Chapter 32: Ancient Relics
"Ah, the seas." Flavio said once the ship lost sight of rouge port. "Flavio has for too long strayed from adventure!"
"To think, we're on a real, true treasure expedition." One of the sailors said.
"Keep a straight course, we should arrive at Keelhaul in a couple of days." Flavio told Bobbery.
"Yes, sir." He said back.
"Alright, I'm off." One of the sailors said, walking away from him.
Everyone else seemed to be excited as well. No one seemed more excited than Eddy, though. Since the ship departed, all he could think about was getting rich on whatever treasures they could find.
"Eddy, please clam down." Double D said. "We still have two more days before we arrive."
"Double D, don't bother me with something as trivial as facts." Eddy snickered, walking towards the bow of the ship.
"Where's he going?" Goombella asked.
"Probably going to find some trouble." Nazz said. She got up from her seat.
"I'm going to eat breakfast below deck."
"Can I come? I haven't eaten anything since I got here." Kevin said.
"Yeah, you have!" Eddy shouted at him from the bow.
Nazz and Kevin proceeded down below decks.
Eddy by now had run all the way to the bow's tip.
"Nice, isn't it?" Bobbery asked from the wheel.
"What are you looking at? Did you see something?" Goombella joined him.
"I'm trying to look for Keelhaul." He answered.
"We're too far away to see it…" Goombella groaned.
Eddy didn't hear it. He jumped and latched onto the bow rail. "Man, this is more awesome than my sailing thing."
"Hm…" Double D laughed. He looked up into the sky. The clear, beautiful skies seemed to be a promise of good luck. The sun was blocked by the ship's enormous middle mast. "I must admit, this boat is a marvel, even if it is old century."
"Excuse me, I am going below deck." Flurrie said to the group.
"Don't you want to see the nice weather?" Double D asked.
"Yeah, but Jimmy's down there with seasickness. He needed me right now." She answered, going below deck.
"Perhaps I can assist?" Double D asked. "Jimmy may need my help."
"No, I have this under control." Flurrie shook her head, walking away towards the stairs.
Flavio sat near the wheel, drinking tea on a deckchair.
A sailor walked over to him. "We're at 19 knots and increasing."
"Good work, sailor." Flavio said. He took a sip of his tea.
"WHOO!" Eddy shouted in delight, climbing onto the rail, and had his head leaning over the side to see the water hitting the ship as it traveled.
"Eddy, you'll fall!" Double D said.
"He'll be fine." Goombella said.
"WHOO!" Eddy repeated and held out both arms in to the air. "I'm the king of the world!"
"You're not even king of the Cul-de-sac." Double D snickered, too quietly for Eddy to overhear.
Vivian laughed. "You have a monarchy in your world?"
"Not really…" Double D laughed. "Last summer, we had a competition, like an election."
"I see…" Vivian said, still laughing.
"Yes. An election for deciding a king." he said.
Vivian looked confused, with a raised eyebrow and she stated. "But kings aren't elected."
"He thought they were… and he ran in this election but lost to a wooden plank." Double D said.
She laughed quietly. "That's funny."
"You should have seen Eddy on other days. Have I told you of his 'up' phase?" Double D asked with a nostalgic smile.
"Not yet? What happened?" Vivian asked curiously.
"Well, it started on a sunny day. I was trying to teach Ed a thing or too about mazes. Of course, he didn't quite understand how they work…"
"Heh…" Koops motioned over to Rolf. "Those two are really hitting it off."
Rolf sneered. "It makes me sick."
"Huh?" Koops asked.
"They have become smitten. Rolf can tell. It is a travesty!"
"What's wrong?" Koops asked.
"And of all those to become smitten with, he has made a grave mistake in doing so with she-who-is-evil." Rolf said.
"She's not evil." he said. "I have a feeling she never has been."
"Poppycock!" Rolf shouted. "Double D-Ed-boy is setting himself up for disaster."
"Maybe there's nothing going on between then." Koops said. "Perhaps he's just trying to comfort her, like he did for me when I was depressed."
Rolf sneered and walked away.
"That man has issues." Koops sighed. "But not even he can ruin my mood."
"So, we ended up following Ed atop his reversion of my elevator." Double D continued. "I don't know how it managed to hold, but we ended up penetrating the atmosphere."
"My, the atmosphere on your home must be thinner than ours." Vivian commented before becoming strangely serious. "Listen, can I talk to you inside."
"About that?" he asked.
She pointed to her head.
"Oh." Double D replied, holding onto his hat.
They walked downstairs together.
The path they took led down a hallway. A few sailors walked down there as well, but they seemed to busy to care about them.
They passed by the dining hall casually.
"Hey, check that out." Kevin said, motioning to Vivian and Double D.
Nazz looked over. She didn't speak.
"Oh, stop it." Kevin said. "Soda?" he asked, holding a cup to her.
"No thanks." She said, still looking at them as they passed.
