The first thing Kaius saw was a wall barely a few feet away--just enough for two people to walk through comfortably. It was a part of a long hallway that was dark and smelled of damp wood. The shadows covered everything, only a little light filtering from the farthest end to Kaius’s right.

Even then, using his power made seeing through the darkness a simple task.

He studied the hallway for a while longer. Every few meters there was a door just as large as his, though some seemed to look smaller. For a while, he stood there, watching and waiting to see if anyone would suddenly appear. But that was for naught.

Stepping over the doors bottom frame--quite large for one raising the door even more--he took a hesitant first step. Kaius winced as the floorboards creaked louder than the storm. Any form of stealth was an illusion to trick himself with.

Frozen in his spot, he waited for the tell-tale sign of hunters and or battle slaves to appear. None did. It seemed the old man had spoken the truth. No one was willing to leave their rooms for some reasons Kaius could not perceive.

He gained some courage and stood up straight. Looking back into the room, he couldn’t see the white demon anywhere. It must have disappeared when he wouldn’t listen to it.

Shaking his head, he slowly made his way towards the filtered light far away. Keeping close to the right wall, he crouched as he made his way through. Though that did little to stop every single step from being a veritable bell letting everyone know where he was.

Yet, no one came out to check or stop him from continuing. It struck him that this might be a trap of some kind, but why would they need to retrap him when he was already chained and locked down to the ground. It made little sense in his mind.

He reformed his resolve and began to sneak forward towards the light. His right shoulder was firmly placed onto the wall as he continued. Only walking past the doorways not touching them. More than once, he heard shuffling from behind the doors and even a few muffled voices. But none came out.

Kaius jumped as his shoulder bumped into something. He felt his heart fall out of his chest as a few things clattered on the ground. They sounded like metal. Slowly turning around, he let out a relieved sigh when he found no one there. Instead, all he saw were two rusty and battered axes that had been hanging crossed on large pins on the wall.

Grabbing them, he noticed their edges were still very sharp. Roughly an inch up from the edge of the blade was clean and unaffected by age. As though it had just been made. That contrasted with the rest of the metal, they were reddish-brown from rust.

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Someone must have lined them with something special. The longer Kaius stared at them, the more he could see a faint glow of magic on the newer parts. Touching the blade, he felt it prick his finger with the barest of touches. A droplet of blood ran down his finger. He rubbed it off on his wet pants, knowing that did little to stem the flow.

Holding tightly onto them, he walked past where they were hanging and close enough to see what was contained within the light. It came from an ornate door on the top of a staircase up.

He walked up to the stairs, but as he took his final labored step, he was almost thrown down by the ship swaying dangerously to the right. Flailing his arms and the axes in his hands with them, he barely found his balance. Embedding an axe into the wall did afford him that though.

Releasing a breath, he waited for the ship to settle down enough for him to walk. Once it did, he took that final step and stood before the large door. The final door before his freedom. The last hurdle he expected to face after this.

With a hesitant hand, he put one of the axes in the nook of his arm and grabbed the thin cold metal of the handle.

A long hiss sounded out from behind the door. It gave Kaius a reason to turn around, but with a tight grip on the handle, he twisted it opening the door inwards. It creaked like no other one before. Like it had not been touched in a century. Louder than even the first he had opened.

An eerie grayish-green light filtered in from the opening. He narrowed his eyes from the glare and grabbed the axe from the nook of his arm.

Opening his eyes, he was introduced to a foggy deck. He could barely see more than a few feet away. The fog was a ghostly green that gave the area an unnatural stillness. A massive mast tore through the fog far above, it’s shadow lingering. Tied to it was the ships main-sail.

It bothered Kaius on multiple levels. His body ached to return as his mind cried to him, begging he turns around and heart thumped like thunderclaps. He feared the hunters would hear it pounding in his chest.

Turning his powers up to full blast, he felt them surge through his body. The fog cleared a bit as a dark purple light flared stronger than before. Then an orange haze coated his body.

With the orange, time seemed to slow down to a crawl. Only his body moved in real-time as he crept forward axes ready to strike.

His wells of power beat with his heart. A comforting sensation.

Surveying the deck, his eyes caught no traces of magic. Just a blank canvas surround the ship. He knew it to be true but wanted to believe otherwise. Something was wrong, so very wrong. An unnatural sensation invaded his body. The dark statue within him shook, trying to tell him something, but he could not understand for the life of him.

It was then that he felt a bit of regret, maybe he should have listened to the old man. Or at the very least the white demon. It did bring him the flower and had yet to steer him wrong. He shook his head. Now was not the time to fall down this rabbit hole.

A shadow burst out of the fog. Went straight for him. Acting on instinct, he swung his arm in front of him, forgetting completely he held an axe. With a wet thud, it sunk into flesh.