Mateo stands at the edge of the Twilight Everglades taking in the beauty of the kingdom before turning to his friends by a caravan of dongon drawn wagons. Mercedes approaches him first her little ears fluttering with distress.

  “Are you ok?” Mateo asks patting her head.

  “I’ll be fine, we should go.”

  Yasmina approaches Mateo just as they are about to set out. She’s fully dressed in her dragoon armor accompanied by a full-sized Charlotte.

  “The Corelands beckon for their knights, I must return to my duties, I hope when our paths cross again that you are strong enough to hold your own against enemies of my caliber, Charlotte is eager to fight alongside Rayo again and show him what a dragon is really capable of, you’re a long way off from being a dragon knight, but holding your own and winning are two different things, I hope to fight alongside you soon Mateo,” Yasmina says holding out her hand.

  Mateo leans in wrapping his arms around her and she pats his back awkwardly.

  “Won’t you be in danger from the Cult of Drakvania?” Mateo asks.

  “I am not of the cult, my honor lies with the Order of the Dragon, it has many sects, God Dragon Dios has awoken, but she is not the only God Dragon,” he releases Yasmina and she takes a short bow. “Drako keep you safe, Voidwalker,” she pauses giving him a quaint smile, “friend.”

  Yasmina mounts her dragon who is butting snouts with a full-sized Rayo. He gives off an unsettling wine as she shoots skyward, then immediately seeks comfort from Mateo knocking him from his feet with his large snout.

  “Down boy, we’ll see them again, let’s be off to Vitas.”

  Rayo returns to the shape of an ivory snake and wraps himself around Mateo’s neck. Mateo joins the Harmony Casters at the front of the caravan where Jade and Azul are giggling joyfully. He turns to Yetsu seeing that the caravan has been loaded and is ready to depart.

  “Do you mind if I request a song for the road?” Mateo asks.

  “Ask away my fine friend.”

  “Do you know the Eagles?”

  “Yes, they fly in the sky.”

  Mateo rolls his eyes with a sigh.

  “I jest my friend, what song would you like?”

  “Hotel California.”

  Yetsu leans back into the wagon.

  “Accipiter, Hotel California.”

  Accipiter climbs onto the front of the wagon with a cello, and Yetsu pulls an acoustic guitar from his inventory. As they set off from the elven kingdom of the Twilight Everglades a rendition of Hotel California by the Eagles echoes through the plains and into the Slog. Mateo’s worries seem to slip away as the familiar melody sends him into a trance like state.

  As the song comes to a close the day star begins to vanish over the horizon and Yetsu pulls a pipe from his inventory lighting it. Natalia appears on Mateo’s shoulder staring at Yetsu curiously as he takes a puff and passes it to Accipiter. Smoke rises from the front of the lead wagon and Accipiter, seeing the sorrow in Mateo’s eyes, offers him a puff.

  “What is it?” Mateo asks taking the pipe.

  “Peace of mind,” Accipiter replies.

  Mateo turns to Natalia seeking her insight. She rubs her shoulder nervously with discomfort like she’s reluctant to take charge of the situation.

  “Natalia?” Mateo asks.

  “He’s right, maybe you could relax a little bit,” Natalia says with a quaint smile.

  Mateo takes a puff of the pipe inhaling the foreign substance and hands it back to Accipiter. His eyes widen and the world around him warps into pleasant tasting colors. The air dances above the ground teasing it to rise into the heavens. The earth ripples attempting to reach the sky as Yetsu pulls a small device with a large horn from his inventory. He places a disc on it resting a needle as it begins to spin. Yetsu smiles as a prerecorded cover of Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd begins to play, before Mateo can ask about the small device he drifts off.

  Status effect: Psychedelic shroom. You have been affected by a psychedelic mushroom, plus one thousand to intelligence.

  Companion Ability activated: Symphony of madness. Everything around you shares the same status effect as you.

  Mateo peers about at the world warping around him. Fish float to the surface flapping their gills as they peer up in awe at the caravan of dongons and wagons floating above the swamp waters. The trees wave their branches as he passes. Clouds in the sky fall forming a mist to embrace them. Natalia lays her head in Mateo’s lap looking up at him.

  She boops him on the nose with her finger and giggles. Mateo feels his face tasting the air around him as he breathes it in through his ears. Natalia’s giggling echoes in his head and his hands float through her soft hair, like zeppelins through sunny skies. In that moment a calm washes over him. The world is a place of harmony and peace.

  Natalia looks up at Mateo from his lap with a cute little smile.

  “Serenity might have left us, but you still have me, let’s dance.”

