Cryptid Chronicle - Chapter 143

A special thanks to Blue for the wonderful original story and sandbox to play in.

A special thanks to my editors MarblecoatedVixen, LordHenry7898, RandomTinkerer, Klick0803, heretical_hatter, CatsInTrenchcoats, hedgehog_5051, Swimming_Good_8507, RobotStatic, J-Son, Arieg, and Rhion

And a big thanks to the authors and their stories that inspired me to tell my own in this universe. RandomTinkerer (City Slickers and Hayseeds), Punnynfunny (Denied Operations), CompassWithHat (Top Lasgun), CarCU131 (The Cook), and Rhion-618 (Just One Drop)

Hy’shq’e Ay Si’am (Thank you noble friends)

-

-

-

-

-

Chapter 143: My Name is Elijah

-

-

-

“Um… Andy? I think you can put me down now,” Sitry mumbled as Andy carried her down another flight of steps.

“Sorry, I, uh… I’ll just… here.” Andy answered awkwardly as he set her down. He smiled, worried he might have taken it a bit too far as they took stock of their surroundings.

The long, six story tall corridor they found themselves in reminded Andy of a mall, with shop fronts and apartment complex entrances lining the brightly lit and wide way. A loud clattering noise above them made Sitry flinch as the echoing passage of a suspended tram passed over them, whizzing by along the ceiling and off into the artificial horizon of the enclosed city space. A gentle cough of a family of women behind them let Andy know they were impeding foot traffic on the stairs, and he quickly stepped to the side, pulling Sitry and Kalai with him as they tried to find their bearings.

“Sorry, my omnipad lost signal in the stairwell. It’s trying to reconnect now,” Kalai murmured as she stared at the screen of her device. Sitry took a moment to smooth out her dress and test her foot. She’d claimed it was still sore from when they’d fled from the upper levels, and while flat surfaces weren’t an issue, she’d nearly tumbled down stairs twice.

“It’s ok, I could use a bit of a breather,” Andy replied as he looked up and down the way. Trust the Shil to find a way to make enclosed spaces seem open and even inviting!

Above them, the ceiling was brightly lit and painted with frescoes of the open sky, while heavenly beings gracefully glided among the clouds and around the suspended monorail tracks. Criss crossing pathways and flying stairwells allowed a central empty space, where the ground floor contained what looked to be a green park filled with fountains, playgrounds, and communal areas. All this, Andy thought, to make the fact that they were living inside the bowels of the Puen’testrecho Bridge bearable.

Having escaped the panic-induced stampede on the upper level, Kalai had initially led them down into the lower levels, away from the chaos caused by the owls that had attacked Sitry. They’d stopped briefly while both girls phoned their parents, desperate to try and make contact with them after they’d separated. Thankfully, Aftasia had gotten Dr. He’osforos to safety, but they’d warned them that the police and the militia were swarming the upper levels of the Bridge, and the reporters were already starting to come out in force.

“Whatever you do, try to avoid being seen,” Dr. He’osforos had said, “With what’s happened, and without us being present, your being seen by a reporter would be a scandal.”

With that, Andy had insisted that he had an alternative where they could lay low.

Kalai grunted happily as her omnipad reconnected with the network, and plotted the path they needed to take toward their destination, and they continued. Passing by several food stalls, restaurants, and diners, Andy could hear both girls’ stomachs growling in harmony with his own, and the smells of the street food were enticing enough to almost make him stop, but the side glances and doubletakes from the crowd kept them moving.

“Andy? It says to turn left here, but… this is an alley,” Kalai warned, hesitating before a narrow passageway that seemed to lead to a service area behind the shop fronts, “There’s nothing down this way.”

“No, this is exactly where we’re supposed to be,” Andy replied confidently as he saw the logo painted on the side of the wall, “It’s just down this way a bit.”

“Andy, you’ve never been here before, how do you know what’s here?” Sitry asked as she pressed herself warily into his arm.

“Because I do,” Andy laughed in a teasing tone, “Just trust me.”

