Forsaken

Golden strands of hair flowed through the air, billowing as a gust ravaged them, and the person they belonged to looked down on the vast forest expanse below. The young woman sat atop the edge of the cliffside, having found a nice patch of grass amongst the craggy cliff face, and her green eyes, tainted with splashes of sunset, stared beyond the trees.

Taking in a fresh breath of air, a faint must found its way to her.

“Agh,” she paused her breath momentarily, recoiling as the scent hit the roof of her nostrils and soon passed. “Every time,” she grumbled.

Slowly kicking her legs back and forth, she leaned back onto one hand and sighed. “Couldn’t they have sent me to Renin, or at least somewhere with something worthwhile to do?” She groaned into the abyss of nature. “I mean, I’m sure this is important too, but-”

Turning her head within an instant and swiveling her body up onto her feet, Ire prepared herself into a defensive position before even registering the booming crash that reverberated through the air beside her.

What was that?

“Shit.”

Something was barreling towards her, and it was coming in hot. 

She squinted at the billowing cloud of dust and debris racing toward her, and before she knew it, it was right on top of her. The brilliant sunlight that had once bathed the landscape now became a feeble, dim glow, desperately trying to break through the swirling chaos of rocks and rubble.

A heavy silence engulfed the demolition site. Suddenly, heavy breathing and the shuffle of displaced rocks broke the stillness. Ire focused, trying to figure out what was making the noise.

Despite its demonstration of power, she determined that it couldn’t have been very large for its breaths.

Was this a test?

She dismissed the thought. The elders didn’t joke around with assessments like this, or at least that’s what she believed. Still, there had to be a reason for the protocol, and she couldn’t help but consider the possibility of a threat.

With her blade gripped tightly, Ire controlled her breathing, trying to steady herself as her mind raced with a flood of thoughts. She braced for the impending clash, knowing the same explosive force that had just struck the rock face might soon be upon her. The air around her was dense with dust and an intense anticipation, her heart hammering in her chest like a bird trapped in a cage.

How did they get this far without me noticing?

Ire’s mind was slowly plagued with questions as her focus grew impatient. Whoever it was, they were clearly hurt or incapacitated to some degree. Without a clear picture though, she couldn’t make any assumptions.

Eventually, the sound of several pebbles being launched and the thud of a body hitting the ground signaled the end of the encounter.

As the dust settled, Ire cautiously crept forward, her eyes scanning the changed environment for any sign of movement. As she drew nearer to the epicenter of the disturbance. Amid the scattered debris and discarded backpacks, she spotted two figures lying motionless on the ground. She cautiously stepped closer to the still figures and began to assess the scattered belongings surrounding them. As she examined their battered and bloodied attire, Ire’s heart raced. 

These garments were unlike anything she’d ever encountered, decorated with unfamiliar symbols that clearly spoke of foreign origins. Who were these individuals, and what mysterious force had led them to this remote place?

Despite their battered appearance, each of the unconscious figures wore a distinctive emblem on their jackets – a red rabbit intricately detailed with a blade piercing through it, the rusty silver fluid dripping off the end of the weapon.

Confirming the faint breaths of the two strangers, Ire took a step back, cautious not to disturb their rest. Uncertain about the next move, she paced around, attempting to weigh her options. Typically, outsiders came for a singular purpose, but their current condition seemed to challenge any assumption about their intentions.

She crossed her arms and sighed, “But why me?”

Ire knew what she needed to do, but the circumstances were less than normal, which made proper procedure foggy at best.

She reached around her waist into a bag and pulled out a smaller pouch that was the size of her hand. The pouch was filled with several beads, each formed of unique, elegant swirls of blue jade, slightly translucent. Picking two of them out and securing the rest of the pocket back together and stuffing them away, she walked away from the rubble until reaching a spot clear of the dust cloud.

