Death and gunpowder.

Cry of the fallen unheard by comrades who sought them. Brothers of the same vessel crying their hearts, their brave teary faces saluting the fallen.

Some cried for victory while the Doctor numbed himself to the fallen. Hiding behind the mask of a profession.

Gabrio’s body felt heavy. His movements were sluggish. His hands chained by the weight of fatigue. “Doctor,” one of the soldiers said. “You’ve been working for forty-hours!”

“You need rest, Doctor!” said a soldier.

Gabrio diagnosed himself. His mind worked to the extreme. His mind ticking and clacking as if he was seeing a dream of a kind.

Gunpowder and blood. A man’s machete on the sand and a cry that resounded through whirring of blades. He didn’t understand. What are these things that flashes?

Exhaustion, this must be his mind seeing images. He walked to the side of a box of ammunition. The tents were set on the side and the lines of soldiers hit the dried mud and dirt with their boots.

“Doctor, please drink this,” one of soldiers handed him waterskin. Doctor Gabrio took the waterskin and sipped on it. He handed the waterskin back to the soldier who then strutted away.

More boots digging on the mud and dirt. Soldiers shouting and Officers commanding the Soldiers.

“You okay, Doc?”

“Fuck off will ya? He’d been working for hours now, let the man rest.”

“Ah, shit, sorry Doc.”

Soldiers passed their words and marched on. Gunfire resounded throughout the night. The spirits of the fleet showed up to light the way. Corpses were not burned but digested by the land. A swallowing of corpses that made the reeking vanish, disappearing, turning into nutrients for the island.

An animalistic groan could be heard in the direction of the beast’s head. The lamps made the light numerous and the fleet became spots of light in the darkness.

Slept came for Gabrio as he lost sight and sound. Drifting into dreams where he saw metal birds and a hand holding a machete across man’s face. A man’s face that was half-metal and then a broaden smile of a woman with a gun. A loud gunshot that woke him up to the sound of rifle being fired from a distance.

Hand holding his forehead, Gabrio tore the blanket off his shoulders and braced himself up to stand.

“Whoa, you okay?”

He glances at the voice.

“Ristina, you here?”

Ristina stood with her coat wrapping her like cocoon. She nodded. “I was observing the night sky when I found you here. Really, why are you sleeping in the cold night?”

“It’s not night anymore.”

“I know that your body can handle things, but you shouldn’t risk yourself out here. Who knows what parasite ends up crawling?”

“Are your research postponed?”

“How could I worked knowing what is happening outside of the Ark? I’ve been surprised on how much our Ark can change. Look at what we have now, an island puppet that will be used as fortress. Hmm, though the Grand Admiral prefers his Galleon.”

“Did I sleep too long?”

“Not really, but a lot can happen. Not that I would know when people are moving about.”

Gabrio stares to the distance. “You think they know this?”

“Capturing the beast isn’t part of their plan,” Ristina assured. “But I do know that they are planning to find one to tame or make a puppet. Sigh, our greatest obstacles are these damn seas.”

“Death still happens.”

“Can’t be helped,” Ristina said blandly. “Considering what we fought, this is great outcome. Then again, you are not new to this death. We are numbed to it, but it doesn’t mean we are not used to it.”

Gabrio shook his head. “You have more specimens to dissect.”

“Yes, I would be quite busy for a while. Titans and midgets that are so interesting and yet all of them are going to be used with an idea of ‘can they beaten’ ‘turned into cattle’ is something that I have started wondering myself. A nest of their younglings are captured and if they taste well, then we might make a new dish out of them.”

“Is that so?”

“Hmm, yes, but can we move?” she fished out a container from her bag. “I have something to drink. Let’s sit under a tent, eh?”

Gabrio stood to follow her in one of the tents. He slides into one of the chairs that was settled and warmed his hands on the side of the cup.

Ristina placed her container on the side of the small square table and watched the soldiers enter the entrance to the beast’s body.

“Are the insides cleared?”

“From the reports that I got from the others. It is and every inch of this beast has become part of the Ark. This is their Arbor puppetry, turning this beast into part of the Ark, a symbiotic relationship that is more beneficial to the Ark. I say this beast is older than nations, and its lifespan must be quite interesting. Convenient that we have a way to get past the seas of carcasses awaiting us.”

“Must be predator ground.”

“Exactly, and if this creature has lived long, then it would be perfect for our voyage. The island itself can be turned into a city and it could become a floating island where we might just live and maintain our ships.”

She pulled out a hastily drawn map. Her fingers on the north and eastern side of the island. “They’ll create the docks using the tailbone of this beast as the support. With the use of the Ark’s branches then we can set up a shipyard where the Grand-Galleons could settle. Most of the Ships will be have to settle on the perimeter of the island and keep a rotation. This will increase the security of the whole fleet.”

