An Age of Mysterious Memories

B 2 C 35: A Journey To the, Wait, What?

Teuila still has trouble expressing herself, I’m sure she always will, but her love comes across in her endearing insults, her playful jabs, and her tender embrace. Frequently Te will also pull me into private thinkspace and point to one of the various waves she’s named that signify her emotions.

After living nearly a lifetime, nearly a century together, spending it in idyl pastures in our mindscapes, or the occasional tumultuous sea, I feel fulfilled. This would have been impossible in the world in my memories. One would be lucky to lead even a fraction of one’s own lifetime in idyl bliss.

I haven’t been training myself as hard as I should, what with spending so many of our waking moments in thinkspace. I’ve made a fair bit of progress though. Mostly with crafting, alchemy, pain tolerances, some resistances. I gained a point of disenchantment, trying to break down the identification scroll I had left, but it only turned into vellum and ink, which I have some of currently.

I don’t know how to reassemble the identification scroll, so I’ve lost my only scroll left. The only beings I know in existence that for sure know about some magic items are the naga. Dehlia mentioned she understood the potions, and apparently, based on what Lu said, they also knew about wounds that couldn’t be healed. So there are more weapons like Gae Buidhe out there. That thought is terrifying. Still, there’s hope that maybe someday I can get the naga people to impart wisdom of magic items, a slim chance at that hope, but hope nonetheless. Maybe if I’m lucky, they’ll know how to craft scrolls.

My energy capacity is getting close to a thousand again. That’s a fair amount of max mana. If Lil or Te needed it, I could probably provide them a tether mid battle.

Teuila’s creamy gray manifestation of her Valkyrie form looks largely the same, though there’s a certain slenderness, a petiteness that belies her frame. I think Te got a bit jealous of Luni’s curviness, as even in this more slender frame the new Valkyrie has more curves in certain places. Obviously any sort of jealousy about that is probably my fault for gawping at Luni so long ago. Still, Teuila is unbelievably gorgeous in all her forms.

Regardless, this version of Valkyrie’s ancillary powers aren’t as potent, so she can’t accelerate as quickly without hurting herself. Since her motion is done by making leaps, that means she can’t reach her top velocity at all anymore, since all of her acceleration happens when leaving the ground. We’re all a bit saddened or disappointed for her, but I’m certain somehow, someday, we’ll ascend to her old level of capability and beyond.

I still think even with her needing to be more careful, Teuila is probably the most powerful of us in direct combat. Luni is surprisingly capable, but she carries so many burdens that she frequently can’t face her fear to actually join the fray. Lil and Teuila developed an interesting training regimen, one will be evolved into their more powerful form, while the other isn’t, and the more powerful form is on the offense. For example, Lil has to pounce and claw at Teuila as Lilagnewt, while Teuila defends herself with her reflexes, a shield, or just absorbing the hits because she’s terrifyingly powerful. Likewise, Teuila’s Valkyrie form is meant to go on the offensive, without using her powers, to chase down and strike Lil. Thankfully she uses a blunted walking stick instead of any of her spears or magical swords. She does however show off her archery skills on occasion. It’s mildly impressive.

Okay it’s freaking phenomenal, and apparently the bracers we got for her so long ago actually enhance archery somehow. She has a quiver, but she can motion as if to draw from it, and the bow will be nocked with an arrow, even if the quiver is empty. The longer she holds the draw on her bow, the more wind spirals around the arrow, coiling around it, basically increasing the arrow’s size, force, and velocity dozens-fold.

I sigh as I recall another being whose powers involved wind. One of our other fallen friends, Sylphie. There’s the slightest chance we could call her back, and she might still be someone that would be interested in friendship with us, but I don’t know what I’d do if her reincarnation is hostile. I imagine since she can grant and create air, she might be able to take it away. Watching my family suffocate on land is too frightening to contemplate, and too great a risk to take on the off chance we could possibly reunite with her.

Now that I’m thinking about hostile creatures, I feel like there’s probably a tribe of naga, or nagafolk, or nagas. I’m not sure of the plural. I feel like there’s a tribe of them somewhere in the eastern quadrant of the swamp. Would Dehlia really let her community slay us before we could even say hello? She literally said their magics would slay us before even a greeting was uttered. She looked so disdainful. Lovely, but disdainful. I wonder if I can shapeshift to look like her? If I could take on a naga form, would the community at least give me a chance? Would they see me as deceitful? Would they see it as a ruse and see through it immediately?

