"I knew it!"

Ais's tails wagged a mile-a-minute as she dug up what looked like a chalice with an upside-down skull for the rim. "Ooh, that's fancy! I wouldn't mind drinking from that!" Zhen went to reach for the chalice, but Ais jerked it back as she changed back into a human, "If this chalice is what I think it is, you really don't. Let's head back to my ship so I can double check." Ais began to jog back to the Nightstalker with the Glacial Dragons barely keeping pace. Upon boarding the galleon, Ais headed towards the captain's quarters, "Make yourselves at home. Pardon the mess, I don't have other people in here often."

Ais's quarters was a small desk in the centre of the room with the bed laid beside the large windows at the back. The rest of the walls were lined top-to-bottom with bookshelves, all of them filled with books. Multiple columns had plaques above them that each read: 'Lore Research of Moira Sciobtha MacTíre. Do not touch without permission!'. Ais immediately went to this column of shelves and scoured through the shelves, "C'mon…I know she recorded this…AHA! Found ya!" Ais pulled out a book with a red leather cover and gold trims. The title was in Irish: 'Na Dragain agus an Cailís an Aiséirí'. "Mam always labelled her research in Irish." Ais explained as she sat down as her desk, "Made it harder for any thieves to know what it was they were looking at." Ais flipped through the book and landed on a page with a sketch depicting the same chalice Ais was holding, "An exact match! This is the Chalice of Resurrection. One of the many cursed relics made by the Legendary Beasts."

"Chalice of Resurrection?" Stella asked, peering at the book. "The legendary beasts were capable of creating curses and making cursed objects. Living proof would include your ship and pupper." Ais explained, "The chalice was one such object that was created a long time ago. The legend says that during the time of the Ancients, a warrior died in battle and his friend desperately searched for a way to bring him back. He sought out the Glacial Dragon and asked them to bring back the warrior, but the dragon declined. While they did possess the ability to heal, reversing death was one thing they refused to even consider as the balance between life and death was a delicate one, and needed to be maintained. The warrior's friend then sought out the Ashen Dragon, hoping that the being of destruction could reverse the destruction of one's life. The Ashen Dragon also refused, saying that death was just as important and natural as life, and that it could not be reversed. The friend became furious and turned to necromancy. He planned to create a ritual that would rip the warrior's soul from the Sea of the Damned. All the friend had to do was drink from a chalice he made, and their own soul could temporarily travel there to find the warrior's soul. But this didn't go unnoticed by the dragons. They realised that nothing they could say would make the friend truly understand the importance of life and death and agreed on a plan. The night before the friend was to drink from the chalice, the two dragons cursed the chalice. Instead of the intended effect, the friend's soul would be trapped in a state between life and death for all eternity and only the Glacial Dragon's curse healing ability could reverse it. The next day, the friend drank from the chalice and was horrified to see his flesh slowly disappear, leaving only bone. The two dragons appeared before him and said that until they learned to accept the balance that is life and death, he would remain like this forever. The Ashen Dragon was given the chalice to watch over, and it was passed down to each generation of Ashen Dragon to protect."

"So, this chalice…can turn people into skeletons?" Koa began. "Yeah, I changed my mind. I don't wanna drink from that." Zhen backed away slowly from the chalice. "So Flameheart must have owned this at some stage, right?" Stella asked.
"Possibly. Nobody truly knows how Flameheart became a skeleton lord, but this chalice would be a good guess."

"Graymarrow must've wanted it to revive that Douglas guy." Ali added. "Would that have even worked?" Koa asked. "Beats me." Ais shrugged as she flipped through a section of notes towards the back of the book, "Mam's research doesn't say what would happen if it was used on skeletal remains."

"Look at all these books…" Stella looked over the bookshelves upon bookshelves of research, "Your mom must've spent her whole life compiling this stuff."

