Cored, the beasts that gain magic later in life, were the second creatures to gain magic. Unlike the fants, they were not born with the inherent ability to use magic. All beasts that are not Fants have the ability to gain magic later in life and become Cored but very few of these beasts have intelligence to directly gain magic. Many of the beasts that gain magic do so incidentally, by instinctively consuming magical fruits, flowers, water, or other magical items, that forcefully awakens their latent magical talents. This is a process that is still being researched and studied by academics across the known world and is commonly used by the wealthy to create magical mounts.
Excerpt: A History of Magic – Galen Cletus
After another two days of waiting around, most of which Erin spent training, Ashe was finally out of bed and ready to continue the journey. Most of Erin’s training had been by herself, though she had spent a bit of time training Sammath when he wasn’t complaining about being beaten up or avoiding the training. On top of that, she’d participated in some weapons training with Lu, helping him progress a little further in his weapons skills. Lu, a shining example of a cultivator, used one of the two most common weapons of the order, a spear. Despite using a spear, however, he used an uncommon variant commonly known as a sabre-spear or, in the sects, dao mao.
Lu’s spear was designed primarily for thrusting, though the single-edged blade could be used to make relatively shallow slices. It could not, however, be swung around like a staff and the weapon, which was made of a flexible bamboo shaft, would likely snap if Lu tried to use it like Sammath used his staff. However, because of the bamboo that Lu’s specific weapon was made of, crimson tongue bamboo, the weapon was able to bend and move around like the tongues of a fire without any wearing or breaking. That meant that Lu was able to bend his weapon, using his Qi, to move around any shields, armour, or other weapons and it also meant that, while he was primarily limited to thrusts, he could attack an opponent from virtually any angle at their front or sides.
When combined with his mastery of the weapon, that made Lu a difficult opponent to deal with even if he didn’t use his superior cultivation. Unfortunately for Erin, she didn’t have a bending spear, as the Arikarans called spears that had flexible shafts, and used her makeshift staff against Lu, changing how she wielded it to add elements of unpredictability to the training and also polish off some more of her weapon skills. By the end of Erin training against Lu on the first day, both Erin and Lu were sporting a large number of bruises and were sweating profusely.
Erin, fortunately for her, had the advantage of skill over her older cousin but, because Lu cultivated both his Qi and his body, Lu had a significant advantage in speed and reactions. As such, Erin wasn’t ever able to reach her cousin just by attacking, as he could react too quickly for her to hit him, and had to rely significantly on her skill with wielding a staff, a greatsword, and a club to even the playing field against her older, stronger cousin. Sammath had come in at the end of the training to watch the fight and Erin had seen him trying to predict both her and Lu’s movements but, in the end, he wasn’t nearly fast enough or experienced enough to do so. Sammath also left promptly as soon as the fight was over, not wanting to be roped into any extra training.
The second day, Erin had first spoken to Lu about what he’d seen when he’d scanned Ashe and he’d confirmed that he’d managed to detect the demon king. “I was just scanning his body with my spiritual perception, and I found something weird in his head. Bringing my senses closer, I found what looked like a red and black core. I’d already found Ashe’s Inkwell so I went in closer, trying to see what it was, and my soul was sucked inside.”
Lu had shivered then, and even if the summer heat was dying down slightly as the season was nearing its end, it wasn’t from any cold breeze. Lu’s eyes had glazed over, sucked into the memory, as he continued talking, “I was pulled inside the core, where the black and red energy swirled around me, and the demon used the energy to force me to my knees. I couldn’t even do anything. I couldn’t even move. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have something like that living inside of you all day, every day, let alone be strong enough mentally to resist the influence it.”
“To be honest, I think that Ashe should be thankful Cab’s so strong.” Erin countered and, at Lu’s puzzled look, she expanded on her point, “Cab, the demon that’s inside Ashe, is a Demon King,” Lu shivered again as he realised just how close to death he’d gotten, barging into the core of someone as strong at the Order Leader, “And because he’s a Demon King, he can be reasoned with. Cab is smart enough to know that, should word get out about Ashe’s possession, he would be sent back to the celestial plane, the hard way if necessary. Especially if word got to Atra Oblor. As such, Cab is laying low and only feeding off of as many people as he needs to sustain his power, not possessing Ashe’s body except when he needs to feed. It gives him a ready source of lives with which to maintain his power, whilst also ensuring that he has no demon challengers trying to take his power or his next meal. Quite intelligent, when you think about it.”
