Zincalo-Minami Ocean

Year 1332 月水 (Gessui Calendar)

Twenty-two years ago, no one in Kusanagi city would have believed a foreigner or a slave could have taken the throne of Migiue, let alone a man who was both.

“I was born free, and I will die free.” He had said over and over, no matter the punishment.

No one had believed him, or any other person who dared say the same. There was even a rumour that the red-haired gladiator could not die so long as he wore chains, like a vengeful ghost bound to the world until it saw justice.

The graffiti that littered the monstrous walls around the city borders read “I too favour Red” in crimson letters. Some were two stories high and painted with rushed strokes in the dead of night. Of course, it was not written in Proper, the language of the learned. It was written in any language but that. The ruling class had stared at the strange markings while the streets buzzed with interest.

These days, that writing was faded with time, just like the man who put his life on the line to free a hundred thousand suffering people from the whims of a minority. Some stories said a million people answered the call. He did not know the number, he never pretended he did.

His rust coloured hair was almost totally white now, barrel chest sinking with age. His hands were weathered from carrying a plough in his youth, a sword in his prime, and later his two children when the rebellion ended. The Red Man still sat on the throne he had won, but he was tired. He had been tired for twenty-two years.

Rubi knew the story as if she had been there herself. Her father, the bloodsport slave who usurped a tyrannical king with an army of fellow slaves behind him. Of course, this had been before she was born. Her brother had been an infant during the rebellion.

Rubi was the first child to be born into the new royal family. She carried his red hair and green eyes, his double from her first breath. Her skin, as well as her brother’s, was the perfect midpoint between her father’s dark umber complexion and her mother’s cool sienna. A new era should have begun, but these days Rubi wondered if she would ever go back home.

Her brother had left their home suddenly and a mere year later the claustrophobia of the city walls, the standards set for her, and the gilded rooms of the palace became too much. People talked about her, not to her. The world seemed to move her like a checker piece while she stood still. Her father could not be caged, who could expect her to be too?

Four years ago she had left the city, travelled by caravan disguised as a man to the far west coast and boarded a boat for new possibilities. Now she had an unlikely family formed around her, living together on her own ship bought with palace gold, aptly named The Disaster. Only half of her missed the familiarity of home. The burning heat, the river dotted with boats, the birds in the reeds. The other half itched to experience anywhere else the world had to offer.

“We should make port before we run out,” said Mimi, breaking Rubi’s trance. She held a cup of tea and a small dish with an array of pressed capsules. Rubi wrinkled her nose at the steam rising from the cup, already able to smell it. It was not a rancid smell, just a bitter one.

She was so fed up with the taste of ginger.

The tea was a temporary remedy for the nausea that the medicines gave her, but an upset stomach was far preferable to the pain and its gang of companion ailments. She must have taken thousands of tablets by now, with varying success. This combination was doing well although she did have to take six different things three times a day, more than ever before. She was so sick of being sick.

Mimi had taken sole charge of measuring, pressing and distributing her medicine. Her grasp of mathematics and natural sciences was unmatched. Mimi was a small, frail-looking girl who appeared about eighteen. She always looked too pale no matter how much sunshine touched her skin. Her hair had dark roots but most of it was dyed silvery purple with a common ornamental flower, dried and ground into powder. Her hair colour changed now and then depending on what she bought at markets. Her upturned eyes were tawny, the left bearing a small mole below the eyebrow. Three times a day, Mimi made tea and the crew of the Disaster came together to enjoy a quiet reprieve from the ship’s duties.

“Teatime,” Mimi said softly.

“I’ll go get the boys,” Rubi replied, putting off the tablets for a little longer. “Where are they?”

“Crows nest, rigging.”

“Oh.” Rubi sighed. “Is he stuck again?”

“Yes.”

Rubi stepped out into the glaring morning sun. It was a nice morning, as it tended to be so close to the equator. As captain she plotted the course they sailed and often chose to stay in the warm, chasing the summer around the globe as best she could. They visited ports famous for their medicine, reputation and culture. Her leather-bound logbook was vast now with notes and sketches of all they had seen together.

