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Mystic Heart Odyssey

_Part 5: The Cult of the

Crimson Isles_

Chapter 1

_Ah, time for the start of a

new episode! Another exotic location, too- even moreso than the last

place they saw!_

_Just a heads up, this one,

like many (but not all!) future episodes will likely be on the

shorter side, to fit the more episodic adventure tone I'm going

for. Or at least that's the plan for now, but you know how my plans

tend to go, hehe. But at least as of now, I'm looking at this one

being anywhere from 3 to 5 chapters long._

-Llox

___________________________________________________________________________________

Lykou was slightly confused when Kuna took a little longer than he

expected to come through the portal after him. Still, the gap between

them allowed him to steady himself and help keep the sereva from

stumbling over when he came out. "You alright?" he asked after

catching his friend. "I thought you were right behind me."

"Mm, just... got slightly delayed, that's all. Don't worry

about it," Kuna replied with a smile, enjoying the fact that he was

once again briefly held up in the konuul's arms. When he stood up,

he looked down as he felt water around his feet. "Thanks for

catching me. Glad I didn't fall down in that."

"Yeah, this is... different," Lykou commented, looking past the

sereva with wide eyes. The arch had dropped them out in the back of a

particularly shallow cave of sorts, at the base of a large, sheer

cliff. But more notably, the ground beneath them was sandy and

covered in water- which extended out as far as they could see. "That

has got to be the biggest lake I've ever seen."

Kuna looked up and gawked slightly. "No kidding! Damn... I can't

even see the shore on the other side!"

"Well, lets get out of this water. Looks like the cliff gives way

to a slope down there," the canid said, pointing down along the

shore a short way. He sniffed the air a bit as they started walking,

then studied the cliff a bit. "Weird, I smell salt, but I don't

see any crystals of the stuff."

"Yeah, I was going to mention that too." Suddenly, the sereva

paused and glanced down again. "Wait..."

"What is it?"

Kuna glanced over at the konuul, then pulled up the edges of his

poncho to avoid getting it wet before bending down to first sniff,

then lap at the water. He bit his lip for a moment when he stood back

up. "...yep. It's the water."

Lykou arched a brow. "Huh? The water's... salty??"

"Mhmm," Kuna said, eyeing the water. He wanted to drink it, but

he also knew better, and his expression clearly showed as much.

"Shit. I uh. I've seen salty water exactly once before."

"Really?" Lykou asked with a wary expression. "You seem a bit

worried... is it a bad thing?"

Kuna stared back at him thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugged and

continued heading for the slope ahead of them with Lykou following

along. "Depends on if we can find regular water. Don't get me

wrong, you know me, I'd happily drink it if I could. But uh...

turns out that's a bad idea."

"It is?"

"Yep. When I was a little kid, the tribe stopped by this weird lake

that seemed to go on forever in one direction. The water was salty,

and being the dummy I was, I started gulping a bunch of it down

before anyone could stop me. A bit later I was extremely nauseous and

all around miserable. AND somehow even thirstier than ever. One of

the elders said drinking salt water is apparently not a good idea at

all and can make you super sick."

"Good to know," Lykou responded, pulling out his waterskin and

taking a sip as they began to ascend the slope. The new place they

found themselves in was just as warm as before, but at least in this

case there was a constant breeze offsetting it. "Hope we find some

non-salty water soon, then. Gonna need a refill soon."

"Yeah, and I want to set up camp as soon as we can. I think those

biscuits are starting to wear off and all that running is catching up

to me." The sereva's stomach rumbled slightly and he grinned

sheepishly. "And uh, an early dinner would be nice, too."

Lykou chuckled and turned his attention further inland as they

continued climbing the slope. It looked like they were on the side of

a small forested mountain, and while the brush was a bit less dense

than the jungle they'd previously found themselves in, it had

similar kinds of plantlife. The one thing that stood out were the

majority of the trees- neither of them had seen palms before. "Weird

looking trees here."

"Yeah, skinny things... hey, wait, look!" Kuna pointed up at the

tops of one of the trees which had clusters of what were undoubtedly

some kind of fruit growing on it. "I wonder if those are safe to

eat?"

"Could be... don't know how you'll get them way up there,

though." He lightly tapped on the tree's trunk with his knuckles.

