XXVI
The other nine Vindor vessels went ashore to endure the sirens and retrieve their rings. Ship by ship, the crew members were assisted by Famming onto the rocky shore. Though the captain did her best to save as many crew members as she could, some did not return from the snares of the hideous beasts.
At last, the final crew returned aboard with the last of King Fulcan’s army as well. There were over a hundred thousand rings created by the sirens, meaning over a hundred thousand sirens slain, and as the last group boarded the ship, Famming immediately cut the harpoon line and set sail to Helterium’s palace. I just wanted to get off this dreaded island. There was nothing about it I would appreciate - if there was one domain I absolutely hated, it would most definitely be Helterium’s island. This island was far from beautiful, if that was the last word to describe it.
I leaned against the rail of the rocking boat in silence, staring out into the distance. The storm was still raging on, but it seemed so far away now. My head was still filled with memories of Roslyn. Our short time together would never leave my mind. Why hadn’t I met her earlier? Why couldn’t I save her? I wanted so much more with her.
I should’ve been the one to pull the lever in the cenote.
A hand patted me on the back. I glanced beside me, and Tarsus stood there, staring out beyond the horizon.
“Sorry for...her,” he simply said.
“Never thought you were the sentimental type.”
“Can’t just leave someone in a state like that after they’ve saved your life.”
We stood at the edge of the ship in silence, leaning on the polished rail.
“Who was your siren?” I asked suddenly.
Tarsus pulled his hand back and bit his lip.
“I...unimportant.”
“Did you kill it?”
The Night Guild leader stood in silence and gave out a deep sigh.
“You were right. There’s a part of me that’s heartless. Yes, I killed her.”
“At least you pulled it off.”
“What will she think if she found out I did it? Do you think she killed me?”
“Glo?”
“Yeah, what would - no-uh, n-not Glo!”
To his embarrassment, both guilds had turned to face him. I turned around to see Konkura staring at her leader, a blank expression masking defeat. On the other side stood Glo, shocked. The guild members turned towards her as she scurried into the lower quarters of the ship bashfully.
“Glo!” Tarsus called, running after her. The two guilds laughed as Tarsus turned beet red, bashfully running down into the lower quarters after her. In all my years of knowing Tarsus, I had never seen him act this way once.
The guilds instinctively grouped together and spied on the two lovers in the lower quarters, trying to glance at the couple.
“Let them be,” I quickly instructed. The smiles were wiped off their faces as they retreated and continued to aid the Vindor crew in working the ship.
I walked over with a wooden plank to cover the hatch that led to the lower quarters to give Tarsus and Glo some privacy. Their interruption had taken my thoughts off Roslyn, but as I overheard their flirtatious exchanges, I was filled with more sorrow, recalling my brief time with her.
As I felt another upheaval within me, I ran back to the railing and emptied my stomach. How was it even possible to have so much within me?
Famming approached me and handed me a strange brown pill.
“First time sailin’?”
“Can’t recall.”
“Well, this sedative will help ye sleep. Ye should git sum rest, ‘specially after that encounter with the siren. I’m sorry fer yer loss.”
“Thanks. Oh, the lower quarters are currently occupied.”
“Go to me room. You’ll have to sneak past those two down there but me room will be on the right. Yer a great fighter, or so they say in tales. Don’t give up on us now because of a loss.”
Famming smiled at me and escorted me to her personal chamber. I nodded my gratitude to the captain, walked in on a surprised Tarsus and Glo, and entered the captain’s quarters. Swallowing the pill dry, I closed my eyes and fell into a deep, peaceful slumber.
I groggily woke up, blinking. A piece of timber lay across my body, pinning me to a sandy floor. My eyes were flooded with water, and I blinked many times to clear my vision, but it just wouldn’t clear. Instead, my eyes strangely stung every time I reopened them. As it became a bit clearer around me, I looked around and, to my dismay, was completely submerged in water.
I panicked, flailing my arms underwater, trying to recall what had happened. The timber slid off me, and I helplessly floated about in the suffocating liquid.
