Arte felt her arm snap when she made contact with the wall, but thankfully her body was numbed by cold and adrenaline so she felt no pain. Slumping to the deck, she tried to shake off the daze that wanted to set in, because if she didn’t move now, she would die.

Coiled to strike, the monstrous beast that was once Jamil let out an ear-splitting shriek as it launched itself at her. Its claws grazed her leg as she dove out of the way, slicing through her boot but missing her skin. It moved so unbelievably fast. Holding her injured arm close to her body, she found the hatch to the lower deck and pulled it open, dropping down into waist-deep cold water just as the beast’s claws cut through the air where her head had been.

I have to find Kit, she thought for the hundredth time since this all started, wading through the rising water while her heart raced in her chest. All around her was debris, broken pieces of the ship and passengers’ belongings and…body parts. Choking back a sudden surge of nausea, Arte looked away from the carnage, focusing on simply moving forward. One step at a time, she carefully felt her way through the water for steady footing, making her way across the ship to where she had seen the cabin hatch.

There was a great thud and the ship shook violently. Arte was flung fully into the water, her uninjured hand flailing to pull herself to the surface. When her face felt the air she gasped loudly, gulping in a breath before going under again. The water was rising faster now.

Was this the drowning Kit had foreseen? With one arm broken, it was impossible for Arte to tread water, and the deeper it got the more difficult it became to find something to grab onto or get footing on. Had she any air in her lungs, she would have screamed.

Kattrin…I’m sorry…I should have listened to you…I think I’m really going to die here, she thought dismally, but then the ship lurched to one side and the water level shifted, allowing Arte to not only catch her breath but also catch sight of a crate floating near her. Kicking her legs hard, she propelled herself toward the crate and managed to grab onto it with her good arm. The ship pitched back and she almost lost her grip but she wrapped her legs around the crate and held on. A few more gut-wrenching rocks and the boat righted itself, and Arte began kick-paddling with her crate to the cabin hatch. The water was now so high she could easily reach it.

The hatch, however, didn’t want to open. Pulling the handle did nothing, nor did pushing on it. It was either locked or something was blocking it. Beginning to panic, Arte beat on the hatch as hard as she could, screaming in hopes that someone would hear her and unblock the way. But who even would hear? Most of the passengers were already dead. Kit was somewhere still in the cabin and Jamil…

Jamil did this. Intense fury boiled up in Arte then, and she allowed it a moment to consume her. Kit had assured her Jamil was not a danger to them; he was misunderstood, not evil. But if that were true, why was he rampaging, destroying the ship and killing innocent people? She had been duped into trusting this…monster, and now she was likely going to die by it.

The water had reached the ceiling now and wasn’t stopping. Arte could feel herself being pushed against the deck, the crate starting to crush her. Taking the deepest breath she could, she let go of the crate and kicked off it, shooting deep below the surface as the building pressure started to split the wood. Hopefully the deck would give enough for Arte to escape. Something cracked so loudly she could hear it underwater. She felt the flow shift as the sides, not the deck, began to give under the pressure. The whole ship was going to come apart. Arte was going to run out of air soon. She would have to act quickly. But what could she do? She had a broken arm and seconds left of air. Her options were severely limited.

Just then, the massive fist of the monster smashed through the deck, grabbing chunks of wood and wrenching them away, leaving a ragged hole. It reached back through the hole and plucked Arte right out of the water. Surely it meant to kill her, crush her to death in its claws, maybe. But no, it simply set her down on a solid part of the deck. It looked at her with apologetic eyes, then its blue eyes were swallowed by blackness and it screamed at her.

Coughing up water, Arte was able to stand on shaky legs, backing up slowly until she felt herself hit the railing. Her eyes stayed glued to the monster, which in turn was staring her down. Was it going to attack? Why had it saved her?

The monster charged but stopped short of striking her, screeching loudly and raising its clawed fists over its head. Cornered, Arte flung her good arm up instinctively to protect herself, but rather than crushing her it raked its claws down its own face, screaming louder than ever. Its claws easily rent its flesh, leaving bleeding gashes in its beastly face. The monster seemed to be fighting itself. Could Jamil still be in there, trying to stop it? It screamed once more, and this time Arte thought she saw tears in its eyes through the blood. Suddenly her body erupted in tingles that brought her to her knees with their intensity. It was Jamil in there; something was attacking him, making him do this.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Now sobbing herself, Arte staggered to her feet. “I-I understand now, Jamil…I’ll go find Kit, okay?” She tried to speak calmly but her voice shook, the beast glaring at her like it didn’t hear her. Its eyes were pitch black. Jamil was not home.

