A week passes quickly aboard the Timbergrove. Between training, studying, talking, and of course drinking, the destination is finally near. With the isnd now so close, I rush onto his ned perch myself right on top of Myers shoulder.

  “You said we’re almost there?” I ask.

  “The isnd should be in vision soon. But, I want to warn you.” Myers raises a finger and points in the distance. “We've got a storm ing.”

  Following the finger, a darkening horizon of clouds bees visible. “The storm seems pretty far.”

  “It is far, but it is also fast. I expect the storm to hit us by evening.”

  “Shit. How bad of a storm are we talking about? Is it going to be as bad as the one when we arrived at the tower?”

  “No,” The old man answers. “This storm will be extremely wet and manageably windy.”

  “Right. So it’s not a threat.”

  Myers grunts. “Not unless you pn to use ons- or anything that fires a projectile. The wind and rain makes accuracy difficult unless you’ve got a high level [Gunner] with skills to calcute wind speed before each shot.”

  I open his mouth to ent, but pause when a distant isnd es into view.

  “Holy shit, that’s a castle.”

  In the distance, an isnd floats at Timbergroves elevation. On the isnd, and in the ter of it is a castle partially melded into a mountain. The castle looks old and covered in stohout any greenery in sight. It also looks undamaged.

  “Why the hell is there a castle? It looks abandoned,” I say.

  “That is a retly risen isnd. The castle has retly risen with it.”

  The fuck is risen? Did it just form out of the p's crust or something?

  “Expin.”

  Myers strokes his beard. “Well, the nature of smaller isnds is that they be damaged to the point that they fall into the p's crust and are turned into sg. At the same time, eruptions in the p release rge amounts of mana-rich stone. If the stone is rge enough and well-shaped, the stone will then float and bee a new isnd.”

  That makes sense, I suppose. I mean, these isnds were formed somehow.

  “I get behind that. But, what's with the castle? Shouldn’t it have turned into sg?” I ask.

  Myers leans a hand on the helm. He uses the other hand to reato a coat pocket arieve a spygss. “Generally, defeructures like castles or town walls have runes engraved into the stohese runes enhahe stoo make it stronger.”

  “Strong enough to withstand the p's core? Seems impossible, otherwise anything with these runes are going to be iructible.”

  Myers chuckles. “A good and logical answer, even correct, but what you fet is that these runes run on ambient mana. Castle walls only hold long enough until the mana runs out and you are left with mere stoil they regee from ambient mana. In most cases, this take days, if not weeks to recover to full strength.”

  Well, that's good to know if I ever have a o siege a castle. I just have to keep shooting at it until it runs out of mana.

  “In most cases,” I repeat.

  “Yes. Regeion speed is based on ambient mana. Ambient mana is most de at the p's core.”

  Ohhhh.

  “So the runes regee faster than the damage from heat.”

  Myers extends his spygss and looks through it. “Correct. Though, sometimes the dest of the isnd crashing cause damage to the castle, but this structure looks perfectly preserved. We should be able to find many valuables inside.”

  The old man raises the spygss to my face. I look through it and am met with a far better sight of the structure. So far, there is nothing special about the structure. It looks very much like a medieva- “I see tentacles!” I shout.

  long sleentacles seems to appear and around the opposite side of the isnd.

  Surprised, Myers shifts the spygss back to his vision. Then he ughs gleefully.

  “There's a gardener already here.”

  “A what?”

  “You’ll see it soon. Please go grab Cy. He o see this.”

  I give Myers another look, but the old fart is just smiling like a fat kid holding a chocote cake. Aire chocote cake, mind you.

  “Fine. Just give me a moment.”

  When I return with myself in Cy’s arms, we’ve traveled close enough that I finally see the source of those tentacles. Me and Cy both stare at what amounts to a gigantic floating whale rger than Valentine's ship. The whale, if you call it that, is wedged to the side of the isnd with its mouth firmly open. From its mouth, hundreds, if not thousands of tentacles roam the ising some kind of acidic liquid.

  But, what truly impresses me is the whale's body. Trees, shrugs, greenery- aire forest covers every inch of the whale's body. I see animals roaming around and dozens of various bird species flying around the whale.

  “Myers, I’ve brought ow expin what the hell that is,” I ask the grinning old man.

  Myers looks at me and cy with a childlike smirk. He extends a palm towards the whale. “That is a Gardener of Tristique. They are the most beloved and respected beasts to roam the skies. To see one is sidered a blessing by all that roam the skies.

  “Alright. Sure. Simple expnation aside, what exactly are they and what is it doing? Why are they called gardeners?”

  “Because that is what they are. Tell me, have you wondered why so many isnds are covered in pnts and animals? Why they even have life on them?” he asks me.

  I frown. “Holy, no. But now that you raise the question…”

  I take a good look at the Gardener and note some of the pnts and birds.

  I’ve seen some of those species in Arbor.

  “This Gardener is seeding the newly formed isnds. They’re creating life. But what's with the tentacles? Are they ing something?” I ask.

  The old man leans on the orb. He smiles at the wide eyes of Cy. The child is mesmerized by the hulking living isnd.

  “Gardeners are attracted to retly risen isnds because of extreme nutrient and may of the stoheir tentacles break dowoo soil, which then allows them to absorb the nutrients within. Whatever nutrient and soil not absorbed is adequate enough for pnts to take route. After several Gardeners and a decade of time, an isnd with adequate rainfall will turn into a green biome.”

