The subway train jostled the two boys slightly as the wheels ran the rails.

  Zain rubbed his arm, which was sore from all of the vaccines he had received that day. Before he was allowed to travel, there were mandated vaccines that he was required to obtain. As a result, there was a long list of new vaccinations he had to take. It didn’t help that there were different diseases in this world, so needless to say he was severely behind on his checkups.

  Brayden was in a similar boat, as he winced in pain when he had accidentally bumped his arm against the seat.

  It was a rare synchronized day off for the two, but they were both forced to devote it to going to the clinic dedicated to ethereals in Coralway. This had unfortunately taken half of the day due to the sheer volume of other patients that had to be seen.

  Both drained and tired, the two boys had elected to order some take out and eat at home.

  Having decompressed a bit, Zain looked to his phone in order to look at the checklist he had been given. With less than a week before they were to go to the surface, there wasn’t much time for rest, but his muscles were screaming at him to take a day off.

  All of the water walking training actually made his legs hurt in a unique way; apparently, using mana involved some muscles he never used, so overuse day after day resulted in his legs becoming jelly. Stairways made him cry, and leg cramps were common.

  Practice had lessened the soreness over time, but that didn’t mean that the pain was gone now. In all honesty, Zain was about ready to pass out but food came first.

  “How much stuff do you have to do?” Looking over his shoulder, Brayden was looking at the list Zain had on his phone.

  Only a couple of things were left unchecked, but they were things he could finish easily.

  “The main thing I have to do is master my water walking…but it’s so hard…”

  After he had learned mana manipulation, Zain had continued to train with Harry; however, after several days, he had hit a plateau of sorts. Whenever Harry manipulated the water to simulate waves of the ocean, Zain could never withstand the movement. As it stood, Zain would not be able to keep up if they were to trek tumultuous waters.

  “Harry says that my water walking is passable, but if I lose my shoes or mana, I’m dead in the water. Literally.” The very thought made Zain shudder. He would definitely be triple tying his shoe laces.

  “Yeah. Hopefully it will never come to that since it's only if you go overboard, right?” Brayden cast a doubtful glance at Zain, who nodded in agreement.

  “Still scary to think of though…since if I did go overboard, it would probably be because of big waves, right?” Zain decided to run with it, since he had nearly forgotten that Brayden was still in the dark about his plans.

  “Well…that or sea creatures.”

  “Excuse me?!”

  “The sea creatures and sea monsters that ships have to deal with... D–do you NOT know?”

  “NO?!”

  Brayden tried to shush Zain as his voice was raising, and cracking, at a concerning rate. They looked around, making sure none of the other passengers had been disturbed. Luckily, no one really looked up from their phones. Breathing a sigh of relief, Brayden began to lecture.

  “You remember how I told you that governments don’t really waste money on land expansion? Well, it's because exploration is too costly outside of expenses for already guarding their own land. One of the reasons is because of all of the animals and monsters outside of the domesticated areas. Some areas are simply inhabitable, others inhospitable. Explorers and real estate companies are a middle man that allows them to buy conquered land without having to worry about politics or something like that.”

  Brayden pulled out his phone, showing the map of the world. He circled Anthos, the continent they were currently in. From there he drew an arrow to the island they were planning on going to.

  “The resort is here, near Girin, which is a…not so welcoming nation. They’re not allies, let’s just go with that for now. Even though we are going to conquered lands, the ocean definitely is still a hellscape. It’s impossible to know which creatures will be present at any given time, so passenger cruises need to be escorted.”

  “Can’t people just take planes or something? Just skip the lovecraftian bullshit, y'know?”

  In response to this seemingly obvious solution, Brayden simply shook his head.

  “Remember how I said there were dragons?”

  “Oh..”

  “Yeah…If birds can sometimes down planes, what do you think a dragon could do? It’s even worse because dragons are not the only thing up there. Actually, there are so many other factors that make long distance air travel essentially impossible.”

  So sea travel was the lesser of two evils. But what could they do against sea creatures or monsters? Now Zain was worrying that they were expecting too much from him.

  Zain held his head and leaned it against the window, he felt the rumblings as the subway continued on. He was absolutely dreaded what was coming. Over the past few weeks, he had become extremely aware of how underprepared and underskilled he was for this trip. The more time loomed on, the more fearful he became. It was like an indigestion of unease that pitted in his stomach. Unsettling details made his anxiety well up and made him want to throw up.

  “I thought that was why you were carrying that?”

  Indicating to the sword holstered to his side, Brayden cocked his head slightly to the side in bemusement. It wasn’t a wrong assumption, but the reason Zain had been holding on to it was completely different.

  Harry’s explanation was very much lacking in any substance, but the man had told him to grow ‘acquainted’ with his sword. Whatever that meant, he wasn’t even allowed to use it if he needed it for self defense. Instead, they had given him a tactical knife to use, just in case.

  It felt like a waste, in Zain’s opinion, but it was likely because he had no time to train with his sword before departure. Devante had told him to ask the old man for advice, but like hell he would do that. He’d rather have Harry’s shitty advice.

