Arcane Odyssey - 3rd Anniversary Project

Would you ever fault someone for ever wanting to escape the brutality that is warfare?

War has always been something that the kingdoms of the War Seas have been accustomed to. For time and time again, they fought. For time and time again, they died, all for the glory of the power that the sea curses give. Many innocents lost their lives in the pitiless wars that raged on; many tried to escape, and many failed. Soon enough, memories of them were forgotten, lost to the sea, such as one unfortunate crew before a deadly storm.

A ship sailed in the rough seas. A large storm chased them, with magic imbued rain, rogue waves and tornadoes assaulting the waters. Behind the ship, many more followed. Their followers fired upon them with cannons, magic and weapons. A man stood to the stern of the ship, staring at their pursuers. He shifted his gaze back to the rest of the crew, his eyes narrowed in the storm. He approached the side of the helm, shouting out to the rest of the crew.

“Drop the cannons and cut the anchor, lose all our weight!” He then walked to the sides. “Release the stuns’ls, catch every scrap of the wind! We’ll make it out of here folks, so let’s move!”

The captain joined his crew, pulling onto the rope at the side. The masts extended sideways, opening up to more sails. Other members removed every weight they had, whether it was cannons, supplies or their own anchor. The ship swayed violently as the waves crashed onto it; the crew fought hard to stay on board, while the few that fell were caught by their peers. As the captain finished releasing the sails, the ship was hit with a large wave. The vessel was thrown off balance, and many fell. The captain himself was almost about to be thrown overboard, until a crewmate rushed to the helm, steering the ship to regain control. She turned over to the captain.

“Arthur, we have to get out now or we won’t survive long! Let’s take them on ourselves!” she yelled.

As Arthur regained his balance, lightning struck the ship. The strike flung Arthur off the deck; he went limp as he was cast to the sea. The crewmate at the helm rushed to grab her captain, but it was naught. She screamed his name out but there was nothing that could be done.

As Arthur sank to the sea, he struggled desperately to swim upwards, but was too weak to move. Air escaped his mouth as he swallowed water from the sea. He struggled more and more but felt his vision fade. The last thing on his mind was the woman who called out for him, and three more that stood before him, until all he saw was darkness.

---

Arthur gasped for air as he awoke from his sleep. He swam upwards in desperation as he sat up. His hands shook and his body sweated while he desperately looked all around him. Nothing but the small tent he slept in was all he could see. He took a moment to bring himself to his senses. As soon as he calmed, he looked around his tent. He saw his coat and tricorne beside him, with a flower just next to them. He looked over to the flower that was in a dark blue colour.

He felt his head ache, visions of the crew member from his nightmare where she held the helm. He eyed the person, noticing the same flower on her hair with a black colour. His vision returned to the present, the flower now in his grasp. He observed the flower, pondering about it.

‘Again you’ve haunted me, and you still have the same flower as me. What is this flower to me?’ he thought to himself. He placed the flower down, and looked outside his tent. There had been nothing but a few tents just outside of his. Darkness filled the place, and the campfire extinguished.

Arthur stood up and walked away from the camp. He wandered to the edge of the island, next to a ship that had been docked. He read the name from behind, ‘The Scarlett’, and began eyeing the ship. A hull with the colour of scarlet red with the sails of black. He felt a small smirk form on his mouth. He returned his gaze back to the sea, locked onto the distance.

Ships filled the sea. For once, many simply sailed peacefully with no battles or disasters. The War Seas had never been kind but sometimes there were moments of peace. His mind wandered around, recollecting the events that had recently transpired. He reminisced on his battle against a king, King Calvus of the kingdom of Ravenna that was nearby. He remembered during the fight, he awakened a new magic. He then recalled a war to happen south of them, because of King Calvus’ death. Because of him.

His chest constricted, and he placed his hand on it as he grabbed his head. He tried to look back into his past life but no memory of it ever came. He tried harder, but it all came blank or fragmented. His mind then wandered back to his nightmare.

“Is this just a series of random nightmares or memories? Who are you, mysterious lady, and the rest of them I always see with us?” He said to himself. A voice called out to him. He snapped out of his trance and glanced at the source, seeing a red haired girl standing in front of him.

“Something keeping you up?” she asked.

“Iris!” Arthur said in shock.

“Calm down, what’s gotten into you?”

“Well, a lot’s been on my mind. Everything we went through, and another nightmare that’s been bugging me.”

“Another nightmare? What do you mean?”

“Well, ever since I woke up, I’ve been having nightmares and dreams about what felt like were memories, but I can’t even recall them... This nightmare, it…” Arthur paused. His breath hitched and his chest tightened. Iris stepped forward but Arthur brought his hand up to stop her. As soon as he was calm, he continued. “It’s gotten me thinking. After so much that has happened, and all these dreams, it’s gotten me to wonder more about myself. I want to figure out more about who I was before all of this. It’s haunted me for so long that I have to find out.”

