Maxwell

  “I am beginning to fear that I may be growing paranoid as of late. Wherever I go, I see The Baron’s men in the face of strangers. I feel them behind me as I walk, next to me as I sleep, and outside our windows as I spend time in the house.

  Sarah has noticed it, too. The way I jump at shadows. It is starting to worry her, even if she has refrained from commenting on it thus far.

  I have yet to write my letter. Perhaps that is the root of my anxiety. The knowledge that I have unresolved business with that thrice-damned creature of hatred. My mind tells me I should reject his offer. That I should abandon my dream and settle down with Sarah, here in Hilfen, where there is no danger and the people are kind.

  Yet… my heart cannot accept this, knowing he is still out there.

  I fear I may never rest before he is dead. Before I have slain the beast, and put right that which haunts me. That which haunts us all.” - Writings of the Sword-Saint, 2150 Post-Separation (PS).

  As a child, I had a recurring nightmare. It was the kind that loops over and over again, until you can recognize it at a glance, even from within the dream itself. It persisted for many years, following me as I went through the stages of childhood and into adolescence.

  It always started the same way. In the dream, I was walking down my grandparents’ switchback staircase, the one they had going down from the living room hallway and into the basement. I had always been scared of it as a child, since my grandfather would keep the lights off at all times in that section of the house, forming an image of wooden steps descending into the gaping maw of a black void.

  I knew what lay down there, of course, and it was certainly nothing scary. But that mattered little in the face of the void, of the all-consuming shadow that played on the fears of a young boy’s mind.

  As I walked down the steps, I would get the feeling that someone was watching me. This always happened, without fail, at the exact same spot. The same feeling, at the same time, like clockwork. I would turn to look up the staircase again, and see… nothing. No one. Just my own shadow, cast upon the wood by some unknown light source.

  Naturally, I would thus be forced to consider the impression a flight of fancy, a mere trick of the mind. After all, if there was no one to be seen, then surely I was alone, and safe. And so, I would venture on, down into the abyss, my anxiety rising with every rickety step.

  It was at this point in the dream that I would usually start to remember what was about to transpire next. That I had been there before, that I had walked those very steps in a previous life. And, subsequently… what awaited me at the bottom of the staircase.

  I would attempt to fight it. Attempt to turn my disobedient body around, to force it back up again to safety.

  Every time, I would fail, and continue on downwards.

  At last, I would reach the bottom, only to find myself in a darkened hallway. The walls were slick with condensation, and the floorboards covered in some slimy substance. And there, at the very end of the corridor, was my grandfather, facing me head-on; knife in hand, blood running from his eyes like crimson tears.

  I would freeze. He would charge. And I would die, blade in my chest and his face an inch from mine, locked in a terrible scream.

  That nightmare had repeated an innumerable amount of times throughout my childhood, starting from a young age and persisting until I was a couple of years into my teens. At that point, I had gotten used to it - used to the terror of walking down those steps, of facing my grandfather with the knife and tears. And so, one day, it simply… disappeared, never to be seen again.

  It was a strange thing to remember. I had not thought of it for many years, as life went on and the follies of childhood faded to memory. Yet, there was a part of me that had never forgotten. Never forgotten the fear I had felt, descending down into that black abyss at the bottom of the staircase.

  I knew it was so, because the same fear filled me then, as I lay adrift in the endless void. An irrational fear, surely, for there was nothing with me in the darkness. It was simply my own consciousness, locked within the confines of my mind in order to escape the repercussions of my actions.

  Yet… the silence of this place was so staggeringly vast, I could not help but wonder if I had not journeyed deeper still, to a place beyond the normal boundaries of reality. A place encroaching upon the furthest reaches of obscurity, from which I could never return.

  It was not a particularly comforting thought, nor did it help with the suffocating feeling of isolation that threatened to break me entirely, should I offer it a place to fester.

  “… begging you. You have to save him.”

