A Hero's Journey: Mystery Island's Mystery Monster

     “Of course not, how are we going to bring our weapons?” said Mipsy. “Quit grumbling, I know you want answers as much as we do. Especially the Flotsam monster’s links to Omara.”

     “Something’s not adding up here. Gods do send avatars, whether good or bad. But judging from the state of Omara’s shrine on the island, she’s likely faded away to a spirit or a remnant as Mystery Islanders no longer revered her as a goddess. So, where would she get enough power to create an avatar like that Flotsam?” The red Techo shrugged. “I know gods work in mysterious ways and all, but…”

     “Maybe we’ll find out once we take a better look around the island,” Rohane answered as their boat entered the shallows and eventually ran aground on the damp sand. After tying their vessel to a convenient wooden peg driven into the ground, he and the two mages disembarked and watched as Talinia circled the sky over them.

     “The coast is clear,” the Eyrie called out before she swooped back down. “Maritess and Cade made good on their word to help make sure no one visits this island for a while. There’s no other shrine, though.”

     Velm approached the shrine, running his fingers over the carved script and opening a book with yellowing pages. “Maritess was also kind enough to lend us a book on ancient Mystery Island languages. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be anything about this monster – this is basically Omara’s backstory written into the stone, probably hundreds of years ago. How she came to this island, and claimed the northeast coast as her territory, protecting it from all harm.”

     “And Cade had the nerve to call her a country bumpkin. Something about him…ugh, makes me feel like I want to take a shower.” Mipsy’s lips curled in distaste as she inspected the area around the shrine. “Hey, no one’s been here since our encounter with the monster, right?”

     “Yes, why?”

     “Because,” the Acara pressed, “the garbage we found here the other day is gone!”

     “What?” said Rohane and Talinia at the same time, both jolted from sentry duty.

     Mipsy spread her arms. “Yeah, as in gone, gone! As if no one’s littered here! Like…like magic!”

     “That’s…” Velm glanced at the ancient text. “Wait. Even the shrine itself…it’s like it was never vandalised in the first place! I’m pretty sure someone scratched ‘Chet Flash Wuz Here’ on this side…not as easy to scrub off like chalk or charcoal.” The red Techo rubbed his forehead. “We came here for answers, and got more questions. Just like the old days when we were travelling together.”

     At first, they remained silent – Velm and Mipsy studying the shrine, and Rohane and Talinia keeping watch. The only sounds were the calls of the native petpets and the waves breaking over the shore, punctuated by Velm gingerly turning old pages and muttering under his breath.

     “Well,” said Mipsy, breaking the quietude, “if it’s answers we want, I know someone we can ask.”

     “Who?” asked Velm, without glancing up from his work.

     “Them.”

     “Who’s the – “

     He tore away his eyes from the shrine just in time to see the Swamp Gas Flotsam bearing down on them. The Flotsam-shaped monster had been twice as tall as Talinia before, but now, it seemed big enough to reach the third story of a building. Somehow, it had appeared without catching the attention of either Rohane or Talinia – until now.

     “Oh.” Velm slowly closed the book and stashed it in his pack.

     All four of them scrambled aside as the Flotsam reared up and shrieked, its breath smelling of rotten Neggs and decaying plant matter.

     “Velm, shields! Shields!” Mipsy screamed, flicking her wand and creating a multicoloured blast that the Flotsam dodged smoothly.

     “Okay, okay! Shields up!” The red Techo waved his staff and then used it to deflect a strike from the Flotsam’s overlarge fin. “Maybe we can talk to it?”

     “Can we?” Talinia landed in a nearby tree and nocked an arrow to her bow, training it toward their opponent’s head while Rohane placed himself between the Flotsam and the spell-casters, sword drawn. “Do godly avatars even speak?”

     “Sometimes, but…hey, maybe stop terrorising the local beach, yeah?” Velm grimaced, raising his hands – though he still kept hold of his staff. “Maybe send word to Mistress Omara or something?”

     Rohane gripped his blade and parried the Flotsam’s fin, causing it to shriek again and bare its jagged teeth. Overhead, Talinia drew her bowstring taut.

     “Also, we didn’t litter!” said Mipsy. “That wasn’t us the other day!”