"Looks like it'd be kind of tricky to climb."

"True," Kuna said, deflating a little. "Eh, they might not even

be worth it anyway."

"Hey, don't give up so quick- we might find one that's a bit

easier to climb."

"Well like I said, right now let's focus on finding salt-free

water and a good place to camp out."

They walked for an hour or two before they found any sign of

freshwater. Some streams meandered through the tropical forest, but

they were small. Along the way, they were taken aback by the

fascinating wildlife around them, including some of the largest

butterflies and most colorful birds they'd seen yet. At one point,

they encountered a snake coiling its way up around a tree. Its scales

were brightly colored, and the colors kept changing as it moved.

Lykou was fascinated by the creature, but Kuna yelped and hid behind

the canid when he saw it. "Fuck!"

The canid chuckled. The snake paused to look at them for a moment

before continuing on its way at a casual pace, seemingly unbothered

by their presence. "Relax, it doesn't look hostile. Pretty dang

neat lookin' little guy, too. Never seen something that could

change its colors like that."

"'s a damn snake," Kuna retorted, shooting him a look.

Lykou rolled his eyes a bit, then booped the sereva's nose. "C'mon,

he's not even that big."

Kuna just stuck his tongue out in response, earning another snicker

from the konuul as they turned to continue onward.

Eventually, when the ridge flattened out a bit more, they came across

a relatively clear, raised spot situated between two of the larger

streams. And as they were clearing away some debris to make way for a

firepit, they spotted one of the fruit from the trees that fell at

some point- only it was brown, having fully ripened before falling.

And they immediately recognized it. "Oh, hey, isn't that one of

those coconut things the shakonu had?"

"Yeah! This is great, we can eat the inside bits, then I have an

idea for the shell!" Lykou said excitedly. "Here, let me see your

hatchet for a minute." After Kuna handed him the tool, he gave it a

couple good chops along the middle. It wasn't as even as he'd

have liked, but it was close enough. As soon as he had it open, Kuna

was hovering closeby, eyeing it hungrily. He chuckled and handed one

of the halves to the sereva and set to work setting up the firepit

while he ate. Once he'd finished and collected whatever small bits

of wood he could find, he dug into his own half, figuring he'd go

gather more after they'd both eaten.

"What did you have in mind for the shell?" Kuna asked between

mouthfuls. He'd dug out one of the other fruit they'd previously

collected to eat along with the coconut and was enjoying the

combination a lot more than the coconut by itself.

"Well, we already know they make decent bowls. I also want to see

how fire-resistant they are, because I want to try making some soup."

Kuna swallowed and arched a brow. "Soup... yeah we had some of that

back in Clovaria one time, right?"

"Yep. It's where you cook a bunch of stuff in water together. It

actually works best if you do it slowly on like the coals rather than

a full fire. Takes a while but worth it."

"Huh. Sounds... strange. But I guess practical. Like having a drink

and food at the same time. And I remember the kind the lepne made was

pretty good."

"It's the best in the wintertime, of course, but lately I've

been kind of craving some kind of soup. That salty water got me

thinking about it more, too." Lykou scratched his head

thoughtfully. "Admittedly the ones I'm used to usually involve

meat, but you should experiment a bit. Maybe try a charnop, along

with some other things."

"I'll keep that in mind." Kuna resumed gobbling up his food.

Then, suddenly, one of the bright, colorful birds they'd seen on a

few occasions swooped down and landed on the collected firewood,

startling both of them slightly. It seemed to be eyeing the other

half-eaten fruit in Kuna's lap. He stared back at it warily. It

wasn't nearly big enough to feel threatening, but its boldness

certainly had him a bit on edge. "...well you're not shy are

you..."

The bird let out a squawk and tilted its head at him. The feathers on

its head frilled up and then back down as it whistled a couple times.

Lykou watched on in amusement. "I think he's talking to you."

Kuna snorted in mild amusement. "Gee, the medallions must be broken

then. Didn't catch a word of it."

The bird lifted one leg and made a little grabby motion in the air

towards the sereva, then tilted its head the other way and let out

another small squawk.

"I think it wants some of your fruit."

The sereva shielded the fruit in mock-defensiveness. "Nuh-uh.

