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Venice, Italy
Dante’s house
Lok was sprawled over the sofa and half asleep as the rays of the lazy autumn sun were just breaking through the clouds and shining through the window. Cherit had been trying to get him awake for a while, poking and trying to steal his blanket.
Sophie, on the other hand, was already up and rustling around the room and getting ready for the day.
“Lok, you have to get up, I’m not going to be late for training again! Zhalia will run us ragged again if you continue to slack off.” she said and unceremoniously pulled the blanket off of Lok.
“It’s wet and cold. Why do we have to train outside?” he whined, finally getting up.
He eyed the blanket that Sophie had discarded on a nearby armchair and made a move to grab it, but was unsuccessful as she turned around and stared him down.
“Why would you go back to sleep if you’re already dressed for training?! And it’s 15 degrees! It’s not like it’s freezing, we’re in Venice after all.” she rolled her eyes at him. “Besides, the sooner we finish with training the sooner you can have your afternoon nap if you’re that tired.”
At that, Lok let out a defeated sigh and got up. Before their bickering could resume, a knock on the door snuffed it out completely.
“Come in!” Sophie and Cherit said in unison.
The door opened and Dante entered, walking with a purpose toward the desk where the Holotome was placed.
“I just got a call from Metz - we’ve got a mission,” he announced.
“Must be important, if they are sending your team, Dante,” Cherit chirped and flew over to the older seeker, curiously looking over Dante’s shoulder as he opened the Holotome and started typing away.
“Or really dangerous!” Lok exclaimed after finally peeling himself off the sofa and walking toward the desk as well.
“Both, there has been a sighting of what we believe is a Phooka titan,” Dante announced as he found the mission file and opened it for the rest to see. A hologram floated above the device and displayed the mission details.
[Mission: Trick or Treat]
[Mission objective: Locate and capture the Phooka titan.]
[Location: the Irish countryside]
[Titan: Phooka]
[Known Titan abilities: Shapeshifting]
[Relevant extracts from the knowledgebase: Known Phooka Appearances, The Phooka and the Harvesting Season, Gifts for the Phooka, Communicating with a Phooka.]
“A Phooka Titan! I’ve heard those are very temperamental. You need to be very careful to stay on their good side. They are very free-spirited and don’t like bonding with seekers,” Cherit warned.
“We’re going to investigate that,” Dante reassured them. “The Foundation has never captured one before. The only information we have about them are from some old Casterwill archives uncovered by the Foundation decades ago.”
“I read something about them, is it true they can speak any language?” Sophie asked.
“We’ll find out when we capture it. Now get packing.” Dante instructed and shut the Holotome. The mission information disappeared. “You’ll have plenty of time to research while we fly over there. I’m going to fill Zhalia in on this, we’re leaving in half an hour.”
Dante made his way out of the room and left the two teenagers and Cherit.
As soon as the door behind him closed Sophie narrowed his eyes on Lok.
“I guess you got what you wished for, no training today,” she smirked.
“Come on, running the same drills with Zhalia for the 5th time this week or a mission, I’ll take the mission any day!” he answered.
***
As soon as everyone was strapped in the plane, Sophie was digging through the Holotome’s database for more information on the Phooka titan and relaying anything she deemed important to everyone else.
Dante was in the pilot’s seat but autopilot was doing all of the work. Even then, he refused to leave it, telling the rest that it was important to be there if anything happened he was within arms reach of the controls.
“Alright listen to this. Encounters with the Phooka tend to occur in rural, isolated places.” Sophie started out. “And a way to repel a Phooka is to have sharp iron objects on you.”
“We don’t need to repel it, Sophie, we’re trying to capture it!” Lok interrupted her.
“I was getting to that, Lok. If you let me finish of course!” she snapped back at him, her eyebrow furrowing at the impatient boy.
“Sorry, sorry. Please continue,” he apologized and scratched the back of his head holding back a laugh.
“The Phooka likes blackberries and often asked people to gift them beautiful and warm clothing. Shiny rocks and crystals seem to also work.” Sophie continued. “As for their shapeshifting, they have to keep at least one of their Phooka features. For example, when they shapeshift into horses, they can only shapeshift into black stallions. Whenever they try to shapeshift into people, they either keep their nose, ears or tail.”
