o27

One For Heroics

After the conversation about Jongdae, everything went completely fine with Junmyeon. He had a way of dissipating awkwardness—or perhaps he was good at ignoring it or just downright obtuse in believing it didn’t exist. Either way, with her perched on the railing and him at the wheel, they had surprisingly lighthearted conversation. For another forty-five minutes or so, there were no signs of monsters, and Junmyeon was telling her a story about Jongdae when he had accidentally drunk rice wine when he was a child and the trouble they had both gotten into when the whole ship trembled like it hit something solid.

If she hadn’t been faster, Jinqiong would’ve been thrown right off into the ocean, which would’ve made the situation worse, because whatever monster it was that they crashed into was probably waiting in the water. She would’ve made a tasty appetizer.

At any rate, the force sent her jolting backwards, but Jinqiong managed to grab onto the railing and swing herself over. It wasn’t elegant in the least, and she went tumbling painfully onto the wooden deck instead of the water.

Winded, Jinqiong lay there, panting for breath and adrenaline pumping through her veins, before Junmyeon, previously wrestling with the wheel, rang the alarm.

Jinqiong forced herself to her feet. According to Junmyeon, they had been sailing on the edge of the fifth sector for hours, looking for some way to get closer to the central island without crossing the three other sectors they’d marked off as too dangerous. There was a narrow strip of the second sector near them, a bit of the fifth which was some ways off, and then the first. Luhan mentioned something about figuring out a way to mask Hei from the ghosts of the first sector, but it obviously hadn’t been done yet.

Junmyeon was still gripping the wheel, though it no longer seemed to be a struggle, because one hand was hovering over the hilt of his sword. Jinqiong attempted to steady her breathing. “What was that?” she demanded.

He shook his head. “I have no idea.”

There was something under the water, strong enough to send the ship, which was relatively large, jolting in such a way. Jinqiong gulped. They hadn’t stumbled across anything since then, and she was beginning to hope that Hell’s Gate was just going to be awfully lifeless, grey skies and grey oceans. Except there was life, just not the type she wanted.

She made her way to the railing instead, Junmyeon telling her to be careful. It didn’t quite click, because she leaned over, searching the waters, and—there. A hint of water that was darker than the other places, before Jinqiong realized that it wasn’t just one spot but something that seemed to snake its way around them, forming a shape of…

A snake. A snake so huge that it could probably bite off the head of the ship if it wanted to.

“,” she managed out, taking a large step back from the railing.

Junmyeon looked worried. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s a sea serpent,” Jinqiong choked out, torn between being awed and absolutely frightened, but before she could decide on which, someone tore up the stairs and onto the helm.

It was, unsurprisingly, Baekhyun. Between him and Jongdae, Jinqiong wondered who slept less.

“What’s going on?” he demanded breathlessly.

Junmyeon gestured at the water. “There’s a huge sea serpent curled up beneath us right now, but it doesn’t seem like it’s going to attack yet. It hit the ship, but…”

Baekhyun let loose a string of profanities so vulgar that even Jinqiong found herself mildly impressed. He hurried to the railing, leaning over the side slightly like she had done, and then drew back with a sharp breath.

“That thing,” he managed. “It’s bigger than the kraken.”

“The what?” Jinqiong echoed, but Baekhyun ignored her.

Junmyeon closed his eyes. “What do we do?”

“It’s staying under the ship,” Baekhyun murmured. “And we’re still moving. Which means it’s following us, for now. And waiting, though I don’t know what for.”

The thought that these creatures had intelligence scared her even more, but Jinqiong would’ve gutted herself before admitting that she was frightened in front of Baekhyun. They remained in tense silence, no one quite knowing what to do, before two more heads appeared at the helm.

Jinqiong almost groaned aloud when she saw Jongdae. She didn’t, but she still jabbed a finger in his direction. “What are you doing here?” she demanded. In her peripheral vision, she saw Junmyeon give her a look, but she chose to ignore it completely.

He frowned, but didn’t seem surprised by the hostility. “What do you mean? The alarms went off. Even if they didn’t, the ship jolted so hard that everyone who was asleep is bound to be awake and know that something’s wrong.”

“You can’t fight,” she told him pointedly.

He mirrored with the same amount of prickliness. “I’d like to see you try your hand at whatever’s down there. Hyung, can I see the map?”

