Ryanti felt himself take a few steps back, but not out of will. In fact, it had almost surprised him enough to nearly make him stumble. The cold outline of her four fingers lingered upon the young man’s chest. They were like tiny little icicles. It thawed like the icicles upon the roof of an Ishgardian home in the highlands of Coerthas during the coming spring.
It was a feeling Ryanti knew very well. From the time that he was a little Halfling child born of mixed blood in a circle of society that valued purity above all else, to when he stepped on this boat, it felt the same. It was a feeling of being pushed, pushed away. Left in front of the door when it closed. It was a feeling of mistrust, and of suspicion.
It mattered not for what reason why people had felt that way about him in the past. There were too many reasons to count: His blood, his demeanor, his place in society, all of those. While they were packing, he was thinking about how ironic it probably was that he had come to bond with this crew. He wondered in his mind just how fast they would turn on him and shoot him dead if ordered. Just how fast Sounsyy would prop his jaw open like she did Cynthia’s. He tried not to think about it, but those thoughts were always in a dark corner of his mind.
I’ve outlived a helluva lot of suicide missions where I believed in what I were doin’, so I ain’t keen to die on one I don’t.
Of course. When was it ever different?
He had crossed his arms and stood silent as he watched Sounsyy look about at the Elezen that had been watching this whole conversation and pick up the rifle to feel it out more. There was really nothing he felt like he could say right now. He let her have the moment. A part of his mind wondered whether Sounsyy actually believed that she had it in her to handle weapons like that and gear like this, and whether or not she was truly ready. He couldn’t read any thoughts behind those dead eyes. He was gambling on an instinct, on a feeling, an intuition. He knew it. It was how he always was, even before he took up this occupation.
“Understood, Captain.†Ryanti repeated himself when she explained to him that he should really get to sleep and everything. He understood that he had to, and unlike the last time he said those words, this time they carried an aura of just pure business. When it was time to go below deck, right before Sounsyy went back upwards, she heard his words follow her up. “But we both know we aren’t immediately going straight to our beds.â€
Ryanti solemnly looked over his shoulder as the Captain proceeded upstairs. He had closed his eyes, despite the darkness surrounding him giving him no need to. There was a certain heaviness in his heart, a familiar feeling that he was all alone in this endeavor. He of course surely wasn’t alone in this physically but… alone in his belief. The only one to believe him was the only one out of the unit that didn’t have any dreams like he did. Now she was barely alive. He felt the straps of the gear crate eat into his hands as he carried it on one side of him. The weight was causing his fair skin to turn red with irritation, but he didn’t really notice. It wasn’t the lightest weight he felt on his body right now.
She had told him not to put all of the weight on himself, and then told him that the mission was something she – no one – believed in. How was he supposed to carry all this weight?
“She doesn’t trust you.â€
Ryanti knew that voice. He always had a unique voice. He figured he could feel someone else in that dark empty hallway watching him. The ends of his lips twitched a little bit in response, and the young man moved ever so slightly, the crate in his hand bobbing a bit with the weight. “I know.†Ryanti said back to the darkness, opening his eyes within it even though it saw just as much of nothing.
Suddenly, a strike of a match happened, and then there was light. A brief little fire upon the match stick burned into the little cup of the pipe that the man had extended. His pure black locks confirmed who the man was – Jonathan. He took a wiff and a little billow of smoke came out from his chapped lips before he shook the match out, the embers only illuminated part of his face as smoke came from it. “And you trust her?â€
Ryanti turned to face him, quietly bending his knees and gently placing the crate upon the floorboards with barely a peep, resting the strap upon the top of the crate. “I do.†He simply said, feeling an urge swell up in his gut that he was going to get ridiculed and chastised for what he said. His shoulders tightened up, and the Halfling looked away. For once, the darkness in the hallway seemed a better companion.
“Why?†Jonathan pressed him, puffing on his pipe right after. Why, why why… the dreaded why. Ryanti knew it was coming, yet he could never make that blow easier. For what purpose did he ask that; to judge him? To tell him how wrong he was?
“I don’t have a reason.†He found himself saying after probing his mind and finding nothing except for the honest answer. “Not any reason that you would be pleased with. You can’t always have concrete reasons to do something, or feel a certain way. That is what faith is.â€
Jonathan digested Ryanti’s answer while billowing a puff or two from the corner of his lips, nursing the pipe with a finger and his thumb plugged over the top. “You will not make any friends or otherwise in this line of work. There’s no such thing. People look after only themselves, and crave naught else but the table scraps of power that somehow find their way slipping through the fingers of the ones that have always had the power. Trust, faith, love, these things are a luxury not afforded to people like us. If you die following an impossible dream, you will not be the first Keeper to.â€
Ryanti’s expression molded into a rather perplexing tone, and he allowed himself to sigh. He had heard this before too from Jahh. You would not be the first. You would not be the first. Even though he had always felt like he wasn’t wanted… that he was pushed away by others…
“I do not believe that about people. Not all people. So I cannot follow your logic. I have already experienced much in the tastes of death, betrayal, and horrific war. I have killed many. But as I have seen men and women change their outlook on people after their experiences, I find that I don’t have the same ability to change how I see people. I can’t get myself to, no matter what I have seen or done. I still have faith that this cycle of madness can stop. So I cannot agree with you, Jonathan.â€
Jonathan blew out a sigh that had a thick amount of smoke in it. His back casually shuffled as he laid against the wall to support himself on his good leg. “Because reasons don’t matter to you?â€
The crate slowly lifted off the floor again by Ryanti’s other hand. “Because I don’t have faith in your reasons. I can’t look at it the way you do, Jonathan. I’m sorry.â€
“Is that is the real reason why you removed me from command?†Jonathan questioned, his emotionless gaze boring into the young man’s aquamarine eyes. Once again, Ryanti had dropped the bag, and he found himself once again face to face with his superior officer… on paper at least. “I removed you from command because your job in this unit was to be on the ground to guide us to our objective once we dived in. Now that it is I and the Captain diving, the job falls to me now. That is all there is to it. You may be able to advise me from the Roehmerl, but once I dive, let’s be frank: I and the Captain will be the ones making the decisions down there. Without your help down there, the Keeper takes command. You know that was the very reason why you were summoned to help. Because you had to protect me. Now you can only do that from a distance.â€
Jonathan let out a deeply ingrained sigh from the bottom of his throat. He was happy that being crippled allowed him to smoke again, to feel that feeling again and to ease his mind. Still, his next words were slow and rather hoarse in an ominous tone. “I hope you know what in the seven hells you are doing, Seventy-seven.â€
Ryanti hoped so too. He lifted the crate once more. “Well, the good news is that we won’t have to wait too long before finding out if I am.†That was true. Tomorrow was it. Tomorrow would be the beginning of the culmination of everything that had come to this – the biggest moment of his life.
