“The fishermen knew that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore.”

  Vincent Van Gogh, Dutch Painter

  “Samson, you didn’t tell us there would be rowing,” Billy complained as he dipped the oar into the water and pulled back in time with the others. The afternoon sun was pelting down on them now, though the spray of the ocean and the breeze helped keep them cool. “I did not sign up for this.”

  They were five rowers to a side, and together they propelled themselves across the ocean swells. Cosmo, straddling the dragon ram on the ship's bow, drummed a rhythmic beat to keep them together. Samson piloted The Retribution from the stern with the twin rudders, and Passi stood next to him, playfully barking orders when they inevitably drifted to one side.

  “Dude, it’s a galley,” Samson replied. “If we relied only on the sails, it’d take a week to get there. Besides, except for Passi here, everyone on this ship has a strength of at least twenty. You’re like an elephant complaining that it has to carry an ant.”

  “Yah, stop your complaining!” echoed Passi, hands on her hips to accentuate her authority. She, of course, neglected to mention her strength was twenty-seven.

  Laughter erupted from the rowers – including Billy – as they crested another swell.

  “It will be nice when we can pilot The Retribution with magic,” Lucy added when the laughter died down.

  “Sapphire and I figure we need four people with advanced water magic to pilot it across open ocean,” Samson answered. “It’s one thing to use magic to fine tune direction when docking, but a whole different level is needed to propel it forward across open ocean. Plus, we don’t know what’s out here. We don’t want half the crew entering battle with half-drained magic.”

  The wind picked up behind them, catching the sails, and Samson steered them into a fortuitous current. He whispered instructions in Passi’s ear.

  “Okay, slackers! Time to take a rest,” Passi repeated, her attempt at seriousness spoiled by a fit of giggles halfway through. A cheer rose up amongst the players and they pulled in the oars to finally enjoy some down time.

  Passi fluttered down beside her mom and they stared out at the ocean. The Retribution had made good time, putting solid distance between themselves and the Castle of Glass since daybreak. Looking back, all they could see now were the snow-covered mountain peaks in the distance. All around them, tiny islands – and some not-so-tiny – dotted the sea, and already Calista was mentally marking those she wanted to visit after they beat the arena.

  “Good job, mom,” Passi said chipperly as she looked over the railing of the galley and across the water. She pointed towards a horseshoe-shaped island in the distance. “Ooh, can we go explore that one? There’s got to be something good there.”

  Calista chuckled and ruffled Passi’s purple hair. “Sure, pumpkin. It’s already on my list.”

  An upbeat tune began to waft across the galley’s deck as Cosmo pulled out his guitar and began to strum. The other players milled about on deck, enjoying the sun and chatting excitedly amongst themselves as The Retribution cut through the waves.

  There was a splash to their left, and Calista turned to see Sapphire swimming alongside their hull, easily able to keep up with The Retribution.

  “Look how fast she is, mom,” Passi exclaimed, cheering for the fairy. Sapphire waved to the child and gave her a big, sharp-toothed grin before diving beneath the water to search for lunch.

  “You should see her when she really gets up to speed,” Samson said, sitting beside them to watch the chief of the Eastern Waves hunt. “Her people can put The Retribution to shame. For now, at least. I’ve already got a half dozen improvements to implement when we get back.”

  “You took the shipbuilding talent, right?” Rain asked, turning to join in the conversation from the row ahead of them.

  Samson nodded. “Yah, and my class is The Spirited Shipwright – a strange combination of shipbuilding and ghost magic, of all things. I got the design for The Retribution when I got that. There are some wicked upgrades I can get at higher levels – both magical and non-magical. Just you wait – this ocean hasn’t seen nothin’ yet!”

  Calista chuckled at Samson’s enthusiasm. “Thanks for doing this,” she said gratefully. “and for helping me find Milly.”

  “Milly saved all of our lives, Calista,” Samson replied, a supportive hand on her shoulder. “It’s the least we could do. Besides, we’ll need The Retribution, and the others in production. These gods wouldn’t have made a quarter of their world an ocean if they didn’t intend for us to explore it. Mark my words – we’ll be grateful to have a fleet at our fingertips.”

  “An entire fleet?” Rain inquired, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. “Tell me more.”

  Rain and Samson launched into a vigorous discussion about ship construction and naval warfare, which Calista tuned out. She just stared across the water, enjoying the breeze and the sun on her skin.

  Eventually, Passi grew bored and flew over to Cosmo to dance to his tunes. Minerva and Lucy quickly joined her, and the elderly CEO cackled with laughter – grateful for the attentive audience.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  A Passi left, Xavier sat down next to Calista.

  “What do you want?” Calista spat, bothered by the unwelcome interruption.

  “We’ve got a problem,” Xavier replied.

  “Yah, no shit. We’ve had nothing but problems for years,” Calista said, but pulled back her venom when she realized he wasn’t talking about her.

  She saw it. The slight shift in the current. The increased swell of the waves. The darkness far in the distance that appeared out of nowhere.

  A darkness that felt familiar.

  “Shit,” Calista muttered as Xavier drew his black blade.

  Sapphire surfaced next to The Redemption. “Something just changed below,” she said, as Samson lowered the rope ladder for her. “We need to get out of here.”

  Calista retrieved her Spear of Pinga from her inventory as the darkness crackled across the sky, arcing out like lightning over the sea. It drew everyone’s attention, and Cosmo’s gentle melody abruptly ended.

  They all knew that darkness. A dragon had torn them apart the last time they’d seen it.

  “Everyone to your oars!” commanded Samson, rushing back to the rudders. Directing the ship perpendicular to the darkness, as if trying to outrun a hurricane, he shouted the command to row.

