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The Island of Free Wonders: Part 2 For Studley By Draconicon

Studley pulled himself back up Mirari's sides, the big cruise ship leaning unnaturally into the sea to allow her other passengers to get back on as well. The big wolf groaned as he got back on deck, and shook himself hard, sending water flying through the air.

"Well, I thought we both had more self-control than that."

You were...better than I expected.

Despite the dunking, Studley couldn't help but smile. The fact that Mirari had enjoyed their mental romp so much that she lost her main form was flattering beyond belief...particularly as he was pretty sure that Rannoi hadn't done that to her before.

He flicked his eyes skywards, looking at the dragon flapping above the ship. The white-eyed Wonder definitely didn't look happy, but at the moment, the wolf was still cruising on cloud nine. Let the big guy be unhappy. It was only a small diversion, and it wasn't like they were on that big a timetable.

When the last of the transformed individuals crawled back onto the ship, Mirari righted herself. Everyone went tumbling to the deck, save for the few that managed to grab hold of something - him, and a couple of other experienced members of the group - or those that were already up in the air. Nobody was seriously hurt, though, and most of them were giggling at the whole experience.

Before he could make for his cabin, though, Rannoi landed at his side.

"I made my request very, very clear, Studley. Stay out of her until we reach our destination."

"I was just having -"

"If I wanted someone to be having fun with her, I would have bonded Idesin with her."

The wolf growled.

"Are you comparing me with him right now? Are you seriously -"

"At least that otter would have kept his hands to himself and dealt with the people around him, rather than the one person I put off-limits. At least he wouldn't be digging for information that I asked Mirari to keep back, instead of just talking with me."

Oh...so he did know.

That put a small dent in his plans. He'd been hoping that prodding Mirari for information would have been more acceptable - and more secret - than going to Rannoi directly. He was wrong on at least the latter count, though he wasn't so sure about the former. The few times that he had prodded the dragon for information, all he got was secrecy.

Then again...he was the last one to fault another for keeping a few secrets, considering how many he was keeping from himself.

"I..."

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"I guess you have a point."

"I know I do."

Rannoi sighed, leaning against the railing of the ship. On the edge of his mind, Studley could just 'hear' the pair of them conversing with each other. It was a weak sound, something that sounded more like mumbling at the far end of a theater than proper conversation, but it was there, nonetheless.

Just a pity that he couldn't hear it.

Eventually, Rannoi pulled his hands back with a sigh, and looked back at the wolf.

"Mirari's asking me not to give you such a hard time. Maybe she's right. But please, just keep the bedroom antics to a minimum. Her power is part of what's keeping people from following us, and the last thing we need is for the human agencies to pick up our trail before we're ready for them."

"Promise."

The dragon narrowed his eyes, and the wolf chuckled.

"Hey, I'm an old stud, but I'm not stupid."

"That's true."

The dragon walked off, and Studley wondered just which of the things the dragon agreed with more...and wondered if there was something else he might do to relieve some...frustrations...that were left unsatisfied from the interruption and dunking earlier.

He chuckled, shaking his head and dismissing the thought. Better to ignore it for now, and come back to it another time. When they were on dry land, preferably.

The rest of the trip continued without incident, and soon the cruise ship was situated right above where, according to all his studies, the sunken obelisk waited. He stood on the railing of the ship, and was shortly joined by Rannoi on his left. The pair of them watched as the population of the cruise ship departed in life rafts. Real life rafts, rather than Mirari-created ones. They'd need all of her for this.

He looked at his...partner. The black dragon was barely dressed, only wearing a few pieces of jewelry rather than his usual clothes. Oddly enough, Studley could feel bits of power coming off of them, and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought that we couldn't 'enchant' things."

"We can't."

"Then -"

"A little bit of experimenting, a few favors owed, and a punishment that needed to happen."

It added up to something that painted a darker picture than the wolf liked, but he didn't question it. If it meant that they had the power to make this happen, then he would go along with it. For now.

