Zephyr's arrival to the town was somber when he arrived around night. The town was quiet, small, cool, and the only place of industry that wasn’t the wharf was the dry dock and the wharf was the fish house or the few pubs around. The town was an isolated isle from the world much less the nation it lived in and it showed.
For the first, the people there were different, very different from their northern counterparts. Instead of dressing in vibrant and loose clothing accented with golden thread, they instead wore woolen sweats, cotton shirts, and oilskins. Oilskins of which were made from materials that were unlike anything that he had ever seen before.
Because instead of being made from regular waterproof fabric, they were made from what he could tell to be a flexible leather-like material. One whose patterns and in turn varied from worker to worker. One could have a set that seemed almost like scaled armor, another could have one that was slick and still seemed to secrete oil like it was alive, and the next could have seemed like it was patched together with a dozen separate materials while being decorated in a similar set of trinket’s and small tokens made from crystal and coral.
And as for the people at the port? They kept to themselves. Nobody waved hello to Zephyr nor did they pay him much notice, and it was clear that they were reclusive and secretive. He was open to stay and to look, even to buy what he wanted from the few stores that were around, but it was clear that he was not welcome in town. The ambivalent look that he had from the denizens around coupled with the ominous presence that he felt as he walked around confirmed that.
So he moved on and into the fisherman's wharf. Watching boats both big and small rake in their catches for the day. Most were just the size of ordinary fishing boats and skiffs manned by ordinary looking men and women, others were heavy ships crewed by giants, but all of whom were decorated in the same strange uniform that they all had.
Because the ships that resided within this port were no ordinary ships that could be seen in an ordinary place. No, while these ships may be the size of fishing boats and skiffs, they were all built for war against the esoteric monster’s of the depths. They often sported hulls made of thick steel plate, heavy esoteric idol’s whose visage could be seen from all around inspiring both awe and fear to any who witnessed it, elaborate furnace that spewed perfumed smoke into the sky, and heavy industrial devices designed to rig and to tow the heaviest of beast imaginable to the human mind.
And as for what these ships and crews caught? Like what Zephyr had seen from the fishmonger the catches that these fisherman caught were were a strange menagerie that he had never seen before whose size and shape varied with each and every one: one could be: one could be an eel-like creature whose body was made of a mixture of molten rock and flesh, another was seemingly made entirely from rubber that was the size of his hand, and the next could be something as big as his head with the resemblance of a jellyfish that flew through the air raining a miraculous liquid beneath it that was carefully gathered away in tarps and stored away in glass bottles.
However no matter what size they were it was clear that they held some sort of invisible power to them. With each and every one of those strange catches that he saw having a sort of influence on the world in the same manner that The Twin Monarchs had on the sun and the presence of a hero on the battlefield. They were all shaping, carving, and painting the world around them in their brilliant colors.
Strange thought to be honest, why did I come up with that name? Zephyr thought to himself as he continued to watch the sailors work as the name for the creatures crawled into his mind. He didn’t know why he suddenly knew it, but it just felt…strangely right. Like a man simply knowing the word for hot when confronted with the fire or knowing that the lights in the skies were stars. It just felt right and entirely instinctual.
Well no no harm no foul I guess, Zephyr thought to himself dismissing the worry. Stranger things have happened to me and a name popping up in mind is the least of my worries right now. However before he could think on his thoughts any further or watch the sailors and fisherman work he heard the damp sounds of wet footsteps behind him.
Looking in the direction of the noise, he saw what he knew to be the fisherman that the elder mentioned. He was dressed in a dark oilskin made from a dark leather and he was old, very old, so old that instead of becoming larger like the elder he instead became smaller to the point that he resembled an ordinary old man. His frame was small, he was wrinkled, scarred, and worn down by the claws of time. But his eyes, his eyes were different, very different. Like the elder said they were a deep ocean blue that sparkled and glowed faintly as if they were fueled by lit embers.
“Your him aren’t you. The one my friend told me about?” said the fisherman, Lazuli, in a tone to match his frame and age and Zephyr heard to be Equestrian.
“I am,” answered Zephyr with a nod as he patted his suitcase. The strange feeling that he had in his jaw when he spoke to the Zebra returning once more.
“Good, are you ready then?” Lazuli asked him.
“Uhhh,” Zephyr uttered for a few seconds as he had forgotten what he was asked to do by the elder. “To do what again?”
“To fish,” Lazuli answered. “In return for me ferrying you across the ocean to a safe harbor you will fish with me.”
