Turning to Stone 5: The Shadows Fall

Chapter 2: Stranded

Laskell... sensed something.

Living on the island her entire life, she'd gotten used to feeling the emotions of the monsters around her, able to tune them out with ease by now. Yet now, in the middle of her reading time (although reading time was nearly all the time for Laskell), she heard something.

Help... lost... crashed...

Glowbe must have noticed her distraction, because they were blinking a question at her. "What is it?"

"...I'm not sure." Laskell set the book down, an impressive feat, and cautiously headed towards where the mind waves were coming from.

Boss...

Glowbe flew after her, blinking anxiously. "I don't think we should be doing this." Laskell ignored him, stepping out the castle's back door and gasping at the sight.

There, immediately obvious, was a broken skyship. It looked like it would never fly again, although the parts could be put to good use. "A skyship?" The Xyster got closer, noticing that her Glowbe friend was sticking back.

Suddenly, she was hit with a wave of panic, so bad it sent her head reeling. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Glowbe blinking rapidly, panicking at her reaction. Yet Laskell wasn't one to give up easily, prying back the boards of the skyship with ease. Staying inside and reading books certainly hadn't helped her physical strength, but she wasn't weak.

Inside the wreckage was a bird-like monster, unconscious, shivering, and covered in small cuts. Her two tails were aflame, but they were flickering. That's not good, is it? I know Fire monsters can be on fire and be fine... Yet if this is a fire monster, why does she look so strange? The colors were interesting, split in a way Laskell had never heard of.

The bandana around the eye must be from a previous injury. She reached forwards to try and lift it and look at the damage, but the monster suddenly awakened and Laskell was once again hit with a blast of panic, enough to send her back again.

The bird-like monster hissed, feathers ruffling up in a threatening display and tails flickering again. "Who are you? Where am I?" He snapped.

"I'm Laskell! You're on Magical Sanctum!" The Xyster happily explained. "Don't trust her, Laskell-" Glowbe blinked behind her, but she couldn't see him. The stranger turned to him, scowling.

"Who's he?" He asked. "Oh, him? That's Glowbe. Don't mind him, he's a worrywart." Laskell made a dismissive gesture, making Glowbe blink even more.

"Right..." The stranger stepped away from the wreckage, but still made sure to keep a fair distance from Laskell or Glowbe. "...Can I ask your name?" Laskell inquired. The stranger paused for a moment, before speaking. "Split."

"That can't be your real name." Glowbe blinked, looking skeptically at the almost perfectly split color scheme of her feathers. "It is, unfortunately. My mothers weren't very creative." Split scoffed.

"You understand morse code?" Laskell gasped. "Course I do. I travel a lot. ...Or I did, anyways. That was my favorite ship." Split glanced back at the wreckage.

"Here, you're hurt. There's an infirmary back at the castle, we can get you fixed up-" Laskell tried to offer a hand, but Split was already marching towards the castle.

"I bet Tuskalhorn would help rebuild your ship if we asked!" Laskell suggested, trying to keep up with him. Split kept ignoring them, until suddenly she whipped around and pinned Laskell against the castle wall, just outside the door.

"Listen here, Ghazt girl. You're going to tell your leader that I need to leave, and I need a ship. I don't need to be 'fixed up'. I need to go to Ethereal Island." He hissed. "Got it?"