He could feel their hesitation, but to their credit, they marched in alongside him. The alley turned down to a small walking path junction, where a few barred doors led to what looked like storage and loading docks. Counting the doors, Andy led them to another right turn and a double doored entrance with a fake awning. Beside it was a waist high foldable sign with a slate and a chalk message.

“Family Meal, Fuck off.” Kalai murmured aloud, reading the sign, “Well that’s welcoming!”

“I got this,” Andy reassured them again, smirking as he knocked on the door in the cadence he was told to. The door opened to a swarthy Rakiri man wearing a white chef’s jacket and what looked like a full body hairnet.

“Who the fuck are you?” he growled menacingly.

“One of Didiere’s new spawn, soon to be from Al’Turri,” Andy answered in a deadpan, using the code word and the name drop of his Chef and Restaurant so they would be allowed in.

“Oh, that cunt? Show me your hands,” the man rumbled as he roughly grabbed Andy’s hands to inspect them. “Yup, you’re a cook, alright. The broads with you?”

“Yeah, they’re with me,” Andy smirked as he looked back at the gaping girls, “We’re looking for something that’s edible.”

“Well, you’ve come to the right place, get your asses in here before someone sees you,” the man released Andy and waved them in.

Inside, the lights were dim, and upbeat instrumental music played over a sound system. Bench style seating dominated the room, with long tables sparsely populated by men and women in what looked like bright restaurant server uniforms. Along the far wall, one window opened to the water far below, where a beam of sunlight cast rays into the room. Their entrance was barely noticed by the mostly exhausted looking men and women, content as they were with the massive platters of food and many empty glasses of what most likely held red grains.

“Sit wherever the Deeps you want. Since this is your first time here, your highness, you’ll pay the cover charge of these two by hopping behind the counter and helping sling some covers.”

“Is there a menu?” Kalai asked nervously as they filed in behind Andy.

“Yeah, whatever the cooks back there feel like making,” The man grunted rudely as he walked back to the fishbowl counter, “So just how hungry are you?”

The girls looked at each other, clearly not understanding. Andy, having been prepped, jumped in. “We’ll do a ‘full shift’, with drinks,” He said confidently, remembering how orders went. It was much like the menu at In N Out back home, with so many secret shibboleths on all the different ways you could have your meal. Here, he’d been told by the cooks of the Cooking Club at VRISM, the key phrases were ‘I’m opening’, being for appetizers only, ‘half shift’ being just an entree and a side, while ‘full shift’ was the full three course meal that included dessert. Originally, he’d planned to come with ‘I’m closing’, for the dessert after the planned dinner at The Cambria Room, but that plan had thankfully fallen through.

“Bar’s in the back, and it’s all counter service here. Get yourselves settled and I’ll find a jacket that might fit you.” The Rakiri man chuffed angrily as he stomped into the back through two swinging diner doors.

“Don’t pay him any mind, he’s just had a long day,” an Im’Azigh Shil’vati woman, judging by the bangles and the jewelry style she wore, laughed, “He just finished a double shift at Tor’qual’s Fish Bar and I think he’s fighting with his wives again.”

“A double shift and he’s still working?” Kalai asked, sounding like she felt bad.

“Yeah, that Gour’do for you. Fat fuck never stops… thinks this is his own kitchen. I take it you’re new to the restaurant industry?” The friendly woman asked in a neutral accent.

“I just got hired at Al’Turri as Chef Didiere’s new apprentice out of the Cooking Class at VRISM,” Andy confirmed as she led them back toward the bar.

“Oh, wow! Nice to meet you while you’re still in one piece. Are these your wives?” She asked as she shimmied behind the counter and began pulling bottles of liquor off the shelf.

Embarrassed sputtering rose from both girls while Andy suppressed a chuckle. “On a date, actually. There was a big mob topside, and owls drove us down this way. That and I wanted to try this place.”

“Oh yeah, those fucking birds are a menace up there. Thankfully, we only see Burrowing Owls down here, and they’re actually good for policing the bugs,” the woman snickered while Sitry puffed her cheeks angrily, “The name’s Fehl’guhd, and I own the building and the liquor licence here.”

