"…Caleb?" Kyron asks after staring in confusion for the last four minutes.

He's not the only one who's stared in confusion, and I'm not sure why they've been doing that. Is what I'm doing really that unusual?

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking."

"Caleb… what, exactly, are you floating in?"

I'm floating in the exact center of four stone spheres about seventeen inches in diameter and perfectly smooth, apart from the bluish-green markings that make them resemble eyes. Smaller stones float around in four rings, and streams of water flow between and around the eye-like stones and the smaller ones, as well as drifting from the center, where I am. The water here in the center is holding me up, suspending me in the air.

This is a rather large formation, and it's quite comfortable.

"This is Enziakos."

"This is… what?" Kyron asks.

"Enziakos," I repeat. "The Elder Spirit who rules the spirits of this area? He's helping me think, so he's conjured some water and stone to hold me up."

"How does that help you think?" Kyron asks.

"If the Haunted Ship actually is just a ship with a spirit bound into it," I say. "Then it would help to get into the mindset of such a spirit. I'm thinking that it's actually a water-earth spirit, like Enziakos. That would make sense – water to help protect it against the water and give it a smoother travel through the waves of the ocean, and earth for the durability enhancement. If they used a stone-elemental wood, then that would work."

"So the short version is that you were trying to think of a gift that might please the spirit of the Haunted Ship, if there is one?"

"Yes."

"You could've just said that."

"Without an explanation, it makes little sense."

"Did you think of something?"

"No," I answer as Enziakos sets me down, leaving me completely dry as he returns to his human form. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes," Kyron answers.

"Meredith! Tasha!" I call out as I wave. "We're leaving now! Bye!"

[Flight Wind]s wrap around me and lift me up into the air. Kyron joins me up here as we soar away, beginning the journey towards the Haunted Ship. It takes us a few hours to reach the ship due to pacing ourselves instead of rushing, and we begin hovering in place at the inlet.

Clouds fill the sky as far as the eye can see, and I vaguely remember that being the case last time I was here. There's something off about the clouds, and now I want to investigate those, too.

Priorities, I remind myself.

The inlet is only a few hundred feet wide and about a thousand feet from the ocean to the back. Cliffs between twenty and forty feet in height border most of the inlet, only half of the inlet having a rocky shore.

The cove itself is a cave within the cliff at the back of the inlet, and I think the ship's inside at the moment as I can't see it on the waters. Based on what Tasha told me when I asked for as much information as possible, it should be visible from this height if it had left.

Situated about two miles north of the cove, right on the edge of the continent, is a small town. Even after a thousand years, it hasn't grown too much. I'd estimate it to have barely more than two thousand residents, most of whom are either farmers working the fields outside of it or fishermen sailing a little bit into the ocean to catch fish.

They don't go too far into the ocean, however, as they'll end up facing monsters. I can spot a couple of their fishing vessels a couple of miles off the coast. At least, I think they're fishing ships. I doubt anyone else would sail that far away from the coast, not even merchants.

"What do you think?" Kyron's voice reaches me through our [Flight Wind]s.

"Let's head down into the cove for a few minutes," I tell him. "Check out the ship. After that, we'll go to the town and ask around, then return to the ship and do a more thorough investigation."

"Why not just go to the town first?" Kyron asks. "Or the thorough investigation?"

"And this is why I'm the mage and you are not?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We do a quick check," I say. "To see if anything's changed since the last time we visited the ship, a thousand years ago. Also to refresh ourselves, since we were both younger when we visited it, and less experienced. There might have been things we missed.

"After that," I continue. "We go to the town and ask questions based on what we've observed, learn their local legends about the ship, and whatever other information we can acquire. We then return to the ship and, using the information we acquired from the town, perform a deeper investigation. This will save us the most time, if there isn't a spirit or if there is one but it doesn't reveal itself in our first visit."

"Ah."

Kyron and I fly down to the inlet and face the cove. The ship is sitting inside of it, looking grand and majestic, constructed of a dark brown wood and looking as new as the day it was constructed. We both investigated it before we met, though no one other than I back then suspected it was from another continent.

