Swords and Swallows

By Dixxy

Chapter Three: A Fish Called Irenes

(Cye)

I awoke to the smell of salt water and the sound of water crashing up against the hull of a ship. I sat up, wondering where the sound was coming from. How could I get front Kento's house to a ship? I shook my head, opened my eyes, and found out how that was possible.

I was ON a ship.

The walls around me were all made of wooden planks, the steady creak of a floating ship in the background. The sole window was a porthole that showed the mighty ocean outside. Above me I could hear the sounds of men hustling about and hollering at each other in a heavy dialect that sounded almost like. . . pirate.

But how could I have been taken by pirates! There weren't any pirates in Japan!

Right?

I stood up and walked towards the port hole. Now that I had a better view, I could see that the ship was docked near a small island surrounded by trees I had never seen in my entire life. The shades of green and shapes of the leaves were all very odd looking, and I began to wonder if I was even in the Mortal Realm anymore.

My best friend and I, Kento, had gone on a hiking trip for the weekend, something we did often. Something about being alone with a good friend and nature itself was a thing that both of us loved. So, with a backpack full of nothing but the essentials and the clothes on our back, we set out.

But not even three hours into our trip we sensed something. . . wrong. Kento and I dropped our bags immediately, got back to back, and slid into fighting stances. Minutes of complete silence passed, and I was ready to brush it off as nothing. Kento, on the other hand, told me not to move. I tried to question him, but without even looking at me, he put a finger to my lips, looking out into the trees.

"The forest never sleeps- something is wrong."

And that was when everything went black.

"Oh, good, you're awake- we were worried about you."

I stopped. THAT didn't sound like a pirate. In fact, it sounded like a young woman. Was she taken by pirates, too? Or. . . are these NOT pirates I'm hearing? Just rough edged sailors? I turned around to see who had joined me and nearly had kittens at the sight.

Looking at me with curious, caring eyes was a mermaid. I blinked, rubbed my eyes and looked again. Yup, still a mermaid. A large blue tail took the place of where her legs should have gone and thick golden belt hung loosely around her wide hips. Her torso and face were blue, though the middle of her chest and her face were a much lighter color. Blue-green fins were on her arms and back, which I guessed were meant for speed in the water. Her wild, short blue hair was held up in a golden crown with a large red jewel in the center that glistened in the light from the porthole.

"Are you all right?" she asked, moving over to me. I watch in awe as he green tail moved her across the floor, which I hadn't thought was possible. She stopped in front of me, raising a hand to touch my cheek. She turned her head to look me in the eyes, as if trying to look into my soul.

"I'm. . . I'm. . ."

The mermaid shook her head. "Are you sure?"

I swallowed. "Well. . . um. . . could you tell me. . . ah. . . where I am?" I asked.

"Oh, that's easy- this is the S.S. Invincible, the pride of the Acacia Dragoon Navy," said the mermaid. She "stepped" backwards, looked me up and down, and giggled. "My, I've never seen clothing quite like THAT before! Are you from Zenan? Or is this some new fashion statement?"

"I. . . I'm sorry, I've never heard of Zenan or the Acacia Dragoon Navy," I said.

The mermaid stared at me with wide eyes. "You. . . haven't?"

"I'm afraid not," I said. I looked back out the port hole. "I was hiking in the woods with a friend of mine when- by the Ancient One! KENTO!" I started to panic at the thought of my best friend. I turned to the mermaid in desperation. "Where. . . where did you find me? Was there anyone else with me?"

"I'm sorry. . . you were alone," she said. I plopped onto the floor, feeling numb and dead inside. I was barely aware of the mermaid sitting beside me and putting an arm around my shoulder. "There, there. . . I'm sure your friend is all right. Fargo and his crew found you on the shore of Earth Dragon Isle- perhaps he was inland a little bit?"

"Kento. . ." I said.

The mermaid didn't say anything, opting to just sit with me and I thought over what had happened. Here I was in some foreign land (an army and a country I haven't heard of, a mermaid, AND the shadows that had attacked us? I'd say that was enough to convince me!) without my best friend and without a clue. Was Kento all right? Where was he? And why were we here?