Andy fist bumped her amiably, “Andrei Shelokset, and this is Kalai He’osforos and Sitry Vaida.”

Ms. Fehl’guhd’s eyes bulged, “Andrei… as in The Sea Prince?!” She looked at Kalai and Sitry, then back to him. Hurriedly she inclined her head.  “Your grace, my lady… on behalf of my establishment, allow me to apologize for Gour’do’s behavior.”

“It’s quite alright. Your restaurant seems to be exactly what we’re looking for,” Kalai answered graciously, looking at Sitry with a hopeful smile, “A quiet place to breathe.”

“You’ll find that here, alright, your grace. Family Meal’s a franchise for us service people. The food’s hot, there is no menu, and the chefs are always on rotation. In fact, you three lucked out. Chef Ad’maavat is in today.”

“I’m sorry, did you say Ad’maavat?!” Sitry squawked loudly, causing several of the patrons to look her way, “The Head Chef of The Southern Grotto?!”

“Oh, you know her!” Fehl’guhd chortled, “Yeah, she comes by every now and again. Her mother used to help me tend bar, and she kind of apprenticed here and in some of the other Family Meal franchises around the city.”

“I… I don’t know if…” Kalai mumbled nervously, suddenly clutching her purse, “The Southern Grotto charges a thousand credits a plate, minimum!”

“Yeah, she does overcharge the rich, that’s for sure,” the bartender laughed as she began mixing different concoctions into a shaker, “But here the price is based on how much you eat. Ten credits for the starter, twenty for the main and a side, fifteen for dessert, and any extras are five each.”

“And the drinks?” Andy asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

“Fifteen a glass,” Fehl’guhd smiled as she slid three tall glasses filled with sweet smelling cocktails over to them, “I have to pay the property tax somehow.”

“Here’s three hundred credits,” Kalai replied, clearly relieved as she produced her account card, “Let me know when we’re close to eating and drinking our way through it.”

—-------

Kalai could feel the alcohol hit her against her empty stomach, and she cut herself off before she let it go too far after their third round. The little brute of a Rakiri male returned, foisting off a white coat for Andy to switch into as he drafted the Human to work for him. Andy had simply smiled, giving his teal coat to Kalai before leading them to sit at the diner counter as he checked in with the line cook running the front. A short, pudgy Cambrian woman with an accent so thick they almost couldn’t understand her, ordered Andy to help move plates from the prep stations and the pass to the counter and to call out numbers. Within minutes, Kalai watched as Andy familiarized himself with the station, ready to be the utility player, while Kalai and Sitry sat down on their own.

Kalai nursed a water, while Sitry numbly took her fourth cocktail. Watching as Andy just went to work, quickly turning into a server while she and Sitry sat there like lumps, Kalai tried hard to drown out the dark thoughts about how the date had turned out. She was just about to comment to Sitry when she heard Andy start to sing. Startled, she grabbed Sitry’s arm and nodded to their man as he sang an incomprehensibly Human song to himself, a smile lighting up his face as he worked. He seemed lighter, happy, content even, as a crowd of tired and sweaty looking people burst into the restaurant and started firing orders to the lot of them.

Watching as Andy happily fell into the flow of the kitchen, Kalai couldn’t make sense of it. The date was an utter disaster. Wracking her brain, she couldn’t think of a worse scenario that didn’t involve grievous injury or death.

“We’re never going to live this down,” Sitry whispered forlornly, “We dragged him through a whole bunch of crowds into SEVERAL closed shops and venues!”

“I know,” Kalai whispered, debating with herself over the wisdom of ordering another drink as she fought the feeling of shame and failure. Before she could commiserate with her sister, Andy set down two big dishes in front of them that she didn’t recognize, but smelled delicious as her stomach rumbled.

“Go ahead and start, I’ll sit down with you when the main course is ready,” Andy interrupted his singing as he presented them with their first course. Upon inspection, Kalai saw cubed veggies in what looks to be a white sauce and black flecks. Hesitantly, she lifted a spoon and tried it, not knowing what to expect.

