Chapter 2

But they're always there.

When Mia came to, the ship was no longer being tossed around in the waves. The air hung heavily, and the only real source of light came from the small lamp in the far corner of the room. Though she could still hear the distant howl of the winds, the waters seemed fairly calm.

'I wonder where we are.' She thought dimly. As Mia sat up slightly her vision blurred, forcing her back down. Her head was pounding and she had drained her psynergy to much to think about ply. Placing her hand on the back of her head, she felt a damp spot and groaned slightly.

Mia heard a rustling off in the shadows and felt her mouth dry. Squeezing her eyes shut and trying to lie as still as possible to feign sleep, her heart was pounding. The last thing they needed was an attack now. As the figure moved closer though, she felt a hand against her cheek.

"Mia, are you all right?" Piers asked, his voice low and almost raspy in the silence of the room.

Mia felt her face turn three lovely shades of red, and was thankful for the dim light as she nodded slightly. 'You've been spending way too much time with Gel if you're mind instantly jumps to an attack...' She thought accusingly.

"You don't look so good, Mia," He said. Looking back at him, Mia blushed even more as she tried to sit up again. Once more, her vision blurred and Piers helped ease her back down.

Reaching into his pocket, the other Adept pulled out the small Spirit Ring he kept with him, a thin band of silver to delicate for daily wear, and crowned with a flawless blue gem, the size of an apple seed. Placing it in her hand, there was a small pulse of magic as Mia felt the small cut in the back of her head heal and the magic push away the dizziness. Mia smiled gratefully as she pushed back the blanket that had been covering her and sat up straighter. As she got her first good look at the room though, she couldn't help but gasp.

The small windows were shattered as well as the few pots that had decorated the tiny space, littering the floor with shards. One of the chairs was smashed beyond repair. The table and bed were turned over and the mattress from the bed torn and spewing feathers everywhere. Mia also noticed the others all laying on the floor, seemingly asleep.

Garet was most defiantly just asleep. Lying on his stomach with his head to one side, the large Mars-Adept had his mouth wide open and was snoring loudly. Ivan was sitting-up against the wall, also asleep as he kept murmuring under his breath and nodding slightly while dreaming. Isaac was on the lower section of that cabin with Kraden who was sawing driftwood by the over-turned table. Jenna and Felix were both lying on the floor. Jenna sighed and rolled over, accidentally kicking her brother in the leg a few times, making the Venus-adept reach out and shove her. Neither one aware of what they were doing.

Mia tried not to laugh as siblings kept trading small shoves and kicks. Piers, following her gaze, smiled before leaning down.

"It took me forever too get used to that when we were traveling along Southern Gondowan." He said quietly, "Luckily for you four, we learned not to let them sleep on the same side of the fire before we met up with you." He finished, Mia smiling and stifling a giggle. Straightening back up, the Mariner winced slightly and placed his arm around his mid-section. Mia perked up at the movement, but he shook off her attention.

"It's nothing," He whispered as he got to his feet and gestured for her to follow. Mia got up and followed him down the steps towards the door that led down to the lower decks.

"Where are we going?" She asked him as he closed the door softly behind them.

"I haven't seen any of the Djinn since I got everyone inside, I think we should try and find them." He answered, absently turning his head down one of the various corridors which riddled the lower decks.

Walking around, the two found so many weak spots in the ship that even Piers was a little green at the amount of water collecting in the lower rooms. But the Lemurian kept on re-assuring Mia that it was so slow and that they were close enough to the city that it wasn't worth worrying over.

They stumbled across extra blankets and a few more medical supplies, as well as food to replace the stores that had been thrown over-board in the storm. But still there were no Djinn.

Peeking into one of the storerooms though, Mia flung herself against the hall wall to avoid being smothered by the sixty-something spirits which spewed out and attached themselves to Piers, each chattering madly.

"Are we there yet?"

"What happened?"

"What was that flash?"

"Are you hurt?"

"What about the other's?"

"Flint kept stepping on my tail!"

"Sleet was making cruel jokes about the ship going down!"

