Chapter 26 – Revelations

            Two days had passed since Alos and the others had arrived back on the ship with Zeith. Two days of sitting, waiting, and hoping Zeith would walk out the doors of Bert’s medical room. There was an unspoken angst in the air of the ship, with all of the crew members mentally on edge as they waited. Both days consisted mostly of lounging around in the main room, trying to kill time by any means, and every time Bert walked out of his room, everyone would jump up to see if it was Zeith.

            They were camped out, from what Alos had been told, in Magnam territory, just south of the center of the continent. Outside was a combination of thick leafy trees and muddy creeks spilling out over the surrounding landscape. Levitas and Dardaños were outside most of the time keeping guard, telling stories to each other of past adventures to pass the time. Xri had stepped into Bert’s room with Zeith the moment they got back and over the two days, never came out. Alos wasn’t sure what was going on in there, nor did he understand how they managed to escape past the Divimatian borders, but he did know something wasn’t right. Slowly but surely, he was piecing the puzzle together, assembling the parts and forming a coherent picture from chaos of the past two weeks. Underneath it all, sat the one crucial underlying element, Captain Van.

            Captain Van was somehow attached and responsible for everyone’s problems on the ship. All seemingly disconnected events, all tied together by the evil actions of this one man. Everyone hated him, and if Alos had known who he was earlier, he would have too.

            On the following morning, the doors opened, and finally Zeith stepped out from Bert’s room. His face was pale and his previous rope of facial hair shaven from the front of his scalp. His beard was also completely gone displaying a wide bald chin with skin smooth like a babe’s. On the crown of his head, where his hair once covered, was a brilliant indigo gem socketed into his skull, cut flawlessly into a dome, emanating an unknown energy into the space. Alos had never seen someone look so humbled, so… defeated. The weight of agonizing guilt drooped from his glazed eyes. An aura permeated the room with heart clenching sadness, as the crew stood, staring at Zeith.

            As Zeith stepped out from inside Bert’s room, all of the crew within the main room stood in respect. He stumbled past Xri and over to the center of the main room, stopping just below the hanging display. Alos was not verbally told to sit, but the mental direction to do so radiated through his mind. He felt compelled to sit, and in doing so, the rest of the crew entered the room and seemed to be following the same orders, joining Alos on the couch. Wander and Zephay sat upright with attentive posture, and from down the hallway, Levitas and Dardaños came walking in.

            Everyone was telepathically summoned into the same room by some impulse, it was weird. Alos couldn't put into words how or why he knew, but he definitely did.

            Zeith stood at the center holding the attention of everyone in the room. With a deep breath, he pulled his head upwards, exhaling a deep sigh as he stood erect. Standing in place, Zeith appeared to take on a sudden weightlessness within his body. Alos couldn’t reason as to how he knew, but something was pressing his attention to the way Zeith's body seemed to not even touch the ground. Then, pulling his legs upwards under his robe, Zeith began to levitate in the air, hiding his crossed legs under his long draping robe, placing his hands palm down onto his knees.

            He spoke without rhyme.

            “It is finally coming to pass… Divimatia has acquired their means of genocide. They have extracted the knowledge of destruction from my mind. Prepare to witness all of civilization crumble under its own mortality.”

            Zeith’s gaze became transparent with awe.

            “The plague has begun.”

            Shaking his head, Zeith extended his legs back to the ground, and then walked out of the room. The rest of the crew turned their attention to Xri as he stood up.

            “We are coming to an impasse, within the Non-States, within the UDA, and within Divimatia. The war that we so victoriously squelched is growing again, gathering in power, and readying its assault. Peace is coming to an end. When Divimatia steps up and releases this new biological weapon into society, even the Guild will not be able to stop its spread.”

            Emptiness overtook the room.

            “Divimatia has extracted the blueprint for a hyper-virus from Zeith's mind. Only time will tell the limits of the devastation this will bring.”

            The crew exploded into worried questioning amongst each other.

            Amidst the conversational chaos, Xri slipped away from the center of the room and then began walking over to Alos, Zephay, and Wander. Reaching into his coat as he came up, he pulled out a folded piece of paper and then unfolding it, presented it to the three.

            “Study up lads, you are going to need this knowledge when you are initiated. The guild will soon need you to fortify their ranks in this upcoming madness.”

            "It is time for you three to become Wizards."

            Puzzled, Alos took the paper and glanced at it.

END - ACT I: Slimepunks