A Blade in the Blue

The moment was shattered by a sudden explosion of shouting and commotion erupting from the ship above.

"Why the hell did I pay you so much? Just so some scumbags can assault me in broad daylight?!"

Ethan recognized that voice instantly. It was the same young woman Lyra had locked in the room earlier.

It seemed their pursuit had halted because of her—berating the crew, demanding answers.

For a moment, silence hung between the four of them. Then, almost in unison, Ethan, Lyra, and Caspien burst into laughter, floating in the water, barely able to keep themselves steady as waves splashed over their faces. Even Kaldur, ever stoic, shook his head with a faint smile.

"Let's move while they're busy with her," Kaldur said, his voice low but firm. "Unless you'd rather get shot full of arrows."

Lyra's laughter died down as she nodded, slipping seamlessly back into focus as she reached for her weapon. Ethan still didn't fully understand how she fought with that thing—a blade tied to a weighted rope.

And now, of all times, she was pulling it out in the water?

He raised an eyebrow.

The girl just looked at him with a mischievous smile. "Dive."

Before he could even ask, she vanished beneath the surface. The others followed instantly.

Then—hands wrapped around his ankle.

Ethan barely had time to suck in a breath before he was yanked under.

The world shifted into a dreamscape of sun-scattered teal waters, coral blooming in twisting formations beneath them. Bubbles drifted upward, breaking apart the golden light. His vision adjusted, the sting of salt fading as the scene before him became clear.

And then he saw it.

A sword—long, slender, and silver, glinting like a shard of moonlight—floated upright in the water before Kaldur. A rapier? It was thinner than a longsword, for sure, but what caught Ethan's attention wasn't its shape.

It wasn't moving.

It just hovered there, perfectly still, as though held by invisible hands.

Lyra and Caspien moved quickly, tying the rope around the crossguard. Caspien glanced at Ethan, who was staring in awe, his thoughts too tangled to form words. With a smirk, he grabbed the boy's hand and placed it on the rope, snapping him out of his daze. Then, just for good measure, he grabbed Ethan by his hoodie too—securing him in place.

The rapier shifted suddenly, tilting horizontally until it pointed forward like a compass needle.

Ethan barely had time to process what was happening before the sword started to move—first lazily, then faster, faster—until it became a blur of silver slicing through the water, dragging them along with it.

The boy clenched his jaw, eyes squeezing shut against the rush of water slamming into his face. His grip tightened around the rope, knuckles whitening as they shot through the depths.

He had no idea how much time passed. Seconds? Minutes? It was hard to tell. But the steady weight of a hand gripping his hoodie anchored him, keeping panic at bay. Somehow, that small connection made it easier to endure.

Then—his feet brushed against sand.

The tug of the rope grew weaker. The powerful momentum that had been pulling him forward slowed, then stopped entirely as the water shallowed.

Ethan burst to the surface with a gasp, sucking in air like he'd been drowning.

Saltwater stung his eyes. He wiped at them, blinking hard, before glancing around.

The others had surfaced too. But unlike him, they barely looked winded. Caspien ran a hand through his soaked hair, shaking off droplets like a dog, while Lyra simply pushed wet strands from her face.

Kaldur, as usual, looked utterly unbothered, somehow already standing, peeling off his soaked shirt and shaking the sand from it. The silver rapier was gone, vanished as if it had never been there.

"Well… that was fun," Caspien muttered, tilting his head back with a faint chuckle.

Lyra scoffed, accepting his offered hand as he helped her up. "You always say that."

"Because it's true."

"Because you get us into half of these situations."

They kept bickering, their voices a familiar background noise, but Ethan wasn't listening anymore. His attention had shifted to their surroundings.

For a moment, he could only stare.

The beach stretched out before him, a perfect crescent of golden sand, soft and untouched except for where the waves kissed the shore. Jagged reefs jutted from the shallows like bones, their surfaces alive with swaying corals and darting fish. The water, impossibly clear, shifted from a pale, glowing turquoise near the shore to a deep, endless blue further out.

Beyond the beach, towering palms swayed gently in the breeze, their leaves rustling with a soothing whisper. The air was thick with warmth and the scent of salt, mixed with something floral, almost intoxicating. And further still, rising like the walls of some ancient, forgotten kingdom, stood a vast emerald rainforest. The trees stretched high, their trunks wrapped in vines, their canopies so dense they seemed to swallow the sunlight. Shafts of golden light pierced through in places, illuminating the undergrowth in patches of glowing green.

Ethan swallowed.

The whole scene was like something ripped straight from a fairytale. Unreal in its beauty, yet undeniably real in the way his bare feet pressed into the wet sand, in the way the warm air clung to his skin, in the distant cry of unseen birds echoing from the jungle's depths.

"Ethan, you good?"

Lyra's voice cut through his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. He turned to see her and Caspien watching him, smirks tugging at their lips.

Scrambling upright, he straightened his posture, pushing his black hair back from his forehead in what he hoped looked casual. "I'm fine," he said, voice steady.

The two just giggled.

"Yeah, try harder next time."

Ethan felt heat rise to his face, but before he could come up with a retort, his eyes caught Kaldur striding away from them without a word, heading toward a bent palm tree nearby.

"What's up with him?" Ethan asked, though he had a pretty good guess.

Lyra answered with a knowing smile. "Because someone can't go a full week without getting us into a mess." She shot Caspien a look—one without any real bite this time. "And Kaldur doesn't really like pursuits on water."

Caspien only hummed in response, tugging off his boots as they started walking after Kaldur. Lyra and Ethan followed suit, the warm grains shifting between their toes.

"Why?" Ethan asked, genuinely curious.

Caspien, already halfway through unbuttoning his soaked shirt, answered nonchalantly. "Because this is usually how we escape, and Kaldur thinks using his weapon like that is not 'honorable' or whatever."

Lyra laughed brightly as she untied the last fastenings of her bodice in one swift motion. "More like he thinks it makes him look ridiculous."

"Anyway, don't mind him," the young man added. "He's just being grumpy."

They both turned to glance at Ethan, who had suddenly gone very quiet. A few steps behind them, he stood awkwardly, his face turned away, ears burning red as he quickly pulled off his hoodie and tied it around his waist.

When he looked back, he caught Lyra and Caspien watching him with barely concealed amusement.

"Oh, shut up," he muttered, shoving past them.

That only made Caspien chuckle. "Didn't say a word."