Mystic Heart Odyssey

Part 5: The Cult of the Crimson Isles

Chapter 2

...I think I accidentally gave Makani some mild Pinkie Pie energy. Ah well!

This was originally turning out to be a much longer chapter, so as has often happened, I ended up splitting it! Couldn’t really do it evenly though, so this one’s slightly on the shorter side and you can expect the next one to be still a little on the long side. Anyway, enjoy!

-Llox

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It took a fair sized chunk of the day for Lykou and Kuna to make it down to the shore. Fortunately, the breeze stayed steady, helping to keep them cool and wafting sweet scents from the large flowers scattered across the island. And the fact that it was all downhill made it a bit less tiring than the climb up had been. When they reached the shore, they began following the shoreline in hopes of catching a glimpse of one of the boats close enough that they might be able to get its passengers’ attention- although Kuna still felt conflicted about it.

At one point, what they had initially mistaken for a rock startled them by standing up on six legs and unfolding itself a bit, revealing it to be some kind of large crab. Kuna ducked behind Lykou, who eyed it warily and hovered a hand over his knife, just in case. But the crab just seemed mildly annoyed, glaring at them for a moment before shuffling sideways into the water. They both skirted around it, keeping an eye on it until they were a couple yards away. Suddenly, Kuna jumped as several more ‘rocks’ followed suit around them.

One of them passed by uncomfortably close, making Kuna shrink back a bit, but none of them seemed inclined to attack. Rather, it gradually became apparent that the boys’ presence had merely disturbed their slumber and they were shuffling away to find another place to rest. Lykou watched them go with some growing amusement as he held Kuna with one arm. “Huh… weird lookin’ things. Almost bug-like. Never seen something walk all sideways like that before though.”

“They’re freaky lookin’,” Kuna declared, his eye twitching slightly. “I’m just glad they’re they’re not coming for us.”

Lykou chuckled. “Well, let’s just keep moving. I don’t see any more big ‘rocks’ up ahead.”

They continued making their way along the shoreline, keeping an eye out for any other potentially dangerous creatures or suspicious rocks. At one point Kuna spotted a much smaller stone that stood out for an entirely different reason and bent down to pick it up, catching the Lykou’s attention.

“Whatcha got there?”

“Kind of reminds me of whatever those golzog knives were made of, in a way. See?” The stone was smoother than the golzog knives’s rough handles had been, and had a naturally sharp, nasty point on one end. It also had deep, red stripes running through it, and radiated faint warmth- though that might have been from sitting in the sun all day. “Never seen anything like it before. Kind of pretty.”

“Yeah, it is,” the canid agreed. “You gonna keep it?”

“Hmm… I dunno, kind of sharp to just hold onto for the sake of being pretty.”

“Well if you don’t want it, I might try using it on the next spear I make.”

“Sure, it’s certainly sharp enough. And hey, it already looks pre-bloodied,” Kuna replied with a wry grin as he handed the stone over. “So that’s convenient.”

Lykou smirked. “I guess it does. No wonder you don’t want to hang onto it, you might faint just looking at it,” he said, prompting the sereva to cross his arms and stick his tongue out at him. He carefully put the stone in his food bag among the remaining bird meat in a way that it was unlikely to slip around and poke a hole in the bag itself. Again, they resumed walking and were surprised to see more and more of the little stone scattered in the sand as they reached the side of their island directly in line with the larger one. The stones were mostly smaller ones, but nonetheless they were careful to watch their step so that they wouldn’t discover a sharp one the hard way.

Finally, they spotted a boat in the distance. Lykou set his things down and began waving with both arms, even jumping up and calling out a few times to try and get their attention. Even dismissing the potential for hostility, it was a gamble they’d even see the two boys on the shore from that distance, so he was doing his best to make himself noticeable.

Of course, Kuna was wary and just watched anxiously. He considered using his magic to get their attention somehow, but he was worried about how that might complicate things, depending on what the strangers were like.

