A firmament with cracks big and small gazed down on a storm that ravaged through reality. Its goo dropped, disappearing after it met with a thin golden line that separated it from the storm.
Beneath the Tide of Seas was endless darkness, and beneath this darkness was civilization. There were nine cities in total. Three were destroyed, with monsters both big and small and madness surrounding them, moving in the destroyed cities.
The third city was once a beautiful sight like the remaining six cities. Its castle, which was tall and held down by a gargantuan chain, was completely destroyed, the chains lying among the debris. The same situation occurred to other buildings.
Currently, the sea monsters were rushing towards a single direction: the castle.
Although it was destroyed, the destruction formed a large crater where the castle itself should have been, with debris and chain remnants surrounding it. A stone fell from above, shining in a pink-like color, and landed at the center of the crater. Immediately, it exploded, and as a testament to its explosion, a swirling pink portal appeared, swallowing the crater and making the water around it sway in a different current.
"Come on! Drag!" the man that had thrown the stone yelled. He wore black armor and had long, brown, ponytailed hair and stoic facial features. He moved his sword and sliced a small seahorse creature into bits.
He was behind a ship that wasn't fully built, with different materials resting on its deck. The ship was being dragged by multiple soldiers towards the portal while the rest battled the sea monsters coming their direction.
"General Leith! They're not diminishing in number!" a voice yelled beside him.
Without turning to look at the owner of the voice, he yelled as he killed another seahorse creature with fangs and black skin.
"Hold on! We have to get the ship to the basement! Fight! You're soldiers!"
Everyone fought and unleashed their abilities. One could create a miniature water tornado. Another one could make the little molecules of water solid. And so many more abilities were related to water.
In the end, soldiers died, but the others were able to get the ship to the portal, and as the last person—General Leith—crossed the portal, it wrapped into itself and disappeared out of existence. The source, which was the stone, was also gone. The sea monsters roared and continued moving aimlessly around the destroyed city.
****
Leo and Lyra remained silent. There was nothing to say... for now.
Out of curiosity, he decided to try and touch his back, but his hand landed on soft silk. He guessed it was also bandaged with the brown material like his arm.
'But what is moving and easing my pain? Ah, I feel so uneasy.'
He would have asked Lyra, but he didn't want to. He might be young, but he's very smart and understanding. She's going through a lot right now. She needs some time alone.
He then thought of something and opened his mouth to say something, but the door burst open and a man rushed in. He was also wearing armor.
'Am I the only one not wearing armor among the soldiers and the king?'
Well, he was neither a soldier nor a royal. He was an engineer.
Discarding his thoughts, he focused on the man. The man had yellow hair and yellow eyes that seemed to glow in the subtle darkness.
"Lady Lyra. Sir Aquarius. The King calls for you. The ship is here."
'They've gone already?!'
Just like Leo's, Lyra's eyes widened and slowly returned to normal. She nodded and gestured to the messenger to leave.
The messenger bowed and left, closing the door with courtesy this time around.
Seconds after he left, Lyra sighed and stood up. "I'll go check on them... You stay here."
As she was about to leave, Leo grabbed her hand and stopped her. "No, no. I also want to go. It's my ship and my work."
Lyra shook her head. "I know that. But I'm sure the king will understand. It was just last night that you battled a Sagittarius on your own in the Tide of Seas. You lost an arm and mutilated your back. It's enough reason for you to take a well-deserved rest. I'll handle things."
Leo disagreed. "No, it won't feel right. And I'm sure that I'm totally fine now."
He tried to stand up, but he felt the ease from his back disappear and a sharp pain shot across his back; he almost fell back with great force onto the rock, but Lyra immediately held him and placed him gently on the bed.
"You see what I mean? Get some rest, Aquarius. I'll handle things."
Leo couldn't argue anymore, so he didn't say anything as Lyra patted him on the head with a smile and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
"Why is she treating me like I'm a thirteen-year-old? Does it show?"
Leo was left alone in the darkness. Remembering he was in darkness sent chills down his spine. He wanted to scream and tear out his own hair with his hands, but he controlled himself.
"You're not there anymore, Leo."
But still, he couldn't ignore what he felt, saw, and heard from the Tide of Seas... and what he faced. He faced a true monster. But suddenly he felt a pang in his heart.
"That monster was once human. Too bad I didn't get to see the human. Eye of Dread. Hmm... what an ominous Noun."
A Noun was a title given to an Aura Farmer to cement them as someone beyond mortality, tying their abilities, fate, and attributes to form a single name.
"I remember earning a Vestige."
With that, he summoned the system.
[Name: Leo Atlantis]
[Noun: None]
[Path: None]
[Rank: Weakling]
[Tree: None]
[Mark: None]
[Vestige: Shell of Dread]
Without wasting any time, he accessed the [Shell of Dread] and new codex language surfaced on the hexagon.
[Shell of Dread]
Rank: Sagittarius
Type: Armor
He then accessed it more.
Description: [Aquafina had once dreamt of reaching the Tide of Seas but was forbidden by her family. She joined the military but still it was the same result. No one could reach the Tide of Seas until one day... she ran mad. And slowly ran everyone mad. Her madness swallowed her city and the next city. Her madness also swallowed the third city but that cost her her life. At the end she got to the Tide of Seas but met a very resilient human.
"Is that all?" the human choked out, a bloody smile on his face.
"You're a legend, right? Then act like one and die properly!"
And truly, she died properly. Killed by the human and the place she always wanted to visit, she found solace in the embrace of madness and death.]