by Shawn Wyatt
“The twins, Banabi and Rawaki.” Quinn said. “They're a strange sight, even considering what we’ve seen so far.”
“They look like water dancers,” Evey said. She stood at my elbow, her gaze locked on the two turtles.
“Well, they’re a bit different than either Napari or Tarawi. You’ll see when we get there.”
The deck was quiet as we approached the two. Neither Great Turtle seemed to take notice of us.
“We’ll dock in Rawaki,” Quinn said. “I’m not the most fond of Banabi.”
“Why? What’s the difference?”
He grinned. “You’ll see when we make landfall.”
Quinn glided the ship alongside a curved dock. Rubber bumpers jutted from the wood and held any ship that stopped there. As the city spun, so would the ship. No stationary docks.
“Alright, everyone off," Quinn said.
We hopped off the side of the deck and onto the dock. I staggered the moment my feet touched the ground. The motion of the city sent a wave of dizziness up my spine. And the swirl of color that awaited on the other side of the docks assaulted the senses.
The entire dockside district of Rawaki was awash in a rainbow of colors. Bright yellow buildings with garish red roofs faced the sea. Even the docks themselves had murals painted on them.
Fisherman hawked their wares to passerby. Their clothes echoed the colors of the city. Teal tunics paired with green pants and blue shoes. Purple feathers jutted from hats. People carried parasols painted in four different colors that blurred as they twirled.
“Is the whole city this colorful?” Evey asked.
“Oh yeah,” Quinn said. “And we have to walk through it and Banabi to reach the Great Turtles. You’ll see why I preferred to dock here.”
The Swashbuckler led the way forward, clearly familiar with Rawaki. He wore an easy grin on his face that told me how much time he spent here. As we made our way through the streets, music erupted from open doors and people danced in the streets.
“The entire city of Rawaki is a party,” Quinn said. “Started off naturally colorful, but once we found ourselves trapped here, players took things to the next level. Gives people a place to have fun and relax without thinking about reality.”
“And that’s why you know it so well,” Wish said, her tone as dry as a desert. “Of course you’d be familiar with a party city.”
“Believe it or not, it’s actually a major resource hub. A lot of information passes through here. Anywhere there is a party, there are drunks. And drunks have loose lips. It’s a good way to find all manner of secrets and treasure.”
“Right. And how much treasure of your own have you lost because of drink?”
Quinn met her raised eyebrow with one of his own, then laughed. “Less than you think. More than I care to admit.”
Wish rolled her eyes. Evey kept one hand bunched in the hair at Boris’ neck as we walked. The bear twisted this way and that, his nose drawn by street stalls and the promise of food. Nova circled overhead, her distant cries ever-present in the background.
The city felt like a fever dream. The sun still hung low in the eastern sky, but the entire city was alight with activity. I wondered whether anyone had gone to sleep yet. A rainbow of lanterns hung along the street and hinted at what Rawaki was like at night.
But then the color stopped, replaced by a world of order. The alley ended at a street that wrapped up and down the sides of Rawaki. In front lay a wooden bridge, suspended by strong, braided ropes.
The city on the other side of the bridge lacked color with the same intensity that Rawaki possessed it. The buildings were stone, square, dull, grey. The few people on the streets wore various shades of black, but no other colors.
Denizens of Rawaki stood out, their splashes of color in the midst of all the greys and blacks drawing the eye.
“Welcome to Banabi,” Quinn said, gesturing to the other side of the bridge. “See why I preferred to dock in Rawaki?”
“It’s like the complete opposite of Rawaki,” I said.
“Exactly. The two cities are opposites of one another. Even the people act completely different. You’ll find the two Great Turtles are much the same. They complement one another and keep the other in balance. Two sides of the same coin.”
Across the bridge, the people of Banabi gave polite, if indifferent, glances. Even those seemed better than the looks of abject disgust they threw the people of Rawaki. The explosion of color presented an attack on their perfect, organized world.
The streets were silent. People hurried about with their heads down. Shopkeepers waited in quiet for patrons. Where Rawaki had been chaos, Banabi was calm.
Almost too calm, I thought. Boring would have been a better term, but I could see the appeal of Banabi as a break from the sensory overload of Rawaki. Both cities represented an extreme.
Quinn threaded his way through the streets with ease. “Don't let Banabi fool you. This place may be a lot quieter, but there’s actually a lot going on here, too. Most of the players that wanted to study Shella and figure out how everything works are in Banabi.” He tapped his chin. “If you get that messaging service working again, you’ll probably be a hero over here. You said there were scholarly types on Toris?”
“Yeah, quite a few,” I said. “Especially anyone with Alchemy as a skill. Those guys are all about experimentation and study.”
“Then the players in Banabi would benefit greatly from a proper messaging system. They could exchange research.”
Everyone would benefit from a messaging system, I thought. But I still didn’t know how to make it work. Not exactly. I hadn’t had much time to investigate the issue between either running from pirates or running errands for giant turtles.
The street ended at the start of a bridge. This one stretched over the water, into the space between the cities—and into the view of the Great Turtles. Both creatures gazed at my party, their eyes alight with interest.