Holding them between her fingers up to the sky, she admired as the sunlight streaming through them cast a soft, soothing azure onto the earth below her. It wasn’t always she had the chance to justify using them, but their delicate beauty always captivated her from time to time regardless.

Shaking off her daze, Ire shut her eyes and delved into her mind. After a moment, she reopened her eyes, observing as the once bright cerulean orbs dulled, mirroring the murky landscape behind her before solidifying completely.

“I guess there’s an upside to even something like this,” she smiled, holding the beads in the palm of her hand.

Gently lowering them on the ground in front of her, she took one last moment to appreciate them before stomping on them with one swift motion of her foot, crushing them into a powder that wisped away within moments.

Returning back to the unexpected visitors, Ire discovered that the wounds were just as severe as she had initially anticipated, with bruises, cuts, and scrapes scattered across their body. There was no way she could treat it all, even if she wanted to.

Most notably, however, she found a handful of areas on their body with strange lines of reddish-black discoloration pervasive both beneath and throughout the skin.

“Strange,” Ire felt the tip of memory resurface as she stared longer at the marks, but she couldn’t pinpoint her familiarity with it.

Searching through the debris surrounding the pair, she looked for anything that could be of use or help. It was a jumbled mess, but she managed to find a few items that could be put to use. With the few discernible useful items from the wreck, she roughly treated the large, open abrasions, stopping any bleeding that hadn’t already clotted itself.

Amidst her inventory, she stumbled upon an assortment of technologies unmistakably originating from the kingdoms on the mainland. Additionally, she stumbled upon a cache of weapons, which she carefully stowed away for safekeeping.

As she continued to rummage through the wreckage, her eyes caught sight of a small journal, its pages torn and weathered from the impact. Despite the damage, she could make out some words and phrases scrawled inside, though the majority of it was rendered illegible. Nonetheless, she tucked it away, knowing that any information about these strangers could prove useful in the days to come.

“Hopefully this doesn’t take too long,” she muttered to herself and sighed, looking up at the sky. With a resigned nod, she quickly tied her hair into a bun and turned back to the task at hand, determined to see it through to the end.

◊◊◊◊◊

Ire’s stomach started to grumble, anticipating the roast cooking near her as she mashed together some herbs and seeds. Taking notice of the movement in her periphery, she paused for a moment to look up, watching as one of the two surprise guests awoke and listlessly steadied themself into a sitting position.

“Best if you just stay still for a while,” Ire spoke up, watching him as she continued her work.

He was the smaller of the two, with short, brown hair and a slightly scarred face. Startled upon hearing her voice, he quickly tried getting on his feet, abruptly giving up as his body ached with pain.

“Like I mentioned,” she clicked her tongue, “stay still.”

His eyes darted around anxiously, but a wave of relief washed over him as he spotted his companion by his side. “Who- What um-” he stumbled over his words, attempting to gather his thoughts. “Did you do this?”

“Help fix you up? Correct,” Ire replied sharply, her irritation with the circumstances evident. She made no effort to conceal it.

“Oh, sorry,” he murmured, glancing down at his body, now a mosaic of bruises and bandages. “Thank you.”

Turning to the person next to him, concern burgeoned as he assessed the similarly bloody body of his seemingly lifeless friend.

“Is he…” His voice caught in his throat as he struggled to voice his fears. “He’s not-”

“Dead? No,” Ire reassured him, her tone easing the tension. “He’s still alive. At least, the last time I checked.”

He maintained his gaze on the other man until he picked up the faint, interspersed sound of breathing. Gritting his teeth, he faced the ground, clearly confused and in pain more ways than one.

“You might want to wake him up soon though. This food’s almost ready.”

“Food?” he spoke the word with a mix of longing and wariness, analyzing Ire as she tended to the contents warming above the flame.

“It’s not going to kill you,” she sighed. “If that was all I needed,then I wouldn’t have to cook for three.”

“Hah,” he couldn’t help but appreciate the crude humor given the circumstances. “Thanks,” a relaxed smile faintly grew on his face.

