The Canary swayed beneath my feet, disorienting from the sudden shift in movent. Each crash of waves upon the hull of The Canary drew a series of groans from the sleek, stone-reinforced ebony vessel.
I heard Yulei's wheelchair clamour across the small deck and smack into soone, likely Nemora-
"Get to your positions. Now."
A pulse of Blessings surged from exactly where the wheelchair had smacked into Nemora. Her voice pushed us into action instantly.
With nothing but darkness filling our visions, I peeled my eyes and pushed them towards the bow, to where Vanessa and Yulei should be standing.
She's there.
I couldn't see Yulei, but I could see the three-pronged white crown sizzling with my Curses.
At the sa ti, within a split second, a cloak of Curses enveloped . But not just , the outline of each person ca to view again as Elden's Cloak of Verdansk was put into action. It provided a direction for Vanessa to co rushing back.
While Vanessa put Yulei back into the wheelchair to carry her back into the belly of The Canary, Es, who was standing beside , hoisted the taller figure cloaked in Curses, Lily, onto her shoulder and bolted down towards the cabin entrance.
She made no use of her lightning or flas; producing any light in this darkness could lead to our deaths.
This didn't go as planned.
While we did put basic ergency plans in action in case we were tossed directly into the Sunless Skies, we had never entirely believed that it would happen. It was too extre an outco, but, alas, whatever can happen, will happen.
"Jill, change of plans. Centre of the deck with Elden. Hildekar, your position remains the sa."
Another pulse of Blessings drove itself into Jill, Elden and Hildekar. The forr two dashed past and jumped over the railing of the raised, bow deck and onto the main deck. Hildekar followed suit, but he was headed towards the helm.
Everything erupted chaotically, but their years of friendship and solidarity held up, for the mont.
I tried to speak up, to shout towards Hilda, but the cacophonous noise of waves crashing into The Canary's hull drowned my voice. Amplifying it also wasn't an option, as it could draw unwanted Heathens.
Alas, only Nemora could communicate at the mont with her Blessings. At least not until we could sort out what is safe and what isn't.
With everyone rushing with a vague outline of Curses revealing their positions, only Nemora, Hilda, and I remained in this section of the deck.
Nemora took a couple of steps back and arrived by my side, "Hilda, join Es below deck. Ensure that in extre cases, nothing can make it inside. Alora, stay by my side. We will hold the bow of the ship."
I watched as the Curses floating around Hilda's location quivered; she's hesitating.
So, I reached out and gripped her hand. Squeezing it, I drew a circle around her palm to ensure that she followed through with Nemora's order.
Hilda tugged my hand back and released it.
Within seconds, she shot backwards and into the depths of the ship.
It was better that I remained by Nemora's side and Hilda by Yulei's and Vanessa's. Entrusting one person to inform two people of the ship's details could be detrintal. Neither of us knew anything about it, so having Nemora instruct and Yulei, or Vanessa, instruct Hilda worked out perfectly.
Tap.
A hand landed on my shoulder, Nemora's.
She gripped firmly whilst we swayed amidst the thunderous waves of liquid darkness.
As she held onto , an abrupt, borderline ear-rupturing wave slamd into the ship from right beside us. It shook us wildly as we held onto each other for orientation and safety.
Droplets scattered down at us from the powerful waves, splattering us.
The Cloak of Verdansk held them off for now, but we had no way of knowing what sort of effect this liquid would have on us.
The Cloak holding it off was a miracle of its own. I'd have expected the Sunless Skies to be capable of piercing through our defences whether we liked it or not, but, for the mont, these small droplets didn't seem enough for that.
"Alora. Do you have a thod to see in this darkness?"
Through this chaos, Nemora's calm instruction soothed my nerves and brought back together.
I had to stop thinking and get to action.
Gripping my Book of Heresy, I scrounged around for the Quill tucked into the binder and pulled it out. Twirling it into my finger to get used to the motion for a mont, I bumped my elbow into Nemora's in acknowledgent.
Let's try it.
[Alora - Darkness Obstruction - Counter - 15 Minutes]
Curses squeezed themselves out of my Cursed Vessels and into the Book of Heresy, then rushed back into , into my eyes.
A burning sensation spread through my ears for a brief second before retracting, and, when the heat did retract, when the boiling sensation stopped...
I saw.
A boundless black ocean rushing with powerful, vast waves.
I saw.
An outline in the darkness, blotting everything in front of The Canary. It spread from the leftmost edge of my vision to the rightmost, and it towered as high as a mountain. It was rely an outline, but...
I saw.
I saw the darkness, I saw the ocean of the Sunless Skies in the darkness, I saw an existence at a scale beyond my comprehension, and, staring into this darkness, staring into the ocean, staring into the outline...
[Don't look.]
A primal terror draped its veil over .
[Close my eyes.]
An unbound Authority, not one that twisted my perception, but one that crushed it.
[...It's too late.]
My eyes didn't shut in ti.
I saw what shouldn't be seen.
'Gaze into the abyss, and the abyss shall gaze back.'
But I hadn't gazed into the abyss.
I had attempted to gaze outof the abyss.
Even throughthe abyss.
Next, I both felt, saw, and heard it; the sound of paper tearing, the sight of the current page of my Book of Heresy imploding. The repercussions burst out of the torn page and crashed into in a rush of rampaging, amplified Curses.
