With a child in her arms, Navia ran to the port, worried that the monsters might come after her. The sorrow she felt had to wait; there was no time for crying over the dead when she could save at least one person.

“At least her… At least she must live.” Navia repeated to motivate herself as she ran forward. In a rush, she forgot to look around the corner to see if any monsters were waiting for her by the docks. Since they were empty, that idea didn’t even cross her mind. Her head was so occupied that she didn’t notice the feel of a refreshing sea breeze.

“A small ship… A small ship… Where…” Navia’s whole body was shaking out of anxiety as she looked for the thing she chanted out loud. Reminding herself of what she is looking for.

There were many merchant ships, but they needed a whole crew to set sail. Traveling in a boat was out of options, it was too unsafe in an open sea. Even a small monster could flip it over and drag them down into the depths to drown them.

Once Navia saw a small ship, she didn’t bother to look around for another option. It was enough for her at the moment. It was a recreational ship made of light-brown wood that was as big as four boats, slightly elevated with a small subdeck visible through four small round windows. Four beds that barely had a space above to sit on them. The room was only prepared for the possibility of resting in the middle of the sea, not for the comfort of the travel. The ship had only one triangular mast that was as long as the whole ship. The entrance to the subdeck was at the rear of the ship, and the stairs were covered by a small door set into the sloping wall.

Navia ran into the ship, opening the door in a rush. She damaged the handle but ignored it as she wanted to place the child in the bed and set sail as fast as she could. She carefully placed the girl on the first bed by the staircase and was about to run back up but saw the girl's peaceful and gentle face. Looking at the girl, she had more flashes of her past memories of her only child. Navia gently placed a hand on the girl’s forehead and slowly stroked her hair to comfort the sleeping girl, to prevent her from having nightmares after a day like that.

“Emma looked just like her when she was a young child…” Whispered Navia, a nostalgic tear ran down her cheek. For a moment, she could enjoy those precious memories.

The moment was broken by the feeling of dread as if she had a knife placed to her throat. Navia’s body quickly heated up, sweat visible on her face and neck. An expression of unimaginable fear froze on her face. In a quick burst, she left the girl alone and went up.

Without looking around for the danger she felt, Navia kicked the ship away and jumped onto it before it could move too far away. As she reached for the rope to free the sail so the wind could move the ship, it jerked to a stop, almost making Navia fall into the water. Looking back, she noticed a rope wrapped around the wooden bridge.

The knife on her neck felt like it was already piercing her skin; the feeling of danger was growing inside her, warning her to get away as far as she could. Her heart pounded rapidly as if it was trying to squeeze itself.

Not losing any time, she threw her dagger to cut the rope and continued hanging up the sail. Time was of the essence. She knew that there might not be more chances in life. No miracle will bring her back to life again like after the fall of the city.

As she watched and waited for the wind to pick up and blow against the sails, Navia could hear her own heartbeat, her own blood flowing in her veins. She had never experienced anxiety and fear like in that moment. The falling sweat felt like knives tearing her skin off with a very slow movement. She forgot to close her eyes, and as they went dry, she could feel the cold wind almost freezing her eyes.

Finally, she closed her eyes as an instinctive defensive measure forced against the wind. The wind was strong enough to push the boat away from the dock. She could finally leave this cursed place.

The creaking sound made her hair stand on end. All her instincts begged her to run away. She was still alive, yet she felt as if she was at death's door; her whole body was cold, and her heart had stopped for a moment. Navia’s senses were overwhelmed by dread.

Gathering the courage to turn her head around, she felt her own bones scratching against each other. She first saw a ball of dim blue light, and that was enough to make her panic, breathe rapidly, and feel dizzy.

Watching her sail away, standing on the dock was a monster she knew very well. It's a skinny humanoid skeleton with a few muscles attached to it. A harpoon with gashes in its hand. The head in the shape of an angler fish. The creature that killed her on the day of the tide and the monster that took the love of her life away.

“I… Am dead… It's going to kill me again! I don’t stand a chance against it!” Despair took over Navia’s mind at the sight of this monster. She fell to her knees and banged her head against the floor as she screamed.

The monster didn’t move and didn’t use any sort of magic. The angler fish simply observed the ship float away and disappear in the fog placed on the sea, Navia’s screams slowly becoming one with the winds on the sea.

Once Navia lost sight of the monster, her mind calmed down. “Was I seeing things?” She asked herself as her breath slowly came back to a steady pace.

She almost jumped in place when the silence was broken by footsteps under the deck. Standing on the staircase was Mirabell with hands over her stomach. “I’m hungry…” The girl whispered awkwardly.

“Oh… Um. I’ll look for something…” Answered Navia as she went down the stairs to check if there was anything. “Now that I think about it… I don’t feel hungry at all…” She thought about the missing feeling of her stomach wanting fuel to sustain itself.

By each bed, there was a small chest, but all she could find were clothes, which she took and ripped apart to use as bandages to cover her wounds. At the back of the room, she saw a tiny door, half the size of the small girl.

Opening the doors, she felt a foul stench entering her nostrils. Her hand quickly moved to cover her nose from the rotten scent. All that was left in the stash was rotten fruits and vegetables and bread covered with mold.

Navia closed the doors with a heavy sigh, disappointed but not so much as she expected it a bit. Feeling the little girl’s gaze at her back, she calmly answered, “We’ll have to make a stop for food…”

The girl went back to sleep once Navia mentioned that it might take some time before they reached any land. Once Navia left the under-deck, she could clearly see the stars above her. The fog was nowhere to be seen.

“Let’s see if I remember anything…” Navia looked directly above her and straightened her arms. “Place a thumb on the star above you, if you are looking for the north, point your index finger and look for the star within its reach.” She whispered as she extended her index finger, turning it around until it blocked the view of another bright star. “Here… And from the place we come from, there should be an island to… Northeast.” Navia placed her hands on the steering wheel and spun it until the ship was heading in the right direction.

“Hope she can endure for three hours… We’ll be there around midnight. If we are lucky, there might be a tavern open.” Thought Navia as she looked toward the full white moon in the sky.