Chapter 2
REUNION
PART 1 - Castaway from Betrayal
The cramped cavern rapidly heated to a perilous level as the remnants of the long-deceased lit ablaze with red flames. There was little room to move where it and a pair of thriving figures were trapped.
"We have to get out, Niddler, and quick! Where's the Compass?" Ren groaned, laboring against the bonds. He had been far too weak from his long journey into the gloomy caves. Sweat was pouring down his face, the heat in the chamber was too intense and he felt himself about to collapse from overexertion.
"I can't see where it is! It's getting really hot! And hard to breathe!" Niddler coughed, the room was filling with smoke and he was panting heavily from the smelting fumes.
"Ugh! I have to try to reach the sword! Help me! Try to push me forward!" Ren grunted of persistence, trying to maneuver his way to the broken blade on the ground about half a length away. Niddler pushed himself back with his hindfeet, like Ren had told him to.
"Hurry up Ren! I can't hold us back any longer!" Niddler cried out, jamming backward with all the might his monkeybird toes could handle. He put Ren a few more paces toward his target.
"Almost...got it!" Ren choked aloud. He strained with every grain of vigor, barring his teeth. His hand ceased only a minuscule distance to the hilt. Suddenly, a coolness bathed the caverns. The fire was extinguished and now warm water flowed toward his hand. He let out an onerous sigh in relief, almost flooring. He did not have enough energy to ask what on Merr just happened, but he thanked Kuunda for it. Something resembling a boot kicked his sword to his hand.
"Chungo lungo, Ren! You can't keep yourself out of trouble!" The familiar snap had been diminished, Ren acquired enough brunt to peek up.
"Ioz! You found us here!" The young prince called out, overjoyed at the sight of the lost shipmate. Although, his face showed nothing but stunned easement. The friendly pirate appeared to be worn out, wiping sweat from his forehead, but did not look nearly as bad as Ren felt.
"Ugh. The next time the two of you go wandering by yourselves into a cave of web-spinning monsters with Bloth at your tail, tell me so I can bring a healing-box along." Tula lethargically greeted through words dotted with witticism. She sauntered forward to the three, Compass in palm. "It was fortunate that leviathan wasn't good at holding on to his plunder." She carried a flimsy scold as she braced one arm over her head as if dizzy. She seemed to be exhausted and nearly about to pass to unconsciousness as well.
"Tula! Ioz! I'm so glad to see you!" Niddler enthusiastically chattered, verily solaced by the unexpected company. He tried to get up and release his wings but only managed to wiggle and clump back on Ren as the two were still conjoined by the back.
"We can't repay you enough, Ioz." Ren gratefully squeezed out as the monkeybird tumbled on him and made him grunt.
"Save it, if we had gotten here a moment short you would have been spider-repellent." The thrill-seeking buccaneer criticized the foolhardy teen. "If you want to be thanking someone it should be the woman-I mean Tula." Ioz wound a glance at his female crewmate, helping to keep her stable from the ecomantic whiplash that always hit her when she attempted to control nature too vivaciously. "She was the one that got the kreld-eater and his sea-thugs off your back." He shot concerned eyes at Tula, who was starting to earn some of her strength back. The Andorian beauty mustered a shaky smile.
"Thanks a lot Tula, I owe you. Where have you guys-" Ren began sheepishly, he smiled at his friends when his stamina revived enough to sit up. "Whoa!" Niddler decked over his wings, causing him to fall off-balance.
"Heh, I guess we should get you two out of those jitatan armstraps." Ioz mustered a weary laugh. He assisted the two up and off the ground, then cut them free. Ren stretched his arms, then fetched his antique weapon. The rope created markings on the adolescent's skin that stung, and Niddler spread his wings, feeling as if he were about to stumble from alleviation.
The four sat down on the floor to pause for an intermission. Ren and Niddler drank from canisters of water that Tula transported with her. Ioz was the first to summarize what happened. "Tula and I ended up blown nearly all the way to Janda-town after that seastorm. At first all we were able to hold was a board, a part of the Wraith that broke off. We were close in vicinity to that kreld-eater's nest and when we heard that Bloth was in a rage that he couldn't find you, we stow aboard. It was hard to keep ourselves concealed enough to keep the dartha-eel from noticing us on his ship for a good length of time and still manage to hang on for as long as we did. We guessed he was trying to find you, but I didn't expect he would raid Kalinda or go busting skulls like he did. We were appalled when we found out he was going to tear down the chunga-lungan town looking for you. When we found out you sailed all the way to this jitatan place, we planned to ambush the sea-scum." The dusky-haired sailor designed with a hint of altitude. He spoke of truth, but the prince harbored the impression he left out some of the more distressing details.
