The Erratum

Skadi used the winds to take hold of the ghost. Although everything from the neck down was slowly starting to regenerate, she still lifted him up in the air.

The ghost, or what he used to be, suddenly started convulsing uncontrollably. The winds kept him firm in place but he still struggled in his prison.

The regenerating ghost’s mouth bubbled and foamed, his eyes darted around in every direction and his hands shook as he floated up in the air.

He was regaining control of his newfound body!

As the ghost’s body turned akin to a human’s, Cetas slowly realized what he had done.

This is..

His expression turned grim as he did.

Life?

Although he hadn’t specifically imbued life into the water-infused bone bullet, it somehow added itself to the equation.

Cetas couldn’t understand how!

Was it because it’s a Conceptual Zeal and I’m a Spark? I can’t control it so it works passively?

He didn’t know..

Terror struck his being.

The regenerative process of Life being imbued to his water bone bullet is rapid! It had only been a minute but the used-to-be ghost had now regained half of its torso!

Yet this factor hadn’t worked on him back at Seyil! He lost control of his arm only to gain it back after a week!

But this!

This was too absurd!

Cetas didn’t know how to turn it off.

Now trapped in the air, the ghost’s body trembled, as if it didn’t know how to react to gaining a physical body after so long.

Its arms twisted to the extent, bending the joints and breaking them as they did!

Sooner or later, the ghost had regained a full body and without any clothing, its bare skin and body hair was exposed to the world.

Seeing this Cetas couldn’t help but wonder..

"Theres.. Something on his chest." He pointed forward and voiced out.

Skadi got a closer look.

Indeed there was!

"A sprout?"

In the ghost’s chest, a young stem originated from his skin. It looked tender, peaceful even. A leaf hangs from the edge of the stem, glistening and glowing with pure life.

Upon a seconds passing, the sprout grew longer and new leaves emerged from the stem.

Further stems and branches grew from all over the ghost’s body — protruding out of his pores.

As if feeding on the newfound life within the ghost’s body, the sprouts grew larger.

Until, the ghost had what seems to be amber tree branches coming out of his body. Golden-yellow leaves came out from these amber branches, and their stature seemed to be full of life.

In particular, a branch with golden leaves came out of the ghost’s eye, creating a somewhat spiky wooden spear that grew from its head.

All of this just came from one bullet!

"How disgusting-" Elishia’s face twisted as her voice winced in utter disgust.

"This man.. He has no soul." Reid’s concern was let out, his eyes gray and clouded.

"This is the first time I’ve encountered this.." Jones’ elegant tone resounded.

Galkan stared at Cetas and then back at the convulsing ghost, "Truly a Forbidden Zeal.."

Cetas’ face was shocked by what he had just created.

But just then, the world turned black for him, covered by a soft palm.

Afterwards, a loud high-pitched whipping sound echoed, followed by a thud in the sand.

Cetas felt the palm guide him away from the ghost.

"Cetas.. Look no further."

He heard Skadi’s voice ring out.

Then, two more whipping sounds echoed. And soon after, a splash in the nearby sea could be heard.

It seems that after felling the ghost, Skadi had thrown its corpse to the seas.

"Let’s keep going.."

After a few minutes or so, Skadi let go of Cetas’ face. As light entered Cetas’ vision once more, he found himself back at the shore.

They were continuing on their journey to the other side of the island.

Cetas noticed that the atmosphere was down between the crew.

"I-I’m sorry everyone.."

"You don’t need to apologize, Cetas. None of us knew that was going to happen.." Skadi reassured, "Water is Forbidden, yes, but we didn’t know that it would passively attain the properties of Life."

"Yes. Your body isn’t strong enough to handle life itself, no one expected that it would infuse itself to your element.." Galkan added.

Cetas kept his face down.

"For now, let’s go back to our previous rules — only use your element when it’s dire and needed, alright?"

Cetas nodded.

"Okay."

So, the crew continued to walk along the shore.

For the next hour or so, they encountered nothing but sand, trees, and the sea. No more ghosts appeared nor engaged them in battle, and nothing much happened along the way.

The crew reached the other side of the island, hoping to see some sort of clue as to how they could leave.

But what met them was quite unusual..

Upon reaching the other side of the island, faint figures donned in white appeared.

As they got closer, they realized that it was all too familiar.

"Are we back?" Elishia curiously asked, her eyebrows raising in suspicion.

Noticing Cetas’ presence, the figures all tilted their heads towards him. And then, they began to kneel.

Together, the figures prayed to Cetas once more.

Draped in white rags, they kneeled for Cetas’ Life.