As he began to turn away and walk towards his resting place, he stopped one final time. “Have you been keeping tabs?†He asked the older man. “Ever since the first shite comment about us was said.â€
“Good.†Said the snowy haired young man. “I am no naïve marmot. I fully understand that sometimes I… may be wrong about –some- people.†And with that, he retired.
A slight sound was heard when Ryanti rose himself up from his slumber against his corner of the room. The sheet that covered him slid down his shoulders and his body, revealing his threadless form to the unwatchful world. It was an uneventful sleep, hopelessly interrupted. Probably anxiety.
Forty-three was already out and Jonathan had yet to follow Ryanti back to their resting place. It was an uneventful sleep, hopelessly interrupted. His light clothing was tossed aside near the mattress he had been sleeping on for the past week or so now. He couldn’t remember the last time he had tried to sleep fully nude, but he figured… he could fall asleep easier that way. The salty winds from the window outside leaked through and felt very different with a lack of threading. After the sheets fell, he had pulled them up his legs enough to cover what was sensitive so that the same cold seething wind he had experienced out on deck would not find their way in his most sensitive of areas. He felt his chest with his fingertips, near the same spot Sounsyy had pushed him away. He thought maybe… he could warm that spot with his own fingertips, but they were equally cold, and all it did was re-ensure the memory.
He shifted his glance rapidly when he witnessed a feint light, the bluest of light, coming from underneath his pillow. In the bowels of the ship the artifact had rested, but it had seen many places of the Roehmerl since Ryanti uprooted it from its ultra-secure location. With a movement of the pillow, Ryanti gazed upon the piece of work that was the Allagan contraption; the link between the men of present day… and the long lost wishes… the dreams of those who had perished in the deep over five millennia ago.
He noticed the blue light was fading in and out faster than usual, with a erythematic pace. With a solemn movement, he picked up the artifact with a single hand. The cerment still felt so well made and so unbelievably strong in form. It was cold to the touch, but yet it was making Ryanti’s palm warm and humid. There was a ‘tenseness’ about the light… and the aura about the device. It was as if the device was looking for something, assured that something was there where it was looking but finding nothing. Ryanti held his breath and touched the tips of his fingers upon the outline of the circular component that held the bulb which was the strongest source of light on the objects. He slid his fingers along the outline of the circle in a command that told the key to give him a diagnostic.
He maneuvered his hand swiftly back, and the light upon the object began to dim, giving way to a blue background of a monitor of some sort. A bunch of garbled writing began to spill itself out upon the orb that had turned into a screen of sorts. It was the same garbled writing he had remembered the night before he came upon the ship. That was the last time he had checked. He was trying to make sure everything was okay tomorrow. It looked like it was.
Still, as he locked the device with a reverse movement of his fingers, he could see that the artifact was still pulsating rather… fast and tensely. There was life about this object upon it right now. He didn’t know whether or not there were actual souls trying to communicate, or… residual feelings, emotion or energy. It was still so poorly understood in his time. It was almost like a heartbeat. Almost as if he was cradling a heart itself. Ryanti took great care when he enveloped his second hand upon holding the object. With a quiet gesture, he lowered his head to the object and breathed a very calm and warm breath from the back of his throat a few times upon the device. He did it until his breath made the device warm again. He wanted to make it warm to soothe it.
“It’s going to be alright.†Ryanti murmured to the device in the slightest of whispers. “It’s okay. Your nightmares will not win tonight.†He continued, and finally the pulsating of the object began to calm down a little bit, and slow down. Ryanti’s eyes closed a quarter way and his lips formed into a weak smile. “You must be worried. I’m worried too. I don’t want to fail like the others.â€
Ryanti manuveared his eyes to glance up above at the window, his eyes pointing towards the shining silver moon in the sky. His breaths were slow but deep, and he spoke as if trying to communicate beyond the sky, his eyes closed in a kind of prayer. “Mother Crystal… I know we haven’t talked much, but... I would be most grateful if you could watch over us. If you could bless us.â€
He shifted his eyes back to the Artifact. It felt so surreal knowing that at one time so so long ago when millennia became eons… Allagan hands had touched where Ryanti’s hands had touched. It was easy to believe it was nothing but a dream, as nothing but thoughts and wishes and fairy tales. But this object was real. Those dreams were dreamed by real people in a world that was so far beyond the imagination of most. But it was… real. All of it was real. He rested his forehead upon the orb of light, closing his eyes and whispering out another prayer… this time towards the Allagans. “I would be most grateful if you could watch over us too. Those from an era so profound. I… hope I can be worthy in your eyes to be blessed.â€
---
Ryanti jolted his eyes open. He must have fallen asleep. Right?
