“I’m tired of hiding in the shadows. It’s time to be free. It’s time to show the real me. If you don't like me, that's your opinion. I am unique. I am me.”

Mask

The thrill of flying, the rush of a near-death experience, the relief of the monster’s demise, and the delight in a plan executed perfectly. There were so many ways in which our last-second dash and return could have gone catastrophically wrong, my body was buzzing with so much adrenaline I could barely stand still when I returned to the top of the tower wall. I felt like standing in a superhero pose I was no longer hiding my magic, but I knew that if I attempted such a thing it would be swiftly deflated by Aleera’s commentary if not Lady Acacia’s critique as well.

“I’m back.” I bowed with a flourish. Keep it simple stupid.

I added a dozen different endings in my head, such as, ‘to rescue you all’ or ‘I hope you were not too distressed by my absence.’ But I knew that whatever I came up with could hardly outshine what I had achieved already. Silence was the best policy in terms of maintaining the success and image I had just achieved. I was no longer a baby beyond belief but the prodigal son or rather a boy prodigy who had just returned in an unbelievable manner.

“We are grateful for you leading them on a long enough detour that allowed us to build the defences we required for their defeat Lord Silversea.” Archbishop Girgori smoothly replied to my blunt statement. It was safer to keep my answers simpler. That way the other party did all the work and any flattery was given freely rather than self-serving or simple boasting. Everyone seemed to be ingnoring the elephant in the room that the young lord, me, could fly.

“It seems the cost of emplacing a simple stone marker was far higher than you implied.” Aleera must have been thinking along the same lines as I had that perhaps the favours had not been equal after all. Especially if they had been aware that emplacing the marker might have had such an effect.

“While the timing implies a cause and effect. That is simply not true. For the Moasau eels to have appeared here on an island they must have been making their way up from the Lodestone labyrinth for a considerable amount of time. The marker merely revealed a problem that you already had.” He paused for his position to sink in before finishing with, “Imagine if it had happened without our presence here to rebuff the beasts.” It did not take a genius or a prodigy to realise that it could have been a disaster for the town if the beasts had come upon the unsuspecting town in the middle of the night. We really needed to get some sentries scheduled for simple peace of mind.

“Thank the light.” Our unwanted guests joined in supporting the church whether their position was justified although perhaps it was. However, it was not difficult to predict the position that they would be taken when they returned to the town. They would be supporting the church in their stance that they had merely revealed a problem rather than created one.

“A problem that needs to be rectified.” Grandfather grumped as he rejoined the group standing within the newly formed tower. For an elderly man who had been slaughtering monsters one at a time, he was looking surprisingly fresh. Not a speck of blood marred his clothes, unlike the two compass knights that warily accompanied him and wore clothes stained red with the blood and guts of the monsters that they had held back and forced off the top of the cliff. Their shields were still slowly dripping onto the pristine stone flooring of the tower.

“Indeed.” Archbishop Grigori affirmed. “Compass knights, will you guard this descent into the depths while we return to town to raise a working party to deal with guarding the exit and collecting the corpses?” He asked of his two guards.

The two compass knights bowed their heads in acceptance of their charge, “Yes your excellency.” While they might have been outside of the clerical structure of the church some requests took precedence, a threat from the depth of the lodestone labyrinth being one of them. Without the clergy to guard they would be able to fight securely in the knowledge that they only had to defend themselves not another.

With an entrance or rather an exit to block they would be able to use that as a choke point and target anything that attempted to emerge onto the island. It would work as a temporary measure provided nothing larger or more deadly than the Moasau eels emerged, but we would have to work something out as a town regarding the long-term defence of our island. Things were growing rapidly more complicated and immediately dangerous. This was not a subtle future danger of how to interact with the Court of Ponente and its 100 lords. This was an immediate and visceral threat of bodily harm and physical demise the monsters were threatening us with and we had no idea how many more of them would spill forth from the very earth beneath our feet.

“It seems my departure will be delayed a little longer.” The Archbishop addressed us once more. “Will you be accompanying us on our return to town?” He questioned our family party.

“Not just yet.” Lady Acacia replied, "We have several lessons to teach Aleera and Callen from this emergence before we return. It is the first occurrence they have witnessed with their own eyes. Books can only teach so much; practical experience is preferable.”

“As you will. We will leave you to your lessons.” With that as his final statement, he led the clergy and their ship sailing taxi crew back to the boats moored out of sight around the edge of the Eastern Woods.

Once they had descended out of earshot, Lady Acacia, Grandfather’s and mine, she spoke once more, “Well that accelerates a few of our timetables. Not that I blame you dear.” She added the last to me while glaring at Grandfather who had once more forced the issue. But to be fair to the old man there had hardly been time for deliberation. Or a lot of options to choose from as far as I could see.

“Why are we staying?” Aleera asked.

While I added, “What is there to learn from this?”

“Let’s start with the monsters, denizens of the depths, notice their eel-like characteristics their name is the Moasau Eel or some derivative of the family.” She led us to the ditch where the monster’s bodies still lay slowly cooling in the shade provided by the stone walls on either side.

