by Nicol Terra
“Well one more chance. Commander Erikson is going to training you for today. I expect you to keep her in line.” Jay finally said.
She nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Dismissed.” Jay said.
Erudite walked straight back to her room, rushing herself to check. She slammed the door open, to see only Tina getting dressed. Her clothes were dirty as usual, torn and ripped at every angle. Every Faerie wore dresses, and most of them were clean and mono-color. All, except Tina, who only had one dress and was dirtier than even the ground. She sighed, she pulled a small box from under the bed and hid it behind her hands.
“Yo.” Erudite forced a smile.
“ Hey,” Tina said bluntly. “I am up, don’t worry.”
“That isn’t it.” She said with a smile. “Close your eyes.”
Tina raised a brow, but followed. Erudite extended her hands outward and putting the box on Tina’s hands. The box was now open, revealing a new, blue dress with a shimmer. It had a small v neck and also a long, flowing fleece that felt like one was riding on the sky itself. Tina stopped and turned to Erudite, in disbelief.
“Happy Birthday!” She said. Tina let down a small tear and hugged her, catching her entirely with surprise.
“H-Hey come on now! You can’t just hug me like that!”Erudite blushed as she pushed Tina away. Tina smile grew wide as her eyes twinkled in happiness, something that always gave Erudite life.
“Why not?” Tina said, wiping her tears from her face. “How else do I express happiness?”
Happiness, Erudite didn’t know what that word even stood for sometimes. She sighed as she just rolled her eyes.
She waved her hand as the blue dress wrapped around her instantly. “Good news, Commander Erikson is coaching us today. So no work!”
“Do you wanna play cards again?” She said. Erudite smiled in response.
The two walked outside to see their squadron of people, already set up with a table. Eve waved them both over as both Tina and Erudite sat in a makeshift seat of earth.
“We just started a game. You wanna play a game of Timesink?” Eve asked.
“Sure, I am down Eve,” Tina said.
Erudite nodded as the six formed a bubble of magic around them and shuffled a deck of thirty-six cards. Erudite drew first, then Eve, then Tina, then Evelyn, then Robin, then Rose.
Robin had to stifle a giggle; Rose put her cards back down in disappointment. Eve gave Tina a small glare as the two met each other’s gaze.
Timesink is a fairly simple game. You have four cards based on the elements and two special cards, night and day cards. Night and Days are Wildcards that can be used. You get five cards, and the hands were like poker, with pairs, three of a kind and more.
Eve smacked her lips together. “Show em.”
Rose flipped them over. It was all an earth, fire, water and air card, and one night and one day card. That is exactly nothing. It is called a ‘Timesink.’ Supposedly an ancient magician tried combining four elements for a magic spell to create something. According to myth, all four elements do nothing when combined, so he failed and wasted fifty years of his life. Thus the name: Timesink.
Erudite looked at her hand, it was four earth cards, a night and another water card. She got a good hand, but unlike Robin who was giggling like a madman because he can’t keep a straight face, she shrugged and looked at Robin directly In the eye.
“What do you got?” Erudite asked
“Well first, I want to say if I win this hand, you must buy my next lunch.” Robin said deviously. Erudite merely shrugged.
“Fine.” Erudite sighed.
“Three water!” Robin said, planting his cards on the table.
Erudite couldn’t help by smile. “Four earths, a night and water.”
It destroyed Robin’s face at this revelation, so much so he retreated to his seat in disappointment. Eve and Evelyn folded, which means they passed their cards back to center.
“Well, fuck I ain‘t beating that,” Eve said, Evelyn couldn't help laugh.
“That look on your face Robin was priceless.” Erudite said. Robin was still trying to understand what just happened, as his brain has yet to complete a full cycle, looped as if he could not compute this outcome.
“I feel like there is a part of me that knows what happened, but can’t accept the outcome.” Robin whispered to himself.