"Some of it was passed down from my granddad to her – he was the Twilight Wolf before her." Ais explained as she stood up from the desk and placed the book back in its slot, "But Mam wanted to find out all she could for the future generations of Legendary Beasts, in case they needed it. These were the first things I took with me when I ran away from Graymarrow. I couldn't bare to part with them. It's because of these, I was able to unlock some of my powers as early as childhood." It was slight, but Stella noticed Ais's expression sadden, "I wish I got to meet her…"

"I'm sure she'd be really proud of you." Stella placed a reassuring hand on Ais's shoulder, the latter smiling at her sadly, "Thanks, icy."

"I hate to ruin the moment," Koa began, "But we have all we need now. All that's left is to head to Old Faithful Isle and face down Graymarrow."

"Right." Stella nodded with a serious expression, "No more delaying."

"W-well…" Ais began, her voice a little shaky, "It's getting late. Maybe we should rest here for the night?"

"Good call. We should make sure we're fully rested." Stella agreed. "Old Faithful is just a hop, skip, and a jump from here. If we set off tomorrow morning, we should get there with plenty of daylight to spare." Ali added. "Then it's settled." Ais nodded, "See yas in the morning then. Oíche mhaith!"

"Goodnight." Stella smiled as the crew left Ais's quarters, chatting excitedly amongst themselves. As their voices faded away, Ais sunk into her desk chair with a sigh as she held her head in her hands, resting her elbows on the desk.


"…mn…urgh…Nevado?" Stella woke up to Nevado licking her face with a worried expression, "¿Qué pasa, chico? What's wrong?" Nevado hopped off Stella's bed and waited anxiously by the door. Stella quickly got changed out of her pyjamas and went outside with Nevado where she saw Koa, Ali and Zhen looking out at the horizon, looking disappointed and let down. "Guys? What's wrong?" Stella asked, worried. "Notice anything missing?" Koa asked. Stella looked around the ship for a moment when it finally hit her, "…where's the Nightstalker?"

Koa handed Stella a folded-up piece of paper, "This was found nailed to the mast this morning." Stella hesitantly unfolded the parchment and saw that it was a letter.

'Glacial Dragons, a chairde,

By the time you're reading this, my crew and I are probably far away by now. I'm so sorry for leaving you so suddenly, without saying a proper goodbye no less. But I can't do it. I thought I was finally ready; that I was prepared to fight my demons. But I was wrong. I'm scared. I'll admit it outright. I'm scared to even set foot on that island knowing he's there. I probably will never set foot on Old Faithful again knowing what I know now. But I'm scared that if I see Graymarrow, I won't be able to hold myself back. I want to talk to him. I want to try and stop him without killing him. But I fear Bonereaper might have other plans. To be honest with all of you, I don't know if Graymarrow CAN be reasoned with at this rate. But that brings me to this next point. I know it is somewhat selfish of me to ask for a request after abandoning you, but I hope you will grant me this. Please try to talk to him. I heard about how you were able to reason somewhat with Briggsy. And while I know Graymarrow is certainly not like her, there has to be a chance. If it does come down to violence, try to keep his skull safe from the likes of the Order of Souls. I don't even want to think about what they might use his skull for. But please, whatever you do, don't kill him. I can't lose the only family I have left. I know I shouldn't care after what he did to me, but for some reason I can't explain, I do. I hope you'll grant this selfish wish of mine. And I'm sorry I left you to handle this fight by yourselves. But I know that if anyone stands the slightest chance of defeating my dad, it's you.

Ádh mór, and please be safe.

Captaen Aisling Óg Graymarrow-MacTíre.'

"Ais…I understand…" Stella sighed, folding back up the letter. "So now what?" Ali asked, worry evident in her expression. "The plan stays the same." Stella replied, "We head to Old Faithful and find Graymarrow. If we can talk him into ceasing his soul-binding and helping us reach the Shores of Gold, we will. If not…well, then we'll have to make sure we're prepared for a hell of a fight."