"What do you mean Ioz? He raided Kalinda? That can't be, we were there the whole time!" Ren's inflection ascended with disbelief, flabbergasted at what he was hearing.
"Maybe you thought you were there." Tula knowingly stated. "If you were in Kalinda at all, there was no way you could not have seen him!" Tula's manner suggested it was a shock to her to be learning of Ren's ignorance.
"Then by Kuunda, you must have just missed each other. The way that rudderless ox and his lunkheads tore through the town you'd think they'd sunk his jitatan ship." Ioz confirmed as he gaped at Tula, and then back at Ren. Both were grim and bewildered that their peers knew nothing of the episode.
Ren drew a sip of his water. "That wicked Bloth, I swear by my Father's Soul I'll make him pay for this. I don't understand though, how he knew where I was going. This is all my fault...maybe I shouldn't have even started this Quest." Ren soberly droned, lowering disheartened eyes. He begot a downcast disposition, feeling sorrow for the people his archnemesis had made to suffer only because of him. Though he would normally be energetic, this time he was discouraged.
"No. It's not." Tula debated such shortness of passion with a subdued smile to the regal. "You don't have anything to do with the evils Bloth does, you're on this Quest to save this planet from its destruction by people like him." Tula earnestly reassured, her sympathetic ways always seemed to have a beneficial effect on Ren. The brunet charmer slouched into the wall then reached into a bag of supplies she had packed with her and pulled out a sliver of melon. She gave it to Niddler, who replied with a chipper squawk. "Did you tell anyone where you were going, Ren? Anyone in Kalinda? Anyone at all?" She resourcefully quizzed, trying to piece facts together. Her and Ioz's story validated the Pirate Lord was on the opposite side of Kalinda, very quickly he would have to figure out where Ren's trail would lead.
"Tula! Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you!" Niddler squealed with delight. He munched on his gift of the melon and nuzzled the ecomancer, who patted his head with a merry. Despite having eaten so much previously, he now found himself famished and composing those noises of a smacking beak. "He didn't, but wait, what about the man who gave you that map?" He paused between eating with full face and pried Ren about the scroll the youngster had been given, suddenly remembering to ask about it.
"Oh! I can't believe I forgot, that's right, Niddler!" Ren jarred with a start as he put down his tankard on the floor. He reached into his boot, pulling out the article the fellow had entrusted to him. "It survived well enough." He trumpeted as he carried a relaxed smirk. He unrolled the parchment and laid it on the silt.
Ioz lifted it and peered at it, his eyes narrowed. "I see Arakna island on here. This place. By Kuunda, what is with this jitatan writing?" The pirate squinted at the foreign words, trying to make sense out of their meaning. He dallied in his thoughts. The map reminded him of his sister, Solia. The last and only other time he had come here was with her. He desisted to a spell, in wonder of that moonrise ago she had lent him this map.
"I don't know, Ioz. I couldn't understand it, but I was able to use it to come here." Ren unluckily answered, not having any more of an inkling than his favorable colleague.
"Is it possible the man worked for Bloth and could have misled us?" Niddler solely theorized, having no trust for the stranger from the beginning. Despite his monkeybird inclinations for food and comfort he was a logical thinker, liken of the bipedal trio.
"I don't think so. It's too unusual, it seemed like he needed me. I could tell by his voice. I didn't get the sense he wished me any harm. The Treasure is here anyway, and Bloth couldn't take it even if he had." Ren mused as he angled his eyes with speculation and bemusement.
"You don't know that for sure, Ren. Remember, a good pirate never trusts anyone. This map though, it's old. Very old. There's no way he could have created it for con, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a gantha-washing shardfish." Ioz apprehensively dissuaded the boy's naivety. He handed the map to Tula, who was now penetrating it with her lush revision.
"That's possible, but it doesn't feel like it is. I don't believe it. I have a hunch there's something else going on. Something doesn't feel right about this." The majestic lad cast his gaze downward, again lost in inner scrutiny.
"Ren, that's a fool's talk. A pirate can't survive on suspicions alone! That kind of thinking is exactly the kind that gets the Treasures stolen from us! If the Treasure here and reachable, we'll have to assume there's a trap...or lose our lives." Ioz practically conflicted, not buying into Ren's impulsive intuition this time.
"No, Ioz, I think Ren is right. I sense something troubling with this situation too." Tula rounded her head to the rough swashbuckler, adding her two drabuls to the conversation. The raven seafarer seemed as if he wished to say something, but relented. Tula rubbed Niddler's crest, who was now finishing up the slice of fruit. She settled close to Ren, leaning against his shoulder as he struggled with devises.
"Whatever the case, we need to be careful. More people know about Ren now and some might wish him harm." Niddler applied himself with a dignified presence to the conversation.
