The horizon didn't make sense anymore.
Zain stood on the bow, gripping the railing until his knuckles turned white. To his left, a massive island the size of a mountain was floating upside down. Waterfalls cascaded from its "bottom," turning into mist before they hit the clouds below. To his right, a cluster of rocks orbited each other like a slow-motion collision.
"The Shattered Isles," Vera said, stepping up beside him. She was checking the straps on her harness. "Where physics goes to die."
The sky here was a bruised mix of violet and stormy grey. Lightning didn't strike down; it arced horizontally between the floating islands, creating webs of electricity.
"Gravity Wells ahead!" Captain Silas roared from the wheel. He wasn't steering with the wheel anymore; he was pulling heavy iron levers that controlled the individual mana-thrusters. "Torque! Give me port-side stabilization! If we hit a Heavy Zone, we'll be crushed like a tin can!"
"I'm giving her all she's got, Cap!" Torque's voice screeched over the intercom. "But the ether density is fluctuating! The engine is coughing!"
The ship lurched violently to the left. Zain's stomach dropped. It felt like the sudden drop of a roller coaster, but it didn't stop.
"Hold onto something!" Boz yelled, locking his massive arm around a mast.
The Rusty Bucket dipped. The gravity beneath them had suddenly spiked, pulling the ship down toward the endless Abyss.
"Interesting," Nox hummed, unbothered by the nausea. " The fabric of space here is... scarred. It feels like a battlefield from the Dawn Era."
"Pull up!" Silas grit his teeth, slamming a lever forward.
The engines screamed. Blue fire erupted from the thrusters, fighting the invisible hand dragging them down. The metal hull groaned under the stress. rivets popped, pinging off the deck like bullets.
Slowly, agonizingly, the ship leveled out.
Zain exhaled, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Is it always this bad?"
"This is the safe route," Vera said grimly. "Look."
She pointed into the violet fog.
Drifting in the distance were the skeletons of other ships—Temple Cruisers, Merchant Galleons, Pirate Skiffs. They were caught in gravity eddies, floating aimlessly or crushed against rocks.
"Wait," Zain narrowed his eyes. "That wreckage... it's moving."
He pointed to a cluster of small debris floating near a large, hollowed-out asteroid.
Silas grabbed his telescope. He looked for one second, then cursed.
"Ambush!" Silas bellowed. "Battle stations! It's a Reaver Swarm!"
The "debris" suddenly unfolded. They weren't rocks. They were Kite-Raiders—small, one-man gliders made of stretched monster hide and light wood. They had been clinging to the asteroid, waiting for prey to struggle against the gravity.
There were at least twenty of them.
They dove.
"They're using the gravity well to accelerate!" Vera shouted, drawing her daggers. "They're coming in fast!"
The kites swooped down silently, faster than any engine-powered ship. As they passed over The Rusty Bucket, the riders dropped heavy, spiked nets.
THWUMP.
A net landed on the rear mana-propeller. The spikes dug in, tangling the blades.
The engine sputtered and died.
"We lost propulsion!" Torque screamed. "We're drifting!"
"They're boarding!" Boz roared, swinging his axe as the first Raider landed on the deck.
The Raider was a scrawny man with filed teeth, wielding a jagged hook. He didn't even touch the ground before Boz's axe split him in two.
But three more landed behind him. Then five. Then ten.
They swarmed over the railing like locusts. They didn't want the ship; they wanted the cargo.
"Protect the hold!" Silas drew his harpoon gun and fired point-blank, skewering two Raiders at once.
Zain stood in the middle of the chaos. A Raider with a red bandana landed in front of him, swinging a rusted machete.
"Fresh meat!" the Raider cackled.
Zain didn't have a weapon. He didn't need one.
"Dance, boy," Nox commanded.
Zain ducked under the machete swing. It was clumsy. Compared to Vera's training, this guy moved in slow motion.
