“Gah, it’s so damn cold… brrr…” I hugged myself with my jacket, shivering while I raised my rifle, aiming up into the sky.
“Fire!”
Flying stone discs were thrown like a Frisbee into the sky by a nearby robot. Many of them were imdiately shot down, but when it ca ti for to take aim and fire, I, of course, missed by a figurative mile.
“Ugh, of course I miss…” I sigh to myself before reloading along with the rest. It’s been nearly a week since we’ve set sail, and not much has really happened since.
Well, nothing too major, although there have been so strange sightings the further up north we went.
“Is it just , or is there just nobody left out here anymore?” John asked out as he got back with so lemonade. While he tried to get so beer, it probably wasn’t a good idea to mix that with guns.
He set it on the table as Derek and Topher imdiately downed it in one gulp, burping quite loudly to Charlie’s disgust and Mollie’s laughter.
“Well, it’s as cold as the Abyss out here, and every so often we get told-“
“Turn back now, while you still can. Heed our warnings now before it is too late.” A giant eel that swam right beside the ship called out to us, its voice filled with both worry and confusion.
“We have heeded your warnings. And as we have told others before us, we do not need it. We have studied what lies beyond us and shall be prepared for anything that it could possibly bring.”
Professor Rook waved the eel off, causing it to perform what I could have only assud was a sneer. “Then, like those that ca before you, you shall die in the understanding that no preparation could have ever ensured your survival in your destination.”
The eel soon disappeared as the professor simply rolled his eyes and walked away, grabbing himself one of the group’s lemonades as he grumbled quietly.
“That. We kept being told that.” I said with a sigh, scoffing at the sight.
Henry got himself one of the lemonades and while drinking it, asked. “So, humor , what exactly makes Galfania different from the other nations? I’ve visited them before, but it’s the first ti I’ve seen even this many red flags pop up.”
I raised my hand as if we were in a classroom. “The real answer is we don’t know at all. It’s just always been like that. Only Balthalem had any proper contact with them, but that’s literally ancient history. The best guess, though, is that the monsters are tougher, and it's Ark guards the area against people like us.”
Mollie grabbed herself a lemonade as well, raising an eyebrow as she drank and spoke at the sa ti. “Huh? What’s an Ark?”
She turned first to Charlie, who was about to speak, but quickly doused her silence with lemonade. “… I actually do not know… huh.”
Charlie then looked at John, who tried to look away from their gaze. “It’s the uh, place where uh all the Magick is weird and different and stuff and it makes changes in reality. All nations have it and so on.”
He nodded along with everyone, looking sowhat both confused and unimpressed. “What? I don’t deal with overseas stuff a lot, I only travelled a few tis outside of Phorash but other than that…”
John walked to the railings, looking out to the sea. “I can tell you that it makes you feel all weird inside and outside. It’s kinda like the weather, so places just unbearably hot, and so are like here, cold as the Abyss… actually Peter you’d know more right?”
I was currently staring at the empty tray as everyone got their drinks before . I was a little miffed at the fact that mine was stolen. ”Can you say that again?”
“He’s asking if you know what an Ark was.” Topher chid in as he sat down on one of the lawn chairs.
“Yeah, you know it right ya big nerd.” Derek sat beside him, and I grinned a little.
“Well, John is kinda right. The Ark is the climate of the place. Think of it as Magickal geography.”
I walked forward, taking out my notebook as I showed the map of the world I had doodled down. “Each nation and even sotis their countries have different ways of how Magick works, like take us for example.”
I pointed towards our Nation of Phorash. “Nas are intertwined with us; they beco one with us. We learn and understand them on an intimate level throughout ti and space, manifesting them in spells.”
Then, my finger moved northeastward toward Balthalem. “Over here, Nas are laws. Fundantal forces of reality that are harnessed and used to impose rules and effects on nature.”
To hamr the point ho, I moved my finger south of Phroash to a collection of countries that span around the world. “And here in Canial, Nas are the states of reality from existence to nonexistence.”
I stood back up and looked around to find the others actually looking more interested than I thought they would be. “Uh-eh, well, basically, depending on what Magick could be in Galfania, it might be sothing that we aren’t exactly able to harness or use properly. Maybe it’s sothing that could actively harm us too.”
Mollie leaned in a bit, nearly spilling her drink on my journal if I didn’t pull it back in ti.
“So what happens to our Magick if we go into one? Since the rules are suddenly sohow different.”
“Well, usually they just stop working unless you know how to make it work in that specific Ark.”
Henry narrowed his eyes. “So does that an all our Magick will just… stop working?”
Everyone looked at each other with growing worry. Well, all except John.
“Nah, Epithet is smart. We made our Magick be able to adapt to other Ark’s, although since this one is unknown, not sure what it would do. What do you think Peter?”
At this point, my throat was sore from explaining, and I needed a drink badly. “Wait, let just get sothing to drink first. Where’d you get the lemonade? The bar, right?”
John gave a little nod. “Yup, just ask the tender.”
And with that, I waved my hand to the rest of the gang and walked into the ship, sighing in relief as I also wanted an excuse to get away from the cold.
I stretched my arms out, walking inside the ship as I made my way downstairs towards the bar, finding a familiar face tending it all by herself, sighing as she wiped away the surface:
"Oh... Hi Jane."
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