Caeden clutched the railing of the poop deck and braced himself as Lady Ella nosedived and cut into a massive wave. Salt water splashed over the deck, his men shrugging it off and continuing their vigil as if it were the smallest inconvenience. This was the Dark Ocean at its worst, torrential rainstorms, hazardous waves, and territorial dangers that lurked beneath its surface.

He spent much of the previous night showing the stars to Ava, stopping only when the ship entered waters so rough that she turned green and could not keep her meal down. He escorted her and the Saber Cat to Oswin for something to settle their stomachs, bumping into a haggard-looking Knight-Commander along the way. With dark circles below his eyes, Ser Morley seemed to have gotten less rest the previous night than he did. Though, the Knight-Commander seemed to have shrugged off his exhaustion quickly as he secured a life rope around Caeden and himself. He was now minding a ballista on the quarterdeck and scanning the waves for serpentine shadows.

They had entered Sea Serpent hunting grounds and while they were not often found near the ocean surface, the risk of attack by the massive monsters was always a possibility. A harpoon or two would be enough to deter them from coiling around the ship to drag it under, but vigilance was essential to ensure that they had that fighting chance.

Caeden wiped his eyes, they stung from the salty water and lack of sleep. Ava stumbled into his vision when they cleared, she tripped forward as the ship lurched and clung to the mainmast tightly. She stared in terror at the waves beyond the starboard and he ground his teeth angrily. Why in Holden’s name was she up here? Could she not just do as she was told?

“Knight-Commander take up my vigil!” he commanded over the roar of the storm.

“Yes, Your Grace,” Ser Morley answered as he took his place at the railing.

Caeden marched to Ava, irritated by her presence. In situations like these, every sailor had a duty, and every failure would have dire consequences. Her distraction could cost them their lives.

“I told you to stay below deck! It was an order, not a request,” he shouted as he pinned her with his body and untangled a life rope from the mast. “It is dangerous up here!”

“I – heard something out there, calling” Ava replied entranced and pointed off into the distance.

“Are you mad? What in Holden’s name could be calling...” Caeden shook his head incredulously and glanced to where she pointed. He caught sight of it just before it slipped below the waves. A finned tail a few miles out. Gods! It was that far out and still that large? Could it be?

“Prince Caeden!” Knight-Commander shouted, pointing to where the tail disappeared. “Leviathan!”

He gave up on the life rope and grabbed Ava by the arm leading her to his cabin, “All men to starboard! Knight-Captain Shael…” Caeden’s heart dropped as the serpent’s massive head lifted from the water in a massive wave and the ship swayed dangerously to the opposite side. He steadied himself and Ava.

The serpent towered over them, waiting. It watched them, focusing on Ava intently. Her fingers dug painfully into his upper arm and although she trembled from fear, she was eerily silent in the face of this massive monster.

“Shoot it!” Caeden yelled.

“Wait…” she responded uncertainly.

Before his men could respond to his order the great sea serpent reeled back and spit. Torrents of pressurized water poured from its jagged maw, Caeden grabbed Ava to him as the water pushed them up and over the ship’s railing.

The life rope cut painfully into his sternum as they came to an abrupt halt over the edge. The excess water from the deck fell over them like a waterfall as the ship swayed to and fro.

“I can’t swim,” Ava stated, she was shivering uncontrollably in his arms.

“It will be alright. My men will pull us up as soon as they are able.”

The way she stared into the waves below made Caeden wonder if she heard his response or if she was talking to him, to begin with. The suspicion intensified when a long rumble echoed up from below in response.

Caeden felt a tugging in his rope and looked up. He allowed relief to settle in as two of his crewmen heaved them up. This encounter was altogether unnatural. If the serpent wished to drag them down, it would have done so already. Was it targeting Ava alone? Would it drag the ship down to get to her?

He spotted the Knight-Commander manning the ballista above, pointing it down toward them.

“Morley, it is in the waters directly below!” he yelled to the Knight-Commander as he reached for the railing above. Ava twisted in his arms and slipped from his grasp. He grabbed her wrist instinctively, his grip tenuous and wet. “What are you doing?” he yelled at her stupefied.

