It is several days before the is within the area of where the island should be. Rather, it is the pillar of white light that they see first. Sweiza is puzzled by the feature. Some members of the crew feel a bad omen about the light, but Strife pushes them onward anyway. It is within a day that a thick fog rolls in. Sweiza can barely see the white pillar of light through the spyglass, but the clouds and fog in the area appear to be rotating around it. More interesting, the night before they arrive, water spouts dot the horizon. The drops anchor. The general consensus is that they will avoid Utgard Isle.

  However, Salmira’s red aurora appears behind the rolling clouds. She convinces all of them otherwise. Visiting Utgard Isle ‘must’ happen. Saving Utgard Isle will fix the weather in the area. The crew is hesitant; Strife pushes them on. There is something at Utgard they need. She seems to be urgent about it, but she won’t say what.

  Long after most of the crew is asleep, Sweiza is sitting on the railing of the ship with a spyglass out. She eyes the pillar of white light with Strife’s spyglass. She swears she can see land some distance away. How far… ten, twenty, thirty miles? She is startled when Salmira’s voice sounds behind her.

  “I can never find that island due to the fact he has found ways to teleport it and hide it from me.”

  Sweiza cocks her head at the woman. “I thought you could see through time?”

  Salmira’s arms cross as she nods her head and closes her eyes, “Yes and no. I can’t see anything that is underground or shielded from me. That white pillar keeps me from seeing the island; the storm clouds, fog and water spouts also make it hard to track.

  “Then why not just follow the white light?”

  Salmira’s eyes dart to Sweiza. “Sweiza, I need you to get the control spire of Utgard Island back under control.”

  Sweiza tilts her head from side-to-side and finally stands up stiff and salutes her in mockery, “Yes Lady Salmira. At once Lady Salmira. I will surely do it Lady Salmira. Would you like me to… mmhmmffmmm.”

  Sweiza feels her mouth clamp shut and she has no ability to move it. Her eyes widen at Salmira and she points to her mouth. She lets out several muffled noises. Salmira cocks her eyes up at the girl. “I trust you will do as I ask then?”

  Sweiza reluctantly nods. She knows she isn’t going to get out of this. Suddenly, her mouth breaks free and she is able to speak again. “You are so rude!”

  Salmira shakes her head. “Make sure Lady Strife stays behind.”

  “Why?” Sweiza scoffs at the notion. Strife is the reason they are on these unnecessary ventures.

  “Trust me Miss Serif. While I can’t see what happens in certain cases, I can most certainly see the after effects. Lady Strife is a mess from your last venture. There are magical creatures on that island that will subdue and twist her will to their desires. Utgard Loki will most certainly give her a taste of his ways. Do whatever it takes to keep her from coming with. Is that clear?”

  Sweiza drops one eyelid and nods. Salmira ignores it. “Good luck Miss Serif.”

  Salmira about faces and suddenly snaps out of reality with a red spark and a white light. Sweiza sticks her tongue out. Sweiza jumps when she hears Salmira’s voice in her head. “And Miss Serif, please behave yourself. I understand you are young, immature and impulsive, but others around you may not understand your ways.”

  Sweiza cocks her head in disbelief. She looks up and again her tongue comes out. She suddenly gets the feeling she is being watched to see two of the crewman from the cabin door. Her tongue rockets back into her mouth and she lets out a nervous laugh and smiles at them. She waves her hand in apology and mouths “Sorry.” To them.

  “”

  Sweiza rolls her eyes up at the sky and heads for the cabin—she needs sleep and now!

  —

  The next morning after breakfast, Sweiza bids farewell to the and her crew. Her plan is simple enough—grab the dinghy and leave the ship with Dewey. Salmira’s instructions are clear; if Strife is not herself, she should stay on the ship or she’ll have another episode. Sweiza is quick alright. She is already in the dinghy and several hundred feet from the when she sees the barely visible form of Strife in her armor at the bow of the ship. She can barely make it out, but Strife has something long extended from her eye—?

