Chapter 1: New Pieces Fall

Aboard the ship Callum searched the captain's quarters looking for anything of use. With Finnegrin gone he wanted to see what secrets were hidden within the ship. After everyone returned from the fight they wanted to get as far away from Claudia and Viren as possible. They all came up with a plan to return to the storm spire and consult with Zubeia on the next steps to ensure the safety of the world from Aaravos.

Callum took a seat in the captain's chair just trying to take his mind off the recent fight. He pulled out the pearl that held Aaravos captive.

"How is this possible?" He thought to himself.

He felt the magic energy it was giving off just by looking at it. Curiosity consumed his head while they were traveling back to the Storm Spire. So many questions, but with little to no answers. He was just happy that the prison was in his hands and not with Claudia.

On the table there was a purple chest and found a key right next to it with a purple gem. He needed to secure the pearl somehow until they knew what to do with it. He put the pearl into the chest and locked it with the key then put the key away in his pocket.

"Now no one can see it unless they kill me." He thought.

Suddenly a crate fell onto the floor in the corner. There were noises coming from the corner. Crates were shaking slightly and Callum slowly approached the corner. He cautiously drew the Aspiro Frigis spell as he slowly moved a box. He jumped back as he saw two snakes lunge towards him.

"Aspiro Frigis!" He yelled.

After recovering his breath he quickly composed himself. Two snakes were trapped in ice just inches away from him. The two snakes are the ones from changing the chains with dark magic. The thought of using dark magic again makes him anxious. What would happen if someone found out he used dark magic again? They would never forgive him. Rayla wouldn't forgive him. She would just leave him again. These thoughts filled Callums head. Then a knock on the door brought him out of his head.

"Callum? Is everything alright?" Rayla asked.

Callum quickly hid the evidence of his actions as Rayla entered the room and saw Callum stack some crates.

"Is everything okay dummy?" Rayla said.

"Umm so far so good." Callum's voice wavered, but Rayla brushed it off for now after a tiring day for all of them.

"Really? Because it sounded like you shouted a spell and broke some boxes."

"Oh I was just practicing some uhh… new magic." Callum said while rubbing his neck.

"Well just don't hurt yourself. It sounded like you were about to sink the ship" Rayla said.

"I was just trying to learn some new stuff for the next major battle" Callum said while putting out his hand as if he was about to draw a spell.

"Hmm well it's almost night and I thought I could convince you to sleep."

"Yea I'll come right now."

As Callum was following Rayla out the door he took one final look to make sure his traces were hidden and closed the door behind him. He followed Rayla below deck where mostly everyone was sleeping. Elmer was keeping watch because he didn't need to sleep and the rest of Finnegrin's crew were all trying to help us after getting rid of their captain.

There were a mix of sleeping bags across the floor with people just choosing a spot to find and relax. Previously the crew didn't have sleeping bags and just slept on the floor whenever they weren't working so they were getting a well earned good night's rest.

Callum and Rayla found a spot near Ezran and Soren who were already quick asleep. Zym and Bait were surrounding Ezran sound asleep. Callum set up the sleeping bags and got his jacket setup for the both of them for extra support. Rayla got in the sleeping and put her head on Callums chest hearing his heartbeat. Callum took a heavy sigh and went deep within his head.

"You know that we are almost done with this. We can finally just take a break and just adventure the world instead of saving it." Rayla whispered.

"Yeah it feels like things are finally going our way huh." Callum said not making eye contact deep within his own thoughts

"Hey is something wrong you seem preoccupied in that head of yours."

"Just a lot to think about with everything happening and I really just want a long break."

"Well we are almost there and we can take a very long break, but for now I'm going to enjoy this moment with you." Rayla reached up and kissed Callum.

That quickly pulled Callum out of his thoughts and quickly returned it. For the rest of the night they enjoyed the few moments they had before the next day of work arose. While they were asleep something in Callums backpack started to glow purple.

—-

Aaravos knows Claudia will become useless after her father will not wake up on the next day. She will lose all motive to help release him from his cursed prison and will become a complete mess if she was involved with his plans.

"I will get out. It will just take a bit more time than expected." Aaravos thought.

He will just need to find a new piece in his game so he can break through this cage. He started to look through multiple books for anything of use. Until he looked at his chess board. He stared at a piece that looked like Viren and tipped it over. He then looked at a piece that was right next to it.

"I think it's time someone plays right into my hand" said Aaravos.

He picked up a piece that was carved like Callum holding the cube and stared at it with a grin forming.

—-

Terry was holding Claudia and realized that part of her leg was gone. Terry quickly got to his feet and searched their bags and found some medical supplies and quickly started to patch up the wound with some bandages and rope. Terry quickly started to do some earth magic to quicken the healing process. Vines quickly sprouted around Claudia's leg and started to close around the wound.

As he was looking around he realized a body was missing. He realized Viren was gone, but for right now their focus was on Claudia.

Claudia was in a lot of pain physically and mentally. She just did all of this for nothing. Aaravos probably won't even help her now and knows that her father will die the next day. With everything going on she didn't know how to focus and everything was overwhelming her. She wanted to find a hole and be left alone with her failures. She could only think of her father and how she would tell him she failed and he would die the next day. All she felt was Terry holding her as she quickly passed out not knowing what would come next for her father.

x

(First Fanfiction so please if you have any suggestions please let me know. I'm hoping to get around on this every week or two depending on the responses. Hope you enjoyed the first one. This first chapter is just a build up and a bit shorter for right now so expect longer ones with the plot really gets going.)