Was… Was telling him the right decision?... Maybe I should’ve kept my mouth shut… How far could word have spread in that time?... It was only us and Emilia in the tavern at the time, and I doubt she would’ve heard… What if the Order does find out somehow?... Will he really be alright?... Surely, he has to be, if he’s making mugs with his magic then he's gotta be as strong as he claims… Will he be alright though? Antonio was pretty strong and he was…
When we set sail for Shell Island, I don’t know when it happened but I felt myself zone out staring into the waters. Ever since the conversation I just couldn’t stop thinking. My mind was a train of thoughts I couldn’t get off of. A seed of doubt and worry that grew ever taller. With every time my head pounded because of this damn hangover, I was further tormented by my own worst fears.
… Is… he’s gotta still be out there right?... He has to be… Damon was right they didn’t kill me, why would they kill him?... Maybe they did to him what they did to that Mage from the jailbreak… Maybe they switched his magic instead of removing it… right?... No but he was at another facility… Oh god… what if they did things differently?... what if they did worse to him than what I got?... What if I got off easy? What if I was lucky? Is he still out there? How can I know for certain he’s still out there?!
A whirlpool of despair, throwing me around violently through crashing waves of grief. Drawn lower and lower into the depths of my mind as demented fear takes over. A dark shroud of worry looming over obscuring any hope that could have shone through.
Shit, What about me?! They have to be after me right? They wouldn’t just let their lab rats run free right?! Oh god what will they do to me if they find me again? I can’t defend myself, I couldn’t even do it when I had my Magic!
All I got is a stupid sword and this rusty old flintlock! I ain’t well enough trained with these, If they find me again I’m so screwed, I don't even know what I could do against another order member! I don't know, I can't do this, I can't take this, I should've spent more time training, more time learning to use my weapons, I should've been able to protect him, I should've been able to protect myself, I shoulda I shoulda-
“Hey Amena, We’re ‘ere!”
When I heard my name I nearly jumped from where I was standing. It surprised me, I never used to be easily startled like that. I flicked my head from side to side looking for Damon before finding him up at the wheel of the Caravel we were on. He pointed out behind me before shouting out.
“Land Ho’!”
I turned around to see a spectacle of a town. The town was built off of this large and sprawling set of boardwalks made out of a type of wood I’d rarely seen around back at Ravenna. Wooden houses with foliage thatched roofs stood atop the planks below. The town connected to more houses along the cliff side of the island from wooden planks to dirt paths. Large jungle trees cast shadows and vines down over the village from the rainforest above. In the back was a stunning waterfall flowing down from the top of the island to the beach below.
My eyes widened as I saw it, the houses looked cozier than the ones back in Tiberia as sad as that sounds, and the vibes of the island were spot on. The townsfolk looked busy around the center of town, a bit of a commotion and a lot of distant chatter and laughter. It looked like a hell of a time.
“Welcome to Monoah Village,” Damon said, resting an arm around my shoulder. “There’s neva’ been a time where I've been down and the folks ‘round here didn’t help lift my spirits. I hope they’ll be able ta help you too.”
I stood there in awe of what I was seeing, I only heard stories of towns built like this from Rubicans who visited Redwake. To see something similar was a different feeling entirely. I must've stood there with this stupid look on my face because Damon spoke up again.
“Uh, Hey Amena, you alright?” he asked as I stared off into space.
“Huh?- Oh sorry, I was just surprised with how pretty the place looked.” I answered truthfully.
“Hah! I shoulda figured with all the stories ye’d tell at the lodge, ‘Bout all the sights you’d have seen!” he laughed.
I laughed along though it was bittersweet to see something this spectacular for the first time without Tony beside me. Damon spoke up again.
“Sounds ta me that the people of the Monoah Tribe are celebrating one o’ their hunter’s feasts. It’s always a good time!”
“Really? What’s it about?” I asked.
Damon looked up in the air, looking like he’s trying to recall something. He has a big smile on his face.
“This is what they do whenever they’ve got a celebration goin’ on. The hunters head out into the Monoah Wilds on the top o’ the island and find as much game as they can. They bring it back, the town chef cooks it all up real nice and in the evening they have a huge table feast, all ye’ can eat. They get different meats, fish, different fruits from the island, they even make some o’ their own booze, though it's nothin’ like the stuff from the lodge. Great time last time I was there, Lots of laughs and smiles.” He recalled fondly “I wonder what they might be celebrating tonight though.”
