Chapter 39: Into the Frying Pan

Sairek couldn't conjure up a response.

What… What was a response he could possibly even give to the situation he found themselves in...?

He had to admit, even once they got back to Ceareste, he didn’t know what he was going to do about this situation, but he certainly wasn’t expecting to be face to face with the King of Masirean himself right now. And in the worst place too—the man's own territory...

He wasn’t ready for this. Not mentally and not physically. He was too tired to be able to comprehend and think his way out of this. Every single one of his friends were exhausted and on the brink of passing out, himself included...
Even if they ran, where would they go? How would they escape? They couldn't fight either... Varhi as well was barely clinging onto life it seemed like...

Sairek weakly blinked his eyes in surprise when the man reached down and held his hand out to him. Sairek looked down at the hand for a moment, contemplating.
This gesture, while simple, could mean a lot of things... Sairek was too exhausted to think up all the specifics, but when it came to royalty and nobility, you had to be careful with how you spoke, and worded things, how you moved and even how you presented yourself—which Sairek was sure he was failing that last one spectacularly right now, laying in front of the man on his stomach, barely able to even lift up more than his head and a bit of his chest off the wooden deck of the ship, only being able to do this much thanks to propping himself up slightly on his arms in front of him. He wasn't sure how much of that was energy and how much of that was because he realized they were in deep, deep shit right now.

He had always dubbed it the “Nobility Game”. Having to always be careful with what you say and how you behave when speaking to other nobles or officials. They always waited for you to slip or and make one wrong gesture or say one wrong word so they can use it against you if they didn't like you. Empty pleasantries, fake gestures of kindness often veiled in venom... It was all too common. This had to be one of them, surely.
Sairek decided after a brief deliberation that he wasn’t going to play that. He was going to be direct, clear and confrontational. Besides, like this, he'd probably lose that 'game' anyway, and the man would probably use his words to leverage against him later, and he had a reason to be confrontational anyways. There was the matter of the letter... as thin of a reason as it was.

Rather than take the hand that was offered to him, Sairek moved to push himself up to one knee with a worned out and tired grunt of exertion, wincing as his left shoulder that he had slammed into via the rock on the mountain ached and he instinctively moved his right hand to hold it in an attempt to dull the ache. Sairek sent a look distaste to the King of Masirean. “Why… Why are you giving me a hand...?" The man looked genuinely confused at Sairek’s response, but the confusion was a mere flicker within his eyes. Sairek looked over to Varhi, who Jimmy was still holding in his arms as a means to clarifying what he meant with his question. “What about him–?” Sairek continued.

“Forgive me, but I do not know where both of them stand." Avotash began to reply. "As far as I am concerned, Jimmy has committed treason. Although Varhi is not a citizen of Masirean, he has—”

Sairek’s temper flared and he pushed himself to stand properly upright fully—reaching out to grip his staff on the floor to help him stand. “Bullshit!” He shouted angrily. “Treason!? The only thing that man over there is guilty of is having the foresight to seek help to save Varhi—a child's life! His care for Varhi extends so far that he was desperate enough to beg even me of all people for help because apparently you wouldn’t!” Sairek yelled, venom dripping in his tone. “Here you are, offering me your hand when Varhi is in critical condition and dying! Help him—!”

Sairek’s vision was suddenly knocked to his right side and everything around his sight briefly dimmed and wavered. A gasp of pain was forced from him. He staggered, nearly falling back down onto the deck of the ship. His left cheek that was just hit stung intimately with seering pain. Slowly, he raised his left hand up as the sound of his face being slapped rebounded within his own eardrums. The movement was so quick…
Still standing lopsided barely able to keep himself upright, Sairek turned his head back slowly to glare at Avotash, who was looking down at him imposingly, moving his hand back to his side from the abrupt attack. A gust of wind from the rising snow storm caused both Sairek's and Avotash's capes to flap, nearly billowing in the wind as a harsh torrent of snowflakes began to cascade the deck of the ship.

“Do not bark at me boy! You’re the one who trespassed in my territory!” Avotash roared.

Sairek heard sprinting footsteps approaching from behind him and then he saw Cyial, who had been even more exhausted than him initially, standing up in front of him, pushing Sairek backwards which caused him to stumble and nearly lose his balance. Cyial moved to stand in front of Sairek protectively with his arms spread out. His voice growled in a beastial tone when he spoke in a feral threat. “Do not hit him again—or I’m not going to be the one held responsible for what happens to you next.” Cyial hissed.