Kalai’s eyes widened as a perfectly constructed bite exploded beautifully in her mouth. Texture, temperature, and flavor rolled over her as it warmed her up from the inside, comforting and driving all her worries away. Creakily, Kalai looked over at Sitry, who hadn’t moved. “You need to try this, it’s really good!”

“Good? Good?!” Sitry hissed after Andy was out of earshot, “How can you think about food at a time like this?! We’re done for! He’s never going to want to go out with us again!”

Kalai tried another bite, repeating the experience again, before leaning over to whisper, “But… but he just served us-”

“Because he’s Andy!” Sitry cried, puffing her cheeks out as tears gathered in her eyes, “He does that when he’s having a bad time! He finds work for himself, and he does things for other people!”

“Well… it’s good, and I know you’re hungry too,” Kalai mumbled sheepishly, “And since we’re here, and there’s nothing we can do about any of it… we might as well eat what he serves us.”

Sitry glared at her before angrily picking up a spoon. “If it’ll shut you up I’ll try it!” After huffily taking a bite, Kalai smiled knowingly as her sister’s eyes fluttered. Sitry stayed in that happy trance for all of about a second, only to immediately get mad again. Kalai suppressed a smile as she ate at a slower pace, watching Sitry angrily devour her first course. Silence fell between them as they filled their stomachs. Anger gave way to contentment, but once they’d finished, depression set in again as Sitry sagged in her seat while Kalai wrapped an arm around her.

Returning with three plates piled high with what looked like braised and shredded turox on a bed of mashed snowroot, Andy stopped short and cocked his head to the side in confusion. “Hey, sorry about having to work, but I’ve got our mains and I can take a seat so-”

Sitry folded over, silently crying as she buried her face in her hands.

Kalai gulped audibly as she looked up in panic at Andy. Sitry breaking was the last thing a man, least of all Andy, needed to see. What would he think of them if they couldn’t even handle setbacks? Her fear was partially confirmed when she saw that he was taken fully by surprise. Setting down their food, he quickly stepped out from behind the counter and sat down next to Sitry, wrapping an arm around her shoulder as Kalai did the same.

Sitry flinched slightly as the two of them hugged her, but she didn’t pull away.

Andy said nothing, just holding her until Sitry regained control enough to speak. Eventually, she managed to look up at him, bleary eyed and with her makeup running.

“Andy?” Sitry whimpered, totally morose, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for this whole terrible date. I’d understand if… if you never wanted to… to…”

“To… date you again?” Andy asked gently as he asked her for clarification. Kalai felt a pit of ice settle in her stomach. All Sitry could do was nod silently as fresh tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Andy, I’m to blame too-” Kalai tried to interject, only to be gently cut off.

“Hold on, Kalai, I think Sitry and I need to talk for a second.” Andy smiled reassuringly at her, “Sitry? Why do you think that I’d not want to date you again?”

“Because… because…” she hiccuped, lip wobbling, “Because everything went wrong!”

“Not everything,” he countered.

“Yes it did! We didn’t get you anything, and… and I kept getting attacked by flying vermin! And we couldn’t see or do anything you wanted to do-”

“I got to spend the afternoon with you,” he pointed out, stopping Sitry in her tracks, “And as for you not getting me anything? That’s not true.”

“It’s not?” Kalai and Sitry asked in chorus.

“No,” he said, smiling brightly at the both of them, “You gave me a story! A story I’m going to cherish forever.”

“Oh!” Sitry moaned as Kalai gulped, “You’re just making fun of me!”

“I mean, a little,” Andy admitted as he shifted in his seat, releasing Sitry so he could look at the two of them better, “It’s the kind of embarrassing I’m going to bring up for the rest of our lives together.”

“I… what?” Kalai asked tentatively as Sitry goggled at him.

“Honestly, it’s the best present. And your dresses?” Andy commented as he looked them up and down again in a way that made Kalai’s cheeks feel warm and her heart flutter, “You two are the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. Quite frankly, I’m surprised you let me carry you.”

“Oh!” Sitry whined in embarrassment again, “You’re going to tell people about this?”

