"Set Sail!"
Cornelius' shout, accompanied by his men's equally loud responses stung Aegir's ears. Along the buzz that came with a stimulated eardrum, came the sounds of the sail's fabrics being let down and the anchors, up, making his ears sting even more.
"Remind me why we can't just swim across the oceans to Chhaya?" Aegir rubbed his earlobes, hoping to relieve some of it's unpleasant tingling. He meaningfully looked up at the sails that are finally let down, revealing white skull on black fabrics.
"You want to worsen your Mana Infection?" Miyu threw a dirty look at Aegir's exposed arms, or more accurately, the swirls of black running along the otherwise pale limb of the other–a clear sign of mana taint.
Miyu sighed, whispering in the air, regretting.
"..If only you headed my advices about that ungrateful brat.."
"What was that? " Aegir shot him the look, sensitive ears still in vague pain. Miyu's first words were inaudible to him, and the last, were barely legible. "Were you just calling me an ungrateful brat?"
"No, you old fart!" Miyu was angry enough to go bald–ugh, he was already bald.
"Now you're calling me old. Just pick one, baldy."
"I didn't call you any of them! stubborn fool!"
"Now I'm a fool?"
" a stubborn. fool. you forgot the first word. "
"hmph."
"hmph."
Aegir turned his back from Miyu, and gazed at the sea, at its movements as it voyages across the waters for the first time. His eyes didn't meet with Miyu's for a while.
"Avast Ye! There's a ship at 2 o'clock." Tobi, who was the errand boy and lookout, shouted from the crow's nest.
Aegir turned to look at the direction of the mentioned ship, his sharp eyes catching sight of the it's massive shadowy carcasses. After this, his interest faded from the sea vessel that was now seemingly changing directions away from them.
Bored, the Siren looked at the Ocean instead, noticing the slight blackening of the waters. He ignored it, for it was just a natural phenomena specially seen in Galia.
Direct Sunlight contact with his skin made him feel weird, it was warm, unlike himself. The feeling of if it spreading through his body made him feel more alive than ever, dissimilar to the freezing cold of his home.
However, In reality, what warmth that was present in the Azazelean Sunlight was near null, minimal. The clouds still gated the skies, and the atmosphere was still gray and with a touch of freezing air.
Unlike what the other crewmembers were wearing–which was, layers upon layers of warming clothers–Aegir and Miyu wore only the thinnest of tunics, causing them to stick out like a sore thumb.
Finnius, A kindhearted new member of Cornelius' crew saw their situation and decided to help their new 'poor' travelling companions.
"Hello, I'm Finnius."
"U-um. Would it be possible that you do not have any warming clothes on your person? If so I can lend you some." Finnius really could not handle seeing them 'freezing to death'. He fiddled with his fingers nervously.
Aegir turned to looked at him, surprised at the young man. Different from the rest of Cornelius' Crew, his words flows like a noble's, refined and gentle toned. His appearance too, was not so rough, in fact, it could be described as baby faced.
Aegur laughingly said, "Ah who needs warming clothes when you have a whole mini sun to yourself.", He pointed at Miyu's empty scalp with mirth in his eyes.
Finnius stared at the bald and shining head of the yellow buff man. He really does look like a mini sun with how shiny it is, not to mention his skin that was the color of the star.
"Aye, Sir, you are like the sun itself, indeed. "
Aegir patted Finnius, the feeling of schadenfreude invigorating him. "You are a good kid. "
"..." Miyu looked at the duo, speechless. He had a bad feeling that this trip wouldn't be so good for him with these two...
"Don't give that look to a kid, Miyu. You might scare him."
"10 out of 10 would be terrified if he smiles instead." Finnius warmly offered a grin.
Aegir slapped his thigh in laughter whilst Miyu's bad intuition about his current situation continued to increase. He sneaked a peak to Finnius' cute grin.
"heh. This great one is named Ae, and that cranky baldy over there is my lackey, Miyu." Aegir put an arm over Finnius' shoulders, pointing at himself and then at Miyu.
"Lackey, your mom!"
"I don't have a mom."
"oh..right."
Amused by the two's back and forth, The edge of Finnius' lips raised. Ae and Miyu seems like good friends.
Miyu discreetly glanced at the smile on the bookish young man's face, it seems to light up the surroundings around his slender form. Stunned, he didn't even realize his own mouth forming a happy arc of itself.
"So Finnius..what made you join that lewd basta—" Miyu coughed, " Cornelius guy's crew? You don't seem like the kind of person to go pirating, no offense."
Aegir looked at the kraken, confusedly gazing at the other's genuine curiousity, which is considered very rare, since usually, Miyu could care less.
"I'm not very comfortable talking about it, sir." Miyu said, smiling sheepishly. He scatched his head.
"Aw. It's ok. We all have secrets, don't we?" He said, but Aegir still noticed the kraken's shoulders slightly slumping down. He doubt that the bald idiot even knew of his own subconscious little action.
Suddenly, realization came to Aegir, and with a knowing gaze, he switched between looking at Miyu to Finnius, very silent.
However, An obnoxious voice spoke, breaking the illusion of peace.
"Have you guys been talking about me behind my back?"
Cornelius put on a 'loving' smile, with eyes hidden beneath the eyelids, caused by the overly dramatic arc of his eyes and cheeks.
"Damn, Captain's smile is scarier than Miyu's" Finnius said, to which the kraken foolishly grinned at.
Cornelius didn't reply but instead, sneakily went to Aegir's side, slapping away the Siren's hands that were still unknowingly on Finnius' shoulders and then took the opportunity to put his own paw at Aegir's person.
"Normally, little Rose looks very beautiful, but I think that little Rose is the most beautiful in my arms."
Aegir snorted. "..." Why don't you just become a con man at this point.
"If you become scared later, my cabin is always opened~" Yet the scarred man still continued to annoy Aegir.
Aegir grabbed the pig's trotter at his waist, noticing that it was grabbing a little too low. "What are you touching?"
"I'm just thirsty la~"
"...If you're that thirsty I can just throw you to the sea."
" Just kidding, Just kidding, Mi amo–" Cornelius' voice suddenly halted, like a stone transmitter paused midway.
"What now?" Aegir asked, feeling strange. Yet oddly, he cannot hear his own voice as well.
Body like a statue, yet mind's alert. Both of them consciously surveyed the unusually quiet ship.
A thin mist veiled their surrounding, blinding a little of their sight but their ears seemed to have gone strangely half deaf, they cannot hear their companions but they can still hear the distant sound of birds croaking.
"Miyu?" The siren sent a distressed call, yet no one heard nor responded. The only thing that he sensed was the touch of Cornelius' hands on his own, and the man's blurred sillhouette.
He didn't known when, but his bestfriend was no longer by his side, and so was Finnius and all the other crewmembers.
"Fuck."
Aegir can't help but curse when he saw the very same ship from earlier. But this time, it was much, much closer to them, so close that it was weird how they didn't notice it approaching, and besides, teleporting such a huge mass requires a ridiculous amount of mana.
So this leaves a question: What the fuck was happening?
The front of the massive vessel casted a wide shadow over half of the Solaris' ship, the low and loud creaks of decaying woods being moved was the only sound being percieved by Aegir and Cornelius, not even the waves of the sea was heard by the two.
The behemoth of a ship was ancient, he was sure, for it smelled of decaying Anastacia wood, a rancid sour odor. The woods are very sturdy, and lasts for hundreds of years. For them to decompose, it would need to be over tens of millenias old.
There was an eerie, almost ghostly aura on it.
Tensely, Aegir and Cornelius watched as the ship stayed put, neither moving forward nor retreating. Its 'passengers' also seems to not have any plans on getting out.
Aegir's ears moved a little, picking up a string of humms amongst the sound of Air breezing past them, carrying a thick fog of mist with it.
Mistakenly thinking it was just some birds, Aegir's ears picked up as the humms continued, turning louder and louder–until it became unearthly groans and wails.