Norbert was in a mixed state of fear and bafflement. He watched as Erec roamed around the captain’s quarters knocking on wooden panels in the floor and walls. He seemed so calm and self-assured, as if he had not just announced that some sort of living natural disaster was heading their way.

“aah here it is,” exclaimed Erec as he wrenched a wooden plank out of the wall revealing a small opening. Inside was a chest, which he began to unlock with an improvised pick he had made from one of the captain’s often neglected needles.

“What are you expecting to find in there?” queried Norbert, “and how did you even know it existed?”

“Simple deduction really,” said Erec, “the captain owes most of whatever he harvests from this ship to the Leon family, as he sails under their licence. He struck me as the type of man that would not be happy with only that amount. Most likely he would want to sell mana on the black-market, to keep a higher cut of the profits for himself. He did not strike me as a wealthy man however, and therefore he had not yet begun that venture. Most likely he needed a contact to sell it to, a pity that he did not know Lothair was using him. Lothair could have provided the necessary black-market connection.”

Erec finished picking the lock and swung the chest open. Inside were mana crystals of every known colour. There were so many crystals that captain Bovin must have been skimming for years to have acquired this many crystals without the Leon family becoming suspicious.

“He was most likely saving them until he could sell them all at once. Retire with his ill-gotten gains,” said Erec with amusement in his voice, “I do not have time to turn back whatever is coming for us, even with this much mana at my disposal. Perhaps though I might save a few. Norbert, do you have any crew members that you trust and will trust you in return?”

Norbert snapped his gaze away from the chest and all the riches it contained, “a few. They will trust me enough to hear me out at least, but they won’t take any orders from me if that’s what you want.”

“That will be enough,” Erec assured as he began selecting crystals from the chest, “get those you trust up here to meet with me and be quick about it. We do not have much time before we must act. If the captain wonders what you are doing tell him that the lordling required more crewman to see to the cleaning of his quarters. That should annoy him enough not to ask to many questions, and fit in well with Tristan’s disguise. Go now I have preparations to make.”

As Norbert left to do as Erec asked, Erec began contemplating how much he could etch in the time he had before disaster struck, and what he would need to etch to survive. First, he would need a way to avoid whatever creature was bearing down upon them. He did not have enough white mana to conceal the entire vessel, but he did have enough to cover a small lifeboat. He had not bade Norbert fetch a few crewmen only considering trust, but also out of necessity. Taking a white and blue crystal he began mixing them together in their liquid form in a bowl taken from the captain’s desk. The different colours of mana did not naturally mix even in liquid form. It took a push of his will to have them fuse together to create a new substance. Taking the plank of wood, he ripped from the wall earlier Erec began etching a pattern into it. He could later fix this wood to the lifeboat to conceal it from any living creature. White mana for invisibility and illusion, blue mana to turn aside the mind of any creature that relied on senses other than sight to locate prey.

Next he began tattooing a pattern of silver force mana onto the back of his right hand. This would be a tool of last resort to launch a massive amount of force at anything that was in front of him. Unfortunately, it would launch him backwards at the same time. He only had time to make the crudest version of this magic and nothing more complex.

He also tattooed in green onto the back of his left hand a basic symbol for healing. With it he could heal himself or anyone he placed the hand upon. It would only be a general untargeted healing, but still better than nothing.

Finally, he tattooed grey patterns onto his legs. They resembled tracings of his leg bones. These would allow him to move in quick bursts. As he had been working, crew members had been trailing into the room, including, lastly, Norbert. Such had been his focus on his work, that none had dared interrupt him.

Erec looked far more impressive now, covered as he was in arcane symbols, that the crewmen had watched him tattoo onto his own skin. That had been part of his plan, to convince them of his seriousness.

“Has Norbert explained what we face?” Erec asked the men with a grave expression.

One of the crew stepped forward, “he said nothing other than that our presence was required here.”

Erec nodded slowly, “that is good. Better that I explain this myself. There is no sugar coating this, a death-zone is bearing down on us. In less than ten minutes judging by its speed. Every person on this ship will be dead. I have a plan to save myself, but I need oarsmen to get me back to shore. You have been chosen and as a result you will live. There is no more reason to this than Norbert happened to choose you. There is not time to convince the whole crew or the captain of the danger. Besides even if there were I would not be able to save that many. If you accept those terms, then follow me. Prepare one of the lifeboats for immediate launch I’ll keep the rest of the crew from stopping us. Also,” said Erec with a kick to the now closed chest, “bring this with us I will need it to keep us fed and supplied with clean water.”

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Erec strode past the men snatching up a dagger and a compass that the captain kept on his desk. After a brief pause the men followed him.

Out on deck the storm was intensifying. Crystals were accumulating on the sails and rigging faster than the harvesters could chip them off. Erec’s small group of chosen survivors followed him to one of the small boats. As they began readying the boat for launch Erec took his knife and cut a semi-circle around them.

