Kreed stood at the bow of the grape, staring intensely at the rising sun.

He had been traveling in one direction for an entire hour, yet he couldn't see the end of the horizon.

Or any form of land. Infact Kreed began to grow tired of the constant outstretch of water.

The grape had been slown down drastically yet, the surrounding water flew by faster than Kreed could notice.

The sea of fog and mist had disappeared completely fading into the endless stretch of water, that spanned around him.

Slowing down the Grape even further Kreed place a large wooden stick better the controls and throttle. Ensuring that it wouldn't move even in the slightest.

He couldn't afford to go of course at all, so he ensured that the throttle was steady and unmoving.

Leaving the bow, he moved to the back of the grape and opened one of the 3 boxes he had brought.

Grabbing a package of erations, he sat down.

"This is gonna taste special."

He was excited to try erations for the first time while being off the island.

Opening the package, Kreed grinned as he smelt the dry and husky odor that it gave of.

"Shit" Kreed blurted out as he came to a sudden realization.

What would he use to boil water on the grape? No where would he get water? Definitely not from the large ocean that encompassed him.

'I did bring water of course, but then what was the point? That water was still contaminated with the curse of Dallas. There won't be much of a change in flavor would there.'

Kreed was totally shaken, how could he be so stupid? Perhaps his mind had been to preoccupied with thoughts of the future, for him to focus.

Trying to rescue the situation, he reached into the packet of erations and grabbed the dry husky contents that laid inside.

'here goes nothing.'

Bring the contents to his mouth Kreed hesitantly took a bite.

After a while his mouth began to fill with the familiar flavor of the erations. Albeit To a much lesser degree. The contents dissolved in his mouth as they began to mix with his saliva.

'not bad, I should have tried it this way before. It's a bit dry doh.'

Kreeeee.

'splash'

Instinctively Kreed flew to his feet dropping the packet of erations.

'what was that? That sound.' It sounded like the wail of some disgusting abominations.

Kreed's eyes peered at the surface of water surrounding the grape.

He scouted it looking for anything that could become a danger.

After a few seconds flew by, Kreed forced his body to move.

Running to the bow he removed the wooden stick keeping the throttle steady.

Engaging it, he wobbled as the grape increased in speed.

He had not seen any abomination or form of life within the water.

But Kreed knew to well just how dangerous an unseen force could be.

He had experienced 'asterion's' crushing blow after all.

However he wouldn't have to wait much longer to see the creature, to whom the harrowing wail from before belonged to.

Looking back Kreed's eyes were drawn to the spot in the water where the grape had been only moments before.

And there beneath the surface of the sparkling water was a shadow.

It was as large as the grape. It didn't seem to have any outstanding features, other than it's shape. And astonishing speed.

It looked to be in the shape of an arrow head however with a large spikey tail extending from it's rear.

It moved gracefully beneath the water, parting it without any resistance.

Kreed could instantly tell that said creature was hostile if not outright dangerous.

Turning back to face the north, Kreed tried engaging the throttle even more. Increasing it's speed to the maximum.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Kreed had two options, one try to outrun it. Two engage it in battle. Neither of the options seemed to bare any assurance of safety.

So following his gut Kreed tried placing as much distance between himself and the creature.

With the recent boost he had given the grape they were fairly ahead of the creature. Roughly 15 meters.

However the distance seemed to become stalwart. No it looked as if the creature was catching up, very slowly of course.

'Really?' The grape was moving at an astonishing speed yet the creature was growing closer with each second.

'i guess it's plan B then.'

Summoning the chain of territory Kreed careful wrapped it around his hand. He had to ensure that he possessed a viable escape route above anything else.

Soon a second relic was summoned.

Turning around to look at the creature.

Kreed tried desperately to think of a plan of action.

However it seemed that in the couple of seconds it took for him to summon the relics the creature had gained valuable distance on him. Now it was only a couple of meters away from the back of the grape.

Preparing the throttle for a diversion, Kreed was frozen.

