The star map Nana drew him didn’t match Alasec’s position, the range of error far surpassed his and Stefan’s estimation. Even if she was bad at understanding the navigational aspect of the stars, she wouldn’t have blundered to that degree. Just by parroting the book he gave her, word for word, and mirroring its contents to draw the map would give her a decent enough accuracy.
“Can she not see the stars properly?” Ewan murmured. The mystic element could cause such phenomenon, it could show her an illusory sky of the night. Not to mention a complete set of false stars, if it just layered a hint of mirage between her and her sky, she would see the stars in a different position and her calculations would distort.
“Is that where she is, Boss?” Kidd asked.
“But the star map…,” Stefan said.
“We’ll still check it, just in case,” Ewan said. “If its disappearance is related to the mystic element, I can deal with it. Nyte, increase the thrust by a level. Kidd, go stay up on the rooftop and keep an eye out. Stefan, I’ll leave the navigation to you. Lance, go practice your weapon, get used to it as soon as you can. If that’s where Nana is, we might need to fight again.”
“Yes, sir,” Lance said with a strong nod.
“I’ll instruct Nyte from the top deck then,” Stefan said.
“Can I practice too, Boss?” Kidd asked.
“That’s where the main Ryvia module is, so try not to break anything,” Ewan said.
“Aye-aye, captain!”
….
The life on Stormfalcon continued with the monotonous days on the water, the repetition of the endless ocean long drowning its initial novelty. The sudden storms, the towering waves, and the twisters kept them busy with a change of taste, however, and Ewan often looked forward to charging into the eye of the tornadoes, much to the horrors of his mates. He did keep Stormfalcon away from the absolute monstrosities of the nature though and didn’t challenge their prestige, he knew his limits. And the little bit of spice the adventure provided washed away his disappointment and the consecutive setbacks he suffered in his experiments.
Lance accompanied and helped him in whatever tests he did, but none of what he tried succeeded. From slicing him up to taking his blood and flesh samples to the test of soul space and the external influence, Ewan traveled the whole list of possibilities. But only failure greeted him at every turn, and his obsession reared its face once again. So much so, that he shifted time from his other tasks to bringing this one idea to life. And yet…
The anxiety of Nana’s safety, whether she was on Alasec or not, and how she fared without him stacked on top of his defeats, and his frustration inflated. It took his all to stop himself from rushing the Warship at maximum thrust and losing the Rigen before he found her. Nevertheless, the snail pace of the days ate away at him, how he wished the seconds moved faster….
‘Reaper travels parallel to the Severynth, but it is incompatible with it. The thought was a stark failure,’ he finally deflated till his end when he dragged the pen across his diary, slouching at the table in his room, losing strength in his core and heaving a defeated sigh. He lost, his pen dropped on the diary and the room dimmed.
Weapons fed the Reaper, and Astylinds fed the Severynth, they ran on a similar path. Yet, they could never intersect. A Reaper couldn’t contract an Astylind while a Severynth couldn’t have a weapon connected to his soul. If Ewan forced it, he would have to give up his path as a Severynth and jump over to the other side. And the impossibility of such coerced him to let go of the notion, and his obsession died on his way to Alasec, not before dragging down his heart with it though. He might stumble at first in whatever he aimed to do, but he eventually succeeded every time—he took pride in this, and the result battered it.
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The sky was cloudy, the ocean looked grim, and the weather spread the gloom. Even the raging hurricanes couldn’t brighten his day. And the corridors often heard his sighs, he contaminated the Warship with his despondence.
Kidd hushed, Stefan chewed his food without a word, Lance stopped sparking any topic, and they met each other’s gaze and talked with their eyes; even his Astylinds didn’t cheer anymore.
“Boss, it can happen.” Finally, Kidd took the lead in shattering the buzzing noise of silence.
“I know,” Ewan said and bit the grilled fish. The meat tasted bland today, saltless and watery. His deadpan words quelled the budding conversation, and the somber air of the lounge persisted. And the tensed dinner, or brunch, ended with another sigh of his.
….
“This is the area,” Stefan said, flipping the pages of his diary filled with convoluted diagrams and figures on the top deck.
Ewan stood at the bow of the Warship, focusing on the movement of the Mystic-Anima, the roar of the wind mixed in with the droplets of the shattered waves splashing his Varos. His dejection still reigned over his emotional state, but his rationale cut it off and shoved it down, for higher priorities awaited his sensible response right now. According to Stefan’s star map, Alasec was nearby. And if it was the mystic element hiding the island away, Ewan was the only one among them who could find it. Not to mention, Nana could be on the island, so he had to find it. Nothing could come in his way, let alone his own emotions.
“I don’t see anything,” Kidd said. “Are you sure? There’re no seagulls here.”
“I calculated several times, they always point to this area,” Stefan murmured and scribbled in his diary again, scratching his head with his pen.
“It might’ve sunk,” Lance said. “I should dive down and look underwater just in case.”
“It’s an island, not a ship.” Kidd retorted.
“Keep quiet,” Ewan said and killed their conversation when he sensed a pattern in the Anima around. The mystic gathered and swirled up ahead in the distance, flickering with random images of land, forest, rites, despairing screams…and crows.
Phantasm!
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Status: Healthy
Step-1 Severynth [Spirit-Nebula: Zeroth Surge]
Subtype: Step-0 Elementalist
Name: Ewan Ayres
Species: Human
Vitality: 7.0
Spirit: 25.4
Anima: [Fire – 25.4 | Ice – 25.4 | Blood – 25.4 | Mystic: 25.4]
Astylinds: 4 [Potential: 1]
Rolling Cat [Toast]: Step-1 Severynth [Spirit-Nebula: Zeroth Surge]
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Fire Monkey [Orange]: Step-1 [Level-10] [Grade-B]
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Imp [Frost]: Step-1 [Level-10] [Grade-B]
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Bloodthorn-Lotus [Iris]: Step-1 [Level-10] [Grade-D]
Equipment: Common Clothes; Yurn [Neck Gaiter]; Moonkeeper [Crystal-Ball]; Rainwarden [Staff]; Blackfeather [Overcoat].
Storage: Journal; Elementalist—The Path of Anima [Subtype-Book]; Spellbook; Bloodlust [Spell]; Transmute [Spell]; Unknown Book [Radon’s Legacy]; Anima-Crystals [Novas Coins]; Hub-Connector; Ingredients.
Novas: 25,145
Crelith: 1,014