Rising Shards

Clouds gathered in the sky over the tropical island of Vita Coa. Tik's leg throbbed in pain from how long she'd been walking, but she could go a bit longer. They weren't able to jump into the void at the exact coordinates Octa had given Tik, so they had to hike, leading them into one of the jungles they'd explored long ago.

Tik held a device in front of her, a tablet displaying a map of the area and numbered coordinates that changed with each step.

"Only a bit away now," Tik said.

"Mhm," Mars said.

Tik recognized the sour look on Mars' face. He was trying to bite his tongue and not say what was on his mind.

"If you have concerns, I'm all ears," Tik said.

"It's nothing," Mars said.

"Just say it, I'm sure we're all thinking the same things," Kara said.

"Fine, fine," Mars said. "If he really was here, don't you think they would've found him by now? This is a void node used by a school, those are combed regularly, right?"

"It is unlikely he would've avoided detection," Tik said. "But his retention sprites were seen here as well, so it's possible he's hidden somewhere."

"Feels like a major oversight to let the retention sprite thing happen too," Kara said.

"Indeed," Tik said. "We can't ignore the possibility that he has benefactors in the school, most likely in the school system with Wildfire Hearts, but it's possible they're in Rising Shards as well. But so far I'm leaning to accidental oversight due to incompetent management in that aspect."

"That last principal probably had more than a dozen accidental oversights a week," Kara said.

"The rest of the staff we've spoken to is trying their best, that helped cover for it at least," Tik said.

"My other concern, this could absolutely be a trap, right?" Mars said. "What if Octa's lying about being split with Arctus?"

"She does lie, like, a lot," Kara said.

"It's entirely possible," Tik said. "I know how Octa lies, though, and I'm at least a bit confident in what she told me."

"We'd know for sure if they weren't together if she said they were," Kara said.

The trail they walked forked, with one path going toward a beach. Wedged into the sand was a jagged piece of metal, with a torn purple cloth on it, a lone flag flowing in the wind.

"Last thing, has anyone noticed that it's completely empty here?" Mars asked.

"It is strangely quiet," Tik said.

"Did the Exumi all leave?" Mars asked.

"I haven't seen any of them since arriving, but we have only explored a bit today, they could just be elsewhere," Tik said.

"This doesn't feel like elsewhere quiet," Mars said.

"If they did bail, I wonder why..." Kara said.

"Maybe Arctus really is here," Mars said. "And he...hopefully he just scared them off."

"But knowing him..." Kara said.

"Yeah." Mars said.

"With all these concerns, do you think we should continue pursuing this?" Tik asked.

"We have to at least reach the coordinates, but..." Mars said. "I know River's the long term goal here, but we have to be careful."

"We will be," Tik said. "I don't want either of you in danger."

"And we don't want you in danger, either," Kara said.

Mars asked for some fail safes and backup plans, and the group added a few more to their plan before proceeding.

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