Behind him in the water the creature began to rise. It's black carapace covered head piercing the waters surface.

It looked similar to that of an eel in shape, however everything about it was off. Firstly there seemed to be a look of mad bloodlust scared deep within it's eyes.

Every contour of it's body was covered in thick plates of bone. The carapace was dreadfully black and smooth. As if it was unbreakable.

The gigantic maw of the creature was filled with countless sharp razor like teeth.

It was scary, dreadfully scary.

'ha, let's see if that thick shell of yours can support the weight of a thousand mountains.'

Preparing to fight the creature, Kreed wrapped his fingers tightly around the silver ball he had summoned.

Kreeeee

There it was again that mind numbing scream.

It almost sounded like the scream of someone in pain.

Turning to take a closer look, Kreed finally noticed something. Beneath the creatures thorax was a gaping wound.

It looked to be from the blow of some powerful creature, as it shattered straight through the armor shell as if it was glass.

'Damnantion.'

Turning the throttle slightly Kreed prepared to head east.

Well he hoped to at least gain a bit more distance before having to fight said creature.

Turning the throttle to his right, the grape made a sharp turn. Causing the creature to go a bit of course.

Then as fast as he had turned right he turned left. Regaining his proper trajectory and bamboozling the creature completely.

Soon Kreed could see as much distance between himself and the creature. To be happy with.

However it seemed that the creature had other ideas. It disappeared beneath the water, diving deeper than Kreed could see.

'shit, if that thing attacks me from below am done for. '

The grape was already moving at it's maximum speed, so Kreed had no hopes of outrunning it.

He could try to tire the creature out, but he doubted that would work.

The creature did possess a massive wound after all yet it was moving even faster than the grape.

Turning around to look at the surrounding water Kreed had a simple idea.

Since he didn't know where the creature was he could probably expose it by slowing down the Grape.

However before he could finish thinking Kreed was thrown to the floor of the grape.

The creature used it's ginormous body to slam into the grape.

Kreed could feel his muscles ache from the impact.

'Shit, the grape.'

Standing up as fast as he could Kreed, grabbed onto the throttle and jerked it right. He needed to assess the damage done to his vessel.

However instead of moving to the right Kreed felt the grape being pulled in the same direction from before.

'Shit'

Turning around he saw that the eel like creature was tightly biting down on the grape with it's maw.

Lucky the grape was holding up fine, with the crushing force being brought down on it's back.

'Ohh, come on.'

Instantly Kreed prepared to throw the silver sphere that rested in his hand.

The creature was unmoving after all. It was the perfect target. Of course there was a chance that Kreed could hit the back of the Grape completely destroying his proud vessel.

Trying to maneuver his way out of the creatures jaws, Kreed engaged the throttle in all directions. Yet the creatures bite held firm.

Looking the creature in the eye, Kreed blurted out, "You think am gonna die to a measles worm like you?"

And soon he tensed his muscles to throw the sphere.

However the chance never came.

Without any warning a pillar of pristine brown stone pierced through the creatures abdomen breaking it's outer shell easily. And soon after that countless other pillars tore through the creature skewering it like a fish.

Kreed fell to his back as the grape was pushed away by the impact.

'damnit what now?'

And as if to answer that question a voice sounded.

" hey, kid. Are you alright?"

It sounded vigorous and manly. Almost a bit hoarse.

Kreed was overwhelmed with fear, he had heard two strange voices before, and neither of them had made a good impression.

Kreed looked around intensely to find the source of the voice. And there walking on a similar pillar of stone was a human.

The human took a step towards the grape before appearing in it.

Kreed was shocked. He had believed that his ability of teleportation was special, but yet the being before him had teleported as well.

Noo, although it was hardly noticable. Kreed knew what had happened. The human didn't teleport instead it had moved to fast for him to notice.

"Am sorry about that, I let one escape. But thanks to your little maneuver I got enough time to catch up to it."

What? Was this human the same being that had delt such a harrowing wound to the abomination.

'damn'

Focusing on the human before him, Kreed was shocked.

