The Pallid Whale 2 (before battle)
The weather there is quite hostile.
Meursault was right. The Lake beyond the borders was nigh pitch-black. The waves crested tall, rising and crashing violently under the thundering rainstorm.
Mm... The wild winds have begun to sway the boat...
Yi Sang's face was starting to grow pale.
I'm starting to wonder if we can... really do this.
Did we ever let that stop us from trying?
Ha, I guess that's true~
... All right. Heading into the zone.
Are there any laws of that Lake that we must be mindful of?
I don't know the laws of that Lake, nor its Waves.
I remember the way the fog split open. I remember the obsidian sea and the endless tempest.
But the rest of it... All I remember is that the Captain was excitedly delivering a speech at witnessing the legends come to life, and that we were all busy preparing for the Whale hunt.
... So, what awaits us ahead is a real adventure. We'll be sailing blindly into the night.
... Gulp.
Then... we'll have to face everything head-on.
Yes. If the Waves come to claim us, we will face them. Head-on.
... Even the Whale.
... No signs of that Whale yet, though.
Back then, it attacked us mere minutes after we entered the Lake.
Everyone was as tense as they could ever be, looking around nervously...
Wait, what's... that? There's something there, something tall.
A close approach is recommended. I have a source of light to improve our visibility.
Meursault got up with a lantern and pointed the light toward where Sinclair indicated.
There's... several of them...?
What's that...? Hell, who put 'em there? What are they even for?
Maybe they're like lighthouses...?
Lighthouses? Yeah, I can kinda see that...
......
<Do you remember seeing anything like that, Ishmael?>
No... I don't even have a hazy recollection of it. I've never seen it before in my...
...!
I-Ishmael. Has the nausea of the swaying sea gotten to you as well?
Your face has grown rather pale...
I knew that that can't be true.
A seasick sailor only exists in jokes. Besides, Ishmael was doing just fine mere moments ago.
Then... she must've had a sudden realization.
I see... So that's what it looked like. Even a small part of it is...
A terrifying realization.
W-what is it?
You'll find out soon enough. Even if you don't want to.
There, a rogue wave ahead...!
All hands, brace! Grab onto what you can!
A-ah! Agh...!
Before we even had the chance to say anything, a leviathan of a wave rose to its crest, then crashed onto us from above...
And sucked us deep into the Lake before throwing us back to the surface.
Pah...!
... We were lucky. There was a high chance that the following vortex would have dragged the vessel deep underwater.
L-lucky? You saw what was down there, that was...
<... Everyone okay?>
Everyone was soaking wet, nearly hyperventilating, but... mostly awestruck by what we've just witnessed.
We have everyone, but...
Huh? Huh...? What we just saw down there... were...
They weren't lighthouses... They were...
Tails of colossal Whales...!
Wow... Okay... I really wanna give up now, ha ha.
I wanna go back to the time when I didn't know what the Whales really looked like...
So this is the Lake where the Whales come to sleep...
Yeah. If they're deep in the water with their necks bent like that... I could see their tails rising tall over the surface.
But... There's no way they missed this commotion.
T-t-t-the ship is... We're... we're keeling over!
... The Whales are waking up.
'We're finally here.'
... I think that's what Ishmael whispered. But the storm, the waves buried her voice deep into the Lake.
If the Indigo Elder made it here as we planned...
WOAAAAAAHHHHH!
OVER YONDER, I-IS THAT THE WHALE?!
We didn't have to wonder even for a second about what Don Quixote was screaming at.
An entire herd of entities, each dwarfing every single Whale we've weathered throughout this journey, emerged from the waters all at once. In unison, they began migrating in a singular direction. To witness something like that was...
…….
... enough to make even Meursault gape with plain bewilderment.
Looks like things are going according to plan.
Then we'll have to do our part.
Ah!
There, there!
There was a Whale that stood out even among the herd of ineffably immense Whales.
Pallid as the pale death... Its hide, thick with scar tissue.
That one's particularly scarred.
Ha, ha ha ha... I've found it!
Yes... He was right. The wounds, the scars that we... the Pequod made... they're all still there.
I assume that you have finally located the Whale?
I believe so, yes.
As always... the chance of success must be miniscule.
Indeed it is.
OARSMEN!!!!!!!
Ishmael thundered.
<Ishmael...?>
No, louder than the thunder itself. As though her personality itself had suddenly shifted. Her voice seemed to overwhelm the very storm itself.
ANSWERS, YOU DOGS!!!!! OARSMEN!!!!
Huh?! A-aye!
Set route to that pallid thing! FULL SPEED AHEAD!!!! ROW!
... Full speed ahead! Row!
Even Outis was swept up in this sudden turn of events, repeating after Ishmael's bellowing commands.
Is this what Ishmael was like when she sailed the Lakes? Or...
Ha... HA HA...!
... Or is this the Captain?
I see light. ... It's the Indigo Elder.
The old man and his skiff was sliding across the waters toward the Whale.
Listen well!
The rest of the awakened Whales have gone after the bait I've laid for them!
Then the plan worked! Now... Ah...!
It wasn't clear whether it was the thunder or the old man's bellow that awakened the Pallid Whale. Its eyelids began to lift.
... It's been so long since I've witnessed anything like this up close.
It was an eye of astronomical proportions, so immense that it no longer resembled an eye - but a reflective mirror of the world.
Oh, how I wished to see you eye-to-eye.
The old man, harpoon in hand, draws closer to the whale with a grim, stony expression. Ishmael also aims her harpoon at the great Whale, her face nearly tearing with uncontainable joy. Some sinners tremble with fear, while others prepare themselves.
All of it, the world... contained in a single reflective eye that stretched even beyond our peripheral visions.
... Now here's your bait, fish. Bite on it.
I know you have no other choice. Biting, devouring's all you've ever known.
OARSMEN!!!!! SPLIT THE SEA WITH YOUR OARS!!!!!
I respect you, Pallid Whale. I respect that you have lived years in numbers that I cannot even begin to imagine. I respect that you hail from a place beyond my ken.
But...
I will take this chance to stand before you, to challenge you. And with this challenge, to the edge of understanding I will row.
The giant harpoon soars across the black sky like a bolt of levin and strikes the Pallid Whale.
Now is our chance! Row on, row on!
Ishmael rose tall and alone, looking straight out beyond the speeding boat's swaying bow, harpoon in her hand.
I've been thinking... ever since then... about what feelings you might dig up from my heart if I saw you again.
Ha... But this feeling is much more straightforward than I expected.
... Nice meeting you again, you FUCKING WHALE!
…! ……!
Compared to the old man's harpoon, the harpoon Ishmael hurled was like a needle.
But once struck, as though its body was wracked by an immense, unbearable pain, the Pallid Whale's maw opened - and the air itself began to vibrate.
Its maw opens!
......
Go. I will now fish this beast.
Every Sinner heard the old man's voice.
Every Sinner begins rowing with all their might.
In desperation. As though death itself was in our pursuit.
As though it was our fate, our destiny to row.
We were sucked into an endless abyss...
... and a rapid vortex pulled us into the maws of the beast, tenebrous as a well under a moonless sky.
<…!>
There was a deep noise.
And like a droplet in sea, we melted into the fathomless dark.
Acknowledge. Acknowledge. How goes the plan?
Acknowledge. Hey!
... Looks like the radio's broken for good.
Mhm. Worrying.