Noon, Shining Pirates Caravel
~Selene’s Perspective~
I sit on the edge of the Caravel as we sail to Navina, an isolated island where Baron Adrius is presumably hiding. It’ll take us a day to get there with the wind against us.
Cassius stands guard on the other side of the boat. I avoid looking at him as I look around.
After we made our deal, Cassius took me to the ship and told the crew I was joining them in hunting Baron Adrius. They argued with him but he won and I temporarily joined the crew. I refused to talk to him when he tried to talk to me and he gave up.
It’s just a temporary arrangement. After this, I’m going to go home with the payment Cassius promised me and just a bit more even.
I watch a distant ship move closer to us. Probably a merchant ship moving to ask us if we want to buy something from them.
I sense Cassius move beside me to look at the ship. I look up at him. He squints at the ship moving towards us.
Someone jumps off the ship and begins flying to our ship at a rapid pace, smoke trailing behind them. Cassius’ eyes remain on the person as he pulls out a flintlock.
“Someone’s coming!” he yells. The rest of the crew, a group of 5 other people, runs onto the deck as the person gets closer, brandishing weapons. I scramble up on my feet.
The person lands on the ship before standing up. He looks around and smirks. A badge containing the Underworld logo is pinned on his right chest.
“What do you want?” Cassius asks the person.
“Simple,” the man replies. He looks at me. “I want her.”
“Well I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Cassius replies.
“Do you know who you’re talking to?”
“Lord Markus. Adrius’ dog.”
Lord Marcus laughs.
“I am no one’s dog. I am simply guarding my superior.”
“Same thing.”
“It is not. You Shining Pirates dared to go back on your word and kill our baron. And I cannot allow that to pass.”
“Then your baron shouldn’t have gotten caught by the AG. Otherwise this would have never happened.”
The man laughs as he creates a magic circle made out of ash.
“I see that you won’t budge no matter what I say. Very well then. We’ll do this the hard way.”
He suddenly swings his arm at one of the people on the boat, sending them flying off the boat. Cassius swears before pulling out his cutlass and lunging at him. He dodges and sends a blast of ash right at me.
I jump out of the way and imbue my fists with shadow magic. I run at him along with the rest of the crew. The person who was launched off climbs back up just as the brig rams into us.
I’m sent flying as the impact runs through the ship. I push myself up, dazed, as the ship’s crew jumps onto the ship.
One of the goons run at me. I send a blast at them before punching another one as she passes by. They’re sent flying by a small shadow explosion from my imbued fist.
I send a blast of light at the quartermaster. They dodge my attack, flipping over it and cutting a crew member in two.
Cassius is fighting the leader. The two exchange blows as a fight rages around them. The quartermaster runs at Cassius just as Cassius blocks a blow from Lord Marcus.
Cassius creates a wall of indigo spirit energy that blocks the quartermaster’s strike before looking between his two enemies.
I run at the quartermaster and tackle them to the ground. I punch them in the head and render them unconscious.
I get up to see Cassius winning his battle against Marcus. He moves fluidly, as if he already knows what Marcus will do next. He parries Marcus’ attacks with spirit energy and dodges some of them so fast I can barely keep up with his moves.
A thug runs at me. I use a wall spell to block their attacks with my magic and lunge at them, hitting their trachea and killing them almost instantly.
The fight continues for a few more minutes until all of the enemies are finally taken care of.
Lord Marcus stumbles back as Cassius lands a spirit punch on his stomach. He falls to the ground as Cassius walks up to him and wordlessly slashes his throat. Marcus’ life bleeds out of his throat. Cassius looks around. Of the 7 of us that were on the ship, only 3 remain, including me and Cassius.
Cassius walks over to the our only other remaining crew member. She’s been wounded pretty badly, with blood flowing out of a gaping wound in her side.
Cassius and her have a conversation that I can’t hear. Without a word, Cassius nods before putting a knife in her head. She twitches slightly before dying, her body going limp.
Cassius looks down at the huge cracks in the ship before turning to me.
“Do you know how to use sky skates?” He asks.
“No,” I reply.
He grins slightly.
“Wanna learn?”
“Why would I?”
“Because we need to get out of here before reinforcements come. We’ll go after him another day but right now we have to leave.”
I spit down and glare at him.
“Fine.”
—
10 years ago, Valeria
Cassius walked around the Kestos household, unsure what to do. He had been in Valeria for 3 days now but still had no idea what to do. He had rejected Julian’s invite to play with the other teens in the courtyard, wanting some time alone.
Cassius couldn’t remember the last time he had so much free time.
He found himself in Julia and Johnathan’s room. He looked around the room before turning to leave the room. And then he felt it.
It was something he couldn’t describe. It almost was as if something in the room was calling to him.
Cassius turned around. Before he knew it, he was walking to a small box on one of the bedside tables. He grabbed the lid and opened it.
Inside was a silver medallion shaped like a sphere that had been squished into an ellipse. Carved onto it was what looked like wisps of wind swirling to the center. It was slightly smaller than his palm but there was so much energy radiating from it.
Cassius grabbed the medallion with his left hand.
Whoosh
Cassius’ eyes widened in shock as dark purple energy began to emit from the medallion. A wind circled around him, and a burst of purple energy came out of the medallion before swirling back into it. And then the medallion went silent as if nothing had happened.
“Worthy,” a voice said in his head.
Cassius stood there, confusion evident.
“There you are,” Julia said behind him.
Cassius jumped and turned around. Julia was standing there, with a look that said that she had seen everything.
Julia looked at Cassius and at the medallion in his hand. She said nothing as she turned around and walked away. After a few moments, Julia finally spoke.
“Follow me,” she said. “And bring the medallion with you.”
End of Chapter XLIV