"That's right, Niddler. We'll need to stay close." Tula devotedly reinforced a reliance on unity, to which everyone agreed. They all witnessed how bad events had turned when they were forced apart.
"They won't be able to for long. I promise I'll return all Thirteen Treasures to the City of Octopon. Then Bloth's terror and those of the dark water will end for good." Ren terrifically professed to his friends as he steeled up from a shadowed poise. He declared his charge with courage and determination to the ragtag bunch, his face showing an intense inner-fortitude and motivation. Their loyalty would not be broken, and Ren was sure the time they were apart would only make the righteous Quest stronger, for each of their misfit purposes as One.
"That's right! We'll be an unstoppable force! Just you wait, Bloth, because of us you're going to overthrow your squid-market!" Niddler stood tall, pointing a monkeybird-hand forward with a ruffle of feathers in an expression of comical and exaggerated bravery that gave a grin to Ioz and Tula. He fell off his balance with a startled squawk, making the two laugh sprightly in result.
"Whatever the case of the Treasures, I think we've waited around long enough to get back to finding this next one." Ioz commenced resolve, standing up with sword in scabbard and ready to go. "If we hang around here too long those web-spitters may start to miss us." He brushed toward the pebbled opening in the floor, which contained the ever aglow, emerald light. He sat down and exert to cram his legs through the hole, but it was too taut. "Chungo lungo, looks like I'm not going to fit." He motioned of simplicity after trying to squeeze down the opening. He scrapped himself back up.
"Of course you don't, Ioz, it wouldn't let Bloth's crew down there either." Tula candidly curbed the humdrum with the obvious knowledge.
"I know that woman, I mean Tula." Ioz retorted as a glance shifted at the female shiphand, expressing his annoyed gesture. He plied on the thin rock-edge of the perforation, which did not budge. "Someone else is going to have to go through or we're going to need to find a way to bust this jitatan breach open." Ioz finished examining the entryway and plod back up.
"I don't think I can. Even if I could use my ecomancy, I'm not sure if I would be able to move it much." Tula tersely declined, her powers were spent and it would not be a good plan to attempt to shake the cave anyway.
"Niddler, do you think you can squeeze through that hole?" Ren petitioned the primate-bird, reclining to his pal's line of view.
"I can try." Niddler abode to offer, standing from his position. "What should I do if the Treasure isn't nearby?" The monkeybird pattered on opposable feet, astern the rippling entrance.
"Then come back and get us, we'll try to break our way in." Ren told his feathered-friend. He watched him slip passage into the crook with a succeeding squeeze of tight wings.
"I'm in!" Niddler cawed out as he hovered a scant length below the crack. The three human adventurers observed from above. Niddler flew around the wide-open outlet. It was twice, if not three times as capacious as the previous asylum. It was completely black and clammy, except for the mysterious fire of jade encompassing deep throughout. He chased the source of the enchantment, which seemed to be endless. Although, he noticed that it followed a curving serpentine, like the pattern of a river. He glided for an unobstructed time, trying to find the heart of the brilliance before he started to tire, at last giving up to make his way back to the access. Below the monkeybird's unescorted flight, a figure sat in seclusion...Completely unobserved.
"He's still down there, but I don't sense danger." Tula stated to inspire the pair beside her, who glued eyes in a lingering wait. She leaned over the aperture along with Ren and Ioz, gripping to its brim. Like she was able to feel everything within her immediate environment, Tula would know if Niddler needed help.
"The Compass points down the den but it stops right there and fades out!" Ren startled with discovery as he flicked the Treasure-finding rune over the polished fissure until at last his flying friend emerged from it, returning with the news.
"I didn't find the Treasure, the glow goes on for a great distance!" Niddler reported apropos to the gap. Out of breath and pulling himself up from the snugly wedged enclosure, he was straining to get his wings through. He fluttered himself up and over the rockface. Of all the tasks Niddler had been called on to perform for the crew, scouting was one of the most tiring. Second only to ferrying, of course.
"Then we'll have to smash our way in." Ren artfully conjured. He ducked down, probing at the edges of the solid cavity. "It doesn't feel like it's too strong." He assessed, getting up. "We can use that rock over there!" He beckoned toward a very broad stone near the wall of the chamber that appeared to be unfastened.
Ioz ambled toward the chunky sediment. He wrapped his arms around it, but it did not come loose at his urging. "A little help, Ren?" With a shaking voice, he signaled to the youthful regent to help him. The two men were then joined by the somber-haired ecomancer, who steadied the rock upright with her hands as they tugged it.
"Just bash it against the edges, I think they'll break." The blond royal called to his friends, groaning as he strove with a support of the weight to batter through the thin layer of quarry. They bashed the rock downward against the surface. Parts of it chipped off, but did not break.
