Sef whistled. “that’s quite a claim. Prove it”

The man pulled out a knife from his tunic and slashed his wrist, drawing black blood and feminine screams in the process. “I hear you have trouble seeing things yes? If you take in some of this, then you’ll be fixed”

“you” Erze said in a cold tone. “what kingdom are you from?”

Vanaker shrugged. “it”s been so long, I don’t remember anymore”

Marcellus sighed. “great, another immortal”

“there’s nothing great about it” Vanaker beamed at Sef. “right? Mister death charmer?”

Sef grinned to mask his surprise. “wow, I didn’t know I had admirers in these parts”

“don’t be impressed” Vanaker took from the black puddle and walked towards him. “I only turned into one a couple of days ago”

“back off twig” Erze stood in front of Sef with folded arms. “how did you get that blood?”

Confusion, followed by a mixture of shock and excitement colored the man’s gaunt face. “you... don’t tell me...”

“excuse me” Marcellus said. “I don’t want to spoil a reunion between old timers, but we have a situation here”

Vanaker offered his bloody hand. “that’s why you need to take this now. It will make you see”

“I won’t---”

Sef pulled Erze back. “do you promise to answer our questions after this?”

The old man glanced at Erze. “as long as you answer mine”

With Marcellus’ patience shortening by the second, Sef convinced Erze to take the black blood with him. It carried no stench, nor the metallic taste of normal blood, but instead was sweet as honey. There was nothing on the first blink, but after the second, the eastern sea revealled its true appearance.

Grays skies above, silver scales and red eyes from everywhere else. Marcellus was right, they were really surrounded. Not by ten or twenty, but an entire fifty or more abominations with serpentine tails, wolf-shaped bodies, and piranha-like heads.

“where did all of these filth come from?” Erze asked.

“the sea” Bel said. “I thought they were stars so I waved at them, but then they start moving towards us”

Sef raised an eyebrow at Vanaker. “don’t you have anything for this?”

“a piece of meat?”

“no, like, white blood to blind them or something”

“how about spirit treasures?” Marcellus said venomously. “we got a lot of them here”

Sef glanced at the salivating jaws behind him. “I’m not saying we can’t do that, but making a mess in our first day here doesn’t sound like a good idea”

Bel wiggled her hands. “how about we go whoosh like last time?”

Erze pressed herself against Sef. “only Sef can touch me, the rest of you can cuddle among yourselves”

“what are you talking about?” Marcellus asked.

Sef pointed at Bel. “she’s talking about using Belly’s soul as our escape rope”

“even if we can do that, we still need to a clear landing destination. We’ll just end up exposing ourselves without that”

“I know one” Vanaker said, pointing at the sea. “my cabin’s right there”

“we can’t go there” Bel said. “there’s more brothers and sisters there”

Marcellus blinked. “brothers and sisters?”

Erze beamed at Bel. “she’s just talking about the dead people scattered in the waters. Right? Belly girl?”

“okay!” Sef clapped to rip Marcellus’ gaze away from the little girl. “let’s stay on topic people, these puppies are starting to make me uncomfortable”

Marcellus turned to Vanaker. “why should we trust this cabin of yours? Give me a satisfying explanation, and we’re good”

The old man slid his bloody hand through a space between the glass and patted one of the hound’s head. No one spoke, no one even breathed, all watched with open mouths as the hand moved in the midst of razor teeth and return inside the cube without a single scratch.

“as you can see...” Vanaker raised his hand at Marcellus. “my blood smells just like them. And since my cabin is painted with my blood, then my cabin blends in well just the same”

Sef closed his mouth and embraced Erze’s shoulders. “okay, here’s the plan! Me and Erze will distract them, then the rest of you will whoosh to the location”

“but that’s dangerous” Bel said.

Marcellus nodded. “how do you plan to reach us? You don’t even know the exact location”

“I’m sure we’ll see it once we’re in the air”

“air? Wait...” Erze broke away and shook her head. “no, I’m not doing that again!”

Sef pulled her back and whispered. “none of this fools can fly, it would be nice to show them that”

Erze’s defiant face morphed into an arrogant grin. “very well then, let’s do it!”

“so” Vanaker blinked at everyone. “are we set?”

The immortals nodded, Bel flinched but Marcellus remained unconvinced. He folded his arms, tapped his foot and measured Vanaker with an investigating stare.

“my, what a keen boy”

Vanaker man sighed and slid his hand inside his tunic. After noises of ripping flesh and breaking bones, he pulled out a black lump of flesh and handed it to Marcellus. “it’s not beating anymore but believe me, it’s still working”

Marcellus stepped back. “what am I supposed to do with that?”