“It knows what I need to do,” she answered, loosening his grip finger by finger. Yet despite her actions, her eyes were terrified.

“This is madness, Ava. You will die!” he hissed through his teeth.

Uncertainty stopped her from picking further at his fingers until another long rumble echoed below. This time she reached up and bit his remaining fingers, the tiny fangs piercing into his skin painfully. He squeezed tighter, but she only clamped down harder until his grip failed. He could only watch as waves swallowed the girl whole.

#

Ava watched Prince Caeden and the ship blur into the darkness as she sunk deeper into the muted noise of the watery abyss. Uncertain whether she could reach the surface again if she tried. This was a mistake! A piercing pain shot through her side as something sped past, she covered her fresh wound with her hands, the red tint of her blood floating swiftly away in the water. The frogman stopped above her and turned, raising the bone knife before it, and pointing.

It spit something in the ancient tongue, but the exact words were carried away in the current.

It kicked its legs and dived, picking up speed, and Ava kicked herself out of the way, but it was useless. Minervin could never teach her how to swim in the freezing waters of Spectermere. She shut her eyes and braced herself for the end, but it never came, only a strong force of water pushing her body back like a leaf in a windstorm.

“Breathe sister.” The words entered her mind, long and echoing.

Ava sank further and stopped on rough and ragged ground. She opened her eyes and stared into the massive blue eyes of the silver serpent that the Knight-Commander had called Leviathan. The frogman was nowhere to be seen. Her lungs burned in her chest. She panicked and pushed off from the serpent's snout hoping to make it to the surface before her air ran out. Her efforts were in vain, she never moved anywhere but back down again.

She took an involuntary breath and water rushed in, but it never choked her. She landed back on the serpent's snout, breathing water as if it were air.

“How is this possible?” she asked incredulously.

“The landwalkers are not the only ones who can wield the power of Archaicron. But I did not call to you to show you simple magics. With your seeker undone and your guardian lost, I have been tasked with delivering a message.”

“A message? From whom?”

“The Maker.”

“Is he a god from Ancient Times?”

“He is the god of all Times, the Weaver of Destinies,” The serpent responded looking at her curiously. “He wishes to set you back on the path to yours.”

 “Would I have a choice?”

“All of Archaicron is teetering on the brink of chaos, you have seen. What has happened to the Frost Spirit is happening to all the Spirits, their magic is failing, and the evil they have kept suppressed for millennia has awakened.

“You are the Chosen One, Keeper of Spirits. You must find them and keep them from those who would wield them for tyranny and domination. It will not be an easy path to travel and one you can turn from, yes. But death will not wait and remain cloistered in the frozen land. He will spread chaos to the world, and you will eventually lose what your heart so desperately seeks.”

“You ask much of me,” Ava responded pensively.

“The Maker is not always kind with the threads he weaves. I ask no more of you than to keep my home safe and unchanged. We, in turn, will keep your ships safe from those that rise from below.” The serpent tilted its head to the side, giving Ava a view beyond its massive body.

Beneath the waters of the Dark Ocean, as far as Ava’s hybrid eyes could see, a battle raged, and her heart plummeted. Hundreds of Sea Serpents and many more frogmen were tangled in an ever-moving frenzy.

“How many are there?” her words rising with panic.

“As many as there are minnows in the ocean.”

“And you prevented them from attacking us all this time?”

“We did, yes. And we will in future provided that you fight for us in turn. Many beasts have forgotten, but we still remember the agreement we brokered with the keeper.” The Leviathan looked at her intently. “However, while the Oceans are our domain, the Seas are not. We cannot protect you once you enter them. It would be wise to warn the humans above.

“But be wary of the human boy. His heart may be honourable, but it is split between many things. He does not yet know where to place you among them. Getting trapped in the trifles of humans would doom us all.”

Ava flattened against the Sea Serpent's snout, holding on for dear life as it moved forward, undulating ethereally in the water until it broke the water surface. She coughed the water from her lungs and gasped for air.