“Maybe there’s a holiday they celebrate we are unaware of?” I murmured again.
Noctis bent over and picked up a half-opened parcel, only to reveal a slab of warm, foul smelling butchered meat, maggots digging into the rotting flesh. He extended it to me.
“I doubt they’d leave in such a haste. Besides, Rashima isn’t for another two fortnights.”
“I don’t get it,” I admitted. “The Royal Vanguard needs merfolk blood, not human. What could they possibly do with an entire village of them?”
Noctis stepped into my periphery, casting shade across my sweaty body with his outstretched wings.
“Something is off,” he said slowly.
“Of course something is off. Everyone is missing,” Calvin replied, voice dripping with mockery.
“No. Something in the air… Like a god's approach.”
For a heartbeat, no one spoke. Our eyes locked, wide and gleaming with the same unspoken fear. Then, as if pulled by some unseen force, we turned and fled toward the ship.
An unnatural chill swept through the air like a warning, buzzing with uncertainty. The ocean’s water preternaturally swarmed upward like a tidal wall threatening to wipe out the entire harbor. It surged and pulsed as if begging its puppeteer to let it loose. It abnormally split in the middle, exposing the seafloor below the waves.
And the hundreds of missing villagers.
Men. Women. Elderly. Children. All stood at attention, their eyes like stone cemented in place looking forward, arms plastered to their sides.
We froze mid-run.
“Are they…” I couldn’t finish the question, as if asking it would ensure a response I could never bear to live with.
“They’re dry like the water hasn’t even touched them,” Laziel murmured, none of them moving a muscle.
“I can feel their souls,” Noctis whispered.
“Like, still in their bodies?” Calvin asked.
Noctis chanced a nod, and my next breath trembled.
On the ship in the distance, Jun stalked through the shadow, pulling the ship out of the dock. Meters from the wall of water and split sea, he departed from the port hesitantly, trying not to catch unwanted attention.
We watched as he frantically pointed to the east, motioning for us to meet him further from the statued villagers. We inched that direction, out of direct line of sight, then bolted when Jun was close enough to shore.
We threw ourselves toward the water separating us from the ship; however, my body was caught midair before I crashed into the sea, cradled in the arms of Noctis. We hovered just above Calvin and Laziel who pushed against the waves and chaos of the water display. Once our feet planted on the deck, we scrambled to pull them aboard.
“One dayI’llget a ride, right?” Calvin fumed, making sure to splash water in the god’s direction.
“Absolutely not,” Noctis deadpanned, shooting an arm out to pull Calvin to the deck while Laziel surged from the water over the railings, transforming midair.
The realm seemed to tremble—the air buzzing, water violently churning, every ripple shivering under the weight of an approaching horde. The ocean split further to reveal what advanced. Metal glinted behind the frozen villagers in rows for miles. It clanged in sync, a war drum of a noise.
Oceanwrought armies, prepared for war, marched into Terraguard territory. Before them all, the Ocean Mother led the troops. Silver streaming hair billowed past the nose she poised to the sky, a goddess of destruction and confidence. Her porcelain skin glimmered against the sun’s rays, a display of strength as she conducted the villagers and armored soldiers in their advance.
“We leave for the Abyssal Holdnow,” I ordered, my eyes trained on the goddess as we sailed away.
My hands grew clammy with each ticking second, but I couldn’t peel my eyes from the Ocean Mother. Something tugged at me, inviting me to step backward toward the goddess, as if an innate part of me begged to be nearby. Siloed in blue tinted armor, barnacles plastered across the shield like razor blades, thegoddess stormed, a grimacing snarl permanently imprinted on the Ocean Mother’s face.
“It’s not safe,” Noctis ordered low, his own eyes trailing the goddess in the distance. “They are nearer than you think. Step now, and they will see… not with eyes, but with instinct.”
“Never thought these words would leave my mouth, but I think Noctis is right,” Calvin agreed. “Let’s get away before trying to throw ourselves into a war. It’d be thousands versus six.”
Raven cawed.
