In Kaidan's ears, the sound of the small boat’s engine rang louder than the city-sized one inside Elysium-3 ever did. The difference was too striking to not notice, even though, of course, it wasn’t that loud. And so was the night sky, which he had never seen before as the city would be submerged by the time night came. The upper atmosphere was pure electricity flying around, and unlike thunder, it never came down, an electric storm of enormous proportions to where the eyes could see.

The boat slid through the calm water, cutting it like a knife, with light shining off a brilliant cyan hue under the hull, illuminating parts of the depths. It wasn’t too small of a ship, but everyone onboard could almost hug one another as the cargo covered most of the deck which had only a single inside cabin, where the bridge was located at midship. Most equipment had to be put at the front of the ship, the bow, and the boat’s stern had a small crane attached to a cage almost as large as the back-end area, blocking even the stairs downwards to the inside compartments.

“Are you feeling alright?” Kaidan asked Ayane, who stood by the rail gazing at the ocean right in front of the midship's door leading to the bridge.

“I’m fine, it’s just that the heat and the fish scent made my head go crazy,” she replied. "I have never seen the sky so up close. It's terrifying. Loud in such a way, I can't hear my thoughts."

"Do you think the dome is a better sky then? It's certainly quiet." No sooner than he finished the sentence, he noticed Ayane nodding in disagreement.

"No, that fake ceiling was a prison," her hand teasing the glass case with the flower slowly. "I hope this will work..."

"We're just gonna spend the night in the town. The first thing we do in the morning after breakfast is visit the Tower so we can test the hypothesis."

"It'll take at least two weeks till we can get a result from the flower's reaction, let alone the seeds--" Ayane's sentence suddenly speeded up her speech before coming to a sudden halt.

"I know the two of us only have one year left, but it's enough time," Kaidan softly told her.

"I'm more afraid of getting a negative result and having to go back..." Ayane trailed off and had to hold her head for an instant. "Years underwater and the fish scent got to me just now," she complained.

“it could mean you're seasick,” said a young man coming from the bridge carrying ginger in his hands. He was quite tall and had a faint tan, strong build all around, his clothes, matching the weather, were full of open sections and ventilation, allowing a group of intricate tattoos around his body to be seen. “Eat some, if it’s seasick, you’ll get better.”

“Thank you… Uroa wasn’t it?” Ayane asked, taking the ginger out of his hands. “I think my friend Thomas will need some.”

“Somehow, I feel like Tom’s problem is not that,” Kaidan noted. Tom was sitting on the floor next to Dylan, both at the ship's bow. It was unclear if he was upset, or feeling seasick, or maybe both.

“I’ll get some for him.” Kaidan wondered about Uroa's age, he seemed to be around 19. He had a thick accent, clearly English wasn’t his first language, and one he didn’t speak very often.

“Thanks for all the help, I appreciate it,” Kaidan replied as Uroa left for the bridge. At the same time, a little boy walked off from it. He should be no older than 8 years old.

“That is a beautiful flower miss.” He said looking at the flower Ayane was carrying inside the glass case. His voice was very low and rough as if he was sick.

What would a boy so young be doing here at this time? Kaidan thought to himself. Besides his group, onboard the boat was the captain, who just like Uroa was incredibly young but with a strong build, the little boy and a man dressed in a diver suit who had spent the whole time sitting on a corner inside the bridge, right next to what seemed to be a crossbow or a harpoon weapon of sorts. His fingers were filled with weird rings, strings connecting each one with another ring from another finger, making it akin to a glove. Synchronicity Rings huh? This man can master the dust. Protecting the boat maybe? They mention the waters not being safe at night.

“Do you like it?” Ayane asked as she removed the case from her belt to show him. The boy just answered by nodding. “So, look at this,” Ayane continued. She put the palm of her hand over the glass case and the suit she was wearing started to shine bright, illuminating the plant. The blue section of the petals started to glow in the usual range of fluorescent dark blue to magenta.

