Ioz rolled to evade a further attack from the relentless machete as Mantus drew it diagonally, he saw the wretched and victorious snarl crossing the haggard face of the opponent. His vision started to spin, he descried two flint-tufted commanders about to deal him a finishing blow with a spotless and verily clean slicer. He heard that leviathan, that gelid eel blustering a laugh of jubilation. The Pirate King seemed to be talking to his second-in-command, dispensing encouragement and words of praise to the worm. The sick master prolonged in spiel, taking pleasure in his final moments. "By my sword...I won't let you..." The nigh-throttled swashbuckler mustered the stamina to say. 'Really, Ioz. I remember him screaming for another chance. Finish him, Mantus.' Ioz heard the vague and crooning derision emit some scorn of what his ears imagined. Rowdy howls and chants rampantly followed. He arduously steeled his sword in front of his chest and reached for the spiral jewel.

Mandatory Disclaimer: Pirates of Dark Water is property of its respective owners, all character likenesses are coincidental. I make no profit off typing fanfiction, please do not sue me, for I 'm but a poor 'lass. I obtained much of my information and resources for this story from piratesofdarkwaternet. Original characters are property of myself, please ask permission for use.

DARK WATER:

Chronicles of Octopon

Ren and his comrades must face dangers while in pursuit of the Thirteen Treasures of Rule and fighting arch nemesis Bloth across the twenty seas. However, they will soon discover the secrets of their circumstance, which are closely interlocked to reveal a darker and deeper truth.

~ Prologue to The Dark Saga, the Continuity of the Search for Octopon's Treasures of Rule is intended to take place One year immediately after the start of Prince Ren's Quest. We Finish the Tale of the Crew's voyage on the Wraith ~

"Mi'liege, I mean no disrespect but we're forty leagues off-course...! If it continues, I'm not sure if I can..." Rodden assessed the state of the riggings on a galleon bound for the island known as Biperia. His captain took a careful detour along the lightning coast to avoid an otherwise suicide-mission.

"You kreld-eater! Why do you challenge Captain Badeout's authority?!" Whirled the rage of Teng, the loyalist of Badeout's crew, as he wound into a temper that could only be increased by the poor stock. The implacable punch bruised Rodden in the face unexpectedly.

"No, Teng, Rodden is right. We are off-course, until the next monsoon's drift I'll have her forty points off the sea of Kalinda and we'll find port for these salt sacks." Beside the quarrel, Badeout reprimanded Teng as he hadn't since the uprising on Andorus. He bent nerve to a more taxing matter as his lips mildly pursed. Grumbles from Teng above clobbered over the deck as the Wasp was being trimmed from fore to aft.

"Galdebar's Reef! The Eyes of the Fallen Captain!" Every man who sailed days aboard the Wasp as their only haven drew gasps.

"Ignore it, it's an illusion designed to throw us off. All hands on deck, I want to arrive at Port Flaiken in Kalinda by next Morn's Sun." Captain Badeout paid no mind to the image amongst the dampened clouds and sternly fastened his orders on the petrified legion of his charge. Two flaring irises of blood-red slitted between a canvas of evening gloom. When the fires in the heaven opened over the stern, the crew of the Wasp heard the final sound of her hull gouging a formation of coral. Death loomed over all and as the ship sunk, a log recording the markings of a dangerous isle was set awash.

Over a crest of spikes, a magician took a bow.

The skies of Merr were clear as two large crescent moons were visible on the horizon. The mid-morning sun poured over the water in a orange-yellow glow as the Wraith steadily made course from the shores of Octopon.

"I wonder how the 8th Treasure became alive on its own." Ren mused outloud on his thoughts as Tula stood beside him, gazing out into the distance. His eyes were intent on a glowing relic he retained in his hand, he quelled his perception by fooling with the Compass around his neck. It appeared to be pointing South, but he was not clear of the location. He stood contemplative, still thinking of their previous escape on Delpha and the finding of the first sentient Treasure they had encountered. "Huh?" He jolted out of it. Suddenly the ship rocked unsteadily and he needed to catch himself against falling into the railing.

"Who knows Ren, but it seems like we have more adventures ahead of us." Tula yelled in response to Ren as she strode to adjust the sail.

"Noy jitat! The water is getting hard to maneuver. Are you done with that sail, woman? Must I do every labor on this ship?" Ioz shouted to his colleague from the wheel. It became more difficult to steer through the waves. "Tula?" He called her name.

