The Keeper's Codex: Ashen Memories

by A. D. Wills

  “Oh, so that blue stone is glynt?” Caden asked.

  “Precisely, and only a little shaving of glynt is enough to activate and power an invention like this, so even bigger pieces can power more ambitious projects. That's all we know however. How it powers them, and anything else eludes our knowledge, nor will we ever be given the chance to properly research these important questions, so long as Tirli rules. Instead, he has us constructing exotic weapons we have very little—if any—use for, other than selling them privately to the highest bidder."

  “Amazing that just that little thing can do all of that,” Caden remarked.

  “Maybe you should show Snillrik those trinkets of yours,” Sappo suggested. “It couldn't hurt after all.”

  “Trinkets?” Snillrik looked around, and saw the chest.

  “Great call, Sappo!” Caden shot off the hammock, leaving Sappo swinging on it out of control—nearly tumbling out of it onto the floor. “Do you mind checking these out for me, Snill? Being an inventor, you'll probably have better luck with them than Sappo and I had earlier.”

  Snillrik gazed upon the trio of trinkets with frozen curiosity, and fished out a little monocle to examine each of them over. “I can't believe it...where did you get these?”

  “Not really sure. All I know is, my parents gave them to my Uncle to hand off to me when I left, why?”

  “They must have been quite rich, or very well connected—likely both," Snillrik said.

  “I don't know about that,” Caden smirked, remembering how poor his family was—barely being able to eat much more than bread and potatoes most nights in their dusty clay home. “Then if they're Vessi trinkets, think you can open them up?”

  “Yes, all this box here requires is a little piece of glynt, and it should pop right open,” Snillrik observed in a trance.

  Snillrik fished around, blindly patting their clothes down, only to be handed a piece by Achi. When Snillrik popped in the little piece of glynt, no bigger than a fingernail, the box opened up—with little shelves sprouting out like flower petals. At the bottom of the box was boomerang with a small empty chamber in the center of its curve.

  “So that's what was in there!” Caden was about to grab the boomerang, but Snillrik got to it first without even having realized Caden was going for it from behind him.

  “Hmm, this is quite odd however,” Snillrik pondered, looking around with their monocle.

  “What is it?” Caden asked, eager to get his hands on it—hoping nothing was wrong with it.

  “Well, this isn't a weapon made by any Vessi, I'm sure of it. Yet, it has a chamber that we would use to hold glynt. It's as if it's a collaboration of sorts, but one I've never heard of before...” Snillrik fished for any answer, but they came up blank.

  “What happens if you put in a piece of glynt?” Sappo asked.

  “Right, my apologies, I was so distracted.” Snillrik rushed to pop in a piece of glynt, but nothing happened. “To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure then what this is, but it's not a Vessi trinket. I would even guess this could be one of a kind.”

  Caden's face lit up as brightly as it ever had. “Can I see it now, it's killing me Snill."

  “Oh, yes, here,” Snillrik turned to hand it over to an overly eager Caden.

  “I just wish I could toss it around...” Caden looked around the room, but no matter how he looked at it, there wasn't any space.

  “Please just wait for now to throw it,” Sappo tried settling Caden's peaking curiosity.

  “I guess I don't really have a choice.” Caden popped the boomerang around his waist attached to his belt, and slouched back into the hammock. “Oh wait, what about the other one, that disc?”

  Snillrik proceeded to examine the smooth looking disc, but remained silent for quite some time before they put it back inside the chest. “It doesn't look as though there are any chambers on it, and while I'm sure it's made by a Vessi, it looks like it could perhaps be a make that I have yet to see—perhaps an experimental one. There's no obvious way to open it, or activate it from what I can tell.”

  “Oh well, I guess we'll figure it out eventually,” Caden shrugged off without much worry at all—mostly still distracted by the boomerang.

  “And might I suggest that you keep the fact you have these trinkets to yourself, especially on this ship. They're certainly rare, and worth a lot of coin. Drawing any attention to them might attract others to steal them.”

