While fishing with her grandfather in the middle of the night, Aelin was hit by a pumpkin.

When she looked in the direction it came from, she saw nothing, and the ground was several meters away.

“Grandpa,” she said. She couldn’t pronounce most words correctly.

“What is it, Ailin?” Her grandfather pronounced her name oddly.

“Pumpkin,” she said, showing him the pumpkin and then pointing in the direction from which it had supposedly been thrown.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

“That... What is that?” her grandfather exclaimed. Aelin turned to look in that direction.

What she saw now was an empty, glowing ship. It was completely abandoned and sinking as it drifted towards them. There was also some sort of orb floating around it.

Without saying a word, his face pale, her grandfather began rowing away in a hurry. Aelin did the same.

As they fled, both looked to the surface and saw crowds of people with torches. They also heard murmurs and an eerie whistling sound.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the people began chasing them in canoes. This caused Aelin and her grandfather to row even faster. Her grandfather was already praying, thinking they wouldn’t escape. Aelin was nearly paralyzed with fear.

Out of nowhere, the spectral orb from before appeared in front of them. Aelin, who was crying, instinctively reached out her hand toward the orb, and several bubbles emerged from her fingers.

The bubbles passed right through the orb.

“Groaaaaaaiiiiaaaaaaaaaaargh!”

A horrible scream echoed.

Suddenly, everything vanished. The people, the ship, the orb. There was nothing left—only silence. Well, the sounds of nature could still be heard.

Aelin and her grandfather, witnessing this, hugged each other and cried with relief.

As this happened, Aelin saw a figure in the distance. It was dressed in black rags and disappeared into the night.