Chapter 11

As it turned out, the people on the island had two things they did: Healing and cooking. The healing was similar to how the Elves were able to make contracts with spirits, in the sense that they used extra-planar energies to achieve their goals. The difference here was that there were no intelligent beings there, and in fact no life aside from basic single-celled organisms.

“Yeah, so Elysium doesn’t actually have much in it. Just a couple of bacteria, and even those are simple by our standards. Something about their world just makes complex things break down and fall apart, with only the simplest things being able to survive. Too much exchange between them kills both parties, so they don’t really have anything except autotrophs their either,” explained Acna. She waved around a fork to convey the idea.

“Cool. What does Elysium look like? I know that Duat is where the Elementals live and it looks seriously freaky a couple layers down, but does Elysium have weird stuff too?” said Victor. He was currently dissecting his food into thinly sliced layers and eating them, with bland grains separating various dishes on his plate so they wouldn’t touch each other. The natives just assumed it was some strange custom, when in fact the crew knew it was just Victor being Victor.

“Elysium is hazardous to complex structures such as ourselves and slowly disintegrates you until nothing but the bacteria on you survives, and even those die out in a couple generations because they are too complex. However, from what we can see, it’s just a bunch of flat, rocky plains with some water puddles. Also, everything is golden and bright, and we can’t tell where the light’s coming from. There’s still a night sky all the time, and there isn’t much we can do there. However, the single celled organisms there are somehow conducive to growth and certain compounds can be summoned, allowing us to multiply cells and have these single celled ones copy nearby cells. For some reason, they evolved to copy nearby cells and now we use that to both heal and harm.”

“Nice. Also, what’s the recipe for this bird-thing? It’s delicious.”, said Victor. He was currently doing some odd geometrical carving with one of his ridiculously sharp knives on said piece of roasted fowl. It currently looked like an inscribed circle that had several ovals, hexagons, and stars in it. He then deftly began eating it until nothing was left of the oddly artistic meal.

“Uh, I’ll give it to you later. So, do you know what cells are now?”, said Acna. Silk appeared to be reading her book, but when victor looked away she silently stared at Acna, as though she was memorizing every part of her being. Acna stared back.

“I’m gonna go use the bathroom. Be right back”, said Victor while stretching. He then walked towards the ship.

“So, do you know any fighting?”, said Silk while wiping her mouth.

“Somewhat, mainly so I can fight the wild animals. Why do you ask?”, said Acna.

“Hm. You seem fairly athletic. Want to spar?”, said Silk. Upon seeing Acna nod, she then followed Acna towards a small crater with smooth black glass dotting it.

“Is that a duel?”, she said.

“Kinda, I guess.” responded Silk. That was the wrong move for someone whose culture you know very little about.

“Attention, members of our tribe! Visitor Silk has decided to spar with us and represent her crew! Please follow us to the Duelist’s pit!”, shouted the woman. Silk looked at her quizically.

“What’s this about? I just wanted to stretch and relieve some boredom. What’s all this about representing my crew?”, said Silk.

“Enough talking. You challenged me to a duel. Name the prize. Perhaps you wish for Victor’s hand, given how you seemed displease that I had his attention?”, said Acna. “why you wish to do so is beyond me, since he is hardly normal, but I guess he is fairly intelligent. Also he looks somewhat fair, so that’s a plus.”

“Okay, you are reading way too far into this. I just wanted to spar and learn some techniques, and I was sizing you up because you looked like you were pretty good at fighting. Victor is all yours, as far as I’m concerned.”, said Silk, who was taken aback.

“Very well. THE STAKES ARE THEIR ENGINEER’S HAND IN MARRIAGE!”, boomed Acna.

“Wait what? What’s happening? Why am I a prize? I understand that I’m pretty and pretty much a great catch all around, but I do not appreciate being objectified in such a manner and I find it offensive that I lack a choice in-”

Victor was interrupted by the chieftain. “Silence, child. Your leader accepted the terms of the duel. She is stronger, and thus is the most worthy to make the decisions. Is this not true?”

“Well she is stronger than me, but I don’t see how that -”

“So she is your leader. Why would you disobey one who is more qualified?”

“I make the decisions usually because I have the highest strategic knowledge and-”

“Cease your babbling. That was rhetorical. Watch as my daughter faces your leader. Look.”

Silk took out her Thief’s blades. “Whatever. Let’s do this”.

Silk then blurred and stabbed towards Acna’s arms, with Victor praying that Silk won so he didn’t have to marry some random lady he just met. Just as they were about to hit them, Acna pulled a staff from a strap on her back and swatted the blades away, with not a single scratch mark appearing on the cylindrical piece of wood. She then planted her staff into the ground and kicked at Silk, who blocked it with the two blades crossed in an X pattern. As Silk slid back from the sheer force of such a mighty attack, Acna lept back and grabbed the staff with her hands while her body was horizontal midair, causing it to bend back and flip her towards Silk. Acna then grabbed the staff as she sailed through the air and landed a magnificent double kick into Silk’s torso.

Stumbling back, Silk was struggling to parry or dodge Acna’s lightning-fast blows, each one coming out of seemingly nowhere. Silk’s blades then flashed behind her for a second, and she stepped to the side. Just as Acna was going to respond and attack her again, she was hit by a falling tree that was the target of Silk’s previous slash.

“Woo-hoo! Silk has won!”, said Bundo.

“Nope. look at the way the dust cloud from the dirt is billowing out.”, said Victor.

Indeed, if one looked closely, the cloud was billowing out at a fast rate, on account of the tree sailing upwards. Acna threw off her feathered cloak to a bystander. Now sporting a slight cut below her eye from some shrapnel, she redoubled her efforts and leaped at Silk, her staff bending slightly from the force of her swings. Silk’s dodging and parrying with her dual-wielded swords became more and more desperate, Acna’s speed being on par with Victor. While Silk was fast, her strength was more in muscle power and technique, and her reflexes just couldn’t keep up with a staff being wielded with the weight of a switch. In a last-ditch attempt to win the fight, Silk began to go in an all out attack, directly slashing at Acna with abandon. To her surprise, the cudgel began showing slight marks and notches, with her opponent’s eyes growing wide at the sheer strength Silk wielded.

The staff wielder then looked behind her at an hourglass, and then saw it was almost empty. Acna, in response, backflipped away and landed in a three-point stance, then proceeding to standi up and bow. The cudgel flared out and spun in a complicated pattern before striking down on the ground and going to her back.

A noise then began ringing through the entire island, a massive horn carved from some gargantuan creature being blown by a rotund man wearing a robe made from dried-out and woven leaves. “Round one has ended. You now shall wait one day for the next round.”, intoned the rotund man blowing the horn.

“Crap. And I was hoping for a quick resolution as well. Why did you challenge these people to a duel, Silk?”, said Victor in an exasperated tone. And people called him the crazy one.