Anansi's Web
Serpent Stone

When I woke up, I was lying on the ground. A fire was burning behind me, creating dancing shadows in front of me. I slowly sat up, and wiped the tiredness from my eyes. The sky was dark purple, and several stars were out, twinkling gently.

I turned around, and saw the fire a foot or two away from me. A long, ragged cloth slipped off of my body as I sat up. I placed the poor excuse for a blanket aside, and saw that Vince was awake, sitting on the rock that Cara was on earlier.

The ocean was the same color as the sky, and shifted like a pool of shadow. The moon was muffled by the clouds. Cara was snoring near me, also covered in a thin blanket. The serpent stone was visible with her hand still clutched over it. The only thing missing was Ember.

I watched the soft, and crackling fire burn low as the swift and silent wind swayed across the area, bringing the salty scent of the sea along with it. I felt cold as the air washed over me. My arms crossed over my chest, and I scooted closer to the dying fire. As I watched the glinting flames, I saw two gemstones, one was blue, and the other was orangeish brown. They were the ones from my reoccurring dream. I wasn’t sure if it meant anything or not.

Vine got up, and walked towards the fire. His skin was shaded with orange, and red. His face was made harsher by the shadows that were tossed across his face. He wore a stern, yet sympathetic expression, like my dad as he told me about his past that night I left the group. I never thought anyone else was capable of capturing his essence, but Vince did a pretty eerily good job of it.

“You should get some sleep.” he said. His voice was tired, and not very persuasive.

“I’m not that tired.”

“Doesn’t matter Monrolee, you should take my advice.”

“Why are you awake?”

“Keep watch. If anything attacks Ember could use some help. She’s standing guard at the edge of the camp.”

I turned and saw Ember behind some of the traps they had set up. She was a dark shadow in an ocean of black, but I could make her out.

“Vince, can I ask you a question?”

Vince was silent for a moment. “Maybe, depends on what it is.”

“Are you scared, or nervous about tomorrow?”

A ghost of a smile teased on Vince’s lips. “Neither. I stopped being scared or nervous a long time ago. Besides, I’ve been to that island before. I just hope you three will listen to me, because one wrong move could mess everything up.”

“Can I tell you something?”

“Sure, and you can stop asking permission to talk too.”

I swallowed, and spoke, “My dad told me he was the son of a guy who worked pretty high up for Fervan.”

“Hmm, does that make you feel conflicted?”

“I…don’t think so. I just want to know more I guess.”

Vince turned towards me, his green eyes turning to a flickering orange from the light. “You shouldn’t have been brought into this as young as you are. I was young to, so I know how it feels to want to know more about why you’re fighting. But Fervan doesn’t have a trace of decency left except for the people, who’re so suppressed they don’t have a whisper in what goes on. That’s what a lot of people think anyway. Yes not everyone is right, but in a war you don’t just fight for an idea, you fight for your way of life.”

I wasn’t sure if that was entirely true, so I took it with a bit of salt. I guess he was a little bit right though. I live on Zirea, so I should protect Zirea.

On that heavy note Vince smiled. “Cara asked me the scared or nervous question while you were asleep. Did you two talk?”

“Yeah, we talked earlier.”

Vince still had a minor grin on his face. He lifted a hand, and patted me on the back. “Don’t be so worried, you’re tough, you’re still learning though. I’ll watch your back on the island, we’re a team.”

I smiled, “Thanks.”

“Now I’m serious, get some rest. You’ll need it.”

I nodded, and lie back down, covering myself with the pathetic blanket as the fire sputtered to the end of its light. The embers floated up to the sky, like they would become more stars. I closed my eyes, and drifted back to sleep, the uneasiness from earlier today wasn’t gone, but it was wiped away a little bit.

That morning, the fire was nothing more than a pile of burnt wood, and ash. The faint scent of smoke lingered in my nose. The sun was bright, and hot as usual. I thought about what people back at school would think about me when summer ends. They’ll think I was some kind of hero after seeing me on the news coming out of Neptias castle.

As I stretched, exposing myself to the morning light, my dad’s words about not leaving for too long came back to me. How was he going to deal with how long I’ve been gone? I had a noble cause, what could my dad do that was so bad when I got back? The vision of a train chugging on a track danced in my head, and I got even more determined to survive this for my family.

“Good morning.” Ember said from behind me. I turned and saw her walk forward from the line of traps she had set up yesterday. It didn’t look like there were any disturbances last night.

’Good morning.”

Ember smiled a bitter sweet smile, “We don’t have any breakfast except for some little snacks from the house in Sraff. If you want after a snack, we could practice that shield magic.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” I said, finishing my made up stretches.

Cara was tossing and turning near the old fire, and Vince was sleeping away from the fire, his bag clutched in his hands.

I carefully snuck over to Vince, and un-zipped the bag, but his eyes snapped open, but when he recognized me his alert senses relaxed, and he sighed with relief. He grumbled something I couldn’t understand before letting go of his grip on the bag and curling back up with a wave of dismissal from his hand.

I took some cheap plastic wrapped honey buns, and picked out two for Ember and I. It felt strange sitting in the mountains eating honey buns, but at this point I started to stop caring.

When we were done, I placed the wrappers back into Vince’s bag, and Ember stood up.

“Alright, so shield magic is a way of blocking enemy spells. It, uh, doesn’t need any words, all you need to do is hold out our hand, empty your emotions, and think about protection.” Ember said, notably trying to make is sound simpler than it probably is. “It may seem like a handful, but it becomes second nature when you’re used to it.”

