by Kenaren
“Where does it go?”
“Huh?”
“The excess size and weight. Where does it all go? I’m assuming it doesn’t just vanish into thin air…” She shook her head.
“No, it doesn’t. It’s all converted into energy and stored with the jewel… don’t ask me how it does this, as I don’t know. However, if you’re that interested, then once we make it out of here. You can come with us, back to the druid homeworld and meet with master Uriel. I’m sure he could explain it to you.”
“Very well.” I nodded. She was about to walk away when I asked.
“Um… You wouldn’t happen to have a spare jewel… would you?” She shook her head.
“No, sorry. The jewels are embedded within our partners by Master Uriel personally, and no one is allowed to possess more than one.”
*Sigh* “I see… thank you for answering my question.” She gave me a quick nod and walked away. I retreated off of the ship and silently continued to swim.
* * *
After that disappointing conversation, I followed the ship for another three days and my patience was rewarded.
“Land ahead!” Solon yelled from the tip of the mast. All of us gathered at the front of the ship and saw what Solon was referring to. An island, not the island we were looking for, but an island all the same.
It was a fairly small island, with the majority of it seemingly being taken up by a single city. Said city appeared to be densely populated as groups of skyscrapers covered the center of the island and smaller buildings were built on the outskirts.
“There are people!” Solon yelled again. The boy was looking through a small scope at the island.
“Hmm, they must live in the towers at the center for protection…” I raised my head up to look at them.
“Have you not been here before?” Lena and Fenris shook their heads.
“No, this is the first city we’ve found in this world.”
“The first ‘populated’ city, you mean. We’ve found abandoned cities before.” After a few seconds, she nodded in confirmation.
“Right…” I watched them for a few seconds, then looked back to the city.
“Well, shouldn’t we prepare ourselves?”
“For?”
“Docking, of course. Unless you plan to pass up the chance to stretch those legs of yours?” My words seemed to strike home as only a few seconds later, they were all in motion.
“Solon, help me lower the sails!” Solon jumped to attention.
“Yes, dad!”
The family quickly got the ship up to full speed, and I followed along behind them. Though I made sure to stay submerged, lest I panic the locals. Though I did get to see Lena activate the jewel on Fenris’ head.
After activating it. Fenris seemed to have the air sucked out of him, as he quickly shrunk down to the size of a normal wolf.
“Wow…”
*Growl* “Finish that thought, and I’ll bite you.”
“Chuckle* “Whatever you say, mutt.”
* * *
Only a few hours later, the family ship pulled into port and were greeted by a dark skinned human. Though I didn’t get a good look at him as I was trying to keep myself hidden. I could hear what he was saying.
“Ahoy there!” He yelled in a semi-deep voice.
“Greetings, my name is Lena.” I could hear her step up to greet him.
“Hello, Ma’am. My name is Jordan Yesyra. I own and operate, this here harbor.”
“Nice to meet you, Sir.” I didn’t need to see her, to know she was bowing to him.
*Laughs* “None of that, now. Though I do need to ask you a few questions.”
“Ask away.”
“How many people are on your boat, besides you three?”
“It’s just us, and Fenris over there.” She pointed at the now much smaller Fenris.
“Mind if we check?” He asked before continuing.
“I apologize for the inconvenience, but we have to make sure nothing is being smuggled in.”
“Oh, of course.” I heard multiple people step onto the ship and spend about fifteen minutes looking around.
“Thank you for waiting, ma’am.”
“Oh, no problem.”
“That appears to be everything. However, I must warn you to avoid the back alleys and the lower bazaar after dark, as bandits and thieves have been known to target women and children.”
“Oh… Thank you for the information.”
“Anytime, ma’am. And please, enjoy your stay in Edgehaven…”
Chapter 19
Niabus POV
I was sitting at my table awaiting the inevitable ‘visit’, from my siblings. They always did pay me a ‘visit’ after I go against Forna’s wishes. And since I not only helped the mortal but was also the direct cause of him killing one of Oyja’s ‘beloved’ minions.
*Scoff* “As if the bitch actually knew what ‘love’ was.” The door behind me opened, and I could hear multiple people enter.
“Who’s this bitch you’re talking about, Niabus?” I glanced behind me and saw three people enter.
The first was Ewdea, Goddess of ‘Honesty’. She was a tiny woman with shoulder-length brown hair. She was so tiny, she could barely see over my table and was often confused for a child, but she had the power to read and influence the mind to an unimaginable degree.
She called herself the Goddess of Honesty but was really the goddess of manipulating the truth. And she held the ‘important’ position of being my sister’s right hand.
The second person to enter was Kalos, God of ‘Justice and Penance’ a giant of a man, so large he could barely fit inside my temple, even though I currently had forty-foot ceilings. He had a shaved head and beady black eyes, and though you wouldn’t think so because of his size, Kalos was a pacifist… And by that I mean, he hates getting his hands dirty and would prefer it if you commit suicide so he wouldn’t have to kill you himself. His powers allowed him to control someone as if they were a puppet… A slave in their own body.