  That is su impressive ecosystem.

  “Do people hunt these Gardeners?”

  Myers' smile disappears. “Only by the ignorant, stupid, and the desperate. Attag a Gardener is a sin- though idiots will try in hope of taking a Gardener's core.”

  “So people try,” I say.

  “And die every siime.”

  Dayum. “I’m guessing they fight back.”

  The old man shakes his head. “No, they don’t. Gardeners are the most peaceful things in all of Tristique and at the same time they are the most destructive.”

  “That seems odd. How you be the most peaceful and most destructive at the same time?” I ask.

  The old man stops leaning on the orb. With a firm touch, the Timbergrove starts to slow down as we are approag closer to the isnd.

  “When a Gardener is about to die or is severely damaged, their bodies undergo an explosive rea. One moment they are in pain, and the , their bodies explode with such ford heat that everything several miles around them is vaporized. Those safe and far enough away have described the result as a mushroom cloud.”

  Holy shit, that’s a nuclear explosion! No wonder nobody attacks them. It’s plete suicide.

  “Um.” Cy raises his hand up. Then he points it he isnd. “What is that?”

  Me and Myers follow the child's fio find a vine. A sihick viending half a mile from a nearby isnd to the isnd of our destination. Taking a good look at the other isnd, I 't help but hat the isnd was seemingly sheared in half.

  “That is odd. Do viend like that?” I ask.

  “No. That’s clearly a work of magic,” Myers says.

  “Do you think Valentine or one of his crew made that?”

  The old man frowns. “Doubtful. He has no reason to. I believe it is best to be wary though. The castle may not be as empty as we believe.”

  ____________________________________________________________

  We park the timbergrove at the closest point of the isnd to the castle. Theie the ship down to nearby fissures of stone. When that is done, I look at my crew.

  “Alright, who doesn’t want to go visit an abandoned castle?” I ask.

  None raise their hands.

  Yea, figured as much.

  “We ’t all leave. Someoill has to watch the ship.”

  No answer.

  “Fine. I guess I choose. Myers, Emma, Cy, and Cillian will e with me. Boriss and Irmgard, you both have ship defey.”

  Irmgard nods, and Boriss salutes with a frown.

  Exiting the ship, I 't help but find the ground mostly covered in basalt. Clearly, when the isnd rose, it was smothered in va that quickly cooled.

  I wonder if it is specifically basalt that a Gardener is attracted to.

  Traversing the mostly basalt fl is simple, moreso because I am not doing the walking. Cy is. Arriving at the castle's entra is clear that Valentine was here before on at of the shattered remains of the stoe he entrance.

  “This castle is immensely old,” Myers ents. The old man touches the stoerior with a finger. “This masonry was formed by hand and not by magic. The few structures that have been built in such a way are over a millennium old.”

  “Any idea to whom this castle beloo?” I ask.

  “No. But I imagine we find out if there is a library wing.”

  “This is fun!” Cy yells eagerly. The child is all but ready to ehe dense darkness of the castle.

  “I wonder if they have some aged booze,” Cillian ents.

  I snort. “We’re here for treasure, not booze.”

  The Scott ignores me. Instead, he retrieves a ntern from his pad lights it. “Lets go.” He stops towards the entrance, but I quickly hop in front. “Me first. I see in the dark and I react faster than anyoo danger.

  Grumbling, Cillian allows me to lead them iraveling past the gatehouse, we’re met with the remains of [guards] and their rusted equipment. Some of the equipment looks to have melted a bit too.

  “Let's hope the treasure isn’t melted.”

  “Most castles have runes built to protect from high temperatures,” Myers adds.

  “Most?”

  “Generally, areas where nobility spend their time are temperature reguted.”

  “I see.”

  Past the gatehouse, we’re met with what looks like a man-made cave system.

  “Is this part of the castle?” Emma asks.

  “It’s the bailey, except it is covered in stone. Looks like Valentine mined out the rock.”

  “With magic.” The old mahe cave stone. “It is too smooth if done manually.”

  “Well, it’s good that he did, because I didn’t bring a pickaxe. Now, let's go explore. Keep behind me.”

  Traveling through the bailey, we find our first destination. The barracks is open with the door in shambles. Clearly, someone in Valentine's group doesn’t know how doors work. Entering inside, I’m met with disappoi.

  “Everything is melted,” I announce. “Even the bones.”

  The wood is all charcoal and the metal has liquified into a mess.

  “I guess they don’t care if the barracks gets a tad too hot.”

  “Check the [Head Guards] Quarters,” Myers ences.

  Down past where the [Guards] sleep, we find an office with a door turo coal and the hinges melted down. Inside, we are met with a cool breeze but also more coal aed metal. On the ceiling, a rune is aglow.

  “That’s a rune of air current,” Emma pipes up. “It doesn't trol the temperature, but it cool ating u.”

  “Enough to make a [Head Guard] fortable, but not enough to deal with extreme heat,” I ent. The armory where the [Guards] get their equipment is also melted. If ever I need metal, I know where to get it.

  With the barracks a dud, we find our way to the servants quarters as well as the ste area. Same problem.

  But, wheer the Keep, the temperature instantly bees perfect.

  “Finally. We’re getting somewhere.”

  Once we ehe Keep, I quickly halt. My ears wiggle.

  “Someone is here.”