Ooh soul manipulation turns into found family but the family already is broken oops.
Totally proofread this trust me.
Tried to have a unique perspective thing going on, might be slightly confusing but I think it worked (?)
Not a descriptive or narrative tale of sorts (Although we go sort of narrative towards the end.)
I’d classify it as an internal mono/duologue.
[Abyss Sea] Cirrus Chapter: Together, Apart and Together Again
I am Tobias Cynthia Gael.
Once, I was two, but now I am one.
Long before the Wrath of the Gods, and this stupid situation I’m finding myself in - years before that. I made a mistake.
Both of us were playing in the sand, throwing the dust at each other in glee and innocence, such was the way of childhood. The harsh Vimir winter was late to settle, so we took the warmth as a blessing. I played with her, and I played with him.
The wind came suddenly, driving Cynthia off her feet and into the water.
“Cynthia!”
“Tobias!”
As I leapt in, the current dragged me downwards. Deeper and deeper, further and further - pushing me back up.
Cynthia was back on the shore, washed up by luck.
He was supposed to swim sideways, that’s what we were always taught. Parallel to the strong currents which I watched drag my sibling out to sea.
But Tobias didn’t swim sideways, barely managing to swim at all. I always said that magma users were destined to be bad at sea - and here we are. What could have been minutes, seconds or days later for all I care disappeared in a flash, his body in my arms, dying breaths gasping for freedom.
The elders said I was always a prodigy - unnaturally proficient at the manipulation of the soul, a blessing from the ancient Gods they say.
With no other way to save him, I took my soul, and his.
And that is how we became one. Not in the way where we were still two separate beings in the same body, no. Every fibre of us fused as if we were never apart: If it wasn’t for our memories being from completely different perspectives, it was as if we were always one.
Admittedly, it was awkward to explain to Rune.
We met at a tavern called sailors lodge only a couple months back, and immediately took to each other. She was brave, reckless - admittedly - strong and occasionally utterly confusing. We were the perfect team. After a few days of hesitation, I asked her to join my crew we were making. Months on the seas together, battling pirates.
Then clouds rolled over, the skies became stormy, thunder and lightning struck down. Docked at Palo town when it first happened, Rune mentioned that she thought she saw something in the water.
It’s horrible claws ripped through boats, and a whole group of them clawed up through the sand.
“Rune, get to the boat!”
Luckily, away from the carnage at the main dock - we had anchored our ship on the calm side of Palo town. The crew leapt to action as difficult as the winds were, and we steered our ship north towards the Jaws, where just by chance, hours before I had heard a sailor talk about the Chief there, telling tales of how that man could kill a White Eyes with only a sword and a pistol.
I assumed we were stuck in a migration of sea monsters. I had heard that many extreme beasts lurked just past the Pelion Rift in the magic polluted area, where stenches of death and fish wafted over during heavy storms.
Our boat crashed against a large rock - fog had settled in thick by then.
Some sort of mountain, The Stepstones I believed it was called, unclimbable by all but the strongest. A few other boats collided with it, their crews shouting in terror.
“Go, GO!”
Rune shouted at me. I began a hurried climb, looking back to see her rallying my crew to fight against horrific snake things which slithered out the water and jumped up onto rocks.
Only me and a few others made it up - I haven’t seen her since. A few of the beasts tried to make it up the stepstones, foiled by a few magma blasts.
Up here it’s pretty calm, I had heard rumours of a city in the sky, and the town which I met was peaceful. Above the clouds meant that all the horrible fog was far enough below, creating a sense of freshness.
I met a few warriors together and we organised a defensive plan. Cirrus Island had enough resources to last us months - if not years, slightly lacking in the fish department however. Fowl were enough to eat on for such a small population. There’s four main areas, Cirrus Island, Skycliff Island, the Djin Ruins and another small island. I sensed some strange spiritual force from there - and warned the others not to go near.
I’m under the belief that there’s a strange group of hooded figures at the ruins, they won’t talk to us when we sail past on the Skyships, and the last I saw of their leader was when he carried a woman who looked very similar to him. A lone gravestone stands out at the edge of a small islet near where they’re camping.
All children and their mothers were evacuated to Skycliff, where a base of operations has been established. There are many able bodied people up here working to forage, hunt and keep the islands working. The best blacksmith I have ever met is working on upgrading skyships to be able to fly lower - she’s no shipwright but the things she’s making are working wonders. We can fly low enough to the nearby Redwake where smells of all sorts are wafting up. They’ve fortified and are preparing some meals? - we’ve been dropping fruit down to them and once our skyships are good enough, a full on trade link should be established, my end goal is to establish a huge city fortress up here - big dreams, I know. But this is no normal migration of fish, oh no. Not even a sea monster could kill Rune Phoenix. Only an abomination could.
Back to the present. Cirrus Island was now a base for warriors and workers, where we built a huge fortification over the only bridge from the Stepstones.
“Arish!” I called, watching as the young snow mage turned to meet me. “Ah… uhh…”
He stuttered awkwardly, “Cynthia… Tob… yeah… hi…”
I laughed slightly at his flustered nature. Once again another adverse-ish reaction to my identity. I don’t think he’s wrapped his head around the fickle nature of souls yet.
“How’s the new fortifications going?”
“Good. We’re almost done with the wooden stakes.”
“Mhm.”
And that was how the conversation ended - I didn’t even think back to such a small interaction until that night at least.
We were sitting around the fire together, not on watch but too awake to sleep.
“I’ve been meaning to ask this…”
He was speaking softly: worried.
“I don’t want to make this completely awkward. But, who are you? I mean - are you Cynthia or are you Tobias…”
I smile, “Well, If I had to choose one I’d say I’m Cynthia with Tobi’s thoughts living in my head rent free but, that’s not exactly it. My body isn’t just Cynthia’s, one of my eyes turned green soon after our merging. My personality is some strange merging of Cynthia’s confidence, and Tobias’ sympathy. At least I don’t have his temper - I remember when I - well Cynthia stole some trinket of his years ago. Then there wasn’t any sympathy.”
“Mhm… I’m sorry for asking.”
“No worries, it’s natural for people to question an abomination of souls.”
“Cynthia made a choice so you both could live. Anything to save family… anything.”
The mage shifted uncomfortably. Perhaps this talk about siblings was making him uncomfortable? I couldn’t tell. Perhaps he had lost someone, a sister or brother. Perhaps… Just perhaps.
I still yearn for Rune’s smile even with our short lived friendship.
Wounds would heal overtime, I could heal whatever this mage was hiding and he could heal mine. A brother at arms, and at spirit - yes that sounded good.
If she was still here, perhaps we could have been family.
