The railings played a rhythmic tune as Zain ran his fingers against them languidly. The noisemaker in his mouth unfurled slowly as he blew lazily into it, with him coiling it slowly back, for no reason in particular.

  His welcome party had concluded when the adults had succumbed to the liquor; They drank modestly at first, but as the night progressed, their intoxication became too much for him to handle. Zain silently snuck out after Javier fell asleep and while Devante was ranting about his losing streak.

  Before he left, Cherry stated that they would contact him the next day to discuss water walking. Even though she had been drinking too, there was no apparent effect from the alcohol. Another mystery to add to her mystique.

  She was at least courteous enough to order a taxi for him, so he made it back to campus, where he was walking to his dorm now.

  Though, he was definitely dragging his steps.

  Not that he didn’t want to go home or anything, but the impending discussion he needed to have with Brayden was not going to be pleasant.

  Eventually, Zain had climbed all ten stories, without coming up with a way to bring up the issue.

  Sighing as he entered, Zain spotted Brayden cooking himself something to eat.

  “You’ve been out for a while. Did you find a new job?” Brayden casually conversed as he sat down with his food.

  Things had gone somewhat back to normal after all the police reporting had concluded. They even received a sizable paycheck, so there was no hurry to go back to work.

  “Yeah, about that…” Zain inhaled, then decided to just lay everything bare. “I’m…joining Devante’s organization…”

  Brayden was mid-bite as Zain dropped this bombshell; He blinked in surprise, then proceeded to continue chewing. His expression was hard to decipher, but once he finished chewing, he remained composed as he answered. “I thought something was up. You seemed a little off for the past few weeks.”

  Zain slumped his shoulders and hung his head. “I didn’t really want to, but Devante found me and…”

  The excuse he gave made him feel really pathetic, especially since he couldn’t really go into detail on how he was basically forced into joining. But, despite the abysmal explanation, Brayden still gave a look of understanding.

  “I get it…From that small interaction we had when we met him, I could tell that Devante took a liking to you. He also seems like the type to do whatever he wants when he sets his mind on something.” He took a sip of soda, still giving a look of unsurety. “I just hope that it's not as dangerous as I’ve heard. “

  Zain was already aware that the profession he was now a part of was dangerous, but he didn’t want to hear the specifics. Living in ignorance would probably let him sleep at night, so he deemed it the better option.

  But, there was another pressing matter that he needed to discuss with Brayden. Sitting down, he nervously scratched the back of his neck as he tried to broach the subject of the expedition. Zain wasn’t sure how much Brayden knew, so he needed to be delicate when discussing The Morgens company. The less he knew, the less likely he would be ensnared like he was.

  “They’re actually taking me on an expedition soon, as one of my first jobs with them, so I’m a little scared about how it’ll go…”

  “Wait- and expedition? Like, when?”

  “Um…we’re leaving in two weeks I think…”

  Brayden put his food down as a look of concern creased his features. A slight air of panic came over him as he was putting facts together in his head. “What kind of boat will you be taking? And where will you be going?”

  “Let me try to remember, it was kind of a lot of information they gave to me. I think we’ll be taking a small special purpose ship or something, for exploring an island. Ah - I do remember them saying we would be traveling with a cargo passenger ship, and we’ll be escorting it somewhere…”

  That last statement gave Brayden slight relief as he rested his hand over his chest. “That’s a relief – I was going to tell you, but I’m also going on a trip in two weeks. But I’m going on the cargo ship. You know the teacher course I’m taking? Well, Mr. Boudreaux recommended a paid study trip that is available to teachers or people taking academic courses. There are a lot of researchers going on the passenger cargo ship to a hospitality island, so I was offered to join them so I could explore the professions there. My scholarship program looks favorably on people who take those kinds of expeditions, so I agreed since it was all paid for.” He picked his food back up, his stomach seemingly settled after receiving the details. “The main sponsor for the trip was a really nice lady, she is the head of a shipment company or something, but she also takes care of research trips outside of the Anthos continent.”

  Anthos was the continent Merverre was located in, if Zain was remembering his lessons right. A transcontinental voyage was nothing out of the ordinary, but now that he thought about it, he wasn’t sure what continent they would be going to. It was probably in the booklets Cherry had given him, but he hadn’t had time to go through them yet seeing as he only got them that day.

  Brayden continued to jovially converse while Zain was thinking about the trip. “I was a little worried going somewhere by myself, but I have to admit that I feel a little better now that I know you’re going. Even though your situation is not ideal, hopefully this first job is easy since there will be passengers going as well.”

  What Brayden was saying was a reasonable conclusion to come to, but Zain knew it was wishful thinking. Zain’s end destination was different from Brayden’s, so he couldn’t ignore that fact. But Zain decided to remain silent with that information. There was no good that came from worrying his friend, and he wasn’t going to fish for pity either.

