NOVEL NEXT 3.06: Attempt
Gingerly, Maurice reached into the glass jar with a piece of crunchy, slightly toasted bread and scooped a nice, glistening dollop of delightfully smooth spread. He put down the jar, then shoved the piece in his mouth while Henry picked up the jar to smell it.
Apricot jam?
Henry was tempted to scoop some for himself, but he opted to save it for later. Especially considering the literal feast being prepared under their eyes and seeing the new look of the arena, Henry could only feel impressed.
The sandy ring and the platform for the judges were gone. Instead, the space has been opened up and dozens of long, pristine tables have been conjured. Each could seat dozens, if not more, and Henry was now sitting at one of the busiest tables, and he watched as Savros, the chef from Velistraine's ship, was just chased away from the improvised kitchens in which the enthusiastic folks of Thalis were prepping up a storm.
Henry glanced down at the little pile of gold-coins, jams, and paper-wrapped candy that Maurice had bartered for his stock of fish. It had been between that or accepting payment in cores and well… cores weren't that hard to come by.
Maurice went in for another serving, and Henry resolved to hide the rest before the crab could get into them. Not all of the jars were the same, considering the shift in colors, but unless he figured out a way to ration them, they would not last the day so as soon as Maurice got his third scoop, Henry floated the jars to him, twisted the cap on and popped them all into his storage.
Maurice seemed ready to protest, but after a moment, he gave Henry a begrudging nod. "Yeah. That's fair."
Henry chuckled as the crab went back to chatting with the two younger crewmates. Ash and Fabian, Henry recalled, while Bonnie—one of the ship's scouts—had a notebook out and was drawing Maurice in intricate details, under different angles. Even though the crab had been happy to let them know that no, his species was not extinct, it seemed that his existence was still somewhat of a big deal.
The rest of the crew were mingling with the locals or just relaxing, shopping at the couple of few stands that had been erected at the edge of the space. It was like a mini-festival, Henry thought, then he heard someone sit down next to him. Of course, he knew who it was. Beside the fact that he had clones around, the presence that sent an uncomfortable shiver down his guts was unmistakable, though at this point, it was more annoying than worrying. Turning to her, Henry just went for it. "Do you have a fear-inducing skill against monsters or something?"
Velistraine was taken aback by the question for a second, hand frozen as she reached for a refill of her beer, before she chuckled, and like a switch had been flipped, the intimidating presence disappeared. It still felt like he was sitting next to a giant in human flesh, but it didn't feel like the monster was out to get him anymore.
"You're right, my bad. It's a little something-something I ended up getting from hunting krakens. A while ago. "
That sounded familiar. Henry recalled his early conflict with the Trickster and the many krakens it had sent at him, then the class he ended up getting from that whole ordeal. "A krakenbane class? Or is it just a skill?" he asked, reaching for his own mug and finding it empty.
"Huh. I thought this was your first time meeting humans…" she said as she peered at him curiously. Then her eyes went wide. "Wait…You got a krakenbane class?"
Henry grinned. "Yeah. I had some trouble with them early on. One Trickster seemed to have realized I wasn't 'normal' and made it its life goal to hunt me down."
Velistraine shook her head as she refilled his nicely engraved wooden mug, then filled her own before she plopped the pitcher back down. "Tricksters are bastards. No offense," she hurriedly added. "But yeah, to answer your question. I earned a skill for it a while back, after an especially tough fight against a Goliath. It fused into another ability, but the passive is still active."
She took a deep swig from her mug and chuckled. "A kraken with a krakenbane class. That's funny."
Henry smiled and took a look around. Maurice was on the table, showing off his shell, which made Henry pause. Not because of what he was doing, but because something was tickling him in the back of his mind. Like a snag in his thought process. Unfortunately, before he could put his finger on it, Velistraine spoke up again.
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"So. Any idea how you ended up here? Anything you can remember? Because I gotta say… traveling worlds sounds pretty damn amazing. I mean, I heard some people talk about stories of this sort, but I've never found any solid proof that it could be done. If you got any leads for me, I'd owe you one."
