(Lave POV)

My wish wasn’t granted. The thought floating through my mind while watching a sea monster block my path. There was truly no other way to call it then a monster. Its body an oversized four meters (13 ft) with scales varying in color. The spines flared up dangerously to prepared to attack if given the opportunity.

It swayed back and forth in the water making its scales sparkle in the moonlight. Is that the Rainbow Fish? The fish suddenly sucked in through its gills causing the water to rush in pulling me towards it. However the force was not strong enough to pull me more than a few centimeters forward.

Tilting my head in confusion I debated how to deal with it. I could just kill it but the blood might draw other predators. Maybe stunning it is a better choice. The fish stopped sucking in and looked like it was irritated. Opening its mouth it violently blew out air bubbles. Shit is that Vayu? It really is the Rainbow Fish! The bubbles were bigger than me and caused under water tidal waves.

I rolled in the water making my eyes spin. Forget it lets kill the fish. My dagger sliced through the water as if unaffected by the erratic current. In seconds the knife logged itself firmly into its eye. The fish writhed in pain dragging me through the water.

Managing to dislodge the dagger it swam off in a panic bleeding from the eye and leaving me confused as the battle was too anticlimactic. A Mirror Dory swam by lazily fanning its fins as if mocking me. My irritation rose as I looked at the fish. With a deep calming breath I continued towards the island.

Six hours later I made it to what I assume is the island. It was a painful and taxing six hours. I learned that the large four meter fish was in fact not the Rainbow Fish that swallowed Buddha, but in fact just an oversized fish and a common one at that. The only reason it took me so long to get here is because of this stupid fish. I feel like I should call it Gaiste fish.

Honestly what kind of predator runs away from prey after a single injury? Trudging my way up onto shore I examined the island. Thick fog covered the ocean about three meters out effectively cutting off the space. Soft black sand sunk in with each step I took alluding to its volcanic past. A thick uninviting jungle blended in with the beach causing the separation of the two to be obscure.

Scanning the beach I spotted a conspicuous wooden shack down a ways. Stretching out my muscles I made my way over hoping that this was the island she talked about. The building is slowly being taken over by the jungle on one side, and on the other a perfect garden. This discord created an interesting scene of being overgrown and well maintained at the same time.

Sadly the feeling of the tracking crystal I gave Amice has only grown stronger. She is somewhere on this island. I sighed while knocking on the door. This witch had better be worth it.

The door creaked open reviling a grey eyes with short brown hair wearing baggy cloths that are easy to move in. My head dropped in disappointment. A happy squeal sounded in front of me.

“Lave!” My shoulders dropped further in resignation. There is no escape, but maybe if I can find a way home she can’t follow me? My thoughts swirled as many different scenarios played out, but they all ended with Amice showing up out of no where. I shuddered. Why? Why is it that I can’t escape? Why does she follow me? I feel that even if I cross dimensions she will still be there.

“I was so worried! The last time I saw you that horrible man dragged you off to the Church. I was planning to come rescue you but then the Lady said that you would come here and I should just wait.” Amice throw herself at me in a forceful hug as I shuddered. I felt like crying.

A chuckle sounded behind Amice. “I see that I do not have to worry about her safety.” I looked up trying to find the body the voice belonged to. “Why don’t you invite your friend in Amice, and we can eat lunch.”

~~~

(Gran POV)

I walked into the castle library hoping to find Jaras before my arms fell off. If Lucius saw me I would be tied up to the bed already. I have managed to avoid him so far but there is only so long I can avoid that blood hound. I understand that he is concerned, but I am not five and have managed just fine so far.

Spotting Jaras at the front counter I sighed in relief. “Good morning Jaras. How is your day going?” I asked while placing the torture devices known as books on the desk. My arms burned from the weight and I’m pretty sure some of my wounds opened up again.

“Good Morning Mr. Felan. Is this the new batch of books from you travels?” Jaras asked as he pulled them closer his eyes shining. Honestly it was scary how much he loves knowledge. I did my habitual check for any changes in Jaras’s features, but again nothing has changed. It is weird how he hasn’t changed at all for the six years I have known him.

“Yes, these are from a couple different places I visited.” However despite the creepiness of the lack of change Jaras has to be one of my favorite people. Picking up a pale blue book I placed it in front of him. “This book is from a coastal town that believes in a water Goddess named Mar. Everything there was a shade of blue. Even the paper.” I opened the book relieving faded blue paper and dark blue ink.

“Fascinating. How did they get the paper this color?” Jaras ran his hand down the page and skimmed the words. “What language do they speak? I can only understand about half of the words here.” I took a seat on the edge of the desk to rest my legs. Over the years this has become a pattern. Jaras should really get another chair.

“From what I can tell it is a mixture of the old language and something else. Though it should be pretty easy to understand once you read it properly. The language isn’t to different from ours.” Jaras nodded as he flipped through the pages.

“Do you have any books on Sol?” He asked. “I am interested in what this country is like since they are declaring war.” With a sigh I pulled out a white and gold book from the stack and handed it to Jaras.

“This is the only book I was able to get from that country. It is a religious text from the church. However it is written in a language they call Common. So I am not sure if you will be able to read it.” Jaras just nodded as he flipped open the book. Unlike the last one the pages are crisp white and the ink in a dark gold. The book was not easy to get and how it managed to stay so clean I will never know.

“Are you able to read this?” He asked. I glanced down at the book’s scrolled writing and sighed.

“My Common isn’t that great, but I can read some of it.” I replied already knowing where this is going. “However I refuse to read it while sitting on the desk. Lets go somewhere with chairs.”

“Excellent.” With that Jaras picked up the book and we headed deeper into the library. This is going to be a long day.