Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 5: The Cult of the Crimson Isles

Chapter 1

Ah, time for the start of a new episode! Another exotic location, too- even moreso than the last place they saw!

Just a heads up, this one, like many (but not all!) future episodes will likely be on the shorter side, to fit the more episodic adventure tone I’m going for. Or at least that’s the plan for now, but you know how my plans tend to go, hehe. But at least as of now, I’m looking at this one being anywhere from 3 to 5 chapters long.

-Llox

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Lykou was slightly confused when Kuna took a little longer than he expected to come through the portal after him. Still, the gap between them allowed him to steady himself and help keep the sereva from stumbling over when he came out. “You alright?” he asked after catching his friend. “I thought you were right behind me.”

“Mm, just… got slightly delayed, that’s all. Don’t worry about it,” Kuna replied with a smile, enjoying the fact that he was once again briefly held up in the konuul’s arms. When he stood up, he looked down as he felt water around his feet. “Thanks for catching me. Glad I didn’t fall down in that.”

“Yeah, this is… different,” Lykou commented, looking past the sereva with wide eyes. The arch had dropped them out in the back of a particularly shallow cave of sorts, at the base of a large, sheer cliff. But more notably, the ground beneath them was sandy and covered in water- which extended out as far as they could see. “That has got to be the biggest lake I’ve ever seen.”

Kuna looked up and gawked slightly. “No kidding! Damn… I can’t even see the shore on the other side!”

“Well, lets get out of this water. Looks like the cliff gives way to a slope down there,” the canid said, pointing down along the shore a short way. He sniffed the air a bit as they started walking, then studied the cliff a bit. “Weird, I smell salt, but I don’t see any crystals of the stuff.”

“Yeah, I was going to mention that too.” Suddenly, the sereva paused and glanced down again. “Wait…”

“What is it?”

Kuna glanced over at the konuul, then pulled up the edges of his poncho to avoid getting it wet before bending down to first sniff, then lap at the water. He bit his lip for a moment when he stood back up. “...yep. It’s the water.”

Lykou arched a brow. “Huh? The water’s… salty??”

“Mhmm,” Kuna said, eyeing the water. He wanted to drink it, but he also knew better, and his expression clearly showed as much. “Shit. I uh. I’ve seen salty water exactly once before.”

“Really?” Lykou asked with a wary expression. “You seem a bit worried… is it a bad thing?”

Kuna stared back at him thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged and continued heading for the slope ahead of them with Lykou following along. “Depends on if we can find regular water. Don’t get me wrong, you know me, I’d happily drink it if I could. But uh… turns out that’s a bad idea.”

“It is?”

“Yep. When I was a little kid, the tribe stopped by this weird lake that seemed to go on forever in one direction. The water was salty, and being the dummy I was, I started gulping a bunch of it down before anyone could stop me. A bit later I was extremely nauseous and all around miserable. AND somehow even thirstier than ever. One of the elders said drinking salt water is apparently not a good idea at all and can make you super sick.”

“Good to know,” Lykou responded, pulling out his waterskin and taking a sip as they began to ascend the slope. The new place they found themselves in was just as warm as before, but at least in this case there was a constant breeze offsetting it. “Hope we find some non-salty water soon, then. Gonna need a refill soon.”

“Yeah, and I want to set up camp as soon as we can. I think those biscuits are starting to wear off and all that running is catching up to me.” The sereva’s stomach rumbled slightly and he grinned sheepishly. “And uh, an early dinner would be nice, too.”

Lykou chuckled and turned his attention further inland as they continued climbing the slope. It looked like they were on the side of a small forested mountain, and while the brush was a bit less dense than the jungle they’d previously found themselves in, it had similar kinds of plantlife. The one thing that stood out were the majority of the trees- neither of them had seen palms before. “Weird looking trees here.”

“Yeah, skinny things… hey, wait, look!” Kuna pointed up at the tops of one of the trees which had clusters of what were undoubtedly some kind of fruit growing on it. “I wonder if those are safe to eat?”

“Could be… don’t know how you’ll get them way up there, though.” He lightly tapped on the tree’s trunk with his knuckles. “Looks like it’d be kind of tricky to climb.”

