The Erratum

As Cetas saw the world through the Metaphysical Realm, he gazed at his imitation in front.

Alas, what came before his eyes was truly peculiar!

The Cetas that he saw didn’t exist!

The sands didn’t gather up to it, nor did it make a form or figure. Rather, it was simply nothing.

Upon focusing further, he could see faint traces of wind twisting itself to form ’Cetas’

Is he made out of air?

Cetas didn’t know.

Before he could contemplate further, Skadi opened her mouth to threaten him.

"A perfect copy?"

The winds gathered inside Windslinger.

"Wait! It’s me, I’m Cetas!"

Skadi’s eyebrows furrowed.

"It talks?"

She became colder.

"You dare fool me?"

Skadi put the Windslinger closer to Cetas.

"It’s really me, look!"

Cetas utilized the knowledge from his training with Skadi and Reid, manipulating the vapor in the air to form droplets of water.

"Oh?"

Skadi turned around, looking at the other ’Cetas’.

"But I can do that too!"

The winds gathered around ’Cetas’ and formed into multiple droplets of water.

Cetas was surprised.

"What?!" He screamed out.

Skadi turned back to him.

"A fake."

Just then, Skadi raised Windslinger and aimed from behind her. She pulled the trigger and the gun with the cannon-sized barrel shot a swift gust of wind towards the fake Cetas.

The fake Cetas had a look of astonishment when Skadi shot at him. His body disappeared like the winds.

Cetas felt his heart race. For sure he thought he was gonna die!

But alas, he let out a deep breath and asked, "How did you know?"

Skadi stored Windslinger back in her coat.

"The winds. That creature used the winds to create water but you used vapor to do so. There’s a stark difference. And for the past few days that we’ve been training, I noticed some patterns in how you manipulate your element."

Cetas let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you.."

"Of course.."

Elishia ran over to Skadi and Cetas, "Captain! What even was that? It imitated Cetas so perfectly that I couldn’t even tell! Even his voice was the same!"

Skadi turned around and faced the crew.

"A mirage.."

"Mirage?"

"Yes. I’ve only encountered this once but a mirage is a phenomenon where a Zeal, usually a residual Zeal Essence, is merged with the winds. Back then, I encountered myself while on a voyage across the seas."

Cetas listened well, garnering more information about the world.

"So the cause of this storm is?" Elishia asked.

"I don’t know. A mirage doesn’t usually cause large-scale phenomena like this.. A mirage only imitates what it can with the residual Zeal that it utilizes."

Skadi turned silent and thought for a second. She looked down, holding her thumb to her chin.

"That is unless the residual Zeal Essence is of the high-rank.."

Just then, Skadi raised her hand and spread her fingers open.

"I will try something, everyone, please bear with me."

The crew tensed.

Skadi used her Zeal and deactivated the veil of wind surrounding the ship.

All at once the pouring rain came crashing down towards the ship.

Cetas expected himself to be drenched by the rain, however, once the droplets made contact with him, it simply vanished into thin air.

He looked around only to see the others remaining dry.

"The storm is a mirage..?" He asked softly.

Skadi turned to him, "Precisely. How could I have not noticed?"

As a master of the Spire of the Winds, Skadi knew that she held some sort of mastery towards its element. However, in this phenomenon, it was as if her expertise had been rendered.

It could mean two things.

One, that there was some Zeal at play that rendered her to have a decrease of control to her senses. Or two, that the residual Zeal Essence was of a higher rank than her.

"This mirage could be the work of a Pathfinder-Ranked Zeal Essence.."

Cetas’ face turned curious.

A Pathfinder? A rank that’s higher than Skadi’s!"

Reid then opened his mouth, asking:

"If that’s the case, could we even escape? I mean, we barely did with Poseidon!"

"It’s different, Reid." Skadi calmly said, "A mirage is several times weaker than a Great Leviathan, even if they were of the same rank. Luckily, a mirage couldn’t actually do any damage to us, it is simply there to confuse and imitate."

Skadi’s face turned worried.