My form seems to be a bit malleable, self actualization has been letting me slowly sculpt myself in ways that appeal to me. I like being a bit lanky, a slender frame. I sort of miss my cherubic cheeks from the beginning, but I could just bring them back. I’m fairly certain that there’s no such thing as a child in our world, but I still led myself to believe I might have been one.

Still, I guess the cheeks were kinda cute. Lil called me adorbs when I had them. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to bring them back. I kinda like it when my buddy thinks I’m cute.

Basically, if I start to tether myself, picturing what I’d eventually like to look like, and hold myself in the process without completing it for long periods, then I let it drop before it completes, part of the transformation sticks with me. For now, I’ll bring back the cheeks. I’m trying to slowly grow a reptilian tail, it’s a much longer process than just getting a bit taller or shorter or chubbier or skinnier though. I sorta think an otter tail and otter ears might look cute on me, but maybe I can work back to that someday. First I want to be able to safely talk to any scalekind or scalekin, whatever Dehlia called them. I need to know that they’re never going to pose a threat to my family. If I ascertain that they are a threat just because we’re softskin, then I’ll have to find a way to convince them to stop being so, uh species-est I guess?

I try not to picture having to possibly fight off an army of magically endowed snake-people to ensure our family’s safety, but the thought pops up anyway. It causes me to heave a deep sigh. I almost wonder if I should just carve a bloody path through our land, if we took advantage of every opportunity to express our might, we’d probably grow in power, and therefore eventually safety. But then we’d basically be murderous tyrants. Well, I suppose not, since we wouldn’t just kill indiscriminately, we’d only fight with those that threaten our peaceful pond life.

Maybe we should just stay here, at our pond, and live out our days. If trouble comes a-calling, then we can face it together. Hm, no, I don’t think that’s good enough for my family. Even Lao asked me to continue my journey, my search for more friends and family to expand our community.

I’m suddenly snapped out of my reverie by Manaia trying to get my attention, she asks, “Hey, hey, hey Redge, redge, hey Reggie, Reggie, Mat’s being a butt, can we hang with you today?”

Manameia confirms, “Total butt.”

I glance around to make certain Mataalii isn’t watching from somewhere, waiting for me to make some kind of faux pas to lambast me about. As far as I can tell, between any of my senses, Mat isn’t nearby. I’m a bit floored by the twins’ desire. I’ve never really gotten a chance to know them. I know it’s rude to refer to a pair of twins as just the twins, they’re both individuals. But I’ve never been given the opportunity to learn anything about either of them as such.

I flump to the ground, sitting lotus and spread my arms wide as I answer, “Sure thing buddies. I sorta thought I’d never get a chance to meet you. I don’t know if that makes any sense. Do you two want to play a game? What if we take turns saying something about ourselves that we think is only true of us? Like if I say I like peanut butter because I’ve eaten it, I could be pretty sure that that’s only true of me. I haven’t actually eaten peanut butter, that’s a bad example.”

The twins hop into my lap, they’re honestly a bit too big as a pair for me to comfortably host both of them, but I make it work so I can hug them both simultaneously. The twins are laughing and excitedly each exclaiming ‘me first.’

Te passes by, since we were about to meet up. She raises a brow at me curiously and I can only helplessly shrug and nervously chuckle. Telepathically I send “Sorry My-Wings, seems like I’m a twins-sitter for the moment. Give Lil some snuggles from me after you beat the stuffing out of them please?” Teuila sends back the Shellcracker squee of glee across our shared wavelength. Hopefully she likes our titles for each other. Lil is My-Heart, Lu is My-Anchor, Te is My-Wings.

Te’s titles for us are ‘My-Dorky-Lil-Dragbutt’ for Lil, obviously, ‘Luuuuu’ for Luni, and ‘My-pretty much any insult in the book’ for me.

Lil’s titles are ‘Buddy’ for me, ‘Gal-Pal’ for Luni, and it’s-a-secret for Teuila. Literally, that’s what Lil calls Teuila, their it’s-a-secret.

Lu’s titles for us are Hero, or My-Hero for me, The-Best for Lil, and Big-Sis for Teuila.

