WSP

M02 – The Tempest

Thunder.

Roiling waves.

Winds so strong they howled as though in pain.

Fish thrown out of the water with such force that they splattered against the ship’s hull.

And yet, the ship held fast. It was rocked side to side, battered with anything and everything the storm could throw at it, and was even struck by lightning several times. The ship did not seem to care.

It was made entirely out of reinforced metal and had only a scant few slits that held windows for viewing the world outside. Multiple large wheels continually rotated on either side, driven by the sparks of Orange to paddle through the torrential sea. The emblem of the Kroan Crown was carved into the side, for any sort of paint would be worn away very quickly by the kinds of journeys this ship undertook.

Then, suddenly… things were calm. The waves gave way to smooth waters. The dark clouds gave way to gray fog, and very shortly thereafter to clear skies. Sky serpents weaved in and out of the clouds, their colorful scales glinting beautifully off the sun, welcoming the new arrivals.

The Wall extended to either side of the ship, a slowly rotating torrent of gray clouds that regularly flashed with the glow of lightning happening deeper within the great storm. But here, inside the Wall, the sky was clear, the sun was overhead, and there was not only life but civilization. There were many other ships around, most of them simple fishing vessels. The majority of these vessels were manned by cats and various feline races, though there were a minority of the three-legged shroomers, which unlike the cats didn’t need special tools to be able to hold fishing poles.

Further within the Wall were the islands. There were several large ones all anchored to the ground, but while these held the majority of the Tempest’s cities, they were not what everyone remembered about the Tempest. That honor fell to the great floating islands that hovered perpetually above the waters, held aloft by a strange species of plant that produced massive pink air sac fruits. Nobody was entirely sure how they managed to pull this off, keeping the islands stable long-term, but it sure was beautiful to see the tangle of thorny roots under every island interspersed with large pink spheres that glowed slightly.

The only tempest natives that could fly were the sphinxes, and in the deep past, they had used this power to declare themselves masters of all they saw. Those days were no more, gone long before the outside world had begun encroaching upon the islands. A complex series of tethers and ropes allowed for travel to and from the islands for anyone, though these were not the safest mechanisms in existence and there were always dozens of backup ropes in case something went wrong. Even from the distance of the Wall, some of the larger cable cars* could be seen.

*They have their own word for this, as there is no word for car yet. That said, cars have been invented, it’s not hard to put an Orange device on a cart, but outside of cities the roads are not developed enough and they tend not to be very practical things. It’s generally much better to just get a horse or, perhaps better, hire a lesser unicorn.

The ship’s cabin doors made a few large creaking noises as they were unsealed. Fresh air washed into the cabin for the first time in hours, giving the passengers a sense of relief.

The first person out on the deck was a cat. He ran all the way to the railing and hurled, though at this point there was nothing left in his stomach to eject. The journey had not been kind to him.

“Having… fun, cat?” A young Red wizard with a rope of rainbow in his hat asked, making the attempt to be jovial, but his legs were shaking. The trip had not been kind to him, either, but at least he was doing better than the cat.

“Doing… great… Wizard…” the cat muttered, refusing to take his head away from the railing.

“Ah, feels great to get sea legs, doesn’t it?”

The two looked back to the third passenger on their voyage, a blonde human woman in the brilliant robes of a Magenta wizard, a rainbow rope run through her hat as well. She did not wear her pointed hat on her head, but rather had it on a cord so it hung over her back, allowing her somewhat short hair to ripple in the soft sea breeze.

She showed no signs of any nausea or discomfort, much to the chagrin of her two fellow passengers.

“Alice, how are you fine? You haven’t taken this trip before have you?” the Red wizard asked.

Alice ran up to him and put her arm around him, pressing her cheek to his as she used her other arm to gesture out at the sky. “It’s called a spirit of adventure, Giddy! Some rocking waves aren’t going to put me down!”

The wizard chuckled. “Ah, that spirit of yours can face anything, it seems.”

She released him and winked. “It’s what brought us together, after all. And look at the specimen it caught me!” She gestured wildly at him.

He held his head up high. “Yes, you did get quite lucky.”

“Psh, all skill, Giddy, all skill.”

The cat raised one of his front paws. “I’m assuming his name’s not actually Giddy?”

“Oh, right, we couldn’t introduce ourselves over the din…” the Red wizard cleared his throat. “I’m Vaughan, that’s Alice.”

Alice snickered.

“…Where does the name ‘Giddy’ come from?” the cat asked, cocking his head.

Alice broke out into full-blown laughter while Vaughan looked down at his shoes. “I knew it, Giddy, I knew that wasn’t going to work! It’s just so suspicious.”

“Yes, well, you could stop calling me Giddy…”

“Do you want me to?”

“…No.”

“Thought so.” Alice put her hands on her hips. “Anyway, our new feline friend, our names are Alice Vaughan and Gideon Vaughan. He just hates his name with such a burning passion that he prefers nobody know it. I think it’s silly. He knows I think this. On a good day, he agrees. He still doesn’t like his name.”

The cat furrowed his brow. “Does it mean something unfortunate…?”

“No, he just doesn’t like how it sounds.”

“Pretty sure you can change it…” the cat shook his head. “Never mind, doesn’t matter. Alice, Vaughan, I’m Suro. …No last name, my family hasn’t taken one.”

“What brings you to the frontier of mystery and magic?” Alice asked.

“I’m a jeweler, recently accredited. I hear there’s a shortage of jewelers in the Tempest, so… I figured it’d be a good place to go stake a claim. Hadn’t considered the difficulty of the voyage until… well.”

“Ah, looking to settle down?” Vaughan chuckled, scratching his black, short beard.

“That’s the idea. Though I wasn’t expecting so much… chaos, right out of the gate.”

“If this turns out not to be your place, on our journeys we found a sleepy mining town that might suit you better.” Vaughan straightened out his robes. “Little Willow Hollow, southern end of Kroan, in the mountains. Was a nice place.”

“Currently on the list of places for us to settle down after we complete our journeys!” Alice said. “We want to go somewhere far.”

“Journeymen wizards?” Suro nodded slowly. “I suppose you don’t intend to stick around here, then?”

“Nope,” Vaughan said. “Even if these islands do get onto our list, we want to make sure to scour the entire Kroan border. Honestly this place only counts on a technicality, as Kroan does own some land here…”

“How could we not have gone to the Tempest?” Alice asked. “Come on, it’s the most exotic place in the world! Just look at those islands!” She gestured at the sky. “They’re floating, Vaughan. Without assistance from a wizard! That’s amazing!”

“It is… amazing.” Vaughan looked up at the quite spectacular sight. “To think, for thousands of years these people had no idea there even was an outside world… this was all they had.”

“Pretty good place to be stuck in, if I have to say,” Alice said. “Oooh, and there will be Mikarolians and Vraskalians here too! I can’t wait to learn about the cultures on the other side of the sea!”

“If only we could talk to an angler…”

Alice let out a sigh. “If only…”

Suro looked out at the islands. “…You know, I hadn’t really… registered that this land was a land of adventure.”

Alice snorted and quickly slammed a hand over her mouth. “S-sorry, it’s just…”

“Sounds like I didn’t plan?”

“Let’s go with that.”

Suro rolled his eyes. “Yeah, this… ticket just fell into my lap and… I don’t know.”

“We’re both going to be around Embassy Island, we can help you out,” Vaughan said.

Alice put her hands on her hips and beamed. “That’s right! We’re professionals at all this adventuring business! We’ve handled monstrous beasts of the forest and crafted many arcane curiosities for the common spirited! …Mostly heaters, but that’s still important!”

“You’d… help me?” Suro asked.

“Why not?” Vaughan asked.

“I will do anything I can to repay you, though at the moment I am… essentially destitute save for my tools.”

“Oh, don’t worry, you’re a jeweler,” Alice said with a wave of her hand. “I’m sure we’ll find some complicated device we want your help with at some point. Or maybe we won’t and then you’ll just owe us for eeeternityyyyy ooooooooooooo spooky.”

Vaughan chuckled. “Be nice to the man, Alice.”

“I am!” Alice huffed. “I only mess with people I like!”

“Don’t I know it.”

“Just another one of my charms!”

~~~

The shore was sandy and covered in shells. A young kitten was jumping padding along, leaving little prints in the sand as he moved. A large bag (relatively speaking) was slung over his back, filled with various seashells he had harvested. He used his claws to pick another one out of the sand and sling it into the bag. He was humming a little tune to himself as he went about his “work.” He didn’t have a care in the world, too young to care about whatever the adults were worried about, but old enough to be trusted on his own on the beach.

He heard a strange, loud splash come from somewhere in the ocean. He looked up, curious, but could see nothing more than a rippling disturbance. Had one of the large fish jumped? It would have had to have been a really big fish to make ripples he could still see, but it wasn’t unheard of, though this close to the island… he felt annoyed that he didn’t know enough to know if big fish came this close or not.

He was not left to be annoyed at his incomplete information for long, for at that moment a thing emerged from the waves. It was round, shiny, and had a handful of knobs sticking out of it on the end of long rods. It was also huge, easily as large as a house, far larger than any rigid the kitten had ever seen—and this was the Tempest, the only rigids were those that came to visit, so that number was small to begin with. This experience was already far beyond him.

The round thing flopped out of the water and landed awkwardly on three of its knobs on the sand, ocean waves lightly lapping at its base. All was still for a moment.

The kitten took a step forward.

The part of the metal thing that suddenly looked a lot like a mouth popped open, and a bizarre creature stepped out. Four legs without paws, a spike coming out of its head, and huge eyes… it was making some kind of haggard, raspy noise. Then it turned to look right at him.

The kitten screamed and shouted, dropping his bag and running away as quickly as he could.

“Wait, hey—” Blue called out, coughing. “Come back!”

“I don’t think he’s coming back,” Vaughan said from behind her.

“Why not?”

“My Naust is a bit rusty, but I believe he shouted a slur at you and then ran away screaming ‘Monster! Monster! Monster!’ while crying.”

“…Ah.” Blue sighed, coughing up some water. “Well, everyone out, let’s see what the damage is…”

They were fortunate the sand was soft, because they had landed with the door a fair ways above the ground and had to fall a short distance to get out. Blue was first, landing on the sand with a mixture of a wet squelch and a soft thud. She stood up, but found that her legs were shaking. Why… why was standing so hard?

She stumbled over to let the next person come out, opting to stop standing and to sit instead, taking in a few deep breaths. She sure didn’t feel right, though it was impossible to tell where this feeling was coming from given the ordeal they’d just been through.

Vaughan came out next, flopping face-first onto the sand. “My… back…” he grunted. He didn’t even manage to stand up, he crawled across the sand until he could sit next to Blue, laying flat on the ground, breathing very heavily. “Feels… so… heavy…”

Blue chuckled. “Welcome back to Ikyu gravity.”

Keller came next, landing on his feet, but only barely. He stumbled forward a bit and was clearly shaky, but out of sheer force of will managed to remain standing. “Gonna have t’ get used t’ standin’ again…” The very next thing he did was take out one of his signature rolls and light it, taking in a deep breath of the smoke. “It has been… way too long…”

The Sourdough Twins were next. They flopped out rather lethargically, but were able to help support each other and stumble to the others. “So…” one began.

“…Weak,” the other finished with a short grunt.

“You all don’t have any stamina!” Jeh called, jumping out and landing perfectly on her feet with a big grin on her face.

“It is you…”

“…who has endless stamina,” the twins managed.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t mock you.”

“I think I should make a note,” Blue said. “Consequences of long-term space travel and…” Blue’s eyes widened. “Oh no, all my notes! They’re waterlogged aren’t they?”

“Not the ones you stored before we started reentry,” Vaughan said. “…Unless the storage was punctured.”

“Well, something had to have been punctured, we were taking on water there!”

“Water…” the twins said in unison looking out at the sea and the Wall. Everyone could see the flashes of light from obfuscated lightning, but the rumbling sounds were somewhat muted by the sounds of gentle waves and sea birds.

Vaughan frowned as he looked out over the sea. “That’s odd…”

“What?” one of the Twins asked.

“I don’t see a single fishing boat. Even in areas without good fishing, you can usually see at least a few…” Vaughan stroked his beard. “Wonder if something’s going on… I don’t think there’s a festival this time of year…”

There was silence as everyone but Jeh continued to struggle to catch their breath.

Jeh sighed. “Okay, guess I’ll check the ship for damage… maybe get some food for you all…” She had to jump onto one of the knobs to get herself back into the Moonshot to scramble around. The interior was a mess. In their panicked landing, a lot of the things that had been tied down had been entirely dislodged, which had included the navigation table, which had shattered and was now several shards of glass strewn everywhere. There had to be a hole somewhere that allowed the water to get in, but searching around didn’t reveal it—perhaps it was a tiny hole. Jeh was able to open the container that had been exposed to the vacuum of space earlier, but that hatch had been sealed, it shouldn’t have allowed water inside.

The furniture that wasn’t hard was mostly ruined by the water, and much of it was shredded. One of the steel supports was completely disconnected from the wall, and all the curtains had been torn from the windows. Bizarrely, the pilot’s seat was still fine, even without the drive.

Checking storage, Jeh found that most of it had only taken minor water damage, so while Blue’s notes were slightly damp, they were not ruined, and the food was still fine, though they were running slightly low on that; only a few days of it were left.

Opening the waste container was a mistake. She slammed that hatch shut before even opening it all the way, the stench was unbearable. Clearly, things in there had broken… she did not envy whoever’s job it was going to be to clean that.

Jeh jumped out of the Moonshot and handed out the food—most of it was hover clover at this point, but at least that would be filling. She also gave Blue a sample of the notes, as she was not able to carry an entire mountain of paper.

“Hmm… workable, workable…” Blue said. She was now standing without too much shaking—evidentially, lesser unicorns were more adapted to recovery from long-term space travel than the humanoids. Even Keller was obviously having problems. Blue took an absent-minded bite out of the hover clover, frowning. “Anything else?”

“Ship is trashed, but the shell is intact. Not suited for space travel but I think we can recover a lot from it. ...Someone’s going to have to clean waste storage.”

Blue shivered. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it…”

“So… what now?”

“I think… rest, is in order,” Blue said, glancing at everyone. “We need to get our… non-space-legs back? Land legs?”

“Good idea,” Vaughan said, letting out a deep sigh. “Let’s just… not move from here… for a few hours…”

Keller frowned. “We likely need t’ work back to health.” And just like that, despite his exhaustion, he started performing some basic stretches.

“Crazy Agent…” Vaughan muttered.

The twins actually attempted to join him, but while they had the heart, they did not have the physical prowess to actually maintain the activity, a fact which clearly annoyed them. They soon returned to lying on the sand.

“Anyway…” Vaughan said. “After we get some strength back… every non-floating island is inhabited, there’ll be a settlement somewhere on wherever we are. I know enough Naust to get by… I hope, it has been a while. Then we use Keller here at the Embassy to charter a ship back to Kroan. Presumably one that can drag the Moonshot along.”

“We’d need a very strong rope…” Blue said. “That storm is no joke…”

“There’s ships with cargo holds for smaller ships.” Vaughan chuckled. “The biggest problem would have been the price if we didn’t have mister government over there.”

Keller snorted as he let out a puff of smoke. “Glad to be of assistance.”

The sun started to set. This was a visually unusual event in the Tempest, for the horizon was not at the edge of the sea, but at the top of the Wall. Everything got significantly darker, but the hole in the sky was still blue.

“Ah, pre-night,” Vaughan said with a smile. “Always interesting.”

“You know, cool and all, but not as interesting as the islands.” Jeh pointed behind them. “They really are floating! Look at them! And… Vaughan, are the big floaty fruit edible?”

Vaughan scratched his chin. “They are, actually, though since they keep the islands afloat you really should only harvest ones that appear rooted to solid ground.”

“I am going to eat floating fruit eeeeee!”

“They’re called romkars,” Vaughan said. “A word that means… ‘savior from below’ I think?” Vaughan took a moment to scan the various floating islands. “Huh, the arrangement is different since I was here. Guess some were moved.”

“Surprising?” Blue asked.

“Not really, it may be a hassle to move all the cables, but new islands do form from time to time and it’s not like the romkar vines stop growing.” He laughed. “Ah, what a place of wonder this is…”

“I can’t wait to explore!” Jeh said.

“You’re going to…” one twin began.

“…Have to wait,” the other finished.

“Hurry up and get your strength back,” Jeh said with a huff. “This place is cool and while I’m here I want to experience it.”

