Hilbert was on the lookout to see if their destination was in view. For a while, the waves in the Emerald Ocean have been heavy. The house has been sailing at a slower pace just so they wouldn't be caught in them. The distance shown on the map was much different than what was presented in the world.
In a few hours, dawn would arrive. Hilbert didn't like it when it did. Light would mean that they'd be sticking out like sore thumbs and be easily visible to possible airships passing by. While they haven't seen airships for a few days, it could still happen and it worried him. They were defenseless.
Though, Nova is not with us right now. Will they spare us if we get detected?
He briefly lost his balance when the house was caught in a huge wave. He decided to climb back down into his house from the roof. He went into the living room to tell the others about how their destination was still out of view.
Margaret started pondering. "The waves sure are getting larger."
Esta quipped, "Will the house be okay? At the end of the day, it is just a mere house. What if it gets destroyed?"
Hilbert sighed. "I worry about that too."
He then glanced over at the couch where Mebsuta was resting. She had been shivering earlier, but it ceased a while ago. He was only slightly worried about his mother; he knew she was a strong woman, so shivering wouldn't be what would take her down. He wondered what sort of end would come for her–would it be simple or grandiose?
His thoughts were put to a halt when Bootes zipped past him to stare out the window. "What's wrong?" he asked.
Bootes did not respond. Margaret asked the same question, but there was still no response. Instead, Bootes opened the window and stuck his head out.
"What's wrong?" Marlo quipped.
Bootes retracted back inside and pointed out the window. "The ocean is glowing."
"What?"
Hilbert was the first to stick out his head from the window. Bootes told no lies; the ocean was radiating a green hue that reminded him of bioluminescence. He then let the other members look out to see the truth.
"There's stuff coming out from the ocean!" Vanessa yelled out.
Hilbert took the chance to go back to the rooftop to observe what was going on. What he saw was an inconceivable sight to behold: speckles of green light were floating out of the ocean and heading towards the sky as if they were a horde of fireflies flying towards the stars. It was a breathtaking, yet perplexing sight in his eyes.
He suddenly lost his balance and fell back into the hole. He landed on his bottom, which caused him to wince in pain. However, he couldn't get up as strong tremors prevented him from doing so.
What's going on? He wondered with worry.
He did his best to deflect any stray objects heading his way as he slowly crawled towards an available window for him to peer out. The ocean was rippling, causing the house to be caught in the mighty waves. Hilbert was very worried about whether the house would capsize or get destroyed.
He tried to call Sara, but the pressure caused his hand to lose balance and his phone fell out of his hands and slid towards a corner of the loft. When he was about to crawl to retrieve it, something caught his attention at the corner of his eye. A whirlpool started forming right across from the house and it got caught in the swirling and accelerating currents. Hilbert had been swaying in different directions until he realized he had been submerged in freezing water.
He felt the hands of someone saving him and pulling him above the waters. He could only take deep breaths, while shivering, as he took off his glasses, wiped his face with one hand and then put them back on to see who his savior was: Sara.
She had a face full of anguish. "Hilbert, the house has been destroyed!"
Hilbert responded by turning around to see her words were true. His house became a pile of floating driftwood. The bed from the loft was floating by, so he and Sarah climbed onto it so they wouldn't be in the waters. He saw the other members of DUO doing their best climbing onto spare furniture. Bootes was the only one floating in the air with his jet pack with Mebsuta in his arms. Constance was also doing her best to avoid the water while trying to help both Murphy and Sophia climb onto the table she was on.
What frustrated him the most was the fact that his house had been destroyed. He had spent so much time tinkering with his house that he had considered it his best invention, yet it wasn't impervious. Having his invention destroyed meant that he still had a long way to go before becoming the best inventor possible.
Words couldn't form from his mouth as he was too busy trying to shake off the shivering and chattering teeth. In a flash, a pillar of water shot out from the glowing ocean. A lavender tower emerged from the depths of the glowing water. The tower reminded Hilbert of a very tall pagoda.
What is that? He could only gawk at it.
He saw Bootes circling around the tower and signaled the scattered rebels that there was a way inside. He first took Asteria inside and then flew out to grab Margaret. Constance jumped at a very high distance to see where Bootes was headed. When she came back down, she grabbed Sophia and jumped once again–this time, she jumped towards the pathway and was able to make it by hanging onto the edge. Margaret and Asteria, who was now awake, managed to pull her inside and then helped Sophia in. Constance then went back out to grab Murphy as Bootes went to get Esta.
After Esta, Bootes grabbed Vanessa. Constance jumped back down to get Marlo and jumped back up. Hilbert and Sara were the last ones needing to be rescued. Constance took Sara while Bootes took Hilbert. The cold air blowing into his body kept giving him chills, but it was much better than being surrounded by water. He took the chance to look down to see what was left of his house. It was an unfortunate feeling that all the money he had spent on the gadgets and furniture were no longer accessible.
As the sky was on the verge of brightening, Hilbert noticed a black speck out in the distance. He pointed at it to ask Bootes if that was an airship headed their way. Bootes stopped to turn around. Worried that it could be so, he resumed the flight back to the entrance.
Hilbert took the chance to examine the new area. It was a bright lavender tunnel. He touched the walls and it felt like ice. "Is this incandescent ice?"
"It feels like it," Vanessa murmured, "but how could a giant tower of incandescent ice emerge from the waters?"
"This could be Castle Lavender." Asteria remarked. "The giant castle of ice shrouded deep within the Eternal Blizzard that emerged twenty years ago."
Marlo tilted his head in confusion. "But wasn't that destroyed a few days ago? It was major headline news."
Esta theorized, "If it appeared when Nova was on this island, maybe he can just create the castles whenever he needs to?"
"That sounds the most plausible." Vanessa quipped.
Bootes kept turning his head back. "I'm more worried about the airship coming our way. There is a possibility they could find this entrance."
"Let's venture further in," Hilbert pointed towards the path deeper into the castle. "If the path leads to somewhere bigger, I think it'd be best to destroy the path so it'd be a dead end for the soldiers." He turned to Constance. "Could you do that?"
"I will."
"Let's go." Margaret said as everyone started traversing deeper in.
The end of the road had a door. The sight of it caused confusion to the group. There was nothing else other than the door.
Asteria was eager to open it, but was stopped by Vanessa. "We shouldn't be opening random doors."
"There's no other way inside, right? Why the hesitation?"
"Still…"
Murphy then blurted out, "The path inside leads to a world full of pain and sorrow. Are you sure you want to traverse inside?"
Sophia raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay, dear?"
Murphy looked at everyone. "That's what a voice is telling me…"
"Could it be those ghosts you've mentioned to me in the past?"
Sara then remembered something. "Plasmians are known for their strong spiritual powers and could see and hear spirits. Mixed Plasmians would only inherit either one of those traits. This means that you can hear them?"
"What kind of voice is it?" Esta asked out of curiosity.
"A woman's voice…but I can no longer hear her…"
"I'm willing to traverse further in. What about you, Vanessa?"
She could only let out a heavy sigh. "If you're willing, so be it."
Asteria then asked the rest of the group. They were all compliant, so she opened the door and they all went inside.