Zareth's single visible eye snapped wide open. It darted frantically around the room until it landed on the woman beside his bed.
She was undeniable beauty wrapped in a simple peasant dress. Her bodice struggled to contain a chest that would have pleased many men in the taverns of Sidonia Kemis. Zareth felt a flicker of masculine appreciation, but he quickly squashed it. Survival instincts took over.
"Who are you and what were you doing to me?"
Zareth tried to sit up and demand answers, but a sharp ache flared in his spine. It felt as though his vertebrae had been fused and re-broken.
"Gah..."
"Careful now," the woman warned softly.
She moved with gentle efficiency and placed a hand on his shoulder to steady him. She fluffed a pillow and slid it behind his back.
"You must take it slow. Your body has been stagnant for a long time."
"Thanks," Zareth grunted. He leaned back against the support and tried to catch his breath.
He looked down at himself. Bandages wrapped him from neck to toe like a mummy. His left arm was a heavy, immobile weight encased in layers of thick cloth, far bulkier than the rest.
'My mutation...'
He flexed his right hand. It felt human. He ran his fingers over his chest. The scales were gone, or at least suppressed beneath the gauze. He looked at his feet; they were pale but normal.
However, the left side of his existence told a different story. Even through the bandages, he felt the density of the dark scales on his left arm. He felt the phantom itch of corruption creeping up the left side of his neck and face.
He reached back to check his spine. The Hades Dragon protrusion was gone.
'It retracted?'
He touched his face. His fingers brushed against leather straps over his left eye. An eyepatch covered the socket where corruption had been.
He moved to lift the patch.
"Stop."
The woman reached out gently and intercepted his hand. Her fingers were warm and calloused from work.
"You must not remove that," she said firmly. "You will experience great pain if you expose it to the light. It needs to stay covered."
Zareth didn't quite understand the logic, but the urgency in her voice gave him pause. He lowered his right arm.
"Fine. I'll keep the pirate look for now." He looked at her again. "You didn't answer my question. What were you doing? And where the hell am I?"
The lady picked up the damp cloth she had been using. She wrung the water out into a wooden basin beside the bed.
Splish. Splash.
She explained with a modest smile, "I was attending to your daily cleansing. My name is Luv Mishane Logwater. I am twenty-seven years old, and I have never been married."
She emphasized the last part with a strange, specific clarity.
Zareth stared at her face. There was a smudge of dirt on her cheek, but he dared not touch it. His gaze drifted to the basin she held. The water was still settling.
"Let me see that basin."
He pointed to the basin. Luv Mishane obliged and held it up for him.
Zareth peered into the water. His eye widened.
"Is this... me?"
The wobbly reflection showed a man with long, raven-black hair. The grey was gone. The wrinkles that had mapped his years of stress and Gospel backlash had vanished. His skin was smooth and youthful. He looked like a young man.
'How? I used my Gospel at full force. How has my aging reversed?'
The woman tilted her head, slightly puzzled by his question. "Is something wrong? Are you referring to your appearance?"
She reached out and touched his face. Her fingertips traced his jawline, then his nose, and finally his lips.
"It is certainly your face."
Suddenly, a flush of red spread across her cheeks. She retracted her hands as if she had been burned.
"Oh! My apologies!" She bowed her head. "I... I lost my sight when I was a child. I sometimes forget boundaries. I touched you inappropriately."
Zareth looked at her closed eyelids. 'Blind? That explains why she didn't flinch at my appearance.'
"Don't worry about it. I'm Zareth."
He almost added 'Retired Priest of the Convent,' but the words died in his throat. He was in a strange land with strange people. Trust was a currency he couldn't afford to spend yet.
He turned his head to the open window.
A cool breeze carried the scent of salt and earth. The view took his breath away. He was atop a high hill. Below him, terraced rice fields cascaded down the slopes like green stairs. Beyond the fields, modest houses built of stone and wood clustered around a bustling port.
Whoosh...
In the sky, children flew on gliders made of wood and a translucent fabric that caught the updrafts perfectly. They dipped and soared like seagulls over the sparkling blue water.
It was an island. A solitary jewel surrounded by an endless expanse of ocean.
Luv Mishane sensed his focus shift. "We are on Aquaunia. It is a small island far south of the mainland of Sidonia Kemis."
"Aquaunia?" Zareth frowned. "Never heard of it."
"Not many have. We are located at the center of the Meikai Sea. The dark environmental conditions usually hide us from the outside world."
"Meikai Sea?"