The ship lacks any masts, and its figurehead is shaped like a merman, fierce and proud.

We fly forward and enter the cove, landing gently on the ship's deck. Orbs of fire form in the air before us, illuminating the area around us for better viewing. The feeling of being observed begins the moment we enter the cove, and I pay extra close attention to the feeling as we explore the ship.

The feeling is as if the entire ship itself is watching us, but not just the ship – the air around us, the cave, and even the water within the cove. Almost as if whatever force is observing us has infected everything around the ship.

"Cay?" Kyron asks as we begin returning to the deck. "Have you figured anything out?"

"No," I answer. "This feeling of observation is honestly quite disturbing. Even more so than when I was eleven, not long after the ship landed. Either I'm better at sensing this, or the observing force really has spread over the last thousand years. I'll need a lot more time to break down the concealing on the ship's enchantments so that I can get a good read on them and figure out what's going on. Not actually do anything to the enchantments themselves, just to figure them out and how to get past it without affecting it."

"So you can already detect them?"

"Yeah," I nod. "Also, the dimensions of the halls and rooms don't make sense."

"What do you mean?"

"There are secret halls and rooms."

Though I'm not able to find their entrances with this quick check. Whoever built this ship really knew how to hide them. It will be an interesting challenge, but I still want to head into town before investigating things more deeply.

"Really?"

"Yeah," I nod. "Which lends credence to the idea that there might be a crew using some sort of magic item to keep themselves invisible, but it doesn't explain why it feels like the air, cave, and water are all watching us, too."

"Hm…" Kyron muses. "So what now?"

"We head to town and asked questions," I answer.

"Mrow," a tiny voice catches our attention as we reach the deck of the ship.

Sitting only a few feet away from the steps, watching us, is a cat. Its fur is primarily black as night, but its paws, the tips of its ears, and the tip of its tail are a whitish-grey that darken to the black and there are bluish-green markings in its fur. The cat's eyes are bluish-green as well, and a small bit of water flows out of the back of each paw, creating a wisp-like appearance. The water doesn't drip down or anything, as it's actually a part of the cat itself.

"Aw! You're adorable!"

"I thought you hated cats?" Kyron comments as I pick up the little cat.

"I do," I tell him. "But this guy reminds me of home."

"He does?" Kyron asks. "How?"

"Because you're the same breed as some of the cats from back there, aren't you?" I ask the cat. "Yes, you are! You're a breed that's not native to this continent, aren't you, little guy? You most certainly are. That means your ancestors must have come over on this ship, didn't they?"

"Mrow!"

"And that means this ship really did come over from the continent I'm from, doesn't it?" I ask. "Because this breed of cat was only found in one spot over there, wasn't it? And I doubt that some came over from another way and then decided to live here, which means this is definitely your ship, isn't it?"

"Mrow!"

"I normally hate cats," I tell the cat. "But I kind of miss home and since it's been a thousand years since I left, that means no one from home is really going to be around, isn't it? I'm sure Dad could live this long considering how powerful he was as a Master-Tier mage, but the universe would've offed him about a century after the war."

I hug the cat against my chest, feeling more homesick than ever. Kyron decides to give me a hug, and the cat scrambles as if trying to climb upward without claws. After realizing what it's doing, I move the cat onto my left shoulder, and it rubs its head against mine.

"Once we're done dealing with stuff on this continent," Kyron tells me. "Visiting old friends who are still around and rebuilding our power, we'll build a new airship, Caleb. Then we'll head back there. It may not be the same as it was a thousand years ago, but considering how much spirits like you, I'm sure you have some old friends there that are still around."

"Yeah," I wipe away the tears that started to form. "This breed of cat actually belonged to one of them – he developed them based on his own preferred form."

"Really?" Kyron asks.

