Advent of Eternity - Chapter 31 (Patreon)

It was four days before they sighted land again. As it turned out, while the ship’s captain’s log had useful information on it, none of them were particularly good at following it. Logs hadn’t been among Knell’s area of study, Stix had never seen one in her life, and despite what Cyll had said, he’d lost nearly all of his navigational abilities.

When a city started to grow on the horizon, Knell let out a sigh of relief. “I was starting to wonder if we’d ever see civilization again.”

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad,” Cyll protested. “What, don’t you enjoy our company?”

“Don’t make me start reconsidering anything,” Knell said, shaking his head. “If I hear one more joke about a fish, I’m going to throw you overboard.”

“There’s nothing wrong with fish.”

“I’m with Knell,” Stix said.

“Of course you are,” Cyll grumbled. “Does anyone happen to know where we’ve actually landed?”

“You’re the one that was reading the logs,” Stix pointed out. “Shouldn’t the person that knows that be you?”

“These stupid things are written weird. I have absolutely no idea where we are. It’s a miracle we ever saw land,” Cyll said.

“I thought you said you had everything covered?” Knell asked.

“We’re still alive, aren’t we?”

Knell opened his mouth to reply, then thought better of it. Somehow, he didn’t think his words would be getting through to Cyll anytime soon. He studied the map in the book, but it was largely meaningless to him. The previous captain had used some form of cypher, and Knell didn’t have any training deciphering such things.

“But… what now?” Cyll asked, their boat slowly pulling toward the dock. He started to raise the sails. “This might not be a pirate town, and our sails have someone else’s pirate flag.”

“We’ll need to get our own shortly,” Knell said with a thoughtful nod. “Until then, we can focus on figuring out where we are and what dungeons are in the area. Stix needs areas with Yin energy, so we’ll prioritize those.”

The city grew closer still. Knell’s brow creased as they drew up alongside the dock. There was only a single other ship moored beside them, but its sails had been raised and no men manned it.

“Where are the guards?” Knell asked. “Nobody in their right mind leaves the docks unwatched.”

“On lunch break?” Cyll suggested as he finished raising the sails. He grabbed a thick bundle of rope from the deck and started to tie the ship down.

“All of them at once?” Stix asked. “That doesn’t seem likely.”

“Should we leave, then?” Cyll asked. “You clearly suspect something is awry.”

“No,” Knell replied, shaking his head. “We don’t have enough supplies and one dungeon is as good as another. We just need to be cautious about our approach. It’s possible everyone in the town is hiding, but I’m not sure why they’d be scared of a skipper.”

“Could it be our flag?” Stix suggested. “We did have the skull and crossbones on our sails too. Maybe the crew we stole this ship from was pretty strong.”

“Also unlikely, considering how poorly defended their ship was,” Knell said. “I don’t think it was us at all, but we can’t discount the possibility entirely. The only thing we can do is check.”

Stix hopped onto the dock and helped Knell down. Cyll ambled over to join them, picking his teeth with a fingernail. The three of them started down the dock, its wood creaking beneath their feet with every step.

A weak ocean breeze rustled through the town and the smell of old moss overlaid itself over the salty ocean seaweed. They reached the edge of the town and continued down a cobbled street with weeds sprouting from between the rocks.

Knell stopped beside a dirty shop window and peered inside. Then, a frown deepening on his face, he pushed the door with the end of his staff. It creaked, swinging open. Stale air rushed out of the building and Cyll poked his head inside.

“Empty,” Cyll reported. “Just a bunch of woodworking stuff on the table.”

Knell stepped inside behind him. Wooden figurines filled the floorspace of the store. One, still half finished, rested on a desk beside several discarded tools. Wood shavings were still piled on the floor beneath the workspace.

“These look like quality tools,” Knell said, picking a saw up and testing the blade. “Well kept, too. What artist would leave this out to the elements?”

“I’m starting to suspect that they did not all go out for lunch,” Cyll drawled. He picked the unfinished figurine up and turned it over in his hands. “He messed up.”

“How so?” Knell asked.

Cyll handed it to him. “Look at the cut on their face. A big chunk of the nose is missing.”

“Doesn’t look intentional,” Knell said slowly. “From how the other figures look, whoever made these was a professional. I doubt they’d make such a mistake under normal circumstances.”

“Look over here,” Stix said from just beside the doorway. “There’s a sword.”

The blade hung from the wall, untouched. It had long since lost its sheen and looked dull and brittle. A thin layer of dust had built over the weapon.

“Doesn’t look like anyone has used it in a while,” Cyll said.

“So whatever happened was incredibly fast. So fast that people only had a moment to realize something was wrong, but not enough time to react to it,” Knell said. “Come on. Let’s check the rest of the town.”

“Is that wise?” Stix asked.

Knell pursed his lips. “Hm. A fair question. We don’t want to get caught up in something beyond our abilities. However, we can’t shy away from everything either. We need to get supplies at the minimum. Then, if we still haven’t figured out what happened here, we can leave.”

The others nodded. They headed back into the streets, following them toward the town square. Wind nipped at Knell’s skin, cold and wet. A faint fog started to set in. It hung low to the ground, swooshing around their feet with every step.