  But what was this? An unknown voice, piercing through the emptiness like a flash of light cast upon a dark shadow. It certainly did not belong here, amidst the vacant stillness.

  “… certain of this? I can offer… his survival…”

  Tiny pinpricks of emotion coursed through me, stoking a forgotten fire that was rapidly swelling in size. It had been a different voice this time. Was it… talking about me?

  “We have to… do not, he will die. And I cannot…”

  The first voice again. There was something about it that seemed awfully familiar.

  “… your prerogative. Stand back. I will attempt…”

  H-Hey. Hey! I’m here! I’m here!

  I tried to scream, but I had no mouth. The voices were disappearing, and I did not want to lose them. If I did, I would be alone again. There could be no worse fate.

  Please! I’m right here! Don’t leave me!

  It was pointless. No sound emerged from my unshaped lips. They would not be able to hear me. They would not be able to-

  A tremendous boom sounded from every direction at once, catching me by complete surprise. With a shimmering distortion, I felt my mind startle awake as it was submerged in freezing water, followed shortly by a surreal sense of weightlessness.

  Opening my eyes, I saw a mesmerizing tapestry of indigo hues stretched out in perpetuity before me. Refracted light filtered in through the layers of seawater above, casting upon the underwater world a bleak shine that made visible a school of fish swimming nearby, their blue scales glinting dully in its reflection. Bubbles of displaced air escaped my mouth and nose as I cried out in surprise, lost at this sudden turn of events.

  I was in the middle of a deep ocean, so far below the surface that I could no longer make out what was up and what was down.

  My body drifted about in a slow pattern, propelled by the innate buoyancy of the water. I twisted around, peering this way and that for a direction to swim in, but it was a hopeless endeavor. My surroundings were the same, no matter where I looked.

  Where… am I?

  A subtle shift in the water's currents caught my attention. A premonition befell me. Something was about to happen. I could feel it in my very bones.

  A distant, bass-heavy hum reverberated throughout the briny deep, creating vibrations in the water that were strong enough to physically push my body backwards. Wide-eyed, and with a heart that was thumping loudly in my chest, I turned to look in the direction of the sound. I promptly felt the bottom of my stomach drop out at the sight that awaited me.

  Emerging from the vast blue was a colossal whale, its outline commanding the ocean depths. As soon as I saw it, I knew with ironclad certainty that I had never seen anything quite so big before in all my life. For the creature was no ordinary whale - twice the size of a mountain, it came gliding through the water, the sheer magnitude of its body stirring a mix of awe and trepidation within me.

  Its skin was adorned with patterns of barnacles and scars, earned during a span of existence so great, I instinctively knew that to guess at its longevity would be an exercise in futility. Its mouth was an immeasurable chasm that would blot out the ocean when opened.

  Akin to a grain of sand facing a tsunami, I floated before the whale, a tiny speck on its watery horizon. Time slowed as I sensed it noticing me, a fleeting connection established between the two of us. For some reason, it had acknowledged my presence. I did not know how, but I was certain of it.

  Suddenly, the whale altered its course with a gentle flick of its colossal tail, wide as the sky and thick as the mountain. An unfathomable amount of water was pushed aside by the limb, creating a powerful current that came rushing towards me as the whale passed, its hulking form blotting out the light.

  I only had a brief moment to process my imminent death before the stream hit me, knocking my head backwards like a strip of cloth meeting a storm-wall.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  I screamed. And bolted upright, my body shooting out of the water, spilling it everywhere.

  My chest heaved for breath as I looked around with frantic eyes, scanning my surroundings. I was in a dimly-lit cave, the stone and gravel slick with moss and lichen. A lone campfire crackled and hissed near the entrance, sending up a flurry of sparks into the evening air. Looking down at my body, I saw that I was laying in what appeared to be a stone basin, filled to the brim with some deep blue liquid that looked like water, but felt like slime. I was also entirely naked, on full display before the eyes of the two people who were with me in the cave.

  “U-Uhh…” I said, in lieu of a coherent sentence.

