One Day Later

————— Lloyd

In the endless dark, the night was yearning over Lloyd. He was half-sleeping on his chair, fixing in a position that would give his back a run for its health. His mind was wandering between the gap between reality and dream. Lloyd loved the concept of dreams, but he could never remember any of them after waking up.

He opened his eyes, the door was invisible behind the darkness, there were no lights from the windows behind him. The sun hadn’t rise yet, but Lloyd thought his sleep was long. Sometimes it happens.

His arms and shoulders curled up into a roll from the chill, Ash was right, it had been getting colder everyday. Where is this place they’re going to? Ash assured to them they will be welcome by the people. But in return, they all have to pretend to be marines. They practiced the manners, and as expected, Lloyd and Triss failed spectacularly. But Tic continued the streak of surprising Lloyd, this time at how good he was of pretending to be a marine.

Maybe he was a marine. Anyhow it wouldn’t make a difference if he was. Lloyd trusted him. For Lloyd, there were only two kinds, you either trust your crew fully or not at all, there was no in between for him.

Lloyd closed his eyes, forcing himself to fall asleep. He couldn’t. There were something bothering him, something ominous he could feel coming to him. His hands instinctively curled up to rub his eyes, deeper into his pupils, knowing it would cause him to never sleep again for the night.

He was rubbing rapidly. It was a pleasure feeling but perilous. Lloyd scared he would’ve gone blind before reaching his prime, and he didn’t know when would that come. He stopped when he felt like a slight burn around his eyes. He sighed, another sleep of the night was lost. He kicked himself up and balanced the chair, almost fall face down. It was the only chair of the room, and the only good-looking one. Lloyd couldn’t bear if it breaks in half. There would be nothing that could replace it.

He crouched and leaned his arm out to open a trapper below his dusty desk. The dark hid his vision, so Lloyd was wiggling his arm around in the space, hoping no crab or spider somehow crawled into his personal containment. After a few waves, Lloyd finally caught a hold of his notebook. Its cover was really cold, like a relic of old age.

What is he going to write now? Lloyd wanted to kill the wasted time and distract himself into falling asleep.

The first sentence will set the stage for his next pages. That was what his teacher and his mother told him. He still remembered the first line he ever wrote, and thinking about it gave him a grimace.

He pulled the ink from inside his pocket, the one Ash paid for him during Timber Trail, a horrible place, and his writing feather out. Tip was moist, he tapped it on the desk three times, then dipped into the shallow of the ink jar. The black ink covered the tip beautifully. Lloyd flipped to a new page and wrote in the lower corner the number fifty-two. His feather holding hand navigated to the top, held the tip near the surface.

First sentence - It is getting colder everyday…

————— Ash

Ash remained lying down on the floor above his mattress, the sun was still up in the middle of the day. The newspaper clammed on his hands, smell of salt emitted around his room. His initial intention was to read the papers and get updates on about the attacks and what the Big News Emerald guy had to say about it. He didn’t expect them to include him on the list of suspects in the attack.

How? They included the whole crew as the suspects, and somehow they put Ash as a member instead of a kidnapped victim. What flabbergasted him more was that Tash and Ingram didn’t do anything to fix the paper. They couldn’t have just let their fellow marine got framed as a terrorist. He erased that thought from his mind when he realized how little power the marines hold over the press. Over the news. He remembered how many marines have lost their jobs because of the newspaper. Some were right claims. Some were not. Ash lost some of his friends that way. They were accused of crimes that even thinking about them made Ash’s stomach sick.

And now, Ash may has joined in the list of losing jobs. And Big News Emerald wouldnever prove him wrong of thinking of them as a bunch of scumbags.

But his love of reading newspaper prevented from thinking any further and proceeded with the words. There were passages meandered on the new fish species, should be helpful for the scientists Ash talked, who wanted to create artificial fish anatomies on humans. Stuff of nightmare. Other written works focused on the increasingly numbers of dragon tornadoes to the East. Ash called himself lucky to never get caught in one of those. Stories told they could suck up an entire fleet, and left nothing behind beside rotten smell of deaths.

But something more interesting caught his attention. The attack on the marine stronghold wasn’t the sole. A similar occasion happened of cannon attacks happened to the North, up to the Traders’ Council.

Unfortunately, they have suffered the worse fate of the two, having most of the members on the council written in the casualties list.

Ash had always heard of talks about this place surfing around. Some complimented their ways of trading, some in spited of their morals and cruelties in the past war. For Ash, it had always sounded like a place he would have enjoy wandering around. But that chance was lost.

The place still remained intact, but nowhere would be the same after an attack of that capability.

