Kaiser moved his exhausted leg into a more comfortable position. His mind was barely awake. In the effort to make his leg comfortable, it connected with something, and was unable to go further. Kaiser peaked one eye out to see. His right leg was bound by a chain.

“What’s that chain doing here?” He asked sleepily.

A figure standing on the edge of the room flinched, and its head turned towards him. “You’re awake?”

That voice brought Kaiser to his senses, and his head jerked up. He was panting as if he had just run. He spun his head toward the figure. A curly-haired boy looked back at him with apathy.

“Nephyl,” Kaiser scowled, “Hurry up and unchain me, we don’t have all day.”

Nephyl’s lower jaw jutted slightly and quivered. “I’m unable to do that.”

This is getting nowhere. Kaiser thought. Kaiser tried to sit up slowly but realized that he was too dizzy to do so.

The clothes that branded him as an Amber soldier were gone, replaced with a bare chest, bandaged with a white cloth. The trousers were stitched together, and some strings were coming out of the treading, the brown color was washed into a horrific-looking coffee color, similar to Kaiser’s skin.

A sick feeling oozed into Kaiser’s heart, as he started to feel sharp jabs coming from his back. No. Coming from his rune. My rune. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to focus on a light source, any light source.

Nothing. It felt as if he was stripped of one of his senses. He felt completely barren without being able to use his power.

He opened his eyes slowly. “You sliced my rune,” he said ruefully. “It doesn’t even do anything to my combat abilities.”

He looked at Nephyl with desperation, but all he saw was a pain of icy eyes looking down at him with disdain. Or was it pity? Somehow, the thought of Nephyl pitying him felt worse.

Nephyl blinked and looked away. “It’s a security precaution.”

“What security precaution exactly?”

“I’m not under the order to tell you that.”

Rage bubbled inside of him, Ignoring the pain, he shot up and lunged towards Nephyl. The chain bounding him shook. “Do the lives of all your comrades not matter to you?” He hissed.

Nephyl looked unbothered, “They weren’t my comrades, to begin with.” He responds matter-of-factly.

Kaiser lunged at him again, this time, however, his right leg made him trip over himself and fall. He caught himself before he landed on the ground.

Nephyl looked at him with disgust, “It looks like Hunter Orion was right. You do act like a rabid animal,” he said, before smirking and adding, “I guess that's why Lilia died. Because she needed a human to save her.”

Kaiser glared at him, he could feel the blood in his veins boil. “Shut. up.”

They both glared at each other in silence.

The pain in his back got worse, to the point where Kaiser had to readjust himself so that his rune wasn’t touching anything. There was no barrier between him and Nephyl. The only thing bonding him was the iron chains. Even so, Nephyl kept his distance, standing on the opposite side of the room, slightly leaning back on the wooden planks.

He inspected the room next. It looked like under the deck of a ship, a singular light source was bouncing out, it was dim and flickering. Making the cramped jail appear haunted.

His eyes rested back on Nephyl. I need to get information before I kill him. Kaiser thought.

“Is this ship going to Capria?” He asked.

“No,” Nephyl said.

“Then where are we going?” Kaiser asked haughtily.

After a while, Nephyla said, “Sango.”

“Why not directly to Capria?”

“Your execution will be held in Sango. Word has it that a couple of jubilees are becoming restless. The hunters want to teach them about what happens to soldiers and traitors.”

Nephyl and Kaiser looked at each other, and Nephyl saw Kaiser’s stunned face.

“That’s a war crime, to execute a surrendered soldier.”

“Capria doesn’t consider the Jubilee as people, so any crimes against people don’t include you.” Kaiser gave him an evil look.

“What made you join Capria if you’re not even treated like half of a human?”

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Nephyl’s mouth stayed shut this time. He dragged his legs down and sat against the wall. He crossed his arms, and said, “The ship is full of jubilee, some fugitives, some civilians, and some like you, soldiers. If I don’t listen to what Hunter Orion says, who’s saying I won’t be standing next to you in Sango?”

Kaiser’s mouth dried. He and Nephyl sat in silence as the ship swayed and snapped. The wound on him felt as if it was healing. The cut wasn’t deep at all. It would easily heal in a week. Too bad he didn’t have even half a week.

“Why did you ask all these questions?” Nephyl asked him.

“Why do you care?” Kaiser asked.

Nephyl shrugged, “I guess I don’t”

Nephyl met his gaze. “You’re wondering why Orion joined. Aren’t you?”

“You think I don’t already know why?”

Nephyl looked at him condescendingly. “Of course you don’t,” He replied, “Or else you would have done something to save your precious friends.”

“Once I get out of here. I will kill you.”

“Careful what you say Amberian. Wouldn’t want to make your execution more painful now would you?” Nephyl snickered.

“You’re a waste of a human being.” Kaiser spat.

“I know.”

They didn’t talk after that. Instead, they took each other's company.

He looked at the barren walls, a small shaft connecting the outside world to the jail room. Small dawn cracks were starting to seep into the room, and the lantern’s light seemed to dim.

