《Oceaniq》VI: Anomalous
Advertisement
Daren’s Workshop, Shadtown, Islands of East Banks | June 10th
Charles Denali, the first-born son of Alicia Denali - the Champion of East Banks - had waited a whole year for June 14th.
East Banks defined being an adult as someone over the age of sixteen years who had passed their three familial trials. Each trio of trials was unique to each family, although many were similar in nature. An adult from their family and the Captain of the island the trial-goer resided on had to both be present to witness the trial run.
But Charles was going to be seventeen on June 14th. Like so many before him, he had attempted his family’s trials the year before when he had turned sixteen. Charles, the eldest child of the Champion, had failed on the second trial.
The Denali family second trial was to build a shelter that could withstand a summer thunderstorm, in the span of a day. When it came time to test whether or not his shelter could withstand a storm, lightning struck it and what didn’t explode on impact burned down before him.
Was it because his craftsmanship was shoddy? No. His work was always top-notch. Did he still fail because it didn’t survive the storm? Yes. Which Charles thought was stupid.
On one hand, he understood; but on the other, it wasn’t fair that he’d had to spend another year as a kid when he clearly wasn’t one. While most of the people he’d grown up with were starting apprenticeships or warrior training, Charles had been stuck with an extra year of academics.
Charles was lucky. Lieutenant Daren had agreed to let him observe in his workshop - provided Charles stay out of the way of his work. Though Daren had solved a lot of resource issues for East Banks, he wasn't very well liked on a personal level. There were rumors that the man had once been a pirate as a teenager; but Charles wouldn’t believe that someone so… placid… could have ever been a buccaneer.
Lieutenant Daren was a dry, rarely smiling man. He had a round head and dark hair - which he always kept shaved down to his scalp and under a ratty old cap - and extremely narrow, dark eyes. He was only in his twenties, but his sour demeanor lead many to believe he was at least ten years older. Or maybe it was the way he dressed? When he wasn’t tinkering on machinery, Daren liked to dress functionally well-to-do; airy sleeves that were tight on the forearms, comfortable slacks tucked into sturdy leather ranger boots.
Advertisement
“You know she’s leading the tsunami recovery efforts on the border of the archipelago,” said the Lieutenant. His eye to a telescope, he was surveying a cloud line off on the horizon and didn’t bother to turn to Charles while he spoke. “I’m not bothering your mother with such a trivial matter.” Which was exactly what Charles thought he’d say.
Daren was without a doubt the smartest person in all of East Banks - he had even figured out how to get technology from before the Flood working again - but Charles was growing restless with his tutelage.
Charles had always felt that he was meant to be a warrior, like his mother. He was sure he’d make a great one, too. Outside of Daren and a couple others, he was already taller than most of the people in Shadtown - his mother included.
He was five-foot-nine, pretty average weight. His dark brown, nearly black hair was shaved into a short mohawk, his skin was a bronze tone that was slightly darker than his mother’s or his siblings. Round, deep blue eyes set under maintained but strong eyebrows. Or… one-and-a-half eyebrows. Half of his left brow was still growing back after an incident with a welding torch.
He was good with math and strategy, excelled at the survivalist training all the kids in East Banks had to take. Sure, he couldn’t sit still to save his life - of that, he’d been told many, many times - but that only meant he would be a cunning warrior that would be hard to predict.
But his plans to start training were pushed off further since his mother wasn’t home to witness his second attempt at the trials.
Charles crossed his arms over his chest and sighed, his mouth spreading wide across his face in disappointment.
“Don’t make that face,” Daren said, again not looking at Charles. He only paused in his observations to write something down in his notebook. “Or I’ll shave your head again.”
Charles gasped, defensively covering his head. “You wouldn’t.”
Advertisement
“I’ll use the blowtorch this time,” Daren didn’t miss a beat, though his voice remained the same tone. “I think she knows that I don’t deal out punishments lightly.”
“You try to punish me with busy work every time I breathe in your direction,” Charles spat back jokingly.
There was a tiny, tiny, very tiny flicker of a smirk on Daren’s face. “Don’t tempt me.”
Denali House, Shadtown | June 11th
An afternoon nap on the couch had been interrupted when a dark-haired toddler in a gray onesie was set down right on Charles’s stomach. Charles sleepily grabbed his little brother under his arms, then sputtered as the child accidentally kicked him somewhere very sensitive. His little brother laughed at his pain.
“I watched Taylor all day yesterday. It’s your turn, Charles.”
His fourteen-year-old sister, Astar, glowered down at him from where she stood behind the couch, hands on her hips. With her new blue sweater on and her brown hair was pulled up into a tight ponytail, she was clearly going out somewhere.
“Couldn’t have put him down gentler?” Charles wheezed. He sat up and gently bounced Taylor on his knee, trying to take his attention away from the fading pain. “And where are you going all dressed up?”
“Unlike some people in his house, I can get dates,” Astar scoffed with a smirk.
Charles defensively huffed: “Hey, I can get dates!”
“Mommy-son bonding days don’t count as dates, Charles.”
Charles rolled his eyes, picking up and turning Taylor around so he was at facelevel. “We don’t need any yucky dates, do we, Tay-tay? No, we don’t. Because we don’t base our personal worth on dating stinky losers.”
Astar shook her head and rolled her eyes, already half-way out the front door. “You’re so mature, Charles. I can’t believe all the girls in Shadtown aren’t all over the totally mature Son of the Champion.”
“Stinky, stinky losers!” Charles mockingly sang as she left.
Taylor loudly babbled and kicked his feet, trying to join in.
Charles had just finished giving Taylor a bath in the kitchen when there was a knock at the front door.