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Koa asked, concerned.

"I have to be. We have to be." Stella nodded, "If we want to reach the Shores of Gold, we have to deal with Graymarrow. The final jewel is the only way to get through the Devil's Shroud."

"Then we're with you, captain." Koa gave a determined nod.

"Yeah! We came this far; we can't give up now!" Zhen grinned.

"I'm honestly terrified…" Ali began, "But if I'm with you guys, I can do it."

"Thanks guys." Stella smiled, "If it gets too much, I'll make sure we can escape safely. I won't risk you guys dying over this. With that said…" Stella gave a confident grin, "Set a course for Old Faithful Isle!"

"Aye-aye, captain!"


Dark clouds loomed over Old Faithful Isle, enveloping the large island in a gloomy and ominous atmosphere. The Icebreaker slowly made its way towards the island's shore with its crew on deck. It was dead silent with the only sounds being the wind and the water lapping at the sides of the ship. As the ship got closer to the shore, Koa raised the last of the sails before lowering the anchor. The ship groaned as it came to a stop just metres from where the water met the sand. "Is everyone ready? This might be our last chance to back out." Stella asked as she stood by the ladder with the skull and chalice in hand. "Are…are you wearing the Morningstar belt?" Koa asked Zhen who just stood proudly. "What can I say? It's growing on me." Zhen beamed. Stella laughed a little before taking a deep breath and releasing, "Alright. Let's go."

One by one, the crew disembarked the ship with Stella being the last to leave. She gave Nevado a hug, saying, "I'll be back. I promise." before climbing down the ladder. The crew navigated the maze-like paths of Old Faithful with Ali leading the way before they came across a clearing with a strange red altar among the foliage. "This must be it." Stella muttered as she carefully placed the skull and chalice on the altar. Everyone was dead silent as they waited.

"Did…did you place them wrong?" Zhen whispered.

"Who DARES disturb my slumber?!"

A voice seemed to boom from nowhere, startling the crew. "Never mind." Zhen whispered, getting a bomb ready as the crew looked around for the source of the voice.

"Your uniform? You're one of Slate's crew!" The voice continued, "I thought I bound you pitiful wretches and left you to rot! That curse should be unbreakable...That means you must be? An IMPOSTER! I don't know why you wear the uniform of the Morningstar, but p'raps you'd like to suffer the same fate?"

"Graymarrow, we don't have to fight!" Stella called out, "We can talk this out. We know you want to reach the Shores of Gold. So do we. But it doesn't have to end like it did with the Morningstar crew. We can work together!"

"Work together? With the likes of you?! HA! That's a good one!" Graymarrow laughed, "Those cowards didn't deserve t' reach the Shores of Gold! They were such worms, one of 'em jumped overboard the moment she laid eyes on me. Ha ha ha ha! I'll cut you down just as easily, 'cept I think I'll take it nice and slow..."

"I don't think he's going to hear us out, Stella." Koa muttered. "Unfortunately, I think you're right." Stella replied, "Stay on your guard everyone!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, dirt erupted only but a few feet away from the crew as a looming figure emerged. It was a tall, bulky skeleton with a long, shaggy black beard tied at the ends with blue fabric and silver coins attached throughout it. A sapphire was placed in his right eye socket, with a faint light shining inside that seemed to act like a pupil, and an eyepatch covering the left. He wore a blue bandana atop his skull, a beige shirt, greyish-blue striped trousers, a large pink coat, that had the same silver coins attached to it in parts, under an even larger brown leather coat that he wore like a cloak and had skulls and large bones attached to it by rope, a brown and silver belt, and matching leather boots. He held a large blunderbuss that seemed to be carved out of bone.

Stella summoned her ice-covered cutlass to her hand as Koa unsheathed his sword and Ali prepared her daggers. She glared at Graymarrow as she felt her magic begin to surge within.

"Bring it on."

To Be Continued…