"Noy jitat. I think you should have waited to save Ren after that leviathan had broken through, Tula. It would have been easier!" Ioz impolitely remarked as he strained to boost the rubble up a second time, his miffed babble toiled with tired grunts. He couldn't help but feel there may have been a faster way to do this.
"Ioz, keep your comments to yourself!" Tula breathed out, expending and clenching on to the slab as the three attempted to smash through a second time. She ignored the rugged rogue's antsy mood.
"We're almost done, just one...more!" Ren heaved with his gust, lugging on the stone and hurling it upward. The trio adjusted to lower it again.
"You all look like you could use some feathers." Niddler proudly proclaimed as he fanned up to perch on top of the solid mass before the team brought it down, crossing his arms. The shelf underneath shattered with the boulder that the exploring triad was holding, and it fell through. Ioz immediately let go and snagged onto the wall, as did the regality. However, Tula did not loosen her grasp in time and plunged down the avenue to the cavern below.
"Tula!" Niddler screeched, flapping his wings above the entrance to the gorge in an alarmed state. If his beloved teammate was harmed, he wouldn't forgive himself.
"I'm okay, Niddler! There's nothing but water down here, but it's a bright green!" Tula's shouted reply amplified in return. Encouragingly, she had landed with a splash. She could barely see herself, the water made her flesh tinge a deep forest. The only definite beam shone from the exitway, which dissolved into the far height above her. The rush she wafted in was fantastic, as well as soothing.
"Huh?" Ren let out a gesture of surprise.
"Chungo lungo, we better go after her!" Ioz straightly roused as he dove through, feet first. Ren glanced around the cove, his eyes fixed on the map and he picked it up. He put it away in his vest and jumped in after the pirate.
"Might as well follow." Niddler indolently crowed and fluttered his wings in the air, he dipped toward the source of clatter to search for Tula and his colleagues.
Ioz and Ren hit the water below with a big splatter, landing right next to Tula. Niddler soared above, not wishing to get wet.
"Huh? It feels strange Tula. It feels like my arms aren't giving me any more pain, and I no longer feel tired." Ren confessed with an evolving awe. He was able to see Tula by a bright glim in the brook, but the surrounding area was a sweeping blackness. He extended his arms, inspecting them. "The rope marks, they're gone!" The flaxen boy gleamed at his arms in astonishment.
"And I felt better as soon as I fell in here!" Tula observed and wondered, no longer feeling fatigued or worn-down. "This water must have some kind of healing properties." The black-haired beauty swept her locks and ushered for Niddler to join in, who remained too nervous to try.
"Chungo lungo! I feel as new as a Janda-town dock-rat after winning a highstakes reef-toss!" Ioz heartily chuckled a greedy laugh, feeling free as a child as he swam closer toward the two in rejoice.
"You should come in Niddler! You'll feel a lot better!" Tula crooned to the full-winged avian, who was flying in circles above.
"Thanks, Tula, but I'll stay out here. I don't like getting wet." The monkeybird courteously rejected her offer. Though he unluckily did not tolerate water, he felt himself beginning to exhaust.
"We need to find where to go, there has to be something besides this river here." Ren extruded as he trudged through the shoulderhigh depth of green, clutching the Compass in his hand. It ignited with its normal effulgence, but it did not point anywhere. "It's not responding, the Treasure has to be down here." He would be confounded by the lack of response from the jewel. "Noy jitat! Why are we having such a difficult time finding it?" The prince clenched his teeth in frustration.
"That is because you already have." The mysterious overture rung from a shaded portion of the chamber. Scarcely seeable to the adventurers, two bodies redeemed from the hermetic shore of the hued river. One, completely concealed, carried a torch. The other and the evident source of the veracious phrase seemed to be an aged and slim form with visible hair of white, she was cloaked in grim robing.
PART 2 - The New Light
"Who are you, woman? What do you want?" Ioz antagonized the new visitor, scouring her suspiciously and demanding response.
"Quiet your tongue, fool pirate! Show respect for Lady Avagon!" The voice beside the woman resonated, the unknown partisan stripped away the hood on his crest to reveal himself as the map-bearer from Kalinda.
"Avagon?!" Ren and Niddler stumbled the name at the same interval, eyes and mouths gaping and dropping open with a breathless disbelief. Doing a doubletake, the lad and the monkeybird turned in a daze at each other, and then at the subject of their astoundment. The reunion wrought a long pause.
"But we thought you were-" Ren began in a sharp stammer, then was cut off.