"Was not!"

"Were too!"

"Sleet and Corona kept arguing the whole time!"

"No we weren't!"

"Yes we were."

"Where's Felix?"

"Yeah, and Ivan and Sheba to!"

"Forget them! Where's Isaac?"

"No! Jenna! Jenna!"

"…Mia, I'm hungry."

Relief at finding them all made the two Mercury adepts laugh. Piers though wrapped one arm around his stomach again, wincing in pain. The Mercury Djinn swarmed around him, Shade and Spring incredibly worried.

"Piers? Piers what's wrong?" Shade cooed, scorpion-like tail twitching madly as the fist-sized water sprite clambered up the Mariner's side before clinging to his belt, looking up at him with luminous golden eyes.

"Mia what's wrong with him?" Spring asked worriedly as he doubled over, and backed up against the wall, Shade flinging off of him to be caught by Mia. She literally watched the color leech from his face, his mouth twisted in a look of pain as he shuddered slightly.

"I-I don't know!" She stuttered, stunned by the change of events. "Piers? Piers!" She cried as she saw blood seeping through his shirt. "Oh, Neptune..." She breathed as he slid down to the floor. She instantly rushed over and while busy trying to get his jacket open, calling to the Djinn.

"Flint and Iron, go and get the extra bandages from up in the cabin. Fog, you and Blitz go with them and fetch some water. Hurry, you four!" The Djinn sped off in a flurry of squeaks and shrieks just as Garet and Isaac stumbled down the hall.

"Mia?" Garet asked surprised, his tongue and words still thick from sleep as he brought on monster hand up to rub his own crimson eyes, "What're you two-"

"Get him up-stairs!" She shouted, cutting him off. Isaac stood for a moment, confused, but when he saw the blood now staining Mia's hands, he snapped out of it and gave Garet a shove to get his friend going.

Carefully, the two adepts lifted their injured friend and carried him up the stairs, Mia and the Djinn following close behind. As they came into the cabin, they ran into the other Djinn Mia had sent up.

"What?" Felix muttered tiredly as he turned over and shook his sister. He'd only just been roused to a state of half-conciousness as Piers had been brought up and set down against one of the walls. The jolt had caused him to cry out in pain. "Wake up." He said roughly as he gave Jenna another shove, she however just rolled over and muttered under her breath.

Mia ignored the two as she undid the last of the ties. Pulling up Piers' shirt she gasped. The Mercury Adept had three stab wounds in his stomach, each spilling frightening amounts of blood. Isaac gagged at the site and backed away. Garet just stood there dumbly.

"It looks like he was stabbed with the trident!" the burly adept exclaimed as Mia put her hands over the wounds. Summoning what power she had regained since waking up, Mia focused on her patient;

"Pure Ply" She murmured, blue rings of psynergy surrounding her as she summoned the magic she had used hundreds of times before on there travels; had used to heal wounds far worse than this. Small lights, like motes of dust, fluttered around Piers as Mia pressed her magic into him.

She felt the sudden awareness that came with Healing, the knowledge over every ache and pain the injured person felt. She noticed that he felt no pain but for the bloody stab-wounds, the others had all been wiped away by the Spirit Ring. She was shocked though to find that the wound felt like it was growing! Like whatever had made the wound was still being pushed in deeper.

'But he used the Spirit Ring.' She thought 'I was with him I saw him use it! Why doesn't it feel like anything was done to the stabs?' she shook her head as she focused more on the center of the injury. Mia felt something odd pulling at her though, like she was coming towards a vortex. The injury just seemed to absorb her magic.

'What? What's going-'

"Don't." Piers choked, reaching up he grabbed her wrist. "Y-You can't heal this, Mia," He stuttered as Mia stopped the magic.

"But, Piers," She started. The Lemurian just shook his head.

"I-it won't kill me, don't worry." He said, forcing a smile. Mia immediately reached over and grabbed a hand-full of bandages. At his confused look she felt a small flare of anger.