  “Gotcha.” Caden closed the chest up, but didn't seem to heed Snillrik's caution.

  “As long as no one comes in to see the hole in the ceiling, there shouldn't be any questions about them either...” Sappo mentioned, directing Snillrik's attention upward.

  “One of your trinkets did this?” Snillrik asked.

  “Yep, this one, I forgot to show it to you since it's the only one I figured out how to use.” Caden tossed it over.

  “Be careful,” Sappo cringed in case it shot off, but thankfully, Snillrik caught it without issue.

  “Remarkable...” Snillrik uttered upon examining it. “This is quite an old model—one so old that when glynt wasn't as abundant, before we could mine it in droves, we made trinkets that didn't require any. All this needs to function are intricate little mechanisms inside, triggering complex reactions one after another in rapid succession to produce the end result. Simple in theory, but unbelievably difficult in practice, which is why we use glynt for every invention now.”

  “So, this one's pretty rare too?” Caden asked, leaned in from behind Snillrik with a wide smile.

  “Y-yes, indeed it is.” Snillrik still wasn't sure how to take Caden's casual comfort about all of this.

  “You know, having someone as smart as you traveling with us would be a pretty big help,” Caden blurted, bright-eyed as can be.

  Snillrik's head jarred back, unsure they heard Caden right. “I'm sorry, I don't know if I follow...”

  “I mean, if you're on the run from Tirli, or whoever he's sending after you, why not be on the run with us? Sappo just decided to come along, and honestly, we were pretty lost about all of this stuff without you. And besides, it doesn't sound like you had much of a plan on your own up here, right?”

  Snillrik lowered their head, letting worried thoughts full of guilt wash over in pause. “I've been enough of a burden telling you information that I perhaps shouldn't have divulged, and taken your food. Further implicating you in any of this by joining you would be selfish on my part.”

  “What? Who cares about all that,” Caden waved off any concern. “We'll be going all over the world anyway, so they can try to find us, but I guarantee it won't be easy for them.”

  “And there's really no trouble in eating this. There was only one meal anyway, and Caden and I couldn't split it,” Sappo assured Snillrik.

  Snillrik thought it was strange to join up so quickly with a couple of strangers they only just met, but somehow, it didn't feel wrong either. They wanted to always explore and research the land above Avara after all, and now, here's that very chance to seize—sudden and unexpected circumstances aside.

  “Hey, you said you owe us, right?”

  “...Yes,” Snillrik agreed.

  “Then you can pay the favor back by coming with us,” Caden threw out the brash suggestion.

  “So you're extorting them.” Sappo sighed, swiping his big hand over his face.

  “I mean, it just makes things easy for everyone, right? And besides, Snill, if you come along with us, you can tinker away with those trinkets as much as you want.” Caden quickly raised his eyebrows, and sweetened the pot with a somewhat sleazy look—as if he were suddenly some kind of savvy merchant.

  “I suppose I don't have much of a choice in the matter then,” Snillrik conceded behind a creaking smile, accepting the requested favor. “If I'm not imposing, perhaps I might join you for a little while.” Snillrik caved, and Achi jumped around with joy with cheerful squeaks.

  “Great, it's settled then!” That's all Caden needed to hear.
“I bet you'll find tons to research too, since you've never been here before”

  “Thank you both, truly, thank you for everything...” Snillrik profusely bowed their head, unsure of how to act around people, as evidenced.

  Interrupting was a loud knock as if someone was trying to barge the door down ensued. “Open up! We've heard sightings of someone coming aboard the ship who didn't have a ticket. We're doing a room check.”

  Chapter 5: Caden

  "Hurry, we need to hide him now,” Sappo whispered over to Caden.

  “Uh...crap, I don't know what to do...” Caden scrambled around but they had no sheets or anything for Snillrik to hide inside.

  Without other options, Sappo took off his clothes that acted like a bunch of sheets they were so big, and piled them over top of Snillrik, tucked behind the small rickety shelf.

