The Vengeful Tide Ch. 23

As if I’d woken up from a dream, the mud formed a copy of myself that stared at me. When I looked at it through An’raie’s eyes, I noticed that it was indeed a perfect replica of me. It had my clothes and my hair. There wasn’t a single piece of it that was out of line with anything else. The only thing it didn’t have were my eyes, my mouth, and my voice.

“The Children of Ỗxa indeed,” I thought to myself.

I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised: The Alchemist had studied the Taker of Voices in his desire for knowledge, and for the secrets to unraveling the realms of eternity. I doubted even Liara knew how long Ỗxa’d roamed the lands of D’orn. It’s not a being even gods and spirits dared mess with casually. If fortune continued to stay with me, I hoped I would find that journal again. How insane was the Alchemist to study in a dreaded environment like that to produce such creatures?

Eager to not find the answer to that question, I expended my mana once again to cast a spell that let me transfer my thoughts to my crew. “Alright, ya slags. Keep your eyes closed. When you feel the air get cold that’ll be the key to start moving, but do it quietly!” I hissed at them.

I grabbed my rapier and slowly dipped it into the hot, bubbling mud. My balance slipped and my eyes grew blurry for a moment. The loss of such mana made me dizzy as the ice magic from my blade froze the surface of the mud from one corner to the next. It was probably only because of An’raie’s own reserves that I could even freeze a few feet below that. Our mud copies made not a sound as they were frozen like they’d been encased in ice.

I pulled my rapier out of the mud and took a few minutes to catch my breath. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed the luxury of more rest. The ice magic of an imperfect frost weapon wouldn’t hold against such an environment for long. Then, once the ice thawed we’d be in a lot of fucking trouble.

“‘Tis quite the understatement, Drakclaw,” An’raie replied before I nudged Aesteal’s shoulder. We all continued moving.

“Sir, can we open our eyes now?” Aesteal asked.

“Aye, in a moment. However, don’t speak further. Let me conserve what mana I can,” I replied back.

Our line continued for a time before we finally made it to the wide platform. Never had I been more thankful for an abundance of ground than right now. “Alright, you can open your eyes. If you must speak, do it quietly!” I stressed.

Once I was sure everyone got the point, I guided them to the other side of the platform. The stairs embedded into the pillars that housed the upper floors, got bigger the closer we got. “What the fuck kind of devilry be this? Is that us?” someone asked quietly.

“‘Tis the work of the vilest evils, friend! We tread the grounds that not even Zeus would dare strike his mighty bolt!” another responded.

We all walked up the steps. It wasn’t hard to do. Thankfully, the alchemist didn’t use those fancy stones from the second island that weighed on a person with every step. We were already pressed for time as it was. A part of me wondered if I should just cut our time to find treasure down to two days. Aye there was much to explore, but not enough time to do it in. The longer I took, the longer I feared for Liara succumbing to the Alchemist on the fifth island. However, I also promised my crew boundless treasures. This was not a journey to be made for such half-hearted attempts.

As soon as we reached the top of the stone pillar, I quickly noticed the thin bridge which led to the other side of the cavernous dome. Just below the middle of that bridge was the third platform which housed the sapphire flower. Its light was like a tiny flame in a dark tunnel. It drew every eye to it.

“Watch your step. If you fall, I’d recommend biting your tongue and choking on the blood. It’s better than what’ll happen to you if you don’t,” I warned. Everyone agreed and I quickly spoke to my mother, Ellen, and Aesteal.

“Take them across the bridge. We’re heading to the other tunnels. I’m going to grab the flowers. Once I’ve gotten them, get out of the room. We’re the fucking visitors and the homeowners ain’t gonna be too pleased with us stealing their shit,” I answered.

The three agreed and Aesteal took the lead in front of everyone to guide them. While the bridge might’ve seemed thin from below, it was actually rather spacious. It fit a good number of my men across its length as they journeyed to the other side.

“Man-spawn, thou shouldest make haste. The surface of the mud bubbles once again. ‘Twill not be easy should the rest of it unthaw with thy current mana,” An’raie stated to me.

Well, who was I to argue with a powerful witch?

While everyone crossed the bridge, I grabbed a hold of its ledge and flung myself off. Hot and cold air blew against my face and body. Unfortunately, my landing was a bit uneasy. I crashed down onto the lower platform with the flowers and nearly fell off. Sharp stones were set loose from my landing and fell into the mud. Unease moved through me when I heard the rocks sizzle in the hot çeşme escort mud.

