Alix solemnly dragged herself forward. She was alone in this sudden downpour, not even having Mo's fishbowl to carry anymore. She felt alone, not unlike when she was younger. Always by herself because she preferred spending time with her father and Nuka than kids her own age.
"I have to find him." She continuously muttered to herself. Those words carried much in them...
Hope, desperation, fear...
Alix didn't know which one she feeling the most but she just knew that she needed to find Mo. She felt...off without him. A feeling she couldn't really describe. Just unsettled.
The heavy rain made the journey feel longer, but Alix eventually returned to the outside of the temple. Being closer allowed her to confirm that it did in fact look exactly as she remembered. The only difference was that there were no students training on the massive platform. Instead there were several people bunched together, scanning the surroundings frantically.
'Did they forget they're robes?' Alix questioned but quickly dismissed the idea. These people didn't look like they belonged here. They were standing back to back all with their weapons drawn as though they were ready for combat. They also seemed to be rather unhygienic, several of them missing teeth and wearing shirts covered in various unexplained stains.
They looked nothing like the put together and respectful students of this temple. They didn't even look like people from this town?
If she had to say, they looked like a bunch of-
*Crash*
Lightning crashed through air, pulling Alix out of her mind before she could complete her thought. She then heard another crash this one louder and closer. She looked toward the sky to see if the storm was truly that bad but there was no lightning shooting across the sky. Yet every few seconds...
*Crash! Crash!*
Lightning struck again, in rapid succession. Again louder with each strike. Alix went to cover her ears, but it was all too loud. The heavy drumming of the rain and the constant crashing of thunder. It was as though she stumbled upon a percussion circle in the wild!
Alix's head began to ache. The noise and the situation were becoming too much for her in her disheveled state. She instinctively grabbed it as the pain rang in her mind. She closed her eyes to try to cut down on stimulation.
*Crash!*
A bright flash of lightning cut through the darkness of her closed eyes. This one was so loud that Alix felt her mind get dazed and lost her balance for a moment. She opened her eyes and scanned the surroundings.
"A sound that loud had to have struck near me?" She thought aloud. A quick look around allowed her to see that the lightning had struck near her. Straight onto the chest of one of the people on the platform. They fell to the ground with their chest smoking.
"What the hell was that!?"
"I don't know, I think it was a bolt of lightning?"
"But it came from the side? How is that possible!"
The group frantically searched their surroundings. Suddenly, another crash sounded out, light flashed, and yet another person was sent flying!
"Anok! NO!"
"Pull yerself together, lads!" A commanding voice called out. One that sounded familiar to Alix. In the front of all of the people stood a man, with olive skin and a large scar across his cheek. Alix's eyes widened as she recognized the man.
It was the first mate of the Sinbad Crew, Rendrick!
Rendrick looked out amongst the crowd of frightened pirates. "The captain is still inside trying to procure that treasure! It's up to us to hold whatever thing is out here back so that he can get it! Show no fear! Do ya hear me?!"
"AYE!" The crew yelled in response. They tighten they're grips on their weapons and got ready to fight whatever it was that they were fighting. Alix, meanwhile, was utterly perplexed. Why was the Sinbad crew here? Weren't they just myths?
Even if they weren't, they've been missing for years at this point! So how were they-
Another flash of lightning struck one of the pirates, and with it a revelation came to Alix. Well, less of a revelation and more of a memory...
"My nightmare..." The nightmare that she'd had over a month ago. This was it! She was currently within that dream!
This was the day that the Sinbad crew came to Amal looking for treasure. It'd been so long since then that she'd completely forgotten about the dream! Alix looked around and started recognizing that everything was basically the same as the dream. The only thing different was her perspective.
Alix's eyes slowly widened. Her gaze shot toward the entrance of the Temple. "Mo..." If her dream was correct then that is where he should be right now. And he was in danger!
Alix ran across the muddy ground, slipping slightly in her haste. She climbed onto the raised platform and ran forward, completely ignoring the pirates. The only thought in her mind was saving Mo.
Screams of pain sounded out behind Alix, as the pirates are all being ripped to pieces by whatever was lurking within this storm. At one point, she even swore she felt something bounce off of her shoulder. Like a quick shock of static in the air...
