Dawn smeared the horizon like bruised fruit.
Kael leaned on the rail. Wind knifed through his shirt. The new Stigma pulsed warm on his chest. Tentacles writhed under skin. Alive with Ravenna's echo. He flexed fingers. Faint mist coiled off them. It tasted of salt and storm. Tempest Grasp. One skill carried forward. One woman is bound eternally.
Belowdecks she slept. He left her tangled in charts. Lips swollen. Thighs marked with his teeth. The memory stirred him again. Cock half-hard. Mana trickled like honey. But the clock ticked. Twenty-three hours left before love killed him.
Footsteps. Heavy. The first mate, Garrick, clomped up. A bear of a man with a hook for a hand. "Captain wants ye in the crow's nest. Says the runt's got eyes for squalls."
Kael nodded. He climbed.
The nest swayed high as a church spire. Brass telescope cold against his palm. He scanned. Endless sky-ocean. Islands floated like bread crumbs on blue. Far off a shadow. Another ship. Sails black as pitch. Rivals. Or worse.
Ravenna joined him minutes later. Hair braided tightly. Coat buttoned to the throat. Professional. But her eye lingered on his mouth. "Sleep?"
"None." He didn't say he watched her breathe. He counted heartbeats like a miser.
She handed him a flask. Grog burned sweet. "The Veil's thinning. Feel it?"
He did. A hum in bones. The Tower's pulse urged upward. Floor 1's boss waited somewhere in these clouds. The Aurora Leviathan. Guardian of the ascent gate. Defeat it. Climb. Fail and the floor resets. Curse's mercy. Or cruelty.
Garrick bellowed from the deck. "Black sails! Closing fast!"
Ravenna cursed. "Void Reapers. They hunt Stigma-bearers."
Kael's gut twisted. How did they know?
The enemy ship cut through clouds like a blade. *Eclipse*. Grapples fired. Iron claws bit wood. Boarding planks slammed down.
The battle exploded.
Crew versus reapers. Cutlasses clashed. Pistols spat fire. Kael dropped from the nest. He landed cat-light. A reaper lunged. Face veiled. Blades twin. Kael dodged. He summoned mist. It thickened to fog. Blinding. He drove a knee into the man's gut. Stole his dagger. First blood. Hot on his knuckles.
Ravenna fought on the centre deck. Coat discarded. Shirt ripped to the waist. Her kraken tattoo lashed shadows. Real tentacles erupted. They crushed skulls. Beautiful. Deadly. His.
Love surged. Stupid. Suicidal.
He pushed it down. He fought by her side. Back to back. "How many?"
"Too many." She grinned feral. "But we've got you."
A reaper captain pointed. Tall. Masked in bone. "The boy. The fresh Stigma. Take him alive."
They swarmed.
Kael unleashed Tempest Grasp. Clouds boiled overhead. Pressure dropped. Ears popped. He clenched his fist. Air crushed three reapers into pulp. Bones snapped like dry twigs. Mana drained fast. Groin ached empty. Needed a refill. Needed *her*.
The bone-masked leader laughed. "Child's play." He raised a horn. Carved from a leviathan tooth. He blew.
The sky screamed.
Aurora lights twisted. They coalesced into the boss. Leviathan of the Veil. Massive. Whale-shaped serpent of pure light. Eyes like collapsing stars. It dove.
The *Storm Kraken* shuddered. Sails tore. The crew flew overboard. They vanished into the void.
Ravenna grabbed Kael. "The gate! It's early!"
The Leviathan's maw opened. Portal inside. Swirling to Floor 2. But guarded. Always.
"We fight or die," she said.
They charged.
Kael climbed the beast's back. Slippery light burned skin. Ravenna followed. Tentacles anchored. The creature bucked. He slid. Caught a fin. He summoned a storm inside its glow. Pressure built.
It roared. Aurora fractured.
Below Garrick rallied survivors. Cannons boomed. Ichor-loaded. They exploded in violet fire. The Leviathan thrashed.
Kael reached the head. Eyes locked on his. Recognition. Pity.
Ravenna joined. "Together."
They kissed. Mid-battle. Blood on lips. Mana surged mutually. Stigmas synced. Hybrid spell evolved. *Kraken Tempest*.
Tentacles of storm erupted from Kael. They wrapped the leviathan. Squeezed. Lightning channelled through ink-black limbs. The beast convulsed.
One thrust. Ravenna's cutlass into its eye. Kael's fist into the other. Mana exploded outward.
The Leviathan shattered. Light rained like glass. The portal stabilised. Gate open.
But the reapers cheered. Their leader held a net. Woven from void threads. It ensnared Ravenna. Pulled her aboard the *Eclipse*.
"Kael!"
He leaped. Too late. Ships separated.
Garrick hauled him back. "She's gone, lad."
The gate pulled. Floor 1 ending.
Kael's heart hurt. Gods it *hurt*. Love fully bloomed. The curse stirred hunger.
Hours left. Maybe twelve.
He stood on deck. Crew battered. The *Storm Kraken* limped toward the gate.
Garrick clapped his shoulder. "We'll get her back. Next floor."
Kael nodded. But inside plans. He'd grow stronger. Collect more Ladies. Shatter every veil until Ravenna was free. Safe from his death.
Night fell. Aurora danced overhead. Green curtains waved like her hair.
He climbed to the crow's nest alone. He whispered to the lights. "I love you."
The confession sealed it. Pain bloomed slowly. Chest tightened.
But not yet. The curse waited for the peak.
Below the gate loomed. A ring of cloud and brass. Swirling dark.
Kael smiled grimly. "See you soon, Captain."
The ship plunged through.
Death waited on the other side.
The air tasted of rust and ozone. Silence thick as wool muffled the screams.