Irritation: The only emotion Faiz could feel lately. He had spent multiple days accomplishing absolutely nothing aboard the ship, with Jesyll remaining completely unhelpful as ever, answering his every question with a blithe and practiced indifference, seemingly content to let him wallow. His tears had dried out swiftly once Shaiher was out of view; Realizing that his new routine would consist solely of peering into the shining waves around the vessel and trying to extract answers from a recalcitrant tubespawn- eroded the rest of his lingering sentiment.

  “Are you still absolutely sure we’re actually moving?” He asked, glancing down at the tentacled being sprawled languidly across the deck, “Even from here, I fail to see..much of anything really. Can’t you at least tell me where you’re steering this tub towards?”

  “And as I’ve already told you before kid, we’ll get where we’re going when we get there, isn’t that easy to remember?” Faiz had the sneaking suspicion that if Jesyll could’ve smirked, they’d be sporting a very big one on their face. “Besides, weren’t you the one who was ever so eager to go on an epic voyage? Whatever happened to that fighting spirit of yours, then?” And now he was absolutely certain they were mocking him again.

  “Because you told me you’d help me Allie! How is stuffing fish into your beak and lazing around on deck throwing jibes at me supposed to help?! We might as well be sailing in circles with all the progress we’ve made so far!” His bronzed cheeks flushed darker yet as he recalled all that valuable time, all wasted by Jesyll, who had by now made multiple long diversions to their sailing course, even doubling back on occasion based on the vagaries of their ‘intuition.’

  “The Starlit Sea is a treacherous place at the best of times, lad, and these definitely aren’t our best times. If I weren’t here looking out for you, you’d be melting away in some nasty Pulsrkin’s phlogiston spews. That little hoop of yours only complicates matters more,” They warble, gesturing at his starry lightdial.

  “I didn’t exactly ask to have the universe strapped to my wrist, did I? Here’s hoping your uh..Ronsho Order can get it off my wrist.” Jesyll only hinted at the grander picture they were part of, some epic fight for the world fought between gods and laws or the like, none of which drew his interest. What mattered was that this order could find and rescue Allie, which the tubespawn assured him was very possible.

  “Rohsinar, and yeah, I gave my word didn’t I? Don’t you know us Alks-Agan never lie? Besides, you should be honored to travel alongside a cosmic liberator like me! I’m a bigshot of the highest caliber.” Faiz snorted as he heard Jesyll warble. Some hero they were; The only thing they’d ‘liberated’ so far was the food stored in the galley.

  He tuned out the tubespawn as they once again starting yammering away about their goals(who does that with someone they met just a few days ago?!) and focused instead on the medallion now secured around his neck. When he first uncovered the small metal adornment, stored in a box comically out of proportion for its contents, he had felt tempted to curse out Kalak. Then he read the note attached to it, and then he understood…

  “Oi, kid! You wanted action didn’t you? Look sharp! We’re here, hehe..” He tore his gaze away from the medallion in a hurry, a bit alarmed at the sheer glee in Jesylls gurgles. And he found himself gazing at a conglomeration of horrors.

  There was no other word to describe this sight, a host of apparitions rising from the churning waves below, wrapped up in shining chains. Each figure he beheld was more freakish than the last, deformed chimeras made up of beasts, birds and terrible writhing things, all of them straining against their bindings. He felt increasing panic as more and more of those abominations appeared in the near horizon-right into the path of their ship!

  “! If there ever was a time to listen to those damnable instincts of yours, it’d be now! I don’t wanna get near those things..!” As if I response to his words, every single one of the chimeras whipped their heads towards the ship, gazing at it..no, at him..

  “Hehehe, why would we run off now kid? I’ve worked so very hard to find a Lament, our time is now! Reality is getting nice and thin here!” The tubespawn let out a delighted squeal as the ominous procession of horrors drew closer, and Faiz started getting panicked, “Again with the nonsense words, and right before we die! What’s wrong with you?! burned-as the lightdial around it lit up like its own miniature cosmos, shining like a beacon.

  “Ha! As I thought, your soul’s strong enough to bear that particular microcosm! Good stuff..now listen up! I need you to survive until that Empyrean heats enough in ya! I’ll help you not perish of course, since our Blighted friends are only after your head” Faiz resolved to throttle the tentacled maniac later, when his damnable wrist stopped burning, and instead turned back to the Blighted(as they were apparently known) that were almost upon them. Up close and personal, they looked even more freakish and disgusting, none of the mishmash combinations looking remotely sane as they collectively lurched forward, the chains wrapped around their forms shimmering.

  All round the ship, all that could be seen were monstrous spirits clad in chains, all of them rushing towards Faiz. Faiz may not have been an expert combatant, but his experience in dodging drunken fist and inebriated talon came in handy, his reflexes letting him leap out of the way as a phantasmal menace crashed onto and then into the deck, phasing through the wood. He had nary a moment to process the fact as another creature, this one a combination of sheep and drake, barreled through the deck, its mutated misshapen maws spewing flamespark as its claws slashed down at his head.

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  Faiz managed to duck the claws, but caught the blast of fire right to his already aching back, biting back a scream as he fell onto the deck. As he whimpered and tried to stand, another creature with blunted battering horns smashed into his side, sending him skidding across the deck. “..a little..help would be n-nice right now..” He coughed blood, his eyes watery and his wrist feeling like it’d melt off any moment.

