[Jaykobell]

The little, thin book hung in his hands as he watched the sea slosh about this way and that. It had been a long time since he and his partner had managed to find a boat again, which was the favorite transportation method of any pirate. While they could adapt, there was no denying that the sea was really their true calling. Of course, it also helped in the search for their boat, which had been stolen some months before.

Of course, that was only one problem amongst many others. It was a problem for the young pair of pirates to not have their own boat for seafaring, but there was another problem.

In the pirate's hands was a small book, looking old and too small to be anything of importance — or so one would think at first glance. The saying "do not judge a book by its cover" was proved right at its finest with the boy's book, which looked nothing special or even interesting. It looked more like an old artifact, something long lost and forgotten and recently found again, only to realize that nothing of value was inside.

But that was far from being the truth. In fact, the boy still hadn't finished reading the book in his hands. Despite the very few amount of pages, the pirate had only read about one fifth of the book, if even that much. The trick was in the writing and in the nature of the book. On the pages weren't roman letters or letters from any alphabet known to humans, nor was it written in a cohesive, connected story. It was, in actuality, a powerful and incredible book written in magic runes, which made the book read itself as one huge magic spell left incomplete until the owner had read every single page.

[Jaykobell]

That said, if the book was really this thin, why was it that the pirate still hadn't finished it? If one could read the runes, it couldn't take that much time to figure out the magic spell inside.

Of course, there was more to it than just reading the magic written inside. The book was protected by a powerful defense spell that prevented just anyone from reading it. It was unclear, even to the boy, as to what really made someone immune to the defensive spell or not. However, what he did know was that, while anyone could acquire the knowledge to read the runes quite literally on the spot, the defense spell kept the magic inside protected. Anyone not fit enough — or whatever the criteria may be — to read the runes would feel their entire body shake and break, reaching into their very soul and mind. It was a cringe-inducing experience, and it was painful to hear the unfit readers try their minds at the book only to be forcefully refused by the ancient spell.

It wasn't like that for the boy: he actually had the ability and the strength of mind to read it, although it was still taxing. The runes took the energy straight for his body and soul, often leaving him incapable of reading too much at once. He often couldn't read more than a sentence or a riddle, and even then he sometimes needed more than a single try to read the whole thing.

What, exactly, was written inside the book? Just a few runes read as a whole sentence, and they often dictated areas or places for the reader to explore. The legend around the small, mystical book was that the one who would visit all the areas mentioned and who finished the magic spell would be rewarded with something grand and unimaginable. Many made rumors about what was truly at the end of the magic spell inside the book, but wishes or world domination or rebuilding the universe was of no interest to the boy. He read the book simply because it gave him a goal, and simply for the sake of curiosity. He had a far bigger goal to reach before reading a book nobody knew much of anything about.

It seemed like a strange goal to take on, considering how taxing it was for the pirate to read even just a small portion of the book. He had his own reasons to have taken on such a mission, but they weren't reasons he wanted to disclose.

[Jaykobell]

He narrowed his eyes and stared at the sea some more as he tried to relax and collect his thoughts back together. Reading a passage always left him dizzy and light-headed, and sometimes it even tampered with his mind directly, scrambling his memories and thoughts momentarily. He'd forgotten where he was at times, and at others, his memories were so foggy that he'd failed to recognize even his lifelong partner. He was a pirate; it wasn't him being seasick, but just the reading that had taken its usual toll.

He was resting his head on the edge of the boat, arms acting as a pillow for comfort. He listened to the sound of the waves, to the seagulls and sea birds cawing and singing, and he overall just let the sounds around him lull him to something more comfortable than the throbbing headache that was pulsing through his head. He deep sigh, and it felt like he was starting to recover from the backlash. While it didn't necessarily take much time for the boy to recover, it was an awful trap.

The fact he recovered quickly brought the question of why he couldn't just wait to feel better and then read more of the book. The problem was that, while he recovered on the surface, his inner mind and energy were still sore and very depleted. He'd tried to push his limits before, to know just how far he could go in a single day. Needless to say, his feeling of getting better relatively quickly left the boy in a forced coma from the strain he'd put on his subconscious mind and the very fabric of his soul. Since then, he'd settled to reading only once a day, if even that often, in order to truly let his mind recover properly.

