Volume 2 Chapter 5 Sailing across the Sea

Chapter 5 Sailing across the Sea

I

Bathed in the sea breeze, the four stood on the dock of the boat of Captain Mar. They had been worrying about the future, but now their anxiety had been blown away by the soft wind of the sapphire ocean.

“Don’t worry about shipwreck or oceanic storms. My boat was steered by a submatrix,” bragged Captain Mar.

“What is a submatrix?” queried Yanni curiously.

“Submatrices were mechanical devices developed by Macchina Gloriosa, a guild of mechanists. They were machines that could compute data,” answered Captain Mar.

It was at dusk now and the sun wasn’t scorching anymore. The moon was about to rise up from below the skyline and the veil of night would soon cover the world with its blackness.

According to some ancient folklores, the sun and the moon in fact lived below the sea and when the night came, the sun went back home while the moon came out to fulfil her vocation of illuminating the dark nocturnal world.

The sea was blue and the sky was blue. In the distance, the blueness of the sky and the blueness of the sea merged with each other …

Under the surface of the seawater, fishes were swimming with enviable freedom. Sometimes they would jump out of the water and dive into it again.

Besides the boat of Captain Mar, there were also other boats and ships sailing on the sea together. When those big ships were moving in the sea, some green liquid was emitted by them, which dyed some parts of the water disgustingly green.

It was not the greenness that belonged to plants and the world of nature. It was another kind of green, which might belong to some sort of necrology. Besides, that green wastewater, there were also chimneys on that kind of ship, from which black pillars of abominable necrological smoke was rising up all the way towards the clouds.

Fishes were dying in that green water. Without a shadow of doubt, that kind of greenness was lethally poisonous to marine creatures. The sea was a beautiful and charming place full of life and vigour, but the power of death and wickedness were lurking there silently too.

“My boat is fast and I think we can arrive at Desertia in one week,” announced Captain Mar.

“That’s great,” Starsha nodded.

“I am really curious about you four. A mysterious band of adventurers. Stories are always attractive to me and I am always fond of listening to bards singing about legends and myths. You look like a bard, young lady, don’t you?” queried Captain Mar.

“Yes, I am a bard but now I’ve found out that music is fake, though I don’t believe it. In fact, I am travelling to Desertia to find the answer,” sighed Starsha.

“Music is fake? Why do you think that?” pursued Captain Mar.

“Do you know those music boxes created by Macchina Gloriosa?” questioned Starsha.

“Yes, I know, but I don’t like them,” answered Captain Mar.

“Why? The melodies and lyrics in those music boxes are flawless,” inquired Starsha.

“They may be flawless, but I like to listen to songs written by humans, instead of machines,” replied Captain Mar.

“But why?” asked Starsha.

“I think those techniques and skills of music are just some sort of basic stuff. I think … Well … I am not a civilized person … You see, I am an outlaw. It’s just … Uh … Those music boxes lack something … Even though the songs in the music boxes are not different from those created by the most excellent musician at all, they lack something but I don’t know what it is. You’re on the journey to find it out, aren’t you?” stuttered Captain Mar.

“Yep. Thank you for your answer, Captain Mar,” expressed Starsha.

“At your service,” Captain Mar bowed.

Dusk ended and night was coming quietly.

“Are there stars on the sky above the sea at night?” muttered Floria.

“There used to be stars but now there are almost none. The necrological smoke produced by the Grey Factory had changed the structure of Earth’s atmosphere irreversibly,” responded Captain Mar.

The boat floated solitarily on the infinite ocean. The land had been left behind and there was only endless seawater in their sights right now. The blackness of the night had rendered the sea dark blue.

Everything was immersed in a pleasant atmosphere of tranquillity, except some sounds of the waves weaving a lullaby of the night.

After sailing towards Desertia for another two hours, black clouds commenced to gather high on the sky and there were some rumbling sounds of thunder coming from the distance along with flashes of white fearsome lightning.

Since the storm was coming, they had to hide inside the cabin.

Soon the boat arrived inside the area swept by the storm.

Raindrops were falling down from the sky, along with destructive lightning. However, Captain Mar wasn’t afraid of the thunderstorm at all and his tiny boat moved under the thunder clouds carefreely.

Inside the cabin, even the thunderstorm became quite. The raindrops were hitting against the windows, the rhythms of which were weaving a lament of the sea, since even the most energetic part of the earth could be conquered and polluted by humans.

Captain Mars lit up a candle inside the cabin and the whole room was illuminated by that tiny flame of fire. The boat was shaking, the tempo of which put the four in a trance.