*****

The boat itself was more complex than a canoe- indeed it was more like two large canoes connected by several cross-beams, with a platform on top, and a few hatches on each side. There was a mast in the middle, connected to a swept-back sail that was currently angled to one side and being operated by one of the occupants. The other had just finished pulling in a net full of fish when she noticed something odd on the shoreline to the nearest larger island. She held a clawed hand up to her scaly forehead and squinted for a moment, then turned to her companion, pointing to the shore. “Hey, Hoku, look! Someone’s on the island over there! I think they’re trying to get our attention, too!”

“Mmm? Really?” The one operating the sail peered over for a moment. “… that’s odd. The others don’t usually come out this far.” She sighed and searched the water nearby with a mildly annoyed expression. “Kind of the whole point, really…”

“Hey, their boat might have sunk or something. They might need help!”

“I don’t know, Makani-”

“For dozenth time, we’ve been working together for ages now, just call me Kani!”

“Whatever, Kani, something just feels… off. We’re always some of the first ones out and I didn’t see anyone heading this way ahead of us this morning.”

“Oh come on! We can’t just leave them there if they’re stuck!” Makani insisted. “Don’t worry, I’ll watch for the reef. Should be a safe way in if you shunt around to the south side of the island a little.”

“Fine…” Hoku conceded and began bringing their vessel closer to the island. When they finally started to get close enough to see the strangers better, she became more wary, while her partner only got excited. On the shoreline, Lykou had finally stopped jumping around and simply waved at them, smiling.

“Huh, I don’t think they’re… uh, like us. They’re not… you know…”

“Raptuvan?”

“Yeah, they don’t look like raptuva! They look a bit weird and different, from what I can tell. One of them doesn’t even have a tail!”

“Right, turning back now.”

“Wait, what?! No, come on! We’ve GOT to talk to them! This just makes it all the more exciting, plus they still clearly need help!”

“They could be dangerous, Kani…”

“Oh come on, we can handle ourselves. I don’t see any spears or anything. Hey! What if they came from across the ocean, just like our ancestors??”

Hoku gave her a look and appeared to mull it over some before glancing back to the strangers on the shore. “I don’t know, we can’t even be sure those stories are true.”

“Hoku. You’re the one that’s always going on about those stories. I believe them, and I know you especially do,” Kani crossed her arms in frustration and thought for a minute. Slowly, a grin crept across her face as an idea occurred to her. “You know… maybe you’re right though. We should just turn back. The red cloaks probably wouldn’t approve of bringing a couple of strangers to the island.”

A subtly intense look crossed Hoku’s face. A beat passed in silence before she pointedly adjusted the sail to speed towards the island, a faint smirk appearing on her face. “No. No they wouldn’t, would they?”

*****

Lykou picked his things back up once it was clear the boat was headed their way. “Whew, I was starting to worry we’d have to start a fire or something just to catch someone’s attention.”

“Let’s just hope its good attention we’re getting,” Kuna said nervously.

“I don’t see any sign of spears, at least,” the canid commented after the boat started to get close enough that he could see the occupants more clearly.

As it got closer still, Kuna’s eyes widened a bit as he took in the strangers’ appearance. They appeared to be mostly devoid of fur, for one thing. In fact, they looked mostly reptilian, rather than mammalian like every other kind of person he’d seen. Their scales were light greenish-blue, and oddly enough, they had a multi-colored fringe starting on the tops of their heads like hair, that then flowed down along their spines and ended at the tips of their tails. As they got closer, he started to realize the fringe was made of colorful feathers, or at least something like feathers, rather than fur.

When the boat got close enough, the two passengers took down the mast and folded the sail, then took out some oars to make it the rest of the way. A few minutes later, Makani set aside her oar, grabbed some kind of tether connected to the boat, and dove into the water. Once the boat was safely past any potential hazards, Hoku hopped into the water and helped her push the boat up onto the sand a dozen or so yards away from the boys.

Makani wasted no time hurrying over to greet them, making Kuna shrink back warily. Meanwhile Hoku wound up the rope and stayed by the boat, just eyeing them from a distance for the moment.

“Hey there! Thanks for coming over,” Lykou said, smiling.