  A smile creeps on Sweiza’s face as she looks up at Dewey. He looks down at her with worry on his face. “Do you think she’ll be mad?”

  “Who cares?” Sweiza looks behind her as she continues to rock her body and arms while rowing the dinghy.

  To her surprise, she feels something in her pocket vibrating lightly. She reaches into her pocket and feels for it. She pulls it out. It’s the scriving mirror! She looks at it befuddled and cracks it open. Strife’s figure flickers into view on it.

  “”

  Sweiza eyes it once. She looks up at Dewey. He cracks a smile, “I guess she is.”

  Sweiza’s eyes rock back down to the mirror. “I think I can manage. You don’t look so well, so I’ve decided you’re staying on the .”

  “”

  Sweiza doesn’t give the woman anymore attention as she clicks the mirror closed and stuffs it back in her pocket. She ignores the spritekin cracking another mischievous smile at her. She continues to rock her body and arms as she rows the boat onward to the island. Strife will just have to let live and leave Sweiza to handle this one on her own. It is for her best interests—at least Sweiza thinks so. The woman could of course swim to the island, but it would be a bit of a jaunt without a proper boat. Not worth the risk. Sweiza shakes the thought as she continues rowing.

  —

  As Sweiza leans her eyesight backwards towards the shore, something blue flies straight at her. She stops rowing as the weird fishlike creature changes shape into something not unlike a spritekin. Unlike a sprite, its body is composed of almost entirely of water—its body flows all over within itself—as well as dripping water at the bow of the dinghy.

  “”

  Sweiza shakes her head. “No, I’m busy. Maybe later!”

  She scoffs at the creature. It lets out a weird noise. Several others like the sprite-like creature suddenly fly out of the water.

  “”

  Sweiza doesn’t like the sounds of this. She starts trying to row again. The creature turns into a flying fish again and darts at her again. She tries to move out of the way, but it locks straight in for her face. When she realizes she can’t avoid it, she tries to let out a scream, but the fish like object flies straight for her mouth. She lets out a cough as some water makes it to her throat. More of the creatures jut up from the water; more of them come flying at her. She hears a click from the small spritekin hiding between her legs. She desperately rows harder as she feels splashes hitting the back and side of her head. She tries to rock her whole body as she rows. The water creatures keep flying at her. One of them finally flies straight at her and flies straight into her mouth. She lets out a cough and gagging noise and stops rowing. Another one flies at her mouth and she feels water hit her lungs. They burn. She starts trying to cough and let the water out. She can feel herself drowning.

  She looks down at Dewey helplessly. She starts rocking back and forth. She can feel the world getting darker. The last thing she sees is Dewey fly up; he turns into a bright blue orb. He darts into one of the water creatures and it scatters into water droplets. He pulls his hand towards her face and she can feel water rushing in her throat. It is too late, and she feels herself drop forward as she passes out.

  —

  Sweiza’s eyes jump open as she lets out a groan. The first thing she sees is nightsky. It looks weird. She can see triangular beams of light moving. Her eyes trace them to an area behind her—they all appear to meet.

  “”

  She recognizes Demi’s voice. She tries to sit up and feels the aches in her body—she feels awful.

  Demi steps in front of her. He slaps her across the face. She lets out a yelp at the pain. He grabs her by her belt and pulls her to her feet. He is stronger than she gave him credit for.

  “”

  Sweiza interrupts him. “You waste of shit! Don’t you…”

  Sweiza stops mid-sentence as he raises his hand at her. He stops just shy of her face.

  “”

  Demi clutches his gut as if he has been punched. He looks at Sweiza helplessly as his form starts to disappear. She tries to rush over to him, her hands dash in the air. However, she feels something wash over her and everything begins to turn dark.