S'mine, get your own," he said. But then after a moment, he

smirked faintly and plucked up a couple seeds and experimentally

tossed them on the ground towards the bird. Initially, the bird

stretched its wings out defensively, but when it took a look at where

the seeds landed, it let out a happy whistle and hopped down to begin

gobbling them up. Once it finished, it hopped back up on its perch

atop the wood and resumed watching Kuna whilst shuffling back and

forth. The sereva gave in and tossed it a tiny piece of seed-laden

fruit to see what it'd do, grinning. He had to admit the bird had a

certain funny charm to it once it became clear that it wasn't a

threat. "What a funny little guy..."

"Aww, looks like you've made a new friend," Lykou said,

chuckling as the bird happily devoured the piece of fruit.

"New friend, new friend, squaaawk," the bird suddenly blurted out

whilst bobbing its head excitedly, stunning both of them.

"Did... did that bird just... talk?"

"Sure as fuck sounded like it..."

Lykou eyed the thing. "...hey, are you a spirit or something?"

The bird just glanced back at Lykou briefly, then turned back to Kuna

and tilted its head, whistling a few times. Other than that, an

awkward silence settled over them for a few minutes, interrupted only

occasionally by whistles and squawks.

Kuna glanced down at his medallion, then over to Lykou, then back to

the bird. "...maybe we imagined it?" he suggested, clearly

doubting it himself.

"I don't know, sounded like talking to me... try throwing it some

more seeds."

The sereva dug some seeds out of the fruit and tossed them to the

bird, which it happily gobbled up. "Doesn't seem like it wants to

say anything else in any case."

"Anything else, anything else!" the bird squawked, doing its

funny little dance again.

"...I stand corrected," Kuna deadpanned.

"Sure as fuck!" the bird said. "Talking to fuck, talking....

Fuck!"

Lykou snorted. "Um. I'm starting to think it's just mimicking

us..."

"Yeah, I'm starting to get that impression too. Still, never

known an animal to do something like that," Kuna said with a

bemused expression as he tossed a couple more seeds.

"Like that, like that! Squaaawk fuck," the bird said, earning

some laughter from both of them. Laughter that it then imitated. "New

fuck."

"I think it has a favorite word," Lykou said amid a fit of

giggles.

"Ya think?" Kuna said, snickering some more as well.

"You know, anything that talks should have a name. Even one that

doesn't know what it's saying."

"What kind of name? We uh... don't even know if its male or

female," Kuna said, then quickly shot the canid a look. "And no,

I'm not going to try and check."

Lykou snickered. "Well neither am I," he retorted, then eyed the

bird thoughtfully. He took note of the bright yellow streaks

throughout its feathers. "Hmm... how about Sunshine?"

"Seems like a good gender-neutral bird name," Kuna replied,

tossing another tiny bit of fruit at their new avian buddy.

"Alright, Sunshine it is. You like that, little guy?"

The bird proceeded to devour the fruit, then bob around happily.

"Sunshine! Sunshinesunshinesunshine! Little guy! Fuck!"

"I think it's safe to say he likes it," Kuna said, giggling.

"I'd say so! Nice to meet you Sunshine. I'm Lykou and this is

Kuna."

"Lykouna! Kuna Kuna Lykouna!"

Kuna snorted again. "Looks like he's a bit confused."

"Well he makes up for it in spirit, so it's alright."

"Manu! Manu kino! Fuck!"

Lykou and Kuna shared a glance. "Uhhh... did those sound like words

to you?"

"Not ones I recognize, other than the last one obviously, but... I

guess the medallion wouldn't translate for it anyway, since as far

as it knows, its just mimicking meaningless sound."

"That... probably means there's other people around here

somewhere," Kuna pointed out, glancing around the forest warily.

"Toto! Toto m? Tuimana! Fuck!"

"Yeah... hope they're friendly."

"Maybe we should forgo a fire tonight, just to be safe," Kuna

suggested nervously.

"Hmm... guess I can hold off on trying to make soup for tonight.

Still pretty warm, after all."

"At least the breeze helps. It's better than the last place."

The sereva shuddered. "Hopefully no big monsters or ursarans"

"Yeah, no kidding. Heck, it's actually almost nice here, despite

the warmth."

