chamomileess
/sizeocoloro:#FF0000/coloroUPDATE: This is now the full chapter, with PlaguexRoamer making their debut in the final bit! Enjoy, enjoy!colorc/colorcsizec/sizec Two days. Two whole days spent gathering Phantasia. In reality, it didn't seem that long, at least, not for Emi. She was used to carefully and tediously doing her work. Having been raised in the Temple of Thunder in her village, she learned from an early age that things took time. You didn't just call down lightning from the sky just so that you could heat water a little faster. And so, here she was on yet another task that taxed her patience. She and Gelyan had been running around the Lower Valley for two days invading the nests of Cloudhoppers for the precious purple flowers. With Emi's ability to fly, it had been a fairly simply job for the two of them. Gelyan would cling to Emi's legs with one arm while he rained shot after shot of white jelly on the Cloudhoppers, adhering them in place. They would then go down and pick the flowers with ease. They had to work fast, though, as the jelly would release the furious creatures after a few minutes. After two days of collection, she and Gely had managed to gather five large sackfuls of Phantasia. This, however, was nowhere near the amount that they needed to pay their way for a voyage across the Drakien sea. They were currently flying low over the Valley, hoping to find a Cloudhopper nest that they had overlooked the first day. Gely was his usual grumpy self, grumbling about how the cold wind would soon remove his toes or something. “Isn't it possible,” he shouted over the wind, “that Nera and Sisi found the rest of the Phantasia by themselves?” “Yes, it's possible. However, we cannot simply assume that they have collected the difference of our Phantasia, and simply give up now.” Emi flew up a few hundred feet higher. “It is our duty to them that we should collect at least half of the Phantasia we need. With five sacks, we only have about four pounds.” Emi smiled down at Gely's sour face. “I also highly doubt that they could collect eleven pounds in the same time that it took you and I to collect four.” Gely's face brightened visibly. Yes, that comment did the trick. “Right then. Let's find that nest.” Emi nodded and banked off to the east. She wondered how Nera and Sisi were actually doing. Nera and Sisi were, in fact, doing very well. They had a run of bad luck in the beginning, finding only a few patches of flowers in the first dozen nests the attacked. To speed things up, Sisi and the Magician worked together to write a teleportation algorithm so that they could warp into the nest, grab what they could and warp out again. After their initial run of bad luck, they hit pay-dirt when the girls found themselves in an abandoned nest. Since the nest looked like it had been unoccupied for some time, there were literally thousands of blossoms in the nest. It took nearly two hours to gather all of the Phantasia, even with the help of their four Tarots. In the end, the girls managed to collect nine pounds of Phantasia from that one trip, bringing their total to ten pounds. Sisily sat down on a frost covered rock, plopping the sagging burlap sack onto the ground. Eyes closed, she sighed heavily. She opened her eyes and smiled widely at Nera, who was sitting across from her on a mossy rock. “We really found a lot today, didn't we Nera?” Nera nodded, smiling back at the beaming face of Sisi. “It's nice to finally have things turn our way for once. I remember the first few days of this.” Nera began to clean her nails with Gemini. She continued, looking up from her task, “How much do you think Gely and Emi gathered? They don't really work that well together, in my opinion, so the amount ought to be fairly small.” Sisi giggled. “Whatever Phantasia they get will look small compared to ours!” “True,” laughed Nera. Nera took a look around. If being in the alternate timeline had taught her anything, it was to be careful and aware of your surroundings. Their temporary camp was set in a small clearing in the middle of a grove of trees that Emi called Bl'or Ash trees. Their blue branches stretched skyward, thin finger-like limbs pricking the air with tiny icicles hanging off of them. On the ground of the clearing, a fluorescent moss that Emi called Chieln sprawled everywhere. Frankly, Nera had a hard enough time pronouncing most of the words in Emi's language. What was interesting was that Emi spoke English just as well as she spoke her language. Maybe their timelines came from the same source, and they just split only recently. It certainly was an interesting theory. A sibilant voice hissed from Sisi's pocket. “Perhapsss it would be bessst if the Phantasssia wasss not left on the ground?” Nera yelped at the sound and