Three days of sun, fun, and the sea. Everyone was having a great time and they got some much-needed relaxation.

By the fourth day, the captain furrowed his brow as he expected to see a landmark that wasn't there on the horizon. He checked the instruments and everything said he was going in the right direction and the map showed the proper course. They had made their first stop two days ago and should be reaching their second destination. He looked at the instruments and decided to give it another hour before needing to stop and get his bearings.

Kelrick and Vex were sitting at the back of the boat with fishing rods. Kelrick was attempting to teach Vex how to fish but Vex didn't have much patience.

Tela had her top adjusted so that she could have her wings out and she flew to her heart's content. A sight that made everyone smile whenever she zipped past with her giggles.

Arthur stood at the top deck staring out into the water. He had enjoyed the four days of peace but his mind wandered back to the issues he was now carrying. He was just eighteen and he became a leader of a large group. He was the only one to encounter and save a giant even if that was kept a secret.

He found out about the Veiled. There were a lot more races on Earth than what he knew. Races that he would never encounter unless it was by chance or purpose. And then there were the undead, a force that was against the living that attacked and occupied labyrinths or in the recent event attacked humans on a massive scale. He knew from Kelrick's memories that there were intelligent undead. Leaders with sentience that may be hiding among the living. He did a trick and forced their hand. It seemed like he was caught in the middle of a war with the undead but didn't know what his role was. As the leader of Camelot, it felt like he would need to make a decision soon. He could feel that something was on the horizon.

After all of that, there was also being a Guardian. He didn't even know what that meant or what the purpose was. He was able to open and close labyrinths. He was able to claim labyrinths. He was also able to move the labyrinth gates so that they could be consolidated into one archway. A feat that no one has ever heard of or seen. Only the people of Camelot knew and they all signed an NDA and a geas to prevent them from revealing the secrets of the group.

He had been studying the book that became pages on his arm. He would read a few pages at a time to digest the information and then discuss it with Vex. Vex never completed reading the book too and sharing that information allowed the two of them to compare thoughts and translations. Kelrick would listen in and give his opinions. Everyone thought that manipulation of mana was always a talent. You release the mana, focus it into action with motions or words, and concentrate on intent. The book went deeper than that, it spoke of structure, building lattice frameworks, and the force of will of the magic user. It even explained that those who do not use the frameworks tend to have effects of short or temporary duration.

He remembered a talk with Jethro where he had spoken with some of the repair people and they said that there were no permanent items. The repair that they do is to recast the spells to keep the effect going. Some of the items procured from the dungeons of the labyrinths had a different structure and could hold the spells longer. The GM did not make them.

Arthur has been thinking out of the box. He had been guiding people in their use of skills and mana, hoping that he was right that people could grow. Most of the GM rankings were arbitrary and they never expected anyone to improve their ability. Recent events showed that it could with a person's desire and a boost of mana. He was learning that he was a catalyst. He augmented Ema when she was a kit. He saw the recent effect with Tela when she evolved from a four-inch-tall faery to a human-sized one. He saw what a few drops of blood could do for the robots. He sensed the potential of people around him. He worried about people doing all sorts of experiments on him because he had so many advantages.

He also learned that the Doll's Heart was merging into him. He had been meditating and watching its progress. He had been trying to understand what the Doll's Heart was. He knew it had a soul receptacle ability. He knew it acted like a giant mana generator with no limit he had seen. He had tested with Shane and attempted to use a lot of mana out of it but it didn't change in level while all the batteries that Shane had created were charged to full.

Kelrick opened his abilities when he merged the elf's memories and abilities into himself. As a universal caster, he could utilize or create any spell that was needed. He had various weapon knowledge and while some were unpracticed, he was adept at using them. He even learned that he received some benefits from the short time of having Vex on his arm.

He had fallen in love with Valkyrie. A warrior woman who was known among the adventurers and part of a group called Valhalla. He didn't think that he would love anyone else but then Danistrae was allowed to show her feelings by his queen. And with the arrival of Ema and Tela, they too became part of his growing group of lovers. None of this was in his mind, none of this was planned. It just happened like it was meant to be. A twist of fate. A destiny.

He felt her presence before she appeared. Amy was climbing up to see him. He waited and felt her light touch on his shoulder. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"Just letting my thoughts review what has happened in the last month. When we get back I think we need to have Shane retest us just for our records. I don't want to update the GM database. We already suspect that the enemy is hiding within that organization," He whispered as he reached up to touch her hand.

"You aren't the insecure shy boy that I met anymore. You have grown more confident. You have shown your ability to lead and make decisions. You still manage to keep your compassionate heart. You didn't fall into greed. Nor let power swell your head. You are a good man Arthur. You won't need to doubt who you are. And the girls and I will always be by your side. Your body has filled out some too. You aren't as scrawny as you were the first time we met at the rental center."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Arthur smiled, "Thank you. I just feel like the small fish in a big ocean."

"We all feel that way, but you aren't swimming alone. Camelot can be dolphins or we could be sharks."

The captain walked up to Shane to ask her something, she pointed up at Arthur. The captain climbed up to meet them.

"Arthur, Amy, Can I speak with the two of you here so no one can eavesdrop?"

"Everyone here are people I can trust with my life. There are no secrets from them," said the young man.

"I need someone to dive under the boat and see if anything unusual is attached to our hull. We seem to be off course and our instruments are acting odd."

