Izroulia: Hunt for the Lost Pod

Chapter 23 | how to plan a rebellion

There was one thing every Australian had, a glass table out on the back patio and shitty plastic chairs to go with it. Aries had slapped a sheet of paper onto that table and tossed down some markers. The group sat around the table, Zagreus insisted on having of Aries' ferrets on his lap to give head pats. Him and his animals...

They had drinks and dinner, fish and chips as per usual for sleepovers. It was sunset and the hot day and turned into a warm evening, perfect time for planning.

"Ok, we've decided that a rebellion is unavoidable. We can't do that until we have the grimoire, that's Agnemetras main source of power. Now we have the chaos gems we have an advantage, but only if we can get that damn book. Any ideas?" Aries announced.

Icarus pointed her chip at the siren, matter-of-factly.

"We break in and steal the thing" she suggested.

"Yes but how? We definitely can't use the gems yet. We have barley any control over them, that requires a ton of practice" Aries replied.

Icarus thought for a moment, took a bite from her chip and shrugged.

"Well who has the most useful powers for a break in?" Zagreus asked.

There was another moment of silence while they all thought about it. Icarus could soak things, Zagreus could shake the earth, Pandora could freeze things over and Aries could burn things. In the context of a break in, the most useful would be the ones that could be used to help protect themselves and fight off others.

"I'd say Pandora has good powers for it. She can freeze things over to make anyone that catches us slip, that's buy us time to run" Aries said.

"You're pretty good too, you can burn open locks" Pandora replied.

"Zag can use his earth quake as a signal. By shaking the ground we'd know it's him, but anyone else in the area would just think it's a normal earth quake" Icarus added.

Aries scribbled the ideas down and drew a crude map of the kingdom on the paper.

"Ok so the castle is surrounded by walls obviously, there's a forested area at the back where the river runs through it. We can enter Izroulia where we normally do, swim up the river to the back of the castle and break in through a door or window that's able to be broken open" Aries explained, drawing the route on the paper.

The group leaned over the table to watch, nibbling away at their food as they did.

"Two of us can keep watch from the trees here so we have a good view. We can signal if there's danger from there" Pandora said.

"Good idea, and when we get the book we can just jump in the river and zip off down it to the portal and get out. We have an advantage in the water, we're faster and can hold our breath longer. If things go south and we get spotted, they'll loose us once we get into the river" Aries explained.

Zagreus grabbed a marker and wrote the first letter of their names in the spots on the map they'd be for this plan to work.

"Me and Icarus will watch from the trees. You guys have better powers for the actual break in. I'll signal with earth quake and Icarus can conjure water that Pandora can freeze to block people in certain areas if we get spotted" he suggested.

"Good idea" Aries replied.

Marking everything out on the map and writing everything down beside it, a plan was starting to come together. They'd strike at night, cover their bodies and faces as much as possible so no one could identify them. Brining a dry bag, they'd put the grimoire inside it so they could swim back up the river without damaging the book. Zagreus and Icarus would stay outside and be lookout, signalling if anything went wrong. Aries and Pandora would be the ones to break in and steal the grimoire, using their powers to cause distractions, get into locked areas and if worst came to worst, protect themselves.

Once they got out of the castle with the goods, they'd swim up the river far away from the kingdom and go back through the portal home. With the book they'd be able to learn to use the chaos gems and rid Agnemetra of her royal power. With no grimoire shed only have the power she was born with as a Phoenix and whatever spells she could remember by heart. And compared to the chaos gems, that wouldn't be enough to defeat them.

The fight could be a close one, but it was possible. They needed to get her cult out of the picture first though, which they'd decided to figure out later once they actually had the book. Phase 1 was getting the grimoire, phase 2 was ridding Agnemetra of her army, phase 3 was ridding the queen herself. There was one other problem they needed to discuss once they had the book, who would take over as the leader of Izroulia when Agnemetra was gone? A kingdom needs a ruler, or things will fall into chaos.

But for now, they had a plan for phase 1.

"Everyone got everything?" Aries asked, sitting back and tossing the marker onto the table.

They got a series of 'yes' and 'got it' in return.

"Good, we'll recap before we do it. I say we strike in 2 weeks when there's a new moon, the sky will be darker and we can hide in the shadows better" They continued.

"Sounds good, I'll make sure I have nothing do to on the weekend" Zagreus replied.

"I'll say I'm sleeping over here, which isn't entirely a lie" Pandora added.

"Same" Icarus said.

Finishing up their dinner, they moved onto desert, each picking out an icy pole to eat. With their phase 1 plan now sorted, they could relax for the rest of the night. Zagreus looked up at the moon, the sky slowly getting darker.

"I kinda wanna go swimming... all this talk of mermaid stuff makes me wanna see some fish" he muttered.

"Same, night swim?" Icarus asked.

The group nodded in agreement. After finishing their food, they locked up the house and headed down the road to the beach, as the sky got darker they jumped into the deep blue and set off for the spirit pool.

There was just something about night swimming, the way the moonlight shone through the waves. All the nocturnal fish coming out and even some of the bioluminescent ones showing up if you went deep enough. The beaches were empty as people had gone home, only the occasional boat coming into the harbour late. The blue of the ocean turning a navy, or black if you went deep. The silence of the calm waters when you popped up for air, and the stars shining down on you.

It was the perfect night for it too, no wind, warm but not too hot or too cold, no clouds. Quiet, calm and peaceful. All the stress of the girls final school year, the rebellion and the lost pod would temporarily fade away when they were all in the water together. Just cruising along and seeing the sights of the reefs at night.

When they reached the spirit pool, they sat up on the sides with tails dipped in the water. Looking up at the stars and the moon, the same stars and moon every realm had. That was the beautiful thing about the universe, no matter what realm you were in, no matter what creature you were- when you looked up at the sky it was the same one everyone else was seeing. It connected all the realms, and to some was their home. Like Astra, the realm that was literally made up of stars and space.

"Hey, you think when this is all over and we're all back in Izroulia we'll find a place to be the new spirit pool?" Zagreus asked.

"I hope so, I'd miss the spirit pool" Pandora replied.

"We can't not have a spirit pool, it's our thing. Even it's it's not enchanted, just a pool meeting spot would be enough" Icarus added.

With the amount of watering holes, lakes, caves and wall islands that surrounded Izroulia, Aries knew they'd find a spot to call there's eventually.

"We'll find one, there's a lot to pick from in Izroulia. When we get everything back, we can go for a night swim and pick out our new spirit pool" Aries assured.

It made the others glad to hear, they couldn't just not have a spirit pool. No matter where they went, or what realm they were in. The group would always have a spot to call theirs, always.