  Turning to my left, I blinked some of the liquid from my eyes as I saw Amelie sitting there close to me, near the edge of the basin, her gaze clouded with tears. She was gripping the stone tightly, her knuckles white and straining beneath her skin.

  “Amelie?” I asked, confusion evident in my voice. “Where am I? What happened?”

  She looked at me with strange emotion in her eyes, biting down on her lower lip as her body trembled.

  “Oh, thank the Stonefather…” she whispered, shaking her head. And then… she threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around my naked torso. I was left a spluttering mess as she dug her face into my neck, locking me in a tight embrace.

  “A-Amelie?!” I said, feeling a sudden heat rise in my cheeks.

  “She has been very worried,” an unknown voice said to my right. It was the same voice I had heard in my dream, in the endless dark. It was much clearer now, and I could tell for the first time that it was distinctly feminine in tone. “As expected, given the state of your body.”

  The voice belonged to an older woman who looked to be in her early forties, with long, dark hair that reached to a point just below her stomach. Various sea-shells and smooth stones had been braided into her locks, creating a tapestry of white and grey flowing upon a raven blanket. Much like the stones, her eyes were also a strong grey, seeming to hold within them an aspect of the storm itself, roiling and thundering just below the surface.

  Her clothes were likewise unconventional. She wore a dark-blue cloak wrapped over a black leather jerkin, which had been buttoned up over a white shirt. Her leggings were also a deep onyx, and seemed to resemble, of all things, my own modern jeans in appearance. The ones I had worn before buying new clothes in Taft.

  “Uhh… Who are you?” I asked, doing my utmost not to think on the fact that I was fully naked before her, with a girl hanging around my neck.

  “My name is Mirrani,” she said, her voice pleasant to the ears. “But you may call me Ma’eno.”

  “… Maano?” I said, testing the foreign word on my tongue. It came out jumbled and wrong.

  “Close enough,” she smiled, her grey eyes regarding me with an odd sort of geniality. “Welcome back. I trust your slumber was peaceful?”

  “Peaceful?” I snorted. “Yeah, not exactly.”

  “Oh?” she said, blinking twice. Amelie chose that moment to extricate herself from the hug, and lean back to slap me. The abrupt nature of the act made certain that I had no room to dodge her blow, and it struck me right on the chin, my head snapping to the side.

  “You… idiot!” she hissed, her whole body quivering with barely-restrained anger. “What in the world were you thinking?!”

  “I-I… I was just…” I stuttered, my mind still reeling from the impact.

  “Did you not know what would happen to your body if you drew in that much Astra?!” she continued, balling up her hands into fists. “Did Regulus not tell you just two nights ago how dangerous that can be?!”

  “I-I’m really sorry, I didn’t… I didn’t think-” I started, only to be cut off a moment later.

  “Precisely!” Amelie shouted. “You didn’t think! You never think!”

  “Hey, that’s unfair!” I said. “I know it backfired, but I saved our lives with that spell, you know!”

  “Yes, and nearly got yourself killed in the process!” she spat. “In fact, you would have died, had it not been for Mirrani!”

  My next few words got lodged somewhere in the back of my throat as I turned to the newcomer once more.

  “Wait… Is that true?” I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. “You were the one who saved me?”

  “Yes,” she nodded, before gesturing to my arm. “Look for yourself.”

  I did as instructed, and was astonished to find an actual limb attached at the point where my arm had exploded. I had no idea how I had failed to notice it before now, but all of my extremities seemed to be fully intact. Except…

  Instead of the familiar construction of flesh and bone, a curious fusion of light-blue skin and intricate spellwork greeted me in place of my old arm. The fingers bore an otherworldly grace, slightly elongated and adorned with delicate patterns painted in a darker shade, reminiscent of celestial constellations. The hand itself seemed to shimmer ever so softly, casting a radiance that hinted at the arcane forces now coursing through its veins. The strange patterns continued up the underside of my forearm, before forming a closed ring around my elbow.

