Brilliant flashes of orange light illuminated my face as I looked at the stage. There, two muscular, middle-aged men were fighting to determine the winner of Heaven’s olympia. The two finalists, Dragon and Triclops, or as the announcer described them, creatures of legend, were fighting in the ‘battle of the century’. A bit too exaggerated for my tastes, but I suppose it is his entire job to do just that and hype up the crowd.

But to me, those two weren’t all that impressive. Sure, they were the strongest nen users I had witnessed in person, but their power was still easily achievable. That would not have mattered much had they created decent abilities, not some generic, overused and limited ones. I mean pyrokinesis {1}? Really? Sure it can be powerful, but that throws away nen’s biggest strength - its flexibility.

I have a great distaste for such things. Can’t you just gather a few loyal subordinates and have them create such abilities? After all, one can only have so many abilities so better save the good ones for oneself right? Well I guess it depends on the goals, ideals, limitations and affinity of the creator and they probably don’t have as many hatsu examples as I have. Still, I shouldn’t be a wise-ass before I even create a hatsu myself and do proper research on the subject. Because so far, my only experience originates from other sources, regardless of how much I interrogated 17.

In any case, the fight is coming to a close so I should probably wrap up my line of thought.

Dragon released yet another fireball, this time blue in color, while Triclops’ third eye started bleeding, telegraphing that he had pushed his augmented perception to its limit.

The cyclops knock off encased himself in a huge amount of aura, before rushing towards the inferno, slicing it apart with his sword.

The confrontation continued for another second, before Triclops reached Dragon and slashed at him.

His eyes flashed as he exploited an opening and hit the lizard’s neck.

The crowd collectively took a sharp breath, as it wordlessly watched the scene.

*BOOM*

A sound of an object impacting a wall reverberated through the hall, courtesy of a newly made, Triclops shaped hole in one of the sides.

Curiously, the barrier that previously protected the audience didn’t trigger. Looks like it allows passage of living beings. Something to take note of, since it could prove useful in the future.

Triclops stumbled his way out of the crater, before looking at his sword.

Seeing something, he smiled wryly and sheathed it.

“I hadn’t forsawn that the flames would dull my sword to this degree…”

So apparently, the blue flames dulled the sword’s edge enough to be blocked by [GYO]. At least the guy has more than just brawn on his side.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE WINNER OF THE OLYMPIA IS DRAGOONN!”

Did I say that the crowd went bananas before? Because now, they are really going bananas.

***

“So, any thoughts on the competition?” Asked Bolin as we boarded the ship.

I looked around, before replying.

“They are powerful… But the question on my mind is how they obtained that power…”

But Bolin just looked at me like I was the strange one.

“What do you mean? Once you reach the peak of martial arts you can do it.”

“But how do you expect a 15 year old to reach the peak of martial arts?”

“Well, he must have had a good teacher.”

“Bolin, think about it. Why were the supposed ‘peak martial artists’ treated like garbage? Hell, I even saw one get killed and three crippled! Is this the respect someone who reached the peak receives?”

“Well, they probably just had a grudge with each other.”

“To me, it looked more like indifference.”

“Well, I haven’t reached the peak, so I don’t know much about it. Ask someone who knows…”

Again with this? Just how deep is the suggestive effect? Bolin is completely disregarding logic, which isn’t like him… One hell of an ability that is… Just what would happen if extended over the entire world? Scary…

But it seems like there is no point continuing this conversation, at least for now. Better change to something else…

“Again, thank you for bringing me here. It was interesting.”

“Glad you liked it.”

“Oh and the food is really good!”

“That reminds me…” Said Bolin as he reached his hand into his backpack and pulled out a cardboard, filled with sweets from the stalls.

“We haven’t even left the port yet… Don’t you want to save them for later?”

“I can do whatever I want with my share.” He replied childishly.

My actions stalled him long enough for the ship to start moving. Seeing this opportunity, he smiled triumphantly. “Now we have left the port!”.

I shook my head, deciding to let him be. Sometimes, I feel like the older one here. Oh wait - nevermind.

However, what I didn’t expect was for us to go the opposite direction we came from. At first, I thought we would only make a turn or something, but after we didn’t do any of that for a whole hour, I asked my companion about it.

“Oh that? It's planned. It will be fast and we can even see some other places along the way. And I am sure you are going to love what we will see soon… After all, we departed at just the right time. Otherwise, we would have to wait for two months.”

He said as he pointed at the sky.