I turned my head to watch the mud clothes that had been produced by the Children of Ỗxa. When I looked at where we left them, they were still there. They stood as unmoving as always. However, I couldn’t shake this sense of pressure placed upon me. I could feel something watching me, studying me, observing me. It reminded me of that time back in the Sea of Greed. Hell, it reminded me of that time back when my crew and I faced the Father and Son spirits back in the last trial.

“Make haste! I feel it as well. The Eye of Mud be upon thee. Should the ice crack, they shall awaken and flourish once more,” An’raie said.

I needed no greater motivation than that. Dealing with Ỗxa was hard enough. Not even I could tangle with such a creature. I wasn’t about to find out what else these mud dwellers could do that might be different from my own past. “Aye,” I replied.

So, I walked over to the flowers. I marveled at their dazzling color for only a moment. There were many bright and beautiful petals just waiting to be plucked from their roots.

That said, I would have to be careful. If I did this wrong, then the magic would disperse. All I’d have is a pretty flower that was only good for being put in a vase.

I grabbed a knife and sliced the flowers from their roots. The roots were long, flowing all the way down into the mud. I wished I could see their base, but I dared not go swimming. Instead, I placed the flowers in a glass jar. I also grabbed some of the roots. I was sure I could make something special from them.

Once everything was collected, I stood up. That proved to be a mistake.

I groaned when I felt mud-formed hands grab my throat. The grip was monstrously strong, enough to crush my throat if given the chance. Thankfully, An’raie sprang to action. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her spirit fly through the air.

My body trembled with pain as a trail of blood spilled from my lip. The pain and pressure from my mana veins was similar to what I felt when I first sealed An’raie inside me. “Bhauhil,” The Lonely Wail said.

Suddenly, I could breathe again as I dropped to my knees. She then linked her soul with mine and I saw what she saw. On the platform with me was a large pile of mud that quickly began to take shape once again. Off to the side I noticed over twenty mud clones scaling the walls of the pillar, each of them leaving a trail wherever they went. How had one snuck up on me so quickly?

“‘Tis likely the effect of magic. Mine senses pick up a magic identical to thine own,” An’raie answered as a silent curse flew through my lips. It made a bit more sense now.

As if my fortune couldn’t get any shittier, the mud from below quickly exploded. There was no creature screaming, but I could see over thirty spider-like limbs crawl through the air. Just like their fucking progenitor, they all seemed laden with the bones and corpses of those that they’d devoured. Their long limbs creaked and cracked, as if angry for what I had done. I could already see them, high in the air, making their way towards me. If one of them touched me, it would be my end.

Despite the situation, I chuckled. Once again I was utterly surrounded by death on all sides, a lone platform my standing spot. Aye, there was something about the inevitability of death and the mortal desire to overcome it that stirred my salty heart. This was where no man dared to tread. This was where the greatest of legends walked, the realm of madness.

I reached into my coat and threw a scroll into the air. Then, it was struck by an arrow, it’s tip laced with fire. My very aura sung with praises as there was only one woman in my crew who could perform such a shot in such unfavorable circumstances.

The dome then lit up as if it had been touched by the sun. A myriad of fire blasts exploded in all directions. Some crashed into the ceiling, making it rumble like a mighty beast. Others crashed into the mud and made it so hot the bubbles began making waves against the walls. Massive stones and pillars of rock crashed down against each other.

The dwellers beneath the mud finally screamed as fire and rock fell down upon us all. Not even I was exempt as sharp, fiery boulders threatened to crush me beneath their weight. I groaned as smaller pebbles struck my back or crashed against my shoulders. My mud clone was unperturbed, continuing to stare at me just waiting to attack again. I was sure it felt different when a fireball collided with its face.

With the flowers and roots in my possession I quickly took the opportunity to run. Having so little mana between An’raie and myself, I decided to put my legs to their best use. I jumped over my reshaping mud clone and ran towards the edge of the platform. Using the momentum, I jumped as hard as I could to the other side of the dome, everything exploding around me as I did so.

Unfortunately, without mana, I couldn’t jump very far. My reach was much shorter başakşehir escort than I could have hoped for. The base platform to the other pillar was far from reach as I landed in the hot mud.

Let me tell you, hot mud in a burning and collapsing dome… wasn’t great. Hell, I could feel my boots beginning to melt. Additionally, the mud seemed to be alive itself, crawling up my boots and around my legs, ready to overwhelm me if given the chance.

