There was a flight of stairs that led to the upper deck. Terin sat on the floor of the quarter-deck, smelling the salty sea. Zyra walked over while keeping a pipe on her hand.

  "Terin," Zyra said.

  "Miss."

  "Moping again?"

  Terin smiled bitterly. For the person to be the one who would save the world, it was a bitter one. Zyra couldn't blame the kid, though he was only a few years younger than her.

  "You shouldn't smoke."

  Zyra froze with her smoking pipe on her lips. "What? You're going to tell me?"

  "Doc said you shouldn't."

  "Bah, who cares what that dense bastard say?" Zyra complained, lighting up her smoking pipe. "Besides, it's not like smoking would mess my internal organs. Also, give me a break, it's hard enough that he's nagging me."

  Terin shrugged. Zyra puffed two clouds of smoke before leaning on the railing of the Galleon.

  "Looks like we got out that Atoll. Good job, you did well fighting that gigantic monster."

  "It was tough," Terin gravely said. "We would have died if I didn't force myself to take on that form of light."

  He looked at the starry sky.

  "If I didn't force my veins on fire, then things would have been worse. That giant of light marked with the serpent who shed its scales for the world."

  "It was the first time that I felt like the power had gone through me. That sweet power was like a dew given from the heavens. I thought that the 'feeling' would come at me when I meet it finally. It should be a sweet pang that I would get addicted to."

  He looked up, leaning his chin on his knees.

  "But what I got was a bitter taste of the power. I recollected that those who possess the power would be unable to let go of it. The power that I got was the most terrible drink that I've tasted."

  "Drink?"

  "It tasted like light made water, but there was a bland taste that I couldn't describe."

  "It should be like a sweet taste, but I guess my power comes differently from the 'blood' that they use."

  Zyra studied Terin's face. "So does it hurt you? Are you bothered by it?"

  "I just thought it would be a wonderful taste." Terin looked down and cupped his hands. "Lady Rosalve is wrong. I don't like this."

  "Hmph," Zyra blew smoke.

  "Miss Zyra," he said, "do you hate how you got involve with us?"

  She gave him a stare. "Of course I hate it," she said. "What kind of person would be willing to put their life into something like this? To carry a responsibility heavier than a mountain, what kind of moron would do that?"

  "I could be relaxing inside of my cabin without the care of this world. I could be learning new methods to improve myself and focus on saving people, not helping kill people."

  She ground her teeth, "But there are days where you cannot go back on the things you gave your word to commit," she said. "That's why I am risking my life in honor of those who had made me this way."

  "I see," Jakob nodded.

  "No, you don't see," Zyra snorted. "Look, I know that you didn't want this either, only that royal blood knows that she wanted this."

  "You really don't like Felecia at all."

  Zyra looked annoyed. "She's royal blood, I've lived long enough to know what the royal blood does to a person."

  "She's her person, not her family."

  Zyra eyed him dismissingly. "Gwene Ravida, she was a fourth daughter heiress that should have inherited the throne. I doubt you know her, Terin, but she was the most wonderful woman, the bravest, and the kindest of them all."

  Zyra eyed the fleet that glowed like floating lamps on the sea. "But when she ascended, the blood on her activated, and that sweet blood caused her madness. The princess heiress was gone, replaced by a cruel woman who wanted to attain more power, inject that sweetness inside her body."

  Zyra laughed bitterly. "Drugs are addictive because of the pleasure and the thing they do to your brain, but she was addicted. Blood itself was her reason for gaining power."

  "I like to think that before she caused her death," Zyra said. "She regained her sanity. That moment, I knew, my Princess was back."

  "Then why you hate Felecia so much?" Terin asked. "I know that you used to work for the Dai Khan, but how come you would dislike her?"

  "Because all of them ended up the same. Eight of the heiress that came from the same blood ended up the same, and I don't think that it's about the person."

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

  "So, it's the blood?"

  Zyra nodded. "I don't hate her for who she is, and certainly not because of the blood in her veins. But there is something inside of her that makes me wary, and I cannot lie to myself. I can't like those who have royal blood."

  But even as she said that she knew that she was lying to herself. That ambition that bloated inside that younger's heart was visible to how she desperately wanted to prove herself.

  Ambion leads to corruption. Felecia was of royal blood, and yet here she was using the 'mercy' of the killer of her family. Zyra's condition for joining was so that she could watch this royal blood.

  Zyra wanted to observe this royal blood. The power that bloated inside her heart, she promised that she would not hesitate to put a bullet inside Felecia's head.

  "Miss," Terin said. "I hope you can be lenient to her. She has nothing."

  "I know."

  "Then..."

  "Terin, you're an honest, goodhearted young man, and I know that you have a good reason to worry about her. I am not blind. I can see what she's trying to do and her woes. Do you think that I am such a fool that I would judge someone by the sins of their fathers?"

