BOOK 5: CHAPTER 3: BREATHER

“Lovely bloody day.” The sun beamed down upon us, hitting our backs as we left the ocean behind. I looked over my shoulder. “Wouldn’t you agree, Cal?”

Cadet Calamari wiggled his tentacles. “More than I can put into words.”

“Glad someone is having fun,” Maria muttered.

“See, I can feel through our connection that you mean it, but your tone made it sound sarcastic.”

“Yes,” she agreed, then refused to elaborate.

A choked laugh escape from beside me. I turned toward it.

Geraldine met my gaze and wiggled her brows. “Can you blame me for enjoying Maria’s response?”

“It’s the least you deserve, really,” George added.

“I think I liked you guys more when you thought I was a crown auditor or whatever. You were much more… pliable.”

Their smiles broadened; they knew I was lying.

As we watched the monolithic shadows our bodies were casting, a comfortable silence appeared. It settled on our souls like an old jumper, stretched, faded, incredibly cozy. Surrounded by that pleasantness, we arrived at the village proper, and a welcome mixture of scents wafted out from between the transformed buildings ahead of us.

“Ahhh,” I sighed. “It smells even better than I remember.”

“Agreed!” came a voice as livid as it was familiar. “What took you so long? Your coffee would have gone cold if you waited one more damned minute to… oh.

”

Sue, Tropica’s barista extraordinaire, had come barrelling around the corner like a raging bull. When she spotted the house-sized kraken, she missed a step. When she spotted the car-sized cuttlefish floating beside him, she missed another. I reached out with tendrils of lightning-fast chi, but she caught herself at the same time.

“Sooooo,” she said, attempting to play it cool, her eyes lingering on the recently reawakened elemental. “Who wants some breakfast?”

***

I raised the cup to my mouth as we strode into the very center of town. Upon first seeing Tropica’s transformation to a Tier 3 village, I’d thought the layout hadn’t changed all that much.

I was wrong.

Tropica now had a square. I pictured scenes from every fantasy novel I’d ever read. All that was missing were armored guards, a town fryer yelling from atop a rustic crate, and perhaps a cutpurse or two, their cowled forms slipping between the crowd unnoticed.

Of all those ingredients, only the crowd was present. They poured into a giant structure, its entrance similar yet different to what it had once been. We received countless weird looks as we joined the procession of people—especially from those unexpectedly robbed of sun by Fathom’s massive shadow—but nowhere near as many as I thought our peculiar group of cultivators and elementals deserved.

I stole a glance at Cal as we wandered into the giant cement and stone entrance. He was already looking my way, and I shot him a wink. His tentacles twitched. Our connection was… weird. He wasn’t bonded to me like my animal pals, but neither was he completely removed like Rocky. The name I’d given him had linked us somehow, and I couldn’t help but wonder what our friendship would look like in the future.

My thought were immediately forgotten when we left the stone tunnel’s confines. Blinding light met us, its brilliance coming from the sun and reflecting off the white marble that the half amphitheater’s steps and seating were now covered in. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness, sound assaulted my ears, a susurration of soft conversations amplified by the structure’s acoustic design.

I withdrew my senses until the stimuli were no longer overwhelming. My friends and I made our way down one of two staircases to the stage, and the voices lowered, discussions dying when their speakers caught sight of us.

“Of you, you mean,” Maria corrected in a mental whisper.

I gave her an audacious amount of side eye, or tried to, at least—there was no heat in it. She just smiled back and squeezed my hand. On my other flank, a wet nose nudged my wrist, and I reached out to rub Borks behind the ear. His soft fur was a balm for the faint hints of self-consciousness so much attention was causing me.

When I saw the rest of my closest pals milling down by the stage, I forgot all about the eyes of the villagers. I had to actively stop myself from running down to greet them, but as I stepped from the last stair, I gave up, launching myself at the largest silhouette.

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Teddy’s peepers dilated for only a moment, then his arms spread wide—just in time for me to hit his solid chest. The others were there a moment later, joining the cuddle puddle.

Corporal Claws got there first, using her lightning to zap herself into my side. Next, Cinnamon. She rubbed her velvety fur across my arm, making sure to give the Corporal a playful kick or two. Maria wasn’t one to miss a good cuddle; she wrapped her arms around me and the two smaller mammals to encompass as much of Teddy as she could. Air washed down from Pelly and Bill as they landed somewhere above us—likely on Teddy’s head—the rest of the pelicans remaining perched on the stage’s roof.

My careful consideration of avian positions ended as a tiny crab came flying in from nowhere. Sergeant Snips’s spikes were covered by dull caps of water chi, and when she hit me, she spewed a stream of contented bubbles. The rest of her crustacean squadrons sent small waves of salutation from within her core, happy to remain there for now.

