Any moment now, I would wake up from this strange dream…
I rubbed my sun-kissed arm, fingers sliding across turquoise tattoos flecked with tiny scales—scales that felt all too real, skin that was all too warm. The toll of a bell made me jump. I looked over my shoulder, across a vast stretch of white powdery sand.
There in the distance, at the center of Wavehaven, towered a swirling conch shell, its tip seeming to scratch the sky. It shimmered as the bell inside rang fourteen times.
I looked up toward the sun blazing straight overhead. Noon—time to head back to the guild. I was already moving, kicking up sand with my bare feet. When the sun caught it, the grains flickered pink.
Up ahead, a Tidewalker lay on his back, arms and legs outstretched like some kind of starfish. I made sure to give him a wide berth, though I couldn't help staring. Emerald scales cascaded down the sides of his neck and across his shoulders, leaving his sculpted chest and abs pale, save for a swirling tattoo. He had no hair, and instead of ears, fins poked from the sides of his head.
I hurried forward, drawing closer to the plaza. Being one of the few mixed races here made me feel oddly out of place. Nothing new. My thoughts drifted to my parents from Earth—my mom with her rich, dark skin, and my dad with his blonde hair and white face. I bit down hard, knitting my eyebrows together intensely, the ache in my chest only growing more painful, my stomach expanding with emptiness.
As a strong wave of homesickness swept through me, I shivered, running fingers through my dark hair. It reached to my shoulders, and when the sun caught it, it shimmered sapphire. I looked down at my hand and pressed my fingers together, then split them apart, watching webbing form between them. When I squeezed my fingers together again, the webbing vanished—a technique I'd learned to distract myself, to direct my thoughts away from those I so desperately missed, from the pain their faces brought, from memories best left untouched.
Before I realized what was happening, I was rubbing my chest, phantom pain hovering where… I clenched my teeth and shook my head. A shriek had me practically jumping out of my skin.
I scrambled and stumbled, then spun to my left. A large bird flapped great wings, sunlight reflecting off its red feathers. It swung its head forward, slamming its golden beak against the red-orange carapace of a sand crawler. The creature, roughly the size of a small dog, shrieked again, opening a mouth on a face that reminded me somewhat of a lizard. Its body, long and sinuous with six legs, curled up into a ball.
That stupid bird kept slamming its golden beak against the creature's rough hide, cracking it. My guts sank, watching the fight.
[NEW SIDE QUEST: ENDANGERED]
[The beast is defenseless, and many of them are going extinct. If it wasn't for the Counsel of the Tides, this variety of fowl wouldn't even be here]
[OBJECTIVE: Save the sand crawler (0/1)]
[REWARD: ???]
I was already moving. The bird slammed its beak into the sand crawler again, and this time, its shriek—I could have sworn it sounded just like my sister's in her final moments. The bird's puffed-out chest, its lifted chin and proud eyes…it was as if it knew it was torturing me, knew that its awful actions struck a chord deep within my soul. I could almost swear it smirked, just like those idiots back home—men who screwed over my dad, doctors who didn't give a crap about my sister.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I was full-on sprinting now, clenching my fists, activating one of my abilities—Aqua Surge. [BODY FLUIDS: 80%/100%]. Water wriggled from my pores, enveloping my fist as I cried out and punched at the winged creature. A watery replica of my fist rocketed off, flying through the air and exploding against the creature's chest. The bird screeched and flapped its great wings, backing off, shaking its head.
I reached the poor sand crawler, standing over it like a protective older brother, glaring at the evil fowl as it landed ten feet away. It shivered and puffed its feathers, cocking its head to one side and glaring at me with a large yellow eye. We had a staring contest, and I never wavered, squeezing my fists tight, my glare daring the bird to attack. With a shake of its head, the bird seemed to deem this a losing battle. It jumped away, flapping its great wings.
I watched until it vanished, then looked down at the curled-up crab-like centipede. It peeked up at me with its reptilian face, watching with an eye that seemed to belong to a dinosaur.
"You okay?" I asked, immediately feeling stupid. The creature just blinked, and of course it would—I had talked to animals before, so much so that I often forgot to wear the mask that allowed that.
[INVENTORY] → [MASKS]
Masks (Currently Crafted)
- Breather's Visage (Common)
- Effect: Extends underwater breathing time by 1 hour.
- Durability: 20 / 20
- Whisperer's Veil (Uncommon)
- Effect: Allows communication with small sea creatures (e.g., fish, crabs).
- Mana Cost: 15 MP per minute.
- Durability: 15 / 15
Before I could reach for my Whisperer's Veil—a wooden mask reminiscent of a giant open mouth—the creature wriggled away, burying deep into the sand.
I stared at where it had vanished, then shook my head and continued toward the main square. I was already going to be late, so I picked up the pace, my feet slapping against polished cobblestones.
[SIDE QUEST: ENDANGERED] (COMPLETE)
[OBJECTIVE: Save the sand crawler (1/1)]
[REWARD: Reputation w/ sand crawler +75]
There were booths surrounding the vast pearlescent spire, and as my pounding heart calmed, blood no longer surging through my ears, the amiable chatter of crowds caught my attention. I slowed, gazing up to the very tip of the tower. Some claimed it was nothing more than a clock and a lighthouse, but many believed it to be the shrine of a goddess. A goddess, or some kind of artifact capable of warping space and time. Or so the journals said.
I’d tried getting in, tried sneaking past the cloaked acolytes standing guard at the spire’s base, but they wouldn’t let me past. But I had a plan, and it involved a mask. One I shouldn’t even have instructions to make.
I took a shaky breath, swallowing past a lump in my throat. But why care? a part of me whispered. For all I knew, this was all a drug dream, and though it definitely was a possibility, I couldn't help but rub a finger along my arm, pinch my skin, and feel the pain. You're not in a dream, I thought. That bullet went right through your chest.
I swallowed another lump. It it was far easier—far less mind-warping—to think of this as a hallucination, to believe I was in the hospital, in a coma, waiting to wake up, waiting to get revenge on the people who killed me.
Someone brushed past me, shoving me aside. I stumbled, arms pinwheeling, but managed to keep my balance. I spun on my heel and faced a Tidewalker. He was far fishier than most, with a long finned tail and obvious slits for gills beneath his cheekbones. He glared down at me with large bulging eyes, a sneer pulling at his lip.
"You got a problem, Beachstrider?" the Tidewalker asked, his words sounding garbled, as if his throat were full of phlegm.
I was about to tell him to go to hell and continue on my way, but then I felt a presence at my back. I spun to find another Tidewalker, this one with scales so dark it made his yellow eyes pop. "Why you walking around here, dirtying up the stones with your filth?"
Heart pounding, I snorted. He took a step toward to me, but I did not back down. I was a good head taller than him, matching the size of the other guy, but that didn't mean I knew how to fight. Punching a bird was one thing, but two full-blown Tidewalkers?
The two of them stepped closer, and this time I did back away, mainly to get some room for the fight that was inevitably coming.