Jinqiong fought the urge to roll her eyes. He cares about you suddenly felt a little less believable, and she hoped her relief didn’t show at the moment. Because this was the Jongdae she was used to; all snide remarks, acting as if everything she did was… well, a disaster—and it made her feel better and worse at the same time, She made herself focus on the better aspect, ignoring Jongdae as Junmyeon handed him the map.

By then, almost everyone began to file onto the helm. Baekhyun sent Yuxuan and Yixing back with the instructions to prepare everything general injuries required. Then he sent Hei down with them as soon as she tried to even step up the last staircase, and Jinqiong could see the slightly irritation on Hei’s face when she turned heel. Still, the fact that she left probably meant that she either didn’t want to fight back or grudgingly believed Baekhyun’s judgement to be right.

It turned out to be, though. They moved in tense silence, everyone aware of the threat that was right beneath their feet but at the same time not doing a single thing. It wasn’t as if they could harm the giant creature directly beneath them, not when it was so huge, and one wrong trigger could drown the boat. Jongdae and Baekhyun discussed the map, where to go, until Jinqiong couldn’t bear the waiting for another moment.

Jongdae and Baekhyun had been arguing about something, but it looked as if Jongdae had won the argument, because Baekhyun stood up abruptly, lips pressed together. “We’re going to the second sector,” Jongdae informed them.

Baekhyun visibly stiffened at the words.

“The second sector,” Jinqiong echoed.

Jongdae gave her a look that probably said how did you not hear me the first time before nodding. “It’s about… five minutes from here?” he asked. “There’s a very, very narrow strip of the second sector that we’ll have to cross before we can move into the fourth sector, but we’ll have to move on the edge because we have no idea what the sector’s like. We can only hope that the serpent does what it’s currently doing until we reach the sector.”

It felt like an awful lot they were better at the moment, but Jinqiong didn’t question, because she couldn’t think of any better plan. So, with the rest of the crew—minus Yixing, Yuxuan and Hei—standing tersely on the railing, they waited and waited and waited.

The ship felt like it was advancing at an awfully slow pace, and beneath them, the serpent’s shadow didn’t seem to change either, matching the pace of the ship. It didn’t get larger, didn’t get closer, and that unnerved Jinqiong the most. It was waiting for something; most likely the perfect moment to strike. But none of them knew when.

That when came thirty seconds later. Without much warning, the giant, tangled form moved beneath the ship, frightfully fast for something that size, and then rammed into the bottom of the ship with so much force that almost everyone was thrown off their feet and Jinqiong was left with her head spinning and wondering how the ship hadn’t completely cracked and they weren’t all drowning.

“We’re close to the second sector,” Jongdae shouted over the confusion. “We need another minute, and the serpent knows that. Keep it distracted, and then it can’t cross the barrier between the sectors.”

Jinqiong had no idea how he expected anyone to keep the beast distracted. She braced herself for another blow, one in which she was sure was going to cleave the entire ship in two, but instead, the water began to move in swirling patterns beneath them, a whirlpool appearing.

And then it wasn’t just water but a head almost as large as her body towering over the ship.

The serpent wasn’t anywhere near its full size. Most of its body was still back in the water, but what had come out was huge. It reared back, fangs the size of her entire arm bared in a snarl, and she was pretty sure everybody in the crew took a physical step back, too horrified to move or speak. Even Baekhyun, as much as Jinqiong didn’t want to admit, who managed to keep his cool in any awful situation, balked.

Then he raised an arm, shouting two words at the crew—take cover—and the creature roared, and before Jinqiong could react, realized that it had spat something at them and she ducked and rolled out of the way.

So did everyone else, except Baekhyun. She was about to scream that he was an absolute idiot and Song Hei was going to murder him for not keeping himself safe when he had just been shot by an arrow, but he crouched, raising his arm in front of him in a barring action.

Then, like it splattered against an invisible shield, the liquid didn’t hit any of them. Acid, Jinqiong realized, because a bit of it splattered onto deck and the wood darkened around it. If it weren’t for the protection spells Luhan had placed across the whole ship, it would’ve burned a hole through the ship then and there.

It was an invisible shield. Baekhyun had somehow managed to create a shield with the air, but it looked like it strained him.

“Distract it!” he shouted at the crew. “Luhan, take the wheel, Junmyeon and I will try to keep it back in the water. Do anything you can to keep it away from the—”

The rest of his sentence was lost within a curse. The sea serpent, even angrier now, roared, tail churning the water behind it. A huge wave swept the ship to the side precariously.

