In a field of white, Ling was covered from head to toe with thick clothes. Even Maga was not immune to the cold as it shivered whenever the wind blew. It only had its wings to wrap around its body.
At this time, the two stood still with their feet almost burried under the snow despite the rumbling noise getting louder and louder. In the distance, there was a high mountain peak where a huge cluster of snow was rolling down towards the two figures.
Two pairs of eyes—one green and one red—were trained on that cluster of snow, unperturbed about this incoming disaster. For a while now, there no 'mist' shield surrounding their bodies, and when one looked closely, there wasn't even a sliver of it exuding out. That was some control over one's 'mist' and emotions.
Even though it was an unusual expression on these usually cheerful faces, they had managed to maintain it for a long time now. Their arms and wings were crossed as they waited in the flat ground high up in the mountain with a cliff behind them.
The rumbling sound continued, and soon, the avalanche was only a meter away from them. However, the two still remained unmoving. Not a second longer, the two disappeared under the huge bundle of white still rolling down.
Boom!
The cluster of snow fell off the cliff and before half an hour had even passed, the mountain area was back to its quiet again, like there had never been a disaster pass by it.
"Phew~" An exhale of breath broke out of the still atmosphere. On the white expanse, there stood two figures—a boy covered with thick clothes together with a dragon, its body still wrapped with its wings—still unperturbed by the disaster that passed by.
"We managed to last for six hours this time. That's one hour longer compared to yesterday." Ling said as he looked at the band on his left hand.
It was a mechanical watch bought from a trademan's store in Kanan Island. It came from a city in Gitna and not available yet on undeveloped islands. Before they left, Mayari told them to keep something like this for their practice under the illusions of the 'mists'.
A roar sounded in the white field again, but this time, it came from the two figures.
Maga put down its wings to stare at the place making the sound as Ling laughed. "That six hours was too long. Maybe they were serving dinner now."
Another cold wind blew, ruffling the boy's slightly long hair. It had already reached his shoulders but he never thought of cutting it off. He just tied half of it up to keep it off his face like now.
The two moved to a group of fist-sized rocks. There were around a dozen of it placed a meter behind the two. Surprisingly, it was also not affected by that avalanche.
When Ling and Maga picked these up and put in an animal skin bag, the white environment slowly changed, becoming the brown color of wood. The wind suddenly disappeared and its sound stopped to be replashed by shouts of several people and the sound of strong waves. The view of the snowy mountain then disappeared and the two were back in their rooms in the ship.
This ship was the one going to the Limaw Sea. Since these two were still not on good terms with the crew because of what happened onboard the last time, they were usually in their room, practicing under the 'haze' made by the stones they had collected in the deserts.
To not influence the whole ship with the illussions, Ling and Maga put up a barrier around the room. Something Tala had taught them.
"Let's go up now." Ling smiled at Maga and he got another roar from the dragon's stomach as a reply.
When the Ling opened the door, they finally heard what the shouts were saying above deck. Hence, they ran up hastily.
"Hey! Row harder! Others, go down and help."
"Yes, sir!"
"What's the use of you being hired here to work here if you don't move?!"
"Sir, the ship won't move faster!"
"Don't give me that! We have to make it move faster, SO ROW HARDER! AND DON'T LET THE BARRIER COLLAPSE, YOU IMBECILES!"
There was another slam hitting the side of the ship when Ling and Maga arrived above deck. They saw the big tentacle move up after that hit but was about to go down again once more.
"You! If you don't want to get hurt, move away!" A ship crew bumped against Ling. After shouting, the crew moved to go below to help rowing but was stopped when Ling grabbed his arm.
"What's happening?" Ling raised his voice to be heard.
The crew was about to ignore him, but the look on the boy's eyes—and the dragon, of course—made him hesitate a little. These guys had changed so much from the last time they had seen them, was his thought as he answered. "There's a sea monster in front of us. Captain thought that this entrance to the Limaw Sea was safe but another creature was below us, luring that big monster in front and stopping us from moving." The crew clicked his tongue. "It looked like the creature below wanted to enter that sea too and were using us as bait."
"Then, we just have to stop the monster below?"
"As if it's that easy." Another click of his tongue before the crew pulled his arm free and went downstairs. He didn't want to be shouted at again by their drunk captain. The one paying him was the captain anyway so he had no obligation to entertain the kid to his wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, above deck, the captain kept shouting with Kana following alongside his father and going hoarse from shouting too. They both ignored the boy and the dragon, leaving this passengers to themselves. Once they managed to run away from these pests, they would enter the Limaw Sea through another route and search for its treasures. The white fog finally revealing the huge monster was a good motivation to continue moving forward.
"Get ready!"
On a thirty-meter tall rock protruding in the sea, a huge octopus was stuck, raising its tentacle again to hit this ship.
Splash!
The other sound was drowned out by the tentacle hitting the 'mist' barrier and the ongoing shouts above deck.