Henry gave her a raised brow. "You want to explore other worlds?"
"You don't?" she promptly answered as she tilted her head.
Frankly? It sounded like fun, and Henry had high hopes for the future of some of his skills, especially Blink. The thought of seeing other worlds–or revisiting his own–was not a stranger to him. He just didn't want to get his hopes up too much.
"Yeah, that's fair."
Trying to recall those early few moments in his new life—and even bringing in his Octominds to try and recover anything from the experience, Henry had to admit that he recalled nothing. One moment he was under the waves, unable to tell up from down, lungs awfully yearning for air that wouldn't come, and the next moment he woke up in the turtle shell, in a body that, back then, hadn't been his own.
Henry shook his head apologetically. "Sorry to disappoint you, but no. There's nothing I can remember and honestly…. While the theory that this is a different world makes sense to me and is most likely what had happened, this world could also theoretically be Earth. Only thousands of years have gone by. This much change—and a new planet above—aren't any less incredible to me than 'other worlds'. I really have no clue. The only beings who might have an idea what had happened are the turtles. They're the only common element from… both of my lives," he said, trailing off on the last part as his eyes landed on Maurice's shell.
The barely formed thought that's been bugging him took shape. Could it work?
"Oh? What is it? Did you remember some—oh shit!"
Velistraine whirled to the left and bolted upward—making Henry startle—but before she could get anywhere, a pair of furry arms landed on her shoulders and pushed her back down on her chair. "You wouldn't want to miss saying hi to your old teacher, would you?" said the ape as he put his head on her shoulder.
"Ah… it's not like that," she stammered, "I was going to see her soon anyway. I thought I'd give her some time, that's all."
Henry glanced toward the stair and a moment later, the familiar face of Arisia came through the entry-way. Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to Maurice's shell and glanced around. Should he try it out here?
Oh, what the hell. Everyone's having fun, anyway. No one aside from the monsters should notice. Though I could definitely use Maurice's help…
With a quick cast of Telepathy, Henry spoke to the crab. "[Maurice, I got something I want to test when you have a moment]."
Henry glanced at the bickering Velistraine and Zerathstra, and decided to let them know what he was planning. There was no way they'd miss him casting his spell, so he might as well have them watch and pick up on anything he missed.
With a quick explanation, the two focused on him—with Velistraine throwing furtive glances toward Arisia as the instructor went over to the cooks—while Maurice scuttled closer on the bench and to make sure everyone was up to date, he repeated his thought process.
"The only thing connecting both my lives are these turtles. The one Maurice is wearing, specifically. I was thinking… How about we try finding a third? What if there are more of them? What if they could tell us more? Because… I'm pretty sure they're intelligent enough to give us a few clues about what's going on with them."
When he was done, Maurice rubbed his arms excitedly. "I want to know why my shell tingles when it gets close to the other one," the crab said, while Velistraine turned toward Henry, legs crossed and shrugged. "I don't know much about them, but that sounds like a plan. Let's see it."
Glancing toward the third observer, Henry found the ape scratching his chin. Zerathstra was quiet for a moment, then sighed. "It's worth the shot, considering you technically have two shells on your hands. But it might not amount to much."
They all gave him a questioning look, so with a wave of his arm, a branch grew out of the smooth ground and he sat down, making it so the empty shell was now sitting on a small wooden table between them.
Henry sometimes forgot that the wood under their feet was still a living being, and the ape was a master at shaping it.
Zerathstra put a hand on the shell, then spoke. "They're hard to find. I don't know if it's their abilities or nature, but they're nearly impossible to locate with divination. They're creatures of legends. In all my life, I've never actually encountered one. My old friends told me about them. And sure, they're supposed to be travelling worlds—and maybe that's factual, considering what you told us," he said, looking at Henry. "But don't you think we would have known much more about them if they were so easily trackable?" He looked down at the shell. "Or maybe that's why they learned to be stealthy. But it's worth a shot. Try it on your own first, and if it doesn't work… maybe we'll try something else."
It wasn't exactly the pep-talk Henry wanted to hear, but he'd take it though he still wondered, what did the ape have in mind?