  “Dance, but we’re riding a wagon,” Mateo replies.

  The Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult begins to play and Natalia floats before Mateo holding out her hand. Mateo rises from his seat on the wagon as colors vibrate around him. He places his hand in hers and they dance rising into the moonlight as the world fades away.

  Natalia peers into mateo’s eyes her cerulean eyes seeking to rouse his gaze from a calm blue ocean to a violent torrent. She smiles as Mateo peers at her with the bright blue eyes of Uzuki, Stitches’ beloved, and the former leader of her party. The look in his eyes giving off an unwavering resolve brings a small amount of comfort to Natalia.

  “She was drawn to you before, it must be harder on her now, she sees what I saw in you,” Natalia says with a smile.

  “What you saw in me, Natalia, what are you talking about?” Mateo asks barely staying lucid.

  “We’ve been far more intimate than physical, or mortal intimacy, I’m only telling you this because you won’t remember it, I might not either, when I see familiar people, like when I saw Garren, memories come to me, memories that feel like they are being kept from me, remember when you asked about the fast travel, before you asked I didn’t remember traveling us into the woods when you first met Serenity, Okami, and Terror, I’m meant to be your guide, so you have to ask me things, or I won’t know them, do you understand?”

  Mateo peers into Natalia’s eyes digesting all the information he’s being fed.

  “You didn’t know you could fast travel after the first time you used it because my memories were overlapping yours, when I first started recalling things, our minds were combined so you needed time to gain your memories back, but you didn’t want me to lose all of mine?”

  Natalia reaches forward touching her palms to Mateo’s cheeks as she lowers her forehead to his. Mateo raises his hands to her cheeks, and they lock eyes again.

  “I lost some of them, ten thousand years take up a lot of space in your mind, but I think you’re worth it, I think sacrificing a few memories of mine, to make sure you came back as yourself is worth it, because I love you Mateo.”

  “Natalia,” Mateo pauses fighting through his mushroom inflicted stupor to try and muster a respectful response.

  The deep cerulean eyes of Mateo’s pixie Natalia control his gaze as he stares into hers.

  “You’re the best memory I have, Natalia Starbreaker.”

  “Thank you, Mateo, I’m glad I’m your pixie.”

  The day star warms Mateo’s skin as he wakes in a small camp by a fire on the outer edge of the Slog. He’s not wearing anything but a pair of plain pants and is completely disoriented.

  Natalia is nearby snacking voraciously on anything she can find pulling things from her inventory like a mad woman.

  “Good morning, Mateo, I was unsure of how long we would have to wait for you to wake,” Yetsu says.

  “What happened?”

  “We have arrived at our destination, are you ready to return to Vitas?” Yetsu asks ignoring the entire ordeal from the night before.

  “I was dancing with Natalia, where is she?” Mateo asks.

  “Enjoying breakfast with a hunger I’ve not seen displayed by such a small creature,” Yetsu replies with a smile.

  Mateo stands gathering himself. He rubs his head taking a deep breath.

  “We’re at the portal then?”

  “Yes, but there is a problem,” Yetsu replies handing Mateo his rune tablet.

  Okami appears on the tablet.

  “Mateo, I’m judging by the fact that you aren’t a pile of shredded meat, or a screaming carcass turned inside out that you haven’t entered the portal yet,” Okami states.

  “That’s disturbing, no, I just got up.”

  “Good, don’t enter any portals they have been malfunctioning all over the realm since Dios awoke, you should find another way to Vitas.”

  “How do you suppose we get there without portals then?”

  At that moment the air around them swirls. Mateo peers toward the edge of Aramas into the astral and a large vessel rises, sails flowing in an unfelt wind. The massive vessel gains ground high enough to let out a landing ramp and some of its occupants exit.

  The vessel itself is a massive rendition of a historical pirate ship. Made of some strange wood stained to a dark pitch it is lined with intricate armaments. Large canon like cylinders shaped like the heads of tigers with open maws protrude from its hull ready to fire some manner of destructive force be it projectile or magic. The bow is adorned with the large statue of a female fawn pressing her hands together in prayer. Likely a deity Mateo hasn’t heard of. It is noticeable that the craftsman or carpenter that carved the fawn woman gave her very large and pleasant bare breasts.

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  A dark-skinned woman covered with glowing golden runes steps down the ramp sloppily, almost as if drunk. She approaches Mateo and his group. Stitches moves to Mateo’s side readying her staff. The woman tips a large, feathered hat.

  “Mateo, be on guard, that is an Aurum Sanguis,” Stitches says.

  “Natalia, what is an Aurum Sanguis?” Mateo asks.