He took a few deep breaths as he watched the lifeboats pull further and further away from the cruise liner, all of them getting a fair distance from it. It wouldn't be long now. He curled his toes against the railing, feeling his heart rate pick up.

Are we going to get any warnin on this, Mirari?

Do you want it?

Let's see. I'm about to be dropped about four hundred feet from railing to ocean with nothing in the way. Yeah, I'd like a chance to brace myself.

Ah. Then brace yourself.

How lo -

He didn't get a chance to ask how long he had. He'd barely started the second word when the railing disappeared beneath him, and he dropped like a stone. Yelping in shock, his arms flew up above his head, and all of his internal organs felt like they'd been left hanging in the air where he'd been, like something out of a cartoon. He flailed around, and was only slightly mollified to see Rannoi doing the same.

They hit the water hard, and he coughed out all the air that was left in his lungs. It felt like falling from a skyscraper and hitting concrete at that height, particularly as he'd landed right on his stomach.

Fuck...fuck...ow...

He groaned, blinking his eyes through the seawater. He could barely make out which direction was up and which was down, and worse, he could feel his lungs already begging for air.

Studley, do we need to help you?

The slightly impatient tone from the dragon snapped him back to reality, and left him rolling his eyes as he summoned his magic. A little work on his neck, a little golden light playing over it, and he had gills. As he turned himself around in the water, he could see that the dragon and the feminine statue of Mirari had already done the same. Apparently, he was still a little bit behind.

He found himself thankful for their new bond, considering it allowed easy telepathy as they started to swim down into the darkness. The wolf used a bit more magic to alter his feet, giving himself webbed toes to keep up with the other two.

Studley, I hope that you're right about the location. This is really an all or nothing operation.

Rannoi, if I'm wrong about this, I'll personally tell you all that I know about the chaos colors, and spend a year under your feet.

You know we'll probably be dead if you're wrong, and that doesn't matter?

Lighten up, old friend. You can trust me. I know Mirari does.

The statue nodded on his right, and he smiled at her. He didn't take her hand, though, despite the offer. He wanted everything free, just in case -

A flicker of movement in the darkness was all the warning they had. They split their group in three as a large shark shot through the water at them, and Studley barely managed to dart under it in time.

Rannoi, however, wasn't so lucky. The shark grazed his leg, leaving it bleeding, and the dragon grunted over their mental link as he grabbed the wound.

You okay?

Will be. Deal with it?

Easily.

The wolf smiled as he floated in space, looking back at the big shark. It was coming around slowly, its eyes peeled back. It looked half-mad, and considering how deep they were, he wouldn't have been surprised if it was. Probably was starving, desperate for a meal, and sick to be out of the light like this.

But there was no time to heal it, or work on getting it in a better mood.

As it charged forward again, Studley let his magic flicker over his body. Black fur turned gray in an instant, and he held out his hand. The shark took it in its teeth -

CRACK!

And a multitude of them snapped off in a single bite. The shark growled, thrashing itself - and him - from side to side, but each thrash broke off more and more of the teeth that were trying to break his arm of stone. The wolf went along with it, smiling to himself as his invulnerable body was chomped on again and again, and counted the teeth as they sunk away into the depths.

It took about a minute - and judging by the flare of light behind him, long enough for the dragon to heal himself - for the shark to lose all his teeth. When no more slipped out, the wolf pulled his free arm back.

I've always wanted to do this...

With as much aim as he could summon, he swung his fist forward and belted the shark right in the nose.

Wolf and stone together provided a fair bit of force, and the shark was pushed a good ten feet back, off of his arm. He, on the other hand, was pushed a good fifty feet down, and with an arm of stone, kept sinking.

Hmmm....didn't quite think that one through.

Well, we are going down, after all. After you, Studley.

The wolf chuckled, relaxing as his arm continued to yank him further and further into the depths. The light above had faded, the water's own properties keeping the sunlight from reaching this far down. In fact, he couldn't even tell which way was up any more from the light. Only a vague sense of balance kept him pointed in the right direction.

