HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“It’s too calm, I don’t like this,” Tommy said as he looked at the calm sea with no wind at all.

Tommy wasn’t the only one who thought of that because the sea was covered with fog and it looked like a dead sea with no sound. The only thing they could hear was rumbling thunders in the distance that came from the Eastern Nation and the sound of the ship sails.

“Just look at the sea, do you think that thing is hiding down there?” Daniel asked as he looked at Tommy.

“Dude, don’t,” Tommy said as he shook his head and stared at Daniel from the corner of his eyes. “Anyway, where’s Major Ruby? We haven’t seen her at all and Capt. Vincent has been looking for her for quite a while now,” he asked as he looked back and watched the people looking in the distance.

“I don’t know, the last time I saw her, she was on her way to the deck but Capt. Vincent said that she wasn’t there,” Daniel answered as he looked at Fanheim standing next to the helm.

Vincent looked around the ship but he couldn’t find Ruby anywhere, he even went to the bottom of the ship but she wasn’t there. He was so worried that something might have happened to her, and then he saw Ruby was coming down to the cabin.

“Bubby,” Vincent said as he approached Ruby. “Hey, where have you been?” he asked as she looked at Ruby who just stared blankly at nothing.

Ruby looked at him and raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean? I have been watching the sea from the deck,” she replied.

“Huh? That’s impossible. I have been wandering around the deck and I didn’t see you anywhere,” Vincent looked at her with disbelief.

Ruby only looked at him and shrugged her shoulder and went down to the cabin with Vincent following her.

Ruby walked into the cabin and she saw Archie was sleeping, she looked at him weirdly and Vincent noticed that. He looked at Ruby with confusion but he didn’t want to say anything since they weren’t the only ones in the cabin, there were other people who were sleeping there.

“Let’s go somewhere else,” Ruby said as she grabbed her bag from the floor.

Before they could leave, Archie suddenly woke up before they could leave and jolted from his sleep startling them. Archie breathe heavily and looked at Vincent and Ruby staring at him weirdly, he then walked past them hurriedly and left the cabin. Out of curiosity, the two of them followed him to the deck.

Archie went to where Fanheim was with Ruby and Vincent watching from down below.

“Archie? What with the face?” Fanheim asked as he looked at Archie’s expression.

“Move the ship away, don’t go straight from here. If can, just takes a long detour,” Archie said while pointing at the sea.

Fanheim understood what he meant. “There’s a bit of problem if we want to take a detour. The other ships won’t understand and it’s impossible to tell them about it since they won’t believe it, especially Marlon,”

Archie sighed and looked at the sea. “Go to the front, I will lure the king away from the ships,”

“A king?! Is it the same parasite that destroys the pillar and the reason why that ship sunk?” Fanheim asked with a surprised expression.

“I don’t know but I can feel its presence and can tell how big that king is. It’s big enough to be able to destroy the pillar, so there’s a possibility it’s the culprit behind the incident a few years ago,” Archie answered as he looked at the sea.

Fanheim sighed and looked at the ships in front of them. “Alright, I will bring the ship to the front but are you sure you can handle it on your own? We are in the middle of the sea, you won’t be able to move freely and not to mention that you said the parasite is massive,” he said with his forehead furrowed.

“That won’t be a problem and even if it’s going to be an impossible fight, at least you guys can safely sail the sea. I have my own ways to survive,” Archie said as he put the gloves on.

Fanheim nodded with understanding and told the others to set the sails all the way down to catch up with Marlon’s ship.

Archie walked down the stairs and saw Ruby and Vincent staring at him. “What’s going on?” Vincent asked.

“I sense a presence of a king from below us and I’m going to lure it away from the ships,” Archie answered as he checked his swords.

“A king? You’re telling me there’s one below us?” Vincent quietly asked as he looked around to check if anyone looked at them.

Archie nodded. “That parasite could be the one who destroyed the pillar,” he replied. “There’s not much time left, and the further we go, the more I can sense his presence,” he continued.

“Are you going to fight it alone?” Vincent asked.

“Do you want to help?” Archie asked back as he stared at Vincent. “Yeah, I thought so too,” he continued as he looked at Vincent who was hesitating to answer.

Fanheim walked down the stairs and looked at Archie. “We are about to catch up on Marlon’s ship, are you ready?”

Archie looked at him and nodded. “Yes, I’m ready, just immediately take a sharp turn and signal them to follow you around the moment I jump off of the ship,”

Fanheim nodded with understanding and then walked to the helm and took the wheel while Archie walked to the edge of the ship and stood on top of the railing.

Everyone was looking at Archie with confusion and they were asking about what he was doing to each other. Archie looked at Fanheim and he was waiting for Archie to jump off of the ship with his both hands ready to slam the wheel.

Archie took a deep breath and then jumped off of the ship. Everyone was shocked but Fanheim immediately rang a bell to attract the other ships’ attention. Marlon watched Archie swim on the sea and then he saw Fanheim’s ship was going to the other side. Vincent waved the flag at them and they immediately follow Fanheim’s ship without thinking twice about it.

Prince and Resse walked to the edge of the ship and watched Archie swimming in the sea. Suddenly Archie dove into the sea and slowly the bubbles disappeared with no sign of him. Prince and Resse only looked at each other and then watched their ship slowly turning to the left.

Archie dove deeper into the sea and he couldn’t see anything with his eyes because of how dark the sea was. He could only sense the presence of the king that hadn’t moved ever since he sensed the king.

After Archie swam for ten minutes, his whole body trembled because the presence of a king was right down below him. Archie looked at the ships that slowly went further away from where he was, he looked at the sky and sensed the wind witch had been following him ever since.

“Can you help me?” Archie asked as he looked at the sky.

The witch showed her human form and floated above Archie. “I will help you, but what do you need from me?”

Archie looked at her as he floated in the water. “Do your worst, I need all the help I can get to fight this king,”

The wind witch closed her eyes and suddenly Archie could a breeze from his back, he looked up and saw the clouds circling above him. He never saw all the witches’ true power, and that was the first time he witnessed why they chose them and the reason why they were ordered to become the protector.

Archie was slowly getting pushed by the wind and he started paddling to prevent himself from getting dragged by the winds. The wind became stronger and stronger that it felt like he was in the middle of a storm again.

A whirlpool was created because of the wind that circled around the sea. The whirlpool slowly got bigger and bigger with the water started to get pulled up into the air. The wind produced a tornado above the water and it slowly descended into the middle of the whirlpool and sucked the water into it.

Archie could sense the king was disturbed by the phenomenon and decided to swim to the surface to check. Archie dove into the water and that was when he saw it, four pairs of eyes glowed in the dark. It glared at the whirlpool and slowly he could see the shape of the king, it looked like an eel but it was so big that he couldn’t see the end of its body.

“I have done what I can, you should be able to fight him in this arena that I made,” The wind witch said as she slowly disappeared into thin air.