Hi again, everyone! It's that time of year again when I have a new chapter to share with all of you. I got lucky this weekend and had a lot of free time to sit down and just write. It was very relaxing.
Also, this chapter is coming out just a few weeks before this story's fourth anniversary. I can't believe it has already been four years. From Junior year of high school to Junior year of college. Who knows what the next four years will look like, but hopefully there'll be a lot more chapters added by then.
But, enough about me. You're obviously here to read about Michael, Jessica, and Allison, so I shan't stand in your way any longer.
Disclaimer
Dragon Quest IX is property of Square Enix and Nintendo and not me and probably not you.
What I do own are the characters that I make up, such as Michael, Jessica, and Allison, and some of the crazy things that happen to them.
Reviews:
outcast247: I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter. Wait no longer!
Chronos0305: Alas, life does tend to get in the way, but I do try to write as fast as I can.
Act 2 – Part 5: Nothing to Llaff About
(No One's POV; A Few Weeks Ago)
Another monstrous bolt of lightning streaked across the sky over the ocean. Caught between the massive swells of the sea, driven by the ferocity of the storm, sat a lone fishing boat, struggling to hold itself together against the very wrath of nature itself. And on the boat stood a single man, fighting for the opportunity to see his precious daughter one more time.
"Come on!" the man yelled, drowned out by the wind, as he pulled on his boat's sail and guided it up over another swell. "There we go, like! Just gutta keep atit, and I'll be back home with my Jona in no time."
He wiped the rain from his eyes and looked up, noticing something in the distance. A bright yellow light. "What's that? A star? Through these clouds?"
As the man continued to guide his ship through the storm, he kept an eye on the light, quickly realizing that it was getting closer. "A shootin' star, then?" he asked. "Maybe I should make a wish, like." He thought for a moment, always guiding his ship, before deciding on a wish. "I wish I'll make it back home, so I can take care of my dear Jona and give her everythin' she needs."
After making his wish, the man got his boat up over another large swell and then heard a load whistling sound that cut through the rancor of the storm. Looking around for the source, the man saw the light once more, but now much closer, streaking right overhead. He watched as it flew over him, tore through his sail, and crashed through the deck of his ship, the impact of which caused the entire ship to be blasted apart.
Tossed into the raging waters, the man grabbed some of his ship's wreckage and tried to stay above the surface. As he struggled, the bright yellow object floated back up to the surface, appearing right next to the man. "That's it?" the man asked, looking at the object. "This is what is goin' to kill me? A stupid fruit?"
He grabbed it with one hand and inspected it more closely. "Well, if I'm goin' die now, then this fruit is comin' with me, like." As exhaustion began to come over him, he began to eat the golden fruit. Right before he completely disappeared beneath the surface, another lightning bolt illuminated the sky, and, behind where the man once was, the shadow of a large beast could be seen leaping out of the water, eyes glowing brightly, mouth fully agape.
(Michael's POV)
An awkward silence filled the air as we trudged south from Alltrades Abbey towards the seaside village of Porth Llaffan, the only other village on Newid Isle and the next stop on our search for the Fyggs.
Besides me stood Allison, who was making a point to stand between me and Jessica at all times and seemed determined to keep it that way for the time being. Jessica had tried to explain what had actually happened to her earlier in the morning, but Allison refused to listen.
"Oh my Almighty!" Stella suddenly exclaimed, appearing before us. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I actually miss the sound of your flapping voices. Why the flap is nobody talking today?"
Jessica and I both glanced at each other while Allison continued to stare straight ahead. No one said a word.
"Almighty…" Stella sighed. She flew up to Allison and looked her in the eyes. "You seem to think that you know flapping everything, so, please, explain to me what's going on."
"I caught Michael and Jessica sneaking around last night, and I'd rather not think about what they may have been doing," Allison coldly explained.
"So, what you're telling me is that you have no idea, and all of this could have been avoided if you had just let them tell you what they were doing?" Stella remarked. Allison opened her mouth to retort, but Stella wasn't finished. "How about we take this opportunity to actually ask them and sort this whole thing out? Michael! What were you and Jessica doing last night?"
