Shrouded Seascape

Lily stood on the deck of the Maiden's Love.

Bodies were sprawled across the floor in front of her. All of them were gone, and their deaths were caused by a bullet to their head. Yet, every single one of them had a smile on their face. In their final moments, just as they pulled the trigger, perhaps they truly felt happiness.

Lily had anticipated that she would be shocked. But unfortunately, she wasn't shocked at all, and she would no longer be. She just stood there and watched in silence.

The same scene had unfolded before her too many times to count within the cursed time loop. Without any shred of humanity to hold them down, those people were willing to do anything just to relieve their endless boredom.

Although Lily had persevered through to the end and hadn't become a monster like them, the endless time loops had eroded her innocence and naivety.

She still looked like the same young woman—sweet-looking with delicate features, but the time loops had forced her to mature.

Without a word, Lily floated into the air. Before the falling snow could touch her, she drifted toward the bridge.

Her face was a myriad of emotions as she stared at the nautical map on the wall and its half-traveled route. Her gaze then turned toward the flurry of snowflakes dancing in the glow of the ship's spotlight.

Lily's heart started to waver. She was slightly afraid. Just the falling snow alone had dragged her into such a prolonged, torturous nightmare. Who knew what awaited her on the path ahead?

What was more terrifying than the endless time loop was the growing weight of her emotions toward Charles. Her logical mind and emotions were fighting to tilt the scales in its favor.

Lily was still in a dilemma when the door to the bridge swung open. The Chief Engineer, First Engineer, and Second Engineer braved the snow outside and entered. They had heard the series of gunshots from earlier.

"Miss Lily! What… What the hell happened?" Their faces were apparent with shock as they stared at the sight outside through the glass window.

For Lily and the others, it had been decades. Yet for the three engineers in the engine room, it had merely been three seconds.

But something else caught Lily's attention, and her shock overpowered theirs. Raising a delicate, fair finger, she pointed at the snow clinging to their hair and shoulders.

Her finger trembled, and her voice shook as she asked, "You…you're fine?"

The same cursed snow that had eroded at the crew's humanity had landed on the engineers, but they displayed nothing out of the ordinary.

"What? What are you talking about? What happened to Captain and the others?" The Chief Engineer pressed for answers. His eyes narrowed as a hint of caution and suspicion flickered across his gaze.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three gunshots rang out. The engineers collapsed onto the floor, and blood pooled around them.

A hunched figure stepped onto the bridge. It was Wrench. His lips stretched into a wide grin to reveal his nicotine-stained teeth and inflamed red gums.

"Time doesn't flow the same in the loop," Wrench explained, his voice twisted with amusement. "The first time I went through it, it lasted way longer than a second."

"I didn't know these icebergs and snowflakes have such a unique ability to trap people in a time loop. But I'm certain that there must be some sort of pattern to it—not that it matters anymore."

Wrench then walked past Lily and headed to the helm. His fingers tightened around the wheel before he yanked the wheel hard to port, turning the ship around.

"What are you doing?" Lily questioned.

"What else?" A low chuckle escaped Wrench's lips as he replied, "Heading back to Sottom, of course. Don't tell me you want to continue staying in this hellhole."

Wrench's words were too normal—so normal that they sent a deep chill down Lily's spine.

"And what do you plan to do when you're back?"

Wrench didn't answer Lily's question. Instead, his grip on the wheel tightened, causing his veins to protrude. A crazed light flashed across his eyes as his jaw clenched so tightly that his teeth ground together in a sharp, grating noise.

Then, a sound similar to the terrifying cackle of a hungry spectre within the depths of hell crawled out from deep within his throat.

After going through two full time loops, Wrench could no longer be considered human. More terrifyingly, unlike the others, he hadn't killed himself the moment he was out of the time loop.

No one knew how twisted Wrench's mind was after going through the same nightmare twice. But one thing was clear—he had turned into something more horrifying than the others who had killed themselves.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Spears formed from golden light shot out from beside Lily, piercing Wrench and pinning him against the wall.

Crimson blood dripped from Wrench's wounds and pooled on the floor.

It was Lily's doing; this was the first time she made such a decisive attack.

She walked toward him and gazed up at his suspended form.

"I'm sorry. I can't let you go back. You'll only harm more people when you return. This place has already turned you into a monster."

Wrench coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood. The current him no longer feared death. His lips curled into a mocking smile as he said, "Drop the act. If I became a monster, then what about you? Do you really think you are not the least influenced? If I'm no longer human, then what are you?"

Thud!

A final spear pierced the middle of Wrench's forehead.

Wrench went silent; his body sagged, and his eyes rolled back.

Lily stared at Wrench impaled on the wall for a long while before she turned away and walked toward the nautical chart. She then approached the navigational dashboard and pried the compass loose.

A determined look crept upon her face. Clutching the compass tightly in her palm, she declared

"I'm Lily! I'm not a monster, and neither am I a mouse! I'm a human!"

Perhaps the message was meant for herself, maybe it was meant for the dead Wrench, but it didn't matter.

Lily started moving. One by one, she tossed the bodies overboard. Once every corpse had been disposed of, she dropped the anchor.

She then gathered a few bags of fresh water and supplies and strapped them to her back. Without hesitation, she set off to the destination she had decided on decades ago.

Lily flew fast. It took just a few moments before the Maiden's Love was completely out of sight. Snow continued to fall from the sky, but the golden light radiating from her form melted it all.

Regardless of whether these snowflakes were the cause of them being trapped in a time loop, Lily had no intention of testing it out another time.

After flying for about fifty miles, she encountered the thickened ice continent. The sea vanished, to be replaced with an endless expanse of white beneath her.

The further she flew, the colder it became. Lily wasn't sure of the exact temperature, but for the first time, she was starting to feel the chill as well.

Gradually, the frozen ice continent began to rise and was inching closer and closer toward Lily. The ice wasn't moving; Lily was, and she was moving faster and faster.

Eventually, Lily halted mid-flight. Not because she had arrived at her destination, but rather, the frozen ice had risen to become an immense wall of ice that blocked her path entirely.

The massive white wall before her stretched endlessly in all directions. Upward, it merged with the overhead rock layer; downward, it merged with the seawater.

Looking to both left and right, there was no end in sight. Lily scanned the towering wall in disbelief. She never imagined that the ocean itself could have an end.

Panting, Lily unrolled the nautical map. She did a quick comparison and realized that her destination lay just beyond this wall, a mere seventy miles away.

She was almost there.

Cautiously, she approached the ice wall and realized that there seemed to be faint signs of movement within the vertical ice.

However, Lily wasn't concerned about what kind of bizarre creature had the ability to live within the ice. She only cared about passing through.

She extended her right hand toward the ice. A soft glow emanated from her palm. Just as her fingertips were centimeters away from the ice, the sunlight radiating from her skin melted a massive crater in the ice.

Lily drifted inside as the crater continued to burrow its way through the ice.