jumped up to her feet. “Sisi, what the hell is in your pocket?!” Sisi didn't seem to hear her, and now it looked like she was scolding the voice. “That really wasn't funny, scaring Nera-jie like that.” Again the voice sifted out of her pocket, “I wasss only having a bit of fun, Sssisssi.” “I don't care what you were doing. It wasn't funny. And what's with the S's?” A small sigh came from the hole in Sisi's pants, and then the voice said, “Fine, fine. I'll stop. Seriously Sisi, if you don't watch what you're saying around me, one of these days I barbeque you.” Nera lowered Gemini and ask, slightly incredulous, “Is that the Magician?” “Yep.” “And he can fit in your pocket?” “Mmhmm.” “So, you knew he could do that at any point in time, and you never told me that!?” Sisi thought for a moment. “Did you really need to know?” Nera facepalmed herself. “I guess not, but it would have been nice to know.” She sat back down, lifting the burlap sack off of the ice an placing it over her shoulder. She looked across the small clearing that separated Sisi and her and asked, “How did you managed to get so small as to fit into her pocket anyways?” “Well,” the Magician started, “Sisi and I were talking about magical algorithms while you were asleep a few days ago. She couldn't sleep, so she dragged me out in the middle of the night 'just to talk'. So, being the magical prodigy that she is, we devised a way to shrink things down to about 1/7 of it's original size. We were...” Nera interrupted, “Hold on. One seventh? Why such a random number?” The Magician huffed. “Thank you for interrupting my story, Nera. Is that all?” “I'll be done as soon as you answer my question, you worm.” The Magician made a sound that sounded somewhere between an exhale and hawking a loogie. “Fine. Sisi likes the number 7, so that's why the algorithm is based on seven. If you took the time to notice, which I know you haven't,” added the Magician in a mocking tone, “the teleportation algorithm has a latency period of seven seconds. As well, it takes seven seconds for Sisi to charge Fiery Flowers.” The Magician sounded considerably worked up. “Satisfied?” Nera shrugged. “I guess,” she said without much enthusiasm, knowing this would send the Magician off his rocker. It did. “Sisi! Turn me back to my original size so that I can char this girl to a crisp! I mean it!” Sisi just started laughing her head off, imagining the battle that would ensue between Nera and the Magician. “Ahaha! It's too funny! Ahh! It hurts! Ahahahaha!” Considerably annoyed, the Magician dismissed himself in a pillar of fire, albeit a pillar of fire that was one seventh smaller, and in Sisi's pocket. “Ouch!” Nera laughed, and she ran over to pat snow on Sisi's smouldering pants. Various profanities spewed forth from Sisi's mouth, some of the more creative ones having something to do with worms and salt. Laughing quite loudly, Nera slapped handfuls of snow onto Sisi's pants, which were still largely intact, leaving only a small black rimmed hole that showed a bit of her thighs. “You should be ok,” Nera said. “If you want, we'll try and find some more pants for you when we get to town.” Sisi was still fuming. Her face was turned up in a half scowl, half pout. It was almost funny to look at, since the face didn't suit Sisi's usually happy demeanour. Nera frowned, thinking about how she could cheer Sisi up. She racked her brain for something that could work. She thought of something, and began rummaging through her bag, turning her back to Sisi for a second. After a bit, Nera turned around. “Look Sisi,” she said. Sisi tried to keep pouting, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she looked at the small object cupped in Nera's hand. Inside the palms of Nera's hands was a small piece of what looked like Auradium, roughly the size of a ping-pong ball. Sisi gasped, and soon forgot what she was angry about. “Shiny!” Nera smiled and handed the small mineral to Sisily, who immediately engrossed herself with it. Sisi's deep brown eye stared intensely at the small rock, and the light reflected off of it's sharp surfaces, casting a strange glint of light into Sisi's eyes. Satisfied that she had quieted Sisi down for the time being, Nera said, “Well, we should go an meet up with Gely and Emi. They're probably done by now anyways. We've all been at it a while.” “Uh-huh...” answered Sisi distractedly. Smiling, Nera headed back to their agreed meeting site with the bag of Phantasia slung over her shoulder and Sisi following just a few steps behind her. Madelaine was worried, and not just about dinner that night. Reciful had been in and out of the house for the past few days. He was always mumbling to himself about something, and he would stop and pretend nothing was the matter when he noticed