I was caught off guard by the sudden request. "Oh…Um…We went to Angel Falls to kill a bunch of monsters so that I could become a Gladiator," I explained.
"And I needed to charge up a wand with magic power because a couple of faeries asked me to in a dream," Jessica quickly added.
"See?" Stella exclaimed. "That's all they were doing. Problem solved, right?"
"Hm…" Allison mused, thinking. "Michael's story is plausible, yes, but Jessica's story makes no sense."
"You don't believe me?" Jessica asked, visibly hurt. Allison didn't respond.
"Almighty," Stella sighed in desperation. "What would you believe? A magic book that keeps track of everything you all do?"
Allison scoffed. "I mean, sure, why not?" she laughed. "But where are you going to find one of tho-" Allison was silenced as Stella pulled a large, ornate book out of nowhere and handed it to Allison.
"I call this the Battle Records," Stella explained. "It's a magic book I created that keeps track of everything you do, every item you pick up, every monster you fight, everything."
"Uh…" Allison responded, dumbfounded by the book before her.
"How long did you have this book, Stella?" Jessica asked, looking at it curiously.
"From around the time I first met Michael. It's a little side project of mine. You didn't think I slept all day in Michael's bag, did you?" Stella answered. "Anyway, Allison, if you could be so kind, could you please open up to the end of the 15th chapter? I believe you'll find our answer there."
"Wait. Chapters?" I asked.
"It's your fault, Michael," Stella replied. "You're the one that kept saying 'it would take five chapters to tell my whole story' or something stupid like that. I decided to take your word for it."
"Oh," I said, unsure if I should be impressed by Stella's attention to detail or upset by such a drastic level of pettiness.
"I reached the end of the 15th chapter, Stella…" Allison announced.
Jessica, who was also looking at the book, pointed to one of the pages. "There's the part where Michael talked to the Sinndicate agent about becoming a Gladiator."
"Keep reading beyond that," Stella ordered.
Allison skimmed over the rest of the pages, mumbling to herself as she did. "Dreaming…two faeries…Angel Falls…Gladiator certificate…underwear…me…"
"Would you flapping look at that!?" Stella remarked. "It looks like their stories were true. Now can we please move on?"
A pained expression formed on Allison's face, and she seemed to be struggling with something. "H-How can I be sure that I can trust this book?" she asked.
"For Almighty's sake, Allison!" Jessica screamed, throwing up her hands in frustration. "You are unbelievable sometimes, you know that?"
Stella, for her part, seemed like she was ready to strangle someone. "Almighty flapping forbid you might be wrong once in your life!" she screamed. She tore the Battle Records out of Allison's hands, turned a few pages farther into it, and turned it around to show it to us.
"What am I supposed to be loo-?" Allison asked with shaky confidence before stopping, her eyes going wide as she looked at the page. Everything we were currently doing was being magically written onto the page in real-time.
"So, everything we say and do is written in the Battle Records as we say and do them?" I asked, watching in awe as my words were transcribed before me.
"Pretty much," Stella confirmed. "It's a powerful magic that can't be tampered with or fooled. Which means that, if it's written in these pages, it happened." She said that last part with an incredibly venomous tone.
"BANANA!" Jessica suddenly screamed, giggling childishly when she saw it written on the page.
Stella deadpanned. "Thank you, Jessica, for randomly inserting the word 'Banana' into the Battle Records." She turned back to face Allison again. "Now, if this doesn't convince you about what happened last night, you are absolutely flapping hopeless, and may the Almighty have mercy on your soul." She took the book back and put it away somewhere. "Either way, move on with your life," she commanded, before disappearing herself.
Allison looked down at the ground and rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. "I guess I may have been a bit wrong about last night," she admitted. "I'm…sorry."
"Why are you like this?" Jessica suddenly asked forcefully.
Allison appeared visibly shocked by Jessica's harsh tone. "Like what?" she asked.
"So overbearing and overprotective and arrogant," Jessica snapped. "You just can't be wrong about anything and you think you know what's best for everyone."