While stuck in this plight, I had to constantly watch my head as more stones of fire and sealed magic detonated around the room. An errant stone crashed against my shoulder and I hissed in pain. I was helpless against the relentless barrage of exploding rock. Some of these strikes were harder than the others. One even hit me above my eye, and soon blood ran down my face.

As I tried to trudge through the mud, I suddenly felt something grab my leg. It’s grip was strong and I noticed the other limbs closing in on me like hungry jaws. Thankfully, the mud clones couldn’t come closer. They constantly got bombarded by the fire spells sealed within the scroll. Though that was good fortune for me, it wasn’t good that the thing which grabbed my leg still wouldn’t let go. As it kept me in place, the mud continued to overtake the lower half of my body and the claws of the Children of Ỗxa. I was being dragged down and I had not the strength to free myself.

“Ya might have to latch your soul to someone else should I not make it,” I groaned as I tried to move, hacking at the mud futilely trying to free myself from my predicament.

I noticed An’raie was rather silent. I found it rather odd. I thought she’d be overjoyed to be apart from a man since she claimed to hate them so much. “Is this one of the miraculous plans of Eric Drakclaw?” she asked.

I grunted again. “Well, I did have a plan, fair lass! However, that plan didn’t involve me getting strangled by meself!” I exclaimed. I then heard something I thought impossible. I heard laughter in my head.

“Thou art the biggest fool I’ve ever seen.”

As soon as those words from An’raie finished, the dome was then filled with the sound of gunfire and hailing arrows. I then bore witness to a sight I thought I’d never see. I saw Ellen running across the bridge, firing her guns at anything that moved. She dodged out of the way of the falling fire spells and crashing stones. The bridge nearly collapsed from each impact of mana and rubble.

Unfortunately, the bridge could only take so many blows. I wasn’t sure which one made it crumble to pieces. In my ears, all I heard was the sound of gunshots and magic spells. The bones and remains of the creatures started falling into the mud as I watched the bridge fall apart. My eyes observed Ellen as she jumped off and landed on the platform I was on previously. Unfortunately that too started to crumble away.

That said, despite these unfortunate circumstances, Ellen didn’t seem particularly overwhelmed. She quickly fired at one claw that got too close. The others were fired upon by my mouth and Aesteal. Sothshore then took a grappling hook and threw it at another part of the wall. She then swung off the platform and sank into the mud next to me. I tell you, if not for our predicament, I would have tried to fuck her right now. The look of pure fire in her eyes turned me on so damn much. If she could talk, I was sure she’d be threatening me with all manner of unsavory acts.

I grabbed a hold of her and pulled us through the mud. The thing on my leg still didn’t let go, but it’s grip loosened with each fall of flaming debris. A large boulder crashed behind us and suddenly I was free. I pulled us to the other side of the dome and we climbed out of the mud. We silently caught our breath for a few moments and even that seemed too long of a privilege.

The Children of Ỗxa became irate. The boiling mud exploded. Ellen and I stared at over twenty limbs wiggling in the air. On the tips of each, I noticed magic arrays. Then came the magic blasts.

The disembodied limbs fired magic from their fingertips that crashed into almost every surface of the dome. Aesteal, my mother, and the others of my crew pushed themselves down their tunnel before massive stones caved them in. They were effectively locked to whatever direction that tunnel led them down.

I didn’t even have time to worry about them. I just grabbed Ellen’s hand and we ran down a separate tunnel from them. The ground cracked beneath our feet. Wild and arcane energies swirled around us from the Children of Ỗxa. Each limb fired off volley after volley of magic. I could only count us lucky when one of their blasts crashed into the tunnel’s entrance and sealed off the entrance.

As the rocks crashed on top of each other, Ellen and I heard the piercing wail of the burrowers. The underground labyrinth shook like it’d been dealt a blow by Yrmindle. We both heard the sounds of intense burrowing for the next two minutes.

Then, there was nothing.

We slowly backed away küçükçekmece escort from the caved in entrance. The distant booms of the earth caused dust and dirt to fall on top of our heads. We waited, probably expecting something to come busting through the sealed up hole that we’d run into. Fortunately, we were both disappointed and I was allowed to breathe easy.

That didn’t last for too long because I doubled over in pain when Ellen buried her fist in my stomach. My knees buckled and I fell to the floor, clutching my stomach and writhing in agony.