I got really excited actually, the idea of this took me right back to my days back in Tiberia. Where we all would pitch in a bit to create a meal for everyone to share for the night so we all wouldn’t go hungry. It sounded a lot like that but with a lot less survival on the line. Damon spoke up again.
“Speakin’ of the lodge though. While I’d like to keep here with ya, the Lodge has to keep runnin’. and while Emilia is a good worker, I reckon we both know she’s not quite of age to run the operations herself. Ya get me?”
“Yeah, I hear ya loud and clear.” I responded. “Again thank you for the trip, I don’t know if my sailboat woulda made it.”
“It’s not a problem at all, friend.” He smiled “Just relax ‘ere and take a load off. Keep ‘er easy on the booze though will ya, don’t want another night like the other one.”
“I’ll do my best for you, but no promises.” I said sarcastically with a smirk on my face.
“Well promise me ya won’t drink enough to poison yourself would ya? That’s my real worry here.” He said with a bit more concern.
“I can assure ya that one Damon.” I agreed, reassuring him.
He nodded and gave me a pat on the back. “Just head into the Shipwright’s building and tell ‘em Damon brought ya here, needed a bit of a break. Tasunke will understand.”
I nodded back before I walked off his caravel onto the dock of Monoah Village. I pushed the plank he threw for me back onto his ship.
“See you soon, Damon! If ya get any leads you know where to find me!”
“Will do Amy!” he said, waving back as he began to sail off back to the lodge. I watched him leave the island. I took a deep breath, trying to reassure myself that everything will be alright. I looked around my surroundings. If I hadn’t smelt it before I sure as hell did now as the smell of fish filled the air from the racks of fish to both sides of me. The wooden dock turned into a ramp upwards toward the house of the shipwright.
Approaching the door I looked up at the Shipwright’s shack. Like the other houses it had a foliage thatched roof atop of it made from the jungle brambles. The wood also seemed to be made from the same trees that adorned the island. The sign above the door was slightly out of place being tipped to the side, it still read “Shipwright” loud and clear though. Honestly it just gave the otherwise well kept building a bit more charm.
Opening the door led to a wooden inside, the room was dimly lit with the light of a lantern atop of some crates of cargo. A window with wooden shutters was to the immediate left only open a crack letting a bit of sunlight seep into the room. Along the back wall were a few ship name plaques. All of them were blank, likely to be sold. On the far end of the room were a few more barrels with cannonballs stacked atop of them. They were placed behind a stand with a couple hammers and yet another empty plaque.
Behind the stand was a tall muscular man, with black windblown hair, and a large beard. Across his face is a scar that seemed to have never quite healed properly. He wore a black shirt with a black coat over top, the coat looked well worked and well used, as there had been several restitched tears all over the coat.
“Hello there, Do you need something?” he spoke in a deep, rough voice, He got right to the point. He must have been Tasunke.
“Oh, Hi!” I answered a bit startled, it surprised me I never got startled like this before over someone just talking to me.
“Yeah, Damon brought me over. I need a bit of a breather.” I repeated what Damon told me to say.
“Ah, I see. Damon usually comes over here for a break when the Lodge gets a bit too much to handle.” he said. It made me think back to the lodge and the kind of shit that happens on the daily. In all honesty I don’t blame him.
“Anyway, no problem. If Damon trusts you we trust you.” he said with a smile as he laid down a wooden key on the counter top. “That key leads up to the hut next to Caria’s hut. If you can’t find the way you’re going just ask Caria for help. It’s hard to miss her, she’s got the blue hair and talks like a pirate.”
“Oh that’s great! Thanks!” I thanked him, to which he nodded back.
I walked back out of the shipwright’s hut and headed into the middle of the village along the boardwalk. It was even more stunning than from afar. There were houses both on the level I was standing on and towering overhead. Several merchant stands were set up selling a variety of items but the stands were vacant. Even from inside the village it looked stunning, and the locals looked friendly.
