For the Sake of a Soul: XXVIII
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 (05:51:41)

Posted by TerishD

The Ocean of Reality

Terdeskollit was not happy. Things had been going extremely well. Straekin and Thaunya were scared, intrigued, and happy with the change in their physiology. The flow of emotions from them inspired a variety of responses from the others. The deity however had no method of reinvigorating the initial surge of sensations.

Certain members of the group start to realize their predicament even as Terdeskollit develops his plans.


The Ocean of Reality

Terdeskollit was not happy. Things had been going extremely well. Straekin and Thaunya were scared, intrigued, and happy with the change in their physiology. The flow of emotions from them inspired a variety of responses from the others. The deity however had no method of reinvigorating the initial surge of sensations.

Strangely, the most emanations came from the bearded muscular man. Ferrigote did not trust the blessing that had been given to the two ladies. The fighter understood that his friend was involved with Straekin, so Ferrigote took it upon himself to be extra concerned for the welfare of the rest of the party. The armored man truthfully wanted to simply gain his objective and leave this world, but that strategy simply put more stress upon him. Ferrigote had no idea where his golden lady was.

It really bothered the muscular fighter that he could not determine the direction to gain his lady. He trusted Terish to eventually get them to the proper place, but the armored man understood that interdimensional coordinates did not exactly produce straight lines. Ferrigote wanted to beeline to his goal, yet could not fathom how to do so. It hurt the armored man that the world was so dead, because the diary spoke of living islands and an active landscape. He felt that even if he was in a proper place that he still would not recognize his location.

The deity sighed as the group finished another nighttime conflict. The God found himself admitting that the monsters he had so meticulously crafted did nothing to cause the group any alarm. The battles actually seemed to calm the travelers. The comfort in battle was not the proper setting to bring out the best in the group however, because they understood a mistake could be deadly. It had been a relaxed restful period that had resulted in the greatest displays of emotions that the deity sought, and Terdeskollit attempted to develop events that would repeat the experience. The problem was that the tools the deity had at his disposal would simply orchestrate another fight.

The adventurers could tell by the blocks of stone that they encountered that they were entering a city. Such gave them concern because they knew of the large frog like semi-material creatures that lived by eating the once worked material. The city seemed too big to avoid in the black of night however, so the group stayed alert as they moved among the remnants of a civilization.

Ferrigote did not exactly understand what Terish was doing. As the rays of sunlight began to illuminate the world, the silk and leather attired man would climb a pile of rock, then have the party move into a maze of crumbling stones. The muscular bearded hero felt the directions odd, especially with the chance that it could force them into an encounter with one of the stone eaters, but really trusted Terish so obeyed the instructions. Ferrigote could not hold back his curiosity as the youthful appearing man again started given complicated directions, and clambered up the rubble to see things for himself.

The armored fighter really wanted to punch his friend, but did not. He understood that what was being attempted was no joke, but truthfully setting up a marvelous presentation. Ferrigote also comprehended that a moment was certainly spoiled by his impatience rush to see the view. If he had allowed Terish to set the proper revelation, the event might have been a joyous occasion. As it was, the muscular armored man was able to discern the truth of the situation.

There were no waves on the ocean. Out to the horizon was the mirror like surface of water. There was a ship close to shore, but it was a sailing vessel. The only substantial wind that Ferrigote had felt since coming to this world was in response to an action of the deity of this world. The muscular fighter truthfully preferred it calm.

Ferrigote felt a need to say something, but he kept the words simple. "I don't see any islands."

"My senses tell me to head in that direction," Terish's hand did not point straight out, but it was close enough, "although I believe that heading directly into the water not to be a great idea at first. We can test the craft and our skills by heading towards the mountains. Coming closer we might be able to decide upon the type of forces that created them, and gain a better set of directions towards our goal."

The muscular fighter again felt a need to make a simple statement. "That is a sailing ship."

The youthful appearing hero eyed his friend before returning, "And a rather large one. It does not matter, because I can create a wind to power it." Terish turned to descend from the height as he said, "One of Terdeskollit's promises was that we would travel the ocean in luxury."

Ferrigote grabbed his friend's upper arm, then softly said, "I still don't trust him. I have been listening to Straekin and Thaunya, but Straek is your lady. What is your gut telling you?"

"That we still have a distance to travel." It was only because the fighter was his friend that the youthful appearing man said more. "I believe that Terdeskollit wanted Straekin to start suffering from the discomforts of pregnancy, and that does not start immediately after a certain act. We weren't that far along when it happened though, and have only cuddled since. I find it strange considering that Terdeskollit thought we would not notice."