“I would have woken you up myself if it were much longer,” Ire explained, taking a tiny bit of the paste she had made and putting it to her tongue. “I figured in the meantime though, you could use the rest.”

“Right…” he slowly tilted his head up, angling it toward the now yellowing sky.  “How long have we been…”

“About half the day by now,” Ire thought for a moment. “At least, since you got here.”

Observing the shattered landscape around them above the forest and sea beyond, the man struggled to grasp the nature of their situation.

“Speaking of,” Ire’s tone grew very serious, “do you mind explaining what exactly happened?”

“Good question,” he listlessly answered, still lost in thought.

A pause settled between them. With each passing moment, her impatience swelled, evident in the furrowing of her brows. The man gripped his head, feeling the weight of the silence and the weight of his own uncertainty pressing upon him.

“Hey, I’m not joking around here,” she snapped, drawing his attention. “I nearly died because of you. Thirty feet closer and I’d be one with that crater you’re in.”

“Of course, it’s just,” he said, putting one hand on his rib to pacify the pain, “I don’t exactly know what happened either.”

Ire sighed, disappointed by the answer, “Of course you don’t.”

“Look, sorry,” he asserted, “but it’s not like we would’ve planned to end up like this.”

“Alright, fair enough.”

Shifting the food off the fire, Ire brushed her hands before moving closer to the man. He hesitated, apprehensive as she approached, but ultimately relaxed. He wasn’t very capable of much resistance in his condition anyways.

“Where are you from?” she stopped a few feet in front of him, one hand rested on her hip.

“That’s… complicated,” he dithered, casting glances back and forth between her and the ground as she waited for his answer.

Ire began tapping her foot, irritated by the man’s lack of cooperation. It was clear he was struggling to think and didn’t know what was going on, but she needed something that could be of use, and she couldn’t wait forever.

“The seas are our only home,” he finally responded with an odd contentment.

“Okay…,” Confused by his answer, she moved on. “What does that symbol mean? You each have one.”

Ire pointed at the somehow intact insignia of a rabbit hanging near his chest.

The man spoke with conviction. “It means we’re renegades. We’ve cast aside the kingdoms, and we no longer belong within their borders.”

“What did you do to cause all of this?” she inquired.

He shook his head, a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. “Erm…”

“Not too keen on sharing your personal lives?” she remarked.

“It’s been a challenging day for both of us,” he responded, his voice carrying the weight of exhaustion.

“Very well, I understand,” she conceded, her demeanor softening slightly.

“Thank you.” He replied.

“Alright then,” she started making her way back to tend to the food. “Do you know where you are?”

The man paused, taking in his surroundings again as he pondered the question.

Ire awaited his response with bated breath. For once, his hesitance was welcome, but the right answer to this question would be significant regardless of how long it took him to get there.

“Are we at Thel?” he surmised.

“That we are,” she gave an unenthusiastic applause, aware of the sudden gravity of the situation.

Giving a confused smile, the man wracked his brain for answers and reasons, trying his best not to be reminded of the pain he was in by moving.

“So, was it your plan to come here then?” she interrogated, dividing her attention between his responses and the upcoming meal.

“Yes, it was,” he contemplated. “Well, kind of.”

“Can you be more specific?” Ire grabbed a couple of empty vessels and filled them with water from a canteen.

“So, I- We… all had planned on coming here following the last island we visited,” he explained.

She darted her head around at the comment, narrowing her eyes slightly towards him as her attention focused.

“We?”

“Yeah, me, and him of course, and…” he turned to look at his partner again and surveyed the area more, suddenly discouraged with a realization. “ And the rest of my crew.”

“Your crew?”

“Yeah,” he paused. “We’ve been sailing the seas for the past year together.”

“I see,” noticing his now more solemn tone. “Captain then, were you?”

“Mhm,” he confirmed.

“Is that what happened then?”

Aware of the nature of the question, he bit his lip, adding to the pain that already inundated his body throughout.

