Seeds of Chaos: Chapter 45 (Dark Sea)

 Chapter 45

In the farthest (eastern) ends of the Wallachia continent there was a mysterious ocean known as the Dark Sea, named as such due to the endless fog and deep waters that seemed to endlessly covered the aforementioned ocean in perpetual darkness.

No matter the time of the year, or the season; the Dark Sea remained covered with fog and mist that stretches out endlessly.  For those who dared venture the infamous ocean though, it has other name, which in many ways, a more fitting name: The Sea of Death.

The Dark Sea or the Sea of Death, or whatever explorers want to call it was a place of danger. But it was also a place of opportunities. Most of those who dared to explore the sea’s deadly water never returned but those who did found treasures that would make almost anyone go mad with envy and greed.

But more importantly, the Dark Sea was a place where lost knowledge could be found.

Yes. It was believed that before the Dark Sea became an ocean, it was a continent. But not just any continent – it’s a mega continent that was home to a highly advance civilization. Legend has it that before the ocean swallowed the continent due to a catastrophic tectonic shift, the civilization that was believed to be a lot older than the civilization that created the titans existed.

How old? An entire eon old.

No one really knows the name of the continent. Unsurprising really as the continent was long, long, long gone (swallowed by the ocean) before the current civilization even existed. So as to differentiate the lost civilization from other lost civilizations that came after it, historians, and scholars named the lost continent Nu.

What does Nu means, you ask? In the ancient Arcane language (where the common language originated), Nu mean beginning.

Beginning… A somewhat fitting name as most historians and scholars believed that the lost continent of Nu was the birth place of the world’s very first civilization.

Now, the reason people knew that the Dark Sea was a former continent was due to the fact that about 300 years ago, the ocean water in the Dark Sea decreases greatly to the point that some of the continent’s highest peaks had re-appeared. And in some of those peaks, were buildings, or to be more precise, preserved ruins.

Normally, there’s no way that any infrastructure would have survived being submerged underwater for a very long time. Especially a civilization that existed even before the civilization that created the titans. But for some unexplained reason, the infrastructure built by the lost civilization of Nu, managed to miraculously defied the law of nature which in many people’s mind, a testament to the greatness of the lost civilization.

Yes, the waters of the Dark Sea decreased; not lost but simply decreases. Basically, the ocean moved again after countless years of being stagnant. As there’s no artifact or device that could accurately measure how much of the waters the Dark Sea had flowed out, the explorers and scholars could only speculate on the numbers.

Still, for countless mountain peaks to re-appear again; it could only mean that the Dark Sea had become much shallower. That said; the Dark Sea was still a very dangerous place even though it was much shallower than before. Moreover, the fog and mist that perpetually covered the whole ocean was still there.

What’s more as mountain peaks had re-appeared, navigating the Dark sea using normal ocean vessels had become a lot trickier as one might just found themselves hitting a mountain peak that they could not see due to the fog and mist. In a way, the Dark Sea might have actually become more dangerous.

That said, for many people, the danger in the Dark Sea was a danger worth taking. After all, if one succeeded in finding an unexplored ruin filled with treasure and even lost knowledge of a great and ancient civilization, one could earn riches that would last one for many generations to come.

It was for this reason that countless adventurers, explorers, and treasure-seekers sail to the Dark Sea in hope of finding riches that would justify the risk they’re taking. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, many of those who’ve chosen to venture the infamous ocean never returned.

That’s because no matter how prepared one was, it’s impossible to predict what kind of danger one might encounter during the voyage to the infamous ocean. After all, there was a reason why the ocean was also called the Sea of Death.

****

Rennel quietly listened to Lucata as she narrates the history of the Dark Sea. As it was the first time that the three girls ventured into that place of danger and opportunity, it’s only proper that they learn as much as they could in order to increase their chance of surviving in the mysterious ocean.

“That is all,” Lucata finally said after speaking sometime. “The Dark Sea is incredibly large and yet the knowledge we have on the aforementioned ocean is very limited, so I apologize if you find my explanation lacking,” she added.

“Please don’t worry too much about it, Lucata. Your explanation is very helpful,” Miranda replied with a smile on her face. “At the very least we now know that we must always be on our toes inside the Dark Sea.”

Pina and Rennel nodded their heads in agreement. Although Lucata’s explanation was severely lacking due to the lack of information, it was still very helpful in shedding some lights on the scope of danger one could expect on the ocean nicknamed the Sea of Death.

Still, I didn’t expect that your country’s prince actually dare to go to such a dangerous region. How should I say it… he got guts?” Pina commented.

“Aye. He’s a handful, that child. If not for the fact that he’s the prince and heir to the throne, we would have left him alone to his own device,” Lucata lamented after hearing what Pina had said. “Seriously… Once we find him, I’ll make sure to give him a scolding in place of the king and queen!”

The gnome envoy Lucata was fuming. If not for the prince’ selfish action, they wouldn’t have to put themselves in danger like this. Not to mention that they even troubled the benevolent sorceress. She might not be doing it for free but the fact that it was a very dangerous task even of someone of the sorceress’ level wouldn’t change.

Seeing Lucata acting like that, the three girls could only look at each other with a wry smile on their faces. Usually no official would dare threaten a member of the royal family like what she was doing even if the person in question was not around. But Lucata was able to do it with ease. Moreover, none of the other gnomes listening to the conversation said anything about it. It was as if Lucata's scolding the wayward gnome prince was a daily occurrence for them.

“Miss Lucata, is it really okay to say something like that to a member of the royal family?” Miranda asked feeling a little concern.

“Huh? Oh that? No worries… it’s a common thing amongst gnomes. Even a commoner could criticize a member of the royal family openly without repercussions.” The female gnome envoy replied with a confident smile on her face.