  “What do you think?” Mirrani asked, studying my reaction closely.

  “It’s blue,” I said, flexing my fingers to check that it was indeed functional. “And it feels… unfamiliar.”

  “I would expect so, given the fact that it is not actually yours,” she nodded. “Your original arm was entirely obliterated by your spell. Thus, Tuk’Garosh had to give you one of hers. You will be expected to return it one day, but that is a matter for later. For now, rejoice in the blessing you have received.”

  “… I don’t know what to say,” I breathed, staring at the arm. “I owe you my life, and more besides. But why did you save me? And how?”

  “Hmm…” she said, frowning, as if tasting the question on her lips. “Suffice it to say that… Amelie called in a favor.”

  “A favor?” I said, surprised at the answer.

  “Yes, a favor, and a big one at that,” she said. “In fact, I do not think you will be able to comprehend the magnitude of her sacrifice, for you do not know what it means to have a member of the Sisterhood in your debt.”

  “The Sisterhood?”

  “They are an ancient sect of Drachian women who worship The Colossal Whale, the Third Ascended One,” Amelie said. “Known to be skilled fighters and exceptional healers, there are only a handful of them left in Alwaar, as most of them were hunted to extinction by the Serpent’s Faithful some two hundred years ago.”

  “… What?” I blinked.

  “Ahh…” Amelie breathed. “Never mind. I will teach you more about them later, once we start your training in earnest.”

  A small candle of hope lit up in my chest at those words.

  “You’ve decided to tutor me after all?” I said, making certain to mask my excitement as best I could.

  “It does not appear as if I have any other choice,” she sighed. “You seem determined to kill yourself with your newfound power, and I would be willing to bet good money on you succeeding in that endeavor were I not to tutor you.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but no sound emerged. She was right, of course. I did not understand the abilities I had been given. And I had almost killed myself with that spell, even if it had not been my intention to do so.

  “Be that as it may…” Mirrani interjected. “You said before that your slumber was not peaceful. What did you mean by that?”

  “Well, I just meant that… between the infinite void and the ocean with the whale in it, I would hardly call it a pleasant nap,” I continued, looking between the two of them. The older woman gave a subtle gasp at my mention of the whale.

  “Impossible!” she breathed. “Tuk’Garosh revealed herself to you?”

  “Uhh… Tuk-whatnow?” I asked.

  “Tuk’Garosh. The Deepwoken. The Colossal Whale,” she said. “She has many names.”

  “She is the Third Ascended One. A living god,” Amelie explained, once it became clear that I was still very much in the dark. “Her power is what saved you from certain death.”

  I took a moment to think upon this information, looking down at the stone basin and the deep blue liquid that engulfed my lower half. Had this unknown concoction somehow regenerated my body then?

  “What was it like to be in her presence?” Mirrani asked, her words bordering on reverent. “To gaze upon her visage?”

  “W-Well…” I started, recalling the sea-creature in my mind, and the way it had blotted out the light with its sheer mass. “She was… big?”

  A loaded silence followed my statement. Then, a heartfelt laugh sounded from Mirrani, bouncing off the walls of the cave. Even Amelie drew a tiny smile, shaking her head in exasperation.

  “Yes, I suppose ‘big’ would be a fitting description,” Mirrani said, chuckling to herself. “You amuse me, logbah.”

  “You’re welcome…?” I said, feeling rather unsure of the compliment. It had been a long day.

  “Tuk’Garosh is not known to reveal herself often,” Mirrani continued. “In fact, she is most elusive. I myself have only looked upon her majesty twice in my life. You should feel honored.”

  “The giant whale is elusive?” I asked, finding the prospect somewhat contradictory. Surely a creature of such staggering size would be relatively easy to spot. It was akin to a living mountain moving beneath the waves, after all.

  “Yes, logbah,” Mirrani nodded. “Tuk’Garosh is big, this much is true. But the ocean is bigger still. And she is Deepwoken; lord of all that lives in the sea. If she does not wish for you to find her, then find her you shall not.”

  “She is telling the truth, Maxwell,” Amelie confirmed. “Sightings of The Colossal Whale are extraordinarily rare, even amongst seasoned sailors. The few credible reports there are all speak of a gargantuan shadow rising from the depths to challenge the very skies themselves. A beast of such scale, its mere presence commands the horizon. And such reports only surface once or twice every decade or so.”

  “Really?” I said, genuinely surprised at the news. “That’s odd. She swam right up to me in the dream.”

  “What?!” Mirrani exclaimed, her eyes positively bulging from their sockets.

  “Y-Yeah…” I coughed, feeling self-conscious beneath the weight of her intense stare, and it had nothing to do with my nude state. “Is, uhh… Is that like a… big deal or something?”

  “Druk’yi laegan protean, logbah!” Mirrani bristled, launching into an angry tirade aimed at no one in particular. I could not understand a word she said, but something told me it was no cordial greeting.

  “Are you getting any of this?” I leaned over and whispered into Amelie’s ear as the rant dragged on.

  “I do not speak Drachian, but I know certain words and phrases,” she nodded. “Logbah, for instance, means wood-brain.”

  “Wood-brain?” I frowned, before realization struck. “Hey, wait a minute, that’s what she keeps calling me!”

  “Yes,” Amelie smirked. “It is meant as a lighthearted insult. She is saying your brain is as dense as a block of wood. No room for intelligent thought.”

  I levelled a wounded look in Mirrani’s direction, whom had stopped muttering curses to herself in order to listen in on our little conversation. She matched my glare with ease, raising an amused eyebrow.

  “Do you have any objections?” she asked, quite plainly.

  “My brain is not made of wood!” I said, crossing my arms like a petulant child.

  “Big words coming from a man with his manhood on display,” she said, a humorous smile blossoming on her lips. An audible snort came from my right, as Amelie lifted a hand to her mouth. I promptly uncrossed my arms again, and moved them down to shield my nether regions.

  “Hey, it’s not like I put myself in this position!” I huffed. “You were the ones who undressed me!”

  “With good reason, too,” Mirrani said. “We needed the mixture to have direct skin contact in order to heal you. Your clothes were simply in the way.”

  So it was the liquid that had healed me. That relieved me of one mystery, at least.

  “Must be quite some mixture to fix up my arm like that,” I said, twisting and turning the limb as I spoke. It still felt foreign to me, as if some alien extremity had been haphazardly sewn onto my body.

  “The mixture did not heal you.” Mirrani shook her head. “Tuk’Garosh did. The mixture merely connected your body and mind to her, allowing her gift to reach you. If she had found you wanting, or otherwise rejected your presence, the mixture would have done nothing, and you would have died in the basin.”

  “Oh,” I said. I could not think of a more fitting response.

  “The arm will also not be as effective as your old one,” she said, her eyes lingering on its blue skin. “Since it is not yours, channeling Astra with it will be… challenging. You will also suffer phantom pains and possibly bouts of sickness as your body adjusts to the limb. It will not be pleasant.”

  So the arm had previously belonged to the whale, then? That did not make much sense to me. What use would a whale have of a human arm?

  I felt a shiver crawl up my spine, but otherwise nodded my head in understanding. It was more than I deserved, given my reckless actions. I had been drunk on power, and taken the matter of Wielding lightly. The arm would be a constant reminder of this mistake.

  “I understand. Thank you so much for saving my life,” I said.

  “You are welcome,” she smiled. It seemed genuine.

  “… Now, can I please put on some clothes?”

  Check out the Patreon in order to gain access to 8 advance chapters (4 weeks of extra content!)

  We also have a Discord server. More than just a place for fans of the story, we hope to provide a safe haven for ardent readers and aspiring creators to come together to discuss (fan)fiction, writing, music, art and everything in-between. No man is an island, and here, we hope you'll be able to find like-minded individuals to share your interests with.