“Kagemaru? Take’Ichi?” she called, shielding her eyes with her hands and looking up the mast. A familiar figure in the rigging waved and another in the crow’s nest shifted. Take’Ichi was stuck and Kagemaru was trying to get him down.

“I am trying here!” Kagemaru was saying, exasperated. “Unfasten your damn vines!”

The younger boy just groaned. The immersion method of conquering his fear of heights was not working on sweet Take’Ichi. The forest sprite would involuntarily tie himself to the spot most of the time, often marooning him where he did not want to be. Kagemaru would need another pair of hands to unwind the poor boy.

She scaled the rope lattice to join them and began to unwind the quivering vines that had sprouted from Take’Ichi’s bare feet.

“Come on, bud." She said, taking a grip on his tunic. Pale green eyes looked at her gratefully and his small hand reached for the ropes. Both boys were very different from her and each other. Take’Ichi was shorter, with a baby face and sap green hair falling in a loose tail passed his shoulders. Everything about him was quite green naturally, but less so now that the seasickness had subsided. His ears were gently pointed, unlike anyone she had ever met before.

He was not sure how old he was and the idea of birth dates was quite odd to him. All sprites were born in the spring and which spring that was used an astrological calendar far different to one anyone else had used. Take’Ichi was unsure how long he had been a mere seedling, still growing a mind and personality. Mimi calculated he was around sixteen from what he described and his mannerisms seemed to match an awkward mid-teen boy.

Kagemaru was the opposite. He was twenty-three, the oldest aboard, very angular and thin. His build was very slight but he was still strong regardless. He was birdlike, hair a dappled blend of blonde and chestnut, which matched the pair of narrow wings on his back that spanned five feet on either side of him. He could not fly but each year the wings grew a little more, giving him high hopes of taking to the sky one day. Four years at sea had nurtured a warm glow in his beige skin.

After ensuring the sprite had the proper grip on the rigging, the two coaxed him down. Take’Ichi looked relieved to be back on deck and scurried inside to Mimi and the tea laid out on their mess table.

He did not eat much, preferring to drink and bask in the sun. Kagemaru ate everything, Rubi ate when her body allowed her, and Mimi ate nothing at all. It did not bother anyone anymore that Mimi probably was not a living thing. After all, a winged man, a plant boy and a runaway princess seemed normal companions now.

Mimi had very little memory of life before she and Rubi had met. She had spent a lot of time in libraries, reading anything that was there without discrimination and was able to recall startling amounts of information at a moment’s notice. Rubi had decided that maybe she was some kind of golem that only looked like a person on the outside.

Her father had told her stories of golems from his birthplace in the south-west of their home, and of evil sorcerers who built armies with their magic. There were humans with magical powers, called Collectors, and they could potentially do anything if they studied enough.

Humans are the most adaptable creatures the Old Gods ever created, her father said, magic lurked deep in the bloodlines of all men. Collectors could be born with any power imaginable, and worse, the unlimited potential to grow their powers. Some could raise the dead or strike a whole city down with pestilence.

At a young age, Rubi had only half-believed in magic. People said it existed but no one knew anyone with it. Why were all these powers she heard about inherently evil? If an evil Collector could learn to do anything, why had they not taken over the world? Would a good Collector rise up against them?

Nowadays, anything seemed possible. She was a Collector and so was her brother. They could never have stayed in their home knowing that they were considered monsters.

Everyone sipped at their cups but Rubi just held hers, heat passing from her fingertips into the cup, making it boil gently. Her dish of pills stared back at her and she organised them largest to smallest. She liked to pretend that getting passed the worst ones first was best since she could wash them down with the most tea.

“They don’t work if you just stare at them,” Kagemaru murmured over his cup, without making eye contact.

“I know." She replied. “I thought I’d be used to it all by now.”

“And that cup is going to explode.”

Rubi took her fingers off of the ceramic. The bubbling subsided. In the early days of discovering her abilities a lot of things had combusted, sometimes spontaneously.

Some books in the palace library had suffered terrible fates. A whole shelf once went up in flames when she fell asleep in an adjacent lounging chair. She had blamed a candle, but that had gone out a short while before she had fallen asleep in the resulting darkness.

