Miyu blinked as Hoplite turned invisible yet again, vanishing in an instant. She didn’t even hear his footsteps as he left, leaving her feeling… uneasy. She sighed as her eyes found the wheel, satisfied to see that it was still on course toward, well, nothing in particular. Her eyes widened when she noticed that the wheel latches weren’t in place. She rushed over, leaning down and reaching past the wheel to the tiny compartments behind it. With both hands, she pulled out two separate rectangular sections of wood, slipping them beneath the wheel’s pegs to lock them in place. It wouldn’t be good if some kind of sky bird hit the pegs and sent the ship spiralling into oblivion, she didn’t need to steer right now anyway.

  She moved to the railing overlooking the deck, leaning down on it with her elbows. What a day this has been, no, what a week- hells, the week wasn’t even done with yet! Already she’d escaped Onica, fought against sky pirates, and now today she owned her own ship, which came with its own Shardwalker apparently. A massive one to boot… he was a couple fingers taller than even she was. Being the shorter one wasn’t something she was used to in conversation but she welcomed the sensation regardless.

  She put a hand on her chin as she found herself wondering if the Faelords themselves had set her to meet this man. After all, she had been thinking that she’d like to have a man taller than herself, and now here one was… and she liked it. She drew her lips to a line as she internally berated herself. She knew nothing about Hoplite, not even what he looked like, she couldn’t just assume they were compatible. Besides, he was deadset on finding his way back to his home Shard, as impossible as that was. Maybe if he had a wish granted by a Faelord he could, but Outworlders were few and far between.

  Still, if it somehow came to that during their journey, she wouldn’t allow such a thing to happen. The Faelords could not be allowed to walk the Shards, no matter what. Her father had taught her about the horrible wars their Outworlder vessels would inflict upon mortal kind, she’d not be party to that, no matter how much Hoplite needed to return to his Shard. It wasn’t long before the man re-appeared on the deck, just below her, looking up with his horrifying red-eyed helmet. The visors were like rubies, sparkling in the sunlight. Aside from that, someone had taken the time to carve sharp, needle-like teeth into the jaws, which met at a long, triangular mouth. She thought that had to be how Hoplite breathed, but this vent didn’t seem to lead anywhere, it was just darkness, just as the rest of his suit was. The black armor he wore was sleek, the thin dark armor plates connected by an underlayer of an almost equally dark stretchy material. She had never seen anything like it in all her life, his Shard’s armorsmiths must have been masters of their craft.

  “Below decks is clear, there are enough supplies to last us approximately three days, integrity of the hull is intact as well.” Hoplite said, his tone completely lacking emotion.

  “Alright excellent!” Miyu cheered, clapping her hands together, “Now all we have to do is pass the time.”

  “...Affirmative.” He replied, his monotone now bordering on suffering.

  A man of few words apparently, normally she wouldn’t force conversation like this but if she was going to trust this man, she needed to know something about him.

  “You have any hobbies?” She asked him.

  Another awkward moment of silence passed before he finally said, “I make… art.” He told her in an unsettlingly proud tone, as if he was holding back how much he truly enjoyed what he did.

  “...Painting?” She asked.

  “In part.” He told her, “I work with many colors, rarely red.”

  “What does that mean?” She asked, “Can you not see red or what?”

  “It’s not a color that is common among my materials. It is usually green, gray, or black.” He said in his monotone, “Among others.”

  “Oh that’s um… great?” She said, uncertain, “So this art, what is it?”

  “Classified.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It’s a secret.” He told her, “Not to be discussed with those outside my command structure.”

  “That sounds like military talk, are you a soldier?” Miyu asked, descending the steps toward him.

  “Affirmative.”

  “I see, is that why you’re trying to get home so badly?” She asked, “Is there a war back home you need to get to?”

  “Yes.” He said with no hesitation, “My people are under attack by a horrible force of aliens seeking to subjugate us.”

  “Aliens?” She squinted, “Ah, you mean invaders from another nation? You must come from a large Shard like Yulon if there’s enough space for separate nations to develop.”

  “In a sense.” He said, “We made first contact with them centuries ago, but they didn’t seek peace with us.”

  “So warmongers then.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Yes, just like my people.” Hoplite nodded, “Our forces seek the same goal, conquest… it was inevitable that the war between us would happen.”

  “Centuries of war can’t be good for either side.” She noted, “I’m sure you’re both tired of the war by now.”

  Hoplite shook his head firmly, “Not in the slightest. If that were the case, we wouldn’t fight.”

  “Not necessarily.” She shrugged, “The higher ups might not be tired of it, but the soldiers probably are. I know I would be.”

  “It isn’t your war to be bored of.” Hoplite said flatly.

  She winced, it seemed as if this were a touchy subject… better steer course to something else. What do human men like to talk about? Women right? That wasn’t too different from oni men really, but she didn’t know for sure, maybe human men were more indifferent to their female counterparts than oni were.

  “So… are you married?” She asked, “Have family?”

  “Negative.” Hoplite replied immediately.

  “Ah I see, but surely you must have someone you care about back home?”

  “...Negative.” He said after a moment of hesitation.

  Oh he was lying for sure. He didn’t have a heart made completely out of stone after all. Still she found it wise to steer away from this topic as well… family matters were a touchy subject for most people, and they didn’t know one another well enough for her to pry.

  “Right well, if you don’t want to talk about family that’s fine.” She said with a nod, “Well, you have anything you want to ask me about? You’re new to this Shard right?”

  “I only arrived a few days ago.” He nodded, “Firstly why do the islands here float, why does gravity not pull anything together, why is the sky purple and where is the sun? Also the two moons below, how far are they exactly, and why are they such strange colors? Not only that, your people the oni, are they a branch of humanity or-”

  Miyu blinked at the sudden tirade of questions, unable to get in a word as Hoplite continued to verbally barrage her. Eventually, she managed to get a word in.

