The Journey Around The World, In Order To Save Spring

Researching Fear Itself

And then all those feelings were gone. His chest felt lighter, the air was easier to breathe. He looked up to see that the corpses were gone. There was no evidence that they had ever even been there. All that was left was a vague spherical shape glowing and hovering in the air. The only thing standing between Atsuguk and the irregular shape was Kamak. Wait, Kamak? How did he get there? He thought he was in his room. "Cyclone Blast!" A gust of blue wind pushed the form back, towards the highest deck. Cyclone applied more air pressure towards the shape, repelling it until it was knocked into its wooden chest. Straight away Thunderstorm jumped onto it, snapping the lid shut.

He swiftly relocked it, the chest shaking from the agitated creature within, but so far withstanding the assault. Thunderstorm exhaled a breath of relief, sliding down onto the floor. The other three stayed where they were, Taggak on his back, Atsuguk sitting cross-legged and Kamak just standing and staring at the chest. Man, good thing he came along or else they would've been goners. Who would've thought that he could beat whatever that thing was? Curious, really. Anyway, after the harrowing incident, the two young wolves didn't want to do anything anymore. All they wanted to do was unwind.

So that was why, with heavy sighs Taggak and Atsuguk proceeded to retire to their beds, with barely even a goodbye. Amaruq couldn't say he was offended, he did not think much of it and decided to man the helms. Someone's got to do it, right? Pulling Kamak along and making him sit beside him, he took control of the wheel-like structure, his hands steady. Based on the position of the midday Sun, he had to turn about 30° to the left so that La Concorde was heading East. When that was done, he didn't need to do much else. So, he took out two heavy hardcover books from his bag. Each of them were as heavy as a small dumbbell. He thought, why not do some research while sailing? It wasn't like he couldn't multitask, right?

The books he chosen were encyclopaedias. One about 'Vampires, werewolves and other monsters' and one about 'ghosts and spirits', as what was written on the covers. One of these tomes should have info on what they just encountered. Based on its characteristics, it was probably a spirit of some kind, but Amaruq still read the monster book first. He wanted to brush up on his beast knowledge. So he read and read, keeping an eye on the ship to make sure their path didn't stray. It wouldn't be long now until they reached the Old World. He read the entirety of the monster guide, and as he expected, there wasn't any entries in it that matched whatever they fought. Could it even be counted as fighting? He really only pushed it back, and at the last moment too.

He really didn't expect to find his worst nightmare, the zombie leech-centipede, here of all places. Those things didn't even exist! Yet there was one just now and Amaruq wouldn't be lying if he said it didn't make much sense. How could one exist? He'd only ever saw it in his mind, not in any book or any story told by anyone; A figment of his own private imagination. So how did they meet one? Then again... they have met other things that no one has ever met before. It was just their luck that they did. If they didn't have to encounter all this weirdness, their journey would be much smoother, and quicker too. Then they didn't have to worry about their family so much. There would have been more time on their hands.

This snow thing was such a bother. Right now what they had to was fix it by asking the great weather goddess Asiaq for help, but that will only fix the problem. They wouldn't know why it happened, which was an issue for Amaruq. He always had to know the cause, the root. He knew, that for Atsuguk and Taggak, simply getting rid of the problem was enough, but for him? He had to know. His curiosity wouldn't allow him peace of mind. Maybe it would kill him, just like it killed the cat, but he didn't care. Why is the ice suddenly extending its range from the polar ice caps? The last ice age literally just ended 2000 years ago. Even the woolly mammoths which lived during that era were still alive.