Morwin was already on his way back to the first island he’d arrived to, using gemstones to speed up the process. He wanted to get on the ship and return back to Agnius as fast as possible. He didn’t want to be here any longer.

  The people he leapt and jumped over looked up in fear as he casted his shadow over them. He ignored their cries. He didn’t care.

  When the essence was escaping Morwin’s body, he Absorbed in some more and continued on the trip. He used the power of the wind to push behind himself and propel him forwards.

  He arrived at the island within three hours, just with one cycle of the emeralds and amethysts.

  He remembered that trip with his older brother, traveling back to Jovin City on horseback. That time felt like a lifetime ago, even though it was only just a month.

  He moved around until he made it to the docks. As he inter-weaved in between the masses of people passing by, some of them shot him weird looks, but he paid them no mind.

  Some of the ships looked like the one he’d arrived in, and he didn’t bother getting the name of the ship before leaving, which he should have done. Galvin wouldn’t have forgotten something so simple like that.

  Morwin asked around. He could usually tell who the captains were. They stood taller, more firm, and with hands on their hips in an authoritative manner.

  He tapped on captain on the shoulder. He turned around to see it wasn’t Captain Mikael.

  “Excuse me,” Morwin started. “I’m trying to find my way back to my ship. Do you think you could help me?”

  “Your ship huh,” the captain said with a gruff voice. “What’s the name of the ship and I’ll be able to point it out to you.”

  “The Mara’s Dream,” Morwin stated.

  “Don’t think I’ve seen a ship with that name here recently. Do you know the name of your captain?”

  “Captain Mikael,” Morwin answered.

  “Good ‘ole Mikael!” the captain laughed a hearty laugh. “I hope he’s doing well nowadays. I don’t think I’ve seen him on the docks, but the kiosk near that way can help point you in the right direction.”

  “Kiosk?”

  The captain placed a firm hand on Morwin’s back and led his line of sight to a wooden stand with a single person in a suit standing inside. There was a line of people waiting their turn.

  Morwin nodded. “Thank you,” he said before skittering to the wooden box.

  He waited patiently in line until it was his turn.

  “Hi, what can I help you with?” the man in the suit said.

  “Hello,” Morwin began. “I’m looking for a ship known as the Mara’s Dream, owned by Captain Mikael. I haven’t seen him on the dock, so maybe you can tell me where he’s docked at. I could have sworn it was in this area.”

  “Yes, let’s see,” the guy said before pulling out a familiar binder. The Aylians, if they were obsessed with one thing, apparently it was record keeping.

  The man flipped through the pages and nodded to himself. “Ah yes, the Mara’s Dream. Afraid they checked out of the dock two days ago.”

  “Checked out?” Morwin said. “What do you mean checked out?”

  “I mean they decided to leave, pull their anchors, reported to me, and got out of here.”

  “But they were supposed to wait for me,” Morwin complained. Many thoughts rushed to him at once and he suddenly felt dizzy. He felt stranded in a foreign world. He clutched onto the wooden panel in front of the window to stop himself from falling over.

  “Well, they didn’t. They’re long gone now, I’m afraid.”

  Two days ago? Had Morwin miscounted the time it took to get the meeting with the Council? He counted on his fingers the days since he’s been here, over and over, trying to remember the individual events of each day. Every time he came with the final count, it always came to six. He had one more day. Captain Mikael had told him a week!

  Morwin spun around and stared off into the horizon. Rolling clouds and endless waves, moving away from him. Ships coming into the harbor and leaving. Many ships.

  Could the captain have miscounted? No chance. If he had people skilled enough to navigate the seas through day and night, then the lot of them could count on their fingers.

  Did they… leave him behind on purpose? He didn’t want to dare consider that possibility.

  “Sir, if there isn’t anything else I can help you with, please step aside so that others may come to the window.”

  He obliged, his mind still racing. He stared off into the ocean, thinking of the time spent on the ship, and wondered why Mikael would possibly leave him there.