  “Come on, hurry up or I'll break it down!” The same man bellowed behind the door to more aggressive, thudding knocks that rattled the door off its weak hinges.

  “Alright, we get it! Just give us a second,” Caden shouted back, and rushed over to the door in an obviously nervous sweat. “So...what's the problem?”

  “You heard the problem, there's a stowaway, and we're making sure they're not here either,” the unpleasant man with an eye-patch, messy frizzy beard, and greasy hair swept over what should be his bald head, tried to get through the door, but it wouldn't budge. “Let go of it!” He said inches from Caden's face.

  “Look, I'm not even doing anything, it's just been like that since I got here,” Caden lifted his arms in the air, and even tried to open the door up himself, or at least made it appear so with some decent feigning on his part for once.

  The greasy man scrunched his face, shook his head, and stretched his neck through the door as far as he could, but didn't see Snillrik.

  “Fine, carry on, but whoever's holding them—or has anything to do with the stowaway, gets thrown overboard at sea. If you know anything, report it, or you'll be thrown off by association, got it?"

  Right when the man turned to leave after his stern warning, a loud sneeze came from the corner of the room where Snillrik hid.

  “What was that?” The greasy man asked.

  “Uh, nothing, it was just me. I think this trip is making me a bit sick or something,” Caden faked.

  The man's patience had completely waned, and threw his shoulder into the door with all his strength—giving him just enough room to squeeze by. When he entered, he saw Sappo had his big foot firmly planted underneath it as a wedge.

  “Wonder why you're trying to keep me out,” He sneered at both Caden and Sappo, and made his way right to the corner—yanking off the clothes to reveal a terrified Snillrik. “Well, glad you made it easy on me with that little sneeze of yours. Now, get your ass up, you're coming with me, all of you are!” He shouted as loud as he could, while holding Snillrik by the collar to drag them out of the door.

  “Wait! They can just take my ticket, I'll get off at the next stop,” Caden tried reasoning.

  “Not how it works, kid,” he snapped back, all too eager to act out what little authority he has. “Everyone gets one ticket, and if we're over capacity, like this worm is making us, then we can't run our operation, got it?”

  “That doesn't even make any sense, why would one extra person even matter? Just let us stay on for a bit longer. It's not like we need any food or anything, so what's the big deal?”

  “I-I could even cook to work off whatever you might need by having an extra passenger...” Sappo suggested behind a meek tone.

  “Not happening. We're throwing you all overboard, so better accept it instead of whining about it. Let this be a lesson the world's not all about sunshine and rainbows,” he cackled to himself.

  Caden and Sappo tried to think of anything else—anything at all, but they couldn't. Even if they tried to break Snillrik free, and make a break for it, there wasn't anywhere they could go. All they could do was resign to their judgment, and follow the man up to the mess hall, where everyone eventually all gathered to determine the fate of the three of them.

  “I found the damn stowaway, and the ones who were holding them secret in their room,” the man shouted to the mess hall.

  “So, we throwing them overboard?” The brooding goon who told Caden to quiet down earlier snickered Caden's way.

  “I am, you all can watch,” the man replied with that same demented sounding laugh, standing behind Caden, Sappo, and Snillrik.

  “What the hell is that sound?” Yango blurted out, twisting his finger in his ear.

  “What?” The man was perplexed, and embarrassed.

  “That laugh, it sounds like a damn frog getting stepped on, or something. You'd think looking as ugly as you are, and being as annoying as you are, you'd at least get something going in your favor, guess a charming laugh isn't it.”

  “You want me to throw you overboard too!?” The man lashed out.

  “More than welcome to try, but then you'd be four passengers short,” Yango shrugged off, leaning against his massive scythe—propping his lazy head up against the top of it.

  “What do you mean, we're over capacity right now,” the man replied.

  “If you bothered to check how many passengers are here before freaking out when you found out we had a stowaway, you'd know we're not over capacity. Some idiot fell off the boat in the storm the other night, almost like we made a little trade,” Yango laughed at his own observation, looking to Bels beside him for approval, but again, she looked wholly unimpressed by all of this.

