Astrolia, the Kingdom of Riches
The boat is spacious and magnificent, made from iron and steel, unlike anything ever seen. Astrolia guards stand along the sides of the ship, dressed in black and royal blue suits, all in a formal position, awaiting orders. Adam and I watched with awestruck eyes. Astrolia technology was extremely advanced, compared to Cornelia's wooden ships.
"Ah. Welcome, Citizens of Cornelia!" A man with short platinum hair stood with a wide grin, with astonishingly blue eyes, dressed in black leather pants, black leather heeled boots, with a loose-sleeved white shirt. Gold rings and necklaces adored his form as he stepped onto the Cornelia ship with a smile. Everyone bows at the Prince of Astrolia.
"I am Prince Cosmo. Next in line to the throne, a pleasure to meet you all." He radiates an amiable air, even beneath the blistering sun and air. He stands like the definition of pure perfection, not a single hair out of place.
"Lord Ventura--"
"And Lord Rhodon. King Henry's 2nd and 3rd closet friends and advisors. A pleasure to meet you, Prince Cosmo." Lord Ventura and Rhodon bow to the prince. The prince notes their appearances before motioning behind the two Lords.
"I'm assuming these are your personal servants."
Lord Ventura chuckles under his breath, shaking his head in a subtle 'yes' manner, motioning me to his side, which I quickly do with a bow. "I am 12. A pleasure to meet you... sir?" Unsure if I should refer to him as 'My Prince' or 'Majesty', I settle on the title of 'sir', which earned an unnoticeable scowl from Lord Ventura, who was feeling a lot better than earlier that day.
The prince laughs. It's like music and my heart, for a moment, skips a beat as he takes my hand and places a soft kiss on my knuckles. "A pleasure 12. And no need for such formalities. Cosmo works just fine." Lord Ventura blinks in surprise. Adam looks taken aback, and Rhodon merely grins.
Cosmo pulls away from me with a subtle wink, which makes my face go hot. I find myself looking away as Adam introduces himself. "Knight Adam Gillen! A pleasure to meet you, Prince Cosmo!" The prince nods with a grin, enjoying Adam's enthusiasm.
"I see. Will it be just you four?"
Lord Ventura nods, having moved closer to me. "I'm afraid so. King Henry apologizes. His son could not accompany us." Lord Rhodon spoke apologetically and Cosmo waves his hands in a friendly gesture.
"No, no. Life prevails as always, no need for concern. But let us board and show you to your bedrooms." Cosmo turns on his heel, snapping his fingers. Four servants appeared out of thin air, grabbing our bags and carrying them as we followed the prince onto the ship.
We followed him inside the steel ship; the floors covered in patterned black and white carpet and lights, electric lights, something that was extremely rare within Cornelia, lined the white painted wood walls. "Due to this being a smaller ship, I am afraid you will have to sleep with your personal servants. Is that alright?"
The prince personally shows us our rooms and where everything else was located. I open my mouth to object. But Lord Rhodon and Lord Ventura were already announcing that it was fine, and they were merely guests. Forcing me to close my lips with a grim expression.
"Here is your room, Lord Ventura and Lady 12."
Unfamiliar with the formalities, Cosmo opened the wood door to a large bedroom, allowing all of us to walk inside. The room had a seaside view of the outdoors with a large balcony, with two freshly made beds. On Queen sized the other a small twin-sized bed, with white silk sheets and navy-blue blankets and pillows.
Our bags were already in the room and Cosmo excuses himself to show Lord Rhodon and Adam to their bedroom. The door to our room closes with a click, leaving me and Lord Ventura in a confined space.
"I'm going to go explore..."
My voice is a mutter and Lord Ventura seems to completely ignore me, moving towards the balcony, completely enamored with the advanced technology. I leave the room silently, choosing to walk down the hall, moving deeper into the large ship. The sounds of my feet are swallowed, keeping track of the doors I pasted and found, before coming across a large open space. Like a dancing hall, but small and more secluded.
