John crawled back under the table, holding his almost torn-out groin. Just from that, he lost all hope. The curse was brutal, and no matter where he hid, it would come for him. The parrot lowered his head and couldn't comprehend what to do from there.
Levi caressed the parrot's head.
"Don't worry, we can solve this, but I will need you to fully cooperate with me."
In a squeaky and sad voice, the parrot replied,
"What can this bird do for you?"
The ever-confined mighty bird felt despair too. Seeing its captain, a beacon of confidence and the ruler of tides, now barely surviving, filled its heart with guilt. It knew its mistake, only if it wasn't greedy.
Levi pointed at the eye patch on its right eye.
"Can I take it off and see that relic?"
The parrot gave him permission, but John, still hiding under the table, shouted,
"No, Rika, don't do it. It's a secret."
"This thing here is no secret to me, John. I know what is hidden behind the patch. The longer we delay it, the shorter time you get to live."
The relic behind the eye patch was something one of the characters among the ten heroes would need. If they stole anything else from the Rivera, they would be cursed, but this item was different. Only they could own it because of its and there's "speciality."
John didn't want to show the item to anyone, even Levi, though he knew it. Not because he didn't want anybody to figure out his biggest secret and weakness but because he didn't want anybody else to get cursed by it.
John was a selfish, greedy, and rowdy person, like every pirate, every businessman, and every human in this world. However, despite that, the idea of others having the same curse filled him with guilt because he knew how terrifying it was. He managed to find a loophole around the curse and survived for ten years, but each day, he worried about something happening to him. Not a single night went by without him bolting awake because of nightmares. The fear got to him so much that his passion for exploring the ocean died out.
Levi too would do the same if he were in John's place, but he didn't fear anything; he just wasn't capable of it. Slowly pulling away Rika's eye patch, Levi said,
"John, I appreciate you trying not to get me in your mess, but you see, I wouldn't have tried to get in your troubles without a solution to it."
Levi knew what to do because of the game, but he would need some assistance, and that would be John himself. The miserable John wondered what Levi could do because he too did everything to get rid of this cruel, chained curse.
The pirate knew it, but he couldn't just throw the item away, and the curse would go. He tried everything he could: locking the item in the safest vault he could find, dropping it into a volcano, and using the deadliest destruction spell on it. The item never got destroyed; somehow, it always appeared right beside him.
After lots of thinking and guessing, he accidentally found a loophole around it, and that was Rika. You see, the item would never leave the cursed one; it would magically appear in their pocket, bag, or even their butt crack. Rika that time felt extremely guilty for what was happening to her owner because of her. To lessen its guilt, it decided sneakily to put the item in her eye, in hopes it would get cursed and lessen its owner's misery.
The parrot hasn't had its right eye since John found it, and the item also perfectly fits in the hollow part. Miraculously it worked. John, at first shocked, wanted to take the item out of Rika. He loved the parrot and didn't want her to be cursed too, but Rika didn't get the curse. Since Rika seldom left John's side, the item never got teleported near John. The curse didn't disappear from John, but nothing around him tried to kill him, and they never wanted to find out about it either way. There would be some mishaps but nothing too dangerous.
Levi closely looked at the relic and at first, his eyes were mesmerized by how beautiful it was. An oval-shaped, slightly flattened ball bathed in golden colour and its border smeared with the colour of the sky. In the middle of the relic were ten stars, cycling around each other without a gap between them.
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Levi felt an unknown force of energy, moving his hands just to get a touch on that item. Using his other hand, he slapped himself out of the stance.
'It really is dangerous then in the game.'
He took a piece of paper and a pen from the floor and started writing down a list of things he would need. After writing that, he placed it on the table and said,
"Get me everything I have written down here within two days. We will have to travel to a certain place to get rid of this curse of yours."
John in a shaky voice asked,
"Where?"
With a smirk and anticipation, Levi replied,
"To the home of mermaids."
Rika and John, who both had a sliver of hope of saving him, felt it weathering away. John couldn't help but shout,
"That is the WORST PLAN EVER. You want to go to a place where we got the item actually from, surrounded by monsters and other hideous sea creatures. Just because you killed someone stronger than you doesn't mean you can ask for mercy from those cruel creatures."