But it was dark still, and there was no one in the room with him. How was that? He swept the sheets off of him and stood himself up, glancing around the room and nearly getting dizzy doing it. It felt there was a storm going on, and Ryanti’s body shifted as the Roehmerl crashed back and forth against the waves. Normally in such rough weather, he expected that the crew would be shouting aboard deck and handling the equipment upstairs. He heard nothing. This troubled him and troubled him greatly.
“Guys?!?†Ryanti had shouted upon each wooden doorway of the ship that he had opened. Everything was there as if the crew had just left it the way it was, but everyone… everyone was gone. It was like the Roehmerl itself was abandoned and the crew had vanished in an instant. The lack of the crew nor Ryanti’s partners caused the ship to feel eerily empty and void. It was lifeless, and Ryanti could feel the panic racing up against his throat as he swung doors open faster and faster. “Fruhsuun!?! Pamido?!? Jonathan?!? Leura?!? W-welro?!? A-ANYBODY?!? H-hey! It’s a storm! A storm!â€
As soon as he found stairs that led up to the deck, one of the masts found him. Without the crew, the ship was falling apart in the storm. The wooden pillar crashed upon the stairs and Ryanti helplessly yelled and stumbled onto the steps, having to crawl on all fours to get past the obstacle and continue to the deck. A bolt of lightning crashed against the deck of the ship, and Ryanti had to hold onto the remnants of the mast just to stay on the ship as a roaring wave crashed upon the floorboards.
What had caused this?!? What was going on? The clouds around him were a sulfuric, dead yellow, spewing dark lighting from within its bowels and striking the ocean water, sending waves flying towards the ship as Ryanti desperately tried to hold on. His hair whipped around as his frightened eyes looked up at the sky. There were no stars out. It was a black void filled with rotten clouds that seemed to trap him in this reality. He could make out, at an impossible point behind the black void, the shape of the Allagan artifact.
Everywhere in the sky he looked was that shape. It was as if it was painted upon the sky at impossible angles that could only be real if taking place in a dream. Immediately after, a huge sound filled Ryanti’s ears that boomed from the distant sky. It sounded like an ultra-modern humming noise that blared from the sky at an immensely loud volume level. It was like a… like a starship activating its full power. He couldn’t make out the form behind the clouds, but blue lights stemmed from it… a shape, he could make out a shape… a MASSIVE shape…
A second blaring horn sounded that felt like the ground quaking underneath him. Ryanti had found himself looking over the water as a consequence. The water… the rustling waves of the Indigo Deep. Ryanti whipped his head behind him to witness a massive tentacle of a Kraken, sea monster of legend in the little picture books Ryanti read as a kid, slam against the Captain’s cabin of the Roehmerl, reducing it to shreds in an instant and bending the ship in a contorted, twisted shape as it mauled the guts out of the vessel. Ryanti found the ship tilting to the side at an impossible angle, inevitable that it would sink. The next thing he knew, he was hanging from the guardrail, his feet dangling from the side of the capsized vessel as it began to capsize.
Ryanti looked down, and realized that he was wearing his Sharlayan suit. Realizing that he had no other choice, he climbed the side of the ship and stood upon its underbelly that had reared itself above the sea. He fiddled the mouthpiece that rested next to his collarbone, and realized that the suit had been modified for diving. As a precaution, he put the mouthpiece into his lips and took a test breath, breathing from the oxidized air that had been filtered into the tiny tubes in his suit. At that moment, an ultra-loud blaring horn from the blue lights in the sky shook his head and caused him to writh in pain and agony, toppling over the vessel and dropping into the dark water below.
He had closed his eyes, and was writhing back and forth in the cold water, feeling himself sinking and the cold beginning to overtake him. It would feel nice to just give into the relaxation of it all… and the numbness of the cold to settle his fright and his pain. But it didn’t feel right, and Ryanti shot open his eyes. Sounds and echoes permeated through the water despite it being an impossibility in reality. Sonic waves buzzed his ears. He was treated to visions in the water of violent creatures heading straight towards him. Ryanti pulled out his Sharlayan knife from his thigh and held it steady in his hand, spinning two and fro and recoiling in fright from these visions and even swiping at them with his knife only to hit nothing and for the image to fade within an instant of coming at him.
He continued to sink into the water, but the visions were replaced with echoes of voices he didn’t know speaking a language he didn’t understand. Within the chaos, Ryanti looked for the first time below him to see an astounding sight.
There was a figure in shadow, squirming about, looking like it was drowning. A hyur torso with a serpent tail was pursuing her in the darkness, arms outstretched to claim her. It was… it was Sounsyy. It all made sense now… the storm, the ship, the absence of the crew and the Allagan presence. He felt like he was in someone else’s dream… Sounsyy’s.
He had invaded a cycle in his dreams because of his desire to break them, though Ryanti did not know he had done this.
His blood boiled. He felt his adrenaline surge. The young man swam towards her as hard as he could, eyeing the sea serpent that swiped her arms about Sounsyy to try to claim her. He could feel every muscle he had burn with pain as he swam, getting closer, getting ever closer… with every moment that he swam he knew he might lose her. His teeth put marks into his mouthpiece with his effort and he brought his knife blade up and out. He wasn’t going to lose her. He was not going to be a helpless bystander in the crowd anymore.
With his free arm, he reached out as his body javelined towards its target. For a brief moment, he felt his free arm warp around the neck of the creature as he slammed into it from behind. For a tiny second, he felt his other arm thrust as hard as it could with that knife towards the monster’s neck.