However, knowing the effects that it had on the Ghost, Cetas was now reluctant to do anything.

Good thing I listened to Skadi.

The crew then turned around, enough so that they couldn’t hear the people of the Mirage Island’s voices. Once they did, the crew quickly set up camp.

Upon settling in, the crew rested for a while.

"Everythings in a loop. Even if we enter the heart of the jungle, it leads us back to this shore. If we walk around the island, it still leads us back–" Elishia complained, "Just how did that merchant reach the heart of the island.."

"Perhaps the story was a fake?" Reid answered.

Jones then interjected, "No. It couldn’t be.. It may have been exaggerated but it isn’t fake. There must be a detail that we have not seen."

Galkan let out his loud voice, asking a question.

"Just how exactly did he enter the core of the island in the story?"

Jones shook his head.

"It wasn’t explicitly mentioned."

Galkan rubbed his face with his palm.

"How tricky.."

As they tried to figure it out, Skadi joined their conversation.

"Anyhow, seeing as we have no way out or inside the island, let’s take this time to rest. In a few hours, the sun will be down so we will set camp here and wait until the new day."

"Aye!" The crew collectively said.

"Of course, while you’re at it, I will see to some things."

In agreement to this, the crew let Skadi do whatever she wanted. So, in a few moments, she flew up to the air and headed to the direction of the shore.

While she was gone, the crew rested their bodies. There were a couple of hammocks set up between the trees, a fire was blazing away from the resting areas, and a few logs were set up near it.

As Cetas sat down in front of the fire, his face was deep in contemplation.

He still couldn’t get the ghost out of his head. The way it regenerated so fast from a single water bullet haunted Cetas’ mind.

Although he couldn’t handle nor control the [Droplet of Life] Cetas didn’t know that it would be passively applied to his Elemental Zeal.

If not for Skadi, what would’ve happened if it continued to grow?

Perhaps a tree would’ve taken its place, or something far more sinister..

Cetas spread his palm open and conjured a water droplet in its middle. He gazed at it for a couple of seconds, trying to sense if there is any trace of Life in it.

He was familiar with the sense of Life as he had encountered the root that harbored its Droplet. Additionally, it was a tree that imprisoned a Drowned God.

And he freed it.

Cetas shook his head.

He threw the droplet to the sea, then clasped his hands and kept his head down.

"You alright, kid?"

Cetas heard a familiar voice to his right. Looking at its direction, he saw Galkan holding pieces of dry logs near him.

As the bulky man sat beside him, he threw a number of the wood that he held to the fire, creating cinders and setting its blaze larger, surging smoke above the fire.

"I’m okay, some thoughts are just filling my mind."

"About the ghost?"

Cetas nodded.

"I feel ya, Forbidden Zeal can be a dangerous thing."

Cetas noticed as Galkan’s eyes turned distant.

"You’ve seen it before?"

"Well yes. Nothing like yours but something different.."

Cetas blinked twice, listening carefully to Galkan’s story.

"In my hometown — Ah, you probably don’t know but I came from a remote island between Verdigian and Helios, somewhere that is unoccupied by the two’s politics. Anyways, that island’s gone now. Ravaged by a Zealot with the Forbidden Zeal of Death. Everything seems normal in one second and the other, everyone that I know just fell to the ground lifeless.

Galkan remained focused on the fire.

"And what came after was a freezing cold, accompanied by a thick fog that consumed the bodies. If it wasn’t for the Historian then I wouldn’t even be breathing right now."

"How did you deal with that — with the aftermath?"

Galkan smirked and laughed for a second.

"At first, I couldn’t bear with the loss and the grief I felt. But as a few days passed, I knew that I had to do something. I.. was there to carry the memories of our people — I was the only one who could do so."

He held his hand into a firm grip.

"And now, I carry their will with me and I traverse the world, seeing what my people couldn’t."

As the fire cracked and popped, Cetas kept a blank face.

"I don’t get it.."

"Of course, you don’t.. But I’m sure that someday you will. So whatever feeling or thought you may have right now, don’t blame yourself for it. I can see that in the future you’ll do a lot of things. Your potential is greater than any of us can imagine."

Galkan’s deep voice resounded.

"Hold your head high Cetas, don’t let your Forbidden Zeal define your strength. Sooner or later we will need that, whether it be dangerous or not. But don’t overdo it, keep disciplined always."

The bulky man placed his large hand on Cetas’ head.

"That’s your strength, be proud of it. But be responsible for what you do."

Galkan let out a bright smile.

"You’ll do good things, kid. I’m sure of it.