“You are… right. As always, cousin. It is far more beneficial in the long-term for the Demon King to only possess Ashe’s body when he needs to feed and not draw attention to himself.”
“Indeed. Now, since you’ve realised that you should listen to me, it’s time to train.”
Lu had just laughed, standing up and bringing out his second weapon, “Alright, cousin. Bring your full strength. I’m ready.”
Lu’s second weapons were a little unusual. Even in the Order, which tended to have masters of nearly every odd weapon known to man. Generally, only Volkar had odder weapons, oftentimes using things like leaves as swords or water droplets as tiny cannonballs. Lu second weapon, or weapons perhaps, which he was nearly as adept with as his spear, was a pair of katars. Made from flickering steel, the blades of Lu’s katars moved around like fire, changing shape with the speed and motion that Lu used for the weapons. As such, Lu was an absolute nightmare to face when he was wielding his katars. Like real flames, if Lu moved fast enough, the flickering steel would be drug out behind Lu’s weapon, leaving a sharp line of steel that could be used to block someone’s attack even as Lu was attacking from a different direction and, to make matters worse, pushing on the floating steel only made you push on Lu’s weapon.
Technically, these weapons, like Lu’s spear, were made of materials far stronger than those required for a Duke Stage battle but, as one of the most promising young members of the order, Lu was given access to Prince Stage materials. In addition to the blades, Lu’s katars sheathed his hands in a grip that kept his wrists straight and enclosed his forearms for protection.
To fight against Lu, Erin pulled a chain from her spatial storage when she was sure no one beyond Lu was looking. Spatial storages were expensive and rare, after all, especially large, unobtrusive ones like Erin’s storage. Unlike his spear, the blades of Lu’s katars couldn’t be covered because of how they moved around. Because of this, sparring was kept light for the day so Erin didn’t get cut on the blades, especially when Lu whirled around and created a thin, spherical shield from the steel that trailed behind Lu’s katars when he moved at high speeds. Erin used her chain to generally be a nuisance, wrapping it around Lu’s limbs and the trails of steel left hanging in the air, constantly pulling Lu off balance and then whipping the other end of the chain around to hit him or wrap around something else. Lu did get in close a few times, ‘landing’ blows that would have killed or severely injured Erin but, for the most part, the reach of Erin’s weapon gave her the advantage.
Sammath once again came to watch the fight, marvelling at Lu’s unusual katars, but leaving quickly so that he wasn’t pulled into training. At the end of the day, nowhere near as many bruises covered Lu and Erin as the day prior, Lu’s body cultivation having healed all of the previous day’s bruises and many of the morning’s bruises, and Erin’s body, strengthened by her Bloodline, having also healed all of the previous day’s woes.
At the end of the day, Lu and Erin sat on the edge of the village, looking over the edge of a cliff and out into the ocean, “Thank you, cousin. I’ve… enjoyed our spars. It’s been a while since I’ve fought against something that wasn’t trying to kill me. Perhaps my parents count, since they don’t want me dead, but they certainly don’t train me like they want me to live.”
“You’re preaching to angels, Lu. I’m the model example of being trained like your parents want to kill you.”
Lu chuckled, “I can’t argue against that. My parents are intense, but yours… or at least your dad… is insane with regards to training.” After that, the pair sat in silence for a few minutes. Wind ruffled the grass and small swells crawled up the sand of the beach far below, coming nowhere close to the fishing boats that were pulled high above the tide line. As the sun touched the horizon, dyeing the waters orange, Lu spoke up again, “Where are you planning to go, now? You still have a mission to complete, don’t you?”
“I do, yes. I was going to talk to the chief about it tonight and ask if we can get a ride in a boat to the nearest city. We can walk, but it will probably take another two weeks or so when we could probably get there in a day if we take a boat and have favourable winds.”
Lu nodded, “I’ll go with you, then. I told you that I was up here to fight against the Sea Cored for training. If you run into one while you’re heading to the city, you won’t be able to fight against it unless the Demon King comes out and, well, he isn’t going to save anyone but Ashe.”
“It’ll be good to have you along, then. Extra protection from powerful Cored is certainly not something I’ll object to.”