  —

  “”

  Sweiza lets out a cough as water escapes her lungs. She can feel pain; it must be what a pincushion feels like. She quickly bolts up to a sitting position. She hears a click. She sees Sprite. She looks around and sees she is on a beach. Her eyes dart around for the dinghy.

  “Where is the boat at?”

  Sprite lets out an enthusiastic click.

  “I buried it.” He points to a lump of sand.

  Sweiza lets out a laugh. “Did those things try to sink it?”

  He nods. “They tried to suffocate you!”

  “You are a darling Sp… Dewey!” She raises her hand to pet him, but he flies out of the way and lets out a disgruntled chirp. She closes her eyes and shakes her head. She stands up straight and claps her cheeks.

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  “Let’s go. To the center of the island no less…”

  She trudges off without him. She’ll have to talk to him about burying their only way off the island.

  Trudging forward, the isle in front of them appears to be a lagoon of sorts. Sweiza has heard of these. She forgets the name. Something to do with dead coral in the ocean and they pile up and build land. She can’t figure out how the sand gets on top of it though. M The natural beauty of the lagoon is what floors her. The water looks crystal clear. Walking around one land ridge of the lagoon, it becomes apparent to the young girl that the lagoon is more oval shaped than anything.

  Past the lagoon the landscape quickly starts to move upwards. Sweiza shields her eyes from the sun. What she sees is trees rolling in the distance, but she can’t tell what is beyond that—She hears Sprite alert. She turns around as he frantically flies up and points his fingers in a flurry at her. He is flustered to the point he speaks only in clicks and chirps—she returns with another click and he nods. He points downward at the lagoon. The water starts to drain. Sweiza turns to Sprite and cocks her head at him. He lets out another alert and flies back. She turns around—the lagoon begins to fill with dirt. The ground beneath them begins to rumble. The rumbling is from above them. She covers her ears as she looks up. She sees an incoming landslide. She starts running as quick as she can to the side. Sprite flies ahead of her, and turns around. His wings beat a light blue as his body illuminates. Several wisps circle from him and charge around Sweiza. She feels her feet lift from the ground. She suddenly stops. Sprite lets out a squawk, “Don’t stop running stupid!”

  She starts running again. Much to her surprise, the ground moves quickly under her. Some kind of magic? She knew spritekin had magic abilities, but Sprite rarely showed his—he was mostly just content to eat, be lazy and otherwise serve as her lookout. She shakes the thought as she continues to run forward, clipping her hands around her ears to block out the landslide.

  It is a few moments later and Sweiza is safe on a cliff outcropping some thousand feet away. Sprite is on his hands and knees panting hard. He tries to flick his wings and then drops to the ground. Sweiza plucks him up by the nape of his neck with her fingers. She pulls him straight to her as she widens it at him. She shakes her finger at him. “You really did it this time… ” The spritekin nods as she sets him down on the ground. “I’ll reward you time, but don’t get cocky!” She continues to lecture him as she summons a jar of Valhallan Honey. His wings flicker once as it is set down next to him. He lets out a soft click as he passes out. Sweiza’s eyebrows cock up at him, but she muses to him in a very soft voice, “”

  She grabs the jar with her right hand and summons it into her being; her left hand again picks up Dewey. She sets him in her pocket and shakes her head at him. This is the second time he has saved her. She knew he had magic abilities, but not to this degree. He did the same thing earlier. Could it be the island?

  Her suspicion is almost verified as the wind picks up behind her. It almost whispers something to her as it tries to lift up her clothing. She reminds herself she doesn’t have a dress () and straightens herself up and reclaims her dignity. She takes one last look at the landslide. It has stopped, but trees are suddenly sticking out of the land.

  If Sweiza knew she wasn’t in danger, she would take further time to explore, but continues trudging upwards towards the center of the island—at least what she assumes is the center.