Unaffected by the gruesome sight she led us to the first corpse and began to lecture, “Notice the gills behind the jawbones here. The species is an amalgam of fish, reptiles and amphibians. They can live on land or in the water yet have hardened scales which can turn steel sword slashes away. The best way to kill them as demonstrated by your grandfather is with stabs or thrusts preferably to the brain through the eyes, mouth or gills behind the jaws. Not an easy opponent to dispatch on an individual basis and they tend to hunt in a pack. Their swarms or tangles, tend to overwhelm a group’s cohesion and devour them one bite at a time. However, they always target the first to bleed and can be led into targeting their own tangles members if you can attack from range and cause them to bleed first at a distance. Without a closer enemy to attack they will turn on the injured member of the tangle before targeting your own team provided they are not already targeting your position. In which case they will seek the sweeter meat over that of their own kind especially if it is mana rich.” She added pointedly while looking at me.

Mana rich? Is that what they had been after? Surely she or the archbishop had more mana than me and therefore should have been their target? I voiced my confusion. “If they are after mana-rich meat, why didn’t they attack you or the archbishop? Surely you have more than I do.” This did not make sense from my admittedly limited understanding.

“We might have more but we also shield it better. Because we have consolidated our core we hold our mana within it, within our bodies until we call it forth. Whereas you are still currently without a formed core and still, to their eyes at least shine with mana indicating that you would make a fine feast.”

I couldn’t help but cross my arms in frustration. How did everyone else just naturally form their mana core whereas I had to wait for mine to form and seal itself properly? Was I going to be a monster magnet until it did? Forming my core had just jumped to the top of my priority list. I did not plan on becoming either a monster lure or monster food.

“They eat mana?” Aleera asked as she looked at me worried either for me personally or for her golden goose.

“They eat meat like all beasts but the richer in mana the better and they will target that over other lesser meat. They need the concentrated mana to build their cores, to evolve, and ultimately gain sapience.” Lady Acacia continued to explain as Grandfather stood behind us.

“Would you care to demonstrate?” She turned to him waving to the corpse she had been using as a teaching resource.

“I just finished cleaning my knives.” He grumbled as he pulled forth another one.

“The cores can form in different places depending on the species of beast and the manner of mana they have been absorbing. Can you tell your grandfather where to aim Kai?” she directed her last question to me. Focusing on sense mana it was easy to see what she was talking about. Their mana still shone in a small gem despite the monster's death. The pearl-sized light was shining forth from each monster I looked at all of them in slightly different locations although most were still on the head or near enough. As for the monster in front of us, about to experience a dissection, the Moasau eel’s shining stone was located in a small lump that bulged forth in the centre of its forehead. But hidden under the black scales of the creature it was unnoticeable unless you knew what to look for or had mana sense to highlight its existence.

“Here.” I pointed it out as I touched its location. The scales were hard and smooth beneath my finger.

Grandfather felt out its location before firmly driving his knife in and under it, carefully slipping his fingers into the cut and pulling out what looked like a glowing gemstone.

“No wonder they were so hard to cut.” He griped as he held up an orange fire opal.

“Why would that make them hard to cut?” I asked referring to the orange gemstone in his hand.

“Based on the colour of the stone it was probably supporting its endurance making its scales exceptionally durable or providing greater stamina.” Lady Acacia continued. “The majority of the value in the corpses of the denizens of the deep is in their mana cores or gemstones. Not to say that their scales won’t also be of value but the easiest and most important material to harvest is their gemstones. Can you locate the rest of them?”

We worked our way through the rest of the bodies accumulating a selection of stones. Not every creature had one but the majority did and they came in a variety of sizes and colours as well as locations. Sense Mana showed its worth in pinpointing their location each time.

“Time to head on home.” She informed us relieving my grandfather and me of our rather morbid task. I sighed in relief only for my hopes to be dashed by her next sentence. “But we need to pick up the rest of the gemstones on our way and will need to take back at least one intact body to stir the populace to a sensible course of action. I am surprised they did not take one with them when they went. We will discuss the speech you will need to make on your return.” She added referring to the clergy who had departed so much sooner than us and the next step in our political takeover of the island. As she had drilled into us everything even our problems were opportunities to develop the Silversea house in one manner or another.

. . . .

Diver’s Daughters POV

As they walked down to the boats behind the clergy who were leading the way the subdued daughters spoke among themselves. “This changes everything.” The eldest Azzurra quietly spoke to the rest of them.

“Why?” Druna, the youngest sister, argued back in a whisper. Either youth or ignorance of the changed situation was clouding her judgment.

“Because . . .” Ada was interrupted before she could explain.

“Druna you cannot continue to rile up Aleera. This is no longer the schoolyard rivalry from your time together at the luminary.” Cordelia tried to calm both sides being the middle child.

“While we may have lost a lot of wealth to the ‘Silverseas’.” The family name sat poorly on her tongue for the price it had cost them. “They may have stopped collecting the remaining pearls in the lagoon. But this . . . this is more than that.” Ada explained in quiet words as they dropped further behind the men leading them to their boat.

“Why?” Druna asked confused, “Money equals power. We still have money, still have pearls to sell we are hardly poor.”

