The sea was calm that morning. The sky stretched wide and cloudless, but the silence… felt strange.
Juno Dew frowned in the navigation room. The log pose needle spun rapidly, erratically, as if it had lost its direction.
"Impossible..." she whispered, grabbing a backup log pose.
But it was the same. The needle danced wildly like it was drunk on rum.
Hurried footsteps came from above. Mia descended with a notebook in hand. "Sea birds are flying south. There's something strange in the air."
Juno nodded. "The compass is going crazy too. But what's odd... it's not pointing anywhere. No island. No land."
Mia stared at the log pose. "If the compass is pointing at something, but there's no island on the map... it means we're heading toward something that doesn't want to be recorded."
Arthur suddenly popped in through the door, holding bread with a full mouth.
"I know this! It must be a ghost route! Where the sea whispers and pirates vanish!" he said dramatically, imitating a horror voice.
Tok!
Nara's spoon flew and hit Arthur's temple.
"Stop adding new myths every time we get lost!" Nara snapped, emerging from the kitchen with an apron stained with tomato sauce.
Ravi, who was polishing his weapon on the deck chair, chuckled. "But 'Whispering Sea' sounds cool. Could be a novel title."
Bastien climbed up to the deck, just waking from a nap. But the moment he stepped on the wooden floor, his heart began to race for no reason.
There was a strange pressure. Like a vibration in his chest. Not fear... more like a distant calling.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Juno explained. The compass pointed to a direction not recorded on any map—not to an island, but to a narrow sea route in the northwest. A path they almost never took.
"Are there any records about that route?" Bastien asked.
Mia opened her book. "The only thing I found... is that fishermen avoid this path. They say their boats lose signal there. Compasses stop working. Strange sounds echo from the fog."
Arthur added, "And sometimes… there's a woman's voice singing from the sea. If you answer, you get dragged down to the bottom!"
A second spoon flew and hit Arthur on the forehead again.
---
Night fell.
The sea began to mist over. The sky darkened. Stars disappeared.
The crew went to bed early that night—except Bastien.
He dozed off on a deck chair, his body leaning forward, breathing heavily. Then the dream returned.
He stood in the middle of a black sea, on a floating rock.
Far ahead, shrouded in thick mist, stood a massive stone gate. Strange symbols pulsed red on its surface.
Cracks spread across the door, slowly opening.
> "Dominance begins with will..."
"Do you carry it... or are you controlled by it?"
A deep voice echoed through the air, and the door opened.
Suddenly, a strong wind pulled Bastien forward. Whispers, cries, and roars poured from within. He felt something… enter him.
---
He woke up, gasping for breath.
Juno was on night watch and rushed over.
"You look... pale," she said.
Bastien only stared at the mist in the distance. "Our compass isn't broken. It's just... pointing somewhere that doesn't want to be reached."
"Are you sure we should go there?"
Bastien nodded, even as his body resisted.
"I think so..."