CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“The world could live to lose someone like me,” Noctis breathed. “But losing you… what have I done?” The words cracked.
“I’m fine,” I countered.
I wouldn’t tell him that minutes after finding the growing shatters in my flesh that the lethargic feeling soon overwhelmed me.
That each step to the bathing chambers before we left the council’s cabin became a feat, weighed down like lead tied at the ankles dragging a being to their death in the ocean’s depth.
My stomach gurgled, not out of hunger, but waiting for me to hurl up its contents.
Noctis’s gentle touch caressed my lower back, and I momentarily forgot the curse coursing through our blood. Weeks ago, I would have pulled away. Now, I let his hand rest there, warm and unremarked.
“I’ve worn my voice raw begging them. I spent every prayer I could, even knowing they would never answer me again.
I’ve knelt, I’ve cried, I’ve offered up godhood itself and still been unheard…
just begging that you’ll remember me,” he whispered in a plea, but my mind held tight to the memories of him, regardless of how much I searched.
“I remember what the early stages felt like,” he added. “You aren’t fine, but I’ll make sure you will be.”
His thumb rubbed against the curves of my back, sending shivers across my spine. Then, he waved his palm out toward my body, and a comfortable surge of pressure overcame me, hugging and pulling upward. My weight lessened dramatically, the effort it took to move easing, and I sighed in relief.
I walked out the door, leaving behind his people. Noctis followed, leaving them at his back for the second time.
Noctis trudged toward the Aetherkin Bound gates in silence at first, driven by the anguish and peril evident in his motions.
He glanced in my direction periodically, inspecting my body, calculating my comfortability.
I followed closely behind, barely needing to push myself to cooperate with the help of his powers.
The horizon lit with lanterns across the villages, peeking out from the cracks of hills, and I just wanted a moment to say goodbye to the peace of the Aetherkin Bound as we approached the edge of the realm.
No commotion stirred at the gates, only solace and serenity, our only companions the pillar to take us back to the Terraguard Bound and the low hanging clouds that settled along the ground. I stood firm and clutched my stomach as the land at our feet dropped us back to the realm below.
Raven trampled me when we met the cobblestone flooring of Neryssa’s shop. His paws instantly met my shoulders, tongue lapping at my face.
“It went well?” Neryssa’s gentle voice called out as she polished a blade.
Noctis nodded, but his eyes diverted away.
His sister clutched his arm quickly from her seat, turning him to meet her gaze.
“What is it?”
He said nothing, only tilted his head toward me.
Neryssa slowly shifted to look at me along the floor with Raven, and she gasped. Her head flew back to Noctis.
“Why is she cursed?” she yelled, a stark contrast to her usual soft tone. “You better fix this, brother. And do it fast.”
“I know,” Noctis responded, his eyes trained on the stone floor. “I will.”
A long pause settled between us as I raised myself from the ground. Neryssa shifted back to her stool where she worked on the blade.
“We’ve retrieved the fragment. One more to go,” I said, attempting to lighten the conversation.
“I saw another harbor taken down in your absence off the coast of Brigg Isle. In the Terraguard Bound. Everyone in the surrounding villages is missing,” Neryssa mentioned, ignoring me.
Conversation with her unraveled the same way it did with her brother.
“Missing?” I gasped as I lowered Raven’s paws to the ground. He shifted into his bird form and perched on my shoulder.
“All gone. We’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Are you sure they weren’t found dead, and you received incomplete notes?” Noctis asked.
“No. Just… gone. Empty homes, abandoned markets, no sign of life still in the area until the neighboring village. I saw it all.”
“Did it happen already? Or soon to come?” Noctis asked.
Neryssa’s visions intrigued me in a way that should be terrifying. Knowing the future was dangerous, but being exposed to it without searching seemed worse.
“I’m not sure,” she answered, and my heart fluttered. We could have a chance to stop the massacre if it didn’t happen yet.
“The crew needs to know,” I murmured in disbelief. If anyone could help, it was the ones fighting in that realm already. Noctis and I needed to relay the information and make haste to the villages. Lives depended on us, and by the sounds of it, hundreds of lives waited.
“Thank you for having us, sister,” Noctis acknowledged, and he and I turned to leave.
“Take Raven with you. He will kill me if I keep him behind.”