Avagon collapsed the cloak that covered her head, revealing her full identity which was unmistakably Avagon. "Dead? No. Though by definition, I should have been." Avagon answered only sparsely, vague and frank. "Come ashore." She beckoned to them all. Ren started toward her, Tula and Ioz following after. The viridian overflow became shallow as the crew receded. The monkeybird came down for a landing next to the new company to at last rest his flight muscles. "How goes the Quest?" With both light and fortitude in her eyes Avagon besought of the heir. She leaned toward him so he could transparently see her.
Ren stepped to front her, not believing his eyes. He put a hand forward her face, trying to see if she was real. "How did you survive? Only because of your sacrifice we escaped from Bloth when Tula traded him the 1st Treasure of Rule...so she could free Teron the Supreme Ecomancer, but after Bloth threw you overboard the Maelstrom into the dark-We thought the dark water swallowed you up!" The young prince's bright eyes of blue were still as wide as a dagron's when he sought details of her, not trusting what he was seeing. He swallowed his shock. "I've collected eight of the Thirteen Treasures, the 9th has led me here. I seek to find it." He explained his saga apace.
"It did, Ren, and that is the only reason I ended up here. When the Dark Dweller, my captor, was forced to leave his domain." Avagon commenced to clarify as Ren lowered his hand, he retreated it partially to his trunk.
"But how? Why?" Ren questioned the old mentor and spendid leader of his saving mutiny, the first disciple who told him Always The Quest. He silenced because a thousand curiosities flooded his mind and he could not thresh them all into words at once.
"Only you would know that, Ren. Whatever you have done, it frightened the Dark Dweller and thus allowed my escape. The Dark Dweller was keeping me captive, he believed I knew something about the Quest and your whereabouts, the Dweller's ploy was to trick you later on. After that failed, he planned to make me into one of his dreadful disciples...wanting a steadfast spirit! However, because of what you did, the Dark Dweller needed to draw all his energy in one place. He then could no longer keep me. After I was released from the sea, I drifted here and I've been here since. I did not know when you would return. Loren here was looking for you, he informed me that he had helped you, and that Bloth was hunting for you! He told me that you would soon be coming here, that I should stay instead of leave as I had planned." Avagon signaled for the man standing next to her to speak.
"It's an honor to finally make your acquaintance formally, Son of Primus." Loren virtuously greeted Ren, showing him a dignified bow as he shook his hand.
"Loren is the youngest child and most devoted son of his father, Mizar, who was one of your father's most faithful council." The blanched-haired survivor illustrated, motioning to Loren.
"Do you remember the Treasure found in the seas of Biperia, Ren?" Loren queried of the prince with dignity.
Ren revolved back to the previous venture, there were a few of the Treasures he found in the water. One of them was when he and his friends had encountered the baby leviathan, and the other right after they left Andorus and before they met and would be captured by Cray, that woman who never resolved her feelings for his father. "Yes. Yes I do." Ren's memory was retreating to him as he respectfully resolved Loren's interest.
"That Treasure was my Father's charge to hide. He had said that the leviathans don't usually disturb the muck on the ocean floor-not even the ones with forlorn mouths." Loren indicated a humorous side, gleaning his listener an ardent smile.
Ren took all this in and recollected all his travels. It took a moment before he realized the man's lame joke, but then he politely returned the gesture. "Where is my place in all this? What shall I do now?" Ren considered as he formally lowered his head at the two, showing respect and being careful not to speak out of turn. Tula and Niddler stood at his side, also bowing their heads and listened in regardful manner. Ioz stalled protectively with arms crossed, at the ready and paying attention to the elder aide and her partner.
"Raise your head, Ren, we are the ones who will bow to you. What you need to do now is to find out what you did to make the Dark Dweller retreat from his domain. Only you, and you alone, know what it is. It is the only way to destroy the dark water's hold for good, even after you find all Thirteen Treasures." Avagon urged, laying a palm on the youth's shoulder. "Try to remember, you are the only one who can." She continually advised, near to his side.
Ren tried and tried again to remember something, anything, but he couldn't. "My memory is failing, Avagon, I can't..." Ren at last informed, driving his mind. He remembered the fight on the Maelstrom, being thrown to the Constrictus. Then escaping from Bloth's ship and hitting the water. That was the last thing he recalled. It had not been until long after he woke up next to a half-comatose monkeybird. Niddler was safe but in no condition to do much and neither had he been. "I'm sorry, Avagon, I really can't." He gave up finally, then gritting his teeth in frustration. He didn't believe he had done anything intentional.
"Patience, Ren. This is what the Dark Dweller wanted, he wanted to make you forget whatever you have gained. You need not remember it now, but you must, once all the Treasures have been found." Avagon told as she poised up and tall, beckoning for Ren to stand up straight as well. "When you know, you will know how to use it." The sagacious matron settled with affirmation.