"Yeah," I reach up and scratch the cat behind the ears, and it leans into my hand. "But his form was a little bit different. He didn't want them stealing the show. The main difference was the chest and the top of his head – he had a grey-white spot on the top of his head, darkening into the black like the rest, and there was a heart-shaped spot like that on his chest. Akrazdionn also had a pair of feathery, bluish-green wings in his cat form, though darker in color than typical of the element of water."

He also created this breed of cat about half a century before I was born, which means that the ship may have actually set sail after I'd left the continent with Rezovekk.

I look around the ship, an idea coming to me.

"Hold on," I separate from my husband. "Let me check something real quick."

I hurry over to the captain's cabin and open the door, then approach the table sitting in the very center of it. After examining it for a minute, I walk around the table so that I'm on the side opposite the door, then I take a deep breath and place a hand on the table.

A few moments later, a map of the area forms atop the table, an illusion created through light magic, an advanced form of air magic.

"What the-" Kyron stares, then shakes his head. "How did you know how to do that?"

"My father helped build this ship."

"Are you sure?" Kyron asks.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Yeah," I answer. "Thinking about Krazzy made me remember that Dad was sometimes asked to help create the enchantments for a ship. Specifically, ones that were meant to go deeper into the ocean than usual. We had some islands off the coast that took about three days to reach, and one of them had a pretty decent Specialty Dungeon on it. It was owned by our kingdom, and some of the resources that could be harvested in it were extremely valuable and well-sought."

"And made up for the resource cost," Kyron says. "Of creating a ship that could handle any potential attacks by monsters from the ocean. You did recently reveal your father was as spellsmith. He did ships?"

"Mostly weapons and equipment," I say. "But yeah, he knew how to do enchantments for ships. All of the ones I saw had sails, though… anyway, the spellsmithing they wanted him for was actually this. It was an invention of his. Basically, it uses a variation of [Air Scan] to scan the surrounding areas. The variation doesn't just read objects, it even detects the colors – what we see as color is just waves of light that get reflected back to us from the objects. There's also a bit of [Water Scan] there as well, for detecting underwater threats."

I point at a glowing spot on one corner of the square table.

"Notice how we're in the center," I tell Kyron. "And the ship's orientation on the map matches the direction I'm facing? That glowing spot represents north. The scans Dad did only extended about five miles, but… that forest is about ten miles north of here. This is an even more powerful version of his enchantment."

"So after you ran away," Kyron says. "Someone commissioned your father to help out with a ship more powerful and durable than any other."

"Maybe," I say. "But building ships isn't like building a house using stone magic and some enchanting. They typically take a year to a year and a half. That's just for ships that would travel a few days. This was one designed to travel probably two or three months through ocean that had even more powerful monsters than that. Whoever commissioned this ship, they must have had research going into it for years already."

"Because they wouldn't need just defenses," Kyron says. "But defenses more powerful than any other ship. They'd also need magic weapons to help deal with the monsters, as there simply aren't enough people who can do that."

"Yeah," I nod. "Dad probably built this and the magic weapons for it."

"What kind of weapons?"

"Probably some form of overpowered blasting-type spell," I say. "Such as something that shoots high-power [Air Orb]s at a high speed so that they blast right through the flesh of monsters. Or [Stone Orb]s. Maybe even magic items that shoot [Fire Beam]s. There was no one better than Dad back home, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was him who was commissioned for that."

I wave my hand, and the illusory map vanishes.

"The weapons are probably hidden with magic as well," I say. "And if Dad was asked to help with the final enchantments… that might be why it's lasted so long. If he was asked to help with a ship designed to cross the ocean, he probably went all-out and figured out a way in just a couple of months to give it a more robust power supply for the enchantments."

"Which would result in it lasting for a thousand years," Kyron says. "So there's no one here, but the ship continues on. Why does it keep leaving, then? That would suggest someone's acting, either a spirit or a person. Unless it's magitech, like you're also thinking."

"I don't know," I answer. "I'll need to study the ship more to know. But why would someone commission such a ship? That part doesn't make any sense to me."

"Maybe your dad wanted to track you down?"