Before the monster could decide if it was going to attack again the business end of a large harpoon burst out of its side. Arte reflexively screamed, clutching her own side as she stumbled a couple of steps forward before remembering the monster could still very well kill her. The pained screams of the beast sent cold chills down her spine. It wasn’t just a terrible monster that had been shot, it was her friend. Would his body retain the damage when he changed back? Would he even live long enough to change back…?

As Arte watched, the beast lunged at its attacker and smashed him with its fists, screaming as it did so. Ducking down to avoid being seen, Arte began to crawl through the destruction to the cabin. She nearly vomited when she passed the pulverized remains of the family she had tried to save. All for nothing.

Some soldier she was. Couldn’t even save a few people. Lost her sword, broke her arm. Almost drowned, just watched a man die, would probably die soon herself. There was little fight left in her. Unable to stop crying, she still pushed herself to crawl toward the cabin. Something dropped to the boards in front of her, and she looked down in dismay to see her brooch on the ground. It was broken, both the pin to hold it in place as well as the decorative wings. Scooping it up, Arte tucked it into her belt pouch, her vigor slightly renewed by anger. She got to her feet, not looking back, and ran.

The monster screamed behind her and she tensed in anticipation, but it did not strike. Arte was not about to look back and ran faster, reaching the cabin but coming to a screeching halt when she saw the crushed body of the ship’s captain, his harpoon gun pinned between him and the cabin door. The door was rattling as someone tried to open it from the other side. Struggling with only one working hand, Arte did her best to slide the unfortunate captain’s body out of the way to access the door, almost breaking into tears of joy when she saw it was Kit who pushed it open. Kit’s eyes widened and they shrieked in excitement, hugging Arte tightly before she could stop them.

“Arte! I’m so glad to see you! What the hell is going on?!” They shouted over the roar of the monster, and Arte could only look at them miserably.

“It’s Jamil! He’s turned into a monster and he’s wrecking the ship! Kit, he’s killed everyone!” She felt sick just saying it, and seeing Kit’s expression fall broke her heart even more. They looked devastated, but then they shook their head.

“It’s Vendic, Arte! He’s corrupted Jamil just like he did Master Jesper!” Horrified, Arte stepped back.

“Vendic? Oh, no, Kit…we can’t help him now! You saw what the corruption did to the mage!”

“No! Absolutely not! I’m not giving up on him yet!” Kit shouted, tears in their eyes. Arte could see herself reflected in those crimson mirrors, but then her face became her sister’s for just a moment and Kattrin’s steely gaze told her all she needed to hear. Abandoning her friend was not what a good soldier would do. Nodding firmly, Arte held her good hand out to Kit.

“My arm is broken, but I’ll do what I can to help.” She did her best to sound strong, and Kit took her hand in both of theirs with a grateful smile. Their hands were ice cold, but their grip was strong.

“Thank you, Arte. I knew I could count on you. I think I can snap him out of this.” Turning, Kit pointed up to the still-intact part of the cabin roof. “Can you help me get up there?” Arte surveyed the cabin and nodded. It was going to be tricky, but it looked manageable.

“I’ll do my best.” The ship tipped to one side and both Arte and Kit lost their balance, tumbling down as the Jamil-monster thrashed around and smashed the deck. Its actions seemed oddly sporadic as it went from destroying the ship to screaming and clawing at itself. Kit let out a sob and almost ran right toward the monster, but Arte stopped them.

“Kit, no! It’s too dangerous!”

“He’s suffering! I have to help him!”

“He won’t recognize you! Come on!” Arte pulled Kit back by their arm. “I found a good spot to get up the wall, over here.” She showed Kit where the debris piled up against the most intact part of the wall. Kit put their foot against it and pushed; it gave only a little.

“Should be sturdy enough…okay, let’s do this.” They cracked their knuckles and carefully stepped up onto the pile. Wobbling slightly, they climbed to the next level, staying low on their hands and knees and feeling for the next safest spot.

A very loud, very sharp crack split the air and the whole cabin shuddered and dropped. Kit screamed, almost falling off but managing to hold on. To her horror, Arte saw massive cracks appearing all across the deck. The ship was about to break apart.

~