[over the palisade]

chapter thirteen

It was smooth sailing for the majority of the five days the party was on board. A few evening showers would fall upon the deck but there was never so much of a hard-hitting wave, it was rather relaxing. Like a spa day before the end of the world.

It was clear however that by the end of the five days, Tommy was rather fed up with having nothing to do, so he chose to get on everyone's nerves. That was the only reason Techno felt such a strong wave of relief as the shore appeared over the horizon.

Many nights, Techno found himself sleeping under the stars rather than in the comfort of the cabins, he guessed it was from the habits he had picked up while traveling. Some nights someone would join him, either for the whole night or just parts. Phil, Wilbur, Deo, sometimes Tubbo or Tommy would even come out and try and chat.

The most interesting person that came out on the deck with Techno was most certainly Dream. Perhaps it was just because it was a new face, or perhaps the lull of mystery, after all it was very obvious that Dream was a dead man walking.

He didn't step on the ground, instead he hovered over the creaking boards of the ship. I left Techno on edge, but maybe it was just karma, after all Tommy always complained about Techno barely making a sound. The only way Techno ever knew if Dream was around was if he could feel his presence; a gust of wind, the ever faint rustling of his cloak, whatever.

And that is just what he heard behind him as the sun started to rise and the coast started getting closer and closer.

"Hello, Dream," Techno muttered, not taking his eyes off of the glowing horizon.

"We won't be able to dock until the full morning," Dream told him, "I decided we're docking in a smaller city, didn't want to have to deal with too much traffic or lack of resources."

Techno nodded, turning around to face Dream's porcelain mask. He nodded at the spirit as he walked away from the edge of the boat and stood square beside Dream. "And what of you and your crew?"

Dream shrugged, "Well I've been thinking about that," he said, "I've heard so much about your travels in the past few days- I will admit to you Techno, I miss it. I used to run around this plane and the mortal one with Sapnap and George, doing quests and being up bad guys, whatever. Hell, before I met them I was a hired mercenary, traveling the planes for some quick cash and fun," Dream told him.

Techno thought for a moment, but it wasn't a very hard decision, "If you and your friends would like to join us, you're more than welcome to," raised his brow, looking down at the porcelain mask, "You've done travel in the mortal plane?"

"Sure I have, that's where I'm from after all. I happened to meet a rather unfortunate fate while I was going around with George and Sap, we were trying to stop some trade, someone trying to smuggle magic across planes, you know how magic can get corrupt when it goes across planes?" Dream casually mentioned, really asking a rhetorical question, but Techno stopped him.

"What? Corruption?" Techno asked curiously, "I've never heard much about that."

Dream shrugged, "I believe we have a book on it somewhere on this ship, I'll lend it to you if I can find it; the basis is that if magic is conjured in the mortal plane by a mortal and it's taken across the worlds it gets- shattered? Shattered is what the book calls it," Dream tells the pig-man.

"And so you were trying to stop someone from getting across worlds? I can't imagine it would be that strong if it was mortally conjured in the mortal plane- plus how could they jump worlds? Pure mortals can't do that," Techno inquired.

"Well if they can do magic in the mortal plane, what stops them from jumping planes? Magic in the mortal world just takes from the fae, like the fae takes from the fae," Dream explains, "It's just that magic is looked down upon and it's mostly just looked at as something their deities can use. Trying to use magics in the mortal plane looks like your trying to become a god,"