Madelaine watching him. He thought that he had outsmarted her. He was wrong. After listening carefully to Reciful's angry musing, she figured out what was troubling him, which, in turn, troubled her. Madelaine decided that since she couldn't keep an eye on Reciful at all times, she would have to get another set of eyes. Madelaine walked down the luxurious staircase from the second floor kitchen to the first floor landing. The massive staircase was made of solid Redwood, and the whole foyer absolutely reeked of money. In some ways, it made Madelaine a bit sick how Reciful had all this money at his disposal, and yet he uses none of it. That, however, didn't matter now. She glanced furtively over her shoulder, making sure that she wasn't being followed. She had managed to keep this a secret for so long, and she wasn't planning on revealing her Ace-in-the-hole now. Seeing and hearing no one in the house, she quickly ducked into a small space underneath the stairs. Inside was a normal broom closet. Madelaine groped around in the dark before she found the repressed brick in the wall. She depressed the false brick, which caused a complex set of pulleys and levers to drop into place behind the wall. Slowly, the wall pulled up to reveal a larger room behind it. A faint glimmer of incandescent light came from within. Madelaine looked at the tiny creature huddled in the corner of the room. The scrawny boy glanced briefly at Madelaine, but soon shrunk back into his curled up form. His legs poked out from under a small blanket, despite having an enormous bed in the opposite corner of the room. It seemed that the boy was more comfortable on the floor, as he was used to. “Kevin, my boy, I was hoping you could help me with something,” said Madelaine. Looking up, the small boy glanced through dark locks of hair that hung in his eyes. A mass of white bandages covered his left eye. “How might I serve you, mistress?” Smiling gently, Madelaine leaned in close and said, “I need you to keep a close eye on Reciful for me, dear. He's been a bit,” Madelaine hesitated before continuing, “occupied lately.” “Yes mistress.” “Good,” Madelaine said with a smile. She turned to walk away, but stopped short of the door. “Oh, Kevin. Be sure to bundle up.” “Yes mistress.” Madelaine left Kevin to get himself ready. Truth be told, Kevin Kwon wasn't even suppose to be there. The boy had turned up on her doorstep months ago, gripping the left side of his face and dripping blood, sweat and rainwater. His good eye was all red, and Madelaine could tell that the poor boy had been crying. She quickly took him in. The boy remained reticent the whole time when Madelaine tried to clean up his face. He had numerous other wounds that she didn't see before in the poor lighting of the doorway. His pants were torn, and blood coated several large patches of his trousers. His shirt was dirty, and it gave off a smell of something that had not been washed for at least a fortnight. Madelaine asked the boy what his name was, but the boy simply shook his head in response. It seemed as though he didn't want to talk. Madelaine wasn't used to not getting an immediate reply, but she kept on cleaning the small boy up. He was no taller than 5 feet, his slight frame and thin face making him seem even smaller. He looked terribly malnourished, and couldn't have weighed more that 80 lbs. His dark hair and almond shaped eye hinted at his Asian ancestry, but his green-grey iris told a different story altogether. The small, sad eyes spoke softly of the years of abuse that he was subjected to at home. His parents were less than ideal, his mother being a drunk and his father was always off on “business trips”. When the two were separated, things were fine because Kevin was usually ignored by one or the other. When they were all together, though, they would begin fighting. His mother knew that her husband was cheating on her, and she was accused of being nothing more than a sloppy drunken bitch who couldn't even get her ass off of the couch. Usually, when they had finished yelling at each other, they would turn on Kevin. Most of the time, the abuse was verbal, but some days...some days they would beat him. They would starve him. Kick him. Choke him. Cut him. On the day he ran away, after a particularly bad beating, his father had thrown a plate at him. It struck the wall next to Kevin's head, and a large fragment imbedded itself into his left eye. Kevin was too desensitized by this point and simply walked out of the house. He happened along Reciful's mansion quite by accident. The rain had begun pouring, and he looked around for a place to stay. He looked up and saw Madelaine in the window. To Kevin, she was the most beautiful thing he could imagine. Long curls of brown hair flowed off of her