Zalan blasted the fish-like monster before it had an opportunity to attack first. The creature jumped out of the water, avoiding the blast. It was larger than Zalan imagined it would be. At least half the size of The Aegeusson. It had red, hateful eyes looking upon Zalan with hungry intent. The end of its nose stuck out like a swordfish. Rather than a pointed end, it was more like a spiked club like the creature was spliced with weapons of war.

“Ah, a Poniwhale,” Nold remarked. “Good practice for you. Go on, take it out.”

“It just dodged lightning! How did it know to dodge?” Zalan said.

“Perhaps it has been hunted before?” Nold said. “Try and surprise it with lightning summoned from the sky! No way for it to dodge such a surprising blow!”

“I don’t know how to do that!”

“You do! You have done it before! You just need to concentrate!” Nold encouraged, sounding impassioned in his insistence.

“It is getting closer!” Rep said, preparing to throw flames.

“Poniwhale off the port stern!” Captain Buttonwillow screamed, pointing. “Prepare for an attack!”

The crew was quick to move. Zalan lost his footing for a second as the boat’s balance shifted quickly out from under him. Xavier and Enzo put extra force in turning the boat toward the right to try and make more distance. Zalan recovered, and ran closer to the edge of the ship to get a better shot. The Poniwhale was catching up quickly, looking powerful enough to make a huge hole in the ship.

“Turn it around with your water, Nold!” Zalan said.

“Strike it, quickly!” Nold said. “Concentrate and get it from the skies!”

Rep and Zalan blasted fire and lightning toward the monster. It dove underwater to avoid both blasts, then returned to skimming the surface. It was less than one hundred feet away.

“No more fire from you, Rep. We need to preserve the ship. Magnolia! Captain Buttonwillow McKittrick will not be done in by a Poniwhale! Kill it before it hits us!” the captain ordered.

“I am working on it,” Magnolia said, putting a green ring on her finger and pointing her arm out. Zalan recognized the Artifact. It was a Ring of Range, able to extend how far one could use their Elemental Power. In front of her, a tight, dense, ball of sand was forming.

Zalan tried another blast of lightning, redirecting it as the Poniwhale slid out of the way. The electricity ran through the water and reached its target. But it was only enough to slightly slow down the monster. It was too close now. It jumped out of the water, mouth wide. It would swallow about a third of the ship.

Magnolia fired her sand, and it blasted through the air like a bullet. It zipped through the air so fast, that Zalan could hear it slicing through even from dozens of feet of distance. The dense packing of sand passed through the Poniwhale’s head and killed it instantly. But it was too late. The creature was already airborne, and its corpse came down toward the ship, its mouth slack. The spiked club at the end of its horn was pointed right at the ship, coming in with multiple tons of force.

“Prepare for impact!” Captain Buttonwillow screamed.

Rep and Zalan gripped tightly to the edge of the boat. Nold stood alone, not grabbing onto anything. The monster crashed into The Aegeusson, throwing half of the craft upward and flinging Zalan clean off the ground, flying toward the ocean.

“Zalan!” Rep said, reaching his arm out and missing his friend as he flew through the air.

“Help!” Zalan screamed, not knowing which way was up as he spun violently into the sky.

He covered his face, bracing for impact with either the boat or the water. Instead, he was buffeted by powerful air that slowed his momentum. He opened his eyes and saw Xavier hanging on to a mast. With his free hand, he used his Elemental Air to bring Zalan safely to the ship. Behind him, Zalan heard something large splash into the water.

The ship bobbed powerfully as it rebalanced itself. It pitched unpredictably, throwing all those aboard off balance. The Poniwhale’s horn left a large hole in the side of the boat, rapidly taking in water. The Poniwhale’s body floated next to the boat. The sharp fin along its back scraped against the ship and opened the hole even wider. The first monster had delivered major damage.

Zalan felt himself up and down, making sure he didn’t break anything in his body. Then, he looked around to assess the boat. The topside looked totally fine, but it was slowly beginning to tilt toward the port side as it took in water.

“How does everyone fare?” Captain Buttonwillow’s voice came distant.

Zalan looked over the edge of the boat and saw Captain Buttonwillow swimming, having been flung overboard. It occurred to Zalan that the noise of something splashing into the water was the captain and not a piece of the boat. For some reason, Xavier decided to grab Zalan instead of his captain.

“We are fine, captain!” Enzo called over the side. He spun his arms. Water around Captain Buttonwillow pooled up and rose him to the top of the ship. Xavier approached him and quickly dried him off with Elemental Air. Captain Buttonwillow looked around the ship with a proud smile, nodding to himself as the water left his clothes. The Aegeusson was tilting slowly to one side.

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“Well done crew! We live to travel another day,” the captain called. He applauded them with gusto. His crew cheered, save for Magnolia who looked around like she was missing some inside joke.

Zalan looked to Rep on the other end of the ship. They were angled slightly away from one another, Rep higher than Zalan. Rep stared back in horror. Captain Buttonwillow was proud of the result. The ship was clearly sinking. The journey had ended almost as quickly as it started, by a single creature. Yet the captain was smiling gallantly at the men and women aboard.

