Luneth stood quietly watching me. His hair was long and ghostly like the rest of him. He was transparent like a jellyfish and the red light went pinkly through him.

  Heh, try to stop me, I thought. I stopped what I had been doing, punching the driftwood piece with the steamship dormitory framed large behind me. I flew at the jaw joint, fist upraised. Luneth was suddenly there. He glowed softly. He wore a silk robe similar to what I was wearing. He jumped up effortlessly and kicked me in the chest with a skill called [Prediction Counter], driving me back as I approached.

  I coughed, then flipped the [Aether Lance] out at him and tried again for the jaw joint. Lancie came tearing and slashing like a steel whirlwind, but he apparated behind her with [Prediction Counter] and kicked her to the ground. Right before I got to the jaw he appeared over me and spiked me into the ground too.

  “Ughhh…” I said, then flipped up with the aid of [Wind Rider].

  Predictions, right. I was thinking fast and probably dumb, but if he didn’t know what I would do, would it still work? I closed my eyes and jumped at him punching. Boom. Solid hit. He toppled, eyes rolling and Lancie was quickly upon him like a silver viper poised to strike.

  “Lancie, no! The jaw! The big jaw,” I clarified seeing as she was preparing dubiously to rip off his jaw or something.

  I finally got that punch off on the jaw while the ghost guy was visiting Dreamwyrd. Lancie was close behind me, and smacked it so hard she scored a big scratch line in the wall.

  A glorious band of light fell upon the center of Stonestomach as the jaws rumbled. I grabbed Lancie who morphed back into a lance and hesitated, looking at the ghost guy Luneth passed out mumbling there.

  “Ah, damn it, I mean aethering aether glancers!” I said to myself and slung him over my shoulder before flying off.

  He muttered something about, “Not what’s s’posed to happen.” Creepy.

  Back at the Fool’s Errand, we had a bit of a full house, with the only ones not back Brufo and Val. I recalled seeing Brufo at Dripp’s Tavern.

  “I’ll go get him,” I said and flew over there, deploying Lancie before things even got going.

  The Fool’s Errand was beginning to take off. I had to hurry. I threw the doors open before Lancie started scratching on them and we ran in. There Brufo and Val were brawling rather poorly against a lot of people, at least twelve, raiders in scrap-armor mostly.

  But also that dark dragon man Drajan was in the fray, laying about with a wide blade that was the color of a shadow. Val [Dodged] his sweeps again and again.

  “Val! Brufo!” I shouted, joining in. “We’ve got to go! Ship’s heading out!”

  “I’m a little busy,” Brufo grunted, sweeping his ladle and knocking a man on the head.

  [Experience Gained: +250 XP]

  He checked his menu. “I’m close Daniel. Help me knock out a couple more of these louts.”

  I gladly obliged, picking up a guy and flying up then letting him fly.

  [Experience Gained: +250 XP]

  I landed back next to Brufo just in time for him to smash another fellow down dead in his tracks into a ruined heap.

  [Experience Gained: +250 XP]

  [LEVEL UP: Brufo]

  [Black Chef: Level 10]

  [NEW Black Chef feature: Skill]

  [NEW Special feature: Capstone]

  Well no one’s ever said anything to me about a capstone, but now would be a perfect time to have one. Probably. I wondered if Brufo knew that too. Maybe? But I had an open Skill slot…I opened my menu and picked a skill. Brufo was doing the same. I was the faster draw. It didn’t matter.

  [Driften Waker Skill obtained: Wind Extraction]

  [Capstone obtained: Skill (Star Drop Soup)]

  [Wind Extraction]? I wondered. I didn’t even know how to use it. But Brufo calmly spewed flame about with flambe rush as he took the small pot he carried at his side out and tossed in a dash of ingredients. The pot flared and he dipped the ladle in which turned dark gold and glowing.

  “Brufo what are you doing?!”

  He turned to me. His eyes glistening.

  “Take Val and go. I will keep them here.”

  I hesitated, in which time Brufo hugged me with one huge arm then pushed me away. He turned back with the ladle held before him like a blade. The sky rumbled. Something ruinous and smoking darkly was building above.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Come on!” I shouted at Val.

  She didn’t hesitate. When she looked at me I saw real fear in her eyes. The incoming meteor swelled.

  I flew back to the Fool’s Errand as it scraped off the side and made a beeline for the mouth, listing as I carried two people, more than usual. I dumped Val and the inert body of Luneth which I was still carrying for some reason onto the deck, then doubled back as we approached the mouth.

  As I flew overhead I watched Brufo, the last man standing, completely overwhelmed, smack down two more scrap raiders with his ladle which glowed gold. Then Drajan stabbed him with the dark blade through the chest and the [Black Chef] fell to his knees.

  “BRUFO!!” I screamed but he couldn’t hear me.

  I was not even close. And the Fool’s Errand was leaving. I cast one more agonizing glance downward. Brufo looked up, past me, to what he had summoned. The meteor burning. The ladle he held before him like a blade, and with a cry stabbed it downward, propitiating a tumult of rumbling from the sky.

  I flew reluctantly back to the airship.

  I landed as the airship cleared the mouth.

  A great rumble shook as the meteor trundled in, entering the still-open mouth. Then the [Lithic Apex Mimic] blew up in a huge wash of explosion that kicked the Fool’s Errand well up in speed and we rode the shockwave northward.