He wasn't underestimating Levi; the sea would be just too much for him. Every meter around those tides is filled with killing machines. Just being there means death. Even John, the infamous pirate, barely scraped out of it, losing his eye in the process.
Levi knew what the journey had in for him. The hustle and pain he had to go through would be immense, but if he succeeded, the results and awards were too good to just ignore. It was a risky gamble. However, Levi had decided not to follow the plot anymore when its future itself seemed unsure.
Though Levi didn't feel anything, he would want to be in control of his own destiny.
"John, the plan is ridiculous; I know it. I do have a plan, but just having it doesn't mean I will survive this ordeal. Those mermaids may not even cooperate, but I am not going there to ask them for mercy. I don't know if the mermaids will cooperate, but I'd rather beg them for mercy than hide under a table, waiting for the grim reaper to take my soul."
After saying that, Levi left the room. Rika flew under the table and jumped cutely with her small legs onto John's lap. Rubbing her beak under his chin, she said,
"I too think that plan is ridiculous, but we need to do something. All those ten years of living always with our guard have already exhausted us. Now that boy gave us a chance. I don't think he will succeed, but at least he has a path to walk on. Let's do what he says. If he does succeed, paradise awaits us."
John could feel death breathing behind his neck all the time; soon it would cut his throat open. Knowing it and accepting it are two different things, and every man fears death.
"I too don't want to stay like this. The smell of the ocean still lingers around my nose. I miss the touch of the cold gold bar, a delicious steak, and the feel of the helm. I want to ride the tides, control it and live with it. But Rika, what should we do if the plan fails?"
Rika spanned her wings and puffed her chest. "Then we die with pride. Either ride the clouds in heaven or drown in the abyss."
John hugged his dear parrot. With hope brimming in his chest, he ordered Rika to get the paper to his assistants.
"Let's see how far the boy can take us along the journey. To travel across the barren sea of the mermaids… what a psycho."
******
Levi walked through the ever-so-busy streets of Hilica. It was already 7 pm, and one hour left before his curfew at the academy. His body took a long yawn after a busy day: training with Yuki, then the academy, then two hours' work at the office, and then additional work at the hospital.
After that, a long train ride to John's office and then back to the academy. His zombie-like state didn't affect him. It was always like this. He and his body felt like two separate beings. This part of the town wouldn't be this busy. In each store, people were on ladders adding paper lamps and decorating them with red autumn leaves. But every store had one thing in common: two fake double swords crossed among each other. The sword didn't have any colour, completely pitch black.
The festival to celebrate the birth of the greatest awakener was about to happen.
Levi did know that the festival was about to happen and had plans for many things according to it. Though this part was a filler, it still provided a lot of immersion in each character's personality. It was the favourite filler for many players of how wholesome the moment after they experienced the full game.
"What was it called again, the Festival of Light, or was it Festival of Win… ahh, the 'Festival of Greatness.' "
Levi right now felt like a person who doesn't like art walking through an exhibition. You don't like it; all you can do is nod your head as if you appreciate and find a deeper meaning in the brushes of colour. After fifteen minutes, he reached the academy entrance and met other students also rushing through the gate.
"Don't run."
The guard shouted at them, just to be ignored as usual. As Levi walked through, he heard some gossip among the students.
"Hey, did you hear about the duel about to happen tomorrow?"
"Yeah, the rank 1 and rank 2 are battling it out. Is Blake trying to wage wars with every noble in the country?"
"Who cares what he does? We just need to see who falls in the end. Let's book the seats."
Levi, who heard those, wasn't surprised at all because the duel also happened in the game right before the festival. No matter which character you choose among those two and how good you are at it, there will always be the same winner. Although Levi didn't have much trust in the plot, he wasn't interested in the duel at all.
Getting a good night's sleep was all on his mind though he wouldn't get it any sooner, as the central eye reported him about an unusual activity by an unapproachable person.
"What is she thinking now?"