PART 2:
The most pivotal turning point of my life would have to be when I acquired that Curse. I remember when I found it, an inconceivable object of pure, divine white fire. Its sheer aura blew away all who dared to approach it. Except for me.
My comrades and subordinates wailed, the sheer heat of the curse nearly burning them all to a crisp. “This power… is this the Sun Curse? No… It’s something much stronger, much more primordial!” I shouted through the haze, I heard a voice whisper into my ear. A beckoning, persuasive voice calling out to me. I slowly walked towards the Curse, the blinding heat emitting from it almost burning away at my body.
I stopped just a step short of the Curse, intending to inspect it. But the pull of the Curse compelled me to come closer, my hand outstretched by itself and I was unable to control my temptation. “Morock!” They shouted, attempting to rouse me from my trance, but it was already too late. I touched the Curse with my hand and it melded into my body, becoming one with me. White flames entrenched themselves into my body, I had obtained a Grand Fire Curse.
When I returned to the rest of the crew, Poseidon and Apollo looked at me in shock and, even if only slightly, fear. They sensed the godly, near divine power housed within my body. But none dared to speak of it, the entire crew was dead silent. That is until Arthur voiced his ire at me.
“Is it true, Morock?” He asked, I knew what he was referring to and I had no proper reply, I had broken the rule of the crew. Even if it was something beyond my own will, I felt as though I had no excuse. I saw the captain sit quietly in contemplation, thinking about what to do next. I heard a slight sigh, barely noticeable “Go… at the very least you’ll be capable enough to handle that Curse.”
The entire room was stunned in silence, I didn’t expect such a result. I looked to my sides, and it seemed as though neither Apollo and Poseidon did either. I quietly left the room, like a listless phantom, I heard murmurs only a mere second after I had left. “Captain, are you sure of this? That Curse… he is fated to be your adversary, if he wields that power there’s no telling when he could betray-”
“Stop,” I heard him faintly say, “If he betrays us, then he can come for my head himself. If he doesn’t, then let’s make best use of him for now. What does it matter?” His voice was solemn and despondent. The Captain was never a man of many words, and often was he despondent to the calls of the rest of the crew. He usually took long and prolonged rests, in spite of his supposed bottomless stamina, but after that day his rests became longer. Sometimes spanning from days to even weeks.
It seemed as though for an immortal, the only way to stave away at the ever-creeping boredom and dread of the world, was to either indulge in your vices or to grow separate from it all. Sometimes even both. I remember the days when I used to ponder where I would be led, it was something I’d never admit back when I was a part of the crew, but I was afraid of becoming like the Captain. A disconsolate and bored man.
My reputation within the crew only grew as time went on, many admired me, but of course, as I wielded the power that was said to be fated to slay our very captain, many more hated and reviled me.
One day, a troubled youngster joined our ranks. He was like me when I was young, lost and astray. I took a liking to him, as did many of our crew, but he didn’t reciprocate that feeling. Putting up a facade of stoicism and indifference, like I once did. He was a fine lad with a life of greatness ahead of him.
Unfortunately, it was all squandered away.
I still remember the day when I met him, the captain had picked him up like the rest of the crew. Allowed him to join us without any regard of his past or qualifications, “Let the brat stay if he chooses so, doesn’t concern me. Just make sure he isn’t a bother,” he told us.
Since I was the senior-most member aside from the Captain and the gods, I was expected to care for the kid. Arsen and the other more… reputable commanders were too busy with their own problems, so I was stuck with the problem child.
“Hey there,” I tried to strike a conversation with him, but he denied my approaches, almost always ignoring me. He seemed to be a stoic and serious type of person, never speaking unless absolutely necessary. “Come on now, at least tell me your name.”
He stopped for a bit, hesitating before finally speaking. “Trigno,” he said, “My name is Trigno.” I smiled, appreciating him finally opening up to me, even if only a little bit, “Alright then, Trigno. Care for a drink?”
—
The next day, I came to Apollo to hear about my next mission. “One of our rival groups has taken over an affiliated island of ours, the captain’s assigned you to take it back. With your division as well.”
“My division?” I inquired, ever since I had acquired my curse, I had been sent out for missions alone by myself without any assistance, since the captain trusted my strength alone to be enough to handle myself without any worry. Apollo strung his harp as he continued addressing me, “A team building exercise, you could say. It was more so Poseidon’s idea, since he saw how the rest of the crew’s… treating you these days”
I snickered, “Old man’s still worried about me, huh?” The rest of the crew treated me like a pariah, but Poseidon and Apollo still tried their best to accommodate me. He sighed in response, having finished stringing his instrument. He waved me out of the room, and so I left to prepare for tomorrow’s raid.
When we arrived at the island, cannonballs and magic blasts came rushing towards us. But my white flames shielded us, I sensed the terror and fear in the enemy as I spread my barriers across. I charged at the enemy with more than 20 good men following behind me, as I was the strongest among them, I was of course expected to lead the battle. The enemy far outnumbered us, having various other Curse users and a dozen experienced mages but I was able to fend off much of their attack without much trouble.