Roslyn...Tarsus...Glo...Pill...Sleep...
I couldn’t link the pieces together. I remembered receiving a pill from a captain, Famming, but that was the only thing I could recall.
Slowly moving through the water, something on my finger glowed a bright yellow. I raised my hand to my face, and a strange ring around my right index finger illuminated brightly in the deep, dark waters.
Then it came back to me. The ring helped me breathe underwater. But why was I underwater? And how did I even get this ring?
In the distance, the shape of half a ship was sunken on the ocean floor. I moved closer to it, and suddenly realized I couldn’t swim. I had never touched water when I was younger. I had never visited the water domain before. It was horrifyingly dark underwater, and I couldn’t see around me.
Keep calm, Ulterium. You can breathe underwater. Just stay calm.
Something in me wanted to get out of the water as quick as possible. There was something that was just bone-chilling about the dark, mysterious, ocean. But I remained calm. Moving in an awkward position, I kept myself close to the ocean floor and finally drifted towards the ship. The water was surprisingly hard to move through. It slowed my movement down, and I expended more energy only to travel a shorter distance than I would have on land. I really don’t know why anyone in the right mind would want to be a swimmer.
Approaching the broken mast of the ship, I unfolded the jack with both hands, the outspread flag almost the size of my entire body. Waving my glowing ring above the jack to make out the insignia, I determined a skull on it. There was another faint design painted behind the skull, but the saltwater stung my eyes, forcing me to shut them.
It was a weird feeling, breathing underwater. At first it was uncomfortable, then it became unusual. But it was instinctive, and it was the only way I was staying alive underwater. The water filled my lungs upon inhalation, and gaseous bubbles were expelled from my nostrils and mouth upon exhalation. It was suffocating, but somehow it worked.
Forcing my eyes open again, I looked at the flag. My mind was clearing from the strong effects of the sedative, and memories started filling my head again. There was a “V" behind the skull, and it had to mean something. In the back of my mind, something clicked, but I couldn’t tell what.
Looking around for more clues, I discovered the sandy floor littered with more ships that had the same-patterned flag attached. There was also a lustrous object on the sandy floor that glimmered in the corner of my eye. Turning my body to face down, I kicked my legs forcefully and began to move deeper into the ocean towards the shipwreck. My ears suddenly popped and my head was filled with pain. I turned around and waddled up helplessly, relieving the sudden pressure change. As my ears readjusted to the waters, I faced downwards one more time, grabbing onto parts of the sunken ship to assist my slow descent down. Reaching the small object, I picked it up and placed it close to my eyes. It was a small pin forged in the shape of a golden skull and two diamond swords. It rang a bell, but I couldn’t remember what it was. This pin had to be worth a lot. Securing the valuable metal onto my heavy water-drenched cloak, I ventured deeper into the ocean.
Short fragments of memories rushed into my head, in a random order. The pill’s effects were still strong. A region of my head also throbbed in pain, and I figured I had injured it prior to waking up underwater.
Vindors...Helterium...Leviathans...Roslyn...
Vindors? Is that what the flag was about? There was a “V" on it, so it was probable. The captain, Famming, was she the captain of the Vindors? What were Leviathans?
Famming...Hestia Famming...Roslyn...Kamui...Achoro Kamui...
There was a duel. A duel between Kamui and Famming. Gunshots. Who got shot?
The sunken ship was made of wood, but metal scraps fortified parts of the broken vessel.
Kamui got shot. But why? What did he do wrong?
Sirens...Roslyn...Fog...Roslyn...
Why did Roslyn keep filling my memories?
As I drifted near the ocean floor and circled the sunken pirate ships, I was suddenly confronted with a dead body. He wore a royal chainmail; he was part of King Fulcan’s army. He was lodged between two wooden planks, and beside him was a pure golden ring similar to mine that had slipped off his hand and onto the sandy seafloor. I picked up the ring and slid it onto my left index finger; it could probably sell for a lot as well. I opened his visor and gasped, taking in a mouthful of water.