The boy didn’t take it lightly, backing away a little. “That is very nice, miss,” he slowly said one word at a time word.

“Are you alright?” Kaidan asked.

“Yes sir,” the boy said in monotone. “I am just not feeling good.”

“KEEP YOUR SHIT AWAY FROM ME!” Thomas screamed from afar. The little boy trembled for a second as everyone’s gaze turned toward the front of the boat where Thomas and Dylan were sitting.

Uroa was standing next to him, the ginger was all over the floor. “I’m sorry,” said Uroa in his thick accent, “I just thought yo’ might be sick.”

“Me sick?” Thomas replied with repugnance. “The only sick people around here–” Kaidan quickly approached and pulled him up from the floor, holding him at his shoulders.

“Don’t say a single word towards the people that are taking care of us”. Every single word Kaidan said was strong and punishing.

“How can you side with them?” Thomas questioned. “How?”

“Hey brother, you’re gonna see–” Dylan tried to help.

“Don’t call me brother. We aren’t.”

“But…” Dylan followed.

“ANTON, IT’S HERE!” Screamed the little boy pointing at the water.

Why is everyone screaming? The boat shook as it hit something.

“Kay, look at that!” Ayane pointed at the water right beside the midship. Submerged, a glowing magenta line, moving like a snake circled the boat. Close to the head, the single line spread into shapes resembling a wing.

The man in the diving suit rapidly moved outside the bridge. “Lian, stay in,” he said. The boy ran inside with the captain without a complaint.

“Everyone, have your shields up!” Kaidan said as a faint blue light started to flow around him and his team. “Do you have your weapons at the ready?” Kaidan asked Dylan while moving his hand towards what seemed to be a squared knife strapped under his lower back inside a metallic case.

“Yeah, we have the guns on those crates,” Dylan replied.

Kaidan ran back to Ayane’s side. “Get into the bridge and stick with the kid.”

“When he said that the water was dangerous at night I thought he meant a storm," Ayane said deeply in thought. "Have you ever heard of an infected water creature? The dust can't merge with aquatic things right?” Ayane mentioned that, like a scientist, filled with curiosity. “I thought–” and then the boat got struck again, shaking slightly.

“Go in now,” Kaidan ordered. Ayane moved into the bridge leaving Kaidan and Anton by the midship's deck. “Were you expecting this?” he questioned, looking at Anton from top to bottom.

“Yes, I’m here to capture it, after all,” Anton replied. “Once I shoot it, bring down the cage!” he screamed to the captain.

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“Go-Got it," the captain replied from the bridge, clearly with fear.

A tail came onboard hitting everything on its way located at the front side, just inches away from Thomand and Dylan. The creature was scaly and more similar to a snake or eel than other fishes. Dylan and Thomas dodged out of the way, for the creature stirred the body around. After he’d recovered his stance from rolling under the moving monster, Dylan started to shoot at the thing but to no avail. Bullets couldn’t pierce it.

“Bullets?” Anton said with a smile in the corner of his mouth. He seemed fascinated. “What are you, primitives? Out here, Rings-” The tail wailed in every direction, and throwing most of the cargo at the front in the ocean. Thomas ran towards one of the bigger boxes, dogging the rampant tail, and as soon as he reached it, he clung to the metallic thing, the length larger than his body size.

“I’ll set it up–” but as he said the words, the head of the beast flung over the ship’s back cargo area. It moved fast, in a manner almost almost as if it was flying.

“It grew…” was all that Kaidan could make out of Anton’s words as the beast jumped around the boat one more time. And then it jumped again, and again, and again, each time covering more of the ship with its body, wrapping around it.

Thomas pressed a button on the box. It began to open, and from the inside, a weapon similar to a sniper rifle, but filled with coils on its pipe surrounded by rings emerged. It was immense, having the length of an adult human, and from its sides, four metal legs sprung from, connecting to the floor, and magnetizing to it.

