Chapter 11: Graves of the Deep

thumb|300px|right|Opening IIMetharme awoke from her daily battery recharge to hear Baldr groaning. She raised a brow questioningly "What is it, Baldr?" He had his back to her and a hand over his mouth, mumbling "Seasick..." Metharme looked horrified "Err... Just... vomit over the ship." He shook his head "Can't leave... storage area..." His last word sounded choked, as if he was about ready to spew his breakfast all over the floor. She offered a different idea "There's plenty of barrels around here... Just do it in one of them!" He shook his head once more "Can't... they are... supplies..." Metharme was about to suggest he move to the other side of the ship when he turned and gagged green and yellow vomit on the floor boards, just in front of Metharme. Her eyes shrunk comically and her scream of disgust was muted by the loud thunderstorms in the sky above.

Recap
Previously on My Inferno: Everyone is set onto respective ships in the armada. Now the Brittannian Armada has set sail for Kusha, their flags raised for war! But first they must cross the Abyssmal Sea, famous for it's legends of deep-water monsters...

Land?
Shade was laying in bed, wide awake in fear of having to restrain Uriel. "Surely she's asleep", he thought. Still... if she was not, she'd be bored. And a bored Uriel is bound to be active and not staying in one place. So he had to keep awake, to ensure no one spotted her. How could he possibly explain an Angel being on board? "Maybe as a good luck charm from Heaven." he mused. Still, he'd been up for almost fifteen minutes and his eyes were starting to get weary. He closed them for only a moment and started to drift off to sleep. Time sped up and, before he knew it, Cane was shaking him awake and whispering "Shade... we've found land." Shade's eye widened in surprise "Kusha?!" Cane put a gloved hand to his face, index finger raised up to his lips to make him quiet down. Obviously the others were asleep still. He shook his head "A small island. It's still a little foggy out, but I managed to catch eye of it." Shade wondered about this when Cane guided him to the deck. It was more than just "a little foggy". It was completely shrouded where they were. Everything looked grey and tiring. He couldn't see anything until he discretely used his Golden Eye to see past the fog. Off in the distance, ahead of them, was a small island. Still, if Shade needed the use of his Golden Eye, then how could Cane possibly...?

One of the soldiers joined them. A seasoned man with wrinkles on his face and a stubble. He stood behind them at attention and addressed Cane "Captain." He turned and ordered "Prepare to detach a small rowboat to the Righteous and inform His Majesty of this sudden development. We shall see what course of action to take." As the man nodded and went below deck to signal the rest of the men to wakeup, Shade leaned against a barrel and folded his arms casually "Shouldn't you report this to your Commander? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, I don't know you well enough to know where your allegiances lie." Cane shook his head "Commander Yatsumaru wants us to report all developments on the voyage directly to the King unless personally related to the Phoenix Wing. This island involves the Armada as a whole." Shade raised a brow "How? What could the King want with it?" Cane shrugged "Probably a nice little vacation spot. You know how monarchs are." Shade nodded in agreement.

Alexander scratched his chin with his hand. It was early in the morning and he was still in his, what some men joked, Royal Pajamas. Fancifully velvet clothes lined with gold embroidery. Not cheap, either. He was aware of the nickname and even started referring to them as such himself. The King was not without a sense of humour. "How did they spot such an island in this fog?" One of the soldiers explained "Our Captain, Cane, has trained his eye to such an extent that it can actually see things from far away. He calls it his Eagle Eye." Alexander commented, astounded "Amazing! And this... island... it's directly in front of us?" The soldier nodded confirmingly "Shall we move around it, Sire?" Alexander shrugged "I could always use another vacation spot. Have the Destitute, Judgement, and Raven prepare to land immediately." The soldier nodded "Yes, Sire." and turned to leave.

Eve exclaimed happily "Yay! An island! My feet have been longing for land that's not made of wood for days!" Pandora, however, didn't look as ecstatic. She watched the island eerily, staring it down as if it was some ominous presence. "Something... just doesn't feel right about it..." Eve raised a brow curiously "Like what?" Pandora frowned "I can't tell... It just seems... strange..." Eve smiled and patted Pandora on the back reassuringly "We'll be fine, don't worry! Ares is with us! Right, big guy?" She turned to Ares, who nodded and gruffed as a way of confirming her statement. Regardless, she took one last look at the island she was bound for. Something deep in her gut was telling her not to go near it. She wished she had the power right now to influence anyone not to.

