Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 44

Gentleman’s Guide to Fantastic Beasts 44

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Wordcount: 2500

Commissioned by Sivantic.

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The ship landed for repairs upon an artificial island in the middle of a lake. Made with magic, the island was a safe harbor for any ship beneath the endless night. The fact that it was constructed years ago, before the endless night fell, was a reminder that many people in the outlying settlements were abandoned purposefully. However, if any of the crew noticed that fact, they made no mention of it.

While the rest of the crew tended to their boat, taking from the warehouse on the artificial island for wood and pitch, I tended to Cornelius.

The higher moisture in the air made it necessary to wipe him down, and sometimes he became sluggish in cooler temperatures. So, nightly, I made sure that he flew in gentle gusts of dry, slightly heated air. The moisture gathering between his body, shell, and wings were thus removed, and he grew more energetic and flew happily in circled within the orb of heated air that I made for him. I was tempted to create sand by crushing rock finely and heating it up, so that he may ‘bathe’ as he used to, but I decided against doing so.

I was unfamiliar with the rocks in this region, and if there was anything particularly sharp, it would irritate and cut Cornelius instead of providing him relief. The sands of the Great Desert and many others were worn down to their measure over the course of millennia. I could not presume myself able to do the same, even with my abilities in this life, so I abstained.

Instead, I focused on fishing.

“You’ve got a deft hand for a lad born in the desert.” The captain of the vessel approached me, as I sat beside Cornelius. Most of the crew stayed away from me and my mount. Most of what I owned was stored in a large container in the hold of the ship, so that he could rest. He was more than happy to stay in the hold, but taking him out was necessary, too. “Mind if my boys take a few?”

“I’m done studying those, so you may.” I caught the fish with needle and thread running through the water. The fish did not notice or even thought the needle was a small minnow that they were meant to eat. When they were near, I speared through their brain and pulled them out of the water before blood even spilled. I set them into a bucket filled with water I chilled to near-freezing to keep them fresh. In my past life, my early days caring for people abounded of fish bringing sickness if not properly kept. “Would you like them gutted?”

“Sure, if you can spare the time, physician.”

I gave a nod and focused.

Extracting the dozen fish at once from the bucket, and hanging them over the lake, I opened their bellies and extracted their gills and insides while taking off their scales. I had done the same several times to the ones I had cooking over a smoldering fire. With just a bit of salt and some spices, the freshwater fish was perfect when grilled.

I recalled the days spent fishing in my youth, hours spent with my grandfather, but those days were gone now.

“Here.” I gave him the fish, cleansed quickly in a pot of water I had boiled. He took them with a critical eye, and handed them away before approaching me. I glanced his way as he took a seat. “Is there something you want to ask?”

“Aye, the truth of things. I’m no sailor of the crown. This ship and crew are my responsibility. Worked with my father from the moment I could walk, and most of my crew did the same.” He had a wizened and tanned face and lean form. I observed his hands, and there were scars from handling rope upon them, along with numerous faded small cuts. His nails were black from handling pitch. He and the entire crew worked to repair the ship, before they went off to rest. They were gathered near the gangway onto the ship, and had people watching from all corners of the island. Ready to leave at a moment’s notice. “We all have families… some of them from outside the reach of the Tree. They told us that everyone outside died, but you’re from the Great Desert.”

I considered his words, before asking him a simple question.

“Would you want the truth, even if it puts you and your crew and their families in danger?”

“…What would you tell me if I said yes?”

“I would tell you that the Great Desert is filled with powerful warriors and chieftains to which this long night is merely that. A long night. It would barely be a lie.” Djet’Is told me that Kan’Is had to stop his war because of the descent of the night. That monsters stirred and attacked so constantly that a truce was declared… and now he had to look for trade to invigorate and strengthen the As’Kari so he could remount his offensive. That meant that his preparations and all the preparations he caused through his actions made the situation within the ability of the Great Desert’s tribes to handle. They were all prepared for war, so they were able to hold and live against the hordes. “The Great Desert is filled with warriors who sup on monsters and kill them to stay alive every day. There is not one soul in each tribe that cannot wield a weapon and fight for their life or another’s.”

The captain nodded at my words. That fit within whatever tale the rulers of this land gave. They spoke of the outside of their own nation, which of course fell, and not for those beyond their nation. Most would be content with that answer… but the man was at war with himself. He was ready to get up, ready to leave it at that, but some part of him searched for the truth.

