“So, what is the village called?” I asked.

“Pouif! Chouf ! Douuf!” she chirped enthusiastically, spinning in circles.

I exchanged looks with Thalor, who was clearly holding back his laughter. The corners of his mouth twitched, and his shoulders trembled with restraint.

“On second thought, I shouldn’t have asked,” I murmured, rolling my eyes.

“Hahaha! We sure are going to have lots of fun on our way!” Thalor chuckled, brushing a strand of his dark hair from his face. He watched Fena bounce in frustration, spreading her light. “Maybe if we ask around, we’ll get an answer?”

“A trio of weirdos, a human, a mer— I mean a Nauvaryn, and an Aelith. Sure, nothing suspicious about that,” I said sarcastically, folding my arms. “If I were approached by a group like that, I’d report us on sight!”

Thalor grinned, unfazed. “Stop seeing the cup as half-empty, would you? We won’t know until we try, right?”

Fena let out a huffy little sound and spun mid-air, her glow intensifying. A gust of wind rustled the leaves around us, and a small vortex formed beneath her. From it, she drew a detailed map, made entirely from overlapping tree leaves—each one stitched together with veins of glowing light.

“Wow, amazing!” I exclaimed, stepping forward. “And it is very well done too!”

Thalor leaned in. “Eh, I’ve seen better,” he teased, with a light tone.

The map was richly illustrated. The Kingdom of Lucirion, which is where we likely are, was divided into several regions. The Narcis domain, located in the southwest, holds a pretty strategic location near the coast. To the east lie their rivals in both politics and power, the Dante Domain. The capital Luxara was marked at the center, suggesting its role as the kingdom’s core.

However, the current level of detail makes it difficult to distinguish the exact borders of each domain. There were four other domains whose names were in the Velathryn language. To the north, the landscape seemed pale and desolate, frozen, shadowed—apparently unfit for life.

Fena gestured toward an isolated island to the east of the Dante domain.

“So, we’re headed to Syltharyn, right?” I confirmed.

“Oh, I remember that island!” Thalor exclaimed. “There is a beautiful cave beneath it! I used to play there with my brothers. Aaah, the good old days!”

Fena bounced from side to side, urging us to get moving.

“Um, can you show me where we are now?” I prompted.

Fena pointed to a spot on the parchment.

“A remote island to the north of Varethar…Well, I hope that either you or Thalor knows how to use teleportation magic. Otherwise it’ll take us ages to reach that place,” I noted.

“Hmm, even a hatchling could manage an array like that,” Thalor scoffed. “Must be hard being a human, here…”

I ignored the jab. He wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t right either. My fingers brushed my neck.

It was still there. In other words, Asher is still there too.

“What is it?” Thalor probed.

“Nothing. Let’s get going,” I replied quickly.

He closed his eyes and traced an array with Lunara magic. It shimmered briefly, pulsed once—then vanished.

“Damn! I must’ve gotten rusty,” Thalor muttered. “To regain my strength, I need to return to the sea. I can already smell it—it’s close. I hope you can handle a long walk?”

“I have been using my legs since I was born, you know. You must worry about yourself, don’t you think? Must be tough being a fish on land, isn’t it?” I retorted.

He raised an eyebrow. “Relax, didn’t realize my joke hit a nerve, lady. For the record, I can walk much faster than you. With my build, I would carry you and still reach the shore in no time.”

“Why the heck would you carry me— Thalor! Put me down! Put me down this instant!”

“Velmorr Sea, here I come” he cheered, picking up speed. “Fena, race you to the shore!”

“Pouuuf! Piaf!” Fena shrieked with glee, darting ahead like a comet.

He carried me in his arms with effortless strength, his long, dark hair streaming behind him like silk caught in the wind. His light blue eyes, framed by long, dark lashes, made him look almost ethereal.  The chill of his bare chest against me sent a jolt through my body, not entirely unpleasant but strange. His grip was steady, but the closeness made me acutely aware of the awkward silence between us. I was astonished at how safe it felt to be held like this. I could close my eyes and sleep peacefully.