“You are the stupidest piece of shit I’ve ever fucking seen sometimes! I had half a fucking mind to bury my fist up your dregskith ass until all I could fucking see is my full of shit elbow! I must be fucking insane to sail under you! You be more cursed than this island of spirits, monsters, and magic!” She exclaimed.

I uttered something between a laugh and a groan. “Ya didn’t complain when ya saw the piles of gold coins,” I wheezed out, trying to catch my breath. I then heard Ellen scoff.

“Aye, and a fucking deer won’t hesitate to drink from a fucking river if its thirsty enough. Why does everything involving you have to turn into shit?” Sothshore asked.

Once the pain subsided. I fell on my ass and leaned against the wall. I chuckled to myself. I oddly felt like I couldn’t deny that question. So much of my life seemed to have turned to shit these days. Perhaps that was the life I chose to live. That was the life of piracy, adventure, and shit.

“If it makes you feel any better, I did have a plan to get back on the bridge, but I wasn’t expecting to have mud hands around my neck,” I replied.

“Glad to see even your best laid plans ain’t worth the salt sprinkled on them,” she answered before she finally sighed and sat with me. “Didn’t I already tell you? I’ll riddle your damn corpse with bullets if you die and leave me in the middle of all this shit. Don’t think I won’t.”

I smiled. “It would be quite the ‘holy’ burial for me should a monk discover me then,” I joked. I wasn’t sure, but my ears picked up on a tiny bit of concern in Ellen’s voice. If this was the case, then for her pride, I decided not to point it out. Couldn’t let all those fuckers working under her know she was going soft.

I heard Ellen grumble as she spat some mud out of her mouth. “Fuck, we smell like shit. High-grade bearyvern shit,” she grumbled, holding her beautiful blonde hair in her hands.

“It be better to be bathed in shit than to become it,” I replied.

Sothshore scowled. “At least if I were dead then I wouldn’t have to smell it,” she said as we sat in peace for a little while. I worried for my mother and Aesteal, but I kept my nerve. Though I was drained of mana, I could still feel the latter’s aura with mine. At the very least she was alive. If Aesteal was fine then I knew she’d make sure my mother was as well.

“So what now?” Ellen asked.

I quickly reached into one of my inner pockets and pulled out the jar of the sapphire flowers.I quickly opened it and we inhaled their rich, pleasant aroma. I broke one of the petals off the flower and handed it to my beautiful, if muddy, Quartermaster. She snatched it from me, staring at it as it glowed against her palm.

“So this is what we risked life and fucking limb for?” she asked.

I smiled. “Trust me. You’ll be happy we did,” I told her.

She glanced at me and sucked her teeth before she put the petal in her mouth. She chewed it and then swallowed it. “Tastes like shit, but that’s probably because of the mud,” she grumbled while I ate my own piece as well. Well, with this, Ellen could conduct whatever business deal she desired without fear of poison. I then put the jar back in my pocket.

Well, we got cut off from everyone else. Once my mana returns, I’ll contact Aesteal. Though it’s far away, the tunnels are connected to the same areas,” I replied.

“And what areas are those?”

“Consider them to be neutral zones. Whether the Alchemist intended for it to happen or not, there are special parts of the island where the creatures don’t fight or kill each other. One might as well call it a safe haven. We were heading to the one I knew before Fortune decided to fuck us in the ass,” I answered.

Ellen snorted as she threw a stone at the wall. “Some more than others,” she grumbled before I kissed her cheek. She stilled.

“Why the fuck would you kiss me now when I’m covered in fucking dirt and mud?!” my Quartermaster yelled as I stood to my feet.

“Even dirty, I’ll always kiss you, Ellen. You’re a beautiful lass after all,” I admitted while she looked at me evenly. It was hard to tell since the caves were dark.

She stood up with me. “Have I mentioned how much I hate you?” she asked.

“Aye, you’ve mentioned it a few times. It still doesn’t change the fact that the waves of your hair, and the fires of your temper move me,” I replied as I walked off. I soon heard Ellen’s boots behind me.

So began the journey of a betrayed captain and his quartermaster. Ellen followed behind me through the incredibly long tunnel. She thought to light a torch, but I told her not to. The explosions from before no doubt sent creatures, much stronger than the Taker of Voices’ bastard children to their location. If we didn’t get far enough away, I worried that instead of piles of gold coin, we’d be buried beneath piles of rock and rubble.