Chapter 8: Spreading and Destruction

It was common for the people of Skull Island to relax on the beaches every once in a while. Most just went to pick up scraps of ship debris so it was safer to walk on without someone cutting their foot on a sharp edge. Now, there was Pathogen mixed into the debris, which embedded themselves in the people's skin when they stepped on them. It was going to be a while before they would notice the crystals growing on their skin.

Not even Sestiva knew. She thought that the particles could be contained in a world, a single world, that would be compressed into nothingness once it goes between one world to another. It was assumption that was going to end up hitting Sestiva in the face later on. Sestiva was not one to think about every possible outcome there was. She didn't think even once about the potion being able to get to other worlds through the windlanes and stormgates.

If it were Helen that created Pathogen, not Sestiva, she would've thought about the chance of the substance not being able to be contained, and would've developed something to destroy it ahead of time, so she wouldn't have to worry about it at as much as Sestiva had.

However, the crystals had already emerged in several places, unable to be seen by a regular eye. The crystals protruded from open areas deep underground, but in a way so that they were only a fraction of a millimeter above the ground. It would only be a matter of time before Pathogen would have infected the entire island.

Sestiva watched as several older pirates ran along the beach, bringing reports of their previous missions to their captain. She sat down in the sand, giving herself a few minutes of relaxation, which she greatly needed due to the buildup of stress from constantly duplicating the potions. She had failed to notice the panicked looks on the crew members' faces.

"How did the mission go?" the captain asked, her stoic expression unfaltering. "Hopefully you three got something out of this mission."

"Captain…we saw something…unknown over there." one of the crewmembers said fearfully. All three of the crewmembers were all quite young, most likely around the age of thirteen to fifteen years old.

"Yeah…there were some sort of crystal growing down there," another crewmember said, taking a step forwards.

"It was…purple." The third crewmember said.

"That's rather strange. I've never heard of a crystal quite like that. What about the area surrounding the crystals?"

"There was a lot of blood. Many cutthroats and other creatures were impaled, crushed, or trapped by the crystals."

"I see. You guys get on the ship. This mission will be all the way in Aquila. For your first mission there will be no combat, but be prepared for an ambush anytime during that mission. We will be recovering an important lost document that could start a war within two years if it's not found. Go get ready, we leave in half an hour."

The crewmembers ran off to their homes to pack their things. Sestiva, being only a few feet away from them, had overheard their conversation.

Pathogen is here? Here on Skull Island? It can't possibly be—but it's completely possible that it was some sort of other crystal, however, there are no crystals that just grow on Skull Island, is there? I would go check it out myself, but I need to get Helen first. She has to come with me.

Sestiva took her time getting up and going to her house. Helen was going to be there all day anyway, and Sestiva could clear her head and prepare herself for what she was going to see once they got there.

"Helen! We're going to Skull Mountain. Get ready." Sestiva said sternly as she walked inside, seeing Helen maintaining some of the many rifles she had collected.

"Why are we going to Skull Mountain?" Helen asked, confused as to why Sestiva just suddenly chose to go there.

"I overheard three crewmembers' conversation with their captain. They reported that some sort of purple crystal was growing all over Skull Mountain. Crystals don't grow here, meaning that it's a high chance of being Pathogen. I want you to come with me and check it out."

Without another word, the two sisters left, heading out to Skull Mountain. They crossed the long wooden bridge. Once they got to the other side, Sestiva could already see the crystals on the far end of the island. They stretched upwards, towards the sky, which made it easy to spot.

The cutthroat ship that was close to the cave entrance had been demolished by the crystals, though the parts of the ship that stayed intact were completely engulfed and so was part of the campsite.

"Helen, in case I run out of energy to cast another duplication spell, which I doubt will happen, but I'm going to need more ingredients for the potions if it does. I guess you can call it an emergency supply. Let's head to the black market and pick up those emergency supplies I was talking about."

They turned around and headed back just the way they came.

I guess I'm lucky that I overheard the crewmembers and the captain. I would not have noticed if I was dead tomorrow morning or even tonight.

Entering the storage room in the back of the bazaar, they went down the carefully hidden trap door to the Black Market.

"We need some mo—" Sestiva stopped in the middle of her sentence. Pathogen had struck there as well. The two frogs that acted as translators and bodyguards had been impaled by the crystals, the blood turning the crystals a dark red. It was the same with the squid. The room in the back, where they kept all their supplies, was completely sealed off by the crystal, so they had no choice but to leave the supplies where it was.

"This leaves us no choice, but to get them ourselves, Sestiva. Like you said. There's no chance there won't be casualties. Now let's get back home as fast as we can."


I'm so so sorry. Procrastination has been kicking my butt. I'll try and finish the next chapter ASAP. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review! :D

-SamanthaHawkins