Chapter 35: 1-33: The Last Chapter on the Island.

Quaza greeted me as I stumbled downstairs, her sharp teeth glinting in the sunlight that came trickling in from the large open window. I grabbed the cup of "coffee" and sipped it. 

"Hayli was down an hour ago, was it that exhausting?" She asked.

"She made me do all the work." I complained.

Quaza laughed, "Well, at least you work somewhere."

"I am going to stay my tongue for now. What do you want this time? More ruin exploration like yesterday?"

"No. I want to visit that lake you mentioned in the journals."

"Why?" I ask pouring an unholy amount of sugar into the "coffee" and stiring.

"Because you gained the ability to speak every Demon Tongue after visiting it. Why wouldn't that pique my curiosity?"

"You and Hayli can go."

"You and I and Hayli are going. As are the shipwrights. They deserve a break."

"They've barely started building." I said.

Hayli slid in next to me with a bowl of oatmeal in her hand, "And that's because our princess didn't like the first design, they showed her."

"It was ugly and small." Quaza rolled her eyes, "If the speed annoys you, either of you are free to help them."

We shook our heads. 

"Good. Eat up, we leave immediately."

I stole some bites of Hayli's oatmeal and downed my hot sugar water in a couple of throat-destroying gulps while Hayli rushed upstairs to grab swimsuits for the two of us then walked outside. Some yards away the ship builders were on the beach salvaging wood from the boat that we weren't on. Every so often they'd yell in pain as a crab pinched one of them, angered that their hiding place was disturbed. I was still certain that whenever the boat was built, it would probably sink.

Quaza walked past without even a sidewards glance at them and towards the woods while yelling, "Nox and Caela, here!" and then a few seconds later a panting blonde covered in sweat and the tall knight who seemed like she hadn't sprinted about eighty yards up hill full speed came up to join us.

"Yes, your highness?" Caela asked panting. 

"You get the day off. We are going to a lake."

"There's a lake on the island?"

"More like a pond." I explain. 

Nox asked, "Why?"

"Curiosity. And from what Terra wrote about it, it seemed like a nice spot."

They nodded and the demon trio followed Hayli and I though the woods following the already starting to disappear path of destruction from our trip to it. It had been a while, but still it was hard at points to get past some bushes without scratching up out legs. Thankfully, knowing the path meant we could get out of the woods quicker and onto the scenic little clearing from before. As the others stripped down into their swimsuits, Quaza climbed up the hill cliff. I followed after her, meeting up with her as she reached the little arch above the spring.

"Huh. There's Runic, Old Human and Ancient Demon script. How odd. And the age of it seems to be hard to determine as well. The scripts are all from different era as well. Not to mention this is Ferasi Stone which isn't found on islands this far into the ocean, odd." She said to herself. (Runic is a non-verbal language that both of our writing systems evolved from. It apparently can be used for magic, though the best modern humans and demons can do with it is make letters glow. There are rumors that across the sea in Magala that Runic is used for a certain magic type- though the way magic works on that continent is supposed to be abnormal.) "Terra, you mind using the curse?"

"What do you mean by that."

"The magic detection thing you and Vern can do. Use it."

I sighed, and on my finger created that strange dark object and touched it to that strange dark mark. A small shockwave went out and into my head came all sorts of information. I had been trained by a very insistent Olli to actual understand what they meant, but for magic I didn't know all it told me was it existed. This time was simple, I could feel Hayli using her water magic to show off below, I could feel the fire magic that was burning in a fire pit curtesy of Caela, and then in the water below what I assumed was the translation magic and next to me a similar feeling type of magic.

"So?"

"There's some sort of translation magic in it."

"From where?"

"I can't locate sources like Vern could, Quaza. If I had to fucking guess, it'd be from either the arch or wherever the water comes from."

"It isn't the arch; I can tell you that." She replied tapping on it with her knuckles before reaching down and touching the water. She licked it off her fingers and said, "Tastes weird."

"Gross." I replied walking back down the hill.

Behind me, Quaza stripped naked and put on her bikini and ran off the cliff with a loud yell and splashed down with a tremendous plop. I walked over and grabbed my own swimsuit, a red bikini with a skirt on the bottoms and laid down next to the fire and relaxed.

(Avery motioned with me to come at her with her hand. I awkwardly raised the long bow and notched a toy arrow with a felt tip and pulled back aiming at her. I let go and it soared towards her. As it soared towards her head, a diamond shaped reflective surface with a kaleidoscope like surface appeared in front of it and when the arrow hit it, the arrow shimmered and then split into many smaller arrows that went flying everywhere, causing me to slam quickly to the ground to avoid it. Vern, not being as quick, was struck in the mouth and Ulther just laughed off the ones that hit his muscular body.

