To anybody who read the Palo town story:
Thank you for reading it, seeing the hearts and views on the doc goes a long way to helps me to continue writing.
Anyways, something or someone from a previous story might help you understand something in today’s story.
Anyways, no more stalling.
In another place in the war seas…
(Y1854 - Can’t remember the day or the month, I wasn’t paying attention… Heh.)
I held on tight to the ship’s railing as it zoomed through the seas, a brown and white vessel that was almost like a blur over the ocean. We razed the surface of the seas with debonair and poise!
I was standing on the highest part of the crow’s nest as the captain, Max, guided it through the seas.
While I wasn’t the best at knowing my directions, (Those lessons I had with my brother did not stick at all.) If you told me Max ingested a compass when he was a little boy, I would believe you. I would REALLY believe you.
It seemed natural of him to know where to go north, where to go south, yada yada. If you told him about that undersea structure right below the forest of cerunno on the map? He circles the island until we’re at the bottom of it. (Isn’t that direction south?)
As of now, the vessel careened past frostmill island and towards some smaller, deserted islands which sat… Up north? I think it’s north.
Turning away from frostmill, we saw those islands in close proximity. I checked the map for details on them. These islands were named mango Island and elm island. Strangely enough, when I checked the third and largest island, it didn’t have a name. What is with that?
Either way, we flew past it and traveled to the north of elm Island, an island with a mammoth tree inhabiting it. The island looked really lonely, I couldn’t stop myself from frowning at such a sight.
Shortly, The boat slowed to a sudden stop. I wasn’t ready for it so I was thrown off of the crow’s nest - but I was fine. Using a controlled boost of air, I was able to reposition myself so I’d land on my feet.
“Nearly took a rough tumble, mate.” One of the crew members said. I chuckled softly, but my gaze was fixed at elm island, and the giant lonely tree there.
I felt bad for that thing. So big and so lonely…
Max touched my shoulder. “You ready?” His voice was terribly quiet, so sometimes he’d scare me accidentally. We’ve only been together for a week or two, but he was a fun captain.
“Sure thing.” I said, though my gut was shaking like an alley cat. He handed me a large flask of blue liquid, while he pulled another one for himself out of his vest’s pocket and drank it.
I popped the cork off, and drank the flask I was handed. The blue liquid passed down my throat and I felt something familiar manifest in my stomach, and lungs, like they’d expanded.
“Remember that if a shark finds you, I’m extremely fast,” Max told me, “I can pull us both out of the water and get us back to the ship.”
“But I’m pretty fast already, I think I can get out of the way and escape first.” I replied.
“Well, fair enough. But if I see you being chased, I can pull you out of harm’s way.”
Max jumped in without taking off his shoes or socks, which I could never find comfortable. Since I never wore shoes or sandals, (Mostly due to my magic’s extremely free nature, but they also weren’t ever comfortable to me) I jumped in following him.
Max was already gliding down into the water, deeper and deeper to the undersea structure. The structure - Named Anguish point - came into view.
Large crystals of all sorts of colors came into view. Rubies, aquamarine, sapphires, emeralds, topazes, sunstone, tourmaline… Geez. So many colors it would make a big box of crayons jealous. Almost red from anger, even.
And this wasn’t all too deep, either? Wowza.
Max neared the structure in seconds, while I struggled to keep up with his seemingly inhuman stamina. As I kept diving, I could hear swimming… it was getting louder and louder…
A dark gray missile flew in my direction, I was facing its hungry red jaws…
Using a burst of air I boosted upwards, causing the beast to miss its target. I spun around, but the monster had pivoted in the blink of any eye to catch me. This thing was relentless!
Instead of flinging myself away, I aimed a blue circle of air at it, and fired. A string of fast bubbles flew into its face, but it didn’t seem to be bothered by my attack. It darted at me again, and its jaws opened.
I spun myself around trying to swim and dodge. But I was too late. Sharp needles pierced through my long-sleeved shirt, and red clouds were summoned around my body. My heart not-so-kindly reminded me that I should probably go back to the ship, judging by the beating in my ears.
The jaws released around my chest, and I took another chance to fire at the monster. With a second blue circle I summoned another jet of bubbles that slammed the monster’s body. Some blood came from its body as well, one more good hit and this thing was probably dead.