By this point the crew and captain Bovin were staring at them in confusion.

“What is the meaning of this my lord?” asked Bovin suspiciously.

Erec shouted a reply so that all could hear, or at least those of the crew close enough to stop them, “these men and I are taking this boat. Cross this line to try and stop us and I’ll kill you. Nothing personal just trying to survive.”

Captain Bovin by this point had noticed the chest his former crew members were lowering onto the boat.

“Damn thief, I’ll gut you for this. Men stop them he cannot fight us all at once. He is only skin and bones,” cried Bovin as he drew the unimpressive short sword he carried.

The crew were wary. Erec did not seem worried. Rather he seemed utterly calm. Still orders were orders, and he was only one man. He appeared to only be armed with a small knife.

After a moment of hesitation, the crew charged the semi-circle together. As the first one placed a toe on the carved line, Erec moved. He seemed like lighting to those watching. He met the first man before he took a second step, suddenly appearing with his knife cutting expertly across the man’s neck. Before anyone could react, he moved again, and again. By the time the crew stopped their approach in fear five men lay dead at the edge of the marked off area. All of the men were dead, not injured but dead.

Erec walked slowly back to the centre of his deadly formation. A keen observer would notice that the markings on his legs had dimmed considerably. Erec knew that he could not summon that kind of speed for long again.

He motioned to the men who were lowering the boat behind him. They had halted their work in shock. At his gesture they quickly finished their task.

Bovin was pale with fear and trembling with fury at the same time, “bastard! who are you? You will never make it out there in that dinghy. At least I will have the satisfaction of knowing that you will be rotting at the bottom of the ocean!”

Erec knew he was running out of time. The storm was almost at its height. His oarsmen had all made their way down to their escape vessel.

He ran for the ships railing and as he flung himself over the side, he yelled over his shoulder, “I think I will have a better chance than you captain. As for who I am. I do not know.”

Erec slammed into the boat and shouted, “cast off get us away from that ship!”

Just as the men began to heed his instructions massive tentacles sprang from the ocean. The tentacles had suckers as large as their dinghy. They closed around the ship and in the blink of an eye the Cerf-volant was crushed into the raging sea. On their small lifeboat they were thrown around by the resulting tumult.

Erec came to his feet just in time to see an enormous head breach the water. A large eye considered them with malice and greed. Erec could feel that this creature whatever it was lived off of pure mana. It must passively absorb the mana in the ocean. Unless there was a juicier prize to be had, such as a ship with mana accumulated on it, or a lifeboat with a chest full of raw mana.

“Hold on,” shouted Erec. He made his right hand into a fist and punched towards the eye. As he did so he willed the symbol on the back of his hand to release its energy. A burst of pure explosive force shot from his hand. It struck the eye dead centre and burst it into a bloody mess. Eyes are fragile things even for monsters.

The same force pushed Erec back against the prow of the boat. Erec felt his sholder break as it struck the wood. His fingers dislocated trying to resist the blowback from the massive force he had unleashed. The boat speed off as the force of the explosion bled from his shoulder into the ship. They were carried away at least twenty meters from where they had been.

Quickly Erec used his good arm to open the chest and take out the etched piece of wood he had inside. He also took out a hammer and nail. He placed the plank onto the boat and nailed it to the hull. Then with an effort of will he released the enchantment he had placed on the plank.

The boat instantly became invisible to the outside world. Not too soon, as back where they had been the tentacles returned, thrashing blindly to try and find them.

The crew were wide-eyed with fear.

“Do not worry,” panted Erec as he placed his left hand on his shoulder to heal it, “it cannot find us now. I have hidden us from its sight.”

The healing energy mended the bones of his shoulder and bled down to the fingers of his right hand. He had just enough juice in the tattoo to heal his injuries before the symbol faded away.

“That being said we best try and move east as quickly as we can,” instructed Erec taking out the late captain Bovin’s compass. He handed it to Norbert, “keep us moving the right way, Norbert. We will sleep in shifts. I will strengthen the boat and oars with mana. It should take us a week or so of hard rowing to make it back to Nevares. I will also arrange fish and water for us. Perhaps also an etching or two to keep us warm and dry. There is some red crystal I can use in this chest.”

Norbert and the men slowly came out of their shock. Erec seemed so blasé. As if he had not just faced down some eldritch horror of the deep and escaped with his life. Norbert began getting the men to do as Erec wished. He watched Erec busy himself making markings on the boat and oars. He came to a realisation then. Erec was a man in possession of a great purpose. He had watched as the Gods themselves or some other power had carved a mission into his chest. Whoever Erec was, and whatever he was going to do, Norbert would follow him. Clearly, he had been caught up in great happenings, and he wanted to see where this story would end.