Emily tried to focus on the job that lay ahead of them rather than the days that had filled the time between finding out Lewis had been captured and when they finally left the city, nearly two weeks later. The ship rocked on the dark waves, which stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. She stood alone at the bow of the ship, watching and waiting for any sight of land.

Ever since she had had the vision or connection of some sort with Lewis, she had struggled to sleep, the images replaying in her mind. Each night she tried to reach out to him again, praying that he was still alive and that he could give them even the tiniest bit of information on what Tristan was planning so that they could try to prepare themselves. After speaking to Anthony, they threw all their original plans out the window in fear that any information might have escaped to the enemy in the short period of time before Thomas had caught up with Captain Riley and Commander General Sulyard.

It had been brutal when Thomas had caught them. She was glad that she had missed the majority of the interrogation, judging by the aftermath. Thomas rarely raised his voice, let alone lost his temper, but he had been like a man possessed. When he felt they had given up everything they had to offer, he killed them both, justifying it as one less asset Tristan could use against them. He had told her that Captain Douglas had been arrested and thrown in the dungeon under constant supervision, but she wasn't sure if she believed him.

'You should get some sleep; you are tired. Every night you are out on deck, always looking into the darkness,' a deep voice with a thick accent said from behind her. It belonged to Jaric Crosse, the captain of The Perlen, a ship they had commandeered for a price in Belsey. Unlike last time, they didn't have Captain Caldwell to call in a favour and had to settle for The Perlen, which she was fairly certain was more used to smuggling goods than transporting people. Still, the crew was friendly enough and had largely left the party they had brought with them alone.

'I tried; I just haven't been able to sleep much the last couple of weeks,' she said. When she didn't turn to him, he appeared at her side, leaning on the bow rail. His long, curly black hair drifted slightly in the breeze, revealing the tattoo of a sea monster that coiled up the side of his neck. Rough stubble spread across his chin, with the odd fleck of grey amongst it. Despite his rough exterior, which was cloaked in a long black coat with salt from the sea spray crystallised around the hem at the base, he seemed like a kind soul.

'The old man, Thomas, doesn't say much, but he tells me you and your people are having a hard time right now. In my line of work, I know better than to ask too many questions, though,' Jaric said. 'There are a lot of you here.'

'Sorry, we wanted to keep it smaller, but there always seemed to be a good reason to add someone else,' Emily said. She had grown frustrated with the process, and just as they were about to leave, something else cropped up. Originally, it had only been herself, Thomas, Robyn, Arthur, Clara and half a dozen of the precursors who seemed the most capable. By the time they had left the city, their group had swelled to include another ten precursors, Lillian, Olivia and Achak, along with four warriors of the Cimant tribe who had arrived with them. So much for trying to move quietly with over twenty of them.

'It is not a problem; while it may seem a lot, you learn fast when owning a ship that for all the specialties you need another person, sometimes two,' he said. 'I'm sure they are all here with good reason.'

They both fell into a comfortable silence, content to watch the waves rise and fall as far as they could see. Almost a whole moon cycle had passed since she had been able to connect with Lewis and see what he had shown her in Oria. No matter how hard she tried every night, she hadn't been able to reach him since then. She was getting more anxious by the day, especially after seeing Anthony released from his bond after what they suspected had been Edmund's death.

If she couldn't connect with Lewis now, did that mean that he was dead too? She tried not to think about it, to pull away from those thoughts, but it was like Jaric had sensed something. 'You know, I have travelled these seas for many years and seen many things I cannot explain but this black fog is something new.'

'What's it like out here? What have you seen on your adventures?' She asked, grateful that she was able to change the subject and distract herself from her thoughts. He smiled at the questions, seemingly satisfied that she had asked rather than speaking about the fog.

'Much of the time you go weeks without seeing anyone other than your crew, maybe passing another ship from time to time. We tend to plot our courses away from the main trade routes, though, seeing as we operate on a slightly different basis from them,' Jaric said. 'It can be quite dull at times, but occasionally you get an interesting job. I recall one from maybe a dozen years ago. A man with more wealth than sense came to us with a map, claiming there was a wealth of lost treasure within a tomb that had been built into a mountainside before it had been swallowed up by the sea. It was supposed to be part of an ancient city.'

'Did you take the job?'

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'Of course. He was paying a high price, regardless of whether we found it or not,' Jaric laughed. 'That money is what I used to buy The Perlen.'

'Did you find what he was looking for?'

'Not a chance; he was looking in completely the wrong place,' Jaric said. 'He told us to look for the tomb and the city, but that wasn't what the map was actually for. The map was supposed to lead to the key that unlocked the tomb.'

Before she could ask, he reached down the front of his coat, pulling out a heavy, bluish key that hung from a leather band. 'You found it; why didn't you tell him?'