The monster spun around in a strafing mode. I watched it sharply.
Wait for it to stop. Wait for it to charge towards me.
It circled me slowly, quickly, slowly, quickly. But in a moment’s notice it charged at me, it’s last effort. I reacted by summoning a ray of wind, which dissipated into a current of air and water which struck it.
The monster’s fins stopped moving, and its mouth slowly drifted open while its corpse barfed up blood. The body began flipping upside down. I almost yelled to cheer, but I didn’t want a mouthful of disgusting saltwater.
I took a checkup on my body. It had scored a nasty bite on my chest, but the rest of my body was fine overall. The wounds its bite inflicted stung like needles in my flesh.
However, despite those injuries, I dove deeper into the ocean, towards the rainbows of gems and minerals while a cloud of red loomed in the background.
My chest screamed at me to go back, but I didn’t listen. Quickly, I made it into the structure, and it was a marvel to behold.
When I reached the nearest parts of the structure, my legs felt like wet rags strung to the rest of my aching body. But I had made it, hopefully though the worst, and max was already far ahead of me.
There was no guarantee that another shark would show up, but I wasn’t all too certain about it. With every beat of my heart, I was reminded of what occurred only moments earlier.
My strength felt drained entirely after that fight, so I sat down on the rocks which I landed on. Max emerged from the structure, carrying a big bronze chest with him.
I couldn’t make out his face, he didn’t seem to be looking at me. He was too fixated on getting his findings back to the boat.
If I could sigh without getting a mouthful of water, I definitely would. Oh well.
I got up from my sitting stance and got a move on. Drawing nearer to the beautiful structure, This whole place looked like a massive geode on the ocean’s seabed, and a toddler had to decide what colors all the gems inside were. The result was one extremely colorful and nice looking crystal structure, each one sparkling like jewelry. I couldn’t wait to get closer!
Kicking my legs like rotors I flew near the undersea structure and examined the surroundings. Scintillant crystals were everywhere, of course, but nearby was a cove of treasure chests. Swimming closer, I picked them open and stole their goodies. A few galleons laid in the five chests I opened, about 20 total. I also found a small sword and a few cannonballs in some of them, I figured I could pawn off the sword to a warrior who needed it. Too bad it was a little rusty, though.
Slipping all the items into my backpack, I swam out and viewed my surroundings again. A bright blue cove of sapphire and aquamarine crystals had caught my eyes.
Moments later though, Max was already back down here. How is he so fast? How is he swimming so quickly with shoes on?
Max swam down into a different part of the structure. It was further away from where I was and had patches of rubies and tourmaline crystals coexisting peacefully. The reds are bright, a type of red that helps the eyes in the ocean. It was a marvel!
Everything here was a marvel! Wait, wasn’t that already clear?
Forget it. This place is so beautiful!
I went to a neighboring patch of gemstones, which was a patch full of emerald crystals. An occasional aquamarine jewel stuck out, though. Poor things were trying to fit in.
I searched around the crystals, but there weren’t any hidden coves. There were chests surrounding it, but they were all open and empty. Max really wasn’t the best at portioning out the findings.
Like, he was not good at it. At all. Quite greedy, intentionally or unintentionally. Always hogging the sealed chests for himself…
…Maybe he deserves one more chance, right? We’ve only been together for about a week, maybe he could change his ways. Right?
I redirected myself to a batch of sunstones behind the emerald cove. There, finally some chests loomed. Unfortunately, only three, but hooray for some chests I could get!
I pried them open, one two three. Chest one had a sail pattern and more cannonballs in it (Why was a sail pattern in a sunken chest of all places?), and chest two had a set of iron armor in it. Convenient for when I would need to armor up, I was lacking the galleons I needed to buy some Iron armor myself. Chest three had just a few galleons and nothing else.
I stuffed all of those findings into my backpack. I figured with how much ground max had covered, this structure had been pretty well cleaned out and staying down longer would be risky. So, preparing my wind magic to make a fast escape…
CRUNCH!
More blood spurted from my body. My leg felt a sharp stinging feeling, more teeth like needles cutting through my skin effortlessly. I winced at the surprise of the pain.
