The sea roared like a beast unchained. Waves slammed against the hull, shattering across the deck as the storm swallowed the horizon. Lightning tore the sky apart in flashes of white fury, and rain fell so hard it stung like knives.
Areday clung to the rail, his voice barely cutting through the chaos."Rintal! Tell me again how this was supposed to be a good idea?" he shouted, his eyes wide with panic and salt.
Rintal fought with the rudder, soaked to the bone, his hair plastered to his face."Less talking, more steering!" he yelled back, forcing the ship through the raging current. "We just need to make it through the ridge!"
But when they turned to look behind them, their hearts froze. Through the storm's haze, a black-sailed ship loomed in pursuit — the mark of the Sons of the Dawn fluttering under the lightning.
"They're still on us," Areday muttered. "Rayuka's hounds never quit."
"Then we make them."
From the black waters, shadows began to rise — humanoid forms, dripping and writhing as if born from the sea itself. Their eyes burned faintly white beneath veils of mist. Rayuka's phantoms.
"Move!" Rintal drew his twin daggers, their steel flashing in the lightning. Areday followed, spinning a pair of hooked blades from his belt.
The first shadow leapt aboard — a blur of mist and flesh. Rintal met it midair, slashing across its chest, but his blade passed through like smoke. The creature screamed, its form trembling before reforming again.
"Smoke and ghosts!" Areday cursed. "How do you kill something that isn't even real?"
Rintal's eyes flicked to the sphere — the relic tucked in his satchel — now pulsing faintly with crimson light. He felt a searing pain burn through his palm and looked down to see a mark appearing on his skin — a twisted, inverted cross glowing faintly under the rain.
"What the hell…?"
No time to think. Another shadow lunged, claws like smoke-forged blades. Rintal ducked, countered with a slash, then rolled back as Areday hurled a smoke bomb between them. A violent hiss filled the air, cloaking the deck in thick fog.
From within the haze came the whistle of throwing knives — Areday's shurikens slicing through the air, each followed by a muffled, echoing shriek.
"Keep your distance!" Rintal shouted. "They vanish when hit together— like they're bound to one soul!"
"Then let's unbind them!"
Areday flung a pair of small explosive orbs, their blue sparks lighting up the fog. The blasts tore the shadows apart, their misty bodies twisting into nothingness.
One by one, the phantoms fell back into the sea, until silence returned — save for the crashing of the storm.
But their victory was brief.
A blinding flash split the sky as a lightning bolt struck the cliffside ahead. The sound was deafening. Jagged rock and flaming debris cascaded down the slope, smashing into the water like falling stars.
"Rintal, the ridge! Steer away, now!" Areday screamed.
"I'm trying!"
Rintal wrestled the wheel, the ship groaning as he turned it hard to starboard. Areday grabbed a handful of blast charges, lighting and tossing them into the falling debris. Each explosion shattered boulders midair, but it wasn't enough.
A colossal tree trunk, torn from the ridge by the storm, came crashing down, smashing the ship's bow in half.
"Brace yourself!" Rintal shouted— but the next moment, the deck split open beneath them.
The two were thrown into the freezing sea, swallowed by the dark waves.
The world turned to silence.
When Rintal came to, saltwater was running down his face, his throat burned, and every breath felt like blades were cutting him from the inside. The black sand clung coldly to his skin; behind him, the sea roared in fury, as if it still refused to release its prey. Around him lay the remains of the ship—splintered beams, torn sails, severed ropes—all scattered across the shore like the fragments of a shattered memory.
"Areday…" he whispered, but only the wind answered.
He struggled to his feet, clutching his ribs where pain flared with every movement. Blood slowly trickled down his side, but he didn't care. The shore was empty. The fog hung thick and heavy over the ground, like a living thing watching him in silence.
"Areday!" he shouted, but the name was swallowed by the crashing waves, lost without an echo.
Then, as his eyes swept across the shoreline, he saw something.Beyond the mist, faint and distant, loomed a massive structure—a castle. Its walls crumbled, its towers leaned skyward like dying fingers, and dark shadows crawled around its gate.
At that moment, a cold wind swept across the coast, and a voice spoke.Not from outside—from within.
A whisper, barely audible, yet sharp as a blade against his ear:"Areday… is in the castle."
Rintal froze.
Suddenly, searing pain flared in his palm, and beneath his skin, the inverted cross began to throb a deep red, as if awakened by the voice's call. His heartbeat pounded violently. His gaze locked onto the ruins of the castle, where the fog seemed to move—something was watching him from within the darkness.
"If he's really there…" he thought, slowly clenching his hand into a fist, "then what comes next might be worse than death itself."
The wind rose again, the trees groaned, and a flash of lightning illuminated the crumbling towers of the fortress.Rintal drew a deep breath, then began limping toward the ruins—straight into the belly of the fog, where the whisper echoed once more, calling him deeper:
"Areday… is waiting for you…"