  —

  After walking for what feels like an eternity. She finds the fog has changed color. Rather, it appears to be changing multicolors like a rainbow. The fog gets thicker and she can no longer see in front of her. She stops and starts to double back. But she can’t see where she is going. She breaks into a run. She remembers the terrain was rather soft. She loses her footing and feels herself begin go fall. She feels herself drop with a splash and a thud. She looks at her clothing which is wet from a small stream. Her attention is left short at the rumble of a waterfall some tens of feet behind her. She turns around and eyes the waterfall. Her eyes climb up with it some seventy feet. She swears she sees something dark moving at the top of the waterfall. She sees the shadow duck to the left. She starts backing up for good measure. On cue a tree comes crashing down and splashes in front of her. Her eyes narrow towards the top of the waterfall. She raises her hand into a fist and her middle finger slowly climbs up. She hears a click and looks down. She sees Sprite is awake. He looks up in relief at her. Sweiza smiles at him as she begins walking away from the scene. However, Sprite’s eyes widen and he lets out an alarm call. Sweiza stops dead center and whirls around as another tree comes crashing down.

  “” Sweiza lets out her contempt as she eyes the second tree. Something on the island is trying to kill her… or perhaps it doesn’t want her to get to the center of the island. That is at least where she assumes the weather monument should be. She begins to muse that the island reminds her of her encounter with Lumina and Lumia in Myrkvellir. Sweiza thinks it might be because Utgard Loki is the island’s guardian.

  Sweiza’s thoughts are interrupted when the fog pools around her again. When it clears, she finds herself in a field. Fog fills the night sky, but she can distinctly see that the stars are out. She isn’t going to stand around to find out. She turns back and heads in her original direction. However, a shadow walks towards her. It is Demi. Sweiza draws her sword. Demi frowns at her.

  “Don’t trust him he…” Demi lets out a grunt as Sweiza stabs her sword into him. He looks up at her helplessly. Sweiza grimaces at him. She suddenly jolts as he puts his hands around the hilt and pushes it into himself further. He looks up at her and smiles something evil as his eyes glow red. Sweiza jumps and steps back. He pushes the sword into himself further. He suddenly turns into a dark lavender flame; the sword turns into a red flame. She hears jolly laughter as the flames disappear as fog rolls in again.

  She has an idea and simply sits down cross-legged and closes her eyes. If her hunch is correct… She hears a familiar voice.

  “You’ve figured it out?” Demi’s voice washes over her with relief.

  “He guards the island through trickery?” Sweiza’s voice is filled with insight—at least the assumption of such.

  “I believe so. He appears to be watching us at all times. I can feel his presence. It’s almost as if he is watching us at all times.”

  “It’s almost as if the island amplifies magic and endowment. I think it is why I can appear before you. You are meditating aren’t you?”

  Sweiza nods with some enthusiasm. She isn’t very good at meditating, but Strife taught it to her aboard the . According to Strife, “” Of course in Sweiza’s mind, it merely means that Strife doesn’t want a spastic teenager around her. Sweiza scoffs at the notion and realizes Demi is staring at her funny.

  “You should really treat her with some level of rapport—she is your mentor.”

  Sweiza rolls her eyes. She doesn’t care if Demi can read her mind. “Demi, I need your help. How do I get to the center of the island? It does have a center doesn’t it?”

  Demi’s arms cross and he nods to himself twice with his eyes closed. “There is a center, but it is hidden. He hides it and moves it around. The closer we get, the further we are. The more progress we achieve, the less we make. That’s about all I can say.”

  Sweiza looks down at the spritekin between her legs. Sprite shrugs. Sweiza gets sharp with Demi, “Demi, you’re supposed to know these things! What good are you?”

  Demi eyes her once and snaps out of existence.

  Sprite looks up at her, “That wasn’t him was it?”

  Sweiza scoffs, “Demi should sound like a colder, less spastic version of myself. He should also sound cryptic would encouraging—possibly even trying to taunt me in the right direction. I know this.”