“Enjoying the trip, lady?” he asked with a teasing smile, noticing my blushing face. “Should I slow down, is the air too cold for you? Your face is red.”

“I am fine! Just keep going, alright?” I muttered, turning my face away to avoid his gaze.

Even though I had not asked him to slow down, he did.

“You’ll lose to Fena like that,” I said, trying to hide how flustered I was. “I really am okay!”

“I was never going to win against an Aelith anyway!” he replied gently. “Besides, it was just a trick to get her lead the way. See? She has left a glowing trail behind her. Clever, right?” His eyes sparkled with pride.

“Even if your magic had gotten rusty, your brain is at least still intact!” I teased.

“You’ve got quite the sense of humor, lady,” he said with a smirk.

“You can call me Mia, you know?”

“I just didn’t remember it, so I couldn’t exactly ask again,” he replied cheerfully. “You see, my brain is affected after all,” he teased joyfully.

Unbelievable—he always had to get the last word. So childish. And yet, oddly heartwarming.

“There it is—the Velmorr Sea,” he said, his voice reverent.

He stood still for a moment, gazing out over the dark horizon.

“I’ll enlighten you, Mia. The Velmorr sea runs deep—deeper than most know. Ships have a strange tendency of mysteriously vanishing here.”

“Why?” I asked.

“The current,” he replied. “Unpredictable. When it strikes, it tears the vessels apart. But it sleeps too… long enough for fools to believe it’s safe. Some may make it through. Others vanish without a trace.”

“But isn’t this the same sea that borders Varethar and that grey, cursed stretch of coast?”

He smiled, placing me gently down before stepping aside and gesturing toward the horizon. “Perceptive, aren’t you?”

“Well, look ahead of you, Mia. This is the Velmorr Sea— my home.” His voice grew distant, touched with something almost sacred. “Its waters hum with power few can endure. That power flows from a stone buried deep beneath the seabed. Some believe they can harness it… by using storing entities and anchoring above it with their ships.” He scoffed, his gaze darkening. “How laughable.”

“Has anyone ever managed to take some of it?” I asked.

It was a bold question—too bold, maybe—but curiosity had already pulled the words from my mouth.

“Yes… there was someone.” His voice dropped, threaded with sorrow. “A unique being, not like the others. She possessed tremendous powers, and yet, she chose to become a solemn guardian of the Velmorr Sea… until her dreadful disappearance.”

He paused, the weight of memory pressing on his words. “I, as king of all seas and oceans, granted her those stones—an offering for her unwavering devotion.” His voice faltered slightly before he continued. “But when she needed help…” 

He looked away, jaw tight, a muscle twitching in his cheek. “I wasn’t there. I didn’t even know about her ordeal with that wretched Narcis household.” 

His sharp eyes flickered with something raw and painful. “I failed her…”

Whenever there is a stain in someone’s memory, the Narcis household is sure to be involved, I thought. Did he abandon his kingdom to search for that person? Was he captured by that wicked bastard when he was out on land, weak and vulnerable? But… he seems to truly care for her. I almost feel… jealous.

Thalor seemed to sense my thoughts. He met my gaze and sighed, “Don’t look at me like that, that Narcis girl Lucius killed was only a half Narcis. Her mother was human, which explains her innocent demeanor and kind nature,” he explained. “But her power… It was unique. Her mother absorbed Lunara energy upon her arrival in this world. So, imagine the kind of power that little girl could have wielded.”

“Anyway, dwelling on the past won’t do us any good,” he said, eyes fixed on the shifting waves. “I wonder what has become of the sea, since both I and that honorable guardian have departed. It must be a mess…”

I hesitated, then asked quietly, “Do you recall her name, by any chance?”

He frowned, as if trying to pull it from the depths of memory. “I think it was…Alba.”

My breath caught.

“Huh?!”