Chapter 17: Chapter 17 – Blood in the Water

The pair moved deeper into the aquadome, searching for the pearl of ascension. Over the past couple of days, Grayson had taken the opportunity to ask Brother Capso about the pearl, so he knew a few more things than he had before. The balding man was surprisingly knowledgeable, mostly because his status as a priest still seemed to carry weight for the guards. They would often speak with him, and he had managed to pick up a lot from those conversations.

Frustratingly enough, despite the league’s reliance on the things, they knew surprisingly little about the pearls. Apparently, when the league first started to seriously use the Proving Grounds to create wavelords, they had tried experiments to learn more about the area. They sent in soldiers to map where the pearl appeared, and tried to find some kind of pattern in their appearances to predict where they might be in the future. After all of that, there was no pattern to be found, and the only thing they had learned from mapping out the area was something they had already known- The pearl is more likely to appear closer to the center of the Proving Grounds. Apparently, they lost enough soldiers in the attempt that they decided to try something new.

The league had tried wiping out the creatures from the Proving Grounds. They killed everything they could in an attempt to make the proving grounds safer, but soon after they began, they noticed the pearls stopped appearing, and they gave up. Only then did the pearls start appearing once again. It seemed there was some kind of connection between the pearls and the creatures in the aquadome, but no one knew what it was.

After Capso’s explanation, Grayson had asked why they only entered the aquadome every two days. It seemed to him that if the league was so desperate for the pearls, they would search for them every day. The response he got was that ascension pearls only appeared every two days. No one seemed to know why this was.

All this was to say that if they wanted to find the pearl of ascension, their best opportunity was to go to the center of the aquadome and hope they ran across it. Brother Capso had said that the pearl sent out pulses of power that could be felt, and Grayson had asked him more along that line, and the man had said that the pulses could be felt faintly ten paces away from the pearl, and the closer you got, the stronger the pulses grew.

Another interesting tidbit Grayson picked up was that the pearls simply appeared buried in the sand. He had assumed they would grow in an oyster like normal pearls, but that didn’t seem to be the case, only further adding to the mystery of the Proving Grounds.

Grayson and General Trest did fairly well, together. They avoided several of the ambush octopuses that seemed to be common in the aquadome. Having two pairs of eyes on the lookout was especially useful for spotting some of the ambush predators. Later, they were forced to walk around a large group of what looked to be sea urchins. Despite the delays, they were soon deeper into the area than Grayson had ever gone before, and everything seemed to grow more alien as they continued onward. The creatures became larger, and the weight pressing down on his shoulders seemed to grow stronger.

Grayson glanced up at the dark clouds swirling above. He had noticed them when first arriving on the island, and they seemed far more ominous up close than they had from a distance. They marked the center of the aquadome as they circled endlessly in the sky, casting a shadow over the entire area. Just a few steps more, and the two of them stepped into the shaded area.

Grayson didn’t know how long they searched without any success. He guessed it was probably around half an hour, and he was really starting to wish he had a watch to tell time. It was just one of those things he had taken for granted on Earth. They ran into a few other prisoners during that time, and Grayson didn’t recognize any of them. They must have been from different compounds.

Nothing had come of the encounters as there was an unspoken agreement to simply turn to look in a different direction if you ran into another person inside the aquadome, and it was a rule that everyone seemed to follow.

Grayson was looking for anything that might attack them from behind when he felt General Trest tense beside him, and they stopped in their tracks. He snapped his attention forward to try and see what the problem was. At first, he didn’t see it, but after scanning the area for a few moments, Grayson saw the thing.

Beady eyes studied them from beneath the shadow of some rocks jutting out of the sand, and Grayson could just make out the features of one of the salamander crocodiles. Both sides stared at each other for a full minute before the creature finally moved. It burst from its hiding place, apparently growing impatient.

Grayson cursed, and he and the general turned, running straight toward some kelp nearby. Grayson had made sure that they didn’t stray too far from the kelp’s protection for this exact reason. The only problem was that General Trest was having a hard time moving quickly, and the creature was surprisingly fast.

It was going to be close. As they were reaching the kelp, Grayson looked back to see the creature tense up and lunge at his leg. He did his best to try and dodge the attack, but there was only so much he could do without tripping himself as his other leg as in the air at the time. He managed to avoid the jaws, but they clamped down on the cuff of his jeans. When Grayson continued running with that leg, he stumbled as the fabric was torn by the force, but managed to stay on his feet. With a final burst of speed at the end, Grayson practically dragged Trest into the kelp. They both collapsed inside the protection, and luckily, the salamander thing didn’t follow them because if it had, they certainly would have died.

After a few minutes of catching his breath, Grayson peeked out of the kelp to see that the creature had gone, and he turned to grab Trest to leave when the world seemed to shift around him. The kelp moved wildly as if something were moving through it, and knowing something terrible was about to happen, Grayson started to run over to where Trest was lying, but before he could arrive, they were attacked.

