Crimson light illuminated his face—Nathan Orion, the blood berserker—as he hunched over, fighting against the most bizarre thing ever: snow. The white flakes covered the face of everything. Worse still was the fact that he had no footwear on and was currently trudging through around three feet of snow, with the goal of getting to shore.

Even as shirtless and shoeless as he was, the cold wasn't affecting him. Nathan walked through the snow-covered forest like it was nothing. Unfortunately, the rest of the squad didn't fare the same. The Priestess and almost everyone else had issues with the weather, even though they were clothed in the salvageable scraps of the miners' clothes.

Pirlo himself struggled to keep his indifferent facade, the rogue's teeth clattering so loudly that Nathan couldn't help but smirk at the sound. He briefly glanced back to put a face to the rogue's clattering, and he wasn't disappointed to notice that the wiry teen was irritated—definitely a new expression on the teen's face, but not an unexpected one.

They were all heading to shore, both those who were going on the voyage and those who weren't, mostly because everyone admitted that even if the entire thing wasn't stressful and no accidents happened, there was still a big chance that they wouldn't see each other for a long, long time.

He raised his shoulders a little and rotated them a couple of times, making sure to angle himself in such a way that nobody could see the grimace on his face. As far as he could tell, his body still ached with every step he took, and he could tell that it had nothing to do with the weather.

"I just wish that one of us had fire powers," Ruben said pointedly.

"For the ninetieth time, Ruben, I can't control my flames that way. So unless you want me to chuck fireballs at you that'll burn the skin off of you, then I suggest you shut up!" Ciara yelled in annoyance.

"Sheesh, relax, dragon lady. All you had to do was cast the flamethrower spell," Ruben muttered.

"For the hundredth and last time, you dimwit, I'm trying my best not to turn you into a barbecue, but you're forcing my hand," Ciara screamed. Nathan could tell that the mage was seconds away from dragging her hair in different directions. "I dare you to ask one more time, Ruben. Just one. Ask one more time and see what happens."

"Uhmm... can I actually ask, or was that a subtle threat? I can't pick up on subtleties when I'm this cold—"

"Dude, you can't pick up on subtleties even if it was a hammer thrown at your face," Daniel interrupted.

"How dare you!" Ruben said in mock hurt.

"I'm so glad I'm getting off this island," Pirlo muttered.

Nathan chuckled at the teens; their little back-and-forth was good for the atmosphere. Although he had to admit, he himself wanted to see if Ciara's flamethrower spell would actually burn Ruben or if the Berserker had a reasonable enough constitution to survive the flames.

"So am I," Ruben said. "Try not to kill Nathan with silence."

Nathan couldn't hold back the chuckle that left his mouth at the Berserker's latest jab, and it was dramatic because he'd tried to hold it in as best as he could. Of course, he'd tried to keep it short, but the assessment by the blabbermouth had been so on target that it was just too hard to. He kept his face forward throughout the interaction, but he could hear Pirlo mumble something inaudible under his breath, the rogue probably taking a little bit of offense to his reaction.

The good part of having Ruben around was that they walked a lot faster towards their destination, an advantage that was certainly in use at the moment as everyone was probably walking at max speed, hoping that the berserker would try to catch his breath when they got to their destination. The tactic did work, in fact—just not long enough to actually matter, as Ruben's mouth seemed to be running on nuclear energy.

The trudging got more frequent as the squad made their way toward their destination—shore. Like everywhere else, snow covered the fine sand, and for a moment, Nathan wondered if he'd made the wrong decision by planning to sail away in the middle of winter. By all accounts, it was a nonsensical plan for them—inexperienced sailors. However, he consoled himself with the fact that before the apocalypse, people actually sailed during these types of conditions, and if it was possible then, it was very much possible right now.

"Gather round, everyone," Nathan said.

The squad all gathered around him, their faces eager to figure out what exactly he had to tell them. Nathan relaxed himself for a moment, unsure of exactly what he was supposed to say. As far as he could tell, he'd already prepared them as best as he could and told them the stakes.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Okay, if anyone wants to back out of this expedition, then this is the time to do so. No one will judge you if you've had a change of heart," Nathan said.

No one took him up on his offer to not go on the expedition, and he couldn't help but grunt in respect. They'd all stuck to their various decisions, and he was as glad as could be that they were people of integrity at the very least.

"Great, Ciara, can I get the Tora ore?" Nathan asked.

"Sure," she replied as she tossed him a compressed black box vat.

He caught it mid-air with a grin, nodding to the mage to acknowledge her aid in packing up the mined ore from the miner warehouse into the black box and bringing it back for them.

"Ruben, you're up," Nathan said, reaching into his bag of holding and tossing the miniature Racron ship to the berserker.

"Aye, aye, captain!" Ruben said giddily.