"…hey, hey!" Kevin said, trying to grab her attention. She looked towards him. "What's up? It's not that big a deal."
"…nothing's up…" She said picking up a fork and resuming her breakfast.
She led him to a small room. She quickly took his hand and pulled him on, shutting the door and locking it behind her. Double D noticed that it was a bedroom.
"Well, we have reached the lower decks." Double D said. "What's troubling you?"
"Are we alone?" Vivian simply asked.
Double D looked around. "Yes. Why did you lead me into your quarters?"
She ran over and shut each window. She turned on a light and approached him.
"Please remove your hat."
He gave her a serious face. "You're asking me a very difficult task for me."
"I have seen it before, only as a shadow." She looked troubled. "There's just something I need to check."
He sighed, and slowly removed his hat, letting his long hair come out.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"It's about that metallic object on your head." Vivian clarified.
He moved some hair out of the way to reveal the metal plate imbedded on the top of his forehead.
"I didn't say anything about it before." Vivian said. "But that's a very ancient object you have there."
"Huh?"
"Have you seen the eye-design on it?" She asked him.
He looked in a mirror by the bed. "Yes…"
"It's called the Eye of Wisdom." Vivian suddenly said, making him look at her.
"What?"
"I didn't want to tell you before because we weren't alone." Vivian answered and explained. "But the Eye of Wisdom is an old relic from the ancient city below Rougeport."
"Impossible." he said. "I've had this embedded for as long as I remember, even into my toddler years. And I had no previous contact with this world before."
"I know about that relic. There are only two others like those in existence." Vivian stated. "There's the Eye of Wisdom, the Crown of Strength, and the Medallion of Life."
"...Tell me more." he asked.
Rolf proceeded down the hallway. The events from the past few days seemed stressful upon him.
"Con-man-eddy-boy? What mischief are you up to?" He asked when he spotted him.
Eddy was leaning against a door with his eye peering into the key-hole. He got back up and saw Rolf coming towards him.
"Rolf, you gotta see this!" Eddy said. "Vivian and Double D are talking about something called an Wisdom Eye or something."
"What?!" Rolf pushed Eddy aside and looked through the key hole.
"Edd-boy is no longer wearing his hat!" He thought as he observed.
"The demon thus created three relics of her rule." Vivian continued. "The Crown of Strength she kept, and she gave the other two to her most trusted servants."
"I see." Double D said.
"It was said that whoever has them can hold magic powers." she said. "I believe that's why I was able to give mine to you."
"Does that make you the keeper of another relic?" he asked.
"No, I was born with these powers. Professor Frankly explained what happened to the demon…" She continued. "Ill fortune led to her demise. The two servants who held the remaining relics tried to defend themselves but were destroyed by the same order that is said to be responsible for the demon's loss of power. It was said the order had to separate their two relics among two different worlds…"
Double D touched the plate on his head.
"Apparently, the Eye of Wisdom was sent to your world. I do not know how it ended up imbedded in your head."
"What about the other relics?" Double D asked.
"The Medallion of Life was kept in this world. I have no idea where it is." Vivian answered.
"And the Crown?"
"Nobody knows."
"What do I have to do with this?" He asked.
"Now, in our times, the three relics are said to be destined to belong to three people. Those three can wield powers."
"And I'm the one destined to own the Eye."
"Yes. You didn't have powers before, but the eye allowed me to give you some of mine."
"Then we have to consider who holds the other two relics." Double D had a hand to his chin.
"No one knows that." she said. "Before, your spell casting was weaker. But… if you allow the Eye to 'see' what's going on, instead of hiding it, your attacks would be far more powerful. Though I fear they may be too powerful for you to wield. And if you didn't kill yourself with that kind of power, you'd certainly kill someone else."
"I have to keep it hidden. None of the others can ever know about this, for their own safety. How do you know all of this?" Double D questioned.
"My sister never explained this to me. ...but I heard her talking about it with Marilynn, and I pieced it together." Vivian answered.
Double D placed his hat back on his head. "Well…" he tried to change the subject. "Are you hungry?"
"Sure."
"Do you want to… go have breakfast with me?"
"Yes…"
"Oh, they're coming!" Eddy whispered before he and Rolf flew back and stood away from the door.
The door opened and Double D and Vivian walked out, stopping and staring at the two.
"Eddy? What are you doing here?" Double D asked.
"…looking' for the dinning room?" He asked.
"Head back from this hall, and look for the room with the large sign that says, 'Dining room.' I believe you passed it to get here." Double D instructed.
"Oh, right." Eddy chuckled and ran down the hallway.
"And you Rolf? Why are you outside Vivian's bedroom door?" Double D asked, turning to the Son of a Shepard.
"What was sock-head-edd-boy and witch-girl doing inside the bedroom alone?" Rolf asked suspiciously.
"Nothing of your concern. And I'm not a witch, I'm a sorceress." Vivian corrected stoically.
Rolf gave her an annoyed look and walked away.
"Rolf knew she couldn't be trusted." He thought as he walked.