"I'd be done faster Ioz, if I could finish what I'm doing...There." Tula got her words out through tense stops as she finished with the riggings and skipped down from the line. She seemed irritated, but she could not help but smile that Ioz had corrected his error. He may have even learned something from their previous venture.

"Ren, do you know which direction the Compass is pointing?" Ioz hollered an inquiry to Ren on deck as he spun the wheel, turning the Wraith out of the turbulent water. It moved forward with the push of the breeze.

"South!" Ren shouted back, seeking up from where he was standing. He would have to right himself back up after his slip, thanks to a shake from the Wraith's bow.

"No change in direction then." Ioz stated barely above a whisper. His full concentration was now on steering, the craft blew out from the difficult current.

"Hey! What was that? You almost made me fall out of bed!" Enunciated a grumpy monkeybird's voice from the sleeping cabin.

"Good to see you're finally awake Niddler." Ren greeted and smiled as he twisted to face his brightly plumed companion. Sounds from a thump of lazy feet hitting the floor and a swoop, a noise of rustling feathers followed.

"I can't help it! Flying you both around has gotten me beat, and I was having a really good dream too..." Niddler whined but he accompanied Ren, who now stood at the side of the quarters.

"It's okay Niddler." Ren reassured his friend and grinned. He composed a steady chuckle as he patted Niddler on the head.

"Ren..." Tula began as she tread up to the prince and his best buddy. "I know we're going South but where are we headed exactly? There really are not a lot of resources on this course." The ecomancer questioned as she joined Ren in leaning against the lodging to his right. "Ioz wants to know because the trade route we're on will leave us dry unless we find a checkpoint to take refuge." She could do no more to emphatically analyze Ren's motives, her eyes shifting toward the reluctant pirate.

"We have to go wherever the Compass points." Quite frankly Ren allot his will. He held the Compass in his hand, which seemed to signal it to shoot out a beam...Indeed Southbound. "I guess we'll just find out where it leads, we have to get there before Bloth makes headway on us." Ren paused to regulate himself, his crew put some distance between themselves and the Maelstrom, but he now wondered just how far it had trailed behind them. He took a gander over the bulwark and saw nothing in the scope.

"Ren, is it pointing to Kalinda? Because that's where we're going to be headed unless you tell me otherwise." Ioz hollered out, not wanting to leave the wheel. There was no response. "Ren!" The invoke of the buccaneer called again to jar his captain back into reality.

For a few moments, Ren was lost in space. "Oh! Uh, no. It isn't, but I can't tell where it's pointing to right now." Ren managed to get out as he squinted his searching eyes in the direction of the beam. Something was off.

"Chungo lungo." Ioz muttered inaudibly. "Then we're going to have to go there anyway." He silently expressed to himself.

"Ren, what's wrong?" Tula quizzically inspected the leader of the group, eying him with concern. She sensed something from Ren.

"Oh, nothing. That's fine, Ioz." Ren did not say it but for some reason, he struggled with a very bad feeling that he could not place. He did not know where the Compass pointed, but the direction did not appear familiar to him at all. At least, not that he could remember. They were on the way to find the 9th Treasure, but something felt uncanny. It might be a good idea to stop in Kalinda for supplies anyway.

Ioz shouted an approval, but by the time he did, he would be shocked out of it. "By the twin moons! Chungo lungo!" The man's horrified expletive struck out, causing the other two adventurers on the Wraith to snap heads to his direction.

"Ioz?" Ren yelled back, stun and trepidation growing in his awareness.

"I can't move the ship at al-" Ioz was cut off by the barrage of dagrons that were swooping down upon them. It had only taken a moment, but no more was needed for all three of them to be immobilized and carted off. Try as they did, fighting became useless in the situation. The loyal crew knew where they would be heading.

Ren and Ioz awoke from the daze of being carried and sure enough, their hands were bound. The scenery around them echoed of bones and treachery. All three of them would be surrounded by a small army of scavengers who were grinning toothless and grisly smiles. Ren mustered a frustrated glare, his teal eyes fluttered open with anger and agitation. He focused his stare on the figure that caused the sea of the hairy onlookers to part.

"Thought you could escape me, eh, Son of Primus?" The malevolent welcome of a hellion boasted as he towered over the dwarfed captive, the only working eye of gold peered at Ren with the greatest of malice. "So nice of you to deliver this to me, along with your presence, prince." His odium berating, as he reached over and ripped the aquamarine jewel from the foolhardy boy's neck. His lips twisted into a triumphant smile.

