"And how long have you been at this… tree?"
"It's been five days now." I shrugged. "That was when I asked Telman about it."
"Ah." He rocked back. "If you asked my son, then why are you asking me? He was a lot smarter than I was. But still, a dunce when compared to my ma."
'Clearly.' I snorted. "Well, you're the one who asked where I was. I didn't even ask you anything."
"Fair point, mate!" Henry buckled forward to slap at his knees, filling my necrotic world with a cacophony of applause and maniacal laughter; much like the old sailors would when they faced a horrific storm or wave and came out unscathed.
Like many of my ancestors, he was huge. 1.9 meters tall and build like the trunk of a black tree, back in Deapou. And as Telman implied, he was dressed in the boots, belts, and rags that all but labeled him as a pirate. Including a tri-tipped hat fashioned atop his matted locs.
"My name is Henry, 'Captain Darkblood' Cole!" He thumped his fist into his chest. "I was born in 888. And ever since I could remember, I was fascinated with the sea. I was enamored with it. Or rather, what's beneath it.
"The largest expanse of perpetual darkness on this side of the Shadowfell." He maniacally grinned. "I became a pirate before I came of age. I lived off the sea and attacked anyone who wronged me. Human or otherwise. I'd return land-side for a few years or decades at a time to have my fun until I took a long halt to raise Tel. Other than that, I was nothing particularly special."
"You had vampiric blood in you, did you not? That doesn't warrant as special?" I asked.
"To me, no." He laughed. "I was stronger than the average man, but still weak compared to ma. Our only commonality was our taste for bloody meat. I used our Shadow Sorcery to rule over the seas."
"I see. I imagine you captured many a creature down in the depths." I grinned at him. "How'd you die?"
"Something like that." He cackled. "As for how I died?" He paused to scratch at his beard. "Well, I grew old and drowned of course! The only outcome to a life at sea." He cackled again. "That happened in 995. But I'd been terrorizing the seas for nearly a hundred years at that point.
"My first voyage was at ten years old." He said, dramatically panning his hand to the side. "By using the Wraith Form to alleviate the pressure and by breathing into the Fell, I was able to dive to the ocean floor. And after a bit of exploring, I came across a goldmine. It was a graveyard of sunken ships. And with time, it became a mobile fortress."
"How did you breathe?" I incredulously asked. "Or was your Well large enough to keep a spell under constant activation?"
"That's the best part." He stepped forward with a crazed eye. "There are connections down there. Conduits. Rifts that lead to the Shadowfell. Those occur naturally, but down there, we can make our own. Like in the Dark World!" He added with a wagging hand. "The convergence of the two spaces inside the ship is what provided our air and dispelled our water. My subordinates could hardly see in it." He meekly shrugged. "But it was better than drowning."
"That is annoying, isn't it?" I sighed. "Having subordinates with no darkvision."
"The biggest inconvenience one could imagine." Henry snorted. "Besides incompetence. Anyway." He waved it all aside. "Tell me of you. I can see you're a demihuman as well."
"I'm a half-drow, and my name is Amun," I explained with a bit of surprise at making it this far without an introduction. "I was born to Emeric Cole as was raised as a royal child. Now, I'm on my way to the Bodhi Tree. And I plan to seek out the Cole Crypt upon my return."
"And what do you hope to learn there, Amun?"
"Some insight to ancient history for starters." I shrugged.
"I will warn you that it won't be easy," Henry growled. "Shadow Sorcery alone isn't enough to reach the Crypts depths. That said." He peered over his feet. "I can see you possess the void. But that will only get you so far still."
"I accept the challenge," I growled back.
"Alright then." He smiled. "In that case, I have a challenge for you. Find my ship."
"What's it called, The Black Pearl?" I snorted.
"No." He shook his head. "The Black Rover. It should be docked in a trench near the island. I'm sure you can find it."
