Anansi's Web
Astrexium coins

“So I was in the alchemist’s shop, and we were talking about his son, and eventually he just gave me this advanced alchemy apprentice kit, and satchel. He also gave me this strange silver ring with a green stone in the middle, but I didn’t want it, so I gave it back.” Cara said.

“Okay, how did you meet the pirates?”

“Well at the entrance they cornered me, and I threatened to burn their faces off with my new alchemy stuff, and they backed off. Then, they told me that they knew the general was about to enter the town, and I told them that I was waiting on you guys, and we walked deeper down the road until we found you in this huge black dome. The pirates handed me two shrunken heads, which are jinxes to repel magic, and ta da!”

“Well we’re lucky you came when you did, thank Terra. We would have been captured if you hadn’t come around.” Ember said, which made Cara blush.

Across from us the pirates began to tie up the man. The girl, still wearing the leather jacket took out her axe, and brushed the edge along the guy’s face, opening a red gash that ran down his skin. I bit the inside of my lip, shifting around because I didn’t want to stay and watch.

“Alright, well, I guess our business is done here.” Ember said, “Let’s go.”

“So the pirates promised not to chase us anymore, especially now that they have him to give them info.”

“GAAAAH!”

I turned around, and saw the girl pirate lying on the ground. The man’s magic goat was there, ready to head butt the other pirates. They must not have taken care of him before they started to tie the man up. The goat rammed the other two guys before they could react, and then it dissolved back into energy. The man woke up, and looked at us before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The pirates immediately got back up, and stared with disbelief. The girl walked towards us. I was sitting with my back leaning against the tree trunk, and she slammed her axe just above my head, raining splinters onto my hair. “This is your entire fault; if you had only finished that goat off we would have been fine.”

I didn’t say anything, because I didn’t know what to say, and I was scared of what might happen if we got into an argument. Cara held up a bottle of red liquid, and the girl backed away groaning with anger.

The other two dragged their feet, following her back towards the town.

“She has anger issues.” I said.

“Yeah, and it’s even stranger because she’s a selkie, they’re normally peaceful.” Ember said.

“What? How could you tell?”

“I know because of her jacket and her speech patterns. Her jacket matches her skin tone perfectly, and she doesn’t use advanced human weapons. She had an axe, while her partners have guns.”

“Selkies are seals who can turn into human’s right?” I asked.

“Yes, they technically take off their skin, and become human. If their seal skin is destroyed or altered in any way, then they stay human forever. Her jacket was her seal skin. Selkies are probably common in pirate communities”

“Ugh, can’t anyone just be a normal person? Not a pirate, not a wizard, not an alchemist.” I said.

Ember shrugged. “I would have found all of this awesome when I was your age.”

“Yeah, but it’s just too much all at once.”

“I can see that, but you’ll get even more of this at Neptia. The word normal to them, means crazy to us.”

“When have you been there before?” I asked Ember.

“When I was in the MOD I traveled there.”

“Um, what’s it like in the MOD?” I asked.

“This is nice, but can we get moving?” Cara said.

“I’ll tell you later.” Ember said as we got up, and got onto the griffin’s backs.

I pet my griffin behind the ears, and he purred like a cat. I still wasn’t used to sitting on a griffin, but I would probably get over it.

I smelled the dirt and the leafy trees as they waltzed in the wind, blowing around, and around making a light shuffling the music of the road we traveled on. I was kind of upset that we didn’t fly on the griffins; we just rode on them like horses. I wanted to feel the wind through my hair, lifting me up, but I could see why we didn’t, it would draw attention to ourselves. Maybe the general is still at the entrance to that town, or maybe he saw the fight, and is waiting to strike. I was always looking around, peeking around trees, and inspecting each blade of grass for a sign that he was there. Every time the breeze sounded off, I tensed, ready to shout at Ember to make the griffins take flight.

Ember continued telling me about the MOD to pass the time. “The MOD is like the S-MOD , but a lot more strict, and demanding. We protect not just Zirea, but other countries too. We stop secret plots, and wars before they happen, or, in some cases, causing wars.”

“How did you join?”

“Well I went to a very prestigious Othal school after meeting a very nice boy, and I got an interest in using my powers.”

“Do you think I could join?” I thought about me, training to be some kind of soldier, a protector of Zirea. My dad must have felt the same way when he was a member.

“You are probably more experienced than more than half of the recruits when they sign up at nineteen. You would do well there. It’s a very noble job, even if you make some enemies.”

“Like other countries?”

