"Our Island is called Nohea Bay." The old woman said.
'Topless women, water and your head hurts. Are you sure you're alive?' Mom asked.
'I don't think so. Pretty sure I'm alive.' I said. To the women I said, "I need to find my friend."
"Unless your friend was a pile of blood, there was no one else with you." The girl said.
".. How far away was the blood?" I asked.
"Couple of miles or so. Not far." The old woman said. "Zeraldinria, why don't you help him up and show him?"
"Are you sure? We just reset his arm?" The girl said.
"I'm sure, Dearest." The old woman said, then glanced at me, "So long as nothing else hurts."
"I am fine." I said. Pushing myself up with my good arm. I noted I had everything on me still.
"Alright, well, let's go." The girl said cheerfully.
I got to my feet, noting I was bruised in several places. Following the girl, who seemed to be watching me closely, I took my communication device out of my pocket and contacted Phintias. "Hey, do you know where Nohea Bay is?"
"Yes, I do, it's off to the West, why?" Phintias asked.
"I have found myself on that island and Plight is missing after we landed from a high distance. I'm looking for him now, but all the locals said they only found a massive amount of blood." I informed him.
"A massive amount of blood.. well, that's concerning isn't it?" Phintias said.
"Yes. That means the ancestor took him over.. I don't know how I survived that." I said.
"He's not exactly known for his gentle caring of others.. Unless he has deemed you necessary for something." He commented.
"I have shown I know how to be rid of him and am working towards that through Sylvia..." I said, watching the girl.
"Well, if that's the case then I have no idea how you aren't dead." Phintias agreed.
"I need to contact my family. I am sure they are panicking. I'm not sure why I was worried about the location. I can just make a glyph." I said.
"That is true. You easily have a way out of whatever situation you are in." Phintias said.
I ended the connection with him and tried to focus enough to contact James. But I'd grown very tired and my head throbbed. I felt my connection to my Mother disconnect. I frowned, and leaned against a palm tree with a groan.
"You ok? I said we shoulda waited. But no one wants to listen to me." The girl said.
I looked at her a moment, then pushed myself away from the tree. "I'm not ok. But I must find my friend."
"What does your friend look like? Might be a good place to start to know what I am looking for." She said.
"He looks like me, but not pale anymore and has green eyes, and is a very tall adult." I said. I hadn't noticed my body swaying until I staggered. I took a step to steady myself. "His name is Plight."
"Tall, pale and black hair. No, I can't say I've seen him. Sounds very noticeable though." She said.
I grunted a little, following her again. I bit the inside of my mouth, using the device to contact James, "Dad, I lost Plight."
"And we have lost you, again, where are you?" Dad responded.
"Following a pretty naked girl through sand." I answered, "I think my head is rattled."
"If that is your description of your current situation I would say yes, your head is rattled." Dad said.
"I think I need a nap.. naheo... No, Nohea Bay. Island. Wesy... West. That's not on a map. Owww. Urgh." I placed a hand to my head. "Plight took most of the fall."
"Son, can you remember the glyph home? If we take care of you, you can go back." Dad said, speaking clearly.
"That glyph." I said, I dropped to my knees, hurting my arm worse in the process. I focused on the pain to begin drawing the circle. "It's hard."
"If you cannot get the glyph correct on the first try, do not do it." Dad said.
I continued to try to make the glyph. "She's looking at me scared."
"Well, if she had no idea what you're doing you're just a boy drawing in the sand." Dad pointed out.
I looked up at her. "I have to make a magic portal home. I'm useless right now."
"Well, if you tell me how to do it, I can draw it. At least I can try." She said.
With some strain to my condition, I mentally pressed the image of the glyph into her mind. "That's the one."
"Woah..." She said, awed. "How did you do that?"
"The quori." I answered. Laying on my side, and cradling my arm to myself. "She'll try to draw it."
"Alright, I'll have people waiting. Where will it let out?" Dad asked.
"I think at home or at the entrance." I said. "It's the easiest one."