It didn't take long for Mirari and Rannoi to catch up with him, both having turned to almost complete statues of rock and stone. They kept falling, and falling, their rocky bodies keeping in good condition as they moved into the higher pressure parts of the ocean. Even with gills, he could feel his lungs straining to keep up with the crushing feeling around him, and he almost wished they'd stolen a submarine for this.

Too late for that, now. But they had to be getting close. It wasn't like they were headed to the deep trenches, after all, and the ocean wasn't that deep around this obelisk...he hoped.

Finally, after almost a half hour of diving, pausing, and diving again, they found it. Mostly because he nearly bashed his head against the top of it. Studley quickly pulled back, dragging Rannoi and Mirari back as well.

Careful. They don't like being touched.

You know this?

Me and Idesin encountered one when we first met Blaze. They're...temperamental, to say the least.

The dragon nodded, and the three of them swam off to a space about twenty feet back from the obelisk. Mirari gestured.

Shall I create light?

Please. We need to see.

She nodded, and slowly, the inky blackness around them began to glow. The sand in the ocean floor put off a dim light, coming to a halt in a four feet radius around the obelisk, and slowly increasing in intensity. Soft swishing and skittering could just barely be heard as the undersea creatures booked it away from the obelisk, fleeing from the light and the intruders that had come into their world.

But he barely noticed that. All he had eyes for was the obelisk itself, and he stared at it in utter amazement.

It was a towering structure, even bigger than the one the druids had been protecting. The spire reached a good fifty feet off of the ocean's floor, and the entire thing was littered with old runic letters. The old Wonder that had mapped out the obelisks knew what he was doing when he wrote on them, it seemed, to keep it safe for this long.

He swam around it, keeping his distance as he tried to make out what it said. It was still so vague, and broken up, but the riddles that he could make out tantalized him as they always did.

...locked away by his own power...

...Colors have danced in the eyes of all...

...Father and destroyer...

The colors. It always came back to the colors, and something that was bound. It was driving him mad, and he swore that it was something about...

About...

He growled, some bubbles coming from his mouth as he just couldn't put it together. There was some sort of wall in his head, keeping it out. The wolf whipped his head around to the other two, and saw that they were deep in conversation.

Rannoi! Mirari!

He pointed to the obelisk again as they whipped their heads around.

I...I know this. There's something...something there. Something to it that I can't put together. What is it?

Rannoi believes...

The statue woman's voice faded, her eyes dropping down as the dragon glared at her.

But no, he would not be denied this. Not now. He kicked out, swimming back to them and grabbing Rannoi by the shoulders. He glared into those empty white eyes, his fingers squeezing down on the scaly shoulders.

Tell me. I need to know.

Studley -

Tell me! We're partners, aren't we? Tell me, or by all the colors, I'll -

If I'm right, and you're told, Studley. Everything will change.

Rannoi actually shuddered in his grip, and that, more than anything, threw a metaphorical bucket of water over the wolf. A nervous Rannoi was bad enough. A scared one...that was something else again.

He didn't let go, though. He wasn't stupid enough for that.

If I am told?

Yes. If I'm right -

And you usually are.

If I'm right, then there's something between the pillars, the world's history...and you.

Me?

You are the oldest Wonder in existence. Before you, there are no records of Wonders anywhere. It is debatable, but it is entirely likely that you were the first, somehow. And with the power of colors, and with other pieces of information I've found over the years...there are things best left untouched. If it is what I think - and it may not be - but if it is...then telling you would be akin to resurrecting a god.

The dragon's words sunk into him, slowly but surely, and Studley gradually let go. His partner floated back from him as the wolf thought about it, trying to pull all the clues together. It had to be there; he had so many pieces, so many clues. The answer to these riddles had to be right in front of him.

