The Silent Ship III
[- It's been - - So - Long- -] A fragmented whisper filled Silora's sleeping mind, but it wasn't enough to wake her. [To be - - once - - more - -]. From a whisper to a broken voice, Silora rolled in her bed from the sound that carried little meaning. [The one - Me before -]. The voice returned to a deep, clear whisper. Still not enough to break the sleep spell that covered Silora's mind. [No Time - - - you need - - to - - -]. The voice's tone rose sharply. The sleep spell covering Silora's mind shook violently, but the words were not clear enough to make any sense. So, Silora continued to sleep, and the spell returned to cover her mind in a haze. Silence fell for a while, and Silora's mind calmed down, but before she could relax, a sharp and clear scream echoed in Silora's mind. [Wake up!!!].
Silora's eyes snapped open as a sharp pain erupted from her face. Her whole body trembled, she pushed away the thing that had fallen on her nose. Suddenly, she was fully awake, with no trace of drowsiness in her heavy mind.
A transparent white light emerged from her eyes the moment she opened them, remnants of the broken sleep spell. 'What was that?' Silora thought as her body trembled uncontrollably. 'What was that voice?, why in the name of the forsaken gods was I under a sleep spell? And how did I not notice being a subject to it?'
Silora calmed herself as she examined her body, confirming that nothing was out of place. The only thing was that her vision was slightly blurry. "The broken spell!" Spells that are forcibly broken have strong after effect on both the caster and the target. Silora wasn't very happy with the way the mysterious voice broke the sleep spell; she could have lost her sight! But then again, being the target of the spell didn't allow her to dispel it in the traditional way.
With everything happening now and the uncertainty accompanying the situation, Silora didn't think much about the mysterious voice; she didn't have the luxury to do so. Automatically, she took the voice as a variable without any ill intentions,... she felt that way.
A small drop of blood fell on her black clothes. She reached out to stop her nosebleed. The pain in her face hadn't disappeared yet; she didn't feel that her nose was broken, but the pain was still sharp. She looked around for the source of her pain—her staff. She picked up her staff and examined the drops of blood that appeared clearly on the silver surface of the simple wooden piece. 'How did my staff get here? On the bed. I placed it on the side of the room with my other things.' Silora looked at the side of the room near the wooden door; her things were neatly arranged there, except for the staff, of course. 'Levitation spell? I can't cast it while I'm asleep. Maybe someone else?' There was no one in her small room, except for her, of course. 'Maybe I did it unconsciously? But the voice...'
Silora wiped her bleeding nose with her sleeve and quickly got out of bed. 'I don't have time for this. Most likely, the caster also suffered from the broken spell after effect. They might be on their way here, for all I know.' She reattached the silver dagger to her clothes in a way that made it easy to draw while keeping it well hidden. She put her spellbook back in the strange box and hid it under the bed for now. With light steps, she opened the wooden door and cautiously stepped into the narrow corridor outside her room.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
A large number of wooden doors identical to her's spread as far as Silora could see until the turns that blocked her view. But she knew clearly that these same turns only held more room doors. She was going to go directly to the deck, but a bold idea stopped her movement. She approached the wooden door opposite her room and carefully opened it.
Her expectations were confirmed. The girl that left her sleepless every night by inviting strangers to her room was sleeping peacefully on her room's floor. Silora wanted to hate the miserable girl in front of her, but all she hated were her humiliating actions. She wasn't in a place to judge. But something good came out of it; she met the kind captain when she goes to the upper deck looking for some peace.
Silora closed the door on the pitiful girl and went to the next door. She found an old man sitting on a chair at a small wooden desk, his head on the table, seemingly in a deep sleep. Every door Silora checked after that showed the same scene. 'So, it wasn't just me who was under the sleep spell! This is much more dangerous than I thought. At least I'm not the only target; the spellbinder won't know who woke up or where they are. This gives me some time to come up with a plan or... escape.'
Silora walked through the silent corridor, the quietness of the place, usually full of life and energy, made her feel a deep fear and understandable discomfort. Sometimes she found people sleeping outside their rooms in unnatural positions. 'The spell probably hit everyone by surprise. But how did I not feel it? The last thing I remember doing is checking the mysterious words in the spellbook. This situation is strange; I need to be cautious.' Despite that, the fear inside Silora reached high levels; she had never faced such a dangerous situation before. The only thing keeping her going was the strong desire to survive and live to see another day.
***
Silora hadn't gone up to the upper deck yet; she didn't want to blow her cover. Instead, she hid on the middle deck behind a stack of food supplies stored in cube-shaped wooden crates. She had a clear view of the stairs leading to the middle deck.
The reason for her hiding was clear to her. She was scared. She didn't feel ashamed of it. 'I'm not crazy enough to face a mage who can put more than 200 people to sleep at once. It's better to hide now and watch for any changes.' She had hoped that the battle mage in this ship would intervene, but the situation was too quiet. She could only hear her own breathing and the sound of the ocean currents outside.
Time passed quietly and heavily. Silora felt as if the silence surrounded her like an invisible shadow, crawling on her skin like invisible ants, causing a shiver all over her body as if urging her to do something. She understood that this was just her tension from the current situation affecting her actions and feelings. So she endured the silence and stayed in her place, waiting.
More time passed, and Silora didn't make any movement, no matter how slight, not even changing her crouched position. Just when she thought she would lose her mind, a change occurred. The sound of light, unhurried footsteps brought her back to reality. The sound came from the upper deck of the ship, and its direction was clear—the stairs leading to the middle deck. 'Who could it be?' She knew she shouldn't hold on to any hope, no matter how small, in situations like this, everything goes beyond expectations.
The footsteps stopped in front of the stairs; the person didn't seem to be in a hurry at all, 'which is strange.' Step by step, the individual began to descend the stairs steadily. 'Black leather shoes? Thin black trousers? Blood!! Damn, this isn't good.' Silora closed her eyes tightly to avoid looking directly at this person. She could have bowed her head, but even that simple movement she didn't dare to make out of sheer fear. She wanted to clasp her hands to stop the trembling running through them, but she didn't have the courage.
The sound of footsteps passed towards the passengers rooms. Silora knew what could happen, what would happen. But her fear was far greater than her courage. So she stayed in her place, eyes closed, as she heard the man say, "I do love surprises, but I also hate that kind of surprises." He said in an emotionless tone. "Still, I have to finish this task." He continued, his tone calm and firm.