Lazuli’s eyebrow cocked for a moment as he said, “you do remember the terms to our agreement with my friend, yes?”
“Y-y-yeah, yeah,” Zephyr blurted out as the memory of what he said to the elder struck him now. “Yeah I can fish I guess, what are we fishing for?”
“Leviathan's,” Lazuli answered plainly. “There is a beast out there that I wish to catch. One that has become troublesome to many fishing boats in the past few days.”
“Riiight,” Zephyr said awkwardly as he grabbed his suitcase before rolling up his sleeves and showing his malnourished arms to the fisherman. “I hope your not expecting me to throw any harpoons or the like. I’m not exactly a muscle guy if you can tell.”
“No need for that,” Lazuli said, shaking his head. “All I need you to do is to simply provide me company, come,” he continued while walking down towards his boat, “i’ll show you your position in my skiff.”
“Well…alright I guess,” Zephyr said as he followed with his suitcase in tow. Weird guy, but who am I to care if he’s willing to give me a free ride.
Eventually the two walked over the wharf and came upon a small fishing skiff. One that was uniquely made entirely from metal, bone, and leather with not a single splinter of wood on it. Its mast was made from a heavy rib bone that was taller than him that featured strange carvings on it, its shell reinforced with black metal, and its oars made from crystal. It was a ghoulish thing fit more for the ferryman of the underworld than a fisherman’s skiff.
“I uhm,” Zephyr erred as he looked at the skiff that floated just next to him. “We’re going to be fishing in that?”
“Yes,” Lazuli stated as he got inside the skiff before looking at him and tilting his head in confusion. “Is there a problem?”
“Eh, no,” Zephyr hesitated. “It’s just…you do know how far the eastern continent is from The Isles right? It isn’t just something you can get to in an afternoon or in a few hours.”
“I know,” Lazuli said again as he took a minute to check the mast, “but we’ll arrive there as we have agreed with you safely aboard my skiff and entirely unharmed.”
“A-are you sure? “Zephyr said with a bit of hesitation. ”It-s just that…uhm.”
“It’ll be fine I assure you,” Lazuli comforted Zephyr as he got out a paddle from the inner parts of the skiff that was made from bone. “ Climb aboard, come with me, fish with me for a short while, and I will take you to where you wish to be afterward as I have said before.. But if you do not wish to accompany me on my trip then you may stay here and wait for someone else to ferry you across instead.”
He tilted his head to look at Zephyr as he held the paddle out ready to dip it into the water. “The choice is yours and yours alone,” he said in usual emotionless and plain tone , “I will not ask or to force you to step aboard my skiff. That decision you have to make on your own.”
“Err,” Zephyr erred as he looked around. Should he step aboard and go with Lazuli? It didn’t exactly feel right, it was small, tiny even, and the things that he saw aboard the vessel were huge, titanic. What if Lazuli wanted to hunt them? What then? The dragon was old, probably older than The Twin Monarch’s, the elder, and anyone else that he saw before. Could he be trusted to take him aboard and to guide through the ocean to where he wanted?
He looked around him at the various ships still in the harbor. Maybe someone else could do it instead like Lauzli said. He wasn’t the only ship that was around in the harbor. Maybe he could find his way aboard a cargo ship like last time and get him across the way. That could be easier, he’d done it before, so why couldn't he do it a second time? It was pretty easy in theory and practice anyway. Just find a lifeboat and lurk within it for a few day’s until he was eventually able to get out and to roam around without worry.
But what if the first time was a fluke? What if he was just lucky? Maybe it was safer to just look for a ship instead, but what if that ship was bad? Maybe he should just stay aboard Lazuli’s skiff but again that doesn't discount what he already knew and what about…
And so Zephyr’s head spun and spun as he swam in indecision, anxiety, and distress. All the while Lazuli patiently waited with his oar ready. He’d seen these kinds of people before and the pattern that they would go through life: barely living, never making a decision, and running away when it was time to make one. Always ending with them lamenting not on the decisions that they had made or the hardships that they faced, but instead on why they would ever even try in the first place. There was only one solution to this that wasn’t forcing them along.
“So have you made your decision?” Lazuli spoke clearly to Zephyr, poking him with the side of his oar.
“I uhm,” Zephyr hesitated again, his eyes snapping back to the harbor, teh ships, the coast, and to the skiff. “I’m not sure.”
“Why not?” Lazuli asked Zephyr, “what’s the problem? You have two choices and you must pick one now.”
