Krysha woke us all up quite early. The sun had not yet risen as we ate our breakfast. The sky was still mostly dark when we left the inn and began heading toward the docks, but the morning light overcame the night pretty soon.

When the first rays of the sun reflected on the calm waters of the sea, we saw sailors starting to come down to the docks, beginning their daily routines.

I jumped on top of a wooden barrel to scan the port but could not see the large procession of guards which would most likely accompany the archon. So concentrated was I in scanning for him, that I didn't even register a hooded traveler who had just joined Seika and Man.

The figure looked like an old man and judging by the Carta Magica on this back, he was probably a spellcaster. His robes looked worn out and he was leaning on a long wooden cane while standing.

"Adel, come down!" Seika said.

"I am still searching—" I tried to say, but stopped when the man turned his face to me.

He looked like a rather unremarkable old human but just as I was about to scan him, his face changed to that of Archon Gideon's. He managed to make this switch incredibly cool and frightening at the same time.

The old man nodded at us to follow him and we started walking toward a rather small and equally unremarkable wooden ship, which definitely did not look as if it had been made to cross the Endless Sea.

Its mast was minuscule, even for a small fishing vessel, while its white sails were stained and looked like they had seen better days. Of course, appearances could be deceiving, as was proven only a few moments ago.

"It may not look like it, but this is the fastest vessel in existence," the archon said, and prompted us to board it via a thick wooden plank.

"I sincerely doubt it," Man said with a hint of contempt in his voice. "Are you sure you don't want us to take one of the trading vessels. This doesn't look like it—"

Man stopped talking as soon as he stepped on the ship itself. Since he was the first one to do it, the rest of us didn't know exactly what had shut him up. However, once we set foot on it ourselves, we realized immediately.

With a single step, the vessel had now transformed into a marvel of craftsmanship. The hull was formed by a multitude of thick and thin tree trunks and branches. Every here and there, there were golden orbs bigger in size than me, and pulsating with a soft golden light. The rails of the deck were made of hardwood and reinforced with solid gold, while the ship's masthead was in the shape of an angel plunging forward with a spear in hand.

"This is some serious concealment magic," I noted, and Man scoffed.

"It is," he replied, "but I still doubt it will go very fast with all of this gold on it."

The sailors, who were now exposed as spellcaster agents of Archon Gideon, shouted some commands and warnings before we started moving away from the dock.

Soon, we were in the open sea, the port only barely visible behind us. Our speed was, as Man had predicted, rather low since the vessel was heavy and it needed to keep up appearances while it was still visible to outsiders. As soon as the port disappeared from the horizon though, Man changed his tune.

"I admit, this is the fastest vessel I have ever boarded," he said, once the ship started picking up speed, no doubt by magical means. It was almost hovering above the sea. "Does this thing have no limits?"

The ship stopped accelerating once we were traveling many times faster than I had ever ridden with a horse. The wind on the deck was in fact so loud that we could barely hear ourselves.

With Archon Gideon nowhere in sight, we decided to climb down to the lower levels of the ship so we would at least be able to have a conversation.

As expected, the lower levels were also spatially enhanced by magic, and resembled a large mansion more than a ship's short-ceiling under-level. There were multiple chairs and sofas around long wooden tables while the walls were covered with tall bookcases.

Not seeing the archon anywhere, Seika and Krysha both picked some books from the shelves and decided to spend their time reading. Man spent half of the day on the deck, looking at the open sea, and half of it talking with Seika and Krysha, while Kard and I decided to go through some training routines on the upper deck.

Kard had a big advantage on me since he could immediately see all of the weak spots I had, having not trained extensively with a shield and sword. This training, of course, was extremely valuable for me as I was completely oblivious to some of the openings he took advantage of.

And so the hours passed. Eventually, we had a change of robes and rested in some small chambers on the lowest deck of the ship. The rooms were only equipped with a bed and a basin, but that was more than enough for the few hours we needed to rest our bodies. Having had dinner as the sun was nearing the end of its daily cycle, we all moved to the upper deck in order to take in the magnificent view.

Sure enough, the archon was also there, talking to his small bluebird, which was jumping from his shoulders to the ship's rails and back again.

"We should reach the capital of Leka An a few hours after dark," the archon said when he noticed us, and continued talking to his winged paragon.

We didn't engage with him any further, but took a seat on the hardwood of the deck, overlooking the west.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Man said. "I bet you can't stand the idea of living away from the sea now."

It was true. Living in Zakara was the first time I'd spent so much time close to the sea, and I had to admit when we started moving south, it felt weird to leave the sea behind.

But I was born in a city, and raised on the hills of Nara. I was not going to give Man this pleasure.

"It's fine, I guess," I said simply.

He didn't take the bait, and simply smiled, smug in the knowledge that we all considered Zakara to be our home now.

With the sun hiding beyond the Endless Sea, the vessel began to rock harder from one side to the other, as the waves grew. I had no doubt that the ship would be able to handle even the most violent of storms but I really hoped we would not have to go through it. After all, there were hardly any clouds in the now orange-blue sky.

As the horizon became darker, Archon Gideon approached me with a smile.

"If I might ask you some questions, Adel?" he said.

"Of course, Archon," I said, but I made no move to go to a more private place despite the implication in his words. "Anything you want."

The archon didn't seem too annoyed by the fact we would have to talk in front of everyone but he did order the ship to reduce speed so that he would be able to hear me over the sound of the raging winds.

"You have trained in fighting spellcasters, correct?" he asked, though I was sure he already knew the answer.

"Indeed, I have," I replied.

"What can you tell me about Kai's abilities as a spellcaster?" he asked, with a very serious expression on his face.

His question caught me by surprise, and as everyone else turned to look at us, I knew it must have caught them by surprise too. The ship was now rocking even harder, despite the fact we were traveling slower.

"You probably know a lot more about spells than I do," I said. "I'm not sure how I can be of help."

"Is there anything we should know, if we are going to fight him?" the archon asked again. He glanced at the water with a suspicious look at the relatively low waves, which still managed to rock the ship heavily.

"Yes, actually," I said, only now remembering something which had initially made no sense to me. "He can cast spells without saying the words."

"So he has unlocked muted spells already…" he mused. "Did he have to use his body for the movement components of his spells?"

"He did," I replied, and grabbed one of the railings to steady myself. "But I didn't recognize his spells."

"That's okay. We will be able to recognize the spells by his hand movements," he explained. "If he was able to cast still spells as well as muted ones, he would be able to throw spells at us using only his thoughts. That would have been really unfortunate."

"Is there anybody who can do such a thing?" asked Krysha, but her voice was drowned out by the shouts of the ship's crew.

The archon turned around to see what the commotion was about. The spellcasting sailors were already chanting a mixture of defensive spells when a giant tentacle whipped out of the water and wrapped itself around one of them.

The poor man was raised above the deck before being pulled away from the ship and held, dangling in the air. The tentacle was squeezing him so hard we could hear his bones crack over his screams and the howling winds.

The rest of the crew sent a barrage of magical arrows, but the tentacle plunged into the water to avoid them along with the now lifeless body of the sailor.

"Kraken!" the men shouted, as they assumed battle positions.