SKY OF PAPER: AN ASIAN STEAMPUNK FANTASY

CHAPTER 25

"Go underneath it," I blurted.

The captain darted his gaze in my direction.

Startled, I looked away apologetically.

"Why is that boy still here? Take him off my bridge, now."

"No," the Boar interrupted. "Again, he’s right. The Serpent's Back is bound only to the sky. We must make for the ocean below where it cannot reach us."

With a small measure of reluctance, the captain immediately ordered the ship to descend.

All sorts of bells chimed and rang, giving orders and warnings throughout the entirety of the ship. We waited patiently, watching ominously as the crew below and the children in the ritual room set about their tasks. The Boar lit his pipe and Han anxiously shook my arm asking me for any sort of explanation as to what was going on. Amidst the concerned faces of my classmates I told them about the storm outside. Kidou, with a calm, proud expression reassured everyone and told them there was nothing to worry about, while Han ordered them to return back to their rooms. A moment later, an additional alarm bell sounded.

"Why is the bow still rising?" The disgruntled captain asked.

The helmsman pulled fiercely at various levers and switches as if he were fighting against something.

"I don't know sir," he said. "The ritual room says they’re doing everything they can to bring us down. Engineering reports that the engines are in full reverse. Even the diving vents are fully open, but the ship isn't responding."

Outside the bridge window lay a ferocious current shaped like a behemoth river, pressing us along against our will.

"We're being drawn in," I said. "The storm is pulling us into itself."

"Strange. You can see these things?" The Boar queried.

"Yes, every detail."

The Boar remained unmoved as he continued to puff at his pipe, studying me with suspicious eyes. Even as the captain bellowed out his orders, there was no denying that his efforts were in vain.

A small feeling of dread gripped the inside of my chest as I imagined the ship smashing against a piece of wreckage, then sent tossing and tumbling, doomed to hover ceaselessly across the sky among the other storm's helpless victims.

The captain called for the Boar's assistance. He pressed his hand on my shoulder before answering the captain’s summon.

Most of the students had disappeared below decks, except for Han and Kidou who looked onward with both desperation and awe.

"Do you see it?" Han asked.

"Yes, I do," Kidou replied. "So many colors. It's like a painting.”

Indeed, there was a beauty to the churning mass. To everyone else who looked on unknowingly from the windows and portholes, there was a hollow blackness with only the glow of the timid moon, peering every now then from behind thick, scattered clouds.

We faltered backwards as the bow rose sharply. An ethereal wave had picked up the ship and the currents quickened, driving the us further and further away from world below.

"Han. Kidou." I said. "I think you should go below and find some place safe."

I darted off the bridge and descended the steps to the decks below.

"What about you?" Han said, calling after me.

"I'm going to help."

Of course, they followed me. It was pointless to even suggest otherwise.