Chapter 390 - The Skyborne Whale

The unfortunate souls were layered in bite marks that took chunks, if not entire body parts from them--as he begrudgingly surmised they were likely kept alive while being sustenance. There were dozens--lingering the bottom deck with an air of death that could never be cleansed. 

He could only watch as Jae-Seong moved forward towards the back of the deck, kicking open the dual-doored chamber. 

"Looks like I found the spoils of battle," Jae-Seong turned back to him. 

Forcing himself to reunite with the man, he dragged his feet forward--ignoring the death around him as he peered into the room. 

By the size of the gargantuan bed, it was clearly the chamber of the oversized captain of the ship. But what caught his eye was what Jae-Seong was referring to: the massive, ivory chest positioned near the large desk in the room. 

"You do the honors," he waved his hand, having to focus on now spilling his insides out through his throat from sheer disgust. 

"Gotcha," Jae-Seong complied, giving a reassuring pat to the young man's shoulder. 

As expected by the personal room of the former, brutal captain of the vessel, it was a dank mess, absent of cleanliness. 

Jae-Seong walked across the gray rug, kneeling down before he popped the lid of the large chest open. 

"Jackpot," Jae-Seong's eyes lit up. 

"What is it?" He asked, keeping his nose and mouth covered. 

The man with messy, frizzy hair pulled out a sack that was laid within the chest, lifting it so that he could get a look at what sat inside. 

There was no mistaking the mixture of azure bottles that filled the sizeable sack. 

"Mana potions?" He asked. 

"Yup," Jae-Seong answered. 

Walking back towards him, Jae-Seong tossed him one of the small vials containing the blue, mystical liquid--which he caught with a swift swipe. 

"What's this for?" He looked at the man. 

Jae-Seong smiled, slinging the sack over his shoulder, "I'd say you earned it today, you tough bastard." 

A small smile perched across his lips, though a somber veil remained over his hazel eyes as he still found his mind lingering on the plentiful dead all around them. Hesitantly, he popped the cork from the bottle, gulping the mana restoring liquid down before pulling away with a relieved sigh. 

Jae-Seong noticed the uncomfortability lingering around him, patting him on the shoulder, "let's get out of--"

Just as his words parted from his lips, a thunderous tremor shook the entirety of the ship, causing the two to catch their footing as the entire vessel tilted to the side with a loud, prolonged hum. 

It felt as if something crashed against the side of the reinforced ship, causing it to shift onto one side before settling back down with a booming return. 

"What was that?!" He gasped, holding onto the threshold of the door. 

Jae-Seong looked around, "I don't know! Let's get to the main deck!" 

Rushing behind Jae-Seong as they sprinted along the damp, shifting floor of the bottom deck, his worries centered around the high elf at the helm of the ship. 

Be safe, Fedrin! He thought. 

Just before reaching the stairs, another violent crash pelted against the core of the ship, shaking it so vigorously that he lost his footing. 

"Gh…!" 

Before he could fall, he was kept on his feet by a swift grab onto his forearm from Jae-Seong, who pulled him forward. 

"I've got you!" Jae-Seong yelled. 

"Thanks!" He replied. 

Together they rushed up the stairs as the ship continued to shake; inhabiting an intense vibration that was felt through his bones as he ascended each step. 

As they reached the summit of the grimy staircase, they immediately turned to look up at the helm of the ship. Rising tides fortunately just narrowly missed engulfing the ship, though still managed to sweep over the deck with a layer of black water that washed over the wooden planks. 

"Fedrin, are you...okay?" He asked. 

He found his words trailing as the high elf was in mint condition, but his gaze was completely fixated on something in front of him, or rather in a trance with something in the distance. 

As he turned to Jae-Seong, he found that he was looking in the same direction as well, with the very same agape expression, lost in some sort of mystical trance. 

"...What is it?" He asked. 

Slowly, he turned his gaze to match theirs, feeling the vibrations and tremors continue without fail, feeling them hum beneath the soles of his damp boots. 

He then saw it: that which shook the foundation of the ship, the seas, and the meager understanding of this world he believed himself to have. 

It was in the process of emerging from the black waters that coated its vast temple; releasing a guttural roar that filled the air with a melody of surreal, fantastical horror. Though no malice could be felt, it was simply a byproduct of them being so very insignificant to the creature. 

Colossal didn't do it justice; it engulfed the scenery around them, blocking all that could be seen to the left with an endless wall of pearlescent, white blubber as he could find no comparison in his mind to its size. 

"An island" or perhaps "a city"; it fell in the spectrum of being so large that it was no longer quantifiable to his mind. On that end, he found the one, single word that aptly described it: "unfathomable." 

Though it ascended by their ship, it wasn't directly by it; even so, its melodic roar was enough to vibrate the entirety of the ship of steel-reinforced wood as the weight of its emergence shook the surrounding seas. 