~~~

Embassy island was a floating island, technically, though it was so close to sea level that parts of the romkar vines were beneath the water. This had not always been the case, when the island had been set aside for foreigners by the Tempest natives, it floated quite a bit higher. Nobody had taken into account the weight all the extra buildings would add, but at this point it actually made it much easier to get up to the island.

The ship carrying Vaughan, Alice, and Suro docked at a series of cables that drifted from one of the edges into the ocean. A rickety platform made of exotic wood descended to meet them, and the three of them stepped on with a few of the officers on the ship.

The island was not large, barely big enough to hold a tiny town, but it was an impressive sight nonetheless. The four largest buildings were the specific embassies for Kroan, Shimvale, Vraskal, and the Mikarol Empire. Kroan’s embassy looked a lot like the palace in Axiom with its white walls and blue domes, but it was much smaller and made of less pristine materials. Tall palm trees and tropical flowers dotted the area around it, and numerous wizards in their colorful robes could be seen walking around with a few nobles and even an Agent. It was a statement of culture through beauty and elegance, and was not all that concerned with looking powerful. Shimvale’s Embassy was similar in that regard, though they didn’t even bother to look spectacular, their construct was simple, white, and brick-like, and was also the smallest of the four installations.

The other two installations, however, were the first structures any of Vaughan’s group had seen from Mikarol or Vraskal, and they were sights to behold. Mikarol’s Embassy was made almost entirely out of metal, a resource rare in the Tempest so all of it had to have been imported. It glinted in the light of the sun, demanding attention, and the somewhat excessive number of spikes on the structure were decidedly imposing. Humanoid guards in full regal armor stood at the front doors, nearly motionless. They were not there to bar anyone entry—many people were actively coming in and out—they were simply a statement of power. Considering Mikarol’s reputation as a proud military power, this was not surprising.

What was surprising was the Vraskal Embassy. It was dark, like the color of ash, and lit with strange fires that burned a deep red rather than a warming orange. It was far shorter than Mikarol’s structure, but took up more space. It looked less like an artificial structure and more like a creature, winding and twisting around, with a few bone-like protrusions emerging in seemingly random places.

“…Vraskalians…” Vaughan shook his head. “Alice, do we know anything about them?”

Alice shook her head. “Not much, they’re even further away than Mikarol and have a significantly smaller naval force. What we have about them always comes from the Empire, and that’s secondhand information. We know they live in a very harsh land and are considered honorable by the Emperor for being so hardy and stubborn. Best we can tell the sentiment is not shared in reverse, but Vraskal diplomats seem to like to go out of their way to keep their nation mysterious.”

As they passed the Vraskalian Embassy, the people turned to stare at them with blank expressions. Their company consisted mostly of humans, but there was another race Vaughan had never seen nor heard of before, a strange sort of floating eye seemingly made out of fire with shimmering robes drifting down from them as though the eye was a head.

“I have no idea what those are,” Alice said. “Fascinating… I’ll have to talk with one at some point!”

“They may not know Karli,” Suro pointed out.

“They’ll know Naust! Which…” Alice pulled a small booklet out of her robes. “I have been studying!”

Suro frowned. “I was told we should rely on translators rather than books like that…”

“Oh, please, watch.” She waved eagerly at a passing native cat, calling out a greeting. She flipped to a page in her book and awkwardly sounded out some words.

The cat looked insulted at first, and then proceeded to laugh and say something that sounded rude.

Alice frowned. “…That word isn’t in here…”

“Definitely need a translator,” Suro said.

“Okay, fine, we’ll get one. But… adventure!” Alice spread her hands wide. “Let’s explore a bit before we go to the Kroan Embassy and are stuck in boring paperwork.”

Embassy island was not just the four embassies, there was a proper little community that had five extremely different cultures mixing together—that of the four “developed” nations, and the natives. The natives were not as cohesive, having no single leader but instead having a shared belief system in the protection of the Guardian Spirit. A statue of her was in the center of the island, crafted out of somehow still-living wood that never changed shape but grew leaves every now and then. Her form was nondescript; aside from her face and absolutely tremendous eyes it was basically impossible to tell anything about her form. Was she humanoid? Quadruped? Tripedal?

“Ah, the local goddess,” Alice said, putting her hands on her hips. “I’ve read about her, supposedly they refuse to call her a goddess as apparently she doesn’t want to be worshipped.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Suro said. “Primitive cultures like those in the Wild Kingdoms form beliefs in gods to explain the inexplicable, and they offer worship in order to barter with the elements. If there’s no worship, what’s the point of creating a god?”

Alice shrugged. “Dunno. You could argue that they do worship her, given the statue, but that’s not a temple there, that’s just an art piece.”

“That might give Dia’s missionaries a foothold,” Vaughan mused.

“Well…” Alice gestured at the Sanctuary. It was a small one, open to the sky, but it was full, about an even mixture of Kroanites and natives, with very few from the other nations. “Seems to be going well.”

Near the Sanctuary were other religious buildings. There were small Colored altars to the seven Colors of magic, which saw Shimmers and Vraskalians primarily coming to them. Similar altars stood to Eyda, the Unknown Goddess, and Cora, and even a secondary Dia altar meant for the Gonal, however these saw the least traffic as none of the nations had a Gonal majority. Bizarrely, the Mikarol, easily identified by their metallic armor, seemed evenly distributed almost everywhere, with a large concentration in front of what was not strictly a religious institution, but a monument to the Emperor and the State of the Empire.

Religion was completely free in Mikarol, so long as your loyalty to the State was ensured. Several armored individuals were currently lined up in front of the seventeen-spiked star symbol of their Empire, saluting it and letting out shouts in their language.

“I can’t tell their species for the most part…” Alice observed. “They really do hide everything in that armor.”

“I can tell that one’s a greater unicorn,” Suro pointed out.

“Well, you can’t hide a completely different body shape, obviously, but it’s amazing how much they try to push uniform unity.”

“I’m just glad they’re our allies,” Vaughan said, chuckling nervously. “Could you imagine, their army going after us?”

Suddenly, there was a cat shouting at them. She was obviously a native given the living vine around her neck and the “exotic” earrings running a line across her left ear.

“Uh…” Alice quickly started flipping through the book. “Something about… doom? Uh… disaster? I don’t…”

“Perhaps I can help,” a shroomer with a blue mushroom cap said, droning in his race’s signature slow, methodical manner, though he spoke Karli with a slight accent. He wore a coat of living vines that were currently flowering with yellow petals, but he also wore the signature necklace of a Keeper, with two white trails of fabric coming off his back replacing the usual robes. He spoke to the cat in Naust, calming her down. Instead of shouting at Vaughan and the others, she opted to let out an angry hiss and prod away.

“Sorry about that,” the shroomer said. “Usually those who aren’t fans of outsiders stay away from Embassy Island.”

“We are in your debt,” Alice said, bowing.

“You lot are from Kroan, you should know we Keepers don’t do this for payment.”

“Well… that’s how it should be…”

The Keeper let out a long laugh with lengthy pauses between each moment of sound. “Indeed, my child. I am Keeper Dimmrivoi. I was born in the Tempest long before your people showed us the light of the outside world. I am both thankful and resentful of all you’ve done.”

Suro blinked. “R-resentful?”

“Oh, you have shown us the light of Dia, but your governmental nonsense is quite ruining the way of the Tempest. Simple as that.” He shrugged.

“Was that why the cat was shouting at us?" Alice asked.

“Partially,” Dimmrivoi said. “There are also the prophecies about the coming disaster.”

“Oh, I read about this…” Alice said. “The Tempest’s culture places great emphasis on seers and prophets.”

“Yes, and lately those prophecies have become more and more heralds of doom,” Dimmrivoi said. “The Guardian Spirit blesses few with the gift so see the future. I myself am one of them.”

This stunned everyone into silence.

Dimmrivoi let out another one of his slow laughs. “Did you think just because I became a Keeper that the visions would stop? No, they continued.”

“And what do you see?” Vaughan asked, curious.

“Destruction. I certainly hope that cat was wrong and you three aren’t the cause of it all. I have not seen you in the visions, and such things can easily be misinterpreted by the hasty who resent the presence of outsiders in their land.” He paused—which, as he was a shroomer, was a silence that lasted for several seconds of awkwardness where everyone started to wonder if he was going to keep talking. “I see that you do not exactly trust my word, and that is understandable, in a land where the only prophecy comes from Dia Herself. But I hope, in time, you will come to see things from a new perspective.” He let out another slow laugh. “Or, you’re only here to see the sights and will be gone in a few days!”

“Actually, we’re here to help Suro set up a business in addition to seeing the sights,” Alice said.

“Oh? And what business is that?”

“Jeweler.”

“Oh my! You Kroanites always complain about a lack of arcane devices, you will be most welcomed. Getting a place to open your shop though will be difficult on this dense island… I believe you should bring it up with the Kroanite Embassy.”

“That is where we’re going,” Suro said.

“After we see more things on this island!” Alice added.