“I mean… once we’re out of The Season? Yeah,” Andy replied, nodding in understanding, knowing what this could mean to their reputations if he did, “Once it won’t actually hurt your social standing, I’m telling everybody. Until then? No. I just went on one of the best dates I’ve ever been on.”

Sitry started crying again, though Kalai couldn’t tell if it was from relief or embarrassment. Kalai was about to open her mouth to speak when Andy’s omnipad rang.

Fumbling for it in his pocket, Andy brought it to his ear and answered. “Hello? Oh hey, Doc! Yeah, we’re safe and have gone to ground… yeah in Family Meal… it’s an underground joint that’s restaurant staff and close friends and family only. Oh you know it? Yeah, we’re in the one under the central arch.”

Kalai and Sitry leaned in, trying in vain to hear the other side of the conversation.

“So, can you meet us here? Huh… no go, eh? Who? That fucking leech?” Andy snarled, twisting around, “Fucking ex-Interior muck-rakeing… ok, so, what do we do? You want to what? Huh… wait one second.”

Andy covered the receiver and leaned over the counter, “Hey Chef, is there a way for us to get back to Tlax’colan without going topside?”

The Cambrian woman turned around and flashed him a harelipped grin. “Eye, laddie, Ye ginnae gae t’e summit-si’e all t’e way te’de pye’lan-lift. Tae’ de ess’press down t’e Niosa’s bum’ole an’ grab uh boot-taks. Ta’k ye yinnie-ware ye wan’.”

Andy’s jaw dropped in confusion as Kalai swore she saw his eye twitch. “Uh…”

“I think she means the pylon wharf. There’s loading docks at the base of each pillar. We can call a water-taxi to pick us up there, and that’ll be a lot less busy than the main routes off The Bridge,” Sitry translated for Kalai and Andy, “There’s an express lift north of here in the main support pylon that goes all the way down without stopping at different levels.”

“You understood her?” Andy whispered incredulously as he raised his omnipad back up to his ear.

“Well, yes,” Sitry nodded, “There’s a whole branch of the Vaidas that married Cambrian Lairds and the whole clan comes to visit every now and again.”

“Oh yeah, the Coin’eanachs,” Kalai nodded, remembering Sitry’s Cambrian raised cousins, “It’s been a while since we’ve seen them. I wonder if they’re going to visit again soon?”

Sitry shrugged as Andy went back to the phone call, “We can get a water taxi, where do you want to meet, Doc? Where? My place? I’ve… can we even… oh right, it does have a private dock. Alright, we’ll meet you at… my palace, I guess. See you in a bit, Doc.” Andy hung up before calling out to the Cambrian woman. “Hey Chef, can we get two more entrees, five desserts, and all of that and this to go?”

While the woman took their untouched plates and prepared travel containers, Kalai pulled her own omnipad out and ordered a cab to meet them at the nearest pylon wharf. The app beeped at her, confirming her request. “Ok, our cab is twenty minutes out.”

Andy nodded as he took the full bags with the to-go containers. “Ok, let’s go. We’re meeting your folks at my place, apparently.”

“You’re… you’re taking us to your new house?” Sitry asked as she politely took one of the bags out of his hands.

“Yeah, we can go see it for the first time together,” Andy smiled warmly at them as he led the way toward the exit, “Come on, this should be fun!”

Kalai only waited just long enough to make sure the bill and tip was settled before hurrying after the two of them, quickly punching their new destination into her map app as she went.

—--------

As they turned the corner away from the bottom of the lift, Andy could smell the fresh air and salt of the sea in the breeze that filled the hallway. The wide path through the base of the bridge pylon led to different piers and wharfs that allowed people and supplies to ascend to the upper reaches of the bridge directly from the middle of the Strait. As they neared the passenger pier, Andy saw small groups of people heading in the opposite direction, back toward the express lift up. Trailing behind the girls as they went through the empty walkway, Andy paused for a moment as an old peeling and salt faded sign caught his eye.

In his coat-pocket, Andy felt the last of the three tokens he’d received at the beginning of the date, and Za’tarra’s admonition came back to him.

“Only a landswoman pays homage to Niosa without being in sight of water.”