“True,” Kuna said, deflating a little. “Eh, they might not even be worth it anyway.”

“Hey, don’t give up so quick- we might find one that’s a bit easier to climb.”

“Well like I said, right now let’s focus on finding salt-free water and a good place to camp out.”

They walked for an hour or two before they found any sign of freshwater. Some streams meandered through the tropical forest, but they were small. Along the way, they were taken aback by the fascinating wildlife around them, including some of the largest butterflies and most colorful birds they’d seen yet. At one point, they encountered a snake coiling its way up around a tree. Its scales were brightly colored, and the colors kept changing as it moved. Lykou was fascinated by the creature, but Kuna yelped and hid behind the canid when he saw it. “Fuck!”

The canid chuckled. The snake paused to look at them for a moment before continuing on its way at a casual pace, seemingly unbothered by their presence. “Relax, it doesn’t look hostile. Pretty dang neat lookin’ little guy, too. Never seen something that could change its colors like that.”

“’s a damn snake,” Kuna retorted, shooting him a look.

Lykou rolled his eyes a bit, then booped the sereva’s nose. “C’mon, he’s not even that big.”

Kuna just stuck his tongue out in response, earning another snicker from the konuul as they turned to continue onward.

Eventually, when the ridge flattened out a bit more, they came across a relatively clear, raised spot situated between two of the larger streams. And as they were clearing away some debris to make way for a firepit, they spotted one of the fruit from the trees that fell at some point- only it was brown, having fully ripened before falling. And they immediately recognized it. “Oh, hey, isn’t that one of those coconut things the shakonu had?”

“Yeah! This is great, we can eat the inside bits, then I have an idea for the shell!” Lykou said excitedly. “Here, let me see your hatchet for a minute.” After Kuna handed him the tool, he gave it a couple good chops along the middle. It wasn’t as even as he’d have liked, but it was close enough. As soon as he had it open, Kuna was hovering closeby, eyeing it hungrily. He chuckled and handed one of the halves to the sereva and set to work setting up the firepit while he ate. Once he’d finished and collected whatever small bits of wood he could find, he dug into his own half, figuring he’d go gather more after they’d both eaten.

“What did you have in mind for the shell?” Kuna asked between mouthfuls. He’d dug out one of the other fruit they’d previously collected to eat along with the coconut and was enjoying the combination a lot more than the coconut by itself.

“Well, we already know they make decent bowls. I also want to see how fire-resistant they are, because I want to try making some soup.”

Kuna swallowed and arched a brow. “Soup… yeah we had some of that back in Clovaria one time, right?”

“Yep. It’s where you cook a bunch of stuff in water together. It actually works best if you do it slowly on like the coals rather than a full fire. Takes a while but worth it.”

“Huh. Sounds… strange. But I guess practical. Like having a drink and food at the same time. And I remember the kind the lepne made was pretty good.”

“It’s the best in the wintertime, of course, but lately I’ve been kind of craving some kind of soup. That salty water got me thinking about it more, too.” Lykou scratched his head thoughtfully. “Admittedly the ones I’m used to usually involve meat, but you should experiment a bit. Maybe try a charnop, along with some other things.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Kuna resumed gobbling up his food. Then, suddenly, one of the bright, colorful birds they’d seen on a few occasions swooped down and landed on the collected firewood, startling both of them slightly. It seemed to be eyeing the other half-eaten fruit in Kuna’s lap. He stared back at it warily. It wasn’t nearly big enough to feel threatening, but its boldness certainly had him a bit on edge. “...well you’re not shy are you…”

The bird let out a squawk and tilted its head at him. The feathers on its head frilled up and then back down as it whistled a couple times. Lykou watched on in amusement. “I think he’s talking to you.”

Kuna snorted in mild amusement. “Gee, the medallions must be broken then. Didn’t catch a word of it.”

The bird lifted one leg and made a little grabby motion in the air towards the sereva, then tilted its head the other way and let out another small squawk.

“I think it wants some of your fruit.”

