The ship arrived at Brasstide Island early in the morning, slowing as it approached the island.
Morning sunlight spread across the water, turning the gentle waves into sheets of dull silver. The smell of salt and drying seaweed drifted through the air as the sailors lowered the anchor with a heavy splash.
A pair of gulls cried overhead, circling lazily above the harbor.
As we drew closer, the island town edged into sight ahead.
A rickety wooden dock jutted out over the water, its pilings stained dark from endless salt and tides. A handful of fishing boats bobbed along it, tied fast with ropes that groaned every time a wave nudged them. Nearby frames sagged under drying nets—still dripping, still speckled with a few silvery fish catching the light.
Farther back stood the houses: low, weathered things with whitewash peeling in patches and roofs gone dull from sun and rain. Smoke drifted up in lazy threads from somewhere among the cook fires. From deeper in the streets came the uneven thump of a hammer on wood, not quite steady.
On the face of it, just another sleepy island settlement waking up for the day.
Still, something about it didn't sit right.
The moment the gangplank dropped with a hollow thud against the dock, several eyes turned toward us. Not openly. Just glances before people returned to their work.
A fisherman mended his net in silence; other fishermen prepared to board their boats for the morning catch. A woman hurriedly gathered fish from a drying rack. Four rough-looking men leaned against a warehouse wall, watching the harbor like bored guards.
Ain't four guards a bit much for a little dock?
I casually checked one of the guards.
Name: Patrick Waverider
Affiliation: Brasstide Town Governor (Drowned Lantern Pirates)
Rank: F3
Well, ain't that interesting?
I got similar results after checking the remaining three guards.
Is the Governor also part of the pirate crew? Or is he replaced or controlled by them?
I stepped onto the docks. The wood was slightly slippery beneath my boots, still damp from the morning tide. The scent of fish and sea hung heavy in the air.
I looked at the people at the dock. Aside from the guards subtly watching us, the rest of the people completely ignored our presence.
I leaned against the wooden post casually, examining the harbor while the others disembarked the ship.
A weather-beaten sailor passed by me, carrying a fishing net and a bundle of rope on his shoulder. His beard was grey, and his hands were thick with old rope burns and calluses.
"Fair day for fishing, eh?" I made some small talk with him, but the motherfucker completely ignored me. He behaved as if I wasn't even standing there.
"Friendly place," Ulysses muttered sarcastically as he followed behind.
A few steps away, a small boy sat on an overturned crate near a pile of fishing ropes. He was trying to untangle a stubborn knot with serious concentration. Now and then, he peeked up at us with open curiosity before quickly lowering his head again.
Unlike the adults, he didn't seem to know he was supposed to pretend we weren't there.
"Let's go find a place to settle first," Miao Song said after he gave some instructions to Silas. We nodded and began walking into town.
As we passed the kid, Zephyra knelt beside him. "That knot's not going to give up like that," she said gently.
The boy blinked and looked up at her. "'Tis my father's net," he said defensively. "If I break it, he'll be cross."
"Can I?" she asked.
He hesitated, then pushed the rope toward her.
Zephyra twisted the loop once and pulled it free with practiced ease.
The boy's eyes widened. "How did you do that?"
"Secret," she said with a grin, handing it back.
The boy looked at the untied rope, then quickly glanced around the harbor, keeping an eye on the guards for a few extra seconds, and then leaned in towards us. "Ye shouldn't stay here," he said quietly.
A woman hurried toward us from the market stalls, her face pale from seeing us talking to the kid. She grabbed the boy by the shoulder and pulled him close. "I told ye not to wander off."
"He wasn't wanderin', ma—" The boy cut off after a warning glare from his mother.
Her eyes flicked toward us, then to the guards, fear flashing across her face before she quickly looked away.
"I'm sorry, good folk," she said stiffly. "The lad talks overmuch."
She began dragging the boy back toward the town. The boy twisted around in her grip.
"They should leave before—"
"Enough," she snapped and dragged him away without looking back.
One of the guards shifted against the warehouse wall, eyes lingering on us a little longer than before.
A moment later, the dock returned to its uneasy rhythm—as if nothing had happened.