Avotash eyed Cyial appraisingly, not at all threatened, but certainly curious. Sairek watched as the six knights behind Avotash moved behind him, ready to act if needed. “...You... have an incubus in your accord? You are full of surprises indeed, Sairek.” The tone was one of amusement. Sairek could see the barest of smiles being repressed within the man's lips.

“Cyial…” Sairek whispered, his tone authoritative, but also pleading.

“I refuse…” Cyial growled, standing firm as he slowly shook his head. “If he doesn’t try to touch you again… then there shouldn’t be a problem... Won't there be?” Cyial demanded, his eyes leering at the King.

“My, what a loyal little dog you are.” Avotash commented, continuing the amused tone. He looked down at Cyial, then looked back to Sairek. “I’m impressed.”

“Don't talk down to him like he’s an object or an animal… That is my friend...!” Sairek growled with contempt.

“Friends? With an incubus demon…? Does Aayron know about this at all, I wonder?” Avotash asked curiously, but it was also a thinly veiled threat, Sairek was sure.

“Why would it matter if he did? I can choose who I want to be friends with and nobody in this realm is going to tell me otherwise. Apparently unlike you, I don’t treat the neither subjects or guests of my realm as disposable fodder!!” Sairek spat, gesturing at Varhi once more.

Avotash sighed wearily. “Aayron said you had developed an attitude problem. Apparently I have... 'underestimated' you. Very well then...” Avotash twisted his upper half around, looking at his knights, then pointed at one. “You, prevent the mercenary boy from immediately expiring. Get him situated inside one of the cabins. We’ll need him for questioning soon, anyways.” He ordered, then turned back to look at Sairek. "We cannot question him if he is unconscious or dead, after all."

The knight wordlessly saluted and moved to approach Jimmy, sheathing his weapons away, the knight held their arms out expectantly for Varhi. Jimmy, albeit reluctantly, handed Varhi over. Varhi groaned in protest, but he was in no condition to start to argue or resist. While he was being carried away, Cyial glanced over behind himself at Sairek as if for reassurance. Sairek knew the look, Cyial was asking if this was really okay.

“...There’s nothing else we can do for him… He’s in critical condition...” Sairek whispered to Cyial in front of him. “If… If we don’t… Varhi is seriously going to die… He needs help now, Cyial...”

Cyial gave a subtle curt nod and turned back, just in time to meet Avotash’s own gaze. “Well, I have done as you so needfully requested out of the goodness of my heart, but there is still the very critical problem that you are in my country. Why did you come here? Why did Jimmy bring you over here and what did you witness in Karvadean? I will have answers…” Avotash declared, leering at Sairek, Cyial and even Nayleen behind the both of them.

“I…” Sairek began, clenching his teeth slightly and closing his eyes. He thought about how much trouble they were in. Maybe he could get off easily, all things considered, but Avotash wasn’t obligated to do the same for Nayleen and Cyial or possibly even Varhi. He could have them imprisoned for years… maybe worse, for Cyial. Possibly even executed if he wanted.
Accepting their upcoming fate, Sairek bowed his head. “I’ll… I'll tell you everything… but only if you let my friends go... I came here of my own accord. They were merely following me.”

"Sairek—!" Nayleen protested.

Avotash glared at him. “Another damn favor? Bloody entitled child... First you trespass into my realm with your coherts and then you continue to demand favor after favor?” The King of Masirean sighed. “I will listen to you first and if I find you are telling the truth, then, and only then will I perhaps honor your request.” Avotash then turned back behind himself to his other five knights. “Arrest them. Bring the Prince to my quarters. And you,” Avotash pointed at the leftmost knight, ”Make sure our ex-captain navigates us back to Cyvolta. Use force if necessary if he refuses to co-operate. Unfortunately, he is still the only one who knows how to pilot this vessel.”

“Yes sir.” Avotash’s knights all saluted and chanted in unison.

Sairek kept his eyes closed and teeth clenched as he felt his arms pulled behind his back, his staff wrenched from his grip, and felt cuffs being clasped around his wrists. Cyial and Nayleen similarly did not resist, realizing the situation they were in.