“What does a Phooka look like thought. Before shapeshifting?” Zhalia asked from the front, where she was sitting next to Dante.
“Let me find it,” Sophie said and immediately started typing something into the Holotome. “This is what I could find as a model in the Foundation database.”
A holograph of the creature, in its supposed size, shone into the middle of the room. It wasn’t a big creature, maybe a little bit bigger than Cherit. No wonder people thought it was an evil spirit, it was a tornado of long shiny black fur and an amalgamation of seemingly random animal features. It had a large oval head, from which two large glossy eyes bulged out from. It had rabbit ears and thick and long whiskers. It stood upright, and its body looked like an overly hairy monkey.
“Looks about right,” Cherit confirmed.
“It’s so cute isn’t it,” Sophie smiled.
Zhalia and Lok looked at each other and tried to not laugh at Sophie’s remark.
“What? Look at it, it’s probably the fluffiest Titan in the world,” she defended herself.
“I thought I was the fluffiest?” Cherit challenged her.
“You’ll always be the fluffiest on my list,” Lok chirped up.
Sophie shot him a deathly look and Lok immediately put his hands up in the air.
“I’m just saying,” Lok tried to defend himself.
“Cut it out, the two of you,” Dante called out from the pilot’s seat. “Sophie please continue with the rest of the information.”
“As I was saying,” Sophie cleared her throat. Lok and Cherit giggled at the change in her tone. “There wasn’t much to go on in the Foundation database so I’m going to see what I can find in the Cypherdex and the Casterwill archives I can access from it.”
She whispered Cyphercall and a device much like the Holotome but shining in blue appeared in her arms.
Silence fell for a while, interrupted with occasional typing from Sophie. Lok had taken the time to nap again, while Cherit had flown to Dante and Zhalia in the front of the plane to ask about the plan once they landed. It had been around an hour, when Sophie announced she found out more information.
This time around though, everyone was listening to a lot more intently. It was only 20 minutes until they were going to land in Ireland and everyone was now focused because as soon as they landed they had to be a hundred percent focused on completing the mission.
“Aside from what the Foundation database told us, I found a few eye-witness accounts of Phooka encounters. Those confirmed the list of things that the Phooka likes. It seems the Phooka is also very moody. One of it’s abilities is called Trick or Treat , and it is what makes it so dangerous. It is why there are such varying accounts about it’s character. If it decides to Trick someone, it will shapeshift into something to fight and torment with. If it decides to Treat someone, it will either give you a prophecy, make and gift you something that will be of invaluable use in the future or in rare instances when it has treated another titan, it can heal and power up another Titan’s attacks.”
At the last piece of information, the rest of the team nodded.
“Let’s hope we find it in good spirits,” Zhalia smirked.
“That ability is nothing like I’ve heard of, it seems really powerful,” Dante added.
“I hope it bonds with one of us, having that kind of trick up our sleeve could be crucial in a fight,” Lok added, his eyes practically sparkling. “With how snappy you’ve been lately I won’t be surprised the Phooka will jump at the opportunity to bond with you, Sophie,” he added a second later.
The look Sophie shot him, as a result, made him swallow his tongue.
***
Once they touched down it was another hour or so travelling in a cramped car. At least the AC was working and the five of them weren’t cold. It was raining outside and Lok was praying that it would stop by the time they got to their destination - a small town named Baltinglass.
The team arrived there and Zhalia immediately split from them to ask around town and to learn more about the particular Phooka we were trying to capture.
Lok, who was complaining about the rain in the car was happy to see that the rain had turned into a drizzle. Cherit had crawled into Lok’s backpack and the four of them were talking about where they should go first.
“We should eat lunch before going out of town and tracking the Titan,” Dante stated and started walking down the street into the city center.
While the three of them were eating, Zhalia was busy making conversation with the people that were most likely to have encountered the Phooka - the ones that worked outside of the town - the lumberjacks, the farmers, and the wildlife conservationists.
