BROKEN MEMORIES, FINDING ISHO.

Reith moved quickly through the middle deck of the ship.

Jeran had dropped him into a window at the side of the wave cruiser before he had gone to face Hardy.

"Isho," Reith called out, but there was no response.

Nothing at all.

The doors arranged at the side of the deck's hallway were tightly shut.

Reith grumbled, "If only I had some weapon-type emblem. I'd have broken through this thick wood," he said in frustration, hitting the door with a punch.

It was futile. The only thing that appeared were the cracks where his fist had connected to the door.

He would be unable to do anything without the right amount of force, and with Isho not answering him, he needed to think fast.

While his mind raced, his book emblem trembled slightly and fell from his jacket.

But Reith grabbed it with his quick reflexes.

"Hm?" He cocked his head. Surprisingly, the book shone with a silver glimmer and morphed into a long sword.

The sword looked heavy, but Reith tossed it into the air before wrapping his fingers around it, a small smile gracing his face.

"You are welcome," Ruach's voice echoed in his ear.

Reith smiled. His path had various ways of surprising him, and without wasting time, he slashed at the door, breaking the blockage.

One by one, he passed through the rooms, breaking down the doors.

"Isho, answer me please," Reith muttered, ignoring the heavy thuds that rang above him.

Hardy was able to keep up with Jeran, which meant he was dangerous. Reith didn't know if Jeran would be able to last for long.

Reith stopped in his tracks. Checking every room was slowing him down.

"Would it work?" he thought out loud.

There was a technique he had used as a toddler when playing with Reisha and the other kids in the orphanage.

From a tender age, Reith was able to manipulate and play around with even the faintest of hana.

His grandfather had called him "Chosen by Hana."

Reith sat in a cross-legged position and took a deep breath. The long sword trembled by his side before returning to its original form in his hand.

He only needed to do one thing. Tap into those hana lines and follow the trends.

"Find him." Reith exhaled, and he pulled. But at that moment, something fractured.

Like a dam broke, and images flooded in his mind.

Memories he had tried to push aside.

Reith frowned, and his eyes opened, but they were fully white.

He saw himself, younger and smaller, shivering in an alleyway. His lips were torn, and one of his eyes was forcefully closed.

Those little children. They had ganged up on him and beaten him.

They said he was cursed, and his family had died because of him.

"Reith…" A voice echoed in the flow, as if trying to pull him back to reality, but it was fruitless.

The atmosphere changed again.

He stood in a circle of people, gripping a splintered staff. This was weeks before he awakened his talent.

His hands bled, but he dared not show pain, even when they laughed and the instructor spat in his face.

"You are the worst student ever. You don't even have the right blood." The instructor's voice echoed from the shadows.

In the deck, Reith was still in his cross-legged position, but tears flowed down his cheek.

Ruach's voice echoed again. "Reith, listen."

But Reith didn't listen.

He felt like he was drowning in countless threads of hana.

Another breath.

Another stab of memory.

It was the first time he had touched hana, the day before his talent awakening.

It had burned him, but not like fire. Maybe even worse.

Pain couldn't describe the entirety of what he had felt.

No one stepped forward to save him. Instead, they all laughed, murmuring like he was a tool to be measured.

"He's using it wrong. It's unstable."

"He's not of noble blood."

"A scum should never have this opportunity."

Reith thought he had destroyed that memory, but it had clung to the very lines of his soul.

Back in the present, hana lines throbbed under the surface of his skin, responding to his conflicted emotions.

Ruach drew closer. "Release your pain," he muttered.

Reith didn't hear.

He refused to hear.

He was the only one capable of healing himself, but right now, there was much more at stake.

There was no more time to think of himself.

One of the hana lines trembled, and he gripped it, causing it to form a thread around his finger.

Reith closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, everything was back to normal.

"Isho, I'm coming." He rose to his feet and gripped his book tighter.

"I need a mallet. Would you be able to turn into that?"

The book shape-shifted, turning to a large iron mallet in his hands.

Reith turned into a corner and stood right in front of a door.

This was where he was getting the strange signal from.

With a loud swing, the hammer hit the door, causing the door to break into pieces.

"Isho." Reith rushed to the sleeping boy in relief.

He placed two fingers on the side of the boy's neck and sighed in relief. His friend was merely asleep.

Something caught Reith's attention, and he saw that the small bird was perching up and down by Isho's side.

The bird must have been responsible for that trigger in the hana lines.

"Isho, can you hear me?" Reith called, but the boy remained unmoving.

Ruach's voice whispered again.

"You might have to carry him, and leave here as soon as possible. I sense something deadly, and unfortunately, it's demonic."

Reith didn't need to be told twice.

He picked Isho and placed him above his shoulder.

It was when he stepped out of the room that Jeran's echo reached him.

"Kid. Get your friend out of this ship now!"

Reith moved instantly. Jeran's words were clear. They had to get out of the ship.

"You. You know where I can get a lifeboat in this place?" Reith turned to the small bird.

He didn't think the bird would be able to understand, but he had previously seen Isho communicate with the little thing, so he decided to give it a trial.

The bird zigged past them and flew forward.

Reith followed after the bird.

Isho's weight was slowing him down, but he could still move.

As soon as they arrived in front of a door, Reith paused to catch his breath.

But an urgency rippled through his spine, and he felt the warning deep within his soul.

His body dropped, ducking down below.

He twisted mid-fall, his arms tightening protectively over Isho's body so that his own back hit the floor first.

Right as he hit the floor, a blinding line of silver light slashed through the ceiling.

With a whooshing sound, it passed two inches above his head, maybe less.

The hair behind his neck stood up, and a moment later, the entire part in front of him exploded.

The shockwave hurled debris past his face.

Splinters and nails ripped through like a thousand daggers, and a beam shattered nearby.

Smoke and dust filled the hallway, clogging his lungs with grit.

Reith grunted, twisting himself again.

He had placed his body over Isho when he had a gut feeling of the incoming explosion.

He didn't move for several seconds.

And when he finally did, he opened his eyes to see a golden dome around them.

Isho's cultivation path's sentience.

Looking above him, there was a diagonal gash carved in the ship, tracing the path of the sword.

It was a simple cut.

Reith didn't wait to see the source.

He reached for the lifeboat, placed Isho inside, and lowered it slowly to the ocean.

Exhaling sharply, and ignoring the ache in his body, Reith dived into the sea and crawled into the lifeboat.

He watched as the wave cruiser slowly sank into the ocean.

But two figures were floating in the sky.

There was one with an arm, and once he recognized the person, Reith was visibly shaken.

It was Master Jeran.