My white flames danced across the battlefield as they blitzed through the enemy’s defences, cutting through them as if they were mere paper. But I was not omniscient, even though I kept most of their forces at bay it was impossible for me to be everywhere at once.
Our small force, divided within the chaos, was faced with much opposition. We were without coordination or cohesion, but I did my best to keep the damage to a minimum. The Wind, Poison, and Wave curse users attempted to limit my movement.
A violent tornado ripped through the island, spreading poisonous gas alongside it. I covered my mouth with cloth, not wishing to be inflicted by the toxins of the Poison curse, and then used my flaming blade to rip apart the tornado, stopping the raging winds. My surging flame travelled across the island with incredible speed, even faster than that of the tornado’s. I felt my sword splinter and break a bit. Of course, normal steel couldn’t handle the sheer power of my curse.
The flames burned a path through the island, I heard the Wave curse user shout something in the distance, “Cover me! The Whiteflame’s too dangerous to keep around. I’ll try my best to keep him at bay!”
Amused, I dashed over to him. Catching him by surprise, he attempted to use his curse to drain away at my sword’s flames. He smirked, thinking that he had bested me. But I turned his hope into despair as the fire surged once more, almost bursting into an explosion. Realizing the danger of the situation he attempted to step back but I would not let him escape my grasp, I pushed forward and thrusted my sword into his body. Piercing it with white flames and with all my might I pulled my blade upwards, cleaving right through his body. Only leaving ashen remains.
My fire danced brilliantly as it swiftly reached the skies and pierced the very heavens themselves. A spectacle to behold it was, and aside from just being flashy, it had a very clear purpose. It sent a clear message to my enemies.
‘Surrender, lest ye wish to be torn asunder by the white flames.’
I saw the Wind curse user and most of his allies flee from the battle, an expression of fear and terror etched onto their faces. However, it seemed as though their commander, the Poison user, wasn’t the wise sort. He scowled at me, readying himself for a battle and unleashing a truly enormous amount of poison into the air.
I nearly laughed at such a pathetic attempt, the noxious gas tried to spread throughout the entire island. But I used my fire to stop its advance and blew an entire chunk of the island to bits.
Boom!
A large noise was heard all over the island as my flames combusted with the magic poison. I saw the Curse user attempt to flee in the chaos, I quickly chased him down and in a fit of desperation, I saw him rush over to take hostage. He grabbed one of our rookie’s necks by the throat and held him in front of me, it was Trigno.
I hesitated, for a pirate like me it was embarrassing, I was stopped in my tracks when a mere recruit was being threatened. He was just a recruit, I thought to myself, I shouldn’t be bothered by this, sacrifices need to be made. It’s fine, I’ll just kill the bastard the second he makes a gesture.
But… I couldn’t bring myself to raise my sword at him, I was afraid he would be hurt or even worse, killed. I saw myself in him, and I didn’t want him to die with a hopeless disposition. I wanted him to see the same spark that I had, I wouldn’t let him die… not until then. The hesitation and guilt in my eyes was clear as day as the curse user slowly backed up before throwing Trigno into a crevice that had been made during the battle.
“No!” I shouted, rushing over to him at a speed that bewildered even me. I flew faster than I had ever before, I felt as though time itself began to slow down as adrenaline filled my body. I saw Trigno fall down and close his eyes, accepting his fate to a pitiful death such as this. My flight only hastened itself as I flew down to catch me, I caught him barely by an inch of his shirt and lifted him up with me and out of the ravine that had formed.
We both crashed on the earth as my flight came to an abrupt end, I stood up to face him, extending a hand towards him. “You alright?” I asked, he looked at me in stunned silence, not knowing how to respond. I studied his expression carefully, I knew he felt ashamed at his own helplessness and inability, but I reassured him. “I’ve always got your back, we all do, remember. We’re a crew, we’ll never abandon one of our own. Now, say, you wanna get out of this ditch and grab a drink or two?”
He took my hand and stood up, giving me an assuring smile, “Sure, Commander.”
“Stop being so formal, just call me Morock.”
—
Ah, sweet memories. We went on many missions and adventures together. Though he always kept that stoic and bold demeanour, never wavering even once. But my time with him was short-lived, since only a few months after he became a part of our crew;
“Captain! One of our curses was stolen!” I heard a crewmate cry out. Havoc erupted in the entire ship as we all scrambled to see what the commotion was, obviously one of our curses had disappeared from the curse vault we kept. But which one was it? Who had done it? Enemy, or foe? Which bastard had dared to betray us?
I heard the captain leap up from his chamber and storm out onto the deck, his heavy footsteps sending tremors though the entire ship. He rounded up each and every last one of the crew members, including us Fleet Commanders. All but one member was present, and of course, that member being;
“That brat called Trigno, where is he?” The Captain spoke, his heavy words clear as day, even in the cacophony of commotion. “He’s hidden himself somewhere, find him and bring him here! I’ll deal with him myself.”
Delirium and confusion filled my mind, it couldn’t have been Trigno. I wouldn’t accept it, why would he do it? Doubt and paranoia flooded me, I–
I didn’t know what to think.