“There are different forms of power and magic is a power all of its own. One that money cannot necessarily buy.” Ada added with a frown.

Azzurra summed up the situation, “The magical power the Silversea children demonstrated today means that with or without the pearls they would have risen to lead the island.”

“Aleera didn’t do anything,” Druna muttered still clearly unhappy with the changing situation. Her social standing was slipping or rather it already had and she had not realized it yet.

“Her use of mana might not have been as obvious as her brother’s but she was helping Lady Acacia in forming those walls if you watched closely enough. Besides with a tutor like that, what do you think she is teaching them?” Ada continued. “I doubt it is only how to sit still and embroider.” She ended up thinking back on how impressive Lady Acacia had been in commanding their defence even if she had deferred to the Archbishop at points.

“Oh.” Druna was temporarily stunned into silence on realizing that despite the lack of immediate and obvious effects her former classmate now wielded a power the nobility considered their privilege. Something she had no way to access restricted as she was to the six common stats barring some fantastical tale from myth and legend. They had been separated by fate now further divided.

Cordelia entered the sombre, silence of the sisters considering their position, “In all honesty, their presence alone would have invited nobles to come and claim them at some point in the future. At least this way we will know the nobility rising to claim the island.” She said still looking on the bright side.

“I’m not sure I can see the silver lining in that.” Druna complained unaware of the pun she was making as they approached the boats the trees looming alarmingly on their left after their brush with monsters and death.

. . . .

Clergy POV

While the sisters discussed this morning’s disaster and what it meant for their family socially. The bishops were also discussing the disaster and what it had revealed. Both the facts of the matter as well as the possible past and future of the island and its inhabitants.

“Are they royalty? A bastard birth? Or an illegitimate line?” Bishop Bailie wondered out loud. But they were once more walking in a confessional bubble the skill limiting their conversation to the two of them. They felt a little exposed without the comfort of the compass knight’s presence. However, in case there were other denizens of the depth ready to emerge they had to leave them there until they could return or send sufficient townsmen to defend the new entrance or rather exit to the labyrinth the monsters called their home.

“If they were, surely the sister would have shown that she was similarly talented under the Light of the Lodestar.” The archbishop shook his head referring to the blessing that they had provided the town. “I saw no sign of that during the blessing.”

“But he flew!” Bishop Bailie had not quite given up yet his most recent theory. “It might explain some of the other oddities if he was actually a hidden royal scion.”

“That is hardly the case here. If he was a son of a royal line it would be from the Southern Kingdom of Ostro judging by his talent with the air. Does he look like Ostrian? Does any of his family?” he asked exasperated.

“Well, no. To speak completely bluntly he is not black-skinned or even dark-skinned.” Bishop Bailie shrugged as he spoke somewhat impolitically.

“Exactly, he’s not Ostrian. Where would you say they are from though?” he asked intrigued if he thought the same even though the answer he was thinking of would not explain any better how the child had managed to fly this morning. Lord Silversea was full of surprises despite his young age and lack of time to accumulate them.

“If we were judging them by their faces, eyes and hair the mother, daughter and son look like they might hail from Maestro with their green eyes and fair hair. While the father looks Ponentian with his black hair and blue eyes.” Bishop Bailie proved the Archbishop’s point for him.

“Exactly not from Ostro and even further north around the compass from the Ostrian Royal Family’s talent with the element of air.” He agreed.

“But then how do you account for his talent with the air.” The bishop asked exasperated at having his ideas shot down once more before he had finished forming them.

“Magic or skill, it simply cannot have been a Royal talent.” He had cut the proverbial gordian knot only to find another hiding underneath it.

“Magic or a skill. Have you ever heard of an adolescent having such a skill let alone a child?” He strode off quickly towards the boat only to return a second later once he had left the bubble of silence created by the confessional skill.

“No, but that does not mean it is impossible as our very own eyes can attest.” Of the two of them the Archbishop seemed to be taking this in his stride better despite his smaller physical steps as they approached the docked boats.

“Regardless of how Lord Silversea managed it. He will not always be there to lead the monsters astray. The town will have to arrange a rota to guard the exit as well as the town’s wall in the event of another emergence. Our Swallow’s nest tower is a good start to man the exit but it might not be enough. Are you still happy to stay?” The archbishop asked to confirm his juniors decision in light of the new circumstances.

“I must, to keep them safe if nothing else and hopefully in time Lord Silversea will deign to let me know his latest current magic trick.” He answered after considering the changes.

“Thank you. I would stay if I could myself but I cannot risk missing out on the cardinal position now more than ever. But I can and will send you, at a minimum, reinforcements to defend the town and guard the exit. If possible to privately hire them I will also hire a team to delve the descent. Not all thunderclouds are without rainbows and at the bottom of them and the descent you may well return to the Compass Continent in five years richer than me. So remember me when you do.” The conversation finished as they arrived at the boat. By leading the group no one had been able to see their lips move and the confessional bubble had covered up their speech from prying ears and eyes.

“Time to go home.” The archbishop nodded to the ladies who swiftly manned the boat, untied the mooring rope and raised the sail.