It was during the night when the world was covered in fogs. There was no sunlight coming out of the clouds. Most of the ships in the tailbone of the Island had separated.

The sailors thought it was another day in the Great Seas. A day where they would experience nothing more than the usual calmness. Then spears of light pierced through the clouds and broke the dimness of the world. Revealing these strange formations hidden by the cover of the darkness.

When light shone on the formations, the sailor watching from the crow's nest turned his eyes to these objects and fired a colored flare to the sky to bring attention to the whole fleet. The fleet spirits saw this and halted the advancement of the fleet.

When the fleet slowed its movements, the Elder Spring's tree revealed a light that showed the fleet what was blocking their way.

***

Gabrio was woken up by the commotion made by the fleet. Robert knocked on his cabin door loud enough to wake him up as well. He followed Robert to the top deck and saw the structures connecting these spires and towers. They were woven together to form these strange buildings.

The wind blows around these buildings creating this sad sound. Gabrio thought that it was that of a child calling out for help. No, the sound was all around them.

It was the cry of a dead world calling out in tears.

A civilization that has once prospered is now buried under the water. The glorious shapes and sizes of these buildings couldn't have possibly been made without techniques... and yet it was under the sea.

There was silence among the fleet. They took in the sight of this dead civilization and wondered if this was the fate of those who lived under the great seas? Or was this their future as well?

"What happened?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Gabrio said. "Nature won in the end. I wonder how long this world has been drowned."

Robert stayed quiet. He stared at the structures while the silent fleet started to gather around the entrance of this drowned world. Gabrio waited for news to come. He returned to his lodgings and did his work, and when Robert returned, he informed what he had heard from the others.

There was a lot of distance to cover and from the looks of it there were only little paths that they could go through. Not to mention that the farther right or left they go, there would be these buildings blocking the fleet's way. Not to mention the land formation that was tall as a mountain.

Listening to Robert, Gabrio followed him back to the top deck and let him point out these obstacles blocking their way. Gabrio saw these obstacles and thought they were like the mountains in Aon. They were big enough to block some of the sun's light, and these seem to be the tip of these mountains.

Gabrio found it hard to stay on the top deck. Ignoring the sounds that the buildings and the mountains were making was hard for him.

Gabrio followed Robert back to the lower deck, where the noises made by the area couldn't be heard. Gabrio knew that the people had the right to become anxious after seeing such a spectacle, an example of a dead world. Gabrio entered his clinic and found himself sauntering to the desk, where he tried his best to turn his attention back to work.

He waited for more hours before receiving an official notice from the Captain and the Officers of the Fleet. Invited, he joined the meeting of the essential crew of the Grand-Galleon. There were talks of raiding the surviving buildings and finding out what happened.

What drowned this world?

That was the agenda during the meeting. Most were clueless and there was simply a question asked during the meeting if they were going to do something about it and cooperate with the rest of the fleet to turn stones. Gabrio had little opinion of what they may do. It was out of his jurisdiction and it wasn’t his responsibility to explore drowned ruins. That job was for the crew of the Milostiv and the People of the Grand Fleet of the Reconnoiter Company. He had no reason to join and that the Captain wouldn’t allow him to join any exploration crew unless it was necessary for progress.

As they discuss the possibilities and what they should be doing. Caldor Ando and the Son of Light himself came walking in with his group. Captain Malfor accompanied them as he took the center of the room.

“Calm, I say calm,” Captain said to the crowd. “I'm sure that there are many questions, and for now we will have the Lady explain something to us,” he turned towards the scribes. “Note down what the Lady will say.”

Caldor’s group remained on the side. A group of multi-colored lights appeared and revealed the Lady of the Grand-Galleon, Lady Eletha of Roan. She was shining. Her appearance made the lamps look so dim as she hovered her gaze all over the crowd.

“The Mountain Cities of the Sons of Forge-Makers,” she said calmly. She silenced the crowd with her ethereal voice. “They were once rulers of the Great Sea despite their small-stature. Natural explorers and brave people who created wonders. Back during their Era of Old, they were always the one who led the creation of machines. And yet here we are in the founding country of those Forge-Makers.”

The crowd quieted. One of the men asked, “So this is the birth of the Red-faced Folks?”

The Red-faced were always red because of their fondness for creating machines and that when they bathe under the sun too much their face becomes like a red fruit. Gabrio had met most of them red-faced in the Western Wilds of Aon. Some call them short despite most of them being average in height. They have huge muscular frames and he had seen some of them in action during the last days of the Unification War. Even had the pleasure of operating one of them.

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“So you're saying that this is the home of my ancestors, Madam?”

Karl, the Head Smith of Milostiv asked with a rather excited tone. Lady Eletha of Roan acknowledged. “Indeed, this might be one of the forge-makers' founding lands. Unfortunately, it seems the Great Seas wasn’t so kind and we have come too late.”

