know that Adelie is an Auger are Lyzian and Marn. Lyzian made Adelie promise not to let anyone know what he is, but he never explained to him why, just told him to tell everyone he’s a Gladius. “ Where’s Izia?”
“Who knows? Probably enchanting the captain again.”
“Man, you really don’t like her do you?”
“It’s not her,” Marn corrects, “it’s Evokers. They just read from a book and do their magic whenever they don’t get their way.”
Adelie thinks about continuing the conversation but the look on Marn’s face told him it was pointless. “Well let’s go to the top deck, I wanna see what the Eversea looks like!”
“I’ll pass, I need to get some practice in.”
“Your loss, I’ll see you in a bit then.”
Adelie knew the ship was big, but didn’t truly comprehend just how large of a vessel it was until he had hit his 4th dead end. That troubled him considering all he did was go up a series of stairs, no wait, there was a hallway in between the second and third set of stairs that gave him some trouble. It wasn’t until he traversed back down the hallway and went up the set of stairs to his left side that he finally reached the top deck. The smell of sea salt washes over him as he makes his way to the side of the ship. Adelie looks over the railing and stares into the endless sea, made of every shade of blue imaginable. “ Wow! It’s huge! I didn’t think anything could be this big.” Adelie runs a lap around the ship, “It’s everywhere! I wonder if Ayl’s ever been on the sea before?” He leans against the railing and witnesses a school of fish swimming next to the ship. Thousands upon thousands of them swimming in a group so fast, it was hard for Adelie not to see them as a massive underwater rainbow.
“I’ve always liked the story about prismfish.” Adelie turns to his left and sees Izia staring down at the ocean. “Have you heard of it?” Adelie slowly shakes his head. “ The legends say,” Izia continues, “that the prismfish get their scales from Ngandu. They say that Ngandu fell in love with a human that loved the sea. This human was so beautiful, that when the light of the suns would strike them, rainbows would appear. Ngandu would sneak away from the other Atherials and visit them every night, secretly giving them gifts.`` Izia’s purple eyes shine with light of the prismfish as they leap through the air and land into the water. “ On the day, when Ngandu visited in the night, the human was nowhere to be found. It was later that Ngandu found out that they had been killed by the Nylim. Ngandu released his final gift for them into the very sea that they loved ; a single prismfish.”
Adelie looks to Izia as a mist of sea water drizzles across their faces. “You sure do know a lot about Atherial Legends. Is it a hobby of yours?”
Izia moves a curl away from her face, “Yeah, it’s a hobby.” Izia continues looking into the sea and for a moment, Adelie sees a familiar look in her eye, the look of determination. Before he can pry, a fish as wide as the ship breaches the surface and swallows the school of prismfish. As it returns to the surface, the entire surface of the ship is blasted by a massive rush of water. Izia stands with her arms to her side, drenched in sea water and what she hopes isn’t the mucus of the light-eater fish. Izia shakes her hands and before speaking an incantin. “O’ benevolent wind, encase me in your power.” She places her hands together and slowly pulls them apart. A ball of wind forms in between her hands and expands as she continues pulling her hands apart. Izia strains for a moment but then forcefully closes her hands together, causing a powerful blast of wind to disperse.
Adelie’s deep blue eyes widen in excitement.“Wow, you can use elemental magic?”
“Only wind magic,” Izia says as she fixes her hair, “ but it’s one of the harder ones to learn. Even a small incantin can cause a tornado if it’s not handled correctly.” She looks at Adelie and stifles a laugh. Her wind incantin dried them both off, but it also left Adelie’s hair standing so tall it looked like he was about to die of fright. “Sorry, I should have given you a heads up.”
“Oh that’s ok, you were trying your best.” Adelie quickly fixes his hair before leaning against the railing once more. “ You know, this is my first time on a boat. I heard stories from Lyzian about how rocky the sea can be, but I can’t even feel the ship moving.”
“Well, you’d only really feel it if we were in a storm or sailing across the deep channels, the route to the Caisin Archipelagois pretty smooth.” Izia moves from the railing and takes a step towards the front of the ship. “We have a long trip, I’m going to go to my room for a bit.”