"I'm just trying to be the mature, responsible adult of the group," Allison explained defensively.
"And what? You think Michael and I need you? That we wouldn't be able to handle ourselves without you?"
"No, of course not!" Allison answered. "I'm just trying to help you."
"Then you can help me by just being my friend," Jessica cried, "instead of trying to be my mother!"
A sudden silence fell over the area as the impact of what Jessica just said settled in. I simply stared in shock at how quickly the argument between the two women escalated.
"Please," Jessica whimpered, trying to hold back tears, "please don't try to replace my mother."
Allison gasped in realization. "No, Jessica, I would never try to replace your mother," she reassured, gently moving to comfort her friend. "She was practically my mother, too. I could never take her place." The brunette pulled the redhead into a hug. "I'm so sorry."
The redhead returned the hug. "It's okay. I know you only meant well. And I probably just lost my temper again."
Allison separated from Jessica a bit and looked her in the eyes. "How about we compromise?" she asked. "We can be like sisters instead."
A genuine smile appeared on Jessica's face. "It's about time you put all of your intellect to use and come up with a good idea," she teased.
Allison gasped, pretending to be offended. "All my ideas are good ideas," she countered.
"Hey, guys," I suddenly interjected. "I'm glad you two were finally able to work things out between you two, and I hate to interrupt your moment, but can we please finally just enter the village. We've been standing outside of it for 20 minutes," I said, gesturing to large wooden gate standing before us.
"Oh, yeah, sure," Jessica answered. "Sorry."
I rolled my eyes and led the way through the gates into the seaside village of Porth Llaffan. Taking a moment to look around, I noticed that the village was smaller than I was expecting, with only a dozen or so buildings scattered along the coastline, separated by a small river. Just as many fishing boats sat pulled up on the shore, which I found weird because I thought mortals used their boats in the water. Some men were standing near some of the boats, having an unusually relaxed conversation about how one of their boats appeared to have been stolen the previous night.
As the three of us walked farther in, an elderly man approached us. "Well!" he exclaimed in a thick accent. "Mooer travellers! Welcome to Porth Llaffan, young'uns. Hurry up down to the beach now and you'll be in for a treat," he excitedly explained before turning away and heading down towards the beach himself.
Looking amongst ourselves, we all just kind of shrugged in agreement and followed the old man down to the beach, where a crowd was starting to gather around a young girl standing at the edge of the water. She had faded red hair pulled into pigtails and a hooded dress. Unsure of what was going on, I approached a man standing at the back of the group.
"Excuse me, sir?" I asked, getting his attention. "What's going on here?"
"…What's goin' on, you say?" he repeated incredulously. "Well, Jona Jones over by there is about to start prayin' so that…" he started explaining, gesturing towards the young girl. "Well, you just watch, boyo."
Rather unimpressed with his help, the three of us continued making our way through the small crowd, hoping to see what was going on for myself. As we reached the front, I realized that the young girl, Jona Jones, was gazing out to sea, deep in prayer, seemingly completely unaware of those around her, including a rather important looking man with a mustache standing beside her. Intrigued, I made to move closer to her to get a better look, but a nearby villager stopped me before I could.
"What are you playin' at?" he scolded. "Stay outta Jona's way. Youell be in trouble beyond if you aggravate the Great One."
"The Great One?" I asked, unfamiliar with the name.
The man just scoffed and rolled his eyes, which I really didn't appreciate, but I chose not to press the issue, instead staying where we were, waiting for something to happen.
It didn't take long, fortunately, before a woman in the crowd started shouting excitedly. "Ohh! She's startin', she's startin'!" she exclaimed.
As if on cue, Jona began walking into the ocean until she was about waist deep while still praying. Getting down on one knee, Jona started praying out loud for everyone to hear. "O mighty Lleviathan!" she prayed. "Rise up from the depths and bless us with Youer presence! Lend us Youer power, and shower the gifts of the oceans upon we, the humble folk of Porth Llaffan." As she finished, everything started shaking again, which freaked all three of us out again as we thought it was another earthquake.