  “Slow down!” She exclaimed, “You’ll make my head explode if you keep that up! One question at a time please!”

  Hoplite stiffened, “I apologize.” He told her, his monotone scraping near embarrassment, “Where is your sun?”

  Miyu shrugged, “I’ve heard of suns before, in other shards, but wherever ours is, we can’t see it.”

  “Impossible, this light must be coming from somewhere, and it isn’t the moons.” Hoplite told her flatly, gesturing to the sky, “The atmosphere surrounding this environment must be occluding it somehow, but that doesn’t explain why the moons are visible… unless they’re in atmosphere, but that can’t be possible either.”

  “Uh-”

  “Why do these islands float? They are not made out of Floatwood, yet they stay aloft anyway.” Hoplite asked, his head snapping back to her.

  “The big roots poking out of the bottoms are Floatwood. If we pass an island you’d be able to see them.” She told him with a nod.

  “But that would mean they do grow from soil, why are there clusters of Floatwood moving about freely then?” He asked.

  “I think I read that they break off from the islands like seeds, we call them mother roots. They seem to become their own ‘tree’ once it’s separated.” She told him, “Again I don’t know for sure but that sounds right to me.”

  “The gravity, it doesn’t make any sense, even taking this Floatwood into account. Everything should be pulled into one mass to make a planet, but everything just floats freely, why?” Hoplite asked, gesturing to the open air.

  Miyu blinked, “I don’t know what to tell you. That’s far from my field.”

  “The Oni then, are you an offshoot of humanity?” He questioned, “Why have you evolved to have horns, do they provide an evolutionary advantage in some way?”

  “I guess the full-horns can gore someone if they really wanted to.” Miyu told him, “But we are not humans in any way shape or form. I suppose that means your Shard has no Oni?”

  Hoplite shook his head, “No, we have mutations.”

  “And what does that mean?” She asked.

  “A mutant is a genetic deviation from a standard human, often they come from adaptations to different climates, I thought your people may be such a case.” Hoplite said.

  “How could you possibly think that I am a human?” Miyu asked, crossing her arms.

  “You are a humanoid biped with distinctly human features, mammalian, hair on your head, along with breasts for feeding young-”

  Miyu instinctively moved her hands over her breastplate, “I think I get it, no more please.”

  Hoplite paused before continuing, “Are there any Outworlders in Yulon?”

  Miyu’s face hardened, “I know what you’re thinking, and I won’t allow it to pass. You know as well as I do the horror that the Faelords will wreak upon the Shards if one were ever allowed to return. Returning to your home is not worth the pain the Faelord will inflict on us.”

  Hoplite shook his head, “That wasn’t what I was planning.”

  Miyu frowned, “Why else would someone take interest in an Outworlder? If you seek to catch one for yourself, know that I will stop you.”

  Hoplite seemed to hesitate before saying, “...You have no interest in Outworlders then?”

  “Not in the slightest, I know that may be a shock to hear, but not everyone desires a wish be granted. The Overseer put The Ban in place for a reason.” She said firmly.

  Hoplite again seemed to hesitate, almost like he was considering what he’d say to her next, “Affirmative, The Ban is important.” He said with a nod.

  “I’m glad we agree on that.” Miyu nodded, letting out a sigh of relief, “It’s strange to see a human with sound reasoning.”

  He must have been taking the time to think about the consequences of such an action, thankfully coming to the same conclusion that she had long ago. What a relief that she didn’t need to come into conflict with him over this.

  “Aside from all that, care to explain what ‘gigantism’ is?” Miyu asked, “Are you part giant?”

  Hoplite shook his head, “Some humans are just born larger than others.”

  “So you’re one of these mutants then?” She asked, curious.

  “In a manner of speaking.” He told her, “I cannot tell you more than that.”

  “Alright then, so we still have a long way to go before we reach a landmark… are you feeling hungry?” Miyu asked, noting her grumbling stomach.

  She hadn’t ate since before she’d woken up today.

  Hoplite nodded, “Affirmative, the stores below have dried rations consisting of jerky and hardtack, along with barrels filled with water and an alcoholic fluid.”

  Miyu gave a sigh of relief, food, water, and booze? How lucky were they to stumble into a fully stocked ship?

  “Sounds good to me, you wanna drink?” She asked him, approaching him to nudge him in the arm.

  “Negative, I’m not thirsty.” He said.

  “You don’t always have to drink to quench thirst, you know.” She wagged a finger in front of his helmet, “Sometimes you can drink for fun.” She said with emphasis.

  A good way to build rapport was getting drunk, at least that was her experience. Might be a good way to loosen this rock of a man up. He had to be as tense as stone, based on his mannerisms.

  However, he shook his head again, “Negative, I am not allowed to drink alcohol.”

  “By who?” She asked with a scoff, “You are your own man.”

  “Negative, I am not a man.” He insisted.

  Miyu blinked, looking him up and down, “You’re a woman?”

  Hoplite paused, “No, but I am not classified as a person. I am a tool.”

  Miyu blinked again, “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “...I was molded to fit a purpose, I don’t partake in recreational activities because they are worthless to my objectives.” He told her firmly.

  “Sounds like a sad life.” She frowned.

  “I am what my people needed me to be.” He said, “It is not sad, it simply is.”

  “Well, you aren’t just a ‘tool’, no matter what your people said. A man is a man, live a little, one little drink won’t hurt.”

  “I will not.” Hoplite told her flatly, crossing his arms.

  Miyu sighed, bonding with this man was going to take a LOT of effort it seemed.