Yet, every time that he tried to put them together, something slipped. Some colorful piece of the puzzle fell out of place, and as he strained to get it back, the other pieces slipped out of alignment. It was like his own mind was fighting him on this.

He growled in ever-increasing frustration as he pulled at his memories, both those of the riddles and his own life. What was it? What was the answer?

It remained elusive. Despite his best efforts, the answer simply wouldn't come.

Studley slowly sank down to the ocean floor, collapsing onto his knees. He beat his fist into the ground, and the area shook. The vibrations under him didn't stop him, and he raised his hand to do it again -

Studley.

It wasn't a scaly hand to grab him, but a smooth one. He looked over his shoulder, and saw Mirari there. She pulled on him, dragging him back to his feet and into her arms. She held him tight, firmly, but with a warmth that stone shouldn't have been capable of.

Studley. Let it go.

I can't. It's so close. I need to know! It's...It's...

He shook his head, feeling like his brain was swelling within his skull, bursting at the seams with something that he needed, that was integral to him.

Then she kissed him.

He gasped again, bubbles flowing from his gills as she held him, squeezing him to her. The kiss overwhelmed him, and soon, he found himself returning it, kissing her as deeply as she did him. Everything that was her poured over him, and he found himself giving back, letting himself be swept away.

They fell to the ground, and as she laid over him, the pain, the anger, slowly was swept away. He laid there, kissing her, for who knew how long. He didn't.

When the kiss finally ended, he looked up with a smile.

How do you do that?

It's not that hard. Not when you care.

Flattered, he kissed her back before slowly pulling himself to his feet. They kicked off of the surface again, joining the dragon and starting to swim around the obelisk. Studley gave it one last look, and then nodded.

Okay, I think we can put the foundations of the new island here. If we're careful, we can even make sure that the obelisk stays intact. For study, of course.

Of course.

He didn't completely trust Rannoi with that, but better to have it here than not. It might even serve as a small anchor to keep the troublemaker in one place, rather than wandering around the world, though he didn't put good odds on that.

Alright. I've done my part in finding it. Do you think we can pull this off, Rannoi?

I've put together a formula for it. With the three of us - and your chaos powers - we should just have enough.

Alright. How do we start? Triangle formation around it?

To start, with a spiral as we go.

Good idea. Keeps a structural integrity.

They swam across to the different points of a triangle around the obelisk, and soon, all three of them glowed with golden light as they summoned their magic. Studley reached a little deeper, pulling on the colors that lay beneath the rest of his power, and dragged it to the surface. He couldn't see much, at first, but soon little speckles and sparkles of rainbows danced along his hands, running from them up his arms and then down again.

As practiced, he reached out with his magic and touched it to Rannoi and Mirari, joining the pair of them to him with a golden band colored with rainbows. The pair of them joined to each other, and Studley couldn't help but smirk slightly at the way that the rainbows danced a bit less perfectly along Rannoi's band.

At least I have that much ahead of him.

They kicked upwards, the power shared between them. Studley could feel Rannoi pulling on the Wonder magic in him, directing it into the sand and earth below them, while he drew from the colors and chaos in the dragon. Through it, Mirari modulated the energy, keeping the channels open and making it so that they could share the power without having one person in overall control of everything.

It was magnificent, and something that he'd never expected to be able to experience.

They swam up for about thirty feet before they started to swim in a circle as well, and the sand and earth followed them up. He watched as it slowly turned to stone, melted and rapidly cooled by the dragon's magic so that it would form a good foundation. Studley added his own touches, bringing in bits of fishboning among the rock and stone, giving it a greater structural strength. The last thing they needed was for the island to collapse around them.

The further they went, the more that the glow below them intensified. Reflecting off of the smooth stone that they created, it gave them plenty of light, and even sent a glow upwards, towards the surface.

I wonder if any of them can see this, Studley wondered.

He put the thought to the side. It was time to focus on the real work.

