Kaldalis returned to his friends with the fishing rod held reverently in his hands. At the sight of it - in spite of Forturns’s request for peace and quiet - another cheer went up.

“Is it what you need?” Heluna asked quickly.

“It is,” Kaldalis confirmed. “Bastijn was right. This is the Relic, and the exact thing I needed.”

“Woo!” Bastijn threw his arms up in celebration. “In your fucking faces! I’m the king! I’m right again! I’m right non-stop, motherfuckers!”

The Bhogad sailor immediately to his left threw a large arm around Bastijn’s shoulder, as if companionably, but the gesture quickly became a headlock. The smaller Vathon tried to struggle free, but even his curled horns couldn’t do anything to dissuade the aggressor. Thus grappled, the man was unable to speak any further.

“That’s enough of that,” the Bhogad said.

“Go easy on him,” Kaldalis said, “as much as he might be an asshole, he was right. Without his information, I might be up a creek without a paddle. But now I have all the tools I need.”

“I think that calls for a celebratory drink,” Jorarre said.

As one, the sailors took that as their cue to head back towards the bar, including the Bhgoad with Bastijn awkwardly stumbling along, still in a headlock. Balrim, Myrin, and Heluna stayed with Kaldalis, though.

“So what’s next?” Myrin asked.

“Nothing left but to reach out and touch a piece of history,” Kaldalis said. “Though, uh, some amount of this is going to be experimental. A bit of trial and error. I honestly don’t know how this ends, but I have a pretty good idea of how to find out.”

“I’m really curious about the source of all that alcohol,” Balrim said, turning to Myrin. “Maybe we should give chase and investigate?”

“Really?” Myrin said, incredulously. “You don’t want to stick with this until the end?”

“If Kal needed us, he’d ask for our help,” Balrim said, giving Myrin a meaningful look, flicking his eyes at Heluna briefly. “I think we’re off the hook.” When he said it, he placed weird emphasis on the word “off.”

Myrin stared at Balrim for a moment before understanding came to her.

“OH. Yes,” she said quickly. “We’ll let you, uh, you’ll know where to find us.” She gave Kaldalis a brief wave before she let Balrim lead her to chase after the sailors.

“What was that about?” Kaldalis asked.

“Maybe they think you’re gonna eat shit and die,” Heluna observed. “And so they’re giving us the privacy to have a farewell fuck before you try what you’re gonna fuckin’ try.”

Kaldalis slapped his hand to his face in a mixture of frustration and embarrassment. He wasn’t sure which was worse: the idea that his friends might not have faith in his plan without having heard it yet, or that they might be thinking about his sex life.

“I hope you’re not offended,” Kaldalis said at last, “if I want to give my plan a try without, you know. Giving it up.”

Heluna laughed. “Of course not,” she said with a smile. She put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “I have a bit more fuckin’ faith in your plan than those assholes. I know you’re coming back to me.” She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “And my affection for your ass isn’t reliant on how fast you’re in the mood to give it up.”

Kaldalis tried to ride the confidence of that compliment as far as he could, taking her hand and leading her back out onto the beach.

It was full dark now, though one of the two moons was full. The silvery light of that moon cast a corridor of light across the surface of the water, though it left it in near-total darkness on either side.

This was the best place to do what needed to be done.

If he failed, it would be better to hit the water than to hit dirt.

“So what’s the fuckin’ plan?” Heluna asked.

Kaldalis produced his sword and shield from his inventory. Instead of wielding them, though, he held them out, offering them to Heluna.

“A gift?” She laughed as she took them from him. “I don’t know if I understand.”

“Alright,” Kaldalis said, drawing his spear. “This plan has five parts. Obviously, you know two of them. Kaia’s Flicker will put me in the Paths Between Paths, and the Relic fishing rod will stop me from suffocating while I’m there.” He held up his spear. “Two of the others are Nyxlas’s Augment and my Jump ability. I learned from Onirioago that momentum is conserved across Flicker. I jump as high as I can, and flicker right before I land. No air means no air resistance, so I’ll fly the distance to the vessel, so long as I’m going fast enough.”

“So the last part is fuckin’ obvious,” Heluna said, examining the sword and shield. “Staying in that fucked-up void long enough to complete the trip. Otherwise you could just hold your breath without all this bullshit for the relic, right?”

“I fought a monster out in the jungle outside Panbu,” Kaldalis said. He went to his gear menu and adjusted his charms, removing the one that was boosting his Fortitude and replacing it with a weaker one that wouldn’t boost his debuff Affinities. “It afflicted me with Slow, and when I flickered to avoid the attack, I stayed in the Paths Between Paths for much longer.” He pointed to the sword. “The same debuff that sword will inflict on me if we spar.”

