Chronicles of a Royal Pet- Of Scales and Distant Shores

by Ian Rodgers

  “And that is the main difference between the humanoid races and the scaled beings of Drakon. Having come under the aegis of Aravantis, god of dragons, the zalos and kobolds have inherited the concept of ‘selfishness’ that all dragons possess. Give up a piece of their soul in exchange for a temporary boost of power?” Nia shook her head. “In the eyes of these scaled people, such an idea is outrageous. So what if the soul regenerates and heals after time. It’s theirs. Why give it up, when they could just force someone else to give up their life and soul to power their prayers?”

  “So, the reason their system of magic and prayer is so different is entirely due to selfishness and greed?” I uttered, dumbfounded. Nia nodded, and I created a hand-shaped pseudopod for the sole purpose of slapping myself.

  Nia giggled at my action, then shook her head with a faintly deprecating smile on her lips. “Yes, it is quite silly, isn’t it? So very wasteful.”

  “But, but, wouldn’t the Magepriests have known this when they were constructing my prison? I mean, we’ve been neighbors with them for about four hundred years!” I cried.

  “While Drakon may have been rediscovered after the War of Fallen Gods, and humans have been exploring and living here about as long, actual contact between Orrians and the scaled ones has only existed for 200 years or so. And even then, it is limited. Matters of faith and magic has not been exchanged much,” Nia said, unbothered by my agitated outburst.

  “Besides, the Divine Magic of the zalos and kobolds is flashy, requires blood sacrifice, and is designed to bless large numbers of beings at once,” Nia continued. “Humanoid Divine Magic, on the other hand, is personal, limited to one or two people at once. So if any scaled ones saw humans using Divine spells, they likely assumed it was only regular magic.”

  She shifted on her throne somewhat, before glancing down at me. “Was there anything else you wanted to know?”

  “Why me?” It was a question that had been burning away in my mind ever since I had learned of the prophecy. And now that I had a chance to have a heart-to-core with the originator of the prophecy, I had to know.

  “There is no easy answer for that,” Nia said after a while, her lips pursed as she pondered my question. “Was it because you were granted a soul by Princess Liliana’s Miraculous Mystery, or was the awakening foretold and inevitable?”

  She shook her head, golden hair dancing. “Even I, as the foci of the prophecy, cannot know everything to do with it. After all, the prediction relates to the Void, and everything to do with that most ancient evil is shrouded in indecipherable mysteries. Creation versus Destruction. Being versus Nothing. Aun versus Zard. Amongst all gods and entities of the Aether, few can claim to understand the Will of Reality when it writes these things into being.”

  “But know this,” Nia declared, raising me to her eye level, “You were chosen. You, out of countless millions of potential souls. This decision was made by a higher power than even I. And it believes in you. No, rather, it knows that you have the greatest chance of vanquishing the World Rebellion’s machinations. So, take pride in that! Some things are not meant to be known, or understood. But in this case, know this: you are worthy, no matter your own thoughts on the matter.”

  “That’s not very helpful,” I complained as my soul settled down. Two names I had heard during Nia’s speech: Aun and Zard. Mentioning those names had sent shivered through my soul. My very being trembled before them.

  Who were they? What were they? Not to mention, I had felt another presence intrude on my essence as the maiden goddess of love had spoken. One that was the very concept of ‘Existence’ made manifest. Whatever it was, it had simply observed me, before leaving with only a sense of satisfaction lingering from the visitor.

  In response to my pouty words, Nia merely shrugged helplessly. “Dramatic and motivational speeches are more of dad’s thing, really. Not to mention there are still Rules I have to follow in regards to the prophecy. Can’t spill too much information.”

  I sighed, but accepted nonetheless. What else could I do? After letting Nia pet me some more, I decided to hazard a third question.

  “And what about the other two? The ones I will have to save the world with?”

  “Your fellow Chosen Ones, your brother and sister, are still lost somewhat, and have yet to fully embrace their destiny,” Nia said with a mournful sigh. “One is too attached to my brother. He has been blindly following the beliefs of a man he admires without truly understanding why he does so, and needs a push to become one of my Paladins. The other has lost herself in guilt and clouded her soul with the protection of another god. She, too, needs a strong shock so she can take the place of my one my Clerics.”