I guess I could use that to start the game off. Coughing to clear my throat to get their attention, I wait for the twins to stop arguing before starting, “I’ll uh, I’ll start, then we’ll go clockwise, Manaia you’ll be next, then Manameia, then me again, and on and on til we’re bored. Sound good?”

Manaia replies, “Hmmmm, okeydokey.”

Manameia seems to take a while to consider the options before answering, “S’pose so, can’t be too bad, right?” That seems a little pessimistic, I hope Manameia is okay. I think I’m going to need nicknames for them too. Maybe M^2 for Manameia, and ‘Naia for Manaia.

I start off the round, “So, one thing about me, is I have nicknames for our family members, that I don’t think would make sense for you to also have. I call Luni My-Anchor. I hope neither of you two do, it has some context behind it for us. I call Lil My-Heart. Pretty similar thing there. I call Teuila My-Wings. I’m thinking for you guys, I could call Manameia M-squared, and Manaia I could call ‘Naia. How do those sound?”

‘Naia is quite pleased with her nickname, and while M-Squared is fairly pleased as well, M^2 is a bit mopey. ‘Naia tries to make her turn quick by saying she likes fishing, but M^2 is quick to remind her that pretty much the whole family likes fishing. The point of the game is to tell us unique things about one another.

‘Naia takes a moment to ponder, “Oh, I had super fun dancing, I think, maybe when I get bigger, I kinda want to dance, all the time. Is that a thing?”

“Well, yes, you can be a dancer, no one would stop you. Especially no one in this family.”

“Sept Mat, ‘cause he’s being a butt. He doesn’t like dancing.” She explains.

I don’t have a rebuttal for that, I don’t know Mataalii well enough to defend him verbally. I don’t know if he actually dislikes dancing, or if he just has a sour mood for some reason. I’m not even allowed to think too much about Mata. If I do, I might find out something about the future that could change my actions in the now, and screw up everything that Luni has been putting herself through hell to work towards. Instead I focus on M^2’s answer for their turn.

“I kind of want to tell people what to do, but not like bossy way, like, like if ‘Naia wants to dance, I want to tell her where to dance. I don’t know how to explain it, like if ‘uila was out there, I’d be all like. Left foot there, right foot kick, spin, shake your arms forward, and stuff. Does that make me a jerkface mcbossypants? I been kinda thinking about this all day, since Mat was a butt, and I made myself sad, ‘cause I don’t want to be a jerkface, or a butt.”

Is that why M^2 is a bit mopey? I think I might have an answer for that, “M^2, there is a place for someone like that, um, I know we have access to the same vocabularies, so I want you to think of the words choreographer, and coordinator. How do those sound?”

M-Squared’s eyes light up as realization dawns on them that they’re not just some sort of bossy jerk. M^2 lets out the Shellcracker family squee of glee, that single elongated “heeee” sound through closed lips with a closed-eyed smile.

“I guess for my next turn, um, I’ve helped a couple of our family evolve in special ways, you’ve seen Lil and ‘Uila take on bigger forms. I kinda only figured out how to do that for them because of scary situations. Something that probably isn’t unique to me is that I don’t want our family to ever have to go through scary situations again.” As I ramble for my turn, the twins nod or shake their head, trying to confirm they also wish for our family’s safety.

‘Naia takes her turn again, “One time, when fishing, I found an egg, it had Olioli in it!” So it was ‘Naia who found it? I wonder if she’s the only one who will ever be able to find more, if somehow more members of our family are ever able to reincarnate.

M^2 wants to share credit, but admits it was ‘Naia who found it. M^2 instead, on their turn, states, “I know some of Mat’s secrets even ‘Naia doesn’t know, and Mat doesn’t know I know.”

I absolutely cannot know whatever it is that Manameia knows about Mataalii. I sweat a bit profusely, and try to change the topic away from the game. I’m afraid M^2 will start divulging Mat’s secrets as part of the next few rounds. I’m afraid of the consequences for our future, but also I’m worried Mata would kill me if he thought I forced the twins to spy on him and spill the beans. I’d say figuratively, but with how angry and sullen he is these days, I think Mat might actually consider finding a way to get me killed.

Right, time to distract them. I try to excitedly query, “Who wants to try out a new way to glide!?”

Thankfully that excites the twins enough to change topics without raising any of their suspicions. I can use it as an excuse to train precise movements with my JT abilities. Since we’ll be technically training, the twins can join us near Lil, Lu, and Teuila. I mean, they could join us over there if they wanted to at any time anyway, but at least it’s an excuse for us all to hang out together.