"I'm not going to let you go around Lemuria bleeding everywhere." She said simply. "Let me clean and bandage you." Piers didn't argue, just did what she said as she gently cleared away the blood.

Isaac still looked worried as he walked around picking up the bits of glass Piers had missed. The others were also up by now, Felix had forced Jenna up and he and Garet were trying to get the table out of the notch it had crammed itself into. Jenna was sitting on the floor complaining about the floor being hard and how her back hurt. While Ivan and Sheba were out on deck with Kraden looking over the damage.

"Why didn't you let me take a look at you before." Mia said as she tied off the layers of gauze. Sitting up she looked him in the eye and glared at him. "What kind of idiot walks around with a whole in him?" she continued, poking the bandages to put more emphasis on her words. Piers flinched as she did so before looking off to one side slightly.

"I didn't tell you I was hurt because I wasn't." He said. Garet and Felix looked over at him as Mia's temper sparked.

"What do you mean you weren't hurt? You collapsed in the hallway! Honestly, Piers, I thought that you of all people would know when—"

"Piers, you must have been hit on the head one too many times if that doesn't count as an injury." Garet said, cutting her off. Felix just cocked a questioning eyebrow as he set his side of the table down.

"Never knew you were one to brag, Piers." The Venus-adept said as moved away and picked Jenna up off the floor.

"Hey!" She cried, struggling and flailing her arms around. "Put me down you big mute!" Felix just ginned slightly.

"You look tired; a nice dip should cool you off." Jenna's eyes went wide as her brother proceeded to carry her out on deck.

"No! No!" She shouted as he disappeared out the door. The others inside laughed a bit, Piers placing a hand over his stomach as he felt another twinge of pain. Mia began fussing about him again, and the Djinn started bombarding him with questions.

"So what happened after that flash, Piers?" Mist asked, bouncing up and down beside Mia.

"Forget what happened after." Gel said. "What was the flash, period?"

"Uh, well… it might have been umm…"

"How far are we from the city?" Ivan interrupted as he and Sheba came inside. The Jupiter-adept was talking to Kraden, but it caught the attention of the others in the room. Piers gave a small sigh of relief.

Jenna gave a yelp outside as there was a splash. Felix called out too.

"I'd say we're only a few minutes from the dock." Kraden answered as he folded his arms in thought. He was completely ignoring the two siblings while Sheba giggled into her hand. "but there's quiet a bit of damage to the ship, we won't be able to move without clearing some of it away first." Kraden, then seeing Piers on the floor and bandaged, brought his attention to the Lemurian.

"So, what happened in here?" He asked. Piers looked uncomfortable again,

"Piers got stabbed with the Trident in the hall-way!" Spring shouted out, bouncing up and down like Mist. Kraden's eyes went wide as Mia noticed Piers look almost pleadingly at Shade.

"Yah!" Shade said, oblivious of Piers. "He got stabbed just like it said in the-!" Mia was taken aback as a column of ice shot up, rocketing the poor Djinni to Piers who then and clamped Shade's mouth shut.

"That's enough." He said hoarsely as Shade, careful of the bandages, squirmed around trying to get away. Unfortunately for the Lemurian, everyone had perked up at Shade's out-burst. Especially Kraden.

"Just like it said in what exactly?" He asked, adjusting his spectacles to take a closer look at Piers. Mia noticed that Kraden was wearing his: "If you don't tell me now I'll never leave you alone." smile, and covered her mouth with one hand.

"Uhh…" Piers said as he tried to come up with something to say, Shade was still squirming, but not getting anywhere.

"I-it's nothing really," He said, with a phony smile. "just an old Legend in Lemuria that these two picked up." He nodded to Shade and Spring, "It's nothing important, too old to mean anything."

"Isn't that what people say about Lemuria?" Isaac asked, leaning on the table and absently fumbling with the yellow length of his scarf.

"And the Elemental Rocks?" Ivan seconded.

"That's what the people near Gaia and Aqua Rocks said about the powers there too." Sheba said.

"And let us not forget Poseidon and the Trident itself." Kraden finished, looking pointedly at where Piers had been stabbed. Mia noticed Piers swallow nervously.

