Meera stood on the quarterdeck, right beside the ship's wheel, which was currently being manned by one of her crew as the vessel cut through the deep, dark blue sea.
"You sure this is a good idea, Captain?" Edmar, her second hand man asked, his eyes darting uneasily over the water.
The further they advanced toward the Scar, the stronger the current became, tugging at the hull as if they were being reeled in.
It made the ship move faster, certainly, but they all knew the nightmare that lay ahead...
Even though their plan was simply to drop the suicidal noble off in a smaller rowboat and leave him to whatever grim fate he sought, just getting this close felt just more dangerous.
He turned to Meera, waiting for an answer, but Meera, arms folded on the rail, her chin resting heavily atop them wasn't listening to him at all.
She was staring into the middle distance, trying desperately to forget the embarrassing display she had put on inside that cabin a few hours ago.
Just thinking about it made her cheeks burn hot and bright red.
'Why the hell did I even do that?!'
'Despoiled!' What an absolute idiot I am!'
She wanted to plunge straight into the Maelstrom with Ulrich and never come back.
It wasn't the first time she had gotten severely drunk, but usually, she retained some measure of control. And worse, she had never acted like a cheap whore in her life!
But that was exactly what she had just done!
And the most shameful part was that she felt like she had been entirely conscious while doing it.
If Ulrich hadn't stopped at the very last second, she was certain they would have actually done it all the way right there on the table.
Perhaps it was simply because he was that attractive, and she had let her instincts override her sense. But it was still humiliating, the way she had just offered herself up!
And why had he rejected her so easily?!
She couldn't believe how calm he had remained.
She had seen plenty of men, even nobles try to force themselves on her before. It seemed Ulrich possessed far more self-control than she had expevted, though he had clearly come close to giving in. Perhaps if she had pushed just a little bit further, he would have broken…
'Wait, what am I even thinking?!'
Clearing her throat sharply, Meera stood up straight.
"Captain!"
"Hm?" Meera finally glanced over at Edmar.
"Are you sure about this whole thing?" He asked again.
"I am. Or do you not want the gold he paid us?" Meera asked.
"Gold ain't worth squat if we're all dead before we spend it, Captain!" Grover below let out.
"We aren't sailing into the Blue Scar. We're getting him as close as is safely possible for the ship, dropping him off, and turning back immediately," Meera replied giving him a dry stare.
"Sigh…Don't even wanna know what's goin' on in his head. But then again, he's some fancy noble. Who the hell knows how them lot think?" He grunted and others nodded.
Meera couldn't deny that.
Because there was no way Ulrich was going to survive out there.
Down in the cabin, Ulrich had finally stopped reading.
Between the jarring carriage ride and now the constant swaying of the ship across the open sea, whatever energy he had left was entirely sapped. He clearly needed to sleep, so he allowed himself to do just that.
Hours passed.
Eventually, Meera slipped into the cabin.
She approached the table and looked down at Ulrich's sleeping face.
"You're even hotter when you're asleep," she whispered.
Scanning his features, she was certain he was a high-ranking noble of some kind, which only made his suicidal wish to approach the Scar all the more suspicious and strange.
"Hey." She reached out to touch his shoulder, but before her fingers could make contact, Ulrich's hand shot out and clamped around her wrist.
"What?"
"We've arrived. Going any further is too dangerous for the ship," Meera replied, pulling her wrist free.
He nodded, already standing up.
"That's fine. Do you have the boat ready?" He asked.
"Just as you asked. It has a paddle, though I highly doubt you'll need it. The current will drag you in regardless," she said.
"Just lower it," Ulrich said.
"You know, I really shouldn't care, but are you sure you want to go through with this?" Meera asked, hopping up to sit on the edge of the table.
"Your kind should only be interested in gold," Ulrich said, shrugging on his heavy coat. "Why are you trying to talk me out of it?"
"Because you're hot. It would be a shameful sin to lose someone as handsome as you," Meera replied with an easy shrug.
Ulrich cast a glance her way, a faint fleeting smile curving his lips.
