The flight didn’t exactly take long, but it was longer than an hour, easily time enough to sit and play several hands of Crystals and Castles. I lost horribly, of course. It’s hard to bluff when everything you’re thinking is visible on your face. It was a slightly odd feeling to realize that I didn’t even really mind that fact anymore. It was just… who I was. Why would I want to be someone I wasn’t?
I did wish that I could clearly remember the rules to a few of my favorite boardgames from my first world though.
I wonder if Ticket to Ride or Splendor would sell in this world? I pondered. Quickly followed by I wonder if Soriya likes boardgames?! I resolved to ask her once I had a free moment. She surely likes this card game. I thought as she raked her winnings in with a wicked grin and a wink.
“While I’m sure my crew would love to gamble away every part of their money, as a heads up, I can see the sea.” Lakshmi sung out from the cockpit.
We all crowded in to stare out the canopy of the wash of waves and cliffs that stretched ahead of us.
Camaxtli said softly “Astonishing. I had read the documentation, but the experience…”
Daniyel nodded. “The desert is like the sea, only different. So much water… is it truly all undrinkable?!”
Eshaan snorted. “Yes, it’s all salt. And the view…” he stopped and turned to look out the window, then turned back. “Well, never mind. I guess your backyard’s never as interesting to you as it is to others.”
I smiled at him, and patted his shoulder. “Nice.” I said softly.
He nodded.
Lakshmi sniffed. “Alright, so now I’m going to have to park this. I don’t suppose anyone has a good idea where?”
“There are historical records of sea caves near the ocean, though the monsters are sometimes of moderate concern.” Camaxtli said
Eshaan looked up. “How tough?”
“I should not think more difficult than the Ancient automata left within the Monain undercity.” Camaxtli replied. He paused briefly then added “Perhaps a bit more difficult.”
I clapped my hands over my mouth and stifled a giggle, which came out as a muffled snort. Well of course they’re slightly tougher, we have to level up, don’t we? I thought with amusement.
Everyone turned to look at me, though Soriya had a knowing look in her eye.
I waved my hands to reassure them. “Nothing. Seer humor. Never mind. I’m sure we can handle a few monsters!”
Lakshmi brought the Sparrowhawk in to a long slow glide, and then inched along the coast. Eshaan spotted a sea cave, and we were soon inching the length of the Sparrowhawk into a sizeable cavern.
Once we were down and settled, we opened the hatch and I took a deep breath of the sea air with satisfaction. This almost immediately turned into a yelp of surprise, as several flying/floating fish and octopus leaped out of the surf and rocks to attack!
“Oh come on!” I shouted angrily as we readied our weapons and started spell chants. “Why are cave octopuses a thing?!”
We fought them off with only a few sucker marks on us to show for it. My real concern was how difficult it was going to be to recover the Sparrowhawk.
I turned to Soriya. “What do you think? Quest to return, or are we far enough off the path?”
Soriya tipped her head thoughtfully to the side, tapping her lips. “I think… probably it should be ok. Maybe a miniboss? Breeding sea serpent to fight?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I guess that’s fair.”
Camaxtli frowned. “Are you predicting that this cavern will be the lair of a sea serpent mother and her brood? That is exceptionally unlikely!”
I laughed again.
“What is so amusing?” He demanded.
I shrugged and smiled at him. “I think you just made it a certainty, Camaxtli.”
He frowned. “This is most illogical. Events cannot be predicted like this, and breeding season has barely begun!”
“Whatever!” Lakshmi said. “Hurry up and unload all this crap! I want to get the Sparrowhawk unloaded enough we can walk around easily, and then get the camouflage netting set up! If there’s a big sea serpent when we get back, we’ll just punch it in the face!”
I turned to her and said “What if we punched it in the face and then got back? Or if the Sparrowhawk did the punching for us?”
She frowned. “Like… if the Sparrowhawk fought without us? But…” I saw her eyes lose focus, and she started muttering to herself.
It was almost like a magic trick. I giggled quietly as she absently held out a hand and Daniyel was there to place paper in it. She pulled a pencil out of her hair where it had been serving as a hairpin and started scribbling frantically. Camaxtli came over and watched as she worked, and then started quietly offering suggestions and improvements. I shook my head in amusement, and got back to helping drape the netting over the ship.
Soon enough said and done, and the Sparrowhawk was draped with camouflage netting, and piles of supplies from both our shopping trip and the Cloudheart’s farewell gifts were stacked around our feet. Lakshmi had been dissuaded from completely disassembling the Sparrowhawk and instead a crude automated system had been set up to activate the Sparrowhawk’s main guns. I wondered if that would be enough, or if the world would demand an actual fight.
I called up Gate, and the others stepped through back to Breezewood. Just as I was about to step through, Gate said quietly “You are making progress. This is good. I had begun to fear you would lose track of your goal.”
I blinked in surprise. This was unusually chatty for Gate. “Why would I do that?”
