Sea of Glass ✔️

Chapter 12 - The Other Side

If Haydn had to guess the one thing that would never happen to him in his lifetime, his answer would have been leaving the Northern Continent. The exorbitant cost of travel aside, it was vastly inconvenient for even the most wealthy people to uproot their lives and adapt to a new culture. The treacherous sea that separated the North and South was infamous for being infested with monsters. But Duke Artois was desperate for an end to the war. Knowing that his death was certain, he decided to go with his last resort: making contact with the Southern Continent.

According to him, one of the five islands housed a weapon that would give them a major advantage over the Dracenians. While he wasn't specific as to what that weapon was, Haydn got the sense that he was being sent to retrieve a person.

"If you think the Mages on this side of the world are powerful, wait till you see them," the Duke had said.

Travel aside, his task was simple. He only needed to secure an alliance with one of the Southern royal families to have access to an army of Mages. Duke Artois directed him to sail towards Myrania first, the only island he knew that incorporated Mages in their military. He found out about this secret piece of information when a wandering band of Mages stopped by the castle. Regardless of whether this was true or not, given the contract that most of the Mages had with the God of the Sea, if Haydn was successful in persuading the king, they were guaranteed smooth sailing back to Ylivia.

There wasn't much that the Northern Continent could offer that the Southerners didn't already have in abundance. But the Duke still filled the ship with Northern specialties to give to each of the royals. Barrels of wine and Ylivian steel swords accompanied him under the cover of the night. After a heartfelt goodbye, he was off, leaving the Duke to deal with impending Dracenian violence on his own.

Haydn had never been on a boat before. He was unaccustomed to the way that the wooden floorboards were constantly moving, tilting left and right no matter how he shifted his position. The seasickness confined him to a dark cabin, where he remained for a few days before he was mercifully granted a sense of his bearings. The only good thing about being trapped in the dark was that he didn't need to maintain his glamour. At least, in his suffering, he could be himself.

But he very much preferred to be on deck, with the salty wind combing through his hair. He thought he knew freedom, but there was nothing like the feeling of being out at sea. For as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but the neverending blue expanse of water. The only people that existed were the servants that waited on him, hand and foot, on the ship.

He was in control, truly and fully. There were no Dracenians searching for him or dukes he needed to put on a mask for. Other than the sea monsters he kept hearing about, he hardly had a care in the world.

"Are you sure you're not afraid?"

This time, Odi took the form of his reflection, speaking to him through the cloudy glass of the ship's mirror.

"What is there to be afraid of? We've been sailing smoothly for the past few days," Haydn said, wiping his face with a damp cloth. He had just woken up from the best sleep he's gotten in years.

"Chosen One, the danger is already with us. You simply need to look down," Odi said cryptically.

"What danger?" By then, the God had left the ship, leaving Haydn to question what exactly he had meant.

He took the stairs up to the deck before moving to the prow of the ship. He gazed down at the waves, seeing only the unusually clear water that gave the Glass Sea its name. A school of silvery fish swam by, briefly startling him. He laughed, the fear washing off of him. It was as he thought. There was no danger.