There was darkness, endless darkness. Serin felt lost and afraid in this sea of darkness, not able to determine where up, down, left, or right was, not knowing where to go or what to look for.
Then, there was a small flame that burned in the sea of darkness. It was far, far away—to Serin, it just looked like a tiny dot in the distance, but he knew that the flame must have been incredibly huge… because he could feel its warmth.
The flame suddenly began flickering more and more, and then it disappeared abruptly.
Serin panicked momentarily, seeing the flame go out, and once again feeling the boundless darkness creeping in from all sides. Just as he was about to scream in fear, it was as if something exploded.
A blinding light flooded his vision. Serin squeezed his eyes shut and raised an arm to shield himself.
The light disappeared, and Serin cautiously opened his eyes. At that instant, he felt himself sinking deep down, as if the land below him had suddenly vanished. His body felt intolerably heavy, as if someone was putting pressure on it from all sides. He drew a breath unknowingly, only for his lungs to burn as he choked miserably, water entering through his nose and mouth, the taste of salt stinging his tongue.
As the realisation of the situation set in, Serin instinctively moved his limbs frantically, his arms and legs kicking against the water all around as he propelled himself towards the dim, scattered moonlight. He felt more suffocated with every second, not able to understand what was happening, the cold slowly seeping into his bones, making him feel numb to the world around him.
With his heart beating wildly, Serin finally broke the surface with a sharp gasp. Then immediately, he let out a breath of fresh air and broke out in an intense fit, coughing out all the water from his lungs.
The stars quietly shone in the sky, the moon half hidden behind the clouds. Serin looked around him, surrounded by water on all sides, as far as he could see.
Inexplicably finding himself in the middle of the sea out of nowhere, Serin couldn't help but panic. Oddly enough, the Anchor blessing did not kick in to calm him down this time.
"What the fuck is going on?!" Serin trembled in fear, feeling cold, as he constantly turned his head left and right.
Just as he felt like he would go mad from fear and anxiety, Serin suddenly noticed something from the corner of his eye. Feeling hopeful, he turned around quickly.
Plumes of smoke rose to the sky in the distance, and flames raged voraciously as if threatening to devour the sky above, adding a faint crimson shade to the silvery glow of the night.
Serin sighed in relief. It seemed that the shore was not very far, even though it seemed like something was very wrong there. Still, it was better than being stuck in the sea.
So Serin began swimming. As the burning shore came closer and closer, he thanked himself for having already learnt to swim, making a mental note that he should also prepare other survival skills.
Seeing didn't know how much time had passed, but he felt that it would be at least half an hour since he had been swimming. A frown on his face, Serin paused and looked at the shore that was a lot closer now. However, his mind was on something else.
"I have been swimming in the cold for so long… so how come it doesn't feel like it?" He muttered in confusion. Then he shook his head and continued to swim.
After a while, he encountered more and more of what seemed like ship wreckage as he got closer to the shoreline. Wooden planks, barrels, large broken hulls, and whatnot.
Serin could not fathom the absurdity of this situation. He remembered sitting in the library, reading the Encyclopedia of Extinct Creatures and trying to learn about the Akh'Thal more, as it was pretty much confirmed that this monster had been stirring the seas, harming even more shipping vessels, and scaring the traders away from the Brinescar Port, the seat of the Hainar Family's power.
And now suddenly, he found himself in the middle of the sea, a city's shore burning in the distance.
Serin's eyes widened suddenly as realisation dawned on him. He shuddered, looking at the burning shoreline, some structures now visible to his eyes. Gasping loudly, he muttered in horror, "This… this isn't Brinescar… is it?"
Serin steeled his resolve and swam towards the shore even faster, more details slowly unveiling before him.
Suddenly, he felt a low rumble. A wave pushed him forward more strongly than ever. Serin raised his brows and looked back towards the unending sea. On the horizon, there was a slight, almost unnoticeable protrusion, only highlighted due to the moon directly above.
Serin narrowed his eyes to see. Then, he felt a tremor going through his body. Suddenly, the protruding horizon rose rapidly right in front of his eyes.
"Oh shit!!" He exclaimed.
It was a wave.
A very large wave.