He was doing that quietly, relaxed by the edge of the boat, when he suddenly felt a force onto his shoulders. There came a thump, and the boy nearly felt his body crumble and topple over from the side at feeling such a strong force crashing onto him when he wasn't expecting it.



"There you are," came the voice of a much too familiar girl, whom was quite literally laying onto him with her entire weight. "Ohh, Joshua! Were you reading the book?"

[Jaykobell]

Grumbling, the male pirate called Joshua wiggled slightly under his partner's weight, but he eventually found his struggling to be in vain. "Sedna," he called out flatly, not even glancing in her direction and instead waiting for her to answer his cue.

"Yeah?" the female pirate answered, blinking curiously and tilting her head at the pirate under her.

"Get off me," Joshua ordered briskly, although his voice wasn't angry or frustrated. The words were simply to the point and blunt, and demanded an immediate action.

"Oh, is that it?" Sedna commented as she rolled her eyes slightly, with a small, delicate grin still plastered across her face. Still, with the tone of his voice, the female pirate figured she would comply and make it easy for her partner.

Instead of laying on top of him completely, the friend opted for some close physical contact as she pushed herself against his arm and side. "So, were you reading the book?" the female pirate insisted, her happy personality standing out as an extremely obvious contrast to the flatter, more distant behavior of the male pirate.

There was another sigh from Joshua as he avoided answering Sedna's question right away. The two were lifelong partners in their adventure; while they had been raised mostly as siblings, being so close to each other age-wise, Joshua and Sedna weren't blood siblings. Joshua's father was a pirate, while his mother had lived on land all her life; as for Sedna, the girl herself had no recollection of what had happened to her parents. Their best guess was that her parents had also been pirates of seafaring people of some sort, since a young Sedna was found at sea by Joshua's father. As opposites, the two had somehow connected on a deep level, despite most people probably thinking that they would get on each other's nerves.

That actually wasn't too far from the truth — at least, from Joshua's point of view. Still, there was a certain charm about that hyperactive tomboyish pirate girl that made the calmer, more serious and distant pirate boy connect to her in a special way.

While he'd hoped his silence would have motivated Sedna to go bother someone else, Joshua grumbled as he glanced, now and again, at the female pirate. He'd hoped, again, that his cue would make her leave him be, but each time, the girl would only get more and more curious, and even edgier to hear his answer. With a heavy and long sigh, Joshua scratched his head through the bandana wrapped around his hair. "I did read more," he eventually answered, and he knew exactly just what the next question would be.

[Jaykobell]

Sedna was the happy-go-lucky half of the unusual pair. While she was small, the pirate had found ways to even out her weaknesses with her unique strengths. She was fairly agile and fast, although she lacked physical strength. To make up for that, the female pirate had a special and magical weapon that Joshua had managed to get for her. The blunderbuss was quite literally magical, in every sense of the term, and beyond. It was originally a wizard's special weapon, which could literally fire anything from its cannon. Amazed by its power, Sedna had done her best at the time to try and haggle with the wizard in order to get it. While he part of the pair's loot hadn't been enough to pry it away from its original owner, one particular part of Joshua's treasures had managed to sway the magic user. The best thing was that Joshua had received the blunderbuss without having to trade in his part of the deal, in the end.

By stuffing something in the cannon of the blunderbuss, the weapon could literally store it inside of itself for future use. With a magical, unexplained connection to its user, Sedna could make the weapon fire anything it had previously swallowed, be it an actual cannonball or a parachute for soft landing. Thanks to that versatile and unusual weapon, Sedna was arguably the powerhouse of the two.