Zain stepped in. He didn't use the Touch immediately. He remembered Vera's lesson: The Seal is a finisher.
He elbowed the Raider in the solar plexus. The man doubled over, gasping.
Now.
Zain placed his hand on the man's leather armor.
"Rot."
The leather turned grey and disintegrated. The Raider looked down, confused, his chest exposed.
Zain followed up with a heavy kick to the chest, sending the man flying backward over the railing and into the abyss.
"One down," Zain panted.
"Behind you!" Vera's voice cut through the noise.
Zain spun around.
A large Raider had landed on the upper deck. He wasn't attacking the crew. He was holding a massive Gravity Bomb—a glowing purple sphere that pulsed ominously. He was aiming for the main hatch.
"If he drops that, it'll crush the hull!" Vera yelled, engaged with two other swordsmen. She couldn't reach him.
Boz was surrounded. Silas was reloading.
The Raider grinned and pulled the pin.
"Distance: thirty feet," Zain calculated instantly. "Too far to run."
He looked at the shadow of the main mast. It stretched across the deck, ending right at the Raider's feet.
"Do it," Nox urged. "The cold is a small price for survival."
Zain focused. The slit on his wrist burned hot.
"Void Step."
The world inverted. The ice filled his veins.
POP.
Zain materialized directly behind the bomber. The Raider hadn't even released the bomb yet.
Zain didn't try to fight him. He didn't try to grab the bomb.
He grabbed the Raider's arm—the one holding the sphere.
"Wither."
He didn't just rot the sleeve. He pushed the power deep.
The Raider screamed as his muscles atrophied instantly. His grip failed. His hand turned into a shriveled claw.
The Gravity Bomb slipped from his fingers.
It fell.
But it didn't hit the hatch. Zain kicked it mid-air, sending it skittering across the deck, right off the edge of the ship.
It detonated in the air, ten feet away from the hull.
VOOOM.
A localized singularity formed. For a split second, gravity increased a hundredfold in that spot. The Raider Zain had just touched was sucked off the deck and crushed into a ball of meat and bone instantly.
The shockwave hit the ship, knocking everyone off their feet.
The remaining Raiders saw their heavy hitter turn into paste. They saw the black-marked boy standing there, smoke rising from his hand.
"Void User!" one screamed. "Retreat! It's a Void User!"
Cowardice was contagious. The Raiders abandoned the fight, diving off the ship and gliding away on their kites, disappearing into the violet mist.
Silence returned to the deck, save for the groaning of the tangled propeller.
Zain collapsed to his knees, shivering violently. Two jumps in two days. His body felt like it was freezing from the inside out.
Vera was at his side in a second. She threw a heavy wool blanket over him.
"You idiot," she whispered, though she was checking him for wounds with frantic hands. "You could have blown us all up."
"I... I saved the hatch," Zain stuttered, his teeth chattering.
Captain Silas walked over. He kicked a dead Raider's body, flipping it over. Then he looked at Zain.
"Torque! Get that net off the prop!" Silas shouted. "We're moving before their friends show up."
He knelt down next to Zain.
"That's two times you saved my ship, boy," Silas grunted. "You're racking up a tab I can't pay."
"Just... just get us to Black-Harbor," Zain managed to say.
"Look ahead," Silas pointed.
The mist ahead parted.
Floating in the center of a massive, stable gravity well was an island made entirely of black volcanic rock. It bristled with spikes, towers, and defensive cannons. Ships of all kinds—pirate galleons, smuggler barges, and mercenary cruisers—were docked in its massive, cavernous harbor.
It looked dangerous. It looked dirty. It looked like home.
"Welcome to Black-Harbor," Silas said. "The armpit of the world. If you want answers about your monster, the Archive of Dust is in the lower city."
Zain looked at the dark city looming ahead. The seal on his arm pulsed, not with hunger, but with recognition.
"Home..." Nox whispered, his voice sounding strangely sad. "Or what's left of it."