Loomian Legacy Veils of Shadow

Versus the Deep

The ride so far had been filled with tense silence. A combination of nerves for what they were about to face, and mistrust. Though, if they wanted to survive, and stop Vanta, they would have to learn to trust each other. Relenting, Thane got up with a sigh. Lucas and Mabel didn't pay him any mind; they just stared out the window. Jake kept his head leaning against his seat, eyes closed. Lucy and Embit, who was sitting on her lap, turned to him for a moment before returning their gaze to the beautiful underwater world. Lucy's eyes lit up as a school of luminescent Goppie swam by.

Thane slipped into the seat next to Ferrix, and the man didn't say anything. They sat in silence for a few moments, though there was an unanswered question that lingered in the air. After Via informed Thane of Ferrix's spiking heart rate for the third time, Thane sighed. "You want to know about Vanta." He offered. Ferrix replied quickly, his tone on the edge of snark. "Not just that. You kids come in out of nowhere, save my daughter, and a few days later, you trash my house. Now, I have three unconscious men in my living room." 

Thane couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the sheer absurdity, despite it being all true. "Yeah." He said. "Just know Vanta's bad news. He probably wasn't going to help Torty." A sudden feeling of doubt crept into Thane's heart. "Actually, I take that back. I don't know. He might of. He might have." Thane tapped his sunglasses. "He did help me with this whole situation before he tried to kill me and my friends."

Ferrix glanced over curiously. The dark-tinted sunglasses that completely hid the boy's eyes, the earpiece. He was tempted to reach over and yank them away, but quickly realized that was a terrible idea.

"What's the deal with that anyway, if you don't mind my asking?" Thane shook his head. "Not at all. You're aware of POLUT Corp.'s cyber gear, right?" Ferrix nodded. "Not common in Atlanthian, but I've seen many cybernetic humans in Sepharite and on the resort. I heard that they're most common in Sepharite, but can be found in other parts of Roria." Thane nodded. "It's really bad in Sepharite. There are whole superiority battles between normal people and Clanks." "Who?" Ferrix asked. "It's a slur used by normal people for those with cybernetic enhancements." He explained.

Thane tapped his glasses again. "My friends and I got caught up in one. Three cybers were harassing this girl, so we stepped in." Phantom pain clawed at Thane's face as he remembered cold fingers digging into his eye sockets, and his eyes popping like grapes. "It didn't end so well, and I ended up like this." He turned to face Ferrix, and, in a show of trust, removed his glasses. Upon seeing his face, Ferrix nearly lost control of the submarine before quickly steadying himself.

"Goodness." He forced out. Scars lined the skin around Thane's eyes, and the metal of the prosthetics seemed to be fused to Thane's skin painfully. "Does..." Ferrix hesitated for a moment. "Does it hurt?" Thane shook his head as he put the glasses back on. "No." He replied. "After POLUT Corp. found me like this, they gave me experimental technology to help me get back on my feet. They also gave me an AI assistant called Via." He explained as he tapped his earpiece. "That's who I've been talking to."

"Can you see?" Ferrix asked tentatively. "Not like you can," Thane replied. "It's all outlines, no fine details. Via fills out the details, but there are other perks. Uh, linking up with technology, and a sort of heightened awareness. It's how I knew those guys were at your door, how I knew where to find Torty."

A moment of awkward silence passed over the two of them before Ferrix motioned towards Thane's friends. "You all seem close. You've been traveling with them this whole time?" Thane let out a genuine laugh. "Actually, no. Believe it or not, I actually got off on a bad foot with all of them." He started. "I met Mabel and the twins first in Cheshma Town, and Jake on Route Three. I thought Mabel and the twins were jerks at first, and I when I met Jake, he kicked me and Embit's butt in a battle. We ran into each other again on Route Seven and Sepharite, and we started traveling together. Now we're best friends." Ferrix looked thoughtful. "And all you kids do is hunt for these stones?" Thane shrugged. "It's our main priority, and now it looks like Vanta is going to keep being a recurring problem. But, I'm also on a journey to collect all eight Battle Theatre Medals so I can enter the Roria League."