Zareth felt a cold knot in his stomach. He remembered the legends. The Meikai Sea was a graveyard of ships, home to vicious beasts and storms that defied nature. Even the Convent warned Apostles to avoid its waters.
'Who would have thought an entire civilization lived in the eye of the storm? I chased Vanderznak all the way to the end of the world.'
The thought of the madman made Zareth clench his fist.
"How did I get here?" Zareth asked sharply. "Did I wash up on shore?"
Luv Mishane shook her head. "No. It was my grandfather. He is a seasoned sailor and fisherman. He found you floating on the carcass of a Black Diamond Whale out at sea. He rescued you both and brought you here to recuperate."
"Rescued... both of us?"
Zareth stiffened. 'Vanderznak. That cockroach survived?'
Adrenaline flooded his system. He tried to swing his legs out of bed.
"Where is he? Where is that other man?"
"What other man?" Luv Mishane asked, baffled.
"The purple one! The ugly one!"
"There was no purple man," she said soothingly. "It was just you and..."
CREAK-SLAM!
The door downstairs flew open. A loud, energetic voice echoed up the stairwell.
"Big Sis! We're back! We brought back some fresh produce for you to cook us something delicious! Grandpa Stinger was acting stingy, but I made him cough up some coins!"
A gruff voice followed. "Brat! You are too damn greedy. At this rate, my piggybank will be drained. Soon I will have to start drinking piss and vinegar."
"Hahahaha! That would be a sight!"
Luv Mishane smiled and turned to the stairway. "Lil Sinbad! Come up here! He's awake!"
"Awake?!"
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
Footsteps shot up the wooden stairs like a drumroll.
A figure burst into the room. He took the corner too fast and tripped over his own feet.
Thud!
"Ouch..."
"Lil Sinbad, be careful!" Luv Mishane scolded gently. "How many times do I tell you not to rush up and down the stairs? You hurt yourself so often."
"Sorry, Big Sis. I was just surprised."
The boy rubbed his head and stood up. He looked at Zareth sitting by the window.
Zareth stared back.
The boy was slim but wiry. He looked about twelve years old. Long red hair was tied back in a messy ponytail. He had red eyes. He wore loose-fitted pants that stopped below his knees and a simple sleeveless top.
And swishing behind him was a long, devil-like tail.
The boy's eyes went wide. His lip trembled. Then, tears began to stream down his face.
"Waaaaah..."
Zareth frowned. 'Who is this kid? Why is he crying like an idiot?'
Before Zareth could ask, the boy launched himself across the room.
Whump!
He slammed into Zareth's chest and wrapped his arms around the bewildered man.
"Papa! You're awake! You've finally woken up! I knew you would!"
Zareth froze. His hands hovered in the air, unsure of what to do.
'Wait a minute... Papa?'
The gears in his mind turned slowly. Red eyes. Tail. Calling him Papa.
'Could this brat be...?'
He glanced at Luv Mishane. She seemed to sensed his eye.
"That is the other person Grandpa rescued with you. Lil Sinbad."
Zareth was taken aback.
'This twelve-year-old is the baby? That infant Sister Blood thrust into my arms only a few days ago? How did he grow so big? Did he eat the whale they found us on? And when did he learn to speak like this?'
Sensing the confusion, Luv Mishane spoke up, "Six months. It has been six months since Grandpa fished you out of the sea."
"Six months?" Zareth was baffled.
"Yes. When Grandpa brought you back, Lil Sinbad wouldn't let go of you. He kept mumbling 'Papa' over and over and crying. He refused to leave your side. Grandpa had to physically pull him away so I could tend to your wounds."
She folded her hands in her lap. "It was Grandpa who gave you into my care. I have been looking after you ever since, hoping you would wake up."
Zareth looked at the blind woman, then down at the crying boy soaking his bandages.
'Six months of care for a stranger? For nothing? And she helped raise this monster of a child?'
It had been years since he had experienced such unconditional kindness. It felt alien. Uncomfortable.
The boy continued to sob into Zareth's chest. "I thought you were gonna die! The fish almost ate us!"
"Brat, that's enough crying."
A heavy, authoritative voice came from the doorway.
"Your Papa is awake now. He's not dying today."
Zareth looked up.
An old man stood there. He was built like a brick house, with broad shoulders and skin weathered by a thousand storms. Scars mapped his arms and face. His left leg ended at the knee, replaced by a sturdy wooden peg. He leaned on a thick stick for balance. His hair was a chaotic mane of grey.
This was Luv Stinger Logwater.
Grandpa Stinger glared at Zareth with eyes that had seen too much of the world's cruelty.
"We have a lot to talk about, stranger. But before that..."