Arthur looked over the railing, "Anyone good at diving? We need an inspection of the hull under the ship."

Shane looked up with a grin, "I nominate Kelrick and Vex so I can test the aquatic capabilities that I created on the robots."

He looked over to see Kelrick and Vex stand up. Vex looked happier that he had something better to do than fishing. The two dived over the side.

The captain laughed, "Well at least we don't have to worry about them breathing."

Twenty minutes later the two robots surfaced and brought two black boxes to the back platform.

The captain excused himself to go look at the instruments at the bridge.

Shane came forward and looked at the magnetic boxes. "These are custom-made. Strong magnet to connect with metal hulls. The adhesive here was just in case the hull was a different material. Whoever put this on was careful. There are no outward ports or screws. They might have used magic to close the outer case."

Arthur frowned when his eyes seemed to seamlessly shift to the magical sight. "There's several layers of spells. One of the spells has a wide range to distract us from noticing that something is happening. When the captain comes back, we'll know if the instruments are working. I suspect that we are way off course."

"Both boxes are sending out signals," said the elf as he lightly touched the boxes.

"One is sending outward and downward. The frequency repeats itself. It could be a message to someone or something," said the giant.

The captain returned and shook his head, "The instruments are still acting weird. Is there a way to turn those two boxes off?"

Vex looked at Arthur, "The elf and I can swim out far enough before we destroy them." He reached down to pick one up and tossed the other to Kelrick.

"Do it and hurry back. Captain, I'm coming with you to the bridge. I want to see what changes the instruments do when the boxes are destroyed."

The two robots jumped in. Ema flagged Tela to come down.

The water flew up into the air from an explosion underwater. Arthur looked at the instruments with the captain and saw the immediate changes. The captain cursed while he kept rechecking the location.

Arthur noticed a panel that beeped but it seemed to be beeping at faster intervals. "Captain, what's this?"

The captain looked over with fear in his eyes, "Something is approaching the boat, something huge. And we are in the Bermuda Triangle."

"How big?"

"Bigger than a submarine!"

Arthur ran out of the bridge yelling as loud as he could, "Incoming attack, red alert!"

Kelrick and Vex moved to the front and back of the ship.

Ema and Tela stayed on deck while the rest ran down to get geared up. Arthur grabbed his sword and raced back to the deck. Valkyrie was there with only her axe and shield.

The water became turbulent and the boat rocked up and down. With a speed that surprised everyone on the ship, tentacles rose and slammed onto the deck. The tentacles wrapped around the ship and began to squeeze. Two deckhands were turned into blood splatter on the deck.

"Cut the tentacles!" yelled Arthur as he lashed out with his sword.

Valkyrie chopped at the tentacle closest to her. Bjorn joined her to combine their efforts.

Kelrick yelled out, "I'm engaging underwater." The elven robot gracefully dived into the water. The elf triggered the metamorphosis command for the first time. The body elongated and became a metal swordfish with an actual sword. He swam down to see a large octopus. He used the sword to stab the creature.

Vex gripped one of the tentacles and exerted his strength, squishing the meat out of the attacking tentacle. It looked like a stepped-on sausage.

Shane came up with a laser rifle-looking thing and opened fire on another tentacle. Argent hacked away on the same tentacle.

A tentacle came out of the water and caught Moonglow by surprise and knocked her off the boat. It swiped back and sent Shane sliding down towards Vex but the robot reached out to grab her leg and pull her back onboard.

Tela flew up to get a better view of the creature. It was easily four times bigger than the yacht.

Ema released mana and sizzled the wounded tentacle that Vex had squeezed. The sound of pain mirrored the writing of the tentacles that shook the boat. The sound was high-pitched and hurt their ears even through the water.

The tentacles detached from the ship and changed tactics. One raced for Moonglow and pulled her under. The other tentacles attempted to grab people on deck.

The last deckhand ran out with a grenade and pulled the pin. He tossed it into the water. The explosion rocked the water. Moonglow broke the surface when the tentacle removed itself from her from the grenade blast.

A tentacle came out of the water with Kelrick in swordfish form, a second tentacle trapped his tail fin and yanked until he was torn asunder. The swordfish fell into the water in parts.

"Kelrick!" Arthur yelled and jumped into the water. He doesn't know how long the spirit would survive in a damaged body and he wanted to save him before he was lost.

Valkyrie tried to stop him but was too late to reach her boyfriend. "Vex, help him!"

Vex jumped into the water activating his metamorphosis and became a hammerhead shark. He quickly saw Arthur and swam to fetch him and dove deeper to chase after the swordfish.

The Kraken pulled all its tentacles back and attacked the shark, but the mobility was faster and it missed.

Arthur grabbed a hold of the swordfish and focused on transferring Kelrick back into the Doll's Heart.

Vex turned to start the ascent but a tentacle knocked into him. Arthur was dislodged from his handhold and was sinking. He couldn't focus on anything else other than Kelrick, until it was done he couldn't risk stopping.

Vex turned around to chase but saw the Kraken rise. The beak opened and swallowed water that propelled Arthur and Kelrick into its mouth.

The big octopus waved all of its tentacles slapping Vex a few times before shooting away into the deep. Vex gave chase but the Kraken sped faster than he anticipated and was gone into the depths. He followed for another few minutes before he had to give up and swim back up.