“How about we eat sea lion soup instead!” Alexander angrily yelled back. “Heck, I’ll take a bite out of you, old man.”
The old man responded feistily, gesturing with his hand for Alexander to fight him. “HAHA, a twerp like you wants to take a bite out of me and Susanne?! Put up your dukes, boy. Let’s throw hands right here and right now.”
Pulling back Alexander by the arms, Kai stepped in. “Wow, wow, wow, we aren’t trying to stir up any trouble.”
Alexander interrupted, “Speak for yourself! If he tries to eat Pengu, I’m willing to fight for 100 rounds.”
With a light chuckle, Kai continued. “He’s joking, sir. Thomas, a little help here?” Looking beside him, he realized Thomas had already formed ice gloves around his fists.
Thomas briskly shook his head as he began to shadow box. “Not a chance, Sparky. If Alexander is fighting, I’m gonna back him up.”
Without missing a beat, the old man taunted Thomas. “You guys are so weak you need to gang up on an old man? No matter, Susanne here can beat you down. Make some gloves around her flippers you chump.”
Kai yanked Alexander and Thomas and dragged them both down the walkway to put some space between them and the old man. “Surely there’s another way we can pay you for the information?”
The old man stuck out his tongue. “Bah, you’re no fun. If you aren’t gonna square up, then get the hell off my property. You have nothing of value to me.”
Kai put on a suave smile as he gallantly approached the door once more. “We’ve heard how you trade, and all of us have discussed it. We have no problem providing you with as many bloody socks as you want.”
Vomit covered Kai as the sea lion shot a projectile. “Please stop smiling you crook. You’re so ugly you might just kill Susanne!”
Biting down on his tongue, Kai remained quiet. His forehead vein was visibly throbbing as he attempted to hold back his anger. “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but you really shouldn’t lie about something like that.” A lightning bolt began to form in Kai’s outstretched hand.
This time, it was Thomas who pulled back Kai. Failing to suppress a laugh, Thomas snickered. “Oh, geez. Hahaha, that was actually fantastic, old man. C’mon, don’t worry about it. I’ll give you one of MY bloody socks. That should cover the cost of the info.”
Susanne immediately began wrenching. Scrounging up his nose, the old man waved his hand over his nose as if staving away a terrible stink. “Heh, you’re trying to trade me trash for a treasure? This old man isn’t tricked that easily. All of you have subpar-” The old man’s gaze lingered on Alexander. “Oh, that’s a little interesting. Well, even if the shaggy one bloodlets for a year, he still isn’t worth enough.” The old man concluded with a humph as he pointed at Alexander.
Fired up, Thomas started arguing with the infuriating old man. “Did you just call MY BLOOD subpar? I’m royalty!”
Seeing Thomas yelling at the old man, Kai took the opportunity to join the squabble. “Look at how handsome I am? I dare you to call me ugly one more time!”
“You hear that, Gertrude? We’ve got royalty at our doorway. Pop a little bow, Susanne. All hail the king of scumbags.” Susanne clapped her flippers while the old man slapped his knee, both laughing. Turning to look at Kai, the old man looked remorseful. “I am sorry to you, bucko. I never should’ve opened those floodgates. Every time you look at yourself in the mirror from now on, you’ll probably cry. It’s honestly hard to look at you without getting nauseous.”
Simultaneously, the two yelled. “I’ll kill you!”
Before the old man could continue bickering, a splash in the fishbowl caught his attention. Staring at Gertrude in silence for a few seconds, he sharply spun around to face Thomas. “Hey, King Scummy, what do you have in your pocket?”
Thomas reflexively grasped his pocket before questioning the old man. “What are you talking about?”
Another splash of water in the fishbowl caught the old man's attention before he addressed the group again. “Ugh, that’s so annoying! Okay, okay. Stop nagging me, Gertrude. I’ll do it. Get your asses inside. I’ll tell you how to get to the island.” The old man shuffled into his shack carrying his fishbowl with the sea lion in tow.
As the three stared perplexed at the open door, Pola skipped inside before turning to the group. “Aren’t you coming inside? I thought the whole reason we had to walk across the city was to find out how to get to the mystery island.”
Alexander shrugged before walking towards the door. “I suppose this is what we wanted. Let’s go, guys.”
“Umm, are we at all worried about how fast the old man changed his mind? How did he know the necklace was in my pocket?”
Kai cracked his knuckles as he also moved to the door. “Honestly, I don’t care. As long as we get to leave this damn shack already, I’m willing to ignore how shady this whole ordeal is. It's not good for my health to be angered so much, and I'm scared of what I'll do if I keep listening to this lunatic.” Under his breath, Kai could be heard muttering about how handsome he was.