  “What company is sponsoring you? I should be familiar with the company I’m helping escort.”

  “I think she said it was The Morgens company. They own the resort I’ll be staying at, so they are pretty big I think.”

  So he did meet Cuddy…

  And for some reason, he thought she was sweet. Biggest lie of the century, but whatever.

  The less he knew of her true nature, the better. In fact, just thinking about her haunted Zain’s dreams so not divulging this reality would save him from sleepless nights.

  “Did they tell you that you had to do something before you left?”

  “I have to get my documents together, like the request for me to take my courses online, and course exceptions for my naturalization documents. Other than that, probably just getting my stuff together until then. Why?”

  What? He gets to take his courses online? Why do I have to go on hiatus?

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Does the passenger ship have Wi-Fi? Wait– will I have Wi-Fi?”

  “I know the passenger ship will have Wi-Fi since there will be researchers there, but I’m not sure about your ship. Considering expedition ships tend to operate under secrecy, I’m guessing no…”

  Noooooo!

  Zain collapsed to his knees, devastated by the revelation that he would not have access to the internet. What the hell was he going to do on the ship? He hardly knew anyone there…

  Likely sensing his internal distress, Brayden placed a hand on Zain’s shoulder. “You wanna borrow my pocket movie projector?”

  Like a miserable child, Zain pouted his lips and slowly nodded. “Yes, please.”

  “Did they give you different tasks to complete? Your bag looks pretty full..” Brayden pointed to the bag that Zain had left at the entryway. Indeed, it was rather packed now considering he had put all the booklets and leftover food he was given in there.

  “Yeah…I have to learn some stuff. They gave me a bunch of booklets, plus I have to learn to water walk and stuff. “

  “Oooo–I can help you study! If you want. But…not sure if I can help with water walking.”

  “I’m going tomorrow so someone can teach me water walking…but I can’t even use my mana stuff so…how am I supposed to do that?”

  “There are shoes that some people wear to help with that from what I hear. But why do you need to learn to water walk? Going somewhere by purely water walking is dangerous…so I hope they aren’t making you do something like that.”

  I probably shouldn’t tell him that we are going to be doing just that, huh?

  “No…they said if I ever went overboard, I would need to use water walking to help get back onboard…”

  The fib worked as Brayden no longer gave a suspicious side eye. “I kinda wanna know how water walking works, do you think I can go with you tomorrow? If I can’t, I understand…”

  “I’ll ask but I can’t make any promises.” Zain didn’t really think it was a good idea. There was no way Cherry would agree.

  Actually now that he thought about it…He didn’t even have her number. Whenever they communicated, she would just cryptically come to wherever he was and tell him what he had to do. Should he just pretend to text her? Then maybe he could reject him gently that way.

  Before Zain could even carry out his small ruse, a ping from his phone grabbed his attention. Someone from an unknown number had texted him.

  ‘He can come, it should be fine.’

  The likely culprit was Cherry, but how she had heard the conversation made Zain question how much she could hear. Reflexively, he looked around, scanning for some sort of listening device she had somehow planted.

  “Ummm…They said it was ok…”

  “Oh cool! What time should we go? And where is it gonna ... .What are you looking for?”

  On the floor, his ass to the ceiling, Zain realized that he looked rather ridiculous searching for Cherry’s listening device. “Uhhh….bugs? Can’t have any while we’re gone.”

  “That’s true. I guess I should make a list of things we need to take care of here. We should get rid of perishables that will spoil, I also have to talk to Cole or Aimee so they know…”

  Brayden began to ramble off things to do, all the while Zain wondered how the next day would go.

  The destination they were taken to the next day was rather odd.

  They were required to go closer to the outskirts of the city, where hardly anyone ventured. Water crept at the edges of the bubble which bottled them, so there were not many inhabitants in the area. Not only that, but they were sent downward, with marbled steps leading them deep inside a cave like entrance. Moisture gathered and trickled, collecting in pools of water around them. Everything surrounding them felt as if it retained some degree of dampness, so it was not surprising that many metallic structures were rusted or unmaintained. They stopped near the doorway, which was made of carved stone.

  Already waiting for them was Devante and Cherry, the latter of whom Brayden was not quite familiar with; Javier had some affairs to take care of, so he was not present. However, in his place was a man Zain did not recognize. When Brayden and Zain arrived, he did nothing to acknowledge their presence, and simply continued listening to his music through his earbuds, slightly bobbing his head up and down as he vibed with his music.

  “Ayy! Good to see you kiddos again! Ya ready, Zain?” Devante was the first and only one to greet them. Cherry simply carried on with her own business, assuming her natural aloofness.

