Chapter 11 - Maiden Voyage

The seven faction members surrounded the Global Positioning table. Their eyes were fixed upon the three-dimensional map of a particular area. Lu Han led the serious meeting. In front of each member was a holographic article. The picture contained a group of Daemens led by a familiar face: Wu Fan.

“They’re luring us with this.” Su Ho stated.

“But why would they let this be posted to the public?” D.O asked, confused.

“Who else would take action? Humans don’t necessarily care about us except for only a few.” Chan Yeol gave a good point. Yin knew that Yong Guk’s group and Ji Eun would be fazed.

“I bet Lay will be there. No, I’m certain that he’s going to be held there.” Kai said.

“It’s strange, because they made their move so obvious.” Baek Hyun commented.

“Why at the Vatiti Islands?” Yin became curious.

“The volcanoes at those islands are the most powerful and violent in Shugo. It would only make sense for them to erupt it if their plans fail.” Chan Yeol answered.

“That’s crazy!” D.O exclaimed.

“It’s their nature. They would do anything to have any natural phenomenon on their side.” Su Ho said.

“So what’s the plan?” Kai asked Lu Han who was deep in thought. He sighed.

“It’s perfectly logical to send three of us to the islands, but knowing that one of our comrades is there, I really want all of us to go.”

The members understood his dilemma, feeling how he felt. 

“Who did you have in mind?” Baek Hyun asked.

“Zhang Yin needs to go there.” Lu Han immediately said. Yin sharply turned her head with widened eyes. “We can’t risk it. I don’t know for sure, but there’s a chance that an Origin Rune could be there.” She blankly stared at her hands on her lap.

“I also want Su Ho to accompany her, but his house arrest will not be expired until further notice. I can’t lift his status.” Su Ho became quiet.

“She has the Rune of Water and Healing; she’ll be protected from the fire at least.” Baek Hyun supported.

“Let me go with her,” Kai stood up. Lu Han looked at him with unreadable eyes. Personally, he was the last person he would recommend to go on this dangerous mission. They were silent, as if they were having a mental conversation. The telepath broke the tranquil. “Very well, but we need to talk after.” Kai heavily exhaled. He knew what would come and sat down.

“Chan Yeol, I want you to take them there. You’re from the Vatiti Islands, after all.”

The pyrokinetic opened one of his eyes and groaned. He stretched his arms overhead and said, “I guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

“Come on! Why let someone who controls fire go? It’ll only make the danger bigger!” D.O complained.

“You, Do Kyung Soo, still need to earn my trust. Not to mention you have a long way to go.” Lu Han scolded and D.O shrunk in his seat. “You are also undergoing reevaluation with Baek Hyun supervising, so I suggest you should work hard.” His eyes drooped in disappointment.

“It’s settled then. Yin, Kai and Chan Yeol will be departing tonight for the Vatiti Islands. May the Gods watch over us all.” Lu Han announced.

When everyone left, the telepath and the teleporter remained inside. Lu Han gave him a look. “I can figure out how much she means to you, but I don’t want to watch it get in the way.”

“I know. She probably understands the situation more than the both of us.” Kai lowered his head. He remembered what she asked him to do. “But that’s not all I’m worried about.”

“Kai?”

“There’s something bothering me here,” he put a hand on the center of his chest, feeling a slight ache that he couldn’t seem to ignore. He brushed it away and turned to Lu Han and said, “Thank you.”

He was caught off guard. It was the first time Kai had seen his face like that. “Why thank me all of a sudden?”

Kai rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I’ve been such a brat when you brought me here. I never appreciated anything from you. I might as well say it while it’s not too late.”

“Foolish boy, she did change you a lot. I mean both Yin and Ja Young.” He patted his shoulder.

“I am sincerely happy for the both of you, but you have to be careful because the worst isn’t over. I’m just afraid that if you lose her, you would never forgive yourself. I don’t want that to happen to you especially.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect her. It’s my job now.” Kai salvaged the necklace from his jean pocket and showed Lu Han that he hadn’t handed it to Yin yet.

“So you know what you’re doing?”

Chan Yeol warned the two other assigned Argents that the Vatiti Island’s climate was very humid. He advised them to wear lightweight clothing. Yin donned her white sheer chiffon shirt with a white tank top. Her Origin Arm was back in bandages under the sleeve. She slipped on gray fleece boy shorts and sneakers. She strapped her knapsack on her shoulders and her sword on her belt.

"Will gege come back?" Xiang Hua tugged on Yin's shirt.

"I'll make sure of it. Don't worry because I'll be back with him," she squatted down to her height and adoringly pat her head. She went to her desk and took the crystal holding Lay's Crux, marvelling at the beauty. She carefully placed it in her knapsack along with her other Runs she was going to bring with her.

Kai didn’t knock and just opened the door. “He’s waiting right now. Let’s go.”

