ADARA

Golden tangles whipped across claws sharpened for a feast of magick. Fenrer leaped out of bed, gaze honed in on the porthole as the runic expander gripped in his fist lit up in the deep circuitry. It sparked to life with the call of the green vines twisting through the opening. His foot slammed against the planks below when the Derelict hit the expansion of a golden bubble. It cracked all at once, and Adara gasped out in alarm when the boat rumbled with the force. Stars dissipated as the runic expander clattered to the floor, Fenrer along with it when he hit the ground on his hands and knees, though the Derelict squished its hungry grin against the porthole before slithering somewhere else.

"Gods!" Adara found her voice, then threw herself out of the chair to lift Fenrer off the ground as he held his chest with a wince of pain. Where did they come from? Shipbells rang out against the dissonant groans and bubbly howls in her eardrums as Wardens shouted from the deck with the terrible screeching of ravenous beasts. Fenrer slipped out of her grasp, back on his feet as he tore off a protective cloth off his crescent blade, gripping it in his palm.

"Fenrer, you can't," Adara hissed at his relentless determination when he used it to lift himself up again.

Fenrer's breath came out ragged as sweat rolled down his brow. "This is too sudden, something's wrong," he wheezed when he set his elbow on the door, before pressing his brow against the wood when the boat gave another cruel tremble and water splashed against the reinforced glass. He switched his grip on the handle of the crescent blade, where the peak shone with emerald power. His hand slid down to the handle, and he tugged it open.

"Oh no you don't, you idiot." In a flash of amber fury, Maria lunged from the other side and grappled with Fenrer. She threw her leg behind his then pushed him back onto the bed when she unbalanced him by his feet. Strands of blonde hair scattered into sundust when she swept her fingers through the misbehaving tangles and swiped the runic expander from his trembling hands. Fenrer rolled over on the mattress and cringed into the blankets at another rock of the galleon. "Rather not have one of my friends deliver himself as free food."

"Maria?" Adara rasped when the avatar of the sun bared its molten fury when magick flared through the runic expander and the barrier shimmered back to life, before clicking the connection of the magitek closed. Rays danced across the bracers when she brought her arms up and stepped out of the room with another click, her hand diving to her own crescent blade. Out into the corridor with the stomp of apocalyptic war above their heads, Adara stumbled to a stop when Maria pushed her hand into her shoulder outside Yuven's room, with said out of commission Storm Warden shaking in obvious agitation, though his crescent blade sat beside him.

"Stay." Maria pointed at him and closed the door before a sharp word left his mouth, then turned to her. "Adara, I advise you to stay down here. It's going to get rough topside if we don't get out of this patch of sea." WIth a sharp upturn of her head, a different set of bells rang. "You'll be safer down here," she insisted without a comment to the shift in the ship's melody.

"But, maybe I can help," Adara insisted, then braced her wobbly knees when the boat trembled. Unworldly moans echoed against the planks and screeched against the underside beneath them. I'm tired of just being a beacon to these things. If they want to get so close to me, why can't I just turn them to stone like I have before? Ignored from the way Maria scrambled for the staircase, Adara chased her upwards, though hesitated when they breached the surface.

Blood splattered across the wooden planks as Storm Wardens shot the harpoons into the heart of the crimson foam birthed from the sea. "Unfold the windsails!" Maria barked out an order as she ran up to the helmsman, with another Storm Warden keeping a tentacle from his back. "Tighten the rigging and ready whatever we have to get these damned things off of us!" Maria looked down at her, and Adara found herself holding onto the banister for dear life as teeth chewed the railings and snapped some of the ropes. "Keep them off the sails and watch the starboard flank!" One Derelict crawled over the banister, and Adara found herself screaming when it leaped at Maria, who twisted on her heel.

Fiery whips lunged out from her hand when she swiped her crescent blade along with the ember trails when they wrapped around the Derelict. Inferno blazes struck each point of its spine and drove white-hot energy into its maw. Smoke sizzled across its teeth when its scream replaced her own, its claws tangling in the air as it found itself chewing on pure, majestic sunlight. With one wellplaced, armored foot, a burst of steam sent it flying off the edge and back into the water, boiling in a quick instant.