"Almost nice! Almost fuck! Manu!"

Kuna snickered and tossed one last bit of seedy fruit to the bird.

"Alright, that's all I got, Sunny."

"Already nicknaming it, huh?" Lykou chuckled, then pulled some

meat out of his bag to snack on alongside the rest of his half of the

coconut. "Just barely got a name and you're already tweaking it."

"Why not? It's cute, the bird's cute, it works."

"With that logic, I should have just called you Ku from the start."

Kuna blushed and rolled his eyes. "Oh hush."

"Cute from the start, cute from the start, squaaawk!"

"And you too!" Kuna playfully snapped, grinning in spite of

himself.

*****

After a little while, once it was clear that further fruit and seeds

weren't coming anytime soon, Sunshine flew up to a branch of one of

the non-palm trees nearby and began to doze a bit as the sun started

going down. Before it got too dark, Lykou decided to try climbing one

of the more curved trees to get at some more coconuts, despite Kuna's

fretting and objections. Slowly, with some difficulty, he finally

made it to the top, holding his knife in his mouth.

But just as he was about to cut one loose, he froze, staring at the

sunset in the distance with some awe. He'd seen some pretty sights

involving the sun, especially when it reflected just right off

Sunstone Ridge across Shimmer Loch. But this was completely

different, with more dramatic color variations. And a flock of birds

flying across it really amplified the scene.

"Woah, Kuna... you've gotta see this!"

"What is it? And be careful! I don't want to have to practice

healing broken bones, you know..."

"The sunset looks amazing here! See if you can get up here and see

for yourself."

"Uh, Lykou? You had a slightly rough time getting up there, and

you're a lot stronger than I am. Besides, it's just a sunset. I

don't see it being that impressive."

"Just trust me, you've gotta try and find a way to get up here

and see this!" Lykou insisted, looking around for options. "Maybe

there's a-..." Suddenly, he froze and a flat look crossed his

face before he turned down to the sereva again with an arched brow.

"Kuna."

"Yeah?"

"...are you too tired for any more magic?"

Kuna stared back at him for a moment blankly, before slapping his

palm to his face. "Oh for the love of... what is wrong with

me??"

Lykou stifled a snicker. "Hey, don't beat up on yourself. I

forgot until now, too. And it's been a long and tiring day."

"That's certainly true," Kuna replied with a sigh, then

summoned up his magic and used it to help ascend to Lykou's level

by manipulating some other nearby trees. Luckily, they were already

big enough, so it was more a matter of moving them around and

slightly altering their shape, rather than having to push a lot more

energy into them.

When he got up to Lykou's level and turned to look where the canid

was looking, his eyes widened. "Wow... you weren't kidding!"

"Have you ever seen the sky look like that before?"

"...not quite. That one time with those shining lights I told you

and Daisy about was probably on the same level, but different. Still,

this is beautiful..."

"It really is. I hope this is a positive sign for what to expect in

this place."

"We can only hope." They both sat in silence for a moment, taking

in the beautiful sight. "...man, that water really does go on

forever though, it looks like. Never heard of a lake this big."

"Tell me about it. And all that salt in it, too. Weird place, but

not in a bad way." Lykou turned his attention back to the coconuts

in front of him and began cutting a few free and dropping them to the

ground. "Well, as nice as this is, it's not exactly an ideal

place to sit around for long. Might as well climb back down."

"Here, hang on a moment," Kuna suggested as he bent his perch

back to the ground carefully. "Hold on tight!" He began carefully

doing the same with the tree Lykou was on, until it was close enough

to the ground and the konuul hopped off. Before dismissing his magic,

he returned them both to a more normal shape and position, not

wanting to hinder their natural growth and health.

"Thanks Ku," Lykou said, side-hugging the sereva. "I was kinda

worried you wouldn't have the energy for it, to be honest. I guess

that fruit helped a bit, huh?"

Kuna stretched and yawned. "Yeah, a bit, but I'm still pretty

beat. After I set up a shelter, I think I'm gonna meditate a bit

and turn in early."

"Alright. I'm going to work on my instrument a bit, then I'll

join you. Need any help?"

"...ordinarily I'd say no, but at this point, if you could give

me a hand filling in the gaps with whatever you can find, I'd

appreciate it."

