The ocean shifted lazily, reflecting a darker and duller shade of blue than the sky above it. That is, the gray and agitated clouds that covered the blue sky and blocked the bright sun. Not that Liam could see it at the moment.
The boy laid on his bed inside of the ship. Eyes staring straight up at the cold, metallic ceiling. His black coat covered him like a blanket to protect from the chill, which penetrated the otherwise safe vessel he resided in.
His time in Japan went by in a flash. The "vacation" lasted only a week, with a day and a half being dedicated solely to fighting off his now deceased enemies. Compared to that amount of excitement, and dread, the rest of his time there was absolutely drab. Rin mostly did her own stuff, which either involved doing experiments down in her workshop, or going out to do some shopping. Liam himself only occasionally left the mansion when he felt he couldn't stomach being in an enclosed space any longer. Not that living in a ship for another two weeks helped with that sentiment.
On top of all that, he essentially didn’t do any magecraft for the remainder of his stay. Even now he couldn’t muster the energy to move his body, to drag energy through his imaginary veins and change the world around him. The recent events had drained his mind just as much as it had drained his body.
So there he was. His mind and energy rotting like that of an unmoving corpse, although one would argue a corpse should be unmoving. He didn’t even have it in him to react when Rin busted his door open.
The large and heavy metal door swung open to reveal the black-haired magus, who assumed a short sleeve white shirt and large brown pants. Her eyes narrowed upon seeing the dead-but-alive man laying in his bed.
“Are you napping?” She snapped at Liam, although he could feel a hint of amusement in those words.
“No. I just find the ceiling super interesting.”
“Well when you’re done contemplating its Mysteries, I got a job for you down in storage.”
A small grin graced the boy’s face as he swiped his jacket off of himself, sitting up to shove his arms through its sleeves. He secret reservoir opened from deep within Liam. An energy storage that only lent its aid when he had a job to do-one that he suspected had completely fueled him over the past few months. It was assuredly his only source of energy right now, lending him the strength to stand up and approach his bedroom’s entrance.
He followed Rin down the white hallway, approaching the stairs which led both upwards to the deck, and down to the bottom level where the cargo used to be. The stairs were, like else everything on the ship, made up of a metal. The surface of each step had a crisscross pattern etched onto them. They spiraled down to the living quarters and further down into storage, twisting at right angles along the cubic column.
The lights from the living quarters started to dim as soon as they began their descent. Vision faded ever so slowly, the walls transitioning from a pure white colored metal, to a light gray, to an almost black. It was at this moment Liam caught onto an inconsistency.
“Why are we going to storage? There’s no cargo this time.” He questioned after a few seconds. They reached the bottom level before Rin responded. She took a large lantern off from a hook on the wall to her right, twisting a switch to send the light bulb alight.
“Because of this.”
The artificial light revealed the bottom-most layer of the ship. At least, that’s what it was supposed to be.
Rather than revealing a large empty area comprised solely out of black and light grey painted metal, where the cargo had been placed on the journey to Japan, the walls of the storage level were surprisingly small. Dark colored rock covered most of the walls-a reddish brown that slowly seemed to shift to darker and darker tones as more materialized. It seemed like rust to Liam at first, but upon seeing actual formations of protruding rock, that theory was thrown out the window.
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A green-ish liquid that one might find in a swamp dripped from the stalactites of collected rust which reached from the ceiling to the floor. It reminded him of a hand reaching down, the edges of the mineral almost appearing as curves. There were several pools of the substance on the ground, which gave no hint of any metallic makeup. It was completely covered in rock.
“It seems as though the seal on one of the artifacts we were transporting broke when we got here.” The woman to his right explained. She held out the lantern in an attempt to reveal more of the newly created cavern. The other end of the wall was concealed in darkness, the depth of the room being too long for the light to reach.
“Apparently some sort of ghost escaped and took refuge here.” Rin continued before turning back to Liam. “Looks like it tried to create a Reality Marble, but seeing as how this is a boat, it couldn’t set the boundary. So instead, it tried to form its inner world manually.”
That was a term that was unfamiliar to Liam. He had only heard the basis behind Reality Marbles in relation to bounded fields, essentially just a single sentence. Something about switching the outer world for one’s internal world?
“You want me to… handle the spirit?” He asked, unsure of exactly what his job was. Let alone what he himself was doing here. Rin shoved the lantern to the boy, who slowly took it from her grasp.
“Can’t have you lazing about for another week. Besides, you’re tough enough for this.” She gave a grin before slapping his shoulder and making off to the deck. He stood there for a moment, frozen. Did she really expect him to handle this by himself? As he recalled, his last encounter with a spiritual opponent didn’t go so well.
‘Kite, I’ll need an assist.’ Liam pushed with his mind through the connection with the djinn. The blue mass materialized next to him, hovering next to the lantern which he held. Slowly, he stepped through the entryway which separated the staircase from the transformed area. His brown shoes clicked against the rocky floor, sending echoes to the back of the “cave”.
The liquid sizzled as it fell to the rock beneath it, melting through the mineral before collecting into a pool with it’s brethren. Liam maneuvered around such pools cautiously, darting his head from the ceiling to the floor to avoid the acidic substance.
‘I should be getting paid for this.’ He huffed to himself. He already helped with loading and unloading the artifacts before, as well as serving as Rin’s personal servant for the past week. Just as the thought occurred to him, Liam felt something. It felt like a tug, or like something moving just above his skin so that he could feel it, yet have no effect on him.
He leaped to the side, making sure to avoid any nearby puddles of acid. A whip of liquid passed just by where his chest was a moment ago. He knew that feeling he has well: the movement of magical energy.
Looking back to the source, he found nothing. The pool from which the acid had attacked him merely bubbled for another second before settling into stillness.
“You like to hide, huh?” Liam spoke aloud this time. His eyes darted across the seemingly elongated area. His lantern barely helped him in such a place. While the ghost might not be able to manifest his world completely, he could certainly augment reality. Make the darkness seem more dark. The depth of the cavern seem even deeper. As if they were truly in a treacherous cave.
He stood still this time, merely waiting for the next attack. It came quickly, along with that same feeling he knew. The acid leapt from one of the nearby pools and reached for Liam. It desperately tried to burrow into his chest-to make him perish just as the ghost had in it’s life. But the mage simply stepped aside again. Dejected, the ghost retreated into it’s pool. Or at least it tried.
Kite surrounded the invisible creature and swirled. The magical wind pulled the spirit from it’s hiding spot, slamming it against the side of the fake cave.
The apparition took on a nebulous form, the only distinct trait of it being it’s dark brown hue similar to the rust that surrounded it. It felt dense to Liam’s senses, however. It pressed upon the World it inhabited-like a raindrop gaining too much mass, leading to it’s fall down the window.
The boy cursed at Tohsaka for bringing him down here. This thing was way out of his league, especially since it was a spirit. It was strong enough to start haunting a moving ship, and even start to manifest physical effects.
The nature of the ghost, however, had piqued his interest. Seeing the cave imagery within the ghost’s haunting, as well as the element of water inside it, caused Liam to pause before he decided to destroy it.
“What if I made you my Familiar?”
It’s answer was evident as acid surrounded him.