Past the door, the house contrasted its outside appearance. A luxurious red rug unfurled through the entrance hallway over dark brown hardwood floors leading to the living room. On the left side, bookshelves lined the walls around three sofas: a three-seater, a loveseat, and a recliner. Between them was a white marble coffee table where the fishbowl rested. On the right side, there was a fully stocked bar where the old man and Susanne were currently mixing drinks. Noticing the group had finally come inside, the old man pointed at the counter with his elbow. “There’re some bar stools underneath the counter. Just pull them out and take a seat.” The man poured the contents of two bottles into a mixer before he shook the container. “Let me see that necklace, kid.”
Acquiescing, Thomas took out the necklace from his pocket. “I can show you it, but I’m not giving it to you. It was a gift from my grandmother.”
The old man’s gaze softened as he peered into the small stone on the necklace. “It’s a beautiful necklace. Take a look, Susanne.” The sea lion snorted happily. The old man proceeded to hand Thomas the necklace back and clasped his hands. “Okay, you’re in luck. There’s a way for you to reach Mirage Island tonight, but only if you hurry.”
Alexander spoke cautiously. “What about the payment? There’s no way we are letting you eat Pengu.”
Pouring out the drink he had made into a small glass for himself and Susanne, the old man shook his head. “No, the payment will be a conversation, but not right now. You guys are in a rush. So I’ll tell you how to get to the ruins now, and once you return, you come visit me here. Mmm, I will expect you in a few minutes?” The goldfish splashed in her fishbowl once more. “You’re right, Gertrude, as always. I’ll expect you guys in about two days.”
Thomas leaned into Alexander’s ears and whispered. “Use scan on him. I want to know if we are dealing with a senile old man or if maybe he can actually talk to the animals. What the hell does he mean a few minutes?”
Alexander whispered back. “I already scanned him. He’s just a regular old man. Well, I guess not regular, but he’s definitely not an Elementalist.”
“Listen up, kiddos. No more whispering.” The old man took a sip from his drink. “Wow, that is refreshing. Jot that one down as a big success, Susanne. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right, Mirage Island. You’re gonna need to dive into the ocean from right outside of my shack, and swim until a storm welcomes you in. This next part is vital so don’t forget it. The storm will slowly turn into a blizzard. That’s how you know it’s about to transport you to the island, but it will only take he who is in possession of the key.”
Thomas groaned. “But we don’t have a key. Can you give us one?”
“The key is your necklace you scummy kid!” Calming himself, the old man repeated in a softer tone. “That necklace in your pocket is the key to reaching the island, scummy. All you have to do is make sure you are making physical contact with everyone before the storm turns into a blizzard. Now, go! The storm will be here soon.” The old man shooed everyone out of his home and slammed his door.’
Scratching his chin, Kai spoke. “Well, that was about as weird as an encounter can go.”
Alexander agreed. “Yeah. Do we believe him, though? I know I’m usually the trusting one, but I can’t quite make sense of what just happened.”
Thomas sprinted towards the water in response. “We don’t lose anything from checking this out, and he could very well be telling the truth!”
Alexander hesitated a little before making up his mind. “Let’s do this, Kai. Worst case scenario we get to spend a nice day in the ocean, but best case, we get to go into a dragon's ruins! The old man mysteriously knew about the necklace. I think this could be real!”
Pola jumped on Kai’s back in excitement. “C’mon, Kai! We can go swim with the fishies!”
Several miles East, the group stood on an ice road Thomas had conjured to float atop the waves. In the distance, Alexander could see the sky darkening, indicating a storm. “Move us into the storm, Thomas. Once we are there, I guess we can see if the old man spoke the truth or not. Pengu is in my backpack so she should be good, and Pola is piggybacking Kai. As long as we three can hold hands, we’ll all make it to the ruins according to the old man's instructions.”
Thomas broke off the ice road, leaving only a small platform for them to stand on. After instructing everyone to hold tight, he raised a large wave to carry them to the storm. Soon enough, the rain began to pour, and the ocean grew angry. Rabid waves the size of mountains rose in consort with the thundering clouds. It took all of Thomas’ concentration to maintain their platform intact. Quelling the ocean’s rage was an impossible task for him, and the heavy downpour together with the stormy clouds had left them blinded.