The floor is made of beautiful marble, with white painted walls, with several portraits of people with white hair and blue eyes, all members of the main family. A large chandelier that produced a yellowish light hung from the ceiling, it's also electric.
"12. Why hello?" Cosmo's voice makes me spin around, a kind smile on his lips. I bow quickly, matching his smile. He waves the bow off with a friendly grin. "No need. I personally do not like bowing, so you need not do it when we are alone."
"I see..."
"I must say. 12 is a unique name." Cosmo moves closer, staring with curious eyes. "Is it a family name?" I shake my head, watching him closely. He had a childlike face, with rounded cheeks and round eyes, but when he turned his head, he had a jawline and seemed older.
"A name that was given to me."
"Given." He raises a brow, carefully grabbing my hand and pulling me toward him, his other hand settling on my waist, a soft hum leaving his lips as he danced. I lean into his touch and I find myself playing along as if I've known the prince for years. "Is it Cornelia tradition?"
"Tradition... Not really. But my circumstances are not the same as others."
"I see. Well, the name suits you. It's odd, but you." He continues to dance. The way he moves and leads me along is similar to the dance styles of Cornelia but different at the same time.
"Do you practice?" I ask as I look up at him. He chuckles and hums again, his eyes fluttering close. "Cornelia dances are quite beautiful. I've always enjoyed dancing. And dancing to that of new cultures." He opens his eyes and stares at me with a soft grin.
"This ballroom was made for my own benefit. For dancing away without prying eyes."
"Forgive me for intruding them." His grip on my waist and hand tightens as he shakes his head. "Not at all. It is nice to be in the company of others. To dance." He delicately spins me and holds me like a fragile jewel, pulling me back into his embrace.
"Do you flatter all women like this?"
He seems surprised for a moment and shakes his head. "It's not often I am allowed to be myself. The Kingdom women view me as a perfect suitor, but no, I am not a womanizer. Most women see me as King, but as nothing else." He seems to frown and I find myself feeling pity for the future king.
"...If it means anything...I think you are wonderful."
I watch his pale face erupt in red, an awkward cough leaving his lips as he pulled away with a grin. "I..thank you..." He leaves silently and I find myself by myself. Unlike the wooden, outdated ship of Cornelia, you couldn't feel the waves, nor the ocean. The boat didn't rock or sway. As if I stood on open land. It made me excited. Cornelia was introduced to the product of machines, one that didn't need physical labor and worked on its own.
I found myself excited to stand on Astrolia soil.
The Monstrous Calm Belt
A place in which no normal boat can sail. Where monsters the size of kingdoms live within the deepest trenches of the calm belt. No one knows how the calm belt truly came to be, some say, from the different water temperatures, and the creatures would be unable to survive in the ordinary ocean water.
Others say it's a curse.
Long Ago, the God of the Sea had an army of Soldiers, the size of titans that fought by his side as he battled the other gods for power. But after the centuries-long war, the titans still wanted war, and so they turned against the God of the Sea. The God, outraged, turned his soldiers into hideous sea creatures and forced them into the unsurvivable ocean belt. Which was later named the Calm Belt, since it existed to keep the world safe.
The Belt that keeps peace.
From above you can tell the difference, from the Calm Belt to the ordinary ocean. From a deep shimmering blue to a nocturnal blue, a slight but noticeable difference.
"Amazing!" Adam basically hung against the metal railing, watching with interested eyes, even several feet above the ocean, as he watched the boat cross into the Calm Belt. The boat floor vibrates suddenly, our grip on the railing tightening.
"That's gotta be a sea creature's roar!?"
If Adam got the chance to fling himself into the ocean without causing harm to himself, he would do it in a heartbeat. By simply looking at him, I could tell his mind was running with story ideas. The sun had just set below the horizon, leaving behind its colorful hue. With the summer sun gone and the heat less intense, crewmen moved around the ship, preparing for the darkness of night.