  Sprite rocks his head from side-to-side. “You owe me honey.”

  Sweiza nods in agreement.

  —

  Sweiza snaps out of her meditation. She looks down. Sprite is indeed between her legs. He looks up. He motions with his head towards the entity standing next to them. She looks over at the tapping foot and as her eyes trace the figure upwards, crossed arms. Demi’s eyebrows are up, “Less spastic?”

  Sweiza lets out a sheepish smile and gives a guffaw as she forces herself to laugh nervously. “I didn’t quite mean it like that. Really, you are a help Demi, I’ve come to appreciate it!”

  “I was referring to the less spastic part in reference to a certain girl that I know.”

  Sweiza stops laughing. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Demi snaps out of existence. “Beware. His trickery is all around you.”

  —

  This time Sweiza snaps to attention from her real meditation. She looks down to a certain spritekin between her legs. His arms are crossed. “Does he always act like that?”

  Sweiza beams at him, “Yes!”

  The spritekin flies up and shakes his head at her. He turns around, but freezes. He drops to the ground and stays between Sweiza’s legs. He is visibly shaking.

  “What is it friend?” Sweiza still stares down at him, her hair drooping in her face. The sprite nervously points around them.

  Sweiza freezes. She looks up and sees rows of headless statues surrounding them.

  Sweiza lets out an audible “Eep!” when the kneeling statues suddenly stand to attention. They start to move around here and there in various directions. They stand in lined formations blocking areas or leaving room for movement. As they move she notes they are in fact -not- headless, but rather hunched over. More intriguing is that they have the heads of animals. One of them approaches her—it is much larger than the others. She the legend—a bull that guards a maze. It looms before her and grunts. She crosses her eyes and sticks her tongue out at it. It drops its large battleaxe to the ground. The ground rumbles and she shakes from it. Sprite flies behind her. It speaks to her in a strange language. She holds her hand up to her ear. It speaks louder.

  “” She says it as straight a face and as smarmy a tone as she can.

  The bull says nothing as it stands to the side. It kneels as it points towards the only open path between the statues circling their location.

  Sweiza stands stiff and her hands go down to her hips. “I’ve clearly made it to the center of the maze. Where is my treasure?”

  The bull’s large hung-over head turns to her and its eyes pulse yellow. Steam comes out of its nose. Sweiza crosses her arms and bolts her head away in defiance. The bull stands as it heads towards the open path. It about faces at the entrance and proceeds to block the path. The different animal-faced statues proceed to move around again, this time shifting the way the maze looks. A new entrance opens up in front of her.

  “I’m not playing your stupid game!” Sweiza turns away from the entrance. She sees her quarry as she heads for a narrow gap between the statues. As she is about to approach them, they use their weapons to block her path. Sweiza is not impressed. She summons her sword and attempts to swing their weapons out of the way. Her swing does little more than bounce her sword back. She summons her armor and attempts to swing at their hands. Same effect as before. She stoops down and attempts to walk underneath their weapons. Their weapons lower to block her. Sweiza feels her determination surge. She walks back to the center of the maze, about faces and runs for the narrow gap. She attempts to jump—their weapons raise to block her. She lets herself drop to the ground and scurries on all fours to get underneath them. She is in a different ‘corridor’. She looks back at the bull. It stands at it’s previous location and its eyes glow yellow. It lowers its axe to the ground again and the statues once again start to reform.

  The bull moves towards a new location. It halts when Sweiza calls out, “Hey bull!”

  It turns around and she is gone. It’s eyes pulse red. The statues suddenly halt and they begin moving in new directions as they begin yet another maze. This time Sweiza wastes no time moving in and around them; she has to dodge at least two weapons, knocks into at least one statue and then has to do fancy footwork for the duration of the encounter.