Serin hurried to the shore in panic, feeling the massive presence approaching rapidly behind him. Then he realised, with a wave this big, reaching the shore wouldn't even matter. Would it? And that is if he could even make it.
So, he gave up.
His heart racing like a horse, Serin tried to calm himself as he stopped and faced the massive tsunami.
The wall of water engulfed the light of the moon, casting an enormous shadow on Serin, who was like an ant—or rather, a fish in a pond—in front of the behemoth.
There was no suspense. The tsunami reached him in no time, his vision fully covered by the wall of water. No matter how high he looked, there was only water.
Serin watched with bated breath, his heart thumping so loudly he felt that it could explode. An odd sense of anticipation stirred within him, his mind without thoughts as he faced the inevitable.
Then, he closed his eyes right before the wave stormed into him.
And then—
He woke up.
Serin woke up screaming in the quiet castle library. In doing so, he startled the poor maid Tessa who had been trying to wake him up—causing her to fall on the floor in fright.
Hearing the ruckus, footsteps approached from outside. Serin's guard, Hymund, entered in a hurry, only to see Serin holding his head, collapsed on the floor unceremoniously—and the young maid on top of him.
Hymund gasped and quickly looked away as if he had seen something he wasn't supposed to.
Serin immediately sobered up in a panic, somewhat harshly pushing Tessa away from him, and explained, "Hey! Misunderstanding…! It's not what it looks like…"
Hymund averted his gaze awkwardly and said, "Ah! It's ok… it's ok, my Prince… I understand! Hehe…"
Serin felt like he was going crazy. First the hellish nightmare and now this. Standing up while rubbing the back of his head, he said, "Don't 'hehe' me! I dozed off and had a nightmare. I startled Tessa and we both fell. Don't misunderstand, okay?!"
Hymund looked at Serin with suspicion. After a moment's staredown, he was convinced and nodded. Serin finally sighed in relief, wiping away his sweat. Incidentally, only now did he notice that he was completely drenched.
He also noticed that Tessa was still on the floor wincing in pain. Feeling guilty, he looked at Symund and roared, "What are you looking at? Help her!"
Symund nodded apologetically, unwillingly stepping forward to help the maid, only to be glared at and rejected. "Hmph! I don't need your help!" Tessa swatted away the hand reaching out to her and got up by herself, still groaning in pain.
"I'm sorry…" Serin said guiltily.
Tessa suddenly realised that Serin was also in the room. Her face flushed in embarrassment as she stammered, "Oh… no… it was my fault."
Serin sat back on the couch, feeling a massive headache as the nightmare surfaced in his memory. For some reason, his heart was unnerved.
"Prince Hainar, did you have a nightmare? I came in with snacks but saw you dozed off on the couch, the book on the floor. I tried waking you and then…" Tessa said, her face flushing once again in embarrassment.
"Yes… forget about it." Serin sighed.
Tessa looked at him with concern, but then she smiled happily as her face brightened with realisation as she said, "Don't worry! The spring festival is coming, the Holy Mother will banish all your nightmares, my Prince!"
"Ah yes… the spring festival…" Serin muttered in realisation.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Serin felt an inexplicable chill. It was a strange feeling. It felt like anxiety, fear… as if something wasn't right. Serin couldn't quite put his finger on where this feeling came from, but it felt awful, as if he was sitting on pins and needles.
Shaking his head, Serin looked at Tessa and said, "Prepare a bath for me. I'm drenched."
Tessa nodded, promptly getting on her feet and hurrying out to prepare.
Hymund, who had just been standing there, finally stepped forward as it seemed he had been wanting to say something for a while.
"My Prince, what should we do with that slave? Your instructions were to keep him with us for now," he said.
"Right, I nearly forgot." Serin stood up. "Bring him to me after some time…" he added.
"Yes, Prince!" Hymund bowed and left.
Finally, Serin walked to the window and took a fresh breath, once again recalling that uncanny nightmare. He touched his chest, as if he could still feel his lungs burning and heart racing. He looked outside the window in a daze towards the sea, as if he could see the towering tsunami rising from the horizon, unstoppable and inevitable.
Serin clenched his fists, finding the silence of the library so unnerving for the very first time.