Chapter XXV (25)

  An entire week, gone from a simple mistake. She gained no levels. Which made sense, as she hadn’t used Mend on anything. But that meant no new questions for Sterling. Just the one question remaining for the week.

  She repeated her actions from minutes before. This time lacking the earlier zeal. Her heart still raced from her death. When she grabbed Holly to take her back into the ship, she hugged her tighter. Then she set her off on her way, telling her to be mindful of fragile inkpots in her bag.

  “That was an absolutely miserable experience,” Sterling said. He joined her side, once again padding along in the cat’s body. “I’m extraordinarily grateful you died before I had the displeasure of being eaten by that horrid beast. I do hope you have a plan to avoid that situation in the future loops.”

  “I see…so the loop reset the moment I died. Interesting.”

  The cat tripped over his feet and spluttered something unintelligible. That confirmed her suspicion. At the very least, it meant nobody else suffered.

  Despite the situation, a tiny smile broke on Mitsuko’s face. She gleaned just a bit more free information from Sterling. That felt surprisingly nice.

  She went through the motions, as if rehearsing for a performance as she said the same things to the boy and Holly. But, once they got back on deck, she held up a hand to stop them from boarding the nearest lifeboat.

  “Not that one,” she said. “We want to get in the final boat.”

  “Why?” Holly asked. “Mitsuko, do we have time for this? You do realize the ship is sinking, right? Have you learned to swim when I wasn’t looking?”

  “Just, trust me. We’ll be swimming a lot less in that last lifeboat.”

  Mitsuko watched as other passengers scrambled onto the boat, taking their place from the last loop. She felt a pang of guilt as she let them board onto the ill-fated boat. Logically, it was better that she lived than them. But logic didn’t make her feel any better as the lifeboat dropped into the sea.

  Mitsuko led them to the final lifeboat and they departed from the ship. As they drifted away, Mitsuko watched on with numb uselessness as people died all around her. At the very least, Holly was in the boat beside her. After everything settled, Mitsuko volunteered to take the oars and row. It helped release some of the pent up emotions.

  “Relax,” Sterling said. The cat was perched, taking an entire seat for himself. “It’s not as if any of them are actually dead. You and I are the only real ones here.”

  “You’re implying they don’t have souls,” Mitsuko muttered, careful not to phrase it as a question.

  Sterling cocked his head and Mitsuko swore she saw a slight smile on his feline face.

  “Tell me about my new abilities.” Mitsuko continued to row. She was mindful to keep her voice down, though most of the passengers were still in a state of shock and staring off into the horizon at the dome. Still, better to not attract more attention and questions.

  “Well, with each level you will gain strength with the spell. You’ll be able to mend larger things that were broken further back in time.”

  “How much bigger? How much further back?”

  “You’ll need to experiment. I didn’t recall exact equations.” The cat shrugged and stretched his back. “What did you gain? I assume you heard a short list of additional modifiers to Mend.”

  “I gained Mend’s Aura and Mend Self.”

  “Excellent,” Sterling purred. “Both are phenomenal additions. Though, every aspect of my spell is by far superior to any other spell you’ll learn. These two are especially helpful for the basics of Mend.”

  “What do they do?” Mitsuko asked.

  “Any guesses?”

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  Mitsuko glared at him as she plunged the oars in for another stroke.

  “When I reached level three, it mentioned my aura’s radius expanded.”

  “Enhanced. But yes, essentially correct.”

  “So I assume that means I can now cast Mend on objects I’m not touching.”

  “Well done,” Sterling praised. “You’ve deducted the obvious. And Mend Self?”

  “It lets me cast Mend on myself.”

  “I’m extraordinarily glad we didn’t actually select a complete nincompoop.”

  Mitsuko began to ask about their selection process. Their short lesson about her spell had loosened her tongue and lowered her guard, but she caught herself. She clamped down on her words as they left her lips and covered up the slip-up with a grunt as she rowed. The last thing she wanted was to use up one of her remaining questions on accident again. Right now, she could ask as many questions about her current spell capabilities as she wanted for free. And only one other question as the payment for a level up.

