xx. Of Mysterious Mist and Storms

The storm brought to its end exactly four hours later. Stopped just like that. So sudden, like a blown candle. Vanished. Dead out.

The ocean was calm again, the mist also cleared. It caused the crews dumbfounded, instead of cheering for the annoying storm that had passed. Silent. The ocean was still, as if the storm was never happened. Only severe damages that befell one third of their fleet that shown Armada of Floating City had just escaped from a fierce sea storm. Eleven ships had to worm their way continuing the journey, because let alone masts, they didn't even had sails anymore. Nine ships had to unfold their extras sails since their main sails had ripped up, fortunately their masts were still good. The rests of the fleet still could use their main sails. Admiral Lee Howon decided not to set the sails for now, no one knew when the ocean would rage again, right?

The carpenters tried mending the damaged parts of the ships. Wood chips and scattered stuffs were cleared. But the fire caused severe harm, and repairing the hull needed more time, could only be done later when they docked in the nearest port.

It seemed the only thing that not for the slightest disturbed by the storm was the giant tortoises in the Sky Blade's deck. Not moved at all from its confine, the turtle was still hiding its head inside its shell. Shied away from the storm.

--

Morning came. Admiral Lee Howon commanded all the ships sailing as fast as they could, moving away from the dangerous part of the ocean where they trapped in the storm last night. The armada of forty ships sailed in full speed. The ships with damaged sails had to rely on manpower. Big, long paddles were being used, together the crews deployed all their strength. At least they had took off fifty miles from the location of last night storm when the day ended. The crews sighed with relief. Didn't storm couldn't give a chase? They could rest after twenty-four hours of tense.

The soldiers and the sailors sat enjoying the sun disappeared in the west horizon. Orange were coloring the ocean. White clouds looked reddish. It was pleasing to their eyes. Sunggyu played his stringed board in the deck of Sky Blade. The crews listened to his music cheerfully, chasing away their fatigue after working hard all day long sailing the ships from the damned place.

Unfortunately they were very wrong. When the crews were in a good cheer, when they managed to forget the big storm last night, once again out of nowhere brown mist blanketing them. Perfectly blocking their visibility. The ocean was still again. No rippling in the water.

Worry engulfed the whole crews.

Adimral Lee Howon quickly barked his command, trumpets blared for danger signs, one after another. The crews jumped up and let off the sails. Everyone was on alert. They were in better preparation this time. All the cannon had not untied, so did the barrels. If the sign was consistent, then they had to be ready for a big storm like the night before.

But they were wrong. The storm, indeed, was coming, but it was not just big, it was twice worse. It panicked the crews. They freaked out, scared, cried.

Another mast in Sky Blade broke into two. There were no fire tonight, because all the barrels for oil had been secured since yesterday, but everything was a mess in the hold. Like a room that had just rotated three-hundred-and-sixty degree.

All the soldiers and the sailors were scared. If it stayed like this, they couldn't survive for long. Eagle Eye gritted his teeth, frowning. He'd rather fight against a thousand of great soldiers than deal with this crazy storm, cause he would know where to stab his swords to beat them.

Admiral Lee Howon gripped the railing in the wheelhouse of Sky Blade, his face was tense. No one ever saw the Admiral looked that tense --not even when they had a battle against Pirate Zhang Yixing. Inevitably it made Sunggyu and Sungyeol who stood behind the admiral got jittery, silently whispering words of hope so the storm would subside quickly. Their ships were wrecked.

Once again four hours after it began, the storm stopped. Disappeared. With no trace.

--

The sun appeared on the eastern horizon. This time Admiral Lee Howon tremendously ordered his crews to run in full speed from the doomed part of that ocean. All the soldiers got down to the hull, joining force to paddle the ships away. Only one third of their fleet still had the sails, yet the admiral instructed them to just fold it up.

Afternoon came. If added up since two days ago they had been 120 miles away from the location of their first storm. It should be more than enough to run away from any storm. Didn't storm has no feet to catch up with them? But although they had bee far away, all the crews still readied themselves for any worst possibilities. No one enjoying the beautiful orange sunset anymore. They way too worried…

Then the worst possibilities really came. Just like what happened in two consecutive days, the brown mist once again resurfaced, veiling their ships. This time thicker. Eerier. More mysterious. Their sight now really limited, it was hard to even see their arms, let alone seeing the other ships. And got more wicked, this time once the mist appeared, the ocean got craze right away. The waves were twice bigger than last night, which mean it was four times worse than the first storm.

It was real chaos. The ships' walls flaked off. Four warships collided, crashing each other. All the masts in Sky Blade were broken, uprooted, thrown to the tornado. Sky Blade's deck was in disarray, its floor chapped.

Sunggyu and Sungyeol groaned in worry in their hiding place in the wheelhouse. Admiral Lee Howon rubbed his face repeatedly. They never saw the admiral in such troubled state. Troubled and upset.

--

"What should we do?" Trembling in fear, Sunggyu yelled, asking the admiral.

Admiral Lee Howon turned, shaking his head. He had no idea about what should they do. Even an experienced sailor could only resigned when trapped in such crazy storm. They couldn't dock to any shore, because they were at least five hundreds miles from the nearest land. They could only bear with it. Hold their fort…

Once it had been four hours, the storm stopped.

The ocean still. Leaving only shrunk heart of the crews.

The fleets was in disarray. Damaged everywhere. Broken in every nook and cranny. The morale of the crews were in its lowest point, yet once the morning came they rowed as fast as they could, running away from the location of the storm. When afternoon came, those thousands soldiers' energy had been drained, they were all very tired. If tonight the storm showed up again… ah, they didn't know, they were already trembling just imagining it. Maybe the story of armada of forty ships would end here.

A crew who was an expert in reading the stars and maps ran to the wheelhouse, seeing Admiral Lee Howon. He was out of breath and his face pale, he might brought a very serious news.

"Admiral, we actually are not going anywhere, in these three days," the senior sailor stammered, sweating.

The admiral frowned, confused.

"We only sailed in circle, in the same spot