---
Ryanti woke up. He was lying on the bed stomach first with the covers up to the small of his back, gripping his pillow with both hands near his chin level. The sounds of the morning bell were undoubtedly familiar in Ryanti’s mind, as everyone that was able were to wake up and help prep. The young man looked about, and noticed that there no one in the room with him. His features lit up a bit at the realization that he had gripped the pillow so hard that it had formed tiny breaks in the threading, and that the artifact was in the pocket of his trousers when it had been underneath his pillow. His heart was beating so hard… he felt like he had done something. He gripped his chest slightly, and squeezed at it. There was a connection there. It made a feeling of heat wash through his skin, clearing his mind.
He pulled up his covers a little bit and glanced out the window. The sun was bright, and the sky was a crystal clear blue. He realized now that the Roehmerl in his dream was not the real thing. It gave him some relief. But the issue that he was facing today was so great; he couldn’t afford to dwell upon it longer. It was the big day. The biggest day of his life. The door to his room creaked open from a Lalafell that he was familiar with, his spectacles nice and polished up as if there was never any blood on them. “It looks like today is your big day, young man.â€
“And he’s not talking about graduating or some shite like that.†Jonathan commented, walking into the room with the same kind of walk that spoke authority when he entered the room, even though he still held a single crutch in his armpit and hobbled like a cripple. “Damn it, you people… I’m naked.†Ryanti admitted, earning a stern lookaway by the other two men of his crew as he slinked his undergarments his Sharlayan lower fatigues upon him, swiftly tying up his combat boots. Jonathan leaned upon his crutch and extended his hand out. Thinking about everything revolving the mission, Ryanti caught his hand with his own and was helped onto his feet by the older man despite his injury, squeezing into his netted undershirt right after. “Let’s get you ready.†Jonathan murmured firmly to Seventy-seven, patting him on the back once or twice.
Forty-three adjusted his spectacles to the morning sun. “Indeed. The Captain just woke up herself, and the crew are tending to her needs right now as if they were butlers! Strange. I don’t believe we will be able to swallow our pride to do such a thing.â€
The Captain had just woke up? The same time he did? “Don’t worry about it.†Ryanti told him as Jonathan took big steps with his good leg to be able to get to the door frame and wait outside of it for him. “Let’s go, Seventy-seven. They’re cooking a big breakfast today. Stuff from that Garlean shite. Something filling for the both of ya. They even got juice.â€
It seemed to be complete chaos in the mess hall. Susuroon was in fantastic spirits for the first time since Eighty-five had gotten hit. There was something about cooking a giant meal in the morning that cheered him up. He had said something along the lines of the feeling tickling his tummy. Ryanti had sat down with Jonathan and Forty-three, and they were talking amongst themselves. Anyone that could have overheard their conversation would note that they were mentioning how to best handle the rations and water they would be taking down there. A fair amount of the conversation also had to do with advising Ryanti what courses of actions to take if he were to run into any situation deemed unsafe. More than likely, this was their way of making up for not being able to go down with him. However, they got up to convene outside of the Mess Hall before the Captain arrived.
The mess hall was the first time Ryanti had seen the Captain since that last night. But they didn’t get much of a chance to talk after what happened last night. Ryanti still had those thoughts linger in the back of his mind, but he was all business this first half of the morning, cramming food in his mouth. Asparagus, popoto, lean meats, steamed vegetables, fruit juice, even plain old stalks of lettuce that Ryanti grimaced at when he wolfed it down. He was eating purely to fuel his body this morning, not to please the tongue. He did send a sign to Sounsyy across the table though. A subtle little thumbs up, and a quick smirk. He was ready. He hoped she was.
“Marjanie is ready to begin the briefing!†Jonathan shouted out from the entrance to the mess hall, among the commotion, holding out his full hand to indicate attention. “Once you two suit up, we need to get to the deck! We’re expecting light rainfall by the time the sun is a few more clicks across the sky and we’d like to get you two in the water before then! Make sure you have –everything-!â€
Just then, Jonathan tilted his back a bit, as if he was hearing a little bit of commotion from behind him. Whether or not it was Forty-three or Cwaenlona, no one could really see, but it seemed as if Jonathan was relaying messages because he had a more booming voice than anyone. “Eighty-five has woken up!†Was his next phrase, which got nearly –everyone’s- attention in the mess hall, including Ryanti, who wiped his face clean with a cloth and immediately got himself up out of the stool to follow the group of people that left the place.
Her skin was still a bit pale, and it looked like she hadn’t moved all that much since the last time Ryanti and Sounsyy had seen her. She had a sponge bath once or twice though, and her hair was tied in a loose bun to make things a little easier for her. Messy as all hell, not something she would prefer but it worked. Her bandages on the side of her neck were very thick, and the medical gel applied to the wound was a combination of what the Sharlayan crew had and what Cwaenlona had. There would be a scar, no doubt about it. It would haunt her neck for cycles to come, probably.
Her words were quiet and weak as her watery eyes took notice of everyone around her. Jada was the closest to her, but Sounsyy and Ryanti were allowed to be close as well since they were leaving. Leura had already spoken with Susuroon and Jada, the two that were notified before Jonathan let the word out, which explained why Susuroon was so happy. She had been told that Ryanti and Sounsyy were leaving, and even though she was kind of messed up at the moment because of the painkilling drugs pumping through her veins, she managed to get a few words out.
“You’re wearing… my shite.†She managed to croak out to Sounsyy. “I’d..k- ..kick some… ass in that suit. n’.. look after.. snowcone over there, like he would for me… so… you better… you… better not… you better not do anything l-… less, girl.†She seemed out of breath even saying that, closing her eyes and taking heavy breaths. If one were to look near the top of her bandage, they would see the discoloration. “Sorry, just.. I g-got.. a Garlean n’… vein in my.. neck right now n’.. feels… weird… lightheaded..†She eyed Jada with dazed and unfocused eyes, and it was not too long after before the ones that came were being shoo’d out of the cot. But before Sounsyy left, as Jada held Leura’s head when she closed her eyes and breathed deeply out of fatigue, sweating dripping down the side of her scalp, she spoke one final time.
