The swirl fractured with Ewan’s cast, and a dome of thick mist appeared and waned, revealing a sandy beach where the ocean reached out then receded with a frothy trail. No crows flew about, no seagulls disclosed the island, and not even the overgrown forest and the chains of mountain uttered any voice of life. The lush island oozed of death.
A cast of
“You guys stay here and keep an eye out,” Ewan said and fitted the remote-bracelet on his wrist with a click, his heart racing on the thought of meeting Nana again. “I’ll go take a look.”
Stormfalcon’s bow sank an inch when he shot away, the cracking boom he left shoving the three men back, and the Warship shrank behind him. The wind howled in his ears, and the deafening roar accompanied him till he touched the clouds. The island lay below him as he hovered in the sky, getting an overhead view of the beach and the forest and the mountains. Yet, there was no sign of Nana anywhere. Let alone the girl herself, not even her footsteps marked the sand, and the already gloomy clouds darkened even more for him.
The beach was void of activity, and the forest and the mountains only held the ruins. The roots and the vines perforated the aged structures that once made up a settlement spanning across the island. The mossed rubble carried a hint of its past, when it wasn’t a mere ground for flora infestation, when it still held the pride of its creators. The old-growth trees masked its history, but the stubborn signs of war and destruction hung on. From the unnatural craters with knee-tall grass patches to the scorches that survived to the humanlike skeletal remains that remained untouched, even a mountain that had its side missing, they all sang the song of their end.
However, a bizarre scene painted another side of the island’s time gone by. Apart from the shattered bits of pottery and utensils that represented the daily life of Alasec, the proliferating branches of the trees held complete skeletons tied in a fetal position. The trees on the cliffs dangled them down, the tress on the level snuggled them in. Ewan hovered around at a lower altitude when the higher view netted no result, and the skeletons in the trees greeted him at every inch, their gazes burning on his skin.
Death gripped the island; the haunted quiet accompanied it. Not even the leaves dared to rustle where the skeletons swayed, and the blaring rumble of his flight stood out more so. They belonged to the trees, and the trees were their part; when the sense of acceptance rose in him, the tinge of abnormality finally settled down. And he stretched his Ryvia for Nana, flying around the whole island, the forest and the mountains alike. The final result changed nothing though, she really was not on this island. His disappointed heart heaved another sigh.
Nevertheless, the tribe that lived here matched what she encountered. Thus, Ewan floated down into the ruins and looked around, his heartbeats accelerating. He took careful steps and gently brushed the traces of the past on anything that survived, revealing the mottled totem of a crow under the blanket of dirt and soil. One side of him looked for any clues that could be useful in the future, and the other lost himself in the grandeur of time, even with the eerie staring down at him.
When he made his way up into the mountains and to a plaza-like area that had parts of skeletons piling up on one side, with some hinting at a posture of worship at death, an inky feather caught his eyes, for it hovered at his eye-level. He took precautions with his Ryvia, and when several scans came back negative, he stepped ahead and held the feather. His already taut nerves tensed on the touch, his eyes flitted about, he was ready to explode with his spells in case anything occurred, yet the island held its silence.
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The rest of his scour remained uneventful, and after making several rounds, Ewan shuttled back to Stormfalcon with the feather as his only prize.
“Did you find her, Boss?” Kidd asked when Ewan landed on the deck.
“She isn’t here,” Ewan said and let the feather hover over his palm. It swayed about and slowed down with each rotation, finally stabilizing in a faint slanted position.
“Don’t worry, we’ll continue with the previous route, and we’ll find her,” Stefan said, patting and rubbing Ewan’s back.
Ewan nodded. “Do you think this is pointing somewhere?” he asked, spinning the feather again. Yet, at the end of its motion, it halted at the exact same position. The tail end of it pointed eastward while the fluffy head looked west.
“Do you want to follow it?” Kidd asked.
“But which side?” Lance asked.
“No, we’ll continue on towards the next island,” Ewan said, putting the feather away as Alasec vanished behind him. “We can solve its mystery after we get Nana. Let’s go look at the map again.”
Before they could open the door to the stairs, however, the Warship shook and groaned. The water vibrated, its surface broke into droplets, the ripples killed each other, and the ocean howled. Ewan hovered an inch above and removed the influence but the three lost their balance, Stefan tumbling away on the deck.
The turbulence lasted a few breaths and the quiet took over again when it settled.
“What was that?” Kidd yelled, his rapid breaths breaking with a shiver, and his knees trembling as he leaned on the wall.
“Earthquake…,” Ewan murmured, looking at the ocean in the distance, gulping. The books wrote paras upon paras about the natural phenomenon, and they never forgot to mention its companion. The companion that devastated the coasts and showed the world the wrath of nature in its raw form. And soon, they would meet it too, the monstrous waves would come for them…
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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