“Ohmygosh hi!” the bubbly raptuva greeted them, then darted around to get a better look at the sereva partly hiding behind the konuul. “Who- and for that matter what even are you?? I’ve never seen anyone like you before! Where did you come from? Where’s your boat??”

“Eesh, give them a chance to answer between questions, girl!” Hoku playfully chided from a distance as she finished making sure the boat was secure.

“Oh. Right. Sorry,” Makani said with a sheepish grin.

Lykou chuckled. “I’m Lykou, and this,” he said, then suddenly turned and grabbed the shy sereva, pulling him around gently but firmly by his side. “Is Kuna.”

“H-hi,” Kuna said nervously with a small wave.

“I’m a konuul and he’s a sereva. We don’t have a boat, unfortunately-”

“Huh??” Makani interrupted and gave him a perplexed look. “Then how- surely you haven’t been living on this island the whole time? We’d know if there were other people out here!”

“Says you,” Hoku said, finally walking over to join them. “Almost nobody ever comes out this far, how would we even know?”

“Hmm point taken. Still, though, I can’t imagine there’s a whole village of… what was it, sereva and konuul? Living out here without us ever seeing any sign of them.”

“Nah, we don’t live here. It’s, um… kind of a long story. Which… we’d be happy to tell you if you’d give us a ride over to the main island over there?” Lykou suggested with a hopeful smile.

“Ornotit’sfinewhatever,” Kuna interjected, shrinking back again.

The konuul rolled his eyes up and sighed, then shot them an apologetic look. “Don’t mind him, he’s not much of a people person, at least until he gets to know you.”

“S’alright, I can relate,” Hoku replied, then crossed her arms and sized them up. “How do we know we can trust you? Why do you even want to get over there?”

“Well… long story short there’s magic involved. There are these ancient… arch-things scattered around the world, and when you put magical energy into them, they make these portals that can take you a long way away. Which is how we’ve been traveling around, trying to find our way home, and Kuna’s magic is telling him that the... next one is… that… way…” Lykou trailed off, somewhat leery of the looks he- or more importantly, Kuna- was getting. “Er, everything alright?”

Both of the raptuva were eyeing Kuna with wide eyes. Eventually, Hoku cleared her throat and spoke up, “...magic, you say? Like… real, actual magic?”

Kuna glanced over at Lykou nervously, then subtly nodded.

“You’re um… not just making things up?” Hoku asked in a way that almost sounded like she hoped they were lying.

“Er… no?”

“That’s… not a problem is it?”

The raptuva shared a quick look, then Makani continued, clearly excited in spite of Hoku’s clear misgivings, “...can you show us??”

Kuna was hesitant, but Lykou gently rubbed his shoulder reassuringly. He took a deep breath, then manifested a familiar green glow around his hand. He looked around a moment, then spotted a bush near the shore and made it grow and sprout colorful flowers before dismissing the magic.

Makani let out a small squeal of excitement. “Ohmygoshthatwasawesome!”

“Yeah, really… something…” Hoku agreed with a wooden grin, clearly trying to mask a growing anxiety.

“This is amazing! I’ve only ever seen the high speaker do anything remotely like that, and you didn’t even have to use any blood or anything! You just did it!” Makani gushed, then narrowed her eyes and smirked. “About time someone showed that bastard up! He has to go through all this-”

Hoku quickly shoved a claws hand over her mouth and rubbed her forehead with a groan. “Kani, cool it. Please. They don’t even know our names yet.” She shot Lykou and Kuna an apologetic, slightly awkward smile. “I’m Hokulani and this is Makani, by the way.”

“Call me Kani!” Makani said after pulling the hand away from her face. She then turned to Hoku for a moment with a pleading look. “Come on, we have to take them back with us! Having a real magic user around, let alone with some of the same powers as that jerk, would be great! Who knows, the red cloaks might finally-”

“That’s enough, Kani. Let’s not get them wrapped up in all that mess,” Hoku insisted, more emphatically this time. “They’re not from around here and they even said they’re just trying to get somewhere else and ended up stopping here along the way,” she said, then turned back to the visitors. “Right?”