  “No need, I have the answer,” Ana says peering down at him from his mini-map,

  “The Aurum Sanguis, or gold blood, have a batlike nose and large ears, they can sense sound frequencies and even see sound waves. Their forearms bear retractable splines, and their fingers are long and slender with elongated sharp nails. They can speak using a subtle form of telepathy but cannot read minds.”

  “Thanks Ana.”

  “Hey, I could have told you that,” Natalia protests.

  “Of course you could have you’re his beautiful pixie,” Ana replies.

  “Awe thanks Ana,” Natalia says blushing.

  The air becomes tense as the woman approaches Mateo. She stops in-front of him taking a leisurely but provocative pose.

  “My name is Zenara Voidtrekker and this is my Astral Vessel, Currents of Rage, I find it strange that Fate himself would bring me to you, realmwalker,” she says displaying her ship sloppily with her arms.

  “You mean the god of Fate?” Mateo asks.

  “Yes, I’ve heard you murdered Destiny,” she pauses for a moment sizing up Mateo. “Not too impressive, I can sense the void on you though so that’s something, and something else.”

  She moves closer to Mateo sniffing him with her bat-like nose. Her breath gives off the familiar scent of spiced rum.

  “The faint scent of an aphrodisiac that has worn off, I can see how you might be having trouble with the ladies acting like a confused peasant,” she states.

  “Excuse me, he is not a confused peasant!” Natalia yells.

  “Ah, a pixie, you might be interesting after all, you’ll have to excuse my inquiry, I was merely curious, will you be sailing the astral with us or, waiting here until the portals work again?” She asks drunkenly.

  “If Fate sent you after me then why are you helping me?” Mateo asks.

  “Would you want someone else to kill the person that murdered your sister, or to feel the satisfaction of their death at your own hands?” Zenara replies.

  “Terror likes this woman, if not so infatuated with Ra’sheana then Terror would challenge this woman for her hand.”

  “I’m flattered, really, but you couldn’t handle me, besides that, I judge by the way your bard friends are packing their things onto my vessel that you agree to sail the Astral with us?” Zenara says holding out her long-fingered hand.

  The realm shakes as a distant roar washes over it vibrating the mana particles in the air.

  “Nevermind the formalities, let us be off, we’ll have plenty of time for discussion on the voyage to Vitas.”

  “Wait, how do I know I can trust you?” Mateo asks.

  Zenara gives off an excessively audible laugh that ends in a slight snort and an expression that resembles ‘I just threw up in my mouth a little’. She spits off the side of the ramp and straitens her ruffled blouse.

  “Trust me, I’m the captain of a pirate ship, no one trusts me,” she says with a smile revealing the sharp teeth of a carnivore.

  Mateo moves toward the vessel as Natalia floats above him.

  “Hey Natalia.”

  “Yeah?”

  “I love you,” Mateo says with a broken smile.

  “I love you too,” Natalia replies.

  Rayo whimpers and then buts his head against Mateo’s cheek.

  “I know how you feel buddy, let’s worry about girls later, we’re on a new adventure now.”

  Mateo steps onto the ship as the ramp slides upward before descending into the deck. The vessel pulls away from Aramas entering the Astral. The sails fall and a small lizard like creature floats down from the crow’s nest in a spiral descent. He lands in-front of Mateo and Mercedes.

  “You’re a lot smaller than a ruksha, a fun size ruksha?” Mateo questions.

  “Name’s Grelak, and I’m not a ruksha I’m a kobold, though I won’t deny being fun sized,” he replies shooting a quick glance at Mercedes.

  She rolls her eyes with discontent. Grelak ignores it and turns to Zenara saluting her.

  “The Astral is clear captain Zenara, it waits only for you to travel it.”

  “Thank you Grelak, you are free to rest for a few moments while we set off.”

  Grelak peers over at Mercedes once more meeting her eyes but quickly dips his head shuffling past her at a brisk pace.

  “Forgive Grelak, he has been devoid of companionship since he was young, some sixty or so cycles ago his tribe was slaughtered and I took him in, he’s been very useful ever since and is invaluable when it comes to hunting and trapping, which is how we fill our food stores for these long voyages, though his time with us has left his social skills, lacking.”

  “You don’t like, space fish or something?” Mateo inquires curiously.

  “Usually when we find things floating in the Astral they are more prone to trying to eat us rather than us trying to eat them, with the exception of astral land masses of course,” Zenara replies with a smile.

  Mateo looks up at her large, feathered hat. She pulls it off revealing short dark hair and several hairless scars on her head. Mateo steps up to her holding out his hand. She returns her hat to her head reaching out with her own hand. Long slender fingers with sharp nails grip his hand and wrist.