“Well, I wish you luck, and know you are always welcome in the Sanctuary.” Dimmrivoi nodded his mushroom cap to them and slowly plodded off, leaving the three to get back to their sightseeing.

~~~

The astronauts rested on the beach a full day. Nights were not very cold in the tropics, and the Tempest did not have any rain to worry about*, so simply taking out a tarp and tying it to the Moonshot was sufficient shelter—at least until they realized that the tide was coming in and out and they moved everything to a nearby rock jutting out of the sand, though Jeh was the one who dragged the Moonshot.

*A consequence of the hurricane is that there are virtually never any clouds above the Tempest’s islands, and thus no rain. This makes the heights of the larger islands quite dry. However, the life here is particularly suited to this situation, as there exist plant-like plasts that actively filter the seawater and mist it out into the air. They do this to reproduce, spreading far and wide, but it has a side-effect of dramatically increasing the humidity in the air, and it is this actively maintained humidity that drives the jungles of the Tempest. Many other plants are capable of subsisting off of seawater as well, however, they do not push water further up the coast, so if all the species of “plast misters” were to die off, the ecosystem would largely collapse, especially those on the sky islands, which are generally less verdant to begin with.

When the sun peaked above the clouds, indicating that midday had arrived, they finally decided it was time to get moving. They weren’t going to be able to drag the Moonshot with them so they prepared to leave it.

“This feels wrong…” Jeh said, hands on her hips. “We shouldn’t just leave it here.”

“You want to drag it?” Vaughan asked.

“Well… no I don’t think I could for very long.”

“And the rest of us haven’t fully recovered, so we’re not doing it.”

Jeh sighed, walking up to the Moonshot and placing a hand on its side. “You served us well, metal ball.”

“We’re not leaving it forever,” Blue said. “Remember, we do intend to drag it back.”

“Assuming no one steals it.”

“…How?”

Jeh blinked. “Um… steals the stuff inside of it?”

“We’re taking all the secret stuff.”

“Then… uh…” Jeh frowned. “Okay so maybe I’m worried for no reason but I’m still worried! I don’t wanna leave it!”

“I suppose you could stay and not explore the island with us…” Vaughan said.

Jeh paled. “No, no, this is better, got it.”

“That’s why one of us isn’t staying behind!” a twin offered.

“We wanna see everything too,” the other added.

“Yeah! So let’s get going a—hold on someone’s coming.”

“Good eye,” Keller said, pointing at the tropical treeline, from which a few cats and shroomers were emerging, all wearing the living vine-like clothes indicative of natives, though some of them also had chunks of armor on, or robes, indicating more of a blending with outside societies. All of them had weapons; one of them was even holding a Red scepter.

Vaughan put his hands into the air, letting out a shaky greeting in Naust.

A sphinx that was in the lead called back at him in a harsh tongue that was decidedly not Naust.

“Um…” Vaughan frowned. “They’re addressing me in Mikarol, and I don’t know that one… uh…” He called out in Naust. “I just told them we’re from Kroan.”

The sphinx seemed surprised at this information and asked a question in Naust.

Vaughan ground his teeth. “Not sure about that one… uh…” He tried to talk back in broken Naust.

Clearly the sphinx was getting annoyed. He let out a yowl, and everyone lowered their weapons, but his scowl kept deepening. He gestured at Vaughan and the others with his tail in a clear indication to follow him.

“We think it’s in our best interests to do as he says,” the twins said.

“Agreed,” Keller said. “Be careful, though, we don’t know what they are doin'. They could be arrestin’ us for all we know.”

“They did lower their weapons,” Blue pointed out.

“That don’t mean much.”

The six of them followed the natives into the jungle. There was a loose footpath through the trees, which was fortunate, because even after resting none of them were quite accustomed to Ikyu’s gravity yet. Their obvious exhaustion and weakness clearly confused the natives, but with the existence of the language barrier that Vaughan couldn’t do much to break through, there wasn’t much that could be done.

The jungle itself was composed mostly of trees with thin trunks and wide, spread out leaves. The vines that the natives used to make most of their clothes were everywhere, a plant that required no roots, just that the air be filled with water and nutrients. They grew in rings, usually attached to trees but occasionally attached to other vines or on top of a floating mushroom. They came across sparse evidence of the romkar fruit plant, though none of the fruit themselves, just the large, gnarled, and thorny vines—though the thorns were so large it wasn’t hard to avoid them. In addition to buds that might one day turn into romkars, at the tips of several thorns there was a little blue light that flickered on and off.

“Wow, glowing and floating…” Jeh said.

Vaughan nodded. “We’re not sure what purpose the glowing serves, admittedly, and the Green wizards who like to study such things don’t get much opportunity considering how important it is to the ecosystem. Last I knew the few studies that had been done were unable to find any pattern to the glowing sections, merely that each individual romkar plant has at least one, even those that were newly sprouted.”

“A mystery… you know, if we weren’t exploring space mysteries, this would be a pretty good one to look at!”

“There are never enough wizards to go around,” Vaughan said with a chuckle. “Mysteries everywhere just begging to be solved…”

The journey through the jungle was rather uneventful aside from the natives’ clear annoyance at the slow astronauts. The astronauts, however, were having a great time. The sounds of the jungle were like music with rattles, tropical bird calls, and strange sparkling sounds coming from the distance. There was always some kind of sweet aroma in the air from some kind of fruit or other, and every now and then they would walk into a mist cloud made by an unusual plast. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the shape or color of the plasts that did this, but they all appeared rooted to the ground.

Vaughan was the only one who had seen all this before, so his wonder was less than the others—but his nostalgia was much higher. He had spent a long time here. As chaotic as it was, there was a time where he had considered settling down here rather than Willow Hollow, but… well, that hadn’t happened. He did not regret his decision in the slightest, but the memories of this place were still powerful.

Eventually, they broke out into a clearing, inside of which was a small town, smaller even than Willow Hollow. The huts were made of wood and held together with vines, and the population was made almost entirely of shroomers and cat-like races, which was standard for the Tempest natives. There was, however, a single ice-blue kitsune who clearly didn’t belong, wearing a fuzzy hat of clear Shimvale design.

“Please tell me you speak Karli,” he said.

“We do!” Jeh called, holding her hands wide.

“Oh thank the Blue,” he said, flicking his six tails in unison. “I have been going crazy not being able to know what’s going on, no one here speaks anything but Naust and whatever those Mikarol morons speak.”

“…I’m afraid I’m very bad at Naust and it has already caused us problems,” Vaughan said. “…We don’t know what’s going on either, we kind of crashed here yesterday.”

The kitsune stared at him. Then he started laughing. “Of course, of course, I finally get someone to talk to and they can’t even tell me what’s going on. Agh! Just my luck, isn’t that right Coco?”

“Coco” was a coconut with a badly drawn smiley face on it hanging from the kitsune’s side.

“…You talk to a coconut,” Blue deadpanned.

“What else was I gonna do, forget how to talk!?” the kitsune shouted back.

“That’s not how that…” Blue looked at Jeh. “Never mind. I’m Blue, this is Vaughan…” Blue proceeded to introduce everyone. “And we’re the Wizard Space Program, operating out of Kroan. We kind of fell out of the sky.”

The kitsune stared at her.

“If you want proof our ship is on the beach.”

“I’m trying to judge how insane you are and how afraid I should be.”

“Ah, so what we’re doing with you and ‘Coco.’ “

“Stop insulting Coco!”

Vaughan coughed. “Perhaps we can stop being so hostile and learn your name?”

“Intraveki,” he said, huffing. “And now, allow me to ‘welcome’ you to Chaosville! Where things are chaotic, everyone’s on edge, and it feels like disaster is around every corner but I can’t tell why.”

“Disaster?” Blue asked.

“He’s right,” Keller said. “Everyone here’s on edge and has weapons. They don’t view us as a threat, but they’re afraid o' somethin’.”

Vaughan scratched his beard. “I wonder what it could be…”

“Same here!” Intraveki called. “Oh don’t I wish I knew! I was sitting in my home, minding my own business, when suddenly it was on fire and I had to run for my life into the jungle, lived off my wits for a few days before ending up here!”

“Fire…?” Vaughan frowned. “Hard to get fire here…”

“I know, but there was fire. You say you fell from the sky, I say there was fire. Kapeesh?”

“Still, there has to be a cause to something like that. Something… I don’t know,” Vaughan tapped his foot. “Anyway, this is civilization, I think I can manage to express that I want passage to Embassy Island…”

“Oh, I know enough Naust phrases to ask for that. They refuse. Some of them have the decency to look apologetic when they refuse. You truly are useless, aren’t you?”

The twins put their hands to their chins. “We would suggest looking for a bigger settlement..."

"...but we need to figure out what all this unrest is about first.”

Keller nodded. “It’s somethin’ dangerous, somethin’ they think they can fight with weapons. Perhaps there’s a monster about, one o’ those that don’t follow the rules.”

“Pepper’s specialty,” Vaughan said.

“Alternatively, there’s a war going on we’ve walked into.”

Vaughan shook his head. “Since the Tempest Incident the Tempest has been peaceful, nobody wants t—”

A very, very loud horn was blown in the center of town, drowning out Vaughan’s words. Suddenly, everyone was shouting and running around, listening to the calls of a shadow cat with some kind of gold laurel on her head. She used her race’s attribute to sink into the ground as a shadow and appear at the front of the forming line of people. It was clearly some kind of military tactic, expecting an assault from the East.

They did not have to wait long at all. As the horn was dying down, it was already possible to hear the trampling and the clanking of the approaching assault. Vaughan stared in disbelief as a very small section of the Mikarol Army came charging through. They were made almost entirely of humanoids in full, spiked armor emblazoned with the symbol of their people. Vaughan quickly identified the equivalent of wizards in their ranks, the bladecasters, from their brightly colored swords sharpened with Colored Crystal. Otherwise there was basically nothing to tell one soldier from another, there weren’t even any greater unicorns in this particular squad. Chances were that, behind the armor, there were humans, gari, nekos, and any other number of humanoid races, but right now they attacked as a single, cohesive unit.

It was the Empire’s strength, this Unity, and it was on full display as they crashed into the hastily slapped-together and inexperienced forces of the native population.

It was clear they didn’t stand a chance.

~~~

It had actually not been that hard to set up a little shop for Suro on Embassey Island, actual proper jewelers were in short supply in the Tempest and most of them that were there were in the direct employ of their respective governments. Suro filled a public niche that was very much welcomed by the other “outside” nations.

However, natives almost never came to his shop. Arcane devices had never been common in the Tempest, and the mines weren’t very rich except on the mountain the Guardian Spirit lived in, which was considered a no-go zone by many, even those who didn’t believe she existed, seeing as it was extremely dry and arid that far into the largest island. Also, there was the “small” matter of the volcanic activity.

Alice and Vaughan had decided to stick around. Suro was decidedly not enough to keep up with the demands of Embassy Island, and the two of them had education he didn’t. Sure, he could craft crystals into precise shapes, but Alice was extremely knowledgeable about Magenta optimization, and Vaughan, while less helpful, was still able to do professional designs, reviews, and manage crystals.

“You know,” Vaughan said as he packed some Red crystal powder into a cubic mold. “This is not what I had in mind when we set out.”

Alice chuckled as she examined a diagram of a Magenta relay she was working on. “Wanted to be the big wizard in town, did we?”

“Well, I wanted to go where I was needed…” Seeing her look, he relented. “Okay, fine, I did want to be the big wizard that everyone relied on.”

“And yet, here, we’re not the big wizards, there’s lots of wizards, we’re just two in a sea… but the world around us is so exciting! And we do pretty well, though…” She glanced at the pile of mixed currency. “I’m really not sure how much we actually make. Suro says it’s a lot.”

“Hey, trust him to handle the finances, it is his business.”

Alice ran her hand through the currencies. Essentially all of them were crystal-based, with the exception of the shell-carved currency of the natives, which she didn’t have much of, and the metal coins of Vraskal.

At that moment, a customer came in, a greater unicorn in nearly-full Mikarol armor, merely lacking the helmet, revealing a black coat that matched his mane and brilliant white irises that did not.

“Ah, Dramais!” Vaughan called with a grin. “Let me guess, your sword?”

“You know me so well.” The soldier lightly placed his arcane blade on the table. It was mostly of a refined metal, but running through it and sharpening its edges was a bunch of Yellow crystal, but a good chunk of the crystal was missing and cracked off.

“You know, you don’t have to train with the real blade,” Alice said. “Then we wouldn’t have to keep fixing it for you.”

“It just isn’t the same! Plus, I have money to blow on it, why are you complaining?” Dramais chuckled.

“Just don’t want you to waste anything,” Alice said. “…Though secretly I totally approve of feeling the thrill of the live weapon, it just so happens that mine is a big scepter and not a sword.” She ran her fingers along the edge of the blade. “This shouldn’t take long, it’s not even as badly damaged as usual.”

“Eh, I would have waited longer, it’s just that we’ve got a big drill coming up and I don’t want to disappoint the General.”

“Captain of your own ship, still groveling,” Vaughan shook his head as his wife took the blade into the back for Suro to start working on. “Does it ever stop?”

“My friend, you still do not understand the ways of the Empire, after so long? The ‘groveling’ as you so insultingly call it—careful, a man less amiable than I would likely do unspeakable things to you upon hearing such a word and understanding it—it is part of our very being. The only man who does not ‘grovel’ is the Emperor himself, and it is argued that even he is subject to the legacy of his predecessors and the Law.”

“Just seems a little soul-crushing to me, is all,” Vaughan said. “Never able to be your own self…”

“It seems you have forgotten some of Dia’s teaching, the self is the enemy, Vaughan.”

“Eh, I suppose, but freedom is also a virtue.”

“We are free as well, I was not required to be a soldier. It is simply the most honorable of occupations… to us, I suppose. To you Kroanites, the wizards are the greatest height the common man can reach.”

“You’re a bit of a wizard yourself, bladecaster,” Vaughan smirked. “Though your choice of Color still baffles me.”

“Yellow can be very effective in the heat of battle.”

“People still have to accept your connection.”

Dramais smirked. “You’d be surprised how easy it is to fool people on the battlefield. In the chaos, many opportunities present themselves. If I tried to do anything to you right now, naturally you would resist it easily. But if it was in the midst of chaos and your vision was red and you were desperate for some kind of release from the death around you… oh, that’s a weakness easy to exploit with a little deception.”

“If you say so,” Vaughan said with a shrug.

“I do! Ah, I so wish you could see me on the battlefield, but those are so rare here.” He smiled sadly. “We all fight for the glory of the Empire and peace. But when there is peace, the glory is lessened. The paradox of the Empire.”

“Pretty sure seeming paradoxical truths are just part of life, at least that’s what I’ve been told.” Vaughan shrugged. “They don’t bother me so much.”

“Perhaps when you see battle, your opinion will change, my friend. And the—” Dramais paused. “Get down!”

Vaughan got down just as the front doors were blown open with Red magic. Five cats rushed in, shouting “death to the bringers of doom!” at the top of their lungs, brandishing spears tipped with Red.

Dramais’ armor had absorbed most of the explosion, but his face had been burned. He also did not have his blade. This, as he would say, just made it a more enjoyable challenge. He used his telekinesis to pin one of the cats to a wall while he twisted his hind legs forward, bucking two cats directly in the jaws and throwing them aside. The two remaining cats were shocked at such a display. One ran, but the other had enough spirit within him to charge Dramais.

“Aha!” Dramais grinned. “I appreciate your fighting spirit! You are a credit to your people!” Nonetheless, despite the cat’s fervor and intensity, he was easily thrown aside by a swing from Dramais’ front hoof. The cat's spear made contact with his armor but did nothing more than scratch it.

Vaughan popped out from behind the counter, his scepter at the ready… finding nothing to attack. “…You know, you could have left some for me to deal with.”

“Hah! And let you take the glory?”

Alice and Suro ran out from the back room.

“They blew up the doors this time!?” Alice shouted. “Ugh, at this point they’re going to give us a reason to become the doom of their people, I swear…”

Keeper Dimmrivoi poked his capped head in through the open doors. “I really am quite sorry about all this.”

“Not your fault,” Suro said. “Never is.”

“I have the gift of prophecy, I aim to use it to calm them, and my efforts have clearly not been working.” He shook his head. “Young people, so quick to jump to an interpretation and stick to it…”

“There’s no way it’s just prophecy,” Alice grunted. “People are taking advantage of people’s trust and growing hatred of the outsiders…”

“That would imply that there are false seers, and that has always been punishable by death, everywhere in the Tempest.”

“And yet your history is full of them, isn’t it?”

Dimmrivoi nodded slowly.

“You lot should stop putting your trust in prophecies anyway,” Dramais said as he rounded up the cats. “And no, I don’t mean putting trust into that crazy conspiracy wall of yours, Keeper.”

Dimmrivoi chuckled. “You can judge me all you want, but the shapes mean something. There’s a reason the Gonal gods are associated with shapes. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a secret Cora cabal somewhere in the Tempest. See, there’s…”

“Keeper, spare us your conspiracy theories, please,” Alice said.

“Ah, well, one day you’ll see I’m right. Until then, I wish you luck and hope they’re all wrong about you becoming the doom of everything.”

“Seriously, how would we do that?” Alice asked. “I want to know what they think we’re going to do.”

Dimmrivoi shrugged. “Their faith is strong, they do not need a justification beyond believing that it will happen. Though, if they stopped to think for two seconds, they would know that the visions won’t be stopped by anything they do. Until later, my friends. I’ll send some of the Keeper Apprentices to help with the door.”

With that, he was gone.

“So…” Suro said. “Do we believe the prophecy visions exist yet?”

Alice put her hands to her head. “I don’t know, all right? Dimmrivoi’s clearly insane, but he’s well trusted by the people here for the ‘prophecies,’ despite his tendency to think everything’s a conspiracy wrapped in a conspiracy. But he might just be insane and smart enough to derive meaning out of it. Then there are all the other seers who seem to be getting the idea that we specifically are the problem and UGH.” Alice flopped into a chair and looked to the ceiling, expression blank.

Vaughan wordlessly started rubbing her shoulders and back.

Eventually, she started talking again. “I’m trying to think about what could actually cause visions of the future aside from Dia. Demons, supposedly, but that doesn’t line up with anything we’ve seen. Blue magic doesn’t grant any predictive powers. And the prophecies come to different people, so it’s not a racial attribute! It’s…” She paused. “I suppose it could be a very large Purple Crystalline One, sending visual information out… but then why would the prophecies be accurate?”

“Perhaps they are not,” Dramais suggested. “History is filled with false prophets, yes? Perhaps visions are sent out with a variety of different predictions, but only some of them turn out to be right.”

“Hmm… there’s a thought… still, a Purple Crystalline one large enough to send visions to the entire Tempest?” Alice shook her head. “Absurd.”

“Such a being would be worthy of being called a Guardian Spirit, though, wouldn’t you say?”

“And would be able to do a lot more than just send visions. If there really is some kind of conspiracy going on to eject us ‘outsiders’ from the land, she could just come out and burn us with her light.” Alice tapped her fingers on the countertop. “And I don’t like sounding like one of Dimmrivoi’s conspiracy rants. So either there is a conspiracy… or there isn’t, and all the ‘prophets’ are either insane, liars, or taking vivid dreams too seriously.”

“The second option still means there’s a conspiracy from the liars to root us out,” Suro pointed out.

Alice groaned. “I’m a girl who wants to do research and adventure. I did not sign up for international politics kerfuffle.”

“Want to go back to Kroan?” Vaughan asked.

“…No, not yet, because now that I’m in international politics kerfuffle I’m curious and want to know what’s going on. My curiosity has piqued and I have to see how this goes. …If it goes anywhere.”

“It is somewhat likely this just remains the way things are for a while,” Suro said.

“…We do have the rest of our Kroan border tour to do…” Alice said. “Giddy, are you ready to go?”

Vaughan paused. “I don’t know. I don’t think I feel good leaving Suro here alone yet. He’ll need some more security, or workers, or something.”

“Right. Suro, don’t worry, we’re sticking around until we can be sure you’re stable.”

“You don’t have to do that for me…” Suro said.

“Of course not, but we’re going to do it anyway! You can count on it!”

~~~

A Blue bladecaster cut down one of the native cats so quickly his blade lit on fire.

Vaughan lifted his scepter in response, but before he could do anything Keller slapped it down. “What are ya doing!?”

“Helping these people?”

“Do ya want a war with Mikarol?”

“W—are you serious?”

“He is,” one of the twins said as several other natives were cut down. As of yet not a single Mikarol soldier had fallen.

“Engaging in combat against an ally with a Crown representative…” the other town continued.

“Could cause international war.”

Vaughan huffed. “There was fighting in the last Tempest Incident, war didn’t break out!”

“Ya were lucky,” Keller said. “And I don’t think I need t’ tell ya that the situation was unusual.”

“While we’re talking people are dying!” Blue shouted. “We can’t jus—”

“Don’t,” Keller said. “I decree.”

Blue stared at him in disbelief. He had never used the authority given to him by the Crown before on them. But if they disobeyed now it would be almost as bad as disobeying a direct command from the Crown itself. “Well then what do we do?”

“Wait for one o’ them t’ attack us,” Keller said, crossing his arms, examining the quickly deteriorating front.

Blue blinked a few times. “Eh…?”

“He’s thinking several steps ahead,” one of the twins explained.

“If we are not the aggressor, and we make clear we are from Kroan’s Crown…”

“…if an attack still occurs, which he thinks is likely, we are fully justified in our actions at that point.”

Keller chuckled. “Smart girls.”

“But people are dying while we wait!” Blue shouted.

“Ya o’ all people should know not to rush int’ things,” Keller said.

Blue folded her ears back.

“Ah, here comes one…”

A Magenta bladecaster pushed through the front and charged right at them.

Keller took out the emblem of the Crown. He may not have known much Mikarol, but he knew how to say “I am an Agent of the Crown of Kroan, actions carried out on me are treated as performed on the Crown itself.” Every Agent had to memorize a few legal lines like that in all the common languages of the world.

The soldier hesitated, making it clear that he had heard Keller, and understood. But he continued to attack anyway.

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“Thought so.” Magenta sparks began to waft off of Keller and he took out his arcane firearm, pulling the trigger in the middle of moving it. With a loud bang a bullet was released, shooting the warrior right in the head. The bullet pierced through the armor like it was butter. He fell in an instant.

“Y’all can fight now, but it’s prolly not gonna be necessary,” Keller said, twirling his arcane firearm around his finger. “None o’ these are very high rankin’.” With amazing elegance and grace, he twirled around on one foot. It looked like he was shooting entirely randomly, but every single bullet he shot hit a Mikarol soldier right in the head, taking them out in the most efficient way possible.

Now that Blue had the permission to “fight” she realized she didn’t have much to do that with and was completely terrified. The twins were hiding behind her… but a quick look revealed that they weren’t afraid at all, they were just studying.

Jeh and Vaughan, meanwhile, launched right into the fight. Blue had a moment of “Jeh what are you doing!?” before remembering that there was no such thing as danger to the child. She took out her bear claws and started jumping on soldiers, ripping off their helmets and slicing at what was underneath. She uncovered humans, gari, some kind of beady-eyed creature Blue had never seen before…

Then there was Vaughan. After he had used Red to fuse pieces of plate armor together from a distance, he became concerned with stopping any and all soldiers who tried to make their way to the group. He focused on burning the feet of those charging—they showed a remarkable ability to push through pain, but there was a limit where they just collapsed.

However, he was not perfect, and the enemy soldiers were experienced. Some got close enough to him to take a swing.

Those that did never completed their swing, for a bullet from Keller was all that was needed. He never let a single one through, and he actively took up the offensive. He alone was taking on the company of soldiers, more or less, and it was the first time any of them had seen him truly show what he was capable of. He never missed. He was never struck. He didn’t even look strained.

“What kind of monster is he!?” Intraveki asked, jaw hanging open.

The twins giggled, speaking in unison. “Behold, an Agent of the Crown!”

“And… that girl! Why isn’t she dead!?”

“Don’t know that one,” the twins admitted.

“Who are you people?”

“The Wizard Space Program,” Blue said. “Believe us yet?”

The kitsune glared at her in annoyance.

At that point, a Purple-enhanced sword flew from out of the treeline, encased in what was clearly a telekinetic aura. Keller, despite having his back turned to it, jumped right over it, landing on his feet and not even losing his hat. “Ah, someone skilled has shown up…”

The telekinetic blade returned to its owner, a greater unicorn in full Mikarol armor. Unlike all the others, this one had two blades, one was the Purple one, but the other was Orange. Unlike the others, who all tried to use their blades at close range even if the magic within could act at a distance, this unicorn knew full well how to project the abilities. The Purple blade started scrambling the light entering Keller’s eyes, and the Orange one pushed him back, giving the attacker an opening.

The blades thrust forward in the telekinetic aura, going right for Keller’s chest… and somehow missing, piercing only his clothes.

“And they say my luck doesn’t exist,” Keller said with a chuckle, shooting at the unicorn. The unicorn had enough mastery over Orange that the bullet was deflected, but it still hit another Mikarol soldier in the head. With his free hand, Keller grabbed one of the blades nearest to him. He was no real wizard, but he knew how to make a Purple blade shine really bright and blind people.

Granted, it blinded him too, but seeing wasn’t really a thing he needed to do much of at the moment.

When the light cleared, most of the Mikarol soldiers were down, and it was getting to the point that the remaining natives could gang up on one and have a decent chance of success. The greater unicorn, however, was still standing, and had enough telekinetic power to wrestle the sword out of Keller’s hand. An attempt was made to cut Keller with the sword right then and there, but the Agent flipped under the sword, twisting to the side so all it cut was the edges of his hair. With this dodge, he flipped forward, following the sword back to the unicorn, dodging the attack from the second one by twisting in midair.

He landed right in front of the unicorn and pressed his gun to the helmet. “Easy now.”

The unicorn did not listen, Keller could see the slight leg twitches that were the start of a desperate attack. However, he did not get to pull the trigger, for a hammer came from seemingly out of nowhere and slammed into the unicorn’s head, creating a small depression in the ground.

“Well, fancy running into you all here!” the owner of the hammer said as she stood tall on top of the possibly-dead greater unicorn. “Let’s chat when we’re done here!” She gave Keller a wink with her big eyes and charged into the few remaining Mikarol forces, slamming her hammer into the one Jeh was currently on.

Jeh squealed in delight. “Envila!”

“The one and only!” Envila slammed her hammer into the ground, sending out a minor shockwave that upset the footing of everyone, but as the Mikarol now had so few members it was decidedly to their disadvantage.

“Your strength’s completely back, right?”

“Absolutely! Just in time to get pulled into battle, Dia really does love Her sense of timing!”

It was at this point that, finally, the Mikarol began to flee. It was like a switch had turned on in their minds, and all of them that could run started doing so. The natives pursued some of them, but Keller and Envila did not.

Once she was satisfied there was no more danger, Envila collapsed her hammer and started using Green to heal as many people as possible. “So. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you all fell from the sky?”

“Yes,” Vaughan said, doing his best to aid her in her healing efforts. “Well, everyone except Intraveki here, he was here before.”

“I thought he looked familiar…”

“I d-do?” Intraveki stammered.

“Probably saw you around before the chaos went down,” Envila explained.

“What… chaos has gone down?” Blue asked. “We still have no idea what’s going on! The Mikarol Empire is our ally, they’re our friends!”

“Afraid I can’t explain to you why they’re doing what they’re doing, but I can explain what. A couple weeks ago, for seemingly no reason, the entire Mikarol presence in the Tempest mobilized and attacked, taking out messenger stations first. They timed it well, because none of the Ocean Mother’s children are here so they can’t fly out, and all of the Kroan specialty qorvid messengers were having a meeting that was utterly massacred. Nothing that can fly through the Wall remains, and the Mikarol ships are patrolling. You can’t see them, they all rest just inside the Wall, shrouded by the storm.”

“My goodness…” Blue said.

“Yes.” Envila sighed. “I still don’t know why they’re doing it this way, they know that this level of escalation is going to lead to international war. They seem not to care about treaties or who gets in the way, and while this is arguably an invasion for adding the Tempest to the Empire, as far as I can tell no infrastructure is being raised and no demands have been made. It doesn’t make any sense, and any Mikarol I’ve interrogated are just following orders under the impression of empire expansion, they have no large-scale plans, only ways to take the specific parts of the islands they’re on, and orders to show no partiality to anyone.”

Keller folded his arms. “Intelligence suggests the Emperor holds our alliance in very high regard, so either this is being done without his consent, which is crazy, or he doesn’t think we’ll ever find out, which is also crazy.”

“Ah… you. Agent, right?” Envila asked.

“Yes. Agent Keller, at your service, ma’am.”

“Ooh, a charmer.” Envila smirked. “One of these days your confidence will be your undoing.”

“Hasn’t let me down yet.”

“Give it time.” Envila let out a breath. “So, anyway… I’ve been trying to defend the people from this unprovoked invasion, but I’m just one woman, and the Mikarol war machine is… very efficient. This was just a small force going after a little town on a minor island. But you all have been brought here, which makes me think you might have a solution. The ships are patrolling the water and the Wall is treacherous… but, perhaps, do you have the capability to fly right out through the top?”

Blue winced. “The Moonshot’s drive is busted and it’s got holes and… well…” She paused. “Actually… we were still able to control it as we were falling. We don’t need to go to space, just above the Wall…” She scratched her chin. “If we had a team of strong Orange Wizards and a lot of Orange Crystal, it probably could take us over the Wall. I wouldn’t trust it for very long, though.”

“At that point a sphinx could fly the rest of the way and get a message to Kroan,” Envila said. “It’ll be good enough.” She crossed her arms. “If we can somehow drag the Moonshot to the main island, I know there are enough people there to work with, and it is the site of the only good crystal mines in the Tempest.”

“You… you’re going to try to go to the main island!?” Intraveki stammered. “How!?”

“I have a boat,” Envila pointed out. “And while the waters are dangerous, I know enough to prove we’re not the enemy.”

“But the Moonshot is really heavy…” Blue muttered.

“We’ll figure something out,” Envila said. “That is, assuming you’re on board with my plan to get word about what’s happening out of here?”

“Oh, yes, we’re on boa—” Vaughan stopped himself. “Actually, as this is not a space related decision, I suppose I have to ask Keller. What do you think?”

Keller lit up a smoke and put it in his mouth. He took a long moment to breathe in and out. “…Yeah, let’s do it.”

Jeh blinked. “That was all you had to say? Why the pause?”

“Dramatic tension.”

~~~

“This is weird,” Vaughan said, standing on the deck of a Mikarol ship, the private ship of Dramais nonetheless.

“What’s weird?” Alice asked, letting her hair blow in the sea breeze.

“I think the fact that we’re taking a vacation on a vacation is what he’s getting at,” Suro said.

Vaughan nodded. “We come to the Tempest to get away from Kroan a bit and explore the border… but then we end up working with Suro so much that we need to take a vacation to the main island.” He frowned. “They really need to name it.”

“They literally call it ‘main island’ in their language,” Alice said.

“But it’s… I don’t know it’s just not… you know?”

Alice gave him a nice, simple, serene smile. “Not at all.”

“Bah,” Vaughan grunted.

“My, not even a hint of gray in your beard and you already sound like an old man.”

“You should use your youth while you have it!” Dramais called, walking up to them.

Vaughan waved to him. “Don’t you have captaining things to do?”

“Do you think a Captain is always active all the time on a voyage?”

“Um…”

“Well, we’re not, we have time to ourselves as well.” He let out a hearty laugh. “I’ll have to show you around Tin’nit when we arrive. They don’t call them ‘temples’ but those monuments to the Guardian Spirit are something spectacular! And you won’t even have to watch your back, I’ll be there to protect you!”

“I don’t think we need protection,” Alice said with a huff. “Both of us are accomplished wizards with accreditation in all the Colors.”

“Let him feel important, Alice,” Vaughan said with a smile.

“Oooh, wily, the lot of you,” Dramais said. “Except for you, Suro, you’re very… calm, yet while I write you off as a follower first, I know what you’re really doing now. You’re watching, observing, learning.”

“Um… thanks?” Suro said.