“Probably,” he briefly admitted and started to crawl his way over to the other man, still unconscious.

She was impressed by his mobility regardless of how slow. Being able to move at all being that torn up must’ve taken a lot of determination.

The puzzle was finally beginning to sort itself out, yet the most baffling part of it had still yet to be solved.

“Do you have any idea how you got here?” Ire checked the progress of the roast before taking two cups in hand and making her way over to them.

The man inspected a part of his partner’s arm that was riddled with the same dark lines he had spread across various parts of his body as well, running a finger along it and contemplating for a while.

“Maybe,” he concluded. “I’ve got a rough idea at least.”

“Care to share?” Her interest was piqued.

“Probably one of my crewmate’s abilities, though I’ve never seen anything quite this extreme.”

“What kind of technique would do that?” She kneeled down beside them and handed him a cup, setting the other one down on the ground nearby.

“He liked to call it ‘Mana Cannon’, though I always thought the name could do with a reimagining.”

“Does that mean-” her eyes widened, concerned by the thought.

“We were the cannonballs.”

Ire didn’t have much firsthand experience with cannons, but based on what she’d been taught about them she understood what they were capable of. If his evaluation was correct, however, this ability was far more powerful than what she expected of that technology.

Satisfied with the outcome, she decided to give him a reprieve from the line of questioning. Standing up, Ire retrieved a collection of items in a large cloth and placed them in front of the man.

“I gathered what I could find of your belongings, but a lot of things were destroyed.”

“Thank you.”

He sifted through the pile briefly before turning away with a discouraged sigh. Placing his hands on the outspread body of his friend, he began to lightly shake him awake.

“Jake. Hey, Jake.”

“Agh,” Jake seethed as awareness flooded his senses, taking heavy breaths as he struggled to grasp the situation.

“Jake, hey! Calm down,” he said with a commanding yet reassuring tone. “We’re okay. Well, we’re alive, at least.” He chuckled.

“Captain?”

“About time you woke up,” he wrapped his arm around the man and helped him into a sitting position. “I was really getting worried there.”

Jake flickered his eyes all around, taking in the new environment and soon becoming aware of the severity of his injuries. His eyes widened as realized the situation, his heart sinking with each passing moment.

“No… no, no, no,” he muttered under his breath, his voice trembling with fear and frustration. “Damn it!” Jake screamed,  his voice croaking under the unexpected pain.

“Steady, sailor,” he placed his hands on Jake’s shoulders. “Take your time.”

Jake bit his lip, fighting back emotion as he struggled to look the other man in the face.

“Captain, I’m sorry.” Jake stammered. “I let you down.”

“Hey!”  he interjected. “It’s not your fault.”

Ire could see Jake wince as tears infiltrated his wounds one after another, battling his way through the necessary confrontation.

“I gave it my all.” Jake explained. “But… they got the better of me.”

“Hah… So that was the case after all,” his eyes dropped, but he maintained a weak smile.

“They’re cowards,” he spoke through his gritted teeth. “They waited until you were asleep and-”

“You shouldn’t have tried to stop them.”

Dazed by the comment, Jake took a moment to process the words, unsure of how to respond as he tried to read the downcast face of his leader.

“What? Captain-”

“And stop calling me captain,” he raised his voice a little, breaking at the end. “Clearly I don’t deserve that title.”

His head remained down as he spoke the words, unwilling to observe the reaction of his companion lest he lose his composure.

Ire understood his decision, however couldn’t fully sympathize with the sentiment. Unfit to participate in the discussion, she stood back and simply watched, gathering information on the situation. It seemed their earlier suspicions of mutiny were correct, which fared well for her situation. Nonetheless, the risk was still present.

“Capt-” Jake pleaded.

“What did I just say!” he winced in pain, speaking louder than his wounds were ready for. “Just use my name from now on. We’re friends, after all.”