Along the center of the boardwalk was a large long table, seemingly handcrafted with logs and rope. Various types of food and drink were laid out freshly cooked along it. There was an assortment of fish and seafood, along with these enormous bananas that I'd never seen that large before back at Ravenna. As well as a large assortment of different game that I could only assume the hunters had brought in. The smell was just incredible.
Surrounding the feast was an assortment of different people I had never met before but notably there were two people who caught my eye. Both of them wore outfits entirely different to the rest of the people who wore clothes more fitting for the environment. One of them had striking long sky blue hair. She wore a black coat somewhat befitting of a pirate, a detail I quickly picked up on. She wore gray slacks and tall black boots. She was talking and laughing along, enjoying a drink with another person to the seat on her right.
Sitting next to the blue haired woman was another woman with messy silver hair pulled back into a ponytail. Atop her head she wore a pair of nice blue head goggles, something that I could see myself wearing. She had a dark gray tank-top that accentuated her athletic form. On her hands she had dark leather gloves that looked as if they’d seen some wear and tear. I could only assume they’d been well used. She wore a pair of black boots with gold looking embroidery around the top, something I’d only be able to buy in my dreams. Along the back of the chair laid a green coat that I assumed also belonged to her.
The two of them stood out from the rest of the crowd, not just because of the stand out difference in colour of their hair from everyone else, but also in the difference of how they were acting from the rest of the folks around the table. I must've stood there kind of dumbstruck at all the food and the good vibes of the place, because I didn’t notice the silver haired girl see me before she called me out.
“Hey! You in the blue!” she called out to me. I snapped back into reality a bit startled
“Wh- Hi!” I shouted back trying to be friendly.
“Don’t just stand there and stare! We got enough seats for ya here!” She shouted back smiling, as she pulled out a chair next to her.
“Oh, Hell yeah! Thanks!” I thanked her, walked over and took the seat.
It was almost familiar sitting at a large table like this with a bunch of friendly faces. Took me right back to my time at Tiberia with the people there sharing meals in the evening. Telling stories, eating good food, having good laughs. Despite the circumstances being drastically different, it almost felt nostalgic.
“So, what’s your name?” the silver haired girl asked. Having started to warm up to everyone here I answered a bit more relaxed.
“My name’s Amena, Amena Treas. What’s yours?” I asked back
“Nice to meet ya, I’m Helen Sparrow” she introduced herself with a smile.
“Ay matey, and I’m Caria.” she spoke with a pirate’s slang, which intrigued me as to her background.
“Glad to meet you guys, quick question though, where did you guys get all of this food? I don’t think I’ve seen this much in my life!”
“Well ya see, the hunters went out earlier today and brought back a load of food for us. The fishers spent the day at the docks reelin’ in the fish, and some of our townsfolk with the scurvy dog Yansa over there went an’ harvested the giant bananas. It’s all ta celebrate!”
“Oh! is it a holiday?” I asked, forgetting what day it was today.
“You don’t know? It’s Oktoberfest!” Helen said excitedly.
I completely forgot, I didn’t even realize it was Oktoberfest given all that had happened lately, the time must have flown by. I also then remembered Damon mentioned a new type of booze they had there.
“Oh shit, I didn’t even realize!” I said back
“Hell yeah, dude do you drink too?” she asked
“Do I ever!” I said excitedly “I remember Damon told me something about you all making your own booze round here?”
“Hell yeah we do!” Helen pointed over to a keg to the right of the large table. ”It’s called Monoah Mead, It's in the keg over there!”
“Cheers!” I said back with a smile.
The rest of that night was spent about as well as it had started. Got to know all the people around the village as we celebrated Oktoberfest. Heard some great stories from the village elders, Shappa who had been a part of the hunters with his brothers, and even a story from another sea entirely from an interesting man named Amos. Caria seemed to be a bit interested in me, she asked.
“Aye Amena, ya got any stories you’d like ta tell?”
“Oh wow ok, gettin’ me to go after Amos, talk about setting the bar high!” I joked, to which I got a few laughs.
I started thinking back to try and come up with a story to tell. I landed on the time Antonio, some friends and I had gone to Sailor’s Lodge after a holiday and saw a White Eyes practically soar through the air before diving back into the water. A story nobody believed us when we told it, which upheld its reputation. Though a question did come up that grounded me back in reality.
