Part II - Mauve Island

  Chapter XXIV (24)

  Mitsuko jolted awake, thrown off her feet and sliding across the deck. It felt like waking from a dream. One moment she was swaying softly in a hammock, asleep, then next she was back on the ship deck once again. Only a mere second between the two loops where the notification alerted her to levels in her Mend spell, the words now burned into her mind. Now she was back at the start of it all. The barrier stretched off to the side and sailors scrambled and hollered.

  Unlike last time though, it took her only a few seconds to recover. She twisted, pushing herself back up to her feet and made a mad dash toward the inside of the ship. Ignoring the captain’s shouts and the crew, she nearly trampled Holly as she shoved past the other passengers scrambling to get out on deck.

  “Wrong way, Mitsuko! We’re supposed to—”

  Holly cut off into a yelp as Mitsuko physically heaved her over a shoulder and ducked down a ship passageway.

  “Holly, we have some time. Trust me. At least another two minutes before the ship goes under. Go get our things from the room.”

  Holly blinked at her. Then nodded curtly and took off towards their cabin while Mitsuko split up, going off in a different direction. She had to go save that stupid kid.

  The boy’s life hardly mattered. It wouldn’t help her progress further. And any doubts about Sterling’s words about the timeloop were fading so that meant his life would be restored in the next loop. But still…there was always a chance this could be it. Maybe with the extra information Mitsuko now had, Wan would find a way to break the dome containing them all. Or Sterling could still be wrong or lying about how many loops were available. And she wasn’t willing to gamble with the child’s when it wasn’t necessary. Plus…she spent hours of her life over the last week feeling guilty, or avoiding the thought of the boy she could have saved. This time her conscience would be clean.

  She found him in the storage room, removing equipment from a crate. Unlike the first time she’d met the boy, this loop she had immediately known which room to find him in and so he wasn’t inside the crate yet. Good. That meant she might have a bit of extra time to get herself in a lifeboat instead of escaping on random debris.

  Before the boy even spoke, Mitsuko verbally dismantled his idea of using the crate as a means to escape. He visibly deflated, obviously disappointed.

  “Worked in the book my papa read me,” he muttered. But she was able to coax him out. In only a few seconds, she held his hand, pulling him along through the hallway.

  “I do hope you’re not planning to abandon me in this abysmal pile of driftwood,” a familiar voice said. “I cannot believe this is the quality your era considers seaworthy. Not to mention filthy as well.”

  Mitsuko froze and quickly scanned the area. It didn’t sound like the voice was in her head this time. She looked to the boy but he showed no sign of hearing it. She took another step forward, deciding to ignore it, and stepped on a cat.

  It yowled and sprang back, hissing with its back arched.

  Mitsuko frowned. This wasn’t where the cat had been during her first loop. Maybe Holly ran into it on the way to their things and changed its normal trajectory. Regardless, she snatched up the animal with her free hand and dashed up onto the deck.

  “I’m not certain if I can swim,” the voice said. “Of course, during my life I spent many hours down at the beach and in the sea. But like this? Hm. Unlikely I’ll get it right on my first attempt, so please do not expose me to deep water.”

  The cat. It opened its mouth and the words came out. The cat was speaking to her.

  “Sterling? What are you doing? Are you inside a cat’s body? How did you get there?”

  “Us six sages expended our souls to create the Prismatic Spiral. In a sense, we are what’s powering it. Us, and you. And, as a result, now that I am freed from my troublesome guardian, I have a bit more autonomy. I latched onto your soul's location the moment this current loop began. Keep in mind that only one sage can do so at any time. Thankfully, for the time being, I am without any competition for the position as your mentor. And I should note that replacing a human soul would be a trickier feat. I was never a soul mage. However, this cat happened to be nearby and I believe will serve as a perfectly capable vessel for what I need it for. I have always felt a fondness for felines.”

  Mitsuko took that in.

  “You have one more question, unless I’m mistaken,” Sterling continued. “Leveling up twice in the first loop is quite the accomplishment, might I add.”

  “That was not my question!”

  “Alas. Unfortunately it is too late for me to take back the information. I lack the capability to pluck it from your memory, so you are stuck with it as your second question.” He sounded smug. “However, I believe it is actually quite important information so I was delighted to share it with you. Perhaps your next question should be more thought out. Maybe give it a day.”

  The last bit was difficult to understand because it was being overlapped by the boy asking, “What are you talking to? The cat? Why? Are you angry? Please don’t be angry.”

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  “I hate cats,” Mitsuko grumbled.

  “Get aboard the lifeboat! Now!” the captain shouted at them as they stepped onto the deck.

  “Hold on,” Mitsuko said placatingly. “My friend will be here in just a second.”

  As if on cue, Holly dashed up the stairs, two packs strung across her back. Scrolls of maps poked out of them and Mitsuko noticed a new massive black stain, still dripping with ink, at the bottom of her pack. Holly must have smashed an inkpot in her haste.

  Sterling wiggled out of her grip, launching off her side with his back legs and onto the deck.