Without speaking, Jake took a moment to more accurately assess the numerous contusions and strange colors littering him from head to toe.

“If they followed through with the plan, then we must be-” He trailed off as he caught sight of Ire, summoning some semblance of a defensive stance despite his position and the affliction it caused.

“Thel, and she’s helping us,” the captain calmed down his mate.

“She is?” Jake’s guard lessened.

“Yes,” he pondered before letting out a brief laugh. “Sorry, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet. I’m Alexi, this Jake.”

“Nice to meet you,” Ire bluntly replied.

She handed them each a cup filled with a soft green liquid, still lightly steaming with a nutty fragrance.

“Drink up. It’ll give you some energy. Food will be ready soon.” She turned back towards the fire to tend to the food.

“Friendly, huh?” Jake quipped.

“To be fair, we haven’t exactly been convenient guests.”

Leaving them to their conversation, Ire returned to the roast, the heavy aromas flooding the area having been a clear signal of its completion.

She cut and divided the food into three separate equal servings. Ire wasn’t sure how much they would be able to eat, but they couldn’t complain about having too much. Bringing over the plates one-by-one, she gave them to Jake and Alexi, listening in to part of their discussion as it progressed.

“So this is Thel, huh?” Jake peered his head around with wonder. “It looks different from the outside.”

“Yeah,” Alexi responded, a grin developing on his face. “Funny, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it,” he chuckled. “The crew gave up, but they gave us one last chance.”

“I wouldn’t call it a gift, but it’s something, that’s for sure.”

Jake contemplated for a while, watching the horizon as it started to eat away at the sun and spit out a gradient of fire in the process.

“You really think we’ll find it here?” A hint of skepticism plagued his tone.

“You know,” Alexi paused slightly, reconfirming within himself, “after all of this you’d expect my answer to change a little. But at this point that’d be a little too late, wouldn’t it?”

Taking notice of bits of the conversation, a prominent speculation of what they were talking about remained ever present within Ire’s mind, hanging on the forefront of her conscious thought as she divvied out the food.

“We’ll find it, Jake. We have to now.”

“I’m with you, Alexi,” Jake swiftly raised his hand into a salute, noticeably shaking as he held it before giving in to the throbbing soreness.

“What are you two looking for?” Ire interrupted, standing over the two with her plate of food in hand.

They hesitated for a moment, giving each other a look before coming to a visual agreement.

“There’s a legend that’s been spreading across these seas,” Alexi began, “though most folks consider it just a rumor. The story goes that there’s a plant out there, somewhere on one of these islands, that produces a fruit called the Somanh.”

Ire’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of the name, though she refused to show it.

“Now, people’s descriptions of what this plant looks like vary quite a bit, and most of them are probably purely fictitious accounts by fame-chasers, but the legend says that if you eat this fruit, it will bless you with incredible power.”

Placing her food down in front of her, she eased herself into a sitting position matching the two men.

“You believe something like that really exists?” Ire discounted.

Jake and Alexi exchanged a knowing glance, then turned back to Ire, “We wouldn’t have come all this way if we didn’t believe in the legend,” Jake said with a smirk. “But we understand if you’re skeptical – most people write it off as a myth.” He shrugged. “But who knows where the seas will take you, right?”

“And have you ever found anything?”

“Not yet,” Alexi replied, his eyes glistening with determination. “But we will. We need to.”

“Well,” Ire stared at them directly, “nothing like that exists on this island, I can assure you of that.”

“You’re sure?”

“Not that I’ve seen, anyways.” Ire replied.

“I guess we’ll just see, won’t we?” Alexi remained ardent despite her dismissing tone.

“I suppose so,” she sighed, looking down at her plate.

Ire dismissed the thoughts troubling her, simply wanting to enjoy the meal before continuing on with what else the day had prepared for her.

“Come on now, let’s eat up,” Ire encouraged, stabbing her fork into a piece of meat and bringing it to her mouth.