Hesitating, Andy could see the light and hear the water as it washed against the granite stones outside. Ahead of them, Kalai and Sitry were discussing something with a woman in a turnstile, and he could hear them saying that they would have to wait inside until their taxi had docked. Turning, Andy waved to the girls, indicating he was stepping down the hallway where the sign was, and they nodded without moving to follow.

The hall sloped down gently, and above, the lights flickered sporadically as he walked past a set of public restrooms. Beyond, a crooked sign warned of an open wall and slick floors, and two heavyset wooden doors creakily opened before him. Inside was a scene that was eerily familiar to Andy from the many abandoned and broken ruins of ghost towns in the Pacific Northwest. A crumbling room whose far side had collapsed into the sea opposite the door, taking the old altar with it, lay before him as it looked out over the waters of the strait. The ruined temple had once seen better days, but had clearly been left to nature and the sea. Underneath his feet crunched star shaped chitinous shells of creatures reminiscent of barnacles, clustered in large patches covering the floor and the walls. Nearer to the opening, colonies of mollusks and kelp littered the floor.

Andy moved cautiously, looking out over the water in the gathering gloom of the sunset beyond, taking in the sight and the sounds of the sea that surrounded him. There was a gothic feeling to the place, and had he been on earth, Andy would have said that he could have felt the power and weight of the spirits all around. Maybe they are. Maybe I stand in one of those sacred places where the spirits of Shil gather.

Reaching into his pocket, Andy pulled out the smooth shell token and raised it into the light. “Well, Niosa, you’ve certainly given us a banner fucking day. I have to wonder, was it all coincidence, or did you do all that shit on purpose?”

“It’s either a brave landsman or a stupid mariner that mouths off to Niosa just before boarding a boat.”

Andy turned around swiftly at the sudden voice that spoke behind him. His arms tensed, and his heart pounded as he felt his adrenaline surge, and he faced the figure who had addressed him. Emerging from the dark shadows of a side passageway in the temple near the doors, a begraggled old woman came shuffling forward. Her white hair hung down to her shoulders in the matted quality of a person who’d gone swimming, but hadn’t bothered to dry their hair. Her stooped frame and wrinkled skin were covered by a long, seaweed green shift that was worn and faded, with little holes and tears here and there, tied with a length of fishing rope around her waist. Her amber eyes glinted in the fading red and yellow light of the sunset beyond as she picked her way carefully towards him with a knowing smile. “Date not go according to plan, my lord?”

“You could say that,” Andy replied, forcing himself to relax as he slowed his heartrate down by controlling his breathing, “Let’s just say that plans didn’t survive contact with ‘the enemy’, and now I’ve got to deal with two neurotic girls that think I’m so shallow that I’d measure their worth by how much money they spend on me.”

“Sounds like a ‘you’ problem,” the old woman laughed softly, reminding Andy of the sound of Seagulls, “But if it’s as bad as you say… why bother asking for a blessing? Clearly Niosa gave you her answer.”

Andy looked down at the token in his hand, and laughed to himself. “I seem to recall that Niosa is never clear in her answers… but then again,” Andy looked up at the sun and then out to the darkness of the strait beyond, and the endless sea that seemed to merge with the black horizon. “Whom amongst mortals canst know the heart of the Sea? Canst follow the track of the Leviatha? Canst understand the why of the wind? When the light of the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars give no comfort, wherefore canst one turn? For to find oneself is to admit that thou art first, lost.”

“You disdain the goddesses, yet can quote their sacred texts from memory?” the woman asked, straightening as she raised herself up in surprise.

“I have my God, and I have my Spirits,” Andy answered with a challenging grin, “but I received an education that introduced me to yours.”

“Can’t have been a good one, then, for you to distrust them so…” The woman countered.

Andy smiled mirthlessly, “I guess that… I just don’t trust any deity that hasn’t had the balls or the tits to be mortal.”

“Oh,” the woman nodded as she stood beside him, “And yours was, was she?”

“Yes, He was,” Andy answered, “Born a Man, and yet was also the Creator of all things.”