“Say, Amena?” asked one of the townsfolk “If you’re here, where’s that Antonio fella you were talking about?”
“Oh…” I muttered as the emotions came back and hit me like a speeding brig. I tried to keep up a front.
“He isn’t feeling well unfortunately and couldn’t come…” I lied, trying to keep it together.
“Ah, I see. Well when he starts feeling better feel free to bring him with you! If he’s half the person you’ve been, he's welcome anytime!”
“Thanks…” I smiled back, If only he knew Antonio was much more than half the person I was.
I noticed Amos looked at me with what I could’ve sworn was a look of concern, but he didn’t comment on it. The rest of the table went back to talking and laughing like it was the rest of the night. It was tough keeping the emotions away but despite that it was still a good evening. Afterwards I asked Caria where the heck my hut was supposed to be.
“Ey, *hic* Caria right?” I asked a bit drunk from the festivities.
“Aye matey, what’s up?” she asked back in a bit of a stupor herself.
“The shipwright down there gave me this key and told me ya might know which one it goes to?” I asked her, nearly fumbling the key as I pulled it from my pocket.
“Oh, thar's the key to Damon’s hut. I take it he brought ye over?” she answered recognizing the key
“Yeah, he did.” I confirmed.
“Then that means yer stuck wit’ me neighbor!” she laughed “Aye, Helen. Come help me show her to her hut.”
“Sure!” Helen responded
They led me up the boardwalk towards the cliffside. As we walked we kept some conversation going.
“So you’re stayin’ for the whole Oktoberfest celebration?” Helen asked excitedly.
“Hell yeah, I am!” I affirmed with similar excitement. The two seemed excited
“Awesome! Glad to have ya around!” She answered
“Same here! always good ta have anotha’ friend ‘round to swab the poopdeck!” Caria spoke up, drunkenly laughing at her own joke.
“Damon never told me about cleaning any poop decks when he brought me down.” I joked back. “I’ll have to try and get a free drink outta him when I see him again!”
“Get a drink for me while you’re at it!” Helen chimed in. “He’s been slacking on the deck cleaning the last couple times he’s been here!”
Eventually we made our way up to the huts. The hut I was set to spend my time in was a pretty decently sized hut. The roof was made of a nicely put together foliage of leaves and branches. The walls were built with wooden columns of wood from the rainforest to support the planks of the same wood holding the building upright. It had a very handcrafted vibe to it like a lot of care was put into the creation of it.
“Thar she is!” Caria said, showing off the hut. “That’s where ye will be stayin’ while yer here.”
“Wow, that’s a much nicer place than the one I lived in back in Ravenna.” I said in drunken awe.
“Yeah! the places around here are all well built and pretty nice to stay in. The warm breeze of the island through the foliage thatch roof is relaxing too!” Helen added. “By the way, You think you’ll be staying after the whole Oktoberfest celebrations?”
“Absolutely! It’s a bit different from back in Tiberia but everyone here has been great!” I affirmed. The place was great. Calming atmosphere, good people, a lot less stress. It was honestly the vacation I needed. Caria and Helen both seemed like the kinda people I could be friends with. Caria suddenly spoke up.
“Welp, it’s gettin’ a bit late. I’m gonna turn in fer the night.” Caria said with a yawn.
“Yeah, same. See you two tomorrow?” I asked.
“Hell yeah!” Helen answered.
“Sure, If ya need to find me I’m just up the hill at the hut above.” Caria says “I’ll try not ta make too much noise.”
“Sounds great guys, see ya then!” I said ready to turn in for the night.
“See ya then, matey!” Caria said.
“See ya later!” Helen waved.
We waved goodbye and turned in for the night.
I went into the hut to see a fairly simple layout, it was a single room with a couple windows in the walls. Along the back wall there was a hammock strung. An interesting change from the normal beds I was used to sleeping in, but I wasn’t complaining. Aside from a candle lantern on a table and a few hangers on the wall. There wasn’t much else in the hut. I climbed into the hammock, at first struggling to figure out how it worked but quickly figured it out, and went to sleep.
I found myself in a dark room, a shiver went down my spine. The room was familiar. I was strapped to the table with metal braces. Not again. Please no. Surrounding me were cloaked familiars. The insignia on their cloaks forever burned into my memory. I struggled to get free, but I couldn’t. I tried to channel my Lightning Magic and still couldn’t summon it. I was helpless despite my struggles.
