“When are we setting off?”
“It has been like what… a three hour delay?”
“They’re still setting up the opening for us.”
“Alright, alright, I’ll wait.”
The sun is high, the clouds are beneath our feet and these sky apples are quite delicious. As the quartermaster of the Frigade Yebolg, Cirrus Island is certainly a fancy place to stay during this apocalyptic wasteland. No meat, sadly.
Our crew has been called to go on the second expedition to capture Palo Town. Mainly because they’re worried resources will become scarce sooner or later. I’m pretty sure the first expedition turned out as a success? I forgot, didn’t read those papers they gave to all of us.
“GET READY EVERYONE.” Our captain, Clarissa Viklund shouts for everyone to huddle up. I slowly got up from my spot from under the tree and walked towards them.
“Expedition brief…”
“See these explosive barrels and potions beside us?”
“AYE!”
“We’re going to push the explosive barrels down the cliff, and then we throw the smoke potions they made for us.”
“AS SOON AS THE POTIONS LAND, eye on the atlantean ship closes to the shore and wipe the crew on board, UNDERSTOOD?”
“AYE!”
“LETS BEGIN THEN.”
The explosive barrels were kicked down the cliff. They have been reinforced with wood to delay the explosion, enough to not detonate when it is tumbling off the cliff. So far, so good. The barrels disappear into the clouds, and then a large boom echoed.
We then throw a large amount of smoke potions off the cliff. Apparently if I haven’t forgotten about it, the smoke potions here are made from Cloudroot, and apparently it’s better than Cloudstone… Oh they already jumped down…
I also jump down, imbuing my scimitar with wind magic as I descend from the dark clouds. There were a lot of atlantean ships under us, but I don’t have time to count how many were there. I immediately shatter the clearsight potion in my palm and landed safely on the ground with the use of my wind magic.
The sound of meat being squished right under our feet is disgusting. These atlanteans were probably the ones camping us. Sadly though, none of them learnt from the last time. I can see the captain and some of the crew already boarding a ship. I blast myself towards the ship with a snap of wind magic.
“QUICKLY, WE ONLY HAVE ONE MINUTE BEFORE THE SMOKE DISSIPATES.” Our captain shouted.
“NO KIDDING SHERLOCK!” I responded.
“HOLD ONTO SOMETHING!”
I charge up a magic spell right in the center of the ship. It activates, sending a gust of wind and blowing away every single lost sailor on the ship, along with the atlantean captain that was on the steering wheel. Clarissa kicks the helm, turning it. We immediately got into position as how they briefed.
The smoke potions wear out. Our crew members stood silently by the cannons, while I try not to sneeze as I stood beside the captain. The captain turns the ship around, trying to minimalize the damage done as the ship sails through the sea of atlantean ships. After about thirty minutes or so, we finally drop the act.
“WE GOT OUT!” Everyone celebrated. Though the captain doesn’t look excited, nervous even. I come up to my captain and give a light pat on the back and held a sky apple right at her face.
“Huh?” She looks at me.
“Relax, we escaped the hard part.” I force a smile. She rejects my gracious offer with a stare. Whatever I suppose, more apples for me.
We arrive at the back of Palo Town. I hop down and checked our surroundings. There’s a glowing green flower right beside a palm tree, it looks a bit eerie too. Other than that, the coast is clear. The captain does look surprised and distressed at the same time.
As we walked by the beach, there’s another glowing flower by beach, this time it’s just there, not surrounded by anything. One of our crew members decide to approach it with a cutlass. Three meters… two meters… one meter… the flower didn’t respond. It was only until when he held the cutlass right at the flower, it blooms, revealing an eye that stared directly at him.
“This an atlantean? Looks kinda weak!” He pokes the flower a few times.
“Don’t touch it too much… we don’t know what does it do…” Our captain stops him.
I take a look at the entrance to Palo Town. It doesn’t seem to be guarded by any atlanteans, so entering the town should be easy enough. As I turned back however, the crew member that was poking the flower had a bone shaped like an arrow stuck in his skull. I draw my scimitar and frantically surveyed the area with my eyes, trying to spot the culprit behind the act. Everyone huddled up against one another with their weapons drawn. Whatever just attacked us has intelligence, human intelligence. I see the captain about to scream her lungs out, so I shoved a sky apple into her mouth. We couldn’t mourn for him, yet.
