Kai sighed inwardly.
"Now that we are done with the holy business, Andrik," Kai said, resuming their unfinished conversation, "answer me the questions I had asked of you. Of course, let me introduce you to Priestess Shae. She has come far into understanding HIS mysteries. If you would underestimate her because of her age, then you would presume too much."
Both Andrik and Meg nodded at each other, though Kai noticed Meg's stiffness.
"I had followed your orders, Captain." Andrik began the tale, recalling the events of three days ago. "But no true ironborn would want to die hiding among cowards. So I had returned to the deck to let Drowned God's waters take me and lose my life to the sea, rather than getting crushed by the shipwreck.
"But the moment I came up, through the hail, black wind, and water, I… I saw a blue figure walking on the deck. It had a tail, and I think I saw webbed hands and feet as well. (-Kai and Meg shared a glance-). From the old texts, I already knew that the Drowned God's favored priests are half man and half fish."
Andrik's breathing was rising again, despite the calm in his voice. Silence pitched and rolled along with the ship for a few moments before Kai nodded, urging the sailor to go on.
"I heard the words then," Andrik said, his eyes losing focus. "The words that had shaken my soul in awe, and I am ashamed to say, Captain, in fear as well."
Kai was confused and surprised. "Words?!" he asked incredulously. "What words?"
To Meg he asked, -/Did you hear words as well?/-
Meg pressed her brows and almost immediately shook her head.
Andrik gulped, cleared his throat, and then spoke with as much might and hoarseness as he could muster.
"I am a Stormborn," he began, and Kai almost left his chair. "I am the Devastating Despair, the Blue-skinned Demon, and the Unforgivable Cursed One… Then I think I saw a flash, like a yellow bolt of lightning. The next time I opened my eyes, Priestess Shae was standing over me."
Yellow?! Kai felt odd, a queer disgust rising in his heart. Wasn't the color of Focus Punch red?
It was then he sensed an upheaval of intense emotions from his side. Kai turned his head and found Meg, shaking like a leaf, and her mouth opened wide. Her eyes were almost popping out of her skull, and she was extremely anxious about something, Kai noticed. "Leave us," he told Andrik. "Go tend to the crew and take note of all the maintenance that the ship requires."
"Yes, Captain." Andrik bowed in acceptance and left, closing the cabin's door behind him.
"What's going on?" Kai asked Meg, not unkindly. "What's wrong with you? How come he, a normal human, heard me from so far away, but you, who was standing just behind me, heard nothing?"
Meg looked at Kai in disbelief. Her legs shook, and she fell back on the bed, sweat pouring down from her forehead like thick drops of water. "I remember now," she said, her voice trembling. "I remember you saying something about a Stormborn. But that's it. That's it, master. I heard nothing after that… Nor… Nor…
"… Nor did I hear a single word Andrik said just now."
Kai saw the truth in her eyes, and an indescribable chill ran down his spine.
*
*
Afternoon, the next day
Officer's cabin
Actaea had made good distance after latching onto the course.
From what Andrik had told the captain, no ship other than a galley could find them now.
Kai had serious doubts about it, given that Contestants had the means to cover the distance and make predictions, that ordinary men couldn't think of.
This troubling news, however, wasn't the reason for the unpredictable frown on his face that kept reappearing now and then since last night. Not even the wine could dull the chaotic thoughts rampaging his brain, much less needed to be said about the uncharacteristic silence of his Items.
Meg was standing near the windowpanes, looking outside at the calm sea, her expression troubled and thoughtful. A flock of white sea birds was cooing, flying over and around the ship. Their loud calls penetrated the glass, entering the occupants' deaf ears.
On the bed, lying with his back straight, and playing with the Iron Coin, was the young Petyr Baelish. Neither Kai nor Meg had gotten any shuteye since her shocking declaration about the baffling, mysterious phenomenon regarding the minor epithets. She couldn't hear the words Andrik had spoken so casually, though in palpable awe, in front of Kai, just a few feet away from her.