It didn't simply leave the holds of the black sea for a brief moment of respite from the waters, but instead took directly to the abyssal skies that it lit up with its pale-white form, wagging its towering tail behind it as the wind pressure felt like a momentary storm. 

"Is that...a whale?" He finally asked, finding the words from his throat. 

"I believe it'd be more accurate to say...is that what whales come from?" Fedrin corrected, holding his astonished expression. 

Above them a rain of the abyssal waters fell from the emergence of the boundless, glisteningly-white whale. 

In the midst of its bellowing call, it filled his ears with a hum that engulfed any and all sound. 

Jae-Seong smiled ear-to-ear with a glisten to his eyes, "I'll be damned...this world is beautiful sometimes, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he nodded, unable to stop himself from smiling as well. 

It wasn't something isolated to just their eyes; with such size, all of the members of the split-up group saw the mystical behemoth of a whale as it took to the skies, continuing to unleash its bellowing melody. 

Like those parted watching the moon in unison as it lit the somber skies of the dreadful realm, they each forgot that which plagued their mind, body, and souls. 

Fedrin caught himself from the moment, quickly tending to the wheel as the winds formed from the whale's passing tilted the ship, causing the sail to flutter madly. 

Even in the most hopeless of places, where not even flowers can bloom, a moment, fleeting as it may be, can return a glimpse of beauty, he thought. 

Hongse. 

Valerie. 

Macheo. 

Aiko. 

Mencius. 

Iris. 

It's beautiful, isn't it? He asked. 

Divided across the unforgiving, violent seas of the abyss, though separated they may be, the Weltwandered were together when looking upon the moonlit whale. 

Across the vast, black seas--just far enough away to be unable to witness the battle aboard the ogre's ship, the Lucrauvian prince and the azure-haired Outlander sat quietly on the rickety, old dinghy as it slowly traversed the enigmatic waters. 

Macheo clicked his tongue, sighing to himself, "What kind of damn entrance to a floor is this?" 

"...I just hope the others are alright," Iris muttered, hugging her knees. 

Only brisk winds greeted them in their abrasive, cold passing--causing the small, shoddy boat to shudder at the slightest increase in wind. 

"You don't have to worry," Macheo huffed, "those bastards are tough." 

Though his tone was as callus as ever, she could tell his words were meant to be reassuring as she watched him tinker with his new, sable arm, fiddling with the amber gemstones embedded in the sockets of the enchanted limb. 

"I know, but...without the Pact of Undying, and a restriction on mana…" She set her head on her arms. 

Macheo stayed silent for a moment as he stopped fiddling with his arm, looking down at his black, leather boots for a moment. A chilly breeze pushed his unkempt, golden locks as the parting of his fringes momentarily showcased the full regality of his crimson eyes. 

"Yeah," he finally replied solemnly, "I hear you." 

It was in the moments of silence that followed did that brief time of little noise become sparse by the distance bellows up in the skies. 

They looked up in unison towards the unmissable behemoth of the skies. 

"What is that…?" Macheo looked up. 

Though Iris was unable to find words, only watching the creature with eyes filled with awe. Even at the heights it flew at, swimming through the darkness of the void above, it could be seen clearly by virtue of its unmatched size. 

Scars were inlaid in its flash, providing a hint of its primordial life as it gracefully moved through the absent, black skies without any malice. 

...Ren, she smiled, it's going to be okay, isn't it? 

It was a miraculous showing; one that none looking upon it realized--a creature that seldom showed itself, only once every century--a sight intertwined with myth in the already mysterious realm of Purgatory. 

"The very incarnation of peace itself; such a being that you despised the very concept of so fervently that you brought him to Purgatory, away from Gaia. "The magnificent ocean star in which no wars can be fought in its presence; the very sight of it engulfs all malice with a trance of benevolence." To allow the Great White of Tranquility to emerge...Lord Togae, you've really taken a liking to this group, haven't you? 

Standing in his lonesome atop a peak unseen by any on the level of the abyssal sea, a man dressed in a wrinkle-free, magenta suit with matching, abnormal irises spoke. 

He watched from a similar level to the pale, gargantuan whale as it swam through the high-altitude darkness. 

As he looked up from his spot amongst a colossal peak, his eyes laid on a floating fortress, surrounded in statuesque, stone hands the size of a giant's own; it was the only object that was bathed in the faint, gray light of the summit of the realm. 

It was bathed in an enigmatic aura that rivaled divinity, yet stood in the luminal space between the seraphic and the devilish; the unorthodox fortress formed of uneven, cube-like building blocks was cradled in the winged, inanimate fingers of such unknown forces. 

"....That whale is a bittersweet happening; it brings a temporary respite to those around it, but it only shows in the advent of a great tragedy," he said, "what sadness shall befall you, Ren Nakamura? I, Bifrons, would like to witness it, wholeheartedly."