By that point, she knew that the fire was started by the ‘heat’ she could emit from her hands. Now she could create pockets of charged energy a few steps ahead of her with no contact at all. If she really concentrated, she could form the energy into a pinkish-red, uneven sphere that pulsed and crackled. Eventually, it would dissipate into the air but the extreme temperature of orb would scorch most things to ash and split others into fine shards like glass. Small fires were the least of her concerns if a large enough orb became uncontrollable. She experimented with nothing bigger than a thumb nail while on board.

She had thrown one into the ocean once, but only once.

After tea and medicine, Rubi checked the compass to stay on course. Someone was waiting for her at the port. A good friend she only saw once or twice a year, but it always felt like yesterday when she did. He travelled on his ship, the Wanderlust, with his crew. She hoped she could see him for more than a flying visit but he was always on the go.

The only thing she knew about him was that he had once been in the navy during a war in a place far away. He learned he was a Collector during the war and decided to leave his home much like she had to escape humanity's fear of magic.

Then, by chance, he had run into both Rubi and her brother a year apart as they fled the country. Her disguise as a man had him fooled for a while but once they made port she came clean, and he had laughed so loudly and so honestly at his mistake.

Maybe I'm sweet on him, Rubi thought. But I also think Kagemaru, Mimi and Take'Ichi are great. Feelings are gross.

She was quietly glad that no one on the ship could read minds. She tilted the wheel slightly as necessary. She sighed. She was keen to be back on land for a few days.

“M-- Man!”

Rubi looked to Take’Ichi who had screamed.

“Man overboard?” she yelled back.

“No! Man, there!”

He was pointing into the ocean, eyes wide with horror. Rubi followed his finger. There in the ocean, there was a large piece of driftwood snagging onto some seaweed. The unmistakable shape of a man’s arm and shoulder was draped over it, holding on for dear life. He could still be alive. But how, so far out to sea?

“Kagemaru, rope and harness!” she barked. She and Take’Ichi swung their lifeboat out on its pulley rigging. The sprite lowered her into the ocean, ropes tied securely around her should she fall in. She rowed as close as she could, leaning in to try to grab the blue singlet he wore. She saw his face, eyes closed and lips blue. There were a pair of blue stripes drawn on his face. He was shivering.

Reaching for him she suddenly jumped back with an awful fright. What she had thought was his hair, a mess of mahogany waves, suddenly looked up to reveal a much smaller, virtually identical face buried into his shoulder. The child was tear stricken but their face lit up as they locked eyes. Such bright eyes, both blue and green at once.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Grab my hand!” Rubi called out. “I can help you!”

The child looked at her, then back at the shivering young man as if there was some decision to be made. Right as Rubi was prepared to grab them both, a small hand reached for hers. She hauled the child into the lifeboat. The other was harder, he was as tall as she was and heavy with the water in his clothes. He had a bag tied to his belt.

Rubi touched his face, cold. Her own head felt burning hot with racing thoughts. Her hands were shaky and clumsy with panic. She could feel her pulse but not his. Was he still shivering? Was he breathing?

Rubi and Kagemaru lay the motionless young man on the deck, Kagemaru doing compressions on his chest and Rubi trying to force air into his lungs. Breathe. Breathe, damn it. Cough. Anything.

“Hey there,” Take’Ichi said to the child. Take’Ichi figured he was looking at a little girl. The aura he felt was childlike but feminine. Her hair might be short and her features as androgynous as his own, but he could see that she was trying to imitate her companion. She had those same blue cheek marks. They could be related, they looked so alike.

Take’Ichi wrapped her up in warm blankets and tried to towel her hair dry as he talked. “What's your name? Who's your friend?”

Strangely, the little one did not seem too upset by all the commotion. She pointed to herself.

“Sama.”

She pointed to the boy on the floor.

“Kai. My Kai.”

“Oh, alright. Sama and Kai. How did you end up in the ocean, Sama? Did you fall overboard? From another ship like this?”

She shook her head.

“He ran out of energy.”

Gods, Take’Ichi thought. Where did they swim from? Maybe she's confused and can't remember what happened. They could have drowned!