Gate rippled his obsidian and violet scales in what seemed very like a shrug. “It seemed likely.” And with that cryptic pronouncement, he swept his doorway over me, and I was standing with the others in mother’s field.
I huffed in annoyance. Irritating thing! What’s that supposed to mean, I’m doing my best here! I am going to give you such a talking too! I thought angrily.
In my mind, I could hear the Arcanum shuffling almost nervously. A voice I’d not heard for a while echoed up in my mind, the sound of heated metal and hammer.
Forge said
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
I thought angrily at them. I have not lost sight of the goal! My… my mind stumbled, and I felt the heated blush sweep over my cheeks. My falling in love with Eshaan has nothing to do with me finishing this quest. I am still fully committed to uniting all the Keys, and then opening the way to the System.
The Arcanum within me were silent, and then Tower said with firm solidity
Forge spoke with the heat and clang of metal.
I frowned faintly in thought as the presence of the Arcanum in my mind slowly faded. I came to with Soriya snapping her fingers in front of my face.
“Hello? Anyone home? Lily?” She said teasingly.
I brushed her hand lightly out of my eyes. “Sure. Soriya, we never played board games when we were growing up. Do you remember any from before?”
Soriya blinked in surprise. “Well… yes, now that you mention it. Crystals and Castles is fun but… well I used to play Great Dalmuti and Rummikub.”
I blinked. “Rummikub? Isn’t that American?”
Soriya huffed angrily. “First of all, no! How American of you. The creator is European! Second of all, what did you expect? Go and Yutnori?”
I shrugged. “Sorry... I mean, I was American so... I guess? Or Shogi and mahjong, this is an isekai.”
Soriya’s eyes flickered with a complex mix of emotion, sadness, anger and… something I couldn’t identify. I took a step back, my eyes widening.
“What!? What is it, what’s wrong?!” I said in confusion.
Soriya licked her lips slowly and then said quietly with great deliberation “Isekai tropes aside, those are more Japanese games. The Japanese are not well liked in South Korea.”
My eyes went wide. “Oh… oh!” I clapped my hands to my mouth. “Oh, I’m… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to be so rude!”
Soriya nodded, a little sadly a little resigned. “It’s… it’s another world. Another history. I should let it go. The games aren’t even that bad, honestly. And you’re very sweet Lily, I know you didn’t intend anything cruel. But why are you asking about games I like?”
“Well… you know… something to play besides Crystals and Castles would be nice on the trip…?” I said hesitantly.
Soriya got a thoughtful look in her eyes and tapped her lips, then nodded. “That’s not a bad idea. I think I could remember enough of the rules to recreate them.”
I smiled. “And I think Forge would be willing to make them for us, if I can visualize them clearly enough!”
Soriya’s eyes lit up, and she clapped her hands gleefully. “Oh that would be marvelous!”
I grinned. “Then we’ll do that!” I paused, then lowered my voice to ask hesitantly “Uh… you’re going to have Daniyel sleep over with you, right?” I blushed faintly.
Soriya gave one of her wicked grins. “What do you think?” she poked me lightly in the chest. “And when are you going to ask Eshaan to sleep over, hm?!”
I turned scarlet. “Not until a considerable time later!” I announced defiantly.
Eshaan appeared and asked “What are we discussing?” with an innocent smile.
“Nothing!” I squeaked. “I’llseeyoulaterSoriyagoodbye!” I said in a rush and fled towards my house at top speed.
Soriya’s teasing laughter followed me the whole way.
Mother was very understanding, and even excited about our trip. She pushed a blank journal on me, and said with great seriousness “You should keep a journal of your own on this journey! You’re going someplace nobody I know of has gone! You’re going somewhere and doing something that you’ll want to have a record of!” She winked and added in a lower voice “And I know your children will want to know.”
“Mother!” I protested. “Stop teasing!”
“Am I wrong?” She asked with a smile.
I stomped my foot. “No, and that just makes it worse!” I scowled angrily at her, then stomped up to my room to start filling in my new journal.
Later that evening Soriya came over with handwritten notes describing the rules of her chosen games. For my part, I’d done my best to remember the rules to my choices, though I wasn’t sure I remembered them accurately.
I summoned Forge to make them, and he slowly produced each one after working through my awkward descriptions. They didn’t look exactly right… but they were close enough, I hoped.
I thought about it for a really long time, and then finally decided that maybe some tropes weren’t that bad, and also had him create a Mahjong and Shogi set. I didn’t let Soriya see them though. I wasn’t quite that stupid.
The night passed quickly with no ominous dreams or portents and the next morning we all gathered in my back yard. Soriya’s self-satisfied smirk and the slightly stunned look on Daniyel’s face made me blush again. I pushed it out of my mind and cleared my throat.
“Alright. Just in case, I’d like to have the boys go first.” I said. “Please have your weapons drawn, so that you’re ready if things go poorly.”
Eshaan and Daniyel nodded, and readied their weapons.