She didn't focus on that, though, she had to get to Mo! She climbed the stairs at a breakneck pace and ran into the Temple. Everything looked completely different from earlier. For one it was dark but not completely dark.
She also noticed that it was much warmer in here now, like a fireplace had been lit to keep her warm. She found herself inside a room with a large empty stone pedestal in the middle. She scanned the room until she found an exit and dashed through it.
Once out of the room, Alix found herself in a massive hall that stretched higher much higher than the previous room. The walls were etched with symbols and glyphs of a time long since passed. Hanging braziers casted warm light all around the room.
Alix eyes instinctively went to the center of the room where she saw the tall throne standing with a being resting atop it. Her eyes trailed down from the throne onto the pirate captain staring up at it. She then looked in the captain's arms and saw that familiar pink fish.
Her eyes shined and she rushed forward with no hesitation. "Mo!" She called out, her voice surprisingly not echoing through this cavernous hall.
No one turned at the sound of Alix's voice. The captain drew his saber and pointed it up at the man in the throne.
"I want whatever treasure yer hidin' in this here temple, Amalgamate! Lest you want to face the wrath of the most dangerous pirate captain of these here seas!?"
The being glanced down at the captain indifferently then moved their gaze up to catch Alix's eye. That simple act makes Alix freeze in her tracks. She couldn't stop looking at this person. Their form constantly changed. Which made their glare that much more unsettling, because those eyes were the only things that never changed.
"Is that your true purpose for being here, pirate?" The figure asked, their voice sounding like a thousand different people at once. "You've come to pillage a land lost to time. A ghost town filled with nothing but hurt and despair? Did you come here with that thought solely in mind? Or could there have been another reason for your visit?" Alix's entire body became drenched in sweat as the being slowly pulled their gaze away from her. They pushed off the throne.
With that simple action, the mist in the space around them mobilized to form a small staircase at the mystic's feet.
"What're ya on about?" The captain's eyes narrowed. Without prompting, he slowly bent down and planted Mo's small fishbowl on the ground. "What other reason could I have for being here?"
"A call..." The being said curtly. Their form gently shifted to that of a small elven woman. "You were beckoned by this place! By the Land of Broken Bonds!" The being gestured to the surroundings as they continued to walk forward. The stairs disappeared behind them as they moved.
The captain scoffed, amused by the Mystic's words. "Broken Bonds? Is that what ya call this place? Doesn't that sound a bit overzealous to you?" The captain slowly backed away, continuing to brandish his blade.
The being chuckled. "That may be true had I given the name to this land. However, it was the world itself that blessed this place with that name!" With a final step Amalgamate reached to floor. They turned to face the captain and continued.
"This land is very unique. Upon this cliff ties have been repeated broken. Time and time again, without fail or bias. It is as though the land itself brings people here to test their hearts, to see if those that travel here are truly resolute in their relationships. It is a strange effect that governs these lands.
"...have always found themselves lost within their heart." The room rings with those words. Alix feels...afraid of this thing. She doesn't know what it is! Her eyes can never quite get down a gender, a height, a hairstyle, nothing! This thing isn't naturally occurring! It's an...
"Amalgamation!" The captain's voice calls out boldly. The being looks down at him...or up at him? The captain jumps a back to get some distance from the being. "I get where ya get that name from now! Yer really weird, buddy!" The being laughs.
"That wouldn't be my first time hearing such a phrase from the ignoramuses of this world!" Its laughter calms down as its body shifts into that of a burning-haired, fair skinned woman. "I believe I know why you are here now." The beings eyes go from the captain back to Alix.
"Both of you..." Alix flinched as she was once met eyes with the powerful Mystic. The folds on the captain's forehead creased. He followed the being's gaze to the spot that Alix stood. Alix took this moment to actually observe the man's visage.
The way he stood, the casual confidence that he always seemed to exude. It was the kind of thing that anyone would've expected from someone referred to strictly as Captain! She met his eyes as he stared basically directly at her. His brows slight furrowed as though he was confused by what he saw. Actually...