"Well," Matthias said quietly, watching their retreating figures, "that was interesting."
"Hark ye, outlanders," one of the guards barked, his hand resting on his cutlass, as we reached the area where the guards stood. "Keep ye to the laws of this port, or the governor's men will have ye in irons afore ye can draw breath." Their hawk-like gazes tracked us until we passed beyond them and entered the town.
Here, I thought four guards were already too many, but once in town, we saw even more guards. Heck, it even felt as if there were more guards on the streets than normal town folk.
A quick check, and as expected, they were all pirates/cultists too. Not only that, but all of them were minimum F3s with occasional E1s.
"The security sure is tight here, huh?" Ulysses said quietly with a grin.
The townsfolk looked ordinary enough, except that most of them completely ignored us, and the few who did look at us looked uneasy. Some people who saw us from their windows closed them directly as we passed in front of their houses.
By the time we found a bar, we had passed by at least 20 F3 guards and three E1 guards.
The bar was practically deserted save for a scant few patrons. The female barkeep sat bored on a wooden stool behind the counter.
The barkeep glanced at us once we entered the shop. Her eyes showed unease, and curiously, even a hint of pity. But she quickly looked away from us, resuming her bored-looking expression.
We settled at one of the round tables. Unexpectedly, it was the barkeep herself who came to us to take our orders.
"Do you work here alone?" I asked after we gave her our orders.
"Aye, just the two of us, me and my husband. 'Tis our own place," Meg the barkeep answered with a shrug. "The house be too small to keep more hands about."
After we finished our breakfast, I stood up and walked towards the counter.
"Any interesting things around here?" I asked, sitting on the stool in front of the counter, and slid three silver coins towards Meg.
Meg gave me a long look, then she checked the coins and pocketed them swiftly. "Leave before sunset," she said, and then ignored me. Even after I asked her to elaborate or explain, she just pretended to wipe an already clean tankard, completely ignoring me. Not even more coins could pry another word from her. Her eyes flicked once toward the window before she forced her face blank again.
Seeing her unresponsive, I left and returned to our table.
"You found something?" Miao Song asked.
"Leave before sunset," I repeated.
Everyone became silent at the cryptic message, though we understood that the barkeep definitely knew something about what was going to happen tonight. Might be even the kid and his mother knew that, too.
We rented a few rooms. After settling in, we gathered again in Miao Song's room.
"Let's split," Miao Song suggested. "And search the island separately for clues."
Never a good idea in a horror movie. Though I guess, in a cosmic horror movie like this one, it doesn't really matter.
After discussing a few more things, we left together and went our separate ways.
Even though I had noticed it before, there were too many guards. Even after moving to another area, the streets were just as heavily watched. They watched me aggressively but didn't act.
I glanced idly around the street, and my gaze fell on a strange symbol on a house door. It looked similar to a five-pointed star. The mark wasn't painted. It had been scratched deep into the wood, as if someone had carved it in a hurry.
I checked another door, and it was there too. Looking at more doors, I realized that I had overlooked these marks earlier.
"Hey," I called one of the men standing outside his door. He looked at me with wariness.
"What's the meaning of this symbol on your door?" I asked, pointing to the star symbol on his door.
The man's face paled visibly. Without answering, he rushed inside his home and shut the door.
That wasn't the end of it. The nearby townspeople who overheard me also looked frightened; they glanced at the guards, then also ran back to their homes, shutting their doors and windows.
Two of the guards walked towards me menacingly, their hands on their cutlasses, ready to draw.
"Halt!" One of the guards barked. "Are ye harassing our good folk, stranger?"
"No, I wasn't. I am a law-abiding person who follows the governor's laws," I answered with conviction, then pointed to the symbol on the door. "I was just asking him what the meaning of that symbol was."
The second guard stepped closer, voice low and edged. "Mind yer business, outsider. We see ye troubling the innocent again, ye'll taste the dungeons—or worse."
"Right," I said with a smile. "I won't trouble anyone else."
He grunted, unimpressed, and they turned away. I backed off slowly and left the area.