Upon returning to the rest of the team and sitting down at the table, she let them know she had found two key pieces of information.
“There have been sightings of it in near the river - it has been spooking the birds from time to time. Someone said that they had seen a black horse up on the hill. There’s a passage grave up there that has been restored.” She relayed to them.
“The river thing makes sense, we just read an entry about how the Phooka hunts birds for food and as entertainment,” Lok spoke up first. An awkward silence fell as everyone was thinking the information through.
“Maybe its amulet is the passage grave and the excavations in there were what has disturbed it,” Dante offered as an explanation.
“Only one problem with that,” Zhalia added. “It is now a working museum.”
“Let me see what I can do about that,” Dante smiled and reached for his phone. “I might know someone who can pull some strings.”
He stood up from the table to make the call. Soon after a waitress came to get Zhalia’s order. After that, she got to talking with Sophie.
“Anything else you have found about it?” Zhalia asked.
“Lok and I were reading the eye-witness accounts of seekers encountering from the Cypherdex it to try and figure out what makes it want to Trick a person,” Sophie answered and took out the Cypherdex from under the table and slid it over to Zhalia.
“We’ve complied all the things we should take with us to bring as gifts and what not to take with us so we don’t anger it,” Lok added.
He then slid the list, which was written on a restaurant napkin over to her as well. It read:
Don’t bring: iron, sharp things, anything that uses electricity.
Bring: warm clothes, shiny stones, chickens, blackberries, and good bread.
The woman lifted her eyes from the list and looked at the two kids in front of her and nodded.
“Good job, now, after we finish with lunch, you two will have to fetch all of these things, while Dante and I try to track the Titan.”
Dante returned to the table and told us that the Foundation will try to get in touch for a private tour of the passage grave tonight.
“We’ll have to cosplay as archeologists again,” Lok exclaimed, fake enthusiasm oozing from his tone.
“It’s not that bad, get over it,” Sophie elbowed him in the ribs. “Besides, if this doesn’t work we’ll have to break in or pray the amulet isn’t there.”
“Or you could just ask it nicely when you track it down. Wasn’t there an entry of the Phooka telling someone that they spoke all the languages ever created? How else would people understand it’s prophecies.” Chert chirped, still huddled inside Lok’s backpack.
“Yeah, Cherit is right. This mission isn’t a straight-up find-a-Titan-and-fight-it kind of a mission. The Phooka isn’t hurting anyone, just being annoying. It is a trickster after all. Plus it doesn’t seem outright aggressive.” Zhalia noted.
“Maybe it was doing it to catch a seeker’s attention. It must have been lonely to be holed up all this time.” The gargoyle added, peaking through the backpack. He then tugged on the boy’s shirt. “Lok can you pass me a breadstick please.”
***
After enjoying their meals the team split into two groups. Cherit went with Dante and Zhalia to track the Phooka, while Lok and Sophie headed into the town square. They had an hour to gather everything they needed to lure the Phooka and get into its good graces.
While Lok and Sophie were enjoying an uneventful shopping trip, Dante and Zhalia made their way to the river, where the Phooka was last spotted in the daytime.
“Show yourself, Gareon,” Zhalia murmured and the amulet in her hand warmed up with a bright green flash, the lizard appeared and immediately slithered his way up her arm and onto her shoulder.
“Take flight, Solwing,” Dante beckoned, and his own amulet shone with a bright yellow aura before his bird Titan appeared before him. The man locked eyes with his companion and started giving him instructions. “Be careful, Solwing, we already know that the Phooka likes birds, we don’t want it attacking you. We are just tracking.”
“You heard Dante,” Zhalia spoke to her own Titan. “We want to find it, not spook it. We need the two of you to be very discreet when looking around for it.”
“We will take the river bank while the two of you cover the forest. Be very careful when going near the hill, we think the amulet of the Phooka is kept there.” Dante instructed.
The two Titans nodded and Slowing took flight while Gareon jumped off Thalia’s shoulder and bolted for the forest floor.