He wore a black and blue jacket that seemed to be a part of some uniform, on it's left side was an emblem of sorts, with a design that Kreed did not notice.

He wore a black dress pants with matching shoes.

However the most outstanding feature of the human was his face. He had pristine white hair and wore thick golden glasses. There Len's were completely golden reflecting Kreeds image back to himself.

Trying to answer the human Kreed asked while standing up. "What, what was that?"

He had decided to take a professional approach to speaking with the human.

However as the smile on the humans face disappeared, Kreed remembered that he sounded like a dying animal.

Soon the human answered. "It's called a dark lyre. But are you alright kid? You look quite pale, and if am being honest you sound rather horrible."

' Damn so blunt.'

"Now that I think about it, I've never seen you before. And this boat, did you not have companions?"

"Uh, yh am certain we haven't met. And no I didn't have any, uhh, companions."

The human raised a hand to scratch his head before continuing.

"Is that Soo? Ohh you've been birthed. Did you perhaps gat Birthed in the sanctums of Xeats or Oben?"

Kreed was dumbstruck, why was he asking so many questions?

"Ohh, no, no. I was heading to Oben right now. As for where I was birthed it's a bit complicated. But other than that who are you?"

Kreed was dying to know, who was capable of killing such a horrifying creature with ease.

Surly he had heard of him before. Or at least read about him in one of the many articles he had scavenged.

The human did look to be in his thirties so Kreed assumed that even ten years ago countless articles would have been written about him.

The human scratched his head once again.

"This is rather strange isn't it. Firstly I don't seem to know you, but even worse you don't seem to know me."

He paused before smiling.

"Well I guess there's a first time for everything. The names Alden. How about you?"

'Alden that's it? Am I supposed to know someone by that name?'

"Uhh it's Kreed but u can call me K. No call me K."

Kreed didn't wish to give any clues about himself.

"As you wish, kid." Then Alden moved to the back of the grape.

Kreed watched as he effortlessly tore through the bags and boxes he had brought as luggage.

Then he stopped.

"Now isn't this interesting. You know kid there's a good reason as to why I would know everyone from Oben and Xeats. And seeing as I don't know you I could only come to one simple conclusion. " he stopped before turning back to Kreed with a smile. "If I hadn't been here you would most likely have died. Based on that strange odor u seem to give of and the many jugs of poisoned water I can only conclude that you've come from Apostle island. How you've survived all this time is a mystery even to me. Which leads me to believe that you would have most likely died to the dark lyre or executed upon entering Oben.

Either way it isn't a great fate."

Kreed listened intensely to Alden.

'what was that supposed to mean. The lyre was escaping from him in the first place.'

As for the part about execution Kreed had no choice but to believe it.

But now he he had many questions.

"Apostle's island?"

Alden's smile became even more pronounced.

"Yes, it was called that after the incident ten years ago. It turns out that an organization was running a secretive program there for many years."

Instinctively Kreed asked. "What happened to those that was running the program? Are they alive?"

Answering Kreed Alden continued. "Am not sure, based on what I know most if not all were either killed or captured and locked up in baijon. Well that was the official released story, still I have my doubts."

Kreed grew quiet digesting the information he had just received.

Breaking the silence Alden said. "Well there's two options for you K, firstly you can continue to Oben. Of course I'll travel with you aswell. For protection. Doh I can't promise that you won't be executed. And secondly you can travel with me to Alicia a city on the east coast of Oben. I can Guarantee that you will be safe and get everything that you want. Of course I am sure that you wish to learn of all that is occurring in the world currently. You will be given total privacy along with a place to stay.

That also includes free healing and detoxication. Your voice definitely needs working on, and we can't have you poisoning the citizens when your around them."

As Alden finished speaking he gestured to Kree

d. "Believe it or not it seems am extremely lucky to have met you. And depending on the relics that you possess I may finally receive another breakthrough in the story."

And with a large almost comical grin he continued. "So K I would definitely suggest you choose the second option."