Joshua, on the other hand, was a powerful and stark contrast to the female pirate with his quiet, calm personality that quite often came across as harsh and distant. While Sedna was loud, Joshua was often reserved and didn't quite say much about himself or anything in general. He was a bit anti-social in that aspect, sometimes turning people off from talking to him because of it. While Sedna was the powerhouse, the girl often had no idea how to handle showoffs with wild creatures and animals. That was when Joshua would come in; while Sedna handled the fighting and the brute force, Joshua handled everything strategical. His weapon was his very mind, and the very thing that allowed him, unlike so many others, to read that strange magical book.

Speaking of the book, Joshua had predicted Sedna's next question almost to the very word. "Ohhh! So where are we going next?!" the pirate asked, pushing herself harder against her partner, turning the physical contact into a small hug. "Did it mention any treasure there?"

Their destination and the nature of the new translated runes were exactly why Joshua had been reluctant to answer Sedna's initial question.

[Jaykobell]

The translated runes were never self-explanatory. They often translated into a riddle, or they were vague and philosophical, which sometimes prevented the pair from finding their next destination right away. Some riddles were easier than others, and fortunately, the difficulty didn't seem to be set in stone. The riddles could go from very vague and difficult to simple and self-explanatory. This one was easy to figure out, yet Joshua was still doubtful that he'd figured out the runes right.

Since he knew quite well Sedna wouldn't leave him alone now that he had answered her question, Joshua resigned himself to the sad truth. "It never mentions any treasure clearly, Sedna," the boy reminded her, staring hard in front of him as he avoided all eye-contact with the girl next to him whom was starting to get on top of him again.

"Well, I know, but that's the point of the riddles and the places we go to, right?" the girl asked, now only standing on one foot as she lifted the other and used her partner to hold her weight. "But that doesn't matter, why won't you tell me where we're going?!" she pressed excitedly, pushing some more against him, enough to push Joshua across the edge of the boat just ever so slightly.

And the behavior of the female pirate was exactly why Joshua had the bad feeling they wouldn't be able to figure out or solve this new riddle. With a defeated and angry sigh, Joshua grumbled a little as he tried to position himself better. "We're going... to Idalani Falls."

[Jaykobell]

And therein lied the problem.

While they had good chemistry, Joshua's and Sedna's particular relationship was nothing like what the book was looking for. Idalani Falls was a place of love and soulmates, and of relationships that far exceeded their current feelings for one another. Or did it? Actually, Joshua found it difficult to really piece this riddle together, but it wasn't the book that was giving him a hard time: it was them, as the two people involved in it.

What was the nature of his relationship with Sedna? He had never really bothered to ask himself that question specifically, but the overall thought of it had come up before. What was it about this obnoxious, hyperactive girl that kept him from just walking away and leaving her behind? What was it that was always giving him this desire or need to stay with her, despite her personality being a combination of all his pet peeves into one? What was it that, despite Sedna being the very definition of a person Joshua couldn't stand, kept the pair together?

Was it their mutual love for adventuring and treasure-finding? Was it their ability to understand each other, despite being such opposites? Was it because they had a mutual goal, and therefore, they were cooperating to reach it? Or was it because the two had been raised together since their very childhood? Was it maybe the fact that they evened each other out in terms of strengths and weaknesses?

And every time, he asked himself how to categorize his "liking" of this girl he called his partner. Somehow, "adore" was simply way too overpowered and overwhelming, so that wasn't it. On the other hand, "like" felt too weak, because he wouldn't have stuck with this girl for so long had it only been him "liking" her.

Somehow, the only word he felt sounded the best to describe their relationship was just "love." Yet, even that often sounded too powerful, yet nothing came close to describing his thoughts towards the girl that meant something less than what "love" implied.

[Jaykobell]

According to the book, the riddle roughly translated that love would be the key to this particular place, and what they needed to find whatever was hidden in Idalani Falls. While Joshua couldn't find any other way of describing his relationship with Sedna, he doubted the "love" they shared was anywhere near the kind of love the book was referring to. His guess was that the book referred to true love, the kind that lets you know that the two parties are soulmates to their very core. That was far from being the kind of "love" Joshua and Sedna shared. Joshua's fear was that this particular passage would have to wait until next time.

