As excited as Milo was to finally be sailing down the river rapids – discovering new frontiers and seeing all the sights there was to see…it seemed that the fading light had other plans in store. The river had faded into an amorphous torrent of shadowy shapes before he even had the chance to appreciate it in full. Only the occasional glint of moonlight peering through the clouds revealed the water’s swirling form. Reflections appeared in a twinkle and winked out just the same, claimed as they were by night’s embrace. All else laid suspended in time. The encroaching night painted over the scene with ever darkening layers that blotted any detail into obscurity. The resulting black waters gave off the illusion of stillness – an absence of reference like drifting through an endless void. Passing silhouettes dotting the shoreline on either side were the only proof that they weren’t trapped in floating stasis.

With nothing better to do than sit and watch, the boy observed Gu working magic on the sails and ropes. It wasn’t real magic. Probably. But it did look very impressive. Milo didn’t actually know enough about either nautical navigation nor matters of the Gift to tell the two apart. Still, it seemed more like skill than anything innately granted. In a bout of curiosity that would soon turn to regret, Milo asked The Boatman what he was doing.

Gu was surprisingly willing to explain the secrets behind his sailing notmagic. Young Milo didn’t understand what was being said, but it sounded very interesting nonetheless. As older Milo still hadn’t learned anything about matters of boatanical mastery, what follows is an approximate recreation of the lesson:

“Blah blah, profound commentary on rope alchemy. Try to catalyze the rope from the balcony,” Gu said. He walked to the ship’s center and continued. “Untie the mainsail and begin magicking some boat magic. Pull on the enchanted moving lines when the wind goes ploof and the boat will move. If the ploof is too foofy, then do something (probably magical) with the jib or forestay or one of those other large flag-type sail cloths to make it unfoof.” He fiddled with some dangly floating boat ropes. “If it’s not whooshy enough, then magic the angle of the boat sideways to add a couple oomphs. You can steer by pulling the magic steering stick to move the rudd–”

—

“Milo,” Gu interrupted the accurate retelling of events.

“...Yes?”

“Stop talking.”

Milo coughed. “Skipping ahead. The night passed darkly and uneventfully. There was nothing to see – no bearing or landmarks to help navigate the river – but somehow Gu managed to sail through the pitch black waters without issue…”

—

The next morning.

It might have been the light streaming through the canopy. Perhaps it was the gradual cessation of motion that left the boat floating adrift. Or maybe bobbing along to the mercy of large swelling waves informed the boy’s consciousness that something was different. New. Whatever the cause, Milo woke up and shot out of bed without any warning the moment the boat anchored. He ran outside onto the deck and gasped.

Lavender skies and rose-honeyed clouds cast their glow atop the ocean waves. From horizon to horizon as far as the boy could see there laid nothing but a vast canvas of watery delights – an expanse of drifting mounds and melding colours. The swells of passing waves lifted the boat dozens of feet into the air as they crested, and lowered it just as far as they troughed. The boy felt like a mere speck in the midst of nature’s grand design – a speck that could do nothing but drift along at the center of a rolling landscape filled with towering blue hills.

Splashes of water bounced harmlessly off of an invisible dome covering the space above the deck. Milo watched as the ocean spray pooled into droplets and then into streaks that ran down the sides of the barrier without a trace. It took but a moment for the path to the sky to reopen. And but another to bury it away. Remnant waves pressed against the transparent partition, breaking apart and spreading into a mélange of impossible shapes that shifted and squirmed. The incoming light, diffused by the pale blue sheen hovering above, cast countless aquatic shades onto the deck below. Infinite transformations filled the sky in this frozen slice of time. The water danced and flowed in search of paths to travel and patterns to fill. They came together in harmony before breaking apart at the hands of new creations. Curiosity. Discovery. Novelty. The play of lights and colours seemed branded in eternity. Then the waves passed. Eternity ended in an instant. What final traces were left of ocean’s temporary departure streamed down to rejoin their comrades in the boundless depths. The sky opened up once more.

Yet, as beautiful as the scene was, something felt…off. The air was stifling. Thick with tension. There were no words shared between the four people standing in front of him on the deck. Only a thrum – a buzzing hostile energy. Something had happened while he slept.

On one side stood Viyas alone. The mage lazily inspected his fingers, tossing the occasional gaze across the deck to where the others stood. He looked bored. Impatient. Moments away from unleashing violence. Nahla, flanked by Gu and Senan, looked wary of what was to come.

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With a surge of momentum, the boat rose twenty feet above the highest wave – twice as tall as anything in sight. The unexpected vantage granted Milo an entirely new perspective of the ocean. He gripped onto the ledge and looked into the distance. For the briefest time, the colossal waves that used to look so threatening suddenly felt small in comparison. Then the boat returned to water level and brought him back to reality. But new phenomena replaced the old. The water around the boat sloshed and boiled. Agitated ripples travelled clockwise in a swirling maelstrom of chaos. The surrounding waves broke apart and flattened on contact, leaving the boat in the center of a level ring of ocean surrounded by blue walls on all sides.