  Jesyll merely warbled amused, “Aw, can’t handle a couple long gone thralls of the Hierarchy? Alright kiddo, guess I gotta do some heavy work,” They spoke as their tentacles flared out again, each crack against a spectral foe scattering them into the chains around their ‘bodies’, “You might wanna use that trinket on ya before it blows up your arm, Just sayin~”

  Faiz feverishly beheld the little heaven manifesting across the length of his arm, the sheer suffering it inflicted upon him clearing his mind of all distraction. At this moment he willed with all his being, crying out to reality, to Not die here so far from her..Not here..His journey not even begun..

  {And the world answers}

  “You can stop praying and whispering to yourself now kid, we’re here!” The now familiar warble jolted Faiz out of his fugue. He blinked and looked around blearily. There was a shade to the sky he had never seen, and pleasing and distinct lack of gibbering spectral beasts. He supposed he was alive, as he could feel and move without hurting all over(that, and no afterlife worth visiting would ever have admitted him in any capacity.)

  “This is the part where you start speaking, oh wise and tentacled lord. Care to explain what happened back there?” Faiz could muster neither tears nor screams, his voice shaky as he gingerly rubs his aching spine. Jesyll pats his back with another slimy tentacle as he manages to stand on shaky feet, nearly sending Faiz tumbling over again.

  “In short, you managed to illuminate the least of that slivers powers, and now we’re here where we needed to be. All I had to do was help you a bit! Finding Laments has become much harder since the Hierarch’s were overthrown, you should be grateful~” While the tentacled being seems proud, Faiz quivers with suppressed rage, “..And which part of your ‘’ involved me being battered by deceased horrors

  “Who knows, really? Guess you’ll have to count it all as my expert planning!” Another irritating gurgle as they gesture towards the ship’s aft. “Besides, we’re here now! Ragan, the shining city! We’ll need to stay here for a while, so take a nice long look at the place.”

  Faiz reluctantly tears his gaze away from the captain, his eyes widening as he takes in the sight before him. The city itself sprawls away from him as far as the horizon at least, the roadways lined by faintly radiant canals, the buildings far grander and taller than the ones in Shaiher. Above, the sky buzzes with activity, graceful figures flitting through the air as airships glide silently far above. Following their path through the sky, he discovers the reason for the unnatural luminosity in the area: A great pillar of light shooting into the sky, emanating from the summit of the mountain the city is carved into.

  “That..is that a captive celestial? I thought they were myths! How have I not heard of this place? This is amazing!” As unimpressed as he tries to sound, seeing one of the ancient myths he’d overheard in stories, that wasn’t supposed to really exist..it was effective in creating a first impression.

  “Kid, where’d you think the light for this great big sea comes from? Of course they’re real! As for why you haven’t heard of this place, that may be because we’re on the other side of the Divide from where we started! Nifty stuff, that sliver eh?” Faiz blinked slowly, considering his words carefully. “On the other side of the rift that apparently spans..the length of a hundred Shaihers?”

  Jesylls frame wobbles affirmatively, “Aye, that’s it. You’re far from home indeed, Faiz. Now come, we dock here.” Swallowing his doubts(very common these days), Faiz steps off the ship, and almost tumbles headfirst into a canal. He is saved from being drenched only by the grace of the nearby dockworker, a longarms that grabs him with an almost practiced ease and sets him back onto solid land. “Watch yourself kid! Wouldn’t want you to drown before you even get off, heh.”

  Ducking his flushed face, he follows the tubespawn into the streets of Ragan. The purpose of the inconveniently open-to-air canals becomes evident as he sees scaled and finned people cut through the water, streams of color in a plane of light. Everywhere he looks, he finds something that would’ve been impossible or rare in the Shaiher. Arts are common here, for one, errant spell forms drifting through the air, their use spent. The variety of people he sees here is great indeed, longarms and pixies and furred beings, even some tubespawn like Jesyll.

  Shops are common, the docks here still a hive of activity, all manner of strange looking and stranger smelling goods being carted in and out of the houses of industry here, small stalls set up at every thoroughfare hawking all manner of ware. The shopkeepers seem to be mostly silkwinged fae, their delicte features scrunched in concentration. The most fascinating thing to Faiz is the lack of…vice, for lack of better words…No crimes he can see, no screaming or violence filling the cool air. The people lined up in orderly cues with no blubbering drunks or wasted addicts holding up matters. This tranquility sets him on edge, his body tensing as he follows Jesyll into a darkened alley.

  “So, Jesyll..are we where we need to be yet?” Jesyll stops in front of an unassuming and unmarked door built into the stone near the end of the alley, “Now we are! The Leviathan Snare, our local base! Been a while since i've had to use this place.” The two step in.

  The Snare seems to be a schema store of some sort, though long disused, dust covering every surface and every schemalink, a stuffy scent filling the air. “Feeling disappointed? Don’t you worry kid, we’ll have this place fixed up in no time! Just gotta call in Ellery first thing tomorrow. There’s rooms upstairs! You go ahead and sleep, we’ve got a lot to do very soon, so you best make yourself comfortable.” That was prodding enough for Faiz to climb up.

  To him, this little shop seemed quite luxuriously appointed indeed, lacking the holes in the roof or windy walls he was accustomed to tolerating. He found a set of bedrooms built into the attic. Faiz stepped into one of them, paying no heed to his surroundings as he honed in on the comfortable looking bed, “Rest at last, thank the heavens..” He collapsed onto the plush bedding and closed his eyes. Blissful peace at last.