One of them walked up on my left with a spellbook, and another walked up on my right with needles. I tried to scream but no sound came out. I continued to try and break out of the cuffs still to no avail. One of them leaned in and injected me with the needles one after the other. I could hardly even move anymore. I felt my life flash before my eyes, but notably the memory of watching Antonio on the ground before I passed out. I couldn’t get it out of my mind.
Then the person on the left started casting the spell. I felt the familiar ripping of what felt like my soul from my body. The same agony on replay again, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t resist, I couldn’t scream even though every cell in my body wanted to. As the suffering reached its peak...
I woke up. I sat up quick, my heart pounding through my chest and I was breathing heavily. I sat up so quickly that I lost balance on the hammock and ended up flipping over and falling on the floor. I pulled myself up off the floor, It was just that stupid dream again. That stupid dream that has haunted me ever since it had happened. It never got any easier, being haunted by that dream and the demons within it.
I looked up through the foliage roof to see it was the morning. I grabbed my hat and coat from the hangers on the wall and headed out for the day. I spent the day with Helen and Caria. We took a tour around the island and spent the morning fishing. It was nice getting to talk to them and get to know them better but I couldn’t get my mind off of that dream, nor Antonio.
We moved on to go swimming instead. The water was nice and it was a good time overall but it just continued to remind me of him. Still if anything got my mind off of it even for a second it was Caria doing a cannonball from the cliffside her hut was built on. Then not to mention Helen and I doing the same thing afterward like the crazy people we were.
The three of us then took a walk through the Monoah Rainforest, which was a sight to see. It was honestly enough to take my mind off of it for the rest of the day. The calming atmosphere, the sounds of the birds and the rainforest animals. Following the dirt paths on that hike was one of the highlights of my entire month to that point. The only regret I had was that Antonio wasn’t there with us. We turned in for the Oktoberfest Feast of that night after that and parted ways to head to bed for the night.
The next day I woke up from the same dream but this time I didn’t fall out of the hammock. The dream still hurts all the same however. My train of thought was quickly derailed when I heard the sound of fighting outside. I stepped out of my hut to see a large number of the townsfolk up on the cliff in a bit of a circle. Interested, I headed up to see what was going on. When I got there I worked my way into the crowd so I could see through the people.
When I could see what was going on I realized this was a village sparring match. In the center of the ring was Helen and Caria fighting each other. It was odd as around the two of them they each had what seemed to be seawater circling around their fists. They both threw punches with a sway as the water around their fists seemingly empowered the size of their strikes.
The two backed off from each other as Caria let loose a large force from her fist that flew towards Helen. Helen dodged out of the way and practically lunged up towards Caria with speed I hadn’t seen before back at Ravenna to try and land a punch on her. Caria however was able to deflect the punch with a punch of her own creating a brief shower of water down around everyone watching. The two backed off before continuing fighting as I turned to one of the townsfolk, who just so happened to be Amos.
“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked him.
“Oh! I thought either Helen or Caria would’ve told you.” He said a bit surprised. “It’s the village sparring match. They do this every week to ensure they’re still fighting fit in the event of criminals or rabid wildlife. It’s always a fun event to watch, the townsfolk here are more skilled in combat than they let on!”
“That’s awesome!” I exclaimed. It was reassuring to know the folks around here were more than skilled enough to fend off any threats to the town, especially if any order members were to show up. But it was almost nostalgic watching this, it took me right back to back at Ravenna when Antonio, his friends and I would watch the Bronze Legion sparring matches. The crowd erupted into a cheer as I looked back.
Helen landed an uppercut attack sending the two of them high into the air which shocked me. It didn’t take long however for Caria to grab Helen and slam the two of them back down to the ground. Helen lept backwards to widen a gap but Caria charged her with a lunging punch of her own. Helen reacted to this quickly however and grabbed her out of the charge stopping it in its tracks. Before kicking her back.