Ren glared with disgust. Although the eloquent yet malicious spiel could make him reel, it was not half as bad as having to see the tormenting oaf. Ren gritted his teeth with hostility at his attacker. "You won't get away with it, naja-dog!" Ren's frustrated words met the enemy. He fought bonds, but stood unfortunately very powerless against the surrounding oodles of thieves.

"Ah, but I already have, boy. With your generous contribution, I'll be able to find the rest of the Treasures and then your kind will be as no more, under my reign." With a puffed-out victory, the growl of the humanoid cruelly mocked Ren. He leaned closer to gloat at the trapped noble, tipping a laugh toward his victims. "And now I'll show you the penalty for your insolence!" Bloth glared at the opposer who would now be out of his way for good. He dug claws into the youth's shoulder, pulling closer to the broad and open pit concealed from behind.

"You must be worried, Bloth. To do this so quickly." Ren bit as he compelled his words out. He battled, trying to squirm out of the fettering rope but the jeering crewmen behind him were pushing the three fast to their impending deaths. So this was it, all were going to die. The Quest would end after coming all this way, the one oblivion he could not stop but could not accept it. He pelted his feet out by their heels to resist the shove forward, but he would soon run out of force behind his momentum.

"No, Ren!" Tula gravely shouted, feeling deeply the pain for her friend and brave captain. She too felt herself propelled toward the quadrate hole in the center of the massive ship. She withstood as much as she could muster, but she could not manage to jostle herself free or clutch her weapon.

"So long, Son of Primus." Bloth's face wrenched as he chuckled with an evil savor of the moment, his words dripping with stabbing hatred of the boy's name.

"Noy jitat." Under his breath, Ioz swore. "You kreld-eating sea-slug..." Ioz directed at the fearsome Pirate Lord, ire burning in his dusky eyes. He was about to accept his fate, prior to abruptly realizing Bloth had made a mistake in aggrandizement and a bad one at that. Possibly the worst one that could have been made. His smirk passed to one of smugness as his mind raced with revel. This then caused Bloth to catch on, the destructive warlord's brow raised in comprehension. The miscreant silenced his braggart, just a little too late. "Thanks for the offer Captain, but I think you make better Constrictus food than I do!" Ioz clamored out, jumping out in a forward-flying kick that connected with the merciless pillager's gargantuan belly. He was not nearly strong enough to do any harm with that revolt, but it had been enough to knock the adversary off-balance and into the Constrictus pit. Bloth's vicious smile replaced with one of dread as he tried to hold an arm's length above the bottomless shaft, but it failed. However, the evil Pirate King had not lost grip on Ren's shoulder, and succeeded at dragging the boy in with him. "Noy jitat! Ren!" Ioz rued with a shout, struggling to burst free of the binding rope and cursing his hastiness. He scanned back around at the bevy of dirty onlookers, who were now becoming loud with jeering and bloodlust. Ioz only procured an instant of stagnation before he was clout into the chasm by some vengeful seadog.

"Ioz!" Tula screamed in an aghast grief when she saw him fade. One of the surrounding blades struck at her, but she spun around and turned her tied hands against the attacker's edge. The ropes fell off of her, allowing her to go free. She accomplished an airborne kick at a few of the pirates, empowering her to find a way through the horde. She whipped away from a frisk to dash like the air, weaving through the crowd and narrowly avoiding the metal.

"Ioz! Ren!" Grew a timid voice that cawed from the sky. By the time Niddler caught up with the dagron-riders, it had been too late.

"Nice of you to join us, monkeybird!" Ioz's perturbed reply rang from the pit below.

"I'll get you out!" Niddler screeched as he made an attempt to dive down, but he was driven-off by several weapons that went flying in his direction. He let out a squawk, forced stay at a distance.

"Ay jitata!" In haste Ren cursed. Loosing his balance had caused Bloth to let go of him shortly after they both fell into the slough. For less than a moment and no more than that, it was quiet. Bloth had landed face down in the water and just tried the strength to get up as the giant beast, the Constrictus, awoke from its slumber, awaiting a tasty meal for four mouths. It craned into a wobble, roaring and shrieking. Bloth was laying flat on the head of the beast, the malevolent pirate's stammers jarring full of fright as the monstrosity swayed from the side to every angle, trying to shake him.

"Chungo lungo, Ren! By Kuunda, we're getting the raffendi out of here!" Ioz howled and snatched Ren's wrist, pulling him to a tunnel that connected with the bowels of the ship.

