Marionette Acquired

Having only just crossed the Berserk Sea through the Mirror World, Angel was reluctant to enter waters ravaged by Death's lingering power again. But Azik's Spirit World Shuttle was different from traveling with a Traveler Grazed by Creeping Hunger, which required leaving and reentering the Spirit World every few hundred kilometers. It was also unlike Angel's continuous but somewhat slower Mirror Tunnel.

With one hand on each of their shoulders, he pulled them and the Marionette in Klein's hand through a space of overlapping colors at a speed that could nearly whip up a hurricane in the Spirit World. Almost instantly, they passed through the storm there.

Then Klein used his cane to divine the location of what he sought. Guided by it, Azik brought them to an area with a deep-black shape below and several paler shadows floating around it.

"We're here. That should be Ludwell's flagship."

Klein pointed his cane at the spindle-shaped shadow below. Then he handed it to his Marionette and wiped a hand across his face, changing from the middle-aged gentleman Dwayne Dantès back into the gaunt, cold-eyed Gehrman Sparrow.

"Might as well add to my bounty."

He gave a self-mocking smile as he explained himself to Angel and Azik.

Angel understood. She had already resumed her original appearance on arriving in Balam: the long, pale-gold hair of Angelica Zaki, the Golden Queen. Now she used her ring of "Falsehood" to make a few subtle adjustments. Tiny changes to the spacing of her eyes and the shape of her nose made her look bolder, with a touch of the sea's wildness.

That makes it easier to distinguish me from the woman in Backlund... she told herself.

Azik then led her, Klein, and Enzo out of the Spirit World and onto a gently swaying wooden deck.