Of course, with Sedna not knowing the true meaning of the book's riddle, showed only but excitement. "Idalani Falls?!" she echoed with a small girly scream of excitement. "The place just sounds beautiful! Waterfalls are always so striking and amazing! How far is it?"

Then again, the book hadn't specified what kind of love it was referring to, and judging from Sedna's excitement, the girl wouldn't take no for an answer anymore. "I haven't even told Adair where we need to go yet," Joshua answered annoyingly as he tried to counter Sedna's pushing in order to keep her from literally pinning him to the ground. "I literally just finished reading the book."

"Oh," Sedna answered simply, giving a small sheepish chuckle as she continued to press against him despite Joshua's counter. "Well, I can go tell hi—"

"No, I'll go," Joshua quickly interrupted her, abruptly and quickly moving away from the girl's hold on him. "Moving around helps me recover from the reading better," the boy continued as he tried his best to find a suitable excuse to stay away from Sedna for the time being. He needed time to think about the riddle more, and he wouldn't be able to do so if she kept latching onto him.

"Oh, sure then," Sedna answered, seemingly not bothered by Joshua cutting her off prior. "While you do that, I'll just go and prepare for the next adventure, then!" And with renewed excitement, the pirate dashed off towards the cabins, leaving the boy just as abruptly as she'd appeared.

[Jaykobell]

Joshua quietly watched Sedna make her way to the cabins before departing on his own errand. This ship wasn't theirs, so obviously, they had to tell the captain and owner when they had to go to a particular place. Fortunately, the relationship between the owners of the boat and their passengers was a good one, so Joshua was certain there wouldn't be any problem in asking to stop by Idalani. The boat owners consisted of a pair of half-siblings, similar to the relationship between Sedna and Joshua. They had hit it off from there.

The boat was fairly basic in design. Joshua didn't know a lot about the pair that had this boat, but what he did know was that they weren't from here. They'd had to leave their home and to scrape their belongings from here and there at first, so the boat wasn't anything spectacular. It still wasn't too shabby, but it was far from being an exceptional boat. For a small group of about four, though, it was enough. Fairly modern, it had the deck for most of the outside, with a small pair of stairs that lead to the remaining fourth of the boat that was the upper deck, and where the captain controlled the boat with the ship wheel.

Just thinking about the ship left Joshua sighing, thinking about his own and Sedna's ship that had been stolen from the two. He could only hope that having a ship as well for now would eventually lead them to their own boat in order to take it back.

He was heading up the stairs to the upper deck, but he stopped midway when he heard a voice calling out to him from up above. "Joshua!"



Joshua looked up to see one of the two ship owners, whom were, of course, pirates as well. He turned around a little to look up, where the captain's half-sister was looking down from the crow's nest.

[Jaykobell]

Joshua waived briefly and quietly to the girl above, if only as a sign of politeness for allowing him and Sedna to travel on their ship. Joshua wasn't really sociable, and he tried to avoid interactions with others if he could. He was usually distant and serious, so the more friendly, talkative people tended to tire him quickly. He preferred conversations to be quick and to the point, rather than being forced to elaborate on his life story.

As he waved, he saw the girl above jump over the crow's nest to just let herself slide down on the mast all the way down to the deck. While the idea to socialize didn't quite please him still, Joshua could at least tolerate the two siblings. They were quieter and more reserved — at least, the sister was. The brother was a bit more energetic, but he was a sloth compared to someone like Sedna. They were a nice contrast with respect to his partner.

As the watching pirate made her way towards him, Joshua stepped back down the stairs in order to meet with her on the main deck, instead of standing in the stairs. "Hi, Meryl," he greeted quietly as he raised a hand for a greeting.

"Is everything okay?" Meryl asked as she stopped in front of Joshua, tilting her head slightly.

Joshua blinked slowly, not really expecting the question. "Yes. Why?" He had to admit he wasn't really familiar with Meryl, since he never really spoke with her particularly. What he could tell was that she was quieter and calmer than her half-brother, but other than that, he had never asked or spoken to her in a lot of detail.