“It’s just…it’s just everything's terrifying to be honest,” Zephyr admitted out loud. “I want to get out of here, but I want to get out of here safe and sound, and I don’t think that you can do it, but uhm…I’m not sure if anyone can.”
He looked around at a nearby ship before pointing towards it. “Like, hehm, I can perhaps ask them, and they might be willing to take me aboard if i’m lucky, but they might just rob me or, or sell me into slavery, or who knows what.”
He pointed back towards the ships in the harbor, his voice becoming raw with panic and urgency. “And I can perhaps go on a cargo ship to get out of here by hiding in a lifeboat or something, but again it’s like,” he stopped, his voice becoming defeated as he let out a sigh of defeat.
“I just...I don’t know what to do,” Zephyr confessed to Lazuli. “Do I stay here to look for someone? Do I go with you? Which choice the best? Which is the safest? Which will get me out of here safe and sound?"
Lazuli only gave a nod in confirmation towards this. He’d heard this a hundred times before and while the words may be different the song was the same along with the tune of its answer.
“I…cannot provide you with that answer towards which you seek,” Lazuli said to Zephyr. “That choice will have to be made on your own, but I can provide you with some guiding bit of information if you would be willing to listen.”
Zephyr turned towards him interested.
“A decision made now at the very least is a decision that can be improved upon later,” he said to Zephyr. “Because doing something now is better than staying where you are right now. That is waiting for something to decide for you or to force your hand based on your indecision.”
“But what if my decision isn't a good one, what if it's the wrong one? What then?” Zephyr tried to argue back.
“Then you will learn from it,” Lazuli answered with a shrug. “You will endure the consequences of your decisions, learn from it in what ways you can, and do what you can when there is another chance to try again.”
“But what if-” Zephyr tried to say.
“And what if you don’t get another chance?” Lazuli said, reading Zephyr's words before he spoke them. “Then at the very least you can be happy that you made some choice for yourself. And that even if it was a poor one, at at the very least what you did was real and decided entirely by you.”
“But that doesn't excuse the consequences though,” Zephyr murmured out as a wave of anxiety rolled through him. “I don’t think anyone wants to end up dead with their last thoughts being that they were happy with the decisions they made. That doesn't change anything at all. Your still dead in the end you know?”
“I know,” Lazuli accepted with a worn smile, “but it’s a good lie with isn’t it? We tell ourselves these false hopes and promises so that we can be happy when we die or when the time comes to face the consequences of our actions, but it isn’t always like that in the end right? Because in our final hours we will always panic and scream or cry and do what we can to avoid that very fate we set ourselves up to face. ”
"Heh, yeah I guess," Zephyr said with a bitter laugh knowing it all to well. "Always goes back to that in the end doesn't it?"
“Mhmh,” Lazuli hummed in agreement with Zephyr before turning towards him. "Look, I cannot tell you which way is right, which way is wrong, or what you ought to do now. That choice is yours and yours alone. But,” he said leveling his oar towards him, “I can at least ask you this instead. Can you promise to at the very least to try to stand your ground when you've made your choice?"
“Hmm?” Zephyr said, confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that when the time comes for you to be taken into account of your decisions or to decide what is true and real that you will at the very least stand your ground,” Lazuli answered. “That you will not run away in fear and desperation into the arms of those who are waiting for you to confess your sins and to decide your decisions for you.”
“Because I know that you will be filled with fear and with the urge to kneel with your head down on the floor in penance when that time comes, and that is okay. As I have just said before we will be forever be afraid of the consequences of our actions, it is entirely normal to feel such feelings,” Lazuli continued, leveling a fatherly look mixed with pity at him, “but fight it. Instead stand your ground, plant your feet firm, and face it head on. Even if you may not be strong enough to boldly proclaim what you have done to the world around you, even if your knees are shaking with fear and tears are streaming down your face, at least choose to not run away. Choose instead to stand and to accept your decisions and or the situation your in as yours. Even if you may be afraid you might not be strong enough to do so.”
“But what about,” Zephyr tried again still fearful of what the consequences of his decisions might bring.
“There will be consequences lad, there always be consequences no matter what you do,” Lazuli said again, shaking his head in dismay. “But at the very least you can take to heart that that even if you weren’t fit to decide your path for yourself that at the very least you stood firm at the end of it all. That you did not wear a mask or a cloak of obscurity to hide your feelings to the world, nor did you run away in fear from having to decide so that someone else can decide your actions for you."
“So can you do that for me, stranger?” Lazuli said to Zephyr with an earnest look. “Can you at least try to remain faithful to your decision whatever it may be, to stand when the time comes to be taken into account, and to try to believe the lie? I know it may be hard, and the task may seem impossible but you have to at least try.”