"That's fine. I'll have people at both places." Dad said.
I watched her drawing out the glyph, nearly falling asleep. "Daddy, there's a giant lizard."
"What kind of giant lizard?" He asked.
"Green. But that one's brown. Stripey tail. Spiky neck." I said. "From the book. Many Scales."
"Wait. Stripey tail and spiky neck? Son, are you speaking of iguanas?" Dad asked.
"Oh yeah." I commented, saying aloud, "Iguanas."
"Yes. Iguanas." She said. "They are quite numerous on the island."
"How big are they?" Dad asked.
"That one looks like it's Mom's arm size and that one looks more like between Dad and Uncles." I said. "Isn't numerous difficult for a child your age?"
"Lots of words are difficult. That's what makes them fun." She said.
"Do you like books?" I asked.
"I do, but they are hard to get. Most people here think they are useless. Actually, everyone here thinks they are useless." She said sadly.
"I have many books." I said, stirring my words.
"Oh? What are they about? I like tales of adventures. I've only read two, though." She said.
"I have books about everything." I said. I looked at the glyph. "The girl likes books."
"Well, you can show all the books when you get home." Dad said impatiently, "How is the glyph going? Is she doing well?"
"I don't know. Hold on." I said, forcing myself back up some. She was following the glyph pattern carefully. Paying much more attention to detail than a child her age normally would. "I think so."
"Thinking so could land you miles away, so I am going to hope." Dad said.
"It's ok, Dad. I won't die yet." I said.
"You better not, or I'll rip you from the grave and tan your hide." Dad said.
"Being exploded to death hurt worse." I said.
"I can't imagine that would be a good way to go." Dad said.
"I think it won't be good if I fall asleep like this. But I'm getting sleepy." I told him.
"Stay awake, son. Explain the worl around you." Dad said.
I looked around and described the girl, then the sand, the trees, the lizards and the plants. And the weird purple cloud. And the boys who were naked and approaching us.
"A weird purple cloud?" Dad asked.
The girl finished the glyph while I observed the cloud growing. "Done!" She said, "I'm pretty sure at least."
"Do you have magic?" I asked.
"Yup, but I've no idea how to control it." She said.
"The feeling you have when you use magic.. focus it on the glyph." I said.
"Hm. Alright. I'll give it a shot." She shrugged.
The glyph activated after a second. A few seconds later people came through, following my Uncle. "Good job" I told the girl.
Uncle looked around, spotted me and said, "Whup, can't have that." He picked me up, and I plopped my head against his shoulder. He directed healers to take care of me. The girl looked concerned.
"This is my Uncle." I told her. "He also likes books. And the people work for my Dad."
"This may be rude, but I must ask. Did you go bald?" She asked.
"I'm adopted." I said.
"Ah. That makes more sense." She said.
"So who is this- child. And why is she half naked. And what's with the purple cloud?" Uncle asked.
"I don't know. Those boys are naked and the old woman, too." I said. "And that keeps growing."
"Well, all people have their own customs. I am very concerned about that cloud, though." Uncle said. "Men, take him home. Then I think I'm going to check this cloud out."
The men took me through the portal before I could even argue it. And shortly after seeing my home and parents, I fell asleep. I hadn't meant to, but was exhausted. This led me to over sleeping considerably. I didn't wake until lunch time the next day with my Dad about to leave my room, and my Mom coming inside.
"Mm. Momma? I'm fine." I said.
She knelt down next to me, and stroked my hair. "How are you feeling?"
"Er.. my head feels thick." I said.
"You're brain is probably feeling muddled due to the concussion. It will pass with time." Dad said.
"Oh." I said. "That makes sense."
"Before you ask, we have yet to find Plight. You are not to leave this estate until you are cleared by a healer. You will also be bringing Joshua when you go, he is posted outside the room. Dirthin is also still on the island." Dad said.
"Island? Why?" I asked.
"Do you remember yesterday?" Mom asked.
"Yesterday.." I said, thinking. My head twinned at the effort. "Didn't I go see Cassae?"
