“Well. We’re fucked. Aren’t we Master?” The small fox, whose tail was engulfed in its own flames, spoke as the two sat idle in the vast open ocean, on a small door that used to belong to the ship they were sailing on. They watched as the last of the bow descended into the sea.

“Relax,” Neil spoke calmly. He was a young man with no, particularly, special features to speak of apart from his raven black hair. And striking green eyes, which, coincidentally, matched the emerald stone embedded in the steel pendant worn around his neck; a serpent coiled around it's mirrored skeleton. He removed his tan trench coat due to the blistering rays of the sun and leaned back being careful not to rock them. “Not to worry, I have everything under control.”

“Uh-huh.” His pyro-canine friend drawled, unconvinced. Her irritable nature only added to the sweltering heat. “Suuure. So then tell me, oh wise wizard, WHERE’S THE LAND!”

He clicked his tongue as he balanced carefully on the driftwood. “I’m sensing some hostility, Val. Not appreciated." Looking around the wreckage he finally found his leather-bound canvas bag. “Ah!”

Val’s flames flickered for a brief moment before she snapped her attention away from him. “I’m dead. I’m going to die drifting at sea on the cargo door of a tiny boat and it’s all because of you. Just had to practice on the ship, didn’t you?”

“Bit of a pessimistic little thing, aren’t you? We’ll be fine. I just...need...to get...my bag.” It hurt as he held in his gut to stretch his arm out over the water. His bag was just out of reach. And hopefully, by prayer to the Gods, the charm placed upon it had kept the fragile contents from any water damage. "Hm. A bit difficult to get to." He muttered, attempting to paddle his way closer with a smaller piece of driftwood but only succeeded in pushing the bag further out. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to calm himself down. Though the heat of the sun, and Val, made that a formidable task.

With a hiss, the fox continued, “Pessimistic? I’m being realistic! I always sort of figured we would die because of you but not like this.” Those clear orange flames of hers briefly changed to a frightening, dazzling white as her jaw clenched and nose scrunched. “Really living up to his name, you know. Onagi would be so ashamed. Good on you for managing to screw this up so quickly after his dea-”

“VALLRA!” The door rocked, lapping the water against it and surfacing a small splash that stung her paw.

A flare flickered in her eyes. A flash of green inflamed in his. As if embroiled in their own war, the pair locked eyes with one another and refused to look away. Neither would back down. Even so, this satisfied Val some to see her pathetic excuse of a master snap so quickly.

The name Onagi belonged to his teacher and father. Or rather, was. Neil promised to make the mages pay for what they'd done. Even if it killed him, he would not rest until the war between his kind and the mages was over.

But, as Val pointed out, he already screwed that up, too. Now they lay adrift at sea with no means of escape or survival. Just as she stated, they would die here and it was all his fault. He’d been a bit overzealous.

With a sigh, he turned away from her and collected himself. Quietly reminding that nothing good ever came of negative emotion.

Movement in the sky caught his eye. “What the hell is that?” Careful not to tip them, Neil tried to sit on his knees to get a better look. An easier said than done task as the light blinded him overhead. The object was so bright it was difficult to differ that from the sun.

It caught even Val’s eye as she inched closer to Neil’s side of the door. Her amber eyes widened. “Woah.”

They followed the streaking light through the sky until it crashed into the sea, rippling the water.

Powerful waves lifted the door up as the pair desperately held onto the sides. As they crashed back down Neil took that moment to collect his bag, which had risen with the waves. As the waters settled into a calm, the ocean was still as glass. Neither the door nor the debris left behind in the wreck bobbed or weaved. Curious, Neil touched the water to feel it had completely hardened. Not ice, as it wasn’t cold but just… solid. Hesitantly, he moved his feet over the side. Even as he put his whole body into it; the water didn’t crack or break.

“Well, this is...strange.” He muttered, perplexed by the phenomenon as he attempted to shatter it with his foot. Even in his heavy, steel boots, the water remained static.

“Uh,” The firefox reached out as well, far more hesitant than he, but felt no pain upon touching it. Her glare snapped accusingly toward him. “What is this? What have you done!”

“Obviously this wasn’t me.” He held his hands up to show he clearly wasn’t in possession of any paper or a coalpen. He wasn’t even sure he knew a spell that could pull off something like this. Clearly, it was the work of someone with a high aptitude for magic. Which he certainly did not.

He pulled the strap of his bag over his shoulder. Glancing down the water was as see-through as quick-frozen ice. Even as he stood above it, he could see the remnants of his teacher’s ship. It had snapped in half with the bow turned upright in the sand and the stern somewhere forgotten in the deepest part of the abyss. Surrounding them on the surface, he realized, everything floated atop the not-frozen water, was partially embedded inside.

The two of them glanced around their surroundings. His awe over the spectacle quickly out-shined when he noticed the crashed object in the distance. In order to see, he opened one of the flaps of the bag to take from it a small, blank, folded up parchment and his trusty coalpen. As he finished the carefully drawn symbol, a series of circles and triangles, it gleamed for a brief moment before he touched the symbol. The glow tingled at his fingertips as it transferred from the paper. As he touched the temple of his head, what was afar came into focus.

What he saw wasn’t an object. It was a body. And a little girl soaked in blood, desperately holding onto it.