  “I need to get used to the weight and all that, but I need more training before I can use it…”

  It sounded totally lame. What was the point of carrying it if he couldn’t use it? It would weigh him down, if anything.

  “I’m surprised they just let you carry it in the city.”

  “I have a permit, but I have to keep it holstered and bound.” Luckily, Cherry had done that paperwork for him.

  “Guess that makes sense, not the first time I’ve seen a weapon like yours. I just thought they were being extra though, guess I know now.”

  “Yeah, I’ve noticed the quirks…Really separates us from the naturals. ”

  People here seemed more expressive; They wore vibrant colors which differentiated them from ethereals. If anything, the plainer clothes that transmigrators wore stood out more. Whenever Zain walked into certain establishments, he could feel eyes evaluating and scrutinizing him. Many people found it obvious that he was an ethereal, which unsettled him for some reason.

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  “Yeah, makes it hard to fit in sometimes…” Brayden sniffled a little and his eyes watered a tad, as if disheartened.

  “Aw..dude, I didn’t think it bothered you that much…” Zain started to pat his back, in order to console him.

  Now rubbing his eyes, Brayden started to deny Zain’s claims. “It..doesn’t….I’m not sad, my nose–Aaachoo!”

  Sneezing in a slight fit, Brayden reached into his pocket, pulling out some tissues. He desperately blew into it, trying to suppress his sudden cold.

  “Bless you. Hope you're not getting sick. You won’t be able to–AaaAaaChooo!” Responding with an almost theatrical sneeze, Zain also began to experience sudden onset symptoms. Soon, his eyes and nose began to leak as well, to the point he could hardly see or breath.

  Not just the two boys, many on the train also began to experience sudden coughing and sneezing fits.

  Boisterous laughter resounded in the subway car, a patter of quick steps made their way to them.

  “AHAHAHAHAAA!! They can smell me!!!” A bearded man emerged from the doors, clad in attire which signalled that he was likely homeless. The dusty, dirtiness of his hair and beard added credence to that observation.

  The man grinned, revealing many gaps within his teeth. He scuttled frantically as he looked around the carts, a yellow cloud of tiny particulates following him. Unfortunately, he looked to where Brayden and Zain were overcome by sneezing.

  Drunkenly shambling his way to them, he stumbled and fell at their feet. The man rolled and laughed riotously on the floor, as he pointed at the boys.

  “You can smell me! AHAHAHAHA!!” Though he could hardly smell, Zain could still catch the whiff of booze coming from the man’s breath.

  “Hey you! Get back here!” A commanding voice yelled from outside of the car. Two policemen emerged from the corner, each wearing masks as they ran towards the man.

  “Oh shite!” The inebriated man scrambled to his feet and clumsily ran out, the two policemen following close behind.

  It took sometime before the air cleared; many of the other passengers simply left, cursing the ragweed man as they did.

  This was definitely one of the quirks Zain would never understand.

  The days passed without much progress on Zain’s side. It would seem capsizing waves were an obstacle that he would be unable to overcome. Time had run out, and it was now the time to leave. It was unfortunate that he did not have enough time to practice more, but ascending to the surface was going to take a few days.

  Above the three layers of the city were pressurized chambers which led upwards. In order to dock the boat on time, they needed to depart a few days beforehand. Since Merverre was already at normal pressure, they didn’t need to decompress. However, they would be stuck staying within the chambers during certain times because they had strict entry times. The lower the chambers, the less frequent they opened. The first chamber, closest to them, only opened once per day. The last chamber could be opened every two hours.

  Pressurizing the chambers to normal atmosphere took longer for the lower chambers, hence why they would be stuck for a whole day for the first one. It sucked, but it was necessary.

  Ascending directly to the surface from the depth Merverre was located was impossible. Stops needed to be made in order to ensure there were no system failures for their submarine. Even though this was an advanced world, they still had yet to overcome the intense pressures of the ocean.

  The day of their ascent, Brayden and Zain had been driven to the center of the city. The terminal was still how Zain remembered. There were many people taking the elevators to the higher levels, but there were others, like them, simply going to the surface. The difference in dress made it easy to tell who was going where.

  There was no dress code for their group, so there were many who wore more casual attire; researchers, workers, and normal travelers lined up to have their items checked for their ascent. There was a small amount of luggage they were allowed to take on their trips, so only bare essentials were packed into a single suitcase.

  Brayden and Zain had been dropped off by Cherry, but surprisingly, she was not to join them on this trip. Apparently, most of her work was limited to Merverre’s city limits, so there was no reason for her to go.

  Though the two had arrived together, they had separate groups they needed to check in with. Brayden waved Zain goodbye, promising to catch up with him later once he was able. That left Zain to go to his assigned group.

  Javier and Devante were already there, waiting for him within the terminals. Along with them, were a few more adults that Zain did not recognize, and also, a few that he did.

  Devante was the first to approach, giving a handshake before he gave a pull to give a slight hug. “Hey man, glad you could make it! It’s time you meet the crew.”

  Gesturing to the people behind him, one by one, he introduced them.