“A raven is usually a gothic poet's pet, not a pirate’s sidekick,” Calvin quipped, overlooking the main deck’s railing as Noctis and I approached on the harbor deck.
“Are you going to tell him Raven doesn’t like to be called a pet, or are we just going to see how this pans out?” Noctis whispered with a soft hint of glee.
Raven fluffed his wings and dived down to the ground, leaving behind his bird form and landing heavily on his massive paws. I had never seen Calvin so shocked.
“You have a Zephyreon as a pet?” Calvin stuttered in disbelief.
Raven lunged, clearing the distance between the harbor deck and over the railing of the ship. He tackled Calvin to the ground, each gargantuan paw pushing into his chest.
“Raven, do not kill my friend!” I screeched.
The Zephyreon growled in Calvin’s face, drool leaking from the corners of his mouth.
“I was joking,” he sputtered under the beast. “I’ve seen loads of really brutal ravens and golden dogs on ships. Best pets ever for pirates.”
Raven lowered his snarl, nose to nose with Calvin, and roared. It was ear piercing, shaking the ship and water along with it.
“Don’t tell him,” Noctis whispered with a grin. “Let’s see how many times he’ll say it before Raven pecks his eyes out.”
I laughed. I wouldn’t allow Raven to hurt my friends, but I enjoyed the faint smirk on Noctis’s face.
“Could someone help me? Please?” Calvin begged.
“Raven,” I ordered.
He hesitated before slowly pushing off of Calvin, his canines resting on his lower lip, displaying his dominance and threat.
“We have a lot to tell you all. How is Zahara?” Noctis questioned as Calvin staggered to his feet. He and I lowered the gangplank to walk aboard.
“She’s alive and breathing, but she hasn’t woken up yet.
Jun refuses to leave her side.” With each sentence, he numbered them off with his fingers as if listing each fact.
“He’s paranoid that the healing sludge Laziel concocted is going to lead to infection.
This port has a sort of stagnant and electrifying energy in the air that I can’t explain. ”
She’s alive.
I sighed in relief even though Zahara hadn't yet awoken. She would get better in a matter of time.
“Wait–” Calvin cut in. “Why is your skin cracking like your lover’s?”
Noctis tensed at my side.
“He’s not my lover,” I snapped back, and Raven’s feathers flared. Nosey bird.
“That didn’t answer the question.”
“Not lovers? That’s not true. We actually have–” Noctis started, and Calvin’s grin widened across his cheeky face.
Oh, gods… no, not now… or to Calvin.
“I was struck by lightning.” Bet that’d knock the smirk from his face, even though it was a lie.
Calvin’s eyes shot open, jaw falling slack.
“I’ll sort it,” Noctis declared, and the conversation dropped.
We made our way to the captain's quarters to find Laziel, Jun, and Zahara. The captain looked so peaceful, as if death would have been received well—possibly even desired if she knew about her missing appendage.
Exhaustion wracked Jun, like the power and life drained from his entire being at Zahara’s side.
Laziel stood in the back corner, pacing and catching glimpses of the sludge that shifted across Zahara’s severed arm right above the elbow.
I positioned myself so that my fractured cheek faced the wall, shielding me for the conversation and sure worry it’d cause Jun.
There was something about him, the way he used his gifts without hesitation, even when it tore him thin.
His priorities were exactly where they needed to be: on Zahara.
“The last trident piece will be more dangerous to receive than all the others combined. We’ll need a plan worthy of it,” I ordered in the shadowy quarters. And the fire in the lanterns flickered as if they heard as well.
We spent the following three days sailing to Brigg Isle, hoping we could get insight into the plan the Royal Vanguard brewed and locate the missing villagers.
I worked with Laziel on the third day, trying to pull up my own powers the Writherbought claimed I owned.
With our legs swinging just above the ocean, we sat in silence, the breeze tugging at our clothes and the sun painting golden streaks across the waves below.
His eyes kept flicking to the splits in my face, something like a smile touching his mouth for a moment before he looked back to the sea, as if nothing had happened.
“I can’t do it,” I admitted after sitting in the quiet, working to pull up magic I convinced myself I did not possess.
“You can. You sort of have to do it, or you and I will not survive retrieving the last trident piece,” the merfolk responded gently.