“It’s settled, then. We can head to the chief tonight and have the discussion, then I’ll travel with you tomorrow.” Erin thanked her cousin and Lu waved it off, “You don’t need to thank me, Erin. We’re family, even if I don’t have the Bloodline. Hopefully, I’ll get some training out of this, too.”
“If you’re happy with the training, can I have the cores?”
Lu glared at Erin, “And steal all my hard work? I think not, cheeky. Unless, of course, you want to truly fight me for them.” Erin pretended to weigh her options before tactfully refusing Lu’s offer. Lu just grinned knowingly and ruffled Erin’s hair, trying to put his arm around her shoulder but failing miserably as Erin somehow managed to slip out each time. For a second, Erin just let herself live in the moment, something she so rarely had the chance to do, with her cousin. Revelling in such simple, pure moments, however, was for people without heavy responsibility and Erin was quickly forced to push away her contentment.
Erin’s tap on Lu’s leg was enough to get her cousin to stand and offer his hand to her. Ignoring it completely, Erin released a flash of fire from her hands, pushing herself to her feet without having to touch the ground, “Let’s go.” Lu fell into step behind her and, together, they went to face the chief.
“I still can’t believe you managed to convince the chief to let me come along with you.” Lu spoke offhandedly to Erin, “I thought for sure that he was going to forbid it so that I could stay and keep the village safe and then I’d have to sneak aboard the boat like some… scoundrellous stowaway.”
“It’s scoundrelly.” Erin immediately poked at her cousin, “And maybe I should have gotten the chief to refuse. Then I could’ve told Uncle Lightbringer about how you hid yourself in crates of stinking fish like some sort of coward, hiding shamelessly beneath the bodies of his dead compatriots, all to avoid the annoyance of a Viscount Stage village chief.”
“Hey, now,” Lu raised his hands defensively, “no need to get snappy. I was expressing my disbelief, not my desire to sneak aboard a boat, even if it would be somewhat fun.”
Erin looked over to Sammath, who was talking with Ashe as they drug the small boat down to the water. Two more people, adults from the village who were going to bring the boat back once the trip was over, accompanied them. As the wooden hull reached the ocean, which seemed to grasp at the sides of the boat with foamy fingers, Erin looked over to Lu, “Time to go.”
Lu nodded, following Erin as she started tracking down the beach. Preferring not to get her feet wet, like Ashe and Sammath had, Erin jumped onto the boat from the beach, expelling jets of fire from her feet and hands to propel her over the ocean. Lu just jumped onto the boat from the beach, his superior strength letting him do so without the help of his powers. As both Lu and Erin touched down on the deck of the boat, it rocked but everyone managed to stay on board. With everyone ready, the two from the village immediately began rowing the boat out from shore, trying to put some distance between the ground and the boat’s keel, before they released the sail. Channelling his bloodline, the older of the two men from the village – grey hairs just beginning to creep into his well-trimmed beard and thinning hairline and laugh lines etched into his weathered face, especially around his eyes – directed his hand towards the sails and released wind to push them forward, powering the boat.
As the wind from the man blew the boat forward, the other, younger man – whose beard was only just beginning to creep across his fresh face and whose hairline remained married to his forehead – made his way up to the bow, acting as a spotter. As it turned out an hour later, he was doing more than just acting as a spotter because, as the shoreline racing by started to slow down and the older man got up tiredly, the younger man moved to the back of the boat and began to power it by releasing his own wind. Making his own way forward to the bow, the older fisherman loosened the sails to account for the slight tailwind that had as they’d journeyed, making sure that the boat wasn’t pulled too far over by the wind.
For her part, Erin had spent most of the hour staring out into the waves, moving gently with the swells of the ocean as the boat rose and fell, something Erin felt quite calming. Ashe, however, clearly didn’t have the same, pleasant ride as Erin did as the young boy was curled in on himself, looking rather green. Sammath sat beside Ashe, using a spare coil of rope as padding for the hard, wooden hull of the boat, and patted his back gently, consoling the obviously ill boy. Lu was… doing Lu things, as far as Erin could tell. Lu had climbed up the mast of the ship and settled down at the top of it, perched on the end of the tall, wooden post. Wrapping his legs around the mast, he’d begun to draw in the sunlight and cultivate which distorted the light around him and made his body appear pitch-black as light was pulled in through his skin.
