“Attention, passengers, we are at our current cruising altitude so you may now move freely about the ship,” the captain announced.
Josie was too excited to contain herself in her seat. She stepped out onto the deck of the ship. Nurox wanted to follow her, but Darkwind grabbed his wrist.
“You’re like a puppy with her. All you do is follow her, Nurox. Give her some space. This is her first time on an airship. Let her enjoy it.”
“It’s my first time on an airship, too. I’d like to share that with her.”
“You really think she likes you, Nurox?”
“Yes, Darkwind. I do.”
“Okay, big guy. No offense. It’s cool. But I’d still give her some space. Let her enjoy the airship experience without you right up her butt the whole time.”
Nurox frowned.
“Fine, go. You don’t need my permission, but don’t say I didn’t tell you so,” Darkwind said as Nurox left the cabin. Darkwind shot a look of indifference at Chezzy, who just grinned in response.
Josie leaned against the starboard railing. Her lithe body was clad in leather and steel, and her short blades were sheathed on her thighs. She stretched her legs and stood on her toes, looking over the side, trying to make out the landscape underneath the clouds that they cruised over. She could see the snaking Wymar River and the marucane fields that produced the marucane spice used to cast green magic spells. She shut her eyes and smiled as the sunlight hit her face and the wind whipped her hair.
As Nurox approached Josie, a flare of light came off her silhouette, drawing his attention to her alluring figure. Nurox could feel himself sweating. He was so nervous, he thought he might be ill. Nurox had fallen hard for Josie, and while he knew she also liked him, he couldn’t muster the balls to tell her that he might be in love with her.
“Josie,” he called out.
She turned and smiled at Nurox. “Hey, come check out the view from here!”
Nurox hurried over and grabbed ahold of the railing.
“Go ahead, take a look,” she urged.
Nurox peered over the side and saw the straight drop of five thousand feet. His pupils shrank and things went blurry. He became parched and dizzy. Then, he shook it off. After all, he didn’t want Josie to think he was weak and afraid of heights.
“You okay, Nurox,” Josie asked, shaking him.
“Uh, yeah. I’m good,” he responded. “It’s a beautiful view from up here, but not as beautiful as…you.”
Josie looked up at Nurox. His face was handsome and strong, but also kind and brave. She gazed into his eyes as their lips met. Nurox embraced Josie and they kissed long enough to forget about the world around them, as if the winds themselves were carrying them on an adventure together. She felt his arms hold her close as she pressed her body against his. They stopped and smiled at each other, happy that Nurox decided to finally make the moves. Then, they returned to the cabin together.
***
“Wakey, wakey! Eggs and bakey!” Darkwind yelled as he pulled the cabin’s partition back, revealing Nurox and Josie under the covers together.
“Darkwind, you bastard!” Josie screamed. She threw a gauntlet at him.
“Hey, now. I’m not judging. You both can do whatever you want. I’m just here to let you know that this is our stop. Don’t shoot the messenger,” he chided.
Darkwind closed the partition. Nurox and Josie got dressed and met Darkwind and Chezzy in the main cabin where several other passengers joined them.
The captain’s voice crackled over the speaker, “Attention, passengers. We will be arriving at the town of Gast momentarily. Please gather all your luggage, pets, or other belongings before you disembark. Thank you for riding the Atlas Ephonym.”
One of the other passengers held onto her pet dengu, a quadrupedal creature with thick fur, a short snout and tail, and small paws. It was nearly three times the size of the average deermat, and aside from territoriality, it was a rather docile species. Max went up to it and sniffed. The dengu’s eyes were covered by its thick fur, but it sniffed Max in-kind. The dengu sneezed, sending Max scurrying behind Darkwind’s legs.
Nurox reached over and slid his fingers between Josie’s. He whispered in her ear, “You are incredible.”
“You’re not so bad yourself,” she replied with a kiss.
Darkwind made a retching sound and mimed vomiting. “Gross. I hope you two aren’t going to be like this the rest of this quest, because if so, you can count me out. Remember, I’m doing this to help all of you. Nobody is helping me with my quest.”