“Well, as long as you won’t be mad at me when I kick your ass,” Heluna said, equipping the shield and readying the sword to fight.

“I’m not going to fight back,” Kaldalis laughed. “It’s part of the plan. You slow me, so that when I flicker I’ll be in the Paths for long enough to make contact.”

“Still,” Heluna said, stepping in close. “I’ll try to go easy on you, cutie.”

She smirked briefly before planting her lips squarely on his. The kiss was sudden and unexpected, but far from unwelcome. After the suggestion that he might not come back from this, he was starting to feel more than a few doubts about his plan. The display of affection made him feel a little better. If he ended up trapped in a space bubble surrounded by ancient otterfolk, this kiss might have to last him a while. Heluna seemed to sense that fear, and the kiss was firm and warm, without becoming excessive.

“Thank you,” Kaldalis said when their lips parted. “For everything. You being by my side made the impossible possible today.”

“You, thanking me?” She laughed and held him close for a moment. “You’re gonna fuckin’ change the world, right?”

“You did more than anyone else to get me here,” he said, hugging her tight. “More than me, even. No matter what happens, I won’t forget it.”

When they separated, Heluna raised Kaldalis’s sword. It just took a little effort of concentration to render the combat a spar, which would allow them to fight using standard rules - without the need for War Weapons, and with debuffs active.

“Remember,” Heluna said, “as soon as your ass hits eleven stacks, you gotta go.”

“Eleven stacks?” Kaldalis asked. “Why?”

“You haven’t fucked with Slow a lot, huh?” Heluna asked. “At twelve stacks, you get totally fuckin’ stunned. Full stop. You can’t haul ass if your ass can’t move, right?”

Kaldalis nodded. That made sense. It was also really good to know. Being able to slow a boss was a big reason he’d gone for this sword. Knowing that he could push hard and stun it? That was valuable information that might come up later in his adventures.

With that, they began. Heluna was a bit hesitant to strike him at first, but once she landed the first blow, her confidence visibly grew. She dealt a little over five hundred damage with the strike, which meant Kaldalis was going to need to burn some resources to accept enough stacks of Slow, but the first stack procced immediately.

“I thought I was gonna pound your ass to paste,” she said, bringing the blade around for a backhand strike. “But you’re tougher than you look.”

He wanted to ask what five hundred damage meant to her that she thought she hadn’t just taken a big chunk out of him, but he didn’t want her to stop. His plan relied on this debuff, so he just grinned and turned his shoulder towards her, readying himself to endure whatever she could throw at him.

Kaldalis popped a Minor Healing Potion early, healing for five hundred damage as he activated his Shrug Off cooldown to absorb the next three hits, taking three more stacks without any more damage to his health pool. Once that was done, he immediately popped Endure, reducing her hits to four hundred damage for the duration. Five stacks. Six stacks. Seven. Eight. His hit points were plummeting to the floor, but he had to grin and bear it so that Heluna wouldn’t balk. Nine. Ten…

“Eleven stacks,” she confirmed as she landed the next blow. “Go! Go!”

Kaldalis had exactly seventy-six hit points left, and was grateful that removing his Fortitude charm meant that the debuff hadn’t missed any procs. Luckily, Nyxlas’s Augment chopped off his current HP, not his maximum, and so it only cost him twenty-five hit points to empower his jump. He bent at the knees to leap almost straight up - angled just slightly so that when he came down he would land in the water and not on the sand. The stacks of Slow meant that the movement felt so sluggish. But the duration of the debuff would hold more than long enough. It was more important to do this right than it was to do it fast.

“Good luck!” Heluna said, boldly giving him a playful swat on the butt just before he leaped.

He felt like the unexpected contact gave his augmented jump a little boost.

As Kaldalis hurtled up into the air, he took a moment to down another Minor Healing Potion, as he felt a little vulnerable with his hit points down at fifty. And when he reached the apex of his jump, he switched his weapon, putting away the spear and equipping Weichen’s Fishing Rod.

As the water rushed up at him, he focused on his timing. Failure was not an option. He had to get this right. There would be more challenges to come, but this was the first step. The culmination of all his gathered knowledge had led him to this. It just had to be right. He was still gaining speed. He had to wait for the last second. He needed all the momentum he could get.

Right before he hit the moonlit ocean, Kaldalis activated Kaia’s Flicker.