As I walked randomly, I arrived at another shore. There were no more houses nearby, and even the guards weren't present here. Walking along the shoreline, I saw a wooden warehouse. And near it were three guards. They looked like they were talking about something. After checking them, I found that two were F3s and the last was actually an E2.
I slowed my steps and slipped behind a nearby tree. Then, slowly, I made my way towards them, keeping to the shadow of the trees. Finally, I was near enough to them that I could hear them.
"…told ye the High Priest don't want trouble afore nightfall." The first F3 said.
The second F3 gave a harsh laugh. "Trouble? This speck's full o' trembling fools. The townsfolk won't dare lift a finger."
A beat of silence, broken only by the creak of the warehouse timbers settling.
"Still," the first muttered, voice dropping. "Best keep yer trap shut till then."
"Why?" the other pressed.
The E2 leader leaned in, his whisper sharp enough to cut through the salt air. "Tonight the Gate opens."
My fingers stilled against the edge of a crate.
The leader chuckled darkly. "After tonight, none of this will matter anyway."
Just as I was about to slip away, I heard soft rustling in the underbrush. A black ball of fur came out of it. It was a cute-looking, fluffy black cat. It paused, ears pricked, staring directly at me.
I paused and stood frozen, trying to decide what to do. But before I could salvage the situation, the cat started meowing loudly and insistently.
Shit.
The leader turned sharply. "What happened, Shadow?"
Fuck.
The guards had seen me. "Who are you?" The leader snapped.
There was no choice now but to kill them, as I couldn't risk alerting their companions or their superiors. It would be easy to kill them with the pistol, but I couldn't do it, as the gunshot sound would definitely alert everyone.
But before I started fighting them, I threw a knife at the cat that pierced its head.
Of course, I wasn't unscathed because of my vindictive behavior. When I threw the knife at the cat, one of the guards threw a throwing axe at me. I dodged to the side, but it still cut a small gash in my arm as it passed by.
"No! Shadow!" The leader howled in pain.
I threw a knife at the guard who had thrown the axe earlier as he was about to throw another. The knife buried itself in his chest, and he dropped.
The leader rushed towards me with murder in his eyes, his sword drawn. The third guard also came running behind him.
I threw a Mana Bolt at the leader. It hit his chest, but the leader was too strong for a single bolt to stop him. He staggered but kept running.
"He's a bloody sorcerer!" the other guard shouted, voice cracking.
I fired another bolt. Then another. The leader reached me, blade descending in a vicious overhead chop. I sidestepped and drove a fourth bolt straight into his sternum. This time, the mana flared brighter, searing through ribs and heart. His eyes widened in shock; the sword slipped from numb fingers. He sank to his knees, staring at me with pure hate, then toppled forward into the sand, dead before he hit.
The remaining guard's eyes widened as he saw the much stronger person die. He was just about to turn to run when a knife lodged squarely in his head.
I decided to hide the bodies inside the warehouse. I picked up the leader and his pet cat first, then carried them into the warehouse. I threw their bodies behind some crates.
I went out, then took the body of the guard whom I had killed last, then dragged him into the warehouse too.
Finally, it was the turn of the last one, the guard whom I had killed first. I came out, but unexpectedly, the body wasn't there.
Where is he?
I heard a twig snap and immediately turned towards it. The third guard was there, looking back at me with pure horror in his eyes. The knife was sticking out of his chest. Guess it wasn't enough to kill him. It was also a mistake that I didn't check if he was dead or not.
I ran after him. He was too far to be hit by the spell or the throwing knife. He turned and started running away. He was slow because of his injury. I was sure to catch up to him, but the problem was that if another guard saw him before that, it could jeopardize the entire mission.
Luckily, he fell soon as his foot tangled in a root. He looked at me in fear and dragged himself backward.
I immediately tensed when I heard footsteps approaching us. On the contrary, the guard looked the opposite of before; despair was replaced by hope in his eyes. He looked at me viciously.
"Help me, this outsider killed Gus," the guard shouted.
I clutched the knife in my hand tightly, ready to throw. But as I saw who came, I sighed in relief. The guard, on the other hand, once again had a complete change in expression. The hope gave rise to even bigger despair.