I wriggled my leg to free it, their jaws wouldn’t loosen. I turned around to see that a bigger predator - one larger than earlier - had caught me trespassing in the ocean.
I summoned a jet-gust of wind, which transformed into a beam of bubbles undersea. The shark was knocked back, but that only caused its jaws to till wounds in my body like a plow. I winced even more while my heart began pounding in my ears.
“You should’ve gone back to the milky way earlier,” It told me.
I shot an even stronger blast of wind at it, and it slid further down my leg, down far enough to lose grip. Blood was everywhere, my leg was too hurt right now. My foot was bleeding and it felt a little different, like there was a moving part gone.
I became aggressive with my spells, firing several Air strikes towards the beast while it swam away. Of the five I sent out, three landed.
It began strafing around, the dark missile waiting for its time to strike. I focused on its eyes, its body, and I fired another jet of air towards it. The beating in my ears was making my stress skyrocket, so my shot missed the shark. It ended up going just above the monster’s dorsal fin.
The shark saw an opportunity to attack. Like a rocket, it blasted off towards me. With a burst of air I flung myself downwards and dodged its attack. Its jaws ripped the water where I was floating like a cleaver ram. I took the chance I got to fling another attack towards it, scoring a worthwhile hit. The blast’s force made the shark turn slightly off course, but when it readjusted it was coming back - and with incredible speed.
I wasn’t able to boost out of this one’s way. It charged, It ripped through my shirt while more needles stung my body. It chewed on my chest for a bit before quickly letting go and retreating to strafe. My left arm was in dense pain and my whole chest was numb.
I shot the scoundrel again with more wind blasts, only the pain in my arm caused four of the five blasts I fired to miss and not hit it. The shark U-turned and charged again, this time I mostly got out of the way but was still hit.
I watched as it bit my hand… I slugged it in its face, it released its grip surprisingly quickly. Much to my surprise, most of my hand was still there - my wrist was now bleeding, but something was gone.
I didn’t think about it and just wanted this to end. Red was at the corners of my vision - if this didn’t end quickly…
I summoned my powers - the strongest spell I could think of, which was just a regular air strike - and shot it at the shark.
I wished for something stronger. I aimed another air strike, and focused on the shark - it was swimming sideways, but it began closing in on me.
As I tried to fire it, though, something incredible happened.
My rage and stress fueled the spell further, a magnification of its power - four more circles for wind magic appeared as the blast took off, an enormous current of air smashing into the shark’s body with power I haven’t fathomed to use… until now.
The sheer force of this blast not only killed the shark, but caused one of its fins to be torn off of its body.
The force of the blast was so immense that it pummeled the waters themselves, creating a chaotic zone of water currents.
The pain from those shark bites was too intense, combined with the weakness of my muscles. My body couldn’t fight the currents I had summoned.
As I was washed away from the structure, away from max and everything, the blood loss was becoming too severe. The red outlining quickly took over, I blacked out moments later…
What are these sheets?
They’re so soft, they’re so… comfortable…
Wait a second.
…
My eyes opened wide, I found myself in a small bedroom. It was torchlit, so the lights were dim. Though, I could still see just fine. Though things were blurrier since I didn’t have my glasses on.
I could make out dark brick walls, along with carpeting as red as blood. It looked extremely soft, but moving my arms was very painful. Speaking of which…
I looked at my hands, there were a few startling differences from when I began that diving trip. One, however, was extremely noticeable and major:
On my left hand, my ring finger was missing and was replaced with very dense white bandages to stop blood loss. As I looked at the crater where it once laid, I couldn’t stop myself from tearing up.
My right hand, however? Entirely okay. That was a miracle.
Using my right hand I pulled up my bedsheets. Surely enough many more bandages were covering my chest, stopping the bleeding from those two shark bites I had to endure. Though… Where was my white hat? My long sleeved shirt? My shorts, too? Why was I in my underwear?
My right leg was also drenched in bandages, dyed red from my own pain. Closer examination revealed that I now only had three toes on that foot, though…
Suddenly, the door opened. Four figures, each wearing dark black and red clothes, stepped into my room.
three had sleeveless shirts and small red shrouds, but one had a white mask over their face. They had more proper attire consisting of A red hood and cloak, a black shirt, pants and gloves seemingly perfect in craft.
They all stared at me, who nervously laid in bed. I pulled the covers up slightly.
“Don’t be afraid of us. We helped you.” One of the lessers said.
“We have plans for you.” Another said.
I pulled my face further beneath the blanket’s covers, I could feel myself shaking slightly.
The masked individual spoke to one of the second lesser, “Why did you have to tell her that?” Their voice was a feminine, with a deep and raspy tone. She also spoke rather quickly.
The guy looked them straight in the eyes.
“Sorry rust.”
The masked lady turned away and started looking right at me, in the eyes.
“We know what you went through,” Rust said, “Shark attacks are very serious, Anchor.”
“Anchor?!?” My voice cracked when I said that, it was still terribly weak. But it raced in a sudden fury, “How did you know that?”
“The syndicate knows all, you fell right into our Jaws. Welcome to your new life, hero.”
“Syndicate? Sorry, but I am not going under your wing.” I told them.
The three acolytes chuckled after I said that. Rust kept her gaze fixed on me, a stare frozen to my body. It almost made me feel cold.
…Because, well, these guys… You know, I don’t have to say that I’m in my underwear again.
“Rebellious. You’ve got one big mouth right now, Anchor.” Rust said. Her voice started to sound like scraping metal.
I tried to think of a counterargument, but couldn’t. The laughter died down.
“Merlot’s got some cool magic tricks you’ll really enjoy, Anchor. And you have the pleasure of meeting him face to face.”
Gulp.
“We’ll be back in a few minutes. I would suggest you fall asleep, it’s good for your mental health.” Rust said. The acolytes drained out of the room, with rust leaving last. Her chilling atmosphere loomed in the room as she departed, leaving me frozen in absolute terror.
Her chilling atmosphere pierced the blankets, the bedsheets making me feel like I was on frostmill wearing nothing.
The shark attacks, the new spell I had learned down there…
What even was that? Did I finally learn how to cast an ultimate art?
That was way too strong to be a regular blast. The five circles… That was a clear sign of an ultimate art, right?
Maybe I could find somebody who knows about ulti-
The doors came back open. This time, the acolytes were nowhere but rust was still present. A man wearing a mask and a fedora stepped into the room, he had a blood red dagger on his hip.
“So, are you willing to join the syndicate now Anchor?” Rust asked me.
I was quiet, completely frozen in fear. These two radiated a completely new level of scary together.
“Sanguine wouldn’t mind another coating of red paint!” The masked man said in a strangely childish tone. He brandished the small blade and held it in his left hand.
I was still silent, I could hardly breathe.
“Well?” Rust asked.
The man approached me, one step at a time. The dagger’s red blade seemed to glow redder the closer he got.
I closed my eyes. Panic overtook me, I stopped thinking for a moment.
And oh boy, that was bad.
”FINE! FINE! I’LL JOIN YOU GUYS!” I said, only bits of my mind intact.
“That’s the spirit.” The masked man said. “Keep a close eye on her.”
His voice sounded much more serious and cold when he said that last part. Rust nodded, and locked her eyes on me once more.
“You’ll get a uniform like the others you saw once you make a full recovery.” Rust told me. Her voice sounded much softer now, like somebody had mixed the eggs into a cake mix.
“Did you just tell me I’m wearing my underpants until I feel fine?”
“Not quite, we’ll give you a tank top and pants to begin. But if you try fighting our influence… Maybe. Yes.”
“I’ve got more pressing business to deal with. Don’t go outside unless you want to embarrass yourself.” Rust said as she exited the room.
“Leaving me in my underpants? What kinds of rules are those?”
…Well, how should I end this?
I’ve gotten myself unintentionally trapped in an assassin’s syndicate base, after nearly being killed by two shark attacks.
I found out I have the potential to summon tornadoes if I get anxious enough in a fight.
And who knows what Max is even doing right now? Did he just forget about me?
…It might actually be better for the both of us if that’s the case.
I stretched my arms out and laid in bed. Exhaustion from everything else took over my mind, I tried to focus as I fell asleep quickly.
The soft blankets only augmented the little comfort I got from sleeping here. In moments, I fell into a deep and fast sleep…
Yawn… Hopefully I can find a way to sneak out of the assassin’s ranks before they force red stains on my reputation…