Nathan watched as the Berserker went past him, already fiddling with the miniature wooden ship. The teen headed towards the sea with excitement clearly evident on his face. With the gentleness of someone trying to lay down a newborn baby, he dropped the ship in the water gently.

"Yo, Nate, come over," Ruben called out.

With a sigh, Nathan walked over to the Berserker, who was crouching in the snow. The cold that the teen had been complaining about for so long didn't seem to bother the berserker as his eyes were fixated on the ship, too busy to probably realize he was almost chest-deep in snow. With a snort at his view of the situation, Nathan dropped to a crouch beside the Berserker.

"Okay Nate, you're about to get your very first nautical lecture... Yesterday doesn't count; you did it all by yourself," Ruben grinned.

Nathan resisted the urge to cuff the teen behind the head, mostly because he doubted he'd be able to hold back, and he might actually dislodge whatever bit of sense was hanging on in Ruben's head for dear life.

"Just get to the lecture," Nathan sighed.

"Say no more," Ruben started. "Introducing to you the Racron ship. An invention made by world 281, also known as Decanmus. It's a world with the most enchanters, hence their progress in the sector. Moving on, this ship has been equipped with three limited-function stone golems. One golem steers the ship—the captain; the other is the First Mate, deputy captain; and the last is the Sailing Master in charge of reading maps. Now all you need to decompress the ship is touch and hold on this rune."

Nathan watched the rune carefully and memorized it. He was about to speak when Ruben stood up abruptly and tried to drag him by the arm—well, tried to. Nathan didn't budge, which caused the berserker to sigh as he released him.

"Well, let's give it some space to decompress before it runs us through with its mast," Ruben said.

Nathan almost facepalmed at the fact that he hadn't even thought about that. In one fluid motion, he got off the floor and got as far away from the spot as possible, he and Ruben putting as much distance between them and the ship.

It took but a few moments after distancing themselves until Nathan witnessed one of the weirdest sights he'd ever seen in his life. The ship was swelling like a balloon right in front of his eyes, and it was all he could do to not blink lest he miss the transformation. He didn't, and within a minute, a real-life ship was before him, and Nathan couldn't help but grin.

A gangplank was thrown from the ship, and even though it was supposed to be impossible, Nathan's grin grew wider. He simply smiled as he rushed towards the gangplank, heading up into the ship, which was definitely just a brig, not a ship-ship. The rest of the squad were in tow, and soon enough, everyone was onboard.

He surveyed the ship, and though it was crude, there wasn't a bit of shoddy workmanship in sight. He walked towards the three golems, which were all standing still at the helm of the ship. The moment he got within range, the golems got to their knees, and the one he assumed was the captain spoke.

"Good day, I am the captain of this vessel, and I will obey whatever commands you have for me, master," it said, its voice gravel-like, almost like two stones grinding together. "What would you wish to name this vessel, Master?"

Nathan wasn't a very creative person when it came to naming things, and it wasn't a surprise when only a single thought came to his mind at the prompting of the ship captain.

"Blood Vessel. From this day onwards, this ship will be called the Blood Vessel."

"Name confirmed. Ship will now be identified as the Blood Vessel, belonging to Lord Nathan Orion."

"Bruhhh, I thought you got all of the blood nonsense out of your system yesterday," Ruben said exasperatedly.

"Well, apparently I didn't. Deal with it," Nathan said dismissively.

At that moment, he was way too interested in his current situation to even bother listening to anything else the berserker had to say. This ship belonged to him—him, Nathan Orion, or as the captain had put it so eloquently, Lord Nathan Orion.

"Rise," he said to the golems.

So they rose, each looking at him blankly, waiting for his next command. Nathan was confused as to what exactly he was supposed to say next. Luckily for him, he was in the presence of a certified blabbermouth.

"Pssst, Nate, I think they're waiting for you to pick a location," Ruben said.

"I know, but how do I do that?" Nathan asked.

"Easy peasy, have the sailing master scan the world and he'll be able to procure a map of Earth," Ruben said.

A map? You've got to be shitting me.

"Sailing master, scan world," Nathan said.

"Scanning world 2737, also known as Earth. Please wait," the golem said. "Scanning complete. Map procured. Choose destination."

Nathan couldn't believe his ears and his eyes as a second golem, different from the captain, spoke up. Its words were like that of a madman. In its hands was an even more intriguing conundrum, because there was a very detailed map of Earth. Hell, he could see places like America, Columbia, Chile, China, and even sub-states were available. Some places were greyed out, and from what he could see, it was probably because those places didn't have water bodies surrounding them.

"So what's the move, Nathan?" Diane asked.

"It's quite simple really," he started. "Everyone not part of the voyage should please get off the Blood Vessel, because this ship is about to head out."

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