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Salty winds dash by in a playful trot in early morning. Giant crests crash into the Grand Terry as it speeds through the ocean. Like a blade thrusting through weakened chainmail. Partito smiled as he inhaled deeply. It smells like adventure!
The heroes decided to do some seafaring before continuing their personal obligations. Along their travels in Solaris they’ve heard many tales while spending time at inns. Sights of ominous shipwrecks, monstrous beasts that sink giant vessels and disappear without a trace, and glittery treasure troves stored on unknown islands. Most of these stories bleed out from drunken sailors’ mouths but hey, some of them have to be true.
On the bowsprit, Partitio shielded his eyes from intense sunlight. Ahead is a tiny speck –an island that might hold treasure! He could hardly get any sleep last night, he’s so excited, and the crew almost threw him overboard because of it.
“Breakfast is ready,” Throné muttered calmly. Silent as a shadow that one. She and Partitio enter the galley while everyone else takes a seat.
The thief takes a bite of a raspberry muffin. “I didn’t expect sailing to be so much fun. Maybe I should become a pirate and explore the world.”
Agnea hummed as she cut her food. “Throné the Sea Pirate. That’d make a good play.”
Partitio stayed silent, happy to be part of this peaceful breakfast. As a merchant he knew that business ties and keeping your part of the bargain is important, but there’s something sentimental about traveling with friends.
Especially when Agnea is in the company. She had saved the party countless times with her unwavering willpower and surefire optimism. Whenever she’s around, Partitio gets a fuzzy flutter within his heart. Without Agnea’s support and selflessness, they probably wouldn’t have escaped great dangers unscathed.
“Poor Hikari, you look green.” Castti pat his shoulder as he grabbed the table like a life raft.
“Urk! I’ll…be fine…once we hit land.”
“What’s the plan?” Osvald asked while cutting open some bread and reaching for some jam. His giant frame conquers the cramped space they are all sitting in.
Castti sprinkled seasoning on her food. “I’ll stay on the ship with Hikari, Temenos, and Ochette. We don’t want anything or anyone ambushing our ship and stealing it. But while you explore, mind gathering some herbs and flowers for me? We’re running low.”
Partitio saluted. “Will do! We’ll bring so many back you’ll have a chockful of ‘em!”
Up on the deck again, Partitio glances at the imminent island with a spyglass. Vegetation outlines sandy shores. Above crests of dark green are ancient-looking stone ruins. Mysterious!
“Do you see anything interesting out there?”
“Oh, hey Agnea.” Her bright smile makes the merchant’s heart do acrobatic flips. “Sort of.” But some dilapidated old ruins can’t equal Agnea’s graceful beauty.
In the light casting down, her eyes carry a soul-refreshing sparkle. She skips over to him with ease and grace that a cat would be jealous of. And her long ruffled dress shimmers like thousands of gemstones. Her light brown hair is tossed by the winds and a red rose affixed on her glossy locks highlights her cute nose and pink lips.
“You’re so brave. I can’t walk two steps without feeling unsteady on a boat.”
Partitio offers her a hand. “Ain’t nothin’ to it!”
Sweet charisma and tenacious grit, a deadly and attractive combo.
Agnea accepts his hand and is pulled up on the bowsprit.
She scales the narrow platform, her body trembling slightly as she grabs the rail. Inhaling deeply, she pictures herself atop the world, listening as waves crash on the side of the ship. The blue open sky is pretty and dappled with white fluffy clouds.
“You okay, Agnea?”
“Uh-huh.”
She extends her arms out at full length like a bird taking flight. “I feel like I’m flying!”
Partitio smiled. He wondered if there’d ever be a time where people could soar like birds. Now that’d be a way to see the world in style.
“Drop anchor!” Ochette shouted from the crow’s nest. Everybody hurried to help drop anchor and grab supplies.
“Tread carefully,” Osvald’s deep voice rumbled. “Who knows what’s out there.”
Throné took the lead, easily climbing over any gnarled patches of thick jungle like a snake. She aggressively hacks away at any foliage in her way with a sharp knife. “Nothing’s going to stop me from getting that treasure.”
“Even a false lead?” Osvald asked.
“There has to be treasure,” Partitio said, already feeling the troublesome weight of his camping sack on his shoulders. “I feel it in my bones!”
“Trusting gut instinct over scientific observation? Let us hope we don’t step into a trap…”
The four run into some vicious beasts inhabiting the island but nothing that could wipe out their entire party. It takes half the day to reach the ruins. They set up camp for the night. Flickering firelight casts ominous waving shadows upon towering stone surfaces. Agnea splits up the rations and told some warmhearted stories of her town festivals, but deep down, none could shake the eerie feeling of being watched. What horrors could be lurking just outside their vision?