"No," I answer. "This ship showed up too early for that, and like I said, it was likely in development for years already. Besides, we'd have known if my Dad was here."

"Why?"

"He would've stood out," I answer. "We'd have heard rumors of him almost immediately. Plus, he was a true mage. A very powerful true mage, and one who was more than two centuries in age. We'd have noticed the ripples he created almost immediately."

"Ah."

"Also," I say. "It probably would've taken him at least two years to figure out I wasn't on the continents anymore. That's also if Tyzlevir wasn't interfering to prevent him from noticing. Remember – Tyzlevir arranged things so that I could come here and bloom into the powerful mage that was at my core."

"And your dad was overly protective of you," Kyron says. "And this ship showed up before you had a Class. Considering how much you were already doing back then he'd have probably found you pretty fast."

"And then taken me home," I nod. "This ship may have been unmanned."

"You mean that it came here alone?" Kyron asks.

"Yeah," I exit the cabin and make my way onto deck. "It's possible that the ship may have actually left entirely on its own. We feel like we're being watched. There's clearly a mind of some sort here, be it spirit or artificial. What if that very same thing just… up and left? There are so many questions I have… let's head out."

"Going to town?" Kyron asks.

"Yeah," I answer, thinking as we finishing walking onto the deck. "Though considering the ship was made by my dad and has this breed of cat… I guess it could have actually been constructed at any point before my departure as well. It's even possible that it set off before I was born.

"You coming with us, little guy?" I ask the cat.

"Mrow," he responds, nuzzling my cheek.

"Alright," I say as [Flight Wind] wraps around me. "Let's head to town."

Kyron and I take flight and soar over to the town. Instead of landing outside of we, we fly straight to its center, the market area. There's an interesting fountain there, and I examine it as we land.

I'm fairly certain it's supposed to be a statue representing a spirit.

The statue represents a slender young man standing 5'9" in height, standing on his left foot. Not completely, however – his foot is lifted up as well, so he's only standing on the front of it. He's smiling lightly and has his left hand held up to the sky, water spraying out of the palm. More water flows out of the palm of his left hand as well, which is more relaxed by his side, facing backwards.

His dick is as erect as any spirit's, and what tips me off to his status as one are the bands around his ankles and wrists. They're made of the same nearly-white grey stone of the statue, with bluish-green and whitish-grey crystals set into them. There are three on each wrist and each ankle, and I realize that they're seemingly detached, just like the other indicator of it being a spirit.

Floating above the statue's head is a stone halo of the same stone as the statue, also set with water magic crystals and air magic crystals – I'm certain they used real ones in the statue, rather than ordinary crystals that can be used as their representations.

Now that I've noticed the detached state of the halo, bracelets, and anklets, I realize that the statue itself is also floating. While the water flows into a basin that has some holes in the bottom of the walls to let water flow out of it (children will play in that part on warmer days), there's no base for the statue itself.

The walls of the basin are a little more than two feet in height, and the water itself is exactly two feet in height, a difference of only an inch and a half between its top and the top of the walls. Floating on the surface of the water is the statue, the spirit's foot barely touching the rippling water.

"Do you think that's the same statue from a thousand years ago?" Kyron asks in our old language after I examine it for a few moments. "Or do you think it's been replaced."

"Dunno," I answer. "I never came to the center of town, so I didn't even know there was a statue here. I mean, I'd kind of assumed it because, you know, most towns have a statue in their market square, but I didn't know for sure, nor what theirs looked like. Hey! Excuse me!"

"…how did you get him to ride your shoulder?" The man I'd flagged down – speaking the local language – asks. "He doesn't like being picked up."

"Really?" I reach up with my left index finger, and the cat nuzzles it. "He seems nice enough, and that's even when considering that he's a cat."

"You know him?" Kyorn asks. "Not just cats like him?"

"There's only one cat like that around here," the man says. "He lives on the Haunted Ship, but comes to town every now and then. Likes to steal fish."

"Only one?" I ask. "What about the rest of his clan?"