In a flash of pink, Tula splashed in the murky water with a shrill after being thrown from the deck above and ruined the team's headstart. "Tula!" Ren yelled toward his friend and fellow-shipmate, pulling against Ioz's constraint.

"Tula! I'll get you out!" Niddler warbled from above the gully before being immediately chased away by a pirate's sword.

Tula searched overhead, pausing only for an instant before hassling to Ren who grasped her hand. The Constrictus trounced and drove itself into the wall, howling angrily and almost succeeding in ejecting Bloth. Finally it did, and the beast-of-a-captain dropped right under the exit to the sewerways. The man-eating grub violently racketed, sensing the location of it's meat.

"Come on Ren!" Ioz hastily summoned the adolescent, who was behind him. The three of them took off with Bloth closely tailing, who groaned fearstruck at the monster. The four of them ran as deftly as the water would allow, to duck and distract the beast through the endless waterways. They narrowly stayed ahead of the bloodsucker and at last reached the deep part of the kravidorm, the eradicating leech following in tow. Bloth had soared ahead of them with grandeur stomps and swerved off into a side passage.

"This way!" Ren beckoned to the pursuit of his foe. Ioz captured a nearby wooden board and threw it at the monster, which would only slow it down. Then he bounded after his deckmates. "Come on Tula!" Ren affixed Tula's hand, helping her limber over the steep slope of the tunnelway.

The deck of the Maelstrom was alive with activity from the many bandits of Bloth's crew, who leaned over the opening to the pit, listening to noises in fascination. Off to the side a voice like the snakes slurred from a deformed creature with a tentacle arm, who monitored the sea on the clouding-over horizon. The wind picked up quickly. The being pressed focus toward the water as if engrossed. "Bloth...this can't be. It's coming now." Morpho arrested the bubbling communicator around his neck, speaking into it or to it. "The dark water...Master." The man-cretin hissed.

The wiry lifeform who guarded the area and settled next to Morpho drafted a troubled glance. "What are you going on about, you slime-brain?" Bloth's second-in-command, Mantus, curtly perused as he raised a cunning eyebrow. He was a footstep away from the sea-hybrid with the likeness of a demon, along with countless others of the Captain's crew. Morpho continued to stare to the frontiers in silence.

Bloth was all but in the lead, seeming to know his destination. He jumped down into a hidden fissure within the recesses, shooting a nasty glare back at his enemies. Ren and the Wraith's faction promptly trailed. All the escapees were indolent and still as the Constrictus roared and then slithered way through another consecutive abscess. It had been no longer than when the fracas completely hushed that Ren took his prerogative. "Give back the Compass, you dartha-eel!" The prince bitterly demanded, drawing his concealed and jagged half-sword. He pointed for the aggressor.

"Try to take it from me, jitata boy!" Bloth clattered as he drew his hefty razor, the sharp edge threatening to take down anything in path of oblivion.

"You're outnumbered, kreld-eater!" Ioz resiliently growled, ready to fight as he too ripped out his blade. He assumed a combat stance, at the ready.

"You'll have to take all of us!" Tula challenged and loosened her cutlass, scowling at the enemy with a fierce determination.

"So this is how it ends, Son of Primus, with you and your friends meeting your end inside my ship!" Bloth bellowed at his competition, harshly staring them down. He raised his weapon, prepared to strike.

"Except that won't be happening." Ren vaulted up off the ground, his short steel contending against Bloth's. He could not hold the weapon off for long before the kreld-eater would charge again and lop the sword out of his hand, having an opening on him. He just needed a distraction. Ren spun away, letting the weight of his enemy's brunt topple the arms to the ground. Then he sent a punch to the crumbling villain's face. He fell just short of being able to hook the Compass. "Noy jitat!" He cursed of trammelled terror. Before Bloth could boast about his failure, Ioz annexed a blow to the lateral while Tula used her agility to flip off from the fringe and loop the Compass in the last moment. The bloated man yet again lost his balance and tumbled backward with a moan.

"Nice catch Tula, now let's get out of here!" Ren hollered to his company as he vamoosed to exit the crevice. He desisted when a tremor waved through the corridor.

"Chungo lungo, by Kuunda what was that?" Ioz staggered with an exclamation, his ebony eyes broad. Bloth had not gotten to his feet but was sitting up, stunned by the recent shift that felt like a quake.

Topside, the tide around the large ship moved heavy. Waves crashed against the hull and objects began to tilt.

