The World Outside the Shell

Chapter 8

Romm was laughing at our conversation. He dropped the twin blades and reached out to hold my shell. “I will not harm you turtle.”

I watched him test the strength of the shell.

Romm said, “Lady Ri, the turtle is not a creature of these marsh lands. He is nothing like the creatures in our world. I think he walked through the temple door.”

Lady Ri said, “Perhaps the temple demanded the sacrifice of our lost companion because of the prophecy.”

Romm said, “Aha, the turtle! Perhaps we found the key!”

Lady Ri said, “The world is ending.”

I stepped away from the twin blades and listened.

Romm said, “Turtle. I want to see if you can fly.”

I said, “What, why?”

Romm leaped with superhuman speed, lifted my shell and tossed me over the edge of the cliff. “The prophecy states the key is a small creature with armor and wings.”

I said things I cannot repeat in my journal entries.

The StarStone appeared at my side and glowed with a bubble of light, then I floated in the bubble over the rising waters of the marshlands, feeling like a cloud on a summer day.

I attempted to control the direction and returned to the edge of the cliff without incident, despite the strong winds and relentless storm.

Lady Ri said, “Please apologize.”

Romm lowered his head and mumbled, “Sorry.”

Lady Ri said, “Turtle. I wish to hear news about the flooded marshlands.”

I said, ‘The companions who survived are on an island, but Venn was not with the twin blades.”

Lady Ri said, “Venn was not a good cook, to be honest. I request your help with the translations, the map is a puzzle I cannot solve alone.”

I was about to decline, but remembered my limited success when attempting to escape. I said, “The map should be read in this place.”

Lady Ri smiled at the invitation to visit the cottage. “Romm, please find shelter. I must rest after the concerning events of the day.”
In an instant, we were alone, standing in the soaking rain, visible between flashes of lighting in the darkened sky.

I watched her expression remain unchanged.

Lady Ri took my shell and held me close, with a familiar embrace. “I cannot save the world alone.”

The flash of past lives rewound in my thoughts with a memory of the same embrace in another world. I used the remaining strength in my short legs to jump onto the ground. I said, “If a small turtle can open the door, I will return to my world and restore the balance. Goodbye.”

Lady Ri shouted a warning. “The sun pools rejected you. Please stay out of the temple!”

I floated to the temple, planning to find the door, while hoping the storm would end. I projected a thought to Lady Ri, not wanting to speak the words. “So could you like a turtle? Not as a tasty ingredient in soup, but as a friend?”

The temple was above water, and I climbed from room to room searching for the door. I noticed a strange glow, and the StarStone appeared at the end of a long hallway. I stepped through the door, and the air surrounding me turned into a blur. I found myself back in the cottage.

Lady Ri was sitting at the table studying the map, and the StarStone was held in the firm grip of one hand, the crystal humming with an ominous sound. The sky outside shattered and rained a torrent of water, filling the basin of the marshlands. “Yes, turtle, if you could love an immortal woman.”

“Immoral?” I replied with a single thought.

“Immortal,” shouted Lady Ri at the top of her voice.

“Are you staying for dinner? I keep a bundle of dried sweet-grass in the pantry. I wonder if Venn could speak with me so soon after meeting, why it took longer for your musical style of speech to be understood? I think you and Romm speak a language more ancient then Venn, one similar to the words on the map.”

Lady Ri said, “Turtle, the landscape changed and nothing is familiar. I need your assistance with the map.”

Concentrikey © 2025