“When did this happen?” Ewan asked.
“After we lost contact,” she said meekly.
“Don’t lie to me,” he said, frowning at her.
“You would’ve just worried for nothing if I told you….” Her voice dimmed further.
Ewan gritted his teeth and the sense of forced passivity against the threading coincidences hollowed him.
A series of incidents and possibilities had pushed her to this situation. It happened because she stayed on the beach, but if she didn’t, the eyeless tribe would’ve killed her. It happened because she fell into the space crack and came to this island, but if she didn’t, Slate would’ve killed her. It happened because she accompanied Ewan, but if she didn’t, the demise of Obria would’ve killed her….
Luckily, she was a Severynth, and the path of Seaborn didn’t conflict with her.
“What about your Astylinds?” he asked.
“They’re in the runes, it’s become harder to use Dekoth lately,” Nana said.
“Do you understand what’s happened to you?”
“From dad’s journal,” she said with a nod. “I can't be a Severynth anymore.”
“Stand up, let’s do some tests,” Ewan said and pulled her up, putting away the ice walls. He led her to different parts of the beach and checked her rune with each step. It resonated the most near the water, the mutation sped up and burdened her soul, but her body eased, and she relaxed. And it resonated the least near the forest, but she grimaced in pain, and her soul space trembled.
If she stayed near the water, the rate of invasion would rip her soul apart, and if she took one more step beyond the sands, the resonance with the natural rune would snap and the consequence might crush her soul…
“Can you hear me?” Ewan said, triggering the communication channel in his remote-bracelet.
“I…can, Boss…voice…garbled.” Kidd’s distorted reply came a minute later with several parts missing.
“What’s this?” Nana asked.
“I’ll explain later,” Ewan said then focused on the bracelet again. “It’ll take me some time here, come down and drop the anchor. Don’t go too far to hunt if you run out of food and water.”
“Got…Boss…Are…both fine?”
“Yeah, we’re both fine. Just take care of each other, and don’t reply anymore,” Ewan said. “Contact me if you cause any trouble.”
“Okay…” The blurred reply came anyway.
“I got us a warship,” Ewan said to Nana, spreading his Ryvia towards the water to check the resonance. “It’s our home now.” The further his Ryvia spread, the harder it became for him to move ahead, and the untouchable resonance became tangible against his spirit. But since Ewan had no affinity with the water and lacked the rune, the resonance wasn’t interested in mutating him. Nevertheless, he still tested its tenacity and confirmed its prowess—if it acted on him, he could only resist the invasion for a month or so.
The bad news from the tests was that he had no way to reverse it, and the only way to take Nana away was to let her become a Seaborn. The good news, though, was that he could influence it and control the force of mutation, he could keep Nana safe as she completed the process.
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“Warship?” Nana tilted her and asked.
“Yeah, the one you’re thinking of,” Ewan said, jotting everything down in his diary.
“How did you get it?” she asked, widening her eyes.
“It was there, I got it,” Ewan said, gesturing with his hands. “Is that more important right now? Solve this problem first.”
“Does it matter? Severynth, Seaborn, they’re all the same to me,” she said, kicking the sand.
“Many things will change as a Seaborn,” Ewan said. “You’ll have to learn the ropes again. It’ll probably affect your ability to create artifacts too, among other things. And the worst will be your Astylind, I’m not sure how it’ll affect them.”
The more Ewan said, the more Nana sweated, and she finally collapsed at the end and cried.
“Will they die?” she asked with teary eyes.
“I’m not sure, but I’ll try to prevent that.”
“I don’t want to lose them too…” She leaned on his chest and buried her face.
Ewan sighed and caressed her head. “I’ll try,” he said under his breath.
And thus began their days, or nights actually, on the beach, living in the crude hut together. Ewan stuck with Nana every second of the hour and kept her soul space covered with his Ryvia, only letting the resonance in through the gaps he made. This slowed down the invasion and lowered the burden on her soul, and the process proceeded smoothly. He checked her Astylinds too once he could seep his Ryvia inside her runes and noted their mutation—the resonance was changing them as it was affecting Nana’s rune. Because of his interference though, their strain also decreased, and he confirmed their safety, for the time being at least.
“It’s getting chilly lately,” Nana said with a shiver, hugging her knees on the sand before the crackling campfire, a gust of wintry wind that escaped the water lifting her long hair in a gentle wave and a snap at the end.
“This night has already lasted over a week, something might be happening with the sun again,” Ewan said, hugging her from behind while adjusting the fallen blanket, her hair softly slapping him in the face.
“Did you really cause this?” she asked, leaning back on his chest, and looking up at him with a sparkle of childish curiosity in her eyes.
“I didn’t, the Governor did, get that through your thick skull already,” Ewan said, adding more firewood to the declining flames.
“Lord Ewan.” Algernon called from the edge of the forest, lifting his lantern to his face. “May I have a word?”
“Sir Algernon.” Ewan draped the blanket over Nana, clapped the sand off, and walked over. “I wished to have a talk with you too,” he said.
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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: 25.5
Anima: [Fire – 25.5 | Ice – 25.5 | Blood – 25.5 | Mystic: 25.5 | Dark: 25.5]
Astylinds: 5 [Potential: 0]
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]
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Necros-Crow [Ghost]: Step-0 [Level-3] [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: 24,285
Crelith: 1,014