  “Then what does that make me?” I asked nervously. “If what you say is true, and I am sure it is, then you already have a Paladin and a Cleric lined up. What role can I possibly serve?”

  “Perhaps the most important role,” Nia said, looking at me sternly. “The role of Herald. You must find the other Chosen Ones. Unite them. And, when the time comes for the Void to be cast back from Erafore, you must lead them and the army that will gather to repel the World Rebellion.”

  “Me?!” I gasped in shock. “But I don’t have any experience with leadership! And I’m an Ooze! Who would follow me?”

  “That, I cannot answer for you,” Nia said softly. “You must find that out yourself. But ask yourself this; ‘For what reason do I want to save the world?’ Find the answer to that question, and you will find the rest of the path laid out for you.”

  I sank into deep thought, going over her words and question. At last, I sighed and looked up at her with confusion deeply buried in my core.

  “One more hint?” I pleaded softly. She laughed, loudly and genuinely, and she patted me comfortingly.

  “Alright. Just one more.” She cleared her throat, and her voice took on an airy, enchanting tone, laced with mystical might. “Erafore does not have the right answer to the question you must ask. Go beyond the boundaries. Seek the Aether and its myriad worlds and secrets for an opal that moves. Find the defeated man who lives in the dark while doing the work of a saint. Discover what the Heart of Typhon truly wishes to bleed for. Do these three things, and you will rise to the task I have given you.”

  As soon as her words were uttered, I felt a stirring in my soul. Traces of information filtered into my mind, and I suddenly had the knowledge of a spell sitting within my thoughts!

  “This spell is the most I can offer you right now. Once you return to your body, you shall have the power to cast it at will. Personally, I suggest you do it as soon as possible. Otherwise, the war will rage, and all the work you’ve put into stopping it will come to a bloody halt,” Nia said softly, her voice barely a whisper.

  I bobbed up in down, and she reached out with her right hand, pressing her index finger to the surface of my body. Her finger then slid in past the gelatinous membrane, and pressed up against my core. I shivered at her touch, and she traced a symbol onto it.

  “Now, go, my Chosen One. Do good, be good, and above all, honor that which you treasure most.”

  And then, from the light, I returned to the dark.

  .

  I jerked awake, violently sloshing around in my glass prison.

  ‘Well, that was certainly an experience,’ I muttered to myself. I tentatively reached out and sighed in relief as I felt the spell Nia had given me resting within my soul.

  A victorious laugh bubbled up within me. It was time to leave this wretched place!

  As I was laughing to myself, I heard a series of hurried footsteps rushing towards me.

  “Jellik, are you trying to escape again?” I twitched as the voice of Dragon Priest Mand reached me through the glass. What really irritated me was the pity in his voice, as if he was mocking me!

  “We sensed a flicker of magic from your room just now. Don’t you remember how much pain you were in when you tried to use magic in there the first time? Haven’t you learned?”

  I co
uld almost see the elderly chameleon-like Dragon Priest shaking his head at me in my mind. “Trying to escape is futile. Especially with magic. Please, settle down and wait for the conclusion of the war.”

  I scoffed and reached out for the spell Nia had given me while also thinking about the peaceful town of Haven.

  ‘I’ll show you ‘inescapable!’ Watch this!’ I declared to myself.

  ‘Oh, winds of magic, carry me on. Oh, light of stars, guide me. Where I was once, let me be there no longer. Take me to where I desire to be. Time and space? I defy you! Bend, and let two places be one! Here, there, and anywhere! Teleport!’

  The powerful Dimension-type spell rippled forth from my soul, and I glowed brightly as Divine Magic encompassed me. I could hear the surprised and shocked cries from the Magepriests around, and wished my sight was back so I could smirk while watching their expressions while I fled.

  Vindictive? Perhaps, but I was so done with being trapped in this place. I had a war to end, and lives to save from needless violence. I was out of there!

  There was a ‘pop!’ of displaced air, and I was sent hurtling through time and space, compressed as a tiny bead of raw energy as I made my way to my destination. I was free!