It couldn't be the Dynasty, I mused. If it was the Dynasty, then we wouldn't been able to sense that. It was just. . . something else. But what could it have been? And why did it go after us? Another thought entered my head. Did it go after Ryo, Rowen, and Sage, too? Or was it just me? This is confusing. . .

"Have you eaten recently?"

I snapped out of the trance I'd put myself into and looked at the mermaid. "Huh?"

"Are you hungry? I understand you're upset but you shouldn't starve yourself."

As if on cue, my stomach began to rumble. I looked up at the mermaid with a weak smile. "I guess I could go for something to eat. But, may I ask you something first?" The mermaid nodded as I stood up. I extended a hand to help her to her, uh, fin. "May I ask what your name is?"

"Irenes."

Irenes made a good tour guide. She led me through the S.S. Invincible, which she said had, at one point, been a pirate ship. Irenes paused the tour briefly as we leaned against the railing of the ship and looked out at the island she called "Hermit's Hideaway". "Most of the pirates, however, have joined the Dragoons under General Viper, the leader of El Nido, the chain of islands we're in. Have you heard of El Nido?"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid not- I'm not even sure if I'm from this dimension."

Irenes sighed. "That wouldn't surprise me," she said. "You see, Cye dear, there was an incident similar to your case from last year." I raised an eyebrow in curiosity and turned my full attention to my new friend. Irenes looked down at the water below, and began to tell me a long, complex story about how her world had once been two worlds. I listened intently, trying to decide how I felt about what she was telling me, and, perhaps, WHY she was telling me this.

Once she finished her story, silence reigned for a minute or so. I decided to break it with the inquiries I had in mind. "I don't mean to be little you or anything, Irenes, but you just met me- why are you telling me something this big and important? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it sounds like only a select few know about this."

"You're right about that," said Irenes. "Serge was able to recruit forty-four other people into helping, myself included." My eyes widened at the mention of the number. Irenes shrugged. "Not everyone was involved with the more serious aspects of that situation- I helped out when we saved Marburle, but I didn't fight too often after that. There are a few others who recall what happened, but that's just a small handful of people. I'm telling YOU this story because this is similar- you come from another dimension. A completely different world that's NOTHING like what we have here in El Nido. At least Serge found himself in a similar setting- he knew his way around well enough to do what he had to do. YOU don't even know what Zenan is, and that's something most people have heard of!" She cleared her throat. "But you seem to be taking this fairly calmly. Are you used to this sort of thing?"
I shook my head. "Not exactly this, but I'm used to odd happenings," I said. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my armor orbe. I showed it to Irenes and watched as she was mesmerized by the shiny orbe. "Believe it or not, this tiny marble contains an incredible amount of magical power."

Irenes squinted and leaned forward to get a closer look. "How?"

I pocketed my armor orbe. "My world has a sort of sister dimension- a Nether Realm. It's a whole world filled with demons, evil sorceress, ghosts, and all sorts of creepy things. A very powerful demon named Talpa invaded my world around a thousand years ago to try and take it over with the use of a very powerful armor. A man named the Ancient One was able to stop him, but when Talpa was sent back to the Nether Realm, the armor remained. The Ancient One split it into nine armors, five for each element and four for each season."

Irenes blinked. "I don't get it."

"Well, the five natural elements- fire, light, water, earth, and air- and the four seasons- spring, summer, fall, and winter," I explained. "Why? Do you have other names or systems for these things?" Irenes nodded. I blushed. "Oh. I apologize." Irenes shook her head, told me it wasn't an issue, and urged me to continue. "Well, the four seasonal armors and their bearers were brought under the control of Talpa some four, five hundred years ago- he gave them immortality and all but one is still alive."

"But if they were immortal-"

"He did something that drained his life energy away- even with immortality, no one could have survived it," I said. I sighed. "The remaining five armors were named the Ronin armors. The orbe I showed you is connected to one of the armors, and I can use the orbe to don the armor if someone tries to attack my world. I defend it with the help of my friends." I sighed. "Kento is one of the other armor bearers of this generation. Well, at least for the Ronin Warriors. The Dark Warlords- those are the guys with the seasonal armors- they've been around long enough to see several different bearers of the Ronin armors."