“Time to go meet the twin Great Turtles of Shella, ladies and gentlemen,” Quinn said.
***
The girl scowled and dismissed her character sheet.
Once again, the status screen blurred. The numbers and letters that should have depicted her strength resembled a Dali painting. They had looked that way for as long as she had been in this shadow world.
She didn't know her own strength. She didn't know if the monsters she fought made her stronger. But she knew she had become more powerful.
The shadow world had begun to fall apart. Too often, the voids opened and swallowed portions of the world. Her only recourse was to run and fight, run and fight.
But just as the world seemed to randomly collapse, it also randomly gifted her with surprises.
She drew her new sword from its sheath and found comfort in the light that shone from the blade. She tried to focus on its name, but the letters blurred, shifted, and twisted around one another.
But the sword was powerful. She could feel it.
And she needed power. Nothing could stand in her way. She would cut down any monster that blocked her way.
Because the next time she saw a portal, she was going to reach it.
Chapter Twenty One: Tempest
The path put us at a 45 degree angle to each of the Turtles. The design made it impossible to face one without turning your back on the other. The other option was to face each halfway. A test of respect, or perhaps a choice—but not mine to make.
Evey took the lead. She paused for a moment and considered the options.
“You may begin speaking, little one—”
“—and address which one of us you like.”
Rawaki and Banabi spoke in turn, one finishing the other’s sentence. My eyebrows crawled up my forehead. Quinn chuckle behind me. “Like I said. Balance.”
Evey cleared her throat and took a deep breath. She had never before hesitated to speak to the Great Turtles, but a glance showed why. Her lips twitched in an attempt to fight back laughter.
She stood and faced both turtles. “Great Turtles, we have come to ask that you lower the protective barriers you have put in place around the corruption that poisons this realm. We seek to purge Shella of the threat once and for all.”
The two creatures shared a look. I sensed amusement there. Evey had passed their test. Neither of the two spoke at first, until Banabi opened his mouth. “You adventurers have a noble goal, but—”
“—I am afraid you lack the power to complete it.” Rawaki finished the sentence.
“What do you mean?” Evey asked.
“A great trial awaits you before you reach the corruption, little one. As you are now, you—”
“—and all your friends would perish in combat against the foes you find there. The corruption draws the greatest beasts of the darkest depths together.” Rawaki, then Banabi spoke.
“What must we do to gain the power we need?” Evey asked.
“A great hero of this realm once bore a weapon in the shape of a crescent moon, connected by a strand. You must find this weapon.”
Banabi finished an entire sentence on his own. Then Rawaki spoke.
“This weapon is called Tempest. Find the two halves of the weapon enshrined on the island of Tuvalu. When you have reunited them, return to us.”
“And we will grant you the power you need.”
The Great Turtles spoke in riddles. I tried imagined the described shape in my head.
A crescent moon could only be connected on its tips. By what did they mean by strand? A strand of what? As I thought about it, a picture started to fall into place.
A bow. A crescent moon with a string running between its tips would make the shape of a bow—and the name Tempest fit that type of weapon.
Evey bowed to the Great Turtles. “I will find this weapon on Tuvalu and bring it back. Is there anything more you can tell us?"
“No,” Rawaki said. The sea rumbled when the Great Turtle spoke. “You must go on your own—”
“—and find what awaits you there. If you are unable to complete this task—”
“—then you will never be able to fight the corruption.”
A prompt appeared.
<<<>>>
Quest Updated: "The Walls That Bind"
Lower each of the magical barriers that surround the crashed vessel and cleanse the corruption that sleeps there. Prove your worth to the five Great Turtles and free Shella of Foscor’s grasp.
Rawaki and Banabi have instructed you to piece together two halves of a legendary weapon. The weapon rests on the island of Tuvalu, but retrieving and reuniting the two halves will not be as simple as it seems.
Barriers remaining: 3/5
<<<>>>
I dismissed the prompt. We were almost halfway there. If Rawaki and Banabi dropped their barriers at the same time, our progress would leap forward.
“Quinn, how far are we from Tuvalu?” I whispered.
When he didn’t answer, I turned around. The Swashbuckler had lost all color in his face and struggled to compose himself.
“Quinn?”
“Sorry. Tuvalu. That’s not where I had ever planned to go.” He gulped. “It’s not exactly the most welcoming place.”
“What could be worse than what we've already seen?"
"Max-level monsters," he said. "There are rumors of level 50 creatures. It’s the only place on Shella that is completely uninhabited. There have been a few attempts to make a settlement there, but none of the players that set out ever returned.”
I glanced at the two Great Turtles. Retrieving two pieces of a weapon had seemed too easy. “Well. There's the hard part.”
Evey heard the tail end of the conversation. “We have no choice,” she said. “We have to go.”
“I agree, but what’s the plan for if we run into something at level 50? We don’t have a chance of killing it,” Bastion said.
“We run?” Wish laughed. “Or the better option: we sneak around, scout the place out, and avoid anything that strong.”
“Yeah. I like your idea more,” Bastion said.