Why would he point to the sky? There are only dark clouds- Wait! Clouds, the northern parts of the world, two months… Could he be talking about that?

“Do you mean the northern grand stream?”

“Oh you know about it?”

“Yes, I read about it before.”

“So you must know what is coming right?”

I nodded wordlessly.

And as if on cue, winds continued to pick up in the following hours, as the sky darkened.

“Like clockwork” he remarked, looking at the storm in the distance.

“Looks like we are up for a wavy ride…”

***

Those words turned out to be true, as waves meters high continuously hit the ship. It looked like the vessel could barely stand the onslaught as it was helplessly thrown around by the sea.

At least I can see whether I would pass the preliminary hunter exam.

And spoiler alert - I easily did. The swaying ship did not bother me, as I looked appreciative at the furious waters, undisturbed by sea sickness.

Hours passed, but the storm only grew stronger. However, unexpectedly, the ship put down the anchor and waited. What was even more unexpected, was the fact that we weren’t alone here. Not alone by a long shot!

There were hundreds of ships parked in the same general area as us, made in all shapes and sizes. Be it fishing boats or cargo ships, this place had it all. It was the first time I ever saw so many ships in one place.

The great harbor!

*

The storm continued, with seemingly no end in sight. The ship floated up and down again and again. It was then. I looked at the horizon, as wails began to be heard. With every repetition, the sound grew in intensity. So this is where the name Wailing sea originates from…

It was at that moment I realized we started moving. The anchor was lifted and we started to drift towards the open seas. The ship gradually sped up, but even when it reached its previous top speed, it showed no stopping. Instead, it accelerated even faster, even with the engines turned off.

It only stopped after reaching 32 meters per second, just like the sea current below us.

There was a strip of water, about a kilometer wide, that moved forward with the same speed.

I looked around, seeing a giant cargo ship to the right of us, staying in a fixed position relative to us. A chunk of metal weighing over a hundred thousand tons, moving at over 100 kilometers per hour… scary…

I looked towards the outside of the sea current and saw turbulent seas, a clear contrast to the calm and laminar{2} jet stream below us.

However, that wasn’t the most frightening. Not by far. That honor was reserved for the intersection between the grand stream and the outside. There, the meters high waves were blown apart, sometimes even forming whirlpools.

We continued on our way, wails accompanying us every instant of our journey. But then… Traces of aura started appearing from the distance, mixed in with the soundwaves.

Fear clouded my mind, as my instincts warned me of a powerful and ancient creature, lurking beneath the waters. It was a few kilometers away, but it was in the exact direction we were traveling. With our pace, we should be there in minutes…

HOLY FUCK…

WHY DID I AGREE TO THIS???

My breathing hastened and cold sweat started appearing all over my body. I wasn’t afraid because of the quantity of aura nor the intent. Neither of these things bothered me. What shook me was the feeling behind it.

I had to cloud myself in aura, just to decrease the pressure. Yet even then, the waves pierced through me.

The fact that two humongous whirlpools were rapidly nearing us didn’t help the situation. They seemed to be right above the ancient creature and were most likely a result of its presence.

The two maelstroms were at least half a dozen kilometers away from the other, each displacing cubic kilometers of water, forming humongous holes in the ocean.

As we grew closer, I could see the abyss, seemingly stretching infinitely into the dark depths of the ocean.

But at that moment, I felt something was wrong… Why were we drifting off the stream’s center? Were we being pulled into the stream? No… I must survive this, consequences be damned. I was about to conjure a platform mid-air to jump off of, but something stopped me.

Sensing my predicament, Bolin put his hand on my shoulder and smiled.

“Don’t worry, we won’t die. It is just that our destination is far to the left and we are using the vortex to shave off a few hours from our trip. It doesn’t hurt that the people seem to be enjoying it.”

And as I looked around, I could see dozens of adrenaline junkies breathing heavily.

I also noticed that we were pulling away from the maelstrom’s influence, escaping certain death.

And as fast as the situation appeared, it disappeared. After just minutes, the horrifying phenomenon was out of sight. The only thing around us was the calm sea, reflecting the clear night sky, filled with billions of shining stars.

It was only then that the situation him me.

It… It is really over… I survived…

With that though, all power left my body, as I collapsed to the ground exhausted. The last thing I saw was a shooting star, flying through the brilliant field of stars.

{1} Pyrokinesis - ability to control fire

{2} Laminar flow - Flow without turbulence, where all particles move with the same speed in the same direction.