'Our job was to find the city; he knew it was a difficult job, and even he had doubts about whether it existed. He paid us half up front, and he would have paid the rest if we had found the city, but I figured, what would be the point in that? There was supposed to be a wealth of treasure buried there with the city, so why not keep the key and try to find it ourselves? That would more than cover the half he didn't pay us.'

'Did you find the city?' she asked. She wasn't sure how she felt about Jaric withholding the information. He had promised them that he wouldn't breathe a word of their journey to anyone, but now she was beginning to doubt him.

'No, I have tried; believe me,' he said. 'I had all but given up on it until I met your party. How strange of fate to lead you all aboard my ship, a whisper of the Temple of Ruins amongst you.'

'That was what you were searching for?' Emily asked.

'Not that specifically. The Temple of Ruins was located in a city called Avalkan that was lost generations ago,' he said.

'You said it was swallowed by the sea, though; isn't the temple supposed to be somewhere in the desert?'

'I don't believe that it was always a desert. Of course, there are many theories as to what happened to Avalkan. One of them dates back to the Age of Chaos. It was a time before the world took the shape that we know now. Not everything was as defined as it is now, and most of the planet was unruly. The elements themselves pulled at one another, trying to take control. Where they clashed, there were fissures of chaos.'

'The people who came before sought to control the chaos, to harness the elements for the betterment of the world. It is where the precursors are said to originate from, born out of that elemental chaos with the ability to wield it like an extension of themselves.'

'I thought the precursors originated from the Fires of Creation? It was also supposed to be the only way to destroy a precursor as well,' Emily said. Lewis and, while she had been travelling with them, Olivia had mentioned it a couple of times when she had asked about what had happened before they had arrived in Porthton.

'That is partially true. It does have the power to destroy a precursor, but it is only one of the places where precursors once originated from,' Jaric explained. 'Each of the elements had an origin. The Cloud Spire belonged to those with an affinity for air; The Everglade for earth; The Crystal Cascade was the place of those who commanded water, which, so the story goes, was at the centre of Avalkan.'

'In the most turbulent time during the Age of Chaos, Avalkan was threatened so severely that those who led the city decided that it was no longer safe for it to remain where it was. They took the power of the water and used it to sink the city into the depths, removing it from the world into its own safe haven that they believed would be impossible to reach.'

'Eventually, the Age of Chaos came to an end, and the other birthplaces still remain, although they are hidden away, some more so than others. The chaos brought to the world by the elements was sealed away, each to their own domain but with just enough of their energy left behind to create the world as we know it.'

'Where did you learn all of this?' Emily asked. She had always taken the world at face value for what she saw and knew. Beyond that seemed to be this immense web that everything was built upon. She suddenly felt like she was back in the city, trying to unravel the tapestry and figure out how there could be two Lillians in one place.

Jaric reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small, black leatherbound book and handing it to her. 'Here's something for you to read if your struggle with sleep continues,' he said. 'Before I get back to work, I do have one request, though. Myself and my crew will assist you in any way we can. You have paid well for the use of my ship, and I know you have needed our silence, if not now, perhaps in the future. I offer you a trade for our silence until our souls offer no more words: you will take us to Avalkan so we may recover the treasure.'

'What if I can't promise you that?' she asked.

'You paid for your journey to the shore near Arcadia; you did not pay for a return journey. If you intend to mount a rescue operation, then surely you will need an escape route?' Jaric said with a wink.

He had her stumped. She knew they had paid well over the odds for the journey that would see them arrive at the tiny port close to Clara's village on the basis of discretion and no questions being asked. There was no way they would have been able to get anyone to take them, at least not without an explanation that would give away too much information they wanted to keep to themselves. 'Alright, you've got a deal. But if you want to get to Avalkan, you'll need Lewis; he's the only one who knows how to get there.'

'Very good, you have my word then. My crew and my ship will be at your disposal until we have Lewis safe and sound amongst us and are on safe ground.'

Emily couldn't help but feel uneasy as she took his hand, with Jaric giving hers a very firm squeeze that was enough to make her wince. He seemed not to notice. 'I'm going to try and get some rest; thanks for this, by the way,' she said, holding up the book half-heartedly as he walked beside her, making for the helm of the ship as she headed back below deck.

'Not a problem. Rest well; dry land should be upon us before much longer; I imagine you're going to need it,' he said, taking the wooden steps two at a time without looking back in her direction.

'Equilibrium: Taming the Elemental Chaos,' she muttered to herself, reading the silver title that was stitched into the leather cover of the book. With a yawn, she tucked it under the pillow of her bunk, climbing back under the covers. She closed her eyes, allowing the sound of the waves outside to wash over her in the hope they would bring her sleep as she tried to reach out to Lewis once more.