  He wandered around aimlessly, searching off in the distance, hoping for any sign of the ship to return and pick him up. He wanted to be out of the Aylin Islands, regardless of how beautiful of a country it is. He failed his mission, and it’d be worse if he would be stuck there as well.

  When he didn’t see any sign of the crew he spent the month with, he sat down on a box near the dock and buried his face in his hands. He didn’t know what to do.

  Footsteps on wood approached him. His heart skipped a beat. A part of him desperately wanted to look up and see Captain Mikael.

  The old man he met at the statue from before stood there, hands clasped behind his back. “You know,” he spoke, his voice tinged with the years of experience he has. “Sitting here moping around your ship leaving you behind isn’t going to help you accomplish anything.”

  “Who are you?” Morwin asked. “And why do you keep following me?”

  The old man looked up, towards the sunset. “Just a member of the Aylian Council and a citizen of this nation,” he said.

  “How did you get here so fast from the Council Hall?”

  In response, the old man closed his eyes. Morwin felt something tugging at his pockets. He quickly reached down, but the string of his sack untied itself and a single emerald shot out from it and into his hands.

  “So you’re a Dragikiri,” Morwin said. “What do you want with me?”

  From behind his back, he pulled out a bottle with a familiar object wrapped inside of it.

  Morwin recognized that bottle. It had been in Captain Mikael’s trunk when he and Lily went through it. And there was one other place it had been.

  When Galvin gave it to him on the docks.

  “This is for you,” he said, holding the bottle out. Morwin stared at it hesitantly. What seemed like an eternity passed and the old man still held the bottle out, a twinkle in his eyes and a sorrowful look plain on his face.

  Morwin sucked in a deep breath and took the bottle out of the man’s hand. He unscrewed the rolled up object out. The sapphire necklace he lost, there, in the palm of his hands, a bright light inside of it shining out to him. He Absorbed in the essence and let it flow throughout his body. How had he not known this was there? The paper… it somehow blocked him from being able to sense it, as Galvin wanted Morwin to find this after he was in the Aylin Islands.

  The sapphire had an Infusion in it, focused on the word Mind. Before him, he could see an illusion of Galvin standing there, arms folded, a sad smile on his face. He knew the old man to his right could not see the same thing.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “Hiya Morwin. I hope this Infusion finds you well,” the illusion of Galvin started speaking. “You must be scared right now, frantic even, looking around for the Mara’s Dream. Don’t hate the captain, he was only following my orders. The trip was meant to be a one way trip from the beginning. Things are getting out of hand here in Agnius. I don’t want you caught up in it. We might win, we might lose and all of us will die. It doesn’t matter, as long as you’re safe at your new home.

  “That’s right… your new home. The Aylin Islands will be your permenant place of residence. You’re among the most wanted men in Agnius, and I can’t let anything happen to you. I know you wanted to fight with us, but I cannot allow it. The leader of Justicar wants you to fight with us, but Galvin, the older brother, can’t bear to watch something happen to my younger brother.

  “I walked out on you once, when you were young. Ran away so I don’t meet an unknown fate. I can’t bring myself to do it again. Don’t worry what happens to us back home. This is your new home now. Find new people to befriend. Explore the land. Fall in love even. Hopefully I’ll be able to meet a niece or nephew one day. And the most important thing… Have a good life.”

  Morwin stood in shock, watching as the light faded from the sapphire, and the opaque version of Galvin disappeared. “He has no right,” Morwin muttered under his breath. “None.”

  “Listen, I understand what you’re going through. I’m a member of the Council. I have others I take care of, so you can always-,”

  “I don’t care,” Morwin spat. “I’m not going to accept this outcome.” Morwin Absorbed as much emerald into his body as he could manage. It overflowed inside him and he felt the power of the essence come alive within his veins.

  The old man shot him a warning look, shaking his head vigorously. “Don’t do it,” he warned. “The seas are vast. You will perish.”

  “I don’t care,” Morwin said through gritted teeth. He knelt down and focused hard on Wind. Before he knew it, he was soaring through the skies. It did not take long for him to realize that the old man was right. Still, anger and betrayal clouded his judgment.