“I’m offering it to you as your hostage. If ever I do something fishy in your eyes, then you’re welcome to stab it to your heart’s content”

Despite his evident resistance, Marcellus relaxed his shoulders and snapped, summoning a glass plate below the heart and a knife hovering above it. “fine, let’s do it”

“Belly” Sef beamed at the little girl and she morphed back into chains that rested on both of Marcellus’ shoulders. “give us a lift”

“snare”

In response to Marcellus’ command, the roof of the cube opened, the chains wrapped around the immortals’ waists, and tossed them in the air. Sef released Erze’s soul and right on script, the silver circle mobilized into a flood of jaws drooling for their new found prey.

“needle”

He grabbed Erze’s spear as tight as he could and waved at the other three. After satisfying himself with their amazed stares, he sat on the spear and flew to the sea, leading the hunger-blinded hounds off to a thousand feet fall.

“did you see them?!” Erze asked triumphantly. “they looked in awe!”

“see?” Sef said. “we’re not as pathetic as you think”

“find the cabin quick! We need to get there first!”

“can’t we just enjoy the view?”

“you can do that while searching for the cabin. It’s not like you’re looking at another sea”

“that’s right” Sef lied down and marvelled at the vast gray blanket above them. “I’m talking about another sea”

“what’s so special about that? It’s just a cloudy sky”

“can’t you see how big it is? It’s terrifying! I love it!”

“how can you love something you fear?”

A distant memory resurfaced on Sef’s head. An image of a glass throne that stood as high as a mountain, shining in all of its glory before him. It was the most beautiful sight his eyes have recorded, but at the same time, for some reason, the most chilling presence his soul ever felt. Why was he so afraid again? No matter how many times he recalled, the answer remained at the tip of his tongue.

“hey! Get out of your head!”

In a blink, the white throne sank back to the depths of Sef’s conciousness. The cold touch of water embraced his skin and the loud noise of rain crowded his ears. The gray sky has unleashed its wrath, and he was at the front row to all of it.

“needle” he said, and grabbed a hold of the spear. However, it was not the weapon’s rigid touch that welcomed his fingers, but the soft consistency of flesh.

“hm?”

“huh?”

He stared at Erze, and she stared back at him. Both confused, both in shock, both clung to each other as soon as realization struck. Like oversized raindrops, they descended head first towards the sea, engaging in a duet of panicked screams and bickering.

“why did you turn back to human?!”

“I don’t know!”

“what do we do?! Think!”

“I’m not the brain of this relationship!”

Sef drew from his forbidden authority, but no matter how he envisioned it, not a single miraculous scenario came to his rescue. It was over, the fall will come. So as a last ditch effort, he embraced Erze and faced his back towards the sea, offering it to recieve the brunt of the impact.

Erze burried her face in his chest. “I don’t want this! I’m scared!”

He tightened his arms around her. “don’t worry, this one’s on me”

“I disagree”

Gallons of black fluid gushed out of Sef’s mouth and latched on to their shoulders. From liquid to solid, from rock hard to elastic, it molded its shapeless form into that of a bird’s wings and delivered them to their promised meeting place. A dome of crystallized blood at the center of the sea, decorated on top by a glass cube and three soaked from head to toe.

“what happened to you?” Sef asked.

“good question” Marcellus hissed.”what happened to you?”

Vanaker scratched his head. “this is quite my fault. I should’ve mentioned the spirit sapper earlier”

“spirit sapper?” Erze leered at the clouds. “these clouds sapped my spirit?”

“it’s the raindrops that do the work. That’s why I built this cabin”

Erze grinned at the dome mockingly. “you call this a cabin? It’s more like a giant pimple”

“uh...” Vanaker sat and placed a palm on the dome. “I can explain that for later, let’s take care of business for now”

Marcellus blinked. “what business?”

Bel pointed past Sef’s shoulder. “the voids are coming”

“voids?” Sef rubbed his eyes at the blank sea. “where? I don't see a thing"

“no, trust me” Vanaker said. “they're coming"

“but how is that possible?” Erze asked. “I’m sure we lost them. I saw the vanish in the waters”

“it’s me” Vanaker whispered. “my blood called them here”

A sword appeared above Marcellus’ head and pointed towards the old man’s chest. “care to repeat that louder?”

Vanaker raised his hands. “you saw it with your own eyes didn’t you? I used my blood inside Death charmer to bring them here. Wether I like it or not, that large amount is more than enough to lure the hounds in”

“tch” Marcellus stood a the edge of the dome. “fine, get inside. Belly and I will take care of this”

“are you sure?” Sef asked. “that’s a whole pack heading here”

Marcellus snapped, and the cube dispersed into a cloud of glass fragments, suspended above him like clay waiting to be molded. “I haven’t blown off steam yet. This one is on me”