"It's only ever been the one," the man shrugs. "For as long as anyone can remember. We don't know what breed he is, but we do know he's several centuries in age."

Several centuries? If this is the only one of his breed ever here, then he's probably the same one that came over on the ship. He's a thousand years old.

Did Akrazdionn really develop a breed of cat that can live for thousands of years? I guess it's possible, especially considering that a cat is extremely unlikely to be able to create any notable ripples. They're too insignificant and don't have enough intelligence and power for that. The universe would never try to wipe them out.

"Well, he's pretty friendly, and that's even when considering he's a cat," I tell the man, then indicate the fountain. "Who's the spirit?"

"That's Eikrikodoz," he answers. "An ocean spirit who presides over the region. He's a spirit with the aspects of water and air, and as long as we keep him happy, he blesses with us whatever weather is best for us, allows our crops to grow, and ensures our ships come back safely."

Kyron doesn't even need to send me that glance for me to know something's up.

"What's wrong?" Kyron asks as I start scratching the cat's head again. "And I mean beyond the obvious distrust you have of us. No doubt because we're both unknowns, we're clearly capable of long-distance flight since almost no one uses [Flight Wind] unless they are, and my husband's friends with a cat that dislikes all of you."

"It's nothing."

"You guys upset Eikrikodoz," I say.

"It's obvious," the man says. "That you two are here to look into the Haunted Ship. You somehow knew how to bribe an ancient cat. If you want to investigate the ship, then investigate the ship. Leave the town out of it."

"We're just-" Kyron begins, then takes a deep breath. "Ten… nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three.. two… one… Caleb, I'm trusting the gods and am handing this over to you."

"Okay!" I hold up my right hand, and spirits of water and air begins to glow above it, along with a random spirit of fire that's apparently in that space at the moment. "Look! Spirits!"

The man's eyes widen as he stares at the spirits glowing there.

"Mrow!" The cat happily tells the man, flicking his tail.

"I know, right?" I ask. "There's clearly something going on with Eikrikodoz at the moment, but they're refusing to tell us because they don't trust us. I mean, I guess they've had plenty of tourists here who've been pushy and caused problems with them with their research of the Haunted Ship. Plus, if someone who dislikes them – such as you – is friendly with us, then how could they trust us to not be hostile, either? But anyone who sees spirits appear like this just at the whims of another person and then refuses to tell them what's going on with the local Elder Spirit? What do you call them?"

"Mrow!"

"Yup!"

"Are you… talking to the cat?" Kyron asks.

"Yeah," I scratch the cat's head. "I've been able to communicate with them my whole life. It's not as clear as you might think, though. I can get the general impression of what he's trying to say. For example, he just said 'moron'. Well, it better translates into-"

"Mrow!"

"Exactly!"

I poke the fire spirit, which erupts into a fireball for a few moments before returning to its normal state.

"Hey! That was awesome!" I say. "Do you think if I did this-"

I poke a water spirit, which turns into a giant orb of water for a moment before returning to its natural state.

"-the silly man would realize that the spirits are playing with me?" I ask the cat.

"Mrow!"

"Maybe if I did this?" I point at the man, and all of the water spirits shoot forward, swarming the man as hundreds more appear.

For the most part, the spirits just swarm around him. Some touch him, and where they touch, there's a burst of water, soaking him. A light wind is blowing at the moment, so he's getting chilled even more by that.

"Mrow!"

The cat jumps off my shoulder and starts trying to catch the spirits with its mouth. He actually successfully grabs one, then returns to me and jumps back up onto my shoulder, opening its mouth to reveal the spirit sitting on its tongue. After the cat's mouth has been open for a few seconds, the spirit floats up off of it.

"Who's a good boy?" I scratch the cat's head. "You're a good boy, aren't you?"

"Mrow!"

"I don't care that you're not a dog, I find them much more likable than cats."

"Mrow!"

"Don't you be indignant with me!"