“I don’t like any of these ideas,” Quinn whined. His shoulders dropped. “But there’s no talking you out of it, is there?”
“Not a chance,” I said. “We’ve overcome every obstacle that’s shown up so far. We aren’t going to stop now.”
The idea of a level 50 monster terrified me, but somewhere deep inside, far below where common sense and reason could reach, it excited me. I wanted to see what something that strong was like.
Quinn sighed. “Let’s go. Tuvalu is about a day away, if the winds are right. And given our luck so far, I have a suspicion they will be perfect.” He led the way back to Betsy.
With a final look back at the sprawling, chaotic cities of Rawaki and Banabi, I boarded the ship. The two cities were complete opposites, the result of a world handcrafted by an artificial intelligence with a twisted sense of humor. But they still felt so real, like everything had in Perla Online.
I had to remind myself once again that until we escaped this hellish game, this was our life. This was our reality.
And again I reminded myself that not that all of it was bad. A sea breeze had sprung to life, its salt-tinted caress like a gentle hand across my cheek. On the far side of the ship, Boris growled a question and Nova chittered a response. In the wide, clear sky above, Toris hung like an emerald-green second sun, its giant trees visible even from here.
In a few hours, Toris would drop below the horizon and Horus, the desert realm, would take its place beside the moon and gleam in the night sky.
If we failed in our quest to destroy the corruption, then the necromancer Foscor would win—and all of the beauty of this world would disappear beneath the withering, life-sucking evil. That’s why we fought. Both to escape this world and return to our normal lives, but also to save this world.
“Watch the boom!” Quinn called. The wooden beam swung across the deck as wind filled the sails. No livery marked the nondescript cloth sails. Not that there was any reason they would be. Quinn had no guild affiliation of any kind. And with our need to lay low, any over-the-top emblems would make it that much harder to hide.
Our pirate-in-residence stood at the helm, his silver-tipped rapiers hanging from his belt. When he caught my gaze, he quirked an eyebrow. “What is it, mate?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. Just lost in thoughts.”
“Aye, the sea will do that to you. I’ve never found anything that makes it so easy to ruminate over life as sailing. Back home, you know, I’ve got a boat. Smaller than Betsy, but she gets the job done.” A wistful looked filled Quinn’s eyes as he thought back to his real life. “Tell you what. We make it out of here, and you and the rest of the gang can all come pay me a visit in Adelaide. We’ll climb aboard my boat back home and tour the coastline. Let you see the Great Barrier Reef.”
“It’s a deal,” I said. “Though you can pay airfare to get us over there.”
Quinn laughed. This was the first he had told of anything about his life outside of the game. In my experience, people handled being trapped here in one of two ways.
They would talk to anyone and everyone at every chance they could about what waited for them outside of this world, or they said little about their real lives. In some way, not talking about everything they had left behind made it easier.
Bastion, Wish, and Evey all favored the latter option. Only because of my friendship with them did I know the kind of lives they led, and even then, Wish was still a closed book. She rarely spoke about her life and family.
“Quinn, how long will it take us to reach these islands?” I peered out over the waves. Rawaki and Banabi shrank in the distance thanks to the strength of the wind.
The Swashbuckler glanced at the map pinned beside the helm and then at the compass above it. “At this rate? About six hours. We’ll be going off the beaten path a bit, so we aren’t likely to encounter anyone else.” His eyes flicked to the single cannon that adorned Betsy’s starboard
side. “With any luck, anyway.”
Betsy’s advantage lay in speed. For all Quinn’s bragging and possessive pride, she was as fast as he claimed. That agility came in handy. We had never used the cannon, and I hoped we never would. It would be useless against a ship with many more cannons.
Six hours was a lot of time to do nothing. I spread a cloth on the deck and laid out the new weapons. The guns had great base damage, but my efficacy in combat relied on Caster Shells.
The crafting process had taken time to learn, but I had started to get the hang of it. The lilt of the deck posed a new obstacle. I bunched up a section of cloth to prevent the ingredients from rolling away.
My thoughts started to drift as I filled empty shell casings with the colorful powder and added just the right amount of my own mana. The casing fizzled and left behind a blue-striped bullet. A Freezing Shot.
I repeated the process with red powder, then yellow powder—a Desert Bullet and Lightning Shot. One by one, I crafted the Caster Shells I used most often. But what if I could combine their effects into a single bullet? The weapon trainer that taught me how to craft these shells had hinted it might be possible.
It nagged right at the edge of my memory, but before I could recall it with any clarity, Wish called out from the crow’s nest. “Trouble ahead!”
I shoved the Caster Shells into my ammo pouch—and loaded several into my pistols—before I ran to the edge of the ship.
Tuvalu loomed in the distance, still several hours away, but dark shapes moved in front of it. Four barquentines, and one larger flagship.
I recognized the vessel even from a distance. The crimson skull and crossbones emblazoned across its sails told me everything I needed to know.
The Privateer’s Fall lay in our path.
Chapter Twenty Two: Showdown
Evey cursed. “How did she find us? We should have been far away from them.”