"Raise the sails!"
Shouts echoed across the deck as sailors scrambled to prepare the Ghostship to enter space conversion.
From a small balcony overlooking the chaos below, Lepaie Quinn watched as the crew anchored every object tightly to the wooden boards to prevent distortion.
"Prepare for entry."
His cold tone resounded throughout every part of the ship as if he were projecting his voice into each room individually, rousing the attention of the sailors.
To his right, a table was lashed securely to the captain's cabin, keeping the valuable item sitting atop it from being thrown into the sea.
Quinn reached out with his left hand, grabbing the purple weapon from the tabletop, carefully checking each groove and hole for any flaws like he had been trained when he was young.
It was a pistol gleaming with the glow of amethyst, its handle and trigger gilded in gold, reflecting the moonlight that poured from above.
Nodding his head gently in approval, he raised the gun and aimed it at the still air in front of the massive Ghostship, which easily dwarfed all the other boats in the harbor.
In a quiet voice, he murmured a single word that stirred the world around him.
『Aventus』
At that moment, all sound ceased, and even the waves and currents fell still, as if the world itself paused in anticipation of the force that commanded the very flow of nature.
Then, suddenly, a heavy gong rang out, parting the sky instantly, with an intense creaking sound whistling through the wind.
One of the newest additions to the crew nearly fainted as the magnificent archway of white light tore away at the very fabric of reality, pulling every particle inside as if it were a monster desperately craving food.
Some of the other men kneeled in respect to the phenomenon, seeing it as a blessing from the divine.
Lepaie Quinn himself silently observed the same scene he had witnessed hundreds of times in the decade he had served as one of the Sea Kings.
"Send word to Sea Fallen immediately."
His tone was flat, betraying nothing, as he addressed the first mate standing silently behind him.
The moment the first mate began to turn away to carry out the order, the King spoke again, this time in a voice barely more than a whisper.
"I can only hope I am not too late."
And with those words, time seemed to jump and space seemed to contract as the Ghostship wielded by Lepaie Quinn, the seventh Sea King, vanished into a blur of white light.
…
Eeeyuurrrnn
The sound of vicious creaking echoed through the dense fog that coated the entire Ghostship as the hushed voices of the crew were heard throughout the void.
"Where did we come out in the World Between today, Irvin?"
Lepaie's words rang out contrary to the silence that surrounded the vessel, directed at the man who sat in a chair across from him.
"It seems we are near the Trench of Mawlg, sir."
The man's hair was tied in a loose ponytail behind his head, with his platinum eyes darting between the foggy exterior and his captain.
"Hmm, in that case, it will be harder than normal. Tell the crew to prepare for an ambush, but do not mention our location."
Quinn's tone was dry with a hint of annoyance, yet sprawled across his face was a small smirk.
"Yes, sir."
Irvin stood up, bowing low in respect towards the Sea King before hurrying from the cabin, carefully traversing his way through the interior of the ship preventing making any sound.
On the deck of the Ghostship, the sailors had tied themselves to any object they could find while keeping their eyes locked onto the white mist that formed a sea below them.
Rumors of the existence of the World Between had spread far and wide throughout the Sunken World, but no claim could truly capture the magnificence of the alternate dimension that the Kings witnessed.
"Truly remarkable."
Near the helm, an older man lit a piece of wheat ablaze before setting it within his mouth to burn, while unhooking himself from a rope fastening him to the deck.
By order of Irvin Lee, he was instructed to keep tabs on the rear and to report immediately to the captain upon any terror sightings.
"Tsk, does little Lee still think I'm a newbie? I'm not so stupid as to expect smooth sailing in this ghastly realm, but to put an old man on guard duty? The nerve of that youth…"
His grumbling reverberated through the dense covering, reaching the murky substance they drifted through, causing a slight ripple.
That one tiny wavelet quickly grew until it was the size of a wave, which then crashed against the hull of the Ghostship, rocking the boat slightly.
"Eh?"
The elder let out a confused murmur as a feeling of dread closed in on him from all sides.
He froze as a cold gust blew past his neck, inspiring a chilling reminder to the man.
"There isn't any wind in this world."
And, with that realization, a slimy, grotesque tentacle wrapped around his leg and pulled with an inhuman level of force.
Gluurp.
His body was swallowed by the liquid below, leaving only bubbles to remember him by.
For this was the harsh reality of this parallel dimension.
Survival of the fittest.
Those who cannot fight against the sea terrors who lurk and wait cannot bear the burden of traversing its treacherous waters.
This place acts as a bridge through the Dimension of Waves, allowing easily traversable routes where voyages that take months can be shortened to days in an instant.
In the World Between, a realm of death and despair, meant only for the bravest or the insane, visitors coined another name synonymous with its residents.
The homeland of all sea terrors, the Devil's Triangle.
…
In the city of Sea Fallen, digging through rubble and debris, a tiny girl could be seen with dirt-covered hair and ash-soaked clothing.
"Almost… there…"
Her voice was faint, coming out as only a dry croak.
Once I get to the harbor, I can get away!
This one thought kept her going even through the destruction that surrounded her.
Her sole focus was on escape; however, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted an odd object floating through the air.
Bubbles?
Small balls of magenta light gracefully soared through the terrain, passing through anything they touched without so much as a sound.
Alice tilted her head in curiosity, stopping her progress and, instead, moving closer towards one of the strange orbs.
With her left hand, she slowly reached out her index finger to touch the sphere, not thinking of the consequences.
"Shiny…"
The moment she was about to make contact with the ball, a gruesome sound echoed out from behind her, causing her to retract her hand in surprise.
At the edge of one of the shopfronts, a dog had fallen to the floor after drinking from a polluted puddle that one of the magenta spheres had been absorbed into.
Its torso was twitching slightly with pustules forming on each limb that grew as the seconds ticked by.
W-What is happening to that doggy?
Alice took a small step back, only to hear a gut-wrenching pop as the dog exploded before her very eyes.
The young girl blinked, looking at where the animal once lay at her feet, where the blood barely dodged her dirtied and worn shoes.
"D-Doggy?"
Tears burst forth in her eyes, falling at rapid speeds to the floor, mixing with the crimson colored liquid, creating a foul-smelling steam that wafted into her nose.
"Uurk…"
She gagged before vomiting the bread she had eaten earlier onto the cold stone at her feet.
Around her, more and more of the murderous particles had begun to gather slowly, inching their way closer to the frightened girl.
Screams rang out in the distance as others who were escaping the collapsing city succumbed to a similar fate to the dog, each suffering agony beyond death in their final moments.
Alice's hope had been snuffed out in an instant; however, a primal fear of whatever those orbs were still resounded deep in her mind.
She didn't know why, but without a second thought, she ran.
The black-haired child had lost the direction of the harbor and instead was running as fast as she could from the deadly spheres that casually floated toward the sea.
Down one path and through another, the turns and loops confused even her who was acquainted with every nook and cranny of Sea Fallen.
Eventually, the girl stopped to breathe at a dark crossroads covered in moss, seemingly abandoned years ago, ordered to be torn down and rebuilt by the mayor, yet those plans seemed trivial in the face of the magenta death trailing behind her.
L-Left or r-right?
To Alice of yesterday, the question would be obvious; however, the chaos numbed her sense of direction, leaving her lost and afraid.
Every second she wasted, the particles crept closer, and a wrong turn doomed her to a fate befallen by many others in the city.
P-please, can anything help me…
This seemingly insignificant request was all a small crustacean needed to surface from the damp mausoleum that dwelt below the city.
In a flurry of blue sparks, his body flashed into existence, facing the terrified Alice, who was subconsciously clutching the coin she had received from the nice traveler she had met previously.
"C-crabby?"
Her voice was quiet as she spoke to the crab; however, Mr. Crab simply looked at her, then at the magenta orbs trailing behind, and wobbled slightly.
"A-Are you okay?"
Concern welled within her, yet her eyes quickly locked onto the animal's legs where a confused emotion overwhelmed the fear.
His peg legs are bleeding? Wait… Why does a crab have peg legs?"
And with that thought, the crustacean seemed to finally grasp the situation, acting on it swiftly.
Alice watched as the blue-shelled creature straightened itself, turned around, and bolted down the alley without any acknowledgement of the girl.
"Huh?"
She stood there in awe as the crab darted into the distance, hastily coming to a realization.
O-Of course! He must be telling me to follow him!
With that thought and the approaching orbs, the green-eyed girl sprinted after the fleeing crab without a doubt in her mind.
On the other hand, Mr. Crab's expression betrayed a strange emotion differing greatly from what Alice believed, allowing only one conclusion to be drawn from his thoughts.
I need to get out of here fast.