The distorted face was bloated, swollen, but still recognizable.
Sir Ehud.
All of a sudden, my entire head cleared and I recalled every single detail. From Sir Ehud’s squadron on Geonyte’s island to the sedative given to me by Captain Famming, it all became clear to me.
But...why was I underwater?
It all made sense. The ship sunken was a Vindor ship...no, it was Hestia’s ship!
And the other Vindor ships...what happened?
I frantically flailed about, trying to search for survivors from the shipwreck. We were headed to Helterium’s palace, and a storm had guarded the entry way. Famming gave me a pill to sleep, to calm my sickness and my grief from the sirens. It was likely that we had been caught in the storm, which destroyed the fleet, sinking the ships. But where was everybody?
Rays of light were visible high above me. I figured I was pretty far down. Should I launch myself upwards, or continue moving along the ocean floor, hoping to somehow blindly make it to Helterium’s palace with no directions whatsoever?
I decided to drift up. All of a sudden, a black shadow passed above me. Realizing I was not alone, I quickly swam back to the sunken ship in panic, taking refuge in a makeshift cave formed from the broken planks of the vessel. I had completely forgotten monsters dwelled in the deep blue, and my heartbeat suddenly raced. I was frightened, lost, and I didn’t know what to do. The quick shadow revived every horrifying feeling I had about the deep waters.
In every other domain, I would never flee from a beast, but on this island, that was a whole new story. In other domains, I would have had every advantage over any creature; if I couldn’t outrun them, I could at least fend myself from beasts with my blades. But the water inhibited my movement, drastically slowing me down, and there was nothing to conceal me if I decided to swim out in the open. No trees, no rocks, no bushes, but a vast amount of water. I would be dead before I reached the ocean surface.
A school of fish fluttered past me, and a larger fish followed. I remained motionless in the underwater cave, holding onto the planks beside me to keep me from floating up.
Then, it awoke. Bright yellow and right behind me, a pair of eyes suddenly opened, staring straight at me. Each eye was the size of my body, the dilated pupils alert at the presence of a stranger.
There wasn’t any more thought given before I took immediate action. I let out a muffled cry and darted out of the cave. The behemoth rose from the sand and broke through the Vindor vessel easily, pursuing its small target.
Flailing my arms and kicking my legs as fast as I could, I launched myself upwards and gained as much velocity as I darted towards the ocean surface. The beast was right at my feet, but my panicked mind only focused on going up.
The rays of light appeared closer and closer, but so did the beast.
I felt it. The hideous fangs of the leviathan right at my feet, about to overcome me as the vast body of water began to slow down my ascent.
My head finally burst out of the water, gasping for air. It was much easier breathing out of the water, and I tried to keep myself afloat, kicking my legs and flapping my arms crazily. The beast had retreated, to my relief, upon nearing the surface. I wouldn’t know what to do if it kept coming.
The storm was still raging, and the dark clouds pelted me with a never-ending barrage of raindrops. The sky thundered with flashes of lightning and an unceasing howling gale. The waves carried me high above the ocean and then it tossed me underwater rapidly. Gasping for air at the unpredictable intervals of the violent, rocking waves, I decided it would be less exhausting completely staying underwater than trying to stay afloat.
As I swam a beneath the surface, I slowly began to lose feeling in my lower body. My legs were paralyzed and I flailed my arms in panic, trying to make sense of what was happening. I began to feel lightheaded and nauseous. The world around me began to fade. And there was nothing I could do. My legs were frozen. My arms began to petrify. I slowly sank in the water, helpless, losing consciousness. My thoughts were clouded and my vision began to black out.
Everything grew darker and darker. The water was a blur.
A shadow passed by.
What was this light on my finger?
Where was I?
Everything grew darker. The water was black.
I slid the light off my finger and placed it in my pocket.
Something fast was approaching me.
There was pain.
The air felt thin.
The world faded.