"If you're injured get out of the way!" another Storm Warden called out their own order. "Ready the harpoons!"

Embers fluttered around her when Maria sent a shockwave of her fiery magick into the harpoon's arrow. Its golden tip sizzled as another Storm Warden grabbed onto the handles and aimed it to the edges of the writhing sea. Adara scrambled up to rejoin Maria, but kept out of the fire magickae's reach. Whips made of furious light whipped around Maria's feet with each step she took, drawing them upwards into lances of fire whenever a Derelict came close to the helmsman. In another instant, the whips formed into quick snakes, wrapping around the helmsman. Bubbles of heat echoed across her features, with her caught in its protective sphere. Silver veins cracked against it, but Maria pointed at the helmsman. "Keep this galleon on course for Euros! It's on the horizon!" THe hook of her crescent blade slipped across the banisters, cutting into a rotting rope and allowing it to fall to its death.

Adara found her hand touching the ember whips protecting both her and the helmsmen who fought against the weight of the wheel.

Gods.

Controlled infernos.

"Captain!" another Storm Warden called from the lower deck, tearing sinew out of a Derelict's mouth, before slamming the hook into its head. "They're swimming against us!"

Glyphs pushed into the unfolded sails revealing woven runes. Pale greens coursed through them and intensified the breeze behind them. Adara held on tight when the boat lurched forward, but the wood scratched with teeth, claws and nails. Harpoons slingshotted into the edges of the abyss, the ropes following a line of fire and bursting into a pyre on the edges. Golden stars exploded and scattered across the foam, causing it to writhe and scream. Fury launched out of their mouths and slapped their tongues against the banisters.

"Fuck!" Maria screeched and sent harried amber glyphs across the galleon. It bounced with sparks, but never set fire to their one solace. On the tips of their tongues, the Derelicts tugged themselves forward as crimson saliva slipped over the planks and rotted some of the nails.

A birdlike howl coursed through the air, a screaming symphony cracking with ice.

Glyphs tipped with beautiful sapphires rolled through the air with a shade of a feathered creature. A wyvern as it flew past at an unfathomable speed. Its claws snapped across the red line of death. Slabber snapped apart and the Derelicts slid back into the sea. Each glyph sent a plume of ice to encase the wood, a shell of relief. On another pass, the sapphire glyphs followed and slammed downwards, before taking aim into the foam below. As the feathered being flew over it, a different shape detached itself. Waves glued themselves to the glyphs as the armored figure slammed their clawed feet into a Derelict's head when it showed itself through the blood-red foam.

A white creature flew around them on the path of a vulture, cawing loudly.

"Tix'snuv?" Maria mused, then rushed to the railing. Adara forced herself out of the fire ward to investigate herself. Derelicts twisted at the new platter of a meal with its own teeth. Golden feathers peeked out of the protected slits on the sides of their wyvern-shaped helmet. A plume of mist left their nose when they bounced across the waves, surfing and skating across teeth. One Derelict leaped out of the waves, and in another instant, they drove a glaive into the back of its throat. Their feet twisted onto a glyph, slingshotting themselves into another Derelict.

On a pillar of water when a couple other Derelicts chewed at each other in competition for their hunter, the figure sent a burst of power through the glaive. It slammed into the boat, and Adara found herself flat on her hindquarters as the boat rocked once. Wind came to life in her own lungs and across the flow as the sails expanded further.

"Get us out of this now that he's given us an opening!" Maria snapped over the remnants of bloody battles. "Get the injured out of view and stop their advance!"

Stop their advance.

As the boat rode on the sails of war, the figure ran across the water, their feet splashing against near hidden patches of ice. A mountain grew out of thick mist, and the mast fluttered through. Adara held her breath as the figure sped through, then bounced on one last sapphire glyph to land on the deck. The Derelicts slowed to a stop, gurgling and hissing out fumes as the red oozed out of the foam and left it quiet and empty.

