Sometimes the deception is unintentional. That a city in the middle of the desert is named Seagrove may seem funny in the here and now, but who knows? That city might have once been a little town by a sea long since run dry. Landscapes change, life grows and dies only to begin anew, and history has a way of repeating itself. That doesn't explain why crime bosses the universe over name their biggest beefiest thug 'Tiny', but some questions have no easy answers.
The Glass Ocean, on the other hand, was perfectly named, something Asriel, Golemite, and Shye discovered soon after they stepped from the stone roads of the skyway onto blue sands. Asriel had never seen a beach before, and almost laughed at the feel of the sand shifting beneath the pads of his feet. Even more amazing was the Glass Ocean itself in the distance, an endless sea that was so calm it looked like polished blue glass, perfectly reflecting the light of the stars (or whatever it was that shone over the Deep). There was a light on the distant horizon, like that of a moon just waiting to rise.
With a laugh, Shye tagged Asriel and took off running. Asriel followed, laughing as he chased Shye to the edge of the ocean. Mina hissed and leapt off Shye's shoulder as the catgirl drew near the water.
That was when they learned that the Glass ocean did not in fact simply look as smooth as glass. Shye jumped at the edge of what she must've presumed was water only for her backside to come down on the apparently very solid surface.
"Ow!" She said, clutching her backside as her tail lashed back and forth. "What the heck?"
"It's really glass." Asriel murmured, touching the surface of the ocean with one finger. Oddly enough, the glass seemed to give way to his claw after a moment, though to his finger it felt as solid as ever. He quickly pulled his hand back, his claw sliding out easily and the small hole refilling before he could blink.
Golemite scratched her chin for a moment before raising one foot and bringing it down hard. Asriel half-expected the glass to shatter beneath her feet, but it didn't even wobble.
"Huh." Golemite said, scratching the side of her head. "Now ain't dat somethin'?"
A sudden splash made the three of them jump. A fish that looked to be all points and edges leapt out of the water, its body glinting in the light before it slipped back beneath the surface. Mina watched the fish with obvious interest, though she made no move to approach the ocean.
"I'm thinkin' you fleshy types aughtta keep away from the local wildlife." Golemite said, quickly ushering Asriel and Shye away from the ocean. "Dat ting looks like it could jump right through you."
"Hey!" Shye said, pointing at where she was squinting. "There's a boat!"
Sure enough, a small vessel could be seen in the distance. About three times the size of Golemite, the vessel wasn't so much cutting through the ocean as it was gliding over it.
"Now ain't dat somthin'?" Golemite said. "Look at 'er go!"
Asriel nodded, his eyes on the coasting vessel as it zoomed across the smooth expanse of the ocean. As he followed its progress, he caught sight of its destination, a cluster of seashells in the distance. Even from a distance, Asriel could make out the lights of a settlement.
"Whoa!" He said, pointing, "Is that Starhaven?"
"Must be." Golemite said. "Cor, dose shells must be giant. Never saw somethin' like dis in da Brass woods, eh Shye?"
A black form darted forward, followed by the much smaller blur of Mina. "Last one there is a rotten egg!"
Asriel took off after her immediately. It felt good to run, especially with the cool sand under foot and the light of the starry night. The sea breeze spurred him on all the faster, laughing as he chased Shye across the sands toward the ever-growing lights of Starhaven.
A slight shudder in the ground soon revealed its source as Golemite; the massive stone woman roared past Asriel and Shye like a runaway steam engine, massive stone feet sending sand flying behind her. Asriel struggled to keep up, but there wasn't much that could keep up with Golemite once she got up to speed, especially in her new body.
Asriel and Shye did have one advantage over Golemite. When they reached the edge of town, both Shye and Asriel were able to stop relatively quickly, while Golemite … well, as they say, a body in motion stays in motion. Sliding across the sand with her arms flailing, Golemite continued sliding through the city gates and well into the central square. Her momentum carried her forward right into the stone base of a large statue of what appeared to be a pirate mermaid bearing a flintlock pistol in one hand and a cutlass in the other. A grin adored the mermaid's face, the eyepatch and sharp teeth making her smile considerably more malicious … and slightly familiar.
The stone base of the statue shook from the impact, but amazingly remained upright. Golemite, on the other hand, fell backwards into the sand, much to the amusement of the bystanders.
"Golemite!" Asriel said, hurrying over to his friend. "Golemite, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good." Golemite said, still lying in the sand. "Bloody stupid place to put a statue."
Asriel opened his voice to reply, only for someone else to say, "That statue has been there for hundreds of years. It's of the founder of Starhaven, Ruby Eye Ryleena."
The speaker was a lamia with a tail of blue scales, her face similar though not identical to Jenny. She smirked as Golemite slowly struggled to her feet. "She was every bit as unyielding as her statue. That pedestal's twenty feet deep."
