Markets and Multiverses

Night came, and as most people expected, the village chief called for a village meeting. Many villagers had already heard bits and pieces of the whole story, so people flocked towards the center of the village once the time for the meeting came. When I arrived, I saw people standing or sitting in a loose circle in the village square. The only person with a specific seat was the village chief, who stood in the center of the crowd as he waited for people to arrive.

I looked at the other villagers attending the meeting, and I noticed that several fishermen were missing. Of the fishermen who had showed up to the meeting, some of them looked seriously bruised and injured, and a few of them were missing limbs, like Claus. My heart beat a little faster as I observed the remaining fishermen of the village.

I hoped the missing fishermen were just receiving intensive healing, and that they weren’t dead. However, the expressions of many of the villagers and hunters didn’t look right, and I knew at least a few people had died. Before I had more time to observe the villagers, the village chief began to speak.

“I have important information for all of you. Let’s get started,” said the village chief, once most of the villagers had assembled. His expression was solemn, and once he spoke the chatter in the background died out.

“Yesterday, Miria, Felix, and Sallia reported seeing a strange fish in the distance. I did not think much of it at the time, and after I personally observed it for a few minutes, I told them to avoid provoking the fish, and to spread word to the other fishermen. I also took personal action to spread this information, and thought the matter dealt with. When I saw the creature for the first time, it was rolling around in pain and appeared on the brink of death. As of today, instead of dying off, as I had originally anticipated, the creature has begun attacking the fishing boats for unknown reasons.

“I first want to state that this was my fault. Miria, Sallia, and Felix did everything they could have to prevent the tragedies today, but I dismissed the potential danger after making my own obersvations. If I had done something differently, perhaps I could have saved those who were injured or killed today. I apologize to the village for my poor assessment.” The village chief’s voice choked a little as he bowed his head. I saw a few people grit their teeth as they stared at him, as if they were suppressing anger. However, most of the villagers looked sympathetic as they observed the village chief.

I didn’t feel the village chief’s actions yesterday were unreasonable. He had assumed the glowing fish would die of its injuries, and fighting the fish might have resulted in more deaths and injuries than necessary. Even when it had attacked our fishing boat today, it had been covered in odd wounds and bleeding. I wasn’t sure how severe its injuries had been, but if the fish hadn’t had the ability to teleport, the village chief’s words of advice would have removed any potential danger from the fish. The only reason the creature was a huge threat was due to its ability to teleport and its aggressiveness.

“Now, I am sure many of you have already heard the details, but I will give the village a brief summary of what we know before those who survived an attack from the creature recount their experiences. There is a strange, partially-translucent glowing fish that is attacking boat after boat, inflicting great damage upon the fishermen of our village. Of the thirteen fishing boats from this village, six have reported seeing the giant fish today, and three of them experienced attacks. All three boats were seriously damaged, and are unlikely to be able to fly safely or hunt fish in the near future. There were four fatalities and five major injuries. If it were not for the assistance some boats from the other villages offered to our village in times of need, as well as some clever ability usage, all of the major injuries in our village may have been deaths,” said the village chief. Now, instead of just shame and regret, I could hear barely-restrained anger in his voice.

I was shocked when I heard the number of deaths and major injuries. Each fishing boat usually had somewhere between four and seven fishermen on it, averaging somewhere around five and a half. In short, a grand total of seventeen-ish villagers had met with the glowing fish. Of those seventeen villagers, nine had died or been seriously injured by the encounter. Since five of the villagers who encountered it were on my boat, and we had one serious injury and no deaths, nine out of twelve-ish other villagers had been killed or maimed by the encounter.

I had originally thought that our boat was pretty hard-hit, since one of our five fishermen had lost a limb. However, I finally realized just how lightly our boat had actually gotten off during the nightmarish encounter. For no deaths and only one major injury to occur on our boat of five was incredibly fortunate. 

The fact that I had gotten 250 Achievement for keeping our boat alive suddenly made far more sense. I felt a mixture of nausea and pride as I thought of the encounter - I had managed to nearly single-handedly save our boat from being slaughtered, purely as a result of my own hard work and effort. But learning how bad the damage to the rest of the village was made my heart uneasy. Floatwood boats were hard to make, due to the scarcity of floatwood. Things had gotten a little better, due to our efforts in clearing out the forest, but floatwood was still hard to harvest. And fishermen weren’t easy to replace either.