“I’m aware that human society acts differently and that criticizing a member of the royal family openly could land one in trouble but gnome society is different. We could criticize the officials all we want as long as we have valid reasons to do so.”

“Wow!”

The girls were surprised at how the gnome society works. As the envoy said, in human society, criticizing the members of the royal family openly or in public could land one in a heap of trouble – one might even be thrown to jail. Surprisingly, the members of the gnomes’ royal family were more open-minded and forgiving.

“You three could also scold the damn brat once we’ve found him and no one will say anything about it. Actually, the king and queen even suggested we rough him up until he’s half-dead as long as we don’t leave injuries that couldn’t be healed or with long-lasting effects!”

Miranda, Pina, and Rennel let out cold sweats after hearing that they were even allowed to physically abuse or cause pain to the prince. Forget being jailed, in human society, such action would lead them to the gallows!

“Let’s, let’s not be too violent shall we? We should just find the prince for now before thinking of anything else,” Miranda wiped the cold sweat in her forehead as she tries to convince the envoy not to use violence on the poor prince. Although she had no problem criticizing the prince, hurting him seem a bit too much even for her.

“Indeed. Violence is not good, isn’t that right, Rennel?” Pina nodded before turning towards her best friend for her opinion.

“Hmm? I guess so?” Honestly, Rennel has no problem beating a member of the royal family if needed. She might have acted surprised when she heard Lucata’s words but that’s because the Miranda and Pina reacted that way, and doesn’t want to feel left out…

After all she already did something similar back in Blizzard city when he kicked a member of the nobility in the groin. Sure, she might have escaped the repercussion due to some external influence but the fact that she’s willingly to use violence against anyone that annoyed her won’t change.

Of course the main reason she could do all of that was because she has the power to protect herself from harm. Even if that count with a family name that sounded like a confectionary decided to take revenge, she would still be able to trounce him many times over. Certainly she might have to leave Blizzard city because of that but it’s not like but she doesn’t mind. After all it’s not as if she had deep connection to the city in the first place.

****

“What do you think of the gnomes, my lord?” The sorceress asked Chaos through telepathy after listening to the whole conversation in amusement.

“They’re not bad. At the very least they’re very straightforward and open. I always appreciate people like that,” Chaos answered while floating in the air in a relaxed manner. “It might not be a bad a idea to give their race a blessing. That gnome prince seemed to be a very good candidate,” he added.

“…A blessing from lord Chaos? How enviable…” Sorceress Cassandra replied with envy.

Chaos gave the sorceress the side-eye before speaking (telepathically), “You have interest in my blessing as well?”

Sorceress Cassandra smiled somewhat awkwardly at Chaos’ question. “That was actually my inner thoughts but in my daze I forgot that we were telepathically connected and blurted it out just like that” she explained with embarrassment.  

“That said, I would be lying if I say that I’m not interested. After all… a blessing from a being of lord Chaos’ caliber would surely not be ordinary. Such a blessing might even allow me to reach the level of an arch-mage.”

“An arch-mage? You think my blessing is that simple? I’ll let you know. Those who received a blessing from me would have limitless future,” Chaos looked at the sorceress with disdain for her limited views. “In my opinion, being an arch-mage wasn’t even a starting point. One should at least be able to surpassed the limit of this world to be considered powerful – at the very minimum, one should be able to travel the cosmos freely.”

“Traveling the cosmos freely using one’s own power? Is that even possible for mortals like me?” Sorceress Cassandra asked in daze.

Hmph!

Chaos let out a snort of disdain after hearing the sorceress’ words. As expected, the viewpoints of the people in an underdeveloped world were very limited.

“That’s the reason you’re a lot weaker than the girl despite the fact that she’s not even a quarter of your age. Unlike you her imagination and viewpoints go beyond the stars.” he started. “Only those whose way of thinking that surpasses the limit of this world have the right to receive my blessing. Unfortunately, the current you right now don’t deserve it,” Chaos stated without holding back.

“… I understand. I’ll try to change myself so that I would be deserving of your blessing. That said, I don’t know where to begin.” Sorceress Cassandra replied with a helpless smile on her face.

“That’s the whole point of it all. If I just tell you how to do it, where would be the fun in that?”

While everyone was having their conversations, the airship was travelling in the Dark Sea while treading carefully. Unlike the carefree behavior of its passengers; the captain and his crews all have solemn expressions on their faces. And who could blame them? The Dark Sea is known for its uncountable danger, and one mistake could spell everyone’s doom.

“Captain, we’re entering the region where the signal from the prince was last spotted,” a gnome navigator reported.

The captain, a bearded and wizened old gnome, smoking a pipe, nodded his head. “Tell Lady Lucata and the Sorceress Cassandra that we’re entering the region where the prince and his crews was last spotted,” he ordered after turning towards one of his crews.

“Aye, captain!” The crew, an energetic gnome saluted before bolting out of the flight deck.

The crew quickly navigated the halls of the airship before stopping at a door. He straightened his body before knocking at the door.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Forgive me for the interruptions my lady envoy but I have something to report,” the crew announced outside the door.

“Is that so? Please come in, the door is open,” came a reply from the other side of the door.

“Please excuse me,” the crew said before opening the door.

The crew was especially careful in his words and action because he didn’t want to leave a bad impression to the sorceress and her students (+ two guests) who came to their aid. Although the gnomes were more open-minded than humans, they do know propriety.

“My lady envoy, we have entered the region were the prince was last spotted,” he reported.

Everyone in the room momentarily freezes after hearing the crew’s report. Lucata, who recovered rather quickly, stood up and spoke to the crew, “lead the way,” she ordered.

“Yes ma’am!”

Hearing Lucata’s words, Rennel and the others also stood up, and followed the airship crew to the flight deck.

****

To be continued

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