Uriel scrambled toward Seawatcher, nearly tripping over his own feet. He held out his palm, the golden pearl still glowing. "Look! Look at this! Do you see this? Are you seeing this?! I'm not imagining it, right?"
The cloaked man didn't move. His hood tilted at Uriel's face. He was quiet for a moment. Then said: "...I don't see anything."
Uriel's excitement faltered. "What? But it's right here—"
"I believe you," Seawatcher said calmly. "I do believe you see something, but it's not there. At least not for me." Uriel tilted his head, his face displaying genuine confusion.
He kept shoving his open palm right in front of Seawatcher, to the point where the cloaked man had to shove the blondie to the side with his walking stick. "Enough!" The cloaked man suddenly shouted, startling Uriel and shutting the boy up completely.
Seawatcher noticed Uriel's frightened face. He sighed and quickly apologized to the blondie. "My apology. I just don't like it when people get too close to me..." Uriel inclined his head a bit, then out of nowhere the blondie let out a small chuckle, making Seawatcher nervous.
The mantle figure purposely coughed to stop the laughing teenage boy. "ANYWAY... What I was going to say was, some witcher's Oddities allow them to DO, or SEE, stuff that other normal people can't do. Like, for example, right now what you're seeing. I don't know what's currently in your palm, but it definitely has something to do with your Divine Assimilation."
Uriel nodded, taking in all that information from his savior. He glanced at the screen on top of the golden pearl again, then turned his head toward Seawatcher. "It says I have the option to absorb this glimmer fish. Should I try it?" The hooded man nodded his head a few times, approving the idea.
Uriel looked back at the golden pearl. His heart was racing as he approached the screen with his hand, just a couple inches from clicking the absorb option.
Suddenly the sea roared. A violent wave slammed into the creature's side, sending Uriel stumbling and making Seawatcher stutter in his feet. The blondie's hand slipped, making the golden pearl fly from his palm, tumbling through the air before hitting the creature's rough skin. The pearl shattered into a dozen shimmering fragments, each one catching the lantern's amber light before scattering across the dark surface.
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then light spilled from the broken pieces. A soft glow at first, then brighter, rising like mist from the shattered pearl. Uriel stared at it, completely frozen. The light hovered for a moment—then, as if pulled by an invisible string, it rushed toward the glimmer fish's limp body.
The yellow mist absorbed completely inside the fish's body. Its hollow eyes ignited. A blinding burst of white light exploded from inside its transparent flesh. Uriel threw his arm over his face, stumbling backward as the glow swallowed everything.
After the light had subsided, Uriel blinked a few times to see what had happened, and his expression completely shattered seeing the fish. The crescent-shaped fish, once dark and gloomy, had turned completely light. Its silver body was replaced by a gold-colored skin that shone in the darkness. The water and organs inside were changed into a mix of light yellow and saffron, gleaming from within. It had also repaired the hole that Uriel had made when he was digging through the inside of the fish.
The blondie jumped to his feet, feeling completely ecstatic. "Seawatcher, you've got to see this!" He turned his body to show his friend what the fish had turned into, but instead he saw his savior crouching down, his walking stick dropped to the side, while the man was rubbing the oval-shaped creature's outer bone.
Uriel was so happy about the glimmer fish's transformation that he didn't notice the creature under him had stopped swimming and was singing out a beautiful melody tune. "What happened?!" The blondie rushed toward Seawatcher, who was still rubbing the creature's bones.
"He's... scared. After that wave suddenly came crashing down on us." The cloaked man leaned in against the creature's bone, his hood touching the hard structure, while he sang along with the creature.
"Hush now, Ossythe, don't look below, The tide will only pull us slow, Close your eyes and hum the tune, Morning always follows moon."
"Sing low, sing soft, sing clear, Louder than the waves we fear, If the dark should call your name, Answer it with song the same."
Uriel was impressed by Seawatcher vocal, you'd think a guy with a deep voice would sound scary when he sing. But in fact, he sounded beautiful, to the point Uriel could be lost in the melody tune.
The boy stay quiet, while listening to the rest of Seawatcher song.
"La-la, the sea won't keep Those who refuse the endless deep, Storms may break and winds may cry, But melodies do not die."
"So breathe now, steady your heart, Even drowning songs can start, Cold hands, black waves, endless night, Still our choir carries light."
"Easy now, Ossythe, drift along, The dark grows weaker before a song, And if the deep should bare its teeth, Then sing until it falls beneath."
Uriel just stared at Seawatcher, not wanting to disturb their moment. He carefully listened to his savior's beautiful lyrics while the man gently patted the creature's bone structure. "Hush... hush now, my beautiful Ossythe. You're safe. As long as you're with me..."
The Ossythe let out a huge wail that echoed in the depths of the Gloom Sea. It stopped singing, and its body began to shudder, continuing on with its swimming.
After ensuring his creature had calmed down, Seawatcher was still leaning against the bone structure of the Ossythe. He poked his head over his shoulder to meet Uriel's eyes. "What was it you wanted to tell me?" Uriel didn't expect the mantle figure to suddenly talk to him. He went back and scooped up the new and improved glimmer fish, which was still flapping lightly in the boy's palm.
Uriel bent down to show the creature to his savior. The blondie's smile was so bright it nearly pierced through the mantle. "Look! Isn't it cool? I guess my power is that I can absorb living things into... the light version of them, I guess?"
Seawatcher couldn't help but let out a weak but soft chuckle at the happy blondie. He scoffed and touched the crescent fish's body, tracing its golden skin. "Is there anything else?"
Uriel was going to say no, until the golden skin of the fish let out tiny pieces of light particles that rushed together and combined with each other, forming another intricately shaped rune that glowed slightly.
————————◇◇◇————————
{ Vessel name: Glimmer Fish }
{ Vessel condition: Apathy }
{ Holy ranking: F }
{ Vessel Description: A glowing fish, wandering aimlessly in sea.
{ Vessel aptitude: None }
————————◇◇◇————————
The particles from the fish's skin started colliding with each other and formed another one of those system things. Uriel studied the runes carefully.
The holy ranking displayed how capable and strong the vessel was. Seeing as it was just a fish, Uriel didn't think this first vessel would be that useful, but it was still a good first experiment for his first time.
Uriel groaned when he saw how boring the fish description were. Not to mentioned, he had no aptitude, but make sense for a random fish to not have any special ability.
Uriel couldn't help but glance over the light particles to see Seawatcher, who was leaning his head on Ossythe's bones. He noticed how the man hadn't said a word yet. After observing his singing with the Ossythe, Uriel quickly caught on to the deep connection these two shared.
"Uhmm...." Uriel wanted to say something to his savior. Seawatcher must have seen through the kid's expression, because he patted the creature's skin beside him, inviting Uriel over.
"Come here, kid. I want to tell you an old tale..."