It hadn't ended there.
It should have ended there.
But, No. Captain Red had other plans.
The part about Pokemon World's retribution had been already weighing on his heart, especially when he could see no apparent benefit of the Cosmic Authority's Lore. So, when he saw the chance, he grasped at it like a drowning man's hands on a rope. In this very mystery lay his salvation, Kai was sure.
It just needed him to root it out.
That, in turn, needed experiments, observations, and raw efforts.
The moment Andrik had left the cabin, Kai had stormed towards Meg to check for any physical disorientation or unknown effect of a Skill cast from a distance. Both turned out to be the cases he'd rather wish were true later. After careful deliberation and planning, he had started by speaking those words by himself.
She didn't hear them.
He had then given the task to Petyr. She didn't hear him, either. When speaking didn't work, he started to write the words down, the black ink rippling on a white background.
She saw spiders crawling, wraiths gliding, and dark mist churning over a white desert. She saw everything. Everything other than the words.
Kai's heart had been pounding by then.
The most discomforting fact was that Meg knew these words by heart.
Kai himself had told her in the Pokemon World to know what these words signified.
She had denied having any knowledge regarding this new Stat of his then. And when she had asked Kai's permission to recite those words as a prayer, he had rejected the request. All was the same then, and all was the same now. The only thing that had changed since then was the method of communication.
Kai had used Telepathy to transfer those words into her mind in the Pokemon World, and Meg had shown no sign of having any issue recognizing them. Now, he had used human speech, and so did Andrik.
"There is no other choice, my lord," Petyr said, sitting up. "Let her speak those words. Only then we will get another direction to explore. We have tried everything else."
Kai closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. As much as he disliked it, he had already accepted that he was all those things mentioned in the Lore during that storm.
Before, he had been putting it off in a concern of attracting the attention of some inexplicable eldritch figure. He didn't have that fear now, at least.
Kai nodded.
Meg's head snapped back, tearing her eyes off the sparkling sea waters. She didn't wait for any bells to ring and said, "The…" She paused, her eyes puzzled, squinting to recall something. Something obscure. "What was I going to say again?"
Kai gawked at her with a sheer marveled gaze.
His eyes matched Petyr, who had already stood up, and they looked at each other before smiling. It was the smile confirming that there was indeed some power, some hidden benefit about these words, which Kai had been incapable of finding out because of lack of strength and knowledge.
"Interesting!" Kai exclaimed. "It's not unlike the magic of the Temple of Hastur that is used to keep the Priests and Priestess from divulging the Temple's secrets, isn't it?"
"Indeed, my lord," Petyr said. "It's like there is a hazy boundary between her consciousness and the outside material world that's filtering out the minor epithets before they can leave her mouth. Your Telepathy must have ignored that boundary entirely, bypassing it, and feeding the words directly into her mind. Or it is also possible that this boundary is weak in her case for you to penetrate it easily using Telepathy."
"So you mean to say," Kai began, tapping the arm of the chair, "that this boundary doesn't exist for you and the storyline Characters."
Meg must have figured out what had happened after listening to their conversation, for she looked as shaken as elated by this discovery.
"It doesn't fit, though," she said, taking a seat opposite Kai. "I had always recited Hastur's epithets, and never had I learned in my over 100 years of life that someone had failed to speak them out, irrespective of age, race, and state."
A chuckle echoed within the cabin like hundreds of mockingbirds crying at each other.
It was Petyr.
He approached the center table and stood straight and noble before whispering word by word. "Your devotion to our lord, my lady," he said, addressing Meg, "may be equal to the devotion you once had for Hastur, but it can't change the fact that Red and HIM are two different figures and separated by not only incomprehensible distance but also unimaginable power.
"Any comparison between the two is nothing but foolish. Didn't you say that these are only minor epithets and not the epithets of an Old One?"
Meg felt abashed in shame, Kai could tell, as he saw her old, paper skin crumpling.
A soulless character had just called her a fool, figuratively, if not literally.
*********************
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