Ill Met Encounter

Did I actually say that!? The word slipped out of my lips like a bag of grain spilling its contents. What made me think that? As long as I’d known Eleanor, I’d never used anything remotely similar. If she took it the wrong way, then our friendship was at risk of falling apart.

I attempted to salvage the situation by changing the subject, yet Eleanor never seemed to notice in the first place. She instead walked over to Albaz and Aluber. The two dancers didn’t say a word as Eleanor attempted to shake their hands.

“Regardless of the outcome, it was a good match, no?” she asked.

Aluber broke the silence. “It was. You two were amazing out there with the comeback. Before the game, Albaz wrote you two off as nothing to fear, treating it almost as an exhibition match. If I’m being honest, it’s a nice change of pace as we hadn’t lost a game in over two years. Not that we plan on losing more, starting with our lower bracket run this tournament.”

“Hey, you didn’t have to mention what I said!” Albaz blurted, jabbing Aluber in the stomach with his elbow. “Listen, you and Clare better make it to the finals so we can have a rematch. Don’t disappoint us now!”

“Elliot, sorry for Albaz’s outbursts; we’ll be taking our leave now. You two take care of yourselves now, alright?” Aluber said, dragging Albaz by the sleeves of his robe out of the arena.

With our victory today, we advanced to the next stage of the competition. It would only get tougher from here, so we needed to continue practicing and exploring our deck's synergies.

As fate would have it, we couldn’t catch a break. D came trotting over, his breathing haggard. He ushered us outside the stadium to join the others with troubling news to share.

“In researching the Fossiltrites, I’ve kept a spare fragment with me to see if it would react with anything we’d come across. Besides the time it interacted with Eleanor’s card, it’s been dormant. Until now! For whatever reason, it’s unstable, as if it’s going to implode,” D described, pulling out the crystal from his pocket.

The Fossiltrite was a sickly orange with black veins diffused throughout, all signifiers of decay. Whenever mana-empowered objects or ingredients neared the end of their ‘life’, they tended to exhibit symptoms such as discoloration and, in the case of the Fossiltrite, energy attempting to escape like trapped gases in a volcano, hence the veins.

“D, have any of your previous samples degraded?” I asked as I continued to inspect the crystal. For safety’s sake, I contained the Fossiltrite within a magical bubble.

“Not at all. It must be from an external factor. Perhaps something from—”

The Fossiltrite burst wide open, the fragments ricocheting inside the bubble before ceasing altogether as the orange hue turned completely gray. At that instant, I spotted a massive warship pulling into the harbor.

The vessel’s hull was adorned with metal, cannons, and what appeared to be the insignia of the Esmad navy. As the ship approached, it showed no signs of slowing down. It was going to collide with the port bow first.

“Try to evacuate as many people as you can! I’ll go stop the ship with Thila!” I ordered Eleanor and the others in my normal voice. With no time for goodbyes, I sprinted forward and leapt into the air with my staff.

Answer my call once more and take flight at my side—

Awaken, Thila!

In a flash, I was riding Thila from its neck. We surged forward through the sky, picking up speed exponentially as we flew toward the boat. From high above, I could make out the faint outlines of people on board.

“Thila, go!”

At my command, Thila dove down, creating a spherical aura to shield us from the wind before slamming into the ship. Thila dug into the surrounding land, using its tail like an anchor to prop itself. I followed up with a selection of elemental spells from my staff to push against the vessel, but even with all our strength, we were no match for the ship’s sheer mass.

It tore through the dock, demolishing numerous buildings. Screeching metal and wood filled my ears like nails on a chalkboard. Sliding across the ground, the ship made it about halfway through its length before halting. The bottom hull must have struck bedrock.

Thila was exhausted, so I returned it to my deck. As Eleanor and others continued assisting the citizens, I climbed up the rubble to the vessel’s deck in search of survivors.

It became apparent that the people I saw onboard were actually the corpses of Esmadian guards and sailors. The bodies were stone cold, with all of the blood dried.

“Hello? Is anyone there? I’m here to help!” I yelled. Aside from panicked screams from the city, it was dead silent. Suddenly, a rumble from the hold rocked the ship and knocked me off my feet. I got back up and headed for the source, blasting through the debris obstructing the hatch. Inside the cargo area were more victims as well as a lone man barricading himself behind crates and barrels.

“Are you injured? Let me help you,” I asked, extending my hand. His bloodstained face was difficult to read, but as I neared, his identity clicked in my head. The red cape down his back. His regal armor. It was Hubert, no doubt.

“Stay away f—from me!” he stammered. In his shaky hands was a worn blade broken at the tip.

“Calm down! I’m not going to hurt you; I’m here to help!”

I attempted to disarm Hubert, but he lashed out with lightning speed, nicking my gloves and knocking over the crates. He continued to swing at my throat, each slash more deranged than the last.

With a sweep of my legs, I caught him off balance. As Hubert fell backward into the cargo, I dove forward and tossed his sword aside.

“Hubert! Tell me what happened here! Are there any other survivors?” I demanded, pointing my staff at him.

“N—No, it’s just me! Everyone is dead! T—Those… things… tore them apart! Please, get me out of here! Please!”

Nothing Hubert said made sense. His actions couldn’t have been more contradictory. Despite his behavior, I was still adamant about rescuing him. He was, at the end of the day, a man in distress.

All seemed well until the hold rumbled again. Only this time, it was less a rumble and more a roar. I swung my head around and discovered the culprit at the other end of the cargo hold.

Saliva and blood dripped from the tiger’s mouth as it growled, instilling dread that left me paralyzed. The beast lurched forward on all fours, closing the gap between us in a split second. But before it could strike, my staff hovered in mid-air, releasing a creature into the fray.

Tri-Horned Serpent countered the tiger’s claws with its tail before perishing into mana dust. The sudden event restored my bearings, allowing me to roll out of harm’s way and deliver a concentrated barrage of spells at the monster, stunning it temporarily.

“Hubert, what is this thing!?” I shouted as I charged my mana.

“A—A rogue Fossilium monster!”

“Rogue? Was it being ridden by one of the shadow figures assaulting Ragos?”

“No! It wasn’t! It just appeared on our ship and began killing everyone!”

As if it were nothing, the tiger recovered from its injuries and pounced, forcing me to release my spell prematurely. Jagged shards of wood from the hold’s wreckage soared like a javelin into the tiger’s abdomen and head, impaling it against a stack of boxes. I finished the beast off with another volley. It squealed and squirmed before abruptly going limp.

I glanced back at Hubert to check on him, only to discover he had fainted. He was unresponsive but still breathing, so I carried him outside. On the deck, an army of soldiers met us with their weapons.

“Are you Verity?” asked a grizzled man in the center. A crown gleaming with pure gold and jewels topped his head.

If this was who I thought it was, then things were about to get messy.