ZETA

Zeta would have killed to see a shade of green, and preferably not one generated from his own vomit. Any other color would have been suitable as well, so long as it wasn’t blue, or aqua, or teal. His eyes had been exposed to that color for so long that the sky and the sea would meld together at midday.

“Are you planning to help me anytime soon?” Hera asked, paddling at an awkward angle with oversized oars. Their boat had a sail, but the fabric was so flimsy and untrustworthy that they decided not to rely on it. Thankfully, paddles were included.

“Do I look like I’m in a condition to help you?” Zeta replied with a wheeze.

“How the hell are you seasick anyway? You, of all people, who possesses a constitution strong enough to consume cow manure if you wanted to with no repercussions.”

Zeta had been out on the water before. At the base of Greenwich Mountain, there was the vast expanse of Greenwich Lake. Sir Kagan used to take him and the other kids down their all the time for water-based aerobics, fishing, training, swimming practice and a whole slew of different exercises. He also nearly drowned them when he held their head underwater and told them to ‘break their previous record’ for holding their breath.

That always went about as well as expected. Spurred by the memories and the churning of his stomach, Zeta puked into the sea once more.

“Guess it’s not as strong as I thought it would be,” Hera said. She grunted, pushing both oars through the water as if they were cutting through a thick cream. Saltwater spilled into the boat, and every so often she’d have to stop just to dump it out so they didn’t sink.

Hera looked like she had dunked her head into the water with the amount of sweat that dripped from her forehead. Her eyes were reddened with stress and the corners of her mouth foamed with thirst and hunger. They had a sack of food, but since she was doing all the work, Hera hardly had time to eat.

“If I keep this up any longer, my arms are going to go numb,” she said. Of course, consumed by his own misery, Zeta did not hear her. “Actually, I think they already have,” she said.

Another round of hurls erupted from Zeta’s stomach, and then finally the nauseous affliction settled. He knew it would be brief, for Zeta could feel a lingering resurgence, waiting to strike at the most inopportune moment.

He fell back with relief, laying on the floor of the boat. He rocked it, and his face was drenched in saltwater that lapped over the side.

“Hey! Dumbass! Be careful. You nearly soaked the food!”

“Oh, sorry,” he said in a weary whisper. “How much longer do we have?”

“I’d say we’d be there by the end of today under normal conditions. But since our sail is crap and I’m the only one rowing, I have no idea!”

“Pssh.” Zeta spat a little, regretted the tiny pellets of saliva now raining on his face. “Tell me Hera, what will change even if I helped you? We’d just be switching one arm out for another. Our speed would not change.”

He heard the paddle erupt from the water. A moment later, a brown, ovoid pan of wood smacked against his face. Zeta could feel the heat of the pain surge to his cheeks, his blood swelling to redden it. A permanent mark masked his face in a crimson outline by the time the paddle returned to the water.

Hera twitched while she spoke. “I’m saying that, rather than have the same, arguably weaker woman waste all her energy on the same repetitive task like she’s done for three days straight, MAYBE, the responsibility should be handed off to, or at least shared, with the man who has spent the past twenty years doing one-handed push-ups every single day or whatever was in your mentor’s training should be the one rowing the boat. Just a suggestion.”

“But I’m sick.”

The paddle emerged from the water again, but Zeta raised his hands in protest before it came down upon his face. “Okay! Okay! I get it. Take a break and give me a moment to get my bearings.”

“Are you certain you can? I’m pretty sure you lost those years ago.”

“Very funny.”

He sat up, rubbing his head from wounds old and new, internal and now…external. Seriously, can I see something other than blue! Well, there was the brown of the ship, but that didn’t count. There was also Hera, but that didn’t count either. If he eyed her for too long, she’d stare back daggers and ask questions.

Hera looked rabid. Maybe Zeta did let her work for too long. There were few things Zeta genuinely feared. Spiders, Sir Kagan (on a bad day), heights, and now Hera in her current state. If he pissed her off, Zeta knew he was bound to die at sea.

They switched positions, so he was facing the forward direction. Stroke, stroke, stroke. How tedious. He could already understand why Hera was so angry with him.

Although, she could have taken a lighter tone in her voice.

“You know, I only waited for so long because my arms need to be in the fittest condition. Vagos is a Liquid focus, and we’re out at sea. I was being vigilant! A fair deal. One person rows while the other stays on guard,” said Zeta

“That’s the worst excuse for laziness I think I’ve ever heard, and I had to listen to Igel and Berto,” Hera replied. Her mood deflated at the mention of their names. Zeta wanted to empathize, but at least she was calmer. “Besides, he’s probably on the Western Shelf by now. It’s all the better for us to avoid him.”

“Eh, I’m not so sure. I kind of want to fight him again,” said Zeta.

“Well, of course you would. I won’t mourn you if you rush to your death.”

“It’s part of the job,” said Zeta. “If you would like to ensure my safety, then how about I get stronger? Maybe… a sigma?” It took Zeta several seconds to realize his tongue was planted firmly in his cheek.

“Whatever. Take it!” She split a rift to open her Pocket Inventory and retrieved a random green-cored sigma.

There it was, that beautiful shade of green.

She chucked it with such ferocity that Zeta’s instincts kicked in before his rationality. He ducked his head to the side, and the sigma zipped past, splashing and sinking into the dark blue deep.

“Idiot.”

“No!”

“Wait, what are you– GET BACK HERE!”

But Zeta had already leaped overboard. The keel of the boat scraped against his back as it passed overhead, shrouding the deep sea in a pitch black shadow.

Now it was Zeta’s turn to be frantic. He searched left, right, up and down, straining his senses to spot the green core. He refused to lose it.