Sensing more potential drama, Stella appeared again and took a quick look around. "Ooo!" she squealed. "What's all this about? Sounds juicy!"
"Look!" a nearby villager called out, pointing out towards the ocean. "Over by there! It's Lleviathan!" Everyone quickly looked at where he was pointing, not wanting to miss a thing.
Out in the ocean, part of the surface had become violently turbulent and began rising as something large seemed to move under the surface. All that could be seen of it, though, was a pair of bright yellow eyes. Then, in a great, sudden movement, the water burst, and a large tail could be seen rising above the water before snapping forwards and hitting the surface of the ocean with incredible force, spraying large amounts of water into the air towards the village. Before we could even react, the water crashed down onto the shore, drenching everyone in the cold seawater.
Sighing, I just kind of shook myself off a little, flicking my arms to try to dry out my sleeves. Besides me, Jessica was trying to wring out her dress and Allison was looking for something to wipe her glasses off on. Then I looked to my other side and saw Stella, who had frozen with a look of absolute horror on her face as she looked at her outfit, completely ruined by the water.
"Stella…" I tried to get her attention, hoping to calm her down.
"Aaaaaagh!" she immediately screamed in response at a pitch and volume so high, it physically hurt me.
"Wahoo!" the other wet villagers started cheering while dancing around a pile of fish that had landed upon the beach, preventing further support for Stella. "Praise be! Fish! Buckets and buckets of fish! There's lovely!"
Stella now looked beyond pissed and like she was ready to fight someone. "Gah!" she yelled. "I'm fl-fl-flapping soaked! Why not give the newcomers a word of warning before it starts raining sprats and cods, hm!?" She took a deep breath and tried to recompose herself. "So, what was that gimongous great big thing anyway? And what's it doing being bossed about by a little girl?" Without waiting for an answer, she just shook her head and disappeared back into my bag.
"Michael," Jessica began to ask, "why didn't you tell Stella about the fish that was in her hair?"
I smiled and held my bag closed as I felt another ear-piercing scream attempt to blow my bag apart. "I really didn't want to hear her scream like that again."
"That makes sense," Jessica empathized.
"Hey, that girl, Jona, is coming over here," Allison pointed out.
I turned and saw that Jona was indeed walking towards us. I also sensed that she was a bit nervous. "Oh!" she exclaimed when she noticed that we had seen her approaching. "Youer travellers, aren't you? I couldn't trouble you to come by my house this evenin', could I?" she asked.
"Uh…yeah, I guess we could," I answered, a bit surprised by the sudden request.
Jona seemed to relax a little at my answer. "It's the tiny little place to the east of the dock. I'm shooer youell find it. There's somethin' I'd like to ask you…"
"Alright. We'll be there," I confirmed. Jona gave a small, sad, smile before walking away to talk to some of the other villagers nearby, who looked like they were begging her to ask for more fish.
"What do you think that's all about?" Allison asked.
"I'm not sure," I admitted. "But, it looks like we have some time to kill, so let's take a look around the village and see if we can find if another Fygg showed up around here."
As we walked around, we began to learn more about Lleviathan from the villagers. Apparently, they consider it to be the God of the Sea, which I found odd, as I didn't believe that there was another god besides the Almighty himself. Even odder, though, was that the creature only seems to answer to Jona, but I suppose I've come across stranger things in the recent weeks. It also turns out that the villagers have completely stopped fishing ever since Lleviathan began providing fish to the village, which I found slightly concerning, but it would explain why the man from earlier was pretty relaxed about having his boat stolen. He didn't need it anymore.
We also gained some information about the village itself, about how it used to be a dreadfully poor village. I was saddened when I heard that everything became even worse for the people here after that cursed earthquake hit, and even more so when someone mentioned that Jona's father Dylan had died out at sea in a huge storm that had hit at the same time. It sounded like Lleviathan showed up not long after all of these tragedies occurred to the poor village.