Erin checked her own stores of energy, finding that both her stores of sunlight and moonlight, which somehow seemed to exist in the same space as each other without ever mixing, needed a bit of topping up. Taking a page, or at least half a page, from Lu’s book, Erin sat down and began to absorb the sunlight that beat down on the ship, letting the warmth enter her body and soothe her mind, even as her stores of energy increased. As Erin reached hit her maximum capacity and continued to let the sunlight in, she felt her Dawnblaze Bloodline begin to wake up, roiling and absorbing the sunlight to refine itself further, burning pieces away and then using the energy to regenerate stronger. Erin didn’t yet have conscious control of her Bloodline, but that would come later.
After two hours, time during which the boat had made significant progress down the coast, the sailors – the older Samor and young Talen – had swapped positions twice more and Ashe still remained curled up on the floor, looking even more green than he had before Erin had begun her meditation, if that was possible. Erin stood up from the floor, unfolding herself as she did so, and shook her legs and arms out to loosen them off.
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Easily riding the motion of the boat, Erin made her way over to Sammath and Ashe, standing above the two of them. Sammath glanced up as Erin looked down, taking in Ashe’s foetal form. Crouching down, Erin reached out and gently grabbed one of Ashe’s arms. Groaning, Ashe tried to resist but Erin’s strength was far too great for the boy to do anything other than let his arm get taken, or have his entire body moved. Flipping Ashe’s hand over, Erin pushed down on Ashe’s forearm, near his wrist, “This pressure point here helps to reduce nausea and it may help with your seasickness. Press it tightly, though not to the point where it hurts, and it should alleviate at least some of the symptoms.”
Sammath glared at her, “Couldn’t’ve told him that earlier? I’ve been sitting here for nearly three hours now.”
Erin just shrugged, “I thought that there was a chance it might have passed naturally by now and didn’t want him using that as a crutch. It is now clear that he needs it, though.” Erin leant back, closing her eyes and resting her head on the wooden hull of the boat, “I’d suggest you get some rest, even if you don’t sleep, before we reach the city . We don’t know what we’ll find when we get there, so you’ll need every bit of energy you can get.”
As Sammath didn’t speak, Erin felt glad that Sammath was taking her advice. She may not trust him with her life, but at this point she’d prefer for him not to die. In fact, she might even miss having people around once she got back to Dawnblaze manor and got her next assignment. No, Erin corrected herself, I might miss having Ashe around. Sammath’s absence, however, would be noticeable. Erin’s hand shot out, catching Sammath’s hand a few centimetres from her side, That’s right. Sammath and his annoying tendencies will not be missed. I will miss being able to beat him up, though. Such is the price to pay for duty, though, I suppose.
“Seriously!” Sammath exclaimed, “Cut me up and turn me into a sausage, but I thought I had you. I still don’t know how you can move so fast and with so little preparation that I can’t even see your Motion.” Erin could practically see the capitalisation of Motion, even with her eyes closed.
Although Erin admitted to herself that she was mildly annoyed by Sammath trying to poke her, she didn’t let it creep into her voice. Erin cracked open an eye, trying to seem mildly intrigued, “Motion, then. That’s your concept.”
Sammath leant back, “No, of course not. That would be stupid. I come from a fishing village, after all. I have a concept related to the ocean.”
Erin’s mouth nearly twitched, Sammath’s own words were about to trap him, and she quite enjoyed the irony, “Remind me, again, who it was that used the phrase ‘Motion of the ocean’. I don’t think it was Ashe and I know it wasn’t me.”
Sammath rolled his eyes, “Of course you remembered that. Yes, alright. My concept is Motion.”
“That’s quite interesting.” Erin admitted to both Sammath and herself, “So how exactly does it work? What is considered Motion?”
Sammath sat for a minute, seeming to contemplate Erin’s question, or at least how to answer it best, “To be honest, I don’t know everything it encompasses. I don’t think I’ve reached complete understanding of the first stage yet, but from what I can tell, it encompasses everything related to any sort of movement. Motion includes speed, acceleration, and momentum, but it also includes everything where something has been and its trajectory. It has both the strength of the Motion, but also a direction, and right now all I can do is either push or pull things directly away from me or directly to me, as well as see an object’s Motion.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong but Concepts are heavily based around what the user understands about them, aren’t they?”
