After the confrontation with the Zodiac mercenaries we went over the fight with Zi Fu and he pointed out what we could have done better or differently to improve. After some light discussion, and enough time for us to regain our qi, we got back on the road and it only took us another week to make it back to Wongye city.

We made our way through the city and, with Jia and I being sect-sick, we went directly to the port. To our surprise we saw the Dread Moon’s Revenge docked on the far side of the port from where we entered. I ran ahead of Jia and Zi Fu in my excitement to see the captain and crew again. I was rubbing my face against the side of the ship in affection when Jia and Zi Fu finally caught up. Zi Fu was looking at the vessel with a dubious expression on his face, while Jia smiled slightly at the sight of the ship that had brought us to the western continent.

I walked over and patted Zi Fu on the shoulder.

“She’s a fine vessel, and she brought us from the eastern continent safe enough!” I told him in part to mollify him.

As we approached the gangplank again one of the deckhands looked out over the edge of the ship’s main deck and noticed our approach.

“Oi! Astra and Jia, good to see you again.” The man called out.

I waved back at him exuberantly and smiled for both Jia and I. I was glad to see a familiar face after my time on the road and in the hidden realm.

He ran back from the edge of the main deck and after a minute or so of waiting the captain came out and looked us all up and down.

“Ye lookin’ to travel back to the eastern continent lasses?” He called out to us. We affirmed his suspicions and he beckoned us on board. When we stepped onto the deck of the ship I looked around, she was just as I had remembered her and I smiled brightly at the familiar ropework, wooden planks, and generic pirat-ey accoutrements.

Captain Zhao Li Shen looked Zi Fu up and down and introduced himself. He must have recognized another expert in Zi Fu when he saw him. They started some small talk about various liquors and other alcohol when Zi Fu pulled out a drink. Those two were on the road to being quick friends I suspected. I left the burly men to their alcohol things and went with Jia to put our belongings into our rooms.

“I think I’m going to get seasick.” The demon in the ring said in my mind. I smirked.

“Serves you right for trying to get me killed in that fight a week ago. It’s a couple week’s journey back to the eastern continent after all.” I told him. He groaned in my mind and I chuckled at his misery. He went back to being silent which was definitely how I preferred him.

We went back onto the deck and asked the captain when we would be setting off and he told us they had planned to spend two more days in Wongye city to gather supplies and then set off for the eastern continent again. We nodded and Jia and I set off to traipse around the town for the next two days.

We walked into a restaurant situated on an upper level of the port hanging out over the sea. We got a table outside since the weather was nice and we ordered some of the local seafood stew that the server had recommended to us. While we waited for our food we made small talk, but a particular conversation at the table next to ours stole my attention.

“This is the third crew that’s gone missing this week. What do you think is happening out there?” A stalwart and bulky man asked his wiry acquaintance. They both looked the sort that would work on ships and must have been having a meal while docked.

“I’m not sure. But if I hear of another ship going missing, I’m going to finally quit this job.” The wiry man responded.

I leaned over to hear them better but they noticed my movement almost immediately. They both looked at me with confusion and I gave them a sheepish grin.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your lunch, but I was curious about what you were talking about. Have there been a lot of ships going missing recently?” I asked them.

They shared a look between themselves and they both shrugged before the larger man spoke in his soft baritone.

“Over the past few months, eleven ships I know of have gone missing and haven’t been seen since. Noone knows what’s happened to them and it gives me the heebie jeebies.”

“Are there any leads on where they went? Maybe they just got lost at sea?” I probed, desperate for more information.

The bulky man shook his head.

“No, I’m afraid not. All of the ships were fairly modern and decked out with the latest navigation technology from Beltigo so they shouldn’t be able to get lost.” I frowned and thanked the man for explaining. Jia was looking at me with a quizzical expression.

“Are you worried we might run into whatever is happening to those ships out there?” She asked me.

“I’m not sure, but I have a bad feeling.” I told her. Just then, our food arrived and we ate quietly for the remainder of our meal.