“It’s alright though." She continued, staring passed him. She was looking at Kai, still not overly concerned.

“Let’s go see Mimi, alright?” Take’Ichi said quickly, trying to lead her away. “She makes nice tea. I like tea, do you like tea?”

Rubi and Kagemaru were still doing compressions. They might be too late. Kagemaru looked solemnly at her.

“Just a few more!” Rubi insisted. “I can’t give up yet.”

They swapped places. She tried to keep count of her movements, scared that skipping any could be fatal. Suddenly some water bubbled passed the patient’s lips.

“Kage!” she gasped. She checked the boy’s pulse and Kagemaru put his head to his chest. Nothing. Tears welled up in her eyes. She sat back away from the body in defeat. Kagemaru inched closer and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You did your best,” he said. He did not have the widest emotional range at the best of times. Rubi was thankful he was trying. Her stomach lurched at the thought of telling a potentially catatonic child that her companion had passed. “I’ll get a blanket.”

A shroud, Rubi thought bitterly. She nodded. She rubbed her temples in frustration, then looked at the young man again. She frowned. His lips looked less blue.

All of a sudden the body sat bolt upright, making Rubi shriek. He coughed into his shoulder, seawater foaming from his mouth. He wiped his lips with a grimace.

“Dear sweet gods!” Kagemaru yelled, letting loose a fountain of expletives and immediately threw the folded blanket he held at the sitting man.

“Hey-”

“Kai!” Sama cried from the stairway, wriggling away from Mimi and Take’Ichi’s efforts to keep her below deck. “Hi!”

“Hi, Sama.”

“You were dead,” Rubi said dumbfounded. She had frozen in place as he had sprung to life. She looked at Kagemaru for some kind of support to assure her she was not delirious. He looked speechless. “We tried to revive you but you were dead.”

“No, no. I did die.” Kai said in an assuring tone. “But I’m fine now.”

“Fine now?” Kagemaru repeated in disbelief. “You died!”

“I wasn't totally dead, just mostly dead. So here I am. Fine.”

“Explain yourself!” Rubi shouted, getting to her feet, something her father had said many times in the past.

Kai put his hands up as if to surrender. Sama launched herself at him and embraced him in an adoring hug. He patted her, then the bag hanging over his hip to check it was still there.

“This doesn't have to be a big deal. I just had to get this thing back and it went a bit sideways when we left town. I'll be out of your hair at the next port and you can forget this even happened.”

“How did you get all the way out here?” Take’Ichi asked.

Kai considered the green boy for a moment and then scanned Kagemaru, whose wings were bristled up and clearly visible. He seemed to piece together his answer for a while.

“Magic." He replied. “Couldn't you have guessed?”

Rubi’s stomach jumped.

“You're a Collector?”

A Collector that could rise from the dead?

Kai shook his head.

“Nah, not quite.”

“Then what?” she pried.

Kai frowned at her.

“Curious bunch, aren't you? For a matter of fact, I'm a Tsuki. There are thousands of us.”

“I've never heard of any Tsuki.” Rubi frowned back. “Mimi? What do you think?”

Mimi’s expression was as neutral as ever.

“There are four kinds of Tsuki, each responding to an element which they can manipulate. There exist four main settlements at roughly equal distances around the globe. Their genetic makeup is about ninety-nine point seven percent similar to humans. Kai here seems to be a Water Tsuki.”

“What does that even mean?” Kagemaru grumbled.

Kai looked pleased with her definition.

“So now we agree on what I am, can I dry off and warm up before I die again? It'd be a real waste of a life.”

Rubi glanced to Mimi, asking what to do next.

“Of course,” Mimi said.

Kai and Sama were soon rugged up against the cold and Mimi took them downstairs for tea. Kai looked strange to Rubi, like he was both young and old at once. He looked like a lot of young men, almost fully grown and a bit disproportionate. Rubi’s cousin back home would look like that soon, if not already. She got the feeling Kai had grown up too fast. She could relate to that. His reason was probably having a child in tow. His sister maybe?

What she could not get her head around was that his powers could so easily bring him back to life. Could every Tsuki? It was a huge detail for Mimi to say nothing about. Now those two were downstairs with her having tea like ordinary people.

