As I looked ahead of me, I saw a shaken Penelope glancing towards me in worry.
"Is that going to reach us when we get down to where this place leads us?" She asked.
"I don't know, but let's not stick around long enough to find out." I replied.
We quickly descended the staircase, feeling an invisible pressure behind us.
After what felt like an eternity, we finally came upon another large open space, only this time, what we saw was more amazing than the last.
In front of us was a cave. Half of the ground was water, and atop the water was a giant Pirate Ship, looking as if it was brand new.
"This must be the real treasure the entire time, a ship!" Penelope exclaimed, bewildered by the sight.
I, too, held my breath at the sight of such an amazing-looking vessel.
Gold and Bronze complimenting the steampunk design with pipe engines attached towards the end of the ship, along with what looked like wings folded, as if it was ready to not only sail the ocean, but the skies as well.
"This, this is incredible!" I marveled.
Penelope seemed to agree with me, as we both headed towards deck of the ship, and was awestruck by the sight of all the technological feats that go far above anything that should exist in this world, or so Penelope seems to be saying.
I lived most of my short time here in the ocean, I've no idea what type of era the mainland has entered into right now.
For all I knew, spaceships and jetpacks could've been invented already.
Judging by Penelopes clothes, and how she briefly described the cities and such, oh and given her profession, I'd say probably 1800's ish?
I'm not much of a historian, at least, non-fiction history, I prefer reading about myths than I do about the black plague.
I guess I should've tried remembering dates better, but oh well, too late now.
Back to the topic at hand, Penelope scoured nearly every inch of the outside of the ship, squealing like a highschool girl who just got her first car for her birthday.
"This thing is incredible! Not only is it incredibly sturdy, it looks like it's never been rusted! In other words, it practically brand spanking new! Not just that, but I got a peek at the engine, which I'll look at in more detail later, but it looks like this baby can sail at speeds not even the fastest sailboat in the world could reach! And to top it all of, those wings are just for show! This thing can also fly!" She explained in hyperventilating detail.
"Wow." I said with fake enthusiasm.
"Hmph, someone like you wouldn't understand the kind of priceless treasure this is!" She exclaimed with a harumph.
I guess she realized I wasn't as enthusiastic as her.
Either way, I could tell this thing was priceless regardless of my view of it.
It's just a shame I can't take it with me.
Even the ore in the last room wasn't worth taking.
I couldn't help but sigh.
Just as I was about ready to give up, a hand stretched out in front of me, revealing a pretty gem embedded in a necklace.
"Here. Take it. As compensation for helping me get this far." Penelope said, her face turned away with red cheeks.
I stared dumbstruck at the scene before me.
After seeing my blank face, Penelope turned around and said
"Don't think too deeply about this, I just happened to see you sitting there depressed, and realized you wouldn't have any need for this ship, so to not let you feel left out, I found this in the captains quarters." She explained.
I looked at the gem again, it was pink and crysalline, it almost looked as if it was glowing.
I then looked back up at Penelope who had a nervous look on her face.
I smiled, before taking the necklace.
"Thanks." I replied.
She nodded meekly before heading back into the captain's quarters.
That reminds me, I feel like we were forgetting about something?
Just then, the entire cave around us began to quake and crumble.
"Shit, I forgot the water around the temple seems to be quickly breaking the cave!" I yelled.
I would have normally thought about how water could cause a cave to collapse like this, but it wasn't exactly a good time to think about such a thing.
Sensing the disturbance, Penelope seemed to rush out of the captain's quarters.
"What's happening?" She asked, slight panick and fear glowing in her eyes.
"The cave seems to be collapsing around us!" I yelled as part of the ceiling near us collapsed, causing the water levels to rise even quicker than before.
"What are we going to do?" She asked, looking towards me.
However, in spite of her hopes in me, the truth was, I had no idea what to do.
If it was me alone, the solution would be simple, but there is both Penelope and this ship to think about.
I could maybe protect Penelope like before, but under the circumstances, I didn't have enough faith to keep her safe at such a low depth.
Not to mention the ship, which despite it's appearance, must be incredibly old and unable to wisthand the damage the lost of the cave will cause.
"How is this even happening?!" Penelope yelled.
"I don't know! The cave shouldn't have had any problems supporting this weight, like it has for all this time!" I shouted back.
After hearing my words, Penelope seemed to think of something.
"It only started to collapse after we entered the temple, right!?" She shouted.
"Yeah!" Replied.
We both began to struggle to hear each other's voices over the noise of the water pouring in, not to mention the ship was just barely keeping afloat, soon it would be sunk once it reached the top of where the cave ceiling was.
"I think I know what to do! Let's head inside the engine room!" Penelope yelled at the top of her lungs.
I nodded, and followed her towards the engine room, situated in the middle of the ship.
"This is it!" Penelope exclaimed in relief.
"What?" I asked.
I looked at where she was looking, but all I saw was a simple lever.
"It's the mechanism to unfold the wings!" She answered.
"Ok. Cool. How does this help?" I asked, confused.
"Don't you see? How is it the temple suddenly stopped wisthanding the water surrounding it after we entered deep into it?" She replied with another question.
"I don't know?" I replied.
Penelope grunted in frustration.
"Seriously?! Think! This ship isn't just capable of sailing the ocean! It can fly! How do you think they managed to get this thing into the air without any way to pick up enough speed to soar?"
"I still don't get it." I answered.
Penelope sigh, defeated.
"Fine. The cave isn't collapsing by accident, it's on purpose. it's creating just enough momentum to lift us up into the air the moment the water connects with the lake outside.