"You and Plight were teleported to an island." Dad said.
"No, I don't remember that." I said.
"Hmm.. relax the best you can. In time I'm sure it will all come back to you." Dad said.
"Ok, Dad. Momma, I am ok." I said, I attempted to lift my arm. "Why is my arm stiff?"
"We are not sure how it happened, but parts of your arm and shoulder were broken." Dad said.
"It's kinda really dumb that healing makes you 'healthy' and heals external wounds but doesn't do much for conditions or broken bones." I said.
"You'll have to take that up with the ancient ones who decided how all that works." Dad said.
"i should like to become someone less touchable first." I said.
"That will come with age." Dad said.
"If I get the shadowfell's magic again, it'll be a step in the right direction." I said.
"That doesn't sound like something we should try at the moment." Dad said.
"It's not." I said. I looked at my Mom, "Are you fine?"
"I'm alright. I'm not the one we should worry about." Mom said, smiling at me.
"You're the one growing a baby." I said. "I'm young, I'll mend."
"I'm also not the one who has been thrown around, teleported and kidnapped everywhere." Mom said.
"Well, it's my own fault. I am well aware I've put a target on myself." I said. "I have been trying to be careful."
"It is impossible to keep yourself safe while making such big changes to the world. The only place safe for you is inside this estate." Dad said.
"I agree with James." Mom said.
".. And neither of you are going to restrict my activities?" I asked.
"There is literally no way for me to do so besides cut your hands and feet off." Dad said.
"I would mostly listen.." I said.
"It's that mostly part that makes it an issue." Dad said.
"You're the one who instilled a work ethic in me." I pointed out.
"Yes, well, I should have also installed a more reliable survival instinct." Dad said.
"Well, the lack of that was learned from Dean and Miran." I said, I glanced at my desk, "I should try to contact Plight if he's missing."
"Yes, we can start with that, see if he is able to communicate." Dad said.
"My question is.. why didn't the ancestor kill me?" I noted. "Momma, behind you, can you get the communication divice for me?"
She retrieved it for me, and Dad said, "He had all the reasons to, but I am rather glad that he did."
"The ancestor is a being that is trying to steal Plight's body from him. And this being is aware that I know his name and have Sylvia working to eradicate him." I explained to my mother.
"Well, that sounds like a dangerous person." Mom said.
"Is it bad that I empathize with the ancestor? His youngest son murdered his own mother just to kill to weaken his father enough to kill him. In turn, with his dying breath he cursed his own lineage." I said. "To him who hated existence, his wife was the only thing that could make him tolerate life."
"He sounds like an utter failure." Dad said. "Worthy of pity, but that is all."
I shrugged. "You'd be a villain, too, if we were all killed and you couldn't bring us back."
"I would be a blight on the world. But also, a failure." Dad said.
I smiled a little, then focused on reaching Plight. It connected. "Plight, where are you?"
"Isarial, Isarial?! Where are you? I can't see. Everything smells like dirt and sand." Plight said, utterly panicked.
I paled. "Dad, I think he's been buried."
"Well, if you draw a glyph near him, I can send some people in.. You will not be crossing." Dad said.
".. Then, did I tell you anything about that place?" I asked. "Because I can gain the knowledge of a place I want to go, but I have to know a bit about it first."
Dad recited everything Uncle and I had gathered about the island itself. I gained the knowledge of the glyph back to that island and rather than put my body through the difficulty, I had Joshua draw the glyph after planting it firmly in his mind. He drew it well, and had the magic to activate it.
Dad then sent people to search for my lost friend. Meanwhile, I told him, "I'm hurt, so Dad is sending people for you. A girl apparently helped me get home before I passed out. I tried looking for you.. I'm sorry I didn't find you. But they'll find you."
"Please hurry. I feel things nibbling me." He said.
"I will stay connected to you until you are found." I promised.
"Thank you. That means a lot. It's that damned box all over again." Plight said.
