"Remember, using 'water' is fine. But the more specific the better. It takes less energy, and there's less chance of mistake or backfire."
Kage focused on the intent behind the spell. That part came easy for her, as all Mythsian magic came straight from the intent, or the mind.
Keeping that purpose in the back of her head, she opened her eyes and dipped the pen in the jar of ink Shole held steady for her against the swaying of the ship. Still focused, she brushed the curving shape onto the sheet of paper, a light and smooth motion to keep the single stroke.
The instant her pen left the paper the shape began to form from the air above the page. She kept her focus on it, keeping control over the power that started from her mind and channeled through the page.
Water began to form in the air, each individual droplet swirling around in a sphere. As she held it here, she felt the magic deplete, than waver, and then-
Shole pulled the paper out of the way as the water dropped.
"Amazing, Kage!" Shole exclaimed as Kage let out her breath. It was like exercising a brand new muscle, even if she had experience from her own magic.
"I knew you'd be a natural!"
"What're you two doing over here?" Artlem stomped down the stairs, scowl on his face accompanied by dark bruise on his cheek. The two of them had gone down below decks to practice, to avoid any prying eyes.
"Art, what happened? Please don't tell me it was about a girl." Shole asked, exasperated.
"Why is that your first response? How about a little concern for a friend?" He scowled. "Though yeah. Apparently already had a boyfriend."
"Well, not much for me to say." Shole smirked. "That guy got his point across in not-too-many words."
"Shut up." Artlem slumped down onto the wooden step.
"Anyway, I came down to get you all. We're almost there."
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The brightness caught Kage off guard for only a moment before the huge shape covered up the sun.
The first ship towered above theirs, though compared to the one behind it, visible even from this angle, it looked tiny.
Kage could hardly belive something, or several things, that huge could float, at least in a world without the technology of some other worlds she'd seen.
The connections were visible from here, anything from rigging run sideways to full-on-bridges connected the ships, and, while the tops of the outermost ones still mostly resembled ships, Kage could see the wooden houses and other buildings forming the city behind them.
Artlem and Shole emerged from behind her, taking in the sight.
She felt so foreign in this world that she'd forgot that some of these sights were just as new to them as they were to her.
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Their ship pulled up next to an open space against the collection of ships. The sides of this ship, as she assumed would be the same on the rest of the outside of this city, had a few gates, and as they approached it was pulled open from the inside and a wide gangplank pushed out.
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Artlem met her eyes and scowled, before catching Shole's eyes and strolling off to the gangplank. The message was clear: follow his lead.
They were the first to disembark aside from a couple members of the crew, and the ship towered above them as they approached.
They were met by two guards at the top, and Kage took notice of their sharp ears with a fin-like shape.
They wore a simple outfit, a tight, dark, and tough-looking shirt and pants, with body armour made of a strange pale material reminiscent of seashell, or perhaps bone.
They one on their left carried an intimidating-looking trident, and the one on the right a thick book and pen.
"Purpose of your visit?" The one with the pen addressed Artlem, without much interest in his voice.
"Just visiting." He replied.
"Sightseeing? And for how long?"
"Hopefully less than a week."
The guard raised his eyebrows. "Already sick of it are we?"
"Huh? Oh, I see." Artlem laughed. "No no, it's not that I'm in a hurry to leave, just here to find someone."
"Huh, well, good luck with that." He waved them through.
The three of them continued straight agead through the open space where crates were being moved towards and away from the docked ships, and down from the ceiling on a complicated pulley system. Light streamed from the top of the two opposite stairways up ahead, and the they made their way towards it.
As anticipation swelled up in Kage's chest, Artlem's stride sped up, and she noticed Shole twisting one of his hanging locks of hair. She skipped a couple steps on the way up, trying trying keep up with Artlem.
They emerged on the deck of the first ship, and Artlem hurriedly changed course towards another stairway that led onto the the next ship.
She almost bumped into him at the top as he paused for a minute, taking in the sight before him.
Kage turned towards the city and immidiately understood.
It was a strange feeling, seeing these two things merged together.