shoulders, and her slim frame was accented by the gentle curves in her maid's uniform. The round glasses that she wore softened her eyes, and highlighted her cheekbones, making her seem more mature. Kevin was so struck by her appearance that he walked up to the from door and rang the bell, just so he could meet this angel. He didn't care about what he looked like, or the injuries that he had sustained. He just wanted to see this Angel on earth. That was how Kevin came into Madelaine's service. Now, he was Madelaine's eyes and ears whenever Reciful was up to anything strange. Today certainly qualified, of all things. Kevin thought. Slowly, he crept out of his corner and began the slow process of putting on his “work clothes”. Kevin's “work clothes” consisted of a three-piece pinstripe suit specifically tailored for him. Normally he detested this type of clothing because it reminded him of the suits his father would wear. However, he wore them because Madelaine requested it. He first put on his dress shirt, men's triple extra small, snow white with a small sloping breast pocket. Next came the vest, a deep navy blue with thin white stripes running down the length. He slipped his jacket and pants on, which were also the same navy blue. For Kevin's small frame, his clothes had to be taken in several inches in order for him to look good in them. The final touch of Kevin's outfit was an eyepatch that Madelaine got for him to cover his maimed left eye. The black patch was embossed with a strange emblem in gold. Two serpents, one devouring and the other crowned with golden flowers circled a kite shield with a seven-pointed star at it's centre. Finished with dressing, Kevin stepped out of his hovel. Madelaine was there waiting for him, a small collapsible umbrella in her hand. Upon seeing him in his new clothes, Madelaine smiled brightly. , thought Kevin. “Where and I going for you today, mistress?” Madelaine tutted, “My dear Kevin, how many times have I told you?” She shook her head, smiling. “Call me Maddy, or Madelaine.” Kevin frowned, replying, “I'm sorry mistress, but I simply cannot.” Madelaine sighed. “Ah, always so serious, my dear Kevin. Very well.” Madelaine placed the umbrella in Kevin's hand and said, “You're going to follow Hirst into the Zero-Degree Plains. Something's turned up, and it's causing enough trouble for Reciful for him to send Hirst out.” “The Zero-Degree Plains? I know them well, mistress.” “I was hoping so,” said Madelaine. “Hirst already has a few days head start on you, so you best be off. Hirst has the key, but I kept the spare just in case.” Madelaine looked at the small navy blue umbrella in Kevin's hands. She smiled and said, “I've kept Clarion in excellent condition for you. I hope he functions well.” “You didn't need to, mistress. I don't mean to cause you trouble.” Kevin turned his eyes down to the ground. “How could I ask for the services of someone so fair?” Just as before, Madelaine smiled a smile that would melt even the hardest hearts. She laid her hand on Kevin's shoulder, which took Kevin by surprise. “You can ask for my services in the same manner that I ask you for yours. I promise,” she whispered. She winked. Seeing that, Kevin felt something in his chest. He couldn't figure it out, but he knew that he didn't need to worry about anything when he saw that wink. He straightened, and he quickly walked down to the wine cellar. He would make his mistress proud. “You got ” screeched Gely. “About ten pounds.” Gely's eyes were roughly the size of saucers. “You mean to tell me,” he said, slowly, “that you two, on your own, managed to collect exactly the amount that Emi and I were short?” Nera smirked triumphantly. “So you guys only managed to get five pounds?” “Yes! Five exactly!” Nera smiled. “As weird as that may be, it works out.” “What I still don't get is how you two managed to do that. I mean, Emi and I had a very efficient system in place. We would...” “Save it. We need to get moving.” Gelyan huffed, considerably annoyed at Nera cutting him off yet again. This type of thing seemed to pop up quite often, and Gely was getting less and less patient. Emi, who had been occupying herself with Sisi, finally spoke up. “I agree with Nera. We need to press on. The more time we waste here, the more the Phantasia will die.” Emi turned to Sisi, who was still completely engrossed with her piece of Auradium. Sisi was now deftly flipping it between her fingers, creating a hypnotizing helix of light and colour with each spin. It was hard to look away. Sisi spun the piece of metal end over end on her finger for three full rotations before letting it balance point first on her ring finger. She was getting pretty good at this. “Sisi.” Emi said. Startled, Sisi blinked and shook her head once. “Huh?” The