“Well, I am glad to know I won that one,” Erudite said, as she picked up her cards. Tina slammed her legs on the desk, however.
“Hold it. We have a tie.” Tina said. Erudite raised a brow in confusion as Tina let out a devilish grin.
Tina showed all six cards in her hand. It was four fires, a day and an air card. Yup, that was a tie.
Robin came back to down to his earthly body and laughed. “You wanna do a bet?” He asked.
The bet was simple; you can wager a personal belonging, either money or a tome or something. Usually first round is for fun, but if you match that bet, you redraw a second hand, and highest hand wins. It was gambling.
Erudite smiled, she wanted to see Tina’s smile wipe away from that smug face of her. She wanted to see her friend cry, not in a literal sense but a metaphorical sense. She will hold this over her head for the rest of the time. “Hey Tina, remember when I matched that hand of yours and took your Thesis on time magick?” She had nothing to lose. Plus, she always lost to Tina.
She always lost to Tina. That sentence burned in her mind as she shook it off.
She plopped a book on the table below. The four gasped in excitement as even Commander Erikson looked from his beach chair asking himself what just happened. He didn’t care enough to check as he continued ton reading his magazine.
“My Thesis on Space Magic: Teleporting, Spatial Cutting and Pocket Spaces.” She said. She knew Tina loved knowledge as Erudite did. She never read her thesis, and now she can get the first copy.
Tina appeared and reappeared, standing up this time as she pulled her thesis. “Theory of Time and Controlling the Flow.”
Robin gulped. “The stakes are high…”
She was right. They set aside their books to the floor before them. Eve grabbed the center cards and reshuffled. Erudite picked up her five and Tina.
Three water, and two fire cards. This hand was called ‘Kettlepot,’ a full house.
“Well, hurry and show me, guys!” Robin said.
Tina showed her hand first. “A night, a day, two fire cards and two air cards.” She said.
Erudite smiled. “I will take your book and let the cards do the talking, as she threw her hand to the desk.” She didn’t care to see her reaction as she turned pages throughout her book. It was five hundred pages on the complete dissection on Time Magick.
The sounds of Tina’s cries were so loud that even the Commander himself couldn’t help laugh.
The six continued to play the game, but half of the conversation was not about the war or their country, it was how “Hey Tina, Remember when I beat your hand and took your 100-page dissertation on time Magick?”
By the time the day was over, Erudite beat that joke so hard her lungs felt flaccid inside as she slumbered into bed, letting sleep take her in an instant.
The next week, the workouts will intensify and so too will the studying. A fact that made Erudite smile as she was ready for any challenge.
A blond woman with a small dagger strapped to her right side lazily lumped around a small bed in a small room. The small room was part of an Airsail, flying westward in the sun setting horizon.
The small room no bigger then fifty square kilometers in area had everything the woman needed. With a small desk, a door to the outside and the staircase in the back, the room was mostly barren without life or decoration. Other then the oak smell wafting around the room, it was highly sanitized.
Besides the staircase and a small desk next to the bed, the room was bare, with one sole pantry that held canned food and a few sets of clean clothes, she pulled a set of jeans and a w
hite shirt.
The deck of the Airsail was around ten feet and was longer than most ships of this classification. Combined with the room, however, it was twenty feet. Airsail Model V-1 were designed for maximum luxury, and despite most in its class, this one only had one room.
A loud crackle emanated outside as the outside was spewing dark gold streaks of lightning as Rachel shot up. Lightning did always scared her, due to her naturally being jumpy and also partially because of her ability. Yes, she could control lightning, but absorbing natural lightning was far different then the lightning she used. Rachel always thought her lightning was careful and elegant, but natural lightning was anything but elegant.