When we returned to the ship, I voiced some of my concerns over the missing crews and ships to the captain. He got a pensive expression on his face and then looked like he realized something.

“Ah yes, I remember hearing something about some of those Beltigo ships going missing. Honestly I’m not too concerned about it, perhaps it's the ocean serving justice to those iron monstrosities. I’ve never liked them sharing these seas with my darling.” He said, fondly rubbing the wooden mast of the ship.

I thought he was being a little too blase about this whole situation, but if the captain wasn’t worried then I suppose I didn’t have anything to be too concerned about. I spent the next two days hanging out with Jia until it was time for the ship to depart.

With a final shove off from the dock by the dockhands, we were on our way back to the eastern continent.

We had traveled for a few days when a large metallic ship similar to those I had seen in ports in the past moved fairly close to our much smaller vessel without any care for our safety.

The captain unleashed his full aura to alert the ship they were currently on a crash course with our vessel and luckily they adjusted their course and we averted a disaster. The captain flew up to speak with their captain and left us on the ship. After a few minutes he returned and the other ship slowed down so as to let us pass before continuing on their original course.

Before the other ship was more than a quarter league from our ship I sensed something abnormal from below our ship. I quickly ran to the edge of the main deck and looked out over the railing. As I looked out, a figure jumped out of the water and landed directly on top of the railing. I fell back onto the ground at the figure’s appearance and crawled backwards to get a better look at what it was.

A lithe, seafoam green skinned humanoid was standing atop the railing. His head was elongated on both sides like a type of shark I had seen in a book before. He looked down at me with a manic sharp toothed grin and his aura flared as well as seven other auras surrounding our ship and the metal ship in the distance.

Four nascent soul realm cultivators and three peak core formation realm cultivators unveiled their auras and I started involuntarily shaking under the immense pressure until two soothing auras came from our ship and bloomed out, clashing with the hostile auras.

Zi Fu and Captain Zhao appeared next to me and stood in opposition to the colorful man standing on the railing.

“What’s a Mertalian like you doing here?” Zi Fu asked the man on the railing. I looked between them confused, as did Zhao.

“What’s a Mertalian?” Captain Zhao asked, I wanted to know the same thing.

“The Mertalians are a race of humanoids that live in cities underwater in the northern seas. You rarely see them this far south, which makes it even stranger that we’re seeing one now.” Zi Fu responded.

“You don’t need to know why I’m here, human. We’ll be taking all of you humans to Azortia.” He said.

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I didn’t know where Azortia is but I wasn’t looking forward to being dragged away from the eastern continent.

“And if we refuse?” Zi Fu asked. The Mertalian grinned much wider than a human could due to his anatomy. Just then three other Mertalians alighted upon the railing after jumping out of the water.

“Zorti, the humans on the metal ship have all surrendered to us, what of these humans?” A deep crimson skinned Mertalian asked to the long headed Mertalian that originally showed up on our ship.

“They seem to want to resist us.” He said, much more energetically than I was comfortable with. The remaining three Mertalians all bore down on our group with their nascent soul realm auras and even the protection from Captain Zhao and Zi Fu’s auras wasn’t able to protect me from them as I began shivering again.

Under the pressure from the four Mertalians even Zi Fu and the Captain had to back off. There would be no chance of fighting back against all four of the Nascent soul realm Mertalians. We agreed to the surrender, much to the disappointment of the gathered Mertalians. Without further ado they jumped back into the water and the ship began moving in an impossible direction as though we were being carried through the air.

After more than an hour of traveling it seemed our destination was a large outcrop of rocks in the middle of the ocean. It was a tower of rock that climbed high into the sky. At the top it tapered off and I couldn’t tell its shape, but it was like a mountain had its top cut off. We were moved around the rock formation until I could see an opening within the rocks. It was large enough that neither ship had any issue traveling through it and we were brought through the opening and into a beautiful cove.

