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[right][sub][b]𝔠[/b]hapter 𝔬𝔫𝔢 [/sub]
[sub][b]𝔪[/b]ood 𝔲𝔤𝔥.. 𝔰𝔱𝔬𝔭 𝔠𝔯𝔶𝔦𝔫𝔤[/sub]
[sub][b]𝔪[/b]entions 𝔢𝔭𝔥𝔞𝔦, 𝔞𝔯𝔩𝔢𝔱𝔱𝔢[/sub][/right][/color][hr]
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The gentle sea breeze was a welcome caress against her skin as Callaia sat balanced near the edge of the deck on the bow side of the ferry. The noise of the other 20 something passengers were gentle murmurs slipping into the background as she sunk into her meditation. 

For whatever reason, Ephai seemed to have been preoccupied at the moment and she couldn’t pass up this chance to take advantage of the peace and quiet granted to her. Well, kind of peace and quiet, it was taking a good deal of concentration to keep her mind separated from the abundance of noise around her, but soon she fell into the field of peonies and silence was cast around her. This space was always a needed precursor to her various adventures and missions, even though she hadn’t been on very many of either of those in recent times.

Time passed and soon a loud bell rang at just the right frequency and Callaia was “pulled” back into her body. Blinking rapidly, expecting the bright sun to sting her eyes she was surprised to be met with heavy fog. That was only the beginning of the bad feeling growing in her gut as per Opal’s orders they all lined up and followed her like sheep off the boat and onto the island. Callaia made sure to linger near the back of the group and could feel the heat of her soul wavelength growing as more and more “off things” put her on high alert. Everyone they had come into contact with seemed to be in a daze, the parts of the island meant to be bustling were nearly barren, and other parts overrun by vegetation meant for a jungle and not the Mediterranean. Obviously, something weird was happening, and Ms. Opal’s anxiety about the events was becoming suffocating, so when an almost hidden pathway caught Callaia’s attention she took it, and thankfully without a single soul noticing her. 

Pushing through the leaves and vines that hung in her way she encountered a few stragglers of mindless wanderers that almost bumped into her as if she wasn’t there. The path turned from concrete to wood and the sounds of faint music played in a pitch one or two notes off-key. The boardwalk that once was a happy and convivial place of families and couples now was just creepy and Callaia wanted nothing to do with any of it. Though her body pressed on, the path cleared a bit compared to what she had been walking through, and a large, bluish building almost seemed to beckon to her.

The sign in front of it became legible as she moved closer: [i][color=#115f5b] Undersea Dragon’s Palace![/color]
Do you feel the world has gone [b]mad[/b]? Come enjoy the serenity of the ocean in The Dragon’s Palace[/i]

Something, let’s call it intuition, stopped Callaia from pushing open the doors and waltzing into the Dragon’s Place. With her back to the world around her, there was a feeling of being watched, an intense gaze that had triggered her fight of flight, the intensity of her soul licking like the flames of a fire along her muscles. Whatever it was watching her noticed her awareness and was darting off leaving the rustle of greenery as Callaia turned around.

With haste, and not much care to her surroundings she retraced her footsteps and navigated through the path she assumed Opal had herded the class along and entered what looked like a much busier harbor than the boardwalk she had just explored. The group was easy to spot, and the voices of a few of her classmates did little to catch her attention as she appeared behind her partner. 

[color=de5d83]“Eph, great job not getting lost or into any fights,”[/color] Callaia spoke in a low voice there was a hint of relief mixed into her words. Not that she would ever admit to it but she worried about Ephai, he was all bark and no bite and barked [i]way[/i] too much. [color=de5d83]“I found something… [i]interesting[/i]... get Arlette’s attention and we can go check it out.”[/color]
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