The rain was unbearable, shaking even the boat itself as the heavy winds pelted the Airsail back. She shrugged, as she waved her right hand in the doorway of her room. A small wooden sphere popped up from the deck as an ancient language, carved with jagged and jaded lines levitated off the ground. She heard the wood sphere beep repeatedly, but she ignored it. She went to her pantry, which held tons of packaged food and her clothes packed neatly in a small box. She slid the box further inside, revealing a door below and punching numbers into a small keypad. The Wooden Holosphere continued to beep. “Yeah yeah, give me a minute.” She said to her beeping Holosphere as she walked down the automatic staircase as a Holocube greeted her with huge holograms, flashing news story after news story. Rachel yawned, her body still groggy from the lack of sleep. Six hours was luxurious to Rachel, likely due to her bad habit of staying up late at night. Each news story continued to slide across the Holocube, with letters and screens of images sliding from side to side of each face on the cube. The blue, white and green images of the outside world were more massive than a typical computer screen. Each video painted brilliantly with fluid resolution, even upon closer inspection she didn’t see the pixels on the screen. She took a long yawn as she looked at each headline and paper.
News:
Forces Mobilize from Zynthia and Kulso, with Four Legions of nearly two million head to Siphor
Markets Down for Zynthia and Mysen with Kragg soaring High. Nicholas demands Neutrality.
63 percent of Humans in Kragg support Neutrality
Breaking News:
The Western Expanse has been reported to have a massive storm covering the majority of the continent. All forwards who are doing quests or exploring this area should exercise extreme caution.
She shrugged again, climbing back up to the top of the room and waved her hand. The sphere lit up, as a small beacon of light, flashing through three quick lights of blue, then a green light and then three symbols of different designs. The one she touched though, was a hologram of a dragon. She then was greeted by a sliding bar, from which she slid the bar in the opposite direction as the Airsail started to slowly descend from the skies.
She saw a chain of islands of varying landscapes. One was entirely mountainous and capped with snow, another was entirely forested, another was a desert, and another was a flat plain which had seven spiraling tornados in unison with one another, forever circling the land. Rachel face turned white as she let out a small giggle. Seven spiraling tornados, circling together on an island. Rachel knew if she tried to land there, her ship would probably be swallowed and instantly destroyed. The cyclones snapping one hundred times faster than sound. They were fifteen kilometers tall and a hundred kilometers long and were monstrous as they ripped apart the desert beneath the island. Rachel smiled.
“That is normal.” She said sarcastically.
The sphere flashed some sudden lights as she walked back into her room. The Holosphere flew right in front of her face before she shut the door as the image of an armored man greeted her. “Oh, right. Forgot about this. Sorry Dani.”
"Rachel, just the lady I like to see." He said, then he shook his head. “Took you long enough, I think I waited..four minutes?”
Rachel rolled her eyes. "I missed you too Dani," She said with a flirtatious wink. She then sat on her bed, as the wooden sphere opened up like a bee-hive with a small shot of coffee, not much larger than an espresso drink. “What's up?”
"Oh please, you are doing lovely today." He gave a hearty laugh. “If you have time, would you like to talk about something important?”
"I take it you this about that dinner date? I am afraid I will be late.” Rachel added.
"By how long?" He asked. Rachel shrugged, she took the opportunity to explore a relatively unknown and was unsure how long it would take. Her orders were to just ‘check,’ but she had bad luck with ‘checking’ on something only for it to turn badly.
"A week. I don't know, depends on how long I want to spend time on these islands." Rachel said with a curious tone.
“Oh no, are you seeing me for another man?” He whined sarcastically. She gave a single giggle.
“Totally.” She rolled her eyes. The two of them giggled together. “Nah, I got another job lined up, thanks to Nicholas for that one.” She said. Although Nicholas did not give her too many details. It was basically. “Go to this island, find this stone if you can and write a report on the colony status.”
“Oh right, you are heading Westward, aren’t you?” He asked. Rachel nodded
“Yeah, to the Idera Archipelago.” She said, then she let out a wink. “Would you be coming by?”
“Oh for sure, I will love to take you out for the night.” Daniel said.