The two seekers and Cherit didn’t waste a second. Dante and Zhalia started alternating in using the spell Powerscan to try and sense the presence of the Phooka. They were strolling down the river bank in silence, as the two were wholly concentrated. Cherit was flying a little higher trying to get a better look at the area.
Dante was the first to break the silence when he spotted something.
“This might be a stretch, but do you see that black cat over there?” He pointed to the other bank of the river. Cherit immediately flew lower and peered into the distance in the direction Dante was pointing
Zhalia's eyes immediately shot to the spot as well and nodded.
“It was watching us until I started looking at it. It only started drinking water when I started paying attention to it,” he explained.
“You think that is the Phooka,” she whispered.
“Shhh, look,” Dante warned as the cat stopped drinking and straightened up, then looked straight at them. Cherit held his breath.
The cat blinked at them slowly.
The seekers shot each other a look, seeing this as an opportunity to establish trust with the Titan and neither of them moved to chase after it.
The cat blinked again. Then a third time, before jumping into the water.
Zhalia’s eyes widened at that and Cherit audibly exhaled.
A moment later, a horse emerged further downstream and galloped into the forest.
“That was the Phooka, for sure,” Dante smirked.
“Let’s go get the kids. Something is telling me it wants us to follow it into the forest.” Zhalia said and dragged Dante in the direction they came from.
***
“You’re telling me you saw it? And it wants us to follow it into the forest?” Sophie concluded after the adults finished filling them in on their encounter.
“Yeah, this sounds a lot like that story we read about the Phooka drowning that man when it got on its back when it was shapeshifting into a horse.” Lok shook his head.
“You got the gifts, right?” Zhalia asked, but before anyone could confirm, she continued. “Then there is nothing to worry about. Plus we’re not going defenseless. We have our Titans with us.”
“Zhalia is right. The Phooka is a trickster, not a fighter. We will be fine. Plus, I have a good feeling about it.” Dante reassured them.
The four Seekers and Cherit made their way to the car once again and parked it near the river bank, then left all of the stuff from the ‘don’t bring’ list inside: their phones, anything sharp or that could remotely be used to capture the Titan.
They left the car with only their amulets in their pockets and the gifts for the Phooka in their hands and pockets.
It was getting late now, fog had settled around the river bank and was seeping into the forest as well.
The team stuck together and pushed through and walked into the forest and found the pack the Phooka, a shapeshifter as a black stallion, had galloped down. After walking for a while and outpacing the fog, the team saw it was leading them to the hill, and the passage grave at the top.
“So we were right to think its amulet is there,” Lok exclaimed.
“No, not really,” a deep but sweet voice said.
Everyone froze in place and Cherit dropped on Lok’s shoulder at once.
They started calmly and carefully looking around for the source of the voice.
“I’m right… HERE!” the voice called out.
A black blob fell out of the sky and landed on the path in from of the seekers.
It slowly opened its bright bulging white eyes and straightened up. It was shapeshifting in front of them, from the black blob into what they had seen on the ship initially - the rabbit ears appeared one by one, then the whiskers, and in seconds the creature was smiling at them with an eerily human expression.
“I see you’ve brought presents!” It chirped up. “It isn’t Phooka day quite yet, around a week until then, actually, but I won’t turn you away now, now would I?” the Phooka continued after a pause.
The seekers were positively floored, but Cherit had come to his senses. “We come as friends. You’ve been trying to catch our attention, haven’t you?”
The surprise in Phooka’s eyes was apparent. “And I thought I was the only one that could do Anyspeak ! But yes I need your help and those blueberries look delicious!” It pointed to the box of berries that Sophie was holding.
“Yes, go ahead,” Sophie smiled and took a step toward the Phooka, who took it from her hands and immediately shoved a fistful of them into its mouth.
“Overripe, just like I like them!” It smiled again. “Now follow me, I need your help up there. My amulet… well you’ll see.”
Everyone exchanged another series of looks but the consensus seemed that the Phooka was harmless as of now.
They followed the Phooka up the hill, but it didn’t lead them to the front entrance of the museum, rather showed them a narrow tunnel it had dug for itself.
“We can’t go through there. What’s inside anyway?” Lok asked.
“My amulet and a bunch of other stuff. It’s being guarded. They won’t clean it, or take me out. I can’t stay holed up here forever, I want to go all over! I want to follow the wind, not suffocate in a grave like this!” the black creature pleaded and focused it’s eyes on Zhalia, who was nodding along.
“Alright let’s go see what we can do, our private tour of the grave site should start soon. We’ll find the room and get your amulet out.” Dante spoke and nodded his head sideways, urging everyone to follow him around the building.
***
After a long talk with the museum staff, Zhalia was able to convince them… with the use of some powers, to enter and look around the passage grave. Once in, the Phooka joined us once again.
“I hate shifting into bugs, but it’s the only way to go around these people,” it spoke as it fell into step with Sophie. “You know, you remind me of someone,” it tapped its head as if trying to remember something.
“Really?” she humored it.
“I didn’t catch your name,” it replied.
“Sophie Casterwill,” she extended her arm.
As the Phooka shook it, is smiled. “Oh there it is, your ancestors came to me for some prophecies! You remind me of them!”
But before they could talk more, the Phooka extended its hand forward and pointed to a dusty stone door. One of its ears also angled that way.
“That’s the door!” It screeched and hopped to it, catching everyone else’s attention.
The seekers and Cherit gathered around it and looked at it.
“If we open it, we are risking the whole grave structure crumbling, no wonder the archeologists left it closed,” Zhalia said after carefully examining its structural integrity.
“There are also Stone Golems inside, waiting to attack,” the Phooka added to the assessment.
“That’s nice to know,” Dante noted.
“We’ll need quite a bit of Stopglue to stop this place from collapsing,” Lok noted after looking around the place. “If we are to open the door that is. We can always try the tunnel again maybe send Springer inside to scout inside.”
“You have a Springer!” The Phooka turned to him. “ Summon him, he might find a way to open the door gently! Plus I love Springers! Can talk to them for hours, such amazing friends they are!”
Lok’s eyes widened, but he did as he was told and fished out the amulet from his pocket.
“Let us through, Springer!” Lok shouted and the amulet glowed in an orange hue then with a blink of yellow light Springer appeared on the floor in front of his seeker.
The Phobia’s eye widened even more and a sound between a hiss and a whimper came out of its mouth.
“Is Phooka actually talking to Springer?” Zhalia asked.
Lok nodded and he too was watching the two titans interact with fascination.
They didn’t talk for long, and soon Springer jumped and started searching for a way to open the door safely, after some tinkering and careful knocks here and there, the door flew right open.
Beyond it, opened up a large chamber with stone guardians littered on the sides of the walls.
“Don’t go in, or you’ll activate the Stone Guardian trap and then the whole thing will collapse for sure. Just me and the titans, we won’t trigger the trap,” The Phooka told the team and eagerly hopped into the chamber and beaconed Cherit to come behind him then whispered something into his ear that made him laugh then whisper something back.
But when Springer made a move to follow the two others something shook through the whole structure.
“They’re waking up!” Cherit screeched from inside.
“Shit!” Lok mumbled under his breath and the seekers rushed into the room. As soon as they did, the door shut closed again and the team found themselves surrounded by the stone guardians.
“These don’t look so scary,” Zhalia noted, even though she was getting ready to fight as well.
“It’s because they aren’t!” The Phooka exclaimed then smiled the widest grin physically possible for it. “Trick or Treat!”
The Stone guardians deactivated at once.
“Now the first one to find my amulet, gets a Treat!”
“So this was your trick?” Zhalia asked the Phooka.
“It got your blood pumping, didn’t it?” It answered, still smiling.
“Found it!” Sophie shouted from the other side of the room, holding up an amulet. “What’s my treat?”
“I knew it,” the Phooka smiled.
The amulet glowed and the Phooka blinked slowly at Sophie then returned to it’s amulet.
“Really? It bound to you? I thought the Phooka liked to be free-spirited?!” Lok exclaimed.
Sophie just rolled her eyes, and ignored Lok’s remark. “Everyone needs some structure in their life.” She smiled and pocketed the amulet.