“I never.. dreamed of nothin’, Captain. It really never was my… suit.â€
It was a feeling Ryanti knew very well. From the time that he was a little Halfling child born of mixed blood in a circle of society that valued purity above all else, to when he stepped on this boat, it felt the same. It was a feeling of being pushed, pushed away. Left in front of the door when it closed. It was a feeling of mistrust, and of suspicion.
It mattered not for what reason why people had felt that way about him in the past. There were too many reasons to count: His blood, his demeanor, his place in society, all of those. While they were packing, he was thinking about how ironic it probably was that he had come to bond with this crew. He wondered in his mind just how fast they would turn on him and shoot him dead if ordered. Just how fast Sounsyy would prop his jaw open like she did Cynthia’s. He tried not to think about it, but those thoughts were always in a dark corner of his mind.
I’ve outlived a helluva lot of suicide missions where I believed in what I were doin’, so I ain’t keen to die on one I don’t.
Of course. When was it ever different?
He had crossed his arms and stood silent as he watched Sounsyy look about at the Elezen that had been watching this whole conversation and pick up the rifle to feel it out more. There was really nothing he felt like he could say right now. He let her have the moment. A part of his mind wondered whether Sounsyy actually believed that she had it in her to handle weapons like that and gear like this, and whether or not she was truly ready. He couldn’t read any thoughts behind those dead eyes. He was gambling on an instinct, on a feeling, an intuition. He knew it. It was how he always was, even before he took up this occupation.
“Understood, Captain.†Ryanti repeated himself when she explained to him that he should really get to sleep and everything. He understood that he had to, and unlike the last time he said those words, this time they carried an aura of just pure business. When it was time to go below deck, right before Sounsyy went back upwards, she heard his words follow her up. “But we both know we aren’t immediately going straight to our beds.â€
Ryanti solemnly looked over his shoulder as the Captain proceeded upstairs. He had closed his eyes, despite the darkness surrounding him giving him no need to. There was a certain heaviness in his heart, a familiar feeling that he was all alone in this endeavor. He of course surely wasn’t alone in this physically but… alone in his belief. The only one to believe him was the only one out of the unit that didn’t have any dreams like he did. Now she was barely alive. He felt the straps of the gear crate eat into his hands as he carried it on one side of him. The weight was causing his fair skin to turn red with irritation, but he didn’t really notice. It wasn’t the lightest weight he felt on his body right now.
She had told him not to put all of the weight on himself, and then told him that the mission was something she – no one – believed in. How was he supposed to carry all this weight?
“She doesn’t trust you.â€
Ryanti knew that voice. He always had a unique voice. He figured he could feel someone else in that dark empty hallway watching him. The ends of his lips twitched a little bit in response, and the young man moved ever so slightly, the crate in his hand bobbing a bit with the weight. “I know.†Ryanti said back to the darkness, opening his eyes within it even though it saw just as much of nothing.
Suddenly, a strike of a match happened, and then there was light. A brief little fire upon the match stick burned into the little cup of the pipe that the man had extended. His pure black locks confirmed who the man was – Jonathan. He took a wiff and a little billow of smoke came out from his chapped lips before he shook the match out, the embers only illuminated part of his face as smoke came from it. “And you trust her?â€
Ryanti turned to face him, quietly bending his knees and gently placing the crate upon the floorboards with barely a peep, resting the strap upon the top of the crate. “I do.†He simply said, feeling an urge swell up in his gut that he was going to get ridiculed and chastised for what he said. His shoulders tightened up, and the Halfling looked away. For once, the darkness in the hallway seemed a better companion.
“Why?†Jonathan pressed him, puffing on his pipe right after. Why, why why… the dreaded why. Ryanti knew it was coming, yet he could never make that blow easier. For what purpose did he ask that; to judge him? To tell him how wrong he was?
“I don’t have a reason.†He found himself saying after probing his mind and finding nothing except for the honest answer. “Not any reason that you would be pleased with. You can’t always have concrete reasons to do something, or feel a certain way. That is what faith is.â€
Jonathan digested Ryanti’s answer while billowing a puff or two from the corner of his lips, nursing the pipe with a finger and his thumb plugged over the top. “You will not make any friends or otherwise in this line of work. There’s no such thing. People look after only themselves, and crave naught else but the table scraps of power that somehow find their way slipping through the fingers of the ones that have always had the power. Trust, faith, love, these things are a luxury not afforded to people like us. If you die following an impossible dream, you will not be the first Keeper to.â€
Ryanti’s expression molded into a rather perplexing tone, and he allowed himself to sigh. He had heard this before too from Jahh. You would not be the first. You would not be the first. Even though he had always felt like he wasn’t wanted… that he was pushed away by others…
“I do not believe that about people. Not all people. So I cannot follow your logic. I have already experienced much in the tastes of death, betrayal, and horrific war. I have killed many. But as I have seen men and women change their outlook on people after their experiences, I find that I don’t have the same ability to change how I see people. I can’t get myself to, no matter what I have seen or done. I still have faith that this cycle of madness can stop. So I cannot agree with you, Jonathan.â€
Jonathan blew out a sigh that had a thick amount of smoke in it. His back casually shuffled as he laid against the wall to support himself on his good leg. “Because reasons don’t matter to you?â€
The crate slowly lifted off the floor again by Ryanti’s other hand. “Because I don’t have faith in your reasons. I can’t look at it the way you do, Jonathan. I’m sorry.â€
“Is that is the real reason why you removed me from command?†Jonathan questioned, his emotionless gaze boring into the young man’s aquamarine eyes. Once again, Ryanti had dropped the bag, and he found himself once again face to face with his superior officer… on paper at least. “I removed you from command because your job in this unit was to be on the ground to guide us to our objective once we dived in. Now that it is I and the Captain diving, the job falls to me now. That is all there is to it. You may be able to advise me from the Roehmerl, but once I dive, let’s be frank: I and the Captain will be the ones making the decisions down there. Without your help down there, the Keeper takes command. You know that was the very reason why you were summoned to help. Because you had to protect me. Now you can only do that from a distance.â€
Jonathan let out a deeply ingrained sigh from the bottom of his throat. He was happy that being crippled allowed him to smoke again, to feel that feeling again and to ease his mind. Still, his next words were slow and rather hoarse in an ominous tone. “I hope you know what in the seven hells you are doing, Seventy-seven.â€
Ryanti hoped so too. He lifted the crate once more. “Well, the good news is that we won’t have to wait too long before finding out if I am.†That was true. Tomorrow was it. Tomorrow would be the beginning of the culmination of everything that had come to this – the biggest moment of his life.