[Jaykobell]

Aside from their vague background, which Joshua had never asked about, all he knew was that Meryl and her half-brother were elemental users. The two had been born with a particular gene that allowed them to control every element known to humans, from air to ice and everything in-between. Such element users had been named "elementalists" over the years, which was a simpler name to describe them. They were together in a clan in a particular area of the continent, although regular humans apparently couldn't get to their clan grounds.

The only thing that showed their heritage was the necklaces both Meryl and her brother wore around their neck. Crystals of different colors all lined up together, they all represented a particular element that the siblings could use to create elements. By using the raw energy from the crystals, the two could summon fire or water and create wind or ice. They could also mix two elements together to create effects, such as forcing water to evaporate with fire in order to create steam. It was something that particularly appealed to Joshua, if only for how much potential it had to create battles of endless strategies.

Meryl seemed a little taken aback by Joshua's direct answer, but she shrugged it fairly quickly. "Ah, I was just wondering. You read more of that book, right? Doesn't it hurt when you read it?" she added, hoping she didn't sound like she was trying to pry. From the crow's nest, the pirate could see everything above, in front, and below her, so she'd seen Joshua reading the book and seemingly recovering from the experience. Since they hadn't spoken too much since they'd first met, they didn't know much about each other.

Joshua realized just how uncomfortable some people got around him, but he judged his replies to simply be blunt and direct, but not offensive or insulting. He shrugged at the comments about the book. "It hurts only a little. I just have to be careful not to read too much of it." While he did answer to be polite, the boy hoped that this conversation wouldn't drag on too long about him and the book. Hopefully Meryl would voice some basic concern for him and leave the conversation at that.

[Jaykobell]

Things didn't quite go that way as Meryl only got more curious the more Joshua answered her question about the book. This would be a good thing were Joshua equally interested about Meryl's origins, but the case was quite the opposite. If only Sedna had been here, the two girls could've chatted away without him. Of course, now Joshua had to hold the fort and put his limited social skills in practice.

"I heard from Sedna anyone can read the book, right?" Meryl asked, pointing at the small notebook in Joshua's hands. While she was quieter and more timid than her brother, Meryl had been told a few things by Sedna, since the girl was so hyperactive and sociable that it was impossible not to talk to her at least once. Besides that, though, the female elementalist had no idea what the book truly did or how it worked.

Joshua narrowed his eyes as he stared down at the book in his hands. "In theory," he answered simply, looking back at the watcher pirate. "It's not recom—"

"Wait, hold up! You mean that book can be actually be read by anybody?" a new voice echoed from up the stairs behind Joshua, and it didn't take long for the boy to recognize the voice.



"Adair! Shouldn't you be driving the ship?" Meryl commented as her brother made his way a little down the stairs towards them, leaving the boat directionless on the upper deck.

Chuckling and waving a hand dismissively, Adair just grinned at his sister. "Nah, it's cool. I'm just taking a short break," the captain assured his sister, although the girl didn't look all that convinced. For Joshua, this was a good coincidence, since he needed to talk to Adair to begin with in order to set their new destination.

[Jaykobell]

Of course, once again, things wouldn't just go the simple route as Adair continued the discussion about the book. "So you're telling me anybody can read these runes in there? You have to be able to understand their language though, right?" the captain asked, towering a little over Joshua's shoulder as he tried to peek at the book.

Joshua grumbled quietly under his breath at the thought of being forced under the spotlight. Usually, Sedna happily took on all the talking and all the socializing, but because he'd chased her away, Joshua had shot himself in the foot and put himself in this situation. There was no other way for him but to talk through this entire conversation. "They're similar to a universal language," Joshua started, hoping that his answers would satisfy their curiosity quickly. "You don't need to learn them like a language in order to read them."

"Really?" Adair answered curiously, sounding particularly interested in the small magic book. Much like Meryl, Adair hadn't heard much about it from Joshua himself, and he had only gotten some information from Sedna. Of course, Joshua knew a lot more than his partner did, so to the elementalist, this was a great opportunity to learn more about the book. "So... would it bother you if I took a shot at it?"

