Chapter 153

153

"Who built this place…?" A mumbling Vivi figured that this place was man-made, everything from the tunnel that they had gone out from to the rest of the structure around them, all aspects appeared too manufactured to be natural.

There was a frickin' ship frozen to it's side. Who in their right mind would build something down here, inside an active volcano?

"Well, whoever it is… they wanted to hide it from prying eyes, maybe to preserve this place." Kuina said.

"From what… time?"

"Maybe, let's check it out."

It seemed both of them were going to the frozen ship. But Vivi had to wonder how they were going to get over there.

There was no path to go there… or even if it was, it might have broken with time. And seeing the frozen wooden bridge dangling from the ship, Vivi could conclude her earlier conclusion was right. The gap between the ship and them was too large for a single jump to cross it, and with multiple streams of lava pouring down, it was also dangerous.

"How are we going to get there…" Vivi wondered aloud but was a bit surprised when Kuina wrapped her arm around her waist. Vivi paled in realization, "Wait… No, let me go—"

But it was too late as Kuina jumped onto the air, using Geppo to easily maneuver around the lava. Vivi squealed in fright, "Okay, don't let me go! Please, don't let me go.!"

Kuina found it a bit amusing as they finally landed on the ship.

"We are not doing that again!" Vivi declared as she gave Kuina a glare.

The swordswoman only rolled her eyes. "Let's check out the ship… This place reeks of mystery. I have to get to the bottom of this," Kuina said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully.

"Didn't know you were a detective…" Vivi mumbled, the cold wind brushing around her, giving her goosebumps. "Can we not?"

"Didn't know you were a crybaby," Kuina smirked. "And here I thought, you were some brave princess that was going to save her kingdom from mean-old-pirates and scary-looking-warlords. A ghost ship should be a walk in the ice for you."

"Ha ha… very funny," Vivi grumbled, "Fine, but if something happens. It won't be my fault."

"Well, good then." With that, Kuina walked forward, investigating the ship.

The exterior of the ship was covered with frost, but there was no ice. It seemed the whole ship wasn't covered with ice. The massive chunks of ice that looked sturdy were a deep shade of dark blue. While the rest of the ice was either colorless or blue.

Kuina touched and tried to break the blue-colored ice. Nothing happened at first, but by instinct, she channeled a bit of Virf, and the ice broke in her fingers.

Kuina blinked, surprised. She looked as the blue ice dissolved in her hands, and the part where she broke it from recovered instantly, taking the moisture from the air.

She tried to do the same without using Virf, but nothing happened. The blue ice didn't budge. 'Hmm, very interesting. So, I was right. This place really was made by a Virf user.' Kuina thought. 'But why would a Virf user encase this ship here?'

Kuina took a few steps forward and tried to break the deep blue-colored ice, but even with using Virf and more force the dark-colored Ice didn't break. It seemed that the ice was permanent, on the darker side.

'The dark blue ice is unbreakable… but the lighter blue ice is breakable with my current powers…' Kuina thought. "Let's look into the ship… we should split up, to cover more ground." she said.

"No, absolutely not! I have read too many fantasy novels to know where that will take us. I'm all with you, sister." Vivi said, grabbing Kuina by the arm, her arm wrapped around hers, refusing to let go.

Kuina rolled her eyes. "Come on, nothing like that will happen. We will be fine." She said, "Where's your sense of wonder and exploration?"

But Vivi won't budge.

Kuina sweatdropped. "Fine, you can come with me."

With that, they walked towards the nearby ship's cabin. She was about to open the door when the cold wind brushed over them, giving both of them goosebumps.

"Yeah… can we not open the creepy door," Vivi whispered. "You felt that, didn't you…? Now, I'm not saying I don't have that explorer's crap… but…"

Kuina gave her a flat look, before yanking the door open, and dragging the blue-haired teen inside the quarters.

It was the kitchen section. And it seemed well organized, the shelves filled with jars, knives hanging on the wall, and cooking utensils, all of them were very well organized. But all of it was also sealed in ice. Deep blue ice in fact.

Vivi touched the ice, it felt cold, very cold. She quickly took her hand away, it might just give her frostbite if she touched it any longer.

Kuina also observed the ice. It was most definitely from Virf. But it was too strong. Even her Wado Ichimonji didn't get that cold after using Virf with it.

Vivi walked a bit forward into the kitchen, when she frowned, looking down. She tried to focus her eyes, before her eyes widened. "Is it me… or is that a coffin?"

Kuina stepped forward and she saw it. On the floor was a black coffin, which was also covered in deep blue ice. The sword user leaned down and traced the ice.

When she first came to this place, she thought she would have found answers. But it seemed as though this place gave her more questions than answers.

Kuina stood up, "Let's check the other rooms."

Vivi nodded, glancing back one last time at the coffin, before exiting the kitchen.

After looking over the kitchen, —not that they could look into anything because of the ice— they went to check the other rooms. The Captain's cabin, navigator room, the crew's quarters, and a few personal rooms.

Like the kitchen, all of them were encased with thick blocks of ice, with no safe way for them to be touched. And every single one of the rooms, with the exception of a few, had a coffin on the floor, covered in deep-blue ice.

The upper rooms were all like this, so only the ship's inner rooms remained, maybe they will find answers there. So both she and Vivi took the stairs down, being careful to not slip on the ice.

As they went inside, it became even colder, but that wasn't an issue, well at least for her. Vivi appeared to be shivering in her boots. The poor princess sneezed due to the sudden change in temperature, not everyone was a world-renowned swordswoman.

Kuina's main issue was the lack of a light source, it was dimly lit here, but she didn't need light to know where she needed to go.

Kuina opened the last door, but was a bit stuck because of the ice, light blue ice. So she had to use Virf and put pressure to open it. Inside, she saw what appeared to be a library.

Both she and Vivi walked in, there was a light source inside. Which made both of them frown, walking ahead, crossing a few bookshelves —which were filled with books— they saw it. The light source seemed to be a yellow one, like a lamp. Like the rest, this was also encased in ice.

But with the light source, they could see clearly here. Vivi and Kuina looked around and both of their eyes landed on an odd sight. Making both of them pale from what they saw.