Riders on the Storm

Shango bounced from foot to foot in the air wearing small clouds as shoes. Sixteen warships of varying sizes and models followed close behind, each armed to the teeth.

"Cloudy today, isn't it, boys?" Shango laughed, leaping back to the black iron deck of his vanguard ship. He palmstriked the sky, a flower of lightning blooming in the clouds and turning them an angry black.

"Captain Shango, the Kraken was last seen in their area. You could sic it on them!" The Helmsman announced over the loudspeaker, waving down from the wheel.

"Excellent suggestion." Shango leapt over the side of the ship, sticking to it near the bottom with one hand. The other reached into the water and sent out electrical impulses for the half tamed beast to follow.

He flipped back onto the ship, tossing a spark at The Helmsman. It hit a small, copper necklace; the tiny bulb that hung from it lit up.

He twirled his spear around, shifting from hand to hand and swinging it forward, tendrils of electricity launched into the air with every attack. "This is going to be fun!"

"There's a storm headed this way," The Navigator's voice interrupted their dream. Shelle had taken him through nearly his whole life in the Abyss, the important parts anyway. She gave him equal parts praise and criticism, even in his earlier encounters that he cringed at now, more experienced as he was. "Can you stop it?"

"Maybe," Shelle replied, the dream shattering before him into reality. He woke up with a gasp, jogging after the two who had hurried above deck.

Shelle flew ahead of the ship. John saw her mouth moving but couldn't make out what she was saying. Five orbs appeared behind her in a cross, unconnected yet fixed in place relative to her and each other as though tethered.

The top orb shimmered with heat, smoke curling off the top of it. The left orb pulsed, trailing gravel behind her. The right orb shifted and swirled with contained winds. The bottom orb emanated steam and frosty vapor. The middle was inert, translucent and blue like his Mana Construct.

As she flew, a white vapor emanated from her hands, calming the clouds directly above.

A barrage of lightning strikes rained down on her and the ship, but before John could react, the trio had taken care of it.

Shelle let the lightning collect in her hands, holding it all there until the **** on her ceased. Afterwards, with herculean effort she dispersed it in a hemisphere in the sky, blowing away nearby clouds.

Lance raced to the top of the crow's nest, turning his arm into a sparking lightning rod made of a matte yellow metal John had never seen.

A woman with red tattoos and silvery hair rose from Lance's shadow, firing a bow made of bone into the air. The green mana arrows she fired grew into enormous ballistics as they travelled along the sky, clearing a path through the storm. As quick as she appeared, she was gone, sinking back into Lance's shadow.

"This isn't a regular storm!" Shelle called as she touched back down on deck. Lance jumped from the lookout but landed as if weightless.

"You think? We're being attacked! What's the plan?" Lance asked, circling the perimeter of the ship.

"I'm going to ensure our path stays clear through it. Lance, swim alongside the ship and monitor any undersea threats. Boathaen, stay with me.” Lance and Shelle’s shadows were connected for the briefest of moments before he dove off the side of the ship, the beginnings of webbed feet and scales evident as he shifted to an aquatic form.

"What about me?" John asked, though he couldn't meet her gaze after falling a thousand times in front of her minutes ago.

"You have a sniper rifle, right? Keep a lookout for oncoming threats. I'm going to have to stay on deck," Shelle explained while two images of the mage flew out of her, one toward the back of the ship and the other to the sky and ahead.

"Are those… real people?"

"No, I cannot split myself in the way The Magician can, they're more like drones. I have to control them, but I can channel spells through them and see through them. They're tools, not separate beings, and incredibly taxing to control in large numbers. Still, a useful spell. I could teach you sometime," Shelle offered, and though she looked at him as she spoke, he could tell her focus was not on him.

"That'd be great… if we live," John replied, getting ready to Jump to the crow’s nest. She had no response, but he heard Shelle and another voice giggling before his ascent, as if their survival were not in question.

He set up his sniper so that the mount rested on the edge of the big basket he stood in. Attaching the Shard of Mercy to it, he watched and waited, periodically clenching and unclenching his fists.

John, is something wrong? I couldn't contact you while you were asleep, did something happen? Cinder asked, appearing in the air beside him. Since their vessel was made almost entirely of wood, she made the wise choice to remain floating.

A lot of training. I'm just frustrated at how many mistakes I've made. But I'm going to do better, John thought, adjusting the sniper to be more comfortable. David settled beside the rifle, and John treated him to some pets.

To his surprise, Cinder wrapped her arms around him in a painless hug, the warmth he felt from her was inviting and relaxing. You will grow, and we will be with you every step of the way.

Your relationship with Cinder has grown, and your bond has deepened. You may now use her ability: Boonfire.

Boonfire, Active, Level 1, Cost: (100/Skill Level) MP/sec
Cinder combines all of her healing flames into a single static bonfire that heals within an area equal to (Skill Level x 5) meters. Heals (Skill Level x 50) HP/sec directly in the bonfire and (Skill level x 5) HP/sec at the edge of its heat.

Though he was initially a little disturbed by the idea of someone always being in his mind and reading his thoughts, he had come to find Cinder’s presence incredibly comforting.

John wasn't sure of how much time had passed, but the sun was now directly in the sky overhead. He deployed David to watch behind them, and chatted with Cinder as he kept an eye on the horizon.

"So he killed the wendigo stalking the indigenous people, and in return they introduced him to magic and the summoning ritual that created you?" John asked, his own skin crawling at the idea that such creatures were real and as a mundane he could have encountered one.

"Yes. Such a ritual is far more complicated than the potion you took to meet me. His soul was exposed to the plane of flame, and the piece of that plane that was touched by his soul became me," Cinder explained, reclining against John's back though she laid in the air, keeping watch for the return of his hawk.

"Hey, switch with me for a second. David's trying to get my attention," John offered his rifle and she took it, adapting to the modern weaponry easily. John used Attunement to see through his hawk's eyes.

David circled above a group of six ships, three big and three small. The ship at the back of the group was made so that the front looked like an Orca opening its mouth for a kill, and a familiar captain stood on this figurehead, bloody rage in his eyes. David, get in recall range immediately.

John slid down the ladder, and while he did Lance breached from underwater like a dolphin, landing on deck in his familiar, orange mane form.

"The crew from the bar is pursuing us, six ships with at least four hundred people, they're about twenty miles away," John said to Shelle, who stood leaning against the captain’s quarters.

"We've got a kraken approaching. Shelle, ward the ship," Lance said; his fists turned to steel as he settled into a fighting stance.

"You want to punch it… why don't we shift the burden to our pursuers instead? Keep it busy until they arrive, then slip away with a burst of speed," Shelle said, staring at the sliver of clear sky she maintained for them. Though the storm made the waves choppier, it had also given them a natural tailwind. "We still don't know who attacked us earlier, and I'm willing to bet it wasn't the merfolk crew."

A chill ran through John as he heard a report from Cinder, still watching the horizon ahead from the crow's nest