The boat started to capsize. Kaidan and Aston sled towards the rails while Ayane and the kid fell towards the wall inside the bridge. Thomas and Dylan held on to the gun affixed to the floor as Uroa stood on top of the remaining boxes attached by rope, now sideways, forming a floor for him. Without a single second of hesitation, Anton jumped into the water and vanished into its darkness.

“Ho-Hol’ on tight!” screamed the captain, holding the helm as he pushed a lever on the panel. “It will get shaky.” The crane with the cage began to rise, and the body of the snake surrounding it started to struggle to keep a hold of the thing and tried to apply more pressure. Eventually, the cage broke, and the hook of the crane swung free from it, cutting through the creature’s body.

Blood splashed everywhere as the beast’s body spasmed around, flailing at all the objects and rocking the boat from one side to another. The tail smacked Dylan, sending him flying through the window inside the bridge’s cabin. Kaidan runs through the shaking boat pulling the knife out of his holder. What seemed to be just a simple knife-shaped metal, as the Ring at the edge vibrated, a glow of very faint green to yellow grew stronger on its edges, stronger and stronger the more pressure Kaidan applied to the hilt. He ran and delivered a blow to the tail, which instantly retracted into the water.

“Tom, ready the Maglev. If the blade worked, the Maglev would split the body in two.” Kaidan spoke as fast as he could. Thomas didn’t think much and started to change the large weapon.

“Are you ok?” A breathless Ayane asked Dylan inside the cabin.

“Yeah, I think...” he replied, looking drowsy.

Kaidan started to look around, now that the boat was stable, noticing Uroa was nowhere to be seen. “Uroa!” he screamed.

“I’m here!” he heard a reply coming from below a bunch of boxes. Kaidan followed the voice, but as he moved the boxes out of the way, the tail came once again out of the water and hit Kaidan, sending him flying out of the boat and dropping the knife on the deck.

Underwater, Kaidan saw the silhouette of the creature's true size, and it was immense in a way he couldn’t describe. The cyan light under the boat could only give light enough to see the bright magenta give shape and form to the unseen monster. The head of the beast was not like any fish. It was truly like a snake mixed with an eel. Anton was standing in front of it. Something bright was coming from his suit, something that kept the creature’s attention.

On the deck, the remaining wrapped body of the beast began to apply pressure onto the boat, breaking it like an empty tin can being smashed by a single hand. Uroa grabbed Kaidan’s weapon from the floor and began to slice at whatever part of the body he could see. The creature responded by trying, once again, to capsize the boat.

Underwater, as the body seemed to move independently of the head, Anton took the strange crossbow he carried and prepared to shoot… underwater? But then the cage fell from the sideways boat. Anton skimmed out of the way while Kaidan, feeling his lungs running out of breath, decided to reach the surface. He watched as the cage smashed the creature’s head and broke it out of its weird hypnosis.

Kaidan came out of the water seeing the boat almost completely on its side, lifted in the air, not even touching the water. The cyan lights, once illuminating the depths, now illuminated parts of the snake’s body wrapping the boat and its bright magenta, brighter than Kaidan had ever seen. It was a beautiful and terrifying scene. The sky behind, screaming thunder, helped in it.

The crane spun around from the stern and hooked into the wall of the bridge in the midship. Inside, Dylan, Ayane, the kid, and the captain were holding against the wall, trying not to fall through the door into the ocean water.

Outside, Uroa was at the bow with Thomas and kept himself onboard by holding onto the knife going through the ship’s floor, now deactivating from the glow effect. Thomas winded his legs around the guns’ legs to keep himself in position.

The weapon was almost ready to fire. The energy could be seen going around the coils around the pipe. The Rings around it were vibrating in unison, they called it interlocking.

Anton came out of the water right next to the boat, grabbed onto the rail, and used it to climb back. That was when Kaidan noticed it: The creature was pulling the boat downwards, about to sink it.

