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JULES
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“You will watch how you speak to our son.”
“There. You see what I mean? Besides, he’s your son. I never wanted him.”
“And I deserved more than you,” Jules said.
“These past two years without you have been the happiest of my life. And the last week? Happier still. Blissful.”
Jules’ eyes erupted in orange flames. Azura cried at the same instance. Jules composed himself again. Great, even more to feel guilty about. Is she crying because of me? Evelyn rose.
“Jules. I was given a second chance at life, and it doesn’t involve you. Please, do not ruin it for me. Please, just… Just leave me alone.”
Jules cycled his emotions in his meditative state, if only for his sister. The flames dissipated. He stood as well. “Fine. It’s time I leave, anyway. But I have one last thing to say, and the price for leaving you alone is that you will listen to it."
Evelyn nodded. "Get on with it."
“In the past two years, I’ve been burned alive, poisoned, had every limb severed from my body, I’ve been punctured through every single organ, decapitated, cut in half and left bleeding out for an hour. I’ve had my skin eviscerated and dissected from myself, and so much more. And that punishment was easier than living with you, Evelyn. I would rather go back to that lifestyle than my own childhood." He stared into her eyes until she looked away. "Goodbye.”
He approached her and reached out, not to her, but to stroke Azura's chubby little cheek. Evelyn recoiled and swung her baby to safety, away from him.
“It was great meeting you, Azura. But I’m afraid that…" Jules sighed. "We will not see each other again. Just know that I—I love you, and I wish I could have gotten to know you better.” Liam stood. Jules walked past him. “Goodbye, Father. I love you, too. Take care of yourselves.”
Liam chased after Jules through the garden and past it. He had two more things he urgently needed to tell Jules.
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CYRUS
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Through profuse labor, Cy finally prepared his intricate disguise—a stereotypical tourist. Right before she and Jules left, Envy reported how Coralhaven seemed overrun by travelers and sightseers, so Cy figured he’d blend in right in plain sight.
Floral patterned shirt, socks with the sandals. One illustrious mustache. And a pair of hideously colored pastel shorts with no practical pockets. Chef’s kiss.
Cy sat down to prepare the day's set of Inked Arts. He began by Forging Ink, mixing regular quill ink with a broken-off shard of his Ryoku Crystal. With that same regular ink, he wrote down the Activate Rune on paper. He Enchanted the Ink with that Rune, infusing even more Ryoku into the mixture. Very carefully, he wrote the Runes he'd need on his body—upside down and backwards, so his friends would still be able to read them. Writing down the Inked Arts took more time than crafting the Ink. By the time he finished, he realized his mistake. Wait a minute. I can just write these upside down next time…
Anyway, the Inked Arts truly are amazing. Chef’s kiss.
The perimeter alarm triggered again, so he headed back up to inspect it. Cy had added a few more features in order to track someone’s movements beyond the line, and he lifted the telescope up to exactly the place where Envy and Rukia’s heads popped up. Success on a new Script's first attempt. Marvelous. Beautiful. Oh my Salvos—
Chef’s kiss.
Envy crossed her arms on deck and looked him up and down. “What in the actual fuck are you wearing?"
“Uh—What do you mean?” Cy spiraled down into embarrassment. The shadows around him grew longer and darker.
“You look like an absolute—You know what? I don’t even have the vocabulary to properly insult you today. And why are you leaving behind your Armored clothing? Your Ink is bleeding through your shirt. And you didn't rub that zinc in your nose all the way.” Envy headed down to the living quarters. “By the way, that stupid alarm system you set up alerts whoever crosses it. I felt you tracking me all the way back. Pretty creepy, if you ask me.”
Cy shrank into the deck’s floorboards. Whiskers pounced on his stomach.
“Not now, pussycat.”
Whiskers blew a chef’s kiss to the sky and scurried away.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Envy returned from below deck. “What are you lazing about for? Let’s go.”
“Right.” Cy jumped to his feet. “How’d it go?”
“Good. It was…”
Well you look sad.
“A beautiful reunion,” Rukia shouted. “I can still feel Jules’ joy.”
“Great, mission accomplished. Now let’s get to ours. What?”
“Aren’t you going to change first?” Envy asked. Cy grumbled and muttered to himself. He shoved Rukia into his backpack and a reluctant Whiskers into Envy’s.
“I don’t need to go in here, I’m not loud like the imbecile fox—”
“First of all, we need to blend in, so your two tails are going into the pack. Second, never question a master of illusion and disguise. I look great. Let’s go. Rukia, you got Kaizen’s beads?” Rukia mumbled an affirmative from the bag and shook the beads for good measure. “Good.”
They walked mostly in silence, and soon they were well within the hustle and bustle of Coralhaven. Cy recognized many faces in the crowd, but just like before the Sack, no one paid him much attention. That is, after they looked him up and down and turned their head in disgust. Par for the course. Can’t believe I ever moved away from this place.
The bells rang on their way in, which made them both nervous for a moment, but Cy assured her that he thought they were for a gathering and not an alarm going off. Sure enough, another Fall Ceremony was taking place in the plaza.
