Chapter 352: New Comer’s

Huff! Huff! Huff!

Captain Zoan let out misty puffs of exhausted breaths, her frame angled against the metallic wall of the captain’s cabin, the room around her unstable and swaying.

Perspiration oozed from her forehead, as she hyperventilated, her frame trembling slightly from exhaustion, her lips already going blue.

The door to her cabin suddenly swung open as a male crew member staggered in, yelling at the top of his voice... "Captain! Captain! We found it! We’ve freaking found it!"

The joy and exhilaration in the crew mate’s voice was palpable, his excitement worn on his exhausted face, his dull grey eyes darting through the dark cabin in search of the captain’s silhouette.

Captain Zoan jerked to her feet, her eyes lighting up and flashing as myriad emotions, relief, excitement, anticipation and many more churned in her heart.

They had been sailing for so long, they had encountered countless near-death encounters, with horrors and the corrupted of the sea, they had long set sail before the origin descended in search of a special island that held vestiges of a great ancient civilization.

The origin then descended; they were stranded in the now stormy sea, the continents converged and the world had been rearranged; the magnetic pull of the planet had been altered rendering compasses useless, along with maps.

While satellite GPS did pick up every now and then, the system crashed after being abused by a few corrupted beasts.

The crew of 11 had been stranded in the seas since the descent of the origin, and now, finally, after god knows how long, they were carried by the storm towards land — and not just any land, this place was the island of their initial destination before all this madness began.

Captain Zoan barged outside of her cabin, rushing upwards to the control room where she could observe the sea before them.

She didn’t even bother to get herself seated, snatching the telescope from another crew member from the side, pressing it against her eyes. The magnifying glass painted the distinct silhouette of a huge island in the distance.

Captain Zoan’s heart skipped a bit, but she remained calm, she shifted the angle of the telescope pointing it to the sky right above the island, her sight piercing through the veils of the shallow clouds, and reflecting sparkling arrangements of the stars.

Captain Zoan’s breath caught once more, the constellation really was accurate, could this really be it?

The immortal city, a city once inhabited by an ancient civilization of never dying humans, who had absurd life spans, and according to legend the reason why these humans lived so long was because of a stream located at the heart of the island.

Captain Zoan dismissed the telescope right into her inventory, turning to her people, she warned, "Be ready for battle, the sky was tinted crimson."

Instantly the excitement on everybody’s face vanished, through system notifications, quests and warnings they knew what a corruption zone was despite their isolation from humanity.

"We don’t need to fear, remember all I need is to get in touch with sand and we can finally return home!" a crew member ensured the others with a confident smile.

Captain Zoan nodded, acknowledging the crew members’ words, but still spoke, "But don’t you want to see if the stream that led us into this mess in the first place exists?"

Everyone went silent, by this point fatigue was at an all-time high, and everyone was longing for nothing more than to go home.

They weren’t sure if their homes would still be the same, but that didn’t affect their longing... no one cared to explore any longer.

Ever since the planetary upgrade they had been only able to survive by fleeing, and hiding, barely fighting anymore since they were still at the shackled realm.

And here Zoan was trying to convince them to explore a freaking corruption zone?!

That was akin to her handing them an invite to a joint suicide practice, of course everyone would be reluctant.

And Zoan could see this, and let off a weary sigh. "Fine, let’s get to the island first then we decide."

Hearing this the others nodded vehemently, if they could put off having to reject Zoan for a while, they’d rather do that than reject their benefactor to her face.

Every single one of the crew mates owed their lives to Zoan, and her monstrous pet...

The captain let out a faint sigh once more, taking one short glance at the horizon, clasped her hands behind her back and walked back into her cabin.

All of them remained clueless as they set sail towards the island that would change their lives forever.

...

The world blurred around Jack, as he bolted alone through the forest...

He had already given orders to Doyle and crew, and they were meant to follow him at their own pace, but as for him, he had to take action and get to Elaine and Brandon.

He could feel their energy in the distance, along with something cold and dark. A presence that made even Jack in his titan form feel chills down his spine...

A charmed?

Jack wondered, squinting his eyes, the two massive torches of his eyes dimming as they honed in on the distance, covering ground unlike any normal human could.

And there he could see them, not directly, but the halos representing their presence and the unmistakable trail of ice and burns leading to the group.

Suddenly a terrifying roar tore through the horizon, ringing into Jack’s massive eardrums, suddenly feeling a cold sensation of a gaze settling upon him.

The prickling sensation penetrated through the layer of the titan construct, focusing on his main body, an unnerving feeling to say the least.

Something had seen him, whatever was out there could see him, but despite Jack’s head swaying from side to side, towering above the trees, he was unable to find his stalker.

Jack simply took a deep breath and continued to stir in titan form towards his friends’ location, for some reason he felt really uneasy.