He especially enjoys making young gods and goddesses into his ‘playthings’… and more than a few have been driven into insanity by him.
With these two by your side, no one was safe from manipulative bitches…Speaking of…
“Forna, so nice of you to drop by… Is it that time already?” I was referring to my yearly ‘punishment’. Forna and her two lackeys would come by every year, and forcefully absorb my power into themselves… it’s how they stayed the ruling faction among the gods.
Forna shook her head, and goons one and two smirked at me.
“No, this is a special occasion.” I quirked one brow at her.
“Really? Then don’t keep me waiting, sis… What’s the occasion?”
“We have reason to believe, that you interfered with mortal affairs…” I raised the other brow.
“Oh? That’s a serious accusation… where’s your proof?” She smirked.
“Oyja has named you as her accomplice, in interfering with a mortal’s life.” I blinked at her.
This was more serious than I’d originally believed. Oyja was one of Forna’s closest allies, and if she’s dragging her name through the mud…
“I guess Oyja’s punishment has already been delivered?” Forna nodded.
“Yes. As per usual, interfering with mortal affairs without probable cause results in offender fading… Oyja’s sentence was carried out by Kalos earlier today.” I glanced at the man and saw specks of blood on his face and on the front of his white pants.
“The poor girl was probably raped before he killed her….” I maintained my neutral expression and asked.
“Really? That must have been hard for you. She was one of your closest allies, after all.” Forna gave me an overly dramatic sigh.
“It truly was… But a criminal must be punished for their crimes. *Sigh* I just wish, I knew why she agreed to help you?”
“You lying bitch… You gave her the order to drive Ken insane. And you
punished her with this farce because she failed to do so before I caught on.” I raged in my mind but otherwise didn’t make a move.
“How sure are you, that she didn’t act alone?” I asked. Ewdea was the one to answer.
“I confirmed it myself. Admit it, Niabus. You’re still up to your old ways.” I glared at her, as memories of times long past raced through my mind. After a few seconds, I glanced at Forna and asked…
“What do you think, Forna? Is history repeating itself?” She seemed to space out for a few seconds, then glared at me.
“Enough talking, brother… It’s time for your punishment.” Goon one and two went to either side of me and Forna stepped up and grabbed my robes. She leaned her head down and whispered in my ear.
“Your punishment… is giving us all of your remaining power, and fading. Like you should have done millennia ago.” I was pulled to my feet, Ewdea grabbed my left arm, Kalos grabbed my right arm, and Forna reached up and grabbed my face.
Ewdea and Kalos began to manipulate my body, while Forna drew out my life force… as was her domain. Forna was originally a creature of the purest essence, that gave life… not snatch it away. She used to be the very incarnation of the cycle. Life…Death…And rebirth, they were all under her control.
I felt my life leaving me, and with this temple suppressing my power… I was powerless to resist. An unspeakable pain was assaulting my senses as Ewdea and Kalos attempted to keep me in a paralyzed state while Forna drew out my life force.
*Chuckle* “Forna… I wish the you of the past, could see you now…” The draining sped up.
“Shut up, Niabus… What I’m doing is right, and you’re in the wrong here… not me.” I grit my slowly sharpening teeth at her.
“Are you truly so blind… That you believe this is okay!?”
“What? Punishing a criminal?” She looked honestly confused.
“No… I agree that I broke the law… But only because, you. did. it. first.” She rolled her eyes at me.
“Oh, please. I’ve done no such thing-.”
“Look at yourself!” I roared, and my features changed even further. My skin became rough and scaly, my eyes turned to slits, and my horns grew larger.
“You have deluded yourself for so long, that you let this monster kill an ally… and that wasn’t all he did, was it!?” She dug her nails into my flesh.
“She deserved what happened to her!” She spat in my face, and my features continued to change. My robes were torn asunder as wings grew from my back, my scales turned black as ebony, and my eyes blazed with the fires of hell.
“No one deserves to die that way!” I roared back as my size increased a hundredfold, the growth enchantment on the temple was just barely able to contain my new size. A long serpent-like tail grew from my backside, and a crown of flames appeared over my head.
I threw off Kalos and Ewdea, then continued to stare into Forna’s eyes.
“I didn’t bring you back, so you could turn out this way… Forna.” I bowed my head to her. She placed her forehead against mine and whispered.
“You should have let me die….” The drain increased in speed again.
The memories of our past lives played through my mind, as the woman I used to love like a sister slowly caused me to fade….
“Maybe I should have… But I never would have imagined that you would become like him…”
“Take that back!” She roared, as my snout grew in and my control over my power began to slip.
“No… I won’t…” She dug her nails deep into my scales and screamed.
“You will!” I slightly shook my head.
“No… and I won’t let you have my power either… If I’m to die today, it’s on my own terms… Not yours.” The crown began to spin faster and faster, as the fires of hell slowly consumed my body. Forna continued to hysterically scream at me, and her two goons tried to make a break for it as they knew what I planned to do.
