Even though I could see everyone else leaving the same way I was about to, without any fussing, I could not lie and say that there was not a part of me that felt a bit odd about what I was about to do.

After telling the attendant where I wanted to go, they bowed their head respectfully and then asked me to allow them to place a hand on my shoulder. I did so, and then they led me toward the water.

I took a step forward into the wall of water, and before I knew it I was horizontal and speeding through the water like I was attached to a jet engine. Of course, none of this was being done by me, and it was all the result of the person attached to the firm hand on my shoulder.

I had half a mind to turn around and look to see if their feet had become a mermaid tail, but I decided I did not want to do anything that could risk being left alone in what looked to be the real ocean. I could not see where we were going, and even my senses were a bit muted as we continued moving through the water.

What was interesting, though, was that there was no need for me to hold my breath. I could feel that I was in water, but I did not feel the water entering any place it should not. Then only a few moments later we exited the water.

I never even noticed we were reaching an exit, and it still looked like there were miles of water ahead of me, but we successfully exited, and now we were on what I assumed to be the bridge.

Compared to where we had come from, there was not much in the way of water on the bridge. There was still water in places beneath my feet, as a matter of fact, except I did not appear to be sinking, nor did it look like I was standing on liquid. At the same time, it also looked like the ocean was beneath my feet. It was truly interesting.

Apart from that, before me stood an extremely large window to the outside world, and I was looking at space. We were moving past stars and whatever else made up space as we continued to move. It was beautiful to look at and really mesmerizing.

Apart from that, there were plenty of other people on the bridge, sitting at various consoles, talking and controlling whatever it was they needed to control and talk about, to I assume keep this vessel moving.

In the center of all that was a captain's chair, and in it sat not the mermaid Immortal but another man that also looked like a mermaid and carried their features. Next to him stood the mermaid Immortal.

"I am glad you could make it, Patriarch Raizen. This is the captain of the ship, Sir Glaciovus."

The man then stood up out of the captain's chair and offered me a respectful bow. He was a short and stocky man, but his scales were a honey yellow and were not quite the blend like the mermaid Immortal's were.

I was not able to sense his cultivation, so the chances that he was stronger than me were not small.

"Welcome to my ship, Patriarch Raizen. It is a pleasure to have someone of your status on board, and I will ensure the guest of My Lady is granted safe travels across the void."

I nodded at him before responding. "I have no doubt that you will be able to take care of us." He nodded back and then calmly returned to his chair.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The mermaid Immortal walked over to us before speaking. "Forgive me if I am wrong, but I suppose this is your first time traveling the void?"

She was not wrong. "It is the first time that I am traveling the void. Is there anything that I should know or prepare for?"

"I suppose that depends on you and if you would like to know. If so, I am more than happy to teach. But for this trip, everything will be handled by the crew in this vessel. There is nothing to do on your end but to relax."

"Well, that is nice to know. And to answer your question, sure I would love to learn more about the void. More knowledge can never be a bad thing. But before we get into that, were you able to complete the favor I asked of you?"

"Yes, it was taken care of before we left."

It was probably a bit shameful of me to ask her for another favor when I already owed her one, but I told her to add it to the tab since it was something I needed to take care of before I left Earth, and I did not quite have the capability to do so myself at this time.

This favor, of course, was to eliminate all the demons that were currently on the planet. I was not sure how they got there or why they were there, but it was one last favor to Earth on my end to eliminate all of them, and she did that for me, especially since she could identify and kill them in one fell swoop.

Perhaps Lidaz could do the same thing, but with him still working on controlling his power, it was better and a lot cleaner to have the mermaid Immortal handle it. Otherwise, who knows if Lidaz would accidentally kill thousands or millions of humans who did not need to die, and that was not blood I wanted on my hands at this time.

So the total number of favors I owed to the mermaid Immortal went up by one.

That was not too much of a problem, as I think I will be spending plenty of time with her in the coming days, and I will have plenty of time to repay these favors of mine, as I am not quite fond of leaving debts.

"Now, regarding you wanting to learn more about the void, we can start after you observe what is about to happen."

Hearing her cue, I focused my gaze to the front, waiting for whatever it was she was mentioning to take place. A few minutes passed as nothing in particular really happened and we just continued sailing, if that is the right term, through space.

Then the captain of the ship started speaking, his voice booming across the bridge, making the water beneath my feet ripple, though there was no change to the solidity I felt. So interesting.

"Commence void protocol. Commence void protocol. The Lady and her guest are aboard this vessel. I do not care how many times you have already checked and verified the things you need to check and verify, do it another hundred times before the all green is sent to my chair."

The conversations between everyone else on the bridge, and I supposed whoever else they were talking to on different parts of the ship, picked up in intensity rapidly after the captain finished talking.

This flurry of activity continued across the bridge and presumably across the entire ship for about an hour before the folks manning the consoles on the bridge began reporting all green to the captain.

Once he received the last one, he pressed a button on his chair, and large, imposing metal shutters began descending from the ceiling and covering the entire window in front of us. Even the waters beneath my feet dimmed severely, and it was as if I was looking at the ocean underneath the night sky, but one without a moon.

The ship was extremely dark, and after a few seconds, small yellow motes of light lit up around the room and in the water beneath me so that we could all see each other once again, though it still was not all that bright.

I looked toward the mermaid Immortal and said what was on my mind. "If I did not know any better, I would think that we were hiding from something."

"Well, not entirely correct, but you are not entirely wrong. The void is the bane of all life. Without proper precautions and safety measures, traveling through the void is one of the fastest ways to a gruesome death that none can recover from.

"While the ship was made and tuned for void travel, it is still best practice to ensure that all void related safety measures are enacted and maintained with strict discipline. Otherwise, no one would ever hear from us again, nor would they hear of our deaths."

"Well then…"

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