Crown

Rȳ se Tegun-Across the Rifts

The entire time Avarice was on the ship, Sin kept a close watch on him. No matter what he was doing, he could feel Sin glaring holes into the back of his head. Not even the idle conversation Nikiro tried to start to distract Sin was able to take his attention off of his little brother. Sora and Tekina were busy going over the map Illya had given them, leaving Avarice solely to his self. They had been sailing for some time now and Avarice could see the beginnings of the rifts.

They had to sail completely around to cross The Great Oceanic Rift because if they were to cross The Great Rift on land, they'd run into a lot of undesirable obstacles. You see, The Great Rift was known as a kind of no man's land, a barren field of absolute nothingness, a dry, desolate land of harsh winds and burning suns that drained even the strongest of wills and left them unable to cross it. The Great Oceanic Rift was different, however. While it still held unimaginably harsh conditions, it being formed in water made it easier for Sora to create a path through it.

Illya had given him a spear, native to one of the Arunian sages. He was instructed to use it to open a path through the water, as only natives of Aruma An were ever able to make it past the rifts. As the ship neared the watery ravine, an intense rush of magical energy overtook them. As soon as they crossed the threshold of magical energy that the rift produced, they could see that not even fish dared to cross it. The water wasn't the only thing that was piping hot. Everyone on board could feel their clothes begin to stick to their skin. Sora stood at the edge of the ship with the spear in hand.

"Wait! Won't the water burn you?" Sin asked worriedly.

Sora chuckled. "Son, you used to take baths with your mother when you were little remember? Remember how she'd heat the water using nothing but her own body heat? This water is basically the same thing and I've joined her for enough baths to know how to withstand it."

Sin rubbed the back of his head timidly. "Yeah but we're dragons! Obviously we can handle it. You're not! Why don't you let me swim down there?" He persisted.

"Sin you'd die of a lack of oxygen before you made it halfway to the bottom. It's an incredibly deep rift. Who's the water nymph here? Not you!" He teased.

Sin pouted and stepped back in defeat. "Fine..."

Sora dove into the water. As his skin made contact, shiny scales gradually appeared on his body.

"It might take a while for me to reach the bottom. Wait here patiently. Oh! And don't let Sin do anything rash!" He said with a laugh before delving into the depths of the rift.

"Please. I'm not the one that we should watch out for." He sent a glare in Avarice's direction. One that was not so kindly received.

Avarice huffed and looked away. "Say what you want. I don't expect someone who only does whatever they want selfishly to understand why I did what I did. For all your social prowess you seem to lack basic knowledge when it comes to understanding how others feel. All you care about is yourself."

Sin's eyes widened for a moment. He balled his hands into fists and marched up to Avarice, grabbing the scruff of his shirt and yanking his little brother towards himself.

"What was that? Say that again! You want to lecture me on what it means to understand people? Did you understand how worried mom was whenever you disappeared? Did you understand how heartbroken she was every time you pushed her away? HUH?"

Avarice clenched his jaw and hung his head in shame.

"OH NOW YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY HUH?"

Sin's wrath was dispersed as quickly as it had come when he felt Nikiro put a firm hand on his shoulder.

"Hey. Knock it off. He's just a kid. I mean that doesn't excuse what he did, but we didn't come here to fight."

Tekina nodded her head. "Nikiro's right. You'll have plenty of time to talk things through after we've accomplished our mission here."

Sin reluctantly shoved Avarice away and straightened himself out.

"...Sorry..."

It was the only thing that came from his mouth. A quiet and tired sorry. There was more he wanted to say. More he wanted to ask, to explain. He could feel his emotions boiling within him, but all that came out was "sorry." Sin walked away to cool his head. He sat on the other end of the boat.

Nikiro followed him, hoping to ease the tension somewhat. While the two of them chatted. Avarice slumped down by himself, only left with a concerned Tekina. Several minutes went by before strong ripples began to emanate from beneath the boat. Everyone got up just in time to see the water split, creating a deep ravine of tall walls of water. They peered off the edge of the boat and saw Sora at the bottom, completely covered in scales that really made him look like a creature of the sea. The spear was stuck in the ground next to him. He waved at them signalling to wait a moment while he lowered the water level so they could get off.

He looked so small from where they were that they could barely even make it out. The water beneath the boat began to lower until they were flat on the ocean surface with Sora.

"We'll have to walk through this part of the rift."

Sora was visibly exhausted and his breathing was very erratic.

"Should we take a break?" Suggested Tekina.

"No. If we stay in the rift for too long, the magic energy here will overwhelm and kill us all for sure."

Sin and Avarice stepped out of the boat and immediately rushed over to their father. They looked past him and the end of the watery ravine. It was so far away that they couldn't even see the end clearly.

"Well, that's a far way off. It looks like we're going to be spending a lot of time in here regardless."

Sora caught his breath and pulled off the gems on the trident.

"Don't worry! Illya also gave us these!"

He handed the gems to each one of them. They were attached to a sturdy, woven string that allowed for everyone to tie it around their wrists.

"She said they're infused with her own magic. That means it's pure Arunian which should help negate the rift's effects...y'know...given that everything non-arunian is basically treated like a virus within the rifts and promptly disposed off."

"Fantastic." Sin flailed.

Avarice helped Sora to stand straight.

"I should be fine in a little while." He reassured.

Avarice nodded and began to help him walk through the rift, followed by Nikiro, Tekina and Sin. And so they trudged on, unaware of just how dangerous the forgotten lands of Aruma An really was, the lands right on the other end of their path. Nevertheless, they continued forward.