“Er, yeah… what’s all that about though?” Lykou asked, then winced as Kuna nudged his side. “What?”

“Like Hoku said, let’s not get involved,” Kuna said through slightly gritted teeth, already feeling a bit antsy about the situation. Especially at the mention of blood somehow being involved in magic.

Makani side-eyed Hoku, then took a big step outside her reach before explaining, “There’s this group of people that worship Tuimana- well, we all do technically, but they’re really, uh… extra zealous about it. And they’re led by this guy named Kairangi who’s the only one with magical powers, and he claims Tuimana blessed him specifically with them because of his loyalty and devotion. A lot of folks think he’s hot shit, but frankly I think he’s a bit full of himself.”

Hoku groaned a bit and rubbed her temples. “None of which they need to bother themselves with…”

“Uhh… questions. I have them,” Lykou said, holding a hand up briefly. “First of all, who or what is a Tuimana?” he asked, briefly sharing a look with Kuna. They both recognized the name as something Sunny had repeated the previous night.

“Oh, he’s the fire god that has dominion over these islands,” Makani explained nonchalantly.

“Uh-huh… what’s a god?”

The raptuva both stared at him for a moment. “...what do y-”

“A really powerful spirit,” Hoku interjected, cutting her friend off. “Holds dominion over a bunch of other smaller ones, as well as mortals, over a big area. You… don’t know about gods?”

Lykou slowly shook his head, while Kuna just eyed her dubiously. “...why would any spirit hold ‘dominion’ over others? They all just kind of… go about their business on their own. They don’t need to be bossed around,” the sereva finally chimed in.

“I’ve heard of powerful spirits, but they usually just kind of do their own thing without caring what other spirits are doing, let alone mortals.”

“Well what the heck do you worship, then?” Makani asked incredulously. “Do you just pray to regular spirits or something?”

“Hey, we do too, you know… sort of,” Hoku said, then glanced away with a slightly distant look. “Or at least I still do.”

“What’s the point if Tuimana’s in charge of all of them?”

“The whole concept of prayer is kind of weird,” Kuna pointed out, arching a brow thoughtfully. “Spirits are usually busy kind of just… keeping the natural world going and stuff. Bothering them all the time asking for favors seems rude. Not to mention it’s weird trying to talk to them when you don’t even know if they’re present.”

Makani crossed her arms and arched a brow. “What makes you so sure you know how they think, anyway? What, have you actually been visited by them or something?”

“Oh, plenty. We’ve certainly met quite a few over the past month or so.”

“Yeah and honestly I can’t see any of them being particularly inclined to be bossed around,” Lykou added, then smirked and rolled his eyes up thoughtfully. “Heh, especially Sulyr.”

Kuna snorted slightly. “No shit.”

The raptuva again stared wide-eyed at them, though Hoku seemed more skeptical. “You’ve… actually met spirits??”

“Oh wait, of COURSE they have, Hoku!” Makani suddenly blurted out, smacking her forehead. “We literally just saw him use crazy magic like it was nothing!” She turned to Kuna. “Who did you get your magic from?”

“Er… nobody gave it to me exactly, that’s not how it works,” Kuna replied, then looked away with a somewhat uncomfortable expression. “Unless you mean who taught me, but let’s not go there…”

“What, you just naturally have magical abilities without a spirit giving them to you?” Makani asked incredulously. “That’s insane!”

Hoku shuffled somewhat uncomfortably. “Hey, our ancestors had people like that, you know… heck, until a little while ago, our village used to even have that Heleinui guy-”

“Well yeah but all he did was make little lights dance around, and anyway he turned out to be conspiring with corrupted spirits, remember?”

“According to the red cloaks, anyway,” Hoku said, frowning.

Makani winced and frowned. “...true. But as stuck up as they can be, that’s not really something they’d lie about.”

“...right.” Hoku seemed anything but convinced, but wasn’t going to push the issue.

“So uh… like I said before, Kuna’s magic suggested the next arch we’re looking for is over that way. So, um… you think we could…?”

