The party changed course and headed for the city of Azidon, all the while, everyone decided to continue their pursuit of knowledge of one another.
Eber spoke up, "So, we still have quite a while before we arrive in Azidon. Who's turn was it to tell their story?"
"Well, me and Pinzu are done, I doubt Sol remembers his, and you filled us in on a few things," Red replied.
"I'm sorry my lack of memories has become so predictable," Solaris said sadly, with a hint of annoyance.
Red glanced over at Romel and pointed. "Your turn!" she said with a smile.
"What, my turn!? But, my story is lame; it's basically a recap of our journey so far." He protested.
Oddie sat down on the deck. "Well, I wouldn't mind hearing it. I am to go with the ship, and if the ship travels with you, then we're going to be spending quite bits of time together now, aren't we?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right. In that case, YOU can go first." Romel replied, sticking out his tongue.
"Now Romel, everyone else has gone except you. He's new, so you're still up." Red shook her finger at him.
"Fine, fine, but don't start complaining if my story sucks. I'll fill in some of the info you guys missed from before you joined up with us. I suppose it will be a reminder for Sol as well." They all sat on the deck and listened attentively to Romel as he began.
"I was born and raised in the small village of Alpis. I learned a little of everything I think. I can kinda cook and farm, kinda fix stuff, and kinda fight. I'm not, nor have I ever been particularly good with any one thing.
I was bullied and picked on for being normal, and never really bothered to speak up for myself I didn't wanna cause more of a scene that there already was anyways. My day-to-day life was boring. I'd wake up, do whatever was asked of me at home, and then do whatever else I wanted to do, which usually involved a trip to the market, and the occasional meeting of the village bullies." He paused and looked around, waiting for some to start complaining. No one did, he continued.
"Anyways, I met Sol one day by chance. I was off in the woods near the village and this guy here caught my eye. He was wearing orange in the middle of the woods, and nearly impossible to miss. I hid and observed cuz you can take a look at him and tell he's not exactly normal. He was a lot meaner than he is now. Actually, his entire personality is nearly the opposite of what it was when I met him. He used to be slightly crude, very blunt, and occasionally downright mean."
Everyone stared at Romel as he went on, and some seemed to get an annoyed look, except Sol, who laughed for some reason.
"Don't mind me. I find this surprisingly interesting. Do go on" Solaris replied.
Romel continued yet again. "Don't get me wrong, Sol wasn't, and isn't, a bad person. He had an interesting sense of humor though. He kept saying I was going to piss myself. Truth be told, he seemed like a bit of a badass and I nearly did when he shot me the 'I could kill you in an instant' glance".
They all laughed. "Yeah, that sounds about right for old Sol" Red commented. "I actually like both old Sol and him as he is now. They are both cool in different ways."
Eber decided to jump in. "From my experience with those who have lost memories as he has, I can tell you that they should come back over time. This conversation is probably triggering a few of them now actually, hence the large grin on Sol's face."
They glanced over at Solaris, who burst into laughter "That was the funniest expression I've ever seen you with. It was almost as funny as the bully in the village!" He rolled around the deck laughing.
"OK? So, moving right along, before Sol gives any more spoilers; we went back to the village, and met the same usual gang of bullies. To make a long story short, Sol lifted one of them up with 1 arm and pinned him against the wall, and that guy actually DID piss himself. They left me alone for the most part after that day.
"That night he ate at my place, and made jokes, and scared my parents." He was cut off by more of Sol's laughter.
"Oh riiight, I remember the looks on their faces too. They were questioning you at that point. Do you know how hard it was not to laugh?" Sol continued his laughing fit as Romel continued the story.
"What Sol failed to tell anyone was that he was being followed by some guys. Red, you should remember them from the first trip to Fujima, those bandits that attacked us." Red nodded. "Yeah, well, that same group of vandals attacked my house that night. Sol was out in the barn, and made it back to the house before I did. He fought them all off without actually killing anyone. I'm still now sure how he did that since it was 5 vs. 1. Though, that mystery was solved as I got to know him. He left the village the next morning, and it was several weeks before I saw him again."
"Did he come back to Alpis?" Eber asked.
"No, we ran into each other in Trystine, literally. My parents suggested that 'I go traveling and see the world, and maybe I'd get lucky and find that wayward soul again.' I was totally up for the first part, the 2nd part I wasn't so sure about. But when I ran into him, seemed he had no idea of how some things worked, like he was from another time or something. That's why I started traveling with him. I had nowhere in particular to go, and it was doubtful that anything bad would happen with him around.
From there, we went to the elven capital city of Algarost, where things got…interesting, and just slightly insane."
"How so?" Oddie asked.
"Well, we got into a fight with a cleric I think, who turned out to not be a cleric, but some evil guy posing as a cleric. We ended up blowing up a temple of some sort. And somewhere during our visit, we were teleported to another city entirely. There we saved a little girl from getting eaten and helped the last 4 survivors of said village escape. I think we actually met you soon after on the way back to Algarost. I believe there was a mechanical failure on the ship on that trip."
"Oh, I remember that. That totally wasn't my fault" the dwarf replied.
"Yeah, suuuure it wasn't" Solaris added. They looked at him with suspicion as a hint of his former smartassness showed itself.