“I suppose. But I’m talking about people in Zirea. Many think the MOD is bad because of a rumor that we were with Fervan while they did experiments on humans, but that was because we had a spy there that people found out about, and he wasn’t doing anything to stop it for years.”

“Hey Ember,” Cara said, “Where are we going?”

“Neptia, remember?”

“Well I know that, but how far is it by taking this path?” She asked as a car raced by our strutting griffins on the side of the road.

“We reach a town in a little bit, and we can stop there to rest.”

“My parents would be so angry if they knew what I was doing.” Cara said.

“They’re alive?” I asked, hoping to get a response.

Cara peeped out a tiny “Think so.”

What does she mean? She doesn’t know if they’re alive or not, but she knows they would be mad at her. I let the topic drop as we continued to ride. Without a saddle, flying is okay, but riding really gets uncomfortable after a while.

“Oh wait Angelo; I forgot to tell you earlier, I have an Imp in a jar.” Cara said.

“Imps are those spirits that live in you, and feed on sadness right?”

“Yeah, it attacked the old guy yesterday night, but he bottled it up. He gave it to me after I told him I was looking for the azoth.”

“Can I see it?”

Cara reached into her bag, and took out a glass bottle, labeled, dangerous contents. Inside was a swirling green mist that was trying to form a face, but kept evaporating.

“Cool huh? We’re another step closer to healing anything.”

“Cool.” I said, not really thinking about the azoth. Then I just wanted to rest, and relax. It was almost afternoon, and I didn’t see any other town. We passed small farms, fields, and little communities as we followed some roads, but there was no town. I was starting to get hungry, but there was nothing to drink or eat, so my mouth was starting to hallucinate what it felt like to sink your teeth into a burger, or some chocolate cake.

We kept riding uncomfortably until we finally reached the town. It took us maybe two hours, but we did it. I’m pretty sure I almost fell asleep on my griffin, and that’s how time passed so quickly. Cara got off of her griffin, and fell onto the dirt. “Oh, Terra that was awful!”

I got off of my griffin, and I nearly fell down like Cara. It felt strange to be on my own two feet. Ember got off, and stretched, but she didn’t say anything other than telling Cara to get on her feet. Cara responded with, “Gladly.”

We took the griffins to some nearby forested area, and tied them up. As I tied mine up, I decided to name him joseph, because I had a friend in Othal who always talked about how much he wanted a griffin. Now I felt like I had a part of home with me.

“I’m naming my griffin.” Cara said as though she read my thoughts. “But I don’t want a normal name; I want a cool one, How about… Rose tail? Naw that’s too elegant. River claw sounds better.”

“Hum, I like the name Rose tail, maybe that’s what I’ll name my griffin.” Ember said. “What about you Angelo?”

“Oh, uh, I wanted to name my griffin Joseph, after one of my friends.”

When we were done tying the griffins up, we walked out of the woods, and towards the town, and it felt great to stretch my legs.

When we got into the town as we walked along a sidewalk, passing schools abandoned for summer break, and malls alive with people flocking in like ants.

“How much money do we have?” I asked.

“Enough for a hotel, but after that there is no more.”

Cara walked in front of Ember, and me, and held up a hand to stop us. She had a fierce look in her eyes, gleaming with determination. “Guys, I can make us more money.”

“How can you do that?”

“I can literally create more money from my alchemy supplies. All I need is one real astrexium coin, and we’re set.”

“How do we do that? We don’t have any astrexium.” Ember said.

I remembered when the general showed me his astrexium coin that day, and I wondered if he made it himself. Cara seemed pretty sure that she could do this, and maybe she could, but astrexium coins don’t show up everyday.

“I don’t know where we would replace astrexium Cara; it doesn’t get thrown into fountains. And, how is it so rare if any alchemist can make it?” Ember asked.

“The first order of alchemists certified it as a rare metal several years back, but now that the recipe has leaked it’s been a lot more accessible, but the government still hasn’t lowered the value yet.”

Ember raised her eyebrows. “You sure know a lot about this, you seem passionate. Alright, I’ll see what I can do to get an astrexium coin while you two stay in a hotel.”

We found a hotel, and checked in, still looking raggedy. I really was looking forward to getting the money to get more clothes, and food. My stomach was getting tired of waiting.

“Alright, if I can’t replace any astrexium I’ll replace an astrexium coin stamp, I’ve seen those around sometimes, they have to have them here.” Ember insisted before shutting the room door, leaving me alone with Cara, who was unpacking her various supplies.