  Sweiza’s dance comes to a halt when she reaches the hill of a mountain. She can see the mountain just plainly, but several rows of statues block her path. She looks upward for a very special ball of blue light. She knows the drill by now. She holds her hand up and he divebombs for it. Just inches from it he yanks with a blue light and Sweiza is hoisted upwards. She shakes the thought as Sprite lets out a weak chirp and sets her down about a mile and a half away.

  “Sprite, you’re an angel!”

  The tired spritekin slowly descends from his hover. The blue aura surrounding him dims and then pops as it disappears. Sweiza catches him with both of her hands. “”

  He lets out a click in acknowledement and curls up into a ball. She again carefully places him in her pocket.

  Sweiza suddenly hears a low rumble in the distance. It almost sounds like a growl or a roar. It isn’t unlike something she has heard before.

  She decides not to climb up the mountain face. Instead she chooses to go around.

  —

  About two hours of walking and the rumbling continues to get closer from the top of the mountain. She chooses to stick to lower terrain and move between trees that block the view, but she keeps that mountain within view. She knows it is important. However, she can’t quite shaking the gnawing feeling she is being watched.

  She eyes the sword scabbard clipped to her belt. She agrees with the thought and opts to play it safe by moving further into the forest. The fog starts to surround her again and the land underneath her starts to rumble. She can feel herself moving. She hears an alarmed click as Sprite suddenly wakes up again. She pushes her elbow down over her coat pocket to keep him from moving. “Sprite, stay still. There are dragons or something nasty around.She hears a click in confirmation and nods to herself. She chooses to duck between a bush and a tree and peaks out to see the fog lifting from the moving mountain. She does a double take as it is herself and the land she is on that is moving instead.

  The fog starts to dissipate and she sees a strange creature some distance in the mountain. It looks like a cross between a dragon and a bird that stands up on two legs. Its wings don’t look unlike Surt’s with the feathers attached to a set of arms. Sweiza stumbles backwards trying to get out of view. The rumbling sends her backwards. She hits a tree with a thud. Sprite flies out of her coat pocket and lets out an alarmed squawk.

  “Sprite, you idiot!” Sweiza yells at him in dismay. She doesn’t have time to scowl at him when she hears a loud rumble in the distance. This time it is more high pitched. Her eyes set on the weird avian reptile up the mountain. It is no longer there. She hears the rumble again, this time higher pitched still. She looks around, but sees nothing.

  “Sprite, run!” Sweiza staggers to her feet as the ground underneath her continues to rumble. She falls over again. This time she hears the rumble over head. It is very high pitched. It seems to move in unison with the earth shaking under her. She falls to her butt and staggers to get up—she falls over again. She hears it once more as it suddenly swoops above the tree branches.

  “Sprite, help!” She lets out a yell of dismay, but her friend is nowhere to be found. “Shit!”

  The rumbling suddenly stops as quick as it began. She staggers to her feet and takes off. She hears the rumble again and takes off running in the trees. She can hear something swoop and hit leaves and branches every so often. In what feels like running for hours, she finally stops to catch her breath.

  She staggers forward through the trees to catch her breath. The rumbling finally stops. She hears no swooping, no high pitched rumbles. The creatures must be gone. She closes her eyes in relief as she steps forward. She hears trees cracking. She looks dead ahead and sees trees suddenly drop to reveal a clearing. The avian reptile swoops straight at her. She ducks and tries to truck off but staggers again. She looses her footing and smacks into a tree. She hears another high pitched yell and another swoop. This time she looks up and sees that the tree above her shakes. It cracks and then drops. More trees do the same. She is left to duck to stay hidden. She keeps herself face down with her hands over her head, she can think of nothing else. She hears the high-pitched roar again. This time feels something strong and sharp grab her just as another swoop finishes. She tries to open her eyes, but all she sees is darkness with patches of light. Through a small crack in ‘whatever’ it is, she sees the ground beneath her moving.

  wait, I... Today, we went to Utgard Is... " Sweiza frantically looks at the camera.