He opened his mouth… and I spoke ahead of him.

“Look at your crew. Think of your families. Even with this long night, your bellies are full, you have to work, and want for nothing. All of you.” Pursuant of the truth, the man was ready to ask me for his own soul and beliefs. I could respect that. However, there was more to this matter than respect and honor. This was a matter of life and death. Some would gladly say that they value respect and honor more, and others would bow their heads and choose life over honor. I would not lie to this man if he asked me about the truth of the world around him, but only if he asked. I would not lie to him, but my own conscience bids me to omit the truth if I could spare him suffering and reprisal. “Think carefully before you ask what you wish to ask. I assure you… you will lose everything if you know the truth.”

He was silent, and he stared at the great tree of light in the distance. We were so close to it now that it’s true immensity was made clearer to me. I was like a tree-shaped dot of light from the Great Desert. Now its immensity was all too clear. It looked like it was holding up the entire sky with its canopy and its trunk must have been as massive as a mountain.

Can you oppose that?

Can you run from the people who created that thing that lies in the distance which provides light to all these lands?

I let him think in silence for a long time.

Then, I respected his decision as he shook his head and nodded my way.

“Thanks for the conversation, physician. We should be at our destination within two days.”

He chose well, in my opinion.

…

For the first time in months, it felt like I was beneath the sun, as I disembarked from the ship with a goodbye to the crew. The sky-dock was formatted like a pier, but they were stacked atop one another, and had many stories and layers to admit a vast number of flying vessels. Ships drifted down from the sky and strung themselves to wooden piers, and between each layer were strong ropes woven into nets that were meant to catch someone who slips or entire ships, if they somehow fell.

People on smaller, flying boats acted as tugs and guided ships in and out of the towering port, and a constant stream of cargo and people disembarked from the vessel onto the city.  The city itself was the largest I’d ever encountered, and I had to acknowledge the fact that the people living in it were far more numerous than all I’d met since leaving the Great Desert. 

The streets teemed with life, people nearly brushing shoulder-to-shoulder as they walked through cobble streets. Unlike the castle-cities that were the front line against the threats to this kingdom, all of which lived in perpetual dusk, this city was flat and extended outward from a river that ran through it. Fountains and man-made ponds were everywhere, along with gutters in the streets, denoting a complex sewage system. The city was alive with humans and the other races of this world, ranging from those with long ears to those with small forms, and even some that looked like animals walking upright.

There were uniformed individuals walking about with staffs and in cloth armor with heraldry on their chests. Some avoided them, notably those less nicely dressed than the rest of the populace, but others approached them with smiles and spoke to them. Vendors lined the streets with stalls, offering and selling food and trinkets and drinks to passerby, with many plying an honest trade. Shops with window fronts lined the streets, and people entered them and left with arms filled with their purchases.

I noticed a multitude of changes for the sake of the eternal day. Large shades were folded up every couple of feet. The size of the massive shades was such that once unfurled they would shed only thin strips of light onto the middle of the streets. With the curtains at each window, night could be gained by simply by shutting windows and covering them. There were posts with clocks upon them, to keep the populace informed, and people stared at them often to keep pace with their business.

The number of people was beyond my expectations, and without a semblance of a doubt, this was a place of industry and immense value to any ruler in a time of crises. In this place, people were born, soldiers could be gained, and industry could take place. The cities before this one had manufacturing centers, and they were functional indeed, but they were primarily meant to hold land, grow vast amounts of food, and provide a buffer to cities such as these. These old centers of populace where so many already lived and thrived… were what the outskirts of the kingdom of the forest were sacrificed for.

Tens of thousands exchanged for the lives of hundreds of thousands through a brutal calculus.

Triage.

I shook the thoughts away, recalling that the people weren’t just killed, but also robbed of the chance to fight with many of their skilled individuals taken away. Those people on the edges of the kingdom of forest’s lands were not only abandoned, but taken from, and then refused assistance completely.

At the very least, the lords of this land should have tried to save the people they promised to protect and not left them to die.

Indeed, if they had vast cities such as these, why not take the few thousands from the outskirts and bring them in?

Suddenly, an answer came to me, as the immense tree of light shone down.

Years of preparation for this eternal night and the coming hordes of monsters.