'Ugh.' I groaned. "Fine. But I'll warn you and say I have no intention of living under the sea. So if I don't use it for my undead, I'm bringing it out of the water."
"Well, it's too big to put it on land." He scoffed. "Where are you going to put it?"
"Maybe I'll wake you up and show you one day." I snorted.
"What a tease!" Henry cackled. "But alright then. I assume you'll be summoning my ma next? Give her my regards."
"Yeah, right after I cross this desert. And I'll be sure to." I smiled. And with another sigh, I was off my throne and swimming back to reality.
Within a few moments, I was kneeling in my tent, listening to the others tear down their shelters in the mid-morning tempest while my Doppelganger maneuvered around me to mimic their actions.
"How long do you think it'll take us to cross?" Came Roheisa's voice.
"Uh." I slowly turned to her. "A day."
"Well, Lucia and I were thinking that it'd be nice to camp in the desert for a night or two."
'Oh god.' I groaned.
"We still have eight days until the deadline." She pressed on. "We'll be lounging about somewhere anyway, and-"
"Yep. That's fine." I sighed. "Let's just go."
I took off before she could say anything. Running at a dead sprint, I vaulted off the edge and plummeted through the clouds like a base jumper, and spawned my Artificial Well to accelerate on a southeastern heading while the others trailed behind me.
After descending low enough to skim the sea of dunes, the seconds, minutes, and hours seemed to blend into a single, thoughtless moment. The sun rose and began to fall in the sky and eventually, the summit shrank to a large stain on the horizon to our backs.
By sundown, we'd made it nearly halfway across the desert. An admirable distance, by my standards. Assuming Roheisa was purposefully slowing us down so she could have her camping trip.
It was around eight-thirty when she called for us to descend and make camp for the night. While I had other ideas for our desert camping, I held my tongue for the night and allowed her to take charge.
The surface was as one would expect. Covered in rolling dunes of loose sand with the occasional outcropping of stone or dried vegetation.
Our camp was at the center of one such outcropping. Placed at the center of three large rocks that were fenced in by a few bushes.
I immediately went around the area with gravity magic, compacting the sand beneath us into a solid platform while the princess deposited steel stakes and poles onto Jaimess and Ed and the large tent they were unfolding.
With the initial jobs done, I joined Lucia and Toril in amassing some firewood and provisions for the night and hauling them inside.
The site, and thus our tent, was a round space large enough for the six of us to gather in, around a wood stove. With seven small alcoves attached radially, one for the entrance and the others for our foxholes.
While Jaimess was busy filling in the floor with rugs, I assisted the Princess in setting up the stove before heading back outside to install the most important piece of infrastructure.
The outhouse.
With that, all the work was done and I had around eight hours to kill. So I took to the sky to do a bit of training.
***
Come morning, I awoke to Roheisa and Lucia whipping up a veritable feast for the rest of us. According to them, I was so we wouldn't have to stop for lunch in a few hours. But with the time left until the meal was done and the fact that nature would inevitably call, I couldn't help but feel that it was an excuse for us to stay here longer.
I, however, wanted nothing more than to get out of this desert already. The plain sand and lack of flora were almost torturous to me. So I impatiently waited until the food was done and wolfed down my meal the moment it was served.
Then lounged about some more in an attempt to give our food time to digest before taking flight.
After nearly an hour had gone by, I noticed a small change within our tent.
It was a subtle rumbling that permeated the ground itself. As the seconds passed, it grew to a strong tremor and began rattling the pots atop the stove. Pebbles began to skitter across the ground. And soon, the entire tent began to shake.
As one, we all exchanged looks with one another before rising and filing out of the tent
All the while, the tremors continued. Rising in pitch and intensity until a proper earthquake was upon us. Shaking the ground with the force of God with an ever-greater magnitude until its crescendo came in the form of a leviathan's bellow. Detonating an earth-shattering explosion that ripped the dunes all around us asunder. Collapsing and imploding them into a wall of sand and jagged spires.
"What the fuck is this?"