It seemed that everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong.
As the Void Ship had approached the Ynnungaap, the trithril coating had failed and the void drive had been disconnected somehow, exposing them to the full force of the void storms as they travelled through to the Deep Void. The Void Ship was badly damaged, Riadne estimated that there were at least thirty injured, and there were a few crew members that had been lost.
People were panicking, Eirn grimly revealed that the ship was floating aimlessly adrift and in yet more bad news, the portals that Izaac had created to link back to Ravenloss had been dispelled. Yashta had found the culprit behind the sabotage; a half woman, half forest fury who called herself Beige and claimed that her purpose was to delay them. The stress of the quest had been wearing on Tomix for some time and at Beige's statement he almost snapped, before having to excuse himself to calm down, leaving the Hero in charge.
"Okay," the Hero took a deep breath before turning to the others. "Alright... Yashta, please interrogate the suspect. Mazurek, check if we can still set course. Izaac, help Riadne with the injured crew members. Eir–"
A flash of icy blue light interrupted them as a familiar voice spoke up. "Can I do anything?"
The Hero whirled round in surprise. "Aegis?! H-how did you get here?"
Tomix's SoulAlly grinned. "Oh I can be anywhere Tomix is. We're linked, that's how it works."
Despite the situation, the Hero returned the grin. "That's... fantastic! Can you create a portal that can take us back to Ravenloss?"
Aegis' expression fell. "I'm afraid I don't know how to do this."
"Oh..." the Hero bit their lip. "Then how exactly did you get here?"
"Through the Plane of Elemental Spirits. And no, I can't transport living people through it, sorry..."
The Hero sighed. "I... see. Well, if you want to help, okay. Aegis, keep a lookout for anything unusual."
Aegis' grin returned. "Aye aye!" He gave a salute before vanishing again in a flash of ice.
The Hero gave a small smile. Throughout their quest to find the materials and personnel for the Void Ship, they hadn't seen Aegis much – aside from a small blue flash every so often when Tomix was weaving – but it was a comfort to reunite with him. With the situation they were in, any help was welcome, and the stress Tomix was under with the Void Ship and, well, everything that was going on with As-Envy, the steadfast comfort and support that Aegis would offer him was a real asset. Their fingers travelled down to rest lightly on Pandora's cube, and through their bond they felt her send a small rush of reassurance before turning back to the others.
"Where was I? ... Ah! Eirn, update me on the ship's status. Can we fix anything other than the Void Drive?"
Eirn frowned. "The hull is damaged, we lost most of the sails, most of the food supplies and some of the people..."
The Hero sighed. "Darn. I'll go find Tomix."
The news Yashta gave them about Beige's fate was very concerning. The Hero glanced at Tomix, whose eyes had widened, and bit their lip as the movement highlighted the large bags under them.
He's going through so much…
This is baaaad," Tomix said solemnly. "Very bad. I didn't know Envy was capable of such a thing."
"We will get to him Tomix," the Hero assured him. "We will!"
Aegis' voice broke into the conversation. "Umm... excuse me?"
Tomix turned his head towards his SoulAlly. "Yes, Aegis?"
Aegis pointed off into the distance. "We're heading towards a floating island. I thought you might want to know."
Tomix and the Hero exchanged a hopeful glance before rushing to the nearest telescope. Tomix got there first, pointing it in the direction Aegis had indicated and peering through it.
"Eirn, good news! I see a forest!"
Eirn perked up. "That means wood. Great! We might be able to repair some of the damage."
Tomix passed the telescope to the Hero and they raised it to their eye. "It's surrounded by some kind of magic bubble."
Tomix nodded, folding his arms. "We'll deal with it when we get there. We need to form a scouting team once we get ashore. Who is available?"
Yashta inclined his head. "I am."
"Count me in," Matey smirked.
"Always," the Hero replied.
Tomix nodded again. "Alright, I will go with the Hero. Yashta, you will go with Matey. Look for usable materials and anything edible."
"May I go, too?" Aegis asked eagerly.
A smile tugged at the corner of Tomix's lips. "I would rather have you on the ship. We don't know what we can expect on this island, so you should stay here and protect the crew. No one is better at protecting than you Aegis!
Aegis grinned, giving a thumbs up. "Understood!"
It wasn't long until the ship reached the island, passing through the bubble encompassing it with surprisingly little problems.
Tomix turned to the Hero. "Let's go."
The Hero grinned back at him as they disembarked, the two of them going to the right with Yashta and Matey going left. "A seemingly abandoned island in the middle of the Void? I don't think it'll be the greatest challenge we've ever faced."
Of course, things could never be that simple. They'd expected to find void creatures on the island of course, but those strange cultists with the twisted masks? That was certainly a surprise, although the two of them were able to dispatch them with ease, fighting side by side as they had done ever since the Hero had first come to Ravenloss.
"What was that all about?" the Hero frowned as they caught their breath.
Tomix had an expression of confusion. "They... they had the mark of Pa–"
The cube on the Hero's belt began to flicker before the familiar circular beams of yellow light emanated from it and Pandora appeared in a flash, looking off into the distance with a melancholy expression.
"... Pandora," the Hero finished Tomix's sentence in a breath.
"I know where we are," Pandora murmured, still looking off into the distance.
"Where?" the Hero asked softly.
Pandora looked at the two of them over her shoulder. "In my memories..."
Disclaimer: DragonFable is owned by Artix Entertainment. Dialogue taken from the quest 'Adrift'.