Adara looked over the banister to their hero.

Instead of celebration, the Storm Wardens sank to their knees or slid against the staircases with a clatter of their weapons, from small, emergency daggers to their crimson-wrapped crescent blade, where their runes ran with the deathblood of Derelicts.

In the middle of the weary Wardens, the figure took off the helmet. Golden locks fell into gentle waves, with a small clip catching some of the longer strands on the back of their head. Wheat-spun feathers flicked with the wind, stretching past their pointed ears as their clawed boots clicked against the wood when they turned in one slow, intentful movement. Helmet tucked under their arm, the Avaerilian faced Maria with a growing smile, hiding the fangs of draconic ferocity. In contrast of Yuven's vicious beauty, the man in front of her spoke of a siren's initial entrancing tug before revealing the truth. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, a soft, lulling texture to his voice that almost made her want to curl up into a ball and sleep off the terror. Through the mist, a creature cooed out its victory as its shadow disappeared towards the mountain, giving birth to a marble flower of a giant citadel.

Maria's shoulders slacked. "Neven. You crazy bastard. You could've been killed and what would I tell Yuven?"

Adara found herself stuck in the shadow of the Storm Wardens.

Spires drove itself into the peaks of the clouds, on their tips golden spheres pulsing out power.

"I am sorry it was the wrong welcoming committee out there. We were uninformed that a swarm gathered. We shall have to send out Wardens to clean it out or chase them off," the Avaerilian named Neven said, looking over the tired Storm Wardens, with some flat on their faces, though breathing. "Reinforcements will be upon us soon, but we're well past the volcanic barrier." Adara scooted back as Neven climbed the steps to Maria, a visage of Naveera underneath humid suns. "Welcome home, all of you. I hope I can rectify the lack of a warm welcome." He bowed deep, his feathers following the movement.

At his words the rest of the stiff Wardens collapsed. "Ancients, Captain Lotayrin," one rasped. "You're gods sent."

Maria breathed out a heavy sigh, then ordered, "I want all the minor injuries to gather themselves on the deck. Anything major will have to rejoin our other patients and wait out the rest of the journey across the channel." Adara found the strength in her knees waning, but she pulled herself up on the banister. "Miss Adara, I'd give yourself a minute."

Neven looked at her. Sapphires glittered underneath the high sun, his pupils in a perpetual state of near verticality. Bile grew in her throat when she rested her chin against the banister, then crawled her way down the steps. "Ugh... I think I'm going to be sick."

A white-haired figure stumbled out onto the deck, causing Maria's features to drop into one of annoyance.

"If you're going to be sick, do it over the banister," the familiar shape snapped, and Warden Neven beamed. "Not on top of my head. Maria, I heard Tix'snuv calling, where—?"

I was wondering how long it'd take him to move. Adara smiled at her newfound consistency of life, but she stopped when Yuven froze at the sight of the other Avaerilian.

She half-expected Yuven to lash out as he had before, but instead, vulnerability cracked the tempest of his sharp features, a young boy in the ripple of history who clung onto a wyvern stuffy with a smile of wonder. He drew his hands closer to his chest. "Neven? Miesero, is that really you?"

Adara looked between the two Avaerilians.

Neven descended the steps once more to face Yuven. "Syu, Yuven." He smiled, and though the fangs revealed themselves, a softer touch wrinkled his eyes. "Who else would I be? A snow bunny?"

Harbor bells rang out through the thin layer of mist, sending its echo across the world.

Yuven tucked his nose into his fingers with a soft, rattled hiss. "Neven, I have much I have to tell you—"

Waves of shock pounded her shoulders when Neven approached, and wrapped Yuven into an embrace — and an even bigger surprise, Yuven accepted the affection without a single word of complaint.

Home, they're home. We did it. Relief coursed through her blood as the Wardens cheered for their lives and the approach of the Euros, the rose in the sky.