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JULES
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“You know how I didn’t want to wait another day after our final exam to rest before leaving, but you all did? Well, it’s because last night I recovered Kaizen from Patience’s pillar. He knew where I was, where it happened—I know, Kat, I know. I just thought we’d have more time than that.”
“Yet you didn’t bother to tell us?"
“The Painter left just before we did. I figured he was still listening, and that Patience wouldn’t be right on top of—”
“Damn, Jules. Pretty important information,” Cyrus said. Your spirits do seem lifted, though.
“Sorry, Jules.”
“Rukia—Come here!” Jules' strength returned all at once, and he tackled her in a hug. He made sure to give her extra scratchies behind the ears.
“I feel guilty." Rukia's puppy-dog eyes were on full display. "I should have prepared you better.”
“No, it’s my fault first for not saying something. And after that, it’s all our fault. We didn’t prepare for a fight in Aquilantis, naive, as that was. They took us completely off guard, without good weapons, and Kat and I didn’t have Inked Arts, either.”
“Which we will do tonight,” Kat said. Jules agreed with her.
"Which you'll try tonight," Cyrus corrected. "You're both still lacking in Forging and Enchanting."
“So what," Katarina asked, "Cy made a huge image of you wrecking the town? That’s certainly great for our optics.”
“Pretty much. I used real fire to push people around the paths I wanted them to take, made an explosion here or there…”
“For a moron,” Whiskers said, “not a bad plan.” That’s her line.
“And you,” Jules hollered. “You and Rukia have been holding out on us, huh?”
“What do you mean?” Katarina asked.
“What,” Cyrus said, “you think I took out all these men in the state I’m in?” He raised his sling as high as he could, which wasn't even neck-level.
“So, what do we do with them?” Jules asked.
“We eat their souls. With a side dish of tuna.”
“Shouldn’t you be steering?” Katarina asked the fox, who stood up proudly on two legs.
“I’m an important part of this group—You need my wisdom and expertise!”
Katarina rolled her eyes. "Then give us a serious option."
Rukia stared at the sky and scratched her chin. Jules pressed on.
“If it was them, it seems like the Iron Maidens’ve hit hard times. There were only three attackers. Then they had Guards for another trap, like in the plaza.”
“I had a Rogue or like maybe a Tracker on me,” Katarina said. “I couldn’t get close enough to him to do any damage. Like, at all.”
“I like thought I had, like, a Monk." Jules grinned at Katarina, and she glared back. Yeah, overdid it. "But then he fought me with two axes. He was huge.”
“Like how big, Jules?” Rukia asked excitedly.
“Like… at least… seven of you!”
“Oooh! That’s big, but that’s my Jules, for ya.” I know, I know. Jules smiled and rubbed his fist into the top of her head.
“Cy, you’re being awfully quiet over there.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Probably dreaming about The Painter,” Katarina said, “thinking their romance is still on since our betrayer turned out to be our very own leader.”
“Allegedly,” Jules said.
“Allegedly,” she conceded.
“Think mine was an Assassin. She used a lot of Illusion magic, like me.”
“Well, I’d say the last two years were a complete waste of my time.” Katarina hawked a loogie over the railing.
“No, I don’t think so,” Cyrus said. “We’ve come a long way. Like Jules said, we were lax, unprepared—”
“I don’t think Jules knows that word,” Whiskers said.
“—and ill-informed.” Cyrus glared at Jules. "Some might even say ignorant." Yeesh. Distract and redirect.
“Yeah, we wouldn’t have survived that attack the day we all met.”
“Speak for yourselves,” Cyrus said with a laugh.
“We are finally out of our bubble,” Whiskers said. “It’s best for you all to experience this now before any more false senses of security are blanketed on you.”
“Heh heh, well I had fun today." Rukia panted. "Yep, sure did.”
Jules watched Katarina fiddle with her red crystal, rolling it around in her hand.
“Not yet, Katarina,” Whiskers whispered to her.
“I know.” And I know what it’s like to leave someone behind, Kat.
“So what’s next?” Cyrus asked. “We are clearly on our own now. The Painter would have already intervened, like last time.”
“I can’t reach out to Pop for help. Hopefully no one can connect him to me. It’s been a while since I’ve shown my face at the inn.”
“Yeah and you’ve grown up, girl!” Rukia said. “No one would recognize you for that pesky shrimp you were two years ago, what with that whacky hair and—
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“Speak for yourself," Katarina snapped. Even Rukia, the Familiar of Wrath, cowered in Katarina's anger. "But thanks. I guess.”
“Kaizen is always talking about Envy, Lust, and Greed. We could look for the other two.”
Katarina shot him a look. “We don’t have any leads on them.” OK, shit, sorry. Jealous?
“I say we still go after the Vessels. No one knows that’s our current mission.”
“What makes you so sure of that, Cy?” Jules asked. “They knew where we were. I felt like I was being watched when we left the shop, only I thought it was The Painter.”
No one spoke for a while.
“We can stay our original course to Marina Veridia,” Katarina said. Didn't expect you to stick to the Vessels Quest. “But it’s far, and we have limited speed and…maneuverability.”
“I feel personally attacked," Rukia said with a mischievous smile. "And my blood’s already high.”
“It’s the heart of the Royal Navy, too. Probably shouldn’t go there now,” Cyrus said.
“Coralhaven is still out of the question,” Jules said. “After that ambush, I’m feeling less ready than ever. It’d be the first place they’d suspect I'd run to, anyway.”
“Lighthouse Point is the closest, which probably makes it the most dangerous,” Cyrus said.
Katarina opened her map. “It’s the closest, but it’s also on the complete other side of Aquilantis.”
“Shit. Guess that only leaves Siren’s Cove,” Cyrus said.
“Beware the Sirens calling,” Jules quoted.
“Most tried, most died,” Cyrus added.
“We’re headed in that direction, so it’s our best bet." Katarina turned to Cyrus. "Did you learn the rules, Cy?”
He laid back on the deck and looked to the sky. “Only to Coralhaven.”
> [The Shrine of Coralhaven — Quest Objective ADDED: Get information on the Shrine from Cy.]
“Well, what are they?” Jules leaned in.
“Trust me, you’re gonna want to find out at the last possible minute.”
“Weren’t you just complaining about withholding information?”
Cyrus laughed until he coughed. “Life’s a bitch, and then you die.” Even Katarina laughed at that one. “So, Cap’n?”
“Siren’s Cove it is!” Rukia shouted.
“Not you…”
“Yeah, Siren’s Cove,” Jules said. He grabbed Rukia's jowls and she playfully bit at his hand. “Set a course, Ruke. Kat’s your navigator now. Kat, don’t let that fox fall asleep, unless you want to wake up to Lust or Greed trying to pick a fight with us. Cy, we’ve got to figure out what to do with the crew.”
“Aye aye, captain,” Katarina said sarcastically. She walked off with Rukia, and Whiskers followed.
“They’re all wrapped up tight, tied together below,” Cyrus said.
“Well, we better go talk to them. Whiskers,” Jules called out. “You come with us. I have an idea.”
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Jules and company trekked up the winding terraced road, across its relentless switchbacks carved into the rocks by Scripts long ago, until they reached the summit and gazed far down the bluff’s side. The citizens of Siren’s Cove tended to live further away from the water than other towns and cities of the Shattered Isles.
Resisting the ocean’s call, as they put it, though many have been lost to sea by jumping off these cliffs.
Siren’s Cove was one hell of an odd place. Everything was succulent, truly beautiful. Luscious tropical trees covered the cliffs, with beautifully crafted buildings, mostly bright blue and orange, sprinkled in all around. Jules found the architecture appealing enough. Domes, rotundas, arches and marble stairs.
But something is off. I feel like either all that stuff doesn’t really belong here, or maybe more like I don’t belong here. Very different from when I came here as a child, that’s for sure.
“Jules,” Rukia whispered from inside his backpack. “Can I please come out? I hate being stuffed in here.”
“No, we’ve been over this. You’ll draw too much attention.”
“But foxes are native to the mainland sections of—”
“Yeah, bush foxes. Definitely not white snow foxes.” Jules sighed away his guilt. Whiskers mewed loudly as he slinked across the street, as if to taunt her.
“Oh,” Rukia mumbled from the pack. “I’ll get you, you son of a…"
Cyrus also stared out at the scenery.
“Alright lover-boys,” Katarina called out from higher up. “Enough daydreaming. Next stop is a Blacksmith.”
“No way," Cyrus said. "First stop is a pint."
“No, the first stop is a bed," Jules said. "I haven’t slept in two days."
“We should go to a restaurant first." Rukia clawed between zippers and popped her head out. "I’m hungry for some real meat."
“I’m surprised you’re not tired, Ruke." Jules crammed her back down into the bottomless depths of the pack. "Oh, wait—that’s right! You fell asleep again on duty last night.”
"If you'd caught me some fish," she mumbled, "might've been a different story. I'm paw-sitively famished."
Whiskers hissed. “Our first stop should be an insane asylum, so I can drop you all off."
Grouchy pussy today. Understandable, since you didn't sleep.
Katarina rolled her eyes. “No, we need better weapons. Our arms are hanging by their last threads."
“She means that literally for you, Cyrus,” Whiskers said.
Cyrus flipped the cat off with his sling-less arm, showing off just how much it had healed overnight. “We’ll put it to a vote. I vote for an inn, because we can do all of those things at once. Except Kat’s thing, which I don't care about, because I can actually craft a good sword. Whiskers can buy a round and talk to the Innkeep about all his problems and woes. Their Class doubles as Therapists these days, anyway. You can finally get the help you need, Whiskers.”
“We can ask the Innkeep about the Shrine, too," Jules said. "At least get a head start on what weapons we should get in the first place. No—come on, Kat, we are safe here.”
“Enough.” Katarina crossed her arms. “We’re safe enough. But—ugh—fine. You’re paying for my meal.”
“...But we always pay for your meal,” Cyrus said.
> [Shrine Hunting — Quest Objective ADDED: Learn about the Siren's Cove Shrine.]
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“Oh Salvos, I know you three," the woman shouted. "The prophets have foretold your arrival!"
Uh… This was a mistake. Surely she doesn't mean—
"Yes, dear, I know exactly who you are!" She addressed the rest of the inn's patrons. "I need absolutely everyone’s attention right now!"
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RUKIA'S CORNER (BONUS)
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Welcome to Rukia's Corner! The first of several bonus sections from Rukia’s—potentially very unreliable—point of view. Enjoy!
“Sweet Salvos, that is a beautiful fox!” the Popeye-Sailor-ass-looking-motherfucker said to me—I mean—to Rukia.
“What soft fur—and those beautiful eyes!” another one adored her.
Yes, take it all in boys. Feast your eyes, before The Stormfront shuts them.
“Meow.” A scrawny black kitten stalked over along the boardwalk to their ship on the Aquilantis docks.
“Hey—Watch out for the bad omen!” one of the Sailors said. Another threw a tomato at the cat, and rightfully so.
“MRROWR!”
“Hey, Whiskers!” Rukia shouted. “You’re stealing the limelight. Back off.”
“D-did that fox just…talk?” Whoopsies. “It’s a Familiar—There must be a Sin nearby!”
“Rukia, you—”
“Shh, shhh…” Rukia put a claw up to Whiskers’ lips. “Let me show you the style that’s been passed down my family for, uh…” Not generations, that doesn’t quite fit. The Sailors flung more food at them. Millennia? No, not that either. They went and fetched their weapons.
“Rukia, they’re—”
She whipped around in a flash, silencing the coward with just her aura. “I said let me think—Iterations! That’s the word I was looking for, yeah.” She cracked her knuckles. “Allow me to show you the Wu-Fang Style.”
A man sprinted to her with a spear; others loaded crossbows and regular, slow-as-molasses bows.
Rukia looked back at Whiskers. The camera zoomed in on her gorgeous and glamorous face in slow motion—she became its entire focus; her eyes flashed. “What is this? Amateur hour?” Man, I am so cool.
She spun around, climbed up the spear shaft, and roundhouse kicked its wielder. She snapped at a crossbow bolt midair, and crunched it in two. An arrow hurtled toward her, and she spun at least seventeen times in the air to dodge it, then landed down on the deck in a power pose. She glanced up at her assailants. One wet his pants. The other cried for his mother.
“Wu-Fang Style #1: Bring Da Ruckus.” She ignited in flames, and darted through every last Sailor. She landed next to Whiskers—in that super cool pose again—and he stared at her in awe, his mouth gaping wide.
“Rukia…I had no idea you could…”
She rose slowly and flexed. “Yeah, I know—Hey look!” Rukia sat down on all fours again and wagged her tail. Act natural. “It’s Cy!”
“What the—Did you two do this!?” Cyrus shouted.
"Hey, why are you full of arrows?"
“That is not at all how it happened!”
“Shut up, cat! This isn’t Whisker’s Corner—It’s Rukia’s Corner!”
SMACK!!
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