The bubbling water stilled. With a crash, the walls came tumbling down. Turbulent mounds rose from the ruins, bounding up from the distorted surface as the ocean tried to restore itself to balance. But too many had formed and too fast. They warred and slammed against each other, pitting mass against mass as they vied for limited space. Sprays filled the air in the wake of each contest. The invisible barrier above was dotted with droplets like constellations as the waves waged civil war. A mere spectator in the battle of giants, the boat was tossed around like duckweed as water surged from all directions.

A single mound claimed itself as victor. It rose higher and higher above all the rest. Ten feet. Twenty feet. Thirty. A rounded cone emerged from the water like a leviathan roused from abyssal depths. The surface of the water strained to hold itself together against the burgeoning champion. The defeated waves passed as waves did, but this single mound remained in place and continued to grow taller still. Pressure threatened to tear apart the last binding threads of tension which held the water in one piece.

“Nahla. Now!” Gu shouted.

Milo felt, rather than saw, something leave Nahla’s chest and fly into the wave as they spread their hands and chanted. The Gift merged with the water and resonated with the soul within, gently diffusing to become one with the unfathomable creature rearing its head.

Finally, the water could bear it no longer. As the cone rose even further, the seams at its apex began splitting apart. In a violent rupture of ocean spray, a grey-green fin unfurled to pierce the veil. Whichever force was at work holding the water together suddenly broke apart. Torrents sloughed off the creature like an ancient waterfall. It rejoined the ocean and birthed another swell, sending the boat up and down one last time.

The two fins by the gills on the creature’s neck spread open like a folding fan. Their crimson membranes pulsed and reverberated as the beast tilted its head back and roared into the sky. The sound hit Milo like a physical wave and coursed through his entire body. Had he not been already holding onto the railing, it would have knocked him flat onto the deck. The creature slithered through the water towards the boat. Its passage caused barely a ripple despite the enormity of its frame.

Slitted emerald eyes regarded the crew one by one. It lingered on Milo for a moment longer than the rest, tongue flickering in curiosity. Nahla felt a flash of kinship pass between their Gift-established link. Then hatred and murderous desire as it felt the Imbalance coursing through Viyas. It opened its mouth and hissed. Each fang was easily twice the size of any member of the expedition. Its jaws were large enough that it could snap the boat in half should it so choose.

‘So this is a serpent,’ Milo thought in awe.

From this distance he could see that the scale patterns weaving around its body were identical to those on the grey-green skin adorning his own. He wondered how Gu managed to get the raw material for these clothes. After finally seeing one in the flesh, Milo was almost certain that it didn’t come from killing a serpent. The boat didn’t even have enough space to fit its head, let alone the rest of its body. Plus, Gu wasn’t one to waste. There’s no way he would have left that much meat, bone, and hide behind to pickle in the waters. And that’s not even considering the fact that this thing looked impossible to injure, let alone kill. No matter how potent a Gift somebody had, Milo didn’t think it would be enough to matter. With creatures like these prowling the waters, it was no wonder that most of the ocean was off limits. Just another reminder of how lucky he was to be here and to witness the wonders that few ever had the chance to. But not everyone felt the same.

“A godsdamned tamer in our midst. A woman, too! Oh how remiss I was to let you live last night. A gentle heart; tomorrow’s plight,” Viyas seethed at the development. He turned to Gu. “A captain lets a waif onboard with promise that her Gift can lord a might beyond the common man. A tamer! What a horrid plan. The sea affronts at woman’s touch. The Boat ’man’ surely knows as such.”

Gu leveled a steady gaze at the raging noble. “Kill her then.”

“What!” – “What?” Milo and Nahla both burst out.

“Kill her. See who the serpent eats first. Go ahead.”

Viyas sputtered out the start of several retorts but ultimately had no response. His face turned red in equal parts anger and shame. “The Dragon King will not be pleased to have a woman on his seas.”

Gu laughed in his face. “The Dragon King doesn’t care. Not in the Treaty. Only man cares.” He pointed to the row of benches. “Sit down. Let Nahla finish.”

With nowhere to vent, the mage shook with rage. Jaw locked in a vice, he walked over to the opposite railing and gripped it until his knuckles turned white. Every dog had its day, but he would have the last laugh. He turned and focused his Gift on the serpent’s head. The sight of its skull vaporizing followed by a deluge of blood and brains spewing forth from its gaping flesh would compensate for the slights that he received. He started to clench his fist.

In an instant, two unfathomably ancient eyes locked onto him and bore into the depths of his heart. Primal fear held him in its scaly grasp. His blood seemed to freeze and his shaking hands betrayed his will before the attack could even manifest.

Sapphire lines weaved their way from the ocean up through the intricate engravings of the serpent’s scales. The patterns covering its entire grey-green body supped from the eternal depths below, filling in the outlines of each and every serpentine twist with flowing blue embroidery. As the water reached the apex of the creature, a series of overlapping circles revealed themselves just below its mouth. Their complexity of design rivaled the magnum opus of any grandmaster. The serpent unhinged its jaw and let out a burst of clicks. The glowing blue circles swirled with a threatening light that dared the mage to take action.