As he began to turn away and walk towards his resting place, he stopped one final time. “Have you been keeping tabs?†He asked the older man. “Ever since the first shite comment about us was said.â€
“Good.†Said the snowy haired young man. “I am no naïve marmot. I fully understand that sometimes I… may be wrong about –some- people.†And with that, he retired.
A slight sound was heard when Ryanti rose himself up from his slumber against his corner of the room. The sheet that covered him slid down his shoulders and his body, revealing his threadless form to the unwatchful world. It was an uneventful sleep, hopelessly interrupted. Probably anxiety.
Forty-three was already out and Jonathan had yet to follow Ryanti back to their resting place. It was an uneventful sleep, hopelessly interrupted. His light clothing was tossed aside near the mattress he had been sleeping on for the past week or so now. He couldn’t remember the last time he had tried to sleep fully nude, but he figured… he could fall asleep easier that way. The salty winds from the window outside leaked through and felt very different with a lack of threading. After the sheets fell, he had pulled them up his legs enough to cover what was sensitive so that the same cold seething wind he had experienced out on deck would not find their way in his most sensitive of areas. He felt his chest with his fingertips, near the same spot Sounsyy had pushed him away. He thought maybe… he could warm that spot with his own fingertips, but they were equally cold, and all it did was re-ensure the memory.
He shifted his glance rapidly when he witnessed a feint light, the bluest of light, coming from underneath his pillow. In the bowels of the ship the artifact had rested, but it had seen many places of the Roehmerl since Ryanti uprooted it from its ultra-secure location. With a movement of the pillow, Ryanti gazed upon the piece of work that was the Allagan contraption; the link between the men of present day… and the long lost wishes… the dreams of those who had perished in the deep over five millennia ago.
He noticed the blue light was fading in and out faster than usual, with a erythematic pace. With a solemn movement, he picked up the artifact with a single hand. The cerment still felt so well made and so unbelievably strong in form. It was cold to the touch, but yet it was making Ryanti’s palm warm and humid. There was a ‘tenseness’ about the light… and the aura about the device. It was as if the device was looking for something, assured that something was there where it was looking but finding nothing. Ryanti held his breath and touched the tips of his fingers upon the outline of the circular component that held the bulb which was the strongest source of light on the objects. He slid his fingers along the outline of the circle in a command that told the key to give him a diagnostic.
He maneuvered his hand swiftly back, and the light upon the object began to dim, giving way to a blue background of a monitor of some sort. A bunch of garbled writing began to spill itself out upon the orb that had turned into a screen of sorts. It was the same garbled writing he had remembered the night before he came upon the ship. That was the last time he had checked. He was trying to make sure everything was okay tomorrow. It looked like it was.
Still, as he locked the device with a reverse movement of his fingers, he could see that the artifact was still pulsating rather… fast and tensely. There was life about this object upon it right now. He didn’t know whether or not there were actual souls trying to communicate, or… residual feelings, emotion or energy. It was still so poorly understood in his time. It was almost like a heartbeat. Almost as if he was cradling a heart itself. Ryanti took great care when he enveloped his second hand upon holding the object. With a quiet gesture, he lowered his head to the object and breathed a very calm and warm breath from the back of his throat a few times upon the device. He did it until his breath made the device warm again. He wanted to make it warm to soothe it.
“It’s going to be alright.†Ryanti murmured to the device in the slightest of whispers. “It’s okay. Your nightmares will not win tonight.†He continued, and finally the pulsating of the object began to calm down a little bit, and slow down. Ryanti’s eyes closed a quarter way and his lips formed into a weak smile. “You must be worried. I’m worried too. I don’t want to fail like the others.â€
Ryanti manuveared his eyes to glance up above at the window, his eyes pointing towards the shining silver moon in the sky. His breaths were slow but deep, and he spoke as if trying to communicate beyond the sky, his eyes closed in a kind of prayer. “Mother Crystal… I know we haven’t talked much, but... I would be most grateful if you could watch over us. If you could bless us.â€
He shifted his eyes back to the Artifact. It felt so surreal knowing that at one time so so long ago when millennia became eons… Allagan hands had touched where Ryanti’s hands had touched. It was easy to believe it was nothing but a dream, as nothing but thoughts and wishes and fairy tales. But this object was real. Those dreams were dreamed by real people in a world that was so far beyond the imagination of most. But it was… real. All of it was real. He rested his forehead upon the orb of light, closing his eyes and whispering out another prayer… this time towards the Allagans. “I would be most grateful if you could watch over us too. Those from an era so profound. I… hope I can be worthy in your eyes to be blessed.â€
---
Ryanti jolted his eyes open. He must have fallen asleep. Right?