Island Landing
As the ships anchoured, Pandora and Eve walked down the ramps onto the sandy beaches first, Pandora still looking uneasy about the situation. Akihiro followed suit, his coat trailing behind him. The sandy beach felt nice and hot from the sun baking it. Eve smiled "I brought my volleyball! We should play here in a minute, Pan-Pan!" Pandora smiled embarrassedly "Uhh... Sure." Ares was far too heavy to walk on the boards that eld down to the island and, instead, opted to jump off the deck and land hard onto the island itself, sending a large rumble on the ground, like a mini-earthquake. However, Pandora thought, for just a split second, she could hear a faint roar. it sounded like a groan. She turned her head in fright "What was that?" Eve was holding her plastic volleyball and asked "What was what?" Pandora muttered "That noise..." Eve raised a brow "What noise?" Pandora stood still for a moment, trying to think. After a while of just standing around, she noticed another ship dock next to the Judgement. As the ramp slid down, the first to step off was a face she was elated to see: Sadow. His red cloths swaying from the ocean winds, he looked around wearily, observing the plants beyond the beach. "Sadow!" she called. He turned and noticed her, a little surprised to see her "Oh! Hey, Pandora!" She walked up to him and whispered "Sadow, I have a really bad feeling about this place. Maybe we should go." Sadow raised a brow "Go? Go where? We were ordered to scout this place out and plant the Brittannian flag onto it for claiming under the right of the King." Pandora urged "But... can't you just speak to him?" Sadow shook his head "It's not my place." Akihiro soon interrupted the conversation by ushering Sadow to him. "Alright, brother. The Raven has already landed and most of their men are scouting the foliage. Randall, my junior member, has volunteered to plant the flag himself. So basically this is just a quick grab and go assignment. Nothing to worry about."

Shade and Cane were hacking their way through the woods with machetes along with the other marksmen. Their blades cleanly sliced each vine and leaf, juices from the plants dripping onto the sand. Cane muttered "So much green it's making me sick." Shade chuckled "Not fond of the colour, are you?" Cane nodded "Gold and brown are my favourite." Shade spotted a patch of ground that happened to be grey and scaley. He raised a brow curiously but dismissed it as dead skin from some animal. Cane climbed atop a large mound, removing his eyepatch upon reaching the top. His revealed "Eagle Eye" has a large pupil, allowing for more things to be seen. Off in the distance, he spots what appears to be some sort of creature splashing out of the ocean and then returning as soon as it entered. "It had a strange shape... like the suction end of a tentacle... Perhaps-" Before he could give it a second thought, Shade yelled "Cane! We're heading back to the ship!" He put his eyepatch back on and took another glance back at the waters where the thing he had previously spotted had surfaced, the ripples still fading. "Hm..." He turned and joined them.

Akihiro called out to Randall, who was carrying a large pole with Brittannian's flag attached to it by cords "Be careful! It's against the law to let the flag touch the ground!" Some of the men chuckled at the joke. At the end of the pole was a sharpened spear-like end made for digging into soft dirt. "Where do you want it?" Randall asked nervously. Akihiro shrugged "Here, I guess. This should be a good place for anyone who stops by here to know that it belongs to Brittannia." Pandora was sitting at the edge of the beach, staring into the dark waters. She felt the ground where the sand was below the cold waters and it dissipated from her touch. But what she felt frightened her the most. It felt clammy and scaley, like a fish, and the ground below her twitched a little upon her feeling it. This was no island. She turned to Randall as he was carefully hoisting the flag up to impale it into the ground "No! Stop!" But it was too late. Randall stabbed the flag into the ground hard, the spear digging deep. Everyone heard it this time. A loud, ferocious, pain-filled roar. Pandora looked up in fear, shock and terror filling the soldier's hearts. Eve shouted "W-What is tha-" But before she could finish, everything went downward. The sand, the trees, the leaves, the foliage. It all went underwater, and it dragged them with it.

Aspidochelone Terror
Air was all that mattered. Sadow struggled to swim upward, toward the blue light. His eyes were foggy and his breathing was kept at bay by the cold waters that filled his armour. It was a good thing they were in tropical waters or else he would've been dying of hypothermia. He took in air upon reaching the surface thankingly. Drowning was one of his greatest fears, along with falling. He looked around to find the others having survived as well. All but Pandora. He looked around worriedly and shouted to Akihiro, who was struggling to clean his nose of water "Where's Pandora?!" He shook his head "I don't know! I couldn't see anything!" Sadow took in as much as he could and swam downward to get her. He was not leaving her to die from... whatever that was.

Pandora opened her eyes. She managed to hold her breath but her chest was starting to tighten and hurt. She needed air soon. Everything was blurry and blue. But she could vaguely see it. The shape of a large creature fearfully retreating to the bottom depths of the sea. It was tremendously huge, with tentacles, scales, and glowering orange eyes with slits, staring back up at her intently. Her heart froze and she tensed up, tempted to scream. Thankfully the creature seemed to pay her no interest and retreated into the dark bottom of the sea. Still, the mental image of it's horrific form was burned deep into her mind. As she felt her conciousness slip, a strong arm swept under her arms and pulled her into an embrace. She was being saved. She looked up to see her rescuer was Sadow. His worried expression was the last thing she saw before her sight faded, her conciousness with it.