“You should take it as a compliment!”

“I’ll… try.”

“You two should be careful, it’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for.”

Both Vaughan and Alice started laughing.

Suro flicked his tail. “I am unsure how I am supposed to feel about this.”

“Just relax,” Alice suggested.

“I’m not sure I’ve relaxed since we got here. Business is good but this place…” Suro shivered.

“Hence why we’re going on vacation vacation!”

“To a place where people might hate us for existing, mhm, yep, definitely gonna be able to relax.”

“Hey! Don’t group all the natives together like that, some of them like us. In fact I’d bet it’s just a violent minority that are after us.”

“It’s the minority I’m worried about.”

“We need to find a way to assure you…”

Dramais clicked his tongue. “I think the best way is just to have him experience Tin’nit and find that nothing goes wrong. Exposure therapy!”

“…Mikarol has exposure therapy?” Alice asked.

“Oh, yes, one of the best ways to get soldiers used to battle is to throw them into it with a very experienced overseer to keep them from dying. Works wonders! Went through it myself!”

At this point one of the armored soldiers came up to Dramais and gave a report about the condition of the rudder. This was not all that surprising, except it was clearly a woman’s voice coming from inside the armor. After she walked away, Vaughan turned to Dramais. “I don’t think I’d heard a single woman in your army before now.”

“It’s just not common,” Dramais said. “The men go to battle, the women manage the people, usually. The fact that your men and women seem to have no clear distinction between them in Kroan is baffling to me, I do wonder how you do it.”

“I think it’s because we have so many races,” Alice said. “Each race has different natural tendencies. While you can’t physically tell a slime man from a slime woman, the men are usually quieter and the women tend to have more energy, for instance. The difference is distinct in every race, so when your kingdom is formed of probably a hundred different kinds of people with no clear dominance, you end up with blurred societal lines. While you have many races, you have a very clear human dominance, yes?”

Dramais nodded. “It is true, humans are the vast majority of our people, and the rest are mostly humanoid as well. We greater unicorns are a bit of an exception, but we are just so good at battle. You know what, you just made me realize something, most of the women I see in the army are greater unicorns! Hah! You might be onto something, Alice!”

“I spend a lot of time thinking,” Alice said. “Thinking about the way things are… the world is an intricate, confusing, and wonderful place. Down to the smallest pieces of matter to the large-scale behaviors of the spirited to the way the stars twinkle in the sky… the only way to understand them is to think.”

Vaughan put an arm around his wife’s shoulders.

Suro tilted his head at Alice. “Then why do you run into things without thinking so much?”

“Oh, living in the moment is fun! Come on, you gotta admit, we get into a lotta fun situations because of that!”

“I wouldn’t describe most of them as fun…”

“Hold that thought,” Dramais said, looking at the horizon. “There are some ships coming our way… oh, merchants.”

Alice clapped her hands. “Oh, goodie! Those traveling merchant types always have the best goods!”

“Hmm…” Dramais narrowed his eyes. “There has been talk of piracy lately, we should be careful. Ringwam!”

A humanoid in full armor ran up to him, the clanking inside the armor making it clear he was a rigid. “Yes, Captain?”

“Take the skiff out to meet them, tell me if they seem legit, or if they look like pirates.”

“Will do!” Ringwam jumped into the small skiff and paddled out to the merchant ships. It was a long journey and so everyone just had to… wait while this went down.

“I sure hope they aren’t pirates,” Alice said. “I’d like to be the one shopping for once…”

“I don’t think pirates would be so brazen,” Suro said. “This is a Mikarol military ship, we have weapons. …Right?”

Dramais chuckled. “Oh, yes, if they are stupid pirates they’re going to get a cannonball to the face. Repeatedly. In fact they’d probably be good practice for my men, we don’t see much action here. …Now I kind of want them to be pirates.”

Dramais was not given his wish, for Ringwam returned without incident. “Nothing suspicious, Captain, just some native merchants. They’ve apparently recently purchased a good stock of Vraskalian spice.”

“Oooooh…” Dramais smacked his lips. “Maybe I’ll buy something… All right everyone, change course to meet up with the merchant ships! I hope you brought some cash, who knows what we’ll be buying?”

Soon the ship had met up with the merchants and planks were set so people could walk between the various decks. It was somewhat peculiar, as there were three merchant ships made of wood and vines, and they were all larger than the Mikarol ship, but the MIkarol ship was made of metal and had a lot more weapons. The three merchant ships were crewed primarily by cats. The effective captain of all three vessels was an elegant, refined, and well-spoken white cat who placed herself above them by sitting on top of a barrel.

“Greetings, outsiders,” she said, giving them all a warm smile. “Both Dia and the Guardian Spirit clearly shine upon you, for you have been fortunate enough to encounter the greatest trading vessels in the Tempest. My name… is Lila.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Alice said with a curtsy. “I’m Alice, this is Vaughan, Captain Dramais who I probably should have let introduce himself but it’s too late now, and Suro.”

Lila looked down at Suro. “Well, aren’t you cute.”

Suro folded his ears back. “Ex-excuse me?”

“Oh, easy to fluster too, you’ll do nicely.” Lila chuckled. “Anyway, all prices are negotiable, so be sure to haggle. It’s the most fun part. Since you seem the sort to have… refined tastes, I shall go below and procure some of our more valuable materials. So don’t go spending everything immediately!”

“Oh no, how ever will we manage?” Alice asked.

“One wonders.” With that Lila jumped down and went below decks, leaving them to their shopping.

And what a large selection of goods it was. There was Vraskalian spice, yes, something Vaughan and the others had never even tasted before, romkar fruit that was ready to be cooked and eaten, some collectible figurines of legendary warriors from Mikarol, some literature from Shimvale, and even a Kroanite imaging device.

“Wow, they really do have it all,” Suro said, looking around with wide eyes.

“I’m surprised I’ve never heard of them!” Dramais said. “Any merchant vessel this well stocked… oh my goodness, that’s Irene the First!” He picked up one of the figurines. “There aren’t many Empresses who ruled without an Emperor, but she was one of them and boy was she the most legendary! Why, she’s the reason Ankho doesn’t exist anymore! Such a complete conquest… and this is a rare figure how even…”

One of the cats smirked. “How much you willin’ to part with?”

Dramais slammed several MIkarol coins on to the crate. “This do?”

“Hmm, that’s a tad low…”

“This is enough money to buy a ship!”

“And you have one of those.”

“Oooh, you play dirty…”

Vaughan picked up one of the Shimvale books, one discussing the nature of government and the philosophy of the people. It went over his head, but at least it sounded interesting.

“Hey, buddy, this isn’t a library.”

“Oh, sorry…” Vaughan put the book down. “How much?”

“Make an offer.”

“Oh, dear. I’m bad at this, uh…” He took out a few coins and put them down. “…I haven’t even counted…”

“Sold!” the cat quickly swiped the coins away and gave him the book.

“…I have probably been scammed,” Vaughan said.

“Probably,” Suro said. “But at least you have a book now!”

“Yeah… something to read, I suppose.” He put it in the folds of his robe.

The boat began to rock. Vaughan blinked. Big waves didn’t happen in the Tempest unless something caused them…

Suddenly, a sea serpent emerged from the water, its green, scaly complexion shimmering in the light of the sun. Its head was as large as Dramais’ ship.

“A sea serpent!? This close to land!?” Dramais shouted. “Men, take i—”

The sea serpent didn’t give them time to respond. It opened its mouth and chomped down on Dramais’ ship, dragging it beneath the water. Most of the soldiers hadn’t even been on the boat, and the few that were managed to jump ship prior to the monster’s attack. Their armor was heavy, so many sank, but Vaughan, Alice, some Mikarol bladecasters, and a few of the merchant cats used Orange to pull them out.

The sea serpent did not reemerge from the water. All became calm on the Tempest seas.

“How… that was extremely… I don’t even…” Dramais tilted his head to the side. “Sea serpents don’t do that…”

“At least we have our lives and it apparently only wanted the boat,” Vuaghan said, staring at the spot the ship used to be.

“This place is crazy!” Suro shouted, jumping on top of a barrel, his hair standing on end. “The sea is dangerous, the land is dangerous, the people are dangerous…”

“Oh, you’re right!” Lila said, coming out from below deck. “But not quite right enough.” Suddenly, she was holding her claws to his throat, and every other cat on the merchant ships had their claws at someone else’s throat. Some people had two cats on them. “See, that was Sally. She’s ours.”

“You can’t tame a sea serpent…” Dramais said, clearly trying to think of a way out of this.

“Oh, we didn’t, she just likes us.” Lila chuckled. “And Captain, do stop trying to think of ways to resist. All the people here really hate you outsiders, if you give them an excuse to shed blood even my orders won’t be able to stop them, and there are a lot of exposed necks right about now.”

Dramais growled. “What are your terms?”

“Oh, there are none, I’m just locking you up and holding you prisoner. Maybe I’ll tell you why later. Maybe not.” She chuckled. “Ah, it’s nice when a plan works flawlessly. Do you have any idea how many merchant ships we had to raid to get all this? And then had to kill all of them to make sure they didn’t spread any word, but also move fast enough so their disappearance didn’t make people nervous… oh, this was a bit and a half, let me tell you. Sometimes, those prophecies just help.” She chuckled. “Dia really has given you right into our lap…”

“You… you do this in the name of Dia!?” Alice sputtered. “H-how!?”

“Oh, you ask how, not why? I suppose you mean, how can I live with myself, how can I think it is what She wants? My little foreign friend, you clearly do not understand just how much damage you have caused merely by sailing through the Wall. Perhaps you will understand in time. Or not, I don’t need you too.” She smirked at them all. “Take them away. Make sure the wizards don’t have any hidden crystals on them, I don’t want them trying something funky when we’re not looking closely.”

~~~

Envila’s boat was a small native-made one that could hold maybe ten people, but was equipped with a Kroanite arcane motor. There was no way the Moonshot would fit on it. However, while the Moonshot didn’t float it had a lot of air in it and so wasn’t as heavy as normal when in the water. So after some haphazard mud-based repairs to the leaks, they tied the Moonshot to the back of the boat and had both Vaughan and Jeh apply Orange to the Moonshot to keep it afloat.

It, to the shock of Intraveki, worked out just fine.

“I thought you all were insane!”

“We are!” Jeh called. “We just happen to be smart too!” She paused. “Well, maybe not me, but Blue here!”

Blue coughed. “Yes, yes, I’m the brains, fact is you two have to focus on keeping that thing up, if we’re attacked…”

“Keller and I will defend,” Envila said. “The journey is a simple one, with luck it will be made without incident.”

“Since when do we have luck?” Vaughan asked.

“Good point.”

“Are you coming with us?” Blue asked Intraveki.

Intraveki stared at them for a moment. “Let me think this through. You are heading into danger but are going to arrive in perhaps the safest place in the Tempest with people who can understand me… or I could stay here and not have any clue what’s going on and fear that maybe they attack again.”

“Fair warning, Mikarol will probably try to take Tin’nit eventually,” Envila said. “Conquest may not be their primary goal, but it could easily be a secondary one, and Tin’nit will have to fall for that to work out.”

Intraveki whined. “I’m doomed. I’m doomed. I’m doomed.” He hopped into the boat. “So doomed.”

The twins patted him on the back somewhat patronizingly.

Envila turned to the natives who had survived the assault, speaking something to them in broken Naust. They seemed to understand, nodding and turning away.

“I hope they survive,” Envila said with a sigh. “We can’t be everywhere, and repeat attacks are somewhat common, if spread out.”

Blue frowned. “Even if we can find a way to send a message quickly… Kroan doesn’t have many spaceships, most help won’t be able to arrive for weeks.”

“Simply getting a message out will ruin a major part of their plan… though I admittedly do not know what it is.” Envila turned on the motor, making it a little hard to talk, but they could still shout over the noise as they set out across the waves, dragging an Orange-enveloped Moonshot along behind them. They had several half-conversations as they skirted across the top of the waters at high speed.

“Hey, Blue!” Jeh called back, visibly a little tired from holding the Moonshot steady with her magic. “Think we could send a message to our… friend?”

“She would have to be able to see it!” Blue called back. “That’d require a lot of light! Pretty sure we don’t have that capability! And even if we did, the Moonshot would be more cost-effective!”

“I… wait, the transmitter!”

“We’re out of her range! Too much Ikyu in the way!’

“Uuuugh but that would be so simple…”

“It occurs to me that they are probably sending someone to pick us up,” Vaughan noted.

“What?” Blue called over the din of the engine.

“Someone is probably already coming to pick us up!” Vaughan shouted back. “They know where we crashed!”

“They don’t know ‘bout the Mikarol blockade, though!” Keller pointed out. “They’ll probably be taken out when they arrive!”

“And they probably wouldn’t send one of the other spaceships after us since there’s not enough space to carry us…” Blue scratched her chin. “But it does mean if we work quickly we might be able to intercept them before they enter the Tempest!”

“…I cannot believe the insanity all around me…” Intraveki whimpered.

“What?” Blue called.

“Something insulting!” one of the twins offered.

“But also funny!” the other added.

“…Envila, I have a question!” Vaughan called.

“Yeah?” Envila kept her hands on the front of the boat, feeling carefully for any deviations that could capsize the thing, the Moonshot could easily cause chaos if not managed properly.

“I don’t see Embassy Island!”

“It was one of the first places MIkarol took out! It’s on the bottom of the ocean right now!”

Vaughan let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

“You lived there, didn’t you?” Jeh asked.

Vaughan nodded. “Was my home for quite some time. Suro’s shop was there, though it was probably something else at this point…”

“Uh, everyone?” Envila called. “I don’t mean to alarm you but we have company!”

They could see it, cutting through the waves with enough speed to create two sharp waves out either side. It was undeniably a MIkarol ship given the metallic sheen and spikes all over it, but it was a small vessel. It was still larger than Vaughan and company’s tiny thing, and more importantly, it was faster and headed right for them.

However, faster though it was, it was not a ton faster. There was still a large distance between them, one comparable to the remaining distance to the main island’s shores.

“Blue, are we gonna make it?” Envila asked.

“Not even close!” Blue called. “The relative trajectories aren’t going to make it, but… well, if there are people on the shore they might be able to see us!”

“I’m going to die…” Intraveki whimpered. “In a boat with a bunch of stupid Kroanites, I am going to die. I should have known this would happen…”

“I can’t even hear what he’s saying and I want him to shut up!” Jeh called.

“You two keep focusin’ on the Moonshot,” Keller called as he stood up, Magenta sparks starting to waft off of him. “Lesse what I got here…” He pulled out his arcane firearm. The distance between him and the target was so far he couldn’t make out any details whatsoever, but he still pulled the trigger with barely any aiming.

The bullet must have hit something, for there was a very large and bright explosion a second later that produced a cloud of smoke on the deck of the ship. As impressive as it was, it did not stop the ship from coming right for them.

Keller pulled the trigger again. His firearm clicked.

“…Ah.” Keller examined the gun. “I was lucky enough t’ survive the last round with one bullet. Of course.”

“Well, that’s great!” Blue shouted. “Now what!? Envila, tell me you know long-range combat magic!”

“Um… on land I know a few tricks…” Envila smiled awkwardly. “Tremors don’t work well with water, though. I can’t do anything against a ship that can survive the Wall!”

“Agh! Don’t we have anything?”

“Even if I wasn’t holding up the Moonshot they know how to deal with fire!” Vaughan said.

“Then…. Then…” Blue suddenly got an idea. She lit her horn. “Let’s see…”

The Mikarol ship was finally close enough to fire on them. An arcane-driven cannonball launched from their front, sailing right at them. It deflected up off of Blue’s telekinetic field.

Blue let out a haggard laugh. “H-hey, that worked!”

“Their aim is impeccable…” Envila said, using her Orange to bolster Blue’s field. With the two of them, any cannonballs that came close were forced to divert to either side or above. They did not have anywhere near enough energy to actually stop a cannonball, but all they needed to do was not get hit.

“I see ships coming from the island!” one of the twins called. “We might be getting backup!”

“Or they’ll just shoot at us!” Intraveki wailed. “Sandwiched to death!”

“Have a little hope, would you!?” Jeh called.

“Stop telling me what to do, insane immortal girl!”

Keller whistled as a cannonball sailed past his head. “They’re gettin’ better at aimin’ dead-on, girls.”

“Look, we aren’t experienced Orange wizards, we can’t vary the field!” Blue shouted back. “This is the best we can do! If they hit us dead-on, there’s nothing we can do about it! Basic physics!”

Keller lit a smoke.

“You and the fox are competing for ‘the most annoying passenger’ right now!”

“I am not a fox!” Intraveki howled. “I am a kitsune!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“Oh, in that case, how’s it feel to be a pony!?”

Blue’s left eye twitched. “You know what for the first time since I’ve known you, you actually have a point, imagine that!”

“Focus, Blue!” Envila shouted as a cannonball flew right over their heads.

“Sorry!”

The Mikarol ship was now close enough to try another method of attack—sending someone after them. A bladecaster In full armor with a glowing Red blade stepped to the front of the ship and jumped off. His feet lit on fire and pushed against the water, creating massive billows of steam as he flew right at them.

“Augh!” Blue shouted, there would be no deflecting something coming in controlled like that.

“Oh, don’t worry, this I can handle…” Envila jumped into the air and spread out her wing membrane, meeting the incoming soldier in the air. Her hammer glowed with great Orange power, but his blade was Red with the passion of fire. Neither of them wanted to strike the other’s weapon with their own—the crystalline structure of both would likely shatter if allowed to interact. The Mikarol soldier thrust his blade forward, a beam of heat shooting out and searing a hole through Envila’s wing membrane. She, however, simply rammed her hammer into his breastplate, sending as much of a shockwave into it as she could. He rang like a bell and was thrown into the sea.

Envila, with a sizeable hole in her membrane, fell to the water as well, but she was not in full plate armor and was able to float, where Blue was able to drag her up and out with her telekinesis.

Envila whipped out some Green and healed the hole in her membrane. “All right, I’m up to do that again!”

However, both she and Blue were no longer holding up telekinetic defenses. They heard the boom of the cannon fire and raised their barriers again, but it was not quick enough. The cannonball hit Envila’s ship in the hull, tearing it in two and sending everyone flying into the water. Blood started to stain the waves.

Now they were no longer moving, adrift in the water, and the Mikarol ship was sent to ram them.

However, the water soon began to rise, swelling with an unnatural height rarely seen in the calmness inside the Wall. The massive head of a sea serpent emerged, standing between the MIkarol ship and their target. With a blood-curdling call, the sea serpent opened its mouth and bit down on the MIkarol ship, sending it and all its occupants into the darkness of the sea.

Everyone stared at this event in shock—except Vaughan, who managed to keep his focus on the Moonshot to keep it from sinking, admittedly with considerable effort. “Jeh… help me…”

“Oh, right!” Jeh added her magic back to the efforts. Envila set to healing everyone that had been injured in the assault—ironically, Keller had taken the worst hit as one of the ship’s wooden planks had embedded itself in his arm.

At this point, one of the native ships showed up. “Well well well well, look what the cat dragged in! Gideon Vaughan!”

Vaughan looked up at the ship’s deck with a grin, seeing a familiar orange cat. “Ah, Fred! I suppose we have you to thank for our sea serpent savior?”

“Don’t you know it!” The cat laughed.

“So I take it you’re somehow on good terms with the law now?”

“By necessity more than anything else,” Fred said. “Sounds like we have a lot to tell you! And you have a lot to tell us. This is going to be… fun.”

