Book II: Of Friends and Foes

Chapter X

Surprisingly, there actually was a titan ship dock on the Waylon River. It was well outside of New Torna, but as we left we noticed that our pictures were being broadcasted everywhere on all the TV screens, so we both knew there'd be no easy way of going back into the city. I quickly purchased a sword identical to my last one before we left.

"Too bad we didn't spend more time in that city, there must have been so much to do...," Mythra pondered.

"Agreed," I responded, but there was something else on my mind.

"Mythra?"

"What's up?"

"When we fell out of that tower, you took the hit when he hit the water."

"Of course, I can heal instantly, you can't," she teased.

"I know that, but... didn't it hurt? I know you're resilient but you went out like a light!"

"Of course I feel pain. That one definitely hurt like a son of a gun, but I'd rather do that than let you die."

"Guess I should keep a closer eye on you then," I laughed

"Well, I have been known for getting into trouble from time to time."

"Also what was with that thing when you're core crystals started glowing and a literal beam of light came down from the sky?"

"It's an ability I can only use outdoors and in extreme cases only. I simply used it so that they'd be too blinded to see where we fell. With Pyra being an artificial weapon... I couldn't exactly force her into her core crystal."

"You can do that?"

"There's a lot I can do."

Eventually we found the person in charge of the titan ship yard.

"Hello sir, can we get a transport to the Leftherian Archipelago?"

"Meh meh!" the nopon man exclaimed, as nopon often did when excited or surprised. "That such a long journey, would cost fortune! It be much smarter to go to Argentum and take train!"

"Oh," I said thoughtfully. "We'll do that then!"

After paying the fee, he led us back into a ship yard and loaded us onto one of the titan ships. Titans were very large creatures, in fact, there were some said to be the size of continents five hundred years ago, but when this massive new continent in the middle of the sea was discovered, the largest titans plowed into it, making this vast continent even larger. However, today's titans, while still massive, weren't nearly that big. Most simply walked the continent as animals, but there were still quite a few that could fly or swim great distances, these were made into titan ships.

The type of titan ship would depend on shape and method of travel the titan used. Long, flat titans that traveled by swimming were labeled "Titanback Vessels". These titans had a large wooden structure built on top of this titan, and were secured using poles, columns, ropes, and nails attached to the titan. While this did in fact cause pain to the titan, it was never anything close to fatal or endangering to its well-being. After the titan had served for a few hundred years, the wooden ship would be scrapped and the titan would go live in peace for however many hundreds of years it had left.

Other titans that travelled by air were deemed "Airtitan Vessels". These titans would work kind of like hot-air balloons and they could carry a LOT more weight than your average Titanback. So massive wooden structures were built and the attached to the titan via ropes, chains and wooden supports, this is how the Argentum Trade Guild used to operate before it became the Argentum Gambling District under Juliani.

Our ship happened to be an Airtitan Vessel, as was common for commercial transport, due to the amount of weight it could support and the fact that most of the way would be by land and not by sea. However, before we could board the ship, two strangers stopped us on the docks.

"You're gonna have to stop there fiend," he said. I soon realized that this was the same man and woman we'd seen just before entering the BCCHQ. They were both wearing cloaks now... and I wasn't one hundred percent sure why the man was, as we had met earlier and he had on a simple suit and tie.

He yanked off his cloak to reveal his body. He had longer, dark grey hair, his eyes were a dark, deep blue, almost purple. He was about as tall as I was, and had a proud demeanor. He was extremely muscular and his outfit displayed that well with a hole cut out so that you could see a good portion of his chest and almost all of his arms. However his legs were completely covered.

The girl also took off her cloak, revealing herself as a blade. She looked rather cute, with black hair that went down to her rear, and bright pink eyes. Her outfit was a full body black and blue skirt with what seemed like white strips stitched over it in a lattice fashion. It was short-sleeved, but she had leggings and forearm covers/gloves that were reminiscent of mummy wrappings. Her fingers and toes had claws, and fixed to the back of her head was a white fox mask with red eyes and it emitted a strange dark aura. It had long ears that faced upwards, but on the back of her head it simply made her look like she had ears.

She held our her hands as a large, two-handed club appeared in it. She threw it over to the man, who then proceeded to point it in my direction.

"That weapon is a shield hammer," Mythra informed. "It provides the driver with slow, defensive stance while being able to dish out some nasty damage. You're best bet as an attacker is to dodge and attack, if you parry, you're whole body might get knocked over."

I nodded.

"Are you trying to turn Mythra into some sort of weapon too?" I asked him.

"I am the great hero of Alrest! Well known throughout my land I am the great guardian Gabriel! And this is my blade, the luckiest charm in the universe, Kasandra!" he introduced as they both made silly poses together in unison. He also seemed to deliberately ignore my question.

"Why does this seem so familiar?" Mythra pondered aloud.

"Do you know him?"

"No, but I recognize that attitude..."

"We're gonna take you in whether you like it or not, so you'd best surrender now!" Gabriel warned.

Mythra laughed. "Don't think it'll be so easy."

The mask on the back of Kasandra's head began to make a rattling sound, and storm clouds billowed in

"Last chance!" Kasandra giggled out.

I drew my sword and rushed Gabriel, he took note and drew Kasandra's club and we clashed. The sheet weight of the club threw me back a bit and he went to swing again, narrowly missing me.

"I told you not to parry that dumbass," Mythra scolded.

"Yeah, yeah, I forgot!"

Gabriel let out a long laugh. "Now time to show you what that great Gabriel can do!"

Immediately, lightning from the clouds struck the dock underneath them, destroying that portion of the dock and causing both Kasandra and Gabriel to fall into the river and they both drifted away.

Mythra and I both gawked in amazement before she walked ahead of me.

"Come on, let's go. No use waiting for him."

"Are they... gonna be alright?"

"Trust me when I say they'll be fine," Mythra smirked as I followed her onto the ship and we set off for the Argentum Gambling District.

Readability Level: 11th-12th Grade

Time Taken: 3 Hours

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