Agnea’s beautiful features sank sadly. “What’s wrong everyone? We haven’t even started our adventure and you all look ready to give up.”
“The castle reminds me of that accursed Frigit Isle…” Osvald muttered with a dark gleam in his eyes.
“How could such a place go unmissed for so long?” Throné wondered.
“Maybe there’s something guarding the island?” Partitio guessed.
“What’s gotten into you guys?” Agnea’s passionate cry got their attention. “We’ve faced worse before and won. Osvald, your wisdom has gotten us past many obstacles and has never lead us astray,” she turns to each of her friends. “Throné, your stealthy talent has safely got us by some hordes of monsters and bandits. And Partitio,” her frown lights up into a warm glowing smile. “You’ve helped those who lost hope and brought life to merchants, scholars, and inventors. We can do this, guys!” There it is a brave flicker in their eyes, a spark of adventure. By morning, everybody is in high spirits, and ready to depart.
Osvald and Throné go to scout ahead and disarm any traps. Agnea and Partitio pack up and follow along their trail. On the way up the hill to the castle Partitio’s profound eyes distinguish something underneath large leaves and flora. He uses an arm to lift the dense vegetation away and they find a small stone shrine.
“What is it?” Agnea asked.
“They’re stone guides. Gods that’ll lend a helping hand to lost travelers in exchange for some wealth. They’re popular with merchants. Didn’t think I’d see any here though.”
“You know,” the dancer gave the forest behind them a sideways glance. “When we docked here it kind of looked like an old seaside town. Maybe this place used to be an old kingdom or a getaway for travelers.”
Partitio flipped some coin into the stone bowl. He hopes that something more ominous hadn’t happened here. Plagues, bandits, pirates, war. Why else would a once-thriving kingdom just vanish?
“The castle is huge,” Throné crossed her arms. “Worse than sewer tunnels. We can easily get lost.”
Osvald smiled coldly, as if he were focusing on solving a challenging puzzle. “We’ll split up and cover more ground. Make markers or leave something to tell where you have been. If you run into anything that you can’t fight use this,” he handed Partitio a flash grenade. Thanks to the sorcerer’s knowledge and Inventor class, Osvald crafted some helpful equipment.
Snapping his fingers, Osvald summoned some fire and lit a torch he has in his other hand. He and Throné enter first (Osvald lowers his giant shoulders to go under the door frame). Partito sighed and lit his torch too. Agnea and him stare into the intimidating darkness.
“You okay, Partitio?” Agnea whispered.
The merchant steeled his courage, stomped the ground, and stared dead ahead into the corridor. His poor heart is beating faster than an overworked steam engine. “I’m f-fine. Here g-goes nothin’.” Together they step into the unknown. The torch’s orb of light nods along to their synced footsteps. Stone seemed to stretch on forever and ever, plagued by hundreds of cobwebs and musty moss. Rats and bugs crawled and scurried unbothered by new intruders. Agnea clutched Partitio’s arm and he put a hand over hers as they walk. Shoulder to shoulder they carry on in suspenseful quiet.
The first place they discover is a big chamber, like a dining hall, complete with long tables and dusty stained-glass windows. Empty metal mugs and old silverware are carelessly scattered around. Agnea points to the adjacent room and Partitio nods. She slips into what looked like a kitchen while he paced up and down the rows of tables.
There’s one skeleton slumped over, clutching an empty metal mug. Partitio grimaced but noticed something he’s never seen before. He picks it up and turns it in his hands. A blunderbuss. It looks broken, severed in half and dismantled. Partitio traces the elegant design on the case, admiring the artisan’s handiwork. Whoever made it was an obvious genius!
Partitio sneezed. Blinking several times he eyed dust coating the blunderbuss. His gloves are stained by some purple-yellow powder, clearly no ordinary dust. Taking a cloth he wipes the blunderbuss free of the powder and then puts it in the inventory. Maybe Osvald could repair it.
“…Over here! I found something!”
Hearing Agnea’s shouting whisper, Partitio bounded over to the chefs’ kitchen. She has her ear against a stone wall, her hands pressed against cold bricks, and her pretty eyes narrowed in concentration. “Do you hear it?”
Partitio also listened closely.
Wind. Howling wind. The two exchange a smile. It must be a secret passageway!
Agnea felt the wall for any flaws or switches. One brick is jutting out, crooked. She tries pushing it, pulling, and then tilting. On the third try, the brick sinks in and clouds of dust spew out at them. The stone wall falls aside and shows another, thinner, darker hallway. Agnea jumped up and down and tugged Partitio’s arm. “Let’s see where it goes!”
It seemed like ages they spent descending into the depths until they find a long strip of floor branching out to more corridors. “What were these built for?”