“I am really wondering what will happen in Desertia and what Desertia was like. I have never come to a desert,” whispered Yanni.

“Neither had I,” replied Floria.

“Do you remember that when we were young, mom always told us stories about a sailor called Sigurd? He sailed across the sea and adventured in those fantastic islands,” asked Yanni.

“For sure I remember. I love the story of Sigurd, and you said that you wanted to be like Sigurd one day. You always wanted to be a hero,” answered Floria.

“Now my dream has come true, we have become heroes,” muttered Yanni.

“We’re not heroes at all, Yanni. We’re only a bunch of super villains. We’ve killed four people, Sir Bellum, Doctor Plague, Luke Fames, and Master Mortis,” giggled Aislina.

“You remind me of mom … I really want her back,” sighed Yanni.

“I want mom and dad back too. I’m missing them,” Aislina reassured him

“So I am the only one in this team … That has a mom …” murmured Starsha, lowering her head.

“Yep,” Floria nodded.

“I’m sorry,” expressed Starsha.

“Could you play some music? You know, music can heal our mood,” begged Floria.

“No, I won’t touch any music until I find the answer, but I can tell you some jokes to cheer you up,” proposed Starsha.

“Bravo, Yanni and I love jokes,” agreed Floria.

“Here is the joke. Which is faster, Hot or Cold?” questioned Starsha.

“Hot is faster,” guessed Yanni.

“No, cold is faster,” corrected Starsha.

“Why?” queried Yanni.

“Because you can catch a cold!” explained Starsha.

It was really a dad joke. Yanni and Floria felt a surge of unbearable embarrassment

“That’s hilarious!” Aislina burst into laughter, however.

“Well, Floria, Yanni, you two really don’t understand the art of humour, but Aislina, you’re my soulmate.” Starsha laughed too.

“Yeah, we’re soulmates,” consented Aislina, still tittering.

“Well, I will tell you another joke, well, there are two crabs, one red, one black, they’re racing …” narrated Starsha.

While the four were chatting happily, the storm had ended quietly. The grey clouds on the sky had dissipated and the wind had dropped. Tomorrow would be a sunny day …

On the surface of the dark blue sea, a solitary boat was sailing across the immense ocean under the starless sky of the night. It would be a long night but people would never give up waiting for the sunrise.

II

After one week,

The boat of the four had been sailing in the blue ocean for seven days and in this seven days, around the boat was only endless blueness. The four had been afraid that they would get lost in this vast ocean composed of blue nothingness.

However, Captain Mar always assured that they won’t get lost because he was one of the greatest sailors in this world. Anyway, Captain Mar proved himself this time.

In the seventh day of this journey on the sea, another continent comprised of sands and infinite desert came into the sights of the four. Without any doubt, that was Desertia.

Not only did they arrive at Desertia safe and sound, but they had also arrived exactly at Le Meraviglie, the city of wonders.

This was indeed an exotic city for the four, since they had never been to other kingdoms than Normania.

The buildings in Le Meraviglie were pretty different from those in Normania, since they were built in the Desertian style of architecture. All the houses were built by bright yellow sandstone of the same colour as the sands. Besides normal houses, there were also pyramids and ziggurats composed of sandstones.

Costumes of people were different too. The citizens there wore lesser and lighter clothes than citizens in Normania to fit in the hot weather, though they still wore more than tribal barbarians.

Anyway, the four had stepped on the land once again. Surprisedly, they found out that they were feeling not comfortable on the land, since they had already been accustomed to the turbulence on the dock and the constant moving of the ship.

They were fainting as if the whole world was still moving around them. A feeling of nausea began to stir in their stomach and they really wanted to vomit right now.

“I don’t feel well,” moaned Aislina.

“You’re getting land sick, girl. Only old sailors like me won’t be affected by it. Don’t worry, you will recover soon. It’s around 17:00 now in local time. I suggest you four find a tavern, get a room and take some rest now. Though you’re criminals in Normania, since the relationship between Normania and Desertia is not good, you’re innocent here,” suggested Captain Mar.

“Thanks. How about the local language? We have no idea how to speak, read and write Desertish,” Floria pointed out.

“I can speak Desertish, Floria. My father is a Desertian so I am a half-Desertian who grow up bilingually,” replied Starsha.

“Besides, Normanish was a lingua franca in this world. At least fifty percent of Desertians could speak some Normanish,” added Captain Mar.

“Great. Anyway, thank you for the ride, Captain Mar,” expressed Floria.