As we walked by the small row of shops, we overheard a small boy talking excitedly with his friends. "I saw it, I did. It was on the night of that storm. A shootin' star came down right in the ocean by here. Honest Almighty!"
"A shooting star, huh?" Jessica repeated.
"Do you think it could have been another Fygg, Michael?" Allison asked.
"Maybe," I replied. "It does sound like it could have been one."
"But it landed in the middle of the ocean," Jessica pointed out. "How are we ever supposed to find it?"
"Hm… I wonder…"
"What was that, Michael?" Allison asked.
"What? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about what we should do." I responded. "If it truly was a Fygg, then I think it'll reveal itself before too long. We'll just have to wait until then, I suppose."
We spent the rest of the afternoon looking through the shops. Despite being a small, poor village, the shops still had some decent equipment, and we all picked up a few new pieces of gear.
"Hey, Michael, what do you think of my new Silver Tiara?" Jessica asked me as we walked back towards the east side of the village.
I turned to look at her new headpiece, which was glowing a soft orange from the setting sun. "It's cute," I answered. "I think it goes well with your hair."
"Thanks," she replied, blushing softly at my compliment. "It also boosts the power of my magic attacks, which is why I bought it."
"Well, that'll certainly be helpful," I remarked. "Anyway, it's getting late, and I think it's about time that we went to see what Jona wanted to ask us."
"She said she lived in a tiny place to the east, right?" Allison clarified. "I think we're already almost there."
We approached a tiny little shack, the smallest building in the village, tucked away on the far side of town. I knocked on the front door, and after waiting for a confirmation, we stepped inside. The inside was a single room, with an old bed against one wall, some boxes and equipment on another, and a fire in the middle with some fish cooking on it. Jona was standing besides the fire, staring into it as the light danced across her eyes.
She looked at us as we entered. "Oh, hello, travellers," she greeted. "I'm ever so glad to see you. I've been waitin' for someone who's not from by here to happen along, see. It's just that…" she began explaining but was interrupted by someone else entering her home.
"Jona! You in, dab?" a man called out. "Oh!" he exclaimed once he noticed the three of us already inside. "I didn't know you had comp'ny, like. I've not seen youer faces around here before, have I?"
"No, I don't think so," I answered.
"Anyhow…" the man continued, turning to address Jona. "Mayor Bryce wants a word with you, Jona. You'd best come along now."
"Oh!" Jona exclaimed, sounding a bit disappointed. "Yes, of course…"
The man quickly turned around and left the shack, and Jona began to run after him. She stopped for a second to talk to us. "I… I'm sorry," she apologized. "I won't be long, I'm shooer. Could you wait for me 'til I get back?"
"Of course," I answered.
The young girl smiled at us, then quickly ran out into the night after the man.
We sat in her house for a while, waiting for Jona to come back. Jessica eventually dozed off as the night wore on, and Allison looked like she would soon follow, leaning her head on Jessica's shoulder. I didn't feel tired, though. I had a growing sense of uneasiness about the whole village. Something wasn't right here.
After at least a couple of hours of passed, I simply couldn't wait any longer. I got to my feet and began waking both Jessica and Allison up.
"Uh… How long have we been waiting?" Jessica asked groggily.
"Too long," I answered.
"Is something wrong?" Allison asked, concerned.
"That's what I intend to find out. Let's go. We need to find the Mayor's house."
We quickly grabbed our stuff and hurried outside. As we crossed the river into the west side of the village, we asked a man who was still out for directions.
"Eh? Where's the Mayor's house?" he said. "It's the huge place at the opposite end of the village from Jona's. You can't miss it."
We ran past all of the shops that were closed for the night and entered a clearing where a large house stood. Clearly, this was where Mayor Bryce lived. There were still lights on inside, so we knocked on the front door. Another man opened the door to greet us. "Can I help you?"
"We're looking for Jona," I anxiously explained. "Is she here? We need to talk to her."
"…Youer hopin' to have a word with Jona?" the man asked. "She's talkin' to Mayor Bryce just now, so you'll have to wait a while, like. I suppose you can come in, though."
We thanked him and stepped inside. There, the man who had come to get Jona earlier was also standing around. He noticed us and quickly approached "Aren't you the travelers who was round Jona's place before?" he asked suspiciously. "What are you doin' here in Porth Llaffan, then? Heard about Jona's gift, I suppose," he answered his own question. "Well, you'd better not be up to no good."
I was about to respond when a sudden outburst from the other room caught everyone's attention. We all quickly hurried over to the connecting hallway to make sure nothing was wrong. As we approached, we could hear that they were still talking, so we stood back and listened.
"Jona, it's been a tidy old while now since Dylan went missin' in that storm," a man spoke. It must have been the mayor. Peaking into the room, I saw Jona sitting at a table across to the important-looking man with a mustache from earlier, who was now clearly revealed to be Mayor Bryce. Next to him sat the same young boy we heard talk about the shooting star earlier this afternoon. He must have been the mayor's son. "I-I'm sorry in my heart for you, bach. But it's hopeluss to go on believin' he's alive." The mayor took a deep breath. "He's not comin' back, Jona," he said rather bluntly. The young girl's head visibly drooped as he said that and I heard Jessica gasp at his words. "And that's why…" he continued, "I've decided I'll afto adopt you."
"Hah?" the young boy exclaimed in surprise, turning to look at his father and then back to Jona. "There's… There's fantastic, Dad!" he yelled excitedly. "You don't want to be all alone, after all, do you, Jona?"
"You and young Bryson here get on alright, like," Mayor Bryce explained. "And I've always thought of you as one of my own, anyway. You've put on a brave face for long enough, bach. It's time you let go now."
"…Thank you… Thank you, Mayor," Jona finally responded. "I'll… I'll be shooer to give it some thought." She looked back up at the mayor and began shuffling her feet nervously. "But, erm…bein' as I'm by here, there's somethin' I was hopin' to talk to you about too." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I've been thinkin', and I don't want to summon Lleviathan any more."
"But–!" the mayor called out in shock. "Jona…"
"I… I just don't feel like it's right somehow, livin' like this," she explained. "So I–"
"Don't be spoutin' nonsense like that all bald-headed, Jona!" Mayor Bryce yelled, cutting Jona off. "No one in the village wants to hear it. Brazen, it is!" he scolded. "And anyway, what else have you got to offer Porth Llaffan, eh? Is there some other way you can help out by here?"
"Well, er…" Jona tried to answer, flustered by the mayor's sudden outburst.
"I really don't like this guy," Allison whispered besides me. "How can he be so harsh to the poor girl? She's just a child."
"Never mind," the mayor decided. "I think that's enough said for one day. You must be tired. Take youerself home and have a rest, alright?"
"…" Jona sighed, before turning to leave, noticing us in the hallway. "Oh, it's you. I suppose you overheard all that, did you?" she asked. "Well, never mind. Youell come back to my place so we can have a little chat, will you?"
"Absolutely."
(Jessica's POV)
We were back in Jona's house, and I just couldn't help but feel awful for her. She's barely half my age and already she has lost her father, and now it seems like the whole village is using her to do their work for them. And then there's the mayor. I don't like that man. He acts like he cares, but I'm starting to get the sense that he's just faking it. What is wrong with these people?
"It's just not right," Jona was explaining to us, "relyin' on the God of the Sea for all ouer food like we are. But no one wants to hear it. And Mayor Bryce…well, you heard what he thinks about it all. That's why I was hopin' to ask an outside like you for youer opinion. You know, someone impartial, like. So, what do you think? It's wrong livin' like we are, intit?"
"Yes," Michael quickly agreed.
"It's especially unfair to you," I added.
"Well it's a relief to hear someone else say it at last, I can tell you," Jona replied, a relieved look forming on her face. "I knew it couldn't be just me who thought so." The relief on her face turned into a look of resolve. "Right, I've got my gummel up now. I'm goin' to give it to Mayor Bryce straight this time. I'm not callin' Lleviathan any more." She looked out the window and suddenly seemed very shocked by something. "Oh dear!" she exclaimed "Look at the time! I've been spoutin' off so much, it's got ever so late all of a sudden. And I don't suppose you've got a place to stay, have you?"