"Do you know why the ancestor didn't kill me?" I asked.
"Unfortunately, it was a bit of a blur." Plight said.
"Well, that's ok. Is your body well, besides restricted? My arm and shoulder are broken and I was knocked out until recently from a concussion." I told him.
"You know after he possesses me I come back better... so physically I am fine. Mentally, there is only so many times I can inhale dirt. Then again I don't need to breath." Plight said.
"Definitely stop breathing. I was aware the ancestor makes your body stronger, but I've never seen it. Honestly, I don't even remember yesterday." I told him.
"I don't remember much besides a very long fall, and that's about it... then I woke up underground!" Plight said.
Hearing his panic flaring up again, I began singing a song to him. It was a song I'd thought of when I heard him humming the beautiful melody to his little daughter until she fell asleep. I sang it aloud and through the device to Plight. My thoughts were to comfort him. He began humming along and sort of entered a type of trace.
Still, I kept singing to him. Even when Snow came in to check on me, and listen to my singing. And even when my injuries throbbed, I continued. Even as the minutes passed into an hour or more, I persisted. Until Plight stirred again, acknowledging that he was being dug up.
Once he was free, he hacked up the sand and dirt, and returned through the portal. I fell back to sleep while he was checking on me. I woke again around dinner time, and was given some dinner. The medical staff still thought I should rest my head, and be monitored. They'd expected the memory loss, and wer glad I wasn't more damaged.
Though my body's responsiveness was delayed by two seconds, my mind didn't have significant delays. I did confuse a few words, though. The medical staff said that it could have been a lot more serious for my age and size. They wouldn't have been surprised if I had significant delays. My parents listened to this and took their advice.
This meant a couple of days of bed rest, and coddling. Simon, Haril, Dean, Plight and Nia, and Alex's family all visited with well wishes. At some point, even Phintias, Lucretia and newborn Mercia visited. Phintias fussed about me ending the contact rudely, and got to learn that I didn't recall that.
Vakri hadn't shown me those memories yet, and the memories it did show me were docile. Just memories of reading with James. After the five days of resting my head, I was finally cleared to be up and about. The purple cloud Uncle had been investigating turned out to be a sort of cloudkill construct. He destroyed it, of course.
It was the next morning after I'd been cleared that after breakfast my parents and Uncle invited me to the Family Room. This made me a little weary, but I went with them nonetheless. Once we were comfortably sat.
"Your mother and I had a discussion." Dad said. "You seem to be too high of a priority target to be wondering around with just a guard. Your mother wanted to imprison you in the estate until further notice.. but we made a compromise. You may leave the estate, but only when Dirthin is with you. But he is quite busy, so that will not be often. This only needs to last until we are able to sort out who is behind all this, and deal with them. We already have several.. strong leads."
"I see. I understand, but may I go to the island at least once to thank the girl? I don't have to go outside to do so." I said.
"Of course you can. Dirthin is right here." Dad said.
"Alright. Does this Uncle only Escort include Hearthstone? Technically I could just make a portal from here." I said.
"And what do you need from Hearthstone?" Dad asked.
"An excellent question. But I do have to go to the divine realm tomorrow. I said I would visit in a week and see if they wanted help relocating due to a dragon problem. And I said I'd take Cassae home to get more of her things." I said, then I looked thoughtful at a crazy idea.
"What's that face about? I don't like that face." Snow said.
"Ouch." I said. Pretending to be offended.
"Some things may need to be moved about.. but answer your mother. What's that face about." Dad asked.
"A stupid idea. But it was amusing. Wouldn't Joshua suffice for that trip? He can counterspell, can't he?" I pointed out.
"Indeed, he can." Dad said.
"Alright, Mom." I sighed, since Snow's expression hadn't changed. "My thought was to move the ancient gold dragon to the Avarial's home place, and bribe him to take over the area."
Her ears flattened out. And she leaned her head back, like an offended cat. "Ok, no. Explain that thought process."