Looking into the man's eyes allowed Alix to be able to see his expressions clearly and they didn't have one thing that they should've. The focused stare of when you're meeting eyes with a stranger...
The Captain scoffed and turned back to the being, baring his shark-like teeth!
"What's this? Have ya gone and started seein' things, Mystic? Ain't that ironic?" The captain pointed a mocking finger at Amalgamate. "The being known for their illusions can't even tell reality from their own damn delusions! Yer as crazy as Alessandra in the Great Madness!" The captain threw his head back in a fit of pure amusement.
Alix was baffled by the sight. Not because this man was laughing in the face of a person that was so mystical they couldn't be give a true name besides Amalgamate. It was due to the fact that the captain couldn't see her? How? The mystic had stared at her, directly into her eyes, at least twice during the interaction between the two of them?
Alix's eyes narrowed suspiciously, clearly something less clear than she believed was occurring in this space. However, before she could piece together any information, Alix is distracted by a large grotesque tentacle extending from the mystic's back. The captain was still too busy laughing to notice it, even as the tentacle went rigid and swung down in attack!
"Watch out!" She called out instinctively though she isn't sure he could hear her words. Despite that, at the last moment she witnessed the man's eyes open in shock. He quickly swung his blade, parrying the attack then jumping away to gain some distance from the being. Everyone present in the room watched as the tentacle shook and shifted into a sharp sickle like those possessed by insects.
The captain shuddered. "Eugh! That's disturbin!" The sickle flashed forth but the captain parried the attack again, this time more prepared for the attack. The captain swung his blade at the base of the mystic's weird, sickle-tentacle thing! His plan was to sever it.
"Let's see how ya fare without that weapon of yers!" The man howled as his blade cut through the violent appendage of the Mystic. His face quickly changed however, as his blade felt like it cut through nothing except air.
A quick glance was all it took to see the misty reconstruction of the sickle. It seemed like the blade was in this strange state of real and illusion. Amalgamate let out an impressed grunt. "Your skills are indeed something that any fighter should look out for. Unfortunately, I am no fighter..." The mist gently flowed around the sickle, fully reforming it as though it had never been cut.
The mystic's voice grew dark. "...and this is no combat." The sickle lifted again, making the captain raise his guard again. "This is a test of the strength of bonds across time!" The mist seemed to grow more dense as the sickle viciously slashed at the captain.
The man tried to parry the attack like he'd done before but the sickle just passed through his blade and left a large cut across his chest. "Agh!" the man screamed in pain. He rebalanced himself while holding his wound with one hand.
The being's eyes shined with purpose while studying the injured captain. "I am the one that enacts the will of this town. Thus I am the scissors that cut any bonds that must be severed!" The blade of the mystic flew out, once again with great speed. The captain stood with his own blade up in guard.
Yet this time all the captain felt was wind blow past him. It was a split second realization for both the captain and Alix. Amalgamate said that this wasn't a battle...it was a test. A test of bonds. Both the wounded man and the disheveled girl's eyes shot wide and turned to Mo as they came to the same realization.
The fish had been the target all along!
"NO!" Alix screamed. She tried to run to protect him but her legs were tied down by tendrils of mist. The captain threw his blade with desperation but the weapon found no purchase, simply passing through the mist. Both Alix and the captain felt time slow, Alix's fingers cracked as she started trying to cast a spell and the captain hand flew into his coat grasping for something!
They both were desperate to save that little pink fish...
But no one, not even the mystic's blade, was nearly as fast as the beam of light shot past Alix. The light tore through the mist and slammed into the Mystic directly, throwing his attack off target. The sickle instead scrapped across the stone floor with a metallic clang!
Alix stood froze in place. She'd just almost witnessed Mo get killed right before her eyes and she was going to he helpless to stop it. But a light saved him.
'Was it divine intervention? No, no god would intervene for something so unworthy of their time.' Alix turned to the mystic, they were holding their chest but showed no sign of displeasure. Instead they just met the gaze of the one that had attacked them.
A small pink fish, glowing with light magic and seething while she stares into the eyes of Amalgamate.
"Keep that sickle away from my brother you unstable freak!"