"Last I checked that wasn't how physics worked." I replied.
Theoretically, connecting back to the lake would simply submerge the ship, and cause it to sink at worst, and us to rise slowly at best.
"Yes! Except, when you consider that there is a special ore that capable of applying my theory into action. It's called Dream Bronze, and it has a lot of magical properties depending on what metals it's fused with. This ship isn't just made out of normal Bronze, it's Dream Bronze, and it's fused with Copper, which just so happens, to not be slowed down by water."
Despite my hesitation, I decided to trust Penelope on this matter, given she knew more about this world than I did.
I suppose once we get out of this, it's time for me to learn more about this world.
Of course that means separating from...
I looked towards Penelope.
She sensed my gaze, and locked eyes with me.
"Why-?" She began to ask something, but was interrupted as the ship rocked back and forth from the force of rising suddenly.
As she groaned from the shock, she remembered what was happening and rushed towards the lever, and, as she counting the seconds, flipped the lever after about 20 seconds.
"Let's hope that was enough time." She muttered.
As we waited, holding our breath, light began to slowly, then strongly pour into the cracks between the ships cracks.
We looked at each other in silence, hearing the birds chirping, and couldn't contain the joy on our faces.
As we the excitement rushed through our bodies, we couldn't help but notice how close we had gotten to each other, as we sat down calming ourselves, we locked eyes once again, and inched closer to each other.
As our lips touched, I could feel her warmth, so familiar, yet so different.
After neither of us had pulled away, we began to become more intimate.
Ahem, this part isn't exactly the most interesting, so I think I'll skip it, but, well, you can make a guess as to what happened.
Though, we didn't go THAT far, pervert.
After we had finally relaxed and calmed down, we headed towards the top deck.
As we stared at the ocean below, I couldn't help but remember what I needed to do.
"Tell me. Are you...Him?" Penlope asked.
"Am I who?" I chuckled.
"Don't be smart with me. You know who I mean. There's something so familar about you, a feeling I've had since I first met you, back when you attacked my ship." Penelope replied in a knowing tone.
"I'm not the only one who felt there was something, then." I replied.
I didn't deny her claims, but it was better if I didn't outright confirm them.
After all, as much as I would love for her to be the reincarnation of...Her, the chances are so slim.
Still, I regardless of the truth, I wish to spend my last few hours with her believing it to be truth.
"If, if you really are him, then...please, stay with me!" Penelope pleaded.
However, I couldn't answer her back.
I must admit, I wanted to stay with her, there really was nothing holding me back from being with her, but that's just it.
My dream was not to be held down, to be free and roaming the oceans, doing as I pleased.
It's why I became a Leviathan.
It's why, I must separate from her.
I didn't have to answer her, but she knew the answer, once we locked eyes, for the final time.
In the last few moments, we shared one last act of love, before I left.
I had already told her where to find her crewmates, and jumped off the bow of the ship, releasing my human form, and finally returning my original appearance.
As I swam from the island, I couldn't help but thinking about that necklace, stored away using my magic.
"Thanks." I muttered under my breath one last time, before swimming at full speed.
---------------------
Penelope's POV.
And there he went.
Not even daring to look back.
Perhaps, that's for the best.
The next few months for me was a whirlwind of change.
I rescued my crew, before setting sail on our new ship, and making it big selling off some of the unusable treasures aboard.
We even officially began to "borrowing" from the government.
Of course, with so much stuff, there was mostly things we didn't need, so we figured it would be best to simply give back to those who would need such items.
A chivarlic pirate, now that's something to think about, I suppose.
However, that wasn't the only thing to change.
"Ya said ya met a man on the island, boss? And, ya're sure ya both, di'nt, ya know?" One of my crew asked me.
"I'm sure." I replied, rubbing my stomach.
"In fact, I don't think he even knows about this." I said, smiling.
He may not be here with me, but he did leave me with something to remember him by.
Something I'll always treasure...
Island of Gold Arc - End.
----------------------------
Author's notes: Hello, the Author here!
Ahem, to be honest, I was planning on waiting to say anything until after I finished this story.
But, given how long it might be before that happens, I figure I should choose now, at the end of the current arc.
So, first things first, I'm happy that there are people interested in a story that might not be as interesting as say, a Dragon.
As well as thanks for reading this far. I really appreciate it, seriously.
Just like the previous story, My New Life as a Dragon in Another World, I again held no expectations from this story to do well, and was ready to keep it as a one-shot.
However, after seeing that there was people willing to support it, I managed to find motivation to write.
Though I've tried my best to limit it a bit, it's pretty obvious this was meant to be somewhat of a sequel to the Dragon story, however my hope is that I can still make this feel as though it can stand alone, and garner it's own interest.
Second thing I'd like to talk about, is once I've finished writing this story, I'm planning on putting my full focus onto transitioning onto Patreon. Though I don't expect much to come out of it, I am hopeful to make a little bit of money in order to have a somewhat stable income, as money has become tight right now.
This does not mean I will be leaving Wattpad completely, in fact there will still be plenty of stories released onto here.
However, it does mean there might be even more delays in releases of chapters in the future, though you'll hardly notice much of a difference.
That brings me to another thing, I'd like to apologize for the inconsistent releases in chapters.
It's not that I didn't want to get a chapter out right away, it's simply that I wanted to make sure each chapter was at it's best, and not burn myself out as I had done with the Dragon story once before.
Well, I think that should cover everything, for now. Patreon will be officially opened once I've finished preparing, but that won't be for a while after the final arc of Leviathan.
Speaking of arcs, I hope you all enjoy the next arc - The Mermaid Kingdom Arc!