“I uhm…guess I can at least try,” Zephyr said softly in response. “I can at least try.”
“Good,” Lazuli said with a nod and a hint of a smile. “Then what is your choice on what to do from here? I humbly await your decision. ”
Zephyr looked round, he looked at the harbor, he looked at the ships around him, at the skiff, at Lazuli, at his briefcase, and at his compass. He thought about what he should do, what he shouldn't do, the consequences for either of his decisions, and more. All the while Lazuli waited patiently, his skiff idly rocking back and forth in the waves.
Eventually Zephyr made a decision. He stepped into the skiff with his suitcase in tow.
“Then we fish lad,” Lazuli said with a smile as he dipped his oar into the water and began to paddle his skiff away from the coasts and the harbors of The Isles. All the while Zephyr slowly watched the Isles slowly fade away from site.
This is it huh, he thought to himself as he made himself comfortable and put his suitcase away in a safe place. Last stop before we go.
He made the effort to try to say something before he left, to think of something that felt worthwhile, but he couldn't. Nothing came to mind.
Well, at the very least it was nice seeing you for a while, he thought to himself as he bid farewell to The Isles as it finally faded away from his sight. Pretty sure I didn’t see all of you, but I was happy with what I saw, until next time whenever that can be.
Left, right, left, right, the fisherman's pace was slow yet methodical as he stood tall in his boat rowing the skiff with their lone bone paddle. With the effect of his paddling causing the lone skiff to cut through the water as fast as not could without any maleffect. No sound was made, no disturbance to the waves could be made apparent to the casual or learned observer, it was almost as if the skiff was never there as it made its way through the ocean. Bobbing up and down through the waves without a single trace of its existence left in its wake.
The only thing that could be made apparent of its existence was its silhouette that was hampered by the two figures that occupied it now. One of which being the fisherman who guided the skiff with his oar and the other of which being Zephyr who sat in one of the benches and who now wore a thin oilskin jacket. And who without anything else left to do idly reflected on how far he had come in his journey.
It has been a busy few day’s hasn’t it, Zephyr thought to himself as he watched the fisherman work. One minute I'm cramped inside of a lifeboat waiting for the chance to get out, the next I'm talking to a smuggler of people, another I'm talking to an elder, then diplomats, mercenaries, and now…I’m here. I wonder what else I'm going to do from here to be honest once I get to the other side.
He thought about it for a few minutes but he couldn't think of anything. Should he make his way to Yale to Griffonstone to find out what was going on the other side of the dragon’s deal? That sounded like something he could do. He’d heard Griffonstone as a good place if someone had the cash to pay for what they wanted and he had months of pay stuffed into his suitcase and on his person. He was sure he would be fine for a bit if he went there for a little while.
If not, then perhaps Maregyptia? Catch a boat or two there, make his way to those thestrals, and head to that place that the priest mentioned…Moonspeaker hollow? Was that the name of the place?
Idly Zephyr held out his hand to the moonlight and watched the silver rings that he had sparkle and shine. It was worth a shot at the very least. That priest seemed influential and maybe he could hang around, take a few pictures, and whatnot before leaving.
Or, maybe he could even head to Yale and catch up on his studies. He did after all have his old college transcripts stuffed in his suitcase just in case and it could be worth a shot. Go into college, pay for his studies with the cash that he had, and wile away the time in class while the war waged along outside. He would have to learn the eastern empire’s language first through a hired tutor that wouldn't be cheap, but it was worth considering.
Well no matter what it is, I’m sure it’ll be something to remember Zephyr thought to himself as he settled contently in his seat. Hopefully.
Time passed and the boat continued on cutting through the waves like an icebreaker. All the while Zephyr and Lazuli didn’t talk to each other. Zephyr merely watched the ocean waves move up and down while Lazuli continued on. So what interrupted them wasn’t one of them talking, but instead fish, and not just any fish, fish that were said to glow by some hippogriffs with the spirit of the deep sea.
As if a switch had been flipped the entire world underneath the two erupted in prismatic light, showering the world in colors. Looking underneath him, Zephyr could see a school of fish idly swimming by the boat. And while they were small in size, they were large in number, and he could make out the crystalline scales that they had bathing the world in multicolored lights
Peering down Zephyr watched them with awe as they hugged the skiff’s side. Each one showing off to him and to anyone who witnessed the gifts of their heritage, but in their lights he found something in them that was strangely concerning and that he hadn’t noticed until now.
