"Boss... I swear, I only heard it from the islanders! That jerk wouldn’t say a single sensible word—he just kept reciting that poem as he left!"
Fatso covered his face, his voice thick with mock misery.
He wasn’t lying, though. After being teleported back from the Pilgrimage Assembly on Cosmos Isle, he’d discovered the island had been attacked and imdiately started digging for information. The tourists didn’t know a thing, but the Dissenters stationed there had heard rumors. Using his shaless, overly friendly charm, Fatso managed to wheedle a cryptic poem out of them. When Ethan asked about it, he ca running over like a child eager to show off a treasure.
"Uh..." Ethan hesitated, realizing he might have misjudged him.
"Alright then, explain it to . What does it an?" he asked, rubbing his nose with exaggerated patience.
"That... that... I don’t know either!" Fatso stamred.
Smack.
Ethan’s hand, which had been rubbing his nose, swung out in a quick backhand.
"If you don’t know, then why are you wasting my ti? You think I’ve got all day to play riddles with you?"
He couldn’t explain it, but sothing about Fatso always made him want to slap him. Ever since they’d t, he’d lost count of how many tis he’d done it—and sohow, the guy never learned. He just kept showing up, like a walking invitation to get hit again.
"Um... Ethan... it’s an acrostic poem," Ery Shaw said with a wry smile, finally stepping in.
"Ah—right, right, Boss! That’s it! It’s an acrostic! It says... Ascension Isle, the..."
Fatso froze mid-spin, looking desperately at Ery for help, eyes wide with silent pleading.
"The Seredin family," Ery supplied quickly, before Ethan’s hand could swing again. "The Seredin"
"Blackie," Micah muttered under his breath, leaning close. "Why is this fat guy even more annoying than you?"
"I don’t know... hey, wait—when have I ever been annoying?" Blackie stiffened, glaring back.
A few muffled laughs rippled through the group before fading under Ethan’s steady gaze.
"Ascension Isle, the Seredin family..." Ethan repeated, frowning. "Never heard of them. Where are they supposed to be?"
"According to the islanders, it’s a hidden, invisible isle sowhere east of Crescent Isle," Ery explained. "As for the Seredin family—you’ve probably heard of their origin. There was an infamous eunuch who led several voyages to the Southern Seas and eventually settled on Crescent Isle, proclaiming himself king."
Ethan’s eyes widened. "You’ve got to be kidding ."
The eunuch Ery ntioned was a well-known historical figure—but a eunuch with descendants? That didn’t add up.
"Wait..." Ethan frowned, digging through his mory. "I rember now. He must’ve adopted his elder brother’s son. What was his na again? Alaric?"
He blinked in disbelief. "That’s him. I read about it sowhere."
Turning back to Ery, Ethan’s voice steadied. "So, when do we leave for the Deep Sea City you ntioned?"
"Huh? You’re going there first?" Ery asked, surprised. "Shouldn’t you rescue Amber first? Lyla’s safe where she is. Besides..." He trailed off, a troubled look flickering across his face.
"Besides?" Ethan tilted his head, a faint smile on his lips. "You’re afraid I won’t make it back from there, aren’t you?"
Ery’s attempt to talk him out of it only proved one thing: he trusted Ethan. He trusted him enough to risk speaking up, and that ant sothing. If Ery had not believed Ethan would return, he would have kept his counsel to himself.
"It’s decided," Ethan said, cutting him off with a wave. "We’re already here. Turning back now would be a waste of ti." He could see Ery opening his mouth to argue and stopped him with a small, firm smile.
It was not that he did not worry about Amber. The fact the Seredin family had taken her alive from the Pilgrimage Assembly suggested they wanted sothing from her. If that were not the case, they would have killed her and been done with it.
No, it was Lyla and Astrid that gnawed at him. They had been taken by the mysterious force Ery described, hauled off to so deep, forgotten place rumored to be a legendary Abyssal City. That image lodged in Ethan like a splinter. Every ti he thought of Lyla he felt a low, insistent thrum of danger, like the hair on the back of his neck standing up in the presence of a hidden blade.
"Celeste, I’m leaving these people to you. I’m going to bring Lyla back," Ethan said, turning to Celeste Hawthorne.
"No problem," she replied, not missing a beat. "Go. I’ve already contacted several people from the Neutral Faction, and they’ll bring mory Wipers to help send them ho."
"mory Wipers?" Ethan repeated, surprised, before the recollection snapped into place.
He rembered the Ninth Division’s devices. When operatives needed to erase witnesses’ mories of extraordinary events, they used these devices. The thought that these victims would not carry this night like a permanent scar eased sothing inside him. With Celeste handling it and the Neutral Faction’s help, the civilian fallout would be contained.
Celeste was reliable. In the short ti since they’d arrived, she had already rallied a surprising number of Neutral Faction mbers.
"Boss, I’m coming with you," Blackie offered, stepping forward.
" too," Dragon Child added, moving up beside him.
Ethan hesitated and glanced at Ery. Ery shook his head, his expression flat and certain.
"I think you have to go alone," Ery said.
Ethan had expected that answer, but he did not look pleased to accept it. He grinned instead, a reckless, unapologetic smile. "I, Ethan Caelum, take who I want," he said, voice ringing. "If anyone dares try to tell otherwise, I’ll sink their so-called Abyssal City to the bottom of the sea."
As he spoke, sothing about his tone and the set of his jaw made the air feel colder, as if the sky itself listened and darkened in agreent.
"Ethan Caelum, huh?" Starfall muttered, rubbing his chin with mock confusion. "Didn’t realize the kid was keeping the family na alive..."
Kiara was the only one who heard him. Her small ear twitched and she glanced over at Starfall, puzzled. She looked between Ethan and Starfall a few tis, the confusion on her face shifting to sudden delight, like soone who has just solved a childish riddle. Starfall caught her eye and flashed a grin. Kiara stuck out her tongue and made a face in reply.
Blackie chuckled and closed the small distance between himself and Ethan. There were a hundred ways this could go wrong, and the crew all knew it, but they also knew Ethan’s conviction. For better or worse, he had made his choice.
"All right," Celeste said, voice steady. "We’ll take care of the cleanup. Get Lyla back."
Ethan nodded once. There was no bravado left in the movent, only a hard, plain resolve. He scanned the faces around him—Ery’s worried set, Celeste’s competent calm, Blackie’s easy loyalty, Dragon Child’s fierce gleam—and felt the weight of what he had chosen to do.
"Then let’s go," he said, and without another word he turned toward the route that would lead him into the deep, toward the Abyssal City that waited sowhere beneath the waves.
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