Lost at Sea

"I hate teleportation." Kayn held his head with one hand ‒ his stomach the other ‒ and groaned. "I feel like I'm about to throw up."

"If this gets your intestines twisted, how do you handle wraith walking?" Ryze watched Kayn retch. His body convulsed, shadows trailing off his hunched back. "You could've turned the other way."

"This is a side effect of your spell! You should watch the consequences of your work ‒ up close and personal." Kayn wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "And wraith-walking is utterly different. Your body doesn't just pick itself up, vanish, and reappear miles away ‒ are you even listening?"

Ryze stood with his back towards the shadow-assassin to look at the surrounding area. A towering city asserted itself from the ground towards the clouds. Blood-stained docks extended off the coastline with ships ‒ military and commercial ‒ sailing in and out of the area. Fins and tentacles poked out above the water's surface and ravens and seagulls circled the shore. The two travelers stood at the edge of one of the docks leading into the main port.

Ryze stroked his beard. "Well this isn't right."

"Come again?"

"By the looks of it, I think we're in Bilgewater."

"You said 'by the looks of it' like the spell wasn't supposed to bring us here."

"Definitely not."

"Well what happened?"

"I panicked."

"You panicked?"

"You saw the demon your master became." Ryze grimaced. "Just be glad I didn't freeze. Then we'd both be dead."

"Yea, whatever." Kayn closed his eyes ‒ lines wrinkled across his forehead ‒ and squeezed the hilt of his scythe. A few seconds later, it decomposed into shadow and faded. "Now what?"

"Let's go into the city and grab some food. We have a long way to go and I don't think you like me much." Ryze brushed some remaining arcane dust off his shoulder and headed into the lower level of the city.

"Cause what we need at this exact moment is quality time together…" Kayn mumbled as he followed the mage. "You may want to put something on to cover your skin, lest you attract unwanted attention."

"Nonsense!" Ryze threw his arms into the air. "The people of Bilgewater are extremely accepting ‒ its quite amazing actually."

"I didn't take you for the picky type, Kayn." Ryze finally broke the silence that engulfed their walk.

"I'm not picky."

"Alright, then let's go here." Ryze pointed to a bar a short distance ahead.

"Well, 'The Kraken's Feast' seems inviting." Kayn scratched his head. "You don't suppose the bar's name is literal, do you?"

"Probably not."

"Probably?"
"This is Bilgewater after all."

"If Illaoi is in there and knocks your head in with that kraken-idol of hers, don't come crying to me." Kayn opened the door and threw his arm out, gesturing the mage to walk in first. "Blue skinned baldies first."

Ryze walked into the bar and glanced around. The scents of alcohol, puke, mildew, and body odor mixed in the air to create a unique stench. Humans, and creatures with humanoid figures, sat at tables and stools; some had closed eyes and open mouths ‒ likely passed out ‒ others guzzled drinks, alcohol dripping down their chins and necks to the puddled floor, and a few flirted with the barmaids.

"Well I'll be damned." Ryze grinned and pointed towards a woman sitting at the end of the bar. "It's Sarah."

"Who?" Kayn looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Long lost lover or something?"

"Just stay in the shadows and steal us some drinks while you're at it." Ryze shoved his palm in Kayn's faced, pushing him off to the side, and approached the woman.

"Keep your ego in check." Kayn faded into the shadows.

"Bartender," Ryze motioned the employee towards him. "Two of whatever it is you serve here most often."

The face of the man behind the bar was human, but after turning around to retrieve Ryze's request, a tentacle-like tail was noticeable. The woman named Sarah caught the mage staring at the malformity. "Don't stare, old friend ‒ it's impolite."

"Nonsense ‒ It's not like there are eyes on his tentacle-tail-thing." Ryze brushed an unknown liquid off a wooden stool and sat down. Sarah held her gaze on him with one eyebrow raised. "You're kidding."

"Better safe than sorry. You never know what this forsaken city harbors." The bartender came back with the drinks ‒ glasses filled with mud, pebbles, and rum. Sarah flicked a silver coin towards the humanoid and took a sip of the concoction. "Now tell me, Ryze ‒ what's your business here?"

"Well." Ryze eyed the beverage and pushed it away from him. "Nothing, actually."

"What game are you playing at?"