“Coming, coming!” Charles shouted, desperately trying to wrestle the one-year-old into a clean pair of fish-patterned pajamas. He managed to at least get the pants of the pajamas on before scooping Taylor up and heading for the door.
Daren stood in the torchlight, his frame barely illuminated by the twilight of the setting sun. Looking disheveled, he was breathing hard.
“Charles, I need to take your daysailer. Which dock did you leave it at?” Daren said, his voice edged by what could only be described as urgency.
“Sun’s almost set, taking a small boat like that out now-”
“I don’t have time for this, Charles,” Daren asserted. “There’s… an anomalous weather event headed our way. Our nightfishers have just set out for the night, we need to recall them immediately.”
“So light a flare?” Charles suggested.
“Your mother took all the major flares to help search for survivors. Look. Just tell me what dock-”
“I can out-sail you in any weather. I’ll go,” Charles shook his head. He then held Taylor out to Daren, who stiffly took the toddler as if he had never seen a child in his life. “Plus,” he hesitantly added, “If you go, they might just stay out there in the storm out of spite. They’ll at least listen to me.”
Advertisement
Star Wars: A Penumbral Path
Four years before the start of the Clone Wars, two newly-minted Padawans find themselves with two very unusual Masters who walk the line of what a Jedi should be.
8 111The Madec Legacy
The dawn of Emotion Based A.I.s is here, John is the fifth test subject to have an AI implemented in his brain, and so far the first one to survive. Blinded by the dream of immortality, the researchers push the tests to inhumane standards. John is obligated to take part in sessions of torture designed to test the limits of the AI influence over the physical and mental health. What was supposed to be a new beginning in life turns into living hell. An (un)lucky twist ends his life. John then reincarnates with his AI in a new world where a System influences the interaction between Magic and Matter. With seemingly limitless potential and a game-like system influencing the world, the hero sets on his journey. --AUTHOR NOTE, PLEASE READ-- I will state here my promises to you, potential reader: 1. No harem! I don't trust myself to make a harem feel natural or healthy, I never met any person who has a personality that can adapt and live in a harem for reasons that are not monetary, so I can't draw inspiration from real life. Sorry!; 2. The enemies will not be bland and illogically mean. Some may feel like that at first, but I will take great care in fleshing them out, trust me. You may end up hating some, but you won't be able to deny that they had their reasons for what they did; 3. I am using a paid (and expensive) automated editor tool, and I take longer to write because I take my time in editing the stuff. I am aiming to improve and I will not shy away from constructive criticism, nor take offense for no reason; 4. Characters will die and will suffer, some will get over the tragedies and improve, others will not be as resilient. 5. This novel has a lot of ground to cover, it is neither a short story, a manual on crafting, or the script of some action scene. There will be both time skips and oversimplifications of some actions for the sake of moving the story forward. Time skips will be more prominent in the first 30 chapters. I will describe crafting processes and fights with more detail if they are essential for the chapter; 6. If I took my time describing something, it's because it is important. I hate novels that waste time describing useless stuff. If you skim over something, the chances are that something in the future will not make sense. I am an adept of "Chekhov's gun" principle; 7. I already have 31k words on my auxiliary documents, I have a plan for the story, and I will not be making changes even if someone ends up noticing some foreshadowing and figures out what will happen. The story comes first. 8. I have a wife, a job that demands 9h every day and courses related to my job (lawyer) three days of the week, it's unlikely that I will be able to do mass releases at all. I will have a healthy amount of chapters to be able to post at least 1 chapter every day continually. Don't worry. 9. I will read all the comments. I will listen to all you have to say and will try my best to accommodate demands as long as they do not hamper the path I prepared. 10. There is an arc that spans the entire novel. Each volume will be an arc in itself while progressing a little bit of the main arc. Every arc will have one or more main antagonists. I think that's it! Thank you for reading it all. Have an awesome time reading my first novel!!
8 98Omni-System User
It is said when the omni system descends a new legend will rise. Lefu Delano awoke after being struck to discover the system has descend onto him. Now along with the system can he rise to the top, but the will the creatures in the dark allow it? Chapter release will be Thursdays and Saturdays Please note that this is a rough draft Each chapters will be around 1.7k to 2k word in length. I do not own the cover and currently looking for a new one,
8 177Mute - Zelink Modern AU
Link is known to be a man of few words. In this case, it is completely true.He has been mute since he was very little, no one knows why. As you can probably expect, other people his age are rather vocal, especially about him not being so.Zelda sees through it. She takes a look further to see who is behind all of the silence, but it doesn't work out how she expected it to. She doesn't only find a friend.--First place in the modern AU section of the Zelda Warty Awards 2018--(All characters are owned by Nintendo)
8 177The Skeleton God
On the continent of Alurgaia, in the ruins of the capital city of a fallen empire a lone figure claws itself free of a stone tomb. Standing in the rubble the figure is left with countless questions, but only a stone slab with four words carved on it to answer them. Follow this lost soul as he attempts to find some answer to his existence, and purpose in a fallen kingdom over run by the undead.Note: Mature tag added for scenes containing gore, violence, and occasional swear words.
8 201Quem Ri Por Último Ri Melhor
O bullying esteve presente na vida de Matt desde os seus 12 anos. Agora, faltando três meses para o Ensino Médio acabar, ele está cada vez mais ansioso e tudo parece que vai mudar nessa história cheia de reviravoltas, amizades, amores e dilemas. Acompanhe a abordagem de temas como bullying, abuso, desilusões e descoberta de novos sentimentos nessa fanfic cheia de elementos que misturam a cultura brasileira com a americana.
8 70