I raised my hand, and tried to empty myself of emotion. When I thought I had done that, I thought about protection, and shields. My hand felt warm, and slightly tingly. When I looked at my hand, I noticed a small spark of white energy dissipate into smoke.

“Very good,” Ember said. “You keep trying, and I’ll wake everyone else up so we can get ready. But, we aren’t leaving until you can give me three successful shields in a row. We have all day.”

I clenched my teeth, but I managed to empty my emotions a second time. I tried it some more, but it just wasn’t fully forming. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. I even tried to give myself a target like last time, but that didn’t work. In frustration I did the light show trick just to remind myself that I was capable of using magic at all.

When everyone was awake, and getting ready I had successfully created three shields and it was a lot easier to do. By the time Ember got back to me, I held my hand up, and emptied my emotions. I closed my eyes, and thought about protecting Her, Vince, Cara, and my parents. When I opened my eyes there was a very low sounding pop, and a shifting white energy surrounded me. Behind the field, Ember was visible, but her body was one color, purple. Ember’s body shifted and danced like my magic was doing right now.

“Fantastic.” Ember said, “Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?”

“Are you ready to use the shield?”

“Yeah.” I said. Now I was just standing in the middle of my shield. After I formed it I didn’t need to keep thinking about protection, or keep my emotions empty.

Ember’s purple body lifted one arm, and I saw a flash of light burst against my defense. When the magic was gone, there was a crack that looked like a spider Webb branching out from where Ember hit it.

There was a strange ache forming inside of me, but I ignored it until Ember hit my shield again, and it cracked open, eventually shattering. The ache turned into a blunt pain all over my body, and I could hardly stand for a few seconds.

“Yeah, that happens. Shields can’t be taken down by you; they need to be destroyed from the inside or the outside in order to set you free.”

“Alright.” I said, standing up straight as the pain became dull.

“I’ll have to explain how a magic fight works later, but for now you’re good.” Ember said, putting her hand on my shoulder.

I smiled. It was still difficult to wrap my head around magic, but now that I was starting to get a feel for it, I was really excited.

I sat down for a while to regain my energy while Cara gave Ember the serpent stone.

Vince and Cara both had honeybuns for breakfast before now. I watched as Cara backed away from Ember as she gripped the stone in her fist.

Cara walked over to me, and grabbed my hand, pulling me up, and towards Ember so I could watch. I groaned, but I didn’t have enough energy to resist. Cara didn’t let go of my hand as we stood. I gripped hers back in a silent reply.

“How long’s this gonna take?” Cara asked.

“Few minutes. I’d explain the bond between her and the sea serpent and junk, but I don’t know much and it’s boring anyway.”

We stood there watching in complete silence for a moment. There was nothing but a gentle quiet breeze. The morning birds hushed, and the waves went entirely still. The magic must be working. I felt an eerie feeling in my gut as the stillness continued. The drifting clouds went still, with the sun hiding behind them. I tried to ask Vince if this was normal, but my voice wouldn’t release from my throat.

Cara and I exchanged glances as Ember raised her hand, and tossed the stone across the water. The green gem skipped across the waves lightly, causing ripples in the mirror like surface of the still water.

I counted the number of times the stone skipped. One…two…three…four. Clunk!

The stone sunk with a small splash, and everything became calm again for an unsettling amount of time. I started to think it didn’t work. Ember turned towards us. The ripples on the water became wider, and wider until they disappeared.

“Did you do it right?” I asked quietly.

Ember nodded, “I hope so.”

“It’s almost ready.” Vince said confidently.

Then, the water seemed to move in reverse. Ripples re-appeared on the surface. Swirling until a whirlpool began to open up, becoming stronger and stronger. Slowly everything began to move again, but the whirlpool kept going, and from the center was a green light. Then, I saw the green sea serpent peak its head out form the center. Then, it shot into the air, it’s long body shooting straight for a minute or two until it dove back into the water, obliterating the whirlpool, splashing water all across us.

“Whoa,” I said.

Next to me, Vince seemed stiff, almost afraid to move, which I could understand, but he was a big tough pirate once, I would think he’d be the bravest of us.

“Scared?” I asked without thinking.

Vince shook his head with a scowl on his face. “C’mon, let’s get this over with.”

The sea serpent slithered through the waves towards us in a few sleek movements. It moved its head towards the sky, and then lowered it, almost touching the water in a sort of bowing motion.

There were several large and small fins on the creature, and there were two large fins on its back where I guess wings would have been on a normal dragon. The creatures green scales shimmered in the day light, which would have been a beautiful final sight for anyone who met this creature without having called it with a stone.

“So do we just get on it, or…” Cara asked, stepping forward. The creature snarled, and opened its huge mouth that could swallow a cow whole. It was showing off its extensive array of teeth.

Cara backed away quickly.

Ember walked forward, urging Cara back with a wave of her hand. The sea serpent closed its jaw, and bowed its head once more.

“Can you understand me?” Ember asked. The serpent showed no signs that it understood. Ember talked with it anyway. “Can you give me and my friends a ride please? We need to get to an island.”

The dragon turned around, and arched its back out of the water, giving us a slimy bridge to get on. It was Ember, me, Cara, and Vince. The creature’s scales were solid, and ridged, making it very uncomfortable to sit on. My pants got wet, but I tried to ignore that.

I looked behind us as the dragon slithered through the waves. Our small empty camp became a speck of dust as we set out through the vast sea. I wondered if we would ever see Zirea again, but I pushed the thought away because it was too dark, I didn’t want to think about the worst happening.

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