  [Experience Gained: +25000 XP (Combat)]

  [Loot Generated: Ship Upgrade]

  [LEVEL UP: Daniel]

  [Driften Waker: Level 12]

  [LEVEL UP: Daniel]

  [Driften Waker: Level 13]

  [LEVEL UP: Daniel]

  [Driften Waker: Level 14]

  A small square crystal appeared in my hand. Suspended within there was a metal-wrought bit like a microchip. Tech Appraiser indicated this was a [Ship Upgrade: Laboratory]. Okay. I put it in the pockets of my robe.

  We were lower in the sky here, wherever here was the [Lithic Apex Mimic] has taken us. Or its crew, however witting they had been in the whole affair. I guess we’ll find out, I reminded myself, since we had that guy Tanzan locked in the boba shop, and Luneth presumably was…somewhere?

  I ventured into the Fool’s Errand to find out. But before I could Val ran up and met me with a huge hug, and the shockwave of Brufo’s death hit me.

  “He’s gone,” I said huskily. “I tried to go back, but he--”

  “I saw from the window. He fought bravely. It wasn’t your fault. Shhh.”

  A little later we confronted the prisoners. Val and I did. This was made awkward by the fact that she had locked both of them in this boba shop by lashing the door shut, so while the pale translucent Luneth was coming to and casting soft white light around, the other dude Tanzan scowled at us from behind the shop counter.

  “I’ll take medium milk tea with brown sugar boba,” I said to Tanzan.

  His scowl deepened.

  “Okay, but you obviously have boba in this world.”

  “Do I look like I got ingredients, friend?”

  I turned back to Val questioning Luneth. She had asked him how he ended up here.

  “I was in the Crab Crew for years. I don’t know exactly how many. We kind of lost count in Stonestomach. It was just supposed to be a simple trading mission out of the Moonsea, but…well, similar to what happened to you guys, but no heroics. Our ship went to splinters pretty much, the mouth crunched it in half.”

  “What about this guy?” Val jerked her head to Tanzan.

  “Him? He’s only been here a couple days. He’s just about as green as you.”

  Val rounded on the purple-haired guy.

  “Whoa--whoa!” he shouted shrilly as the laser drill came out again. “Come on lady! I’ll t--talk!”

  “He had a stupid little one-man craft flying out,” Luneth said. “No idea how far you thought you could get on your own in the Great Abalone. Sorry dude, but it’s true.”

  Tanzan looked pleadingly at me, Val’s drill pressed to his neck. “Just answer the questions Tanzan.”

  He licked his lips. “I--went out for the fishing. Rockfishing, abalone, mostly, but I’m not picky. I’ll sell it if I don’t like it, heh. I prefer the line fishing though, you know? Anyway, from Aeven looking north-by-way-of-Abalone I like to trawl that path. It’s not the first time but I never saw that [Area Boss] before. You know what I’m talking about.”

  I looked at Val, who shrugged. She dropped him.

  “All right. You two make nice in here for a while. If I catch you in the hall--”

  “Don’t let us catch you in the hall!” I finished.

  We closed the door and began to walk toward the kitchen, leaving the captives inside to ponder their fate.

  “Should we lock em in again?” Val asked.

  “Somehow it seems like they were almost as much captives as we were in that whole affair.”

  It made me think of the black dragon man Drajan, and the slaying of Brufo. I told Wilia that the two prisoners were awake and hungry. She nodded and began making omelets.

  “I’ll have Brufo Junior deliver them in a few minutes. The boba shop right?”

  Brufo Junior was slicing vegetables despondently.

  “That’s right. Is…he okay?” I indicated Brufo Junior.

  “Just as well as any of us,” Wilia grunted. “He just doesn’t hide it.”

  “Fair. Sorry, pal,” Val said to Brufo Junior.

  Gaining altitude came slowly. Around midday we stopped at anchor at a field of dark floating stones. They hung in space like bad spirits. A miserable frigid rain came down steadily. As I came topdeck I saw the [Floating Anchor] out there and flew out to inspect it. A huge, taut line was secured to it.

  “Condition: good as new,” Sleipnir intoned as I landed.

  “I’ll say. Good work Sleipnir.”

  Valietta came on deck bearing Brufo’s greatsword. The blade flashed with images and I realized it was burnished with the faces of dogs. It was the blade that once I had seen him wield in a dream, or in his flight suit exoskeleton, but never simply as a man. Val could, but barely. I could see her arms bulging with effort. I stood off to the side and everyone crowded around quietly, wind and rain whipping.

  She leapt to the rail and sheathed the blade in a small dark sky island nearby about five feet wide. Floating there and spinning. Then she leapt deftly back, breathing heavily as she landed on the rail.

  “He was my friend,” Val said quietly. “He was my guardian. He saved my life several times since I joined the Fool’s Errand. Some of you may be aware that I knew him even before we joined the crew. He was loyal and strong and good. In another life he could have been a noble general or a just ruler.”

  “The best chef I’ve ever seen,” Lorlux croaked.

  “He was a giving and selfless man,” I said. “And he saved my life too.”

  “Now the green girl has to make the meals,” said Lancie and I groaned but no one paid her too much mind.