For two hours, the sea remained calm. We watched as the continent faded into the distance, while Felix admired the binding essence coursing through the ship. The water surrounding us made me feel at ease, and with everyone I cared about with us, I felt good. The only complaint I had was our speed.

The ship didn’t move very quickly. I wished that it moved at a faster pace. However, when I had asked one of the sailors about it, had told me this was a regular coasting speed. Steam ships that ran on coal and alchemy had replaced sails, but they weren’t optimized yet. Thus, many steam ship engines overheated if they were pushed to their limits. As a result, steam ships moved at slower speeds unless they needed to.

Still, it wasn't too bad. Even if we weren't moving as fast as I had hoped, we were still making good time.

Eventually, as I watched the ocean pass us by, my mind drifted off. I started to think about our destination.

We were heading towards an archipelago that lay south of the Zelyrian continent. It was formerly known as 'Zanna' by its inhabitants, and was conquered by Damilius 50 years ago. It was a large archipelago, about three times the size of Damilius. It exported a lot of different plants, such as cocoa beans and medicinal supplies. It was also rather sparsely populated. Despite being three times the size of Damilius, it only had ten million inhabitants. Rainforest covered most of the archipelago, and so much of the inner continent was ruled by poisonous plants and animals.

I was glad Felix had chosen this colony as our location. The prevalence of disease and poisonous animals meant that doctors would be highly valued there, so Trish and I would be very welcome. Furthermore, the area had large metal reserves, so Felix would have plenty of materials to experiment with. It was a good new home overall…

As I was drifting off into thought, I saw a few black dots on the horizon. That was enough to shake me out of my contemplation.

At first, I thought that they were bugs that were flying near us, or Worldstriders flying across the ocean. So far, the Worldstriders had ignored the sea, but that didn't mean they were incapable of leaving the Zelyrian continent. I had no idea whether they could fly across an ocean without collapsing from an exhaustion, but perhaps it was possible. But as I continued to observe them, I realized the black dots weren't Worldstriders. They were boats. And they were getting closer.

I tensed up, wondering if pirates were about to attack us. Then, I realized the boats weren't very... seaworthy. I suspected half of them would collapse after a day or two at sea. They looked more like civilian fishing boats than ocean-traversing vessels. Soon, I started to hear the faint voices, although it took me a while to piece together what they were saying.

“Help us! Please!” yelled a woman. Even with my absurd Perception, I could barely make out her voice.

I guess they're not pirates, I thought as I observed their ship. Pirates wouldn't be trapped in ships that might sink at any moment. I started to feel nervous for a different reason. Would the people in those boats sink before they reached us?

I squinted at them, and started trying to figure out a way to save them. It might be difficult, but with my healing magic, I could heal them while they were drowning. Swimming to each person and saving them would be difficult, even with help. The closer they got to the ship, the easier rescuing them would become...

I froze when they got close enough for me to see something more... peculiar on their ship. The little dinghy of a ship had an engine, but it was very different from a proper steamboat engine. It looked like someone had slapped together a clunky mess of alchemical affixations onto a pre-existing sail. Then, instead of adding a normal steamboat engine to it, they had strapped a train engine to the sail. Somehow, they had linked the two together using affixation. However, even though I knew almost nothing about alchemy, I could tell the entire setup was a mess. The fact that it worked at all was a minor miracle. I suspected it would fall apart at any moment.

"Felix, do you see that?" I asked, pointing towards the boat.

Felix frowned.

"Vaguely. It looks like a couple small civilian ships. What are they doing here?"

"Take a look at the engine," I said, before using the communication bracelet to share my field of view.

“That… looks like some of the messiest affixation I’ve ever seen,” he said. It sounded like he was caught between awe and disgust. “I can’t tell if that’s genius, or the worst craftsmanship I’ve ever seen. What the heck?”

“Will it hold long enough for them to reach us?” I asked. Unlike our boat, they looked like they were making full speed towards us, and their eyes held a gleam of hope and desperation in them. They were straining their engine beyond what it could handle, but they didn't seem to care.

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“It should,” he said. “The connection between the engine and the sail is very fragile. Affixations aren't usually used that way, because it's a terrible link. But it’ll hold for another hour before it gives out. They'll reach us in half an hour or so.” Felix squinted. “At least, that’s my guess.”

I started to relax. They would reach us alive, then. We could figure out what to do from there.

It took another few minutes before other people noticed the enlarging black dots. A few of the sailors started frowning and glancing into the distance, before one of them blinked in surprise.