More spirits reveal themselves as the cat and I bicker, most of them spirits of water or spirits of air, though a good fifth of them are spirits of earth, and less than five percent of them are spirits of fire. I can see a handful of spirits of lightning here as well. Spirits really do like me, and even lesser spirits will react to my presence and interaction with spirits, but this is… unusual. I normally have to try more to get this to happen.

Regardless, it seems to be working as it's drawing a crowd of people around us. As that builds and the cat and I bicker, I remember something.

The cats that Akrazdionn created could also interact with spirits. It was ten years ago for me and I was just a kid, but I do vaguely remember Krazzy showing that off to me.

"This is your doing, isn't it?" I ask the cat in my original language. "Yes, it is, isn't it?"

"Mrow!" He cheekily confirms.

"Well," I look at the man, waving my right hand a little to tell the spirits to fade from sight once more. "The cat here is linked to the spirits. More specifically, his breed was created by a foreign Elder Spirit. I'm well-liked by spirits, and that's what drew the cat to me and made him friendly towards me. As you can see, the spirits here are quite fond of me and will play around if I want them to."

"Y-yes," the man says.

"So as you can see," I say. "The fact that spirits will react to me in a positive manner suggests that Eikrikodoz may actually talk with me and let me discuss things with him. I'm already planning on talking with him as I have a few questions for him. If you tell me what's wrong, I'll even talk with him about the situation going on here and what it is you all did to piss him off. I may even be able to convince him to accept an apology."

"We didn't piss him off," another man approaches, this one looking at least sixty years of age, but is probably older than that considering his Mana pool. About fifty-eight years ago, he suddenly stopped granting us protection on the ocean. We've lost many fishermen from this, and many have moved. We went from a city of nearly four thousand to a town of barely two thousand."

"Do you know why he stopped?" I ask. "Could he have moved?"

"Spirits can move?" The man looks shocked.

"I only just discovered that some can do so on a whim," I nod. "And I'm quite accustomed to dealing with spirits. Specifically, Elder Spirits can, and Eikrikodoz might be one, or might not be. If he's one, it's possible he moved."

"We believe he's still here," the elderly man tells me. "That was around the same time a pair of men claiming to be the Sage of Fire and Saint of Frost showed up to this town. After finding out the men were frauds, we thought maybe they had offended Eikrikodoz, but the spirit no longer came to us."

For a spirit to stop providing protection, it can't be temporary residents who did it. No, the actual people who benefit from it must be the ones who offend them. Something these people did upset Eikrikodoz, and it was around the same time the frauds were here. I can hazard a guess as to what it was, but I'll need to speak with Eikrikodoz to confirm things.

"Do you know where he lives?" I ask. "Not just this region in general, but his actual home?"

"No," the man apologizes. "I'm nearly a century in age, and I've never known of even a rumor of where he makes his home. Since he's an ocean spirit, we know it's there, but the ocean is a vast place, even just the area within his domain. We cannot hope to go as deep as he may be, and that's assuming his cave is even accessible from outside of it."

Most spirits have their core domain for where they keep their treasures in some sort of cave that's sealed in all directions. It's impossible to enter without either permission or using magic to open a way in.

"Hm…" I muse.

"Mrow!"

"What about the clouds?"

"The clouds?" The man asks.

"Yeah," I say. "The cat was trying to convey something about the clouds to me."

"This region is covered in clouds at all times," he tells me. "We do not know the cause, but our ancient ancestors made a deal with Eikrikodoz to allow us to flourish here. The spirit allows our crops to grow, prevents devastating storms, and most of the time, allows them to let a little bit of sunlight to pass through, such as now. He still does that, even after whatever has upset him occurred."

The sky is still full of clouds, but they are only grey, not dark grey.

"Mrow!"

"I think I understand things," I say. "Eikrikodoz lives up there, rather than in the ocean."

"Are you sure?"

"The cat is certain of it," I say. "Sir, we'll be back once we've spoken with Eikrikodoz, and I'll let you know what he says the issue is and what he'll require as an apology. We should be back tonight. Kyron, let's go."