Karl lowered his head. Lady Eletha remained her stare then motioned Caldor and his group to take the center with her.

“The Forge-Makers are the masters of machine-craft. Their metal-work is one of the best that the world has ever seen. Right now we are under the city of the best craftsmen and we are lacking… materials.”

One of the officers raised a hand. “So what do we do?”

“There will be a method. We plan to connect Arkshelled Island to the mountains and if we are correct then there are parts of these cities that are not completely flooded.”

How come they are trying to take something from a mountain city drowned by the Great Seas? Gabrio thought. Or are we really lacking materials? We spent a lot of resources fighting in the Icean Spine.

Captain Malfor faced everyone.

“Now, I know that some of you are worried about exploring cities submerged under the sea. Nonetheless, my friends. We must make use of this time to scavenge materials and there is also a possibility that we may find folk under the cities.”

There was a hubbub as he said that. If the forge-makers are still alive then it might be a blessing to the fleet. Nonetheless, Gabrio thought that there were still many questions needed to be asked before they proceed with such a mission.

Terin Gaspar watched with a calm gaze. “I will open a path if need be. My sword can tear through the black gates of the Icean Spine, so I assure you that it can tear down the walls of the Forge-Makers as well.” The confidence in his tone was natural.

In the past few months in the sea. Terin Gaspar had shown a bit of acceptance to the power he carried within him. He also saw how said power started to grow heavy in him. The weight of said power gave him a great responsibility that made him quell the emotions that weighed against the responsibility.

Of course, that was what Gabrio thought of Terin’s situation. He was one of the many people in the fleet that cared not for his service. As long as he basked under the light of the sun he could recover from any scratch or injury. Not to mention that he was always trying to control the stream of power gifted to him.

With the Son of Light backing them. It was not hard to convince the people of Milostiv to agree with the plan. Not that they had plans to disagree knowing that there was really a need to get scavenge materials for the Fleet.

“It seems that we have an agreement regarding this matter. The Milostiv and its people will now focus on retrieving any resources that we might recover from these cities.”

With the meeting over everyone was dispersed. Gabrio was about to return to the clinic when Captain Malfor hollered at him. He stayed put while everyone slowly left the room they were in.

“A word, Doctor,” Captain said.

“Sir, how can I help?”

“I need you on standby during the exploration. There might be accidents and it would be best if a doctor is close,” he went on. “How are our people, Doctor?”

Gabrio looked around. “Good. The ship doesn’t roll around. Helps that they can stand on the floating island and take their minds off that we are in the middle of nowhere, lost in the Great Seas.”

“We aren’t that lost.”

“I’ve noticed that they have more than they know.”

“Some of it is a secret, but even fools could tell that there are secrets that our elven friends do not want to share.”

“So did they know this city?”

“Perhaps,” Captain Malfor said. He motioned Gabrio to do so as well.

Gabrio settled down and leaned his elbow on the table. “Kinda strange that they seemed to have already had this in mind.”

“They should. Sometimes I don’t know what the Admiral is thinking, Doctor. Nonetheless we follow the Admiral and we really do need to salvage some resources to keep this Grand Fleet of ours afloat.”

“So how are they going to dive down?”

“There are boys here who can hold their breath and we have the diving bells. You know Ishma?”

“Whaler boys?”

“That’s right. He plans to lead the exploration. Some of the elven-kin’s vitae are going to be joining us in this exploration as heavy-lifters. Those tree-armors can lift rubble and it helps having the elven-kin close. The boys trust them greatly after the Campaign in the Icean Spine.”

“Who wouldn’t after seeing them in action? Taking down many of our enemies.”

Gabrio saw how fear was replaced with respect. The Treants of the Ark and the Elven-kin proved their worth and even if they do have problems with the kin. They know it too well that it was better to be friends with them than suddenly turning against them.

“Do we know where to start?”

“We do. Robert, was it?”

“Sir?”

He gestured for him to come. “You take him with you. Ms. Mana will be with us.”

‘Mana? Why?”

“Ms. Mana’s helping around. Her Vitae is sturdy and she’s a practitioner. We’ll need her Artes as well. It doesn’t hurt to have both on our side.”

Gabrio looked at Robert, “So Robert, Mana, and I are going to be part of this. But what about my duties?”

“It’s fine. You have that boy Wiles around. And my friend, you care so much about our people that perhaps it might be time that you let them worry about their own health. Besides, it’s good for morale to have you ready to care for them.”

“Captain, will there be trouble?”

“Why do you think we are gathering vitae? Of course there might be.”

“Are we expecting some of them?”

“Yes and no. Let’s just hope that we only find monsters in there, Doctor.”

Captain Malfor thumped Gabrio’s shoulder before he left. Robert leaned against the wall of the room. “Guess peace tims is over, Doc.”

“Guess it is. I better teach Wiles some things.”

A drowned city with eager explorers and folks who might kill us for being there, great.