~~~

Suro, Vaughan, Alice, and Dramais were dragged along in chains to some kind of secret pirate meeting place. They knew nothing about where it was, as bags were over all their heads. All they knew was that it was crowded and filled with the meowing of cats.

“All right, Fred, you can take the bags off their heads now,” Lila said.

Fred did so, revealing himself to be an orange cat with a seemingly permanent smirk on his face.

“A cat named Fred…?” Alice narrowed her eyes. “I mean… I guess...?”

“Told you it’s a weird name,” Lila said.

“And I’m proud of it anyway!” Fred added with a laugh. “Oh, have you four figured out what’s going to be done with you yet?”

“If you expect ransom money, you won’t get it,” Dramais deadpanned. “The Empire and the Kingdom of Kroan do not negotiate with the likes of you.”

“Oh, we’re counting on that,” Lila said with a chuckle. “You’ll see… anyway, what do you think of our lair?”

The “lair” was just some cave lit by a bunch of Purple arcane lamps, giving it the impression of having little fires going on everywhere despite nothing of the sort occurring. There were hundreds of cats of all sorts of races everywhere, most of them clearly seafarers. There were only a handful of shroomers and absolutely no other types of spirited represented. In the center of the caves was a large circular stage, on top of which stood two individuals. One was clearly a grizzled, old pirate of a cat, with a tattered hat on his head, an eyepatch over one of his eyes, and two scars over the other one. Half of his tail was missing and one of his back legs had been replaced with some kind of vine-based limb. His fur was the exact same pristine white as Lila’s.

The other cat sitting on the stage did not look like he belonged there. He had a grayish-blue coat and was very tall and elegant for a cat, and wore the clean white robes of a Keeper, with a twinkling triangle pendant around his neck.

“Hey Gramps! I’ve got them!” Lila called.

The elder pirate grinned. “Ah, that’s my girl! I knew you could do it!” He turned to the collected cats. “Look at these prisoners! They don’t know it yet, but they’re going to turn this world around!”

All the cats let out hearty laughs, except the Keeper. The Keeper merely nodded in understanding.

“Ol Baja, looks like your visions were right after all!”

A very old female cat with a blindfold over her eyes hissed at the elder pirate.

“Haw! Seems ya still hate me!”

“I hope you die in the coming desolation!”

“Aww… but I did all this for you!”

“Oh, I very much like what’s happening, just not you.”

“Perhaps we could cease with the pointless bickering?” the Keeper said, coughing.

“Bah, you Keepers and your organization…” the elder pirate shook his head, but turned to face the group. He seemed to decide that Alice was the leader. “So, you figured it out yet?”

“You want to use us as bargaining chips for… something,” Alice frowned. “I’m not sure what for yet. You hate us as outsiders, using it to justify exploiting us, but…” She turned to the Keeper. “You confuse me. You aren’t even a native!”

“Vraskalian,” the cat explained. “Though they will find that I have renounced my citizenship. We have brought Dia to these people, and then proceeded to exploit them for everything they have. This is unacceptable in Dia’s eyes and I am frankly horrified that so many of Her followers think what we’re doing here is fine. So that’s why I am engaging with this admittedly rather deplorable plan.”

“He keeps talking all high and mighty like that,” the elder pirate chuckled. “It was mostly his plan, anyway, and he hates it! Quite a riot if you ask me!”

“Find it funny all you wish, I never will, I merely think it necessary.”

“What exactly have we done to these people?” Alice asked. “We haven’t conquered them, they’re still their own sovereign nation…”

“I am sick and tired of hearing that,” the elder pirate said, suddenly up in Alice’s face. “You all seem to think that we’ll just be fine with you looking down on us like primitive little idiots who don’t know what we’re doing! ‘Oh look at them, believing in a Spirit that doesn’t exist. Oh how cute, they don’t know how to use arcane devices, here let’s give it to them and then charge them for upkeep! Oh, they think this land is sacred? Pfft, what do they know?’ You didn’t come here to conquer like the dark armies of legend, but you’re sure ruinin’ everythin’!”

“And you’re a pirate,” Alice deadpanned. “One who has probably been doing it since before anyone came here. How do you justify that?”

“Didn’t used to. Then Keeper Iryn came and gave us righteous fire! I’ve been put here for a reason, little lady, and that’s so we can have the resources to pull this off and get you out. All of you!”

Alice frowned. “How would capturing us do that? Even if Mikarol and Kroan cared enough about us, which they don’t, Vraskal and Shimvale are here too and they really don’t care.”

“It’s not you we’re trying to get to care,” Lila said. “Though it does help. See, the oh-so-wise elders in Tin’nit think that bowing to your presence and accepting change is the way of the future. Despite the people clamoring for resistance, they refuse, seeking the way of peace at the destruction of our way of life.”

“I still don’t understand how we’re destroying your way of life, most of you still live in tribes as you always have…”

“Apparently you can’t understand, imagine that.” Lila snorted. “So shocking. Really.”

Alice twitched. “I’m trying to figure out what we did to make you react this way and as far as I can tell you just don’t like us because we’re bringing change! What’s so wrong with change!? You’ve clearly accepted the change of Dia with open arms, why not anything else?”

“…It’s the disrespect, Alice,” Suro said. “We… we treat them as though they’re lesser, primitive, that they need our help to be anything. How would you feel if a group of people treated you like a child just for being a human?”

Lila stared at Suro in shock. “…Incredible. They can learn.”

“Or maybe it’s just cats understanding cats,” Keeper Iryn said, dully.

“It’s something, at least. Maybe he will come to see our ways…”

Suro shook his head. “I… I can’t stand what you’re doing. Even if you are truly convinced the goal is right, kidnapping and murdering…”

“When Dia calls upon us to do such things, we listen,” Keeper Iryn said.

“Has She?”

“Yes. You’re all just too deaf to hear it.”

Suro took a moment to mull over what he said. “…No. No, I know what Dia’s like, and it isn’t this. I’ve seen Keepers who really follow Her to the end, bastions of love, care, truth, and compassion. Your heart is cold. You are not one of them.”

“Believe what you will,” Iryn said. “It matters not. We simply need you for the plan.”

“Quite the plan it is,” the elder pirate chuckled. “See, we’re not going to take credit for your kidnapping.”

Alice’s eyes widened. “Oh no…”

“Even the smartest one took this long…” Lila chuckled. “Yes, I believe you’ve just figured it out, Alice. We won’t take credit. We’re going to assign the credit to a well-known group in Tin’nit. We have inside people, it’ll be so convincing. And, naturally, what we’ve done constitutes an act of war… so the Mikarol will attack simply out of honor and Kroan will simply because they have this habit of never leaving anyone behind. But you’re not going to even be there—and the assault will force Tin’nit to fight back. And, at last, we will fight for our land. Together we will drive you back!”

There were cheers from the cats.

Meanwhile, Suro started hyperventilating.

“What’s the matter? Afraid of the death?” Lila asked.

“They’re going to slaughter you!” Suro wailed.

Lila snorted. “And I thought you had come to respect us—”

“No, listen to me, please, you can’t fight them! Even with your numbers and understanding of the land, if war breaks out, you will be utterly annihilated! Don’t, please, think of your own lives! You… I’ll… I’ll offer anything, I… I have nothing to offer…”

“And here I was thinking you had begun to maybe see us as equals. Do you really think so lowly of us that we cannot stand up to you if we try?”

“You do not have ships that can burn entire islands! You don’t even have wizards! It’s not a matter of you being lesser it’s a matter of everyone having stronger weapons! Mikarol alone could probably wipe you off the face of Ikyu!”

“Even those who sympathize refuse to see…” Lila shook her head. “You’ll understand soon enough the strength of the Tempest. We will not stand for this any longer. We will show you that you, all of you outsiders, are wrong and do not belong here.”

“Please… no…”

“It baffles me that you plead for our lives rather than your own…” Lila shook her head. “No matter. Gramps, are we sending word to our people?”

