Four Friends; A Forsaken World [REWRITE IN PROGRESS]

Chapter Ten: Hello, Aquarius!

The next morning, outside the Inferno Palace, AKA the place where they met Everblaze...

"So, THIS is a carriage?!" Lizzy gasped.

In front of the girls (and the one Spirit boy) was a vehicle that looked like a cruiser boat with wheels. The cabin's shell had a dark blue tint with a knightly emblem painted on its side. In the cockpit was a girl that seemed to be made of water with short hair and a sailor's outfit.

"Hello, nice to meet you!" The Water Nymph greeted. "I am Aquarius, a member of the Aquaria Defenders of Avulsio. The Empress of Water has ordered me to escort you underwater."

"Ooh!" Kit gasped. "Can we come aboard?"

"Sure, why not?" Aquarius asked. "Come aboard, the sooner we leave, the faster we'll arrive."

Boarding the ship was simple; all they needed to do was to climb the swim platform and enter the hatch leading to the cabin. After climbing down the ladder, they were met with what seemed to come out of a hotel. The walls were a light pastel blue, and the floor was made of wooden planks. The six bunk beds lined against one of the walls were made of what seemed to be blue gold with luscious sheets with storage drawers underneath the first bunk. There was a small kitchen area with a fridge, stove, sink and countertop space. There was even a kitchen island with seven stools. Small circular windows lined the walls with a way to see what was going on outside. A small portion of the cabin was reserved for a bathroom with a hot tub with a sink and toilet. In other words, the ship was well decorated, shiny, sparkly, and bright but very simple. In addition, the room was as cold as an air-conditioned room, except the temperature was the right balance, not to hot, not too cold.

"Wow!" Puro gasped. "This is awesome."

"I know, right?!" Jian replied, running to the hot tub in the corner of the room. "They have a hot tub here, you know!"

"Finally, we can take a shower after a long time." Kit sighed. He ran to one of the bunk beds. "I'm taking the bottom bunk!"

"Yeah, top bunk's mine!" Everblaze laughed, running over to the bunks and dumping her brown camping backpack on the floor. At the same time, Faith walked to the kitchen to check it out.

"This kitchen is surprisingly well stocked." She commented. "We could cook some good food with this."

"Is everyone doing fine?" Aquarius asked, sliding down the ladder to the travelers.

"Yep!" Jian answered.

"Okay!" Aquarius replied, shutting the hatch, and motioning for everyone to sit at the stools at the kitchen island. "I'm here to brief everyone on how this trip is going to be."

With everyone at the kitchen island, Aquarius pressed a button on their left glove, projecting a holographic screen.

"This trip will take an entire week." Aquarius said. "Avulsio is in the middle of a deep ocean for defense reasons, and for safety, the underwater trip will take three days, tops."

"The land trips?" Lizzy asked.

"It takes..." Aquarius squinted. "Since Ignis is far away from the ocean, if we leave now, it will take four days."

"Ah." Puro said. "Well, if I calculate, it makes sense."

"Okay, so without further ado, let's go!" Aquarius cheered. They ran back to the ladder and opened the hatch. "You should brace yourselves since we're moving out."

As the hatch slammed shut, the six travelers were curious.

"What does they mean by 'brace yourselves'?" Everblaze asked, standing up. "I've been in situations like these—"