  The seas rolled beneath him. The wind passed through his hair and struck everywhere on his body. He kept his sights ahead on the goal.

  If he had waited until the morning, then he would be able to leap from sailing ship to ship, but now that the sun had set, there were no ships about. Just him. Alone, out at sea.

  Panic settled in. He’d been way over his head to think he could fly all the way back to Agnius.

  The breeze didn’t help anything. He had to exert more wind in the opposite direction to counter the powerful natural wind, and it drained even more essence from him. He turned around and saw nothing of the Aylin Islands.

  Had he already gone that far from the dock? He flied around, Absorbing more emerald as his essence dissipated. Nothing but rolling blue for miles and miles, stretching all the way to the horizon.

  A familiar figure appeared in the sky before him. The reaper had come. The thing he saw from before, the illusion that warded off unwanted sailors.

  He knew this was an illusion, but fear settled in anyways. He felt choked. It was dangling in the air, descending for him. Morwin wanted to scream, let out all his anger, but he couldn’t find his voice.

  He remained there, floating with the power of the wind to support him, feeling the essence of the emerald already halfway empty. He’d made the biggest mistake of his life.

  Morwin flew upwards. He concentrated all of his anger, hatred, and rage at the floating reaper, the creature in gray robes made of bones.

  It all felt too real. Too real and dreamlike at the same time. That’s right. This had to be a nightmare! Morwin never left on the boat to go to the Aylin Islands! He was back at Stormwins Peak! Galvin would wake him to spar with him any moment now. Any minute, he’d be back to where he was. Maybe not even there. Maybe he would wake up in Lord De’Shai’s mansion instead. He’d wake up and continue his studies, the things his father drilled into his head.

  Lies, betrayal, anger, hatred. His life flashed before his eyes as the reaper descended down on him, the same blank expression on that terrifying face. Guenevir. Galvin. De’Shai. Mr. Axwel. Rai’Shal. All these faces blended together in his mind. The faces of people who’ve affected his life.

  He saw even more than just that. An unknown woman with silky brown hair, carrying a child in her arms wrapped in a woolen blanket. His mother. An unknown man with dark and neatly combed hair standing to the side of her, staring at the baby, at him, with love and pride. His father.

  He’d never met these people in his life, yet they stood there, lingering in the sky as he looked into the reaper’s eyeless face. He reached out, stretched desperately for something that was so close, yet he couldn’t touch.

  All of his essence ran out. Not just inside his body, but inside his bag as well. He plummeted towards the rolling seas.

  Morwin made a splash as he descended into the depths. He’d given up. Water sloshed and filled his ears. He didn’t even struggle to stay afloat. He spread his arms out and let the terrifying coldness take him down under.

  Morwin couldn’t help but smile. Galvin had sent him here to protect him, to save him. He had no right. Galvin wanted him to live a full and happy life. The seas were going to claim him. Galvin thought he could think ahead far enough to hope that Morwin would accept the fate and forget about Agnius. Morwin refused. In the end, his brother’s desire for him to live was the thing that would get him killed. And Morwin didn’t know whether to cry, smile, or laugh at the irony of that.

  He turned face down and felt water coming into his mouth, filling his nose with the burning salty taste.

  Morwin snapped out of the stupor. He stared at the reaper, still holding the scythe and still staring at him with a deadly gaze. He realized he didn’t want to die. He wasn’t going to perish here. If he wanted to beat Galvin at his own game, he was going to return back to Agnius, with the knowledge he’s accumulated and help him beat the king. Together.

  Morwin thrashed and sloshed around, struggling to find his breath, the water freezing against his skin.

  He let out a cry for help, and was met with a response from seagulls. He fought and fought to stop himself from being pulled under, until his muscles cried in agony and gave in.

  He didn’t want to die. But he had no other choice. He let the ocean drag him and make him theirs.

  He relaxed and took a deep breath, regretting his life. With a final look at the setting sun, imprinting that image into his mind, he descended into the depths.