But it was dark still, and there was no one in the room with him. How was that? He swept the sheets off of him and stood himself up, glancing around the room and nearly getting dizzy doing it. It felt there was a storm going on, and Ryanti’s body shifted as the Roehmerl crashed back and forth against the waves. Normally in such rough weather, he expected that the crew would be shouting aboard deck and handling the equipment upstairs. He heard nothing. This troubled him and troubled him greatly.
“Guys?!?†Ryanti had shouted upon each wooden doorway of the ship that he had opened. Everything was there as if the crew had just left it the way it was, but everyone… everyone was gone. It was like the Roehmerl itself was abandoned and the crew had vanished in an instant. The lack of the crew nor Ryanti’s partners caused the ship to feel eerily empty and void. It was lifeless, and Ryanti could feel the panic racing up against his throat as he swung doors open faster and faster. “Fruhsuun!?! Pamido?!? Jonathan?!? Leura?!? W-welro?!? A-ANYBODY?!? H-hey! It’s a storm! A storm!â€
As soon as he found stairs that led up to the deck, one of the masts found him. Without the crew, the ship was falling apart in the storm. The wooden pillar crashed upon the stairs and Ryanti helplessly yelled and stumbled onto the steps, having to crawl on all fours to get past the obstacle and continue to the deck. A bolt of lightning crashed against the deck of the ship, and Ryanti had to hold onto the remnants of the mast just to stay on the ship as a roaring wave crashed upon the floorboards.
What had caused this?!? What was going on? The clouds around him were a sulfuric, dead yellow, spewing dark lighting from within its bowels and striking the ocean water, sending waves flying towards the ship as Ryanti desperately tried to hold on. His hair whipped around as his frightened eyes looked up at the sky. There were no stars out. It was a black void filled with rotten clouds that seemed to trap him in this reality. He could make out, at an impossible point behind the black void, the shape of the Allagan artifact.
Everywhere in the sky he looked was that shape. It was as if it was painted upon the sky at impossible angles that could only be real if taking place in a dream. Immediately after, a huge sound filled Ryanti’s ears that boomed from the distant sky. It sounded like an ultra-modern humming noise that blared from the sky at an immensely loud volume level. It was like a… like a starship activating its full power. He couldn’t make out the form behind the clouds, but blue lights stemmed from it… a shape, he could make out a shape… a MASSIVE shape…
A second blaring horn sounded that felt like the ground quaking underneath him. Ryanti had found himself looking over the water as a consequence. The water… the rustling waves of the Indigo Deep. Ryanti whipped his head behind him to witness a massive tentacle of a Kraken, sea monster of legend in the little picture books Ryanti read as a kid, slam against the Captain’s cabin of the Roehmerl, reducing it to shreds in an instant and bending the ship in a contorted, twisted shape as it mauled the guts out of the vessel. Ryanti found the ship tilting to the side at an impossible angle, inevitable that it would sink. The next thing he knew, he was hanging from the guardrail, his feet dangling from the side of the capsized vessel as it began to capsize.
Ryanti looked down, and realized that he was wearing his Sharlayan suit. Realizing that he had no other choice, he climbed the side of the ship and stood upon its underbelly that had reared itself above the sea. He fiddled the mouthpiece that rested next to his collarbone, and realized that the suit had been modified for diving. As a precaution, he put the mouthpiece into his lips and took a test breath, breathing from the oxidized air that had been filtered into the tiny tubes in his suit. At that moment, an ultra-loud blaring horn from the blue lights in the sky shook his head and caused him to writh in pain and agony, toppling over the vessel and dropping into the dark water below.
He had closed his eyes, and was writhing back and forth in the cold water, feeling himself sinking and the cold beginning to overtake him. It would feel nice to just give into the relaxation of it all… and the numbness of the cold to settle his fright and his pain. But it didn’t feel right, and Ryanti shot open his eyes. Sounds and echoes permeated through the water despite it being an impossibility in reality. Sonic waves buzzed his ears. He was treated to visions in the water of violent creatures heading straight towards him. Ryanti pulled out his Sharlayan knife from his thigh and held it steady in his hand, spinning two and fro and recoiling in fright from these visions and even swiping at them with his knife only to hit nothing and for the image to fade within an instant of coming at him.
He continued to sink into the water, but the visions were replaced with echoes of voices he didn’t know speaking a language he didn’t understand. Within the chaos, Ryanti looked for the first time below him to see an astounding sight.
There was a figure in shadow, squirming about, looking like it was drowning. A hyur torso with a serpent tail was pursuing her in the darkness, arms outstretched to claim her. It was… it was Sounsyy. It all made sense now… the storm, the ship, the absence of the crew and the Allagan presence. He felt like he was in someone else’s dream… Sounsyy’s.
He had invaded a cycle in his dreams because of his desire to break them, though Ryanti did not know he had done this.
His blood boiled. He felt his adrenaline surge. The young man swam towards her as hard as he could, eyeing the sea serpent that swiped her arms about Sounsyy to try to claim her. He could feel every muscle he had burn with pain as he swam, getting closer, getting ever closer… with every moment that he swam he knew he might lose her. His teeth put marks into his mouthpiece with his effort and he brought his knife blade up and out. He wasn’t going to lose her. He was not going to be a helpless bystander in the crowd anymore.
With his free arm, he reached out as his body javelined towards its target. For a brief moment, he felt his free arm warp around the neck of the creature as he slammed into it from behind. For a tiny second, he felt his other arm thrust as hard as it could with that knife towards the monster’s neck.
---
Ryanti woke up. He was lying on the bed stomach first with the covers up to the small of his back, gripping his pillow with both hands near his chin level. The sounds of the morning bell were undoubtedly familiar in Ryanti’s mind, as everyone that was able were to wake up and help prep. The young man looked about, and noticed that there no one in the room with him. His features lit up a bit at the realization that he had gripped the pillow so hard that it had formed tiny breaks in the threading, and that the artifact was in the pocket of his trousers when it had been underneath his pillow. His heart was beating so hard… he felt like he had done something. He gripped his chest slightly, and squeezed at it. There was a connection there. It made a feeling of heat wash through his skin, clearing his mind.
He pulled up his covers a little bit and glanced out the window. The sun was bright, and the sky was a crystal clear blue. He realized now that the Roehmerl in his dream was not the real thing. It gave him some relief. But the issue that he was facing today was so great; he couldn’t afford to dwell upon it longer. It was the big day. The biggest day of his life. The door to his room creaked open from a Lalafell that he was familiar with, his spectacles nice and polished up as if there was never any blood on them. “It looks like today is your big day, young man.â€
“And he’s not talking about graduating or some shite like that.†Jonathan commented, walking into the room with the same kind of walk that spoke authority when he entered the room, even though he still held a single crutch in his armpit and hobbled like a cripple. “Damn it, you people… I’m naked.†Ryanti admitted, earning a stern lookaway by the other two men of his crew as he slinked his undergarments his Sharlayan lower fatigues upon him, swiftly tying up his combat boots. Jonathan leaned upon his crutch and extended his hand out. Thinking about everything revolving the mission, Ryanti caught his hand with his own and was helped onto his feet by the older man despite his injury, squeezing into his netted undershirt right after. “Let’s get you ready.†Jonathan murmured firmly to Seventy-seven, patting him on the back once or twice.
Forty-three adjusted his spectacles to the morning sun. “Indeed. The Captain just woke up herself, and the crew are tending to her needs right now as if they were butlers! Strange. I don’t believe we will be able to swallow our pride to do such a thing.â€
The Captain had just woke up? The same time he did? “Don’t worry about it.†Ryanti told him as Jonathan took big steps with his good leg to be able to get to the door frame and wait outside of it for him. “Let’s go, Seventy-seven. They’re cooking a big breakfast today. Stuff from that Garlean shite. Something filling for the both of ya. They even got juice.â€
It seemed to be complete chaos in the mess hall. Susuroon was in fantastic spirits for the first time since Eighty-five had gotten hit. There was something about cooking a giant meal in the morning that cheered him up. He had said something along the lines of the feeling tickling his tummy. Ryanti had sat down with Jonathan and Forty-three, and they were talking amongst themselves. Anyone that could have overheard their conversation would note that they were mentioning how to best handle the rations and water they would be taking down there. A fair amount of the conversation also had to do with advising Ryanti what courses of actions to take if he were to run into any situation deemed unsafe. More than likely, this was their way of making up for not being able to go down with him. However, they got up to convene outside of the Mess Hall before the Captain arrived.
The mess hall was the first time Ryanti had seen the Captain since that last night. But they didn’t get much of a chance to talk after what happened last night. Ryanti still had those thoughts linger in the back of his mind, but he was all business this first half of the morning, cramming food in his mouth. Asparagus, popoto, lean meats, steamed vegetables, fruit juice, even plain old stalks of lettuce that Ryanti grimaced at when he wolfed it down. He was eating purely to fuel his body this morning, not to please the tongue. He did send a sign to Sounsyy across the table though. A subtle little thumbs up, and a quick smirk. He was ready. He hoped she was.
“Marjanie is ready to begin the briefing!†Jonathan shouted out from the entrance to the mess hall, among the commotion, holding out his full hand to indicate attention. “Once you two suit up, we need to get to the deck! We’re expecting light rainfall by the time the sun is a few more clicks across the sky and we’d like to get you two in the water before then! Make sure you have –everything-!â€
Just then, Jonathan tilted his back a bit, as if he was hearing a little bit of commotion from behind him. Whether or not it was Forty-three or Cwaenlona, no one could really see, but it seemed as if Jonathan was relaying messages because he had a more booming voice than anyone. “Eighty-five has woken up!†Was his next phrase, which got nearly –everyone’s- attention in the mess hall, including Ryanti, who wiped his face clean with a cloth and immediately got himself up out of the stool to follow the group of people that left the place.
Her skin was still a bit pale, and it looked like she hadn’t moved all that much since the last time Ryanti and Sounsyy had seen her. She had a sponge bath once or twice though, and her hair was tied in a loose bun to make things a little easier for her. Messy as all hell, not something she would prefer but it worked. Her bandages on the side of her neck were very thick, and the medical gel applied to the wound was a combination of what the Sharlayan crew had and what Cwaenlona had. There would be a scar, no doubt about it. It would haunt her neck for cycles to come, probably.
Her words were quiet and weak as her watery eyes took notice of everyone around her. Jada was the closest to her, but Sounsyy and Ryanti were allowed to be close as well since they were leaving. Leura had already spoken with Susuroon and Jada, the two that were notified before Jonathan let the word out, which explained why Susuroon was so happy. She had been told that Ryanti and Sounsyy were leaving, and even though she was kind of messed up at the moment because of the painkilling drugs pumping through her veins, she managed to get a few words out.
“You’re wearing… my shite.†She managed to croak out to Sounsyy. “I’d..k- ..kick some… ass in that suit. n’.. look after.. snowcone over there, like he would for me… so… you better… you… better not… you better not do anything l-… less, girl.†She seemed out of breath even saying that, closing her eyes and taking heavy breaths. If one were to look near the top of her bandage, they would see the discoloration. “Sorry, just.. I g-got.. a Garlean n’… vein in my.. neck right now n’.. feels… weird… lightheaded..†She eyed Jada with dazed and unfocused eyes, and it was not too long after before the ones that came were being shoo’d out of the cot. But before Sounsyy left, as Jada held Leura’s head when she closed her eyes and breathed deeply out of fatigue, sweating dripping down the side of her scalp, she spoke one final time.
“I never.. dreamed of nothin’, Captain. It really never was my… suit.â€
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