“Yes. Volkarian powers are entirely mental and completely dependent on how much we, ourselves, can understand.”
“Did you have any elders that could teach you about your powers, where you’re from? Someone that has a very similar Concept that could try to lecture you on your powers?”
“No.” Sammath shook his head, “The closest Concept that any elder had was something like Tides or Ocean. Both of them linked to Motion, but they could only teach me about stuff related to, well, the Motion of the ocean. I didn’t really have a chance to go around, trying to find a teacher until now, either, so everything I know has been self-taught.”
“Hmmm,” Erin thought for a moment, “so that means that you didn’t have anyone to pass down knowledge about things like velocity and acceleration. How much do you know about Shinian physics and mathematics?”
“If I’m being honest, not much.”
“Well, you know that they are the leading country in the development of mathematics and science as a whole throughout the continent, right?”
“Of course. Only Volkarians would have a chance to rival Shinia and its researchers, but we don’t exactly have much of a standardised education system for powerful elders to share their knowledge.”
“Exactly. Well, I won’t go into much detail here and I’d recommend you look into the basic concepts of mechanics when you find somewhere that has books on the topic, but I’ll give you a brief rundown.” Erin tapped her chin before deciding to start from the most basic ideas involved, “To begin, all movement and, in your case Motion, requires a change in position. Velocity is the rate and direction of the change, and acceleration is the rate and direction that velocity changes. Those are the three fundamental ideas that I think will relate to your perception of Motion. You seem to be able to manipulate both the direction and magnitude of an object’s velocity, as well as see where an objects velocity and acceleration are taking it. When you use your Motion Sight, can you also see a small amount of Motion in the ground and in stationary objects?”
“Yeah, I can. I don’t know why but I’m guessing that the ground is just constantly in Motion.”
“That is right, but not for what you’re thinking. Recently, Shinian enchanters have created an extremely powerful telescope that can see things at an extremely tiny level. The telescope is extremely large and takes up a room, but it allowed them to determine that everything is made from tiny particles. That doesn’t matter, though. What matters is that they’ve figured out that heat is actually a form of Motion. Each particle vibrates back and forth, oscillating in position, and the faster the oscillation, the greater the heat. I’m sure some Volkarian elder discovered this with their Concept some time ago but, if they did, they never shared it with the world.”
“So that means that even things that are solid and stationary, like this boat, are constantly in Motion and that’s why I can see the ground.” Erin nodded and Sammath closed his eyes, deep in thought, “So that means that my concept extends to heat, as well.” Sammath seemed to be having a revelation, unlocking a new idea of his Concept and, for a second, Erin could practically feel his power activate and something seemed to… change in Sammath. The moment passed, however, and Sammath opened his eyes, looking at Erin weirdly, “I…” Sammath sighed, “Thanks.” Sammath seemed almost hesitant to thank her and ask anything else, “Is… is there anything else that you were going to say?”
“I had two other things I wanted to say. Remind me to tell you about the other one later because I think you may have another revelation . The second one, though, is something I think I can tell you now.”
“I’ll take it. Especially since I’d rather not have my worldview expanded again so quickly.”
“Well, you can’t see me moving and predict my movements because, most of the time, I’m not moving. I wait until the very last second to react and, when I do so, it is as fast as I possibly can. I don’t tense my muscles or react in any way until the very last possible second, when I move faster than most normal people, including you, can process. I do it when dodging and reacting to things so that people can’t predict my reactions. When I’m facing someone as skilled as I am, I move differently because I can’t afford to be so relaxed around them but even for moderately skilled people like you it works.”
“But what about when you’re attacking and I react to the move that’s coming, but then you do something entirely different?”
“That happens because your Concept of Motion doesn’t perceive what I’m doing as part of Motion. You don’t realise that what I’m doing exists. Let’s say I’m lunging towards you in a completely straight line, wielding a sword to try and stab you. My blade is speeding up as it travels towards you, so it is accelerating. When I change the direction of the blade suddenly, I am changing the direction of my blade’s acceleration and you don’t seem to realise that acceleration can also be changed. While I can only change the direction of my blade’s acceleration once it’s started moving because of my Bloodline enhancing my body’s strength, I certainly won’t be the only person able to do so. Because I am changing my blade’s acceleration partway through my attack, your Concept that doesn’t include jerk, can’t perceive the Motion.”
