A little over twenty survivors moved along the surface of the ocean. Most were in shock, but their bodies made them move. The class chosen among them made up the perimeter for protection. Drackenn led the way. He had a skill that allowed him to detect the closest land; however, it didn’t tell him if that land was a continent, an island, or an insignificant sand bar, but it was better than swimming aimlessly.

  Vorin was in the back making sure nothing and no one came up behind them. Zuls was on their left side with two of her flying animal companions. Prith was on the right with two surviving pirates they found. Shell had gained consciousness shortly after departing and offered to carry Kumo who hadn’t woken up yet.

  Shell was also able to give them a nice current which helped the class expected to keep moving. She was quite the boon in their current predicament. Her ability to communicate helped them all stay on course, and it didn’t only apply to people. She could communicate with sea creatures. This helped to send curious animals or predators in the other direction. The only problem were magical creatures looking for a meal and thinking they could take the group in a fight.

  At this point, they were all exhausted and ready to get wherever they were headed, but until then they had to keep swimming. Danger was going to further escalate their situation when they lost the light in a couple of hours. Shell could help them sense things in the dark waters, but that wouldn’t help them much in a fight. Vorin and the pirates had some water lights; except they only gave off a few yards of light. They would also make them even more of a noticeable target. Class expected would only be able to keep this up for a couple of days at the most. Class chosen, on the other hand, would be fine for weeks as long as they got some fresh water.

  Everything had gone so wrong, and everyone had been silent since they had gotten the news of Layola and Rupert, except for the occasional warning inside their head from Shell. No one wanted to be the first to speak. What was there to even say in a time like this? They would either get through it or it wouldn’t matter.

  Three hours into their swim, Kumo finally woke up. She was groggy and needed a couple of potions to get her resources back up, but other than that she seemed fine. Shell broke the news about Synexus to her which made her conjure a bone chilling wind that made everyone wince. It was Zuls who calmed her by telling her there was still a chance. He wasn’t near the attack that had caused their current predicament. This information seemed to reassure Kumo that she would see him again. She still tried to go back for him, but Vorin stopped her. They couldn’t lose anyone else.

  So, on they went. Late afternoon turned into a beautiful sunset that sent a burnt orange light across the water. If they were still on the Windswept, they would all have gathered to watch it from the deck. Now it only meant things were about to get a lot worse. With night came the cold and that would be misery for the class expected. None of them had any ability to warm others except for Zul’s penguin, but he didn’t like water. They would just have to suffer until they reached whatever piece of land the king captain was leading them towards.

  Kumo felt lucky for one thing through all this. When her and Synexus became class evolved one of the first things they checked out were their Ullashtt equipment. They wanted to know if their advancement had unlocked any more power from the items, but unfortunately it hadn’t. It did, however, change the drawbacks a bit. The time before side effects would set in had gotten much longer. It now has a two-week period. Kumo hadn’t used her vortex on anything in nearly a week. She would need to find a monster soon, but there was time. If it was still only 33 hours, then she would have been in trouble. It was also good for Synexus since they had to split up the remnant magical items dropped from monsters with the rest of the class chosen now.

  It still burned her up that they had just left him, but she couldn’t say she didn’t understand the choice. Looking at the faces of the class expected she saw how afraid they were. How hard they were trying to keep up with the class chosen. This was a strong bunch of people that had been through a lot without any of the abilities she possessed. They deserved to live and getting them to safety needed to take priority. She knew Synexus was resilient and resourceful. If she would bet her life on anyone living through this, it would be him.

  The sun fell behind the horizon and their world got dark. The clear night sky was lit up with millions of stars. It was always a beautiful sight, but the starlight wasn’t enough to make their situation any less terrifying. Lights provided by Vorin and the pirates helped, but they weren’t enough either.

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  Floating in dark water brought out that fear of the unknown. It wasn’t as dark as the water the kraken had produced, but it was still overwhelming. Was something lurking right beneath them waiting to make its move? One person would accidentally brush up against another in the dark and suddenly there would be panic that something had touched their leg. People were on edge and their minds were playing games.