I thought that was the last of those who’d join, but for the second time in so many minutes, I was wrong. A buzzing in my chest announced the impending arrival of two royal insects, and as Bumblebro and Queen Bee vibrated their wings in greeting, I let my joy at their presence flow out. I knew they’d been up to something for the last month or so, and as thankful as I was for the upgrade their efforts had granted their progeny, I was even happier for them to be present more oft—

An insect slammed into my back. And another. And another. So many of the Buzzy Boys hit me that I lost count of their little bodies. Some of them must have flown from far away, because they’d not yet transformed—the event that happened when they touched one of their enhanced brethren. At least a dozen of them shook, then evolved, releasing small pops of pressure as plated chitin grew, mandibles extended, and stingers appeared.

Teddy had wrapped his arms around us all, but they abruptly opened, making way for… something. I was a little confused at first, but then I saw Pistachio and the boy atop his sturdy back. The lobster reached up, carefully grabbed the half-ascended lad, and chucked him at us. Teddy easily caught him. He lifted Paul onto his shoulders, whose eyes went round like coconuts. “Whoa! Teddy! You’re so tall!”

Last but not least, a tiny hole appeared below. A single root shot up, which swiftly became ten, widening as they wrapped everyone present in a careful embrace.

“Hi, Lemon,” Maria said, rubbing a cheek against Lieutenant ColonelCoronel Lemony Thicket.

I could sense two nearby sources of elemental chi, their abyssal and earthen aspects unmissable. I’d of course hoped they’d join in, but it was okay if they didn’t—we’d eventually get Fathom and Cal to partake of their own free will.

“Agreed,” Maria thought.

“Agreeeeed!” a squeaky voice echoed into our awarenesses. His crystalline form became squishy as he hit Maria’s shoulder from above. He burbled there, information streaming from the master to the familiar. “Oooooh. Cadet Calamari…” His body stretched as his head extended to look at the newly named cuttlefish. “I’m Slimes! Nice to meet you! I’m a b—”

Someone cleared their throat, cutting him off. The sound was barely audible, but the chi that came along with it wasn’t. Ellis’s ideal pressed down on all of us, the knowledge his metaphysical library contained lending an unquantifiable weight to his wordless request.

“Thank you,” he said, giving us then the rest of the crowd an affable smile. “Would everyone please be seated? I must petition stillness before I begin.”

“So much for me being the leader,” I muttered to Maria—as well as Snips, Claws, and Cinnamon, who were all cradled to my chest still. I expected that to bother Ellis at least a little, but if my words affected him, I could neither sense nor see it.

“As you all know by now,” Ellis said, the left side of his face lit by the rising sun, “upon Fischer’s completion of two quests yesterday, the System gifted him a number of rewards. Most obvious are the changes to the village—including the theatre you currently sit within. But that’s not why you’re all here, is it…?”

Tension rose as he trailed off. No one said a word. The accumulated scrape of feet and shifting of bodies bounced off the half-amphitheatre’s walls, becoming a quiet yet undeniable roar. Only when it settled did Ellis continue.

“Whatever you might assume, let me assure you, the breadth, scope and implications are likely beyond your most-ambitious of estimations.”

He paused again. The village froze. I craved the knowledge more than I could describe, a yearning hunger rising center of my abdomen. In spite of that need, an observation tugged at my thoughts and, try as I might, I just couldn’t let it go.

“He’s saying the same words with the same cadence,” Maria whispered into my mind, voicing that which was bothering me. “But it seems cool now.”

“Right?” I hissed back mentally.“Is it chi? I can’t sense a thing.”

As if he’d heard us, he removed a pipe from his pocket. The bowl lit itself when he puffed on it, a soft glow visible at its edges even beneath the day’s brightness. He filled his chest, savored the moment, then exhaled a thin stream of smoke to the side. Annoyingly cool.

So fast that only those with advanced cultivation could notice, he shot Maria and me a warning glance before returning his attention to the crowd. We shared an ‘oh, shit,’ look, both unable to completely hide our amusement. How had he known?

“Unfortunately,” Ellis said, “I cannot yet reveal all I have learned. To ease your minds, let me say this: there is no secret hierarchy here. The information I withhold is not just being withheld from you, but the rest of Tropica as well—especially Fischer.

“Hey! What did I do?”

He ignored me. “Can you please confirm, Theo?”

I raised both brows as Theo declared to all that Ellis had spoken the complete truth. I’d expected as much, but to have it revealed to publicly added a certain weight, as well as an unspoken promise: we would learn what it was in the future. What were the conditions necessary for those secrets to be disclosed?

“With that disclaimer out of the way,” Ellis continued, snapping me back to reality, “There are many things I can reveal…”