Single-file in a line, they were led back inside the ship through the noisy hallways, with Avotash leading and Sairek being forced to follow behind him by being sandwiched between two knights, one in front and behind him. Then it was Cyial, another knight, then Nayleen, and a final knight escorting her.

However, as they passed by rooms, Avotash pointed at two separating rooms on both cabins and said “Put the girl here, and the male demon in this one,” causing the two to be separated and leaving Sairek alone with just two knights and Avotash who lead them further down the hall a room away, taking a door to the right and he was forced to step inside.

Unlike the regular cabin rooms they had slept in on the way to Karvadean, this room was noticeably bigger. Not by too much, but it was definitely much more furnished. This was probably Jimmy’s room before Avotash had commandeered the ship from him. There was a rectangular table with two seats on the opposite far ends and a bed in the corner, a chair with a desk in another corner and a couple of chests and crates along the other walls of the room. Avotash moved to take a seat at the table, and Sairek was forced to take the opposite seat, furthest from the door with his hands still cuffed behind his back. Avotash’s two knights returned to the man’s sides, and there was a long uncomfortable silence where the two just stared at each other for what felt to Sairek like an age.

Finally, Avotash’s gaze into Sairek’s own eyes shifted down slightly. “What happened to the Ceareste royal jewel?” Avotash asked.

Sairek glanced down at his own torso. The only thing left to color the jewel was a small little dull pinpoint of red, and he cursed at himself for foolishly deciding to reject refilling it earlier in his haste to try and get Varhi and his friends to the ship as fast as possible. “It’s... almost fully drained and will be in a few minutes...” Sairek explained truthfully. He didn’t see a reason to hide this information. The question was a rhetorical one. Avotash knew exactly what was happening.

“I see. And once it has been exhausted, the enchantments on it fail, don’t they boy?” Avotash asked.

Sairek’s eyes began to widen in realization and dread crept into the pit of his stomach. “N-No... They don’t…”

That was indeed true and Avotash seemed to accept it as such. “Yes, it will use you as the sole catalyst to keep the enchantments up until power in it is restored... but once both you and the jewel run out of energy, then the enchantments will fail, won't they?"

There was a pregnant pause. Sairek swallowed nervously. His throat and lips felt too dry.

"Forgive my brashness, but looking at your state currently, I do not think you could bear the strain of that for very long, boy.” He said with a small shake of his head in a tone of sympathy, but a thin, wry smile betrayed the real meaning behind the sentence.

Sairek clenched his teeth, his gaze at the man beginning to become horrified. “What are…? Just what are you trying to imply here…?” He tried to demand.

“Nothing, for now. Just something to keep in mind should you think of trying to lie to me, is all. If you lost the jewel, I do not think your father would be most pleased, would he?”

“You wouldn’t dare!!” Sairek yelled, sitting upright in the chair. "Are you mad!? Taking another country's heirloom is an immediate act of war!!"

“I would give it back to your father, of course, I am not a tyrant. However, I do not think you would be seeing the outside of your room for a very, very long time, nor would be trusted with the jewel again—not until your father expires and you became King, anyway. I also think you would not wish to be the first member of your family to lose that jewel in centuries, now would you? That would make your people lose faith in you forevermore. People would question why you do not have it in public… rumors would spread.”

Sairek could not grind his teeth any harder than he was right now even if he tried. “You sure have an odd way of showing how ‘benevolent’ you are for someone who apparently doesn’t rule with tyranny, Avotash of Masirean...!” He replied angrily.

Avotash drummed his fingers from his right hand idly on the table. Sairek, still standing, turned slightly and the jewel brightened, just barely as he released all of the contents he had inside of the jewel into the corner of the room. There was a lot of stuff, from food, to camping gear, spare clothes for Nayleen…

“Excellent.” Avotash said, moving to his left side to point at the knight station to that side of him. “Search.”

Wordlessly, the knight saluted and walked over past Sairek, beginning to rummage through all of the items. It was all just provisions and supplies, nothing that Avotash could use to incriminate him at all... except the diary they found, maybe... But Sairek, wisely, had that pocketed instead of in the jewel. He was hoping he wouldn't be searched.
Sairek glanced at the knight searching before moving to reluctantly sit back down, then grimaced hard as he felt the jewel abruptly going silent; and all of the strain of the enchantments that the jewel was burdening upon itself and his clothes were suddenly on him, beginning to drain him of the little energy he had left in his body. He panted and huffed hard, his already exhausted body put under a whole new test of endurance after going through so much today already. He couldn’t help but collapse and sag weakly into the chair with a strained groan and grimace of pain and discomfort, and then a soft grunt of exertion as he tried to support the enchantments by himself.