Ash skimmed through the papers, looking names he familiar with. There were no mentions of General Tash or Vice-Admiral Ingram. But Captain Ash somehow got framed as a suspect culprit. Ash swore one day he’s going to find the head of the Big News Emerald and expose to the world of his deceptions.

Who in the world adore him? The first page of every newspapers always had his curvy face printed in the corner. Who the hell care about that corner?

Ash threw the paper against the wall and groaned into the ceiling, he was tired without knowing why, and that made it even worse.

His eyes directed the window, the glass was foggy, opaquing the view outside. Ash walked toward it to see if it was raining outside, if so unusual because the place was quiet. Something better happened. Snow were falling down into the sea, some landed on the window. Ash smiled and rushed out of the room.

This is the place. We’re have arrived!

————— Triss

“What do you call these?”

“Snow. I see them as signal that you should wear thicker clothes.” Tic said while keeping his handles on the wheel. Triss was standing next to him, staring out at the mist and the snow. Her arms curled up into each other, rubbing each other to keep the cold away. It was getting colder and worse everyday.

“You’re right.”

Triss stood out in the deck, rushing in through the doors then down the stairs. She remembered she found a cabin contained full of thick clothes, some thicker than a lion’s skin. On her last steps, reaching the bottom floor, she took a quick glance over to see a long hallway full of doors leading into different small cabins. Which door was it?

Luckily, one of the doorknobs twisted and Ash walked out of the room farthest down the path. Triss growled knowing she had to walk the whole way down.

“Ash? Can you get me thicker clothes than what I’m wearing?”

“What?”

Triss repeated her phrase with a louder voice. It made Ash flinched a bit. But he then nodded and went back inside the room.

A few minutes passed by. Triss was playing with her fingers against the wall, tapping them in rhythm similar to a ticking clock. She thought back to that one time it was suddenly became chilly below deck, a week before they were close to their destination. Maybe something was wrong with her head, could be due to the hard drop.

Ash finally had his head out of the door’s way.

“There’s nothing here that would fit you.”

“I don’t care. Just give me one.”

Triss saw Ash mumbled something to himself, and put his head back in and another minute had passed.

“Are you being tedious?”

“No! I already said there’s nothing here that would fit you.”

“Are you deaf?”

“Yes, I’m more deaf than a bat. I don’t want you to look like we kidnapped an idiot child out there. In front of the people.”

“Are you saying you want me to die being froze?”

“Here you go.”

Triss saw a glimpse of Ash arm extended out holding pieces of clothes. Very thick clothes. Her mouth slowly came to a grin. Then the grin turned around to a frown as Ash threw them with full force, only to reach half the distance until they became rubbishes lying on the ground.

“You dropped it!”

Ash poked his head out.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t wear it.”

Triss tried her best not to curse at Ash. She treaded toward the clothes, stomping loudly for Ash to hear it. He strode out of the room with a thick coat wrapped around him, almost like a cape Triss read in those mythical books. Usually wore by monks or shamans.

“There’s land ahead!”

Triss turned around to Lloyd rushing down the stair, almost tripping on the surface.

“Tic saw it! We can finally walk now. Why are your clothes on the floor?”

“I dropped it.” Triss lied.

Ash chuckled while striding by both of them, not even taken a glance. Triss cursed under her breath. The same curse Lloyd taught her. She held the same clothes, coughing from the specks of dust flying out, and proceeded the process of wearing them. What’s the matter if they look big on her?

“Aren’t those too big for you?” Lloyd said.

At that moment, just for a second, as the shortest of the bunch, Triss wished she was taller.

————— Tic

Tic whistled a tune of his childhood. A tune reminded him of the time when he was the most carefree, the time where there were nothing standing in his way. He could overcome everything back then. What a stupid kid he was.

He heard the voices of Lloyd and Triss getting closer, then someone busted the doors underneath him opened and created a ramming noise.

“Is everyone ready? We are about to get on land.” Tic bellowed, hoping everyone can hear it. The two finally came into his sight as they were striding to the center of the deck. Triss’ thicker clothes made her looked like a delinquent belonged to some land of Britte. Tic chuckled seeing the coat wrapped her, its end was too long that Triss dragged the over-sized coat behind her.

The only one missing was Ash. And Roc. She was healing from her wound, finally took a flight around yesterday.

Tic stared up at the clouds, blaming the snows as for why Roc wasn’t outside today. The bird saved his life. That was enough to care for her like another human. It also made Tic more special than he was. How many in the world could say their lives were saved by a bird? Should be in the minority.