  “In that lifeboat!” the captain roared at them. “Now!”

  Mitsuko hesitated. Was there a way she could save the captain and his elementalist? Both other times she watched the man die to the monstrous kraken. But no. She wasn’t powerful enough to stop a kraken. Who was she kidding? Powerful mages and specialized hunters struggled against the monsters. So she nodded at the captain respectfully and vaulted into the closest lifeboat. The boy and Holly joined her. And, before they could be cut free and dropped into the water below, Sterling hopped in as well.

  “I’m already wet,” he complained as he began to lick the back of his paw and rub it over the fur on his brow. “This quantity of hair is tedious. I deeply regret not experimenting more with polymorph potions during my lifetime. It would have better prepared me for these mild discomforts. My younger brother always liked using those potions. I admit I thought him a bit frivolous at the time; however, now I am coming to see how useful they might have been.”

  “Shut up, Sterling!” Mitsuko snapped at him. The others looked at her, confused, but they were too scared and overwhelmed by their own problems to question her.

  “Excuse me,” Sterling responded haughtily. “That’s incredibly rude. It’s not like this is a particularly stressful moment for you. You’ve lived through these events twice before. They’re hardly life threatening.”

  Mitsuko ignored him. They drifted away from the sinking ship. This time not on the current that led to Ashen Island. Good. She watched as the final lifeboat was cut free. Then a minute later the ship’s main body sank into the sea and the captain performed a swan dive off of the bow, his elementalist splashing into the sea beside him.

  The water bubbled as the ship slipped from sight. And then the first of the kraken’s tentacles burst from the water. Mitsuko couldn’t do anything more than watch as, yet again, the captain and the ship’s elementalist were dragged under.

  As they died, Mitsuko wondered what she could do to save them. Could she use her new abilities with Mend from her level up to help? She considered what she’d received. An aura and Mend Self. Neither seemed particularly useful at the moment. She opened her mouth to question Sterling but the words caught in her throat.

  “That’s…that’s a kraken,” a woman said beside her. Mitsuko glanced over and frowned. She didn’t recognize her from the group that had drifted over to Mauve or the castaways at Ashen Island. Then her eyes widened as she realized why.

  “Holly! We’re on the wrong—”

  Her statement was cut off as the lifeboat flew up into the air, flipping over and launching them all out. The moment before they plunged into the water, time seemed to slow. Not from any spell, but rather her perception just naturally taking everything in before disaster. Sterling yowled as he flew, legs outstretched and fur on end. Holly cursed in Gnomish. Mitsuko pinwheeled her arms through the air. And then they were dumped into the chilly sea.

  Mitsuko desperately clawed at the water. A gasp of air, half full of sea water, then back down. Her clothes dragged her under with their waterlogged weight.

  The lifeboat. She needed to get to the floating wood to keep her head above water. She struggled to fight her way back up. But already she was several meters under. Her flailing just wore her out further.

  She stopped moving. She was drowning. There was no way out of it save for a miracle.

  Then a tentacle slammed into her side. A suction cup the size of her head sucked in on her back. It latched on like a leach and dragged her up. She broke the surface and breathed in air for a moment before she plunged back down into the sea.

  A flick of her wrist and a blade of ice appeared in hand. She flipped it around into reverse grip and, with both hands, stabbed backwards. Once the tip punctured through, it sliced through the kraken's flesh easily. The tentacle quivered, but showed no further sign of weakness. She twisted the blade but the monster remained obvious.

  Her eyes stung as she opened them under the water, but she needed to see. Look for weakness. Escape.

  Instead, she watched in horror as two of the suction cups latched onto a different passenger and then the tentacle flexed, splitting the woman open at her midriff. Mitsuko heard nothing, but the bubbles from the woman’s screams ascended and quickly disappeared alongside her life. Then the tentacle descended, bringing the woman’s broken flesh down to the depths. To its main body.

  A beak nearly the size of a troll tore through a leg and then started on the rest. It devoured the woman’s corpse in a matter of seconds. Blood clouded the water around its face.

  She watched in horror as the kraken brought down its next victim. It didn’t need to tear this one in half first. It was bite size. A gnome.

  Mitsuko struggled, air leaking out of her mouth. She unsheathed her blade from the Kraken’s flesh and stabbed back into it again. And again. And again. The water around her filled with a fog of blood. Finally, the suction cup tore off from the tentacle as Mitsuko pushed off it and out of the bloodied water. But when the kraken’s beak came back into visibility, Holly was gone.

  Mitsuko howled in anguish, her little remaining air bursting out of her.

  Her vision was fading as the kraken latched back onto her with a new tentacle. This time it fastened onto her stomach and dragged her backwards towards its maw. She barely felt the pain as it tore off one of her arms. She tried to stab at its beak with her other arm, but it was stuck. She couldn’t build up any momentum from her angle. And the water slowed her movements. Her blade bounced uselessly off its beak.

  It ripped into her leg next. Red clouded her vision. And then she was gone.

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