Chapter 15 I believe. Approximately 5 more chapters left, maybe more. What I do know is that it will not pass over 10 chapters. Either way I'm finishing this bad boy.
Suddenly the sky ahead lit up. Torshiro looked away from the blinding light, so did the dogs.
"I don't remember it being so damn bright!" Hyorinmaru complained.
"Maybe she upgraded for a more dramatic effect." Tobiume implied.
The light dimed out shortly after that sentence. The only three beings on deck looked over to where the atoll is. Torshiro quickly noticed that the atoll is gone.
"Told you we won't crash." Tobiume stated.
"Don't get distracted Tobiume." Hyorinmaru said. "This is possibly the most dangerous leg of the journey."
The rest of the crew and Momo appeared onto the deck. Momo and Kira ran up the steps to reach the three.
Kira looked at the light from the upper deck. "What the hell is that?"
Momo meanwhile ran over to the three. "Are we there?"
"Not quite." Hyorinmaru replied. "Now Torshiro, this requires a great amount of concentration. Look up towards the light source. Both Torshiro and Momo looked up. "There's a star there that is the cause of the light, this is one of Unabara's powers, to control stars and their energy. She required this power when she killed the star goddess but that's not the point. The point is you need to go straight under that star, not a foot off to the left, completely under it. Trust me; you want to get this right."
"What happens if I don't?"
"Then everyone on this ship will die."
"… Failure's not an option." Torshiro turned the wheel.
Momo kneeled on the ground to get to Tobiume's eye level. "What's Unabara like?"
"Well let's just say she power hungry and a bit over eccentric. She believes the world is her play pen, she tampers with everything just to get a good laugh."
"Do you think that she could have stolen the book to get a laugh?"
"I would say. If I know Unabara as well as I think I do, she would have closed that book and unleash world chaos the moment she got it."
The princess sighed. "I can't believe it." She stood. "Mikoto is on death row because of some joke."
"Mikoto?" Torshiro asked. "Your fiancé?"
Momo looked over to him, but he wasn't looking back. "Yes."
"Hm." The ship was now aligned with the star. "Hyorinmaru, make sure I'm on it."
"Right." The retriever ran down the stairs, across the main deck, up the other stairs and then he jumped onto the bowsprit (1). Ice grabbed hold of his paws from the bowsprit; this was to keep his balance and to ensure him that he wasn't going to go overboard. He then looked up towards the star, using his keen demon eyes he made a layout in his mind of where the ship was positioned. "We're good! Just keep her steady." The ice cracked off and then he jumped backwards onto the forecastle deck.
Tobiume took a deep breath. "She can't control us without the necklace; she can't control us without the necklace." She chanted to herself. Her fear of being caught by the sea witch a second time was her worse nightmares. She remembers the first few night after they escaped from her grasp, dark, scary with no scene of protection and she was cold. A fire demon cold. She remembers remembering that she was never cold with Hyorinmaru. Even though he is an ice demon he would have never used his powers around her unless it was an emergency. The spaniel shivers. Just that small innocent ice maneuvers chills her to the bone. She sends small sparks of fire throughout her fur, this would keep her warm.
Hyorinmaru returns onto the upper deck, he still has his powers on. He knows that this makes Tobiume cold, but this is an emergency. The only elements that actually have a great advantage on Unabara are ice and earth, mostly ice though. He thinks about Deòrsa and Anemone. They were perfect for each other, and still are if they would ever talk again. Hyorinmaru smiles a bit. Deòrsa and he had always had a great time, they were the best of friends but then he had to ruin it, for everyone including himself. Truth was he missed the old demon pack but mostly on Tobiume. He sighs, his breath coming out as fog. It's too cold, even for him.
The ship entered through the projected light, on the other side of that light the ship was in the water. The crew started panicking and started holding their necks but soon realized that the ship was completely engulfed in a giant air bubble. The ship cruised through the water, going deeper and deeper into the ocean. Few moments later the sea castle came into view. The castle was humongous, as big as an on-land castle. It is perched on the edge of an abyss, the sea floor plummeting itself down hundreds of miles. The castle was too engulfed by an air bubble which was soon pierced open by the ship's bowsprit. Instead of the water rushing in as it should have, it stayed in place as the ship slowly was guided down into a lake, just big enough to let the ship rest in place.
"Oh look, she made us a dock." Kira said as he spotted a high dock, it reached the very top of the rails and then cascaded down as stairs.
"Right then." Torshiro said as he let go of the wheel. "I'm going after the book."
"We'll assist you." Hyorinmaru told him as he started following the pirate captain. Tobiume followed as well but stayed a good distance behind the ice cold retriever.
"I'm going too." Momo said. She started walking towards the three.
"It's not safe Momo." Both Torshiro and Kira told her.
"So? I'm still going. It's the Book of Peace and Mikoto's life on the line. I can't just stand here and not do anything."
He thought for a moment, wondering exactly what he should do. He then shrugged. "Fine."
Momo smiled and caught up with the three. Kira quickly objected. "But she'll probably get killed."
"Not while we're here." Tobiume answered. The four left the ship then with no other words.
