Chapter 1 Shipwreck

The sea completely swallowed up the sky, making it difficult to distinguish the boundary.

In the sailors' dilated pupils of fear, the storm and the waves merged into one - the waves closest to the ship were already a towering wall standing on the edge of the world, with no top in sight when looking up.

"Full left—!"

The captain cried out at the top of his lungs. He was a seasoned helmsman who had spent his life at sea, battling countless storms and waves. But as the Explorer's mainmast wailed in despair, he could not help but murmur the name of Dilga, the god of wanderers and travelers, hoping that his soul would return to its homeland after death.

Inside the cabin, Nova Brody tried to keep his feet on the surging floor, but he failed, and rolled on the waves like a wine barrel that a careless apprentice had forgotten to secure, leaving him covered in bruises.

Time slowed down, and the giant wall seemed to be frozen at a moment before collapse—then a black-haired man with a pale face was thrown high into the air, knocked open the hatch at an incredible angle, and fell heavily on the deck.

Nova fainted very quickly. A second before he lost consciousness, he found that the "Explorer" was surrounded by a series of towering mountains.

Then he heard a muffled, panicked scream.

…

Nova Brody didn't expect to wake up.

He was in pain from the inside out. Someone was whispering something incomprehensible in his ear, and soon, someone was dragging him to his feet and rubbing his back vigorously, as if scrubbing a piece of wet fur. Then he began to vomit water, like a burst valve in a water pipe.

Before him lay a mass of gray and black gravel, large and small, swaying in the eyes of a drowning man, becoming the noise that signaled the onset of unconsciousness. The wind howled, hammering at his eardrums, the rain was bitterly cold, and not far away, the faint groans of pain from other sailors drifted by, some of them occasionally bending over to investigate. This must be a gravel beach, carved by the waves, Nova thought vaguely, with his remaining sanity, before he lost consciousness again.

When he regained consciousness, Nova stared at the yellowed and peeling earthen wall from being smoked for at least three minutes before he was truly certain that he had survived the world-destroying storm. He suddenly realized that what he had seen before he passed out were not mountains, but countless mountain-like waves.

The black-haired young man struggled to stand up. His clothes were wrinkled like dried seaweed, his glasses were missing, but his deerskin gloves were still intact on his hands, becoming tight and damp from the water.

The other person in the room noticed his awakening and came over in surprise, leaning over and chattering something. Nova felt he was still drowsy, everything around him was surreal, but he subconsciously stared at the person intently, trying to compare the language he knew with the other person's. However, under the gaze of those smoky gray eyes that looked particularly arrogant and cold, the other person hesitated and kept silent.

The black-haired young man blinked slowly and uttered a word like a gear lacking oil.

"Thanks."

The other man understood what he meant and smiled in a friendly manner. He was a short man with bright eyes and the sturdy build of a warrior. He wore a short, easy-to-move-in jacket, the weaving of the fabric rough yet delicate, and peculiarly shaped leather wrist guards on both wrists.

Just as Nova was still carefully pondering the pattern on the wristband, there was suddenly a noise at the door and someone lifted the curtain and came in.

"Poseidon bless you, Professor Brody, you finally woke up!"

"...Captain Scarpo?"

The visitor was none other than the captain of the "Explorer". He looked tired, but had obviously regained his composure.

The alien warriors went out, leaving the two alone without any suspicion. Nova glanced behind the captain: "Where are the others?"

"Including you and me, there are four survivors." The captain said wearily, "The first mate is dead. The aliens found his body this morning."

The other party looked at his slightly red eyes, and finally just uttered a dry "My condolences" and fell silent again.

Fortunately, the captain was already accustomed to this gentleman's poor communication skills. He wiped his face with a wry smile and said, "The Explorer is torn to pieces—perhaps some debris will float back up at the next high tide... Professor Brody, we're probably trapped here."

He looked a little uneasy. "Those foreigners couldn't speak the common language. I tried to communicate with gestures and pictures - to be honest, it was quite difficult."

"They must be speaking some variation of the Atlanka dialect."

"……Well?"

"Due to the unique characteristics of the indigenous inhabitants of Atlanca County, their dialect incorporates the linguistic features of multiple ethnic groups, and its history can be traced back to the first century." The black-haired young man held his nose under the captain's shocked gaze, and said quickly and expressionlessly, "Unfortunately, I haven't had much exposure to the language system of this area. Based on the word usage characteristics I can discern, the best I can guess is that the time was roughly between the reigns of Cassius I and Marcion III. If I could go to Atlanca County, I should be able to pinpoint the exact time and..."

"Thank you for your scientific explanation, Professor Brody." The captain had to interrupt the professor's chatter: "So, we have encountered a group of ghosts from hundreds of years ago?"

"Their language dates back to approximately 437 to 325 years ago. And as for the alien I encountered, they were probably human, not ghosts." The other person immediately corrected him, then paused, as if remembering something, and added, "But I think you were joking just now—thank you, you have a good sense of humor."

“…”

The captain raised his brows at him in an indecipherable manner, while the dark-haired young man looked back at him calmly, seemingly unaware that his previous words were rather sarcastic.

