Chapter 28: The Breathless
The sun leisurely dipped below the horizon causing the shadows to stretch until they were replaced by the night itself. Coop found himself watching the sharks as they circled the oil platform. He had been inspecting as many as he could in the dimming light, but none of them had any levels. He had spotted several different species. Blue sharks, makos, and hammerheads were all present, swimming in and out of vision. Thankfully, none of them had gained any magical abilities. The last thing he wanted to deal with was an aggressive shark that could shoot spells at him. Satisfied that if he hadn’t seen any with levels yet, he wouldn’t find one at all, he turned his attention back to the ship.
Coop returned to his companions to find them engaged in yet another argument with the other Chosen. He gathered that Camila and Charlie had intended to join him on the oil platform, but the rest planned on all of them staying on the ship. Instead of allowing them to split up, the Puppeteer from Kevin’s party had forbidden Charlie and Camila from leaving the ship at all. He claimed it was for their safety, as they were valuable to the Empire, but it was obvious that even he didn’t believe his own words.
The pair of girls would have gone anyway, finding his permission irrelevant, except that he had threatened to take the boat and leave them stranded if they entered the oil platform. When Camila pointed out that they couldn’t sail the ship without Charlie, he dismissed her argument and claimed that they would find a way. Humans had been sailing for a lot longer than they had mana and even if they couldn’t, the end result would still have them stranded on the oil rig while they drifted away.
When Coop approached, the Puppeteer addressed him directly. “Better run along, island boy.” He sneered. “We won’t leave for at least three days, so…” He dismissively shooed Coop toward the platform.
“At least three days…?” Coop wondered at the man’s word choice as much as the reasoning for the timeframe. He wasn’t declaring a deadline, but rather the opposite.
“We’ve got our own schedule to keep.”
Coop looked at the girls, who didn’t seem to have caught the peculiar choice of words. “Don’t leave without me, alright?” Camila nodded unhappily, annoyed that they would be staying on the ship, but Coop was fine with it. He’d be able to use all of his abilities to their fullest without worrying about giving away any information to the rest of the Empire. He wouldn’t have minded just the girls accompanying him, but going alone suited him just as well. Once he snagged the spectral relic, he really just needed a getaway driver, and with both of them on the ship, he was confident he wouldn’t be left stranded if they could help it, even if that was the Puppeteer’s plan.
Coop turned to the nearest ladder and waited for the next ocean swell to lift the ship. He took a running start and, timing it with the rise of the boat, leapt from the top of the railing across the gap and over the shark-filled waters. He grabbed at the rungs of the ladder and caught himself without stumbling. He tried to make it look natural. Unfortunately, he still landed in the water all the way up to his belly button.
He scrambled up and out of the water as fast as he could, scared that a predator was on his heels. His aura even detected an entity right on his tail. Once he was sufficiently out of the water he turned to see what was beneath him, but there were no sharks. He watched as a drop of blood dripped from his scraped foot into the waves of the ocean. He had only taken 4 damage. He hoped the sharks wouldn’t be excited by the little bit of blood. He knew some of them had incredible senses.
He squinted to take a better look in the remaining twilight and managed to identify something that was directly beneath him.
[Caribbean Barnacle (Level 6)]
[Abyssal Bulwark (Body)]