As if remembering, her insides resumed their twisting ache.

“Gods, I can’t be that late for another dose." She grumbled to herself, crouching down.

She said a few more choice words before walking hunched over to the steps. Everyone had to be downstairs, the deck was quiet. She pressed on her belly. Ache. Ache. Pang. The usual twisting sensation, like two hands violently grabbing her insides and trying to rip her apart.

Rubi was right in her assumption, everyone was gathered around the table with steaming cups of tea.

“...so until he gets back with it, I need to stay nearby.”

The crowded table looked up at Rubi as she became visible. Mimi immediately produced a pre-prepared dish of pills and poured tea in her usual cup. Rubi took the dish but was uncomfortable to take them in front of the new company. She sat down opposite Sama who was watching her with intrigue.

“What are we talking about?” Rubi queried. She moved her hand away from her abdomen self consciously, seeing Sama’s eyes land there. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Kai was just telling us he dropped something before we found him,” Mimi said. “His friend has been looking for it.”

“Before we got separated,” Kai added. “Damn thing just floated out of my bag.”

“Wait, so you lost it in the ocean and your friend is looking for it?” Kagemaru replied. “Your friend is searching the ocean?”

“Yep. He’s a good swimmer. Really in his… element.”

He cackled as if he had told a great joke. Eyes glanced at each other awkwardly. Sama seemed to get it.

“What did you lose?” Rubi questioned.

“It’s a book. An important book.”

“What’s in the book.”

“Oh. Just details about my life. But it’s special to me.”

“Huh.” Rubi supposed. It was a journal? “So what’s in the bag?”

Kai’s hand went to the bag immediately. She could see his belt where he attached it. It was a rectangular satchel, made of worn leader and dull metal fastenings.

“This?” he said more quietly. He shrugged off the blanket and opened the bag clasp slowly. Rubi craned her neck. From the boxy leather, he pulled out a dusty chunk of dark silver metal the size of a fist. It glinted gently in the lamplight.

“And that is?” Rubi asked uncertainly.

“That’s a meteorite,” Mimi replied. “A very, very rare kind. How did you get it?”

“My race has been metalsmithing it for generations,” Kai explained. “It's a sacred ingredient for making weapons for our bravest warriors. This piece belonged to my father. Before he died.”

“I'm sorry to hear,” Rubi said. “How did he pass?”

Kai’s jaw tightened.

“He was murdered. Along with my mother.”

Rubi was sorry she asked. Kai turned the piece of meteorite in his hand.

“It would be an insult to their memory to let it fall into the wrong hands.”

Rubi nodded despite the vagueness. She looked at Sama, who had not broken her adoring smile. Dark stuff to be talking about in front of a child.

“Kai’s dad had a trident." She said confidently.

“Yeah, he did.” Kai agreed, patting her. “But I need to think of what weapon I need before we get to the smith.”

Rubi looked at Mimi. Her friend gestured to the pills and Rubi washed them down with her now cold tea.

“We should set you up somewhere to sleep,” Rubi said. “I will have to send you to the lowest deck. It’s cramped, but not a bad place to sleep.”

“That’s fine with me.” Kai obliged. With nowhere to hang up a hammock or lay a bed, the crew put together a nest of sorts, which Sama happily clambered into. She rested her head on Kai’s shoulder and closed her eyes. Rubi locked the door behind her, relieved to have her unexpected guests contained for now. In her quarters she lay down to sleep in her suspended bed that rocked with the motion of the waves.

Her pills for her midnight dose were set up waiting for her. She thought about taking them now, as she considered every night, to try and stop the pain from waking her up in the small hours of the morning. She knew if she did, she would throw them up within the hour. Sometimes, just thinking about waking up in pain could keep her up at night. It had been like this for years but it never got any easier. Her abdomen still felt tender, but it was better than it was.

She did doze off eventually, but the click of a latch roused her. Mimi? Was she doing the morning rounds? Outside of the thick glass window, it was still pitch black. She got up, suspicious and a little panicked. Faint footsteps. Whoever was up was trying to be quiet.