Light filtered in from the hole above and illuminated the center of the cove, the light showering down into the depths. Around the periphery of the circle of light, countless ships were piled up next to each other, bumping into each other with the movement of the waves. The scratching of metal on metal played out throughout the cove and it grated against my ears. The walls of the cove were covered in bioluminescent algae and plants and the light reflecting off of the surface of the waves created a dancing aurora against the backdrop of the rocky walls.

Our ships were carried to an empty spot and we were all gathered on the main deck of the ship by the Mertalians.

They threw down a bag filled completely. It hit the deck of the ship and its contents fell out. I looked at them and saw it was a strange plant I didn’t recognize.

“Each of you eat a small bit of these plants. If any of you don’t, you know what will happen.” One of the Mertalians colored a deep blue said.

We obeyed their words and each of us took a bite of the plants. I took my bite and was surprised to find the plant was sweet, after a few seconds of enjoyment the taste took a turn for the bitter and I quickly swallowed, a disgusted frown on my face. I looked around and anyone who had spit out the plant was forced to bite another so I decided I would just suck it up and endure the bitterness.

“That plant you ate is called esterwal root. It allows you to breathe underwater for ten hours. Now follow us.” A purple skinned Mertalian commanded us. They all jumped into the illuminated water and swam down. We followed and swam down into the depths below.

As we swam down I marveled at the scenery below the water. At the bottom of the cove a perfectly circular tunnel was carved out. The sides looked smooth, and I wondered how this tunnel was created. Surrounding the edges of the tunnel and the bottom of the cove was an uncountable number of coral reefs. Fish swam all around the periphery of the hole in the ocean floor, but were careful to never stray over the edge. As I looked farther back into the darkness I saw more and more reefs and rocks pock marked with holes for various creatures to live in.

The Mertalians delved into the tunnel on the seafloor and we followed them, swimming down far enough that the light no longer reached us from above. After minutes of swimming straight down I finally noticed a tiny pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel. We swam for a few more minutes and the light grew larger and larger as we swam. Finally we exited the tunnel into a world beyond my wildest imagination.

Colorful schools of fish swam around in all directions, creating a moving art piece that dazzled the eyes. Despite the depth, the entire floor of the sea was illuminated by something unseen on the stone roof of the extremely large underwater area we found ourselves in. On the ground below us was a large, translucent, iridescent dome that completely covered an entire underwater city. The architecture of the city reminded me of the eastern continent with its lack of tall buildings. We could see the bustling of humans within the dome even from our significant distance away from it. The humans went about their days under the watchful eyes of the patrols of Mertalians we could see traveling through the city.

Outside of the bubble in what I could only guess was the north and east were buildings of an entirely different architectural style to those inside the dome. These houses were much more ornate and well crafted. They looked much newer and didn’t seem eroded by the surrounding seawater. The style of buildings were much more open than those inside the dome, and from where we were situated above the dome we could see Mertalians of all shapes and colors moving through the streets and houses.

To the west of the domed city was a vast swath of fields being worked by humans. They were planting some kinds of produce within the sandy floor of the ocean and harvesting those that had fully grown already. Much like within the domed city, watchful Mertalian guards ensured the humans couldn’t abscond with any of the food, or run away.

To the south of the domed city was an unending forest of gigantic multi-colored coral reefs. Each coral tree’s branches were tipped with bubbles and within the bubbles were glowing pieces of coral that provided more illumination to the underground area. As the forest disappeared into the murky depths outside of the illumination of the strange zone we were in, the lights became like stars in the night sky. I thought I could see something massive moving within the depths of the darkness as I peered out beyond the light zone and I shivered involuntarily. I had had my fill of large sea monsters with the ship-breaking kraken from before.

We followed the Mertalians down to the dome and entered through a large opening on the side of the dome that seemed to stop all of the water from entering the city. It was like a wall of water similar to the surface of a lake, but more translucent. It rippled as we approached and with each person who passed through, myriad ripples rushed out from them in all directions. As we passed through the barrier and emerged into the city, we were completely dry, the water soaking our bodies and clothes barred from entry.