They were closer. The mist vanished into the air as the gracious land expanded beyond Tic’s view. Tic almost lost the handle as he was squinting. There was a dock with ships. And there were people. Tic couldn’t his eyes, Ash was a liar. These people didn’t dress like they are welcoming, especially with a line of archers aiming their weapons at the ship, at Tic.

“If they are holding bows, don’t worry!” Ash Rushed out of the doors and stopped at the sharp head of the ship, waving to the people.

“Hey! It’s me, captain Ash!” Ash screamed as loud as possible since the gap between the arrival and the current was big.

Some of the people lowered their bows down, while some stood there confused before being told by others to lower their bows down too. Tic raised his eyebrows. Ash somehow made a big name for himself at this place.

————— Ash

Ash contemplated on the beauty of Britte as the people were helping them docked with precision near their shore. High reaching mountains towered over his shadow, edges of trees sprawled the contents of land. And what was more beautiful than most, the soft snow. Lloyd kicked the ship’s bow ladder, and he began to slide down. Triss was next, then Tic, and then Ash was the last in line. It was a loosen ladder of wooden blocks tied together by ropes, so Ash took his time as he didn’t want to accidentally break it.

The piecing blocks made up floated above the water, Ash’s drop was too strong causing him to almost fall. The crew thanked the people around them, although some gave them some forms of malice eyes.

Ash got the most greetings out of them. He knew he was part of saving this island from a calamity, but he didn’t think they would remember him this well. Especially when wasn’t a captain back then. It was that event that promoted him.

“Sergeant Ash.” An old lady voice came from the crowd. It was a weak sound but Ash couldn’t help to recognize that sweet voice.

He traveled through the crowd, leaving the crew behind dealing with their own stuff. He was smiling on his way through, it had been years since.

She was standing outside of the shore, limped over to Ash with her cane tapping on the ground.

“You don’t look any different.” Eira spoke. She was a half of Ash’s height. White hair streaked to her back, and wrinkles painted around her face. Her coat sew with furs of wolves, complemented with a long pants extended beyond her, making it looked like she has no legs. He crouched to the same level as her, eye to eye.

“And you keep looking older and older. Also, it’s captain Ash.” Ash forgot a lot of things, but he will always remember the kindness of others. And Eira was a standout among them. Her kindness triumphed others’ malice. And seeing her now, weaker than she ever was, smaller than she ever was, and it gave Ash a frown inside.

“You really a worthy name around here. They are treating us like we’re the heroes of marine.” Lloyd tapped him on the back, kicking the snow out of his way.

“Depend on how you look at it, according to them, I am a hero.” Ash smiled.

“Who is this kid?” Eira limped over to Lloyd, then Triss came up from behind him in the thick clothes he chose for her. Ash chuckled in silence, but felt like Triss might have heard it.

“And who is this other kid?”

“I’m Lloyd, and this is Triss. We’re the new recruits under captain Ash.” Lloyd lied like an expert. There was no stop or hesitant. Ash meant pretending to be marines was simple, but Lloyd somehow took it a step further. “And we are here to stay a few nights with your customs.”

Eira turned around and looked up at Ash, grunting.

“Where’s Captain Tash?”

“He’s a general now. I’m sorry, he’s not here with me. He got more things to care for as a general.”

Eira tilted her head down looking at the snow.

“I was hoping he’ll be here with you. You are always together with him.” That was always true. Ash couldn’t dig up any memories of him before meeting Tash. They were together since the earliest times of their lives.

“I’m here. I hope I’m enough for you.”

Ash smiled at Eira, unintentionally causing her to smile along with him.

“Come, I want you to meet our new prophet.”

Prophet?

————— Lloyd

His notebook couldn’t handle the amount of ink that was being printed on every new pages. This place was magnificent. They built huts and houses out of woods and animal skins. They hunted their supplies with pure force. The people here were not of ordinary. They packed more muscles and hair in their body, allowing them to live in this harsh environment. Lloyd wouldn’t have survive by himself here.

Inside the village, there were a lot of graveyards near uphill to the mountains. Lloyd asked around on who were they belonged to, assumed there was a battle that caused hundred of deaths.

He walked up to one of the graves, and crouched down to see if there is any name carved on it. There was nothing. Lloyd thought it was because of the snow covering, so he stepped around the buried spot to the stone block. He hoped this is not a disrespectful act.

“Forgive me, whoever you are under there.” Lloyd using his gloves, the people gave him a nice warmth pair, to dust the snow off.

“What are you doing?”

Lloyd jumped and suddenly his heart was beating rapidly fast. There was a chance the people here respect the deaths more than their own lives, and Lloyd just violated one of their moral codes and will be judge on execution.

