Phantom Hunters | Saphir Casters Academy

7 | The Melting Pot

VII | THE MELTING POT

    The journey took a lot longer than Kael anticipated. They had taken three days to reach the port city of Aquamarine, then they had to take a stomach-lurching day trip on a ship to Saphir island. As the first time he'd travelled away from his home country, Bijou, Kael was understandably miserable on the rocking vessel.

    Kael slumped over the ledge of the ship, awaiting one more urge to release his stomach contents into the salty sea below. The ship rolled over churning waves, igniting the urge. With one more lurch of the hull, Kael had what little was left pouring out the side of the ship.

    Kly gave him a sympathetic rub on the back. "You okay there, little buddy?"

    Kael groaned in response. "Are we there yet?"

    "Just a little more. Look. The sun's coming up."

    Kael forced himself to raise his eyes to the horizon. Pink and orange rays streaked through the sky, and the tip of the giant round ball peeked from the line that separated the sky from the sea.

    From far away, he could see fins of small whales breaching out of the ocean, black against the soft morning glow. He smiled despite the growing discomfort in his gut. Somehow, setting his eyes on the picturesque scenery helped him ignore the nausea, albeit only very slightly.

    "Beautiful, isn't it?" Kly said, leaning his elbows on the ledge. "I never get tired of it."

    Kael straightened his back and held back the urge to gag. "Yeah, it is." He breathed in the salty sea air, and let himself relax as the humid breeze swept through his black locks. He made a mental note to cut his hair sometime in the near future.

    "Look," Kly pointed ahead. "There it is. Saphir Island."

    Kael forgot his nausea at the sight of a growing strip of land. Bright green trees lined the beach, but they weren't big enough to hide the tips of towers from beyond. As they neared, Kael could make out small moving dots of people bustling about the port.

    Multiple ships lined the harbour, all of them different depending on the country they'd sailed from. Kael had never seen so many foreigners in his life.

    "Wow!" he breathed. He saw a slender ship with bright orange sails that resembled fins reach its destination. A wooden ramp fell over from the ship's starboard side and rested on the dock. From it, Kael saw a stream of colour move onto the island. All the passengers had hair the colour of depth. Blue, green, even a few violet.

    "Looks like the Oracheans have arrived," Kly said with a small smile.

    "Oracheans?" Kael said. He vaguely recalled the word from schooling though he wasn't entirely sure if he'd learned about them at all.

    "They're people from Orachea, a country far east, characterised by their gold-tinged skin and blue hair. Though, as you can tell, not all of them have blue hair. If we compare them to Bijou, it's like how most people have brown hair, but there are a few who have blond or red hair."

    "Hey, look! It's the bluebirds!" a crewmember near Kael said, also noticing the orange sails. He waved, obviously recognising the crew in the Orachean ship.

    "Bluebirds?" Kael said to Kly.

    Kly chuckled. "I'm not sure when they earned their nickname 'bluebird,' but I believe it started by a miscommunication between Bijou and Tunbora, a country up north. Apparently, a few hundred years ago, Bijou had been trying to take over Tunbora, but Orachea also stepped into the battle for land. A general from Bijou wanted to plot with a chieftain of a region of Tunbora, but because of language barriers, they had difficulties describing the enemy. Eventually, a bluebird landed on the sill of the chieftain's window and that's what the Oracheans have been called to this day. It's just a story, though. I'm not entirely sure where the term originally came from."