Because now his eyes had glowed. For how long had this been going on, he didn’t know, but they didn’t glow before and that was what mattered. With the sickly yellow color coming from his eyes and sclera now reminiscent of powdered sulfur. And it didn’t end there for his pupils, once a deep violet, had changed to a dark red sometime in the past.
Huh, he thought to himself as he pulled his eye lid and looked at it. Was he sick? No, he didn’t feel sick so he ruled that out. Maybe it was something that he ate on the way to getting to the boat from here No, it couldn't have been that either. He didn’t feel hungry enough to eat something unless he was prompted to anyway and he was unsure if he even ate anything in the past few weeks anyway so it’s not like anything could even poison him.
So what could it be then? It felt familiar somehow, but in what way? Idly he wracked his mind for an answer and when that failed he went through his things before he found it. On the back of the compass that was given to by Discord was the depiction of a strange winged chimera creature in an ouroboros, still flying around, still biting its tail, and content to do that forever and ever.
“Huh, I didn’t notice that until now,” Zephyr hummed to himself as he looked at it and moved his eyelid a bit to look at his eye some more. While different in size and in shape, the colors his eyes had were exactly the same on the compass. It felt like looking at a weird mirror the more he looked at it.
"Hmm, probably something to think about later " Zephyr hummed to himself as he began to put it away, but before he could finish he heard the words of Lazuli next to him.
“Eyes up stranger,” Lazuli whispered in a low tone as he slowed the skiff down before he gestured out towards a distant light hidden by a set of clouds. “Do you see it?”
“See what?” Zephyr said, peering through as he finished stuffing his compass in his pocket. While he definitely could see a point of light coming through the clouds, he thought it was nothing more than a thundercloud or two. Seeing them on the horizon was something expected back home. Just normal industrial weather work that happened in Equestria before the war. Where sunny skies, rainy days, and even tornadoes were not predicted but made on a scheduled basis.
“Blue bottle,” the fisherman answered as he directed the skiff around towards its direction, and noticing of which direction the skiff was going towards they dissipated at once. With each and everyone of them huddling together in a school as they swam away and out of sight.
Oh just great, Zephyr thought to himself as he watched the light that surrounded him and the boat fade away, Just my luck to be stuck fishing a blue bottle. Wait, what’s a blue bottle anyway?
A blue bottle as it turned out later was a leviathan, a jellyfish that was nearly the size of a blimp that floated near the clouds. With it glowing an ethereal blue glow as hundreds if not thousands of tendrils snaked down and dipped into the water below. Some of them were the size of ropes, others string, but all of them dutifully performed their assigned task of snatching any living creature that touched them and bringing it into the grasp of their hungry host that waited above.
“I-is this what we’re fishing for?” Zephyr half asked half whispered to the man as the skiff came to a stop just in front of the mass of tendrils. They were still a bit of a ways away from where the Blue Bottle lay. From here on out they would be going into a field filled with what he knew could be compared to a field filled with razor wire.
“No, this was a request,” Lazuli answered tersely as he studied the jellyfish for a moment. “Missing ship came through here before disappearing and they needed to confirm what had happened to them.”
“And you were asked to do it?”
“Yes,” Lazuli confirmed with a nod as he pushed the skiff into the field. “We’ll be going inside to see if we can find any trace of their existence left.”
It was slow work from there. The skiff slowly made its way through the field at a snail's pace, plowing its way through like an icebreaker would. Separating the strands from one another as it made its way closer and closer towards the blue bottle. All the while Zephyr could hear the sounds of rope tightening and the coiling of springs as the tendrils idly moved around.
“Do not touch any of them,” Lazuli warned Zephyr as he idly batted one of the tendrils away that came close to him with a paddle. “Not unless you want to become food for the leviathan that is.”
“R-right,” Zephyr said as he sidled away from a tendril that began crawling its way across the surface of the boat. “Is this why some of you wear those weird oilskins that I saw earlier in the town?”
Lazuli nodded as he continued paddling, but not before he idly flicked the tendril back into the water with his paddle and into the body of a curious fish. And without even a second to spare that fish was caught and rocketed straight up into the air, near the clouds, and out of sight. The only trace of its existence left being the dissipating ripples of where the tendrils were a moment ago.
“O-oh,” Zephyr heard himself uttering as the skiff continued, “that’s concerning.” Carefully, he made himself as small as he could so that he wouldn't be touched by one of them while he waited for what would happen next.