"No games ‒ I simply had a slight malfunction during a teleportation spell."

"Malfunction?" The woman clenched her fist and banged the table, attracting some looks from other customers. "You don't malfunction."

"If you saw what we were running from, you'd know why."

"We?"

"Yes, I ran into ‒" Ryze felt the tip of a blade on the back of his neck. "Seriously?"

"You're not welcome here, mage." Bystanders stood up to witness the brewing scene. "Why are you here?"

"Back off, Pyke." Sarah rose from her stool and drew her guns, one pointed at the intruder's head and the other at anyone else looking for a brawl.

"This is not your fight, 'Miss Fortune' ‒ that is what they call you, isn't it?." The drowned spirit pressed his knife on Ryze's neck, drawing blood. Whispering emanated throughout the room, but no mouths were moving. "Now lower your guns or your 'old friend' gets it."

"You know I can't do that." The whispering increased in volume as Sarah cocked her pistols.

"Enough chatter." Pyke slithered his blade to the front of Ryze's neck. "I'm going to back out of here slowly with the mage in tow."

"I don't think so." A scythe manifested around Pyke's chest, the weapon's tip pressed against the center of his chest. "Extremely accepting for sure, dumbass."

"Well it's about time." Ryze sighed.

"Who's this?" Sarah and Pyke said in unison.

"Not important." Kayn said. "Do you recognize this weapon, spirit?"

"Yes." Pyke grumbled. "But I don't think you know how to use it, boy."

"Is that so?" Kayn pulled the scythe closer, puncturing Pykes chest. Water began to drip from the wound. "Is that drinkable?"

"This isn't over." Pyke groaned and removed his knife from Ryze's throat and dissolved into a puddle.

"He never answered my question." Kayn willed his scythe away and formed himself back into flesh from the wraith form he had assumed. "What was that about?"

"I didn't think you'd be on his list, Ryze." Sarah cleared her throat. "Then again, he may just dislike magic-wielding beings in general."

"We don't have time to linger on Pyke's agenda ‒ we must focus our efforts on Nocturne and those he turned." Ryze rubbed his neck. "And Kayn?"

"Yeah?"

Ryze placed his hand on the assassin's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Is anyone going to fill me in?" Sarah interjected.

"We need a ship to hunt some demons." Ryze turned to look at Sarah. "You don't happen to have any we can borrow?

"I do." The pirate's face tensed. "But I'm afraid I can't come with you. Ever since I killed Gangplank, Bilgewater has lost any order it may have had under his tyrannical rule. I need to stay here and try to pick up the pieces."

"I see." Ryze extended his hand towards his old friend. "May Fortune favor you, Sarah."

"Stop by again before I get too old to recognize you, eh?" The pirate holstered her guns and shook Ryze's hand. "Go out the door and take a right, take the road all the way down 'till you reach the port, and then take another right. The ship for you is the second to last one down the docks."

"Thanks again." Ryze made his way to the door.

"Nice guns." Kayn grinned. "Too bad I didn't get to see them in action."

"I may be friends with your travelling companion, but I've never been on good terms with practitioners of the dark arts." Sarah set her hand on one of her guns. "Now leave my city before I decide your colleagueship with Ryze isn't enough to save you."

Kayn rolled his eyes and left the tavern to catch up with Ryze. "I don't think she likes me very much."

"I'd have to agree with you there." Ryze chuckled.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Kayn manifested a beer from the shadows and handed it to Ryze. "Now ‒ where we headed?"

"Back to Ionia." Ryze grabbed the beverage from Kayn and took a swig. "Didn't think you'd come through on this."

"I'm pretty sure that was the only drink in the tavern that didn't have piranha or octopus bits in them."

"That's what they were?" Ryze scratched his head. "I just thought they were rocks."

"And I thought mages were supposed to be smart."

"What ‒ just because I can't tell octopus and piranha bits from rocks I'm stupid?"

"Precisely."

"Revel in your jokes while you can."

"Oh I will." Kayn clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Now, why exactly are we going to Ionia again?"

"Because Nocturne is likely going to try and siphon all the magic that courses through the land to make himself stronger."

"How do you know that?"

"Because he's already started." The runes on Ryze's body flickered. "I can feel the land's energy fading."

"Well then." Kayn looked at Ryze. "It looks like we need to get moving."