Joshua tensed and straightened a little when he heard Adair's request. His expression quickly changed, but only Meryl got to see the change, since Adair was behind the brown-haired pirate. "What were you going to say earlier? You said anybody could only read it 'in theory' before Adair cut you off," the sister pointed out, raising an eyebrow at her brother, although the other didn't quite react to it. "Is there something to the book?"

Joshua again found himself grumbling a little, but by now, he'd readied himself for this conversation to last for an undetermined amount of time. "It's not as simple as just reading the runes inside. There's more to it," he answered simply without elaborating quite yet.

[Jaykobell]

Joshua felt Adair moving behind him, trying to stretch his neck around the other's shoulder. "Heh, what, are the runes gonna blow me away?" the captain teased, giving a small chuckle and giving Joshua a pat on the back.

At that, Joshua flinched ever so slightly from the touch, grumbling a bit louder this time to express some genuine irritation. While the two siblings were similar in personality, Adair was the more carefree and nonchalant of the two. He sometimes sounded like he didn't take things seriously, or that certain important things really weren't that important. His sister Meryl was more serious and down to earth, and not as extroverted as Adair was.

With a sigh, Joshua tried to piece his answer well in his mind before telling the captain just how dangerous trying to read the book could be. "They won't blow you physically away, but they will hurt you," he started with, moving a few steps away from the captain to turn around and face him. Even then, Joshua simply looked down at the book and opened it, flipping the first few pages he'd already read. He could still just look at the book in front of him; all he had to do was to avoid focusing on reading and understanding the letters. "These runes come from an old culture. This book was protected by a special spell, and not just anybody can read the characters inside. If you're not immune to their defensive magic, they will hurt your mind." It felt so much comprehensive and more dangerous in his mind, but Joshua felt like his words didn't come anywhere close to how dangerous it could be to read the book. It wasn't just a small pinch in your head and a headache afterwards; it was painful and agonizing.

Regardless of the warning, Adair didn't seem all that fazed. "Okay, I get you. Still, we can't know if I can read it if I don't try, right?"

At that reckless comment, Joshua looked back up at the captain with narrowed eyes. "I suppose you wouldn't know otherwise, no." He wished he could say otherwise, but he had no idea if there were a way to tell except having the person actually try to read it. And from Adair's answer, Joshua understood that was exactly what the captain wanted to do.

[Jaykobell]

Joshua would've hoped for Adair to not be too serious about trying to read the book, especially considering the warning Joshua had given. Of course, such a small risk of pain hadn't discouraged the captain. Waving a hand to motion for Joshua to come towards him, Adair gave an eager smile. "Come on, give it to me for a bit!" he asked, sounding determined to try this new experience. "You two are here anyway, right? If anything happens, I'm not alone or anything."

Meryl gave her brother a slightly insecure smile, but didn't say anything to stop him. Joshua narrowed his eyes a little, raising an eyebrow at the recklessness of the captain. Still, if he really wanted to read the book, Joshua judged it wiser to let Adair learn from his mistake. He'd seen Sedna try to read it, and he had seen what kind of pain it inflicted on the unworthy readers. Still, Adair was insisting, so Joshua figured the captain wouldn't quit until he actually got to read the book.

Half-heartedly, Joshua handed the small, mysterious book to the reckless captain. "All you have to do is focus on reading it. The runes and their magic will do the rest," he explained as he slowly stretched his hand toward the elementalist, the other grabbing it without even giving it a second thought.

"Just focus on reading, gotcha," Adair repeated as he grinned widely, holding the small book in his hands.

The same couldn't be said about Joshua's expression, which was more anxious and disagreeing with Adair's eagerness to try the book. At least he wasn't snooping into Joshua's things and reading it alone while no one was around to help if something went wrong. Perhaps Adair had nothing to worry about, and maybe he was meant to read the book as well. Joshua wasn't the only person capable of reading the small book, so perhaps everything would go well. If not, Joshua would just have to snatch the book away from Adair's hands before the magic took a big toll on his mind.