“I’m looking at the grave to see their name.” Lloyd spouted the words out without looking at the person.

Silence.

No one answered. Lloyd slowly opened his eyes, scared if there was an arrow pointing at his face or the whole village ready to burn him. No. It was just a boy. Maybe slightly younger than Lloyd, who would have call himself a man.

“There’s no names on these graves.” The boy had in his grip a spear of powerful length, enough to kill Lloyd with a twist.

“Why?”

“Because they don’t have names.”

“Who don’t?”

“The animals.” They buried animals. This village kept impressing Lloyd more and more every minutes.

“Don’t people around here give pets their own names?” Lloyd said. The boy crouched near the buried spot and had his hand over it, swaying a bit of dirt around.

“Not pets. They were our preys.”

“Preys? What’s left to bury of your preys?”

“Their heads. When hunting, we always keep their head in the best shape to bury.”

“What’s for?”

“I… forgot the part after that. I just learned my people customs as I go. There’s no written records for me to read and learn.” The boy slided down the short uphill using snow, and Lloyd followed him.

“What’s your name?” Always remember to ask this.

“Brage. Son of Bragi.”

“Lloyd. Son of Luthen.” Lloyd copied the name call.

They were treading down the snowy path crossing between the two sides of wooden buildings.

“What’s the meaning of your name?” Brage said.

“My name? Not that I can recall.”

“Why would your dad named you Lloyd?” Brage used his the tip of his spear to shoveling the snow out of their way. “I guarantee you he’s a great man, and a great man would name his son with dignity.”

Lloyd didn’t know how to response to that.

“What’s about your name?”

“Brage. Son of a poet. Son of the best. You can interpret it to your own benefits.”

Lloyd walked closer to Brage avoiding a horde of wolves being led by an old man. The wolves came with difference sizes, but they were all bigger than the average humans, including Lloyd.

“You have never seen wolves?”

“Not the one that big.”

“Don’t worry, they’re good tames. Master Bazel knew the way of animals more than anything of us.”

“You mean beside wolves?”

“You can say the name of the whole animal kingdom and my answer would always be yes.”

Brage proudly smirked. Lloyd followed Brage along the way, but forgot on where are they going. He didn’t think of any concerns because they were still in the village, with people working around on their own thing.

“Where are we going?” Nothing wrongs in still asking.

“I’m on my way back to my school. You decided to follow me.” Lloyd assumed Brage to be a boy younger than him, but he contemplated how truthful that thought is according to Brage’s contour. He spoke like someone of certain experience. Someone who was frequently hailed as a respectful timber.

“You want me to stop following you?”

“Are you with Sergeant Ash?” Lloyd thought Ash was a captain. The liar.

“Yes. I’m a new recruit.” He lied.

Brage’s eyes directe toward Lloyd. He suddenly felt reserved, like he was being judged.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Nothing to thank for. Lloyd felt a bad feeling about the consequences if their marine covers got revealed. Would these people put in them and jail and announce public executions?

“We’re here. Follow me inside. I’m going to introduce you to my class. Tell them some stuff about marines.”

“Your class?”

“I’m a teacher.” Brage belonged in a difference level even higher than Lloyd could ever expected. Wait… tell the class about the marines?

Where was Ash? It happened more often than Lloyd liked. The person he needed the most help from was always gone.

————— Ash

The village received more reparations that Ash could remember. His perspective back when they saved this island from being conquer was a land of poverty. Worse than poverty. These people couldn’t defend themselves even when betting on their children’s lives. Ash kept kicking the snow out of his way, half of his boots were sinked deep below.

Ash turned his head around to see Tic endured the same snow hassle as him, but Triss got the easier part, she was walking on the snow, no signs of sinking.

“Triss, you’re lucky. Get to walk freely while us here are suffering.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have give me a coat bigger than my height.”

“You asked for it. Tic, you heard her, right?”

“Captain, I was on the wheel minding my duty. Anything happened below deck are beyond my limits.”

“What about the old grandma? She walks like me.”

Ash looked forward and confirmed Eira was indeed treading on the snow with her cane tapping slowly.

“Because she’s old. You don’t compare yourself to Eira.”

“Do you want to help her walk faster?” Tic spoke up.

Ash frowned seeing how crippled Eira was, dragging her left leg across the snow, trying her best to walk on her own. He was enduring the tendency to carry Eira on his back so they can speed up to meet this new prophet. But no one would want to upset Eira. He didn’t remember that these people believed in prophet, but people typically don’t about anything of worth when a war risking their lives was ongoing.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

His legs moved a bit faster, they were all treading carefully behind Eira, didn’t want to get separated like Lloyd did. Triss said the moment they steered clear of the crowd Lloyd took his own path and left both of them to follow Ash. What a pity. Lloyd would have his blood pumping heat hearing the word “prophet.”