Using a little bit of chaos to move some of the living creatures still around to somewhere safe - a simple matter of saying that they had never been there, but had been somewhere else - Studley brought his attention down on the big things. He sent bursts of chaos into the earth and stone, forcing 'evolution' through it to different bindings of the molecules. It was...unearthly, and it wasn't quite what he was going for, but he supposed the purple and black look could be excused as an aesthetic choice.

Whatever it was - and he had to admit, he didn't know what he'd created - it seemed enormously strong. With their eyes saturated in magic, he could tell that the three of them were creating something that would stand the test of time, just as the obelisks had.

Studley...are you doing this on purpose?

Let's say yes.

...You better find some way to teach me this.

When I figure out how, I will.

Of course, that implied that he'd figure out what it was, first. He hadn't meant to turn the interior of this island into metal, but it was rapidly becoming that. And it was no metal that earth had ever seen. But...

But he had. Somewhere. Somewhen.

The frustration started coming back, but it was squelched by Mirari almost immediately. Giving her a glance of thanks, he brought his attention back to their work.

The three of them swam out of the forming dome, watching as it covered the top of the obelisk. Studley waited, dreading that he'd hear the sound of rending material as the dome proved unable to hold up against the ocean's weight, let alone anything that they might pile on top of it.

But to his relief, it stayed in place. Even as they used their magic to guide the water out of the interior of the dome, it stayed upright.

He saw that he wasn't alone in his nerves, either. Both Mirari and Rannoi were sighing as well. He smiled, cracking his back.

Well, what are you waiting for? We're not done yet.

It took them almost an hour to pull enough rock and stone and dirt together to create a proper island that broke the surface of the waves, and as Studley collapsed on the shore, he was half worried that they'd wrecked some of the local eco-systems by creating trenches that were too deep. It had taken a lot more than he'd expected, with the limitations of Wonder power; even with his chaos abilities, there was only so much he could change.

But now, now they had an island. A real island.

Two more thumps announced Mirari and Rannoi, and the wolf slowly lifted his head to look down at them. Rannoi was gasping for breath, his breathing shallow enough to be worrying. Mirari looked half dead, and not breathing at all. Then again, she didn't really do that anyway, so perhaps not so serious.

Studley knew that he wasn't up to anything more, not for days. The three of them were, potentially, the strongest Wonders in existence. They knew their stuff, they knew the magic and were able to use a deeper power that no other Wonder could harness. Even with that, creating an island had nearly killed them, exhausting all of their energies, plus the bit extra that the dragon had brought along.

I'm...so...not...doing...this...again.

As the sounds of rowboats coming closer filled his ears, the wolf let himself drift off. He'd done his part; let the others start doing theirs.

He wasn't sure how much later it was when he woke up, but he knew that he had been sleeping too long when he saw who was sitting next to him. The wolf sat up immediately, grinning from ear to ear at the raccoon.

"Yama?!"

"Hmmph. Of course, who else?"

The old council member smiled, getting up from his chair and pulling the wolf into a hug, one that Studley eagerly returned. It wasn't every day that he got to see an old friend, particularly one that had come too close to death recently.

They released, and Studley shook his head.

"I can't believe it. You actually made it here? How?"

"Well, it wasn't that hard to find this place, considering how much energy you three were releasing. I haven't felt something like that...well, ever. In all of my experiences, creating an entire island is rather unprecedented. And certainly more than Hai Mei would ever have allowed."

"We're not talking about her. We're talking about you. I saw -"

"Oh...you heard about that, hmm?"

The raccoon shook his head.

"It was nothing."

"Um, Yama. You know I respect you, but almost getting killed isn't 'nothing'. It's pretty much the exact opposite."

"My friend, I'm a Wonder, and a Councilman. Or, well, I was a Councilman. An attempt on my life is easy enough to escape."

"...By leaping off a cliff?"

"Ah, so the illusion worked...though I'll happily be educated on how you found that out."

"Illus - you sneaky old goat..."