  Shell kept reassuring people that there were no sea creatures around or she would feel them. Every now and then there would be smaller fish that were harmless that would alarm people, and she would easily ask the fish to leave. They stayed close together for safety and kept swimming.

  It was a little past midnight, and the moon was barely a sliver in the sky. The class expected kept almost falling asleep from exhaustion and the class chosen had to wake them. Vorin would have carried them all if he could, but if a fight broke out then he’d have to drop them. He knew it was torture to keep them going, but it had to be done for the survival of everyone present. His thoughts were strictly on keeping this group of people alive when he got a message from Shell.

  “There is something coming. I can’t tell what it is, but it’s definitely magical.”

  That’s when they all started to hear the singing. It was hauntingly beautiful. The notes were coming across the water from the darkness by Prith. One of the class expected males from the passengers started to move out of the circle and move towards it but was stopped by Prith himself.

  “Sirens! Keep everyone together. The singers are only distractions. They often attack from below. Stay sharp.” Shell warned them all through telepathy.

  In her detection area she could feel nearly twenty sirens circling them. Some were below while others were right below the surface. Three more started to sing and it became irresistible for those without high intelligence stats. The class expected started to be lured out but were stopped by the class chosen. This was bad, they couldn’t fight and keep them together.

  “Some are coming from below!” Shell yelled through telepathy. It was slightly too late though.

  The two pirates got pulled under the water and disappeared. Drackenn and Vorin were able to react in time to deliver death blows to two sirens. When they died, the singers let out a horrible shriek that made the ears of the class expected to start bleeding.

  Kumo launched cloud blades at the two nearest to her and shortly after the shrieks were silenced except for the one over by Prith. He wasn’t a distance fighter and didn’t want to leave the group to silence his. Kumo shortly swam over and used her vortex to pull the other toward her. Prith quickly executed it in one swing. This seemed to send the others into a frenzy.

  “Something is happening. The remaining thirteen are swimming fast underneath us. Watch your feet!”

  Drackenn waited for a moment and then launched a violent cannon blast beneath them. With his enhanced perception the dark didn’t completely hinder him. He could see down into the water a few feet even at night like this. With that attack he had wiped out four of them that had launched their attack.

  Three more made their move. Two pulled Mipp and Roth down into the depths. The third targeted Zuls. Vorin immediately reacted. He was not losing anyone else. His scythes went through the two sirens tails causing a trail of blood as they dragged the two class expected and Vorin even further down, but he wasn’t letting go. His hands grabbed onto the scaly sirens and started to deliver the most devastating plague he had. In thirty seconds, they were both dead. He grabbed onto Mipp and Roth and swam up as fast as he could.

  When they broke the surface, he could tell they were okay but were shaken. That would be a lot for anyone, and they hadn’t even gotten their classes yet. Once he made sure they were okay, he looked over to make sure Zuls had gotten back up on her own. She did. Her air jellyfish had jumped into action and bound the siren up. Her hawk had finished it off by plucking through its eye. The sound it made while it died was disturbing.

  That was three more gone which meant they had six left. All of them were on their toes ready to react. Drackenn was ready to use his ability again at a moments notice. Prith had his sword out and was ready to slice at anything that got close. The tension was high until Shell sent them a message.

  “Something is wrong. All the remaining sirens just took off. That is unlike them.”

  “Maybe they realized we were a threat and didn’t want to lose anyone else?” Vorin asked in his mind.

  “No. We killed some of theirs. That is something they will not let go even if it means death for all of them. This is something bad.”

  They all sat there in the cold, dark water. The moon was getting lower as time passed. A couple of people had gotten scratched from the siren’ claws and they were now being bandaged. The class chosen all kept on high alert waiting for the other shoe to drop. Their swim had stopped.

  Drackenn asked Shell if they could have sensed something bigger coming and that had scared them off. She had said it was possible, but it would have to be something unknown for them to give up revenge. That set even more fear into everyone. The same thought flooded into everyone’s mind. Had the Ullashtt come for the survivors?

  Then Vorin yelled from the back, “There is something massive approaching from the rear!”

  Everyone turned and saw something creeping across the surface towards them. It looked ominous with its glowing blue lights.