Chapter 57: The Sea Folk
"Teleport: Atlantis Shore!"
Once again, the sense of weightlessness took over alongside the blinding light, finding himself disembarked from the room he was in. This time, it felt slightly different, as though he was being abruptly flung through the formless space–
"Bwah–?!"
From the distorted space, he found himself landing in an unknown scenery, having to catch his footing as he almost stumbled right off of an edge, peering over the ocean. It didn’t make sense at first as he looked down past the grassy ledge, seeing the calm waves far beneath.
"Where am I...?" He mumbled to himself as he looked around.
He began to realize it wasn’t a cliffside he stood upon, but something else entirely different–a region of land disconnected from others; a floating island. Peculiar enough, it was grass blue like the sea that grew, with trees that produced glistening, azure leaves.
’Shouldn’t I have arrived with the others? Did something go wrong with the spell?’ He questioned, looking around.
As a bush to his left rustled, he immediately summoned his dagger into his hand, though the figure that emerged dissipated his worry.
It was the dark-skinned British man, who sighed as he brushed a leaf off his uniform, "Bloody fantastic. Looks like we all got separated."
"Jaxon?" Gael called out.
"Oh, it’s you, greenhorn," Jaxon said, walking over with his hands slipped into his pockets.
"It’s Gael," he corrected him, looking over the edge of the floating island.
"Yeah, same thing," Jaxon said. "Looks like we’re in a heap of shit now."
"Is this the Atlantis sea
?" Gael asked. "Just wondering if we actually got sent to the right place."
"Yup, no mistaking that. These floating islands only exist above Atlantis, besides, look over there," Jaxon explained, pointing ahead towards the far boundaries of the ocean.
As he squinted, he saw what was being shown to him: a stretch of darkness hidden right beneath the surface of the waves, though he couldn’t figure out just what it was.
"What am I supposed to be seeing here?" Gael asked.
"That’s Marinus," Jaxon said. "Bloke’s asleep, though I’m sure he’s ready to wake up at any moment."
"Let’s hope it doesn’t," Gael remarked, watching the massive shade beneath the surface.
As he looked around the chunk of airborne land he found himself on, it seemed it was just Jaxon and himself. The aquatic trees lightly swayed from the sea breeze, feeling the same brisk air pass against his skin.
"What’s our play here?" Gael asked, looking at the more experienced among the two.
Jaxon breathed out, sitting down on a patch of blue grass, "We wait. That part hasn’t changed, has it?"
"I think it has...If we’re split up, we have to regroup, don’t we?" Gael claimed, though didn’t feel like overstepping.
It was a precarious situation he found himself in. After all, he was the newest and least experienced among his comrades. Still, watching the man leisurely sit there wasn’t helping.
’This isn’t going to get us anywhere. This guy...He’s way too laid back,’ he thought.
Looking towards the edge of the floating island, the sight of land was distant, but not far enough that it seemed hopeless to reach. In fact, he theorized to himself with enough strength put into his legs, it might be a feasible leap.
"Do you think we can make it?" Gael asked.
"Listen, yeah? We’re stuck right above the sea. If you know a thing about Atlantis, then you’ll know it’s best not to dip your toes in that water," Jaxon warned.
"That’s because of the super-weapon, right?" Gael asked, brushing his hand against one of the hanging, blue leaves.
To his surprise, the leaf was moist to the touch, as if brimming with water inside of it.
Jaxon shook his head, "Atlantis itself is trouble. All sorts of scary shit protects those waters. Right now, we’ve got a key position, I’d say."
"Then the hell are we supposed to wait for, anyway?" Gael asked impatiently, kicking a rock left in the grass.
Jaxon stood up with an exhale, brushing his gloves off, "You’re an impatient bloke, aren’t you?"
As he stood there, waiting for some sort of action to be taken, the foliage behind them rustled in the presence of something unknown. In preparation, he called upon his dagger, though found Jaxon stepping in front of him nonchalantly.
"I’ve got this one," the British man casually assured him. "Take a breather."
