In an endless stretch of sea, the water oscillated slowly. There was no wind to push sails forward, nor were there waves strong enough to move a ship.
And yet, in that stillness, a vessel suddenly sprang into existence—miraculously still in one piece.
Gasp
Everyone dragged in huge gulps of air.
Cisco spat out some water he had swallowed, desperately beating against his chest.
"What was that?" Laurencia asked as she walked over to Reoloy.
She looked just as dishevelled as the rest of them, but even through the strands of hair stuck to her face, he could tell she was upset.
Reoloy's somewhat decent social instincts—remnants from before he became a shut-in—told him that being secretive right now would only make things worse. He glanced out over the almost motionless ocean before letting go of the railing that had kept him from being swept away.
Dropping heavily onto the deck, he sat and looked up at the older woman.
"Let's step aside," he said between breaths. "I'll explain."
Then he turned toward the rest of the Cube fugitives.
"Warm yourselves up," he instructed, his tone still uneven from the cold and the seawater. "And someone please help Cisco."
Everyone—especially Graham and Hugo—staggered to their feet, looking at Reoloy with a mixture of apprehension and reluctant obedience.
Though in the eyes of those two, resentment was clearly present.
The blue-black-haired teen ignored it.
Instead, he rose and followed the ship's captain, preparing to offer whatever explanation might calm her down.
---
They had been fortunate enough that the vessel contained a small shower. Each of the five took turns washing off the salt and grime. By the end, they were dressed in fresh clothes—though "fresh" was generous. The garments were little better than rags.
As prisoners, they had never exactly been spoiled with fashion choices.
Lohan and Selene had even stolen their current outfits from a sketchy back-alley vendor yesterday before everything had gone to hell.
The two girls, having gone last, were still drying their hair with towels Laurencia had stocked onto the ship before departure.
The room was quiet.
Uncomfortably so.
"Something's off with that bastard," Hugo suddenly said, breaking the awkward silence. "He's been acting weird."
The lavender-haired girl paused midway through drying her long hair and shot him a disapproving look.
"Can you stop already?" she said, irritation creeping into her voice. "That's the second time he's saved us, you know. That's more than you've done since the beginning."
"What did you say to me?!"
Cisco's eyes darted between them, already imagining the chaos if the two started brawling and damaged the ship.
Across the room, Selene said nothing.
She sat quietly, seemingly absorbed in her own thoughts.
Graham moved before Hugo could lunge. Grabbing his arm, he yanked him sideways and shoved him against the wooden wall.
"Calm down, you fool," he said coldly before walking over and sitting on one of the mini couches.
"That said," he continued calmly, "he's not entirely wrong."
"Graham—!" Lohan started, outraged.
He raised a hand.
The look he gave her was enough to silence her.
"Did the Reoloy you knew confidently take charge of situations like he's been doing?"
No one answered.
"He only stepped up once," Graham continued. "When that happened, and that was because things became too dangerous for him, but otherwise... he was always a meek loser."
"Umm…" Cisco spoke up, choosing to ignore the last statement. "The last few situations were pretty dangerous for him, too, weren't they? Wouldn't that explain it? He's doing what you just said he always did."
"Exactly!" Lohan added quickly.
The ashen-haired boy crossed his legs, interlocking his fingers as he leaned back.
"Fair enough," Graham admitted. "But that still doesn't answer the crucial questions."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Where did he learn about the tools that woman possesses? And why does he seem so experienced in their use?"
Silence returned.
"And the wave that helped us escape the Hunting Dogs, how did he do that?"
Again, no one answered.
"Selene," Graham said at last, turning his attention to the quiet girl. "Don't you have anything to contribute?"
Selene slowly looked around the room.
She read the emotions on every face.
Lohan and Cisco were clearly unhappy with the way suspicion was being thrown at Reoloy behind his back.
Hugo looked eager for a fight.
And Graham…
He looked satisfied.
Of course, Selene leaned toward suspicion as well. She couldn't deny it. The boy who had suddenly become their de facto leader overnight was stranger than he had been before. His recent actions were even weirder.
But she wasn't stupid.
They were in the middle of the ocean, and the captain had called Reoloy the navigator of this voyage. Without him, they might as well already be dead.
"I'm going to wait and see how things play out," she said lightly. "So, I'm not joining your little witch hunt."
Graham frowned.
He silently held Hugo back when the other boy looked ready to explode again.
Lohan and Cisco, however, brightened immediately. The latter let out a relieved sigh while the former pumped her fist triumphantly.
"Don't regret that choice later," Graham said before leaving the room.
Selene watched him go, Hugo quickly following after him.
Only then did she finally relax her shoulders.
Instantly, the other two rushed toward her, bombarding her with thanks. Thinking back on everything that had happened in the past day, Selene briefly wondered if staying in Cube might have been better for her health.
She scoffed at the thought almost immediately.
Cube would have killed her within the month.
Temporary stress was preferable to death.
---
On the deck, Reoloy and Laurencia had equipped some towels—the boy around his neck, the woman draped over her head. They hadn't had a proper shower yet, so their ruined clothes still clung to their forms, but they had dried the ocean water that had become uncomfortable in their hair. Though Reoloy wondered if it had even mattered to the merchant as much.