"Twenty feet." Golemite repeated, putting one hand against the statue's plaque to steady herself. "That feels about right."
The lamia chuckled and turned to Asriel. "I'm Bella, Jenny's sister. She told me to be expecting you. Something about exploring the boundaries of the Deep?"
"That's right." Asriel said, shaking Bella's hand. "Asriel."
"Nice to meet you." Bella turned to Shye. "And if she's Golemite, that makes you Miss Shye."
Shye gave Bella a small curtsy, her tail bobbing behind her. "Hello, Miss."
"Hello there." Bella said, smiling at the cat-girl. "Now, if you don't mind, we should go to my shop before you attract any attention."
Sure enough, some of the locals around the central square were watching them. Some weren't even bothering to hide their curiosity, and more than a few looked to be somewhat shady. Asriel couldn't help but notice that most people, Bella included, carried a knife. He felt worried for a few moments before remembering his own weapons, the shattered crystal blades as good as swords to one of Asriel's size.
Bella's shop was definitely a curiosity in and of itself. Built inside one of the many massive shells of the city, it looked at first glance to be the sort of souvenir shop one might expect by the seaside, full of things covered with shells, trinkets from the ocean, and more than a few t-shirts. That was only the front room, however; Bella quickly guided them past the mouse-eared young woman currently working at the counter and through a curtain of hanging shells into a much larger room filled with provisions and equipment clearly meant for long journeys.
"I get a lot of business from explorers, adventurers, and the occasional unsually driven salesperson looking for new clients." Bella told them. "There's a lot of expansion going on, both here and on Gealle, a large island to the northeast. Gealle's a tourist trap: overpriced resort, a massive amusement park, and restaurants. If the prices weren't jacked beyond belief, I'd recommend hiring a ship there."
"Can't we just walk across the ocean?" Shye said. "I mean, it's glass."
"It looks like glass." Bella corrected. "Let me show you something."
Bella led them to an aquarium filled with a blue substance Asriel supposed was water from the Glass Ocean. A small, sharp-looking purple fish was swimming through it as though it was nothing. Bella pulled a coin from her pocket and dropped it into the aquarium. For a few moments, it simply sat on the surface of the 'water'. Just as Asriel was about to ask Bella what she meant, the coin slowly slipped into the water. It was slow, but it nevertheless sank until it hit the bottom of the tank.
"It's solid for a time, yes." Bella said as her fish curiously circled around the fallen coin. "But stay still long enough, and you'll slip under it. Once it has you, it's extremely viscous, so you can't just swim back up. The local magistrate has walls of missing person posters, all people who made the mistake of tackling the Glass Ocean on foot … without the right equipment, of course."
Bella slid across the floor, ultimately leading them to a table with three backpacks already prepared, one massive one and two smaller ones.
"These supplies should last a few weeks, if you ration them properly." Bella said.
"And then we'll reach the edge of the Glass Ocean?" Shye asked as little Mina hopped onto the table and tentatively tapped her paw against the packs.
Shaking her head, Bella said, "That'll get you to the Netallis islands. Not much out there, but you might be able to resupply on one of the islands before heading further east. The furthest I've head someone reaching is an atoll about three hours east of the Netallis islands."
"Any idea what's out there?" Asriel asked.
Bella shrugged. "Only rumors. Some people claim the ocean just drops off into nothingness. Others claim there are great sea monsters that will eat anything that gets to close. A few people have speculated that the Glass ocean simply goes on forever."
"That don't make sense." Golemite said. "I mean, either dere's somthin' else, or it just loops around to the Drifting Meadows, yeah? And if dat was da case, the Skyway Repair Crew woulda heard about it."
"Who's to say?" Bella said with a shrug. "Perhaps no one's guessed the truth. Perhaps no one's ever gone far enough to see the truth. That's why I've decided to pay for your supplies myself."
"You what?" Golemite said, raising a stone eyebrow at the lamia.
"I'm a businesswoman." Bella said matter-of-factually. "And Jenny told me about the Precious Meadows out beyond the Brass Woods. My sister Rommie's already bragging about the profits coming in from both the new goods and the real estate. I never gave much thought to what's out beyond the Glass Ocean, but if there's another Precious Meadows out there, I want a piece of that pie." Giving the three adventurers (and their three-eyed flynx) a sweet smile, Bella added, "That's why I'm coming with you."
"What?" Asriel said, surprised. "You're coming with us?"
"Yes." Bella said. "Ellandra and her brother already do most of the work around here. Most of what I do is paperwork, and frankly, I'm ready for another adventure."
Asriel and Golemite exchanged glances as Bella picked up a smaller pack and a carved walking stick with a jewel-encrusted handle.