  The man paused to count everyone in the mess hall, and Yango was right, there were exactly thirty of them in there. Right at the given passenger limit of the Voyager.

  “See? Sorry, not gonna be able to get off using what little power you've got around here. Now can we just go back to our rooms? You woke me up, and I hate being woken up...” Yango's usually playful tone changed to one that could paralyze you in place just from his eyes that looked to be lusting for a kill.

  “Y-yea...everyone back to their rooms...” out of embarrassment, the man didn't say another word, let Snillrik down by the collar, and stormed off back to his station.

  “Hey...Dango!” Caden shouted out, misremembering Yango's name already.

  Yango's back shriveled at the misnomer, but let it run off his shoulders this time. “Oh look at that Bels, he's already found two others.” Yango turned to meet Snillrik, Sappo, and Caden with them.

  “Oh joy,” Bels rolled her eyes.

  Sappo and Snillrik were stunned and frozen with fear watching Caden casually talk with someone who was clearly a dangerous person. The giant scythe being the obvious tell in that regard, but there was something about Yango that was also almost overwhelming the two of them—as if they were being suffocated by a presence of death around him, while Caden looked completely fine.

  “Ya I met Sappo and Snill. But, I just wanted to say thanks. Not sure what his problem was, and he wasn't listening until you butt in."

  “No worries, kid, but if you're that thankful—how about owing me a favor some day if we meet again, eh?” Yango rubbed his fingers together with a sneaking look across his heavy lazy eyes.

  “Ya sure, I'll pay you back next time no problem.” Caden nodded and held his hand out to shake on it without a second thought.

  Sappo and Snillrik remained silent, eyes widened, and wondered just how Caden could agree to something like that so easily, even if he might be slightly in their debt.

  “Sounds good, I'll count on it.” Yango shook Caden's hand, and turned away to go back to his room with Bels. “Just try to not get yourself killed before then. It'll probably be a little while, and I won't be there to bail you out,” Yango waved to Caden without looking back at him.

  “Don't worry about that. You'll be hearing about us before we even meet again, I guarantee it!” Caden raised his voice for the few lingering in the mess hall to hear with an annoyed roll of their eyes.

  “You seem overly in
terested in some boy, Yango...” Bels muttered beside him.

  “Eh, what can I say? The kid interests me a little. Can't really put my finger on it, but that's why I like 'em.”

  “So interesting that you would kill someone for free?” Bels wondered.

  “Hey, not for free. Sure, I didn't want someone interesting getting tossed overboard just yet, but I can't believe you didn't know about that guy's juicy bounty. I'm going to be able to cash in when we get to shore.”

  “I'm only interested in high end bounties, so I wouldn't have noticed,” Bels deflected.

  “Oh sure, so now you're going to be picky,” Yango groaned, as he and Bels bickered on their way back together.

  In the meantime, Caden, Sappo and Snillrik slunk their way back with dragging steps to get some sleep after a tumultuous set of events. For Sappo and Snillrik, it was the first time they could take the time to relax. For the most part, it was a peaceful night of sleep, save for the occasional rogue wave that would rock them awake for a minute, but even then, they were reminded they didn't need to worry. They didn't need to be burdened by lonely fear anymore. Instead, they now find themselves riddled with nerves for what they might possibly encounter on their adventures together, ready for nothing, and anticipating everything.

  ◆◆◆

  The Voyager pulled into Port Kirilia, and Caden, Sappo and Snillrik finally embarked on land in Port Kirilia on some shaky sea legs. After their time at sea, they were treated to a beautiful first sight of land. A quaint little town, with colorful buildings all over the place, and rusted orange tiled rooftops. It didn't appear there was much outside of a small market, thin streets for the few who call Port Kirilia home. It was the stables that stuck out, the biggest building in town to accommodate any who might make landfall from the Voyager.