"Of course!"

Together, they put together a reasonably concealed natural shelter

for them to sleep in- slightly smaller than the ones they'd been

using more recently, but still enough for them to lay down in and

store their stuff alongside them while they slept. Almost immediately

afterwards, Kuna set up their mat and sprawled out for the night,

deciding to forgo the meditation. Lykou worked on his instrument for

a little while, but ultimately couldn't resist putting it away and

cuddling with the sereva until he was ready for sleep himself.

*****

In the morning, after they'd eaten and packed up again, Kuna

figured out which way the spell was pointing to for the next arch,

while Lykou was taking in the sights around them. "Before we go

that way, lets get up to the top of this little mountain we're on,"

the canid suggested.

"Oh? Why?"

"Judging from the peek I got last night on that tree, it's not

too much further up, and it'll give us a good look at our

surroundings."

"Fair enough. Maybe I'll find some more fruit along the way,"

Kuna commented as they began hiking up the ridge again. He sniffed

the air and looked around at the various flowers growing from bushes

and vines all around them. A few of them were especially large. "Sure

is pretty here, I will say that much. Even smells kinda nice."

"Yeah, it really does. Might be a bit warm for my tastes, but

otherwise I kind of like it here so far."

After only a couple of hours, they were approaching the mountain's

peak. The few glimpses they got through the trees were starting to

make them wonder just how big the 'lake' really was. When they

finally reached the top, Kuna used his magic to get them up high

among the treetops to get the best view possible. What they saw made

their jaws drop. The water continued seemingly forever in all

directions.

"Just how big IS this lake?!" Lykou wondered aloud.

"Looks like we're on an island, either way," Kuna replied,

looking around in all directions with wide eyes. "It's not the

only one though, look."

Lykou turned to look in the direction the sereva was pointing, where

there was another, even larger island in the distance, with a larger

and somewhat steeper mountain compared to the overgrown foothill

they'd crested. There were also a number of tiny islands dotting

the water between them. He held his hand up to shield his eyes from

the sun and squinted. "Hey, I think I sea canoes out there, too. Or

something like that. Looks like there are people here after all."

"Great..."

"Hey come on, they might be friendly."

"Or they might be ursarans again."

"Doubt it, I've never seen them use canoes. They don't seem to

like deep water much."

"Probably can't swim. Heavy fuckers," Kuna remarked. "Anyway,

whoever they are, remember we should assume they're dangerous until

we can determine otherwise."

Lykou sighed and rolled his eyes. "Being careful is one thing,

being cynical is another. Anyway, isn't that the direction you said

the arch was?"

"...yeah," Kuna finally admitted reluctantly, scanning his eyes

across the water. "Which presents a new problem. How are you at

making canoes?"

The konuul stared blankly in the distance, then frowned. "Shit.

Good point. I've only rarely been in one, and never made one

myself."

"Damn. No way we can swim that far, especially carrying all our

stuff."

"Yeah, that's... that's a bit of an issue."

"I suppose I could always use my magic to, I dunno, try and shape a

tree trunk into something like a canoe, then we can cut it down."

"Maybe... or maybe we could find someone who already has one to

give us a ride," Lykou said, pointing towards the water nearer

their own island. While fewer in number, there were a few boats down

there as well- though they looked strange to the konuul. "Are

those... fins or something on them? What, are they trying to mimic

fish now?"

"I guess that might make them easier to move around in the water,

er... somehow."

"I'm not sure how. Pretty sure fins have to be, you know, in

the water to work," Lykou said, scratching his head.

"Anyway, my point still stands. We don't know that we can trust

them."

"Yeah well, we may not have much choice. We can use your magic if

we have to, but neither of us is familiar with making those things so

we can't guarantee we won't make something that'll just,

y'know... sink. Or roll around like crazy in the water."

Kuna sighed. "Fine. But let's at least make an escape plan ahead

of time if they're hostile."

"Alright, we can talk about it on the way down. If we're lucky,

we can make it to the shore in time to wave one of them over and talk

to them."

The sereva groaned mildly as he brought them back down to the ground.

"Pleeeease let them be nice... I've had enough running and

fighting for a lifetime."

Lykou chuckled. "Hey, at least we've gotten pretty good at it."