"I trust this isn't a problem." Bella said, "Seeing as I'm funding this little expedition and all."
Shrugging, Golemite said, "Just as long as you know da risks. We could be runnin- into dangerous stuff out dere."
Bella chuckled and shook her head. "Don't you worry about me. I can take care of myself. Besides, you'll need my help to procure a good vessel. There are a lot of sharks out there, and I'm not talking about the razorfins."
"All right, all right." Golemite said. "At least this way it's even."
"Even?" Bella asked.
"Yeah. Two boys, two girls." Golemite patted Asriel on the back. "Ain't no one claiming the Skyway Repair Crew ain't about equality."
Shye giggled as Bella gave Golemite a questioning look. "Um … quite. Well, if you're ready, we should head to the docks. We'll pick up some lunch and see about finding a skimmer to take us to the Netallis islands."
"Ooh! Lunch!" Shye grabbed her pack and jogged to the door back to the other part of Bella's shop. Turning to the others, she said, "C'mon already! I'm hungry!"
The Starhaven docks were in many ways bigger than the city of Starhaven itself. Some of this was from the numerous restaurants and souvenier shops for the occasional visitor from Nowhere, but most of the space was to accommodate for the ships themselves. First and smallest were the skimmers, small ships like the one Asriel, Golemite, and Shye saw before reaching Starhaven. There were quite a few of these, mostly fishing trawlers and transports to some of the smaller port cities further along the western side of the Glass Ocean.
Next were the slicers, small one-to-three person ships surrounded by three circular blades similar to those of a circular saw that cut through the Glass Ocean while propelling the craft forward. They were lightning fast, though tricky to pilot, and saw the most use from lifeguards picking up people slowly sinking into the Glass ocean, or law enforcement attempting to catch up quickly with a departing ship.
Finally were the cutters; these ships resembled those of the surface long past, differing only in the sharp edge running from the front, along the length, and all the way to the back of the ship. Cutters weren't as fast as slicers or as convenient as skimmers, but were not as reliant on power cells, being propelled through the Glass Ocean by a combination of wind and auxiliary blades capable of being turned by hand. These ships were the ones that made the journeys to the islands, as they did not risk becoming stranded and slowly sinking into the Glass Ocean.
Bella explained all of this to Asriel, Golemite, and Shye as they ate at a nice restaurant at the docks. Shye, Bella, and Asriel ate sushi made from the local fish, which turned out to be quite flavorful once the sharp scales were removed. Golemite dined on shellfish, simply popping them into her mouth and crunching them, shell and all.
"So we're gonna charter one of the cutters?" Asriel asked, setting his chopsticks on his plate.
Bella nodded. "I've dealt with many of the captains around here while running my shop. I'd like to think I've earned some good will, provided any of them are at port at the moment."
"And if they aren't?" Golemite said.
"If they aren't, we'll just have to find someone else." Bella said. Her tone was dismissive, but Asriel got the impression that she didn't think much of the captains she didn't already deal with.
The server, a slender insect woman in a kimono, gracefully set another plate of sushi in the center of the table. This particular roll was arranged and decorated to resemble a green sea dragon.
"Very nice, My-shal." Bella said, bowing her head to the server, who nodded in reply before gracefully moving away from their table.
Just as Asriel picked up his chopsticks to try a bit of the dragon, he heard a voice call out, "Asriel? Asriel Dreemurr?"
Surprised to hear his surname, Asriel twisted in his seat to see the speaker, a small raccoon lady wearing khaki clothes, a pith helmet, and a pair of spectacles attached to a silver chain. He thought she was a girl at first, only to realize that she was in fact merely short and a bit on the squat side. Still, there was something about her that seemed strangely familiar, something he couldn't quite put his fingers on.
She smiled nervously as his eyes met hers, and held out a shaking furry hand. "Um … h-hi there, M-mister Dreemurr. You don't know m-me, but I'm a b-big fan of you and Mister G-golemite."
"A fan of me, eh?" Golemite said, her grin widening.
There was a touch of terror in the raccoon-lady's eyes as she looked at Golemite. It occurred to Asriel that Golemite's new appearance might not have gotten around yet, so he quickly said, "Of us, Golemite. No hogging all the glory."
"I don't hog." Golemite said, pausing to crunch another shellfish into oblivion. "I'm just bigger. Dat means I'm a bigger part of the team."
"Your head is bigger, you mean." Asriel said, flicking a bit of wasabi at his friend. Golemite. Golemite blocked it with her massive hand, chuckling all the while.
"P-please." The raccoon lady said, "M-my name is P-professor Sylpha Delange, of the Kollecka Institute of Higher K-knowledge?"
Asriel didn't recognize the name, but both Golemite and Bella seemed to recognize it.
"Long way from the Chorus mountains, Doc." Golemite said.