“Wow. This place has certainly changed since I last, uh, visited.” Cy wiggled his eyebrows at Envy. Play the role, in case anyone’s eavesdropping.
“What, do you mean a ton of people look like you now?”
“Yeah, actually.” The place was crawling with tourists.
And not just wanna-be-Shrine-capturer tourists from Siren’s Cove, but more like I've-never-been-in-danger-in-my-life-and-have-a-false-sense-of-security-and-wanna-see-the-hometown-of-Wrath tourists, which if you can believe it is an even less combat-fit group of people.
Either way, visitors weren’t here to challenge the Shrine, and they certainly weren’t here to act like they were, to make themselves feel worthy and superior. They were simply here to be nosy, to take an Apocalyptic prophecy and turn it into a good time. The economy shifted in this direction, too. Some of the signs he read, hanging in shop windows, disgusted Cy.
> [Wrath shopped here regularly!]
>
> [Wrath's favorite Blacksmith!]
There were more, some of which Cy knew were true, and others which were outright lies. Not sure which one’s bother me more. Damn honeypots.
Cy led Envy through the plaza to join the gathering Ceremony crowd. This time, multiple candidates waited to receive their first Tomes, and the 4th Rank Inker had returned.
“Ramped up their arsenal, it seems. Guess in case he were to ever come back, eh?” Cy said with a sly grin and an elbow jab. Envy looked past Cy, clearly not entertained.
“Cy, look.” Envy pointed at a massive monolithic black slab. Is that a… Shit, it is. They walked over to it. Most of the words were elegantly etched in a white carving.
"The Sack of Coralhaven," Cy read, "by Wrath and Davy Jones…"
Thirty-seven names, etched in white, composed one single column. A second column had six names etched in red. Cy read through all the names, solemnly. Victims of Davy Jones, written in white, memorialized who had died in town that day. The red names, on the other hand, Inked in blood, were the—alleged—perpetrators.
> Wrath, aka Jules Tideshaper of Coralhaven, one of the Seven Deadly Sins
>
> A. “Liam” Tideshaper of Coralhaven, disgraced father of Wrath
>
> Evelyn Tideshaper of Coralhaven, disgraced mother of Wrath
>
> Davy Jones, the Fallen Alter Pirate of multiple disgraces, and his crew, unknown
>
> Isolda Runeheart of the Shattered Isles, disgraced teacher of Wrath
>
> Cyrus, of no Surname or known origin, disgraced orphan and betrayer of his own kind
“Wowwww,” Envy said. “Even your teacher got billed a higher credit than you.”
“Shut up,” Cy snapped. He looked around. Asshole. He was sad enough to be on the damn thing, but to read his bylines like that, how insulting they were—he truly did feel disgraced, though for a different reason. “Isolda. What happened to you?”
Cy grabbed Envy’s arm and dragged her through the crowd until they were near the front of the stage. He looked around for students, and when he finally found them, he didn’t recognize their teacher. Where could she be? People left and right stared at them in disbelief and they bumped shoulders.
“Step-brother," Katarina called him by his alias, "what are you doing?”
“The day that we—er, it’s rumored that the day of the accident, Wrath and his friend met up with their teacher, right here, before going to the Shrine. I just hoped I might see one of them in the crowd, I guess.”
“Oh. Right. Because you really are a stupid tourist.” Wow, you sound like a robot. Never try acting.
“Laying it on a little thick,” they whispered to each other at the same time.
“Come on.” Cy gestured to the crowd. “They’re just waiting on the Tomes now. The shops should be open again, and we don’t have much time to waste on… Hope.”
Their first stop, naturally, was the kiwi stand Cy had enjoyed two years ago. Even Envy had to admit that they were pretty phenomenal, if not a bit too furry. “Coralhaven is the ideal climate for their optimal growth. For instance, did you know that the volcanic ash in our soil—”
“I don't care. What’s next?”
Cy stole the remainder of her sliced kiwi and shoved it in his face. “Next stop is the Forger, to mend our clothes. Hey, you could insult him, too, since you're feeling so feisty.”
Jules had kept his clothes, forgoing the renewal process since he’d need everything available to him for the Shrine, so Cy and Envy just dropped off their own armor. The Forger, whom Cy actually didn’t recognize since he only hung around Smitty's shop, was also a Tailor who specialized in Forged clothing. The man complimented them on the power of the Enchantments, and the excellent job on the Forgeries.
“Judging by the state of these clothes, you two must be brave adventurers. You wouldn’t happen to be Fighters or Scholars, would you?” He eyed Cy suspiciously, and Cy realized his current disguise did not compliment his tattered clothing.
“Nope, we’re just a couple of misfits,” Envy said. She shuffled through racks of fabric.
“Well, that’s a shame, because a wound like this,” he held up Envy’s undershirt and pointed to the spot where she’d been stabbed in the stomach by Maddie, “would take out any Fighter or Scholar I know. They’re missing out, not having you two. Anyway, these’ll be ready in a few days.”
Cy resisted the urge to look at Envy. This guy’s attention to detail made Cy nervous, but still, they needed his Skills. “I’ll pay you triple to have them ready today.”
The Forger's eyes lit up. “I can’t do that. Not today, but you make it tomorrow at noon, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
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