We sneak into Palo Town. I take a peek at the town square, several atlanteans are just standing there with their weapons drawn along with some atlanteans patrolling the area. I got back into my hiding spot as what seemed like a stampede of atlanteans swarm out the town, presumably after smelling the blood of a certain dead crew member. I poke my head out again, there are still some atlanteans standing there, drooling out of their mouths, as if they were trying to suppress the urge to feast on flesh. One of those weird glowy flowers is also growing out of the atlantean with an angler fish as a head. I try to spot the cargo crates, but no luck. I turn back to my crew, the captain is missing.
“Where’s… captain?” I visibly tremble as I spoke.
“We heard some cries for help, she said she’s going to investigate.”
“…She’s dead meat.”
I know for certain I saw something about an atlantean who can mimick human speech in the papers. WHY? WHY DID SHE DO THAT? IS IT BECAUSE THERE’S JUST THIS SMALL, TINY CHANCE IT’S SOMEONE CRYING FOR HELP? DAMN IT.
“We have to find her, now.”
“Scatter.”
We scatter into groups of three as we sneaked around town. I listen closely to any signs of a human talking, but there was only the sound of wind accompanying me. This atlantean is smart… it knows how to speak softer as its target approaches it. My group of three arrive behind presumably the mayor’s house. Just for a second, I see the captain’s scarf walk into the back of the house. I rush in, hoping to pull her away from the danger. All I am greeted is a red scarf by the door, along with the darkness that is the house itself. Right as I see something glowing, green in colour through the darkness, one of my crew member pull me away. An emerald arrow scratches my cheeks and embeds itself on the ground. The crystal disappears, revealing a bone-shaped arrow instead. The thing that almost shot me shrieks out in distress.
An atlantean lands right in front of the door. The two crew members try to blast it with magic, but the only thing that came out of the magic circle was a toothpick and a sparkle of light. I blast myself up the hill with wind magic, leaving both men behind.
What did I just… I thought to myself. I should have defended them… not run away like a coward. What’s gotten into me. An atlantean interrupts my thoughts by digging out of the ground. I blast it and myself away with wind magic, going even higher up.
My breathing is heavy. I only just casted a magic spell twice, but I’m panting as if I just fought one head on. It’s as if I feel like… if I cast my magic one more time… I’ll faint on the spot.
The sound of something groaning attracts my attention. It’s a wall of emerald by the cliff. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but I’m not a cat. I tremble from exhaustion as I grab my scimitar and strike the wall of crystal. It shatters as I briefly hear the thing inside groan, it’s two eyes focused directly at me. Those crystal flowers were covering the entire floor of the cave. I walk inside, dragging my scimitar while avoiding the crystal flowers. Once I got close enough, I raise my scimitar into the air an-
I stopped my movements. I can’t swing my sword. My legs can’t move an inch. I can’t turn around. There’s something there, there’s a third eye watching me, and it’s going to kill me if I even move my scimitar in a slicing motion. It’s too smart, this thing… is too smart for it’s own good.
The following is a document that follows the description of the only survivor of the expedition.
Reclaiming Palo Town: 2nd Attempt
Status:
Danny Newton, the wind conjurer is the only person who returned back alive. It took two weeks for him to recover just his normal speech without trembling too much. He states there’s another atlantean working with the mayor, one perhaps smarter than the mayor.
The Crystal Plant
Status: To be executed with extreme caution
Feats: Bone fragments from this atlantean grow into flowers. These flowers may not be harmful by themselves, but they will emit massive amount of magic energy whenever they bloom, attracting atlanteans to the flower’s location. It is also seen to grow on atlanteans, having complete control of their actions and such. It seems to have made a symbiotic relationship with the mayor. We still have no idea if this atlantean is in control of the mayor, but further investigation shows it’s trying to take control, but the mayor is too strong for it to do so.
As for the location of this atlantean, it is sealed off in a cave of higher ground. Even though the crystal barrier that protects the atlantean can be easily shattered, it regenerates quickly. There also appears to be another atlantean in there, as told by the witness. it is completely covered in emerald armour from head to toe, and hides in the same cave the atlantean is in. And as told by the witness, the atlantean is ‘too smart for it’s own good’.
Signed by, R.
Felt bored so uhh… enjoy this funny thing I wrote.
