It was an ocean of blood.
The crimson expanse stretched endlessly, its heavy texture pulsating as if alive, reeking of scattered entrails. Corpses floated like withered flowers, their pale bodies with wide-open eyes staring into the void, as if fixated on something unseen.
And in the midst of this cursed scene stood Egologia.
The blood clung to his skin, warm and heavy, as if trying to absorb him, as if it refused to let him go. His throat dried up, his heart pounding like distant war drums.
Then he saw them.
At first, he wasn't sure. It was as if invisible strings had been pulled in his mind, forcing him to see what he didn't want to see.
Faces… familiar ones.
Silver hair drenched in blood, glassy eyes staring at him from the void, limp hands with twisted fingers, as if they had clung to life until their last breath.
"No…"
A faint voice muttered behind him. There was no one there.
Then another voice, and another, as if the blood itself had begun to speak.
"What have you done?"
It wasn't a human voice. It wasn't a whisper, nor a scream. It was an accusation.
"What have you done to us?"
"Stop…" He tried to speak, but his voice came out distorted, hoarse, unreal.
"Is this you?"
The corpses… no, they weren't just corpses.
They began to move.
Hands rose, fingers bent and curled, gripping the void as if trying to tear it apart.
A body missing half of itself, intestines spilling into the sea of blood, turned its head toward him.
"Look at me."
He didn't want to. He didn't have to. But he did.
The eyes that met his were empty, yet something moved within them. Something he knew. Something he was supposed to know.
"You were with us."
"Damn you, stop! Damn it, damn it, damn it!" His voice was horrifying, as if the sea itself had swallowed his words.
"Where were you?"
His skin turned cold. The blood was no longer warm. The entire world had turned cold.
"You left us?"
Then he felt it.
A hand grabbed his ankle. Slender fingers, their skin rough… familiar.
She looked at him.
Her eyes… were dead. But behind them, there was something else. Something he couldn't escape.
He forced himself to look at her face, at the features he knew… the ones that shouldn't be here.
"What have you done to us?"
A sharp gasp cut through the air, startling anyone who might have heard it. Egologia woke up, his eyes heavy, his chest rising and falling as if he had been drowning moments ago. His heart pounded wildly, as if it were beating against his ribs, trying to escape.
He moved his hand, touching his clothes, the ground beneath him… no blood. No sea. Just the rough bark of the tree and its sturdy branches he had leaned on while sleeping.
But his chest didn't calm down. The seizure still gripped him.
…
"Egologia, damn it, if Claude saw you."
He slowly lowered his head to meet Dagar's face, his features as ridiculous as ever.
"Damn you, sleeping in a tree? The soldiers have already started advancing."
"???"
He tried to get up but hesitated for a moment. His hands pressed against the tree trunk, and he noticed they were trembling slightly. He clenched his fists tightly to stop it.
Suddenly, the ground shook, as if the earth's heartbeat echoed beneath them.
Egologia panicked, "Oh, for hell's sake, what the hell is this?!"
Another thud.
The ground shook again.
Thud.
The dirt trembled, and the leaves scattered as if terrified.
"What the hell is this now? Damn it, damn it, damn it, let me go, let me go."
After his last sentence, Dagar just stared at Egologia, sensing something strange about him, but he said, "Damn it, shut up. What is it? These thuds—how long have you been sleeping? The army has already advanced. Now we're preparing for defense. It's them."
"Who are they? Damn it, they're looking for me."
"Damn it, have you gone mad? What did you dream about? You're afraid of the amphibians now?"
"The amphibians?"
Egologia climbed down, his face pale. The army was advancing behind these trees, moving along a wide path. He was trying to understand who they were, but now he understood.
"Huh?"
"Oh, Dagar, I think I overdid it with the drinking."
"Alright, something's coming. Something truly massive. What kind of power are those damned creatures attacking with?"
Then a tremendous scream echoed among the soldiers… no, not just a human scream, but a wave of horrified wailing, its echoes reverberating through the ranks like a warning call of death rising from the depths of hell itself.
"Disaster is creeping," they said.
Another scream followed… and another… then the voices collapsed into chaos.
"Damn it... what—what do they mean?!" Egologia.
Those in the back hadn't seen it yet.
The screams alone were enough to freeze the blood in their veins, but those at the front?
They had seen.
A moment no human mind could comprehend until it was too late.
The massive thing… an entire island moving.
There it was, towering above the fog, its feet like moving mountains of earth ripped from the depths and rising to crush the land.
Atop it, a horde of sea barbarians, their savage bodies covered in scales that shimmered, their glowing weapons gleaming with the terrifying blue of the ocean.
Despite the distance, despite its enormity, its aura alone was enough to make even Valeras himself feel a hint of terror. 'Is it... Is this what they call the Grasp of the Ocean?'
The leaders couldn't help but feel something they hadn't known in decades.
Cold sweat dripped from their foreheads.
Their throats dried up.
"This… is impossible. At this size, by hell's name, who hid it?" Their voices were weak, frightened, as if they had uttered the name of a horror unfamiliar even to them.
And at the head of the disaster, its final warning the king rang out: "I see your fear. Prepare for the grasp of the ocean."
!