Throne room:
Unabara sat on her chair, her water ball floating in the air and showing the four walking towards her. "Oh goody, they're here. Finally this unentertaining waiting can end." She sighed and waved her hand over the ball, the ball dissipated into thin air. She sat for a bit longer, she has this all planed out. Hell she was going to make this as entertaining as possible. She already looked into the future and saw that the 6 of them would walk away from her forever so might as well milk every second out of it. The tricky thing is she has to act the way she should act, straight to the point with many tricks up her sleeves. The sea witch closed her eyes and yawned. Can't they move faster? After this little fiasco she has other things planed. Like for instance, killing yet another god or goddess and absorb their powers and energy. Again she looked into the future and found out she was going to get killed one day by one of these gods, the problem is with fortune telling that the prophesy doesn't tell you everything so she has no idea which god or goddess will take her head off, the only thing she knows is that that is going to happen at some point and when it does that god/goddess will be the ruler of so many powers that he or she might just de-throne Zeus. Unabara chuckled. She could try to de-throne Zeus now but if she does he might just cut her head off with one of his many lightning bolts. She sighs again. Where the fucking hell are they?
The thudding footsteps echoed into the room. Ah, there they are. She thought. In the hallway. She stood from her chair and walked down the steps of her pedestal. Like it was rehearsed there came the four, the pirate with his sword in hand, Hyorinmaru all iced up, Tobiume flamed up and the princess behind them. Unabara mentally yawned. If only she could kill the god of time she would fast forward this. "Welcome survivors!" She said in an unusually perky voice. "I see my old two friends Hyorinmaru and Tobiume, hello."
"Don't talk to us like that you hag! I'll freeze you up, right down to the bone." Hyorinmaru threatened.
Unabara placed her hands on her hips and clicked her tongue while she shook her head. "Don't forget I controlled you once."
"And you won't do that again Unabara!" Tobiume yelled. "You don't have the necklace."
"True, but a reunion isn't why you 4 are here. You want the Book of Peace." She casually moved her right arm to the side to point to the rested, open book on a small mid-torso high column.
Momo's eyes lit up at the sight of the book. This is the first time she's seen it and she was just that much closer to saving Mikoto. "Yes! That's exactly what we're after."
Unabara's arm fell to her side. "Well you can't have it." The book was engulfed by a wave that came out of nowhere. When the wave slipped away the book and column were gone. "There's something I wasn't first."
"Of course. I should have seen this coming." Hyorinmaru eyes narrowed.
Torshiro pointed the tip of his sword towards Unabara. "Tell us what you want Unabara," The sword moved down to the side in one fell swipe. "We'll do anything to get that book."
"Of course." Unabara's left hand started swaying in the wind. "But to get the two things I want you need to answer this first riddle."
"You will find the Warrior where the land is large,
Where the feeling changes,
Where thousands of miles are seen.
Find him and you've found a friend,
Now he shall help you."
"What the fuck?" Torshiro stated. "What kind of riddle is that?"
Unabara sighed. "I'll be nice. I'll steer you in the right direction, the right northern direction." The sea witch snapped her fingers. (An: Stop reading here for a moment. See if you can figure out where is the place the riddle is describing and who the riddle is talking about. Once you do that continue on.)
The ship:
The ship floated on the ocean surface, the crew dazed of how the ship could have gotten from underwater to topside. Torshiro was at the wheel, Momo beside him and beside her the two dogs, their powers still on.
"Okay, what the fuck?" Torshiro repeated.
"She must have teleported us here."
"No not that. She didn't give us a hint."
The retriever shook his body, the ice falling off him. "No I'm quite sure she did."
"What do you mean Hyorinmaru?" Momo asked him.
"Think about it. 'I'll steer you in the right direction, the right northern direction,' that is the direction we should go."
"So we should go north."
Torshiro shook his head. "I'm not sure. I don't think she would make it that easy."
Tobiume shook off and then suddenly got it. "Oh my! 'The right northern direction,' that's northeast!"
The retriever nodded once. "Yeah but that doesn't solve the riddle.
"You will find the Warrior where the land is large,
Where the feeling changes,
Where thousands of miles are seen.
Find him and you've found a friend,
Now he shall help you."
The four pondered a bit longer. Torshiro spoke up. "I don't even know the ship's position." A wave washed up onto the upper deck, a bottle slid across the wood by Torshiro's feet. He picked it up and uncorked the top. He then pulled out a piece of paper, a map of a water mass that says 'Pacific Ocean.' On the bottom right hand corner said 'this water mass is part of the ocean but is separated by a land mass. I'm going to be nice again, check the land mass, love Unabara.' "Great. This works. We're going here, wherever 'here' is called."
Momo took the map from him. "Hm… 'Land is large, feeling change, thousands of miles.'" Realization was slapped across her face. "Oh my god! I studied about this place!" She turned to the three. "It's Russia!"
Did anyone figure it out before I told you? Please review.
1: Bowsprit- a pole that extends from the prow (2). It provides a place where wires or ropes are placed to hold the sails in place.
2: Prow- the very front of the ship. Don't get it confused with bow of the ship. The prow is where an occasional 'mermaid' figure is placed; the bow is the overall front of the ship.