ingot was still balanced perfectly on Sisi's finger as Emi said, “We should probably get moving. I want to try and get to the town before it gets dark today.” Sisi put on her best pouty face and flashed it in the direction of her friends. They were not amused. “Fine” she said, finally. She slipped the ingot into her pocket and said, “let's go, then.” As the four of them set off, Sisi's chipper voice broke the silence that rose between them. “Nera-, I'm hungry...!” “Please, take what you want. Just leave me alone!” He smirked. These poor fools always amused him to the highest degree. How they begged for their lives, how they fought against all odds. In some ways, it was admirable, if you were on the right side of the law. He was, however, nowhere near the right side of the law. “Now, then. What fun would it be if I just left you alone?” “I have a wife and three children!” “And I have a sword and two pistols. Your point being?” “Please, have mercy!” “No.” “I beg you!” “That much is apparent, seeing as how you're on your knees.” “I'll give you anything; gold, food, even the clothes on my back. Just....” the man faltered. His eyes screwed shut, and he said, “let me live.” He pointed the gun in his hand at the cowering figure at his feet. He could feel the cold steel of the trigger at his fingertip. His finger tipped the trigger back, closer and closer... “Jack! We gotta move!” Jack whipped his head around at the voice. She couldn't have picked a worse time, could she? Turning back to the man on the ground, he flashed his best glare and said, “You live today.” And with that, he ran off towards the shore. Kayla happened to be sitting in a rowboat at the time, waiting for her tardy brother to make his way across the beach. Though various traps and barriers had been erected by the people to keep them out, it was, for some reason, more difficult to navigate when moving in the other direction. Perhaps the people wanted them to become trapped on the beach? In any event, Jack kept getting stuck in the same loop of knotted vines. He'd gotten stuck for maybe the sixth time before he finally looked at Kayla with a look that said, if you don't get me out of here, I am going to smack you. Kayla sighed. “Man, what a pain...” She looked up and shouted, “Fine, I'm coming.” Five minutes later, Jack and Kayla were sitting in the boat, drifting back to their ship, which was listing just off the reef. Jack looked coldly at his sister as he rowed. Kayla was simply humming cheerily as she scooped up water and let it flow out of her fingers. When the silence was starting to become awkward, Kayla pipped, “I've always wondered about it...” “What?” “Why the water here is so warm when we're all surrounded by ice and snow.” “How should I know? I'm not a weatherologist.” Kayla sighed. “Those are called meteorologists, Jack. And even then, a climatologist would be more suited in this case.” “Do you always have to establish the fact that you're smarter than I am?” “It wouldn't be called sibling rivalry if I didn't.” Kayla smiled warmly at Jack. Jack just kept glaring, but soon found it difficult to stay tweaked off at his sister. He finally dropped the scowl and grinned at Kayla. “I hate how I can't stay angry at you.” Kayla laughed. It sounded like fine bone china tinkling together. “I know.” Back on the ship, Jack and Kayla unloaded their booty from the day's work. “Man, you'd think that if you have the title of 'merchant' in front of your name, you'd have at least a few coins on your person,” grumbled Jack as he slipped the almost empty coin pouch into his pocket. Kayla shrugged. “I never said piracy was going to make us rich, you know.” “I know that.” Kayla flipped the pair of trousers she stole upside down and gave them a quick shake. Two small coins of auradium tinkled onto the floor. Kayla bent down and picked them up. she thought. Well, that's enough for us to get food for this week. “How does bread and water sound for dinner tonight?” Jack threw a sidelong glance at his sister. “Fantastic,” he said without much enthusiasm. Jack stood up and stretched his shoulders a bit. Looking up, Jack saw that the rigging was a bit tangled. He quickly climbed up the ropes hanging off the mast. After five quick pulls, he was already halfway up the 20 foot pole. Jack called back over his shoulder, “I think we should start making our way back. At this rate, it'll be dark when we get back to the cove.” “True,” Kayla said, nodding her head. “Where should we go then?” Jack hopped down and pulled a map from out of his back pocket. Moving to a nearby table, he spread it out and smoothed out the old creases. After scrutinizing the map for a minute, he pointed to a spot. “There,” he said. “It's only a few kilometres away.” “And where would 'there' be?” “Vanagard