"Wait, Avagon." Tula started as something came to her mind. "The Great Wave, that huge seastorm. Do you mean to say the Dark Dweller played a part in this?" She conscientiously invoked the older woman.
Avagon seemed perplexed. "It is probable but I cannot say it is fact. Loren has told me of what he has seen, the Great Wave was viewed from many corners of Mer. The time I escaped and the time the tidal twister was seen coincided. It is too peculiar to not be in correlation, if I were one to judge." Avagon suggested rationally. Tula was unsettled by this information, even Ioz appeared to be just as much. "The talk of a Dark Water Backlash has rooted on the Kalinda Coast by the words of Loren. I can say it is unfortunate that such an event may happen again, until the rest of the Treasures are found." Her leery words were stark, but Avagon couldn't keep her doubts about certain ideas closed-off.
"Dark water...Backlash?" Tula awfully dispelled. Avagon regrettably acceded.
"Chungo lungo." Ioz cursed over a faint grimness.
"I hate to interrupt, but where is the next Treasure now?" Niddler meekly pondered, the monkeybird worried he might intrude upon something important.
"The Treasure? The Treasure is right here, Loyal Monkeybird Niddler." Avagon established with a smile.
"But that means..." Tula wavered to enter the dialogue between the others, but Avagon finished up.
"Correct. This entire river is a Treasure of Rule." Avagon verified from the tips of her fingers to the shining flow of the opaque mist above the healing water, extending her arm toward the immaculate river as if to showcase. "Amazing, isn't it? This was the mythical place that Primus had long sought to uncover when he and his Seven Captains were on the original Quest, seventeen years ago while you were in the Lighthouse of Octopon. It is also the only place on Mer that can not be entirely destroyed by the dark water, thus serving as a safe haven from the cruel substance. The legend says that after the Treasures dispersed, a single Treasure of Rule liquefied into a pure body of water, becoming like a river. It was never found, but your father had tried, Ren. Quite possibly, he even knew it existed without ever making it here himself." Avagon revealed to the group the unbelievable notion, to which met with mystified gazes. She summoned word of the only good within the present position. No news would be totally well-off.
"Ay chunga, that sounds impossible." Ioz spelled a sign of stupor, dubiously stunned. His many days sailing the twenty seas had brought him plenty a tale, this one wasn't any different...at first.
"Aye, it does, but this place is very real. This Treasure of Rule has amazing powers, and when you fell through to the water, you experienced it for yourself." The mentor contrived a languid testament. "I speak from my amazement after I was strewn through here." She tamely outlined further.
"So that's why I felt a lot better when I was in the water, and that's why the Compass wouldn't hone in on it!" Ren was incredibly surmounted upon coming to a superb realization.
"Yes. Loren has told me he has given you a map, is this true, Ren?" Avagon intriguingly studied her recipient, affirming the youthful lad's deduction. She heeded his next claim.
"Yes!" Ren vivified with animation, Avagon's words spurring him to action, and he redeemed the document from his tunic. He handed it to her. She then unfurled the scroll and took a gander at it.
"Of course! So Primus knew this place existed." Avagon judged with conviction, she eyed the writing on the solitary enlargement of Arakna island. "Interesting..." Under a doleful standing she droned, the watchful eye of her guests searching. "This is definitely one of his maps. Not even I knew that he knew about this exact spot back then." She concluded after a curtailed monitor, releasing the map to Ren. Avagon was aware Loren had given her one yuugla of a fish-story, nothing like this.
"It was my father's map? Then what about the writing? I read it, but I couldn't make any sense of it at all." Ren solicited his succeeding matter, accepting his chart and putting it back in its proper place.
"Most likely, it was your father's attempt to cover what he truly knew. Perhaps it reads like gibberish because he wanted anyone who found it to dismiss it as being the notes of a madman, a riddle yet to be deciphered. Thanks to Loren and the wary devising of his father, this map was recovered. The state of your Father's untimely capture and the fact that he knew about the existence of The River of Rule makes me wonder whether his encounter with Bloth was a consequence of the dark water knowing of his coveted achievement." Avagon sustained a theory as Ren tried to take in everything she had said.
"This is nice to know Avagon, but I'm not sure how we're going to be able to carry an entire River back to Octopon." Niddler distressingly boggled, rationally leery and gawking up at the wise woman with uncertainty. Ioz and Tula signaled in agreement as the primate bird asked the question on everyone's mind.
Avagon attended to the monkeybird. "Ah, you make a good point, but unfortunately that is a decision the Prince of Octopon has to make." She broke a delay of austerity, then turned to confront Ren.