Eventually the skiff came to a stop in front of a clearing free of tendrils and fish. None of the tendrils were around in the area, none of them wanted to poke into it. Instead more than content to simply snake their way through the outside forming a heavy neat that ensnared any fish or creature that wanted to come through.
“So…did we hit a safe spot?” Zephyr asked the man curious as to what was going on.
“No, a catch, a large one, when they’ve caught something they tend to leave the spot they once were clear,” Lazuli said as he took a minute to stretch their hands with a wince. “Fetch the spyglass I have stored within my chest and hand it to me if you may, I fear the worst has happened to the ship.”
Zephyr did what the fisherman said and a moment later the fisherman peered through the glass before they shook his head in dismay and handed it back.
“Haaah, it seems that they were caught indeed, a shame,” he said with a sigh as he handed the telescope back before pointing up. “If your curious, see for yourself.”
Taking the spyglass with a nod Zephyr did, and peering high above and through the glow of the blue bottle he saw a sight that he had never seen before in his life.
An entire ship made of metal and wood was wrapped around and constricted by the tendrils above. Its hull splintered from the sheer force that was exerted by the tendrils from the jellyfish. All the while it’s crew or at least what remained of it’s crew hung all the same, but this time carefully suspended by the tendrils. Most of them were kept in various pods in a state of immobilization. The only evidence of their existence being the faint silhouette of their bodies as the tendrils wrapped around them. Some by the neck, others by the chest, and more than a few were carefully wrapped by the tendrils in a cocoon-like state.
“Are they dead?” Zephyr stuttered out as he watched the scene unfold through the telescope's sight.
“Most of them” Lazuli answered Zephyr, “but those who aren’t will wish they could be as they’ll be eaten alive by that thing one at a time.”
“Cc-can we do anything for them?” Zephyr asked Lazuli.
“Not without killing them, anyone who ends up in its grasp is as good as gone,” he answered with a shake of his head before he dipped his paddle back into the water to move the skiff again. “We move on for now.” .
“O-oh okay,” was the only thing Zephyr could say as the skiff slowly departed from the site. And during which he kept his eyes still trained on him. Wondering all the while if that could have been him if he had departed on any other boat headed out of The Isles.
An hour or two later as it approached midnight with the skiff still prowling through the waves in search of its prey, did Lazuli speak again.
“Stranger,” he said, shifting his grasp on the paddle that he had, “do you know how to row?
“Uhm, sort of?” Zephyr answered, still trying to shake off the vision of the boat still suspended in the skies along with its crew. “Why?”
“Because we’re approaching the site of my quarry's last known location,” he answered, setting down their paddle for a moment, “and to fish I’ll need to be in complete focus for what happens next.”
“Uh...well , alright,” Zephyr said as he took his place and watched as Lazuli moved to the chest before they pulled out a large coil of rope along with a leather flask.
“So what are we looking for?” Zephyr asked as the fisherman opened up the flask and poured its contents over the rope drenching it in a foul smelling ebon liquid and causing it to glow.
“Sea slug,” Lazuli said, his face becoming dimly illuminated in the same glow of the jellyfish’s tendrils from the rope. “We’re hunting a sea slug.”
“A sea slug? You mean like those weird snail things” Zephyr said as he grasped the oars and gave them an experimental movement or two. “Aren’t they tiny?”
“Not the one’s here,” Lazuli replied to Zephyr as he grabbed a heavy bag filled with harpoon’s and strapped both to his person. “The ones that live within my home are large enough to eat entire ships. The one I hunt has become lost and has begun accosting the lesser boats that fish in the coastal waters. I fear that if it is not stopped now it will attack the coastal forts and ruin them.”
“Really?” Zephyr said somewhat surprised by the act of charity that he found himself in. “Your just hunting it because it’s a nuisance?”
"That and more, but those reasons are not for you to know,” Lazuli answered zephyr as he grabbed a harpoon and tied it to the rope that he had before tying it to a post on the skiff. “Are you ready?
“As ready as I'll ever be I guess,” he said with a shrug before he waved for the fisherman to start.
With a nod the fisherman tossed the javelin far into the ocean waters, the glow of the harpoon slowly coming fading away until it became nothing but a wink.
“And now we wait,” the fisherman said as he took a moment to stretch his hands again. “It will take some time, but it will come.”
“Is this the time to ask a question or two?” Zephyr offered to the fisherman as he idly played with the rudder's lever behind him.
“No, not now, not until this is over,” the fisherman replied with a shake of his head sitting on the adjacent bench next to him as he watched the rope. “Perhaps not even then, but there will be a chance when you leave my boat. Be quiet until then if you may.”