From the tall, blue grass, a creature stomped out; it had the body of a brawny man with slick, gray skin, yet the head of a shark, snapping its jaws viciously. Its form fluctuated erratically; the muscles swelled and decompressed moment by moment as it clutched onto the tree trunk beside it, ripping out the bark without effort.
"The hell is that thing–?!" Gael asked, holding his dagger up regardless.
"One of the Banished Sea Folk, I’m guessing," Jaxon answered, calling a silver flame into his hand. "Stand back."
Though it partially resembled a human in physique, the shark-headed creature presented nothing but animalistic behavior as it snapped its jaws, flexing its body. Around it, moisture manifested in the air, shaping the summoned water into the shape of aquatic piranhas.
’Its able to use magic?’ Gael observed.
The savage creature charged right at Jaxon, launching the water-formed carnivores ahead. As the elemental piranhas snapped their jaws, the silver-eyed Outlander swiftly ducked out of their way, countering as he smashed his fists right through them.
As the aquatic man-eaters were dismissed, the berserk shark-head arrived in front of the man, slamming its feet into the ground as the soil cracked. Into its hand, coalesced water took the shape of a halberd, being swung right for Jaxon’s head–
As calm as ever, Jaxon stretched the fire he wielded, turning it into a flaming rope as he tossed it around the shark-head’s wrist. With a single tug, he redirected the wild swing, making the berserker lose its balance.
In the same motion, Jaxon released the elemental binding, meeting the fiend halfway in its stumble as he let his knuckles slam right into its gut. Even with its body pierced by the human’s fist, its jaws parted, attempting to bite the man’s head right off.
A heaping flow of fire was output into its body, releasing back out through its mouth, nose, and eyes as it was cooked from the inside.
’He’s pretty damn good,’ Gael thought, watching from his own inexperienced view.
Jaxon exhaled as he withdrew his fist from the creature’s abdomen, letting it fall over limp against the pale grass. More than any fatigue from the short encounter, there was only disgust as the brit held up his fist, soaked in purple blood.
With the summoning of a brief flame around his hand, the substance from the fish-man’s body evaporated.
"What was the deal with that thing?" Gael asked, looking at the lifeless body left of the shark-headed savage.
"You should read a book sometime, get to know the world you’re living in," Jaxon responded, brushing his hand through his hair, keeping it slicked back.
Gael raised an eyebrow at the remark, "Haven’t exactly had the opportunity to sit around and read. Kind of been fighting for my life every waking hour."
"Well, you’ll get the chance," Jaxon said. "That bloke on the ground there is one of the Banished. Basically, sea folk that have lost their ability to think. Just wild beasts."
"Hence being banished," Gael understood.
"That’s what these flying islands are," Jaxon explained, tapping his foot against the soil. "Places for the Banished to exist. Notice the weird grass and plant life? It’s to sustain these knobbers."
As he looked beyond the edge of the island, he could see the others in the near distance. Each was reasonably vast, he realized, large enough to house entire ecosystems of their own.
He glanced back at Jaxon, "Think there are more of these guys on this island?"
"Can’t say for sure. I’d bet on it, though. Why, want your experience next?" Jaxon asked.
It was hard to tell if it was a joke or not, especially with how the man always seemed to have a monotone way of speaking.
"I’d rather not, but I guess it’s my turn next if another shows up," Gael accepted with a quiet sigh.
Feeling the ocean breeze was at least a silver lining, though hardly made up for the headache of a situation.
"I wonder where the others ended up," Gael questioned, gazing towards the other islands, some floating higher, others lower.
"I’d worry about yourself first," Jaxon said.
The remark seemed misplaced, bringing him to turn around as he realized just how urgent what the man said was. Sure enough, another of the man-bodied fish emerged from the trees. This one was slightly shorter than the last, though stockier possessing the skull of a hammerhead shark.
Jaxon got out of the way with his hands in his pockets, shooting him a glance, "You said the next one was yours, right?"
"--Yeah, right," Gael mumbled.