Camaxtli drew his techno-katana, frowning. “As you wish. But this is highly illogical! Making decisions based on the plotting of a media from another world makes no sense!”
I smiled at him wryly. “Yes, I know. But so far, it’s worked more often than not.”
He shook his head and waited as I conjured Gate, and then the three boys stepped through, followed shortly by Lakshmi, Soriya, and I.
As I emerged from gate, I was greeted by the sight of the three boys standing near the entrance to the cave, swords raised.
Beyond them, an enormous sea serpent, with a head the size of a wagon, swayed back and forth, hissing. Huge gaping wounds were blasted into its sea blue and green hide, dripping red onto the cavern floor. Shattered egg shells lay across the floor of the cavern.
Camaxtli was muttering “Illogical! Completely illogical. Unfounded! How is this possible?!” over and over, his eyes spinning wildly with color.
The sea serpent swayed once more, and there was a thunderous KRAK-boom that filled the air as the Sparrowhawk’s turret triggered. The serpent gave one last defiant hiss, and then collapsed into the border of surf and cave floor. Daniyel and Eshaan wasted no time. They dashed forward and delivered a quick combination of slash, stab, and punch the head of the serpent.
The World Soul chimed softly in my mind. <{Orator} Advanced to level 7. {Orator} Advanced to level 8. For predicting the course of the future and convincing your friends to follow the path, you have advanced to {Orator:8}>
My eyes widened in surprise. Two levels? In Orator?! I looked around, and saw the familiar slightly abstracted look in the other’s eyes. Well. Looks like that worked out then! I giggled.
Eshaan cheered. “Yeah! Go Lily! I just got two levels from that! For nothing!” He ran up to me and gave me a tight hug. “You’re brilliant!” He enthused.
I flushed and hugged him back. “I can’t really… that is…” I squirmed.
Soriya laughed. “Oh just take the praise, Lily! You were right! And your planning saved us a lot of hassle and we all got two levels out of it!”
I nodded reluctantly. “You’re welcome. I guess. I don’t feel like I did much.” I mumbled.
Soriya bopped me lightly on the head with her knuckles. “Enough of that, princess. You guided us right.”
“B-but you were the one who guessed about a sea serpent!” I protested
“And you were the one who asked me what I thought, and then convinced the others.” She tipped her head to the side and smiled.
I frowned, but didn’t protest any further. It did feel good to be proven right, and to have saved my friends trouble.
And if that fight was worth two levels, I can’t imagine how hard it would have been in real combat!
We stripped the camouflage netting from the Sparrowhawk, and packed up our much reduced supplies.
“Alright! Is everyone packed?” Lakshimi asked sternly, hands on her hips. “If Camaxtli’s right, we’re going to be flying for two days non-stop! And if we don’t stop, Lily can’t take us back to Breezewood!”
I tipped my head to the side. “How are you going to stay awake for two days?!” I asked, suddenly worried.
Lakshmi laughed and held up several of the purple potions that my mother used for all-nighter projects.
My eyes got big. “Lakshmi, no! You can’t use those like that! It’s not just bad for you, the crash at the end is horrible!”
Camaxtli reached over and lightly plucked the potions from her hands, causing her to squawk in surprise.
“This is dangerous and unnecessary. I also know how to fly the Sparrowhawk.” He said calmly. “A twelve hour shift for each of us will ensure that no one individual is dangerously depleted.”
Lakshmi rounded on him and poked his chest with her forefinger angrily. “You don’t even sleep!”
Camaxtli looked at her, and then said blandly “You are correct. I do not sleep. It would therefore be logical that I pilot for the entire voyage. This course of action is predicted to cause the emotional disruption known as a ‘tantrum’, and has thus been eliminated as a possible option.”
Lakshmi stared at Camaxtli, her mouth hanging open. It was the first time that I’d seen the princess at a complete loss for words.
There was a stunned moment, then the rest of us burst into laughter.
Daniyel clapped Camaxtli and Lakshmi on the shoulder. “Come, let us board the craft before further debates cause us to draw yet another sea serpent.” He turned to Camaxtli. “I must teach you lessons in keeping hidden true thoughts.” He looked over to Lakshmi “And you should learn that stubborn pride does not make the best trait in a captain.”
Daniyel gently but firmly escorted them inside, almost like a pair of cats he’s picked up by the scruff.
I kept my hand pressed over my lips to stop from bursting out laughing as the rest of us followed behind.
Lakshmi insisted on first shift, and we hurriedly scrambled to find seats as the Sparrowhawk powered up, and slowly eased out of the sea cavern. I looked out a porthole to see the wreckage of the eggs below us, and the faint glittering light show as the sea serpent dissolved into motes of spirit energy. I felt slightly bad, after all, the sea serpent hadn’t been doing anything other than trying to have babies. Not for the first time, I wondered just how much control the trenches dug into the world by the System’s plots were controlling us. I thought about that for a long time as I watched the coast fall away behind us as the endless rolling waves skimmed past below.