Sighing but giving the man a nod Zephyr waited as did he for something to happen.
They didn’t have to wait long as the sound of a gunshot, the rope shot off toward the fisherman's hands feeding more and more line to the waves. Smiling to himself the fisherman calmly got up judging the rope in his hands before eventually bringing it to support his shoulders and facing away, he yanked it hard.
At once there was a rush that cut through the waters as Zephyr could feel the boat rocking back and forth and his hat nearly being blown away. Looking in the direction of it he could see a faint prismatic glow enveloping the waters unveiling Lazuli’s prey. .
Featureless, scaleless, but yet whose skin was made of exotic blues and whites in a flowing pattern of ribbons and stripes the prey revealed itself to mortal eyes. It was a creature whose size could match that of an elder dragon. With two tentacles for eyes it merely glanced at the small skiff and dared to try before it began to move away dragging the boat along with it, and pulling it with a speed that could match any motor boat of its time.
Shocked and stiffened Zephyr clung to the side as the skiff lurched forward suddenly helpless before the beast Lazuli however stood tall and ready, the glow in his eyes becoming brighter than they ever had before.
“Ahh it’s time, “he mumbled as he began to grab Zephyr and pulled him up to his feet, “get up.”
“Buwah,” Zephyr groaned as he did so. “What was that thing?”
“The catch,” Lazuli answered Zephyr as he moved over towards the ropes and began untying one of the posts on the boat before looking at him. “I’ll need you to do something, are you ready?”
Zephyr only gave a faint nod to the fisherman. Whether it was out of instinct or out of habit, he didn’t know, but Lazuli took it as a sign of acceptance nonetheless.
“Keep the boat afloat until you see my signal,” Lazuli ordered Zephyr as he finished untying the rope and began tying it to his right arm and back. “When you do see it, row towards me. I’ll be away until then.”
“A-away, for how long?”” Zephyr asked Lazuli as he began to pull himself together and sit back in his place. “What should I even pay attention to?
“You’ll know it when you see it,” Lazuli answered Zephyr as he made sure his harpoon bag was secured to his back. “Just keep quiet and keep a lookout.”
“B-but what about,” Zephyr tried to say before Lazuli jumped off the skiff, spread his tattered blue wings wide, and followed his ropes lead of his catch. With the sheer force of his leap sending the skiff bobbing back and forth and a spray of sea water to nearly blind Zephyr.
“But what about me,” he finished meekly with a sigh.
Well, at the very least I guess I now know how my parents feel when Fluttershy leave’s to go to her adventures, he thought to himself as he watched Lazuli fade away from sight. Not exactly a pleasant feeling to be honest.
“Well, now what do I do?” he said to himself as he watched the rolling seas around him bob the boat up and down.
He didn’t have an answer for it so he simply sat in the center of the skiff, made sure his oilskin was tight, and waited for something to happen.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Eventually he began to pick through the boat’s belongings when he got sick and tired of waiting. Sadly it didn’t have much to sate his boredom. The contents of the skiff along with its chest merely had flasks, hooks, ropes, knives, and the instruments of sailing and fishing.
“Nothing that would make a good souvenir to say the least,” he mumbled to himself as he momentarily held a hook in his hands before tossing it back. “I wonder where Lazuli i-”
A roar of thunder in the distance coupled with the flash of lightning was Zephyr's answer to his question. Far away from him, but not out of sight nor sound Zephyr witnessed the Leviathan shrieking and screaming as it was both electrocuted alive while being harpooned by Lazuli. Whose silhouette he could see darted in and around it like a firefly as he assaulted the fish with harpoon, fire, sword, and claw.
And as just as quickly as it came, the scene that Zephyr saw before him vanished. The only remnants of it being the faint pillar of smoke on the horizon.
I guess that’s my signal, Zephyr thought to himself as he grabbed the oars and slowly made his way over, hell of a signal to say the least that’s for sure.
The scene that Zephyr came across was a peculiar one. The leviathan, once standing tall and strong as any other dragon, was reduced now to a meek husk of its former self. It’s body was now burnt black by lightning, slashed to ribbons revealing puffy white oily flesh underneath it’s skin that seeped a thin liquid from it, pierced over twenty times by harpoon’s that were as tall as any normal man, and encased in roped webbing from head to toe that kept it afloat through buoys. Its slayer, Lazuli, meanwhile sat still on its body with a heavy sword on his lap and a lit pipe from his mouth, his claws drenched in acidic ichor.
