Chapter 7

More Mana!

Electric green fabrics of magic stretched from the head of the King Cyladon to Jack’s hands like reins. The reins weren’t large enough to circle the lizard-esque head of the monster, but Jack still had control of it. Jack and I were far above the surface of the sea, while the rest of the monster bobbed at sea. He struggled with his control, putting his entire body into maneuvering the Cyladon. The infected monster moved clumsily. I had the impression both Jack and the Pathogenik infection were breaking the King. The monster was throwing what little will it had left into fighting. Its endlessly long body crashed upon the sea, taking minutes for the rest of it to whip through water and catch up.

The monster twitched, and even managed to thrash every now and then. Its movements disturbed the sea, making it violent. Huge waves broke upon the back of the Cyladon. Endless kilometers of snaking black scales bobbed stories high in the sea. It was near noon and sun rays broke upon the black scales, then fell, blinding upon the crests of the sea.

I held on to my flagstaff, securely impaled into a scale. Dozens of other adventurers continued to scramble for a hold. Others fell into the sea and though I kept an eye for them, I didn’t see many surface again.

The King Cyladon rolled and I clung to my flagstaff. My feet slipped out from under me. Adventurers screamed and shouted far below us. Waves crashed with great violence upon the monster. Adventurers were at such a distance to us, that they seemed like ants. When they stumbled, they fell off by the handful.

Jack had his back to me and the people below. His cloak flapped in sea winds. Boule cackled on his shoulder, digging its claws into Jack’s clothing. Red and orange stained eyes surveyed the scene below.

“Jack!” I said. “Careful! Keep her steady!”

“I’m trying Tosin!”

“Circle around! Bring the end of the Cyladon around so others can try and climb on!”

“I’m trying Tosin! This isn’t like riding a horse!”

I could physically see Jack’s efforts via his depleting mana bar. Boera’s Mana Portal was still activated and my mana pool was surely dwindling.

“Tosin,” Jack said. “There’s Vicen’s island!”

The island was a bright blue landmark on the horizon. It was close. I could even see buildings on the coast. It lay at the end of the sun’s daylight path. Unlike the sun, I didn’t think we had half a day to make it before Jack ran out of mana.

I was far from the only one with a ton of mana. There were others who were currently fighting to board the back of the Cyladon. Jack and I needed them. They’d had enough mana to keep O’Kallan’s whale spell sustained for days. Hopefully they could do it again for a few hours more.

“We need the others,” I said.

Jack threw an eighth of a glance over his shoulder. I saw anger, frustration, and a host of other emotions in just one squinting eye.

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“I’m going to do one more circle around. After that I have to head to shore,” Jack said.

The circle that he’d made was smoother than any prior. The body of the colossal monster knifed through the water so easily, so fluidly, that the sea around us had calmed. Jack brought us back around to where he’d started, and we once again faced Vicen’s island.

“Hold it!” I said. “I’m losing mana too fast! Keep her steady and as still as you can. I’ll signals for others to come to me.”

“We should really start moving towards the island, Tosin!”

“I can’t sustain your mana even half the way. I need help from others.”

“How much mana do you have left?” Jack said.

“Eight thousand,” I said. “I’m going to rejuvenate my mana. Then I’m going to get help. Just hold still for as long as you can.”

“I’ve got to keep her swaying, otherwise she’ll sink.”

With that, Jack brought the King Cyladon nearly to a halt. The monster swayed its endlessly long body to stay afloat.

“Boera’s Generous Flux!” I said, using the evolved spell for the first time in months.

The rich blue banner lashed in an unseen wind, amidst the rest of the articles on my flagstaff. Now that the spell had evolved—having been leveled up to 2,000—it activated differently than it had before.

The banner snapped straight up. The emblem was upside down since my flagstaff was impaled tip first. The embroidered relief of Boera’s hands rotated, though I could barely discern it since it was blue on blue. Then an exact spitting image of Boera’s banner bled out from it like a ghost. It shot to the sky above me, growing as it did so. When it grew to be the width of a carriage, and the length of two, blue rays burst from the embroidered design as though it were a sun. My mana replenished to full, and the floating replica of Boera’s Generous Flux evaporated into thin air.

“Hurry Tosin!” Jack said. Then he handed an inventory pouch to Boule. The zombie monkey pulled back its lips to hiss. Then it snatched the inventory pouch, strapped it around a shoulder and sprinted down the King Cyladon’s back.

I ripped my flagstaff free and followed after the monkey.

Others had already started taking advantage of the lull of activity. They’d started running up the monster's body toward Jack. I met the captain and O’Kallan first, asking them to help me round up everyone with mana to spare.

In the middle of our conversation, Boule sprinted past us with a squeal.

“What on Felke was that?” O’Kallan said.

“Boullerd,” I said.

“What’s a Boullerd?” The captain said.

‘He’s helping me round up everyone who’s got manna to spare,” I said.

“I don’t think he’s worried about the help,” O’Kallan said. “Seems like he just wants the mana.”

Boullerd was a flurry of activity, climbing people and taking anything that looked like it could produce mana. He was faster than the reactions of everyone. He was knocked off a couple of times, but not without pilfering a few mana potions from people’s inventory belts. Everything went into his own inventory pouch.

The monkey’s victims gave chase, following him up to the back of the Cyladon. The opposite direction, the captain, O’Kallan, and I were headed.

Others were casting spells to help rescue people from the water. Many more bodies floated among ship debris. Some were wounded. Other’s unconscious and drowning. Before spending too much time away from Jack, I asked O’Kallan the the captain to finish rounding everyone up.

“How long until the monster attacks again?” O’Kallan said.

“He’s…” I started. “The monster is under control for now.”

“Under control?” O’Kallan said.

“Jack’s got him under control. We’re running out of time. That’s why we need mana. We’ve got to maintain control until we can steer the monster to Vicen’s island.”

I pointed out the island that until then had gone unnoticed by the two men.

“By Felke!” The Captain said. “There’s hope!”