The elder pirate grinned in a decidedly unpleasant manner. “Absolutely. Right now, in fact. Send word! And prepare for war!”

~~~

It was not just native ships that guided the Wizard Space Program and friends into the town of Tin’nit, there were also Kroanite and Shimmer ships standing guard as well. Both were made out of metal and enclosed, as most ships that could survive the Tempest had to be, but the Kroanite ships were smoother and more artistic while the Shimmers’ were more mechanically efficient and boring to look at. The mixed wood and living plant ships of the natives, however, were far more interesting, and there were even a few that barely touched the water due to the presence of romkars on their hulls, though there were no airships as the moment a boat was no longer touching the water it suddenly became a lot harder to steer.

Tin’nit itself was a very wide city, made to take full advantage of the available dock real estate of the largest beach in the Tempest. The front of the city was made almost entirely of newer constructions, which was easy to tell since the newer structures were better organized in a grid pattern, though still made mostly out of wood and living vines, with a few additional stone structures. Behind these newer buildings were older, much more disorganized constructions that had variable sizes, shapes, and a few that were probably structurally unsound but just hadn’t collapsed yet. A few smaller floating “islands” drifted above the rest of the city, tethered in place by numerous cables, on which various cable cars were continually moving—some even driven by arcane devices as opposed to physical work from the occupants. Among these many structures were the often somewhat abstract statues of the Guardian Spirit, many of them placed in the midst of what visitors would definitely call temples, though no actual worship took place there. A few of these "temples" had evidence of a turbulent history with cracks and pieces being blown off, including the largest statue that could be seen from port. However, this largest one had been made out of wood, and the gaping crater on the side of the Guardian Spirit’s nondescript face had flowers growing out of it, somehow.

“They’ve certainly done well,” Vaughan noted. “And it looks like they’ve kept Mikarol back.”

“They learned their lesson,” Fred said. “Also they’ve got allies this time.” He chuckled. “I’m still finding it hard to believe that you fell in here from the sky.”

“And I don’t think explaining it to you again will help,” Blue grumbled.

“All that science talk goes right over my head!”

As they sailed into port, Fred and his cats tossed a ramp over the boat’s edge so they could land. They weren’t all that surprised to find a group of people waiting for them, led by an elder shroomer with lots of Uncolored crystals embedded in her cap.

“Well… Envila I know…” she croaked. “But the rest of you…”

Envila bowed. “Elder Smississ, these are friends of mine from Kroan, except for the kitsune, he’s just along for the ride.”

“Not anymore I’m not!” Intraveki said. “We’re here now, I’m done with all your insanity, I’ve been attacked, shot at, and… and I’m just done! I—”

“You aren’t going anywhere just yet,” Elder Smississ interrupted. “All of you are going to be questioned and checked. MIkarol has spies, you understand, we have to be thorough.”

“Wh… what?” Intraaveki stammered.

Envila nodded. “Understandable.”

“I am an Agent o’ the Crown of the Kingdom of Kroan,” Keller said, showing his emblem. “I will submit myself t’ questioning, o’ course.”

“An Agent… this is going to be quite some story, I can tell.” Elder Smississ let out a long, drawn out sigh with multiple layered ripples to the sound. She held up one of her three hands. “Don’t tell me yet, we’ll get to it at the meeting, just give me your names right now.”

Envila introduced all of them, going in order of proximity to her… and ending on Vaughan.

The Elder’s eyes widened. “Vaughan!? Gideon Vaughan?”

Vaughan shuffled his feet. “Um. Yes.”

“My, this truly is a cosmic coincidence, isn’t it? The seers could not have foreseen something like this…” Elder Smissis shook her head—slowly, as all shroomers did, but she was old so she did it even slower and it was several seconds before she was done. “Right, come with me…”

“Elder, if you don’t mind…”

“I said…”

“I just want to make sure nobody takes our ship.” He gestured at the Moonshot. “Have any… guards?”

The Elder stared at the Moonshot and blinked her beady eyes a few times. “That’s a ship?”

“Yes, but the full explanation will wait, as you requested.”

“…I was too old for this when I was born…” she grunted. “You lot,” she gestured vaguely at some cats with spear-like weapons attached to their tails. “Watch it, don’t let anyone take it, you know the drill.”

After that was sorted, the group slowly plodded along through the streets of Tin’nit. For the largest city in the middle of a warzone, it was surprisingly serene and lively. The markets were active and people were buying and selling things left and right. Mostly cats and shroomers, but there were a large number of Kroanites that were among them that were acting like part of the community, and even a minority of Shimmers. The people were certainly jittery, an unavoidable consequence of knowing there was war just outside the city, but no one seemed shell-shocked.

“…They haven’t made a run on Tin’nit, have they?” Vaughan asked.

Envila shook her head. “Nothing major, I’m not sure why, they seem to be working from the bottom up.”

“Hmm…” Vaughan scratched his beard.

“Definitely not in the Mikarol playbook,” one of the twins said.

The other nodded. “Though they are known to innovate if necessary.”

“But it shouldn’t be necessary here, an overwhelming force charge…”

“…I know, they must want something else.”

Blue let out a deep sigh and shook her head. It hadn’t been that long since the last warzone she’d been in the middle of, and this time it wasn’t even her fault. She was continually checking herself for signs of a psychological problem and was finding nothing, which was growing her sense of unease, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“Hey, it’ll be fine,” Jeh said, patting Blue on the shoulder. “You got allllll of us with you this time. Don’t worry.”

“…I’ll try.”

They approached what was best described as the “center” of the city, though for such a long and thin settlement such a word didn’t exactly make the most sense. It was a large theater-like area dug out of the ground with several arches erected out of stone interlaced with vines. It could clearly hold over a thousand people if necessary, though it was mostly abandoned at the moment, with only a few dozen huddled in the center and guards placed along the outer edges.

The guards let Smississ through without a word, though they did give Blue and the others strange looks.

“Welcome to the Forum,” the elder said, dryly. “We don’t have kings or nobles or councilmembers or whatever like you lot, the various elders just come together here to discuss things.” She snorted. “Some of the younger ones want to start writing down complex legal codes for the whole Tempest, like the situation in each tribe ain’t extremely different from every other one. Friends, enemies, no matter what, you outsiders make things needlessly complicated.”

“You’ll get no argument from me,” Blue said.

“A rare sentiment, but appreciated.” Eventually, she arrived at the center. “All right everyone, stop talking about anything secret.”

A Kroanite knight—a gari woman in blue-lined plate armor—crossed her arms. “And this is why we need better security measures, the Mikarol could figure anything out by just walking in here with a spy. I don’t know who any of these people are.”

“Calm yourself, I told you to stop talking about secret things.” With that, she sat down, a slow and somewhat awkward process for a being with three legs that ended with the middle leg sticking up off the ground slightly before she laid it over her leftmost one. “Now… to those of you who don’t know, this is Gideon Vaughan.”

The Kroanite knight’s eyes widened. “I thought you were working on the Space Program?”

“Where do you think I came from?” Vaughan asked with a wry smile.

She blinked a few times. “…By Dia… you can’t be serious.”

“Oh, we are. You’re going to love this…”

~~~

Their ploy worked perfectly.

The Mikarol Empire would not stand for the unprovoked kidnapping not only of one of their own captains, but also his entire crew. All the efforts the pirates had gone through to make it look convincing that Tin’nit had been responsible weren’t even necessary—the Empire checked nothing and charged right in. Due to their alliance and the fact that it would look bad if the Empire went in to save their people but Kroan didn’t, they charged in as well.

Tin’nit did not expect an attack and was utterly defenseless, being taken quickly, but naturally none of the “hostages” were found. And so the violence did not end. The Mikarol Empire immediately claimed Tin’nit in the name of the Empire—ignoring the Kroanite claims that happened in unison—and moved on to other islands. The Kroanites saw no reason to stop either, so they continued.

Shimvale ships left the Tempest immediately, not wanting to be involved in this. However, perhaps surprisingly, the Vraskalians did not leave and in fact joined in on the violence, despite having no political pressure or reason to do so, turning the situation into a three-way free-for-all.

At first, the natives were not able to put up any resistance at all, as the most organized center of the tribes had been in Tin’nit, most of what little unity they had was dashed, and so they lost every single battle.

But then something unusual happened. While the natives were trying to pool their resources for a resistance, the dynamics of battle changed. The Kroanites started declaring places they conquered their territory, in opposition to Mikarol claims; the Vraskalians did the same. None of the three sides wanted to fight each other, but all of them wanted more land than the others at the end of this. So while before they had been effectively working together, if disorganized, they were suddenly opposed to one another, and would often end up in very awkward situations where several Kroanite ships would be heading toward the same island as the Mikarol Empire, and the two forces would meet and just… stop, awkwardly stopping each other from arriving but refusing to fire since, well, they were allies, right? These standoffs often lasted hours and many fleets lacked proper diplomats as no one had been expecting a war to break out, and this allowed the natives time to prepare for attacks, strike back, and form a more unified defensive front.

Still, the islands burned. Many sky islands fell into the sea, their romkars destroyed by cannon fire. Jungles were razed to the ground; though given the extremely high humidity, even the large fires couldn’t go for very long, as they would eventually create clouds of steam around them that made everything else even more humid and fire-resistant. Towns were far more susceptible to the flames than the jungle.

This did not change the fact that the air in most of the Tempest now smelled vaguely of soot. The Mikarol Empire and Kroan rarely set these fires on purpose, but the Vraskalians did regularly. This just raised tensions between the three powers all the more…

In the midst of this all, there was one ship that was not supposed to see combat, the Angelwing, Lila’s personal craft. It was a multi-deck ship made of wood with a few romkars keeping a good chunk of it out of the water, allowing for balconies at multiple levels where there were cannons. Even though it wasn’t supposed to be attacked out here in the middle of the ocean far from any island shore, it did occasionally have to use them, and showed the scars of battle, including sections that had clearly been healed over by Green without the requisite amount of nearby materials, making shoddy, patchy patterns over the hull. It also flew the black eyeball flag indicative of pirates constantly—after all, few people cared about pirates in wartime. Though if they suspected it was a ruse they attacked anyway.

Which was what the cannons were for. And the sea serpent hanging around, in case things got particularly dicey.

This ship was particularly important because it held the “VIP” prisoners, Dramais, Vaughan, Alice, and Suro. All of Dramais’ crew was kept at the cavern—it was a less secure location because it wasn’t mobile, but if the crew was saved and not the Captain, that likely wouldn’t stop anything.

Oddly for prisoners, Vaughan and Alice were currently playing a card game with a cat by the name of Fred.

“And I win again!” Alice said, taking all the seashell-based currency and putting it in her robes.

Fred glanced down at the pathetic pile of money in front of him. “…Geez, is your plan to buy the ship?”

“Maybe!” Alice said, chuckling. “Though I’m pretty sure Lila would object. Me being a prisoner and all. I’ll settle for buying some of that fine wine of yours.”

“B-but… I don’t have much of that!”

“Exactly! But I have a loooot of shells…”

“That you took from me!”

“Fair and square!”

Vaughan chuckled, sitting back in his seat. For a moment, he almost forgot they were prisoners… but prisoners they were. Suro had been the first one to try to be friendly to their captors, and the two of them had followed his lead. Dramais was having none of it, but he knew better than to fuss. They were given duties to take care of the ship just like any other member of the crew. Naturally, they weren’t allowed weapons or to go anywhere unsupervised, but there was nowhere on the ship that was secret anyway, and it wasn’t like there was anywhere they could go.

But even though they had managed to make bizarre friends and play games… they were still being held here to perpetuate a war.

Even this far from the islands, Vaughan could generally smell smoke if he tried to feel for it.

He looked out over the horizon at the towering volcano of the main island. It was smoking, and not because of an eruption. He let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

“Vaughan…” Alice said, wrapping her arms around him. “It’s not your fault.”

“…Thought didn’t even cross my mind,” Vaughan said with a shake of his head. “It’s just horrible that it’s happening at all.”

“…It is our fault,” Fred said, glancing around to make sure Lila wasn’t nearby. “Look, I didn’t believe anything you said at the first meeting, but… if there wasn’t this sense of awkward standoff, we would all be conquered already.”

“I didn’t predict the standoff…” Alice said with a shake of her head. “I still only think it’s delaying things. Eventually, reinforcements from outside are going to arrive. And then what will you do?”

“We just need to drive them out before then.”

“How? They show no signs of stopping anytime soon, especially Vraskal from what I’ve heard.” She shuddered. “Who knew the quiet people could be so… brutal…”

“Yeah, we were expecting the most problems from Mikarol, not them.” Fred twitched his ears. “I don’t know anymore. A lot of the crew feels the same.” He paused. “Don’t think you can turn us against Lila though, she’s like a mother to a lot of us.”

“I know,” Alice said. “And I don’t think I’d be comfortable doing that, anyway… setting people against each other.” She shook her head. “What’s happening is happening and we’ve just got to deal with it.”

“Fred!” a gray cat shouted. “Stop fraternizing with the enemy and get to work!”

“Fine, fine….” Fred muttered. “Same time tomorrow?”

“What else are we gonna do?” Alice asked with a shrug.

Fred chuckled and bounded off. He passed by the silent and glowering Dramais, who was mopping the deck. He said nothing, but his glare made Fred’s hair stand on end.

There’s a man who would kill all of us without remorse if he had the chance, Fred thought. It’s people like him that made us do this in the first place.

Fred started his work cleaning the cannons, not all that surprised to see Suro standing near the railing, looking out at the sea with a forlorn expression. That cat was a very gentle soul who just couldn’t deal with all that was happening, jumped at the slightest sound, and could often be seen just crying. Fred really did feel bad for him.

Apparently, Lila felt the same, since she was regularly seen talking to him, so Fred was not all that surprised when she walked up behind Suro and said “hello.”

Suro jumped several feet into the air and almost fell over the railing, but Lila caught him.

“You are gonna get yourself killed with nerves like that!” Lila said with a laugh.

“You snuck up on me!”

“I was not trying to be sneaky at all, you just were so absorbed in whatever it was you were thinking about.”

“Ah. Well. Yes.” He frowned.

“What were you thinking about?”

“You’re not gonna like it…”

“Since when does that stop me from wanting to hear it?” Lila smirked. “I like you, Suro, you say strange things and have strange ideas.”

“So I’m just entertainment to you?”

“Is that so bad?”

Suro shuffled his paws. “I… don’t like it…”

“So we’re even. Now.” She jumped on top of a nearby cannon and laid down. “What insignificant thing had you so bothered this time?”

“It’s not insignificant,” Suro said, turning back to the sea. “I’m trying to think of… any way this can end well for anyone.”

“We drive everyone out and reclaim the Tempest, simple.”

Suro shook his head. “That… there will be so many dead and so many of your tribes have been leveled. Even if everyone leaves, which I don’t see happening, what will you have left?”

“Suro, you seem to think we need big cities and complicated structure. We don’t, we can live as tiny disconnected tribes in the jungle without issue.”

“Can you though?”

“Eh?”

“Tiny disconnected tribes don’t make huge boats or allow piracy to flourish. You need ships for that, trade, and… and a lot of people.” Suro paused. “I can’t believe I’m arguing as though piracy is a positive…”

“It is, it’s a career just like everything else.”

“How can you say you follow Dia and choose such a career?”

“The same way a soldier can follow orders to kill someone and still be an Aware. Think about it. Dia tells us to remain obedient to those over us, but we pirates exist in a state where no one is over us. We are our own ‘sovereignty’ or whatever. To support ourselves and our crews, we take from others. It’s like the wars of nations, but at smaller scales. Or are you claiming that soldiering is not an honorable profession?”

“But you don’t have to be this way! If the only way to survive was to fight then, perhaps, you might have a point, but you don’t! Before this war there were plenty of resources around for everyone, you could even make a great living as a trading ship. You have to want to steal on some level.”

Lila hissed. “Most of us were forced into this life. Careful who you say that around, many on this crew only came to me because they had nowhere else to go.”