     At first, no one moved. Wind rustled in the trees. A Weewoo flew past them, unafraid and unscathed.

     Then the Flotsam suddenly changed course, plunged into the sea, and proceeded to swim away from the island and the four very bewildered adventurers armed and in their summer best.

     “Did it…understand me, then?” asked Velm of no one in particular.

     * * *

     “Where are they headed?” Rohane asked. Instead of rowing the boat, Mipsy blasted a wind spell from her wand that propelled them forward much faster than three pairs of arms on oars.

     “Back toward Omara Beach,” said Talinia. She squinted in the sunlight, shading her eyes. “In the direction of that part of the beach with a cliff over it. And on the cliff is…a tall cream and rose building?”

     “Doesn’t that sound familiar?”

     Mipsy frowned. “How? We haven’t been anywhere near a cliff, which is a shame because I’ve always wanted to do some cliff diving.”

     “Jhun mentioned a hotel on a rocky cliff. Owned by Cade McCaden,” the White Blumaroo answered, frowning. “The last place on Omara Beach where the monster was sighted, until we found it on the island.”

     “Going back to the scene of the crime, eh?” Velm cracked his knuckles and gripped his staff. “Well, we’ll be there to catch it!”

     As it turned out, they did not even need to catch it. The Swamp Gas Flotsam suddenly turned and whirled around and launched itself toward the boat.

     “Hit the brakes!” Velm cried. Meanwhile, Talinia drew her bow and fired, but the Flotsam dodged the arrows and struck the vessel right in the bow, sending everyone and everything in it overboard – with the exception of Talinia, who took to the air but was not safe from the splash zone. She watched as the Flotsam changed course and sped toward the beach afterwards.

     “That’s…it didn’t attack us?” she wondered as she flew lower to help right the overturned boat.

     “No, it didn’t,” said Rohane, shaking water from his ears as he and Velm clambered back into the boat. “It was attacking us on the island, but it’s almost as if…”

     “Getting back to shore, where that cliff is, is more important,” Mipsy finished.

     * * *

     As the cliff where Omara’s Bounty Hotel was perched loomed before them, the four adventurers noticed something odd.

     “Jhun said the entire beach below Cade McCaden’s hotel was fenced off because they were working on something. But…why is it even fenced in the first place?” Rohane asked as he and the mages parked the boat near a rock conveniently jutting out from the water while Talinia tied their vessel securely. “I don’t see anything happening.” The White Blumaroo scowled as he stepped onto the shore. “Never mind, I see something. It’s…litter.”

     “Which is still odd in itself,” said Talinia, as she found an equally convenient stick and started gathering up the empty cans, paper wrappers and plastic bags. “The beach looks empty, but there’s garbage. Some of it has washed into the sea.”

     Velm sniffed the air. “And it smells terrible. On top of that, I can feel something. Quite a big something. Right, Mipsy?”

     The Blue Acara nodded sagely. “Something wasn’t right with Omara’s god avatar, and something isn’t right with Cade’s hotel improvements. Velm and I can sense some strong magic energy. Illusion magic. But maybe we can dispel it?”

     Rohane and Talinia instinctively moved away as both mages braced themselves in the sand, brandished their weapons, and spoke their spells. But apart from a sound like a struck frying pan and a ripple in the air in front of them that could have been dismissed as heat, nothing happened.

     “My Dis-Spell should have worked!” Mipsy exclaimed as she waved her wand again. The spell simply glanced off the space on the beach. “Cade must have had some pro wizards working for him, or…” Her words trailed off as though blown away by a summer breeze. “Remember when I said there was something about him that made me feel icky? I’m feeling it again.”

     “Fair assessment of the guy, but now that you mention it, I did sense something about him too,” said Velm. He probed with his staff, and scowled when it made a loud thunk despite not touching anything solid. “Looks like we’ll have to pay Cade McCaden a visit if we want to get to the bottom of this, since this was where the Flotsam was headed.”

     “He mentioned that he had closed this part of the beach for improvements,” said Rohane slowly, pacing the damp sand. “But if that was the case, why go through all the trouble of putting up a magical barrier?”

     Talinia slowly reached out and flinched, flapping her hand. “Why make the beach look empty – well, except for all this trash we found?”

     “And why do I have a feeling in my gut that something is fishy with Cade?” asked Mipsy.

     “We’ll have to save all our questions,” said Velm, “for that visit I mentioned.” He turned and started toward the boat, but paused when he felt a hand on his shoulder, his feet digging into the sand.

     Rohane shook his head. “Before that, we should probably let Maritess and the others know what we’re going to do next. Besides, you do have to return her book, don’t you?”

     * * *

     “Absolutely, positively, not.”

     “What? Why not?” Mipsy exploded, her hands on her hips. “We could solve this mystery now, because we just tracked that monster to the beach below your hotel!”

     “Because,” said Caden slowly, spreading his hands and allowing his rings to catch the sunlight, “as I mentioned before, we’re working on something for the expansion of Omara’s Bounty. I couldn’t have any unruly islanders showing up to ruin our work, can I? So, I had that barrier put up.” He jumped slightly and recoiled when Talinia suddenly presented him with a small sack of collected garbage. “And what’s this for? Recycling is that way – “

     The Green Eyrie shook her head. “We found this at the site of your renovations, Mr. McCaden. We’re also concerned that it may not just be the monster that we’ll find there.”

     Cade made a big show of waving the stench away. “S-So what? A bit of waste got out from under the barrier? Thank you for cleaning it up, but I have no use for it.”

     “Mr. McCaden,” said Rohane with a tone of voice that ensured no one would interrupt him, “you asked us to, in your own words, ‘stop the monster’s reign of terror for good’. And we believe that in order to get rid of it, we need to see just what it was the monster wanted when it came to your hotel. We’re just here to inspect the area, find some clues, maybe ward the monster away when we see it again. But we still have a lot of questions, Mr. McCaden, that we don’t have the answers to, and we also believe that those answers will help us help you and the rest of Omara Beach.”

     The Woodland Cybunny pursed his lips and remained silent. He glowered at all of them, knotting his hands together, with his index finger rubbing his obscenely large pearl ring.

     Mipsy’s mouth opened into a gasp that she immediately stifled, and she whispered to Velm, “That weird feeling from down on the beach and from the other day…it’s from that ring!”

     But before Velm could respond, Cade straightened up and said, “Why don’t all of you take a break, enjoy the rest of your day, and I’ll take it from here. I’ll report back like a good little civilian if I find anything strange around the back.” He jerked a thumb toward a pathway that curved downward from the hotel’s front garden. “Working together with some of Neopia’s finest heroes! Who knew?”

     “If we’re working together, at least let us accompany you!” Rohane pressed.

     “Don’t worry about me, I won’t be alone.” Cade snapped his fingers thrice, the sound piercing the salt air. A few bouncers in pristine black suits – all of them bigger and taller than their boss – suddenly emerged from the hotel lobby, wielding clubs, heavy staffs, and expressions that seemed to say they’d rather be anywhere else. “But before we get down to business…I’ll see you all out. Thank you for your assistance.”

     The bouncers ambled forward, a line of soldiers closing the gap between the adventurers and Cade, who had turned on his heel and was walking toward the winding path.

     “Talinia!”

     “Copy that, Rohane.” Before the nearest bouncer – a hulking Pink Poogle baring his sharp teeth – could stop her, she launched herself into the air. An island Shoyru was about to follow her, but the White Blumaroo threw himself against her, and the two of them fell wrestling to the ground.

     Talinia pursued Cade, who stopped in his tracks, glanced over his shoulder and sighed. “Are you really going to shoot me for simply walking away?”

     “We just want to see the back of your hotel for ourselves,” the Green Eyrie said slowly, holding out her hands to show that they were empty; her bow remained slung on her back. “Please. Once we figure everything out…”

     “Oh, I’ve figured everything out already. You four are glory Moehogs, desperate for anything that’ll make me look bad in front of your island bumpkin friends.” Cade slid his pearl ring off his finger and tossed it into the air, where it illuminated light so blinding that Talinia had to shade her eyes. As she blinked away the stars in her vision, she saw that he was already holding a staff topped with a large pearl, the size of a fist, glimmering and glowing.

     “I told you, we can handle this,” he said through gritted teeth, and slashed upward with the staff as though it were a dagger, creating a booming spell that arced toward Talinia’s general direction.

To be continued…