  They both gave the courteous dips of their heads in response. It was the morning, and for some reason, Zain was already tired. Unfortunately, it was the start of his day, so he had to get this over with.

  “Hey. What are we doing today? Is this where we’ll be water walking?”

  “Nah – we can’t do that yet. First, we gotta do some psychic reading for ya first.” Devante casually explained away, as if Zain knew what that was.

  Luckily, Brayden was there to enlighten him. “It’s the medium thing I told you about when you first got here, remember? The one that will tell you your affinities and stuff.”

  “OHH!!”

  Really?! Do I get to do it for free?! Right now?!

  Admittedly, Zain couldn’t quite contain his excitement. How could he? This was something he had been wanting to do since he was first transmigrated.

  Devante flashed his goofy, toothy grin. “Yeh! We can do the two of you, just for funsies. Don’t worry about the cost. I’m covering it.”

  Now Zain was smiling ear to ear, like a degenerate. His body was vibrating from the excitement.

  A small laugh came from Brayden, as he could see the energetic state Zain was now in. “I’ll take you up on that offer, thank you!”

  The stony doors opened without prompting, grinding and gritting as stone pushed against stone.

  “She knows we’re here. Time to go inside, she hates to be kept waiting.”

  The familiarity he spoke with added some credibility to the medium. If she was someone that Devante, who had myriad connections, trusted, then she was probably legit.

  They were ushered forward, walking into the strange cave-like structure.

  The floor rippled with each step as collected water disturbed; Though the walls initially looked to be made of granite, as they walked to an open room, they disappeared.

  Twilight hung above them, with them walking on stilled water of the sea. It was an unusual illusion, as it made it seem as if the room was endless; the ripples rebounding were the only indication for where the walls were hidden.

  Beneath their feet, fishes freely swam, unperturbed by the footfalls above.

  They stopped at what was presumably the center of the room, with no indication that someone else was present. It did not take long for something to appear.

  A ribbon manifested in the illusionary sky, fluttering as if water manipulated its furlings. More appeared, then wrapped and clung to an outline. A person became more pronounced in shape, as her figure shimmered through the veilings of illusion.

  A jellyfish adorned her hair, with the ribbon-like tentacles accentuating her curves, silken robes highlighting her figure. Her lashes fluttered open, snow-like pupils precipitating as her gaze flickered around the room.

  Her attention pulled to Zain and Brayden, she gave a small smile as she lifted her hands. “Devante, I assume these are the two boys you bring me? Shall I commence?”

  With his hands placed with upside down prayer hands, he gave a small bow as he gave respect to the mystic woman. “Yes, Naia. I ask of you, this.”

  She gave a small nod of understanding, then raised her hands upward. The water bubbled as an orb was summoned from the depths. Clouds of fog shifted within the sphere, as if it peaked at the skies above.

  The woman cast her eyes to Zain, beckoning him forward. “Come, place your hands upon the stone.”

  Reluctantly, he did as prompted. At first, it felt cool to the touch, but then, it felt as if the heat in his body shifted towards the sphere itself. The orb warmed as well, then shone with shifting lights. They were not too bright, with each color alternating in the plumes trapped inside the stone. Perhaps the red prevailed slightly more, but otherwise, they looked equal on the spectrum.

  “I see. He appears to be of slightly higher fire affinity. Though his capacity for each is normal. An average capacity overall.” Naia responded to the readings of the crystal ball.

  “Hmmm.”

  “I see…”

  Lukewarm responses sounded behind him.

  Not an ideal outcome, considering Zain needed to learn water walking soon. Even though he had access to all the elements, water not being his natural affinity would probably make the process even harder for him.

  No, no. Fire is cool. Stay positive! Fire is the best starting element, trust!

  Naia lifted the crystal ball, calling his attention back to her. Overlapping her hands with his, she gave him more instructions. “Now, close your eyes. Then imagine the shape of your being as you bring the stone to your head. We must see what form your spirit takes.”

  Weird, but okay..

  Zain did as prompted, the best he could at least. The imagining of his ‘being’ proved to be difficult, so he concentrated on whatever he could to somehow make it take shape.

  Despite the vague instructions, the more he thought to himself, the more a shape formed in his mind.

  It was hard to visualize, or discern, but the more he concentrated, the more it cleared.

  The outline circled and moved, until he saw clearly what form it took.

  Like a fish, it flopped and wiggled; As much as he would want to deny the vision, he could clearly see the scales and fins in his mind.

  “A fish, though I am not sure which kind. That is the true shape of your soul.” Naia confirmed.

  “I see…”

  “Hummm…”

  Water trickled and dripped all around the moist dwellings, and fish swam all at their feet, each indistinguishable from one another. Silence hung as the underwhelming results lingered on everyone’s minds.

  Fire and fish, huh?....The fuck am I supposed to do with that information?