“Correct,” Graventos said, and the stifling pressure receded with the rust. Ewan retched and puked a blob of blood that held the reddish-brown essence, the crux that had rusted him. Infirmity assaulted him as his knees thudded on the deck, his back slumped, and as the four around him and his Astylinds rushed to help, his drooping eyes stared at the hovering blob. He’d just suffered its effect, he knew what it could do, and he felt how it did that. Wisps of blood slithered away and evanesced as the blob shrank, and Ewan squinted at each of their departures, lifting his worn-out hand to draw his conclusion. And with his first stroke that ate away at the blob, an immature skeleton of a spell circuit came to life.

  He drew, his shaky core barely holding him up, his chest constricting and his shoulders quivering when he swayed. Though the rust left, its damage retained, but it was without a source now. So, Iris finally won in her endeavors and healed him. When her spell washed away the last trauma, Nana plopped down behind Ewan with a heavy sigh of relief, still clutching his shirt.

  Kidd, Lance, Stefan, and his Astylinds maintained a red alert on the deck, but the awaited attack never came, and an eerie silence engulfed the part of the ocean.

  “Graventos, its time, let’s go,” a man in an unzipped white jacket said, hovering by the clouds, the nightly winds playing with his inky hair that brushed his shoulders. An onyx-black neck-warmer rested on his collars, hardly covering the scar that ran to his cheek. And when his lime-green eyes glanced at Ewan and the others, an abrupt gust of wind thrashed Stormfalcon, shoving the warship back. Luckily, it only shook the protective cover, and no damage came off it.

  “You’re in the presence of the Wind Guardian, Zephyr,” the man’s voice with the metallic pitch rang from everyone’s connectors again. “Mind your actions and pay due respects. He can be grumpy at times and is also temperamental. Try not to irk him, or better yet just stay away. Godspeed.”

  The unnecessary remarks flared Zephyr’s nose and tugged a twitch on his lips, the annoyed wrinkles all but showed on his forehead. “I’m not grumpy,” he mumbled, but the wind took it away and it echoed in the nearby waters.

  Ewan finished the last stroke of the spell circuit in the air; it glimmered a dirty red, scattering when he noted it down in his Spellbook—the spell’s name was . And when he tuned in to the appearance of another Guardian, he cursed in his mind. Had he activated the Lucky Roulette by accident and was suffering from its backlash now...

  “Graventos! Wake up, you donkey’s ass!” Zephyr hollered towards the island. “We need to go now; the chains are ready.”

  “I’m awake already, stop yelling,” Graventos said, his voice buzzing over the island. The gears cranked, the forest quaked, and the ocean swirled around as the bow on the towering pillar turned. A web of cracks ran from it and spread afar when a giant toy stood up from under the land, the pillar with the bow-head jutting out from its back, and the island shattered.

  “Shrink! I won't haul your giant ass around,” Zephyr said, and Graventos shrank with a nod, moss and muddy sand crumbling away from his crevices. When he came to a man’s size, he floated up for the clouds, while a stream of water rose from the ocean and cleaned his body.

  “Change your habits already,” Zephyr said. “I won't help you the next time you get an earful.”

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  “I met Salathiel’s grandson, I was just greeting him,” Graventos said. “He might gain something from it too, I helped him out."

  “I was talking about the island. For fuck’s sake, sleep in a normal size,” Zephyr grumbled.

  “I did, I just lay down on this beach and fell asleep,” Graventos said. “But I absorbed water while I was sleeping and kept getting bigger.”

  Zephyr clicked his tongue then looked at Stormfalcon. “Is he Salathiel’s grandson? Authen’s son?” he asked. “Siegward was griping about you, that furry bitch you pulled in did a lot of damage. You’d better start earning lots, you need to pay for the damages. And Novas won't cut it.”

  “Alright, alright, let’s go, don’t bully the kids,” Graventos dragged him away, and the two figures faded into the clouds.

  “The fox did the damage, why should I pay for it,” Ewan mumbled when he couldn’t see the Guardians.

  “I heard that!” Zephyr yelled from afar. “Pay for the damages!!” His voice lingered with the wind.

  Ewan froze halfway up and mummed, not even letting a groan of pain escape him as his weary joints creaked. And a pin-drop silence reigned on the warship for minutes.

  …

  …

  …

  “Boss, can we speak now?” Kidd whispered.

  “I think so,” Ewan said, upping his voice a notch then looking around.

  “This time I properly peed my pants, Boss,” Kidd said. “I need to change.”

  “You scared the shit out of me,” Nana punched Ewan’s shoulders, then hugged him tightly and bawled, her tears drenching his collar and neck.

  “I told you I won't die,” Ewan hummed softly in her ears, caressing her head, running his fingers through her hair. “I won't break my promise.”

  “You almost did,” Nana mumbled.

  “Sir, we should move, it’s a good opportunity,” Lance said. “The island has been cracked apart; the pirates are easy prey right now.”

  “Yeah,” Ewan stared at the mess of an island as a soft breeze ruffled Nana’s hair in his face. “Let’s go.”

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