As the Horizon's Call flew farther into the unknown, the air became thicker. The ocean below them changed from the sparkling blues and greens of familiar seas to darker, almost obsidian, with sporadic silver light flashes that seemed more like warnings than reflections.
The wind maintained a peculiar stillness, while the constant rhythm of the waves echoed the measured breathing of an ancient and vast entity. Every ship creak reverberated in the stillness, thereby making the silence seem alive.
At the front, Seraphine gazed out over the odd, moving water ahead, the wind pulling at her hair. A pulse under her skin matched the thrum of her heart, and the call of the Coral Crown had grown stronger. It was no longer only a temptation; it was a need. The closer they sailed, the more it seemed as if the ocean itself was watching.