"...Okay, okay." Captain Scarpo rubbed his forehead with a headache and decided to change the subject: "Those people just gave us some fish. Would you like some?"

Nova and the captain walked out of the somewhat cramped mud house together. During this time, the professor was fascinated by the door curtain woven from the hair of an unknown creature. He stopped to observe and touch it for a long time, until the captain turned around and called him in confusion, then he responded faintly and limped after him.

The captain tried to help him, but was evaded without a trace: "Your legs?"

"It's nothing serious. I probably twisted it in the storm before. I don't think the bone is damaged."

Silence stretched between them as they recalled the nightmarish experience of being surrounded by countless mountain-like waves.

The mud house was perched on a gentle slope, offering a view of the long stretch of beach. The sky was unexpectedly clear, the sea sparkling, and the shallow water, bathed in sunlight, was a crystal-clear blue. As the horizon stretched towards a dark blue, there was no trace of the previous harshness.

On the gentle slope grew a very soft, long grass with feathery, frosted-white spikes that tumbled like waves in the wind. The surviving crew members sat together with the aliens. Behind them were several large, horned deer grazing leisurely. In front of them was a small pot bubbling over a fire, and an alien was whittling some kind of tuber into it.

Seeing the two coming, the alien warrior that Nova had just met stood up and kindly gestured for them to sit down.

The survivors were old Jason, the ship's doctor who was about to retire, and the youngest apprentice, Baru, who was only thirteen or fourteen years old. Together with a frail professor, they made up a group of old, weak and sick people. No wonder the captain was worried.

There are three other aliens here, both men and women, who appear to be well-built, with sharp eyes, and carry at least one weapon.

The most outstanding among them was a tall, red-haired female warrior. She was dressed in leather armor and had the most serious expression among the aliens. She noticed Nova's observation and glanced over sharply.

The black-haired young man withdrew his gaze and seemed to be extremely interested in the long grass around him.

The soup was cooked and the foreigners distributed it to everyone with long-handled copper spoons. Nova also managed to get a bowl and had his first breakfast after surviving the disaster.

The bowl was brown, probably made from the shells of some large plant seeds. The soup didn't taste good—but Nova was starving. He strained his neck to swallow the thick soup, a mixture of fish and plant tubers, despite his stomach's protests. He felt alive again after a long time.

The captain continued to try to talk to the aliens, trying to find a way out to sea. After a strange conversation mixed with various body languages, they suddenly realized that one of the aliens pointed to the sky and made a waiting gesture.

Nova and everyone else looked up - the sky was an intoxicatingly blue, and the thin clouds seemed to be melted by the bright sun, stretching out and merging with the sea.

"Professor, what does this mean?" Apprentice Baru, a boy with brown freckles and a turned-up nose, spoke to Nova in a panic. "They want us to fly over from the sky?"

The future was like a fog, and the sailors who barely survived were terrified and exhausted. Communication and comfort between companions always made people feel better - but the other party looked at him, calmly uttered "I don't know" and fell silent again.

The boy shut up, feeling bored. To the crew, Professor Brody was a young, eccentric stranger who spent his days hiding in the cabin, only occasionally exchanging a few words with the captain. The professor's cold, smoky-gray eyes, hidden behind his glasses, effectively deterred anyone curious about his appearance or identity from engaging in conversation.

"—Wait, what is that?"

The black-haired young man looked in the direction of the sound and saw a small dot against the light suddenly appear at the junction of the sea and sky, flying towards the crowd and soon becoming clearer.

The captain stood up suddenly, his face serious and solemn, but the foreigner showed a happy expression.

A dragon shaped like a giant bird, with a body as smooth and slender as a shuttle, more than ten meters long, and its broad snow-white wings covering the sky.

In the blink of an eye, its shadow completely enveloped everyone on the ground. The grass surged like waves under the influence of the airflow, making a rustling sound and causing a burst of panicked shouts.

It was a windwalker. They were solitary and violent in nature, living in the clouds and mountains ravaged by blizzards all year round. They were messengers of the storm god Utosca, and few people had seen them in person.

And around the dragon's neck was a gray prayer flag woven with intricate and strange patterns - who would have thought that they would now see a Wind Walker tamed by humans.

"There's someone on the dragon's back!" Baru exclaimed.

Then the man jumped off Wind Walker's back, causing another round of screams—the dragon was over twenty meters high! But he was incredibly light, landing on the ground like a feather, without even a trace of crushing the soft grass.

Nova couldn't help but frown out of habit, something caught his eyes - it was a tall young man, he was facing the light, Nova couldn't see his face clearly, but his golden hair was like a shallow river of light flowing gently in the sunlight, so strange and dazzling that it made people hold their breath.

All the aliens stood, bowing their heads in awe and reverence toward the newcomer, their foreheads touching their clasped fingertips. A massive Windrunner circled overhead, its long tail fin carving a graceful arc in the air. Then, a female warrior stepped forward and exchanged a few words with the rider, glancing in the direction of the crew as she spoke.

The captain shifted his stance slightly, shielding everyone behind him.

Nova noticed that the captain's posture became extremely tense, and he didn't understand what made him so nervous all of a sudden.

He instinctively narrowed his eyes, but met the other person's eyes directly.