Irenes shook her head. "That's quite sad."

I shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I never- ARGHH!"

"CYE!"

I fell to my knees, grasping my chest and breathing heavily. My head and heart were pounding at a rapid pace and I could feel my body heat rise drastically. My palms were sweating, my mouth went dry, and I had a sudden urge to throw up. Oh my God, I'm gonna die! My symptoms began to increase in intensity. The beats were pulsating to a point that I thought I was either going to rupture an artery or have a heart attack. My body felt like it was being cooked alive, and my vision was swirling around from the nausea. In the background I could hear Irenes' voice screaming at me, but I couldn't answer her.

Not able to take it anymore, I passed out.

Please. . . help me. . . I, like, can't get out! HELP ME!

"Cye! Please, wake up!"

"Irenes, I think the landlubber is waking."

I groaned, vaguely aware that I was lying on something soft. I wiggled my fingers, gripping the soft sheets underneath me. I started to move, only to feel a hand push me back down. I opened my eyes and saw a middle aged man with dark hair staring me down. He took a drag off a cigar and narrowed his sharp blue eyes at me. "Irenes, what happened?"
"Fargo, he just started to. . . I don't know! But he collapsed in a fit of pain!"

"The voice. . ." I said. "There. . . there was a voice."

The dark haired man, apparently named Fargo, muttered something under his breath. "Young man- Cye, is it?- get some rest. Yer only goin' to get yerself sicker by ranting on about a voice. Ye must've come down with some sort of a virus and we'd best get ye to Guldove so Doc can take a look at you."

I sighed and laid back down, nodding. "All right. But. . ."

"What did the voice sound like?" Irenes asked. I noticed for the first time since I'd awoken that she was sitting on the bed next to me. She put one of her hands on my forehead and looked at me with concern. "If you're from a different world as it is, then perhaps this isn't the disease Fargo thinks it is."

I scrunched my face up in thought. "It was the voice of a little girl asking for help."

Fargo raised an eyebrow, taking another drag off of the cigar. "Little girl?"

"Yeah. I didn't see her, but I could hear her loud and clear. She seemed informal."

"How so?" asked Irenes.

"Well, she added a 'like' into the phrase," I said.

Fargo's tanned face turned white. "How do you mean that?"

I sat up and leaned against the headboard. "Well, in my world we call it 'valley girl' talk. Valley girls use the words 'like' and 'whatever' a lot. If I remember. . . she said 'please help me, I, like, can't get out, help me'." My eyes widened. "Do you know someone who speaks like that?"

Fargo fell onto a nearby chair, now all but sucking the tobacco out of his cigar. He had a nervous, pale look on his face as he stared out into space. "Marcy. . . my girl. . . my little girl. . ." he repeated over and over. Then, he shook his head and snuffed the cigar under his boot. "Never mind that. Now that I know my guest is dreaming about my kid crying out for help we're going to Viper Manor."

I brought my knees up to my chest. "I. . . I'm sorry. . . I don't know why. . ."

Irenes shook her head, placing her hand on my shoulder. Her eyes were much more serious looking, but still rather sympathetic towards me. "I'm sure this isn't your fault, but something weird is going on. Another dimensional crisis, a sick spell, and this crisis can't amount to anything good."

"But what's going on?" I asked.

Fargo looked outside one of the portholes. "Even the sea seems uneasy." He stood up, grabbed a cigar out of a cigar box, and lit it again. "She seems rather uneasy today. Not violet, but uneasy. Usually she's so calm and serene- but now she's restless. But what's the force behind it?"

"Let's get to Guldove, Fargo. We could ask Steena about these happenings and get treatment for Cye here," said Irenes. She tried her best to look optimistic as she began to advise Fargo. "If you're worried about Marcy, send a boat to Viper Manor, or hire off Korcha to make a trip to Termina if he's home."

"Right. . ." he said. But he still looked uneasy.