Iris stared at him curiously and concerningly. “What was this one about, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I was on a ship, the captain too. We were in some huge storm filled with magic, definitely felt like the dark sea. We were trying to escape a bunch of ships chasing us, and I was leading the ship away from them. Afterwards, we were thrown off balance by a huge wave. I almost fell but someone else took over the helm and balanced us out. She told us we should fight them ourselves, that we won’t survive long if we don't. I didn’t even have time to think before I was struck by lightning. I was thrown overboard, and she tried to catch me, but it was naught. All that came next was me drowning, trying to swim up in vain. Finally, my vision faded to black.”

Arthur’s voice grew softer as his eyes drift towards the sea. His gaze focused towards the calm waves, away from any chaos. Iris joined suit for a bit, watching the waters around them. “She’s the same person who keeps appearing in these dreams, same with three others. She has the same flower as I do too. Whoever she is, she was close to me in some way.”

Iris brought her hand to her chin, and her vision now centred on her comrade. She opened her mouth, but only her breath escaped, so she instead chose to remain silent. Arthur snuck a few glances at her, seeing her troubles. His body softened, and his mouth moved.

“You do not need to say anything. It’s alright. Matter of fact, what about you?” Iris' brows raised and her eyes widened as Arthur spoke. “You lost your father and you’re practically exiled from your own home. Your life has practically spiraled out, no? How do you feel about all this?”

Iris’ gaze fell to the ground beneath her. She stared silently at the ground for a long time while Arthur stood in front of her, looking towards her. After what felt like days, she returned his gaze and responded:

“Honestly I just feel lost. All that anger I had towards Ravenna for taking away my father, and now that the man responsible is gone, I just… I don’t know…” She turned her head away. Arthur approached her and laid a hand on her shoulder. She recoiled at the sudden gesture; she stared back at Arthur, who took a step back and gestured towards her to continue. She made a deep sigh and spoke once again. “I’m really not sure what I’m supposed to do now. I’m a wanted criminal from my own home, I’ve got no family left, there’s just nothing for me. What can I do now exactly and where can I go?”

Arthur placed a hand on Iris’ shoulder. “You’re feeling loss, right? I may not know who I was but I’ve felt the loss you felt when your father was first captured, and after most my nightmares. I’ve pretty much forgotten who I ever was, but when I thought of that person, I felt that I was taken away from someone so significant to me, separated from those who I cherish the most. I do not know who this person is, but I know for a fact that I lost her, that she may not be here anymore. And yet, I’m still pushing forward. I may not have direction, but at least I have my friends, like you.”

Iris chuckled softly. “Friend, huh? Yeah you’re right, I’ve got you guys.” Iris’ eyes dropped to the floor, and her lips curved downward. “Still, I’m really gonna miss him and I’ve gotta do a lot of thinking to figure out what I’m gonna do, and what I want.” She looked towards Arthur. “And what about you? You said you’ve had those nightmares before and today was a new one, so what are you gonna do?”

Arthur paced around, moving slowly as he spoke. “Well honestly, I wanna find out who I was. I have to find this person, figure out who I am from them. I’ll scour the entire war sea clusters if I have to find this person. Whoever she is, she is key to who I was. Whether she’s alive or not, I do not know, but if there’s a chance she’s alive, I’ll find her.” He paused in his tracks and turned his head to Iris. “We do still have the problem with Sameria unfortunately. Calvus has said that with his death, it would mean war with Sameria and Keraxe. I know we did what we had to but if what he claims is true, then I feel responsible for this. I want to travel down to the Nimbus Sea and try to help out in their war. I might not be able to help much but I still want to provide some form of assistance.”

Iris stared at her friend, before she sighed and responded. “You’re right. I started this journey to find my dad, and after finding out who got him killed, I didn’t think what’d happen after. I just thought it’s best that he dies but never thought of the consequences, which started a war thanks to us. So I’ll come with you.” Arthur raised his brow, and attempted to speak, but was interrupted by Iris. “I know you may be wary of me joining you but I’ve nowhere to go. I’m not in my best of mind right now but I want to help you out. You’ve helped me, so I wanna help you out too.”

The two stood in silence; they stared off in the distance, with the wind blowing gently. Arthur’s eyes drifted towards The Scarlett. He looked back to Iris, spotting her run back.

“I just remembered something you might want to see. Wait here!” Iris said as she disappeared into the darkness. Arthur shook his head, before he turned his gaze back to his ship; he took a seat on the grass, his body relaxing and a huge breath escaping from his lungs.