While in one aspect, it looked like a normal city built from wood, complete with wooden roads. In this case however, the roads were the decks of ships, and though the ship they were on was gigantic from the outside, its expanse still covered only a few blocks. Rounded or flat bridges connected the 'roads' to other ships, making the ships connected but still seperate, and though the buildings blocked the view of most of the city from view, the height of some of the buildings further in only confirmed that this went on for quite some distance.
She glanced at Artlem. His mouth open and eyes wide as he took it in. She turned to Shole, who had a similar expression, eyes sparkling at the sight.
Artlem got ahold of himself first, making eye contact with Shole and Kage before turning back and stepping forward.
The two of them followed, Shole flashing an encouraging smile at Kage.
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Walking here was much sturdier than on the ship, but she was still aware of the movement beneath her.
They followed the motion of the travelers and merchants around them. Similar to Duurchelm, the entry to the city soon became crowded with stalls and shops, but the look and clothes of Naughtilis people were completely different.
Most people wore a dark, skintight outfit most likely made for swimming, with some form of light robe on top. The webby ears of the guards was apparently the norm for the people here, though she didn't notice anything else that differentiated them from regular humans.
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She followed Artlem and Shole through the market. Artlem stopped for a moment to purchase a map of the city for a vendor before looking back to make sure he still had two people following him and swerving away from the main road.
They had to push past more than a few travelers, but the crowd soon broke and they found themselves in a much less crowded alley.
"Alright, so here's the deal." Artlem leaned against the wall of one of the wooden buildings.
"Kage, I know we haven't gone over too much, but we're here looking for a someone to help us, a bodyguard, basically."
Kage nodded, desperately hoping that wasn't the only information she was going to get.
"But not just anyone." He continued, to her relief. "We're looking for a Flint Dragon by the name of Bard. He apparently has red hair and-"
"Wait, a dragon?" She exclaimed. "Wait, with hair..?"
Artlem scowled.
"Kage, have you never heard of a Flint Dragon?" Shole asked.
"Well, no." She trailed off. Not much explanation she could give for that one.
"Well that's useless." Artlem said. "I forgot for a second that you grew up under a rock."
"You know, they're not very common." Shole chided. He turned back to Kage.
"There are Flint dragons and Steel dragons.
The steel ones are probably the ones you were thinking of, they're the ones with scales and wings. The Flint dragons look like a slightly larger human, but with dragon horns. They can breathe fire and are much stronger than a human."
"Think you got all that?" Artlem smirked.
Kage scowled. Everytime she thought she was catching up, this world threw another foreign concept at her. So dragons here were like halves of the dragons she was familiar with?
"Anyway, we need to find Bard." Shole said, trying to diffuse the tension.
"Dark red hair, he's supposed to be tall and broad, which makes sense for a hired blade, and he's known for using a broadsword so he'll probably be carrying that with him." He smiled. "Shouldn't be too difficult to spot, it's going to be more about covering ground."
"Exactly! So we'd better hurry." Artlem said. "But first we're gonna need to find somewhere to meet up. He unrolled the map he'd bought earlier against the wall.
The map of Naughtilis wasn't the most beautifully drawn, but it contained the names of what appeared to be landmarks throughout the city. The market they had just left was clearly marked, and among other things, she noticed markings for "Statue of Lord Erkett the Great", "Seaman's Rest", and "Greater Education Hall of Naughtilis".
"Well, if we're meeting up again in the evening, shouldn't we meet at an inn?" Shole suggested.
"Yeah, but we don't want some scummy hole-in-the-wall somewhere." Artlem said.
"Mr. Picky here."
"I don't think they'd put a hole-in-the-wall on a map." Kage spoke up.
"You're not wrong." Shole agreed. "Let's just pick one around the middle so no one has to walk too far."
He pointed his finger around the middle of the map. "Like there! Marker's Inn. Right next to..."
"Old Gallows." Kage finished, dread in her voice.
"That's not ominous at all!" Artlem laughed. "Sounds good to me, Marker's Inn it is."
"We could always pick somewhere else." Shole suggested.
"What are you superstitions? It says old, probably means it's not in use. It doesn't matter anyhow." Artlem said.
"Fine." Shole relented. "Kage?"
"Yeah, that's fine." She begrudged.
"Great! So everyone splits up, and at sunset make your way back to the-" he paused to glance at the map "-Marker's Inn."
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and then Add to home screen.