Hoku sighed as Makani gave her a pleading look. “Fine…”

“Yay!” Makani turned back to Lykou. “And you’ll tell us all about your story, right?? We have all these old stories about there being a world out across the sea beyond the horizon that our ancestors came from, but we never had any proof of it before now and I think most people don’t even believe that crap now, but Hoku and I do and that just makes this all the more exciting because you’re here and you can do magic, or well I mean one of you can at least but that’s really cool and-”

“Ugh. Come on, let’s get the boat back in the water,” Hoku said, dragging her chatty, excitable sailing partner with her.

Lykou chuckled, then gently nudged Kuna along and began following them. “See? They’re friendly,” he told the sereva discretely. “Just relax.”

“All that talk about ‘Tuimana’ and those ‘red cloaks’ has me nervous, though. Just don’t let your guard down.”

The konuul frowned a bit. “Fair point. But they’re just really spiritual, I’m sure it’s fine.”

*****

Sunshine soared down over the island canopy before finding a satisfactory perch on a tree atop a small cliff near the coast, where he watched the group get underway on their boat. He watched them go with unusual interest, his eyes occasionally darting between the boat and the far island. Suddenly he felt something very off. A slight movement of the ‘branch’ he’d been sitting on alerted him and caused him to bolt up and flutter over to a nearby boulder, squawking in surprise. The no-longer-wooden finger he’d actually been sitting on curled back as its owner chuckled in amusement and crossed his arms.

“Relax little dude, I gave up mundane sustenance when I was a kid. You’re safe from me,” Zynshal said as he leaned back against a tree, sizing the bird up. “You’re one of those special ones, aren’t you?”

Sunshine just eyed him warily, then whistled and clicked a little.

“Mhmm. Sure, play dumb all you want. I’ve heard about you goofballs.” Zyn turned to glance out at the boat in the distance. “Any idea what they’re in for over there? Ink gave me a hint or two, but not much to go off of.”

The bird eyed him some more, then bobbed its head and turned to look at the far island. “Toto. Ahi. Me te tinihanga.”

Zyn arched a brow. “Vague, yet ominous.” He smirked and side-eyed the bird momentarily. “You wouldn’t make a bad jarzin.”

Sunshine let out a mixture of squawks and whistles.

“I’d hoped to check up on them personally before they left, but I got here a bit later than I intended. Guess I’ll hang back for the moment until they get some more time alone.”

The bird tilted his head at him and let out a couple curious whistles and clicks.

“Nah. As a rule we limit the number of people that see our true forms, and as fun as it’d be to go playing spirit or something right now, I’m not to interfere with this beyond occasionally checking in on those two. I’m just Inkari’s eyes and ears for the moment. Only a little help every now and then, and unfortunately this isn’t one of those spots.” The jarzin sighed, then smirked and pulled a small object out of his pocket. It was a certain long-overlooked rag with a now old bloodstain on it. “But I never promised not to snoop around outside those restrictions. If she’s not going to tell me where Lakefire is, I may just have to do a little investigating myself. I just so happen to have picked up on a little trace-scrying myself over the years.”

Sunshine’s feather’s flared up a little. “E tāhae ana te toto.”

Zyn rolled his eyes. “He won’t even miss it. It was buried at the bottom of his old pack.” He tucked the rag back away, then turned back to his avian companion. “Tell you what though. Someone should keep an eye on them while I’m away. Interested in a deal?”

The bird eyed him silently for a moment, then let out a single, short click.

The jarzin manifested a green aura around his hand, causing a flower nearby to rapidly grow and transform into a bush full of fruit. Sunshine eyed it with notable interest, slowly sidling towards it on his perch. But just as he was about to hop over and grab a berry, the plant returned to normal.

“Well? We got a deal?”

Sunshine glanced between him, the boat, the far island, and the restored flower a few times. Then, finally, he squawked and flapped his wings. “Te mahi.”

Zyn grinned and brought back a limited version of the fruit bush. “Good. Go keep an eye on them after you eat, then I’ll have more for you when I get back to get your report.”

As the bird hopped over and began gorging himself on some of the dangling fruit, the jarzin stepped away into the forest and vanished among the shadows among some denser foliage.