“What does your quest have to do with me and Nurox holding hands?” Josie asked. She was annoyed with her comrade.
“Because…because, I think it’s annoying,” Darkwind replied matter-of-factly.
“I think you’re annoying. How do you like that?” she said.
“Can we all just calm down?” Nurox suggested.
Josie’s face grew red with rage. “I don’t need to calm down! Darkwind started—”
Suddenly, all three froze as if time stood still for them. Chezzy had cast a stop spell on them. He would release them from the spell once they landed and they’d had time to cool off.
The airship continued its descent through the clouds. As the lower clouds parted, the captain could see the landing area. He pulled some levers and adjusted some dials, slowing the ship down as the earth got closer and closer. Then, with a thud, the Alpha Ephonym arrived at its destination.
Gast was a growing town. Here on the outskirts of the Eastern Kingdom, there were no provinces since the region had been overrun with monsters. The party was headed into the heart of these lands. Lake Baijer was forbidden by most, and those who were either too brave or too stupid to seek the Water Crest never returned to tell their tales. The wizard Maurolot commanded great dark powers and he would not give up the Water Crest without a fierce fight. The people of Gast knew of the threat he posed if he ever decided to leave his tower.
Darkwind and the others gathered supplies, restocked their rations, and gathered as much information as they could that could aid them in this final leg of their quest. Josie took out the crests and handed the Fire Crest to Chezzy, the Wind Crest to Nurox, and kept the Earth Crest for herself.
“So I have to wait?” Darkwind asked.
“Yes,” replied Josie. “But it’s because the crests chose us. I merely distributed them. The Water Crest has a connection to you, Darkwind.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go kick some old wizard ass and get this Water Crest,” Darkwind proclaimed.
The party left the gates of Gast and headed in the direction of Lake Baijer and Maurolot’s stronghold, the Tower of Pearl.
XXI
Daemeon placed her VR headset down and went AFK for a moment. She needed to disengage from the quest for a moment before they jumped into this dungeon. She knew that the others were excited to get these crests, but she was still obsessing over the God of Chaos. She’d worked so hard to create one of the most reviled characters in-game, and Darkwind had lost sight of his goal in helping Josie, Nurox, and Chezzy. Sure, they needed him, but did Darkwind need them? Daemeon pondered Darkwind’s fate once more before putting the VR headset back on.
***
“Alright, I’m back,” said Darkwind.
The others were gathered around a campfire, cooking dinner.
“Just in time I see,” Darkwind smiled as he gazed at the leg of lorgas that was roasted over the open spit. It looked mouth-watering, and Darkwind couldn’t wait to tear into it. Lorgas was one of the most tender meats in Half-World, and one of Darkwind’s favorites. No wonder, he thought, as he dug his teeth into the juicy flesh, that some people only played the game so they could eat all those delicacies and not gain a single pound in real life. All the pleasure without the guilt.
The party ate and rested for the night. Chezzy placed a magic forcefield around the campsite, which deterred any creatures tha
t wandered nearby and tried entering the camp. While the forcefield wasn’t strong enough to keep out a morgwolf, it would deter any smaller scavengers looking for easy scraps.
Everyone awoke rested and ready to hike the final leg of the trek to Lake Baijer. The tall pines sprouted up on both sides of them, and the dirt path wound down deep into the dense canopy, which eventually dumped them at the edge of the lake. They could see the island on the outer edge of the lake across from them. The Tower of Pearl glistened white in the morning sun, its spire soaring skyward.
“How could something so beautiful harbor something so sinister?” Josie mused, admiring the scenery.
“I read that the tower we see now is only part of the entire tower. The rest of it is in the depths of the lake,” Chezzy added.
Nurox chimed in, “How deep is Lake Baijer?”
“Deep enough that you don’t want to fall in. There’s supposed to be a kraken in there,” Chezzy reminded him.