“Now, before I discuss my plans, as well as the consensus of the other village chiefs, I would like to discuss the memories of those who were directly attacked by the Great Fish. Let’s start with the boat that had the fewest injuries and fatalities on it. Would Olav please come up first?”

Olav made his way to the center of the group. After the village chief gave Olav the signal to start talking, Olav shifted uneasily, before he spoke.

“We were huntin’ a fish, like usual, when Miria said she spotted somethin’ in the distance. I looked closely, an’ I saw a giant glowin’ fish with translucent skin makin’ its way towards us. Its shape seemed to change when I looked at it - I can’t really put a better description ta the creature’s body than the fact that I couldn’t see all of it at once. It was real hard ta understand.” Olav shuddered. “Anyway, after that, the fish started swimmin’ towards the boat. I got my crew ta start flyin’ up, since I figured we could just get out o’ the way, and even if it was hostile it wouldn’t be able ta get us if we were high enough.” Olav fell silent for a moment, as if reliving the nightmarish moment when the fish vanished into thin air.

“Then, it used some kinda ability ta disappear into thin air. When it reappeared, it was right behind us. It took a bite into the boat, and it took Claus’s leg with it. Luckily, after that, Little Miria realized the creature wasn’t too smart, so she started usin’ her rune ability to distract the glowin’ fish. It started chasin’ her illusions instead o’ attackin’ us, so we managed to flee back ta the island. It didn’t pursue us once it got too close ta the island, like the sea creature that attacked the Megailians.”

The village chief frowned, falling into thought, before he nodded.

“How quickly did it move? Did it show any obvious injuries? Did you observe any other abilities being used by the creature?”

Olav frowned for a moment, before nodding. “I reckon the fish had a lotta smaller injuries coverin’ its body. It was bleedin,’ too. But its wounds seemed ta get smaller as time passed - at a much faster rate than it shoulda been healin’. Not sure if it was a rune ability or not, though. The fish moved pretty fast, so it definitely didn’t seem like it was on the verge of death, the way you say it looked yesterday. I didn’t see any other rune abilities bein’ used.”

The village chief frowned, before he finally nodded. “Thank you for your information, Olav.” Then, he turned to…

Me.

“Miria. Would you please discuss your memory of the encounter?”

I was surprised when the village chief called me out, but after a few moments, I realized it made sense. My ability had reduced the number of casualties in my boat to a very low number, and the other boats that encountered the fish had fared far worse. This alone made me more important in this discussion.

I made my way to the center of the group. I was intensely aware of the eyes of all of the villagers falling on me.

“The beginning of our encounter was as Olav said it was. The glowing fish noticed our boat. Since you told us to avoid provoking the fish, I let Olav know. We started flying up to avoid being close to the fish - we weren’t really sure if it was hostile or not. But it kept beelining towards us as it got closer to us. Then, once it was right underneath our boat, it jumped out of the water. I thought that we would dodge the fish, since we were really far away from the water by that point.

“But the creature teleported behind us, and then took a big bite of the boat. I nearly got killed, but Claus moved me out of the way at the last second. Claus lost his leg. I nearly fell out of the boat, and I broke my wrist holding on to the side of the boat while it jerked around. My father helped me get back into the boat, before I started using my illusion ability to create a fake copy of our boat. I flew it around near the surface of the ocean to distract the glowing fish. It didn’t seem to be able to differentiate between our boat and the fake one I created, so I distracted it until we reached the village.”

The village chief frowned, nodding thoughtfully.

“Could you create the illusion of a boat again, just so that I can reference it? Knowing how well the creature can detect things might be vital information.”

I nodded. “I need water to create an illusion.” One of the hunters nodded, before disappearing. A few minutes later, he returned with a large bowl of water. I quickly transformed it into an illusory boat. The village chief and several hunters walked over to my illusion, inspecting it as closely as they could.

“It’s not a very good replica of a real boat,” said one of the hunters after a few moments of observation. “It looks fine at first, but all of the floatwood is too…perfect. There aren’t any scrapes on the wood, or signs of long-term use. And the components are too even and undetailed. If the creature is fooled by this thing, it isn’t too bright. Or there’s something wrong with its eyes.”

The village chief nodded. “I agree. Most fish aren’t terribly smart, so it might not be very bright even after forming its seventh and eighth runes.” He turned back towards me.

“Did the creature display any other abilities during the time you were fleeing from it?”

“No. I know the creature has eight runes, but I haven’t seen it use any mana or use any other abilities besides teleportation.”

“At least one unknown ability, then…” said one of the hunters, thoughtfully. “Two unknown abilities if its body just heals quickly. We don’t know if its species is just naturally good at regenerating quickly, after all.”

“Thank you, Miria. You may sit back down,” said the village chief after he finished inspecting my illusion.

After that, several other fishermen who had been attacked by the fish and survived came up to recount their encounter. Nobody else had confirmed what other abilities the fish had, leaving the village chief and the hunters scratching their heads, but the basic information about the encounter remained similar to what our boat experienced. The glowing fish would sight a boat, then chase after it. Then, it would teleport near the boat and attempt to eat the fishermen and the boat together. It was too big and heavy to be blown away by wind-rune abilities, and didn’t seem to fear damage most of the fishermen had tried to inflict on it. The fishermen who survived the encounter were the ones with rune abilities that let them escape, or helped them distract the giant fish. Most of the fishermen from other boats, however, had died, or were only able to speak a little bit since they were still in recovery after losing limbs or sustaining severe injuries from the fish.

After the fishermen were done speaking, the meeting fell silent.

“Those are all of the reports of people who encountered the beast and lived to tell the tale. Now, I would like to discuss what the village will do. Naturally, it’s impossible for the fishermen to keep fishing like this. Without fish, our village will starve sooner or later. The meat from the land beasts is only a minor part of our diets, and the roots, berries, and nuts from the forest are few. While our farmlands will help us survive for a while, the food we can produce from our farms is still very limited right now. If we wish to survive, we must deal with the glowing fish or we will starve within three weeks. For the purpose of killing this beast, I intend to organize a group of people to kill the great fish. I request the assistance of several hunters and fishermen to fight the creature. I will also need the help of the craftsmen of the village, to help prepare weapons and tools for the fight. 

“Now, I will not be taking just anyone along with me to the hunt - I will not force any of you to fight with the glowing fish if you aren’t prepared to do so. Fishermen, especially - I would appreciate as much help as all of you are willing to extend, but I know that hunting the great fish will be a completely different level of danger from what you experience in your day to day lives. However, I also need the cooperation of some fishermen to manage the fight. Hunters are more experienced with land-bound fighting, but have little experience with coordinating and flying a boat. If you wish to participate, or wish not to join the fight, let me know in private over the next few days. After that, I wish for the fishermen who do participate to spend a few days training with the hunters - after all, we will need to be able to coordinate properly during the fight. We will probably prepare to subjugate the glowing fish within one week, but we can delay for an extra few days if need be. We have the food reserves to train a little, but we won’t be able to wait too long or we might face a famine.”

Hearing that the subjugation of the glowing fish would take at least a week, I clenched my good arm. I would heal up in time to join the subjugation.

Are there any questions?”

The rest of the villagers were silent, and a moment later, the village chief sighed, releasing the tension in his shoulders as he looked at us. “In that case, this meeting is finished for now. Fishermen, please come and see me tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. The sooner, the better. If one of the fishermen wishes to participate, but isn’t well enough to see me within the next two days, one of their kin or friends can carry a message to me, but they will need to be ready by the time the hunt starts.” With that, the meeting was over.

I thought of Claus, with his missing leg, before shaking my head. 

Normally, this creature shouldn’t be too hard to fight, since it only had eight runes. But teleportation was an ability nobody else on the islands had ever heard of before, and it made fighting and killing this creature much harder. If the fight went poorly for it, it could flee before we managed to kill it and then return in the future. I couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy as I thought of that, since planning around an enemy that could teleport away at a moment’s notice made killing it much harder. 

As I tried to go to sleep, I wondered how the village chief would deal with that ability. But the village chief hadn’t shared how he planned to deal with the glowing fish yet, so I could only wait and hope for the best for now. 

I slept uneasily that night.

 

acaswell

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