"But the thing is, a singular mirage of the low rank is harmless, that’s for sure. And so is a Pathfinder-Ranked Mirage. However, if the goal of the low-ranked mirage is confusion, then we could expect something worse from a Pathfinder-ranked mirage."

She pursed her lips.

"I’m saying that we might be caught in a trap. And that no matter where we go, we would see the same path over and over again. Therefore, giving us no way to escape."

"Thats.." Reid’s voice slowly turned weak.

He gritted his teeth.

As Cetas listened, his realization of their situation hit.

If what Skadi is saying was true, then they are stuck in the seas!

"Could that be the reason why there were no Leviathans yesterday?" Cetas asked.

Skadi looked over to him, "Perhaps. I’ve been noticing things that are off about the stars for a few nights now. But I just couldn’t distinguish it."

The Captain’s tone became serious, as if it already isn’t!

"Since yesterday or even before that, I think we might’ve already entered the trap."

*

In the main deck, Cetas, Reid, and Elishia were together. The other three were talking with themselves, planning about the escape from the mirage.

Cetas looked up, the raindrops heading towards his eye but having no physical effect whatsoever.

"It’s weird.." Elishia voiced out, "We’re so used to rain after years of traveling but it’s my first time experiencing one where I didn’t become drenched."

The two remained silent, observing their surroundings.

The calm seas looked real but Cetas wondered what would happen if he were to dive down.

It probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

He activated Sands of History once more but it didn’t do anything at all.

"Reid, would you be able to slash this mirage and use your Zeal to reap it?"

Cetas briefly glanced at him.

"Already tried, didn’t work."

The two fell silent.

"Look! My flames became snuffed out!" Elishia’s voice resounded.

She raised one finger up the air, producing tiny sparks of flames.

Then, those tiny sparks grew into a moderate sized fireball that radiated faint light amidst the storm. When the mirage raindrops fell upon it, the fireball was pierced multiple times until it vanished from sight.

"Well, of course, the winds are extinguishing it."

"No, no! Just look!"

She summoned another fireball and this time placed it lower for the three to observe. When a singular raindrop fell on it, it’s as if everything in its trajectory vanished.

So, the fireball had a gaping hole in it for about a split second. And then another, and another, and then multiple.

"Cetas! You try forming water with your Zeal!"

Cetas nodded and then activated his Zeal.

Tapping into his attunement to water, he controlled the vapors in the air and summoned a small droplet of water that eventually grew into the one of similar size to Elishia’s fireball.

So, they observed.

When a raindrop hit Cetas’ water, it was absorbed into it. Upon a couple of seconds, the water in Cetas’ fingertips became large due to the droplets of rain.

"That’s interesting.." Reid stated, "It’s a mirage, and yet it interacts with different elements in different manners."

Cetas then released the waterball into the seas. Throwing it out as if he were shooting a gun.

"It was different with Skadi’s winds too, right? When she casted that veil, the rain drops looked like they bounced off of it!"

"Yes. So, your flames were pierced by it, Cetas’ water absorbed it, and Skadi’s winds deflected it."

Cetas opened his mouth and shared his insights:

"I noticed that the droplets didn’t cause a ripple either when it hit my water. It was just instantly absorbed."

"That’s true! I saw that too!" Elishia said.

Reid thought for a while, his face in deep contemplation.

"So the mirage raindrops act like raindrops but are completely different from it. It’s not perfect at all.."

He thought deeply but couldn’t come up with anything.

"It’s obvious but these observations won’t help us in escaping.."

"Always the pessimist, we just have to think harder!"

Before they could continue, the ship suddenly shuddered. Cetas and the others almost lost balance.

When they came to, the clouds in the distance were gone. A radiating light came down from above, shining upon a distinct bright light on the surface of the water.

The first to notice was Reid, who utilized his Zeal to enhance his vision.

His eyes became wider as the ship slowly came towards the light.

"That’s an island! There shouldn’t be any in the course that we are headed!"

Cetas looked in the light, noticing the faint silhouettes of trees and sands.

As he studied the island, he could only come up with one thought.

Where are we?