The sereva shielded the fruit in mock-defensiveness. “Nuh-uh. S’mine, get your own,” he said. But then after a moment, he smirked faintly and plucked up a couple seeds and experimentally tossed them on the ground towards the bird. Initially, the bird stretched its wings out defensively, but when it took a look at where the seeds landed, it let out a happy whistle and hopped down to begin gobbling them up. Once it finished, it hopped back up on its perch atop the wood and resumed watching Kuna whilst shuffling back and forth. The sereva gave in and tossed it a tiny piece of seed-laden fruit to see what it’d do, grinning. He had to admit the bird had a certain funny charm to it once it became clear that it wasn’t a threat. “What a funny little guy…”

“Aww, looks like you’ve made a new friend,” Lykou said, chuckling as the bird happily devoured the piece of fruit.

“New friend, new friend, squaaawk,” the bird suddenly blurted out whilst bobbing its head excitedly, stunning both of them.

“Did… did that bird just… talk?”

“Sure as fuck sounded like it…”

Lykou eyed the thing. “...hey, are you a spirit or something?”

The bird just glanced back at Lykou briefly, then turned back to Kuna and tilted its head, whistling a few times. Other than that, an awkward silence settled over them for a few minutes, interrupted only occasionally by whistles and squawks.

Kuna glanced down at his medallion, then over to Lykou, then back to the bird. “...maybe we imagined it?” he suggested, clearly doubting it himself.

“I don’t know, sounded like talking to me… try throwing it some more seeds.”

The sereva dug some seeds out of the fruit and tossed them to the bird, which it happily gobbled up. “Doesn’t seem like it wants to say anything else in any case.”

“Anything else, anything else!” the bird squawked, doing its funny little dance again.

“...I stand corrected,” Kuna deadpanned.

“Sure as fuck!” the bird said. “Talking to fuck, talking…. Fuck!”

Lykou snorted. “Um. I’m starting to think it’s just mimicking us…”

“Yeah, I’m starting to get that impression too. Still, never known an animal to do something like that,” Kuna said with a bemused expression as he tossed a couple more seeds.

“Like that, like that! Squaaawk fuck,” the bird said, earning some laughter from both of them. Laughter that it then imitated. “New fuck.”

“I think it has a favorite word,” Lykou said amid a fit of giggles.

“Ya think?” Kuna said, snickering some more as well.

“You know, anything that talks should have a name. Even one that doesn’t know what it’s saying.”

“What kind of name? We uh… don’t even know if its male or female,” Kuna said, then quickly shot the canid a look. “And no, I’m not going to try and check.”

Lykou snickered. “Well neither am I,” he retorted, then eyed the bird thoughtfully. He took note of the bright yellow streaks throughout its feathers. “Hmm… how about Sunshine?”

“Seems like a good gender-neutral bird name,” Kuna replied, tossing another tiny bit of fruit at their new avian buddy.

“Alright, Sunshine it is. You like that, little guy?”

The bird proceeded to devour the fruit, then bob around happily. “Sunshine! Sunshinesunshinesunshine! Little guy! Fuck!”

“I think it’s safe to say he likes it,” Kuna said, giggling.

“I’d say so! Nice to meet you Sunshine. I’m Lykou and this is Kuna.”

“Lykouna! Kuna Kuna Lykouna!”

Kuna snorted again. “Looks like he’s a bit confused.”

“Well he makes up for it in spirit, so it’s alright.”

“Manu! Manu kino! Fuck!”

Lykou and Kuna shared a glance. “Uhhh… did those sound like words to you?”

“Not ones I recognize, other than the last one obviously, but… I guess the medallion wouldn’t translate for it anyway, since as far as it knows, its just mimicking meaningless sound.”

“That… probably means there’s other people around here somewhere,” Kuna pointed out, glancing around the forest warily.

“Toto! Toto mō Tuimana! Fuck!”

“Yeah… hope they’re friendly.”

“Maybe we should forgo a fire tonight, just to be safe,” Kuna suggested nervously.

“Hmm… guess I can hold off on trying to make soup for tonight. Still pretty warm, after all.”

“At least the breeze helps. It’s better than the last place.” The sereva shuddered. “Hopefully no big monsters or ursarans”

“Yeah, no kidding. Heck, it’s actually almost nice here, despite the warmth.”

“Almost nice! Almost fuck! Manu!”