“Why couldn’t they have gone into the jungle and formed small tribes?”

Lila opened her mouth and then shut it, tilting her head. “Because…”

“Because they didn’t want to.” Suro looked back over the ocean. “Lila, if this war creates a land where only small tribes can exist… you can surely see that not everyone will be happy with that.”

“…It’s still a worthy price to pay to be rid of the outside corruption.”

“Ah, yes, outside corruption.” Suro sighed. “…Have I corrupted you, Lila?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“You make me think too much.” Lila huffed, standing up with an unpleasant expression on her face. “And I keep coming back to it like a rum addict. I really should know better.”

“Please, Lila, listen to me, I really, really do beg… this world you’re trying to make for the Tempest… it’s not good.”

“And yours will be better?” Lila asked.

“At least it won’t end with everyone dead.”

“…You try so hard to understand us, and fail. Suro, Suro, to lose our way of life is death.” She looked out over the sea, a forlorn expression crossing her face. “…If everything really is how you see it, there is no hope in this world.”

Suro blinked in shock. “I…”

Lila quickly recovered. “Of course there has to be hope, right? Hah! You got me going there.” She flicked her tail across his face. “You really do bring out the strangest sides of me, oh, that was good fun.”

“Lila…”

Lila ignored him. “Until next time, softy. What crazy ideas…”

“Captain!” a tiny black cat shouted as he ran to her. “We’ve got an incoming! Vraskalian!”

“Everyone to their posts! Prepare for combat! Arm the cannons!” Lila quickly strapped a blade to her tail and unsheathed her claws, an action most of the cats did as well. Normally, at this point, Vaughan and the other prisoners would be sent below decks.

However, this time, the enemy was approaching too quickly. The Vraskalian ship was gray with strange red fires poking out of its sides, and it was significantly smaller than the pirate ship. But it had on it numerous glowing creatures of the strange fiery-eyeball race known as the occulari. Very little was known about them but something they were doing was making the boat extremely fast and nigh-impossible for cannonballs to hit.

“Get ‘em, girl!” Fred shouted.

The sea serpent rose out of the ground and bit down on the ship. This destroyed the boat but did nothing to deter the occulari, who floated into the air as the wisps of flame they were. They came in every color, though there was a preference for red and orange flames. Their “robes” were nothing more than illusions suspended below their floating eyes, which were their real forms, and so under duress the robes were not manifested, turning the assault into one of a bunch of floating eyes.

The fire was very real and very hot, all they had to do to fight was touch people. The flames did more than just burn, however, they also made people see things. Horrific things that were not there, images of the dead, images of the living, terrifying things brought out of nightmares…

However, while they were made out of fire, they were not entirely invulnerable. The slitted dark spot that appeared to be their pupil—that was solid and could be attacked. Even though Lila was being shown an image of her grandfather and Suro eating each other, she cut through the pupil of a cyan occulari and made it dissipate, revealing the only solid part of the occulari to be a gray-black rock that was now cut in two. “Stay strong, everyone! Nothing they show you is real!”

“I’m on fire!” a cat who wasn’t on fire screamed, while another one who was on fire was fighting as though she wasn’t.

“Agh! Stupid occulari!” Lisa let out a particularly nasty string of swears as she cut through the pupil of a green one. “You make everything so difficult!”

A pink occulari descended upon Alice.

“Wait! I’m a prisoner! Alice Vaughan!” Alice waved her hands. “You need me to end the war!”

The pink occulari paused, thinking for a moment. “…We do not need you.” She attacked.

Alice was defenseless as flames licked across her skin. She saw Vaughan getting flattened into the shape of a pancake…

…but then Fred cut the occulari’s pupil in two and the vision vanished. “You okay?”

“My… face…”

“Looks fine.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about, it hurts! I just got burned, Fred!”

“You’re welcome!”

“Fred!”

Suddenly, Dramais entered the fray. He had no sword, merely a bunch of loose planks of wood he was wielding in his telekinesis. But that was all he needed. With expert precision and power, he thrust the planks of wood right into dozens of occulari in an instant, shattering their internal structure. Every aim was perfect and the only occulari that remained were those that were out of his range. These proceeded to flee by floating away over the ocean. They were such small targets that cannonballs could never reach them.

“By Dia…” Lila stared at Dramais. “Why didn’t you do that sooner?”

“I was hoping for rescue. They proved not to be rescuers.” Dramais put the planks down and picked the mop up again.

“Why weren’t they, though?” Alice asked. “Shouldn’t they… want the war to end?”

“Not Vraskal…” Lila said. “They… I’m not sure what they’re doing. But given what we just saw… they probably want this war just as much as we do.” Lila paused. “…That concerns me.”

An awkward silence fell over the ship.

~~~

Vaughan and the others told their story. They neglected to mention precisely what they had found on the Moon, as that was technically secret, but they described their journey and how they had ended up in the Tempest.

Intraveki stared at them in absolute shock the entire time. About half of the elders did. The Kroan knight, whose name turned out to be Iitraven, was at first shocked and then slowly became contemplative.

“…and so, we think we have a plan,” Vaughan said.

Blue nodded. “If we can get enough Orange crystals for power and enough experienced Orange wizards… we could probably lift the shell of the Moonshot over the Tempest. It’s not fit for space travel but it can probably do that. And we can get a message out to let the outside world know what’s happening here.”

The elders looked to each other and gave nods and mutters of approval.

Iitraven put a hand to her face where her nose would have been had she not been a gari and sighed. “If only you had arrived a week ago…”

“Eh?” Blue said.

“All of our experienced Orange wizards are dead. We can probably get you enough crystals out of the mines, but we’ll have no one with enough experience to use them.”

Jeh turned to Vaughan. “Can we do it alone?”

Vaughan shook his head. “The drive is very precise and efficient, while our efforts are not. We can lift it but we’d probably drain ourselves long before we got above the Wall.”

“Can we make a new drive?” Blue asked. “Even a hasty, terrible one…”

“That would take a lot of time,” Vaughan said. “And something tells me complex arcane device construction isn’t an option right now.”

Iitraven shook her head. “The only facilities were on Embassy Island, which was destroyed near the very start of all this.”

“We’re so close!” Jeh said. “There’s gotta be something we can do to make this work!”

The twins looked to Keller. “Well…?” They raised their eyebrows in unison, asking a question without words.

Keller sighed. “Fine. Listen up, what I’m ‘bout to tell y’all is classified. We found somethin’ up on the moon, as ya can probably guess by our vague story. That somethin’… was a someone. An Orange Crystalline One. Ya might have seen some Orange flashes from the moon lately if ya were payin’ attention.”

Iitraven shook her head. “Like we would at this time…”

“We have,” one of the elder cats said, flicking his ears. “We care much for the sky, and the new Orange flash on the moon has become an uncertain omen. You speak of the Orange Crystalline One?”

“Her name is Wanderlust,” Keller explained. “She’s in contact with Benefactor. If we can get a message to Wanderlust through the sky…”

“And how would we do that?” Elder Smississ asked. “It sounds just as bad as the other plans, missing an important part!”

“We just need a way to shine a very, very bright light at the moon,” Blue said. “Something that can be focused and controlled over very long distances.”

“That sounds like something Benefactor should do,” Iitraven said, narrowing her eyes. “Oh wait, she’s not here.”

“The Guardian Spirit is, though,” Vaughan said.

There was silence.

“…Is there some taboo about bringing her up that I’m not aware of?”

“No, no,” Iitraven said.

“You have given us a secret, so now we will give you one,” Elder Smississ said. “The Guardian Spirit has indicated that she does not wish to get involved in this conflict.”

Vaughan blinked. “Wh… why?”

“She did not offer us an explanation.”

“All we’d need her to do is shine some light in a particular pattern on the moon so the outside world can know…”

“She will be informed, rest assured,” another cat elder said. “What you have brought to us is too important not to convey, even the knowledge of Wanderlust alone is worthy of her eye. But if she refuses to aid us, she will refuse, and we will have nothing.”

“I saw her that day… why would she…?” Vaughan ran his fingers through his hair, shaking his head.

“I shall leave to tell her immediately, unless there is anything else pertinent?”

“You don’t know what message she has to send or how,” Blue said.

“If she grants the request we will get the message then, there is no need to waste time teaching me a communication language right now. Learning Karli was hard enough…” With that, the cat ran off as fast as her four legs would carry her.

The old cat elder turned back to the others. “Now, is there anything else we should think of?”

“Even if the message is not sent, the Crown is likely sending a contingent to us,” Blue said. “They know we crashed here, they just don’t know there’s a war.”

“The Mikarol patrol will destroy them…” Iitraven said, shaking her head.

“Not if we get a message out fast enough,” Vaughan said.

“True, true…”

“Look, I probably shouldn’t have heard any of that…” Intraveki said, clearly nervous.

Envila smirked. “But you’re here, and now you’re culpable.”

“Should I just… go?”

“I still have people checking your background,” Elder Smississ said. “Patience. You should consider yourself fortunate, by being detained you get to learn so much.”

“Yeah, great, hilarious, thanks…” Intraveki glared at his coconut as if it had insulted him.

~~~

There was no burial for bodies out at sea. While most of the Tempest natives had elaborate and variable rituals for burial, the pirates had no such luxury. They simply threw their dead overboard. However, they never disrespected the fallen, each and every one was given a short moment on the plank before being dumped in the water, where memories would be shared.

Lila had to do this same thing twelve times in a row on one day. The attack had been brutal. They had survived, and none of the people were irreplaceable, she could easily ask for more from the other pirates. But at this point she was having to say goodbye to a lot of old friends, people she had more or less raised…

…and she was slowly beginning to realize how morbid the tradition was. The body was set on the plank in broad daylight for everyone to see, and if the particular cat had died a gruesome death—like the current one who didn’t even have a head anymore—it was a constant reminder to everyone of the dangers of their occupation.

It was getting to be too much. But she had to carry through. She had to. Otherwise this would all have been for nothing.

Lila said fewer words than usual before pulling the plank out and dropping the body into the sea. She told everyone to disperse with a quiet voice, and it took the crew a little while to realize that she had given an order and actually follow it. She didn’t yell at them.

She really didn’t feel like it.

She went up to the prow of the ship and looked out over the islands. Another sky island had fallen, killing who knew how many. Not a lot of outsiders, that was for sure, they protected Embassy Island far too well, it was the one thing the three of them could agree on.

Other islands were burning. Smoke trails went into the air. They would be put out soon by the humidity, but while the fires may have stopped, the smoke remained. It was starting to drift down. She had been told it was like ‘snow’ that happened in other areas of the world, except a lot less pleasant.

She could see the sun when she looked up, but it wasn’t bright enough to hurt her eyes anymore. Once the smoke rose high enough, the winds of the Tempest were so calm that it basically just remained there until it drifted down into the ocean or onto an island.

“What are you staring at?” Suro asked.

Lila’s hair stood on end, but she didn’t jump. She glanced back at him. “…The sun.”

“If there’s enough smoke, it’ll turn red.”

“I know, a volcano erupts in a massive plume every now and then.”

“But that generally doesn’t last very long, does it?”

“…No, and the eruptions usually aren’t smoggy. Usually brilliant red streaks of lava come shooting out…” She shook her head. “It’s the power of the land we call home, the rage of the islands. I wonder, where is that rage now?”

“Would it help?”

“No, unless it gave us more fighting spirit.” She scowled. “I get news of more and more just surrendering.”

“Can you blame them for wanting to live?”

“Yes! I can!” Lila was suddenly furious. “We’ve laid down our lives for this and we weren’t even considered part of society by most! We’re pirates, Suro, but we have gone to the ends of our means to bring this about! We don’t surrender, we fight to the end, but they have the audacity to screw us over and… and…”

“Why did they owe you anything? They don’t even know you are responsible.”

Lila stared out at the ocean, watching the calm waters gently ripple.

“…Why have we been abandoned, Suro?”

Suro shuffled his paws awkwardly. “I don’t think you want to hear that right now.”

“Why, Suro?”

Suro forced himself to speak. “I don’t think you ever had any favor to begin with.”

“Ah, there it is, saying something I don’t want to hear, if only he warned me…” Lila growled, but the growl slowly faded away into a quiet whimper.

“Lila…”

“Back off!” Lila shouted, hissing at him and jumping over him with speed she hoped was enough to prevent him from seeing the tears in her eyes. It wasn’t. She ran all the way back to her personal cabin and slammed the door, locking it. She jumped onto her personal bed and forced herself to calm down. She took many long, deep breaths with her eyes closed. There were more important things right now. The crew couldn’t see her like this.

She opened her eyes. Next to her bed was a small cat-height countertop built into the ship’s wall. It had a mirror, in which she saw herself. For a moment, she saw a terrifying beast with matted white fur, piercing eyes of violence, and teeth dripping with blood… but it was just a trick of the light, her fur was a mess due to the tears, her eyes were bloodshot, and the dripping blood had just been an odd shadow.

This did not stop her from bursting into tears. She kicked out in rage at the mirror, shattering it and upsetting one of the drawers from the nightstand which contained a book with a blue triangle on it. It spilled out onto the ground to a page somewhere in the middle.

It was a short passage, a story.

“Great Yellow One, I must ask you, what is the secret to leadership?”

“Go, be a leader, and you will find out.”

And so the prince came to inherit his father’s crown, becoming the king. After many years of ruling, the king returned to the Great Yellow One. “I have been a leader. I have found no secret.”

“Are you certain?”

“I have found that I am not fit to rule. I have led people to their death. I have started wars that led nowhere. I have made laws that harmed those closest to me. I have made myself a fool.”

“It seems like you have learned the secret to me.”

“What?”

“That no one can truly lead. We are all broken inside.”

“Surely one as great as you must be a proper leader!”

“This is not true. We Great Crystalline Ones may see more than you and have great power, but we too are just fragments of perfection. I have seen all the things you have seen, I have been cruel, I have been too kind, I have led entire kingdoms to ruin. By telling you to lead and find out, I have subjected your kingdom to much travesty. Was it too much? I cannot say, but in time perhaps I will be filled with regret.”

“Then what hope is there?”

“In us, there is none. In Dia, there is much.”

“But what am I to do then?”

“Lead as best you can anyway. Pray for wisdom. Seek guidance.”

“I have done all these things!”

“I did not say you had not. After all, you have already found the secret to leadership, as best as you are able.”

Lila thrust her claws into the book and threw it to the side. She curled up into a ball on her bed and cried herself to sleep.

She hadn’t done that since she was a kitten.