Running up to Caria, Helen punched forward creating a large shockwave in front of her. Caria blocked the attack and lunged at her to try and grapple her. She followed through on the motion of her punch though and dodged the attack. She turned around after that and threw another shockwave haymaker at Caria, sending her tumbling backward out of the makeshift arena they had made. I went over to help Caria up off the ground as did Helen, she didn’t look too badly beaten up so that was relieving.
“Thanks fer the hand.” Caria said. “Say, Amena. Did ye want to go a round?”
“O-oh uh, no thanks, I’m uh… not a fighter.” I said anxiously, I was a bit nervous.
“You sure? Surely you know how to use that sword ya keep by your side.” Helen said.
“Uh, I can swing it, but that's about all I can do. I don’t know any fancy tricks with it.” I answered, still a bit worried I’d have to fight one of the two brawlers standing before me.
“Huh, No Fighting Style or Magic Training?” Helen inquired.
“No, sadly.” I answered.
“Were ya born with a Magic? Maybe Amos could help you hone that a bit.” Helen offered.
“Uh…” I didn’t want to answer, I couldn’t dump all of this onto someone I’d just met. “It’s a long story… I’ll tell ya some other time.”
“Hmm.” Helen thought to herself, she then asked. “Meet me and Caria at Caria’s place in the rainforest after the Oktoberfest Feast tonight. Alright?”
“Oh, uh alright?” I agreed albeit, a bit confused.
“Oh, and don’t drink anything ok?” she said with a smile. “I know, it defeats the purpose of Oktoberfest. But just trust me on this one.
Now I was really confused. Not drinking during Oktoberfest? What did she have in mind? Still though, she seemed nice enough. That and I told Damon I wouldn’t drink too much.
“Alrighty then, sure.” I agreed
“Awesome!” Helen said excitedly.
The evening came around after the feast pretty quick. I walked my way up to Caria’s hut on the Island where Caria was waiting for me, but Helen was still absent. She waved me over.
“Ahoy, Matey. Over here!” she called out to me.
I walked over to her.
“Hey Caria, where’s Helen at?” I asked her, wondering where Helen could be.
“She told me she was goin’ to grab a couple things from her hut in the woods.” She answered.
“Oh alright, how long ya think she’ll be?” I asked again, still confused about why she wanted me to come here.
“In about-” Caria started before she was cut off.
“Alright, I’m back!” Helen called out excitedly. “Hey Amena!”
“...now.” Caria finished sarcastically.
Helen threw what she was carrying on the ground infront of me. On the grass looked to be a blue set of clothes. The chestpiece looked to be a robe and the pants seemed to be part of the set. Alongside the main outfit was a pair of boots that seemed to have a tinge of blue hue on the metal, and some blue and gray handwraps. I was curious as to what these were.
“Uh, Helen, what are these?” I was puzzled as to what I was looking at.
“It’s one of my training outfits! We’re gonna train you to use Sailor’s Fist like us!” Helen said excitedly.
“Oh shit for real?!” I said surprised.
“Hell yeah!” she said back just as excited. “Ya can’t go around the seas without a way to defend yourself, and what better way to defend yourself than by downing a bottle of seawater and clocking your enemies!”
I stared at the outfit, then at her, then back at the outfit. Just in utter awe that someone would be kind enough to do this for me. Having a way to fight might be the first step I’d need. The first step I’d need to get back at the order. The first step I’d need to stop feeling so afraid of everything around me. The first step I’d need to find Antonio. I felt tears start to well up. Caria was confused at my reaction to this, Helen spoke up.
“Uh, Amena? Did I do something wrong-” Before she could finish her sentence I had already hugged her.
“Dude, Thank you so much.” I nearly cried of happiness. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“Hey, it’s no worries. We can start tomorrow!” She said still happy and excited to start in the morning. Caria smiled now that she knew everything was alright.
For the rest of my time at Shell Island, Helen, Caria and I all worked together to better train me in using Sailor’s Fist. There were some hiccups. Namely my lack of magic made it harder for me to attain the magic abilities of the Seawater to channel into my fists, and also when I had to inevitably explain to Helen and Caria why I have hardly any magic ability to tap into to actually channel Sailor’s Fist.
Though it wasn’t impossible to overpower due to the magic energy of the ocean itself, the two of them seemed sympathetic and understanding of my situation. For once, since I had been taken. I had friends, I had some form of strength, but most importantly. I had a glimmer of hope.