The air under the water grew slimmer. The darkness was slowly swallowing them in. It was just like time.
The ship moved at an amazing speed, leaving violent bubbles behind it.
After what felt like eternity, everything went dark. They had entered the veil. As they moved through the darkness, it was getting thicker and slowing down their movements. Leo strained his crimson eyes to even see past the railings. Manning the helm of the ship was actually a tough job; he had to make sure the ship did not pivot into another direction and did not slow down.
'Tsk. If we stop here, we're dead.'
He could hear the soldiers' boots scraping against the deck, the frantic clatter of armor as they braced themselves. The ship was slowing down. He slammed his weight against the steering oar. The wood vibrated violently, nearly throwing him off the raised platform. Around him, the violent bubbles he had seen earlier had turned into a chaotic, frothing wake of black foam. The darkness was so thick it felt like liquid coal, pressing against the serpent-prow of the ship and forcing the massive vessel to groan under the sudden resistance.
'Just a little longer.. A little longer..'
He reassured himself as he moved through the darkness. Surprisingly, still no sea monsters had attacked. All they had been battling was the nature of the Great Sea.
… So far, things were still going smoothly. What could possibly go wrong? At this rate, nothing.
Soon, the water was getting lighter, the darkness was slowly fading. And in no time, the serpentine head of the ship burst out of the water, followed by the masts, then the full body of the ship landed on the surface of the sea.
They had gotten to the Tide of Seas.
It was still the same as before. Waves moved in all directions and clashed against each other as if monsters were at war. Whirlpools, both big and small, occasionally appeared. The firmament was like a black glass with cracks of different sizes spilling goo. The goo disappeared out of existence as soon as it came in contact with an invisible thin line that separated the ravaging storm from the firmament. Constant lightning struck reality itself, creating deafening thunderclaps.
The only difference Leo felt was the whispers and emotions. He still felt them and heard them, but not as much as the other time. The [Impervious Solitude] characteristic of the Shell of Dread was meant to protect his mind and soul against corruption or madness. So, the Vestige must have interpreted the emotions as a form of what it was supposed to protect the user against.
It did not do much, as every second, Leo felt the protection diminishing at a slow rate, but it was still noticeable. His theory about the characteristic was right after all.
Gritting his teeth, he put more resilience into trying to ignore the emotions and voices, and slowly, he felt the protection increase again by a bare minimum, but it was still manageable.
Leo looked around to see the expressions of others, since it was their first time seeing the legendary Tide of Seas.
Strangely, it felt as if they were mesmerized or in awe. It was mostly believable, since they never moved past their cities underwater. Even the most dreadful things would look magnificent to them.
Leo sighed. "Don't lose focus! Handle the masts! Re-check the hull! Lyra and King, do your thing!"
After he yelled, everyone shook their thoughts away and focused on their objective, to make sure the ship did not get swallowed by the storm.
The Aquarius groaned as a rogue wave, the size of a cathedral, smashed into the port side. The ship listed heavily, the wooden joints screaming under the torque, but the enchantments held.
"Keep the prow straight!" Leo roared over the howling wind. "If we catch a wave sideways, we're done for!"
The scene on the deck was chaotic but efficient. General Keith was barking orders to the soldiers, who were lashing themselves to the railings with enchanted ropes. Above them, the sails, made from the reinforced fibers Leo had insisted upon, snapped like gunshots in the gale.
The black goo spilling from the cracked firmament looked like the blood of a dying god. Every time the lightning struck, the world turned a blinding, flickering white, revealing the true scale of the madness. For miles in every direction, the sea was nothing but a churning graveyard of foam and fury.
Lyra and the King stood at the center of the main deck, their hands pressed against the floorboards. A soft, pinkish-gold light radiated from their palms, flowing into the grain of the wood.
They were manually reinforcing the ship's structural integrity, acting as living batteries for the vessel's hull. It was simple rudimentary magic, as far as Leo was concerned…
It was something similar to using your powers to encompass and empower another thing or person. Even Aura Farmers could do it, but only after reaching a certain rank and understanding the process to a certain degree.
Inasmuch as aura and magic were different, they still both proved to be similar in a way. It was as if they were bound together by a complex weave of strings.
As he was thinking, the door to the inner deck opened and a few people stepped out. They joined Lyra and the King, increasing the vessel's resilience, speed, and integrity to a great magnitude that even Leo could feel it.
'I definitely need to learn magic.'
Leo immediately discarded the thoughts; now was not the time.
"Aquarius!" General Keith yelled, his voice carried by the deafening rumbles and splash of waves. ".. Up front!" He relayed, pointing to the waves at the front.
A deep scowl appeared on Leo's face as he followed Keith's hand to the black waters. The waves were frantic and fierce. They were also very fast, so it was hard for Leo to discern what he was pointing at.
Straining his eyes, he saw a massive figure move in the water, carried by the waves. Then another figure, and another one.
Looking around, both left and right, forward and backward, he saw countless figures with different shapes and sizes being carried by the wild waves like hundreds, or in this case thousands, of drowned torpedoes.
'Curses.'