"But this really is just a legend." He protested, "I was jabbed when I was trying to get Felix inside and the Trident caught me in the doorway, there were blades everywhere, I almost though I saw one go overboard." Mia, knowing that he'd lost a lot of blood, chose then to intervene.

"I think he's a bit to tired to be answering questions don't you think, Kraden?" She asked calmly. "Sailing through that storm all night then being wounded today." She turned to face Piers, her expression hard. "What you need now is to get in bed and rest." She stated, her tone leaving no room for argument. Piers just blinked a few times before her words seemed to sink in.

"That does seem like a good idea," He said in agreement, although still a tad dazed. He let Shade go and let the small spirit shoot up and down to the lower decks.

A soaking Jenna stomped into the cabin as Garet and Isaac were helping Piers up. Her auburn hair was bristling like a cat's tail and she looked ready to snap at anything that moved. An equally wet Felix followed her.

"The idea was just to scare you into getting up." Felix was saying. "You didn't have too squirm so much that we both fell off the boat." Jenna didn't reply as she just stomped down the stairs past Piers.

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Piers gave a small start at the light tap at the door; Shade jumped up and kicked it open so he didn't need to get up.

"Hi, Mia." The Djinni said politely as the Mercury-Adept poked her head inside. When she spotted Piers still half-asleep on the bed, she smiled slightly and made her way inside. In her hands she held a tray with a bowl of soup and bread, as well as some more ointments and fresh bandages. As she set the tray down by the bed Piers seemed to wake up a bit more and sat up.

"That wasn't very nice, you know." He said as she handed him some lunch.

"What wasn't?" She asked innocently.

"Spiking my drink like that too get me to sleep." He replied, nodding his head towards the clay mug beside the tray, its contents cold. Mia just smiled as she picked up a handful of fresh bandages from the tray.

"It's not like I haven't done the very same thing to Isaac and the others at one point in time you know." She said as Piers set his half-eaten food aside and helped her undo the wrappings.

Piers cringed as the strips came off and pulled on the scabbed wounds. Biting his lip as Mia began applying ointments to them.

"They're almost done up there, you know." She said, noticing his expression. "We should be moving in a little while. Then you can get back inside Lemuria again."

"Yes, it'll be nice to see my uncle again." He said, biting back a sharp yelp as her fingers moved over one of the stabs, taking off a small amount of dry blood and causing more to start seeping out.

Mia moved quickly to re-wrap the bandages. Once she was done she went over to the small basin in the room and washed her hands before coming back and giving him back his lunch. As he settled back against the head-board though he noticed an odd look in her eyes, like she was debating something.

"Is something wrong, Mia?" He asked curiously.

"Hmm?" She replied, as if she hadn't expected a question.

"You look like something's bothering you." He said. "Is there something troubling you?" Mia looked away for a moment, worrying her bottom lip.

"Yes, actually." She said, coming forward she sat down on the foot of the bed and looked him in the eye, sapphire on gold. "Why couldn't I heal you?" She asked.

"What?" He asked, blinking slightly

"I used Pure Ply on you and it did nothing, Piers." She replied, getting up again. "And I want to know why." Piers had a forgotten spoonfull of soup half-way to his mouth as he looked up at her. Setting it down, he just looked at her and shrugged.

"I'd answer if I could, Mia, but I honestly don't know." He answered.

"But you'll ask Hydrous right, Piers?" Spring chirped. Mia turned around to look at the Djinni, so didn't see the glare Piers shot the spirit, clearly saying 'One more word and you're dead.' Spring jumped slightly and stopped talking, Shade in the corner chuckled slightly.

"Talk to Hydros about what, Piers?" Mia asked, turning back to face him. Piers wiped his expression blank.

"All I have planned too talk to Hydros about is our quest. And maybe catch up on what's been happening in my absence." He said. The ship lurched slightly as it began to sway rhythmically in the water surrounding it once more. Piers looked at her, smiling slightly,

"And it seems like you four will be seeing Lemuria for the first time in just a short while." Mia just smiled at him as she picked up the used bandages, as well as the try and empty dishes, and walked out.