I rubbed the back of my head with my free hand. "The Avarial were driven to near extinction 11,000 years ago by chromatic dragons. It's to the point Elves think of them as a myth. A goddess brought the few hundred survivors to the Divine Realm and house them next to Aarokocra. Metallic dragon's hate chromatic ones."
"So you thought to fight dragon's with dragons." Dad said.
"It was an amusing thought. But again, he's a jerk." I said. "I have many thoughts that I talk myself out of."
"It terrifies me all the ones you don't try to implement." Dad said.
"Well, I'm still on the fence about rebuilding a kingdom on the other continent." I said.
"In the future??" Snow said, her voice elevated.
"Yes, Mom. Not until I am an adult." I said. "And maybe not even then."
"That sounds like an interesting endeavor. What has you on the fence about it?" Dad asked.
"Becoming a king would lock me there pretty solidly. I'm not afraid of the responsibility, the danger or the magnitude of it... But my family is over here, and it would be hard to visit you all." I said. "But, if I do it, I'll get revenge on the Mad King."
"Just install a figurehead." Dad said.
"I suppose that's possible." I said. "I have a while to think on it. Either way, I'd need to unite the other three kingdoms."
"Depending on your method... that could take quite a lot of time." Dad said.
"Well, with the Mad King stirring them up more, yeah, it'll take some serious work. Especially since that continent is roughly three times this ones size, in people, more so." I said.
"Might need to invest in mercantile operations." Dad said.
"I would have to, of course." I said. "There is a lot to running a kingdom. I could probably ask Phintias to tutor me on it."
"It would not surprise me if that man had ran a kingdom in his time." Dad said.
"Even if he hasn't, he is the Sultan's advisor." I said.
"Yes, sometimes I wonder how he got that position, but it doesn't matter." Dad said. "If you keep up the way you're going you'll have an entire ruling cabinet to help you."
"Probably. Have you heard of propellers?" I asked.
"I may not know the name but maybe the concept." Dad said.
"I remember propellers." Snow said. "It's a mechanical device used to make a ship move."
"Yeah. They don't exist on this continent." I said.
"Unfortunately, I have not heard of this. What do you need of this propeller?" Dad asked.
"I don't need it, per se. I think it could be interesting to tinker with engines, which run propellers. I could probably figure out new ways to travel. That could be handy on the other continent, because they are only used for boats there." I said.
"So an engines purpose is to run the propeller. What fuels the engine?" Dad asked.
"Steam, coal, or turpentine. Perhaps even crude oil." I said.
"What is turpentine?" Dad asked.
"A fluid obtained through the distillation of resin harvested from living trees. It's used in oil paints and varnishes as well as cleaning agents. Though, mostly discarded." I said.
"And yet it can be used as a sort of fuel for these engines.. how are they constructed?" Dad asked.
"I don't know." I said. "I figured I can experiment with it and figure it out. Mostly it's a lot of metal working, with some fine tuned parts. The other continent is experimenting with it. They didn't have one that reliably runs their boats or airships yet when I heard of it."
"I can get you the names of several metallurgical. That should aide in the process." Dad said.
"Alright. It'll keep me occupied, anyways." I said with a grin.
"That is the name of the game. If we can keep the boy occupied maybe he will stay home." Dad said.
"You do seem to have a knack for inventing." Snow said, "Perhaps I could help you by showing you the memory of Pride Stride's blue prints to their ship's propeller."
"Most likely. You can show me when I'm ready to start working on it. By the way, their ship was siezed when they arrived and taken apart to see how it worked. It was instrumental in what they had by the time I visited that continent. But significantly flawed as it only works for a week or so at a time before needing repairs." I explained to Snow.
"Good." She said.
"How large do these engines and propellers need to be to move a boat or a ship?" Dad asked.
"See, that's really what needs to be experimented with. My theory is that the size of a ship is too large for the engine to handle. The engines appear to be only two feet in width and three in height." I said. "But it makes a ship move like it's caught the wind with sails."
"That would be.. very profitable." Dad said.
"Most likely." I acknowledged.