Sammath’s eyes widened as he seemed to have a revelation. Sammath’s eyes rolled back in his skull, the expansion of his Concept clearly too much for him to take. Oh, how much fun it would be to mess with him later by diffusing her entire body with her Bloodline’s power, pushing away any influence that Sammath’s Concept might have on her and countering his Concept Sight.
Erin leant over Ashe and the boy looked up as her body cast a shadow over his face, “Feeling any better?” Erin questioned. She certainly thought he would. Ashe was looking significantly less green, though still not back to being able to move around normally. Still curled up in a ball, Ashe just nodded, and Erin stood up, stretching. What would she do for the next few hours? Perhaps she could practice some basic ship combat. It had been a while since she’d done that and she wasn’t completely certain that she would be as sure-footed on the boat she was on land, like she used to be.
Erin’s plans all went to hell when the villager in the front of the boat yelled out, “Incoming!” Erin looked up the mast just in time to catch Lu’s eyes snap open and for him to pull his katars out from his storage ring with a wild grin. Lu quickly shoved his hands into the forearm guards of his katars, gripping onto the bar inside the katars, and crouched down.
With a roar and a massive splash, a gigantic head reared above the surface of the ocean. Silvery-green scales, dazzlingly reflective in the sun, covered the entire head and ran down the sinuous neck that Erin could see trailed into the water. Tendrils dangled off the snout of the serpent like those from a catfish and massive teeth, the smallest as large as a greatsword, gleamed threateningly and the Cored’s maw was large enough to bite the boat in half, as long as it didn’t try to bite down on the mast. A thin membrane of skin and scale opened like a pair of sliding doors inside the beast’s nostrils, revealing a deep, black tunnel as it took in the air of the surface. A hard ridge of bone ran up the Cored’s head from its snout and over its eyes and spines ran down its neck, disappearing into the murky depths below.
A giant, yellow, serpentine eye, as tall as a door and just as wide, had just enough time to take in the person crouched on top of the boat’s mask before Lu launched himself at the beast with a bellowing laugh and a savage grin on his face. Lu’s katars trailed blades of steel through the air like a ribbon dancer and Lu glowed orange-yellow as he began using his Qi. Fire ran up Lu’s legs, moving onto his torso, arms, and finally head to form a full suit of armour. Vambraces, pauldrons, a breastplate, a simple helmet, tassets, and greaves all glowed white with power as Lu poured Qi into them. The rest of Lu’s armour, made of flexible but still extremely strong fire Qi and which linked the main pieces of armour together, glowed various hues from yellow to red.
“Katar Corona!” Lu shouted out a Technique name, getting caught up in the anticipation of the upcoming battle, and fire seemed to leap out of his hands, encompassing the blades of Lu’s katars in burning fire and making the trailing steel seem like whips of fire.
Finally, fire burst from the soles of Lu’s feet, only barely missing the mast of the boat with the force of the initial eruption, and Lu blurred towards the Cored. A colossal boom echoed out as Lu broke the speed of sound and Lu appeared a moment later as he smashed into the scaled skin of the serpent. With his arms crossed over each other for support, a loud smack resounded through the air as Lu made contact with it and the beast was knocked down into the water with a huge splash, its head trying to move as its body anchored it down.
“GO!” Lu roared, whirling around to shoo at the boat as the first massive wave, from when the beast had first emerged from the murky depths of the ocean below, buffeted the boat and Erin grabbed onto the unconscious Sammath to keep him on board. Ashe frantically gripped the railing of the boat and the sailors, practiced and quick, had already tied themselves onto the boat with rope. Salty water sprayed over the side of the wooden hull and Erin grabbed a piece of rope from the ground. Running to the mast, she wrapped it around the wooden pole and ran back to Sammath, tying it around his waist just before the second wave smashed into the boat.
Even bigger than when the Cored had emerged from the ocean, the wave from it being smashed into the water again collided with the boat, nearly turning it on its side and pushing it a dozen metres before it came off the wave. Rocking violently from side to side, the boat was difficult to stand on even for Erin and the two experienced sailors. Ashe was gripping to the side of the boat, dangling over the edge after being thrown around by the wave. Erin pulled Ashe aboard with one hand and a massive yank, her calloused grip closing around the soft flesh of Ashe’s forearm, and she wrapped a rope around his waist. Jumping across the deck, she lashed the rope around the mast to keep Ashe on the boat.