  “If you could lead me to a room that would be much appreciated, I could use a few moments to myself,” Mateo says.

  “Right this way, I’ll take you there personally,” Zenara offers.

  Zenara leads Mateo to a small room on the lower decks of her vessel. He sits on the edge of a bed staring at the floor for a long time. An hour, maybe two, pass and Natalia appears beside him growing to her form that matches his size. She places a hand on his back rubbing it slowly.

  “Mateo, are you ok?” Natalia asks.

  Mateo turns to her and smiles as his bright blue eyes begin to water. Natalia climbs into his lap wrapping her arms around him and her raven wings flutter as she holds him tightly.

  “No Natalia, I’m not ok.”

  Mateo bellows his agony into Natalia’s shoulder as she tries to comfort him. He holds her close as his tears soak her twisting crimson garments. The serenity of her comfort is cut short by commotion on the deck.

  What sound like gunshots pepper the deck of the Currents of Rage drawing Mateo’s curiosity and he gathers himself placing his forehead against Natalia’s.

  “It’s me and you, promise me, you won’t leave me Natalia,” Mateo says.

  “Only if you promise not to leave me,” Natalia replies.

  “I can’t, we are soul bound.”

  “You can’t now, but there are ways to break the connection, I didn’t think about it until you became a Voidlord, but you wouldn’t do that to me, would you?” Natalia asks.

  Mateo holds her close still whimpering in her embrace.

  “No, I love you Natalia, I would never give you up for power.”

  After sulking with Natalia in his room for a few hours Mateo emerges from his dormitory alone dressed in plain pants and a button-down shirt. He returns to the deck where the commotion seems to have passed peering out into the Astral.

  Mana is so thick it appears as blue tethers holding together the large land masses that orbit the Corelands. Some of the mana passes through Mateo dissipating as his body absorbs it. He breathes in deeply pulling in mana particles that seem to sublimate into oxygen.

  “Your body is using mana to create oxygen molecules because there is an excess of mana in the air, it’s actually quite fascinating,” Zenara says seeming more sober now as she joins him staring off into the Astral.

  “Not a lot of crew members out, is it night or something?” Mateo questions.

  “No, I asked to see you alone, you smell like an elven princess and yet one does not accompany you, I find you eagerly waiting to travel to Vitas soon after passing a dragon knight that is headed for the Corelands and, lady Spadetail, Godsire Garren’s most treasured of Nezumi maidens travels with you, who the fuck are you?”

  Mateo steps over to her pulling the feathered hat from her head and places it on his own. She looks at him shocked. He stares off into the Astral and points his finger toward the large sphere in the center of Terramundus as it exudes brilliant blue tendrils of mana.

  “My name is Mateo Ryusane, and I am not from this world.”

  “No shit, but why did you take my hat?” She asks.

  “It’s a cool hat, is it not?”

  “It is, and it is also my hat, so give it back.”

  “Nah, I think I’ll keep it,” Mateo replies with a smile.

  Zenara punches him in the mouth, and he stumbles back tripping over his feet and falling flat on his ass against the wooden deck. Mateo wipes blood from his lips climbing to his feet and Zenara cracks her knuckles.

  “That’s my hat,” she says raising her fists.

  “Don’t guess I can win in a fist fight against a pirate with spikes in her arms, let’s put it on a wager then, if I defeat you without hitting you, I return your hat, but if I strike you then I get to keep the hat.”

  “That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard.”

  Mateo steps forward placing the hat back on her head with a smile. She stands there dumbfounded.

  “Do you feel you have been stricken?” Mateo asks.

  “Stricken by what, my hat?”

  “Stricken by lust.”

  “No, if you’re thinking that your elf perfume could sway me you’re sorely mistaken, not only did it wear off far before we met, but those pheromones don’t work on me.”

  “Oh thank the gods, a genuine response, after I found out about Serenity’s perfume all the aggressive female advances seemed fake to me and I felt kind of, creepy,” Mateo says with an audible sigh.

  “Oh no, you reek of adventure now, like an ill bathed boardrel,” Zenara replies.

  “Well, you don’t smell too pleasant either pirate captain,” Mateo snaps back squinting his eyes.

  Zenara steps up to him running one of her long fingers over his exposed chest, her sharp nail barely scraping the skin.

  “I’ll have Julius prepare us a bath in my quarters, separate tubs of-course, we can speak freely there,” she says peering around as if to make prying eyes known.

  Several sets of footsteps, both heavy and light, scurry away, their owners unseen.