"It worked!" Avery cheered happily as the reflection arrows disappeared, fading into nothingness.

"What exactly is that supposed to do?" Ulther asked, wiping blood off of Vern's face for him.

"Protect me."

"And kill everyone around you." Vern scoffed back at her, sticking her tongue out.

"You just have to dodge like Earth."

"He was the one playing the person trying to kill you."

"Yeah, but if I felt like it, I could have run over and killed him." She stuck her tongue out back at her twin brother.

"I saw you dodging the arrows too, sis."

"I was not!"

Ulther coughed, "Vern, it's your turn."

Vern walked past me and towards where Avery stood. She in turn walked back towards me and stood behind me. "I'll buy you a cookie if you hit him in the privates."

"Avery." Ulther warned her.

Vern coughed, "Can you hurry up."

I nodded and loaded up another felt arrow, aiming it at Vern. "Ready?"

"Just fire it!" He yelled back at me. 

I obliged and with a bit stronger draw on it, let it loose. It soared as before towards Vern, and when it hit the sad reflective object, he summoned it instead of splitting or being returned back at me, got sent upwards and landed comically on Vern's head, to the amusement of Avery and me and to the anger of Vern. Ulther had to hold him back from fighting us because his magic had worked in the wrong direction.

"Why does her magic work the way she wants."

"I'm just special like that."

"She has more practice, since she used it before you. Just practice and you'll get to her level.

"Yeah, but you'll never hit my level."

"Can you please stop antagonizing your brother?"

"How else am I supposed to motivate my shield?"

"I don't want to practice more. I practice sword fighting with you enough. If I have to learn magic, I'll have no life."

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Ulther scoffed, "I wish I could have learned magic, get a much better job if I could use it. Especially that magic you two have."

I nodded, "Avers, can't you teach Vern?"

"Yeah, I just don't want to."

Vern yelled in frustration, as Ulther held him in a bear hug. Avery laughed at him some more as I watched. These two were going to kill each other one of these days.)

Nox floated on her back, drifting further into the middle of the lake as Quaza circled around her. Caela and Hayli were trying to see who could float under the waterfall for the longest, without someone cheating by using her water magic. I was sitting where I belonged, by the very edge of the lake, feet just in the water. It was the safest way for me to enjoy the place without drowning. It did suck that once again I was the only one who hadn't learned how to.

Which reminded me, I wonder how the Heroes are doing. They can't have reached land yet even if the winds were favorable and blowing hard and constant. So, at this point they'd still be at sea. But beyond that, who are they now? What past was created for them? What relationships are they building? How is Olli manipulating them all to whatever her goals are?

I was still worried about what the letter said, but I was more worried about what we would need to do, after leaving the island. Something is up, something is definitely up. Though what, I could not figure out for the death of me. I had never heard of a Hero Candidate cycle like this. Well, the last Lord to ascend was a strange one with who he fought alongside during the last battle of the war, but even that didn't change the lists that the Oracles and whatever had set out originally. This was something that I was pretty sure was an oddity in the system we currently used. 

Awaken the Twins... the fuck did that mean? Last I checked, the Twins were in the heavens supposedly watching over us and dictating our fates- or so said the church. And the mirror and surface left over were obviously related to Vern and me, but last I checked the Twins didn't use Mirror Magic, the used Genesis and Oblivion magic. And any possible adversary for them had regular magic, not my weird mockery of my brother's magic. 

Were the Twins even on the island? Most of the Ancients, once called Gods went with the settlers to Magala. I heard the natives had their own gods, though that was barely covered in history class. I assumed not, since the religion had singled in on them after the exodus, but they clearly weren't physically here on the continent- or at least not awake. That said the Demons still worshipped many Ancients, even though they had all left so maybe it was just necessary simplification towards two of the strongest Ancients.

I was interrupted in my thoughts by a stream of water that slammed into my face. I cursed and stood up to glare at Hayli who like a siren would to a sailor dragged me into lake. I screamed like I was trying to wake the dead and panicked in the tight grip of her tail as she laughed at me.

"Calm down, Terr-Terr. I'm not going to let you drown." She said, rubbing her face against my own. "But I was getting tired of you not spending time with me in my natural habitat."

"I bathe with you all the time, Hayli."