  "No. I don't believe you will."

  "Good, but I am sure that if that comes, you'll try to stop me."

  "Yes, I will stop you."

  Zyra smiled at him. Terin was a goodhearted kid. But she couldn't make an exception if things come to that.

*****

  The seas that the Galleon sailed on were indeed still. There was no rolling of the vessel and despite the darkness of the scenery before them. The light from the fleet and the spirits of the lady had lit the area around the fleet.

  The fleet formation was steady enough to move as a giant creature made of light. The size of the fleet alone could fool the beasts that might be hiding beneath the ocean. Not to mention that despite the darkness that covers them, the 'light' that the fleet had was defying this darkness surrounding them.

  Thinking that it was night, she wanted to go back, then thought that someone would nag at her, and was about to go back.

  She then saw Felecia's face go sour. The younger opened her mouth for a second, before shaking her head. She walked to where Zyra was, her arms folded.

  "Miss," Felecia said.

  "Blue blood," Zyra said.

  Felecia twitched. "Look, can you not speak to me like that?"

  "I can," Zyra said, snorting while puffing clouds of smoke. "I won't baby you, and make that head of yours swole. Your ancestors would curse me for doing so!"

  "You!"

  "What?" Zyra shrugged. "You royals and your self-importance. Did you lose a bit of your head when your Empire burned? Lass, the Chancellor could have added you to the guillotine. It was because of the regained sanity that your fathers had that you are here in this fleet."

  She gritted her teeth. "I know. You people don't have to remind me. Are we so evil to you commoners?"

  "Yes, you people are. To the eyes of those who work day and night, your family had caused suffering. You had causes famine and death. Do you think that even if you do return to the mainland, you will be acknowledged?"

  Felicia sat cross-legged. "I know what you are trying to say!" she complained. "You've been saying that you'd put a bullet inside my head many times now! I get it. "

  "I just want to clear the name of my family," Felecia said weakly, that prideful voice that she kept simmered. "What choice do I have other than that?"

  "You could have run away."

  "And let the people forever remember what we had done?"

  "What choice do you have?" Zyra said lowly. "The scars that your family had pieced could not be easily healed. Your legacies are slaughter and massacre, and your greatest achievement is the fall of your Empire."

  "Many people joined the march. They rather die than let your Empire rule. How many years of suppression and abuse does it take for even the smallest of individuals to rise and say no more?"

  Zyra spread her hands. "Your family was respected by everyone. But a few years of madness, that's all it took for all of it to collapse. Tell me, can you say that the Chancellor is not worthy of leading the mainland?"

  Felecia held her head. She looked at the fleet that had been amassed by the Chancellor in the years that he led. To unite an entire continent within a few years, how could her family even compete against this achievement?

  "He is," Felecia nodded, "but I am not asking to become a ruler. I want to clear the name of my family, even if it means accomplishing something so hopeless."

  "Why not run?"

  "How could I ever do that?"

  "The pride of blue blood," Zyra nodded. "Don't expect that even if you save the world with him, then you'd be showered praises. You didn't come to join this expedition for that. Terin, he's a good lad, and despite your blue blood, I can tell that your heart is in place. You have the right to be proud, and that pride of yours is because of that blue blood."

  Zyra paused to tapped her smoking pipe.

  "He'll die for you."

  "I know he will," Felecia smiled. "I guess that's why he's the one chosen by the serpent."

  "Don't take advantage of him," Zyra said. "He needs to reach the heart of the world. Unlike you, he does not taste the sweetness of power that you and Lady Rosalve taste."

  Felecia leaned on the railing. "Regarding the prophecy, do you believe that?"

  "I do," she cut him off. "One day, there might be a chance for it to happen, and omens seem to point at you. Lass, do you remember my oath?"

  She nodded. "I do. I hope that you fulfill it. That was our condition, right?"

  "Indeed, yet, I still find it hard that you do not stay clear of me. Considering how you made me do it."

  "I know what ails my family. My great elders were people that I admire, but they could not escape the havoc that runs in our blood. That is why I asked you about that. I want to make sure that someone could do it. Despite their appearances, none of them are capable of doing it. Even Sir Ando will not be able to point his blade at me if the time comes. Terin will make sure about it, and I fear it."

  Zyra stood up and pointed her finger like a gun on Felecia's forehead.

  "In the day that you lost control, I, Zyra, from Accad," her hand kneaded Felecia's head, "will make sure of our promise."

Felecia stood up and faced the stern of the Galleon once again. She looked at the sky with a hint of gratitude on her lovely face. She leaned on the railing and said in a whisper.

  "Thank you, Miss."

  "Don't mention it," Zyra said. "I am here because this is the duty of a Dai Khan."

  Zyra's face grew soft as she eyed the fleet. Can she fulfill the duties of a Dai Khan? Could she even harm someone who had the blood in her veins?