Morn stopped momentarily, inhaling another small dose of Antil to knock himself out so that he could check the dream map. He was getting closer, only several hours from reaching Fairjott. Morn continued on, preparing himself to enter the deadly sea. As the sun rose on the horizon, Morn felt his excitement and nervousness growing in equal parts. He just hoped his dream was real, that the tree of hands would truly be there.
After some time, Morn noticed the water turning gray, the waves slowing down, and storm clouds appearing. The sun grew hazy and its glorious yellow shine turned to a dull red colour. The entire deadly sea had the appearance of a blood filled, bottomless ocean trapped beneath a storm.
After several more minutes, Morn determined that he had completely entered Fairjott. Recalling the dream map, Morn determined that he would need to head towards the now red-sun. As he'd now entered Fairjott, one of the eight deadly seas, Morn grew more cautious.
The sea monsters didn't worry him, as the cursed grasping waters of Fairjott only allowed the strongest Levjottun to surface. What scared Morn was the curse itself. He still remembered the peaceful faces of the drowning sailors from his harvesting voyage, numbed by the water as they were dragged under, drowning in complete silence without a struggle.
If one touches the water, they will turn numb, unable to escape the curse. If one attempts to stand up to pull their hand from the water, they will find themselves unable to stand. If one leans away from the water with all their might, they will be held fast, unable to remove their limb. The only way to free oneself would be through medication, arcana, or amputation.
Knowing the ins and outs of the curse, Morn took a precaution and equipped his inhalant mask, screwing a vial of Vairmol, a Tier 3 arcane gas made with Vyvol, into the mask. It was well known to all harvesters that Vairmol, or other anti numbing and anti drowsiness gases, could stave off the curse.
As Morn finished screwing the gas into his mask, he had an idea. With one hand on the valve of the mask, ready to inhale the Vairmol, Morn gingerly reached into the water with his prosthetic hand. Morn quickly grew excited as he remained able to move the limb.
With the precaution of the Vairmol already prepared, Morn reached further until the forearm past the beginning of his prosthetic was under water. Morn discovered that he could no longer pull his arm out of the water, but could still control his prosthetic. Finished with his testing, Morn turned the valve on his mask, inhaling the gas, allowing him to free himself.
Satisfied, Morn closed the valve and headed straight towards the centre of Fairjott, to the place where the beams of light had converged in his dream. As Morn travelled, he began to realise that he had never questioned the dream, or how he could access the dream map. As soon as Morn began to question the nature of the dreams, his mind blanked. Moments later, he continued on his journey, completely forgetting his previous thoughts.
…
Morn carried on for another day, stopping several times for food, and taking several detours to avoid wandering islands. At one point, a Levjottun with a giant maw had nearly eaten Morn's boat. At the last moment, Morn caught sight of movement in his peripheral vision, noticing the Levjottun just below the surface. Its mouth was opened wide, ready to bite Morn as it struggled against the grasping waters.
Morn had quickly activated the folia-pipe, zipping away just under a second before the creature's jaws had escaped the surface. The giant mouth had clapped shut with a loud crack, as loud as lightning as they devoured the air where Morn had been moments ago. With a nervous yelp, Morn pushed the lever as far back as it could go, using a large amount of Folia to escape.
…
Morn awoke from his dream once again, having confirmed that the lights were overlapping. With less than a third of the second tank of Folia remaining, Morn had arrived at his destination. Morn looked at the supply of fluxsalt, wondering if it would be enough to escape Fairjott if his dreams were wrong and the tree didn't exist.
Nervously, Morn continued his preparations, packing his bag tightly. He jammed his longest lasting food into a watertight container and stored it in his bag. Morn donned a belt he had made before leaving Toli's island.
The belt contained various important gases for this expedition, allowing him quick and easy access. Finally, he gathered his most important supplies and attached two medium sized tanks of gas to the sides of his bag, connecting them to his mask with tubes.
The gases inside the two tanks were Mirage, for breathing underwater, and Vairmol, to allow him to move within Fairjott's cursed waters. An additional, but important effect of Mirage, was preventing high pressures from affecting the user while it was in their system. This meant that Morn's ears wouldn't crush, and he wouldn't suffer sickness from returning to the surface too quickly.
Finally, Morn finished his preparations, though continued hesitating to enter the ocean's depths. The surface of Fairjott was safer than the other deadly seas, as its unique curse was a silent killer, waiting for one to make a single mistake; however, the depths were a different story.
The Levjottun struggled to reach the surface, as the curse was stronger the closer one was to the surface, however- at great depths, they could move almost freely. As the tree of hands existed at the furthest depths of Fairjott, Morn was nervous. After an hour of sitting silently, going over scenarios in his mind, Morn spoke.
"Damn this, I promised on Azur's grave that I would live excitingly, seeking out the mysteries of this world! If I hesitate here, at the start of my voyage, then I may as well have died on Toli's island!"
With no further hesitation, Morn twisted the valve for the mirage gas, allowing him to breathe even underwater, then held his prosthetic hand tightly onto the valve corresponding to the Vairmol gas and jumped into the ocean waters.
As he entered the cold ocean, he felt his body freezing in place, locked as the cursed waters began to drag him further and further under the surface. The sun's red light began to disappear as the depths took over. Morn remained inhaled nervously, feeling the mirage tickle his lungs as he inhaled.
Morn lost track of time as he sank deeper and deeper, allowing the curse to pull him rather than activating the Vairmol yet. He would sink quicker, and hopefully arrive at the tree much faster. As he sank, he began to occasionally see movement, growing nervous each time.
Due to the hallucinatory effects of Mirage as it slowly turned into Daydream, Morn was unsure if the movement was a Levjottun, or simply a hallucination brought about by the gas. He remained on edge
After a long yet unknown amount of time, Morn twisted the valve with his prosthetic hand. It had remained able to move even after his body was entirely submerged. It seemed as long as his brain was active, he could control the hand.
As the Vairmol filled his lungs, feeling returned to Morn's body, allowing him to notice the intense cold deep in the ocean where the sun couldn't reach.
Morn reached to his belt, removing a vial of gas labelled Helia. He twisted the valve slightly, only allowing a small amount to trickle out.
As the gas bubbles escaped the valve, the water around Morn slowly warmed to a reasonable temperature. Helia was known as the portable sun, a gas that warmed any environment it touched.
Morn also felt that his feet touched solid ground, the bottom of the ocean. Morn looked around nervously, not spotting any of the lights that he had seen in his dream.
Morn began to half walk, half swim across the ocean floor, looking for any signs of the great tree. After several minutes, he had yet to find the tree.
Morn began to panic. His supply of Mirage would last indefinitely, though the threat of eternal hallucination loomed heavily over him.
What worried him more, was the threat of his Vairmol running out, leaving him lost at the bottom of the ocean, stuck in a hallucination until he either died of starvation, thirst, hyperthermia, or at the hands of a Levjottun.
Unsure what to do, Morn sat on the floor of the ocean as he thought. He raised his prosthetic to the Vairmol valve, flipping it shut to save the gas for later. He soon realised that he likely wouldn't have enough Vairmol to return to the surface, judging by the average depths of other regions of the sea. Frightened, Morn began to breathe heavily.
Due to this, his supply of Mirage quickly exhausted itself, becoming Daydream at a frightening pace. Spots of dancing colours and various images appeared in his vision, as if scattered randomly.
As Morn stared into the darkness, unable to see beyond his nose, inhaling the hallucinogenic daydream, he began to see lights appearing in his vision. At first, he dismissed them as further hallucinations, but the longer they stayed, the more convinced he became.
Morn turned the valve of the Vairmol. Ignoring the various hallucinations dancing across his vision, Morn swam quickly towards the lights, discovering the silhouette of the tree, as if summoned by his panic and hallucination.
As Morn approached, he noticed the millions of hands that formed the tree, each waving in the ocean depths, illuminated by glowing blue nodes dotting the tree. Entranced, Morn observed the tree, watching the hypnotic motion of the hands.
Soon, movement appeared in his peripheral vision, as another light quickly rushed towards him. Morn ignored it at first, but as it approached the light from the giant tree, Morn began to panic. In the blue light emitted by the tree, Morn watched as a large, black as night serpent swam rapidly towards him, jaws opened wide.