“Glad to know you have put up with me for ten years.” Rachel giggled. He let out a coy smile, scratching his chin with his armored gauntlet.
“Last I checked I have been trying to get on a date with you for…five years?” He said. Rachel smiled, politely nodding.
“Yeah, about half that time I gave up on rejecting you. Another half I keep forgetting to take you out.” She pondered.
“Obviously, how about a message next time before you come down so instead of us meeting in my office, we can to your house or something?”
“I have a house?” She joked, Daniel groaned as he slid his hand to his face, rubbing his temples. She hasn’t been to her house in six months although mostly because she loved taking missions on exploration and surveying.
“You do! It is in Orem!” Daniel added. His tone was exasperated, both filled with tired irony and comedy. Rachel was never one to stay in one place for long.
“Oh right, you live next to me too.” She cooed. Daniel groan became an exasperated sigh.
“Love you too, anyway.” He started, as Rachel floated her knife above her hand, as her necklace gave off a light green shine. “I would be worried about using that crystal.” He said.
Rachel blinked as she intensified her gaze. “Why?”
“Looks like Kulso might try to steal Kragg Island Colonies and other Territories,” Daniel said as a soldier appeared in the door behind him. He saluted him as he handed Daniel a paper, who nodded and turned back to Rachel, who at this point let out a sigh. “Okay, this is serious.”
He nodded. “Yeah, and Idera is an ancient Kragg Colony, independent and over five hundreds years old.”
“And far.” Rachel added.
‘And closer to Nicux and Areron. Thanks to that Storm, you can’t cross to East to West anymore.” Daniel said, his tone become a quick growl.
She nodded. “And that means..”
“Well, you are about as screwed as a lightbulb.” He admitted. She let out a small curse and then a shrug.
“Fine, I'll try to keep low, just for you.” She winked
"Just watch yourself. Although our King does not seem to be interested in war, any enemy soldier might attack you for being human there." Daniel said.
"Yeah, yeah. I got it.” She said confidently, the man gave a quick grimace.
"I might be on my way. I heard Liam is in your area, and a few elves might be on the way to look for another one of those stones. Do you have any idea where it might be?" He inquired. She shivered at meeting Liam, he always creeped her out. She pushed the thought of meeting him in the back of h
er head. If anything, now she had incentive to hurry up and finish her job.
“Rachel, something wrong?” Daniel inquired. Rachel blinked and shrugged it off.
“Oh uhh, nothing.” She lied.. Daniel never did like to hear Rachel regarding her conspiracy theories regarding other Forwards. “Just thinking about something that might have our deadly stone.” She said and thought about the island with seven tornados on it.
“Got any ideas?” Daniel said. Rachel turned to the island, with the tornados now spewing lightning as if it couldn’t get any worse upon mention.
"Nah, I heard seven tornados the size of mountains is perfectly normal for a place." Rachel said sarcastically.
"Hilarious.” Daniel added.
"No, I am serious. A real estate guy confirmed that it is a totally natural thing, happens all the time on these islands corrupted with powerful Magic. She said. Although she was too far to sense if it was Magic, if she wanted too she could try to fly by and try to absorb the energy. If she could, it was Magic, that would just as easily get her killed. “Maybe I should try a small island and gather information and stay low.” She thought to herself.
"Rachel." He said, his voice was dripping with sarcasm.
"Dani." She replied. He gave a quick smile, shaking his head.
"I love you." Daniel said.
“I love you too. Just tell me where I should go from here. I am also exploring the western expanse after these islands.” She shrugged.
“That forgotten continent? I don’t know… I heard it is a bloodbath there. They even have a name for those Forwards, ya know?” Daniel scratched his head.
“Oh?” Rachel inquired.
“The Catalysts of War. New Kingdoms are sprouting up there since the discovery of the continent over five hundred years ago. It is still not fully explored.” Daniel started, only to exhale a large sigh. “It really is anarchy over there. Won’t be surprise if Western Politics spewed into Idera.”