"You have grown so much in my absence," she whispered.
Lucid felt completely heartbroken, he wanted to lash out but he could not surrender to this feeling, he needed to escape this, a hand drifted close to his cheek then another one, Alice held his face now drawing close to his face, she was leaning in toward Lucid's lips that were parted and breathing in the water he was suffocating on.
He had but a single thought in his mind, no, he could not let her, in a single moment a warm sensation enveloped his head clouding his thoughts and his head felt warm as he drowned embraced by Alice, oddly enough he could smell her beneath the water, she smelled of green and life and something he could not name, soft lips pressed against his holding him there as a hand made its way up the side of his cheek, he tried to pull back but she pressed her head forward overpowering him immediately, his lips parted and she slipped her tongue inside.
He could not hear under the water but for some strange reason he could hear her, it was their shared space, the way they had always communicated.
"Why Lucid," she whispered, "why did you carry this much burden without me, I am here for you, I love you."
Just why had he brushed her aside, why had he avoided her, thinking now she was the most benevolent thing in the whole universe, and Lucid had the audacity to shake her away, Alice wanted what was best for him, she knew what was best for him, his mind felt hazy yet strange, he could not fight it anymore, two spectral hands rested over his head in a controlling grip.
He was wrong, yes… she needed to be embraced.
Accepted and loved.
"Good job my chosen, you have brought me back," she smiled a somber but quiet smile, "though I am still in my spectral form you did a splendid job."
She pressed her forehead against his while holding his head, she gritted her teeth, her body started to mix in a mirage of green dust into the ocean while her upper body remained in her green spectral form.
"They dare make you bleed," she said, the words carrying a venom that seemed foreign coming from her lips, if they were not closer now then they surely were close by now.
"Lucid listen to me," she whispered softly peering into his half lidded eyes, she did not seem to recognize the fact that he was still drowning, "I am a Primordial," she said in a half shaky breath, "you belong to me, therefore you are a Primordial as well."
She said it shakily.
"This realm is beneath us, do you know the sheer magnitude of the power of the Primordials, we are gods Lucid," she said in a half shaky laughing tone, "you and I are destined for greatness, I take back seeing you as nothing more than a mortal, you are my appointed mortal, my chosen."
She intertwined her fingers with his.
"Listen to me Lucid, love is not enough, believe in me, devote yourself to me."
She cupped his face.
"You bleed because you haven't fully embraced me..."
He shook his head but Alice noticed and thought nothing of it, she drifted closer to his ear and whispered, "Do not reject me, you are my divine consort, I love you with all my heart."
She continued, "you are above this Lucid, you and I we are deities, that Monolith," his eyes lit up at the word, "we are the true guides of the scattered realms, no, the divine barrier—"
Lucid could not say anything, it was as if he was trying to say something but only water entered and water left.
"You need not concern yourself with those lesser beings, forsaken by Mother Fate herself," she said, her voice carrying an almost sacred intensity. "Turn your gaze away from them. Focus only on me. Devote yourself to me, and to my creation. Let all else fade into irrelevance."
As her form dissolved into radiant strands of light, she merged with his body. A faint glow spread beneath his skin, pulsing like a second heartbeat.
"You do not yet comprehend the extent of your power... nor the depths of what I have bestowed upon you."
Her voice lingered within him, intimate and inescapable.
"I shall grant you a glimpse of the devotion that awaits. Offer yourself wholly to me. Place your faith in me alone, and you shall experience an affection beyond mortal understanding."
The moment her words settled into his soul, a surge unlike anything he had ever known coursed through him. Warmth, power, and an overwhelming sense of purpose flooded every corner of his being.
Then a voice echoed through the depths of his consciousness.
[The Chain of Heart] E >>> B
[The Pierced Spine] F >>> C
[The Silenced Throat] F >>> C
He felt something shift inside him, a warmth that was not his own spreading through his chest, his chains responded to her words, coiling tighter around his heart, and for a moment, just a moment, he felt what she was offering, power without limit, purpose without question, a future where he would never be weak again.
***
The pirate girl grabbed Arthur's arm and held him back from jumping over the railing. Her fingers dug into his sleeve with surprising strength. He twisted and looked back at her, then at the others. By now chaos had consumed everything. Lucid had launched an attack on two other ships and the remaining three had closed in fast, their decks swarming with figures that did not look friendly at all.
Arthur did not know what to do.
Cannon fire ripped across the deck before he could decide. The first volley struck the bow and sent splinters flying like shrapnel. A crew member screamed as a chunk of wood punched through his chest. Another was thrown overboard by the force of the impact, his body cartwheeling through the air before disappearing into the churning water. The ship shuddered and groaned, its timbers protesting the punishment.
Arthur moved. He grabbed the girl by the shoulder and threw her behind a stack of cargo crates just as a second volley struck the main mast. The wood cracked and splintered, the rigging snapping like thin ropes under tension. The crow's nest collapsed and fell into the sea with a great splash.
He turned and saw the crew scattering, some running for cover, others lying dead or dying where they had fallen. Blood pooled on the deck and ran between the planks like red rivers. The storm had not let up; rain and salt spray mixed with the blood and made everything slick and treacherous underfoot.
Then something came from the air, living twisted beings.
They were thrown from the attacking ships, arcs of dark light that sailed through the air and landed on the deck with wet, heavy impacts. The first one rose from where it had landed, a creature made of rusted metal, its movements jerky and unnatural like a puppet with tangled strings. Arthur had seen Vestiges before, but never like this. Never so many at once. The thing lunged at a crew member and wrapped its chains around his throat, dragging him down into a heap of thrashing limbs and wet gurgling sounds.
A third summoned Vestige rose from the splintered wreckage of the mast, a creature of tar and rope that dripped black liquid onto the deck. Where the tar touched wood, it smoked and curled, eating through the planks like acid.
Arthur was already moving. His sword came up and he drove it through the first Vestige, the one made of chains and bone. The blade met resistance, not flesh but something harder, something that scraped against the steel like stone. He twisted and yanked the sword free, then struck again, this time severing a chain that connected the creature's shoulder to its spine. The Vestige howled, a sound like rusted hinges grinding together, and collapsed into a heap of inert metal.
More were coming. From the attacking ships, from the air, from the water below. Vestiges of salt and shadow, of coral and brine. They rained down on the deck and Arthur fought them with everything he had, but there were too many, and each one took precious seconds to put down.
The girl had a dagger in her hand. It was a thin, wicked blade with a whistle carved into the flat of the steel. She moved like she knew how to use it, slashing at a Vestige of seaweed and teeth that had gotten too close to the cargo crates. The creature recoiled, its form unraveling into loose strands that drifted away on the wind.