Ash slowed down now he was side by side with Eira, and he felt wrong staring down at her like a child, although there was nothing to be done about the height differences.

“What’s this prophet? I thought you already abandoned believing in such things.”

“I know. But we need something to live for. If your only purposes in living is to stay alive, the tendencies to kill each other would be growing.”

“Now what? They have trust in a prophet will bring them eternal life, or endless peace. What would that be any difference?”

“Why wouldn’t it be difference?” Eira mumbled.

“Both are impossible. I struggle to stay alive in the sea, and eternal life is meaningless if the authority can’t keep their propensities to themselves.”

“At least I’m hoping for your problems to be better. We’re here. Raise your head.”

Ash followed through with Eira’s request and it was a awestruck sight of Mioja, a shared inn belonged to the public, and it was familiar. Nothing could impress Ash more than the beautiful craftmanship of architecture. Two stories each with elongated paned windows being lit by the lanterns from inside, looming over everyone’s shadows. Two rocky paths designed led into two different doorways in the front, identical to each other. But what brought the most effect to Ash was the people.

On their walk, Ash was wondering why the place seemed more empty than before, than usual of similar villages. There were no keepers around houses, no children running, no mans drinking, or fighting. It got him to suspect something horrible happened Eira was waiting for the right time to tell him. But this gave him the best relief possible out of the suspicion.

Something slightly knocked Ash to the side of his head, pushing him to the left, made him rotated both of his arms to keep balance.

“Sorry! Watch the way.”

Ash turned to see who did it. A wooden block hit him. The man was holding it galloped on a big wolf, its size bigger than most human there. He probably swayed without looking and accidentally made Ash a victim of him.

“Will that jaw of your remain intact? Tic stepped up and slightly chuckled. He then made his way with the local people, going down the left rocky path.

“I’m looking for things to entertain me. You go ahead with the prophet.” Tic said.

“I’m with him, too.” Triss ran after Tic, Ash noticed the thick layer of snow had gone, and that was another relief. Both of his crew left him alone confirmed this prophet thing only bothered Ash, or so he thought. Lloyd was still belonged in the equation, and he was nowhere in sight.

“Walk with me.” Eira already made a couple of limping strides to the right. “The prophet is waiting for you.”

Waiting for Ash? He didn’t think a prophet would have wanted him, but life kept getting weirder everyday he woke up made himself to be thankful for being alive.

————— Lloyd

“Do the marines have any saids on the recent attacks?”

When Brage mentioned the fact that he was a teacher, Lloyd expected the students to be children, or at least of similar age to Lloyd. Those would be easier to handle. Especially children, they have no care for the marines, Lloyd bet they don’t even know the concept of marines. But this class, with Brage as a teacher, was full of adults. Idiot ones would be well to handle, but these were well educated.

The classroom

“Unfortunately, I was involved in the attack in Orade stronghold, many lives were lost. My crew, with Captain Ash leading, were lucky to escape with no harm.” Lloyd felt his lips tightened with the mention of Captain Ash. His tongue almost slipped saying Lloyd was the captain.

“Where’s Captain Ash?” One of the students spoke.

“Well… he’s captain, with a lot more responsibilities than I could ever handle. And I need to get back to my ship.”

“What’s the problem?” Brage who stood next to him on the podium raised a question.

“I just thought of something, I’ll be back with you when I’m done.” Lloyd rushed out of the classroom, heading toward an exit. There were two of them, which one? Which one would lead to his ship?

—————

His ship remained anchoring to the ridge of the shore. The people were crowded around it anymore, giving Lloyd more space to breathe. He clumsily climbed up the loosening ladder attached to the bow, and ran to the left, approaching the doors leading to Tic’s cabin.

Lloyd assumed Tic left Roc in there to rest, but he may had gave her a better place to sleep than the operation table.

————— Brage

The scent of solitude inside the classroom after everyone had left, and no one else would come in, gave Brage a snickle. A good one indeed. His stone-tipped spear leaned at a corner to his right, now resting against the sliding door led out to the hallway.

Brage stood near the elongated windows, looking to the thick snowy school front, people were leaving with their animals, treading behind footprints of different sizes. There were peculiar patterns left on the snow, and somehow they fascinated Brage. He thought they were intriguing to look at.

