Chapter 01

Jack and O’Kallan.

Fish was on the menu. The ship surged forward as it crashed through another large wave. The sun was hot and blared upon all of us. At least two hundred adventurers and the ship’s crew. Sails were filled with wind, cloaks filled with wind, and the people were filled with chatter.

My clothes kept me warm, charged with enough mana in a warming rune to radiate me with heat. My face and hands were the only cold part of me. I slurped at the broth in my bowl and picked out pieces of a fleshy white fish. The seasoning was still to be desired but it was food, and food was good to have.

“Morning,” Jack said, arriving by my side with his own bowl of fish broth.

“Jack,” I said. “Morning to you too.”

Jack was a quiet fellow. We’d been at sea for a week now and it was only yesterday that he’d first spoken. To anyone. Out of everyone aboard, he’d opened up to me first.

Jack was a difficult man to talk to. He didn’t like conversation all that much. He seemed to easily tire of talking and just stop doing it. He stopped talking. Clammed up. Which didn’t bother me to much since I enjoyed the silence more than most people. I thought that was maybe why Jack preferred my company. It was easy to simply be quiet around each other. Except for today. Jack seemed to have a lot on his mind today.

“What are you traveling for?”

“I’m looking into holy planes. I’m on my way to align myself with Vicen the demi-deity of light healing.”

“Vicen? Light healing?”

“Yes. What about you?”

Jack sipped at his broth. The ship heaved and we braced ourselves. The ship crashed through another wave and surged. If the water remained so violent, I knew I’d lose another night of sleep.

I’d all but forgotten that Jack and I had been in the middle of a conversation when all of a sudden he said, “I’ll be getting off on the same island. I’ve got some business to do with Vicen at some point. Until then, I’m free as a bird. I’ll probably quest around for a bit.”

“Are you aligned with Vicen?”

“No.”

“Is that what you’re going for?”

“No.”

I knew I wasn’t going to get more information from Jack. It would have been nice to learn more about Vicen, since all I knew was from a book I’d read.

“What’s your proficiency?” Jack said.

“I’ve gotta say, Jack, this is the first time you’ve said more than a sentence to me.” Jack sipped his broth. “Level 1300 flagstaff. Healer class, if you hadn’t put that together quite yet.”

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“How would I have put that together?”

“I’m on my way to see Vicen, the light healer.”

Jack cocked his head and gave me a look. A frown.

“I wouldn’t have put you and Vicen together,” he said.

“Really?”

Jack plucked out a piece of fish from his broth and slurped it down.

“Alright,” I said, “well what about you? What’s your proficiency?”

“Level four thousand. Right around that number.”

“In what?”

The ship surged over another wave. From then on, Jack didn’t say another word. We simply finished our fish and broth in silence. Then Jack grunted and turned to leave. Judging by his trajectory, he was heading below deck through the deckhouse. On his way through the deckhouse doors, Jack bumped into O’Kallan, the ship’s mage.

O’Kallan gave Jack a warm smile as he scooted around the adventurer and patted him good naturedly on the arm. It was always pleasant to see O’Kallan. For more reasons than his uplifting spirit and good natured personality. Now that he was up and about, it meant, we would be sailing smoothly until evening.

The mage had a boisterous volume to him. I heard he’d been born at sea, lived at sea, and has never set foot on shore before. The sea was his life and his services were in dire need for seafaring merchants and transports.

He spoke with the captain as he rolled up his sleeves. The captain handed him a bowl of food and they chatted. Though I could barely hear them over the roar of the wind, I knew how their conversation would go. Same as it did every morning before O’Kallan put himself to task.

“Morning O’Kallan.”

“Morning captain.”

“Fish?”

“Fish. Again.”

“I love fish. I know you get tired of it.”

“Well, I’ll be docking for a week on Vicen’s island this time, so I’ll get a nice break from fish, fish, fish.”

“You think islanders won’t be serving fish?” O’Kallan said.

“I know a spot where they serve steamed buns filled with meat. Land meat.”

“A week’s a long time. Longer than usual. You getting tired, old man?”

“Yes. Yes I am, O’Kallan.”

O’Kallan wolfed down his food while the captain digressed for a bit. They chatted for a bit longer until they clasped hands and the captain walked off. O’Kallan made his way to the center of the deck and stopped in the middle of an engraved rune. One could lay down to measure the diameter of the rune from head to toe.

O’Kallan lifted his arms and spread his fingers. His fingers danced, moving with a watery motion. The rune glowed a bright white and O’Kallan lifted off the deck by a few meters. That’s when his spell began to take shape.

A large bone-white glowing form encircled the giant ship. Fins and a tail formed on the end and sides. The head of the form inflated until it resembled the ghost of a giant whale. The whale moved, heaving its tail. Then it dove beneath the waves.

I looked forward to this every single day out here. Otherwise I wouldn’t be up so early. Adventurers came out from below deck. They formed a crowd that spilled all over the deck to watch as we sunk below water.

The form of the whale held back the sea. The sound of the wind was cut off. Waves that crashed on the surface broke with white surfs. The sound was slightly dampened. O’Kallan’s eyes closed. His mana bar circled him and slowly began to deplete. In a number of hours, He’d bring us back to the surface, enjoy a brief break, and put us back beneath the water until evening.

In the meantime, I resolved to spend most of my time looking as far out into the depths of the sea as I could. Sometimes I saw sharks. Sometimes I saw dolphins. Other times I saw distant shadows with mysterious silhouettes. Monsters, I wagered.

For the next few hours, I couldn’t take my eyes off the water. Light rippled all around from sunlight clashing with the surface of the sea. The darkness below was terrifying. Mesmerizing.

Then the ship slowed and quickly came to a stop. I braced myself. Other adventurers fell over from the sudden lurch. I looked back to see O’Kallan. Sweat beaded down his face. His eyes were open—unusual—and his visage conveyed an urgent sense of concern and panic.