When the three of us catch up with my inner circle, Lu’s in the middle of cheering Lil on while my dragon buddy is on the offensive. Lil is trying to land strikes on Teuila, with little success. Teuila’s combat prowess is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous. She occasionally stands around to let Lil land a strike, just so that they can both increase respective skills. I shake my head incredulously and let out a sighing chuckle.

The twins are asking why ‘Uila and Lil are fighting, but thankfully Lu answers for me. I share my plans to distract the twins by flying them around with inventory magic to Lu telepathically, thankfully she thinks it sounds like a fun idea. Lu and I spend a few minutes snuggling in shared thinkspace before I get started explaining to the twins how I’m going to do this. I don’t think I’ve ever practiced using JT from two different directions facing in different directions before. I’ve also rarely ever used it at anything slower than the fastest I can jettison-thrust.

This should help me learn precise control, and it could open up more possibilities for me in combat. Lu even helps, or maybe distracts me, by making suggestions in shared thinkspace between motions.

After a few hours, I’m using JT in entirely new ways. It’s not quite the same as telekinesis, but since I can claim my own items even from range, and summon them slightly at range I can do micro readjustments to their trajectories. I practice having the twins take bouncy flights that pass near one another, crisscrossing their trajectories on occasion.

We’re all having a fairly good time until I hear a snarling from a ways away that can only be Mataalii. Oh he’s going to kill me. Some sort of defensive instinct flares in me as I want to spare the twins from his wrath, and something intangible passes from me to them.

‘Naia’s form elongates and glows, as does M^2’s. Oh no, now he’s definitely going to kill me. I try to cushion the twins’ falls from where I’d been flinging them up and down with JT magic. My reaction is largely unnecessary, but everything seems to be happening in slow motion.

‘Naia takes on the appearance of something akin to Luni, the slightly humanoid stage of otter evolution, but her outfit and form are a mix between a ballerina, a jazzerciser, and a mermaid. M^2’s form adopts a similar look, though M^2’s is a little less athletic looking, without the shimmering scale elements, and they have a scarf as well.

Mataalii looks like he’s about to fly off the handle. The twins are defending the situation, saying they’re not babies, and never were. Mat’s fairly close to frothing at the mouth as the twins relent and follow Mat away from our training area.

Okay, if I was waiting for any kind of signal for the correct time to start our journey to the west, it’s now. Mataalii is going to need a long time to cool down.

Gulping, I call out to my inner circle, “Guys? Could you um, gather your stuff, and say our temporary goodbyes to Lao and Fam? Give her hugs for me, I’ll be waiting over by the caves.”

Teuila cracks her knuckles but I shake my head in her direction. I know she wants to smack Mat for scaring me, but it’s not worth the family tension and strain.

Thankfully, it doesn’t take long for my inner circle to catch up to me near the caves. We haven’t seen our neighbors in a while, but I can actually hear the faint sound of drumming coming within. I think we’re at a good place with them. Hopefully. I really don’t want to imagine what would happen if we weren’t. Right, anyway, we never did come up with a party name, did we?

Lil did once say that I could never be too sappy, right? Let’s put that to the test. I ask my party, “Hey, guys, how do you feel about Shellcracker Adventuring Party for our inner circle name?”

There’s a round of laughs from the SAP as they agree it’s a fitting acronym for a name for any party that contains me. Still, however many days or weeks the SAP travels, it feels like we’ll never hit a coastline. We’re training constantly now, rather than spending as much time in shared thinkspace.

Today we’ve finally reached the coast. To the north, the cliffs rise up to FIre Biome far above, and the waves crash against the cliff face in a majestic display of the fury of the ocean. The ocean’s waves also lap high onto the sandy beaches from here to the far distance.

It seems unlikely that any sort of civilization or group of potential allies might live at the edge of the cliffs in Fire Biome, so we decide to venture south.

Finally, after two days traveling south along the shore, we crest a rise in a sandy dune created by the waves of the beach, and we’re treated to a sight I didn’t think existed in our world.

Our entire party stares at one another in shock at what we discover. There’s a walled city, ships at dock in a port, a miniature castle, a bell tower, chimneys, and a lot of motion visible within its walls.