The cursed river of blood widened into a splintering maze of channels—fork after fork—each pulsing with a thinner shade of red. Veins of glowing scarlet, maroon, and violet surged past jagged bone-rock and ruins lost to time.
My limp body floated weightless, eyes shut, skin pale, but faintly pulsing with rewoven vestigium qi and phage-laced blood essence. The mysterious life form that I had named Felicity Grey—remained coiled around my heart like a watchful flame, cloaked in silence. The final fork widened abruptly—like the mouth of an old god yawning—and spat me out into the open sea. Brackish blood met salt water. The sky churned above. The current of the open sea carried Ash far away from the Beast Vein continent.
Aboard the Crimson Typhoon – Pirate Clan Ship.
"CAP'N! FLOATIN' MAN OFF THE PORT BOW!" came the gravel-throated cry from the crow's nest. Captain Riggs, a burly sea rogue with chi-bound anchor gauntlets and an eyepatch made of fish-scale, turned toward the call, teeth already biting into a raw kelp cigar.
"Flotsam? Or somethin' else…" He didn't need to wait. The ocean stirred—wrongly. An aura, ancient and wounded, curled around the floating form like a bruised reed.
From the side rails, three pirates in loose sea-blue robes dove gracefully into the water, spiraling downward like dolphin-kin. Each bore tattoos of ocean serpents and storm waves, indicating their training in the marine path—a martial path that favored fluidity, lung capacity, and water affinity.
They surfaced seconds later, dragging Ash's half-glowing body between them. He didn't breathe. He didn't speak.
But the storm claw raptor feathers and crimson red ember coil scales that ran down his arms shimmered like lightning over magma. Ash's dual bonded appearance impressed all the crewmen aboard.
Captain Riggs gave the young man a once over and yelled "Take him to the infirmary!"
Ship Infirmary – Below Deck
The nurse pirates—two older women named Kippa and Briney, both retired storm scouts—draped Ash in sea moss blankets and pressed warmed poultices over his chest.
"He's alive," Briney muttered, brushing wet hair from his forehead. "He's burnin' like the heart uva' forge on the inside...yet colder than a selkie's kiss in winter on the skin.
By the ancients, I've ne'er felt a soul signature twisted like this one—half storm, half sorrow, all barely holdin' together." Kippa shook her head and spooned broth into his mouth. "It's workin'. See? Swallow reflex came back. Body knows home when it tastes it."
The "home" was a bowl of steaming chicken bone broth and a splash of pickle juice from their fermented rations barrel—a pirate cure-all, apparently.
After three bowls, I groaned. My fingers twitched.
Then my lips parted.
"…soup…is spicy…"
Both nurses stared.
My eyes fluttered open. I coughed once, then whispered, "Where… where am I?"
"You're aboard the crimson typhoon," Briney said proudly.
"Saved you from drownin we did' welcome to the cursed delta boy."
I blinked.
I felt… different. Slower. But healing.
And somewhere deep in my chest—Felicity stirred. "Told you you'd survive, Master. Now eat more soup. The world's not done trying to kill us."
Kippa hovered at my side, eyes wide, "But his pulse's still flutterin', conda like a reef bird caught in a bottle gale! That ain't normal qi rhythm, I'm tellin' you!"
She dug through her satchel, pulling out a tiny corked vial sloshing with cloudy pink liquid, "Kippa we need to stabilize his core threads! Here, this'll coax 'em straight—pickled ginger tonic. Mama's recipe. Steeped in rain fire root and sea-cured plum bark."
She uncorked it with a sharp pop and waved it under my nose. It had a zesty, pungent tang that cut through the infirmary's thick herbal air.
Kippa muttered, "C'mon now, stranger. I don't fish wrecked men outta the cursed delta just to watch 'em wither on me bunk."
My fingers twitched, just barely—a flicker of life against the linen sheets.
My lips parted as Briney gently tilted the vial.
Briney whispered "Easy now... Just a sip."
The pickled ginger tonic trickled in. A shiver ran down my body. My throat swallowed once, then again, my jaw clenching briefly before easing.
My breath steadied.
Kippa nodded, satisfied. Kippa leaned back, exhaling in relief, "There we go. qi's not so tangled now…"
But before anyone could say more, my eyelids flutter once—just once—before closing again.
His features settled into an unreadable calm.
His body, though faintly steaming with residual vestigium qi, slipped into another deep, silent rest.
Somewhere far beneath his skin Felicity purred.