It was a beautiful beast, Jinqiong thought as she picked herself up. Beautiful and deadly and dangerous, with eyes of liquid gold and sea blue—the color of the true sea—scales that glimmered despite the lack of light. It was another splash of color in the greyness of Hell’s Gate, and she thought it was too bad that the beast was trying to kill them.

Everyone was rushing to subdue or slow down the beast when Jinqiong struggled to her feet. Luhan was gripping the wheel, yanking the ship in the direction they were supposed to go, and Baekhyun and Junmyeon were at the railing, trying to push the ship forward and the beast back. Chanyeol shot a white hot flame at its eyes, but as it shook its huge head, it looked more agitated by the attack than actually injured. It was more than obvious that they stood no chance.

Another flame towards its face, and the serpent had enough. It roared again, drowning out Jongdae’s shouts to get it away because it looked like it was going to take a bite out of the ship, and they were too close to the barrier of the sectors. Just another minute, or even thirty seconds would’ve guaranteed safety, and Baekhyun raised his arms in an X shape for the shield of concentrated air.

He knew it wouldn’t be enough. It was one thing blocking the venom, but it was another to create a shield with air that would stand that sort of assault, and he wasn’t strong enough. And not only would it hurt him, but the ship would most likely be broken, and it would’ve all been for vain.

Jinqiong was positively certain that she was absolutely insane when she called for invisibility, her power wrapping around her like a second layer of clothing, and leapt over the railing at the neck of the creature.

Even if years and years of training had made her more agile than the normal person, she would’ve slid straight off because the scales were surprisingly slick under her fingers. Desperately, already knowing she had made the stupidest decision of her life, she drove her dagger into the neck of the serpent, trying to find the chink between its scales as she fell, and by sheer luck made her mark.

The creature roared so loudly that she was certain that the sound would tear through the sails and probably, her eardrums too. She had let go of the invisibility, unable to maintain the concentration for any longer, but she had done what she’d been aiming for—the beast reared back, but didn’t touch the ship. Acid sprayed, and she clenched desperately onto her dagger as it shook its head, trying to shake her off.

She met Baekhyun’s grim gaze. She saw him raise his hands, already summoning his power, and the water beneath the ship moved to drive them towards the direction of the second sector.

Good riddance, Jinqiong thought, and then cursed herself again for being so stupid.

Then Jongdae was shouting too, shouting for someone to get her (at least from what she could deduce the roaring in her ears), but Jinqiong couldn’t focus on him. She drew her second dagger and drove it down.

She missed her mark, hitting scales instead as her blade bounced off uselessly. The serpent roared and shook its head. The ship drew further away.

She was possessed. Or had been, because she could now see that she was absolutely crazy to attempt something like that. She was also going to die, and it would be before she could get rid of the stupid gem, before she could see anyone put Byun Junsu six feet under, where he belonged. She was going to die from pulling a stupid stunt, and the last words she had said to Jongdae were awfully meaningless—just why was she thinking about Kim Jongdae—and Jinqiong had enough sense to drive her second dagger in again.

She hit home, between the scales. The serpent roared, thrashing and shaking its head. Blue blood welled from underneath the blades, the same brilliant color of the scales. At least if she died, the last thing she saw wasn’t the stupid grey of Hell’s Gate.

Jinqiong tried to dig her feet in, scrambling for some extra sort of purchase, arms throbbing from the effort of holding on. Had it been thirty seconds? The ship had to be somewhere near the second sector, or in it already. She had bought them enough time.

It hadn’t been sacrifice, she knew. Probably self-preservation, a spur of the moment thing where she knew they’d all drown anyway and no one in the crew was brash (or stupid) enough, and she had a better sense of survival that way. Not sacrifice. She didn’t do sacrifice.

But she also knew that any sane person could tell that it wasn’t self-preservation.

The monster reared back again. Then, before Jinqiong could react, it drew to a frightening height and slammed back into the water at full speed.

The impact was horrendous. Blue blood dripped down her arms, but her clothing was still relatively dry. Nothing could prepare her for the awful coldness, different from the usual sea. It was empty. It felt wrong, and when Jinqiong swallowed a mouthful, she gagged, choked, and coughed, trying to expel that same wrongness from her body. Her daggers had come free from the serpent’s neck, and there were so many bubbles in the water that she couldn’t see half a feet in front of her. Then, she managed to make out a pair of golden eyes, that beautiful, liquid golden.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter