Siren's Reach - Fallen Lands Book 3

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Flipper was a Hero

Evelyn

The next morning, I woke hours before sunrise and couldn't get back to sleep. After a while, I stopped trying. I dressed quietly, slung my bag over my shoulder, grabbed my new polearm, and slipped outside. I thought I'd avoided waking anyone, but as I eased the door shut, Haunt nosed through the gap and trotted out after me. I grinned, ruffled his fur, and led the way toward the waterfront.

The cliffside was empty except for the occasional patrol. With Haunt at my side, I doubted anyone would interrupt us. Under a moonless sky, lit only by the faint starlight, I began to train.

Sibylla had joked I could just stand there looking pretty and unlock the skill, but it was nowhere near that easy. I had some training, and my time with a glaive gave me a starting point, but this weapon was another beast entirely.

It was heavier, for one. Not unwieldy, my strength had long since made that a non-issue, and the balance was solid, but the weight and size forced me to slow down. The lightning-quick strikes I was used to wouldn't work here. So, for twenty minutes, I focused on the basics: feeling its heft, testing stances, experimenting with arcs and thrusts, trying to understand the weapon as much as how I might wield it in a fight.

That's when a familiar voice called out from the dark.

"My lady shows great promise—for a beginner."

I spun, startled, to find Milly Sunpetal only a few meters away, her Dragoon armor glittering under the starlight. I let out a long breath.

"You startled me! Good to see you, though. What's got you up so early? …And it's really that obvious I'm a beginner?"

She smiled, amused. "I was on patrol. And yes, it is obvious. You don't look clueless, but you certainly haven't unlocked that halberd skill yet."

"Well, that's about right." I glanced down at the weapon and frowned. "Honestly, I wasn't even sure this was a halberd, not with the size and… well, it's kind of scary looking."

Milly chuckled and nodded, "Yes, my lady. It certainly is unique, but still a halberd. I would be happy to assist in your training, if you like." My eyes flicked to the massive hammer strapped across her back, and she explained before I could ask, "All Dragoons must train with many weapons. This one's simply my favorite."

And that's how my morning turned into an impromptu training montage. Without wasting time, Milly was beside me. Adjusting my grip, drilling stances, and running me through basics. It took longer than I expected to unlock the skill, but her quick corrections made it clear why: I was treating the weapon far too much like a glaive.

"You're trying to dance," Milly said, with more passion than any trainer I'd had before. "This isn't a fencing match. Plant your feet and own your reach."

Her emotional investment in the training, along with those little notes, flipped a switch in my head and pushed me into the right mindset. After a few more minutes of swinging what felt like a street sign bolted to a steel pipe, I started to get it. The halberd had none of my glaive's grace. Once it started moving, it kept moving. Momentum and weight over finesse and speed. Every strike demanded real commitment.

As I adjusted, I could feel the power behind each swing. I got used to the wider stance and the lower center of gravity. It made me slower, sure, but I felt grounded, solid even, like I could control everything around me instead of just reacting to it. Then Milly started breaking it down, how the greater reach let me zone and pressure, how the crossguard and spikes weren't just for show, how the sheer mass of the thing could become a shield. It all clicked. I wasn't just swinging a weapon. I was controlling the field.

It was an entirely different perspective on combat. From the fast-paced, dueling-style combat I'd built with my glaive, to this heavy, commanding, area-dominating halberd style. And when it all came together…

Congratulations. Through your actions, you have unlocked the Skill [Proficiency: Halberd]!

Still, that wasn't the end of it. We didn't stop until the sky began to lighten, the first hints of sunlight breaking over the sea. I ached all over from the new movements, but when I announced I'd pushed the skill to level six, Haunt gave me an approving tail wag. That felt like a win.

The others must've spotted me from the house, because soon enough, Kira showed up with breakfast for both of us. Not long after, the rest of the gang wandered down, Sibylla even hauling out seats so we could all eat together. Milly didn't linger; she was long overdue for her bed, and after we ate, the group split up for the day. Kira took our plans to Dawn's Light so the ship could prep, while Lilith and Constance headed into town to gather supplies for a long voyage. Alice and Caeda tagged along with them, eager to learn.

That just left Amélie, Sibylla, and me heading down to the beach. Staying close to the water felt safer, since we were working on a sea-based form. Still, I couldn't bring myself to step into the waves. It wasn't fear of monsters. Everyone loves free experience, after all. It was the memory of what that cove held only a day ago. Even cleaned, I couldn't forget how much blood and how many bodies had been in that water.

"Alright. I guess let's take one last look at the mermaid and then give it a shot?"

Sibylla let out a long, theatrical sigh. "I don't understand why you don't want to try something cooler. Like a shark, or maybe a giant squid."

I stared at her until I was sure she was finished. "First, we don't have either of those things to copy, and second, they're way more alien. You know how much shifting into new forms messes with us. Plus, not having hands would make everything we're doing harder."

"Whatever, Ariel. You're just underestimating the utility of tentacles."

Amélie clapped her hands sharply. "Let's focus. It is too early for bickering. Let's do this so we can figure it out."

I knew what she meant. I wasn't thrilled to see the mermaid's body again either, but it had to be done. For me, less so than the others. I still remembered what she'd been like. Before I could move to fetch the body, though, it rose from the shadows and settled on the sand before us.

"What? How did you do that?" I asked, taken aback.

Sibylla shrugged. "Linked my inventory to your storage. It's easier this way."

I blinked at her in confusion. "Wait…How did you do that? When did you do that?"

Some part of my mind was trying to decide if I was angry about her linking our storage without my permission, but it only took an instant to quash the thought. I didn't really mind at all, the three of us pretty much shared everything anyway. But just… how?

"It was an accident, really. It happened back when I borrowed your bag while playing with the dungeon core. When I tried to take stuff out, I got a system message asking if I wanted to merge the dimensional space into my inventory. It sounded cool, so I decided to try it out."

I blinked at her, then opened my bag and looked inside. "It looks the same… is this like, a one-way thing or something?"

She shrugged. "I doubt it. You probably just need to enchant yourself some kind of inventory ring to see everything instead of going through a little bag flap."

"That's a thing? That would be so helpful! Did you find the runes for it?"

She snorted. "No, and I don't know. It's just a thing that I used to see in fantasy novels a lot. Maybe you can invent it."

I sighed and turned toward the mermaid, where Amélie was already looking over the body. As I stepped beside her and took the mermaid in, it was even bigger than I remembered.

Her upper half could've passed for human… At least until you noticed the clawed fingers and rows of shark teeth. But it was her lower body that really drove it home. Just below her belly button, the illusion of skin gave way to a flawless transition into thick black hide that gleamed in the sun like polished rubber. White and green markings ran the length of her tail like beautiful war paint. The tail itself stretched over eight feet, wide and dense with muscle, ending in a fluke like a killer whale's. Pectoral fins flared near where hips should've been, adding to the bulk and power of a predator built to drag sailors into the deep.

She wasn't some delicate fish-girl fantasy. She was built for speed, brutal ambushes, and the crushing pressure of the dark water far below what we could see. And, right now, that was exactly what we needed.

I walked around the body, but her shape was quickly coming back to me. After I'd fought her, I was pretty close to understanding her form already. Now, with a moment to inspect her with intent, I was beginning to realize a lot of those feelings, like I didn't quite understand her, were really my own insecurities. I opened my eyes to my spiritual sight. The world shifted. Piercing through her body, I saw far less of her than I had when she was alive… but it didn't matter. The understanding was there now.

I almost attempted the shift right away, but stopped myself. I didn't really like the idea of succeeding so easily, only to make Amélie and Sibylla feel discouraged. Of course, that meant they were both staring at me in expectation.

"…What? Amélie, you're the oldest, you go first."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're the best at this. It is easier to watch you and try to follow suit."

I looked to Sibylla for support, but she just made a shooing gesture at me. "Go on then, get on with it."

"Fine, I guess."

I closed my eyes and started to focus, only for Amélie to immediately interrupt me. "Evelyn, you should at least step into the water."

I gave the shore a cautious glance, but she was right. It was better to be safe than sorry. I pulled off my boots, stuffed them in my bag, and waded in until the waves lapped around my ankles. Amélie's look said she didn't think that was deep enough, but I knew this type of mermaid could survive on land for a while, so I'd be fine. I shut my eyes again, let the world fade, and built the image.

And it was… entirely new. Even with everything I understood, the shift didn't take until I got the form perfectly in my mind. The magic wouldn't help until then. As I went over every detail, instinct nudged me here and there, making small corrections and tiny changes. I wasn't copying this mermaid exactly, but the shape of the mermaid race itself. And when that image was finally complete, it wasn't just a mermaid. It was a mermaid that was distinctly me.

And in a flash, it became reality.

My eyes snapped open—just in time to see the surf rushing up to meet my face.

"Whoa—ahh!" was all I managed as I collapsed into the ankle-deep water.

I flailed, tried to sit up, and immediately realized I couldn't. Not gracefully, anyway. My lower half wasn't just long, it was dense… and heavy! Sure, it was powerful in all the ways you'd want underwater, but on land? I may as well have strapped a refrigerator to my waist and tried to do my yoga routines.

I rolled half onto my side with a groan, tail slapping the water behind me, and muttered, "Well, that's not dignified."

Sibylla snorted. "Told you. Should've picked the squid."

I huffed, my lungs feeling oddly powerful. "You go right ahead with that, Ursula. We'll wait."

"Oh! That's a great idea!"

"We do not have time for you to experiment," Amélie cut in, exasperated. "Evelyn, you're a better model for us than the corpse, anyway. If you can hold that form for a bit, we can get rid of the other one before the gulls show up."

"Oh. Right." I said, blinking my inner eyelids, and then nearly jumped because I had inner eyelids. This time, Sibylla at least tried to hide her laugh. "Yeah. I am actually perfectly fine right now. It isn't as weird as I thought."

Taking the hint, Sibylla stowed the mermaid's body back into storage, then reluctantly waded into the shallows with Amélie to inspect me. It wasn't as awkward as I expected—until Sibylla handed me a chest wrap and I realized I'd been lying there topless. After that minor humiliation, I spent the next several minutes just learning how to exist in this new body.

Moving in the shallow water helped. It wasn't swimming, not really, but it let me explore the tail's motion. The power behind me, even in a small push, was shocking, despite all my experience swimming. If I wasn't careful, I ended up spinning myself in lazy circles like a floating log. Lateral motion came easily. Rolling, twisting, and even side slips like a drifting car were really fun. Vertical control? Not so much. I could feel how the tail wanted to work, driving me forward in those big, steady sweeps, but trying to arc upward or downward felt like fighting my own body.

And the sensations were wild! It was nothing like the difference between being a foxgirl and an elf, or even the difference of being a fox. The water felt different against my skin. Not just the temperature, but the weight and texture, how it pressed and slid. The salt stung more sharply than usual in my nose, but I didn't mind at all. It was like I could smell the ocean itself. The fish, seaweed, minerals, even the port and ships.

My hearing shifted, dulled in some ways, and sharper in others. For a moment, I swore I could feel faint heartbeats out in the bay. Not clearly, just impressions, but more than enough to make me realize this body wasn't just for speed. When I surfaced again, Amélie was kneeling beside me, her face tight in concentration as she reached out and poked the base of my dorsal fin with one finger.

"Gah!" I jerked so hard my whole tail snapped, splashing water over both of us. "Hey! Don't poke that! It's sensitive!"

She laughed, utterly unrepentant. "It's just so weird. You've got a whole shark fin sticking out of your lower back."

It wasn't bad, exactly. Just strange and a little ticklish—Not that I was about to let her figure that out. I shook my head and went back to studying the hooked claws on my fingers. They somehow seemed even sharper than before, but maintained the dark red that let me know they carried my Magic Rending Claws trait.

A few minutes passed before I noticed Amélie starting to look frustrated. Her eyes were closed and her jaw set, but she hadn't quite figured things out yet.

"She's close," Sibylla said, her tone calculating. "Too focused, though. She's trying to remember the shape instead of feeling it."

I blinked water from my eyes and looked at Sibylla. She hadn't moved at all since her first steps into the water. Her lack of concentration and casual indifference made me think she was up to something… or considering she'd had access to the body all this time, that she'd already figured it out but didn't want us to know for some reason. I didn't think it was likely that she'd just given up, but then, I didn't want her to be frustrated if that was what happened.

"You okay over there?" I asked.

"I'm fine," she said. " Mom's coming."

Sure enough, a shimmer of pale blue light rippled in the air above us. A heartbeat later, Chiasa stepped out of nothing, barefoot and smiling like she'd been there all along.

"You're close," she said, addressing Amélie. "But don't chase the shape. Let it come to you."

Amélie looked up, flushed but grateful. "That's harder than it sounds."

Chiasa knelt, reaching out to gently brush Amélie's shoulder. "Shifting isn't about copying what you see. It's about understanding what you want to be. Don't chase the shape. Chase the feeling. What does the water call you to become?"

It only took a minute after that. With a breath that looked more like a prayer, Amélie shimmered, her form rippling with radiant light, and shifted. Her version of the mermaid form was very much like mine, but her markings were all unique. She gasped in delight… then promptly flopped forward into the shallows with a startled yelp. Her bright, wild laugh bubbled up a second later.

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"I did it!"

"Congrats," I called, waving a fluke lazily in her direction.

Sibylla, however, hadn't budged, and the stillness actually made her stand out even more. I wasn't the only one to notice, either.

Chiasa turned to her with a knowing look. "You're not struggling. You're stalling."

Sibylla met her eyes. "I have my reasons."

They held each other's gaze for a long moment. Some quiet understanding passed between them, and then Chiasa inclined her head. "All right. We'll give you space."

"Actually," I cut in. "I think it's Amélie and me that need to give the two of you space."

Sibylla froze and then actually smiled at me. A genuine, grateful smile. "Thank you, Evelyn."

I nodded, returning her smile, and turned to Amélie. "Let's go try to not drown!"

Her face lit up. "Oh, let's!"

We both immediately started the awkward shuffle toward deeper water, where we could actually move. I slid free after only a few feet, tail finally able to flex and drive me forward, but Amélie was still stuck in the surf. She floundered, got smacked by a wave, and pushed herself up on her hands, turning her best seal-pup eyes on our sister.

"Sibylla! I'm beached!"

Sibylla tilted her head and gave her a slow, unimpressed look. "Are you serious right now?"

"You wouldn't abandon your dear sister here to suffer, would you?"

Sibylla crossed her arms, considering it far too seriously. "Hmm."

"Sibylla!" Amélie half-laughed, half-whined.

A grin tugged at Sibylla's mouth as her hands settled on her hips. "All right, fine. I'll help."

Amélie's smile faltered a little, and before she could protest, shadows surged up out of the surf beneath her. They rose like some oversized waterslide, scooped her up, and launched her screaming into the deeper water, where she nearly collided with me! She broke the surface a moment later, sputtering, hair plastered to her face, but somehow still laughing.

We took a moment for her to settle in. I knew what she was going through, as her tail tried to follow her new instincts and she tried to overthink it. I'd just been there. The instant I pushed off the sandy bottom and stopped trying, my body took over. The movements weren't human, but they felt natural, almost automatic. My tail knew what to do before I did. My muscles remembered the rhythm of the water like they'd been waiting for it.

Amélie wasn't as quick. Like every new form we'd learned, she needed more time to sync with what her body was telling her. She paddled mostly forward with a mix of grace and confusion, sometimes veering sideways… and once, for reasons I still don't understand, up.

"This is harder than it looks!" she huffed, spitting water as she surfaced again, but still full of cheer.

"Don't fight it. Just follow the motion," I called back, rolling onto my back with a flick, then letting some teasing slip into my voice. "Your tail wants to swim, you're just getting in its way."

"I am the tail!"

I laughed and looped around her in a lazy arc, then dove just deep enough to flick her from below with my fluke on the way past. She shrieked, then giggled, finally finding her balance as she surged after me.

The water was warm and full of sunlight, the kind of summer shallows that felt alive with motion. Every swish of my tail sent bubbles spiraling behind me. Every dive was easier than the last. And for the first time in a long while, I didn't feel like I was running toward a battlefield. I was just... playing.

"Hey," Amélie called out, grinning wide. "Bet I can catch you now!"

"Oh, you're on."

We both dove at the same time. She had decent acceleration, but I had form, better instincts, and years of actual training. My tail was heavier than I'd expected, but it moved like a whip once I stopped overthinking. I shot through the water like a cannonball, leaving her sputtering in my wake.

Then something else shot past me, fast enough to make the water pop behind it.

"What the heck?" I spun and surfaced just in time to see Alice vaulting over a small wave, arms outstretched like she was mid-flight, then splash back down in a tight arc that barely rippled.

Amélie popped up beside me, eyes wide. "Was that...?"

I could only nod before Alice emerged a few feet away, slicking back her soaking hair with both hands. "Y'all tryin' real hard, huh?" she drawled, not even winded. "That was adorable."

"You don't even have fins!" I spluttered.

"Nah," she said, flashing a grin. "But I got rivers in my blood, darlin'. You wanna race again, I'll give ya a head start this time."

She winked and vanished beneath the surface like a stone dropped down a well, not even any bubbles or sound to herald her passing.

Amélie stared at the empty water, then at me. "Sibylla was right. Naiads are hacks."

I was about to agree when a huge wave came out of nowhere and crashed over us both.

We pla—trained like that for nearly an hour before coming back to shore. Alice was fantastic to have with us, constantly pushing our limits, but eventually we figured out her trick of having no water resistance at all. The harder we tried to keep up, the more the water pushed back, while she just slipped through like it wasn't there. As much fun as we were having, and as important as it was to know what we could do, we still needed to get moving sooner rather than later.

At some point, Sibylla and Mom had disappeared from the beach, but I wasn't too worried since they were together. But the moment we shifted back and stepped out of the surf, a pair of foxes came running across the top of the waves as if they'd just been waiting for us to show up. They shifted back without a word, and together we headed inland to dry off, change, and gear up.

Dawn's Light was already prepared to sail when we reached the skyship, and once we were aboard, we were underway in minutes. Our entire crew came, even if only the five of us were going down to the dungeon, and I found myself grateful for the show of support. The one person who didn't join us, surprisingly enough, was Chiasa. She assured us that she would keep an eye on us from the grove, but Sibylla had been right. We needed the challenge to grow.

I spent the first hour with the command crew, going over everything from the last few days and finalizing what to expect for this trip. By the time I stepped back onto the main deck, though, the mood had already shifted.

Everyone was at the bow of the ship. No one was talking, and the laughter was long gone. They were just watching the ocean going by below. The sea stretched out before us, endless and glassy. And… wrong. The coastal waters had never been so utterly dead in all the time we'd been here. No merchant sails were on the horizon. No fishing boats bobbing in the swells. Not even the lazy plume of a whale spout. Just waves, soft and slow and so much more ominous than they had any right to be.

I felt it too. That itch at the back of the mind. The kind that made your shoulders tight and your instincts go all strange.

Amélie broke the silence first. "I don't like this."

"Me neither," I said, scanning the empty water.

Caeda crossed her arms, frowning. "Where is everyone? The coast should be crawling with boats."

"Maybe they heard about the attacks," Lilith muttered.

"Maybe," I said. But that didn't explain the rest. Where was all the sea life?

We stood like that for a few more minutes, scanning the water for any signs of movement or life. The weight of the quiet grew heavier with each passing wave, and eventually, the gloom was too much. No one was surprised when Sibylla decided to break the tension. With zero warning, she plopped down on the deck beside Lilith, dragged a small bundle out of her inventory, and announced, "Behold! Mermaid boots."

Lilith blinked at her. "What?"

Sibylla held one up like a proud artificer unveiling a cursed relic. "Enchanted steel frames for support. Water-resistant, alchemically stiffened cloth for the fins. Reinforced tips. They even come with gloves. Look." She tossed one to Lilith, who caught it out of reflex.

They were black with delicate webbing between the fingers. Slightly ominous, yet hauntingly stylish.

Sibylla wasn't done. "Oh, and here." She fished around and handed Lilith the pearl necklace we'd found the previous night. "This'll keep your blood pressure regulated once we dive. Assuming you want to avoid aneurysms."

Lilith stared at the necklace, then looked at me. "Has anyone else considered this?"

I raised both hands. "Nope. She's got us beat."

Amélie groaned. "I cannot believe we didn't consider the pressure changes."

"Yup," Sibylla said, beaming. "Good thing you've got me here to save the day. Just goes to show that I should always carry all the treasure."

After a moment of thought, I shrugged. "I'm curious if it's even an issue. Lilith's a high-tier classer, but did anyone else notice on West Peak? The air pressure up there felt normal. Of course, maybe that means water pressure will be way worse."

"Uh-huh. Well, that's cool or whatever, but this is supposed to be an adventure, not a physics experiment."

"Right." Moving on, I knelt down, inspecting the mermaid boots. "Flippers are a great idea. Maybe one of the water speed rings, too."

Much to my surprise, that actually made her smile. Sibylla pulled the two rings out, and as Lilith held her hand out for one, Sibylla stepped forward and slipped it right on her finger. Lilith gave her a suspicious look, but Sibylla only smiled and put the other on her own hand. Lilith waited for the other shoe to drop, and Sibylla only stared back, obviously trying to make her suspicion worse, until Amélie decided to pounce.

"Oh my. I did not realize you two were so close! That level of eye contact... and Matching rings? Poor Derik. But at least the two of you will live happily ever after!"

Mirth forgotten, Sibylla's eyes went wide as she turned the color of a tomato. Lilith spun toward Amélie, shocked. "Wait, what?!"

Amélie only smiled back, but the moment she opened her mouth to go on, something landed on her head, stopping her. She reached up and brought back what looked like the biggest, hairiest tarantula that I'd ever seen. She squeaked, tossing it away, and stumbled back, just as two more landed on her, and one tried to hide in her hair. As she spun, the first scuttled back and started climbing up her leg while more rained down like furry hail. After a few seconds of flailing, shrieking, and trying to shake them off, she foxed, sending all the spiders tumbling away, and darted for the nearest hatch below deck, her new friends in gleeful pursuit.

I blinked at Sibylla. "Don't you think that was a little much?"

She shrugged, leaning on the rail and watching the ocean go by. "Nope."

It was nearly twenty minutes before Sibylla's conjured swarm finally vanished back into the ether, and Amélie, spider-free, rejoined us. The rest of our journey wasn't exactly exciting, but at least the gloom had lifted. It still felt like standing vigil as we watched the quiet ocean drift by, but that was better than feeling like we were attending the wake of a dead sea.

It gave us a lot of time to think, and in some cases, that wasn't the best thing. Alice kept her usual upbeat mask, but I could see the tension in her face, still working through what she'd learned about our arrival here and her sisters. She wasn't ready to talk about it, and that was fine. Because, honestly, I wasn't exactly in a talkative mood either. My own thoughts were darker. Namely, whether I'd doomed entire nations by sitting on my hands.

Between watching the horizon for any sign of life, eating, and sneaking the occasional glance at Sibylla and her mouse companion as they tinkered with some new ritual to find her so-called "lost kittens," I cracked open the book Kira had brought with details on the dungeon's location.

And as I traced the maps, a sickening realization hit me. Siren's Reach was far from the source of these monsters. I'd been so wrapped up in protecting the coastline of The Spires and our closest neighbors that I hadn't even considered the people closer to the Drowned Reliquary. The Island Nations were practically next door to the thing causing all this.

Reminding myself that they weren't my responsibility and I didn't actually know what was going on felt like a technicality. Because if I'd been looking into the horrible monsters more instead of trying to find a peaceful solution to the conflict with Blackstone, maybe I would have been out here weeks ago. Of course, I also realized that I had absolutely no evidence that anything bad had happened to those people anyway, but that little fact didn't stop the knot in my stomach from tightening.

And that's when the ship's watch called out that they'd spotted something. Everyone perked up at once, and we were all back at the rail, everything else forgotten. I hadn't realized how late it was getting into the day, but straining to see into the distance in the setting sunlight put that concern front and center.

"Is that an island?" Kira asked, her voice edged with confusion. "I didn't think there was anything between us and the dungeon… we didn't pass it by, did we?"

It didn't seem possible, but I checked the stars just to be safe before shaking my head. "No, we're right on course." I took a moment to judge the distance and continued, "In fact, that might be our destination. Maybe not all of the island sank?"

We all squinted into the distance, but Lilith saw the problem first. "It can't be an island. It's moving."

Apparently, someone else noticed as well, because a call for the ship to make ready for combat was called across the deck a moment later. I knew that meant I should be heading to the helm, but instead, I waved to let them know I'd be a few minutes and turned to Amélie.

"Any ideas?"

Her head snapped toward me, caught off guard. "Why are you asking me?"

"Uh, because you're usually the one who knows we're about to die before we actually get there. Any… bad vibes?"

She turned back toward the horizon. "No. No bad vibes. You do remember I usually keep those traits disabled, right?"

"Yeah," I said, "but I figured you wouldn't turn them off while we're sailing straight toward an extraordinarily dangerous dungeon. You're too responsible for that."

She snorted, "I wish you were wrong. But no, whatever that is, I'm not worried. It's what is below it that's sending chills down my spine."

Alice didn't even look away from the ocean. "Pft. That's not what I wanna hear outta you. What could be so bad it's got you spooked?"

Sibylla stepped back from the rail and turned with a grin. "Relax. It's not whatever's in the water. It's the possibility of whatever it is making her go into full oracle mode. She's a terrible poet. Anyone would be ashamed."

"Oracle mode?" Alice asked, brow raised.

Amélie rolled her eyes. "I do not pick the words. I only see the vision. You can take up your dislike of the prophecy medium with the gods, the system, or whoever is responsible. And no, while that's unpleasant, that isn't what worries me. I know what it feels like when a vision is coming, and there's no trace of it now. That's actually the eerie part. If something down there is powerful enough to control all these monsters, shouldn't I have seen something by now?"

Alice looked between them. "So, she was serious? Wild. Well, maybe that just means this ain't gonna be as bad as y'all expect. Maybe the ones who hit Siren's Reach were the real masterminds behind all this, and now they're just hidin' and lickin' their wounds. We finish 'em off, we finish the mess."

Lilith looked away from the shifting mass on the horizon. "I don't think we're going to be that lucky. I'm not convinced they even came back this way. It sounded to me like the ones who escaped were injured, and this would have been a long trip."

"Actually," Sibylla helpfully injected, "I marked them with magic during our fight. They were headed this way before the marks faded. It could mean they're here, or at least nearby. Or maybe they stopped to hide along the way. Hard to say. I'm fairly confident, though, that they weren't dungeon monsters."

That stopped me cold. "And you didn't mention this before… why? Also, how do you even know that?"

She shrugged, unbothered. "I thought it was implied. And they weren't nearly as annoying as that crab, aside from the mind control thing. If we ran into them again, all of us together? I think we'd trounce them."

"Okay, I got that part from your story at least," I admitted. "But I didn't even consider that they weren't from the same source as the rest of the monsters. Why are you so sure? That feels… important."

"I never said they weren't from the same source," she corrected smoothly. "Just that they're not dungeon monsters. I'm sure because I used insight on them, and because of how they behaved. They had weird names, but nothing about a dungeon in their tags. And they were, well, smart. They adapted strategy when things didn't work, like climbing above the waves to sing past the sea wall wards. And when I hurt one of them, the others reacted. They were emotional. None of that rules out a shared source. They did flee in the direction of the dungeon."

I mulled that over before nodding. "Fair enough. That abyssal star we saw wasn't from a dungeon either. I just hope we actually find what we're looking for."

Lilith turned back to the horizon, eyes narrowing on the growing silhouette. "We'll know soon enough."

But almost as soon as she finished speaking, Constance completed the slow-working spell she'd been casting. A patch of air in front of her, about the size of a dinner plate, shimmered and stretched like it was reaching into the distance. Within seconds, it focused, and a confused murmur slipped from her lips.

"Ships? Just… ships?"

Amélie, standing closest, leaned in and added, "Oh, wow." As the rest of us crowded around, she asked, "How did they even do that?"

When I saw it for myself, I understood what she meant. There had to be dozens of ships crammed together. No wonder it had looked like an island from a distance—it practically was. The vessels ranged from the massive man-of-war pirate ships to brigs and fishing boats, and that wasn't even counting the countless smaller craft wedged between them. I even spotted a tribal-looking canoe crushed between two hulking hulls.

Every ship's sails were tattered or gone entirely. Masts and rigging were tangled like spiderwebs. A few had dropped anchor, though it clearly hadn't helped. For a moment, it almost looked like their hulls had fused together, but that was just an illusion.

The truth became clearer the longer I stared. Every one of those ships had sailed toward a single point. Maybe the first vessel, if it was even still in there, had made it. But every ship after that had followed the same pull. One after another, they slammed into the growing mass, hulls splintering, snagging, and locking together in a massive, haunting wreck.

"The decks are empty," I muttered into the quiet around me. "There had to be thousands of people on so many ships."

"They can't all be dead, right?" Caeda asked. "Maybe they're hiding below deck, or escaped in smaller boats."

"Maybe," I agreed, feeling in my heart how unlikely that was.

Sibylla was all smiles, though. "I think this works in our favor, honestly."

I arched a brow. "How so?"

She gestured vaguely at the shipwreck island. "If ships are regularly crashing in here, there is likely something watching the surface over the dungeon. We probably should have expected that either way, but that thing will give us cover to land, shift, and get into the water. We'll just look like a few scavenging monsters instead of heroes dropping in from the sky, and it sure beats stopping way out here to swim the rest of the way."

I nodded, "That might work really well.. We can just use an illusion to make sure Lilith looks like one of us. It should work well with the flippers you made for her."

Sibylla frowned. "First, there will be enough shadow magic at play between Lilith and me that no one will get a very clear look at us, and secondly, they're mermaid boots. We're not calling them flippers. Flipper is a stupid word."

I gasped. "How dare you! Flipper was a dolphin hero and a national treasure!"

Sibylla slowly crossed her arms. "Seriously? You realized that was a TV character, right? Not even a real dolphin? Come on."

I stared at her in mock outrage. "A TV character? Really? … No, Sibylla. I assure you that Flipper was very much a real dolphin. Many, in fact. The most famous of which was named Kathy, who died in captivity with her trainer in what he called deliberate suicide, sparking the modern-day dolphins' rights movement. So, yes, Flipper really is a dolphin hero."

Sibylla's expression faltered. "Okay, that's… depressing. But they're still mermaid boots. I named them. That's literally what the system calls them when you inspect them." She hesitated, then added, "Also, wow, I didn't know you were into animal rights."

"I'm going to tell Haunt you said that."

She glanced at the sleeping direwolf. "That's not what I meant!"

My lips quirked in a small grin. "I know. I'm just giving you a hard time. No, I wanted to get into ocean conservation, you know, before all this. But I wasn't an activist or anything. It's just a thing I know. Also, dolphins are cool."

Lilith pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alright. Glad whatever that was is over. Let's just get ready already."