“You’re welcome. I decide to stay in Le Meraviglie for two months and when you finish your adventure here, find me and I will take you back to Normania,” advised Captain Mar.

“OK, we’ve got it,” Floria nodded.

After saying goodbye to Captain Mar, the four began to walk through the city. Around them were foreign architecture, foreign faces, foreign clothes and foreign languages.

Everything was foreign and there were thousands of people walking in the street. They all had similar faces and expressions as if they were soulless mass-produced things instead of normal humans with precious and unique souls.

“This is really an exotic city and I think I need to take a good tour around here, but now the only thing I want is sleeping. Land sickness is going to kill me,” complaint Floria.

“Land sickness is killing me too. Anyway, let’s find a tavern first,” proposed Yanni.

Luckily, Starsha could speak Desertish quite fluently and soon she found out where the tavern was by asking a pedestrian.

The tavern was a small building with a sign written in Desertish, “לַה טַאוֵוירְנַה” [The Tavern]

Entering the tavern, those consummate but weird melodies coming from the music boxes made their way into their ears. There were people sitting at the tables, drinking wines. Drowned by alcohol, their faces were reddish and stinky smell was given off by their body.

It was hard to judge their emotions. Maybe they were really happy, or maybe they were all sad and they were only numbing themselves with alcohol so that they could forget their sadness.

Though the façade of Le Meraviglie wasn’t as lifeless as Scholomance City, there were something wrong inside the substance of the city too. A smell of despair was lingering in the air too, alone with the music of those mechanical music boxes.

The drinkers were drinking; the drinkers were laughing; the drinkers were waiting for something in vain. They were chatting, but their topics were meaningless; they were dreaming, but no one could understand their dreams and they could not understand the dreams of each other as well.

There was a stage, but no one was standing on the stage singing or playing instruments. There were only music boxes and their seemingly ethereal sounds filled the air along with the gibberish of insane drinkers.

Inside the tavern was the meaningless space brimming with hollowness, where confused souls were roaming, wandering and searching for answers to their blurry and indescribable questions.

Perhaps someday they would escape this space and began to face this dark real world, or perhaps they would stay inside there forever until they went to their tombs because they didn’t want to really find the answers at all. In alcohol, in their dreams, they didn’t need to worry about anything.

Walking up to the counter, the four began to talk with the bartender. The bartender was a tall man with snow-white hair. It was hard to judge how old he was and he was the only one who was sober in this room except the four.

“צְיַאוֹ אמִיצִי! דַא דוֹוֵוי וֵוינִיטֵי?׃”[Hi friends! Where are you from?] greeted the bartender.

“פַּארְלִי נוֹרְמַאנֵיסֵי?׃” [Can you speak Normanish?] queried Starsha.

“Oh, Normanish. I’ve got it. Well, the costumes of you are not like Normanians,” the bartender pointed out in accented Normanish.

“We’re not citizens. We’re barbarians,” explained Floria.

“Barbarians. Well, it’s my first time to meet Normanian barbarians. How many rooms do you want?” asked the bartender.

“We want two twin bed rooms,” demanded Floria.

“Well, two twin bed rooms. Anyway, there are exactly two available twin bed room,” announced the bartender.

“May I ask you where the base of Macchina Gloriosa is?” questioned Starsha.

“When you’re walking in the city, you can see an enormous pyramid that towers over all other buildings, right?” asked the bartender.

“So that building is the base of Macchina Gloriosa, right?” pursued Starsha.

“Bingo. Are you going to work there? Many people have travelled from afar to this city only to get a chance to work in Macchina Gloriosa, because all the workers there can be highly paid. However, the job there is demanding and few people can pass its interview,” sighed the bartender.

“No, I am not going to work there,” murmured Starsha.

“Anyhow, the music boxes they produce are marvellous! The music of them is better than the masterpieces of any human bards! I love their music!” exclaimed the bartender.

“Why do you want to listen to music?” inquired Starsha.

“Because music make me high! According to a research done by Macchina Gloriosa, specific melodies can stimulate some of our glands and make us high,” answered the bartender.

“Don’t you think that the stories and emotions behind the songs are important?” muttered Starsha.

“Nonsense. Totally nonsense. The meaning of music lies in making people feel high. It’s the opinion of most people. If you think about emotions, stories, or other meaningless things, you must have been brainwashed by some priggish artists. Anyway, since you have rent two rooms of me, I can give you two ticket so that two of you can go to visit the Pyramid of Macchina Gloriosa” suggested the bartender.

“Thanks,” expressed Floria.