He turned towards me, and before he could say anything, a knife pierced his forehead.
"Hey," I said to Zephyra, then picked up the guard's body.
"Hey," she greeted back and followed me to the warehouse.
By the time I had dumped the body in the warehouse, Zephyra had already healed my hand on her own without me asking.
"Nice," I said as I looked at my arm free of any injury. Zephyra smiled lightly at that.
I continued casually, "Not many mages I know can use healing magic, especially with such proficiency."
"I've still got a long way to go," Zephyra replied, starting to walk again. "Most of it comes from the teachings I found of a white mage."
"Oh, who is it?" I asked curiously.
"Zhered-Na," she answered.
She inherited Zhered-Na's legacy?
But isn't Jennifer Kale from my time Zhered-Na's official successor?
Or is Zephyra the successor in this era?
As I was having such thoughts, a random thought struck me and stopped me suddenly.
Zephyra looked at me in confusion when I stopped walking. "Is something the matter, Zoro?"
I looked at her, my expression completely serious. "Do you know that it was Zhered-Na who had sealed Dweller-in-Darkness before the Great Cataclysm?"
Zephyra didn't say anything, her face blank. But her silence was more than enough of an answer.
"Don't you think it is weird that in ancient times it was Zhered-Na who fought Dweller-in-Darkness, and now in the present time, her successor is doing the same?"
"You're thinking too much, Zoro," she said with a smile, trying to brush it off. "It's nothing more than a coincidence."
It looked like she knew something but didn't want to tell me.
"Coincidence, is it?" I said slowly.
Zephyra nodded.
I shrugged, "Then maybe it is."
We kept on walking; the earlier conversation was over. Both of us pretended I had accepted that explanation.
We arrived back in the town. After walking around, we arrived at a town exit towards the forest at the back of the island. Four guards stood at the exit.
"Hold there. No one goes past this path—Governor's orders. Old ruins up the hill have been collapsing. Last thing we need is strangers gettin' themselves killed."
We turned around without arguing.
After some time, we regrouped back at the inn, in Miao Song's room.
"Since we're all here," Matthias said. "Allow me to begin."
"We went to the Governor's Office first," Matthias started. Sebastian nodded to show he was with him. "Initially, they didn't allow us even to meet him. But later, when I told them of my connections in London, they allowed us entry."
After a moment, he continued, "At first glance, he looked normal. Other than the thing that he told us not to go to the back mountains because of the collapse of some ruins, he kept the conversation short. Then he left swiftly."
Matthias sipped his tea. "I coincidentally know a little about this island. A naval officer stepped on the wrong toes, so he was given a promotion as the governor of this island. Basically, an empty title with little to no power beyond this rock. An unofficial exile."
He looked thoughtful. "But the current Governor looked completely unbothered. Moreover, no official sent into exile would be allowed to bring so many guards."
"You mean," Ulysses said.
"I mean," Matthias took another sip, "either the governor is replaced, or he has joined the cultists."
"The guards warned me too not to go to the back mountains," Ulysses went next. "There were a few standing at the exit."
Ulysses leaned back. "I left the area, came to the shore, and jumped into the sea. From there, I swam all the way to the back. There were steep mountain cliffs, so it wasn't possible to climb them and enter the forest from there."
"But I saw a few ships tied carelessly. All of those were empty. It is possible that the tide carried out a few more. As for the people those ships belonged to…"
Ulysses trailed, and Matthias completed the sentence for him. "Are either dead or captured."
Next was Zephyra. Since Zephyra mostly stayed in town, her observations were similar to mine.
When it was my turn, I mainly told them the only different thing that had happened to me that hadn't happened to Zephyra.
"Tonight the Gate opens," I repeated what the guard leader said. "They spotted me, unfortunately, but they won't cause problems for us."
The rest nodded in understanding.
Finally, Miao Song spoke.
"I searched the island for anything related to the ritual," Miao Song started. "I found three locations that should be anchors of the ritual. And I suspect there are two more, based on the five-pointed star symbol. These anchors siphon energy from the ley lines beneath the island."
