"Really? Yeah, that would be great," Sydra says, becoming excited about the fact that he won't have to look like he was just pulled out of the grave. "How will you do it?"
Stepping back, Moss raises her hand into the air and creates a veil of light blue water. "I will use my power, it is called Water Form,". Dropping her hand, Moss points towards the palace, where Maire is waving towards them. "It would be easier if we could do it inside,"
Nodding his head, Sydra walks to the palace with the three children following closely behind him. As they leave, the creatures return to grazing on the food the children brought them, which was different types of oats and grains.
"You look different," Marie says as Sydra approaches. "Almost like a Bone King, but they don't have roots holding them together,"
"Bone King?" Sydra asks, touching the crown on top of his head, "I'll have to look that up later. Anyway, Moss says she can change me back with her power, so I won't look like this for long," Sydra says, turning to look at Moss, who is discussing something with the other children.
Nodding her head, Moss steps up to Sydra with a determined look on her face, "Before I fix your appearance, you have to promise me to grant me one wish,"
"A wish?" Sydra asks, "What do you want me to do?"
"We want a playground and a really big one," Moss says, the two other children looking at Sydra with hopeful eyes.
'Dang,. these children won't do anything for free,' Sydra thinks, shaking his head and sighing. "FIne, after you fix my appearance I will make a playground for the three of you," Sydra says, watching as the children break out into smiles and high-five each other.
"Good, then I can get to work now, but you're going to need to lay down," Moss says, motioning for Sydra to lay on the ground. Grumbling, Sydra lays down on the floor and Moss raises her hand over his head. Closing his eyes, Sydra feels water splash down onto his face, before slowly traveling down his body. As the water runs over his body, the bones and roots begin to fade away, and his old appearance returns.
"All done," Moss says, stopping her aura from releasing water. Standing up, Sydra looks at his reflection in the pond's water, noticing that the bone crown and root body have disappeared. Patting his head, Sydra is surprised that he can't feel anything there either.
"Wow, you have a really cool power, and the way you know how to use it is amazing," Sydra says, turning to look back at Moss, who is trying to hide her face.
A red tint appears on her cheeks as Moss shyly looks at Sydra, "Tha... Thanks, but your appearance won't last forever, at most a few months before I have to do the process again,"
"Ah, well that's fine," Sydra says, looking back at his reflection and noticing that his body seems more rugged than before. 'Man, I think I look better than before I went through this whole thing,'
"So will you make us our fort now?" Ash asks as he jumps into the air, his wings fluttering excitedly again.
"I said I would, didn't I?" Sydra asks, walking out of the palace and looking around the island. Choosing one of the open areas, Sydra begins manipulating the ground around it to form large walls and tunnels. Then he sends several straw golems over with wooden planks and bars to create bridges and towers. Once that was done, Sydra channeled some of the water from the pond to the center of the fort to create a lake for the girls to use.
"There, now you have a fort, and you can also use it as a training area to get stronger," Sydra says, before noticing that the kids have already left to test out the new fort.
"That was really cool of you," Marie says, handing Sydra a plate of food. "I made you some lunch,"
Taking the plate, Sydra heads over to a chair and sits down to eat. "Thanks, I was getting hungry. After this, I should head back to the ship and meet up with the others. Will you be fine here?" Sydra asks.
"I'll be fine, the children aren't that hard to handle," Marie says, watching as Sydra attempts to eat before realizing he still can't.
"I'll just take this back to the boat with me," Sydra says before thanking Marie one more time. Leaving the Arbor Sanctum, Sydra returns to his body aboard the Sunloft and devours the food Marie made for him. 'I can't wait to be able to travel there with my real body,'
"I should probably see how everyone else is doing," Sydra says, getting up from behind his desk and heading back out onto the deck. The sky above is becoming a light orange color as the sun sets, and the group is sitting together at a table they brought out.
"Sydra! You finally emerge," Robert says, getting up from the table and tossing the cards that were in his hand off to the side. "You've been gone more than half the day, we were getting worried,"
Trying not to laugh, Cidre picks up Robert's discarded cards and looks at them. 'More like you were getting worried about your bad hand," he says, showing the cards to Sydra.
"So were you hanging out with Marie?" Erich asks, laying down his cards, and collecting the pile of coins in the middle of the table.
'Ah, I forgot to tell them about the children,' Sydra thinks as he sits down at the table. "Somewhat, but there are a few things I have to tell you guys, one of them being the reason we're headed to Duepel instead of going straight after Corbel," Sydra says, before explaining the situation, and the reason behind needing to capture sheep.
"Woah, you went through a lot during our time at the temple, and I sort of understand the reason behind Ned's actions, but still," Robert says, looking out across the waves towards the setting sun.
"Yeah, and since I can't kill the guy, I thought I would imprison him in a place he can never escape, while also allowing him to try and save his daughter," Sydra says, "Anyway, it should take us a few more days to reach Duepel, so I'm going to practice my powers along the way. Do you guys want to train with me?"
"Sure, but it will have to wait until tomorrow, I'm too tired right now," Cidre says, yawning as his eyes begin to droop. Sighing, Sydra sends the three of them into his Arbor Sanctum, before going back to listening to the waves wash against the boat.
The next morning Sydra wakes up and heads into the Arbor Sanctum to begin training with the others. Leading them to the coliseum, Sydra and the others train over the next few days as they wait to reach Duepel.
During their training, Sydra learns more about his new abilities and also tests out the ability he received when he crushed the Ice Heart. To his surprise, the power he received was control over water molecules, but there wasn't much he could do with it at the moment.
On the fourth day, Sydra is preparing to enter the Arbor Sanctum again when he notices an island out of the corner of his eye. Pulling out his spyglass, Sydra looks across the water to see if the island is Duepel.
'It looks like the same one I saw from above, so I think it's safe to approach and find out for certain,' Sydra thinks, putting the spyglass away and calling out the others. Spinning the wheel, Sydra maneuvers the ship into the island's harbor, where a few people are waiting. The people on the dock each have a different part of their body that resembles that of an animal.
"Who are you, and what is your reason for coming here?" A man with a large sword in his scaly hands asks as Sydra hops off the ship.
"We just stopped by to get supplies, we should only be here a few days," Sydra says, watching as the man nods his head and puts the sword onto his back.
"Alright, you may stay on the island for the next three days, but you must leave before sunset on the third day. Don't blame us if you stay longer and something bad happens," The man says before walking back to the settlement on the island.
"What do you think will happen if we stay longer?" Robert asks, landing on the dock beside Sydra.
Scanning the island, Sydra notices that the occupants seem to be relieved of something. "I'm not sure, but I don't think it will be good,"
"That's because it won't be," A middle-aged man with goat horns says, walking past Sydra with the stench of fish rolling off him. "Four days from now, this island will be visited by the Wither Pirates, and if they sense anything off they will not hesitate to kill us all,"