By the time Darkwind and the others arrived at Lake Baijer, the kraken had been dormant for a generation. Maurolot was assumed dead by the local lake tribes, who rarely saw the wizard to begin with. To them, he disappeared years ago. They told the party that the kraken used to regularly attack travelers going across the lake to the Tower of Pearl. Josie pressed for answers regarding Maurolot and his pet kraken.
“You are the first ones to come here in a long time,” one of the chieftains said.
“We seek the Water Crest. What do you know about it?” Josie asked.
The chieftain's face was fat and rosy with a broad nose. “The wizard must be dead, so the kraken must also be dead. We have not seen the kraken for many moons now. So sad that such a creature was enslaved by that monster,” he lamented.
“Yes, that is sad. If we find the Water Crest, we promise to restore the lake and all its creatures to how things were before that wizard tainted it,” Josie replied.
“Thank you. The lake should be safe to cross,” he assured them.
The lake was enormous, and Darkwind wasn’t looking forward to rowing. He sat Max on the shore, who ran about nipping at the tiny crustaceans that littered the sand.
“Chezzy, can you teleport us to the island?” Darkwind asked.
“I don’t think so,” he replied. “Look like we’ll have to row.”
“Row? But we don’t have—,” began Darkwind.
Chezzy motioned for Darkwind to turn around. There, at the edge of the shore, was a small red boat just large enough to ferry four heroes across the dangerous Lake Baijer to the Tower of Pearl. Darkwind looked confused. “A boat?”
“The less you try to understand magic, the more it makes sense,” said Chezzy, slapping his comrade on the back.
“That’s why I stick to using steel. I know exactly what it is and what it can do,” Darkwind professed.
“I like the uncertainty of magic,” Chezzy revealed.
“With our powers combined, maybe we can get this last crest,” Josie interjected.
They loaded into the boat and cast off from the rocky shore.
There was a thin veil of mist on the still surface of the morning waters, and visibility was fading as they went further out onto the lake. Josie had the best eyes out of all of them, so she stood on the bow and became navigator.
Lake Baijer sprawled across the steppes of the Lorelai lowlands. The lake was fed by an aquifer that supplied the life in and around the lake with pristine water. One edge of the lake shore went nearly the entire circumference, ending at one end of the opposite side of the lake, where the Tower of Pearl stood. On a clear day, observers would notice the current sweeping towards the Tower of Pearl, which stood on a clump of rock at the edge of the Baijer waterfall.
“Can you still see the tower, Josie?” asked Darkwind as he rowed the single, large mounted oar, which was also the rudder. Darkwind tried to keep the ship on-course, but there felt like there was a current under them.
“Sort of,” Josie said as she strained to see the tower through the mist. “I’m losing it. Stay to the right.”
“I’m trying. It’s no use. The current’s too strong. We’re being pulled out,” Darkwind said as he pushed all his weight into the rudder to no avail.
“Does anyone hear that?” Josie asked. Her ears perked up as she tried to discern what the sound was. They all could hear the faint sound of rushing falls in the distance, and they had to head directly for the precipice!
“Steer towards the embankment!” Nurox cried out. He grabbed the rudder and helped Darkwind pull with all his strength. The rudder fought against the torrent as it steered closer towards the Tower of Pearl.
“I’ve got this,” said Chezzy. He conjured three strings of magical plasma and shot them from his hands. They materialized as ropes attached to iron spears, which arced over the water and into the embankment. Chezzy magically tied the ropes to the ship’s stern, and the ropes pulled taut. Now attached to the island, they reeled themselves in towards the embankment as the water continued to hammer their boat.
The boat finally reached the shore. There were some small trees, soft grasses, and various rocks that littered the surroundings of the tower. Josie looked up to see the outstretched tower, which seemed to disappear in the waterfall’s mist. They faced the south side of the tower. Its iridescence gleamed white in the sunlight that broke through the mist.
“It really does look like a pearl,” Josie remarked as they exited the boat.
Chezzy tied off the boat and the party approached the tower. Standing right next to the tower, they seemed quite insignificant.
“Let’s find the way in,” Darkwind said. They searched around the exposed base of the tower for the entrance, which had been hidden by Maurolot.