Rising from the depths, the tail of the serpent emerged from the ocean, just slowly enough for Erin to keep up, with a swell of water cascading off of it and spraying through the air before, suddenly freed from the constriction of the water, it blurred through the air and smashed into Lu. Just before the impact, Lu had whirled around with his flaming katars and created a mesh of steel ribbons that blocked the blow. Tough scales clanged on the steel of Lu’s katars and he was sent flying through the air, his flaming armour spurting fire in the opposite direction to try and slow him down as fiery steel ribbons trailed behind him.
With not enough time to tie herself down using a rope, Erin grabbed onto the mast with her legs and arms and locked them into a chokehold around the mast. Still wildly rocking back and forth, the boat was smashed by the third wave from the serpent’s tail and sent spinning and rocking as it was pushed further away than either of the two previous waves combined had managed. When the boat finally rode up onto the top of the wave, it was nearly fifty metres closer to the shore and the fight was only just beginning. Neither combatant had used anything close to their full strength.
Somehow, nothing had cracked on the boat, but everything not tied down had been lost overboard and it seemed like half the ocean had been washed aboard. Erin released the mast and channelled her Sarin Bloodline, the cold of the moon running through her body as she did so. A small, hollow half-sphere formed in her hands, and she immediately began bailing the boat out, “Get the ship moving!” Erin yelled to the sailors, and they scrambled into action, moving across the deck to the oars and each of them picked one up. Thankfully, their Bloodlines had enhanced the strength of their mortal bodies as the boat was sluggish at best as they heaved the bow around, turning the stern to face the battle between Lu and the serpent. Sammath had been woken up by the violent fight and being drenched in water and he was spluttering around in the calf-high water in the boat.
Pausing in her bailing for a split-second, Erin tied a rope around the mast and her waist before she went back to throwing the water over the side of the boat. Sammath, finally getting control of himself, leant over the side of the boat and spotted a bucket. He seemed to control its Motion as it was pulled towards him and he immediately began bailing water out, alongside Erin. Ashe was using his hands – quite ineffectually – to do the same. Erin risked a glance over her shoulder, just in time to see another wave pick the boat up from behind, sending Sammath and Ashe stumbling and spewing the sailors forward off the rowing bench.
Oars snapped with the loud crack of breaking wood and more water spewed out of the ocean and into the boat, violently spraying everyone on board. Erin had only managed to stay on her feet by grabbing at the side of the boat and clenching to it tightly.
“Both of you,” Samor and Talen looked over, “Don’t worry about getting tired! Just use as much wind, as quickly as you can to get us away from the fight. The waves will get more manageable the further away we get. Lu will also help by trying to draw the beast away.” Both the younger and older, more grizzled, sailor clambered to the back of the boat and aimed both hands towards the sail before blasting wind out of their hands. Lurching forward, the boat tried to jump out of the water but there was too much weighing it down. Erin and Sammath were both jerked backwards as the boat began moving but managed to retain their feet. Ashe, however, was not so lucky and was sent tumbling backwards, into the watery floor of the boat.
Perhaps if the little boat had been intended for use during a storm, the situation wouldn’t have been so dire but, as it was, Erin could tell the boat had slowly begun to sink. It was salvageable, so long as Erin and Sammath could bail it out fast enough, but that would depend on how much distance could be put between the boat and the fight. Slowly, the boat limped away from the destructive booms and roars that echoed in the distance. Wave after wave crashed into the boat, gradually growing smaller as the fight receded and eventually just pushing the boat around. Ironically, the water that made it so difficult to get away from the fight actually helped keep the boat stable when particularly large waves crashed into the side of the boat.
Finally, however, when the waves were just small swells, the sailors were both collapsed on the damp deck of the boat in exhaustion, and only the smallest layer of water was left in the boat. “We should make land.” Erin commanded the rest of the boat. When everyone looked at her, she gestured to the two sailors, slumped on the ground, “You two are exhausted and can’t give us any wind. Sammath can’t propel us forward with his current abilities and I wouldn’t be able to move us at much more than a small clip unless I completely exhausted myself. While Sammath and I are both experienced enough to sail us to the city, there isn’t enough wind right now and we don’t have any oars.
“Plus, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I could do with a nice, warm fire right now.”