  Chapter 19: Escape and plans

  In the days that had passed since Jellik had left, the town of Haven had stewed in worried silence. More and more information was arriving from the traders around the area, and all of it pointed to mobilization on both sides. The lizardfolk had amassed several tens of thousands of warriors already, while New Castella was coordinating with the other territories and colonies to gather as many soldiers and supplies as they could.

  Based on the information Valen and Katherine had gathered, the war would be a bloody one. Worse, when Rosa had flown back to Haven in a panic without her contractor, the Soul Oozes had been horrified.

  And then when Rosa -using a stick to write words in the dirt- had relayed that three adult dragons were joining the war, further panic had set in.

  Now, after two days, panic had given way to worry and despair. The Soul Oozes had girded themselves and thrown all their efforts into building defenses and escape tunnels. Odds were the lizardfolk would bash all the frontier settlements into dust as they marched towards the larger towns and cities on the coast. And that meant their home would fall. They needed to be ready to flee at a moment’s notice.

  But amidst all the preparations, a certain ruby-studded fairy was tugging desperately on Katherine’s hair.

  “Ow! Ow! Rosa, stop!” the dwarven thief cried, batting at the tiny flying person. Rosa was knocked away but she rushed back immediately.

  Before she could grab onto Katherine’s dark locks Valen reached out and plucked the Carbuncle from the air, holding her. Rosa kicked her legs and beat her tiny fists against the Soul Ooze’s squishy hands, but he held on, and she eventually settled down, worn out.

  “Rosa, look, it’s not that we don’t want to go rescue Jellik, it’s just that something like that would be extremely difficult for us right now,” Katherine apologized as she smoothed down her frazzled hair.

  “I mean, I know I’m a great thief and all, but trying to sneaking into a city as it is prepping for war? They’d be on high alert for any enemies trying to scout or spy on them. And it’s not like we can disguise ourselves, either, to get inside. A dwarf and a Soul Ooze? Unless you have some super-secret power over illusions or Dream magic to hide who we are, we’d be spotted and arrested faster than you can blink!”

  “She’s right,” Valen agreed, backing up his lover’s words. “Right now, we can’t do anything. We just have to wait and see.”

  The Carbuncle pouted angrily and resumed her struggle to escape Valen’s hands. She waved her arms around when the Soul Ooze refused to release her, as she tried to convey something. Katherine and Valen could only stare helplessly at her, unable to understand.

  “You know, if you’d learned sign language like Jellik had suggested on the boat over here, we wouldn’t have to play charades every time we have to talk with you,” the dwarf maiden said, a hint of exasperation in her tone.

  Rosa made a rude gesture, causing the young woman to splutter indignantly. “Why, you little…!”

  She lunged at Rosa, who was still being held by Valen. He let out an unmanly ‘Eeep!’ as about a hundred pounds of surly dwarf barreled into him, knocking him flat on his back, leaving Katherine straddling his chest as she tried to snatch Rosa from him.

  The fall had jarred his grip loose and the feykin darted out as soon as he let go, mere moments before the dwarf could reach her. Rosa blew a raspberry at the fuming thief and flew up a few feet above their heads, making angry motions with her hands.

  Katherine was about to start shouting back when a passing townsfolk called out, “Get a room, you two!”

  The thief looked down and blushed deeply as she realized the rather compromising position she’d ended up in with Valen. Had he been a human, this would have been grossly inappropriate!

  “Sorry! Sorry!” she gasped as she leapt off of the Soul Ooze, her face still bright crimson.

  “No worries,” he muttered, his core pulsing pink in his own embarrassment. Above them, Rosa pointed and laughed, her crystal-clear peals of mirth echoing through Haven. The sound was enchanting, and some of the stress and fear that had weighed down on everyone lifted momentarily.

  Rosa abruptly stopped her laughing, and tilted her head to the side, listening to something only she could hear. Confusion slowly gave way to pure, unadulterated joy as she looked straight up into the sky.

  “What? What is it?” Valen asked, concernedly looking into the sky as well. He couldn’t see anything. Was it a fairy thing?