I turned on the TV as Cara’s materials clanked, and clicked while she worked. I was curious what she was doing, but I hadn’t watched TV in a while, and I was missing out on my favorite show. It was still the first season, and I need to catch up. I was so happy that this hotel has the channel that lets you play previous episodes back.

“Hey, do you want the knife that Vince gave me in the mountains? I have it in my bag, but I don’t want it. It looks cool though.” Cara said.

“No, he gave it to you, and I don’t wanna take it from you.”

Cara shrugged as she wiped off the shiny bronze looking blade. “I guess I could melt it down some day, it’s made of Sokrastium.”

I lay on my back, and watched TV as the window slowly got darker, and darker, but I hardly noticed. I loved the feeling of relaxing so much. I took a shower after watching the two episodes that I missed, and then I lay down again, ready to fall asleep before I heard Ember open the door.

“I’m back from my perilous journey, with the treasure my highnesses.” She said with a bright smile, as she handed Cara a white plastic bag. Cara pulled out a pack of stamps covered in shiny plastic.

“Took me a while to replace it, but I did. I was going to hex a woman to give me one of hers, but there was a sign that said all magic use is banned, so I didn’t.”

I watched as Cara began to work, mixing bubbling liquids with steaming ones, fogging up the room. Finally, she got Ember to jinx the liquid with good luck, and when everything was done she poured the molten green substance onto a sheet. The sparkling green liquid spread over the metal like lava, steaming as it spewed it forward.

Cara evened out the thick astrexium, and began to stamp the coins as they dried. This took an hour to finish, but she finally did, and when she removed the coins from the pan they were as thick as a common coin, with very official looking symbols on them. Cara wiped some sweat off her face, and sighed. “I think I did well. They’re a bit uneven, and the shade of green is a bit off, but it’s still good.”

She looked up, and her hair was frizzy, sticking up everywhere from the humid air that filled the room, making everything smell like someone just took a shower in a room full of drying paint.

“Are you sure that it will work?” Ember asked.

Cara shrugged, “Pretty sure, as long as we don’t give it to an actual alchemist. They’d see right through this.”

“We can get new clothes tomorrow right?

Ember nodded, “And food, and after that we can head to Neptia. It’s not too far from here.”

I leaned my head against the beds headboard, and wondered what else could happen to us on our way there. I looked out the window, and wondered how far the general was. Maybe he is here, waiting for us to come out. “Uh, Ember, maybe now is the best time to leave.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to sleep first? The general might attack us either way.”

“I think we should get it out of the way.”

I’m tired, though, I say we stay here.” Cara said, crossing her arms.

“I’m with Cara; we should rest for a while. It’s been a long day.”

I sighed, and nodded. For the first time I thought Ember was wrong. Who knows though? Maybe she’s right. I’m probably just being too worried. I am feeling a bit stressed out since all of this stuff happened to us on our way here. I feel like I’ve run a marathon, and I’m still not done yet. I miss my parents, I miss feeling stable.

Cara shoved all of the coins into a coin pouch. They clinked, and clanked like real coins as they filled the space. The coins were so shiny I felt like we had a pouch full of stars.

We slept that night, and set back out into the world the next morning. I was still tired, as I always am whenever I have to get up at a certain time.

The sun was particularly bright today. I thought spring was bad but this summer was awful in terms of heat. They say the cold bites you, I think the heat swallows you. To keep from sweating on our walk to the store, I walked as slowly as possible so that I didn’t use too much energy to accelerate the process.

We walked into the clothing store, and looked around. It was small, but it didn’t look cheap. It was so much cooler in here than outside I felt like I had stepped into an oasis. The lady at the counter was tall, and had the artificial tan look to her. She eyed us as we walked in.

Ember and Cara looked around the woman’s section, while I walked over to the men’s. I picked out some bland clothes. I was never very fashionable.

Cara, and Ember were done after what felt like an hour, and we checked out. We changed in the store after we purchased the clothes, and then we walked straight out of the town. I kind of wanted something for breakfast, but I left my appetite behind, and in its place nervousness inflated like a balloon in my stomach.

I tried to ignore the nervous feeling by focusing on what we looked like now. I wore a light blue t-shirt and shorts, while Cara wore a dark green t-shirt, and jeans. Ember had on a sleeveless black blouse, and jeans.

We rode our griffins on land for an hour or two, following beside busy roads. I blushed as I endured stares from passing cars.

We got to a huge open black gate. There was a sign to the right of the gate that read, Neptia. It was decorated with painted ships, water drops, and a crown with a big blue gem in the center.

“So this is it?” Cara asked.

“Yes. We’re at Neptia.”