"P-professor." Sylpha corrected.
"Professor of what?" Bella asked, seemingly a little suspicious.
"Deep History. History of the Deep." Sylpha pulled off her helmet and held it in her hands. "I c-couldn't help but overhear that you're planning an expedition? To the Netallis Islands and beyond?"
"You overheard correctly." Bella said. "May I ask what you want of us?"
"Oh, yes. Right. S-sorry. Um, well, I was wondering if you … that is to say, Mister Dreemurr and Golemite … I was wondering if you are planning to try and reach the other side of the Glass Ocean?"
"Yup." Shye said before grabbing another piece of sushi. "I'm betting jungle."
"Jungle?" Asriel said, "Why a jungle?"
"Cus I wanna see a jungle." Shye said as though that explained everything perfectly. "And maybe a lagoon … with real water, not this glass stuff."
Asriel was still considering this when Sylpha stammered, "I was wondering … I mean, if you don't mind … I know you might already have other plans …"
"Spit it out." Bella said, her smile belying the no-nonsense tone of her voice.
"I would like to c-come with you." Sylpha said, her blush showing through the white fur of her cheeks. "I've found records in the Kollecka library that s-suggest there might be the remains of an ancient civilization beyond the Glass Ocean."
"Ancient civilization?" Asriel asked. "But how could there be? The Deep was born of the Everstar."
"Y-yes, but …" Sighing, Sylpha said, "What if something was here first? What if the Deep formed over another realm? What if the Deep is connected to something bigger, something so much larger than any of us ever imagined? I've found ruins in the Chorus Mountains that predate the rock strata, trees in the Brass Woods that are older than the oldest parts of Nowhere. It would not surprise me to find something similar even in the Precious Meadows Mister Dreemurr and Golemite so recently discovered."
"I've been thinkin' 'bout dat too." Golemite said. "I mean, someone had to build Archie and Beget, yeah?"
"And Serenity Spire." Asriel said, nodding at Golemite.
"Exactly!" Sylpha said. "It may even be that the previous civilization is still there, just waiting for us to find it! Could you imagine all we could learn from them?"
There was a definite gleam in Bella's eyes that prompted Asriel to add, "Can you imagine the opportunities?"
"Damn straight I can." Bella said. "All right, if it's okay with the others, I won't object … though I get first dibs on any business opportunities."
"Er, right. Of course."
"And you'll need to find your own supplies."
"Oh!" Sylpha hurried away from the group only to return a few moments later with a massive pack that towered over her.
Golemite eyed the pack and said, "Got enough gear, have ya?"
"Oh, yes." Sylpha said. "After all, if there is another civilization out there, I need to record and take samples of everything. Headmaster's orders. There's also the question of language, since it's highly unlikely that any civilization that does or did predate the Deep would be unlikely to speak the same-"
"All right, all right!" Bella said, raising her hand to call the server. The insect woman hurried over and cleared away the plates. There was nothing left; Shye had finished off the dragon herself while everyone was talking. "Asriel? You okay with this?"
"The more the merrier." Asriel said, smiling at Sylpha despite the nagging feeling that he'd met her before, despite the fact he knew he'd never met any raccoon monsters in the past.
"Excellent!" Sylpha said, shaking the hand of everyone who offered their own. "You won't regret it, Mister Dreemurr."
"Just Asriel is fine." He told her as she shook his hand.
"Asriel." She repeated, looking much relieved. "Thank you, Asriel."
The group departed the restaurant after paying for their meal, all eager to hire a cutter and begin their journey. As soon as they were gone, the server returned to the kitchen, where a tall muscular figure in a heavy leather coat was patiently sitting in a chair, her legs propped up against one of the cabinets and her long green tail swishing back and forth over the floor. Three other insect people, two little girls and one man with a bruised mandible, were chained to the pipes of the sink. The fear in their faces was alleviated by the approach of the server, but only a little.
Bumping her hat up to reveal her eye-patch and her one amber eye, the lizard-woman grunted at the server. "Well?"
"They are heading to the Netallis Islands." The insect-woman said, trying to hide her nervousness. "They plan to go beyond, to the other end of the Glass Ocean. The Professor will be accompanying them."
The lizard-woman considered this a moment before setting her heavy boots on the wooden floor of the restaurant with two heavy thuds. The insect woman shrank back as the lizard-woman approached her.
"I have done what you asked." The server said, both sets of hands fidgeting nervously. "Please … release my family."
Grunting again, the lizard woman held out a gloved hand with great force, making the server flinch. The lizard woman opened her hand, dropping the key to the floor in front of the insect woman.
"Not a word to anyone, or I'll be comin' back." The lizard woman said as casually as a regular patron might comment, "See you next time". She walked out of the kitchen as the server picked up the keys and hurried to her family.
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