"Okay, but that logic does not explain Thaunya."

The countenance of Terish stated that he felt he was explaining the obvious. "We reacted, Gote. Terdeskollit got a strong emotional response. I am certain that he did Thaunya in order to continue and intensify the moment."

The muscular fighter accepted the words and worked to put certain pieces of logic into their place. Terish had finished growing up around the man, so knew his style of behavior rather well. He waited for Ferrigote to state some conclusion. It did not matter that the statement was personal in nature, because Terish understood that his friend felt that he could only aid others if he was able to set his own life in order.

"Okay," The armored man slurred the word to give his mind a few more seconds to consider things, "so there is no reason for Terdeskollit to have gone and done anything with Dirchein."

The silk and leather clothed hero shrugged his shoulders before saying, "Terdeskollit was in that mindset, and he is a God so is technically omnipresent in this reality. Moving from Thaunya to Dirchein for him was surely no more difficult than him moving from Straekin to Thaunya. You might well end up with children that can cut their hair when they need money."

The fighter grumbled, "I haven't even met her. I don't know that I will like her, or she will like me."

Terish started down the pile of rubble as he loudly said, "My opinion is that Gerlitt was uglier and cruder than you, Gote. You should have no trouble overwhelming her with your charm and looks."

The armored man followed Terish expecting some comments from the women, but they stayed quiet except for Thaunya who said, "Stay true to your dream, Ferrigote. It might end up that she is not the wonderful creature that you imagined her to be, but that does not mean she does not need rescuing."

The bearded fighter considered the statement a good one, and he talked about other ladies that he had rescued as he led the group directly to the ocean. There was no beach before the water, but the rubble continued up to the edge of the vast expanse of liquid. There were comments about there once having been a wharf here, but none could reconstruct such a scene from the remains. The group saw the boat off in the distance and started moving towards it, but Ferrigote held his position as he attempted to tell himself that one objective of this mission had been achieved.

Straekin moved to the muscular armored hero as he went and moved his hand in the water. She saw him bring his hand to his mouth, then grimace at the taste. The empress allowed the man to look over the smooth expanse of water, but spoke as he turned to move to the ship.

"Terdeskollit said that Dirchein is not being tortured, Ferrigote. If she has survived mentally and physically up to now, I doubt what time it takes for us to reach her will have an affect."

Ferrigote spoke to end the topic, so he could get to the boat. "Dirchein is a carrot and we are simply mules. I believe that we will be out a sea a long time."

The lovely empress held her position. "This situation is more complicated than that."

The muscular fighter had attempted not to argue with the lady, but turned understanding that she was determined. "How many times do I have to tell you, Straekin, leave the complications to the historians. State your objective, and walk over every corpse you have to make to get to it."

"And how many time do I have to tell you that you stumble if you walk on your own feet. We are not lost. We are not wounded. We can afford to keep our eyes open and consider alternate possibilities."

Okay, the lady was attempting to give advice, so the bearded armored man decided to lay out one of his feelings. "I just do not trust this place, Straekin."

The face of the empress softened as she said, "I don't believe that any of us trust this world, Gote. What has happened to me, Thaunya, and possibly your lady states that the tactics being used are now slightly beyond the obvious. I trust Terish, but I need to trust you as well, Ferrigote."

All right, the fighter did not want to be impolite, but he did want to get to the ship. "What is your point, Straekin?"

"You are actually anxious to meet this lady and really worried about whether Dirchein will like you or not. You are someone that beds a lady to seal a peace treaty. You then run off on an adventure and sleep with whatever female will follow you into your room. You are not one to care about women in a certain way."

Ferrigote grunted indicating that he felt the lady did not know him too well. "If a woman comes to me as an object of affection, I treat her as such. I have yet had a lady stand beside me as an equal yet treat me in an affectionate manner. As bossy as you can be, Straek, you respond very well to Terish. You deserve the special standing that he gives you."

Straekin paused as she considered a way to repay the compliment, but then decided to simply stay on the subject. "What makes you believe that Dirchein will be that type of lady?"

"She is immortal. It will be worth my time to train her."

The smile on the empress's face twisted, but she allowed the matter to drop. The long amber haired lady instead asked Ferrigote about how the water tasted. The two moved towards the ship discussing the journey ahead.

Terdeskollit felt that everything was proceeding wonderfully. The group was now being more open with each other. Feelings were being expressed, and personalities were becoming pronounced. The God felt that what he had planned might be a fight but it would intensify the sensations that he craved.

Well, this chapter actually worked out better than I expected. The next chapter is titled, "The Last Promise is Kept."