  “Fine,” she said after a dozen more strokes. “I’ll ask my question.”

  “Are you certain? There’s no time limit. Well. Besides the 48 loop deadline.”

  “Where are the other sages?”

  “Oh good. I was worried you might waste the question on something like asking about the exact schematics of the dome. The sages are a necessary question. And, I’ll have you know, I actually advocated for this information to be free when we designed this iteration of the Prismatic Spiral.”

  “Locations?”

  “Yes, yes. I’m getting there. Each of us is placed on one of the six islands of the archipelago. I was on Cerise Island. Or, as you know it, Ashen Island. There is a temple, now accessible, on each island which will guide you to the necessary location.”

  “Six islands?” Mitsuko furrowed her brow as she considered what she knew of the archipelago. “Mauve. Amber. Porcelain. Verdant. Ashen. What’s the sixth island? One of the smaller islands? Those are barely more than rocks.”

  “Azure. Hm. It’s perhaps the second largest island. I’m sure you’ll locate it eventually.”

  Despite several minutes of prodding, he wouldn’t say any more than that without another question being expended.

  “Fine. But there is a temple on Mauve?”

  “Of course.”

  “Can you give me any more details than that?”

  “Hm. I can say that it would have been entirely inaccessible until the dome appeared, sealing the archipelago in the Prismatic Spiral.”

  “And its physical location?”

  “I already gifted you a decent clue. You don’t actually expect me to spill coordinates, do you?”

  “If you wanted me to be successful, then yes,” she said through gritted teeth. She pulled back on the oars with more gusto, pushing them along.

  “You’ll never level up your spells if everything is handed to you. You must struggle to advance. There is no easy short cut. The questions are designed not only as incentive, but also to provide more obstacles to overcome. And as I told you before, ask a broad question and you’ll receive a broad answer.”

  “Idiotic.”

  “Are you questioning the wisdom of your elders?” The cat arched an eyebrow.

  “I’m criticizing the stupidity of my elders. Older doesn’t mean wiser.”

  “Good. Glad you don’t idolize us like the last one.”

  Mitsuko missed the water with her oar, her stroke too shallow on one side. She lunged forward before catching herself. Other passengers looked over at her and she tried to smile apologetically before she resumed rowing.

  “Last one?” she hissed at Sterling. “There was a Champion before me?”

  Sterling was silent. He said nothing. Mitsuko shook her head, convinced he’d force her to waste another one of her damned allotted questions. Then he answered.

  “He failed. My city fell. It’s not important anymore.”

  Mitsuko thought it certainly sounded important. But Sterling’s tone stopped her from pressing further. Usually, he sounded arrogant and haughty. That last statement though was spoken with such…melancholy. He sounded so deeply saddened by the subject. She’d circle back to the topic again in the future. Or maybe ask another sage for more context.

  “Mistuko,” Holly said, pushing past the other passengers. She took Sterling’s seat, pushing the cat onto her lap. “Who are you talking to?”

  “The cat.”

  Holly scratched Sterling behind the ears and he melted into her embrace.

  “I didn’t know you liked cats.”

  “I don’t.”

  “What about dogs?” the gnome asked, moving her scritches down Sterling’ back.

  “Dogs are great. Loyal and useful animals. I had one as a kid. She helped alert us to any dangers from the jungle.”

  “Really? I didn’t know that.”

  “She died. A giant beetle crushed her throat between its pincers.”

  Holly shuddered. “Giant beetles. Disgusting. The Hon Basin sucks. I’m sorry that happened.”

  Mitsuko sighed, thinking back on her old pet. She’d been such a good dog. “Her death alerted us to the creature before its eggs hatched and caused an infestation across our village. She died a hero, protecting us.”

  “Cats have a plethora of admirable qualities as well,” Sterling insisted, indignant.

  “Sure they do.”

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