When Coin opened his eyes, he found himself staring with a gaze that was not his own. The moonlit sea spread far around him, seeming to stretch on for infinity. A strong breeze whipped around him from all sides, and a strong smell of salt suffused the air. Glancing to the edge of his vision, he could see great black wings beating on either side of him

  “That’s... the ocean,” Coin murmured. He knew it was large, but to see it like this... how big was it? The enormity of it made Coin’s pulse quicken.

  “An ocean, yes,” Scylla replied, sounding as if she was beside him and far away at the same time. “The Treacherous Sea, to the west. The edge of the world, if you believe some people.”

  “How... far out are we?”

  “Many miles. It took some time for my bird to make it out this way.”

  Gradually, through the fog on the horizon, Coin could see... something take shape. “An island,” Scylla said, a note of concern in her voice. Sure enough, that seemed to be the case. A broad island with expansive woodlands flanking a massive ivory mountain in the heart of it. The more Coin looked at it, the more uneasy he felt. Something about it was... eerily familiar.

  “There’s... not supposed to be an island out here. No landmasses at all recorded in this stretch of the ocean,” Scylla added.

  “That... doesn’t sound good,” Coin said.

  “It’s not.”

  The black bird flew closer, maintaining its swiftness astride a current of warm air. Scylla’s spies could outfly most birds normally, but there was no sense of turning down a boon from the wind. The island grew larger, more defined, and the black bird’s vision grew sharper to inspect the landscape from on high.

  Coin stared at the ground below as the airborne spy started to bank around the island. “No animals,” he noted absent-mindedly. That was his old mimic brain at work, able to note the lack of prey in the same way a normal person would notice a lack of breathable air.

  “You’re right,” Scylla said. “An island appears from nowhere, never seen before to my knowledge, devoid of anything but plant life. Fascinating.”

  A chill suddenly raced down Coin’s spine. He had the distinct feeling he was being watched.

  A great force suddenly swept out from the island, unseen but immense, and suddenly their two way connection was intruded upon by a third presence. Coin reeled, and Scylla cried out as the unexpected intrusion nearly snapped the connection entirely.

  Who are you?

  The voice, vast and obscenely powerful, sent a shock through Coin’s body. As with the sight of the island, the familiar sensation of that voice was enough to give him pause.

  “I... am Scylla,” the pale witch replied. “Gods below... is the island itself talking to us?”

  There was silence, spreading out for a considerable time. Then, suddenly, the unseen presence seemed to push forward, until it was peering through the other side of the connection, lurking unseen in the weapon’s room of Eliah’s mansion. And those unseen eyes focused intently on Coin, making the mimic freeze in place.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Hello, Coin.

  “Gods,” Scylla repeated. “This... this power. This magical skill... h-how is it...”

  Coin swallowed harshly. “What’s it doing?”

  “It’s... the island, it’s managed to connect to the magic I’m using to see through my spy bird. It’s a two way connection, it’s looking at us through my magic!”

  “People can do that?!”

  “Apparently!”

  The third presence hummed, a sound like grinding stone. Why do you linger in this... place? Why do you wear the skin of a human?

  “I...” Coin swallowed harshly. He had to be calm. If this thing meant to harm them, it likely could have done so by now. “You talk like we’ve met before.”

  We have. Perhaps your mind struggles to recall encounters from dreams.

  “Dreams...” Coin felt memories stir in the deepest fathoms of his mind. He recalled... turbulent waves, threatening to suck him under. And a presence so much like his own, but so utterly alien at the same time. And one word that gradually blossomed to full attention in his mind. “Colony,” he said finally.

  Yes.

  “Colony?” Scylla furrowed her brow. “So... you’ve spoken to this being before?”

  “I have, in the past. At least, I think I did. In my dreams... I don’t really remember.” In retrospect, they were more like nightmares.

  I have longed to meet you since I first felt your presence. Another like myself, a mimic exposed to animus. I am coming to meet you.

  Through the vision, the edges of which were growing fuzzy and ill-defined from the strain on Scylla, he could just barely see the waves around Colony shifting, pulling around it. The island was indeed moving, just at the speed of a glacier.

  “A mimic the size of an island... this thing must be centuries old. But.. how did it wind up a sea? No, more importantly, how was it exposed to animus?”

  Those are not details you need to know, Scylla. My interest is with Coin.

  Coin swallowed. “I... I think you should stay where you are. In the ocean If you get too close for the people of Arcadia to see you, there’ll be a lot of panic and curiosity about an island appearing from nowhere.”

  Why should I care for the fear of humans? If any should try and harm me, I will destroy them.

  That sent a sudden rush of panic through Coin. He couldn’t sense magic in the way Scylla could, but you didn’t need to be a genius to guess at the kind of devastation an island-sized mimic could cause. Even without drawing on the imposing magical power Colony clearly had access to. A creature of Colony’s scale, suitably angered, could wipe out a swathe of the city, likely only to be halted by the efforts of a group of wizards.

  If even that.

  “It would be... a rather big burden and distraction if our meeting was disrupted by panicking people, wouldn’t you agree?” Colony grumbled in response, seeming to ruminate on those words. Seeing an advantage, Coin pressed on. “I assure you, it would be a true inconvenience. I think, frankly, you should stay where you are. I’ll... I’ll come to you, with a boat, and we can meet on the ocean.”

  Though his vision was dominated by the seascape from Scylla’s bird, he could feel the witch’s bewildered gaze on him. He might as well have said he’d walk into a lion enclosure with bacon wrapped on every part of his body.

  And Coin certainly felt mental for even entertaining the notion. But it wasn’t as if he could let Colony come close to the coast and cause havoc.

  It would be bad for business.

  And how long would that take?

  “Oh, maybe... two weeks? Three? I need at least that much time to prepare before I can head out to you.” It would have been nice to postpone it longer, but he didn’t want to mention too long a timeframe and risk Colony’s ire. He wanted to at least get the business up and running and in a decent shape. And learn how to sail a damn boat, for that matter. No way he could risk hiring a manned vessel to get within Colony’s reach.

  That is... acceptable, Colony eventually replied. I would rather not be inconvenienced by humans during our meeting. I shall wait where I am, for now. You will know where I am from our mental bond.

  The connection frayed and severed, leaving Coin and Scylla staring bewildered in the silence that followed. Scylla caught her breath slowly, her normally stoic facade replaced with a look of fear and uncertainty. “A mimic the size of an island...”

  “I didn’t think that was possible, personally... But knowing there’s something like me in the world...” It was encouraging and worrying in equal measure. “Guess I have to meet Colony. See what it wants.”

  “Dangerous. But the alternative would be far moreso.” She paused. “How... do you plan on getting out that way? Convincing a boat to travel to the far western seas? Most captains would tell you to take a running jump, no matter what you were paying them.”

  “Well...” Coin let out a shaky breath, rubbing his hand against his brow. “I suppose I could have a boat built. One that I can sail solo, if I learn the intricacies. And to design one... I’ll need an artisan.”