Only a few minutes later, we found him. Arsen brought him in Arcanium cuffs in front of the Captain and interrogated him, but he wouldn’t budge. Trigno’s body turned into scalding hot magma as he attempted to burn the entire ship down and take him down with us, but the Arcanium absorbed his energy and kept him contained. Arsen seared his skin with his Ash curse in retaliation, “This is your own fault, traitor. Confess your crime to the Captain.”
The Captain kneeled down to take a closer look at him, gazing at him with an inscrutable eye. “We gave you a home, we gave you a family, we gave you power, and this is how you repay us? A knife in the back? You pathetic wretch,” He stood up turning his back towards Trigno, “Drown him in the ocean, I don’t want to see his face.” He said, his face dire and distressed, even if only slightly. Though he didn’t want to express it, I knew he was impacted by this betrayal.
I was too, and I still couldn’t accept it. I still wanted to give him a chance even though I knew he had betrayed us, he had stolen from the curse vault but… so what? I stepped out to speak, boldly declaring my intent to go against his orders “Captain! Please,” I protested, “Spare him, we can make good use of him. I promise, he’s a good man. I’ll teach him how to use his curse.”
The Captain eyed me with disgust and almost hatred, but before he could say anything, Arsen stepped up. The rational and logical one, the one who had an answer to almost everything in the world. “How can we guarantee that, Morock? You may have had a good relationship with him, but you’ve only known him for a short while too. For all we know he could’ve just been playing a role to gain your trust and then betray us all when he had the chance to.”
My brow furrowed, anger bubbling at his comment, “And why would he do that?” Arsen looked at me quizzically, as though the answer to my question was obvious. “Because you’re strong, of course.” He continued speaking, “You’re strong, Morock. Too strong, even, so of course it’d be in his best interest to be in your good graces. How can you possibly trust a man who you’ve only known for a few months at best, not only that, someone who has already betrayed your trust? It’s simply ridiculous to ask that of us.”
“Then, if the crew wishes. I can keep an eye on him, if he ever acts out of line, then I’ll take it upon myself to end him myself.” I retorted, sparks of tenacity visible in my eyes. Arsen stopped to think for a moment, he opened his mouth to speak, seemingly to agree with me. But before he could speak, the captain cut him off. “I don’t want a filthy traitor anywhere near my ship, I don’t care what you want to do with him. But I will not tolerate his existence in my crew.”
I saw the ashen commander step back in acceptance, in spite of his logical reasoning skills, he was quite the sycophant for the captain. “If that is your wish, Captain.”
I objected once more, “Why Captain?! You made an exception for me, so why not him? Why must he suffer this fate!” Arthur turned around, fury etched onto his face, “My command is final, Morock. You were the exception, the only one I will ever make.” I stood there stunned in silence as he left back to rest in his quarters, Arsen picked up Trigno and hauled him to the brig, all while I sat there dazed and lost.
The next day, I went to visit Trigno, wanting some clarity before he was exiled. I sat down in front of his cell, fragile steel bars separating us, if he wished he could easily break out. But both of us knew it would be a futile attempt. I took out a small bottle of rum from my coat, offering it to him as a final goodbye.
He didn’t take up on my offer. I leaned in closer, hesitating to ask him, “Why… Why did you do it?” Shadows darkened his face, making it unreadable. But I could tell that he held a cumbersome expression. He didn’t answer my question at first, instead howling a low and dry cackle. In a rough and coarse voice, he spoke “Commander… If you had the chance to take power in your own hands, to right your wrongs… would you take it?” He smirked, “Of course you would. We all would, I had that chance and I took it. I’m strong enough now, I don’t need to be afraid. I can finally… finally kill that bastard…”
Vengeance, he desired vengeance, and the magma curse could satiate that desire. But at what cost? “Even if you had to betray your own family for that power?” I asked him, he only scoffed in response. “Family? Be honest, commander, we were never family. We’re nothing more than stray dogs the captain picked up, don’t try to pretend otherwise.”
I knew that this conversation would lead nowhere, so I stood back up, preparing to leave. In the back of my eye, I saw Trigno hold his head down in shame as I left.
Goodbyes be damned.
—
Finally, we arrived at the island where Trigno was to be marooned. An empty island of nothing but palm trees and sand, a perfect hell to be stranded on. If he was smart he would end his own life rather than be taken by starvation.
“Still have nothing else to say?” I asked, somber and bitter in my tone. Trigno, as always, didn’t reply. I felt a tinge of guilt and sorrow as I climbed back on the ship, leaving him stranded. But suddenly, Trigno called out to me. “Commander… There is one thing I’ll admit; You really were a bothersome man, without you, I don’t think I could’ve gone on. It really was a hell of a time…” He stopped just short of his final word, hesitating to say it. “Thank you.” He said, with a soft and reassuring smile.
I didn’t have the gut to face him like that, so I turned away. With the captain and rest of the crew, I sailed away as I watched Trigno turn into nothing more than a small blip on the island.
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