"You seem oddly at ease with almost getting impaled by a mail box", Tatterhood commented as she stared at the new addition to the garden.
"I think I ranted about this a few...hours ago? So let's just say I'm not going to let a magic mailbox kill me", RJ replied as he opened the mailbox to see what the game had sent him. A ball of light then flew out of the mailbox before entering his chest.
"Gya!", RJ exclaimed as the light ball entered his chest, "why do I always seem to get shot at"?! A moment later, a series of notifications appeared in the form of a floating screen and as a voice surrounding him.
[ Salvage Hook x 1 has been added.
Familiar Domicile x5 has been added.
Island Expansion ticket x1 has been added.
Furniture Gacha Ticket x1 has been added.
Workshop x1 has been added.
Small Growth Patch x 5 has been added].
[Would you like to do the Spirit Garden Turtorial]?
"Min Gud, this is going to take a while. I say skip it", Tatterhood complained.
"Oh come on, we got some weird time dilation stuff. It won't kill you to wait a bit", RJ assured, "Besides, what's the worst that could happen while we're in here? Now let's see what this 'Salvage Hook' can do...".
And just like that, RJ broke one of the fundamental rules of the universe, never ask, "what's the worst that could happen"?
_________________________________________
At the bottom of the San Francisco Bay, surrounded by sharks, mantas and seaweed, laid a skeleton.
Now there was nothing remarkable about this skeleton, except maybe that it was clear it belonged to an unfound murder victim.
But there are over hundreds and thousands of cold cases, missing persons and unsolved identities that fill the halls of the justice system. No time to solve the death of a person not even registered to the cops as to have been murdered.
The one thing of note about this body, however, was that it was just a few meters away from the coast of Alcatraz Island.
Once a military base, turned into a prison for criminals such as Al Capone and George "Machine Gun" Kelly and now a landmark tourist destination, no mortal could ever perceive that this place and was a hotbed of negative energy.
But such potent energy is useless without a catalyst...like say, a small tear in reality.
This small tear happened for a brief moment, no quicker than an eye blink, but it was enough time for a strange little black pearl to form just above the water line.
With the quietest of splashes, the pearl sank downward and merged into the skull of this lonely skeleton. A moment later, the skeleton shuddered to life.
A pair of flames filled it's empty eye sockets as two questions suddenly filled it's head: "Què? ¿Quién soy? Who is...Reya..."?
_________________________________________
Back at the Garden
"Okay, so the Salvage Hook can accidentally catch storied as well as treasure and trash...but at least we got this neat [Earth Mana Cushion] out of it", Tatterhood said while confidently holding the golden brown lotus patterned cushion.
"After fighting a giant catfish", RJ complained.
"Bah! We managed to roast the bastard".
"Delicious", Frost commented as she and Ember took bites out of the aforementioned tank sized roasted catfish.
"Oh it's not too bad. Don't we need to check out the Workshop thing? You think that cauldron you got from the hotpot place works there?", Tatterhood said, getting into the Spirit Garden maintenance with enthusiasm.
RJ just stared at her, exsasperated, before giving up and just rolling with it.
_________________________________________
San Francisco Botanical Garden - Greenhouse
"Hey, where do you want me to put these seeds?", a teenage worker called out.
"Oh just leave them on the counter, I'll sort them later", a mature voice replied, "hey, come over and help me plant these new vines".
"Okay".
In his hands was a large box filled with flower seed packets. Roses, marigolds, lilies, azaleas, daisies, chrysanthemums, all sorts of colorful and beautiful flowers, asleep in these seed packets.
Doing as instructed, he placed the box upon the work counter and went on his way to help his supervisor... completely oblivious as a crack in the air opened and a gold smoke cloud flowed out of it.
The cloud floated above the seed packets for a moment before seeping into a packet of bluebells, causing it to faintly glow and the seeds inside to suddenly dream.
What did these seeds dream of exactly?
It dreamt of a warm home...of a loving family...the embrace of a lover...burning torches and hateful gazes...all in a haze.
"Theo...where did...you go..."
_________________________________________
Japanese Tea Garden-Located across from the Botanical Garden
A solitary crow sat quietly in a tree, watching the humans go to and fro. It was how he normally spent her days.
She watched young couples showcase their love to the world.
She watched families walk through the gardens, the kids playing and laughing.
She watched old folks, leisurely stroll.
She watched the workers care for the plants and fish.
For what reason did the crow watch the people move?
Was it because she wanted to be like them?
Was it because she hated them for intruding on her territory?
No, she watched them because she was waiting for them to drop something shiny of course! Shiny treasures make the best decorations for nests, and she learned that these silly humans have the most awful habit of losing them whilst galumping about.
It was during this moment, that something particularly shiny that caught her eye. It looked like a small, silver trinket in a vague bird shape. She didn't know what it was, but she wanted it!
With a beat of her wings, she dove at the shiny totem and grabbed it, a strangely pleasant, electrical feeling coming over her.
She didn't know why, but she felt like she could spare into the eye of a storm!
"I am the wind. I am the lightning. I am the thunder. I am...the storm"!
_________________________________________
In the newly installed workshop
"Alright, that takes care of the cauldron installation...oh some new recipes unlocked"!
"Devil Magma Catfish Stew... hey, did you two eat all of that catfish"?
"No".
"Meow".
"Let's try and make this thing then".
_________________________________________
San Francisco Zoo - Primate Exhibit
It was a quiet day at the zoo, not many humans have come to visit the colorful-faced mandrills,the powerful gorillas or the playful lemurs, but that was fine by them. That just meant they could eat, play and nap with nobody watching them.
Decorating the halls of the exhibit, away from the enclosures of course, were various monkey-themed statues. Some were of baboons in an Egyptian style, others were brass likeness of chimps and orangutans and there was even a set of statues depicting the three wise monkeys.
But there was one statue that seemed a little...out of place.
In the corner, on a small pedestal was a statue of a crouching monkey made of jade. Now jade monkey statues aren't necessarily rare or expensive, but what was odd about it was that no one could really perceive it. They could see it out of the corner of their eye, they could see it as part of the grand collection of statues, but no one could seem to register it as an independent object....well, no mundane person anyways.
A small crack in reality formed above the statute's head. A moment later, wisps of golden energy flowed out of it and constricted themselves around it, forming a golden headband.
After the band formed, the crack sealed up...and the statue started to move.
"I don't know who I am or where I am...but I know that I am...a king"!
_________________________________________
In the Workshop, last time, I swear
"Now with that out of the way, let's see what this fire rat robe thing is".