Insecurity

“Ember said she needed to prepare for our return.” Sally stated.

Niklas’s plated armor clattered as he flinched a step back from Mara.

“Who is the tin man?” Mara continued.

Sally didn’t answer, not really knowing the answer herself, they waited for Niklas to respond.

“…I—‘m Niklas, lady Ember’s champion…” Niklas stuttered.

“Fine, any champion of Ember is no threat.” Mara continued to ignore him. “Why is he here?”

Sally replied, “I think she wanted him to teach me about powers…”

Mara sighed, then glared at Niklas, “You.”

In an attempt to respond, his voice broke and only managed to let out a high-pitched sound.

“Close range attacks, or you won’t see land again.” Mara stood up, and grabbed the green pod off the table. She grabbed the door handle with her injured hand, this time showing signs of pain as she swung the door open. She flung the item off the edge of the ship into the wet abyss.

Sally closed the door “I guess we don’t need that…”

Niklas fell backwards on the floor, like his legs decided they had done enough. “Is that what the other gods are like?” he asked.

Sally shrugged, “I only know two so far… I had actually hoped you could tell me more about her.” Niklas was silent, no doubt upset that he couldn’t be of help. “You wanted to see my hand earlier?” He nodded. Sally rolled up her sleeve and sat beside him so he wouldn’t have to get up. Niklas inspected the key, “How do you use it?” he asked. “I don’t really know, it just unlocks things… it gets in the way though, I can’t bend it or hold anything with it.” she said.

“Can I try something?” Niklas took off his gauntlet and held her hand. “Try clenching your fist.” the other fingers gave but the metal one remained stiff. “Try imagining there’s a lock in your palm”

Niklas tinkered for a bit, after getting rudimentary movement down, he got engrossed by the magic metal digit and he begged Sally to make further adjustments, she complied. After yet more tinkering, ripping off parts of his suit and adding and subtracting the metals with his bare hands, her finger resembled a proper, elegant prosthetic; about the same size as her other fingers, now shiny as chrome with fancy swirls and engravings inspired by the woodwork in the cabin. Niklas held the hand high to gaze at his handiwork from a different angle, suddenly realizing it belonged to someone and quickly let go. “ah, sorry, I got carried away… Maybe you could try it out on the locks in the cabinet over there?”

Having to carry it alone, her hand felt a little heavier, like wearing a large tungsten ring. She put her finger up to the lock, she sensed a more complex path to unlocking it than the locks before. The plates of the finger slipped and dragged aside and from inside formed the proper key for the lock. The cabinet opened, Inside were some crude medical supplies, only locked so they wouldn’t fall out during storms.

Niklas was excited to see his creation come to life.

“That’s… really impressive, how do you make it do that?” Sally inquired.

“Well, I only added the joints and the encasing, you are doing the rest actually. The rules of magic aren’t rigid laws of chemistry or thermodynamics, they’re much more ambiguous. My power for instance is manipulation of metals, at first you might think that’s just creating weapons and armor, but factoring in different metals, states any molecule can be in; at first I could only influence metal’s temperature, now I’m starting to make complex clockwork and I even discovered how to create small currents of electricity.” Niklas passionately went on. “Every power is a science in itself, with its own rules and boundaries; negligence in using them can be dangerous, that’s how I died the first time—”

“Wait, I’m sorry…” Sally interrupted, “died?”

“oh, yes, I accidentally heated iron so fast it exploded, I survived the initial blast, albeit without my eyes and ability to hear, my heart stopped hours later. The other time I just went to bed and passed away, we still don’t know what happened.”

“So you just, wake up somewhere else? Is that part of your power?”

“…oh, you didn’t know yet. When all gods but one are dead, um, I think reality sort of, resets, and all gods and champions get their bodies back as they first were but in a new world, you retain your memories though, I think those are stored separately somehow.”

Sally stared at her new finger, or rather through it, at the reflection the shiny surface decided to show her. “Then… what is the purpose of it? Or is that for the gods to decide?”

Niklas stood up, he thought for a bit, “I… never really thought about it. Lady Ember always implores me to follow my interests… I’ve always been busy with my research and my work.” Surely Mara wouldn’t think the same about it, she sounded determined of accomplishing a different goal.

A loud knock at the door interrupted their conversation, “Excuse me.” the captain shouted. Sally opened the door. In daylight, the captains dark beard revealed two strokes of grey, aging hair. His face was complex with wrinkles from constant exposure to the elements of the seas. “Aha! There is the little knight! Great work on securing the ballast last night, I’m sure you will explain us how to get them loose as we make it to port!” The captain remained set on asking no questions. “Little lady,” he called Sally, ever so politely, “the purple mistress requested me to turn the ship around. Now I do not wish to defy your party’s demands, but…” the captain nervously scratched his beard, “Leaving early was one thing, but not delivering the rest of our cargo could pose grave risks to the necks of the crew and myself… Of cours I would try explain this to her but…” The captain lowered his voice, “quite frankly, I’m terrified of the mistress, she won’t even look me in the eyes. Perhaps you could straighten out your party’s preferences.” She wasn’t sure how terrified he was of her, rather than diminishing his paycheck. Either way, this could be an opportunity to learn about Mara’s intentions.

“I will talk to her.” Sally reassured the captain, who right away rectified his demeanor, “I will cherish your willingness to help out an old sailor! I will be at the helm might you need anything at all.” The captain bowed curtly and marched off.

Before Sally could follow the captain, Niklas asked her to wait. He reached into his chestplate, deforming it, and pulling out an object as if uncovering it from liquid. He pulled out a handle and the blade of a knife followed. “…In case she asks about close combat…”

Sally nodded, reluctantly accepting the weapon. It was designed similarly to her prosthetic, shiny and elegant. Sally stored it in her bag and left to initiate conversation with her patron.”

Just outside the door, a bright sun in the clear sky blinded her. A couple men were performing busy-work. The sails and ropes on the mast tremored in the wind emanating from the left, where Mara was leaning over the side of the ship, looking towards the distance.