"Moreover, those five are actually the five outer anchors. There should be five more inner anchors, but I only found three. If the outer anchors are like the five points of the star, then the inner anchors are the vertices of the inner pentagram."
"Will destroying them stop the ritual?" Ulysses asked.
"It will not completely stop," Miao Song answered. "The more anchors we destroy, the greater the chance the ritual destabilizes, thus increasing the chances of ritual failure."
"Then let's go, destroy them," Ulysses said loudly, already getting up.
"Calm down, Mr. Ulysses," Miao Song said lightly. "We can't destroy them yet."
"Why?" Ulysses frowned, sitting down.
"They are completely inert currently. We can't destroy them yet. They are hidden in a parallel space. They will only appear once the stars align and it is time for the ritual to start," Miao Song said helplessly. "We have no choice but to wait until then and then swiftly destroy those anchors."
"Then let's just kill the pirates," Ulysses suggested.
"I apologize, Mr. Ulysses," Matthias said. "But that also is not possible."
"Why?" Ulysses asked, irritation clear in his voice.
"Currently, the pirates are scattered around the village," Miao Song explained. "If we attack now, a few may escape. Then they might recruit again and try the ritual on another remote island."
Mathias took a deep breath. "We must kill them, and we must kill them all."
Ulysses calmed down at the explanation and nodded in understanding.
"Exactly as Mr. Matthias said," Miao Song took over. "During the ritual, we will have the opportunity to take them all down together."
"Now, all I can say," Miao Song said with a breath. "Be ready for the night."
The meeting ended soon after.
I saw Miao Song leaving for the docks, and I followed him. I quickly caught up to him.
"Hey, Miao Song," I called him as I matched his pace and walked beside him.
"Yes, Mr. Zoro."
"Do you know the connection between Zephyra and Zhered-Na?" I asked point-blank.
Miao Song didn't answer. We just walked calmly towards the harbor.
"If I'm risking my life for this mission, I deserve the truth," I said lightly.
Miao Song sighed. "Yes, I know."
"I don't believe that it is a mere coincidence. Something deeper is at play here, right?" I asked.
Miao Song sighed again. "No, it is not a coincidence."
"Then what is it?"
"A prophecy."
Of course, it is a fucking prophecy.
"What prophecy?" I snapped.
Finally, he told me the prophecy.
When the Lantern of the Drowned is lit
And the Hunger Beyond the Veil reaches for the waking world,
The ancient wound in the dark shall open once more.
Then the echo of the White Seer shall walk the shore of the deep.
Light shall bind the Devourer as it did in elder days—
Yet the broken gate demands living flame.
And the sea will take the heart that mends it.
Once again, we walked in silence. We reached the harbor as Miao Song gave further instructions to the sailors. I walked up to Miao Song, and he looked at me curiously.
"Does she know?" I asked in a somber tone.
Miao Song nodded.
I left and went back to the bar to rest.
The sun dipped below the horizon. The moon rose into the sky.
"I think we are all clear here about our plan next," Miao Song said after he assigned us our responsibilities.
We nodded.
"Then let's meet at the center as soon as possible," Miao Song said.
We left the bar, and soon everyone left separately. Only Matthias and Sebastian traveled together. Zephyra and I were left behind.
"We are past the point of shyness after our nightly activities," I joked as I saw Zephyra hesitating about something. "Just ask directly."
Zephyra laughed, the tension leaving her face. She playfully swatted my chest.
She looked me directly in the eye, the smile replaced by seriousness. "Zoro, can you tell me your real name?"
I wasn't surprised she had realized I was using a fake name.
"Consider it my last wish," she added.
My brain blanked for a moment. I looked at her expressionlessly.
She realized that she might have said too much, so she tried to backtrack.
"I mean," she said with a forced smile. "After we defeat those cultists, we will go our separate ways. Who knows if we will ever meet again? That's why I said it's a last wish. I meant last wish before we disband and go our separate ways."
"Please, Zoro, can you tell me?" She asked again. "I don't want to remember you by your fake name."
I didn't know what to say to her. So, in the end, I just said what she wanted me to say.
"Kevin Kolt."