Ike and the others are back by the time Sazayi, and I make our way to Vyswe'eyaga on the shore… and not empty-handed.
Ewa waves at us enthusiastically. "Check this out!" She exclaims.
Azikiwe and Gamba are carrying over their heads a canoe, with Ike tailing them.
I don't know how they did it, but they managed to find one large enough to carry our whole group comfortably. But the state it is in… it's a wreck. And as they lower it to the ground, the extent of the damage becomes painfully clear. The wood is warped and splintered in places; the paint has long faded into a patchwork of sun-bleached streaks and mossy green. One of the seats has a crack running through it that looks suspiciously like it had already given way once before. And the paddles—well, let's just say they had seen better decades.
"It's not ideal," N'jobu says after a long silence.
Ewa's face twists into a glare. "You can always swim, you know?"
"It is better than nothing," I say diplomatically. "A few touch-ups here and there, and it should be good to go."
I glance at Vyswe'eyaga. She is eyeing the canoe with a pained expression on her face.
"You will be fine."
"I won't," she counters. "Do we really have to ride—this? I mean, I could… say, cast a spell on all of us, to walk on the water. I think it is a better idea."
"You can do that?" N'jobu, Sazayi, Gamba, and Azikiwe ask simultaneously.
"You complain when we walk for long," I argue. "With this, you can sit and rest for a while."
"I get headaches and nausea when I am on these things. There is nothing relaxing about that." She insists, "You remember last time; I was miserable."
I sigh. "That, water-walking-spell of yours, how long can you hold it?"
She looks away with a disgruntled face. She knows she is just arguing for the sake of it at this point, and I bet that casting her spell to walk on water, coupled with the shrouding spell, is going to cost her a lot of essence. She will quickly deplete her essence, and then we will be in trouble.
"See the bright side of things… You said you can maintain a spell longer if you draw it on solid stuff, right? Here it is. Also, seasickness gets milder with time..." I think.
Vyswe'eyaga huffs in dissatisfaction but doesn't say anything else.
"Don't worry, Vyvy, I will be by your side." Ewa hugs her, but it does not seem to comfort her in the slightest.
"Do we have anything to fix it?" Sazayi asks.
Well… No—but we will manage something, I am sure. Not that I'm a specialist in canoes or anything. It doesn't matter. Who has the drive, will find the means.
"Ugh… I… I may have something that can be of help." Vyswe'eyaga sighs softly, begrudgingly. She makes a small gesture with her hand, and a tin container appears over her palm.
"What's that?" I ask, opening the container with great interest, only to find a strange greyish paste shimmering faintly in the light inside. "An ancient alchemical compound, perhaps?"
She stares at me for a moment too long before smiling. "Why, of course. Behold! For in your hands is the fruit of countless centuries of alchemical research. This is the essence of stubborn unity, a force that defies the natural order of separation. It holds a latent sorcery, the power to transmute chaos into cohesion. Once applied on a fragmented, inanimate entity, it weaves invisible filaments between molecules, forging bonds that can never be broken again, and enhances it to a state of near indestructibility."
There is a long silence following what she just said.
I gape, speechless at her, and besides me, N'jobu and Sazayi mirror similar expressions.
Did she just—
"That's glue," she deadpans.
Another silence follows. Then Ewa bursts out laughing, wobbling to Vyswe'eyaga's side and shaking her shoulders while the later looks at me with a satisfied smirk. "Oh, my goodness, Vyvy! That was just—Sensational!!"
"Alright, I guess I asked for it." I mumble under Ewa's blaring cackles. "Then let's get to work."
"I will ward it once you are done with the mending." Vyswe'eyaga says.
It doesn't take that much time to fix up the canoe. Once we remove the ingrown moss, and apply the glue on the cracks and holes, the job is pretty much done.
Then it is time for Vyswe'eyaga to ward the canoe. From what she said she will superimpose two… matrixes?... arrays?
One to make our transport studier, while the other will be the actual shrouding spell.
She crouches in front of the canoe, the golden light of her pupils glinting pensively as she taps a finger to her cheek in quiet consideration.
"What is it?" I ask as N'jobu and Sazayi are coming over to observe.
"Nothing… I just need to remember which Art I must use to manipulate wood."
"—Ah-ha!"
Then she presses her palm unto its surface, mumbling softly under her breath. I am sure she is speaking in the Nchāren n language, but maybe because she is speaking so low and quickly, I barely understand a thing of what she is saying.
Nothing happens for a few seconds. Then a luminous pulse radiates from Vyswe'eyaga's hand, cascading across the entire vessel. It reminds me of the time she repaired those Structures, back in Dalisso's lair, the canoe ripples and undulates like it was made from a malleable material. Afterward, complex designs and symbols bloom across its hull, looking like unusual but beautiful patterns that had always been there.
"Incredible," N'jobu breaths, entranced by the process. And I must agree with him. The way Vyswe'eyaga weaves sorcery, it is really an 'Art', as she says.
"Oh, you are done already?" I ask, noticing that she has withdrawn her hand from the canoe. Near her, Sazayi and N'jobu are patting its surface and inspecting the carvings.
"I am. But it is not ready to sail yet, the glue has not dried completely."
I nod. We can use this time to eat and rest for a while.
"Vyswe'eyaga, what did you see earlier?"
The gourd she was raising halts a few centimetres to her lips, then she lowers it slowly to her lap. She sighs, staring emptily at the shore.
I feel regretful having asked it like that, but then I thought it best to be direct than to circle the subject with her. Her reaction after she used her supernatural sight was alarming, to say the least, and her emotional state after that was not the best. That is why I kept quiet since then. But now, I—we need to know exactly what she saw before we set sail farther into this place.
"Honestly, I don't know." Her gaze is still locked on to the water, pensive, then her face slowly turns into a frown. "I… There is something strange about the mist. When I looked into it, something… stared back."
She heaves a trembling sigh, "It was so, vicious—Fury I had never felt before—It wanted to hurt me, kill me. If you guys had not pulled me out, it would have surely located me."
She stays silent for a few seconds, then turns to us with a wry smile. "Sorry, it is not much."
"Nah, it's better than nothing," Ewa says, rubbing Vyswe'eyaga's shoulder. "At least we have an idea of what is lurking in there."
Yeah, we now know a murderous evil entity is probably hunting us down while we are wandering half-blindly in its territory. That's real nice.
"Maybe that is the great evil you are supposed to destroy," Sazayi wanders aloud, "We are still going north, right? Can you tell in which direction the entity you encountered was?"
Vyswe'eyaga contemplates the question. "It was everywhere."
The silence that follows is deafening.
Great! Just what we needed.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The canoe glides forward in hushed stillness, each stroke of the paddle sending subtle ripples across the water's glassy surface. Everything is quiet—eerily so. My breath hangs in the air, mingling with the cold mist, while the only sound is the soft, rhythmic clapping of water against the hull.
The shoreline has vanished, consumed by the creeping mist I watch with guarded unease, bracing for whatever horrors might emerge from its depths. It has grown so thick now that it has become impossible to see past a few meters ahead. And sun has already set, making it even more creepy. Our sole source of light being a lantern that had been lit at the front of the canoe.
"…Urgh… Mmm, uhh… Ugh…"
Looking over my shoulder, I watch with a pang of remorse as Vyswe'eyaga stirs, groaning softly. She clutches her belly, curled over in Ewa's lap while the latter gently strokes her hair.
I glance back at the compass in my right hand, its needle is rotating about in an endless spiral. It's completely useless in this place. While in my left hand, Vyswe'eyaga's compass is not pointing straight north anymore, it's needle is now directing north-east of our position.
"Azikiwe, slightly to the left please," I instruct when noticing we are sailing off course. He nods, and he and Gamba coordinate to correct our direction.
"Alright," I say under my breath, scanning the mist around us.
"You are on edge."
I jolt, then scowl at Sazayi. "What the hell?"
"See? You're proving my point," he says.
I sigh in attempt to calm myself. "What do you want?" I say while trying to keep the irritation from my voice.
"Stop being so twitchy, is what I mean to say."
I scoff. "You are worried about me now?"
"No, but watching you act like that makes me on edge too. I am already anxious as is," he says, glancing at Vyswe'eyaga. "Don't make me question all my choices to this point."
I look at him for a second. "You did not have to here with us, you know?"
"I'm not trying to lecture you," I add quickly.
"I know. Yet here I am. But… I don't regret it, not too much. After all, I get to see a place as fascinating this. I'm starting to get the appeal of exploration."
I arch an eyebrow at him. Here we are, navigating a lethal landscape teeming with countless unseen horrors, and hemmed in on all sides by a sentient mist that wants us dead—And he describes it as fascinating?
But sure, exploring unknown places is the most thrilling of experiences.
Our quiet sailing is soon disturbed by a concerning sound. A low, guttural moan rise from the depths, deep and haunting. Waves ripple outward, shattering the stillness and sending faint tremors through the canoe. Then the sound swells into a long, mournful wail.
A loud thud echoes, and we all instinctively grip the sides of the canoe as it begins to jostle violently, lurching from side to side. Vyswe'eyaga yelps, then the sound turns into a retch. I fear she is about to give away our position when Ewa, bless her soul, covers her mouth.
Something had just collided with the hull of the canoe, it came from below, and it was big.
Many long minutes go by in silence, even as what made hit us is long gone—we stay unmoving in stiff silence.
"Is… Is everyone alright?" I whisper, looking mainly at Vyswe'eyaga. She nods, followed by quiet grunts of acknowledgement.
"That was a close call," N'jobu says. "We were lucky."
"It's not luck," I reply.
It's the ward Vyswe'eyaga had placed. I can't see it, but I can feel the energy it emits, a soft pulse so light it can barely be sensed. I can feel that raw energy tickling my skin.
"Thank you," I tell her. She manages a tight smile and nods.
"How many more monsters similar to that do you think there are?" Sazayi asks, staring at the water.
"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to," Gamba says. "The wards work, that's all that matters."
He turns to Vyswe'eyaga, "You can keep going, can't you?"
She nods. "I will let you know when I tire."
"I had rather we don't wait for that. We must find land… and quickly." N'jobu says.
He is right. Wards or no, I don't like the idea of Junjus being so close when I don't have a solid footing.