“Servants I reckon,” Partitio said. He felt as if the walls were slowly closing in on them. “It would help them get to places in the castle faster.”
Marking their way with florescent chalk, Agnea asked, “Which way should we go first?”
Going the simplest route seemed best. So they again descend down a stairwell. Roots and other vegetation thrived down here, even without any sources of light. They poked out from the ceiling and violently tore apart stone flesh. Pools of water gathered at their feet, but the two braved on.
A door slowly materializes out from the dark. And so do more skeletons dressed in armor and moth-eaten cloth. The door that had probably once been stronger than a smith’s hammer now had bullet holes and rot weakening its being. With a tug the door creaked open. From inside, a golden light splashes onto their silhouetted frames.
Partitio’s smile is so big it hurt his jaw. “We did it! We’ve hit the jackpot!” The small chamber is crowded with piles of gold coins, jeweled-inlaid trinkets, expensive silks, and painstakingly crafted tapestries. At the center are two more skeletons and a big treasure chest. Agnea and Partito quickly gather what they could carry and then stare at the locked treasure chest.
“How are we gonna carry that to the ship?”
“We aren’t,” Agnea gave him a mischievous smile. Drawing a knife she crouched and started prying the lid open. “Throné showed me some tricks.”
Partitio held the lantern up but his arm trembled. Agnea noticed the wavering light, looked over her shoulder, and asked, “Are you okay?”
“It’s nothin’,” he stammered. “Just bein’ down here with a bunch of bones is makin’ me restless. I feel like I’m closed in a tomb.”
“We’ll leave soon. This place is making me jumpy too.”
With a gust of air the treasure trunk lid is popped open. Agnea reaches in and grabs…a book? Her brows furrowed. “Out of all the things to seal in a treasure chest I never thought a book would be-”
Thruuuum.
The pair freezes. Some force of energy droned throughout the entire castle. It shook everything and then died.
“What was that?” Storing the book in her bag, Agnea got up and grabbed Partitio’s arm. “Let’s get out of-”
Bone-chilling screams startled them. The skeletons are moving! Covered in dust and eyes aglow with icy blue light, they start drawing their weapons and lunging at the two adventurers. Agnea pulls Partitio through the door and saves his life as a sword blade swung out and screeched as it cut diagonally across stone.
Breathing raggedly they race up the secret passageway back to the kitchen to meet a small group of dead guardsmen. Agnea trips of the steps and is cut on her arm by a rusty dagger.
“Agnea!”
“Portitio watch out!” Thinking fast he pulls Agnea with him into a small room (a noble’s guest room by the looks of it) as bullets strike stone and chip it.
“What do we do?! We’re cornered.”
“Not for long,” recovering from a haphazard fall Partitio threw some oil saved for the light onto the ground and then with a strong chuck, sent the lantern with. It shatters on impact, spraying flame and glass everywhere. The fire quickly followed the oil and lunged at most of the skeletons. Partitio pushed Agnea ahead and ran after her, using his taller bulkier frame to shield her from danger.
Retracing their steps, they make it back to the entrance –only to collide with more foes. Guard skeletons spill out from every nook and cranny and block the path behind them. Osvald and Throné, with their eyes mimicking a blue glow, attack from the other side. Vines and flowers curl around their limbs like serpents, and flowers spew out from their mouths. Partitio’s heart lodged in his throat as fear blindsided his senses.
“Partitio! The flash grenade!”
“Right, good idea!”
He throws it and a bright endless white encompasses everything. Agnea and Partitio run for the entrance. Just as their shoes fell onto earth, incomplete skeletons that were half buried in the ground flanked them. From afar, one fired a musket. Partitio got hit and fell from the speeding bullet. He and Agnea roll down a sheer hillside into thick jungle.
The world crashes with loud sound and color. His vision is dark and he can’t tell if he’s stunned or in bad shape. The strong scent of blood masks everything, drowns the scenery in deep red.
“Partitio! Partitio! Oh my gods! Please be alive!” Agnea rolls him over onto his back and clapped both her hands on the sides of his face to look for injuries. He’s bleeding a lot from his head but thankfully, it was a graze wound.
They’re stranded though, and neither could make a run for the ship. “Shoot,” Agnea hissed as she looked at her leg. “I twisted my ankle. Think Agnea, think! What do I do? We gotta get to the-”
She gasped. Vegetation noisily rustled. More enemies are coming!
Terrified, her heart hammered ceaselessly. Would they die here? Agnea sees a large horde emerging from the foliage. She wobbly stands up and glares at them. No. She won’t let them die today.
Screaming, she attacks them with strong gusts of wind magic. The skeleton guardsmen are pushed back and sliced by screeching winds. But it isn’t enough to stop their inhuman strength.
“Ag…nea?” Partitio’s clouded senses recover. He sees the beautiful selfless woman taking on an army single-handedly. To save him. To save them. Adrenaline and desperation power him to his feet, and slowly, Partito stands up. “We’re not out of the woods yet, huh? Well. Time to show these guys some real salesman grit!”
Fire magic blends with wind and together, Agnea and Partitio create a flamethrower. All the skeletons are turned to ash. The dancer and merchant exchange a passionate, loving, and exciting glance and then they hear people shouting.
“Agnea!”
“Partitio!”
Osvald and Throné hurriedly lunge through the jungle –thankfully lacking any glowing eyes or plants. The assassin supports Agnea and Partitio back to the ship while Osvald covers their tracks. They don’t need more monsters following them while injured. The party regroups on the Grand Terry and Castti mends their wounds while they talk.
“That flash grenade saved us. We got possessed by something.” Throné coughed up a few lingering flower petals. Gods, her throat felt scratchy. She downed a soothing mixture Castti made and winced.
“Something like this?” Partitio offered his glove, stained by psychedelic-colored powder.
Castti took a better look. “Pollen. But one I’ve never seen before.”
“We found some treasure too –until those guys attacked. I think we accidently triggered some spell when searching the throne room,” Osvald said. “Should we flee?”
The apothecary is already testing out new herbal combinations. “Nonsense. I’ll make a repellant and antidote and then we’ll go search the island.”
“We can go back and wipe out any stubborn skeletons,” Hikari stood up and draws his sword.
Everybody is out, excluding the injured, which stay onboard. Agnea walks into the study with crutches. Partitio put down his book and smiled at the dancer. “How’re you feeling?”
“I’m in pain but the medicine Castti gave me is numbing it. With her salves, my ankle will be fully healed in no time. She’s a miracle-worker.”
“She is,” he laughed. “But not as much as you. You saved my life.”
Agnea laughed too, her giggle making Partitio’s face heat up. “We’ve been through worse, haven’t we? I…I just wanted to say,” she leaned over and kissed the side of his head, where the bullet had grazed him. “You’re my hero, and I couldn’t imagine journeying without you.”
He blushed as his soul left his body and ascended to paradise. Who knew a kiss from a pretty woman could do that?
“Mind if I stay?”
Partitio’s smile could outshine diamonds. “Not at all.”
By nightfall, everybody gathered in the captain’s quarters. Partitio scratched his chin. “Can any of us make heads or tails out of this?”
“The book you and Agnea recovered details every day of the Queen’s new life on the island –and the arrival of a scientist.” Osvald flipped through the pages. “He was offered a place to stay in exchange for his knowledge and machine prototypes. But the man became greedy, selfish, and ambitious. Dangerously so.”
Castti added in her findings. “That pollen is infused with chemicals and a hint of magical properties.”
“Yes and the way you guys described the scene,” Temenos paced back and forth. “There was a coup.”
“More like a betrayal. The scientist was tasked to find immortality.”
“Immortality huh?” Throné’s eyes clouded over. “Nothing good ever comes from that…”
“He staged a rebellion, and some of the guards joined him, before he unleashed that powder.”
“You’re saying the guy wanted the throne for himself?”
Osvald nodded. “But it backfired. He died. Everybody died. That pollen is parasitic. It thrives on dead hosts.”
“And it’s weaker in live hosts,” Castti added. “That’s why when the flash grenade stunned you; it purged the parasitic pollen from your bodies.”
“The scientist also made this,” Osvald pushed the book to Partitio.
“It’s a blueprint for…a flying machine! One that can run on steam or fire.”
“Right. But they didn’t have the resources or tech to create it yet.”
“I’m sure if we put our heads together we can make this flying machine!”
While leaving port, day falls to another long night. Partitio sits in the cargo hold and tries to assemble the flying machine with parts they’ve traded for at other cities. He hardly heard someone enter through the door.
“You’ve been up a long time.”
“Oh, Agnea! I know. I’m just excited to see this flying machine. But all these pieces…it’s been difficult puttin’ together.”
She offered him a fresh cup of hot cocoa. The tasty hot beverage warms his soul and cold body. “It looks like the steam or fire powers these things called jets. And it’s projected to reach great speeds.”
Agnea glanced at the blueprints and the partially assembled machine. “I’ve never seen something so cool! I wonder if one day, whole cities would be able to fly across the sky. Flying sounds romantic.” She hummed, lost in her imagination. Then she turned to Partitio. “You think I could test fly it with you?”
Partitio gave her a hearty grin. “There’s nobody else I’d want to go flying with me. By the time we’re done, we’ll be the best aviators in all of Solaris. We’ll be the first to tour the most beautiful places in the world by air.”