Wide eyes. Dropped jaws. The entire crew was stunned. Even Lurcard, who was supposed to know about the existence of this aquatic city, was dumbfounded by what he was seeing.
When she laid her eyes on the sailors, Hanahmana gave a satisfied smile."The Royal City has always caused this kind of awe in all the Desecrators who have approached it."
Then, she motioned them to move forward. The lead crab moved toward the quicksand chasm, which surprised the sailors."Wait, what… Where is she taking us!?" gasped Bory."We're going to die buried alive!" cried Niko, one of the rowers walking ahead of Wylgol.
As soon as he said that, Garr's body reacted involuntarily. His blubbery frame began to tremble all over. He tried to turn back, but the shell chains—on his hands and feet—prevented him.
Sensing panic beginning to spread among the crew, Lurcard turned to them to offer reassurance."No. We're not going to die buried.""How can you be sure?" Sassa challenged him."Yeah! How can you be so sure!?" Niko echoed.
Hearing the rower's voice, Bory turned to him and shot him a dark glare."You dare open your clam, you seahorse dung!?"
The rower immediately fell silent and looked away.
"Yeah, kid," Bory continued, addressing Lurcard. "How can you be so sure of yourself?"
He was about to answer, but when the cartographer saw his unconscious comrade being carried on the back of the second crab, the truth hit him.
"Because Allan believed in me and trusted me," he said, emotional.
"It's true. It's thanks to your knowledge that we made it this far," Wylgol affirmed."Everyone calm down!"
At that, the entire crew reconsidered. And followed the princess into the middle of the shifting chasm—albeit hesitantly. Once everyone was at the center, Hanahmana raised her hands to the sky. She drew two circles in the air, closed her fists, then opened them again. The princess stared at the group—who watched her with respect.
"Bu' Lum?" she declared."Bu'lka!" the mounted warriors responded in unison.
Then the princess brought her hands down toward the ground, and a circle began to form all around them. The circle filled with symbols of fish, octopuses, sharks, crabs, and starfish. When the drawing was complete, the princess let out a war cry. The ground began to shake. Bubbles of sand started forming, as though the earth was simmering on low heat. Soon the sand bubbles began to pop.
And all at once, they were launched into the sky like cannonballs. Lurcard, Sassa, Garr, Bory, Mathurin, the rowers, and Wylgol saw their feet lift rapidly away from the ground.
The projection force was so strong that they felt crushed all over their bodies. Their muscles tensed. Their fingers stiffened. Their breathing became labored. When they lifted their heads to gauge how far away the floating city was, the sailors saw it drawing closer, relentlessly.
Little by little, they began to make out the roughness of the rock. Only a hundred and fifty meters left. The distance kept shrinking. Only a hundred meters now. The crew was starting to grasp the sheer immensity of this floating rock, to the point where the sailors felt utterly tiny in the face of such vastness.
The distance continued to shrink. At that range, the sailors discovered a translucent, undulating layer enveloping the entire floating rock. It was water.
As the collision loomed, their sense of wonder vanished, replaced by sheer panic. "Rotten-fish-damn-it, we're gonna crash!" Bory shouted drunkenly.
From that moment on, the entire crew screamed in terror — Lurcard himself joining in the frenzied cry.Only fifty meters remained. The distance was shrinking at an alarming rate.
They felt as though death was opening its arms wide to embrace them.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" they all screamed at the top of their lungs.This scene of distress amused the princess — but, surprisingly, also moved her to the point of compassion. She decided to put an end to it. Standing atop the crab, Hanahmana pointed her finger toward the city. She drew a new circle, and instantly a blinding light burst forth. The glow opened a passage through the barrier, into which the entire convoy was abruptly sucked.The pressure on their bodies was so intense that they couldn't withstand it.
The sailors fainted.
"Ha!" cried Lurcard as if waking up suddenly. Lying on the ground, he noticed tall silhouettes standing before him. Lifting his head, he recognized his companions. They, speechless, were dazzled by the jewelry and architecture of the place.The beauty and opulence were such that this place, without the slightest effort, could make any surface-dwelling people green with envy and jealousy.
The crew stood in the middle of a round plaza that gave the impression of being inside a combat arena.However, the splendor of the place softened that impression. Indeed, limestone columns as white as chalk, inlaid with rainbow-colored pearls, and oyster-shell seats — brightly colored — in the stands contrasted with the usual severity of a warrior setting.The tiered staircases — which led out of the round plaza — were adorned with flowering seaweed and oysters that opened and closed at their own rhythm. As these movements of opening and closing unfolded, the sailors couldn't help but notice the presence of precious pearls within the shells.At the top of the stairs stood Princess Hanahmana, surrounded by the three riders, one of whom was holding Allan in his arms. He was still unconscious.
"You now stand in the Royal City of the Thousand Seas — Yulydia Moohori," declared the princess in a solemn tone."The Divine Currents have seen fit to grant you passage into our Kingdom. But to what end? The Oorh'ou, who is my father, shall tell us. Will you follow me?"
The princess turned away to continue on her path. Two of the Guardians followed closely behind her, while the Guardian with the purple hair waited for the others.But the sailors were still mesmerized by the place. Their eyes wandered everywhere."Are you seeing this — by a fried fish!?" Bory exclaimed, stunned. "We… we've ended up in this city!"
He let out a nervous laugh, while Wylgol stroked his beard, lost in thought.He had no words. His mind struggled to grasp how something the world above called imaginary could prove to be so undeniably real — and, more strikingly, tangible to the touch.
Meanwhile, the rowers were conferring in a hushed council of low-hanging locks.This gathering was nonetheless marked by the clashing opinions of Niko and Looz.As for Mathurin, he wandered around the round plaza, his little blond mop of hair bobbing along as he inspected everything up close — trying to determine whether it was all truly real.
A bit farther back from the group, Lurcard was examining the ground of the round plaza — a mosaic of pale seashells, with the darker brown ones forming shapes of sharks, crabs, starfish, and dolphins.But another pattern on the ground caught his eye: an arrow pointing north from his position.The young cartographer had to turn on his heels to see what it was pointing toward.
That side of the round plaza opened outward — into the void.Lurcard could see the wall of water that encircled the entire city. From the edge, he realized just how dizzying the height was.A shiver ran down his spine.He could make out a vast stretch of the desert they had crossed. He even saw the distant Starfish Gate.
Lurcard kept scanning the horizon until… he eventually noticed something.
A Tower.Though very far to the north — the same north the arrow on the ground pointed to — the tower caught the cartographer's eye. It struck him because of its uniqueness. The tower was shaped like a crescent moon.A crescent moon? he wondered to himself. But it looks like my...
"Defilers, hurry up!" thundered the voice of the Guardian at the top of the stairs."Do you dare make Her Majesty Princess Hanahmana wait!?"
The Guardian's booming voice tore each sailor from their stunned daze. Immediately, they rushed toward the steps, despite their shackles on both hands and feet.
Was everyone hurrying? No. As Wylgol stepped aside to let the others go before him, Lurcard also passed by. But Sassa's nonchalant attitude puzzled Wylgol. She was lagging behind.
"Hey, Sassa! Something wrong?" he asked."What? You gonna say again that everything that happens is just 'cause there's a chick involved, is that it?!" she shot back defensively."But… I didn't say anything."
Once again, Wylgol's response and demeanor toward her caught Sassa off guard."You know you've gotten weird?" she said to him."What do you mean?" Wylgol raised an eyebrow."Forget it."
No, you're the one who's gotten weird, thought the navigator.
The young woman climbed the stairs, and Wylgol followed her.
The steps led them to a path — lined with spears of gold and limestone — which extended toward a pavilion studded with coral of every color, with yellow being the most dominant.
As he drew closer, Wylgol noticed that the princess and her entourage were standing — next to what appeared to be — a statue. And his companions stood facing it.
Once under the pavilion, Sassa and Wylgol recoiled at the sight of the effigy.
Sculpted and carved from marine stone in shades of green and gray, the statue depicted a man entangled within the rock. However, the real shock came from the decomposed face of the captive, revealing his skeletal features.
"Behold the Oor'hou, my father," announced Hanahmana. "Father, these are the Defilers."
Suddenly, the statue began to tremble, as if coming to life. The sailors flinched on the spot. The statue froze again. And then, a cavernous voice awakened — at first whistling, then raspy, and finally deep:
"Defilers and Taints of our Kingdom, who are you and what do you seek?"