I hide underneath the tarps, refusing to come out.

Joule leans down and blocks the sun, her eyebrow raised curiously. "Null? Are you coming out any time soon?"

[No. This is safe. Or at least it's safer.]

She coils up, lowering her head to get on eye level with me. "How is this any safer than walking around? We've literally got Noah Cosmic on board. Nothing bad can possibly happen while - oh wait, he's gone again. He must have gotten bored."

I shove myself deeper into the pile. [No, he got scared. As anyone should.]

Raising herself to her full height, there's a short moment where I think she's left me alone. I sink further under the tarps, reassured by their stability and comfort. Tarps do not fly.

The tarps go flying off me as Joule yanks them off. "All right, I've had enough of that. Come on out, it's a great view."

I lunge at her, a half-baked attempt at a Void Bite erupting to my mandibles.

[Give me back my tarps!]

She pulls away, a serious frown on her face. "No! You're on a skyship. Appreciate it! Why are you even scared of heights, anyway?"

[Why would I need a reason to be scared of flying several thousand feet above endless water?]

Joule snorts, raising a hand to correct me. "Actually, we're much higher than several thousand feet. It's around twenty-five thousand feet up."

I lunge for the tarps in her hand. [Give me those back!]

They vanish in a sweep of black as she puts them in my subspace. I didn't know she could do that.

Alice walks up the stairs from the cabin looking a little green. "Hey, guys. Could you maybe stop shaking the ship? It's not helping my stomach."

I stare at her. [Your stomach? We're five miles up and you're worried about your stomach?]

Baby pokes his head up. "We're how high up?"

Joule folds her arms. "Twenty-five thousand feet. A little under five miles, yes."

The captain comes up, complaining. He's a bird-like human with feathers in his hair and claws.

Oh yes, and he has a beak.

"What the blitherin' blazes are y'all doing up here? We're approaching the Palm, we cain't be walkin' around!"

Baby looks at him curiously. "The what?"

The captain shakes his head. "The Palm! The part of the sea where the ole' demon continent used to be!"

We all look equally confused, although my face doesn't show it quite as well.

His beak drops open. "You don't know what the Palm is?"

[Well, I had heard Noah destroyed a continent, but I didn't know about any lasting effects.]

He walks over to the edge of the ship and points. "Well, you do now!"

The others look over with awestruck expressions, but I'm not falling for it. The edge of the skyship is a very dangerous place to be when there are breezes.

At least, that's what I thought until Joule picks me up and holds me so I can see.

[PUT ME DOWN OR SO HELP ME - oh.]

I see exactly why it's called the Palm.

A massive indent is sunken into the sea's surface. Really, 'massive' is a horrible understatement.

The unmistakable shape of an invisible downward-facing hand is pressed into the water, clear details visible even from this high. A single finger is probably hundreds of miles wide, and the only reason I can tell what any of it is is due to how high we are. Well before the bottom of any of the fingers that I can see is dry land, the water sucking at its edges as it perpetually stays away from the handprint.

[Noah did this?]

The captain nods grimly, and I wonder if I should have asked what his name was at some point. There's no chance of it now.

"Indeed, and in one blow no less. It's stayed this way for thousands of years. Nothin' grows down there."

I somberly consider the power required to do this.

[Noah's been holding out on me.]

Joule simply nods, unable to look away. "I tell you what though, Bubbles would get a kick out of this."

I look around, expecting to see the clear slime bouncing around.

[Where's Bubbles?]

Joule's head slowly turns to look at me. "Isn't he in your shadow?"

I shake my head. [I don't sense him anywhere in my subspace.]

She looks a little worried. "Uhhh... when did we see him last?"

I think about it for a moment. [Right after the hot dog, I think.]

She pales. "So... a lesser S-tier Void slime and... the dragon's gone too."

I say what everyone is thinking.

[Cark.]