And again, the sensation akin to having his head split open by a needlessly blunt implement. The last thing he remembered was- The Ship!
Faiz bolted up, then immediately fell back down writhing in pain, because how did he forget about the headache? Very slowly (and shakily, which was a bit strange) he sat back up, wiping his tears as he opened his eyes into a low squint. He couldn’t see much of anything, just a blur of black and brown…tilting?
Not tilting, he realized; Swaying, as if he were on the…open…sea…
Oh.
That would explain both the slow rocking he could now feel under his feet, and why down seemed brighter-for a given margin of ‘bright’-than up. But then, if he’d been unconscious all this while, how had the ship remained in active sail?
No, better question: Where was he?
It took Faiz no small amount of effort to traverse that great foe of his which he’d never thought of being able to defeat- Stairs. Lots of them, in fact. He hadn’t noticed that way back when he’d first stepped onto the Peregrinations (mostly because the traitorous tubespawn had occupied the larder below deck), but now it posed a significant challenge to his already impaired climbing abilities.
A couple more teary pangs and severe protests from his aching spine later, he’d managed to brave the worryingly pulverized landing, finding to his growing dismay that the vessel was proving increasingly un-seaworthy.
“It’s…all broken…? No!” Faiz’ eyes wandered to the prow-shattered beyond all hope of repair. The deck? The wood of the ship was missing or crunched up in many areas, revealing the sputtering seals below. He startled as he heard a ‘whoosh’ sound, “Whoa!”
He winced in anticipation as he ducked to the floor, and his eyes widened through the salty liquid staining them again as he saw his would-be assailant. That would be the mast then…swinging free across the deck by the motion of the waves.
“This is…how am I not treading water by now? I should’ve sunk in.” Faiz blinked his stinging eyes hard as he crawled out of the swinging impediment’s zone of action, peering down through the gaps in the hull. “Huh. Well, dear treacherous sack of rubber…you weren’t half bad with those runes huh?”
A few precariously dim little lights could be seen within the dingy recesses of the…bilge? He wasn’t very knowledgeable on seafarer terminology, but that definitely looked like a bilge to him, lathered in rather unfamiliar signs leaking a rather familiar mana signature. Wherever the illuminated water burbled and surged up, one of those symbols would flash, and the tide was beaten back yet again.
Faiz couldn’t help but notice how they increasingly dimmer with each flaring, weaker and diminished. That was something he’d have to fix! He couldn’t be expected to swim back to…shore?
“Wait, where even am I? Can’t be that Shonso league base, or they’d have chopped me up by now…” Thinking up plans and musings in his head only made the terrible pounding at his skull grow, so he had to resort to vocalising all he planned.
He shuffled over to a broken bit of railing, and peered out over the side. The waves were rather nondescript-same old shining sea, same old veiled heaven. If there was anything notable, the water was slightly more cyan, though that might’ve just been his wavering sight…“Ah no, there-there has to be some variance in this entire forsaken pool of glow surely?! The Stars couldn’t possibly have made all the world a stage?”
He tried to scour his memory for any possible morsels of wisdom that might’ve been squirreled away within, only to be barred once again by a debilitating squeeze on the mind. That could not possibly be healthy for him.
“Okay, okay, remember to breathe and close your eyes and…” Attempting to master his hysteric fit, Faiz again went to the tried and true Kalak method, and-much too infuriatingly easily-it worked, yet again. “First I should list what I have and don’t have! Maybe I’m not doomed yet.”
He had a ship, firstly! Granted, it was currently wrecked and barely graded above flotsam, and was springing leaks that were only being patched by weaker and weaker signs…but he did in fact, have a ship. He had no food or water (and had personal experience to understand drinking seawater was bad), but maybe he’d be able to catch fish at drink rain or the like? As for his heading…he had no heading, nor any map or idea of where he was or where he should go next, but-
“Who am I trying to fool…? I’ve got literally nothing on me of value right now, including myself..heh..heheh..haahh..” Faiz whimpered softly at the end of his mocking giggle, feeling well and truly lost. What was he thinking, defying that Order to eke out a heroic venture on his own? Jesyll really might’ve been right; He’d have been of far better use on their home isle to…anyone really, than whatever he was going to end up as here.
“I…I’ll probably starve to death or die of thirst before I ever drown, huh?” Faced with the brutal reality of his soon to be truncated life, Faiz could only heave. And heave again. And try not to laugh. “Just like…old times…”
What quest, what venture? Faiz stumbled back and fell to his knees, slowly (hopelessly) massaging at his head, catching himself as he started wondering if he’d find a saviour here too. “Pfft, sure I will…What sort of-of ‘Hero’ needs to be saved as often as I do?”
He grinned a mirthless grin as his eyes caught sight of that infuriatingly luminous bracelet on his wrist, “Shard of Empyrean, Fragment of Eschaton…you sure have got many grandiose names hm, little light? I only keep suffering because of you though, don’t I? Unable to resist, unable to decide, unable to think. More like a prisoner I am, than any adventurer…”
Now that was a thought! “I guess instead of anything else, you’re just a Fetter for me now, aren’t you? Won’t be free till I die, the richest person to starve at sea, a prisoner with the heavens on his arm, a pitiless amulet on his neck and some half-formed promise from-“
….promise?
Oh, yes. A promise, a due, something of an obligation, to be repaid. A benefit only for him..
From…That Agent!
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Having already previously experienced the upending of his brain -by virtue of his terrible habit of miming out whatever he was enlightened on, mostly- Faiz did not startle again, only…his previous dour rictus morphed into a weaker but more expectant (and honest!) half smile, as he tried to remember how exactly he was supposed to call the agent up again.
As soon as that wish came to his stream of thoughts, Faiz felt something audibly warp in his head, and he was able to hear…a strange tune? Whipping his head around, he found no source for the repetitive melody. Was it one of those mind speech situations? He was about to go on pondering when the music ceased -with a decisive beep! and strange clicks that sounded suspiciously like the calling device he’d see in a quartermaster’s offices- and was replaced instead by a rather pleasant sounding, if monotonous voice.
‘we apologize for keeping you waiting, and wish a pleasant
Faiz jolted with surprise as the mellow speech interrupted with buzzing, almost instinctively comprehended words, before the voice resumed speaking.
‘you are currently connected to department b, subwing 1-@ branch assistant-happiness consultant SqrW!&^#. kindly note that this interaction is being recorded for
That was his cue, he supposed. Faiz tried to recall the proper procedure for non-vocal transmission…just think hard at the other party, perhaps? ‘Right, hello uh, consultant? Listen, I was promised by-well, sort of promised it was more like an obligation and-but that’s not the point! Do I have that…benefit thing available to me still?’
‘please hold.’ Another low beep, and a droning keen, which only worsened his headache. He was about to groan in frustration from the piercing annoyance, when, ‘records identified. native of
‘Yes! Glowing orb person, spoke weirdly and made me fall which was really very rude and all.’ He hadn’t the faintest idea of how he’d regurgitate the identity of his debtor, so he was glad the party on the other end solved that hurdle for him.
‘standard native comportment clause 74-b in effect. you are entitled for a period of
‘I’m sure all that’s really fine and wonderful and great but I’m really in need of a transportation thing? That’s what it was called right? I really really don’t want to starve and drown and have you seen malnourished kids, they’re so tragic!’ A slip of desperation slipping through, Faiz tried to will the consultant on.
‘confirmed. please hold.’
He hadn’t the time to start cursing as that terrible ditty wormed back into his ears, before all went black and an absolutely massive disc bloomed into his view. Faiz wanted to lean back in shock, but found to his horror…he couldn’t move! Was he cursed or something?
The other side of the connection picked up again right as he had started swearing quite fiercely (so punctual, Faiz had to wonder if it was intentional), ‘you may now be capable of
‘Forget the accursed map you’ve blinded me! And maybe paralysed me oh no what is even happening anymore?!’ The only reason he hadn’t lost it all after this entire series of catastrophes was the dim hope that he’d be all fine afterwards. Surely this organisation, whatever they were…didn’t have a bad habit of crippling debtors?
‘your visual apparatuses are intact, valued contact. you are currently experiencing temporal sink, a state which is temporary so you can peruse your potential travel destinations. please choose.’
‘What a relief to know you haven’t yet blinded me, yes! Now where’s…’ Having sorted out that pressing concern, Faiz turned his attention to the disc-now understood to be a map of some kind, judging by those words-to see what could be done, only to find-
‘Wha? How come this is hurting my…eyes? so much how garish and packed and shifting but also dim? What am I even seeing?’ It really was incredibly strenuous trying to find hand or foot in the cartographical mire he beheld. Far from any beautifully illustrated or expansive framework of the vast and grand world he was imagining, he was instead met with a smashed together canvas of deranged hues, lines that jumped in all directions, and a constantly remoulding array of figurines whizzing around on the circular map. Not to mention how whenever he looked too close or not close enough, the entire fiendish array would whirl away into another completely different surface with even more nonsensical arrangements.
‘recalibrating. apologies for the inconvenience, valued contact. your
His vision darkened again, and a new, more rectangular shape sprang to being, ‘process complete. you may now peruse your relevant areas in your current time. kindly note that such conceptual degradation of the view-frame limits your transport capabilities into
Faiz saw what the voice meant, because the shape was a fair bit smaller than the previous disc(s) had been, but he could still make out all the details very clearly -thankfully in more sensible shades and without the endless streaming and changing- on it.
‘Wait a moment…I’ve been this close to land the whole time I think if that’s close?’ Indeed, while his position was denoted by a blinking blue sign, and three entire sides of that sign stretched out into endless ocean…the last sector of the map had an entire continent worth of land! Close to his ship even! ‘Okay so question, if I use minutes and hours and days as a time metric how long would it take me if I just…sailed there?’ He mentally gestured at the tip of the brown-grey mass closest to him.
‘utilising calculations based on standard operating units of time, it would require 3 days, 9 hours, 52 minutes and 12…11…10 seconds extrapolating from your current trajectory and velocity.’
Even better news! He wasn’t going to starve or die of thirst before landfall, assuming he managed to keep his -and it was his now, for he’d won it from its past owner- ship running smoothly without sinking. Though, if he could do that…there wasn’t much reason to waste away his one benefit so soon, right? A resourceful hero never used any valuable blessing so very expeditiously (or ever, going by some of the less well written tales he’d heard).
‘Thank you for informing me then and I maybe have an embarrassing question so…can I save this benefit up again? If it’s okay because I could go there myself and don’t want to be a bother to you all..’ Now to convince the consultant.
As it turned out, Faiz needn’t have worried, ‘acceptable. please remember to avail your benefits before expiration of statue of limitations, valued contact. closing choice interface and ceasing temporal sink now.’ It sounded as politely shallow as ever, and went along with his request without complaint. His sight vanished one last time before he had to blink, for he was again on the deck of the ship and again possessed all his movement capabilities.
‘Right, well…thanks a lot and I really appreciate your kindness so do you want me to…review you well I think companies like that and you’ve helped me a lot’ Faiz was in jovial form as he hauled himself up, grinning with relief. He might’ve even been willing to endure more of that horrid waiting music for the review, that’s how happy he felt, having a navigable thread again.
‘your feedback would be highly appreciated, valued contact. kindly procure a standard issue survey form at
There was another warp and click in his head, and the presence and mental connection vanished. Only, Faiz was now peering around fretfully, for he didn’t know what the consultant meant by that last part.
He really didn’t have to wonder for long, as all it took to finally find the source of the apparent threat to his life was a winged shape, of not much size but rather a lot of speed, tearing through the darkness above, and streaked at the edges with a sickly white. What was it doing?
Blazing an expeditious trail…straight for him…