Kaiser heard voices above deck and desperately wanted to see who the strange voices belonged to.

He noticed that Nephyl was now pacing back and forth from the left wall to the right. He looked almost in a trance, and for a brief second, it felt like he was also a captive aboard the ship.

A door creaked, and both heads whipped toward it. A Caprian soldier stood in the door frame,

Kaiser pushed his back against the wooden wall, ignoring the pain caused by his rune, wishing to disappear. He couldn’t look this weak in front of a Caprian. Especially not a soldier. The lady looked a lot like Wagner, with a muscular build and wicked armor. If the two stood side by side, they would look almost the same.

Almost. Her skin looked pale and from a distance, Kaiser could spot dirty blond hair coiled tightly into a bun instead of a dark brown buzz cut. She seemingly ignored Kaiser and stood in front of Nephyl,

“Jubilee, foreigners are attacking this ship. Abandon your post and come quickly,” she ordered before adding, “Be quick, lest you want to anger Hunter Orion.” Nephyl nodded obediently and rushed outside without uttering a single word to Kaiser.

Foreigners? We’re too far into Caprian territory for the raiders to be Amber. Could it be Sango?

He shook his head. It wouldn’t matter if the attackers were Sango or Caprian, if he were to stay here for another moment there would be no doubt he would be killed either by execution or by the raiders. Kaiser made up his mind. He would rather die at sea than in foreign ports.

Mentally preparing himself, he unhinged his jaw. If he was lucky, Orion wouldn’t have noticed the small metal lock picks edged along his teeth. Orion wasn’t much for precision, but it was still a small surprise to notice that the picks were still there.

A few gags and salvia gathering around his fingers later, he detached the slender picks.

He did the same he had done with the cat, wiping the lock picks clean on his trousers and examining the lock on his right foot. The keyhole was placed directly above his ankle. It was an awkward position, but a few minutes of finesse later, the lock broke.

Smiling, he stood up. He had been waiting for Nephyl to leave. Ideally, Kaiser would prefer to start his escape in the night’s heart, but right now, with the blazing sun, it would be almost impossible to leave the ship undetected.

The ship lurched and bucked with chaos, he assumed that all the conflict that was going on was happening above the deck. After he had unchained himself, he walked up to the door.

He expected the door to have another lock but was pleasantly surprised when it swung open. It led out to a long hallway decorated with the same type of lamp in his cell. The wooden floorboards, however, looked cleaner.

I won’t be able to escape by going through the main exit above deck, there must be another way to get out without using it.

To his right, he spotted a small set of staircases leading above. On the left, the hallway just descended deeper into the deck.

He left the room, hearing a small click as the door shut. Kaiser turned left and decided to go deeper into the ship. I’ll try to find a weapon to fight with.

Kaiser quickly realized that the ship was layered in some sort of maze, almost impossible to find your way. He wandered around, only finding crew sleeping rooms and showers.

He noticed a small door of sorts, too small to be a bedroom but too big to be anything else. The door was situated at the far end of a hallway. An eerie feeling sat on Kaiser’s soul, and he was hesitant to go down.

He shook his head and bit down on his nerves, stepping closer to the mysterious door until his feet stood right before it. Kaiser reached a reluctant hand and recognized that his hands were trembling. He gripped the knob and turned it. There was no time for thinking right now. Fights were probably breaking out, and he could bet that the raiders would be coming down any second now.

After a bit of force, the metallic door unhinged. At first, Kaiser couldn’t see anything. The familiar lanterns hanging throughout the ship were nowhere to be seen.

Abruptly, he heard voices coming from the hallways. People had already made their way down. He could hear the voices inching closer. With no escape, he rushed into the room and shut the door.

It took a few minutes for Kaiser’s vision to set, and he realized that he was standing on a metal staircase. An appalling odor entered his nostrils, and he immediately felt nauseous. It smelled like decomposing animals. He turned to leave.

He felt around the metal door for a doorknob. It wasn’t there. The only thing in its place was a blank keyhole. The lighting was too dim for Kaiser to see almost anything, let alone pick the lock.

The voices outside were getting closer. Beads of sweat were dripping down his face, and his shirt was seemingly glued to his back. He had no choice. Either stay here and whoever was coming here would find him, or hide somewhere underneath the stairs.

As he stumbled to get down the stairs, the smell hit him first. A putrid odor that smelled like a dying skunk. Then he saw it, iron bars extending from the ceiling down to the floor. If the massacre yesterday was horrific, then Kaiser didn’t know what this was.

Mountains of decaying bodies, haphazardly thrown onto one another lined the walls. The originally metallic walls were stained with red. How can metal even be dyed? Kaiser thought.

He shut his eyes, clutched the railing, and tried to steady his shaking legs and hands, and through the flight of stairs.

He reached the bottom, still clutching the handrail and refusing to open his eyes further.

Moments that felt like days passed. And Kaiser finally opened his eyes to see what was in front of him.