“A puzzling paradox, that. A god that has a beginning and yet began the beginning.” The woman hummed as she rubbed a withered and salt-caked hand on her tusks, “But that brings another question to mind. What manner of mortal woman could give birth to a god?”

Andy tilted his head and tried not to laugh at the rejoinder that popped into his head. “The only one that could possibly raise one… a Jewish woman.”

There was a beat of silence until he felt the woman’s gaze boring into him. “I feel like there’s a context I’m missing. Like a joke whose punchline I’ve not understood.”

“More like a ‘truism’ than a joke,” Andy admitted, “And one only understood by a Human.”

“Ah, a Jape, then… or worse, Jape’s twin sister, the Obvious Truth,” The woman wheezed mirthfully before moving to stand at the very edge of the crumbling floor and the open water beyond. With a challenging and gap-toothed grin, she beckoned him to join her. “Well, Mariner, you wandered the forested path of mists to the middle of the deep. Cast your token into Niosa’s most holy shrine, and receive a blessing from a goddess whom you don’t believe in.”

Slowly, warily, Andy approached, careful of his footing as he took his place beside her at the edge of the precipice to the short drop below to the water. Palming the token, Andy lifted his chin and felt the strength of the wind, before he cast the token out over the water. It arced upwards as the wind took it and carried it out, glinting like a glowing ember in the sunlight until it hit the water and disappeared beneath the waves.

“Fair winds and easy tides to you, Sea Prince,” the woman intoned, gently guiding him back and away from the edge toward the door. “That was well and properly done, young man.”

“Was it?” Andy asked, “I sometimes wonder if there’s anyone out there listening.”

The woman nodded as they stood before the doors again, “It is natural to wonder, and even more natural to question. The only surety we have is the surety of the Sea. Which is to say…”

“That there is no surety. Only faith,” Andy answered with a sad look back at the water.

“Indeed,” the woman nodded approvingly as she followed his gaze, “Before you go… have a few words I’m sure you won’t heed.”

Andy was in the middle of taking his leave, stopped and smiled amiably down at the woman, only to start in surprise when she seized his right forearm with a vicelike grip. Her amber eyes blazed with life, and the wind picked at the matted strands of hair, flinging them about her face as her voice took on an iron and heavy tone. “Uncharted, the rocks that surround you both, and many are the perils you must still face before your journeys’ end. Life or death are balanced on a sword’s edge and both are locked in tidal motion; plot your course well, and wisely! Those that are awaited shall return, but only when the sea gives up her dead. Trust the heart, and do not believe your lying eyes, for the soul knows truth when it hears the mummer’s melody. Look you, then, to the spirit of the hollow to see the pain writ in blood and fear, and heal that which was sundered, cut, and smothered. Then pit all against the Powers of Sun and Sea and lay your life as wager in Hele’s never ending game of chance with the Deep Minder. Stare ye into the eyes of the Leviathan, and speak the deepest truth, that they may judge your worth. Only then will you know peace. Only then… will there be an end.”

Andy felt himself freeze in fear, and a cold sense of doom washed over him as the woman finished speaking. Releasing his arm, she stepped backwards toward the darkness of the corridor she’d come from, weaving her bare feet around the jagged clusters of barnacles and mussels. “A good evening, to you, shipmate… good evening… may the goddesses bless you all.”

“Who was that? What was going on?!” Sitry demanded, running forward with Kalai hot on her heels as they entered the temple. Andy’s trance was broken as Kalai nearly slipped on a patch of kelp, and he quickly caught her. By the time he looked back, the woman was gone.

“A Priestess, I guess,” Andy answered as he stared after her into the inky shadows, feeling more and more disquieted, “I think this is her temple.”

“Impossible, this shrine was decommissioned a long time ago. She must be a local anchorite.” Kalai stated matter of factly, “Come on, the water taxi’s waiting for us.”

First:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sexyspacebabes/comments/yz0u3h/the_cryptid_chronicle_chapter_1/

Previous:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sexyspacebabes/comments/1qlpx0u/cryptid_chronicle_chapter_142_part_2/

Next:

2/7/26