  A faint sound that was not the wind reached them, growing louder every second.

  “Does that sound like a scream to anyone else?” a random Soul Ooze inquired, glancing up as well.

  “…aaaaaaa-!”

  “Sort of. Sounds kind of familiar, too,” another Soul Ooze commented.

  “-aaaaAAAA~!”

  “Does anyone else think it sounds a lot like Jellik?” Katherine asked, staring into the sky in confusion, Valen’s head tilted back like her own with an identical look on his face.

  “AAAAAA -Someonecatchme!-AAAAA-!” A miniscule purple dot could finally be seen high up in the sky, and plummeting towards Haven like a goopy meteor!

  “It is Jellik!” Valen cheered, and a roar of approval and relief went up as the Royal Ooze came dropping down towards them.

  “Why isn’t he using his magic?” Sistia asked, having come over during the commotion.

  “-AAAA -Istillhaven’trecoveredallmymagicfromwhenIwastrapped,someonepleasedosomething!- AAAAAHHH!”

  “Well, there’s your answer,” Valen said blandly, before gathering a bunch of nearby Soul Oozes together. “Ok, on three, we all pool our mana to cast Slow Descent. Hopefully, that will ensure he doesn’t splatter everywhere when he lands.”

  “One, two, three! Like a feather, fall! Let the ground hold no fear for your flight! Motion, be arrested! Slow Descent!”

  The spell went off without a hitch, and powered by half a dozen decently skilled Soul Oozes, the plummeting Royal Ooze was caught in a comforting cradle of protective magic which significantly reduced his falling speed.

  As he drifted down towards Haven, falling like a dainty purple leaf, Rosa shot up towards him and happily latched on with a desperate, joyous hug.

  “Yes, I missed you, too,” they all heard Jellik say as he made a tendril to pat his Familiar’s head comfortingly. After a few minutes, during which the whole town gathered to welcome him back, the C-ranked adventurous Ooze landed safely in the middle of Haven.

  “I’m back! What did I miss?”

  .

  I had not expected my return to be greeted with such a raucous, overwhelming welcome. It looked like every single Soul Ooze in Haven had come out to greet me and celebrate my return.

  A surge of love and affection filled me, a
nd I was touched that so many people had worried over my safety.

  “Good to see you’re back in one piece, Jellik!” Valen said excitedly, going for a shoulder pat before stopping short due to the fact I did not have shoulders while in my spherical shape. He settled for a pat on my top instead.

  Katherine, on the other pseudopod, ran up and grabbed me in a crushing hug before shaking me like a snow globe. By Nia, shoulders would’ve been a lovely feature! It would make this a lot more bearable. I felt like I was being tossed about in an earthquake! Not to mention Katherine was a lot stronger than she looked!

  “Don’t you ever cause us so much worry again!” she shouted, most of the anger in her voice overshadowed by relief. “Do you have any idea how much trouble Rosa was making in your absence?”

  Rosa, still clinging to me with a death-grip level hug, blushed heavily at the young woman’s words, her ruby lighting up in response.

  (Nuh-uh! I was a good girl! I only made a mess because they wouldn’t come with me to stage a daring rescue on your behalf!) the Carbuncle protested. Then, I heard another voice I’d missed while isolated.

  ~I’m so glad you’re back! I was so scared, being alone without you or Rosa to hear my voice,~ Tara said, her voice popping back into my mind at long last. I sighed happily hearing her again.

  I laughed in joy, and apparently it was infectious as Katherine tried and failed to hold back her snickers, and she dropped me as the young thief doubled over and began howling with laughter. Valen and Sistia joined in, as well as Rosa, and soon the entire town was roaring with mirth. Stress and tension washed away under it all, and it was as if a dark cloud had been smashed to pieces overhead.

  “So, seriously, what did I miss while I was trapped?” I asked.

  “Let’s discuss that over here,” Valen suggested, leading me over to the town hall. Inside, Pallo joined us in the sitting room, and with Sistia, the entire leadership of Haven was assembled. Katherine and Rosa were there, too, but took up spots in out-of-the-way places like the corner of the room or atop my body, content to watch and wait while I spoke with the Soul Oozes.