Eber chimed in yet again with more seeming intelligent talk "I suppose it would be safe to assume that his former personality will return too, thought I can't say for sure how it would mix with the current one. For all we know, he could have 2 personalities altogether, or just be extremely conflicted."
They stared at Eber in surprise. "Look at you, all smart today. Do you want a cookie?" Red teased.
"Yes please, chocolate chip if I get a choice" He replied seamlessly.
"Anyways, for the sake of me finishing with my part of group story time," Romel interrupted "We left Algarost in a bit of a hurry and went back to Trystine. We had a fight on the way back to Azidon and I ran off for a day or 2, only to be caught by Sol on horseback and taken back to Alpis, where we stopped more of those blight creatures. After that, I met Quasar, who explained a lot of stuff which I think we all know by now. From there, I got arrested in Azidon courtesy of Eber…." He stopped, turned, and punched Eber in the face and continued as if nothing happened. "From there, most of us should know what happened, except Eber, Oddie, and Pinzu."
"Well, not much happened during that time, except for a fight, which Eber was there for, and an explosion, which caused us to go back to the ruins, and acquire Pinzu to the party. Other than that, we should all be caught up." Red pointed out.
"So, we're going to land in Azidon, where everyone hates me? I don't see that going well" Eber shook his head.
"How the hell did you escape that fight anyways?" Solaris asked.
"I encased myself in a block of ice and catapulted it way from the battle at the same time. I landed wherever it was you found me, which was apparently in a blight infested area."
Oddie scratched his bald head. "I can't help but get the feeling I'm missing something extremely important here…"
Romel stared down at the little man. "Well, aside from it being your turn to give a backstory, since you wanted to hear ours anyways, these are the things you missed and probably need to know: Eber was evil, and Sol and I fought him, and took over Azidon Manor. Solaris has an insanely important responsibility, and that's why most of us are gathered, either to help him, or out of lack of something better to do. Solaris has lost him memories… twice. Once to being sealed magically and another to death, courtesy of Eber."
Eber added "Also, Red and Pinzu are great cooks, but don't eat Pinzu's cooking if you want to live, and Romel and Red are a couple, so if you go after her." He was smacked by Red, who was blushing.
"We are not!" she shouted, then turned and looked away.
"And with a reaction like that, you wonder why they aren't, yet know the answer at the same time" Eber teased. He quickly received yet another punch from Romel, this time on the shoulder. He laughed and shrugged it off. "Now, about your story Oddie?" Eber questioned.
Oddie looked around. "It's quite simple really. As you know, I'm a dwarf, and most dwarves build things. I am no exception. My parents, grandparents, and great grandparents were all craftsman of some sort. The only thing that makes me different is that I learned to fight, and work on airships. Other than that, I'm just a plain dwarf."
"Is that all?" Pinzu asked.
"Well, yes actually. I've honestly never been around people like this often, so I'm kinda new to things, what do you expect of me?"
"You've got to appreciate his bluntness" Solaris said.
"Well, I kind of expected a story that didn't suck" said Pinzu.
They all looked at him and laughed. Suddenly the captain's voice could be heard from the other side of the deck. "We'll be arriving in Azidon within the hour."
"I missed that place. Let's hope it's in better shape than Fujima was when we got there." Romel said in a solemn tone.
"Speaking of disasters, any idea where Siralos is now?" Red asked.
"Hmm, I can't tell due to our speed, I'll let you know once we land or something." Solaris replied.
The ship landed at Azidon Manor and the party of 5 and a half exited the ship. They checked for damage and found none, then took a day or so to rest, as they were finally able to once again stop and enjoy their own home. It was, however, mildly awkward for Eber, Solaris, and Romel, to all share the same home, even if it was a large mansion, given their history.
Fragments - Sun Book 1 - Draft 1
Following
Table of Contents
An Encounter Ch 2 - Citradel of the Flame Keepers Ch 3 -The City of Azidon Ch 4 - City of Silence Ch 5 - A brush with the Blight Ch 6 - Showdown in the Sanctuary Chapter 7 - The Runaway Guide Ch 8 - Flowers and a Dragon Ch 9 - The Royal Pain Outtake 1 Ch 10 - A Conflict of Elements Ch 11 - You Called Me What?! Ch 12a - The end of a Journey A Small Stack of Bonus Content 12b - The end of a Journey Ch 13 - Rise of the Dark Sun Ch 14 - The Trial of the Solar Eclipse Ch 15 - Beast Mode... ?! Outtake 6 - Ponies! Ch 16 - Torment at Fujima Outtake 7 - You Did What?! Ch 17 - The Binding of Frost and Flame Ch 18 - The Break of Power and Silence Ch 19a - Pages from Their Past Outtake 8 Outtake 9 Ch - 19b - Pages from their Pasts Outtake 10 Ch 20 - Home, Bittersweet Home Ch 22 - The Aftermath Ch 23 - An Unexpected Reunion Ch 24 - The Elven Scholar Ch 25 - The Student-Teacher Ch 30 - Academic Warfare Outtake 13 - And You Are...?Ch - 19b - Pages from their Pasts
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by 3 Armored Kittens · Prodromos v.1.1 - World Anvil 0.9.15.043 © 2017-2024 [en] | Anvil Time: 19:25, Dec 22 2024