She turned around and nodded. “Okay. I’ll be back soon. Until then, Su Ho and Lu Han will take care of you and Ying Jie.”

Xiang Hua bobbled her head up and down with a smile on her face.

Yin got one last look at the picture frame on her table and then felt around her neck. Strangely, she could have sworn that she worn something there, but shrugged it off and left with Kai, holding hands. 

The trio arrived at Haipo Harbor. They boarded a large ship where they could blend in with the crowd. Chan Yeol paid for the fee and they made themselves comfortable while watching the ship depart. 

“Apparently this is the maiden voyage of this ship,” Chan Yeol noted.

“What is a maiden voyage?” Yin asked out of curiosity.

“It’s the first journey of a ship or an aircraft after a period of testing. They were existent in the old world before Shugo was born. I did hear that there were maiden voyages that didn’t go as well. Even the biggest and strongest ships can sink,” Kai explained.

“But they don’t happen so often. I highly doubt this ship will go down tonight,” Chan Yeol paused, “Unless we’re not so easily blended in.”

Yin’s shoulders stiffened under Kai’s arm, but he gave her a reassuring squeeze, saying that Chan Yeol was trying to scare her. The pyrokinetic shrugged and reclined back on his seat on the deck. The three settled at the back of the ship where few people lingered around with the sea-scented breeze.

“Man, it’s been a while since I’ve seen these beautiful skies.”

“Chan Yeol, Lu Han said you are from the Islands. Is it true?”

“It’s just how he said it. I was raised by my old man.” He referred his father that way.

“What about your mother?” She inquired.

He shrugged. “Never knew her.” Yin decided not to press further.

“Don’t give me that look. I just grew up without a mom, that’s all. There’s nothing sad about that.”

“Why do you think so?”

“My old man told me to live freely with no worries. That way you wouldn’t experience so much pain.”

“I see.”

“I kind of disagree because there’s nothing fun to do, except for this war coming up. Don’t get me wrong, but I know that it’s not going to be a game.”

“When did you discover your abilities?”

“When I was born. According to Argent theory, only a handful of Argents are gifted with abilities at birth, similar to the scarce population of Human-born Argents.” Yin nodded, letting the information sink in.

“Anyway, I’m going to hit the sack until we arrive. You should do that too if you want to save your strength.” He advised while yawning. Seeing that Chan Yeol finally snoozed in for a nap, Kai tugged Yin closer to her on a wide reclining chair suited for couples.

“You’re not prone to getting sea sick, aren’t you?” Kai gave her a look.

“If I told you then I wouldn’t be so close to you,” she replied, gesturing their positions; Kai laying down with her bare leg’s sitting perpendicularly on his.

“How about this?” he gave a wicked grin and picked her up bridal style, Yin nearly squeaking on the process.

“Put me down!”

“But you like it,” he smirked seductively.

“Did I say I did?”

“Okay,” he said and moved towards the bow railing. He sat her on top and stepped in between her legs. “How about this?”

“I’m going to fall,” she whispered so softly that Kai’s forehead rested against hers to hear it.

“I won’t let you fall. I swear it.”

“What make you think I can trust you now?”

“You said you liked me.”

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she scrunched up her nose, which he quickly pecked.

“It meant something to me,” he suddenly spoke in a softer tone. “You don’t know how hard it was for me to love someone, a woman specifically.”

“I’m not a woman yet, you know?”

“I don’t think that matters to me anymore.” Kai held her legs and wrapped them around his waist and Yin wound her arms around his neck so that their chests were nearly touching. His large hands teasingly touched her exposed skin by the waistline of her shorts.

“We’re not doing it here,” she gave him a look.

“Oh shut it and enjoy this moment.”

Suddenly, she felt a shiver up her spine as it felt colder than normal.

“Kai,” she whispered in his ear. “Teleport now.”

She stood up on the railing sharply and knocked away a blast of ice into the ocean with her bare hands. Kai teleported closer to Chan Yeol, who also woke up from his nap. There was that dull ache in his chest again afterwards.

“How very keen you are, Zhang Yin,” said an impish voice from below, who made stairs from the surface of the water to the railing where the couple once had their moment.

“Xiu Min!” Kai and Chan Yeol called out.

“I see that our prisoner had broken free a while ago,” he eyed on the teleporter. Yin flipped backwards onto the deck.

“You must realize that Faction Twenty Four is very predictable when it comes to a rescue mission. Why not just eliminate the threat right here while I am still excited?” he snickered.

“Where is he?” she demanded, reaching for a Rune in her backpack.

“What use will that be if you are dead?” he taunted and threw spikes of ice at her feet. Yin jumped away so that Chan Yeol could melt the attack with a simple burst of flame.

From across the ship, Kai and Yin heard screams of terror and fear along with windows crashing and the wood creaking.