And she was right. We used the next twenty minutes just preparing to dive. Fortunately, there were plenty of former sailors ready to give us advice, too. First lesson? We weren't bringing our bags. It turns out that submerging a storage bag is a terrible idea. Unlike air, water seeps in, especially under deep pressure, and once the bag hits its capacity, the enchantment stops compensating for weight. At that point, it's basically a several-ton anchor strapped to your back. Not exactly ideal for swimming.

So, we packed light. Sibylla's inventory would handle the bulk of our supplies, while the rest of us carried only what we could manage. Amélie and I even shifted to our mermaid forms on deck to double-check how much we could realistically haul, which, judging by the nervous looks from half the crew, especially the ex-sailors, might have been a little too public. Oops. At least our faces still looked mostly the same.

The reality was… we were big in our mermaid forms. Statues back home always depicted mermaids as human-sized, but that was laughably wrong. From the waist up, we were barely two feet of humanoid. Below that, though, was over eight feet of solid, dense, orca-like tails. If we'd really wanted, we probably could have rigged up a harness system and hauled serious cargo. But doing something like that while also trying to get armored and go adventuring underwater? Not so much.

Wearing our belts was pretty much out. Our dorsal fins started on our lower backs, right in their way. I briefly considered wearing mine like a bandoleer, but I could tell right off it would just get in the way. I gave up after that. I didn't think trying to drink our potions or use scrolls underwater was going to go well for us, anyway.

Thankfully, our gear adapted better than expected. We knew magical clothing and armor reshaped to fit their bound user, but we didn't expect them to cooperate this well. My battlegown fit like it had been made for the form, even flowing along the first couple of feet of my tail for extra protection.

Amélie's cuirass was even better protection for her torso, even forming around her dorsal fin. Of course, the bright silver and gold plates were anything but flexible. Reluctantly, she admitted it was a no-go. Of course, instead of letting it vanish with the shift like most things do when we take fox form, she reshaped it. The result? A perfectly fitted, absurdly durable seashell bikini top. Because, of course.

I was left with the choice of which weapon to carry, too. While Sibylla was perfectly willing to carry my entire arsenal, I could only carry one weapon on my person. I was originally going to use my glaive, but Lilith was quick to point out that while it was the weapon I was more familiar with, it might not be the best option in the water. Any weapon would have issues with maneuverability, but my halberd actually gave me longer reach, and its long spear point was going to give me the most effective strikes against the water resistance. And considering fighting underwater meant three-dimensional combat, having a spike opposite the spear point would be very good for quickly defending my back.

By the time the ship was slowing to a stop above the shipwreck island, we'd both gotten back on two feet and were anxiously waiting with Lilith and Sibylla by the gondola. The crew had already gotten it ready to launch on the way in while we'd finished preparing and said our goodbyes. Considering what was going on below us, I'd given Commander Aric instructions to get out of range above us after we departed to be safe. I didn't credit hovering where we were now as nearly high enough to be clear of danger, even if most of the crew had already stuffed wax in their ears, aware of the legends of Sirens.

None of our friends had been happy about being left behind, but we'd done our best to reassure them with promises that we'd come back safely, and if things were too much for us, we'd come back and get help. We didn't delay when we'd gotten the nod that it was time to go. The five of us stepped onto the platform, and the moment it was clear of the deck, it dropped like a high-speed elevator. We needed to be sure that in the case we were spotted, Dawn's Light had as much time as possible to get clear. Its enchantments would protect the crew for a time, but we still didn't know exactly what we were dealing with.

I stared up at the ship as we descended. "It feels weird leaving everyone behind again. I think this is the first time we've had to do it because they literally couldn't go."

I could hear the smile in Alice's voice when she said, "Don't tell me you're gettin' cold feet. Keep talkin' gloomy like that, and I'm gonna start worryin'."

"Ah. Sorry. I guess I should be excited. This'll be new! We've never done anything like it. I think it's just the not knowing part that's eating at me."

"Not the endless, soul-crushin' dark?"

I snorted. "It won't be dark. Don't worry about that. It's more that, no matter how much we prepare, there just isn't a way to know what's down there. People stopped going to this dungeon before the island even sank. We've pieced together what we could, but I can't help wondering how much it's changed since the collapse."

Sibylla gave me a sharp punch in the arm. "Stop that. I'm already not happy about this dive. I don't need you making it worse."

Amélie nodded in agreement. "Oui, no flags, remember? And stop worrying so much. You have all of us with you."

I glanced down, past the gondola, at the twisted graveyard of ships below… and the water beyond, black enough to feel bottomless.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "This'll be… fun."