The Mertalians led us to a slightly larger building near the center of the city where they transferred custody of us to a group of Mertalians in guard uniforms. The guards didn’t deign to speak to us and only motioned for us to follow as they entered the building.

The inside of the building was much more well furnished than I had expected with various furniture of clashing styles lining the periphery of the large entry room. We were led through to a room in the back past a pair of large wooden doors.

Within the room I could see a large bookshelf lining one wall with another holding a large hand drawn map on the opposite side. In the middle of the room was a fancy desk that seemed to have been carved out of a single piece of wood. Behind the desk was a large floor to ceiling window looking out towards the south of the city. I could see the towering trees of coral from where we were and I did my best not to think about what was lurking in the darkness.

“Ah, finally. It has been some time since we received a new batch of farmers.” The magenta colored Mertalian sitting behind the desk said as he watched us file into the room. I was bringing up the rear of our group entering and one of the guards gave me a quick shove just as I passed the threshold of the door before closing the door behind me.

“Farmers? What do ye mean by that?” The captain asked. The Mertalian got an amused look on his face and pointed out toward the west and then toward the south out the window.

“I’m sure you all saw the vast fields of food and coral on your journey from the surface. We have brought you all here so that you may help our glorious race prosper in this, our wonderful city of Azortia.” He responded, holding out his hands to the side in a gesture of magnanimity.

“You all should feel blessed to be able to use your puny bodies to help our people grow stronger. Though anyone who doesn’t wish to farm will be sent back to the surface of course.”

Everybody in our group brightened at this news, but before we could revel in our newfound hope, it was dashed away by the malicious grin on the Mertalian’s elongated face.

“Yes we will give any who do not wish to farm a chance of freedom! You only need to swim back up to the surface without the assistance of the esterwal root. Should you make it back up to your ship, you’re welcome to leave.” he continued.

That didn’t sound too bad. We obviously couldn’t hold our breath for that long, but as long as we had qi within our bodies we should be able to make it all the way back up to the ship. I was feeling a little more optimistic about the situation now that I knew we had a chance of escape.

“I want to go back up to the surface!” One of the men from the large ship that had been taken down to the city with us said. As though a floodgate had opened the remaining people I didn’t recognize also piped up and stated they wished to take him up on this offer. Noone from our ship said anything. The captain and Zi Fu were both remaining silent and I guessed there was a reason for that.

The Mertalian nodded and led us all back outside of the building. As a group we walked back to the exit of the dome and the Mertalian motioned to one of the guards who handed him a sack. From the small sack he pulled out small iridescent pearls and handed one to ten of the people who had expressed interest in leaving for the surface. At the look on the remaining people’s faces he smiled again before speaking.

“Worry not, you all will have your chance as well, but we only have so many of these esterwal pearls. They can remove the effects of the esterwal root. I shall have one of the guards go fetch some more of the pearls while we send the first group off back to the surface! I’m sure they’re eager to get home.” He told the group before motioning to one of the guards who went off to some unknown part of the city.

The Mertalian motioned for the group of ten to take their pills and then the guards allowed them back out into the water. The group of ten hurriedly swam for the tunnel we had entered through. Just as they were about to reach the tunnel, a streaking group of Mertalians swam out from the north side of the city. They easily caught up to the group swimming and within a few breaths of time, the entire group of ten men had been slaughtered, the waters around them stained a deep crimson.

Just then, the guard that had left before returned and handed a much larger sack to the Mertalian that was in charge.

“Ah yes, thank you. Now who wants to be next?” He asked. Everyone in the group took a step away from the exit of the dome and the Mertalian nodded as though understanding what we were thinking. He handed the sack back to the guard and walked us all back to his office in the large building in the center of the city.

We all followed him in silence, the casual massacre of the ten men weighing heavily on our minds. It was strange, but until now I still believed there was a chance that we’d all escape. Zi Fu would come up with some plan and we’d all be able to get back to our ship and leave this horrid sea. But seeing the ten men being killed finally made it sink in. We were in deep trouble.