“It seems my own faction of Daemens have made their move. What will you three mere Argents do?” Xiu Min mused.

“Kai! Yin! Go and protect the passengers! I’ll handle this!” Chan Yeol ordered the two.

“You heard him! Let’s go!” Kai grabbed her hand and ran inside. Yin unraveled the bandages off her Origin Arm and equipped the Rune of Light into it. The Daemens were taken the form of gremlins from a lake, with razor teeth like sharks and scaly skin like chain mail.

Before one of the Daemen gremlins took a bite out of a young boy in a corner, Yin raced towards it with her sword out of the scabbard and stabbed it to the floor. The light she transferred from the Rune to the blade penetrated the body from the inside before turning it into ash.

“You alright?” she asked the boy, who frantically nodded. Yin hastily grabbed his arm and tackled through a crowd of gremlins before safely returning the boy to his parents.

“You’ll be safe now. Get somewhere safe where none of the Daemens can find you. I’ll cover you then.” The family of three bowed in gratitude before fleeing from the scene. It didn’t take Kai and Yin long enough to defeat all the Daemens Xiu Min brought with him until the two and the passengers stumbled as the ship began to rock uncontrollably.

Back at the bow where the boundless Daemen and Chan Yeol dueled in the open air, Xiu Min scowled at the loss of his back-up troops.

“It seems you’ve gotten too strong, but how will you stand if this ship will fall?” he taunted and dove into the ocean and projected a devastating ice attack at the bottom of the hull, causing a leakage.

Wobbling to his knees, Chan Yeol cursed in horror, “No.”

Inside the cabin, Yin realized what was happening from the swaying, “The ship is damaged. We’re going to sink.”

The passengers began to whimper in fear while Yin and Kai were in a dilemma. They couldn’t transport anyone by themselves and they were still leagues away from the Vatiti Islands.

As she scanned the crowd, there was a stray gremlin sneaking up on Kai to get a little piece of vengeance. Her blood ran cold as she sprinted towards him and knocked him away with her strength and took the violent bite at her left shoulder. Her pained grunt as blood oozed from the attack snapped Kai to his senses and cried out for her.

“Yin!” he shouted but stopped at the feverish feeling searing through his body. A magical circle with his symbol glowed a navy blue around him as an orb of the same colour burst out with three nymph-like warriors in platinum armor, each appearing almost identical to each other.

Yin ripped the gremlin off her in time to marvel Kai’s long-awaited Crux. Chan Yeol rushed inside the cabin and also spotted the three nymphs before Kai.

“The Loki Brothers,” Kai whispered to himself and stood up. “Everyone! Grab onto one of the three brothers! They’ll take you to the island!” Without anything to lose or wait for, they desperately held onto a nymph as the three brothers summoned a portal that would transport them straight to their destination.

Chan Yeol also took the chance to reach for the back of his left shoulder and bring out a red crystal shaped like a phoenix. He burst it with a flame attack and called out, “Ember Brothers!” Out of the crystal presented two phoenixes, one in red flames and the other in blue. “Get on, Kai!”

At that moment, Yin had already brought out Pegasus to ride on, with her bloodied hands unfortunately stained her Crux’s beautiful white skin. “Let’s go!”

The three Cruxes along with the Argents quickly abandoned the sinking ship and headed towards the Vatiti Islands. Since they were in no hurry anymore, They rode at a steady pace.

“They’re going to expect us. While paying for our trip across the ocean, I managed to eavesdrop on a few people talking about where they are going to be.” Chan Yeol reported.

“Tell us.” Kai said.

“They’re going to hold Lay captive at Mt. Maguiti: the most active volcano. I also heard that there’s an Offering Circle there. It’s a typical arena for an Argent versus Daemen brawl.”

“An Offering Circle?” Yin paled.

“The people here believe in a deity that resides in the volcanoes. In order for them to suppress ‘his’ anger, each year, they select a random citizen and sacrifice it to the deity.” Chan Yeol explained.

“What a stupid religion.” Kai rolled his eyes.

“Let’s hide in my house until there’s no one outside. We don’t want to attract any attention. As soon as we arrive, call back your Crux, Kai.” He laid out the plan, which the teleported nodded to.

Ignoring her wounds, Yin peered down below to the glistening sea and watched it sparkle under the blazing sun. Pegasus’s hooves skimmed the surface of the water with its wings spread out wide. She balanced herself and also spread her arms out to take in the breeze brushing against her.

Kai watched Yin fly, dazed from her dream-like beauty. With her arms apart and the fabric of her chiffon shirt accenting her body, he could have sworn that she was an angel sent from the afterlife. He felt his chest where his tattoo was etched perfectly in the center, proud of what he was able to do now that he obtained his own Crux.

All of a sudden, Kai didn’t feel so helpless anymore.