The group watched from afar as the ship sank fully underwater. People were swimming towards the dock and just one lifeboat was on sail. Nobody spoke anything. The smell of smoke was drowned out by the smell of the sea. The people swimming closer were quite skilled swimmers. They were soon at the shore, shouting at each other when they saw the lifeboat sailing with just who of the people in it.
"We should spread out. Ocean and Hazel, you can help the people at the shore. Me and Aurora will go to the ruins before you, but you two will catch up when you're done," Remy finally said.
"Fine. We'll go," Hazel answered reluctantly.
Ocean and Aurora just nodded in response, and they split up in two groups. Aurora and Remy walked towards the old ruins where they could find information, or at least explore the place, and Ocean went towards the dock with Hazel, whose expression still screamed 'I'm annoyed'.
Ocean looked at the men emerging the dock, and suddenly noticed the armory they wore. Pistols were strapped onto them, partly hidden by clothes. It made him freeze and look back to the people in the lifeboat. He could make out one with pink hair and the other with purple hair nearly the same shade as Remy's.
He noticed the pattern. Those were the people they had saved from the Embercaller. Remy said before that they knew one of them, so they couldn't be part of the armored group, right? This meant they must have come from wherever Remy came from. The fact they didn't take the same boat out of the fire means they were probably not on a friendly ship ride.
Ocean's senses heightened with a headache involved to all of it. It was all confusing, yet it still made too much sense. He stood there, frozen until Hazel shook his shoulder, making him snap back to reality.
Hazel huffed as she let go of Ocean's shoulder. Not only was she frustrated about the walk, but also the fact Ocean was having an obvious one of his psychological clues or whatever he called them. The others had already unlocked their powers, even Aurora, but she never got hers. It was unnaturally late. Maybe she just didn't have one. But why would that be? She always thought she was just as normal as any other kid Althea raised.
The armored people dressed like traders were coming closer. Judging by the wound on the back of one of their head, he had been clubbed by something hard. There was at least eight people, but it was too late to recount. They were coming closer.
Ocean looked at Hazel, who was only suspecting the slightest, and probably hadn't noticed how bad the situation could actually end up being.
"Run," he quickly whispered to her before they both took off, leaving Hazel confused.
When they found a wooden sign, they hid behind it. '1 mile to the Etherium castle', the sign read. They tried to hide themselves as much as possible. At this point Hazel, as well, realized what they were hiding from.
"They have guns," Ocean confirmed in another whisper.
"Are we hiding because you suspect they arr after us?" Hazel asks, which Ocean answers with a nod. Now she knew that Ocean saw the people as dangerous, which was most likely true.
Their hearts pounded in their chests as the hunters walked past the sign. When the last one, or who they thought was last, had passed, they immediadly got up and ran to the trail towards the ruins where Remy and Aurora were walking at their slow and steady pace.
"They were bounty hunters," Ocean told Remy when they caught up on them. It made Remy's chest tighten to think of the fact they had just made their members face danger on their own.
Before Remy could respond, the rustling of leaves behind them gave away the steps of the actual last hunter. He has followed them.