"The prophecy must be fulfilled, my Master of the dark water!" Morpho stretched his feeler out to the incoming shower. The malignant current beat against the girth of the Maelstrom, causing the colossal floater to cavort from verge to brim. The sky had wanned all but totally black, not even the Compass of Rule would likely be able to shine through the mud-thick and unimpeachable clouds. In the purview, dark water crept nearer to the ship, yet too far away for anyone to have noticed.

"Stop this sorcery at once!" Mantus's wide-eyed expression grew into one stupefied and disturbed as he drew his sword at the fanatical dark disciple. Morpho simply yawed toward the commander, ogling with an exhilarated stare. The freak's arm and one tentacle raised against the sky, wiggling without control. Morpho hissed and turned back to the ocean. Mantus, decidedly and supremely freaked-out to a pinnacle, backed up slowly as he and the other pirates tried to keep their sealegs on the moving terrace. The enormous vessel creaked as it bludgeoned to stay afloat.

"This doesn't look good!" Niddler whined to himself, worried and rampant. He flew about the altitude of the Maelstrom in a panic, keeping distance away from Morpho but trying to find a way to his friends. He fluttered down, landing on the deck where there sat a small manhole connecting to the sewer. "Ren? Are you in there?" The monkeybird conjured, sticking his bobbed head into the spindly opening. His stomach grumbled, if not from hunger, than from anxiety. "I wish I could eat something right now..." He whimpered a solo woe, retracting his head back up after not hearing a response.

"Get monkeybird!" The grit of a scoundrel yelled out and some sharp projectiles buzzed in Niddler's direction, he bungled off with a frightened squawk.

Down below in the hazardous trenches, the upheaval echoed substantially. Three heroes made their trek through dank pathways.

"We have to get out of here." Ren perilously stammered, rattled within the vitriolic swamp. The trio had mounted to a standing and swaggered for the exit of the duct, which would take them to the outside.

"Not so fast, boy!" Bloth prevailed in close pursuit, the Constrictus gnashed in impending breadth. It was flowing back through the channel, eventually threatening to catch up with them.

Ren felt an encumbering hand attach around his arm. The barbaric cutthroat managed to catch the prince by the sandy hair to use him as a shield against the Constrictus, which was now in chomping range. "Scot pango! Let me go...kreld-eater!" Ren struggled but could not manage to free himself from the Pirate Lord's duress. Bloth laughed wickedly, again reaching for the Compass.

"No you don't!" Ioz bristled in to cover Ren over the trench. He dauntlessly shuffled back a length to hit Bloth's foot with the blunt flat of his sword, which caused the raider to release his colleague. The diabolical glutton muttered a curse as pain swelled into the oversized limb.

"Thanks for buying us time, Bloth." Ren teased his rival as he speedily zoomed to catch up. He heard the nasty ox sorely groan in the chasm, but still in tight pursuit. "It's this way!" Ren uncertainly declared, scouring upward at the chimney to the sewer. He hopped to latch to a chain that dangled down and immediately started to climb it to the top, his shipmates tailed. The interior structure swooned wildly.

"Chungo lungo!" Ioz growled as a sore landshark, almost losing his hold on the chain, which would have made him fall an injuring range below.

"Ay jitata! I hope when we get out of here we'll still have a ship to sail on." Tula murmured in an anxiously low tune, ascending slightly ahead of Ren and Ioz.

Upon the top-tier, groans rushed. The storm began to intensify, as one shape in the cluster was transfixed.

"Morpho, if you don't stop this treachery, you'll sink the entire ship!" The calculating but fearful grunt of the wispy blademaster addressed the insane fanatic. Mantus's swelling blues caught on the wayward practitioner with dread. The mutated half-human apparently knew no regard for the assumed destruction. Yet, he would be afraid to attack the demon with it being hard enough just to enclose his footing. Even if he could, he would still hesitate to slash this...unperson.

Morpho paid no heed, minding the spritz, which had now gathered in a twist of plastered waters. The black immersion below pooled under the spate, pushing the crystal foam to the top of a plateau formed completely out of the azure liquid. He controlled the overflowing pillar as he fed on his Master's power, Lord of the Dark Water, The Dark Dweller. "The Son of Primus needs to be destroyed." Morpho's slithering wheeze scuffed, he did not ignite one glimpse away from the source.