"Well, actually…" Allison began to answer, probably trying the mention the inn in town.
"Right, well, youell afto spend the night by here, then," Jona decided, cutting Allison off.
"Are you sure?" I asked, awed by her generosity.
"Of course," she answered. "Let me just make some space for you." She started moving some things around on the floor. "By the way, I never got youer names."
"Michael."
"Jessica."
"Allison."
"Jona."
"Oi, Michael, are you awake?" I was woken up from the movement of Stella poking Michael's shoulder.
"What do you want, Stella?" Michael asked, slightly annoyed.
"Why did you have to go shouting your mouth off, hm?" Stella asked. "What if they kick the poor girl out of the village?"
"If those heartless bastards do that, then I'll take her with us and find some place where she'll actually be treated like a decent human being," I blurted out, enraged by the very thought.
"Oh, I didn't realize you were also awake, Jessica. I'm sorry if we woke you," Michael apologized.
"No, it's fine," I replied. "I was having trouble sleeping anyway."
"You, too, huh? Anyway, I agree with what Jessica said," Michael continued. "Besides, I think the bigger issue may be Lleviathan."
"I'll admit that Llevia-whatsit seems like trouble," Stella agreed. "He certainly needs to learn a thing or two about not splashing people…"
"I mean, yeah, sure, but I mean beyond that," Michael argued.
"How so?" I asked.
"Lleviathan's the supposed God of the Sea, and we think that a Fygg may have fallen into the sea. It's possible that Lleviathan obtained the Fygg somehow and activated its curse, and it's now spreading throughout the village," Allison suddenly jumped in, also clearly no longer sleeping. "That's what you were thinking, right, Michael?"
"You took the words right out of my mouth," Michael answered.
"Do you think that's what happened?" I asked.
"It's definitely a strong possibility, but we can't know for sure," he admitted.
"But what can we do about it?" Stella asked. "Are you going to poke your sticky nose in village affairs? Well careful, because it might get burnt!" she warned.
I yawned as I woke up the next morning. I looked around to see the others still sleeping while stretching my arms and realized that someone was missing. "Where's Jona?" I asked, waking the others.
"What?" Michael asked, sitting up.
"Jona's not here," I answered.
"Maybe she went to go talk to the mayor already?" Allison suggested.
"Then we should go and make sure she's okay. Almighty knows what they might do to her if they truly are affected by a Fygg's curse," I said, starting to feel a bit anxious.
"Alright, let's go find her," Michael directed.
We left Jona's home and hurried across town towards the mayor's house. I noticed that all of the villagers were also extremely panicked this morning as they were frantically running all over the place, looking for something. I overheard some of them mention something about Jona, and my anxiousness only got worse.
We got to the mayor's house and quickly ran inside, but we found it completely empty. We ran around to the back, trying to find any clues as to where everyone went, and found Bryson standing in front of another large wooden gate, similar to the one at the entrance of the village.
We quickly ran up to him. "Bryson!" I called out. "Where's Jona?"
He turned to face us, panic evident in his eyes. "I knew it!" he cried. "Jona came by here and told Dad she didn't want to call Lleviathan any more! You should have seen Dad's face! Fierce beyond, it was! Then he took her off to Cuddiedig Cliff." He started shaking terribly, clearly upset by recent events.
I kneeled down to face him and gently grabbed his shoulders. "Bryson, it's going to be okay," I reassured him.
"I've got a terrible feelin' about this," he admitted. "I think you should go after Dad and Jona. Cuddiedig Cliff is just beyond this gate. Please, make sure everythin's okay."
"We will, Bryson. We will."
There we have it folks. Another chapter added to the books. Literally. Our beloved heroes have made it to Porth Llaffan, and things are starting to really heat up. And what of poor Jona? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Again, I just want to say thank you to everyone who reads this story. Whether you've been following for four years or you've just joined us, I greatly appreciate it. Truly, thank you.
Well, until next time, this is D~F.