  Zenara’s chambers are not very feminine, despite her enticing beauty. Weapons of varying sizes and classes line the walls along with the skulls of hunted prey. No pictures of her or her past lovers adorn any part of her large chambers. A small part of her room is sectioned off by what look like traditional Japanese screens. Inside these screens rests two large cast iron tubs.

  Mateo slides down soaking in a warm tub filled with suds. A small fire under the tub keeps the water warm and wooden boards at the base of the iron tub keep him from getting burned by the hot metal. Zenara slides into the tub beside him laying back her head and closing her eyes as she looks up at the ceiling. A large muscular man that resembles a Minotaur removes a divider from between them. Something Mateo suggested out of courtesy.

  “The neko beast girl was most displeased when my men didn’t let her join us,” Zenara says relaxing as Julius, the large Minotaur man hands her a small glass of rum chilled by frozen stones. “Fancy a drink?”

  “I’ll take something mild, and her name is Stitches, we’ve been to Hell and back so I can understand if she’s concerned for me,” Mateo replies.

  Zenara takes a drink of her rum on the rocks letting out a pleasureful gasp. Julius hands Mateo a small glass filled with rum and cold stones, and he takes it also having a drink. Mateo peers over at her noticing the glowing runes that adorn her large breasts. Zenara grins lowering her glass.

  “Like what you see?”

  Mateo takes a sip of his rum also lowering his glass.

  “Sorry, that rune on your right breast resembles a kanji that translates to ‘dorei’ meaning slave, I was just curious as to why you would have that on you,” Mateo replies.

  Zenara raises her glass taking a long drink of her rum before setting her glass on a small table between the two tubs.

  “Ten thousand six hundred and twenty three, three hundred years ago, Currents of Rage then known as the Darkwood Dreadnaught sailed as a vessel full of slaves under Redalius Islar the third, a noble man seeking to capitalize on travel between the continents of Terramundus by way of astral vessel, back then he commanded a fleet of vessels like this one, all run by slave labor, until a realm walker stepped in, I was but a small child then,” she pauses as Julius refills her drink. She picks it up taking another sip. “The realm walker, Merth Champlain, challenged Redalius to a duel stating that if Redalius lost he would have to set us free, and if he won then Merth would become his personal bodyguard and servant, seeing the opportunity to acquire free labor Redalius gleefully accepted,” she pauses taking another sip of her drink. “Redalius killed Merth driving a dagger through his heart as I watched in horror as all my hopes for freedom died with his last breath, but Redalius was badly wounded in the battle, he returned to his chambers seeking aid and I was sent in to aid him, but not before the god of Fate appeared before me holding out the dagger that had felled Merth, Redalius’s dagger, I took the dagger hiding it in my gown as I approached Redalius, he scolded me for taking so long to bring his healing potion and I broke it over his head, healing rained down over him as I shoved the dagger through his throat, as the potion healed him prolonging his suffering, he stared at me in horror and I watched the light fade slowly and agonizingly from his eyes with a sharp toothed smile on my face, I was finally free.”

  “What happened after that?” Mateo asks.

  “I grew up and became an extremely sexy pirate captain, don’t you think so,” she says rising slightly out of the water to expose her dark golden runed breasts.

  “You’re not hard on the eyes,” Mateo replies sipping his rum.

  “I don’t usually have to work this hard for a compliment,” she states angrily.

  “You’re pretty, and you’re dodging why we are alone and vulnerable in a bath, what do you really want to talk about?” Mateo asks.

  Zenara stands exposing her dark golden runed figure. It’s a pleasant site, and not one that Mateo will soon forget. That isn’t why he’s here though, nor is it the focus of their rendezvous. Julius sets a towel and some clothes on a large table by Mateo’s tub and exits the room. Mateo dries off and adorns himself with the provided clothes. Dark pants and an open chest blouse.

  He joins Zenara in her private chambers at a large desk where she awaits him dressed in a loose open chest robe. She seems comfortable leaning back in a large leather chair as he enters.

  “I’m assuming we can cut the shit,” Zenara says.

  “Shit usually stinks worse when you cut it, but we can skip the pleasantries for now,” Mateo replies.

  “We have been sailing the Astral for less than half a day and Grelak just informed me that Dios will be on us in less than an hour, I can only assume she is looking for you,” Zenara snarls.

  “Your attitude sure changed quick,” Mateo replies.

  “Don’t fuck with me realm walker, this vessel isn’t equipped to handle a fucking dragon, nonetheless a dragon god, what quarrel do you have with her?”

  The Currents of Rage shakes as an unknown entity latches onto its port side. Then shakes again as an opposing force latches onto its starboard side.