His desk was on the other side of the room, he treaded over there, legs barely moved to make big steps, walking past the podium where he usually stands on during class. Lloyd hadn’t come back yet and the school was nearly empty, just from seeing the numbers of people striding out of the entrance. Some familiar faces. Some Brage never talk to in his life. That was the nature of public place working.

Brage dragged the chair out, creaking against the floor, and leisurely sat on it with a long sigh. His head was up staring at the ceiling, thinking of new lines. Of new meanings. Of new words. All for the purpose to write something new. He was the son of Bragi, and it was of him to honor it with his heart and soul.

His thoughts were formed with unstructural ideas that would become fixed later. He seized out from his desk’ drawer a stack of papers, some of them filled with words and brush strokes, no meaning behind those, and others were blank.

He separated the blank ones into their own pile, and ready his ink along with his short writing feather.

Then someone strongly slided the door, and the flow of Brage’s thoughts was broken into three rivers.

“I’m sorry I was late.” Brage’s eyes lit up again from hearing Lloyd’s voice. This time he wasn’t alone. To Lloyd’s right shoulder, to Brage’s surprise, a red-feathered bird with a pair of goggles above its head stared right into Brage’s soul. His grin slowly widened as he got up and stepped toward them.

“Who is this?” Brage initially remained a distance away from the bird, experienced from the past. But its eyes allowed him to calmly raised his hand up, and rubbing its beak.

“I call her Roc.”

“You named her Roc?”

“My father gave her the name.”

“A worthy name of her kinds.”

“Do you know her kind?”

“No, but I can feel it just from looking at her. Beautiful. Is this why you ran away from my class?”

Lloyd chuckled. Brage proceeded to rub Roc’s head, feeling the smoothness of her feathers. He didn’t like that the goggles were in the way.

“Yes, but I need you to help me with finding the old man with the wolves.”

Grage’s eyes widened. He grinned a full one.

“It would be my pleasure.”

————— Tic

Tic sat at a round table made of white marble, the kind of material he usually only see in places owned by the royals. The scent of drinks and alcohol went up his nostrils, frowning him. He never have much appetite for the taste of alcohol, and it baffled Tic the way people consume them, with no limit and constraint of their addiction. But he didn’t want to ruin the others’ fun, and from his experience, people usually have or are the most free when they are drunk. And he couldn’t refuse that.

“You should try this.” Triss sat next to Tic, having in her grip a purple drink with a halo of light over it. He said to the server to give Triss the best non-alcoholic thing in this inn. And they gave her this.

She slided it over to Tic, hustling him to take a gulp.

There wasn’t any harm in trying. But Tic remained there pondered at the cup, wondering why he was hesitant to take it.

“It tastes sweet and sour. ” Triss gave more reasons for Tic to try it. He enjoyed both of those tastes, and Triss didn’t even know that fact.

He followed through and took a big gulp, almost half the cup.

“Not that much!” Triss seized the cup back to her hands.

“It tastes great. Like a freshly drink in the morning.”

“You don’t need to take half of it. Get me another one.”

“That depends on much Ash still has of that wallet.”

They were the only twos at the round table that should be able to fit a group of seven.

A group was chatting loudly behind them, and the others weren’t any different. He went in here looking for fun, but same as for other public spaces, you can only have fun with the people you know.

“What do you think I should do?” Triss spoke up, breaking the noise around Tic.

“About what?”

“I lost my home. I lost my people. I have incomprehensible magic I’ve used to kill many lives. Yet Lloyd allows me the stay on the ship. For what?”

“I ask myself the same thing. I just follow him because we ran away together. With you.”

“But I don’t know why.”

“There’s no reason for acting good. Lloyd saw it with his eyes. Your temper exploded when that woman got shot. I would act the same way if the person I loved was gone like that.” He didn’t love how much they used him when he was enslaved there. But the past deserved forgotten.

Triss didn’t response back to him immediately. She sat there slowly sipping from the cup, making Tic wanted to order another one for himself.

“I still didn’t get your first question. What should you do?”

“The man… the crew that invaded my home. How do we find them?”

“I don’t think we know.”

“Can we make any progress in that?”

“We have a marine on board. If you’re lucky the crew you are hunting is well-known, he could track them down if you describe them.”

“What if he can’t do it?”

“Then you just don’t think about it or have to do it through luck. Trust me, luck only with you the most when you don’t need it.”

The server Tic initially talked to treaded by, and he leaned his arm out to stop him. There was a filled tray he on his hand that almost got dropped. Tic didn’t want to clean any mess at the moment.

“Can you get me another one of these drinks?”

————— Ash

Ash believed the prophet was a tangible thing for Eira to speak highly of it. But he forgot the part where Eira said the prophet want to meet him. It meant the prophet had a mind of its own.

