A World With/Out Home

Chapter 18: Echoes (Part 3)

"Everyone wake up," Riften drew the blankets off the group unceremoniously. "We're here."

Estile roused herself stretching her arms, "About time." She looked about the cramped space. Nine of her companions were crowded in the dark vessel. For the sake of their mission they had been confined for several hours now. A thick canvas like material stretched beneath and above them, held in place by steel framing. On the other side the push and pull of underwater currents could be felt.

"I just hope we never do this again," Karen brushed her red hair and crouched awkwardly. "I hate ships and being in this so called submarine is even worse."

Riften laughed, "Well it was you how signed off on the idea. I was all for sneaking in the direct way."

A sock thrown from the other side of the vessel narrowly missed his head. Ellen sneered at him, "Yeah I'd rather not take the risk of fighting an entire army of demons and humans."

"I'm with Ellen," Trent agreed. "Demons are one thing but I'd rather not have to kill soldiers who are just listening to orders."

"Everyone hush and get ready," Arvel stood in the centre of them all. A complex array of magic swept across his laid out hands. "Once we reach the surface we'll be right under the temple. If the information about the Human God was true we'll have to be prepared for a tough fight."

Estile touched the flaxen haired man's shoulder, "And how are you feeling? You've been driving this thing the entire time."

"I'll be okay," Arvel smiled. "I'm not the best at combat so helping like this suits me."

Beside him a brown haired young man laughed, "He says that but he's still one of us. Get him pissed off enough and he'd be more than capable to take on an army."

"Kyle stop it," Estile reprimanded his teasing.

He raised his hands up, "I'm just saying the other day when he was drunk he launched me into that-,"

Arvel clasped his hand around Kyle's mouth, "W-wait Estile doesn't know about that." The submarine shook as Arvel's control fluctuated quickly forcing him to let go and focus.

Estile knocked the two of them lightly on the head and smiled, "As curious as I am, we're on a mission. Though I'd love to hear more about this later." She moved back to her corner of the vessel and began to prepare her armour and weapons. Like the others each piece of their equipment had been finely crafted and were powerful enough to shift the balance between countries. It wasn't every day that they brought them out and showed just how serious they were.

A light tap caused Estile to turn around, "Lav did you need something?" Her eyes focused on the purple haired girl who looked a little sheepish.

"Not really I just had a weird dream," the girl responded innocently enough.

"If Mori were here she'd say that weird dreams usually lead to weird situations."

"No it's nothing that would affect us now," Lav quickly tried to wipe away her concern. "It was strange. I was lying down in a hospital bed with a boy that strangely reminded me of you. Nothing important... just odd."

"Oh?" Estile smirked. "It's been a long time since you were ever interested in anyone. Maybe fate has something in store for you."

"It's not like that," she huffed. "Really it felt like I was looking at the entire thing from afar. The only reason I thought it was me was because of the hair colour. If anything it reminded me of... well you know those dreams we get."