  * * *

  The Sanctuary rumbled with the force of an earthquake. Luna, crouched beneath her bed, was knocked off her knees and her head slammed into the access panel she’d been trying to pry away. As she rubbed her head, the panel finally came loose and clattered to the ground.

  “Finally,” whispered Luna, carefully setting it aside.

  Outside her room, she could hear the frantic shouts of the Tutorias as they tried to assess the damage caused by the eruption of madness.

  “Find out where that hit,” came Tutoria #0001’s muffled shout. “Isolate it like the others.”

  “It’s over the ocean terrain,” answered Tutoria #0788. #0778 had once been Milly Brown’s Tutoria but had been reassigned to the Sanctuary at the end of Phase One of the God Contest. “It’ll be… No!”

  Tutoria #0788’s console exploded, and the Tutoria was hurled backwards into a column of controls. Her head struck the metal hard, causing sparks to rain down upon her, and she slumped forward.

  “Damn it. Someone re-route her panel,” #0001 ordered, triggering a flurry of activity. “We need to get this under control. Now!”

  “Now’s my chance,” Luna whispered. She squeezed herself into the ventilation shaft, suppressing the claustrophobia that threatened to envelope her. It was hot and stuffy, and she had to fight against the flow of air to make her way into the main control room.

  “Darn it, mom. Why’d you design me with a flaw like claustrophobia?” Luna muttered, trying to keep her mind occupied. She knew why – flaws created empathy for the players – but right now, she could have done without the added obstacle.

  The AI Director climbed up the ventilation shaft until she had a bird’s eye view of the chaos in the control room. Tutoria #0001 – standing on a platform in the middle of the control room – shouted frantic orders to hundreds of Tutorias, who obeyed her without question.

  “I’ve pinpointed the corruption. It’s above The Redemption,” #0671 shouted in alarm. “Ma’am, The Seed is on the galley. If it dies, Master *****’s plan will fail.”

  #0001 hesitated for a moment, as if weighing her options.

  Luna watched curiously from the ventilation shaft grille. She had once believed the Tutorias were part of her program. Only recently, after they had betrayed her, had she realized they were creations of the unknown puppet master who’d been manipulating the God Contests.

  Why does #0001 hesitate? She is a tool for her master. Surely, she must save this ‘seed’ thing if it is so core to her master’s plan.

  Luna knew there was something different about #0001. She was once Luna’s primary Tutoria, but she’d changed drastically the day of the dragon attack. #0001 had led a revolt and taken control of every Tutoria in the Sanctuary, locking Luna in her bedroom.

  Luna thought she had done this at the behest of her master, yet #0001’s hesitation made Luna wonder whether there was more to it.

  It was a mystery she would solve later. Right now, she needed to counter that corruption, before it struck the players.

  Luna resumed her crawl through the ventilation shaft towards a secret control panel behind where #0778 now lay unconscious.

  Hoping she isn’t too late.

  * * *

  The sea roiled beneath The Retribution, causing the ship to toss and turn as the players rowed. A massive wave broke over the bow, hurling Cosmo off his perch on the ram and soaking the others from head to toe. They hung on and kept rowing as the darkness closed in around them.

  “Shit, we’re not going to outrun this,” Samson called from the helm. “Everyone, draw up oars and get into defensive positions.”

  Calista pulled up her oar with a single yank and dashed for the bow. Cosmo and Passi were already there, recovering from the wave, and within seconds Rain, Sapphire, and Xavier had joined them. They formed a tight circle, each facing outward, with Passi in the middle ready to heal. The other players formed an identical circle at the stern, with Ying in the middle.

  “Calista, passing command over to you,” shouted Samson. “Do it!”

  They’d discussed this strategy this morning as they rowed, and, for a moment, Calista marveled at how these office workers-turned-players had adapted to life and death situations.

  Tapping into the power of her Battlefield Commander class, Calista mentally combined everyone into a single fighting force and activated Soldier’s Morale, boosting everyone’s attributes by twenty percent. Next, she used Battlefield Communication to add Ying to the mental tether she shared with Rain and Passi, which allowed them to communicate telepathically. Finally, she activated her Protective Shield talent to give everyone a single shot shield.

  “Cosmo, your turn,” Calista shouted through the wind.

  A plucky guitar melody drifted across the galley, and Calista felt her feet stick to the deck despite the constant waves now breaking over the railings. It was a simple aura, but the last thing they needed was someone falling into the sea.

  All around her, the air was filled with flashes of light and a symphony of sound as everyone activated their own protections and buffs.

  “Samson, Lucy, Alison. Use your magic to keep those waves from crushing The Retribution,” ordered Calista, her eyes scanning the deepening darkness. “We don’t want to get stuck out here.”

  The three players, all with advanced water magic, began to channel and pushed back the waves before they slammed into the ship. Calista could already see their effort would take its toll on their magic reserves before too long.

  A tiny hand tugged her dress.

  Mom, I can help them, Passi spoke telepathically, beginning to channel her own water magic with a determined look in her eyes.

  Calista shook her head. Save your magic, pumpkin. We’re going to need your healing before too long.

  “Rain, I don’t want to fight in the dark,” Calista called out enthusiastically to boost morale. “Light this place up!”

  Rain threw her hands up into the air and channeled her fire. Dozens of fist-sized globes of flame formed in her palms and floated into the air in balloon-like clusters. It was the same technique Milly had used to light up the cave into the Arena of Choice, but on a much bigger scale.

  The fire illuminated the deck below and pierced twenty feet into the darkness… just in time for Calista to spot the great white shark launch itself out of the water, straight towards them.

  The Non-Canonical Aftermath: