Heretical Fishing

Book 4: Chapter 19: Miracle

Book 4: Chapter 19: Miracle

Beneath a blanket of stars, I couldn’t contain my joy as I watched Paul cast out his line. We both watched as his bait flew at an odd angle over the ocean, landing a little closer than he’d intended. I could feel a hint of annoyance directed at himself, so I swooped in.

“Doing good, mate! Flick the reel into place and wind in the slack!”

Any hint of his self-recrimination disappeared, replaced by anticipation as he followed my instructions. “Like this, Fischer?” he asked when the line was tight.

“Just like that. Keep tension on the line and rest your finger here. You’ll know when a fish bites the hook.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

Finally accepting my words, he nodded, his eyes remaining on the spot where line entered water. Behind us, two shapes crested a dune. Deklan and Dom, having retrieved their own fishing rods, had come to join. They both shot me a questioning look, checking that their proximity wouldn’t interfere. I replied with a quick thumbs up as I bent to put bait on my hook; I could always raise a deafening shield if Paul and I needed privacy.

Abruptly, a spike of excitement came from Paul. “I can’t believe I’m actually fishing with you. This. Is. So. Cool!”

“I feel the same about fishing with you, mate!”

“I overheard everyone talking about it for so long! Even back before you beat the king’s butt and transformed the village. I asked mum and dad about it, but they just said it was too dangerous and that I’d have to wait until I was older.”

I shook my head as I got back to my feet. “We weren’t as good at keeping secrets as we thought, huh?”

He rolled his eyes so hard that his head joined the motion. “Adults are never as good at keeping secrets as they think they are. I know all sorts of things.”

Smiling at his words, I walked toward the water. “I’ll keep you in mind next time I need some intel.”

I flicked my reel open, drew my rod over my shoulder, and cast my baited hook out over the ocean. Where I’d used light tackle on Paul’s training rod, mine was the exact opposite. The largest sinker Tropica had ever produced sailed out over the ocean, an equally big hook and slab of fish following its passage.

I’d only intended for us fishing together to be a pleasant distraction—something to make the conversation to come seem more natural—but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be excited about it. Paul, as it turned out, felt the same.

He danced a happy little jig from foot to foot as my gigantic setup sailed hundreds of meters out over the water. “No way! Will I be able to use one that size someday?”

“Of course, mate. Truth be told, you could probably cast it out now with your improved strength, but you might not be able to control your chi enough to stop the line from snapping if you did hook something. Only a massive creature will take a bait this size.”

In retrospect, I should have expected that sentence to have the effect it did. Paul’s eyes went wide as he glanced over at me, an unmissable sense of awe coming from his abdomen. “How big...?”

“Mate... bigger than me. Bigger than your dad, even with his massive muscles. The largest thing I’ve seen for myself was a shark, and I reckon it was twice my height.”

Paul’s mouth dropped open as he turned to face the ocean. “... And you could catch that?”

“Pretty sure, yeah. I’ve caught fish longer than me, and that was before I was so good at controlling my chi. To be honest, I haven’t gone fishing for anything big since I had that last breakthrough.”

“What? Why? If I was an adult, I would do it all the time.”

I barked a laugh. “Yeah, usually I do. Can I tell you a secret, mate? One that has nothing to do with the conversation your dad wanted us to have?”

He nodded sharply, a serious air coming over him. “I won’t tell anyone. I’m good at secrets.”

“Okay, but only if you pinky promise.” I grinned at the quizzical look he gave me. “Like this. Wrap our pinkies together and shake. A pinky promise means serious business back where I come from.”

He was completely sincere as we shook our digits, his jaw firm and eyes fierce.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Good lad. Now that you’re sworn to secrecy, I can share something only Maria and Sergeant Snips know.” I took a deep breath as I wound my line in a little, collecting slack. “It’s because I was scared, Paul. Now that I’m so powerful, I’m a little worried that I’ll no longer find fishing as enjoyable as I once did. What if I never find a fish that will challenge me again...?”

In response, Paul looked at me like I was a moron. “That’s dumb.” He pointed out at the ocean with one hand. “You can basically fly. Just go find a bigger fish!”

His bluntness made another barked laugh fly out into the night. “You’re not wrong, mate. That’s exactly why I’m building a...” I trailed off and shot him a coy look. “You’re sure you can keep secrets?”

His half-functional core broadcast eagerness. I raised a wall of chi around us that sound couldn’t penetrate, cupped my hand to his ear, and whispered a single word. There was a beat of silence as his eyes drifted groundward, his adolescent brain churning away at the implication. When his gaze once more met mine, he searched for something in the lines of my face. When he found the answer, shock flooded from him.

“Those are real?” he yelled, unable or unwilling to lower his voice.