He turned his attention to his hand. He snapped his fingers, and a magic circle formed at the palm of his hand. An orange elemental ball, that is mostly liquid with small grains of stone, hovered on top of it. He focused towards the magma on top of his hand, his senses all numbing as he stared into it. With a flick of his hand, the circle switched to a ball of light-yellow. The ball pulsated and erupted aggressively, the edges charred. Smaller explosions occurred near the ball, and just below the circle, though they did not harm him. The smell of ignited gunpowder pierced his nose, which piqued his curiosity.

“Most fascinating…” He told himself. “When have I ever been capable of doing such things? And why only after against Calvus?”

Arthur stared deeply into the elemental ball. He felt the passage of time passing by as his focus was onto nothing but the ball. He pondered his capabilities as a mage and reflected on his situation. His mind wandered onto how he awoke on what he called Dawn island, how Morden said their captors made him forget who he was. Next, his mind wandered on meeting Iris, how they fought and after she left, he felt her loss. His mind then reflected on his first dream.

He recalled the dream of how he was on an island, talking to three people. He was warning them and telling them to keep safe. He gave them all a hug and told them to escape. He then looked over to a person next to him, who nodded sadly. He then took her hands into his, and spoke reassurance that they will return. After a moment, their moment was interrupted by attackers. He ran with his comrade and they jumped to the ship, and with it, the dream ended.

His mind focused on who he joined with him. He focused on her features, and as he remembered, he recoiled. He recognized the same features of the mysterious lady. He felt his head ache and his chest burn. He brought his free hand to his head, clenching and massaging his scalp to ease the discomfort.

His mind turned back to the ball of magic in front of him, which had grown more ferociously, the explosions more violent. He concentrated his focus on it once more, and lowered its potency. The energy calmed and so did his mind.

“What are you doing?” a voice called out to him from behind once again. Arthur jumped at the sudden call, turning to see Iris.

“Ah, apologies. I was lost in my own thoughts. Just reflecting on everything that’s happened. How I’ve apparently been losing who I was long before I escaped with Morden, our meeting, Jorund’s capture, Fort Talos. And now this… It’s a lot to take in really, so now at a time like this, it’s easy to reflect. I’m not sure if I ever decided to have this kind of life but I’m certain I never did back then.” Arthur sighed. His gaze returned back to the sea briefly, before back to his companion. “You said you have something for me, right?”

Iris brought out a newspaper, and handed it over to her friend. With the flick of his hand, Arthur’s spell dissipated, the circle and ball of explosion gone. With a few shakes of his hand, he grabbed the paper and began to read it.

“Morden and Edward’s been grabbing new issues of the Agora everyday in hopes of finding you. I saw a particular article and thought it might be important to you. It was something happening at Frostmill, just yesterday,” Iris said. “The name Vitus isn’t exactly common around here, so we figured the person was connected to you.”

Arthur scanned the newspaper for any mention of Frostmill. As he turned the page, he found the title: ‘Jaw Pirates Repelled From Frostmill Island’. The article told the story of how the Jaw Pirates invaded the island, how the defenders repelled their attackers. The mage scanned through it, finding any details, until one section caught his eye.

“In spite of a fierce attack, the island held on and people cited Mariella Vitus to be on the frontlines; She was the one to inspire the defenders and citizens to rally and drive away the pirates.”

Arthur’s head began to ache. His mind flashed visions of all the times the person haunting his dreams appeared. As he returned to look at the name Mariella, flashes of the figure appeared once more. He clenched his forehead, his head tensing up with his arms. Iris stepped closer and looked closer at him.

“That name,” Arthur said. “It is strikingly familiar to me… When I think of her name, I recall the same figure. This has to be her.”

Arthur stood up from his spot; Iris backed up, and met his gaze. “I think it’s best we sleep. My head is not well. This person, Mariella, was of significance to me, and I have to find her, but we have the issue at hand that is Sameria. I think it’s best we discuss in the morning, when we are far more rested.” Arthur walked back to his tent, with Iris following suit.

“Is your head fine?” asked Iris.

“Truthfully no. I need to rest my head and contemplate for the night. I’ll keep you checked.”

The two reached their camp. They entered their tents as they bid each other good night. As Arthur laid on top of his bedroll, his mind returned to the person in his dreams. He entered his mind, searching for memories of his life before. All he recalled were the dreams he had.

“Mariella, we were close, weren’t we? What can you tell me about my past?” he said to himself. “Whereever you are, I’ll find you, and I’ll find a way to regain what has been lost.”

He glanced over the flower next to him. He took it in his hand as he recalled the fragments of his memories he has. He remembered the flower on Mariella, how it was so similar to each other. He placed it back down, relaxing himself in his bedroll.

He closed his eyes, and slept, preparing for the morning for what is to come.