Kuna snickered and tossed one last bit of seedy fruit to the bird. “Alright, that’s all I got, Sunny.”

“Already nicknaming him, huh?” Lykou chuckled, then pulled some meat out of his bag to snack on alongside the rest of his half of the coconut. “They just barely got a name and you’re already tweaking it.”

“Why not? It’s cute, the bird’s cute, it works.”

“With that logic, I should have just called you Ku from the start.”

Kuna blushed and rolled his eyes. “Oh hush.”

“Cute from the start, cute from the start, squaaawk!”

“And you too!” Kuna playfully snapped, grinning in spite of himself.

*****

After a little while, once it was clear that further fruit and seeds weren’t coming anytime soon, Sunshine flew up to a branch of one of the non-palm trees nearby and began to doze a bit as the sun started going down. Before it got too dark, Lykou decided to try climbing one of the more curved trees to get at some more coconuts, despite Kuna’s fretting and objections. Slowly, with some difficulty, he finally made it to the top, holding his knife in his mouth.

But just as he was about to cut one loose, he froze, staring at the sunset in the distance with some awe. He’d seen some pretty sights involving the sun, especially when it reflected just right off Sunstone Ridge across Shimmer Loch. But this was completely different, with more dramatic color variations. And a flock of birds flying across it really amplified the scene.

“Woah, Kuna… you’ve gotta see this!”

“What is it? And be careful! I don’t want to have to practice healing broken bones, you know…”

“The sunset looks amazing here! See if you can get up here and see for yourself.”

“Uh, Lykou? You had a slightly rough time getting up there, and you’re a lot stronger than I am. Besides, it’s just a sunset. I don’t see it being that impressive.”

“Just trust me, you’ve gotta try and find a way to get up here and see this!” Lykou insisted, looking around for options. “Maybe there’s a-…” Suddenly, he froze and a flat look crossed his face before he turned down to the sereva again with an arched brow. “Kuna.”

“Yeah?”

“...are you too tired for any more magic?”

Kuna stared back at him for a moment blankly, before slapping his palm to his face. “Oh for the love of… what is wrong with me??”

Lykou stifled a snicker. “Hey, don’t beat up on yourself. I forgot until now, too. And it’s been a long and tiring day.”

“That’s certainly true,” Kuna replied with a sigh, then summoned up his magic and used it to help ascend to Lykou’s level by manipulating some other nearby trees. Luckily, they were already big enough, so it was more a matter of moving them around and slightly altering their shape, rather than having to push a lot more energy into them.

When he got up to Lykou’s level and turned to look where the canid was looking, his eyes widened. “Wow… you weren’t kidding!”

“Have you ever seen the sky look like that before?”

“...not quite. That one time with those shining lights I told you and Daisy about was probably on the same level, but different. Still, this is beautiful…”

“It really is. I hope this is a positive sign for what to expect in this place.”

“We can only hope.” They both sat in silence for a moment, taking in the beautiful sight. “...man, that water really does go on forever though, it looks like. Never heard of a lake this big.”

“Tell me about it. And all that salt in it, too. Weird place, but not in a bad way.” Lykou turned his attention back to the coconuts in front of him and began cutting a few free and dropping them to the ground. “Well, as nice as this is, it’s not exactly an ideal place to sit around for long. Might as well climb back down.”

“Here, hang on a moment,” Kuna suggested as he bent his perch back to the ground carefully. “Hold on tight!” He began carefully doing the same with the tree Lykou was on, until it was close enough to the ground and the konuul hopped off. Before dismissing his magic, he returned them both to a more normal shape and position, not wanting to hinder their natural growth and health.

“Thanks Ku,” Lykou said, side-hugging the sereva. “I was kinda worried you wouldn’t have the energy for it, to be honest. I guess that fruit helped a bit, huh?”

Kuna stretched and yawned. “Yeah, a bit, but I’m still pretty beat. After I set up a shelter, I think I’m gonna meditate a bit and turn in early.”

“Alright. I’m going to work on my instrument a bit, then I’ll join you. Need any help?”

“...ordinarily I’d say no, but at this point, if you could give me a hand filling in the gaps with whatever you can find, I’d appreciate it.”