"Decision?" Ren disputed, taken aback by the statement that did not make any sense. "Haven't I already made my decision to pursue the Treasures of Rule to save Octopon?" He paused. "And Merr?" The boy lingered, not quite comprehending what she was getting at.
"To gather them? Yes, you have already taken that upon yourself. However, in order to take this Treasure, you will face a decision much greater. To claim it will involve giving up something more. You see, this Treasure will share it's gift with you but you will have to drink the water, as the lore speaks. Only then can you possess the Treasure in your hands. When you do, this place will be no more. However, the choice at hand has nothing to do with this, to take this Treasure of Rule you will have to give up your ability to die by unnatural means. Drinking this water, Ren, will make you invincible." Avagon culminated on a heavy lead, staring rigorously into the vision of the tender prince. Warning crept into her voice.
"Invincible? Ay chunga! Drink the water, quick, Ren! I don't believe it, but we can use all the help we can get against Bloth!" Ioz's eyes swelled in excitement, racing in urgency. He ushered Ren toward the water the moment she had finished. "By Daven's beard I would give my left arm for such an opportunity!" The tall pirate abducted the stunned royal's hand, trailing him forward to the emerald stream. Ren eyed Avagon with confusion and restraint as if awaiting, and then swung back to the creek.
"Stop! Don't act so quick and foolishly, young one." Avagon commanded evenly as she hurtled to Ren and lashed a guarding hand between him and the River. She rushed into his sightline, which struggled to fathom everything he had been told by far. "You didn't let me finish, I first must warn you. If you drink the water now, the power of the Treasure will reside in you and infuse into your very being. Like the Treasures dispel the dark water, it will protect you from all manner of almighty harm done to you. Though you will live far beyond your years, you will not be immortal. However, because it is within your Spirit it will not be able to stop the dark water from possessing you. Though you may not die by the sword, you may die a thousand deaths without ever dying once, should the dark water take a hold on you. Your fear is becoming possessed or corrupted, being forced to watch as everything you care about is destroyed. Or, you may become perpetuated by the dark water and your mind will no longer be your own. No one has ever vied for and been able to claim this Treasure since the Black Tide broke free from the depths of Mer. It has many strange and unknown powers. Choosing to claim it will be one of the greatest risks you will take during your Quest." Avagon paraphrased with a sense of constraint in her words. She focused on Ren, who stewed with the information. "The choice is yours, this River will remain here until you take the Treasure that resides within it. You may come for it after you have recovered the other Treasures, if you are undecided. However, should someone else find this place, they too can claim the Treasure of Rule." Avagon relinquished the verbatim guidance imparted to her by another, leaving Ren to speculate.
"Avagon, you've told me so much and it's so hard...so hard to imagine it actually happening. To think that my father, The King of Octopon, knew such powers existed..." Ren replied softly, instilled with reserve. He peered downward, seeming torn and preoccupied in light of this new information.
"Avagon, isn't there any other way? What if someone else drank from the River and gave the Treasure to Ren?" Niddler entreated the resilient woman, concerned for his consternate friend and trying to find any possible way to lighten the situation.
"I'm afraid not. If someone else were to drink from the River of Rule and possess the Treasure, though they may, they would not be able to properly use it without the other part within the true owner. If Ren makes his decision to take this Treasure, it is almost certain that he will used by the enemy should his fringes of mortality ever be found out." Avagon renounced, her words expelled a grave and dire air. "However, all hope is not lost. So long as young Ren manages to keep this power hidden from the enemy, he will be safe." She ended her piece, leaving them to await the courageous seeker's decision.
"Ren..." Tula empathetically leaned on Ren's arm as she watched his lowered head and down-turned scrutiny. Standing nearby, Ioz put his hand on Ren's shoulder. Niddler pattered over and rustled at the side, wing feathers brushing against the form of his guardian.
"Do what you want to, buddy." Ioz gently whispered, absolutely meaning it. Ren didn't look up.
"I don't know what to think Avagon. If I don't take this now, then there's a possibility someone else will. If I do, then it's possible I could betray someone by no choice of my own." Ren contemplated his choices, pondering his quandary with the witness of his confidant. "I have no choice. I'm the only one who can do this, and I have to. I have to take the risk for the good of Mer and Octopon. I'll do it, Avagon." He professed to her with the fire of dedication and surety in his eyes.
"Indeed, you are truly your father's heir." Avagon praised Ren, arranging a hand on the courageous prince's shoulder and giving him a smile of admiration. She then traced away from him to gather a bowl. She retrieved it and brought it up, Loren helping to hold one side as they filled it with the green purity of the Treasure of Rule. Presenting it to Ren, she supported as he cupped it in his hands. Ren braced the dish after bringing it to his mouth, his focused gaze shocked with an intensity as he took a sip of the Treasure that would become a part of him.