“Now then. Enzo, keep us afloat. The rest of you, come to the lower decks and assist in closing this puncture,” Captain Buttonwillow said.

Zalan’s eyes widened with shock at the order. He looked over the side of the boat. The hole looked like a motorcycle crashed through it. There was no way they could fix it before they sank. He touched the Homeseeker lightly, looking to Rep. Rep was running across the boat, having detached himself from his tight grip on the railings.

“Are you hurt?” Rep asked.

“No, I’m totally fine. Xavier caught me.”

“Thank God. Let us go assist with the repairs,” Rep turned to run down the lower decks.

“Wait,” Zalan stopped him. “Shouldn’t we get out of here with the Homeseeker? We might drown down there. Water is filling up super fast.”

Zalan pointed over the edge of the boat for Rep to see. Rep took a peek and turned back, chewing his lip. It looked worse than he originally thought.

“You want to abandon this so soon? There is no guarantee that we can find another way to the Island of Remains,” Rep reminded him.

“Hey! Get to the lower decks!” Nold said, sounding strained. His face was going red. “Or do you want us to sink?”

“Are you kidding me?” Zalan snapped at him. “If you had attacked the Poniwhale before it got a chance to hit us, we wouldn’t be in this mess! If anything, you should have been the first one downstairs!”

“I understand that I miscalculated your willingness to harness your power. But why do you think the boat is upright once more?” Nold asked.

Rep and Zalan finally took note of the single prominent vein protruding from Nold’s head. He was helping to keep them afloat with his Elemental Water Power. Zalan hadn’t noticed that the boat stopped tilting further. If anything, it felt like it was trying to get back to its balanced state.

“How do we know that Enzo isn’t the one doing most of the work here?” Zalan challenged.

“See for yourself, then get downstairs!” Nold ordered, another vein poking out of his reddening face.

Rep and Zalan turned to Enzo to see him on his hands and knees, his face pink as he caught his breath. It was pretty clear to Zalan he wasn’t using his Elemental Power at the moment. He couldn’t hold an entire boat up on his own at his level of Wisdom and needed to take a break. Nold was holding them up singlehandedly. Rep and Zalan checked on their instructor who was now closing his eyes with strain. The red in his face was darkening to a purple hue. Rep and Zalan looked at one another, then bolted to the stairs to the lower decks.

“If it looks like a lost cause, I’m still using the Homeseeker!” Zalan said.

“I agree. Better to leave this ship behind than to not leave at all! But we need to make clear our plans with the captain. We will need all of us to gather in one place in order to take all the crew with us,” Rep said.

“Hopefully sending them back home won’t be too big an inconvenience for them. Who knows where they could be from?”

“It will be better than being dead, I assure you.”

Rep and Zalan heard Captain Buttonwillow barking orders from the lowest floor and followed the sound. When they reached the bottom step, their feet sloshed in water. It was at ankle height, with water flowing in. It gradually rose as they walked across the deck.

“Rep! Zalan! You should not sully your precious feet with such menial work. This is intended to be handled by the crew. Please, go upstairs and relax,” the captain called over the firehose of water crashing through the hole in the ship. He looked too calm for the situation. It made Zalan feel even more stressed about the potential for sinking.

“We want to help!” Rep said.

“We don’t want to sink!” Zalan added.

“Everything is under control,” Captain Buttonwillow assured them with a beaming smile.

“It doesn’t look like it!” Zalan said, kicking his foot to show how high the water had risen. “Do we need to abandon the ship?”

“Abandon The Aegeusson?” Captain Buttonwillow gasped, deeply offended. “I know this is your ship, but it does not deserve to be abandoned over such little scuffs!”

“Scuffs!” Zalan pointed at the gaping hole with wide eyes.

“Captain,” Xavier said, trying to regain his attention. He was blasting at the water with as much air as he could, pushing against the water that tried to fill the deck. He was doing a very poor job holding it back.

“I think the owner of this fine vessel should have some respect for it,” Captain Buttonwillow said like a father scolding a child.

“Zalan,” Rep said, pointing to his feet. The water was up to their knees now.

“That’s it, we’re out of here,” Zalan said, Rep nodding in agreement. Zalan pulled out the Homeseeker. “Grab on, this Artifact will warp us home when I activate it. Hurry. We need to go back upstairs to get Nold and Enzo.”

“Warp back without the ship?” the captain asked.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Ready? We need to go up and get the others so be ready to run. We’ll only have a few seconds,” Zalan said, holding the Artifact out for the others to grasp.

“Absolutely not! You may travel back, but my crew and I will remain with the ship! We can meet you in the docks,” Captain Buttonwillow said firmly.

With a snap, another hole cracked through the ship and shot the Homeseeker out of Zalan’s hand, dropping into the opaque water at their feet.

“Apologies, I did not mean to delay you from leaving if that was your intention,” the captain said sincerely.

Rep and Zalan knelt immediately, fruitlessly trying to feel around for it in the flowing water.

“I can’t find it!” Zalan said, panicked.

“Neither can I! The water flow must have carried it away!” Rep said.

“Calm down, we can handle this,” Captain Buttonwillow said with his usual confidence.

Zalan looked up to the hole in the ship with real dread. If they didn’t find the Artifact in time, they could drown.