But I held on.
I grit my teeth, clenched the Quill tight, and wrote once more.
This ti:
[Alora - Backlash - Loan - Relay: Next Descent]
The trashing Curses imdiately cald down; they peeled off my body, congealed, and were pushed back into the Book of Heresy.
...I was expecting it to work after years of testing, but for it to work this efficiently?
A part of was nervous about this eerily powerful Manifestation of mine, but, for now:
"Safe. Sohow." I mumbled beneath the drowning thunder of crashing waves.
What I had done was simple; I treated it like a loan that I must repay down the line, as for when, it was at the ti of my Descent into the Fourth Step. Till then, I wouldn't have to worry about the extrely amplified repercussions.
Was it dangerous? Yes.
But I'd rather deal with the consequences later than die now. Receiving this impact now would be deadly; this wasn't the right ti for it.
Suddenly-
CRASH!
-amid the boundless darkness of the Sunless Skies, a dangerous wave punched into the side of the vessel. It rattled the deck of the ship, sending stumbling into Nemora.
She reached out and held down; damn. I'm not used to moving around yet. It's been too long since I last had to deal with movent this extre.
"You good?"
I tugged on the back of Nemora's suit.
"Perfect. Steady yourself from now on."
I followed through with that instruction and reinforced my body with Curses. The transition of Curses to strength was efficient due to my Cursed Vessels.
Planting my feet deeper into the deck, I took a step to the side away from Nemora to give her so room.
"Now we wait an hour. After this hour, the two of us will go inside to begin working on counterasures for this darkness as long as nothing unexpected occurs. Otherwise, we'll be at it for much longer. Elden, Jill, and Hildekar will stay on the deck until we're ready to start taking shifts."
She must have had these plans ready beforehand; the fact that they weren't implented prior to the unsealing of The Canary is a mistake. But she's Human, mistakes are bound to happen.
"I won't ss up like that again."
So Nemora said, and I believed her.
This was no longer the Domain of Light.
There was no going back.
Either we make it to the Uclidian Mountain Range, or...
We die.
---
"This is a problem." Biting down on his gums, Hildekar impatiently tapped at his toolbelt with one hand while holding onto the helm with the other.
He knew no one and nothing could hear him amid the sound of crushing waves, but this...
"Are we fucked?"
...this wasn't sothing he could keep inside.
Running his fingers across the helm, Hildekar's frown deepened by the second. The navigation tools were impossible to use in this darkness, nor could he see ahead. And even in the case of having to tie up the sails, or twist them to face differing directions depending on wind and goal-
"It's impossible."
Literally.
The wind was too erratic, thrashing left and right with each bash of waves, making it impossible to keep track of the wind's true direction.
It was too dark to even see his hands.
And he couldn't hear a thing other than the waves.
"How the hell do I navigate?"
---
Standing back to back, Elden and Jill kept close to each other. Their ears were perked up, but they couldn't catch a hint of noise other than the deafening waves.
It was a problem.
A Heathen, an abomination of untold terrors, could sneak past them at any mont, and they'd have no clue.
Jill could conjure up so light, but...
"I don't think I should." He mumbled to himself.
"Did you say sothing?" Elden felt the vibrations from Jill's body as the man spoke, but he couldn't hear a damn thing.
The young n were in deep water.
Standing in utter darkness, with nothing but the sound of cacophonous waves...
A creeping terror had already begun to take hold of them.
---
Hilda sprinted at the back of the pack; the light in the belly of The Canary returned thanks to oil-based lanterns attached to the walls.
Ahead of her, Es held Lily in her arms and followed behind Vanessa and Yulei.
Their goal was the Captain's Cabin, the easiest location to hold etings and convene in case of ergencies.
Waves of ruby-red hair crash onto her face, forcing the girl to click her teeth as she swept it backwards and tucked it into her outfit.
'Should I cut it short?'
Throwing that to the back of her mind, she arrived at the junction leading to the right towards the Captain's Cabin and the left towards the staircase. Es and Lily had already exited her line of sight, having turned both corners to the final stretch towards the cabin.
Stopping at the junction, she swivelled on her feet to follow along-
"Lardis~"
-till she heard a voice.
A singing voice.
"Kratis~"
Soft, warm, and scintillating.
"Martis~"
Hilda paused.
She took a breath.
"Hartis~"
And creaked her head to the left.
Towards the darkness of the staircase.
Sweat balled at her fists as she reached slowly, carefully, for the bell at her waist. Unlatching it, she released the bell from its hold, then turned her head to the right.
She turned back towards the pathway leading to the Captain's Cabin to call the others.
"...Huh?"
Except the pathway was no more.
Gulping, she turned her head backwards, towards the direction of the exit.
"...Oh no."
The pathway to the exit was no more.
Squeezing her fists tight, she chanically clicked her head back towards the staircase.
Towards the dark corridor.
"Dratis~"
The pleasant singing voice swept through her with cold shivers.
It began.
The dented horrors of the Sunless Skies were upon them, and far sooner than they had predicted, and in a far deadlier manner than ever imaginable.
And...
"I don't want to." Biting her lips-
...only Hilda stood to face these horrors.
-Hilda hesitantly took a step forward into the darkness.
All alone.
=====
End of Volu 1 - Whispers of A Canary
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