A glimmer of jade caught his eye, blinking several feet below like a brilliant green star. Immediately, his body darted for it, legs kicking through the water with the force of a motor. His breath a bubble of air pressed tight against the membrane of his lungs, the timer of his record from Sir Kagan’s training ticking down in his mind.

The glimmer sank slightly, but overall Zeta outpaced it. Yes! He gripped it, wrapping his fingers around the bulbous… slimy…organic headlight, accompanied by menacing, pupilless eyes, a pointed skull and a fine array of sharp, jagged teeth.

Oh, my mistake.

HERA

Maybe if that moron waited just a few more seconds, he would have realized that sigmas are light enough to float. She would have snatched it from the water as they passed by, as she was currently doing now, twirling the elementary grade Falling Rain in her fingers like a cheap toy.

Hera was in no hurry to resume moving the boat, even though with no one rowing it trickled across the sea at a slug’s pace. No, she would wait for him to resurface, if he resurfaced. If he didn’t… well, natural selection. She planned to laugh over his watery grave.

But the moron did emerge, panicking, coughing, and crying out for his life. It was hilarious, and she couldn’t help but laugh. After building up three days of resentment towards the lazy bum, Hera didn’t care if such behavior was ‘amoral.’

“How’s your swim, Zeta?” she called out, chuckling.

“FOR GOD’S SAKE, HERA! START ROWING!” His legs were chopping through the water like a motor. His arms wheeled through the strokes fast enough to power a dam.

“Upset? Now you know how I–”

Something was wrong. Zeta was actually scared for dear life. He was making expressions she didn’t think possible for someone of his stature.

The ocean rose behind Zeta as he swam, and within she saw the shadow of a familiar creature. A Wave Beast, one of the worst predators that could possibly lurk beneath the sea.

Oh, my mistake.

The oars were a desperate attempt, but speed was definitely what they needed. If there was any energy left in her beaten, fatigued body, she mustered it forth and put it into the boat's speed. Zeta shook heaven and hell as he snagged the sides, yanking himself inside the boat in a wet, miserable cough.

“Go, go, go, go, go!” he screamed. Hera wanted to scream with him, but this was her maximum effort.

The wave stalked their boat. The momentum the beast carried with it increased the tide by twice its height. The Wave Beast’s teeth received a more prominent silhouette as it bared them, raising the top jaw and ready to chomp down on some unsuspecting seafarers.

“No, no, no, no, no!” she cried.

“Row, row, ROW!”

“THEN HELP ME!”

It didn’t matter. The Wave Beast was upon them. It’s tide lowered above them, filling the ship with saltwater and placing its bite within reach.

Both of them screamed as it chomped down on the boat.

“Hera, do you think people can change?” Zeta asked. It was the first thing he said since they both washed up ashore.

They were lucky. Absolutely, undeniably lucky. Lucky that Hera had brought them close enough to the end of their crossing that they didn’t end up as food for the fishes.

The Wave Beast never assaulted them after taking away half of the boat…and their supply of food. Zeta and Hera drifted along on the afloat portion for a few more hours. Both of them were silent as the sailboat teetered along, straining itself as the most necessary components of the boat did their function until the moment they cracked apart and died.

Which happened, but thankfully it was when land was in sight. After a wonderfully awful swim, they arrived on soil, on what was presumably the Western Shelf. There was an abnormal amount of heat to the point where Hera swore she could see simmering light lines come off her skin.

Hera never yearned for home more than she did at that moment. Not the one in Aspic. She yearned for the Selatin. Yes, the Selatin. That awful place where they lived. If she wanted to go back there, then Hera knew she was going insane.

“Are you real?” Hera asked.

“What?”

“We just survived a situation that would normally be responsible for the deaths of one in twenty sailors. Professional sailors. With bigger boats and bigger crews. We survived… on a raft, just long enough to carry us to safety. And the first question you ask me is ‘do you think people can change?’ Let me ask you, Zeta, do you have any regard for your own life.”

He smiled, and she wanted to punch him for daring to smirk. How could he? How come he got to be full of joy while she felt nothing but fear and discomfort? Why couldn’t that be shared?

“No, actually, I don’t. My life belongs to my master. It is meant to be taken by that which I love, and I love Humanity. I don’t view this as an omen but as a sign. A sign that I’m moving in the right direction.”

He turned his head and glanced to Hera. His expression was nothing but simplistic and sweet. There was no agitation, even after everything she said to him and everything he experienced. One hand lay on his prized sword, and the other on the Elementary sigma, the only thing they managed to save. She watched him crush and employ it, the smile never fading.

It was so naive, yet it was what was she needed for the moment. No worries, just an opportunity to share the joy. It was possible. I can’t be mad at him.

“No, Zeta, I don’t think people can change. Not at an age where change matters, anyway. Maybe I just think that because I’ve only seen tradition try to change people all my life. Maybe you have something different in mind. Tell me, Zeta, do you have a plan?”

He smiled, gazing to the midday sun with not a hint of desperation. “Yeah. Plenty of them.”

Sea Bind - Liquid: Pulls four tendrils from a nearby water source to wrap around a target’s arms and legs. They will drag the target towards and beneath the water source as far as possible. (879).

(A) Raise hand towards targeted water source. Swipe to targeted individual. Sea Bind will hold a target beneath the water in order to drown them if possible. However, if such a feat is impossible, target will be released upon hitting the bottom of the liquid body. (!) Sea Bind can be broken quite easily by an overwhelmingly physical or supernatural force. If a Sea Bind tendril is broken, the other tendrils will remain Sea Bind is twice as strong when submerged in the original water source.