“Of course!”

Together, they put together a reasonably concealed natural shelter for them to sleep in- slightly smaller than the ones they’d been using more recently, but still enough for them to lay down in and store their stuff alongside them while they slept. Almost immediately afterwards, Kuna set up their mat and sprawled out for the night, deciding to forgo the meditation. Lykou worked on his instrument for a little while, but ultimately couldn’t resist putting it away and cuddling with the sereva until he was ready for sleep himself.

*****

In the morning, after they’d eaten and packed up again, Kuna figured out which way the spell was pointing to for the next arch, while Lykou was taking in the sights around them. “Before we go that way, lets get up to the top of this little mountain we’re on,” the canid suggested.

“Oh? Why?”

“Judging from the peek I got last night on that tree, it’s not too much further up, and it’ll give us a good look at our surroundings.”

“Fair enough. Maybe I’ll find some more fruit along the way,” Kuna commented as they began hiking up the ridge again. He sniffed the air and looked around at the various flowers growing from bushes and vines all around them. A few of them were especially large. “Sure is pretty here, I will say that much. Even smells kinda nice.”

“Yeah, it really does. Might be a bit warm for my tastes, but otherwise I kind of like it here so far.”

After only a couple of hours, they were approaching the mountain’s peak. The few glimpses they got through the trees were starting to make them wonder just how big the ‘lake’ really was. When they finally reached the top, Kuna used his magic to get them up high among the treetops to get the best view possible. What they saw made their jaws drop. The water continued seemingly forever in all directions.

“Just how big IS this lake?!” Lykou wondered aloud.

“Looks like we’re on an island, either way,” Kuna replied, looking around in all directions with wide eyes. “It’s not the only one though, look.”

Lykou turned to look in the direction the sereva was pointing, where there was another, even larger island in the distance, with a larger and somewhat steeper mountain compared to the overgrown foothill they’d crested. There were also a number of tiny islands dotting the water between them. He held his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun and squinted. “Hey, I think I sea canoes out there, too. Or something like that. Looks like there are people here after all.”

“Great…”

“Hey come on, they might be friendly.”

“Or they might be ursarans again.”

“Doubt it, I’ve never seen them use canoes. They don’t seem to like deep water much.”

“Probably can’t swim. Heavy fuckers,” Kuna remarked. “Anyway, whoever they are, remember we should assume they’re dangerous until we can determine otherwise.”

Lykou sighed and rolled his eyes. “Being careful is one thing, being cynical is another. Anyway, isn’t that the direction you said the arch was?”

“...yeah,” Kuna finally admitted reluctantly, scanning his eyes across the water. “Which presents a new problem. How are you at making canoes?”

The konuul stared blankly in the distance, then frowned. “Shit. Good point. I’ve only rarely been in one, and never made one myself.”

“Damn. No way we can swim that far, especially carrying all our stuff.”

“Yeah, that’s… that’s a bit of an issue.”

“I suppose I could always use my magic to, I dunno, try and shape a tree trunk into something like a canoe, then we can cut it down.”

“Maybe… or maybe we could find someone who already has one to give us a ride,” Lykou said, pointing towards the water nearer their own island. While fewer in number, there were a few boats down there as well- though they looked strange to the konuul. “Are those… fins or something on them? What, are they trying to mimic fish now?”

“I guess that might make them easier to move around in the water, er… somehow.”

“I’m not sure how. Pretty sure fins have to be, you know, in the water to work,” Lykou said, scratching his head.

“Anyway, my point still stands. We don’t know that we can trust them.”

“Yeah well, we may not have much choice. We can use your magic if we have to, but neither of us is familiar with making those things so we can’t guarantee we won’t make something that’ll just, y’know… sink. Or roll around like crazy in the water.”

Kuna sighed. “Fine. But let’s at least make an escape plan ahead of time if they’re hostile.”

“Alright, we can talk about it on the way down. If we’re lucky, we can make it to the shore in time to wave one of them over and talk to them.”

The sereva groaned mildly as he brought them back down to the ground. “Pleeeease let them be nice… I’ve had enough running and fighting for a lifetime.”

Lykou chuckled. “Hey, at least we’ve gotten pretty good at it.”