"Yeah, but the bigger the water, the more I am at home."

"The bigger the water?"

"You know what I mean, asshole." She loosened her tail, which made me sink a bit until I quickly apologized and was hoisted back up. Hayli swam, dragging me behind her like a grumpy anchor, towards the others who were treading water and chatting.

Quaza looked at my scowling visage and laughed, "I see you caught a Mudfish, Hayli."

"She was being left out, and her swimsuit was going to waste."

"Yes, she was being left out, but don't lie- the only use you cared about was her wearing it so you could see her in it."

"Can I at least pretend to not be that way, your highness?"

"No."

I kicked my feet a bit trying to untangle my legs from Hayli's with no success. "So, what are you Demons discussing?"

"Oh, just idle chitchat." Quaza replied.

"I was asking Quaza about your childhood friendship." Caela added. "What came after she tried to eat you."

"And you. Nox?"

"I know all those stories, Terra. I've been spacing out."

I probably should have been more annoyed that Quaza had told her stories about me, but right now, I only cared about getting out of the fucking hell hole of a lake. I could stand stories of my past, but... 

"I think it unfair they only here about our past, Quaza. Shouldn't they embarrass themselves?"

Quaza grinned and nodded, "Excellent idea, my Shield. You should tell us embarrassing tales of your childhood."

"Can I skip, I'm not good with my past self." Caela asked.

"That's fine, it's not like you have anything that Terra and I wasn't aware of to tell us."

"I wasn't going to talk about my crush on her!" She complained.

"Then what were you going to tell us about?"

"One time I... um, fell into a mud puddle?"

"Yeah, boring. Hayli?"

"I am sure you've heard enough from Ilyah about me. And besides, when Terra meets my mother she'll hear all about that stuff."

I blushed slightly at the idea of meeting her parents. Wait, that was something people did when they wanted to ask for a hand in marriage, wasn't it?

"Fine, I suppose you can keep those secrets, Lady Hayli. Nox? Prepared to embarrass yourself?"

"Fine. Though only after I... um, moved over the border."

"That's no fun."

"Only Hayli would really be surprised by the dumb stuff I did before that, being a coast girl."

"Fine, go on."

"Okay then." She took a breath in and began to tell us of a story that made even Quaza embarrassed, one that she has threatened me by withholding certain things I want from her and as thus will not write. Just imagine something embarrassing for yourself, and no I won't just replace it with one of my own childhood, I'm not that lazy.

(Says the girl who refused to write the boat chapters- Hayli.)

We arrived back at the house and retired to bed, our awkward bed situation becoming more and more easier to ignore the fact that I was sleeping with my Parent's killer. Not in that way though, I am not fucking her. (Yet- Quaza) (I will drown you. - Hayli) (So, easy to tease. - Quaza) 

A week passed by in the comfort of staying inside as the other built the boat, and as it approached seaworthy-ness Quaza finally cared to tell us what the plan was.

"Simple. We go visit the capital. There are ancient ruins that mention the twins on the coast to the west of it, and my mother is probably worried about me."

Caela raised a hand, "Ruins?"

"The heroes prophecy involves them, if we can figure out why- we might be able to end this game early and with minimal bloodshed. I would rather not kill more friends of mine, and family of Terra's."

"Are you sure the ruins will hold useful information?" Nox asked.

"No. But we won't know until we try."

I coughed. "Isn't that a further voyage? In the admitedly impressively large yet suffocatingly small boat, we now have as well?"

"A few days more. Don't worry, the Dragon wouldn't let you even come close to drowning. And if she was busy, Nox could drag two of you onto the remains of the boat if it ever sank or was torn asunder."

Hayli nodded, "I'll distract you by reading the book you wrote allowed so you'll be too busy cringing at yourself in the past to care about your fear of big water."

"Geez, thanks." I replied.

"Are we sure the capitol is safe. Quite a few demons are now Heroes, who knows if that's as far as it goes."

"Even without that, some are spies. It is normal. Spies and turncoats. Like you, right?" Quaza replied.  Nox seemed upset by the accusation and grew silent. Quaza coughed, "Please pack only the essentials. We need room for food and fresh water. I am directly talking to anyone who didn't grow up near Honipolis." 

Hayli and Caela grumbled in protest. I was going to have to help her pair down our chest into a smaller and lighter one- and I wasn't sure Hayli would be able to compromise it down- and I wasn't sure I could figure out what I could do without either. 

But that was for later, for now I leaned back on the couch and relaxed. I needed to enjoy dry land for one last day.

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