'No' the thought rang in her head. 'There was no way'
One moment Shay was fine and attacking the beast and the next, she was...
Gone.
"No!" impulse took over her body. Dark thoughts clouded her mind. Her Aether was unstable and volatile but she didn't hate it. She felt the energy burn through her veins. She was releasing too much. She relished it. It felt as if that was the only way to release this pain in her chest. She would let it all out. Consequences be damned.
Solid fingers took hold of her shoulders, shaking her out of her thoughts. Her eyes snapped opened. Liam stood before her. There were slight burns on his cheeks as well as the hand resting on her shoulder.
Her energy must have burned him. Tears filled her eyes as she looked into his.
"Focus princess" he spoke with a slight quiver in his voice. But his eyes were clear and grounded.
"B-But Shay she- " she tried to get the words out.
"She's not dead"
Ushanti's eyes widened. "How do you know that?"
"I can feel her" he approached the guardrails and looked out to the ocean below. "Its faint but I can feel her. To find her though I need you to calm the waters and be ready to pull her out with your ability"
It was only after he said that, that Ushanti finally managed to calm down. Her Aether output died down until it was but the gentle hum that it was. Following her lead, the turbulent waters also calmed to reasonable levels.
Liam gave her a nod and then he closed his eyes.
She stood at his side anxious and worried for her mentor and Phay.
***
Phay struggled to keep herself upright. The water was volatile making it difficult for her to execute the Light-step technique as she did before. Luckily the waters calmed at a moment.
'I wonder what caused it to run wild in the first place'
Her spear hummed as she fed it more Aether.
No matter, she had to protect the Alchemist's goals.
Qualaag could not be allowed to take them back. Not while she still breathed.
Qualaag opened its large mouth revealing a dark maw to the world. A large suction force pulled at the very air. Phay retreated for fear that she would be pulled in as well. Qualaag was swallowing large swaths of water.
For what purpose? She did not know.
She would find out soon though.
The suction disappeared. The moment it did, Phay rushed to close the distance. However, she froze. Her instincts tingled. Something was wrong.
The water that Qualaag had just been taking into its mouth hadn't just disappeared into the creature's maw. No it gathered there. A spinning mass of water collecting in its mouth.
Phay blinked and a jet of spinning water barrelled towards her.
There was no time to think. No time to dodge.
So, she brought her spear forward. Aether erupted from her body, she poured it all through her arms, into her spear. Tense muscles rolled beneath her skin, her fingers moved and so did the spear.
The spear spun and its runes glowed with intensity. Before her, a round wall of spinning Aether took form before the water jet slammed into it. A scream came from her lips, the tyrannical force of impact grating her bones.
The water exploded into a flood on impact, sort of like how a water balloon pops when smashed against a wall.
Veins bulged to the surface of her skin. The shield held for but a moment before it was broken through and the water slammed into her.
Phay was flung back, the air knocked from her lungs. Shaking off her dizziness, she flipped mid air while infusing her feet with Aether pushed her calves into the surface of the water. Water displaced in her wake. Still her inertia was slowed until she came to a stop with the ship just as her back slammed into the ship with enough force to dent the hull.
She took a deep breath to stabilize her rattling insides. She coughed, a mouthful of blood falling over her chin. She fixed her gaze on the creature and her pupils trembled.
The Qualaag was sucking in another swath of water.
Phay gripped her spear with trembling arms. She had managed to barely block the last attack and it had still taken a toll on her. And her Aether reserves were below half. Her body was also injured.
She couldn't do this alone.
'Where the hell is Shay when you need her'
***
Liam dug deep. Deep breaths filled his lungs through his nostrils as he attempted to calm his mind.
That was easier said than done, not with the Qualaag seemingly out to get us.
Still it had to be done and it had to be done now. Besides he was already getting the hang of this. His perception reached out to all Aether signals around him. There was a large bundle of it in the distance and a small but fiercely burning one a small distance before it.
The Qualaag and Phay.
There was another though, it was faint and it was fading. Sinking through the water and heading down.
His eyes opened. "There! Hurry!"
He pointed at a distance south-east from the stern. It was Ushanti's turn. He turned to her. Ushanti nodded and stepped forward with both arms stretched out. Aether flowed through them and from her palms it spread towards the location Liam had pointed.
"She's being pulled down by currents so you might need to search deeper" Liam added.
Ushanti spread out her Aether. She was using more Aether than she was used to at this point but the thought of losing Shay kept her anchored and focused on the task at hand. She let the Aether become one with her senses and through them she could perceive the world.
In her mind a three dimensional map of the deep waters slowly took shape.
The waters of the ocean were dark and colder the deeper she swept through them. Her eyebrows furrowed, a dull ache was starting to knock just on the dome of her head. Her brain was being overwhelmed.
She searched deeper. She wouldn't last like this for long.
'Come on Shay give me something hear please'
Liam stood quietly for a moment. His knuckles white against the bars of the rails. He made up his mind the next second.
This was out of his hands now. If there was something more he could do though...
He turned around, this time he focused his senses on his nose. He had to investigate that honey smell because just now... he thought he felt the Qualaag emanating the same scent. And for some reason the Qualaag's bellows, while they were grating to the ears, sounded almost desperate.
Desperate for what though?