Release That Witch

The more eastward they went, the thinner the mist became. But the sky was still darkened, as if the sun could not shine in these waters.     

In addition, the surrounding reefs were becoming higher and higher, turning into sturdy stone pillars. Somehow, though the water line was declining, the ship still sailed at a steady speed. Even the waves became smaller and the sea was as tranquil as a windless lake.     

Tilly asked puzzledly, "Why not enter the Shadow Islands waters after waiting for the seawater to completely recede? Once the reefs are exposed, you won't be afraid of crashing into them."     

"Because before the seawater recedes, we can see the Ghost Shadow Red River, which is the only way to lead us to the ruins," Thunder explained. "The locations of these pillar-like islands aren't stable, and vary from each ebb and flood tide. Besides, most markers would be flooded so that they can't be used for positioning."     

"The Ghost Shadow... Red River?" She repeated.     

"Right. Look at this..." Thunder whistled, pointing to the bow.     

The witches looked in the direction that he pointed, only seeing several red shadows under the ink-green seawater—they flashed past, just like phantoms. But soon, two or three more red shadows flashed past again, and this time Ashes found out that they were fish, red in their whole bodies.     

"These're... fish?"     

Thunder touched his jaw and smiled. "They're red-scale fish, unique to Shadow Islands. After a while, you'll see the real face of the Ghost Shadow Red River."     

Gradually, more and more fish appeared in flocks instead of two or three and swam together toward the stern. Looking far ahead, Ashes was shocked at this phenomenon—as more and more fish joined this flock, there was a dark red, thick line appearing in the sea. Apparently, the sailing ship marched on by following this red line, and she could hear the sound of striking from time to time as those fish swam through the bottom of the ship.     

Out of the blue, she realized that this was the Ghost Shadow Red River he had mentioned—a non-existing peculiar river! As the ship marched on, this intense fish flock expanded itself to admit several ships to sail abreast. It was as if the ink-green seawater had disappeared with the ship marching on the fish flock. If the two directions were not opposite, she could think that the ship was being held up by them.     

Surprised, Tilly asked, "Why would this happen?"     

Ashes also wanted to ask this question, because such a phenomenon would never take place in Graycastle or other kingdoms—the enshrouding mist, darkened sky, peculiar giant stones, as well as a "river" made of red-scale fish. For the first time, she was astonished by the sea's spectacular scenery.     

Thunder continued to say, "That's because its main island is like a triangular spire with a huge empty hole centered on the tower and red-scale fish love to lay eggs in the hole to pass down. Each time the ebb arrives, the empty hole emerges from it and these fish are the first to sense the change and rush over in great numbers. Therefore, as long as we're following along the Ghost Shadow Red River, we'll arrive at the main island of Shadow Islands."     

"Captain Thunder, there's a giant blockade ahead of us, like a mountain!" the observer shouted.     

He shook his pipe. "We're almost there. Ladies, welcome to Shadow Islands!"     

Soon, Ashes could also see the main island. Just as Thunder described, it was as if it was made of several triangles, narrow toward the top with a wide bottom, and its surface looked very smooth at first sight and not like it was naturally made. However, it was a little stunning to say that the whole spire was cut by people because the exposed spire body was almost similar to the size of half a city, and the hole in the middle was big enough to hold the Tower of Babel of the Hermes' church.     

Seawater still receded and water on top of the giant hole was flowing down like a fountain, while the submerged part deep into the water was covered by the fish flock, painting the waters in front of her red. Ashes thought secretly that there were, perhaps, ten million red-scale fishes living in the hole.     

Until it was dark, seawater retreated back to the bottom of the hole. At that moment, Thunder ordered sailors to anchor and tie the ship to a copper pillar in the hole with sturdy long ropes. Standing on the edge of the hole, people could see a perforated mouth at the opposite side—sunlight from the two sides could only illuminate a very small area and its center area was in darkness, which made people feel depressed.     

"These pillars were left by you last time?" Ashes asked.     

Thunder shook his head. "No. They were here when I first came, so I guess that they might have been built by the ruins' owner."     

"Where... are the ruins?"     

He pointed upward with a smile on this face. "Right above us, and we're already standing on the entry to the ruins."     

…     

The rest of journey was quite unimaginable. Following Thunder, the witches entered from a stone gate in the bottom of the huge hole and stepped upward along those gurgling stairs. Even though everyone held torches, their shaking fire, compared to these endless stairs, was weak and tiny.     

Walking forward in the dark abyss, Tilly held Ashes' arm closely and lost her usual calm.     

This was the princess she was familiar with, Ashes thought. Princess Tilly was famous for having her own thoughts and being confident when facing any difficulties in the palace but her greatest weakness was fear of darkness. Even when going to bed, her room must have lit candles. So after escaping the palace, Ashes would escort her to sleep if that was not possible.     

Walking in the dark and dampened spire, Ashes instead felt much happier.     

There were no demonic beasts, nor tricks stopping intruders—though if there were, they might be ineffective after a long time soaking in seawater. The only trouble was that, after a long time of stepping upward, all of them were exhausted so their actions became sluggish. Thus, when the stairs reached their end, the team all cheered.     

The last barrier of the ruins was not made of stone, but metal, and reflected luminous light against the torches. Thunder pushed the gate with two hands, and then the heavy planks made noise and opened slowly.     

With one hand holding a sword, Ashes was the first to enter, and after ensuring that there were not any dangers, Tilly and the other witches were allowed to step in.     

After torches were hung on the walls, a spacious hall appeared before them. As spacious as it was, it was empty, without anything worthy of being researched.     

"This is the ruins?" Ashes touched on the stone desk that looked green due to being soaked in water. "There's nothing except for some stone desks and chairs."     

Thunder nodded. "There's indeed nothing. Because of being soaked in water for a long time, nothing can be preserved except for stones. I've told Princess Tilly, but she insisted on coming here personally."     

Tilly asked, "How about those red stones? Where did you find them?"     

"On the ground. There were maybe dozens of stones scattered on the ground at that time."     

However, there was nothing. Ashes lowered her head to see the slippery ground where seaweed had grown. More than one adventurer had arrived here, so it was impossible to find Magic Stones after many times looting.     

But Tilly was still excited. Holding a torch, she looked carefully at each corner and even asked the sailors to add more torches to see the greatly dampened corners. Molly summoned out her Magic Servant to flatten itself on the ground and serve as a cushion for them to sit down on. Ashes accompanied Tilly to see her touching the walls.     

"Hey." Princess Tilly stopped suddenly. "What's this?"     

Following her sight, Ashes saw a wall covered with green algae, reflecting some firelight.     

Tilly tore off the green algae to see a gemstone revealed with half of it hidden inside the wall—as red as the others, it was shining like a magic stone. Shaped like a prism, it was as thick as an arm but its edge was embedded with golden filaments as if it was fixed inside by a card slot. However, even though it had steeped in the seawater for such a long time, the golden filament was still bright and clear.     

Tilly tried to pull it out but the gemstone stayed motionless.     

"Let me try," Ashes said.     

Princess Tilly shook her head and appeared to think of something, and then she touched the prism with her eyes closed.     

Suddenly, there was a flash in the center of the prism—Ashes thought that there had been something wrong with her eyes, but a rumbling echo appeared behind the wall like something had been triggered, and it soon spread to the entire hall. A crunching friction noise enveloped the wall and soft white lights came from the wall, even the ceilings became bright.     

Panicked, the sailors stood up, pulling out their swords, but did not know which side should be defended. Finally, standing back to back closely and surrounding Molly's Magic Servant, they gathered together.     

However, there were no monsters coming out.     

When the noise disappeared, the hall had become luminous.