Its stone facade seemed to almost breathe, as if the tower itself were alive. Josie put her hands up to the wall.
She suddenly received images in her mind, depicting Maurolot approaching the wall of the tower. He stood before the flat, stone wall. He made a sweeping motion with his arms. Small blue sparks trailed from his fingertips as he drew an arch on the wall. This formed a door, which he pushed open.
“I know the way in,” she said to the others’ astonishment.
“I knew you’d figure it out, Josie,” Nurox said with a smile.
“Okay, stand back,” she said, motioning them backwards.
Josie outstretched her arms over her head and placed her fingertips on the wall. She felt almost connected to the tower. Then, she drew the same arch that Maurolot did on the wall. As her fingers scraped across the stone, blue sparks trailed and the shape of a doorway emerged from the tower wall. Josie pushed the door open and the party filed inside the tower.
The interior of the Tower of Pearl was wet, undoubtedly from the constant mist of the falls, but most of the tower was underwater, built into the tiny island of rock at the edge of the falls. After centuries in the tower, Maurolot learned to gain control over the Lake Baijer’s many monsters—he even kept them as his pets.
His most prized pet was the Baijer kraken, a fearsome beast a hundred feet long with a multitude of tentacles, and a sharp beak that could crack the hull of a ship.
Long ago, the Baijer kraken used to attack unsuspecting fishermen on the lake until came a wizard named Furgus the Gray, who struck a deal with the local lake tribe. He proposed to single-handedly destroy the kraken and, in return, they would pay him regular tribute and allow him to build his Tower of Pearl. The lake tribe’s chieftains agreed, but laughed at such foolhardy ambitions. They never believed that anyone could destroy a kraken, but they’d also never heard of Furgus the Gray.
The great wizard paid one of the tribesmen with some exotic pelts in exchange for a boat. He set out to the center of the lake and waited. The lake tribe gathered onshore to witness this strange man in strange robes offer himself up to the kraken. Furgus the Gray inserted a small, yellow stone into the end of his staff. He noticed the clouds grow darker and the ripples on
the face of the lake make small waves as the wind whipped up. He lifted his staff and lightning flashed above. A bolt shot down and struck the surface of the water. A subtle glow emanated from the lake’s dark water, illuminating the lake from underneath before becoming eclipsed by a shadow of something large moving towards the surface.
The kraken crashed through the surface of the lake, its tentacles flailing. Furgus the Gray stood calmly, balanced on the bow of his boat, using his magic to keep from capsizing before the massive waves that the kraken’s movement had caused. The kraken submerged itself as quickly as it had appeared. Then, just as the beast emerged again, Furgus the Gray was ready for it.
He conjured his electrical blast spell, which incapacitated the kraken long enough to use a powerful barrier spell that would keep the kraken at bay. With the kraken disposed of, Furgus the Gray built the Tower of Pearl using a magic pearl and some of his patented construction magic. He lived out his days in solitude, and in gratitude of the lake tribes, whose fishing trade increased exponentially thanks to the foolishly ambitious wizard. Years went by before Furgus the Gray was never seen again at Lake Baijer, but not long after the rumors of his death, someone else would claim the Tower of Pearl for themselves.
Maurolot was a scholar of the dark arts, and had tried to study under Furgus the Gray, who was once a keeper of many secrets of the dark arts. Maurolot was determined to assume the Tower of Pearl and all of Furgus the Gray’s magic tomes. However, when he found the tower and raided it, he found nothing, as Furgus the Gray had hidden his library, knowing that there were those like Maurolot who would come seeking his knowledge after his passing. Maurolot was furious!
“If I can’t have his powers, then I will become a force all my own,” Maurolot scoffed. He was a powerful monster tamer, and Lake Baijer had monsters that would make some excellent pets. Maurolot was aware of the kraken, but he would start with smaller fish and lake creatures. Then, he worked his way up to taming waterstars and lesser lake demons. Before long, Maurolot had assembled a menagerie of water monsters big and small, and now he’d set his sights on conquering the Baijer kraken.
Exalted Realms Online- Harbinger of Chaos Page 18