But the thought never came to Ash that the prophet could be the person. And stood behold him, a young woman looked of his age, but a head shorter than him, was facing him with certainty.

“Captain Ash. I’m Vinra, prophet of the Jorr land, and it is in my honor to finally see you in person.”

————— Vinra

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I’ve failed the mission, and therefore failed my loyalty.”

Her knees were on the floor, her head was looking down, her hands formed into fists, and she was afraid of not keeping her head remained intact. Her heart was racing, every minutes passing without your Highness meant her life was near death. She completely devoted to following every orders, but she didn’t want to die. At least not yet.

“Are you thinking I will have your head cut off?” The king spoke up with his bellow and commanding voice. Vinra didn’t know how to response. She didn’t dare enough to response. Her mouth slightly opened for a second, and she was thankful her head wasn’t up.

“That thought passed my mind. I may reconsider it.”

Vinra felt like her body was shaking on its own. Drops of sweat went into her mouth, she licked her lips trying to not panicking.

“But you’ve show me your devotion, and you’re one of our best. Raise your head.”

She instantly raised her head, not wasting any of the king’s time. His time was worth more than her life.

“You will get another mission, on your own. If that became another failure of you, don’t show your face to me again.”

She stood straight up, then bow down her whole body to a degree.

“My honor, your Highness.”

“Go with Sir I.O and he will brief you on the mission. My condolences are with you, Vinra.”

“My gratitude is with you, your Highness.”

————— Ash

“Who are you?” Ash darted his eyes around the room, only three of them were in there.

“I’m the newly reborn prophet of the Jorr, came onto the land months ago.”

“And are you supposing I will trust every words coming out of your mouth?”

Eira stepped up between them and looked at Ash straight in the face.

“You do not disrespect the prophet of my land.”

Ash was about to refute against Eira, but decided not to risk. Not yet. He bowed his head down in an angle.

“I’m sorry, Eira. And I’m sorry to you too, Vinra.” Ash didn’t lie to Eira, he lied to Vinra.

Vinra hovered in the air, feet not touching ground but they were close enough to make it looked like she was sliding up the small slope. She stopped halfway through, then turned around and stared eyes to eyes with Ash.

“Eira. Give us space.” Vinra smiled at Eira politely limped out of the room, Ash walked with her to open the door. She gave him a slight nod, eyes glittered. He gave one to her before closing the door.

“I hear courageous things about you. You saved many lives. Killed many lives. All so they can call you a hero.”

“If that make them happy, there’s nothing I want to change about it. You being real make them happy, and I accept that. But I don’t feel I will like you, so we should stop talking.”

“But you can help me.”

“Trust me, the more you talk the more I’m thinking of throwing you into jail.”

“You’re not a marine anymore. The news just came in.” Ash forgot that was public knowledge. Damn the Big News Emerald.

“Maybe they’ll make me one again after I turned you in.”

“For what?”

“I’ll wait here until you give me a reason to arrest you. There’s one already… lying to a whole village.”

“You can’t prove that I’m lying.”

“You should have stay silence.”

Ash treaded out of the room, slamming the door hard against the wall. He found a path leading out to the shore, their ship was in sight. He had something in his mind, and he needed to talk with his crew.

————— Lloyd

“Who gave you this bird?” Master Bazel’s personal room gave Lloyd a lot of icky feelings. It wasn’t due to malice, but the the amount of furs and animal parts decorated and spread around the room gave him slight ill. They were all sitting on stools of small heights, Lloyd’s foot was touching the white fur lay on the floor. Brage was next to him with his usual spear, he held onto it like a treasure.

“My father gave her to me. I don’t remember how old I was, but it was long enough for us to form a bond.” A deep bond Lloyd couldn’t describe. He wouldn’t know how to describe it.

“Were your dad came from Jorr?”

“Where is that? But I don’t know where did he come from. We never talk about it.”

“You’re currently standing on Jorr.” Brage answered. “And Roc’s kind is native to our land.”

What was the odd of that?

Lloyd chortled staring at Roc. He never learned anything about her beside training to be his companion. But for today there was one more thing he could say to other people about Roc.

“My father had it in capture after a scavenger trip with his crew. It was a few months of waiting for me. And I was ecstasy when he opened the cage. And she poked me in the forehead. Left a scar.” Lloyd curtained his his bangs out of the way to show, although he couldn’t see it, a redden diagonal fracturing line extended across his forehead, right to left.

“It doesn’t look like a-” said Brage.

“There’s more. She poked me with her beak, then held onto the skin, or the flesh, and ripped sideway across my forehead, causing me to have a long headache after that.”