Sadow splashed out of the water and quickly moved Pandora's head to the surface so she didn't inhale more water. He dragged her near a boat where Akihiro, Ares, Eve, and the other crew members of the Judgement had managed to scramble onto and handed her to Ares, he picked her up and gently set her down on the deck, Eve staring worriedly at her. Sadow climbed aboard the ship completely soaked and quickly began pushing both palms down on her her chest, then holding her nose and breathing air into her mouth. After repeating this process, she manages to start coughing up water, coming back to conciousness. Sadow worriedly asked "Are you okay?" She nodded and choked out "Yeah..." They all stood on the deck, relieved such an event was over and Pandora was alright.

King Alexander looked concerned and a little agitated by this news. He stared at Pandora for a moment and back to Akihiro "An Aspidochelone? Are you certain?" Akihiro nodded "It fit Pandora's description perfectly." He faced Pandora again "What did it look like? Could you tell?" She nodded, shaken still from so much as recalling the sight "It was tremendous, milord. It had several tentacles and a hump-looking back, with a beak-looking maw and orange, slitted eyes." Akihiro put a comforting hand on her shoulder, noticing her strain in managing the bravery to recollect the event. Alexander turned to Akihiro "How many were injured?" Akihiro grimaced "Eleven. Most all of them have been heavily shaken, however." The King sighed "This could hurt morale. Be ready to fire them up tonight, then, Commander Yatsumaru." He nodded "Very well, sir. If I may be permitted, shall I take Miss Pandora with me? She has had quite the day." The King waved a hand, giving leave to go. Three ships have already been destroyed, eleven men injured. "And we haven't even reached Kusha yet..."

Recovering
Pandora visited Sadow in his room. They were no sharing a ship. She knocked lightly and he returned "Come in." She entered and he was laying on his bed with his hands behind his head, staring at her sympathetically "Yo." She greeted back in the way Sadow had influenced her "Yo." She sat on the edge of his bed and stared at the ground "Thank you... for saving me..." He shrugged casually "Anytime. You still okay?" She nodded "Just a bit shaken but I'll recover with sleep." He nodded "Good. The horrors of war are nothing compared to what we just faced. I'm sorry, by the way..." She looked back at him with a raised brow and he clarified "...for not believing you." She smiled weakly "Don't worry about it. But next time I say it's not an island, it's not." She giggled and he smirked "Yeah..."

Pandora exited Sadow's room and was immediately greeted by Eve, who was smirking mischievously "Visiting your boyfriend?" Pandora blushed bright from this "W-What?" Eve giggled "He kissed you, you know." Pandora shook away the embarrassment "It was mouth-to-mouth resuscitation so I could breathe!" Eve shrugged "Whatever. Looked like a kiss to me~" Pandora dodged the topic "How far are we from Kusha?" Eve smirked and turned to Pandora "A day away. Get ready." Pandora's eyes widened in shock. "A day?!" Eve nodded "We've covered alot of miles these past few days. Now all that's left is to arrive." Pandora looked up at the sky. War was just a day away.

Preview
Next time on My Inferno: Factions collide as Brittannia and Kusha finally engage fac-to-face! The Crusades have begun and many intense battles will be fought day after day in this hot battleground! The day has come, and Sadow will be tested more than he has before. Find out how the first battle goes in the next chapter of My Inferno!

Inferno Short: Beyond the Sea
Commander Ordo, a Kushan military official, has been charged with leading the border armies against Brittannia. He watched the sea as the sun set and smirked, mimicking Brittannian soldiers as pathetic grunts with high-pitched, female voices "Oh no! It's the Great Commander Ordo! We're all doomed! Please, take our wives but not us!" He then swapped to a more macho voice representing his own "Foolish Brittannians! There will be no mercy for any of you! Muwahahaha-" A Kushan soldier stood at attention behind him "Commander Ordo, sir!" This made an embarrassed and shocked Ordo jump, turning quickly "What?!" The soldier announced "The trenches have been dug and the wooden stakes have been planted, sir!" Ordo nodded "Good, yes. Very good. Ummm..." He looked away and then back at the soldier nervously "Did you hear anything?" The soldier shook his head "No, sir. I did not hear you play 'Imaginary Battles' again." Ordo nodded "Good! You are dismissed." The soldier turned and left as Ordo turned to face the sea again, continuing "-hahaha..."