PSTH: Chapter Nine

Uhhh… Captain? This is [audio indecipherable]. I’m pretty sure that I just saw something moving out there, and now my body feels really stra

Uhhh… Captain? This is [audio indecipherable]. I’m pretty sure that I just saw something moving out there, and now my body feels really strange. I’m [audio indecipherable] and have to absorb [audio indecipherable]. Is it… no. Is that a [audio indecipherable]?!

-

Possible evidence of early Primal or Essence Heart arrival in the oceans, taken from a cargo ship’s radio records, circa 3  Pre-Arrival

-

I rose the following morning with the sun, and sorted through my pack when I spotted my augpad. I pulled it out and checked its charge – it was still at about seventy percent – then tapped my finger to the back, where the opening to get to the internals was. I was far away from the village-net of Syenite village, so I didn’t have any messages, but… 

I popped the chunky device open and eyeballed it, temporarily removing the smooth quartz prism that served as the anima storage device, then opened the second block to access some of the more delicate components – those were locked away so that if the augpad was dropped and busted open, it would be easy enough to just snap the battery back into place and keep the machine working. 

I pulled out the net-access antennae and tapped it, then began pulsing my raw anima into the component, letting it accept the extra stream and boost the signal to access the planet-net. I wove a thread of anima back through the entry, which I closed, then popped the battery back in and shut the augpad again, slipping it back in its case. I powered it on, and with my anima reserves dipping to maintain the planet-net access, opened my messages. I had two, one from my mom, checking on me. I sent her a quick response, letting her know I was fine, and that we’d landed on the island late last night. 

When I saw the second message, I let out a sigh and a curse. 

< So, how about that picture of you and Vincent Angon, huh?

In all the excitement of fighting the Aquarb, as well as the work of paddling all the way out here, I had completely forgotten about the promise to Rane. I honestly did feel a bit bad about it, as well as annoyed that it made me look like I’d lied – not that I was in the habit of saying things that were false, but I did have a tendency to get overly excited. 

I sent a quick message of my own summarizing what had happened, letting her know I was out of range, and promising to get a picture back in a few days. The instant it went through, I released the thread of anima, allowing my connection to the planet net to cut off. With my current reserves, I could probably have held it for at least another several minutes, but I didn’t know if there would be any primals that wanted to test themselves against Scales and me on the island, so I didn’t want to burn my magic on just accessing the net. 

With nothing else to do until the rest of the group woke up, Scales and I explored the local area for a bit, walking through the trees, keeping an eye out for primals and animals. There were quite a few squirrels, osprey, wren, gulls, cardinals, and chipmunks darting through the trees, and also a few primals. Kirows, the null element birds that somewhat resembled four winged crows hopped alongside their mundane counterparts. Squarrels, which looked like purple-red squirrels with two tails and impressively large muscles, chased off squirrels who dared to get too close. Aqaurbs and ordinary crabs alike both darted through the waters.

None of them formed their shells and expressed a desire to train themselves against Scales and me. I couldn’t really blame them, to be fair. Most of them were only in the level three to seven range, making a victory against Scales all but impossible, meaning only that those who fought for the sake of enjoyment would bother. 

I could easily have kept walking and wandering around the forest, but I returned to the camp before I got too far. Vince was a powerful enough tamer that nothing in the area should be able to actually hurt him in a fight, but all the power in the world didn’t protect you while you were asleep. Most primals wouldn’t attack someone, especially a sleeping person, but it was possible – they were effectively animals, and a starving creature trying to make a meal out of someone wasn’t unheard of. 

With nothing else to do, Scales and I began to cultivate the ambient essence until the rest of my team woke up. The essence on the island was deeply strange, resisting my attempts to cultivate it – possibly some lingering curse from the death of the Obsidian King. Still, it was around level seven, making it still below Scales and I, but above what we could pull in at home. 

Vince was the first to wake, and he swiftly woke up Laurel and River while I started cooking some food on my camp stove. Vince had produced a box of pancake mix from somewhere, and I’d set to work on making it. As I piled them up on the box I’d used for the snacks the day before, I overheard both Laurel and River complaining about soreness, while Vince just laughed it off, admitting he was sore as well. 

“My own shoulders are a bit sore too,” I admitted. “It has been a few weeks, I’m out of practice.” 

That got me glares from everyone, including Vince, as I started passing out the hot pancakes. Even without any syrup or butter, they were quite good, and as soon as we were done cleaning up, Vince clapped to gain our attention, spooking some of the squirrels and birds around us. He’d clapped quite a few times, and I wondered if it was a habit developed from his work as a Regent.

“Right. We’re here on the island, which is about as close as my information can get us. I don’t know where the shipment is, or where it might have been taken in the revolt. That’s where River comes in. River?” 

“I can use a couple of spells that are useful for locating things,” the man said. “They’re not perfect, especially since I only have a blurry photo that doesn’t even have an essence imprint to go off of, but I can get something. I’ll also incorporate stones and mystic jewels into the searching spell.” 

He raised his hands, cupping them as if he was holding a handful of water. Anima began to spark from his palms, before it ignited  into a complex pattern, which I examined with some interest. I was capable of casting a spell myself, but the Bond Primal spell was significantly less complex than this one. It seemed to capture the ambient essence in the air and strain it through a filter so that it flowed in a specific pattern, like a river that flowed from palm to palm. 

“I’ve got about a third of a mile range in detecting things,” River explained. “But it’s not so great in terms of exact location. I can probably tell if it’s within ten feet or so, but I couldn’t say it’s four feet to the north-north-west, two inches off the ground or anything like that.” 

“Right,” Vince said, standing and dusting his palms off. “We’re going to start in the mines. The Obsidian King was overthrown and killed by workers, so there’s a decent chance that some of the houses in the area were where everything was taken.” 

“Hold on, hold on!” I interjected. “Unless you want every squarrel along the coast to be fighting over our food, we’re cleaning our campsite up first, and bagging up any leftovers to bring with us on our way out. I’ll keep them in my pack.” 

Vince nodded, and we spent a few moments getting the camp in order before we started hiking out in the direction of the buried and flooded mines. I was practically bounding from tree to tree, while my companions picked through the ground slowly and carefully, avoiding the tree roots and uneven terrain that I had long since automatically incorporated into movement. As we moved, River pointed to a patch of bright orange mushrooms. 

“Oh, look, it’s chanterelles! It’s a little late in the season, this might be the last batch.” 

He started walking toward them and I smacked his hand, stopping him mid-motion. 

“Look at the sharper gills and the way they’re clumped together. Those are jack-o-lanterns, not chanterelles. If you eat those, you’re in for a really bad time. If we can’t pull you back in time, you could even die. Probably not, but it does happen.” 

“I… huh,” River said. “But they look a lot like chanterelles.”

I closed my eyes and muttered a prayer to whatever essence heart was closest to me to save me from intelligent fools, then opened my eyes again. 

“They’re a look alike mushroom. If you eat them after I’ve explicitly told you that they’ll cause you to get violently sick, I’m not saving you.”

River didn’t protest, but given the faint hint of a grin that Laurel adopted, she seemed to have found the entire thing funny. 

We didn’t find anything else that was especially interesting as we hiked around. A level eight Gebcat did challenge Scales at one point, but though the earth element primal did have spirit, a single Frosted Bite from Scales was enough to reduce its pneuma shell to glowing, and the Gebcat dropped the battle form, accepting its loss. 

Though Gebcats were common primals that were known more for being lazy than for their offense, defense, speed, or magical power, I did consider attempting to cast Bond Primal on the spunky creature, given its apparent interest in battle, but it ran off into the underbrush before I could finish shaping my anima into the spell form. 

Every once in a while, we would stop for River to cast his locator spell. The odds of the egg or anything like it being in the wooded area was fairly low, but this particular mansion had fallen hundreds of years ago, which meant it was impossible to know for sure where some of the cheaper homes had been, given they’d now fallen into nothingness and been swallowed by the forest. 

After some time hiking, we eventually emerged at the caverns where a mine had likely once been, and I glanced around, looking to see if I could make out any of the homes that had been in the area. Before I’d had a chance, River let out a cry, and I spun to see the flowing river of blue light between his hands warping and bucking like a horse. He turned and began walking, everyone else getting closer. 

“No hit for the egg, but there is an essence stone,” he said, nodding southwest. “Or maybe something close enough to set it off.” 

We hurried in the direction that he was indicating, and I closed my eyes, trying to sense through the ambient essence for any sort of lumps that stood out…

There!

I lurched forward, nearly tripping over my own feet as I pushed aside leaves to expose a bare patch of dirt. That didn’t deter me as I pulled out my trowel and pushed down into the dirt, scooping it aside until I eventually lifted a metal case from beneath the earth, which handily explained why no local primals had taken it, nor any animals accidentally awakened into an essence beast. 

The lock had long ago rusted, and it only took a brief exertion to snap it open. Within there was a lot of gray sludge – probably old pre-arrival money that had decomposed, a couple of bits of jewelry, and the cloudy, sparking prism of an essence stone. The term ‘stone’ was actually a bit of a misnomer – it was solidified raw essence, like the material that made up an essence heart, but many of the people who had lived in post arrival had mistaken it for white tourmaline, and the name had stuck. 

I turned it over in my hand, then passed it to Vince, who raised an eyebrow. 

“You’re the one who found it, kid. I’m paying for the egg, but anything else will be divided evenly, or go to the finder. I can send off the jewelry to the local historical society, if you’d like?” 

“Sure,” I said, passing him the box and tucking the stone into my pocket. It was useful, but it was below the level ten threshold, so it would be better used to help a weaker primal get up to Scales' and my level than to empower one of us. 

We spent a bit more time scouting the area, and River even walked closer to the edge of the collapsed mineshaft, thrusting his spell beneath the waters, but when no other essence stones, mystic jewels, or eggs showed up on his spell, we set off in the direction of the mansion.