“And you still keep her?”

“My father was a hassle on that. Pushing me to train her. Pushing me to shelter her. Feeding her.”

Master Bazel flicked a feather out of Roc, and to Lloyd’s surprise, she didn’t react in anyway, just stayed there statically like a statue. Lloyd raised his eyes, this was something out of ordinary.

“Fine feather. Sharp, thick, and appealing to look at. What is your father’s name?”

“Luthen.”

“Luthen what?”

“Only Luthen. My full name is only Lloyd.”

“Nothing familiar to me. But he must had stepped foot on Jorr. Captured one of our birds, and brought it to you. Lloyd, you should have known from walking around, but that’s a crime in our land.”

His mind traveled back to the preys’ graveyards. The wolves. The respect these people had for the wild nature deserved to be admire on the podium and be written in history book. But there must be a way for them to persist the culture without any conflict. This was not a culture. This was a law.

“Roc is the closest thing I have from home. If you want to keep her here, you will have a hard time with me.”

Master Bazel chuckled. He pushed himself up with his staff, and limped over to his wolves sleeping by the rug. They were even bigger closer up, this house they were in wasn’t tall enough for all of them.

“I’m sure Roc wouldn’t agree with that either. Fortunate for you we don’t have a law for punishing a child for their parent’s sin. Are your dad still living well?”

Lloyd licked his lips, pondered on what was the meaning of “living well.”

“Yes. He’s still breathing.”

“If you see him again, remind your father to never step foot on Jorr, unless he doesn’t favor his life.”

Lloyd was sure he didn’t favor his father’s life either. But he chose to keep that to himself, nothing of worth saying it out loud like a pastor.

“Master Bazel, about your connections with animals, with wild nature. Are they unique to you?”

“No. Why?”

Lloyd breathed in deep, then slowly inhaling.

“Can you teach me?”

————— Triss

Tic was heavier than the weight of her burden. That purple drink didn’t have alcohol, but something hit Tic in that drink and now he was deep in sleep. And nobody said there was a time limit of staying in that inn restaurant. They got kicked out in the middle of the night. She thought of going back to the ship, but the more she dragged Tic, the heavier he was and the longer the path seemed to become.

The path was empty, devoid of people, devoid of life. She was taught the lesson of being by yourself at night, and contemplated if that could be apply to anywhere she could’ve been to. The dark corners around the house gave her creep. The wind whistled to her ears like a ghost. Nothing was being kind to her at the moment, she wished she could just fall down and take a long nap.

And then she blinked. The vision and the world around the her wrapped into oblivion.

She became blind and thought her life was gone. Someone must have break her neck. Everything was black, no smell, no feeling, nothing came to her senses.

And then she blinked again.

—————

It was a room, a gray room with nothing but a dull table and an old man sat opposite from Triss. He dressed in a pale red shirt complemented with a chain around his neck. She struggled to move, body only wriggled like a caterpillar, mind not forming what was going on. She glanced down at her arms, both of her wrists strapped to armchairs by leather bands. The only things of familiar to her were the bright white wall and floor.

Her eyes darted to the old man in front of her, hair as gray as a rusted blade, and skin as gaunt as an expired corpse. Not the spirit of a likable person.

“Who are you?”

The old man stared at her for a while. His wrinkled eyes didn’t speak much. There was nothing to read out of them.

“Who are you?” Triss repeated with a louder and tried to be meaner voice.

“Are you the same Oracle?”

“Oracle?”

“Then you are not her. But you look like her.”

“Who’s Oracle?”

“Fascinating. We have been waiting for a long time.”

“For what? At least say something that makes sense.”

“Do you have Krells?”

“I said say something that makes sense. Where am I?”

“The place you were at before, but in a smaller size. I saw you back then, and I was shocked. Not trusting in my eyes. And we brought you here now.”

“You brought me here? Consciously brought me here?”

“We tried every experiments on Oracle for her to switch with you.”

Triss didn’t know who was Oracle, only that she looked like her, and her conscious told her Oracle deserved better than this.

“Let me go.”

“My name is Wind. Doctor Wind.”

“I don’t know who’s Oracle, but I already care more about her than you.”

“I don’t need your care. You’re honor to be part of my experiments.”

He tapped his wrinkled index finger on the table, and a wave of energy burst through Triss’ veins. Every limbs felt like they exploded multiple times. Her head stiffed and cracked, like someone is hitting a sharp nail onto her neurons. She was trying, trying to resist. Trying to overcome. But the pain triumphed over her, and she couldn’t help but scream. Scream to throat burning. Her gorge shattered.

—————