Suddenly, the darters were everywhere, attacking Grayson and Trest. They looked like small barracuda, and Grayson screamed out in pain when he felt several of them bite into him. He fought through the pain, and managed to reach the general who was being swarmed by the fish, receiving far more attention than Grayson had, probably because of the blood covering his back from the lashing.

Trest had curled himself up into a protective ball, and Grayson quickly grabbed onto one of the man’s legs and dragged him as quickly as he could out of the kelp. He screamed when he felt more of the fish biting into him, this time one on his shoulder, and the other on his calf.

Grayson stumbled, but managed to burst free from the kelp, and the darters stopped their attack, seeming reluctant to follow. Grayson’s breath caught in his chest when he looked down to see Trest. The general’s entire body was covered in bites, and blood was running everywhere.

No, no, no, no, no, Grayson thought on repeat as he looked down, trying to think of anything he could do to help.

General Trest groaned, and Grayson quickly pulled off his shirt, and used it to cover a bite on the man’s neck that seemed to be the worst of his wounds. Grayson was no medical expert, but he did what he could by putting pressure on the area. After doing that, he began to tear strips off the shirt with his free hand to try and cover other wounds as well, but he was stopped when General Trest reached out and grabbed his arm. Grayson looked up in confusion to see the general staring him in the eyes.

“Stop, Grayson.” Trest said, in a weak voice.

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“What? No, I can’t. I’ll get you back to the compound, and we’ll get you fixed up.” He couldn’t believe it. This had all happened so fast, and his mind was having trouble coping.

The general started to chuckle, but it came out as a weak cough instead.

“You remind me of my son before he died. Full of determination. I admire you, but this is it for me.” The general eventually said, “It doesn’t need to be the end for you. If what you told me is true, you need to escape from this place. Find the pearl of ascension, and go back to the mainland. From there you can work on saving Selenya.”

As Trest spoke, his voice grew weaker and tears started falling from Grayson’s eyes as the reality of the situation started to sink in.

“What’s the point of saving a world that allows things like this to happen?” Grayson asked, a hint of anger entering his voice.

“I guess that’s just something you’ll have to learn on your own.” Trest said, “Regardless of what you decide, could I ask you for a favor?”

Grayson nodded through his tears.

“Could you visit my wife in Silmia and share your story with her? Tell her that I found purpose before the end. I can understand if you don’t want to do it, but if nothing else, could you tell my wife and my daughter that I love them?”

As the man spoke, his hand holding on to Grayson’s arm fell down, and the final words were so soft that Grayson could barely hear them.

“Yes,” Grayson said, “I’ll do that for you.” He owed that much to the man.

General Trest nodded slightly, then closed his eyes, never to open them again.

Grayson knelt over the body until he heard the horns sounding off in the distance. During that time, his tears turned into ugly sobs and wails that he seemingly had no control over, and if he had been attacked by any creature during that time, he would have died because he was dead to the world around him.

He wished he could have buried the body or done something else to show his respect for the man, but there was nothing he could do. Grayson walked back to the exit of the aquadome in a haze, though he still managed to keep a lookout for anything dangerous, though he couldn’t remember any specifics of what happened on the way.

The guards glared at him, likely angered from his outburst earlier in the morning, but seeing that Trest hadn’t returned with him, they didn’t do more than glare. Grayson simply trudged past them and slumped against a tree. It wasn’t long until he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he looked over to see a concerned look on Brother Capso’s face.

Looking at Grayson, the man simply sat down next to him. Capso must have read between the lines because he simply sat there offering his silent support, and for that Grayson was grateful. He wasn’t sure he would be able to stay level-headed if the man started spouting typical religious platitudes. Grayson was hurting, and he just wanted to wallow in his misery for now, and the priest seemed to understand that.

After all this time on Selenya, Grayson had finally found someone who he could tell his story, who might even believe him, and now the man was just gone. On Earth, Grayson had never had anyone close to him die. Some distant relatives sure, but no one who he actually cared for. He wasn’t prepared for the gut punch this had been. He hadn’t even truly known the man, but this was still devastating. In a way, it still didn’t feel real to him, but it felt all too real at the same time. He felt lonely, terrified, grief stricken and empty, and for the millionth time he had to ask himself- why me?

Slowly, his tangled emotions coalesced into a burning anger stronger than anything he had felt before. He thought over his discussion with Trest at the end. The man had wanted him to save the world and with it Velos. At this point, the better option seemed to just allow the world and the god to perish together. From what Grayson had seen, neither one deserved to be saved.

Regardless of all that, he had made a promise to Trest in the end, and he wouldn’t ignore the man’s final wish. Grayson needed to get off this island and find General Trest’s wife and daughter. He would relay the man’s message, and after that, all obligations he had on this world would be fulfilled. Then he could work on finding his way back to Earth.

 

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