His eyes lit up as he placed the bowl down. He felt the flash of energy that greatly empowered him.
"Good. Now, it's time to collect the Treasure to take to Octopon." Avagon led Ren down to the water. "Now, gather your hands and try to draw in the River."
She instructed.
Ren consolidated his aim toward his hands as he closed his eyes. To his surprise, the circulating splendor was pooling toward his palms and he could sense it. He could feel it condensing, becoming thicker. Eventually, heavier in his hands. It became immense, so much that he could have dropped it. When he cracked his eyes, the River had entirely vanished. He was cradling a huge and very dense orb of green tinge in his hands. "So this is it." He idled with the sphere for a moment, frozen upon his account of loyalty.
"Yes. Congratulations, Ren, the 9th Treasure of Rule is now in your hands. From this day onward, you are anointed as forevermore the true heir to the throne of Octopon." Avagon leaned down, reassuring with a palming shoulder as she stayed her counsel on the boy. She ministered to him carefully. "Remember, Ren, your enemies cannot know that you have this power. If they are to find out, terrible things will surely come. Even though you may not die in combat, you must fight as if your life is on the line. If the Dark Dweller finds out about your weakness, I am sure he will try to imprison you as if you were one of the Treasures yourself. If Bloth finds out, he will try to manipulate it to his favor. I have no doubt the next four Treasures will be even harder to retrieve, many more dangers lie ahead of you. I am not able to help you with those." Avagon resumed her pose after helping Ren up by the arm, who was in a drudge to retain the compressed Treasure. The crystalline enigma displayed and handled much like an iron weight.
"Well, Ren?" Tula edged forward with a dilatory response. She waited close to Ren as the young man roved over, wobbling with the massive Treasure.
"We're ready to go, I have the Treasure." Ren ascertained with faith in himself, holding the bulky gem in both arms.
"Need a hand, Ren?" Ioz crossed over and relieved him of the burdensome Treasure. "Chungo lungo, this is heavy." He allayed as he carried it in an embrace, stunned at its gravity.
"Well it was a whole river." Tula stalled with a savvy smile.
"There's an alternative way out of here, but it's at the very end of the riverbed. You'll have to follow a long path up to the lofts of the caverns, that is the safest way through. You will not be able to get back up the way you came with the Treasure in hand. Once you reach the end, it will lead to the shore of the island. You should find your ship somewhere along there." Avagon earnestly disclosed, she bowed close to the noble adolescent. "Remember there's a lot more you need to learn still. About your past and about your father, King Primus, and your Mother. Many will try to hinder you, but many will give you aid as well." She conferred her speech with the young sojourner.
"My mother?" Ren gleamed at her reference attentively, wanting to know more.
"Yes, she figured very prominently in Octopon. Follow your Quest and these things will be known." Avagon staunchly revealed, peering at the purposeful youth. "Now, you need to get back to your Quest." The judicious attendant enclosed an arm around the boy's shoulders, ushering him and his friends toward the exitway of the long waterbed.
"Won't you join us Avagon? With as much as you know about Ren's Quest, you could really be of help to us." Tula fruitfully suggested, showing dignity for the seniority of the King's consultant as Ren nodded with agreement.
"Yes, please join us Avagon." The prince humbly invited the fearless elder in response.
Avagon bent down and gently brushed Tula's hair from her face. "I'd like to, dear, but unfortunately I cannot, I'm needed elsewhere. I have stayed in this place for as long as I could and should have, and I've accomplished my purpose to assist Primus's son and his devoted companions. Keep strong, young one, I know you will take good care of Ren." She beamed at Tula, blessing her with a shoulder hug. The ecomancer revivified a smile. "Ren." The beckoning aide lapsed to a rested palm, again speaking. "Your father's spirit is strong within you, I know you will make a wonderful King. Stand up tall." She delivered a similar hold and then stood back. "Now I don't have time to explain everything you need to know about what is ahead of you. I can however tell you that you will want to head North of here, should you wish to know more. Loren and I need to look more into Primus's Quest, there is more still yet to be discovered about the Treasures of Rule but I'm sure we will meet again soon." She motioned to the man beside her, who also bid Ren adieu.
Loren approached Ren. "I am graced to have met you, Son of Primus, may you have fortune in your Quest and meet the success your father and his Righteous Seven yearned for. May the seas smile upon and bless you in your journey, and may your enemies fall to the tide." The captain honored the future king a respectful bow then made his way to Avagon's side to join her.
Avagon briefly tarried as Ren and his team collected to traverse for the tunnel. "Farewell, Ren. Remember, Always the Quest!" The white-haired lady of the origins strew her final words as she separated from the prince and his loyal crew in the barren and now Riverless caves.