“Shhhh!” I held a finger to my lips, having lowered the walls of deafening chi a little too soon. I peered over his shoulder at the two men within hearing range. Both Deklan and Dom had cast their lines out into the bay, and though they were pointedly looking anywhere but at us, I could tell their ears were burning to hear more. I shook my head at them, then looked down at Paul, whose shock had turned to childlike wonder.

“Yes, mate. They’re real. And I’m planning to make one.”

“Wow...” he said, not at all bothered that I’d shushed him.

“I’m just as excited as you are. We—”

Waves of potent power cut off my words, and I whirled to face Tropica.

“What’s wrong?”

I pointed back at the village. “Someone just became a cultivator. But that’s not all...”

“It’s not?”

“Nope. Might wanna peer this way, Paul. I reckon we’re about to see a show. Here, put your rod in the sand. Deklan! Dom!” They jogged to join us. “Put your rods in the sand,” I continued. “I’ll hold them in place.”

With all of them pressed firmly into the ground, I secured them with a mild amount of chi.

“Five gold says ocean,” Dom said.

“I’ve got five on the sky,” Deklan replied.

“That’s too large.”

“Well, what if I say west and you say east?”

“Then that leaves nothing for Fischer.” Dom raised a brow at me. “You want in?”

I grinned. “I’ll join. I’ve got five on a mountain.”

Deklan sucked air through his teeth. “Damn. Mountain is good. Wish I’d thought of it.”

Paul had been looking between us as we spoke, more and more lines appearing on his forehead. “What are you guys—”

He cut off as the ground beneath us rumbled. I steadied him with a hand on his shoulder. The wall of sound hit us a second later, and as the explosive noise washed over us, a mass of beings soared into the sky above Tropica.

Most visible was Barry, his shirt in tatters. By some miracle, his pants remained mostly intact, though his bulging muscles did their best to tear them asunder. He held a lizard-suited man by the throat with one hand.

For his part, Ellis radiated sheer panic. I could feel it even from hundreds of meters away. I inspected the two spirit beasts, and the more I considered them, the more I agreed with Ellis’s assessment of the situation.

Borks was in his hellhound form. Shadows writhed from his neck, making the form more nightmare-inducing than usual. They held onto Ellis, so even if Barry were to let go, the former archivist would remain trapped. Borks’s anger burned bright, manifesting as a red glow in his eyes as he stared down at his prey.

Cinnamon, perched on Barry’s shoulder and not yet a part of the fight, was who Ellis should be most concerned about. A laugh came from her tiny little mouth as she faced the sky and gathered power in her lower body. Without warning, she launched herself from Barry, rocketing directly upward towards the stars.

“Did she overshoot the mark?” Deklan asked, arching a brow.

“Nope,” I replied, knowing what would come next.

At a nod from Barry, Borks released his ability, freeing Ellis. Well, maybe freeing wasn’t the right word, because Barry swung him round and round like a life-sized rag. When my perception of Ellis was reduced to a blurred circle, Barry let go.

Ellis flew so fast that he’d have shattered air-speed records back on Earth. It was faster than I’d ever seen anything move. Yet my animal pals were ready.

A portal opened between Borks and the sky, which Ellis sailed right through. Cinnamon had reached the peak of her skyward jump, and the entire time she’d been moving, she was gathering and condensing chi.

The moment Ellis appeared before her, still shooting at hypersonic speeds, she uncoiled her essence. Both rear paws lashed out like cobras, power traveling through her limbs and exiting in twin aura blasts. They collided with Ellis and disintegrated what strands of his clothes had survived Barry’s throw, only Ellis’s Lizard Wizard suit stopping his meat and two veg from being exposed to the night air.

Ellis’s new trajectory southward had him traveling at a slightly reduced speed, but that wasn’t at all reflective of the power that’d hit him. Cinnamon’s off-center attack had left him spinning like a leaf in a tornado, his splayed limbs and the laws of aerodynamics jerking him in odd directions. As one, Deklan, Dom, and I noticed where he was headed, and I couldn’t help but grin. Both brothers swore under their breaths.

Ellis was heading directly for the closest mountain. Absent a miracle, he’d strike it and skip off its peak, but the skipping off wasn’t what was important.

Suddenly, a source of chi swelled in the forest below Ellis. The treetops became awash with blue and white light. Even before the electricity creating the illumination cracked out into the night, I knew who was about to emerge from the canopy.

As the barbed lightning exploded out into the night, my hopes fell, and I was immediately forced to alter my earlier statement. It wasn’t only a miracle that could stop Ellis from colliding with the nearby mountain.

With exactly zero care that she might make me lose my bet, Corporal Claws came into view, her grin manic and eyes pinned on the cartwheeling man high above.