“This probably won’t kill you, but I doubt your two lackeys will survive.” The flames consumed my flesh and revealed my true form… A massive black dragon with blue veins filled with the fires of hell that covered my body like a spider’s web.
“I, Niabus, God of Fire and Destruction… Do hereby relinquish my power, and pass it on to the next Dragon King…” My power stopped being drained from me, and the veins that covered my body began to glow.
“No! Ewdea, Kalos, stop him!” She let go of my head and stumbled backward. Right as an explosion of power lit up the temple, and destroyed not only it. But the mountains were turned to ash, the waters boiled away, the sky was vaporized, and the branch of Yggdrasil was incinerated. Then, my power spread outside of the planet, and into space, where it vaporized every planet and star within five light years of me. Then, it continued to spread until nothing remained, and I vanished along with it….
Forna and her two lackeys were vaporized as well, but I knew Forna would live. She was a survivor if nothing else. And being reborn was her race’s specialty, after all….
* * *
Thief POV
My gang of five and I were making our way to the docks to set up a trap for some new arrivals. A beautiful elf woman and two children. One of which was another elf, the other was a beastman. As it was currently night-time, we were able to move around mostly undiscovered. And the only people to see us, was the city guard. But they knew to keep their mouths shut, lest we cut out their bribe money.
“Alright men!” I hissed as we reached the ship.
“We’ll set up an ambush for them on the ship. If we’re lucky, Mr.Bones will buy them for a grand sum.” One of the younger men spoke up.
“Uh, sir… What about the dog?” I rolled my eyes at him.
“We kill it, of course!” The men nodded and we boarded the ship. I took a quick look around, then turned back to the men… but we were missing someone.
“Where’s Ri’shaan?” The men looked at each other, then back at me.
“I don’t know, sir. Maybe he chickened out?” One of them shrugged. I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked, it was gone…
“Did anyone else see that?” I looked to the men and noticed another one was gone. Then another vanished a few seconds later.
“Form up, we have an attacker!” The two remaining men and I stood back to back so we could watch every direction.
*Screams!* I turned around in time to see one of my last men being dragged overboard by… something.
“What the fuck, was that!?” I yelled in time for the entire boat to be knocked to the side, causing the last of my men to stumble over to the side of the ship. Where he too, was pulled overboard.
I pulled out my sword and picked up another that had been dropped and ran over to the mast, where I slammed my back against it.
“Okay… it can’t sneak up on me now-” I heard a hissing sound coming from up above me… So, I very slowly looked up and saw the largest serpent I’d ever seen. And it was staring down at me.
“Oh… Fuck me…”
“Thanks for the meal!” I couldn’t dodge its mouth in time and was quickly swallowed whole…
* * *
Later on, Torga could be found peacefully sleeping on the ocean’s floor. His stomach was pleasantly full, so he decided to take a nap while he waited for the sun to rise, then he and the family would leave the city to continue searching for a way off this planet.
Chapter 20
Fenris POV
I woke up the next morning after hearing someone knocking on the door. Lena, the kids, and I had rented a double room at an inn near the harbor, as we wanted to set out early. Also… I didn’t want to give the snake a reason to come looking for us since that wouldn’t turn out well… After all, the only reason I trust the snake is because Lena assured me that he meant ‘us’ no harm. Though, now that I think about it. I think by ‘us’ she meant herself and the kids. I’ve seen him look at me like I was a tasty snack, but he only looked at Lena and the kids
with a… fondness that I honestly haven’t seen since we left Urilia.
And that’s not even counting his reaction to the Leviathan. He lifted up the ship and carried us away from it, and it happened so quickly that I didn’t even manage to detect the damn thing before we were carried away. In fact, for awhile, I’d just assumed he was saying it to mess with us. But, Lena told me later on that night. That the fear and anger he’d felt at the creature, definitely wasn’t fake. He was serious about trying to kill the Leviathan should it pose a threat to us… I think, that was the moment I decided to trust him.
Not to protect us in the face of danger, no. I still wasn’t going to trust our lives to someone I’ve only known for a couple of months. But, I will trust him to not abandon us at the first sign of trouble. If he cares enough, to willingly attack the Leviathan. Then, the least I can do is trust him a little bit…
*Knock*Knock* I snapped back to reality as I heard the knock again. I crawled over to Lena and nudged her awake. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she did was try to talk but I covered her mouth with my paw and motioned to the door.
“We have a visitor….” I whispered and could see when the fog left her eyes. She glanced over to the door, and slowly pulled back the blanket on our tiny double bed. She climbed to her feet and pulled on her tight green pants and white shirt.
*Whine* Though I tried to keep it in, I honestly couldn’t help myself. And she obviously heard me, as she glanced in my direction with a smile on her face.
“I’m still mad at you~” She whispered. Causing me to cover my eyes with my paws. I heard her chuckle as she walked over to the door. Then, after looking through the metal peephole, she slowly opened the door. Though she made sure to keep the chain lock on the door, and only pulled the door open enough for her to peek through.