She had been staring him down expectantly, refusing to move the ship until she was satisfied with their conversation.
"Okay, look..." He started with a sigh. "The honest truth is that we escaped from somewhere."
Seeing her mouth open, he cut her off.
"Don't ask. I don't know either," he said. "I don't know how the place works or who it's run by. All I know is that we got away not long ago."
"...How long were you there?" she pressed.
"I don't know."
"And those kids?" She asked tentatively. "They're clearly not normal. The one girl is practically leaking ki."
'Ki?' Reoloy raised an eyebrow but let it drop. "I don't know."
Laurencia's frustration visibly boiled, just a hair away from snapping.
"What do you know then?" she asked angrily. "Do you even have an actual plan?"
She clasped her hand against her forehead, turning away and pacing on the spot.
"Did I actually get tricked by a kid?" she asked herself incredulously.
Reoloy straightened, a more serious expression forming.
"I didn't lie to you about this trip's benefits to you," he said. "And I'm sure you know that."
The brunette paused, taking in the boy's words and clicking her tongue.
The reality was that Reoloy had exhibited knowledge of things that even she didn't understand. That had to mean that there was some depth of hidden information he possessed, at the very least, when it came to this expedition south.
"So?" she asked. "I still don't trust you."
"Right," he replied plainly. "But you don't need to. You just need to trust the relevant information I give you. That's how it was from the start, isn't it? Though I understand why that trust is shaken now."
Reoloy looked out at the ocean's surface, specifically at what he knew crept beneath it.
"I'm opening up to you. Why else would I let you know about my ignorance of certain things?" he asked. "I can afford that with you because the premise of our relationship is that you don't care about what I don't know. You only care about what I do."
'Of course, that only applies as long as I can guarantee your life and safety...' he thought, deciding not to bring that up.
Laurencia's face didn't give anything away, but she mentally conceded to his argument.
He pointed toward the water.
"The real reason this part of the sea is dangerous is because of the artificial sea beasts that live here."
Laurencia's eyes widened.
"Artificial? As in chimeras?"
Reoloy shook his head slowly.
"The way they were made falls under the same school of production as chimera creation, but it's not the same thing," he explained, grabbing the towel around his neck. "You should start driving, by the way."
"Why?"
Suddenly, he threw the grey absorbent material into the water, and everything went completely still.
He turned to her, giving her a blank look.
"Drive."
Laurencia cursed under her breath, rushing to the helm. She flipped switches, and the ship surged forward just as the ocean rumbled and a colossal whale-like creature erupted from the water.
The light brunette gaped at the sight of it. Its shadow swallowed the ship and the surrounding waves. Laurencia's stomach lurched; this was a nightmare made flesh.
"Why did you do that?!"
The others scrambled out of the cabin, freezing at the sight of the behemoth.
"What the hell is that?!" Cisco asked, already feeling his knees go weak.
Reoloy ignored them, eyes locked on Laurencia.
"We were still for too long," he said. "That guy was already waiting to shipwreck us. I just startled him a bit by letting him know that I was aware of him."
He moved toward the wheel calmly, even as the ship rocked frantically.
"That," he continued, pointing at the creature. "Is one of the beasts I was talking about. They're beings that don't need food, nor do they have a hunting instinct. Their purpose—and the thing they specialise in—is keeping people away from the southern coast of the Pandora continent."
Whilst the others still panicked, Laurencia found herself easing up since Reoloy was fully relaxed. It meant he actually knew how to get through this, unlike with the pursuers last night.
"What's so great about the South that requires all this?" She finally asked.
Reoloy smirked.
"Ever heard of the Supreme Grade Regalia—Galaplexius?"
"Of course, who hasn't?" Laurencia answered, wondering why he was bringing up a mythical relic.
"Well, what we're after can be considered the Galaplexius of the South," he explained.
"Such a thing exists?" she asked, perplexed and somewhat doubtful.
"Yeah," Reoloy answered. "The Dread Seeder—Luvarne."
He gestured to the whale-beast. "This thing and its brethren originate from that Regalia. The trick we used to get away last night was basically me asking an earlier beast for a favour."
Realisation dawned on Laurencia. She recalled the loud howl from the sea before everything in the world had flipped over in that massive wave.
"Then why not ask this one to let us through?"
"It won't work," he said. "Only a few are willing to listen. If we'd followed my original route, we would have crossed the first checkpoint and met the first beast guard of these waters. From that one, we could have acquired a mark of acknowledgement.
Reoloy paused to allow them to cover their ears as the behemoth wailed.
"Afterwards, the second beast guard would've enhanced the mark, and we would've been able to pass safely over the rest until the sixth sea beast's territory."
He absentmindedly looked down at the sea.
"Unfortunately, we skipped all the way to the third beast guard's domain."
Laurencia massaged her temples.
"What... do we do now?"
Reoloy's grin widened, the crazy glint in his eyes unsettling everyone who saw it.
"Keep moving," he said. "After what I did, he'll only approach us slowly. It's all over if he catches us, though."
He looked up at the beast, large enough to be visible even from the front deck.
"It's too late for complaints. We're in too deep now," he continued, clearly having fun. "This campaign has already started!"