“Thank you,” Alexi gave a slight bow as he accepted the food before starting to eat, indicating Jake to do the same.

“Yes! Much thanks,” spitting out the words before eagerly digging into the meal, willingly battling through the frequent aches and sharp pains of movement for the delivery of food.

“Wow, this is amazing,”

Alexi nodded in agreement, savoring each bite. “It’s delicious”

“It’s nothing, really,” she faintly smiled. 

“Well it’s at least the best meal we’ve had in a long time,” Alexi turned to face her. “Seriously, thanks for everything.”

Acknowledging the compliments with a nod, she weighed her attention to the tastes of the meal she had prepared. It was her own twist on a recipe she’d been taught years ago, but it had been ages since she last thought to savor and enjoy it. A faint wave of nostalgia came over her as she recalled cooking for others for the first time, picking another piece off the plate and taking a bite.

“What’s that sweet flavor I taste in here?” Jake scrutinized between each taste.

“Ah, that comes from a type of clover that grows here.”

“You’re familiar with the island then?” Alexi inquired. “How long have you been here for?”

“Yeah,” she looked out at the landscape growing dimmer by the moment as the light of the nearby fire took command of the scene. “I’ve been here… a long time, you could say. It may be getting time to move on, honestly.”

“You should join our crew,” Jake chuckled, “that way we could always have food like this.”

Caught off guard, Ire hesitated, “Uhh, I don’t-”

“Hey,” Alexi spoke with a dejected look, “Don’t put her on the spot like that.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to-”

“I know,” he assured. “Let’s just enjoy the food. We can worry about stuff like that when we’re not on the brink of death, right?” He grinned appreciatively towards Ire.

A smile broke through, betraying her intentions. “Right.”

The sun finally disappeared from sight as they ate through their food, being swallowed up by the night just as they gobbled up the delectable meal in front of them. Mostly full, the moon provided ample light as the three continued to shovel food into their mouths and make small conversation intermittently. Despite their physical limitations, Jake and Alexi finished their plates before Ire could, their exhaustion feeding their voracity. As Ire soon too cleaned her plate of food, she brought them all back over to the campfire and scrubbed them roughly clean with a bucket of water before setting them down and grabbing her blade and rejoining the other two.

Standing above the stranded sailors, now blissfully sleeping next to one another just as they had been hours earlier, Ire gripped her knife tightly, watching the two for several moments in silence in solemn contemplation.

The weight of her duty settled heavily upon her, and despite her familiarity with this task, it offered no solace. Nevertheless, she understood the necessity of her actions.

“May the waves guide you,” she whispered to herself the ageless expression. “Just anywhere but here again.”

Finally taking a breath in, she stared out to the landscape ahead briefly before kneeling down to the resting bodies. Clutching her knife, she effortlessly slit each of their throats and watched the remaining life drain out from them.

Ire stood back up and let the moonlight envelop her as she looked to the stars for solace, unfazed by the events of the day yet still acquiescing to the inherent gloom of it.

“Took you long enough,” a voice emerged from the shadows, materializing from behind a rock in the distance. “You should’ve done that a lot sooner, could’ve saved yourself a lot of hassle.”

“Shut up,” Ire snapped back, sharply turning her eyes to meet theirs. “My assignment, my call.”

“Fair enough,” they shrugged. “Thinking about leaving home?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she dismissed. “Only if I’m tasked to.”

“Well, you never know.”

“You were here for their conversation, yeah?” Ire proceeded.

“Yes,” the person knowingly replied.

“Then you’ve already informed them about the rest of their crew?” Ire inquired, remaining focused.

The figure nodded. “Mhm, we’re on high-alert for any ship approaching, but from what it sounded like they probably don’t have any intentions of setting foot here themselves anyways.”

Ire exhaled, feeling a weight lift off her chest. The last thing they needed was for more trouble to come their way. “Yeah, that’s true,” she conceded. “Now, are you going to help me clean up? I did have plans for tomorrow.”