Rubi glanced through Mimi’s door. She was still there. As Rubi climbed the steps she considered she should have woken her. She paused to reconsider. Curiosity spurred her on, her right hand twitching with crackling, pinkish energy. Any sign of a scuffle, she would throw it at her assailant. She heard a voice from the deck. It was Kai’s.

Kai was leaning over the side of the ship, talking into the ocean. That door had been locked, Rubi was sure. Sama hovered around his legs, barely tall enough to see over the ledge. He reached out his hand and was met by a spindly, semi-solid haze reaching back.

Rubi clutched her mouth, wanting to scream. Her free hand tensed and the orb began to swirl. The blue haze held the book Kai had mentioned in a misty hand. He took the book and quickly looked it over for water damage. It seemed bizarrely unharmed despite its dip in the seawater. The haze moved more. Two arms, the top of a head, climbing the side of the ship. Then she saw the burning red eyes with bottomless black slits in the centre. A big blue ghost with eyes like the underworld.

“What…” Rubi murmured, barely even able to hear her own voice.

Sama’s head spun around like a rabbit caught in lamplight. It was as if Rubi had yelled. The blue thing looked at her next, then Kai turned. The blue shape slithered away down the hull in a strange fluid manner and disappeared back into the ocean.

“It’s alright,” Kai called into the blackness. Sama stared at her, somehow able to see her in the dark. Her round, aqua eyes found her as easily as in the daylight. It unsettled her.

“Your friend… is a ghost?” she asked carefully, without moving.

“No,” Sama said, shaking her head. “He comes from inside the planet. Ghosts come from inside people.”

“He’s an Elemental,” Kai explained. “A water Elemental.” He raised the book. “He found the book I lost.”

“Where did he go? Back into the ocean?”

“Yeah, for now. No use upsetting everyone aboard with a big blue demon, huh?”

“I’m not upset,” Rubi interjected. “What I need to know is, do I need to be worried about him?”

“No!” Sama said immediately.

“No.” Kai agreed. “You and your crew are safe around him. And me.”

He looked down at her hand, the sparks casting a dim glow. She closed her fist and the buzzing subsided.

“I need you both to go to your quarters. Immediately.” Rubi instructed. “No more surprises. When we hit port tomorrow you can both go.”

“As you wish, captain,” Kai said. He took Sama’s hand and, without argument, they both descended the stairs and into the lowest deck. Rubi followed after she heard their door close and made a beeline for the captain’s quarters.

Mimi slept in a small room off to the side. She liked to be close by. Mimi was sitting in her usual chair, her head down and arms closed. She slept like that. She rarely lay down to rest. She just would find a quiet place to sit and slow down into a motionless doze.

“Mimi,” she said, nudging her. Mimi’s eyes opened instantly and she straightened up. “You won’t believe what I just saw.” She looked to the door to be sure no one was standing there. “We need to get to land. Can you get us to port as soon as possible?”

“Of course. We can go under.”

“Alright. Set the course to pull up before we become visible.”

The two travelled to the control room, a large room full of panels containing labelled dials and levers. Mimi read a few, adjusting some and wrenching a few gears. Thanks to this room, the ship could sail unmanned in most conditions. It took the joy of sailing away, but it was certainly efficient. If there was no wind, a paddle engine could deploy from the rudder area and propel them. There was no wind where they were going.

With a loud click, the sides of the ship began to extend and envelope the open-top into a dome. The masts compressed like telescopes into the deck. The dome connected in the middle, almost entirely glass, turning the ship into a streamlined torpedo. The bell sounded, alerting the crew to the situation.

“Going down,” Mimi said, pulling the final lever. The ship began to descend into the depths, sinking below the waves. The engine hummed to life, propelling them forward. Rubi looked into the waters around them, the light from the deck illuminating only a small distance ahead so late at night.

“I saw Kai’s friend,” Rubi said to Mimi. “He said it was an Elemental demon. This huge blue man with red eyes.”

“I do know a little about Elementals.” Mimi replied. “What would you like to know?”

“Tell me everything.”

In the water beside them, Rubi saw the red eyes again in the darkness. Faint, but present. The demon was following.