"I'm amazed we reached the Calm Belt so soon," I mutter out, pulling away.
"They have engines and no use for sails. In the water, they have propellers and it turns the water and pushes the ship." Adam does hand demonstrations, and I watched him with full curiosity. Both of us had decided to explore the ship. Adam somehow got lost and stumbled across the crewmen that operated the ship machines, who were called engineers.
"How many?"
"I don't know. Like two big ones. Plus, with, like, jet engines, like, force out water. Like--" Adam is cut off by two men, both dressed in a jumpsuit, covered in oil and grease. They both smiled and the taller one, with greasy blonde hair and dark brown eyes, jabbed his thumb behind him with a grin.
"We can show ya'?"
Without giving a second thought, we nodded eagerly. The two engineers lead us down below the ship, which seemed barren compared to the halls above deck. You could see exposed pipes and feel the heat from where the engine was.
"Imma John. This here Tim, but he doesn't talk." The taller man named John spoke up as he led us down to an office room of sorts. Tim waved with a closed-lip smile, before excusing himself as someone shouted his name.
He opens the door with ease and leads into the room, small and messy, with papers and tools scattered everywhere. "This is my office. Tim's is down that hall." John waved someplace behind us as he searched his several papers.
"Did you help build this ship?"
Adam watched him with sincere curiosity, my eyes darted around the room, the walls covered in drawings of ships, pictures of John and other people that helped with the building of the ship I assumed, a picture of two young boys that looked almost identical to the engineer, with kidlike drawings on that wall.
"Those my two sons. Johnathan and Jonah. Both brilliant boys." John pulled out a large sheet of paper, clearing off his desk and pressing the large sheet out. It was a blueprint of the large ship. "I ain't make the ship, but how it moves, me, Tim, and some others don' did it together." He points to where the engine room is located and trails his finger down to the two large propellers.
"They large fan blades that cut through the water, and mimic the sound of one of the largest sea demons in the Calm Belt. As to scare off predators. This ship big, but it ain't that big." John laughs at the last part as he spreads his arms out.
The man is nice and kind, a family man, willing to teach if you're willing to listen and willing to listen if what you had to say was interesting. John found Adam interesting. Even though Adam himself was absolutely information less about the world of technology, he still asked questions and learned and, in turn, told the old engineer about his stories and pirate tales.
"Captain Maverick. Hmm, my great great great granddad used to be a pirate. My pops used to tell me stories. They say the ship Maverick had later sunk. Some say it was a cause of some ocean siren that climbed abroad and drowned each one of the sailors, but my granddad, who lost his hearing years before." John spoke as he fiddled with the handheld engine piece, putting it together one step at a time.
"Imagine knowing Captain Maverick. That would be a dream." Adam sighs dreamily and I shake my head with a faint chuckle, having made myself a seat in a corner of the room, fiddling with a puzzle piece gadget.
"Why ya like pirates? They ain't bad or nothin, but you a knight."
"I just love stories. To have your memory and story go down in history. That's what I want for myself, and pirates have such stories that keep them alive." He speaks enthusiastically and John roars with laughter, patting his shoulder with an enormous grin. So, after the meeting with John, dinner was announced as ready and was sent back above deck. As we walk, Adam hums to himself with pure delight. It reminds me of when we were kids.
He had always been the energetic type, always overachieving and out-performing, with a grin or smile.
It's always a rare sight to see the boy sad or mad. "You're zoning out." Blinking and looking up at Adam, he stared at me with a knowing smile. I shake my head with a newfound grin.
"I got a sense of déjà vu. That's all."
"... Déjà vu...." He utters the words himself, jubilant, before grabbing, throwing his arms up in a stretch. I watch him smile and ramble on about something, yet I don't focus on his words. Adam always lived in the moment and lived for the idea of making a glorious name for himself. A part of me wonders if he acts the way he does because he lives in fear of being forgotten, and having no one to remember him.