“Well top notch work if I do say so myself,” Zephyr said to himself as he rowed the skiff closer to the dead leviathan. “Come down when your ready to keep going.”
Lazuli did not respond. The pipe that he had on his mouth slowly belched out colored pink smoke.
“Lazuli!” Zephyr called out again haltingly. “
Still no response, he was still as stone. A ball of anxiety rolled through Zephyr’s gut.
“Well uhh, I'll be making my way up there alright?” Zephyr said as he got up from his seat and looked around for a place to climb aboard. “Just stay still for a moment or two.”
When he got up Zephyr could finally see that Lazuli was a wreck. Whatever price that he paid to slay the beast nearly claimed his life. His flesh like the beasts was raw and burnt, with the scales on his hands having cracked open revealing fissures into his flesh that reminded him of the librarian, and his clothes were torn and ragged.
“Old man?” Zephyr called out to him as he got closer, “are…are you okay?”
That aroused the old dragon. With a, “mhmh, yes, yes,” Lazuli slowly opened his now bloodshot and tired eyes to Zephyr.
“Yes I am fine son,” he said as he got up slowly. “The beast is dead and with it the night’s work.”
“It…it is,” Zephyr nervously said as he looked around and tapped the dead leviathan that he stood on with his shoes, “that’s for sure.”
“Yes,” Lazuli repeated again as he worked his mouth and jaw as if he was chewing a wad of something that was both thick and hard, “it is dead.”
“Right it’s dead old man, it’s dead,” Zephyr repeated out loud to assure him of the fact. “Do you want to get to the skiff?”
“Yes….yes we should do that,” Lazuli said as he began to stand up. “We should go.”
“R-right, yeah,” Zephyr said again, making his way over to support the old dragon to help him down the leviathan. “Anything that you want to drink when we get down there?”
“Coffee,” Lazuli said as he was helped down, “I have a flask of coffee in my chest and I would like to drink that very much.”
“Alright, then,” Zephyr said, noting it down, “I’ll make sure to find that for you when we get down.”
“Well, what’s done is done son,” Lazuli wheezed out as he nursed a flask of coffee in his now bandaged hands The flame in his eyes now reduced to nearly imperceptible sparks. “Are you ready to go?”
“Go?” Zephyr said confused as he put away a set of bandages that he found back in the chest, “where?”
“To where you agreed with my friend,” Lazuli said as he stood up with a huff, “to the east.”
“Right, the east,” said unsure as Lazuli began to unfurl a heavy leather sail from the mast, one that was inked by and etched and tattooed with strange glyphs and runes. “You sure can do it?”
“I can Zephyr,” he said as he adjusted the sail for heading and grabbed his paddle, “I can and in a single night. It is what I was asked to do and so it will be done.”
“Well, alright then,” Zephyr said, closing the chest and beginning to wait, “i’ll wish you the best of luck taking me there then.”
Lazuli only gave a nod as he dipped his paddle into it and began to guide the skiff to the east. All the while slowly towing the leviathan behind them.
As promised the skiff made the journey in a single night. Traveling hundreds if not thousands of miles across the ocean to foreign shores. To where exactly? Zephyr didn’t know, but he knew that it wasn’t Equestria or The Isles. He had been idly following his compass during the journey and never once did they go west.
Nonetheless, slowly, gently, and perhaps a bit deliriously Lazuli guided the skiff onto the shores as close as he dared.
“And here we are stranger,” Lazuli slurred as he speared his paddle into the water for a moment to anchor it momentarily, “what you do from here on out is up to you.”
“Thank you,” Zephyr said as he looked around for his suitcase and climbed out and into the coast, his oil skin put back on the skiff, before looking around as the waves idly lapped at his legs. No towns, no cities, no lights, nothing was in sight, nothing but him, the shore, and the skies above.
“Don’t mention it,” Lazuli replied as he began to move again. “If you ever wish to fish simply wait by the harbor and I will be there.”
Well a-alright then, good luck on your way back I guess, ” Zephyr said and waved goodbye to Lazuli as he gently guided the skiff away. Lazuli for his part remained silent as he guided it away, his thoughts focused instead on coming home.
“Hehm, well, I should just get going again then, anywhere's better than here,” Zephyr said to himself as he walked ashore. Eventually when he reached solid ground he extended the handle on his suitcase, planted its wheels on the ground, and kept walking east. Pausing only to look at the stars shining bright overhead and to feel the western wind gently pulling him back, but not for long as he continued and in time he could feel the compass doing its work as it whisked him away to parts and time unknown.