Studley chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he settled in his bed. It was surprisingly comfortable, he had to admit; someone must have been doing a lot of work to get a more modern bed like this out to the island.

"So...how long was I out?"

One month, and four days.

He nearly shot out of bed at that. The idea of being unconscious that long, of being out of touch...They could have all been caught and captured in that time, without someone to keep things hidden.

The only thing that kept him in bed were a pair of stone arms, and he finally realized that he wasn't exactly in bed. He looked up, and saw that he was laying on Mirari. Or, at the very least, a bed with Mirari's face and arms.

"Why so long?"

We all came close to dying, Studley, but you came closest. Your body was ripping itself apart during the island creation. If we hadn't let you rest, you would have come out and done even more, and then...

He could imagine the rest, and as much as he hated to admit it, she was right. The simple fact of it was, he did like to push himself.

"Alright. So, fill me in. What's been happening?"

"Less than we thought, more than we hoped."

He looked down again, seeing the black dragon at the door. Door of a cave, he realized belatedly. He waved, and Rannoi sat down.

"We've received a number of visitors. Apparently there were at least a few dozen Wonders that had gone into hiding, rather than passing away. Some of which faked their deaths - like Yama - while others had simply never come back from their off-island excursions. They followed the same lead that Yama did, and came here.

"Others have come from the old island, including a few of Gleb's old followers. They expected to find him here, and were rather surprised when they found out that he 'hasn't been seen' for years."

Studley held the dragon's gaze at that point, but he saw no knowledge there. Good. It was still a secret kept.

Rannoi continued.

"There have been a few troublemakers, but not so many as we expected. No agents from the Council have turned up yet, which I suppose is all for the best .After all, we don't want to be fighting in front of the rest of the group."

"No, no we don't. Even if you have good ones, better not to look divisive yet."

"Agreed. Much as I would like to beat a little sense into that elephant."

"Take a number. Next?"

"No interference from the humans, either. They seem to be ignorant of what we're doing. We timed our island raising well, and apparently Idesin and a few others were paying enough attention to get a bit of magic around the island and hide it until me and Mirari woke up again."

"How long were the two of you asleep for, anyway? If I was asleep for a month, you must have been down for at least that long."

"Guess again. Mirari was up in two days, and I was out in a week."

"But...but I'm a werewolf! I'm the one with regenerative abilities, I should have been up first. What the hell?!"

Rannoi shrugged.

"A feature of Mirari, my old friend. The pair of us have had a deal for a long time, but we haven't had the chance to include you on it yet."

"Include me, include me!"

"Surprising. I didn't think you'd want to recover on the life force of another."

"Oh..."

Studley shook his head. That was a fair enough point, he supposed. After all, he was trying to be better than them. It was only the moral high ground that let him get much of a say with the pair of them, and still keep the other Wonders somewhat on his side. If he lost that...

Then again, if it was volunteered rather than stolen...

But better that he didn't ask. He didn't need it, at least not yet, and he could think on it before making a decision.

"So...am I good enough to get up and walk around?"

"Probably more than. Mirari has been taking good care of you."

"And I helped out in my own little way when I arrived last week, in case you've forgotten I'm here."

He nodded, slightly embarrassed that he'd ignored Yama that much. But still, he was good to go. The wolf dragged himself out of bed, standing on shaky feet for a few seconds before starting to walk to the door. Both Rannoi and Yama offered him assistance, but he declined.

He wanted to see his new world on his own.

Five hours later, he collapsed under a palm tree, barely able to keep himself upright. The long walk had strained him more than he liked, and he realized that he was really feeling his age. His magic was back - something he'd tested early - but he knew that he needed another week of rest before he'd be up to anything big.

But at least he had the week to rest. He looked down at the beaches, each to see from the little outcropping higher up the island's mountain. Former humans they'd brought along were frolicking down there, and he could see both clean fun and very adult fun happening in the surf. He chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he leaned back.

"A new chance in a new world...Let's see how long it takes before someone tries to take it away."

The End