Dad suddenly got up, "I have some things to look into."
I looked at Mom as he left, then Uncle. "I'll grab some books, then we can visit the island for a short time."
"Alright. Maybe I can find something more interesting than a strange purple cloud. It went down easy enough." Uncle said.
"I guarantee in eleven years that you'll find a fight that you'll have difficulty with." I said.
"Eleven years is a long wait, but wait I must." Dirthin said.
I chuckled. "Just don't die, Uncle."
He chuckled, too, while I went and got a few different books. They were ones I'd meant to move to the School in Hearthstone, their primary purpose was amusement rather than education, so I didn't mind giving them to her. That said, I had no idea what the girl looked like, nor did Dad.
I was curious about the girl and the island. Why had I paid her attention? I wasn't sure. With the books in a little bag, along with some scrolls, I slung them over my good shoulder and went to the entry of the house to make the glyph. While I was doing so, I said, "Uncle, do you know what that girl looked like? Vakri had yet to show me the memory of the island."
"Eh, I could probably point her out." Uncle said. "I don't know why Vakri wouldn't have shown you anything."
"It's just been showing me a monastery lately." I said.
"A monastery? What for? Last I checked, no one in this house is very religious." Uncle said.
"My great grandparents were in a monastery. My grandparents left it and settled in the Capital." I said, as I finished the glyph.
"Well, if it shows you anything we should be concerned about, let me know." Uncle said.
"I'm just glad it doesn't show me people being intimate." I said.
"Yes... that would be very bad." He said.
I activated the glyph, and we went through. The island was actually pretty homey. While we walked around, people kept staring at us. They were all naked. But they didn't approach, probably due to Uncle's intimidating presence. However, that went out the window when the chief approached.
"You're presence is disruptive to our way of life." The chief said.
Uncle stepped forward, "And you're interrupting a very simple operation. If you want your little island life to go back to normal faster, I suggest you move put of the way."
While the chief sputtered, I patted uncle with my good hand. "I am just looking for the girl who helped me. After that, I'll leave."
Uncle looked at the chief. "Sorry, looks like I was a bit aggressive."
"I don't keep track of that one. Her grandmother's home is over there." He pointed.
"Hm." I dismissed him and began walking in that direction. "Uncle, you didn't need to apologize. I would have probably been more rude."
"Well, then next time just let me continue what I was doing." Uncle said.
"Eh, makes me look more important to cool your jets." I grinned. "Makes my unintimidating presence seem more imposing."
"Haah, fine." Uncle said.
Before we reached the house that we were heading to, we came across a read headed little girl. "Hoh, our grand search is over. Here she is." Uncle said.
She looked up, "Oh, you did stay alive."
"Well, yes.. Hey, didn't you like books?" I asked her.
"I do, quite a lot." She grinned. "Not that one's very useful around here." She stuck her tongue out at someone who was watching her.
I chuckled. "I don't recall meeting you.. so, my name is Isarial."
"Well, my name is Zeraldinria. So what brings you back to here? There's not much around here." She said.
"Are you curious?" I asked her.
"Extremely." She said.
I held the bag out towards her. "I wanted to thank you for helping me."
"Ooh, a bag of mystery!" She grinned. "But it won't be a mystery for very long, what's in it?"
"Go ahead and get into it, silly girl. I brought the bag for you. Nothing will bite you, I promise." I told her.
She shrugged, "Wouldn't be the first time." And she opened the bag, pulling out a book, then noticing there were more books. Her face absolutely lit up, and she started going through the books. She looked back up at me abruptly, "Ah, sorry, I got distracted by the books. Thank you. I'll try to keep them," she glanced at a few people, "Protected."
"Just enjoy them." I said. I took a scroll out of the pack, "Once you want more books you can send me a letter through this scroll... if anyone destroys your things," I smiled slowly, "you can also send me a letter and I'll come bust their kneecaps."
She smiled, "That sounds terrible for everyone but me."
I liked her. "You said no one appreciates books here?"