"If you don't cease, you'll destroy us with him!" Mantus shouted drastically, terror and acrimony rising in volume. His drawn sword became awkward for him to cling on to, he almost botched it with the ever-shifting of the ship. In his gait he stood like a waddling duck, a pithy attempt to keep himself upright. He fell over once and enabled to thrust his sharp metal into a protruding bastion of tough wood on the pier, using it to pull himself up to his knees.

Just as Mantus saved himself from sliding, a very stubby one-legged pirate skidded across the ship. "What Bloth doing that make Maelstrom sway like Janda-palm? Whoooaaa!" The panicked peg-legged Konk hectically fumbled in wonder as he coasted the deck on his stomach, aiming to catch nail of a floorboard.

"It's not Bloth, you idiot pig!" Mantus yelled in frustration at the chubby swab. "Noy jitat." His attention focused to the three forms emerging from the alternative exit out of the canals connecting to the Constrictus pit.

Ren and Ioz arose along with Tula from the underworld of the Maelstrom, seeking any sign of the Wraith. Ioz spotted it hanging off the port. "There!" He pointed out, tracing to the speedy craft.

"Son of Primus!" Morpho hissed. He swerved to eyeball the shape of Ren following Ioz, who had made way toward the captured clipper. The water flared up higher now, almost elevating the entire Maelstrom up about double its extent were it placed pointing downward to each end. When Ioz had nearly whisked Ren up to the banister of the Wraith, the youth hearkened Tula's call out to him.

"Ren!" Tula screamed after, as Bloth had surfaced not long succeeding the crew. The Pirate Lord retained the ecomancer's hand and would not let go, threatening to take her head off with a lone swipe of the powerful blade. Pummeling winds were sweeping around them. The ghastly ogre grinned tyrannically at Ren, focused on the Compass around the neck of the lad. The Captain's twin-beard was a matted mess from being down in the bilge waters, endowing him with an even more menacing appearance in his enraged state.

"Tula, hold on!" Ren cried out in a frantic gale. He raced to spring down from the schooner, but stopped as the freighter rendered one huge heave and Bloth had not only released Tula, but the leathal cutter as well. It skimmed down the measure of the deck, reaching it's destination against the bony-spiked railing of the Maelstrom and quivering as it rooted itself.

"No!" Bloth thundered a protest with thwarted wrath. His spry eye flared with gall. Tula skittered up immediately and then a flash of red feathers swooped down and picked her up, gliding to the Wraith.

Ioz browsed at the scene of Morpho and the spire playing out before his viewpoint, then his eyelids over the rings of mahogany amplified to about the proportion Mantus's had previously expanded to. "Scot pango! What on Merr...you'd better hurry up monkeybird! It looks like the jitatan fish-face is conjuring up a leviathan-sized seastorm and I don't wanna be around for it!" Ioz mortally extruded. He directed to will Niddler, who approached the vicinity.

"You're okay Tula! I was so worried!" Niddler gently dipped Tula to the platform of the captured ship, folding his wings at the sidelong as he let his feet touch down. This wasn't any time for a warm reunion. "Ioz! The ship is lopsided, it feels like we're going to fall off!" Niddler screeched with flustered chagrin. Tula scurried to prepare the sail of the Wraith for a grievous run.

"It's that kreld-eating sea-beast of the dark water's doing!" Ioz blared as he motioned to the crux of the trouble. He cleaved the rope that sealed the Wraith to the wafting fossil.

Ren endeavored to blitz his way back from the perimeter where he posed. "Ioz! Prepare to set sail!" The young leader screamed an urgent command as he planted across the tier with stability, plugging for the wheel of the vessel and clenching the surrounding barrier with all his might.

"It's going to be a long drop! Hold on!" Ioz split the rope as the voyagers locked on tightly to whatever strong fortitude they could find on their ship.

"Mantus! Go after them! Now! Don't let them escape! Get the boy and rip him apart!" Bloth boomed in a furious upset, throughly enraged. Madly, he thrashed his recovered saber against the bulwark of the mammoth war-craft.

"I can't do anything when we're this high up! It's the disciple's doing!" Mantus howled in return, just as disabled to do anything.

"What?!" With his singular gaze, the cruel Captain spied the Wraith falling an unfathomable descent below the impossible water plateau in the middle of the vast expanse. He burned in disbelief, and now horror.

"So it ends. Now." Morpho hissed broodingly, his final words before finished. The water flared up even more extravagantly, manifesting itself into a mold of giant sea-twister. The two crews faintly made out the silhouette of their enemies's ships through the crystalline water. Then the wave parted, prematurely scattering every object and particle entwined within a great distance.