Thomas had his finger on the trigger and was aiming at the body of the thing. One shot and it would split it in half. He aimed at it, got ready to pull the trigger, and…

Something resembling an arrow flew towards his head. To dodge it, Tom let go of the weapon while he pulled the trigger but moving it out of position, the energized bullet flew through the air leaving a trace of bright blue with a yellow tip, slightly missing the target, but damaging it enough that the whole creature’s body unwrapped from the boat and delivered back on its size.

As Tom fell towards the water together with the boat. Uroa extended his hands and grabbed him.

The return trip wasn’t as smooth. As the boat hit the water, the crane broke and pulled the whole ceiling and wall from the cabin where the hook had attached. Ayane ducked, holding the boy as close as possible to the floor as the slab of wall sled over their heads.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” Thomas screamed at Aston, who had just shot him.

“The creature is to be captured, not killed,” he replied. “You dying? I think I'd be doing your friends a favor.”

The head of the snake came out of the water. The membranes coming right out its end were so large it reminded them of wings with legs stretching out. The beast looked around, searching for something on the boat. And soon it fixed its eyes on the now-open bridge. It approached it slowly as a snake does, dancing around. Dylan ran towards Ayane and stood there, in between her and the giant thing, as if it would help in some way. The captain was moving the crane lever, but there was no response, after all, it wasn’t there anymore.

Then Liam grabbed the glass case with the flower from Ayane’s waist and threw it away, the head followed it and without even opening the mouth too much, swallowed the whole thing in… with an arrow that came in together. The creature stopped in motion as everyone stood still. Tom made a decision and ran to the rail gun, but Anton was faster and grabbed him, throwing him to the floor.

“Are you trying to kill us?” Uroa complained to Anton as he pointed the knife towards him.

“No, just look at it, a couple more seconds,” Anton shouted.

Electricity flowed all around the creature’s body, sparkles flew everywhere as the creature contorted itself. And then it falls into the water, into a deep sleep.

“Is it dead?” Uroa wondered.

“No," replied Anton. “Unfortunately though, we don’t have another cage. Not that–”

A punch hit his face. “Next time, shoot an arrow at your head, idiot,” Thomas shouted at Anton as the man falls on the ground, Tom over him, punching his face over and over.

The rings on Anton's fingers began to interlock. The dust surrounding the two started to shift to a different color, now visible even without a direct cyan light. Ayane and Dylan pulled Kaidan out of the water. He didn’t take a second and ran towards Tom, pulling the boy away from him.

“Control yourself, you’re a soldier!” Kaidan reminded the man. Without a single word, Tom let go of him and began to move away from the scene.

“And thank you for grabbing me,” Tom said to Uroa, without turning his back, without looking into his eyes.

“Less than three hours out and we almost died,” Dylan weirdly expressed with a sigh of relief. “Guess I should’ve expected it.”

Ayane turned to Liam who stared at the monster's body. “Thank you for that, but…. How did you know that thing would eat the flower?”

The boy didn’t answer, instead, he ran away back to Anton’s side.

Kaidan was silent, staring at the sky and the body of the creature, floating on the water. He noticed on the floor of the bridge, next to the wall, that the book Sean had given him remained intact, not a single drop of water or blood spilled over it.

“You, ok?” Dylan asked.

“Yes, I’m just… thinking,” Kaidan replied in exhaustion. “If the creatures on the sea are turning, then we don’t have much time before all life begins to get to the Threshold.”

“Well, at least I still have the seeds,” Ayane clutched her wrists and raised her hand over her chest with a head down. “If I wasn’t so useless…”

“Don’t be harsh with yourself,” Kaidan said. “You took care of the kid.” I wonder if we’ll have enough time. If we don’t make it in one year, those two will pick up the mission in our stead but… the way Tom is acting… ”

He said those words, looking at the electric night sky, which, in his twenty-six years of existence, he had never seen. He noticed the falling dust, like shooting stars, as crisp and sharp as his eyes could ever gaze, now with a black, electrical background and no glass dome in between. And there, he made a wish.