“People! There are people in the distance!” He frowned. “What is a civilian craft doing this far off shore? I thought those boats weren’t made for anything this far out. They don't look like lifeboats either. I don't remember any ships passing through this area, so they shouldn't be refugees from a shipwreck. What in the world...?” The man shook his head, before turning towards one of the other sailors. "I'm going to get the captain. I see civilian ships, and they're in trouble." Then, the sailor dashed below deck.

A few minutes later, the captain appeared. He gave the refugees on the dinghy, waterlogged boat in the distance a frown, before he sighed. “Turn the boat towards them, and slow down. We’re only a few hours away from shore. We can ferry some people back if need be. It'll be inconvenient for everyone, but I won't let civilians drown.”

A few of the other passengers nodded at the captain’s words. It would inconvenience everyone a bit if the boat sailed back to shore before starting, but most people on the ship weren’t heartless. It was only a four or five hour detour anyway, at least in theory.

I had a sneaking suspicion things wouldn’t be so simple.

I confirmed my suspicions once the smaller boats caught up to us and we helped the passengers board the ship.

“What happened?” asked the captain, as he helped the last of the passengers onto the deck. “Did you get into some sort of accident? Your boats don’t look like lifeboats. What are you people doing out here?” The captain frowned. “Sit tight, we’ll turn the boat around and get you guys back to the mainland in a few hours. You can tell me about the details below deck. We’ll also get you warmed up with a nice bowl of soup, so -”

One of the civilians shuddered at the captain’s mention of the mainland.

“No! Don’t bring us back to the mainland! It’s dangerous!”

The captain’s frown deepened.

“Dangerous?”

One of the other passengers nodded so frantically that they resembled a bobblehead. “The mainland is dangerous now! We have to get away from it!"

The captain's confusion grew, and he frowned. "Explain."

The rescued civilian shivered again, and then looked at the sky. "The sky turned darker and darker. At first, we moved towards our basements, like the town criers told us to... but that didn't help at all. After an hour, we started to hear this awful singing. The closer the darkness in the sky got, the louder it was. Then, people started screaming and covering their ears. A few minutes later, people started bleeding out of their eyes and nose. People tried to help them, but then they started getting hurt too. Then, the air started shaking, as if it were an earthquake.” The passenger shuddered. “We need to get away from the darkness in the sky!”

I frowned. Weird singing sound? How... odd. I was reminded of the sound Project Nightsong made during battle, and how it had incapacitated Anise and I in the Worldstrider layer of reality. Was this related?

The captain bit his lip, and then eyed the direction of the mainland again. It was obvious that he was thinking about what the passengers had described. At first, he seemed disinclined to believe them… but after several seconds of silence, his gaze hardened. Finally, he sighed.

“What you describe sounds unbelievable. But I won’t risk the lives of my passengers. Welcome aboard. We’ll continue to our original destination and wait for news.” He grimaced, and turned towards one of the sailors. “Also, check for fishing gear and any ways to whip together rain collectors. We brought some extra stock of food and water, but we should start preparing for any supply shortages in advance. We have twenty more mouths to feed.”

A few sailors started helping the new passengers situate themselves. Several people were asked to share a room, and luggage was shifted around. Trish and I volunteered to give them medical checks, which the new passengers gladly accepted. Then, I started thinking about supplies. Our ship only had about a hundred and fifty people on it to begin with. Adding twenty mouths for a two week voyage would strain our supplies. However, while that would normally be a problem, I resisted the urge to grin.

I used my soul-sight to check the ocean around us, and saw dozens of little fish-souls in the ocean below our feet. I hadn’t bothered searching for them before, but with my soul-sight, finding edible food wasn’t hard.

As for water… my dress had plenty of freshwater in it. Explaining where I got it would be a challenge, but with Felix’s knowledge of alchemy, we could make something up. People probably wouldn't think too much about where we were getting the extra drinking water from. Saving a few dozen people’s lives would also be a good source of influence Achievement. Every little bit helped.

I was also glad that I had moved us when I did. I had no idea exactly what had gone wrong, but it was obvious the worldstriders had done something, and Project Nightsong had gone haywire. Even if I didn't understand the details, I was glad we had left when we did. We could figure out the details when we heard news later, but getting to safety was what mattered the most. And with my help, we wouldn’t even need to struggle to feed the new passengers of the ship.

Although the sailors and the captain seemed worried by the sudden news of the mainland catastrophe and the new passengers, I relaxed. I couldn't hear or see any spatial disturbances, and we were getting further away from the continent. In addition, we got the chance to save some people and earn a little more Achievement. It was a good sign of things to come as we sailed towards our new home.