The 'Fifth' White Stone

"…We have a task at hand. Where would Carl be held?" I redirected Lia's eyes and she looked all over the room and mindlessly walked near the pile of bodies.

"None of them look new, so he's not dead. If he's not here… then the throne room? The tower?" Lia paused after her suggestions, turning back towards the door, before stopping to ask us more questions.

"Are there any things Carl would be good at? Fighting? Cleaning? Something?" She asked again.

I thought for a moment. Carl was always a crafty person, does that mean he could make things?

"Well, he got us a bunch of axes and tools on the Isle during our first few days, would that make him somebody that could make weaponry for them?" I asked, to which Lia nodded.

She opened the door again and was startled by the person standing right in front of it.

"Oh! Citizens aren't supposed to be in there. Are you okay, miss?" The old lady asked me.

Shit, did she see me?!

She walked over to me as Lia escaped out of the side and turned the corner. I had a ton of people looking at me now, while Charlie and Ullr hid inside the room.

"Oh, it's fine. I was told to go here. I got to get going now." I went to walk past her, but she grabbed onto my arm.

"It's okay, let me just ask which soldier sent you here. That would make me feel safer for my family's sake and my own. Do you see them over there? That's my granddaughter." The old lady said with a smile.

My heart rate started to pick up and my breathing was irregular. She needs to let go of me before this gets bad...

Could I kill her?

No! Don't think like that! What can I do...?

"I feel pretty unsafe nowadays. That Fifth White Stone was supposed to keep us safe, but now there are too many threats to feel safe." The old lady suggested.

Lie...? I can lie...

"Sorry about that! As the Fifth White Stone, I thought of it to be my duty to defend you guys from the outside, while Orion gets inside. I've been out, and I just returned to get some rest." I told her.

Ah, I'm a bad liar, aren't I?! She's giving me a weird look!

"I-I'm so sorry for my insolence, Ms. White Stone. Thank you for protecting us! I had no idea there was a female White Stone… You're not that new one, are you?" She asked me.

I took note of her surprisingly submissive attitude once I lied to her about being a White Stone. They must be held in high regard, but why was Sky constantly ostracized?

"It's fine. I'm the Fifth Stone." At this point, it was getting dangerous to lie, and I was sticking around for too long, so I quickly dismissed the conversation and began walking further into town. I kept my direction aimless; I didn't want to walk too far into enemy territory, and I had to stay close enough to everybody else.

The town I walked into was made of bricks, but there was moss and vines everywhere. It was an unkept town, dirty, and unsettlingly dark. Beyond the highest, destroyed stone buildings in this small town was a giant, clean coliseum that contrasted this area completely. It was like all construction was focused on that rather than the homes of these people, who all seemed to be on the older side. Why wasn't this town getting any attention?

Lia slowly started to catch up to me at a steady pace, and both Charlie and Ullr walked out of the room they locked themselves in while I talked with the old lady. Before Lia could meet me, I paused dead in my tracks and looked up at a man standing with his arms crossed in front of me.

The only unsettling thing was the white stone shining in my right eye.

...

...

...

--Xian's Perspective--

"W-What's wrong with his name? Did I say it wrong or something?" I asked her. Umbra shook her head and squinted at the floor as if she was trying to push away tears.

"Sky is just the name of an old friend. It reminded me of somebody I once knew. Anyways, you said Zeal trapped you on this Isle?" She asked me. Umbra directed me to follow her to the transporter within the base. She opened the door calmly and held it for me.

"I can send you to Scorched, is that good enough?" Umbra asked me, to which I nodded, tapping the stone on my hand.

"That is my Isle. I'll do what I can there." I told her.

Umbra paused, staring at the mechanism that powers the transporter. The small, white stone that powered it had turned into a perfect orange, shining brighter than before. It had been originally hidden by the panel, so it was my first time seeing it.

"It's been purposefully broken… who would do that? Zeal would break something this expensive?" Umbra asked with a confused tone. I shrugged. He's always been an impulsive man.

"That wouldn't make sense, his Flaw would've stopped this." I paused, turning to Umbra. I knew for a fact that he would never corrupt his system for any reason, so if he learned to bypass his Flaw, did that mean that through some crazed logic, he could kill Sky?

"I'm confused, how does this thing work anyway?" I asked, but Umbra only went to perform maintenance on the transporter itself.

"Well, the Stone inside of it is what powers it. The Strands, you're familiar, right?" She asked me. Then, Umbra went on to explain the strands.

"As far as your knowledge takes you, the strands are exclusive to White Stones on the Isles. Scorched, Isle, or The Dump. They can only transport White Stones because the White Stones themselves have a high concentration of strands in their bodies." Umbra explained. She pulled a wire out and the stone inside shifted to a white color.

"That should be good. And from Scorched, you'll sail to the Isle?" She asked me. I nodded, thanking Umbra for her help.

"…Hey, Xian?" She quietly began a question. I turned to her with my hand on the button to transport myself to Scorched.

"Yeah, what is it?" I replied, turning to her fully to see her looking up toward the sky outside of the room.

"What does Sky look like?" She innocently asked. I giggled; I was surprised that's all she was asking.

"You went out of your way to help me get back to my Isle when Zeal trapped me here, I'll tell you whatever you want me to, and that isn't an exception. He has brown hair, falling lightly over his eyebrows, and these killer blue eyes, almost as blue as the sky on a clear, summer day." I explained to Umbra.

At first, I could see her face on the left side widen in expression, then sink. She nodded and thanked me, sending me off with a thumbs-up and a slight wink.