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Everyone was up on deck as Felix steered the ship in between the wharfs in the Lemurian port. Piers looked over and saw Isaac, Garet, Mia and Ivan looking excited as he tied the mooring lines securely so that the current wouldn't pull the ship away while they were in the city.

As they walked down the ramp the excitement caught on to the rest of the party. Kraden was the most enthusiastic at the prospect of seeing ancient Lemuria again, while Sheba started telling Ivan and Isaac about Lunpa and how he had come to Lemuria with Babi.

"So what are you looking forward to most, Piers?" Piers jumped at Mia's voice and almost tripped over the half-hidden tiles, grass and dirt covering most of them after centuries of inactivity. Straightening his head-dress he saw Mia trying not to laugh.

"I catch you off guard?" She asked smiling.

"Ha ha, very funny." Piers replied as they began passing small torches in the passage. "Honestly I'm just looking forward to a good meal and seeing my uncle again." He said. Jenna appeared to have heard his comment about food and looked back,

"If my cooking's so bad, no one made you eat it, Piers." She said. Garet looked at his friend and tsk'ed, mocking Kraden's lecturing voice.

"Now, now, Piers." The big adept said. "You shouldn't be so rude to poor Jenna. She tries so very hard to make her stew tastes like mush." Even Jenna laughed as she tried to smack Garet with her staff. As the excitement died down though, Mia turned back to Piers.

"Out of all of us though I guess you're the one who's misses home the most." She said. "I mean, places outside of the Sea of Time all resemble each other quite a bit, but nothing really compares with Lemuria." Piers nodded slightly, giving a small grin.

"But it's been fun traveling Weyard with everyone. I've been in Lemuria for longer than any of you have been alive," He said jokingly. "It's nice to get out for a while." Felix turned a questioning eyebrow on the Lemurian.

"I don't think you can be so sure unless we know how old you really are." he said. Isaac was quick to catch onto the joke and joining the other Venus-Adept.

"How do we know you aren't still younger than Kraden?" Isaac asked, the old scholar nodding in agreement.

'Oh no, not this again!' Piers thought wildly, although in truth he was trying not to smile, 'I thought they'd forgotten!'

"Oh yes this again!" Ivan said, with a big grin on his face as Sheba smirked mischievously.

"We'll never forget! And we'll never stop until you spill!" They all laughed as Piers faked a look of horror at the threat.

The other's continued to pester him about his age until they reached the entrance to the city. The two Lemurians guarding the entrance brightened as they recognized Felix and the others.

"But who are they though?" One asked, glaring pointedly at Isaac, Garet, Mia and Ivan. The four adepts were a little nervous as Piers stepped forward.

"They are friends of ours who helped to fire the Lighthouses." He explained. "They can be trusted, and I'm sure King Hydros will want to see them as well." When the guards still didn't look convinced he added. "If they cause any trouble, like the others I'll take the blame, you have nothing to worry about."

The two guards exchanged nervous glances, something seemed to be bothering them.

"All right." One said. "they can go through but…" He trailed off, and Piers noticed that the man refused to meet his eyes.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked. Spring and Shade had come out of hiding again and were bouncing excitedly around the others. The second guard spoke up,

"They can go, King Hydros has told us not too hold them back, but…" he too looked away, "We need to speak to you in private though, Piers." He said. Piers felt a small amount of dread seep into his stomach, but he quickly shook it off.

"Of course." He said calmly, "You guys go on ahead," he said to them, nodding towards the door-way. "I'll catch up with you later near the fountain." Felix, Jenna, Sheba and Kraden nodded and started dragging the other four with them. Once they had vanished down the passage, one of the guards spoke up.

"You shouldn't have said that you know." He said, looking at the ground.

"Why not? I said I'd meet them near the fountain, what's wrong with them meeting me there?" Piers asked as the second one answered, pulling out a small bundle of envelopes and taking out the first. Handing the thick parchment out to him he said,

"Because you won't be there…"