- Heaven's Last Breath -

Land Ahoy!

Finally, the night had ended, the moon retreating over the horizon as the sky was dimly illuminated by the orange morning sun. The brilliant blue skies were mostly clear, with the occasional cloud dotted around. A gentle morning breeze had picked up, rolling softly over the azure blue lake.

This view was beyond breathtaking and it reminded me about how long it had been since I had done anything so adventurous and reckless.

My hands had been glued to the helm of the pirate ship, my sailing experience not great to say the least. Although, I did have an expert navigator to my right who had spent the rest of the night by my side making sure I didn't capsize us.

For most of the time Jade was with me, I kept thinking about why she wouldn't take the wheel off me. She was the navigator so this felt like pointless torture. Maybe this was payback for the Miss Universe comment, or for leaving her to fight the pirates by herself. Either way, I knew I couldn't read the mind of this young woman.

Then again, it wouldn't be wrong to say I didn't hate the night. It didn't take me long to discover that Jade and I could talk about anything, we were already comfortable around each other.

No words needed to be exchanged but we already knew how we felt about each other. It was hard to admit it to myself but the noirette had truly stolen my heart.

But as the sun had slowly risen over the horizon, Jade had left my side to sleep for a while before we approached land. That meant we were close to our destination, for which I was thankful.

Now, it was about time I offloaded this job to someone else and fortunately, both Death and Ariel were sat on the deck, conversating under the gentle morning sun. Although, the rose blonde sorceress was doing most of the talking but that dynamic suited them perfectly.

"Hey, Ariel, it's your turn to steer. Get over here!"

I called out to the rose haired girl who let out an overdramatic sigh. Death chuckled a little under his cloak which made me smile from where I was stood. After a moment, I called out again, "Adventure talk comes first."

At that, Ariel didn't hesitate. She stood up from the crate she was sat on, giving the young man opposite her an overdramatic hug before she disappeared into a glowing white mirror.

Less than a few seconds later, the rose blonde emerged on the other side, directly behind me. I spun on my heels, thanking Ariel for taking over before I jumped over the railing onto the deck.

As Ariel took control of the ship, I sat on a larger crate beside Death. The box behind him was filled with bottles of alcohol of various kinds. Now I could see why he was reclined on his seat, leaning on the box behind him.

"That was one of the Rivers, huh?"

The cloaked man spoke up, sitting up on his seat as he pulled back his hood, revealing his crimson red hair.

"Yeah, that's one out of four so it's going well so far."

"I guess. Just remember the easy part is finding them." At that, the young cloaked man stood up from his seat. He slowly pulled up his hood, lifting his gaze as he continued, "Though I doubt you'll have any trouble with the next part."

I half nodded at what he said, knowing that there was much more to the journey than that. But he couldn't have known about exactly how much there was to this.

"Land ahoy!"

From the helm, Ariel called out to the ship, her voice broadcasted over the deck. Slowly, one of the side doors creaked open, a sheepish looking Jade stepping out from where she had been sleeping.