If they also knew of the parasite, then their choice to not create mass evacuations made sense.

As I considered the possibility, the sound of jostling metal came forth and drew my attention.

Over twenty armored soldiers followed a wizened man with a head bereft of hair clad in gray robes. He reached me and bowed from the waist, and the rest of the armored soldiers followed suit. The attention drew stares, and returned the bow, and only then did the elderly man raise his head.

“Sir Will, my name is Harold and I have come here to fetch you by Lord Lucien’s missive. Please, forgive me, I would like to inquire for his crest.” Fear. I was feared by this elder. I suspected that he was an advanced practitioner of the miracles of this world. Such people tended to recognize my strength just by seeing me. I withdrew the crest Lucien provided me before I left. It was nothing more than a wax marking on an envelope of his ring. The old gentleman took it and looked upon it, then opened its contents and read the letter within, before bowing once again. I had suspicions on what Lucien wrote, but I had not read the letter myself. “Please, if you would follow me. The princess is waiting for your arrival.”

“Princess?” I questioned. I did not allow confusion to fill me. Instead, as calmly as I could, I asked as I followed the older man through the two lines of ten soldiers. I felt no ill intent from them… and neither did I notice them breathing. A simple check revealed that there were no bodies within the armor. Just power that was animating them, and each one was controlled by the man before me. Fascinating. “Was I not to meet with them in the Capital?”

“The princess is blessed with foresight and premonition, along with many other sorceries. She foresaw your coming to the capital… but it would have taken too long. Something is stirring, which she needs your help against.” Foresight and premonition. Two words that I put any stock in. The energies that were within the bodies of those who lived in this world augmented and enhanced what was present. Enhancing the brain and eyes allowed one to think, react, and see faster. To see into the future… that shouldn’t be possible with base enhancements to the human form alone. Did they have some sort of monster that they consumed or altered their bodies with to confer such an ability? Or was it some sort of farce? “I see that you have doubts.”

“I have not encountered anything with such an ability, and the power within only improves what is present or allows better manipulation of the thing. Everything, first, must come from something.”

“You are well-versed in the art of sorcery then. Far more than most. However, there are secrets within secrets. Materials and ingredients which, with contact with the power within as you call it, grants differing effects especially when imbibed. You consume the flesh of monsters, yes? And you find that their strength, speed, and power become yours with time?”

I carefully analyzed his words.

“If their flesh is infused with power and further refined, then the consumer would become more like the monster?”

“Exactly. If it is mere consumption, then the body ravages the foreign power and uses it to reinforce itself.” Harold spoke with the assurance of a scholar. His words had to evidence to back them in my eyes, but it was as though he was reciting historical truths. It was like he was speaking of how seasons would change, or how water turns to ice when it is sufficiently cold.  “Improve the physical form, increase the power within, and grant greater physical heights. However, if the flesh of monsters is empowered and distilled, the body will incorporate it wholly instead of breaking it down.”

I already had plans to test his statements.

My rat experiment where I fed the control normal meat and the other the meat of monsters came to mind. The former remained as it was, while the other grew larger, stronger, and eventually needed a strong, steel cage. I had to put it down, as it began to watch me and study me in turn, and I was sure that it was beginning to gain the ability to think after years of constantly being fed the flesh of monsters. In the next experiment, I would test imbuing the flesh of monsters with power and distilling it as this man described, and discern the changes myself.

“Very well. I will believe you for now.” If what he was saying is true, then there is much to this world that needed to be discovered. And, of course, more properties of this power within me to discern. What would the properties of alcohol be, if sufficiently infused and then set alight? How would metals such as sodium function, if it is distilled and empowered? Would that be enough to make powerful explosives such in my world? Would alcohol be as potent of a fuel as gasoline with just the passing touch of a trained individual? “Did this princess of yours share with you why I am needed? All that I received from her is a vision of your lands aflame and in ruin in a dream… and it felt false.”

Harold paused mid-step at my question and he looked my way with seriousness in his eyes.

“Sir Will, that is because that is the nature of thoughts of another being placed in another’s mind. Nothing that she would’ve shown you from her mind would’ve felt real in your own, after all, her mind is hers and your mind is your own.” He shook his head and walked forward with an increase in his pace. “I am afraid that she showed you what she truly foresaw, and if we do nothing it shall truly come to pass.”