“Room? I thought we were all downstairs in the lounge?”
Izia smiles, “ Yes, you guys are there. I need a bit more privacy.” She turns and walks away from Adelie. He watches her as she almost gets out of view, but notices something by her foot next to the rail, something moving.
“Izia! Your foot!”
She looks down at her foot closest to the railing and sees a hand reach for her. Izia leaps back and hits the side of the cabin wall. A lanky man in a dark green bodysuit and a black mask leaps over the railing and lands in front of Izia. She rolls off the wall, towards Adelie, and sees another man in green standing in front of him with a sword sheathed to his back.
“Izia Holocroa,” the man behind her says, “ You’re coming with us. Whether that’s dead or alive is your choice.” His fingers crack as he balls his hands into fists and enters a fighting stance. A flash of light erupts from his body and the size of his arms and legs triple in size.
“Hey,” Adelie whispers to Izia as they remain back to back, “are you good at hand to hand combat by any chance?”
“What? No, I’m an Evoker, why would I?” If Izia had the time, she’d reprimand Adelie for even hinting at something so insane. Did he not know how much focus and dedication it took to cast spells? The long hours practicing the perfect intonation of the words? The ather control you have to exhibit in order to not have a spell harm yourself?
“Ok then.” Adelie quickly switches positions with Izia and bears down on the man that threatened her. “ I’ll deal with this guy, you handle the sword guy,” Adelie says before engaging with the man, not giving Izia a chance to respond. The two dance in a flurry of punches and kicks, getting further and further away from Izia. Adelie aims a punch square at the man’s solar plexus, but hits air as his opponent leaps several feet backwards. Adelie pursues him, landing a thunderous right punch to the man’s face, causing his neck to jerk violently as he crashes into the deck of the floor.
Adelie looks at the man as he pops back up with his shattered mask. Black, lifeless eyes stare at him with a cold fury; the kind that told Adelie that he was a prismfish, swimming into the maws of a light-eater. Blood spills from the right side of his face where pieces of the mask are still embedded, bringing a welcome sight to Adelie. “I was beginning to think you weren’t human,” Adelie says, “ you didn’t make a sound when you hit the floor.”
“Why would I? Do you think you’ve hurt me?” It was strange, but Adelie could feel that the man wasn’t trying to intimidate him. Maybe it was a hunch, or maybe it had something to do with the applications of Spiritcraft, but deep down Adelie could tell that the man was being serious. “There’s something I want to show you.” The man grabs the top of his bodysuit and rips it off with one hand. A series of glyphs, wards and scripts adorn his ridiculously defined chest and abs. “I’ve had Engravers carve their power into my body for years. I don’t feel pain…” the pieces of glass on his face fall out as the wounds begin to heal, “...and I can’t be hurt.” The way the man spoke stirred something inside of Adelie. “I remember being told by my brother that a man with blue eyes from Mwinda Village had attacked him on the road. Seeing you now, I can’t help but think my brother was lying to me.”
Who was this man talking about? Adelie wracked his brain trying to think of a person he attacked on the street. He’d been with Lyzian and White Tempest for so long and gone on so many errands, it was possible during that time he could have run afoul of someone. “Sorry, I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
“It makes no difference, he was just the leader of some two-bit gang. I, on the other hand,” the markings on his body glow, “ am Yala. Leader of the Verdant Claw.” In battles to the death, it is Grezian custom to announce one’s name and title. That way, when the soul of the defeated enters Kishr’s Realm, the Atherial of Death will know who sent him tribute.
The midday light of the twin suns strikes the ship, causing the shadow of the giant mast to cast over Adelie. For 5 years he was page to Lyzian the Storm-Eyed, watching every battle to the death he engaged in; watching, but never participating. The only time he had even come close to a real battle was during the Naka Hunt, and that was by accident. But now? Now someone, Yala, was offering to give him the chance to showcase all that he had learned, and he was not about to pass on the opportunity.
Adelie grins wickedly with excitement as he stands in the deep shadow, “Adelie Mwinda Kalu. Guildmaster of Devil’s Wish.”