He reached into his bag, pulled out another leather pouch, and tossed it to her.
Meera caught it with one hand. Inside were at least a dozen more gold coins.
"What's this for?" she asked.
"For at least a week, come back to this exact spot at this exact hour," he said. "Just in case you need to pick me up."
"You must have some hellish amount of confidence to think you're actually going to survive. Because you won't. No one survives once they get dragged into the Scar," Meera replied, her tone turning dead serious.
"I am not just anyone," Ulrich said softly. He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out.
Meera sat there for a moment, dumbfounded, before a smile spread across her lips.
"I hope you're right."
Jumping down from the table, she followed him up to the deck and immediately ordered her crew to lower the rowboat. Ulrich stepped into it and was steadily lowered down to the churning waters below.
"I hope to see you again, hottie," Meera called out, leaning her arms against the rail as she watched him drift away.
Ulrich stared up at her. "Do not forget what I asked."
If he actually managed to come back alive from this deadly descent, the very last thing he wanted was to be forced to swim for miles against a brutal current just to reach the nearest stretch of land.
Well, the Hollow Core was put there so definitely Kaelor had made so the one getting it would be safely teleported or something, Ulrich was certain of that.
"Don't worry, you can count on me," she smirked.
"What did he ask for, Captain?" Grover asked, besides her.
"He begged for my precious maidenhood. And I promised to give it to him if he comes back alive," Meera replied loudly.
"The hell?!"
"No fucking way!"
"Shoulda been me!"
"Screw that noble prick!"
"Just 'cause he's got a pretty face and a fat purse. Fuck all these nobles!"
Ulrich, having heard every word of Meera's blatant lie, chose to completely ignore it. Engaging would only give him a headache.
He immediately gripped the edges of the small rowboat as the dangerous current seized it.
He had been provided with a paddle, just as he requested, but he clearly didn't need it as Meera brought him quite close.
As he felt the water dragging him faster and faster toward the abyss, he immediately dropped to his knees and ripped his bag open.
First, he pulled out an amulet on a heavy chain.
It was a dull blue and looked rather basic, but its effects were vital for Ulrich. It was enchanted to muffle and dampen ambient noise, crucial, because the roar of the Maelstrom was enough to drive a man insane.
Legends said the roar was actually the endless wailing of the countless souls the Demon God had dragged into death.
He did a quick inventory of the bag.
Everything should be there....
Suddenly, the boat pitched violently, throwing him off balance. He nearly tumbled over the side but managed to catch himself just in time.
The rowboat was accelerating rapidly now.
It was time.
He immediately pulled out several vials. Every single one had cost him hundreds of gold coins.
He uncorked them and downed them one after the other.
One to grant him resistance to inhuman pain, preventing him from passing out from the shock.
One to accelerate his body's natural healing process.
Another to allow him to breathe underwater for exactly one hour.
And another, the most dangerous and by far the most expensive, designed to rapidly regenerate lethal tissue damage. He drank it without a second of hesitation.
Finally, he took a much smaller vial and tilted his head back, squeezing the thick drops directly into his red eyes.
He shook his head, blinking the sting away, and looked around.
He could see everything with sharper clarity, even in the creeping darkness of the storm.
Once he was finished, he sealed the bag and strapped it tightly across his chest and back.
He could only hope it would hold together.
Ulrich stood up, bracing his legs as the current dragged him ever forward. Through his magically enhanced vision, he finally saw it clearly. Calling it a maelstrom or a typhoon was a gross understatement.
It was gargantuan.
A world-ending chasm of water....
And he was being pulled straight into the throat of it.
He gripped the sides of the rowboat tightly as the wood began to groan and splinter under the mounting pressure.
Ulrich stared directly into the black heart of the abyss.
For a brief second, time seemed to slow to a crawl.
He really might die here.
And who was he thinking about in this final moment?
Was his life flashing before his eyes?
Not quite.
But there was one woman's face that surfaced in his mind.
"I love you, Silas."
"Faith…"
He mumbled her name into the roaring wind, and jumped straight into the typhoon.