The turmoil of the ocean threatened to swallow them whole, and after a few minutes, the clouds joined in on the quest. Lightning crashed against the waves, bringing light to the area for a few brief moments. It was because of the brilliance of lightning that Alexander managed to see the looming giant. Beneath the waves, a giant shark was staring up at the group in their makeshift raft.
“Below us!” The cautionary yell was cut off as the shark lounged at the icy platform and tore through it.
Submerged in the darkness, Alexander hugged his backpack as tightly as he could. Battling the currents of the water, he burst through the surface and gasped- a tremendous error as he ended up swallowing salt water. He coughed heavily in an attempt to clear his lungs, but an incoming wave dunked him lower into the depths of the ocean. The strength of the wave rattled his brain, but he steeled himself and opened his eyes. Swimming through the burning pain in his eyes, Alexander reached the surface once more.
He flipped his backpack to his front in order to check on Pengu before he felt a small stone pelt the back of his head. Alexander looked around and saw many similar stones hitting the water around him. He realized the storm was starting to become a blizzard. I need to find the others. Is everyone okay, and what the hell happened to that shark? Another lightning bolt lit the surroundings allowing Alexander to witness a huge shark leaping out of the water. He swallowed more water as another wave hit him from the side. Fear had caused him to freeze up.
Suddenly, Thomas appeared in front of Alexander. “Grab on to me! The blizzard is picking up!” Thomas yelled at the top of his lungs ensuring Alexander could hear him through the storm.
Alexander grabbed on to Thomas’ left arm, holding on for dear life. Once Thomas was sure Alexander was tightly secured, he lifted them in a pillar of water. They were headed directly for the shark. Alexander urged Thomas to reconsider through clattering teeth. “Wh-why-why are we moving towards the sh-sh-shark?!”
“Kai is holding the beast back for us. We need to reach him before the blizzard takes us away!”
Intermittent light could be seen in the distance as Kai clashed with the shark. Squinting his eyes, Alexander could see Kai was holding on to Pola with one arm and Thomas’ ice spear with the other. Every time the shark rushed out of the water, Kai would channel lightning into the spear to knock away the shark. The beast was beaten away on every encounter, but not without injuring Kai. Whenever he blasted it away, the shark would shoot water blades towards Kai. In order to protect Pola from any injury, he was tanking the aquatic attacks with his body.
Leaping from the water, the shark lounged at Kai once more, but Thomas crashed into it first. “Quick! Grab on to me. If this works, we are gonna be transported soo-”
The shark burst out of the water from beneath Thomas with its jaw wide open. Alexander stared blankly as he imagined with gruesome detail the damage the shark’s fangs would do to them all. His nightmare did not come to pass, however, as Kai heroically slammed the shark away. A full-power slash of the spear cutting straight through the side of the shark.
The shark dove underwater as it circled the icy platform everyone was standing on. The deep injury on the beast had dyed the water red, but it had done nothing to dissuade it from continuing its attacks. As if conspiring with the ruins, every time Kai remained still, grasping on to Thomas’ hand, the shark would burst out of the water. He had managed to leave Pola with Thomas, but he was forced to continue battling the shark to keep everyone safe.
Still shivering in fear, Alexander's instincts took over as he began to apply his white flames on Pola. Kai had done his best to keep her as dry as possible, but the small splashes of water that did reach her were incurring much damage. She was trembling from the cold, and her breathing was ragged.
All around them, the rain had completely given way to hail, and the visibility grew poorer and poorer as snow blanketed the environment. Thomas was doing his best to maintain an area free from the blizzard around him, but the power of the weather combined with the shark’s continuous attacks were making it next to impossible.
After intercepting another of the shark’s sneak attacks, Kai faced Thomas. A blinding light was being emitted from Thomas' pocket, and it slowly moved to cover Alexander, Pengu, and Pola. Realizing what he had to do, Kai yelled out. “The old man didn’t lie, guys! Listen, unless someone does something, this damn shark is gonna mess everything up. I’m gonna draw it away, okay? Just… just take care of Pola for me.” With that, Kai jumped into the water swimming straight towards the shark.
Alexander held Pola back with all his strength. Tears streamed down her face as she saw the underwater glow surrounding her brother fade as it descended deeper into the ocean. “KAIIIIIIII!”
As if waiting for the sacrifice, once Kai had taken the shark away, the blizzard grew fiercer, and the glow surrounding the party released a high-pitched screech. At the loudest point of the noise, an explosion of light resounded, clearing away the storm. The ocean returned to a gentle sway, appearing as if a storm had never occurred. The only evidence left was a white mist surrounding the area Alexander’s group had just been in.