  “You already know these two, so I’ll skip them.” Harry and Javier gave acknowledgement to his presence as Devante continued, “This is our Captain, Andrew Poling.”

  The bearded man gave a smile filled with gaps between his teeth. Though he was more cleaned up, he definitely resembled the homeless man he had seen days before.

  “Ummm….” Zain was already regretting this. Maybe he should say something?

  “Nice to meet you, my boy! Captain Poling at yer service! But you can just call me Andrew, sonny! AHAHAHA!!” As if nothing was amiss, the man introduced himself. Perhaps it was mistaken identity?

  Electing not to say anything, Zain simply shook his hand and gave a cordial greeting in response.

  Moving on to the next person, Devante pointed to a woman next. “This is Aminah Farah, she is head of the medical unit.”

  A tall woman with neon eyes looked down at him with a placid expression. “You may call me Mina, if you wish.”

  There was little emotion behind her words, which made Zain assume that she was an android. It was strange that an android would be introduced like this, but who was he to judge?

  Next was a man, not much older than Javier. He wore a serious glare as he walked next to Devante. “This is Jacques Durand, the main engineer for the ship.”

  “Devante, we do not have time for your introductions. We must depart soon.”

  Devante gave a few blinks at the man’s words, before returning his gaze to Zain again. “He’s a bit of a party pooper, but he gets the job done.”

  The man gave a groan, but said nothing more to the slight.

  Finally, another young man stepped forward, with a more rugged sense of fashion. He gave a wide grin as he shook Zain’s hand without Devante’s introduction.

  “And finally, Logan Darwins. Head of exploration and scouting.”

  “Real nice to meet ya, mate!”

  “Nice to meet you too…” Zain gave a small smile. Genuinely, the guy seemed actually nice, so not returning his greeting would be kind of an asshole move.

  “We’re gonna meet the rest of the crew when we meet at the surface on the ship. For now, you’ll become more acquainted with these few for the next few days. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them. “

  “Yeah…sure…” That’s what he said, but needless to say, many of the adults did not seem like the type to answer to the whims of a kid. It would be best for Zain to test the waters before he bothered these people.

  Jacques, the impatient man, once again spoke again. “Now that we have done the little introductions for your little dogsbody, we need to leave now. Let us make haste.”

  Devante rolled his eyes, motioning with his hands towards the entrance. “Jac is being impatient so I guess we have to go. Even though we still have another hour before the submarine departs. Y’know, whatever. Not judging or anything.”

  The group began to move to the terminal entrance, which was lined with seats in the waiting area. They had been given tickets and all they needed to do was wait for their specific sub to begin docking.

  Allegedly, round trip tickets were mainly bought by researchers and diving workers; many times, they did not ascend fully to the surface, simply going to certain levels of the pressure chamber tiers.

  Since their group was going all the way to the surface and it was unclear when they would return, they had bought one way tickets. One of the perks of being in an organization like this was that Zain wouldn’t have to worry about travel costs.

  Zain sat down, looking at the screens which displayed their submarine ascension time. All would leave within an hour period of each other, as there was a window of time they needed to be within the first chamber. And like Devante had said earlier, it was at least another hour before they were to leave for their ship.

  The others sat as well, with a few of the crew members conversing amongst themselves.

  Jacques was trying to have a serious conversation with Devante, who was not really listening to his lecturing. Javier was talking with Harry, which wasn’t too unusual, but it left Zain by himself without anyone he was familiar with.

  However, the ever friendly Logan sat next to Zain, and immediately started a conversation with him.

  “How ya doing, mate? You like what you’ve seen so far of the organization?” Logan was talking in a slightly hushed voice, likely giving Zain a chance to air out any grievances if he had them.

  “Yeah…the people seem pretty nice. For the most part.”

  “Yeah! Don’t worry about the sourpusses, they just take some time to warm up to. But I heard this is your first voyage. Is that true?”

  “Yeah. I’ve only been here a few months too, so I’m not sure what to expect.”

  Considering Logan was head of the exploration group, he probably was intimately familiar with the things they would see on their journey. Maybe it was best to ask him about what he should realistically expect from this journey?

  “Really?! Didn’t expect them to pluck a newbie fresh from the tree! Power to ya, mate! Don’t know how ya managed that, but you have my respect!” He gave a jovial pat on Zain’s shoulder which was borderline painful. “And as to what you should expect to see ... I guess everyone’s first is the hardest, but you don’t have to worry. There will probably be a few leviathans or sea serpents, but they won’t stand a chance against us!”

  Giving a few more hardy pats, he began to rave about the different terrifying things he had seen. Like an epic, he narrated different trips he had endured along with the attacks of different beasts he had encountered.

  Frankly, it was horrifying. Zain wasn’t sure if the man was exaggerating or not, but the maniacal gleam in his eyes made it appear as if he was 100 percent telling the truth. A few of the others would chime in with accounts on their end, adding credibility to his recountings.

  Now that Zain thought about it, perhaps asking the Australian to tell it to him straight was a poor choice on his part. It was too late though, Zain could feel an ulcer forming in his stomach now.