“Seas and Oceans that are filled with gigantic beasts and creatures. Not only that, who knows what obstacles this fleet would meet? The weather, the enemies, and the supplies are one of the few things that we have to take notice. If we can establish a fortress city in this Shelled Beast.”

“That is we don’t meet bigger predators. This island is an omen, and you know it. Higher concentration of air, and large spaces that are virtually untouched by human hands. From what I’ve heard from the divers, they can see spots of giant underwater floras and faunas that are bigger than the elder trees. Second, the sizes of the creatures mean that they evolved in order to deter their prey and gigantism became a part of their evolution to survive. Third, their cold-bloodedness and bony head that I assume is a common sign of gigantism so far that we’ve seen from these creatures. I am sure that you can agree to this.”

“You’re not the only who thinks so too.”

Gabrio took a sip of his steaming drink. “No wonder no ships would ever return. How can they even reach this far without the winds pushing their sails? How can they fight these gigantic beasts and if it was not for the strength of our cannons and the professionalism of our soldiers. We would not reach this far.”

“It is not easy, no one said it would.”

“You don’t have to tell me that.”

Steam rose from their cups as it then mingled and dispersed as the wind blows. Gabrio’s eyes glances to the top of the Shelled-Beast where he saw a tree growing on the back. It wasn’t in the beast’s back before.

“An Elder Tree, a home for the sprites that lives. It won’t be long until they would make this a home for them and then convert the strange trees into the trees that we know in the homeland.”

“They must be eager to make a city out of elder trees. But are the Elven willing to do it for us?”

“Oh, they were the ones who proposed to do this. The Ark itself was big enough to be a city, but now they can turn the whole island into their own kingdom. The trees will become our homes, and before long you would see bridges connecting each trees.”

“Changing stations, then?”

“No, I love my laboratory enough and I am more confident staying inside the Ark more than in the island.”

“I can’t heart the heartbeat of the beast.”

“They suppressed the heart with wrappings of bark. That will protect the beast, but I doubt it would even rot with the elder trees molding its inside into an Arbor.”

Warriors of the Elven-Kin walked the grounds with their seven-foot tall Protectors armed with lumber-size rifles. The bodies of these Protectors were made from roots made to look like human bodies. How they worked were a mystery to the rest of Aon. But it was the basis of their Arbor puppetry and in this case was in a bigger scale of these Protectors that have the elven-like grace of their wielders.

“The more I think about them, the more my head hurts. How and why can they do this is beyond me.”

“Faster growth, the ability to command elements, and many more abilities we cannot fathom. Makes you wonder how in the good heavens the Prime Minister could make them bend the knee and become part of the United Aon. Now that we have to question it when we are not suited to wield these abilities.”

Gabrio agreed. He shook the liquid inside his cup and inhaled the steam coming out of it. Ristina offered more, but Gabrio refused, instead taking the biscuits that she opened.

His mind awake. His limbs not feeling like they were chained down by weights. Gabrio cracked his neck and reached out unconsciously for his medical bag.

“I am empty,” Gabrio muttered.

“There are supplies there, shouldn’t worry about bandages, phenol, and some you could use.”

“Huh, you use carbolic acid?”

“We do. Hmm, have you been cleaning your tools the old fashioned way?”

“I’ve read the copy of the paper, but never got the chance to use it on my tools. I’ll soaked mine and the bandages later on then. Should help in patching up the soldiers.”

Ristina looked him up through her eyelashes. Her face leaned forward and eyes dilating. Gabrio stole a glance and made eye contact.

“What’s wrong?”

She straightened her spine, adjusted her hair and pulled on her coat. She uncrossed her legs and finally shook her head.

“Nothing. The Milostiv’s Soldiers treats you well. I have seen a lot of them wondering why you were sleeping there.”

“It makes them cooperative, besides, I had nothing to do so I regularly make rounds to make sure that they are always fit for battle. The whole Galleon are my patients, and not a day that I am not busy.”

“To think that Ravaian would be such a softie, then again, you were quite something when you participated in that debacle on the North of the homeland. Ah, that was quite a day, wasn’t it?”

“Hah, the last days of the Great War that united us all. Damn, to think it has been years since that day.”

“Time moves fast, and though I am glad that you’re around in this voyage. Hard to make friends to those who don’t understand us.”

“Well, as long as you’re fine with someone who came from Fort Rava as a friend as always, then I’ll watch your back.”

“Yes,” Ristina smiled. Her red hair blown slightly by the wind. “It’s take my mind off to have some that I know here. So next time, try not to sleep next to wooden crates exhausted and defenseless. You might get eaten by someone if you are careless.”

“I know,” Gabrio said. He leaned back and stares longingly at the ships floating stilly on the seas.

An endless sky and an endless horizon. So far away from home and home and only the lonely ocean to deal with.

So far from home.

So far from thousand islands they dreamt to see.

How many will be left until then?