Up ahead, a row of people all lined up to a door built into the side of the massive silver ship sitting on the shore. There were only about ten people in line at the moment, but I recognized three of them.
"Well, looks like you didn't scare them away!" I said, leaning over to Nushi as I pointed at the three women from Crater City.
"Yes, I saw that, but you will have to watch out for that group. That is the Women's Circle, a group that stayed hidden during Doa's reign and hid as many women as they could after they had children. Machariel is their leader, and she has a severe distaste for men in general. They agreed to come and said they would behave, but I would still keep an eye on them," Nushi explained to me as I watched the line file into the ship.
"Did you hear something from their thoughts that might cause you to worry about this?" I asked Nushi as she turned back to the Gogs, and I received a hand up to my face.
"All of you come with me, and I will help you all get inside. Zack, I will talk to you more when we are out on open water and away from the island. You have more than enough on your plate right now to worry about, and there is a large group of people here to see us all off. I think that it would be good if you said some parting words," Nushi all but ordered me as she took the group of Gogs and Grak over to the ship.
I groaned and put a hand up to my face in frustration as I started to rack my brain. I had no idea what I was supposed to say to these people!
I had already given the island a speech before, but I had some time to think about what I was going to say. This was sprung on me in the last moments, but I guess that I should have seen it coming.
All these people had come here under the rule of an asshole ruler, but now they were freer than they had ever been. Sure they were stuck on this island, but they were also safe here from most of the outside world.
Anything that did make it inside wouldn't be strong enough to defeat the people of the island. On top of that, I could feel reassurance from the island that it would also protect the inhabitants as well.
[You have done well for everyone on this island. I don't think that you need to really say that much.]
Harold was right, but even though I helped everyone on the island, it was thanks to all my interactions that I was able to grow. Not all of them had been good ones, but I had taken lessons from each one.
I had been facing the water as I thought, but I noticed that the sound behind me had almost completely ceased. That made me turn around to see that the entire group that had gathered was looking at me, waiting for something.
I looked over all the blue faces that had shown up, and everyone looked happy. I really hoped that this island could stay this way while I was gone; these people had been through enough.
"Well, this is the end of my time on this island, but I have learned a lot since coming here. When I started this journey, I thought that everyone was a monster, but it turned out that you were all just like me. I hope that you can all start to work together and thrive on this island while I am away!" I shouted, and the crowd cheered.
And then they broke up and started to head back to the island.
It wasn't much of a speech, but the way they all just left afterward made me feel like they all just came out of an obligatory sense of duty to me. Well, I just did an obligatory speech that really didn't say much, so go figure.
I could feel Windorf and Fireden coming up from behind, and Grogvel wasn't far behind them. I turned around to see all three of my elementals walking towards me, looking like a twisted version of three of the Fantastic Four.
"So, are you ready to explore the rest of the world?" Fireden asked as he walked over to my side.
I smiled and turned to the ocean. That was a loaded question.
"Yeah, I am excited to get off this island, but I have no clue what is going to be waiting for me when I get out there. We know there is an army waiting for us, but I am not really worried about them. What I am worried about is all the things that we still don't know," I said, running my left hand through my hair.
As I did, Wataluga and Kali unmerged from me to join the others as we stood in a line overlooking the ocean. It was only the beginning of a very long journey that was far from over.
It was mid-day now, and I was starting to get hungry, but that would have to wait. I could feel something pushing me to leave the island.
I wasn't sure if it was the island, the bubble, or just my own senses, but something was telling me that I didn't have much more time on this island. I stepped forward and turned to the five elements that were under my control.
"Thank you all for helping me get this far, but I think our time here is done. I can feel something pushing me away from the island, so we should probably get going. I will head inside quickly and then come back out the top after making sure everyone is ready to go," I told them all, and all Five nodded at me.
"Don't worry. Wataluga and I will get the ship out; the rest can join you," Grogvel told me, and I nodded at the other three merged back into me.
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