Avotash leaned forward in his own chair, interlacing his fingers together on the table in front of his face. “Right, let us make a game out of this, shall we Son of Aayron? Children like games, after all, so this should be easy for you: If you can answer all of my questions truthfully and you are still with us by the time I finish, I will leave the royal jewel to you and will ensure that you and your friends leave here free of any charges—Varhi, and even Jimmy included. We will provide you energy for the Cearestian jewel as well. We will return you back to Ceareste and you can continue on your business like nothing happened.
...If however, I find you are being dishonest, you annoy me, or if you pass out before I am done questioning you, then I will confiscate the Ceareste royal jewel from you and will proceed with the justice that I am due as I personally see fit.”

“P-Pah, ugh...” Sairek grunted. “I-I’ve got some— urrgh. S-Some questions of my own…” He managed to groan out, both eyes clenched shut tightly.

“Well, you may feel free to attempt to ask them, but given your current state, if I were in your position boy, I would keep silent and only answer only when spoken to. You wouldn’t want to prolong this anymore than needed, would you?”

Sairek remained silent at that. It wasn't by choice, though... His eyes were pinched shut, teeth clenched...

“Good. Now… the first question… How did you know that something was going on in Karvadean?”

“Your letter… huff... T-The one that Varhi delivered to the castle…” Sairek grunted, leaning forward in the chair and hanging his head as he tried to fight against the strain of his energy quite literally being drained from him. “I was on punishment b-because… Father and I were not getting along very well… so that’s when—I first read it-t…”

“Hmm…” Avotash hummed, thoughtfully. “And you thought that you would just wander your way over here to investigate by yourself after reading the letter?”

“N-No… None of that was any of my concern at first… I left the castle... and we were doing our own thing... u-until Jimmy happened to find me when I... when I was around the area... H-He told me that... V-Varhi hadn't come back yet...” Sairek huffed, lifting his head and opening his eyes to glare at Avotash. “Why… Why did you lie in the letter... that was meant for only my father to see…? K-Kior did nothing w-wrong...!”

Avotash glared at Sairek for a moment, sighed wearily, then leaned back in his chair. “Such an explanation would be too long for you right now I am afr—”

“Bullshit...! You liar...!” Sairek retorted sternly, his eyes despite his fatigue and strain he was enduring, opened to glare at Avotash, the look was icy, his anger giving him a burst of adrenaline as he spoke in a low tone that raised in volume as he slowly stood back up from the chair. “You want me to tell the truth... but you refuse to do the same...? What you did was a clear breach of the alliance contract…! If you want to talk about my trespassing, then you will answer me this…! You don’t get to play hooky by breaking rules of contracts, yet try to pretend to play this high and mighty interrogator when YOU are the one who broke the contract first, which was what caused poor Varhi to suffer for over two weeks and nearly die several times and prompted me to go and investigate what was happening in the first damn place—!
Ungh...! Maybe I don't have any right to be here...! Maybe the council will judge me guilty of that charge, I don't know... But I will say it's not totally unfounded...! I'm twelve now... and with that, I'm part of the Cearestian military by my title of Prince—the military that you requested to come here in that letter I read... And the only thing Jimmy and I are guilty of... is saving that boy's life when you wanted him to die!!”

“Sit. Down.” Avotash warned him.

“Why, you don’t like it when I’m not sitting in that chair where you can look down at me appearing all meek—?” Sairek sneered. “I don’t want to believe you’re malicious sir, but you’re making it really hard for me right now... Answer my damn question...!”

“You do not get to make demands of me, boy! You forget, I hold the future of your friends’ lives in the palm of my hand right now! I may not be able to hold you forever, but they are of little to no consequence to your father and they are certainly not part of the Cearestian military! One is a demon and from what I understand, the girl isn’t even a citizen of Ceareste and both Jimmy and Varhi are my property.” Avotash threatened him. “You’d do well to remember these facts...”

Sairek froze at that, clenching his teeth. Fucking coward...
Slowly, he moved to sit back down, his glare never once melting away from Avotash’s own. He didn't want to stand down, but his body was failing him. He felt dizzy, weary, weak...

“That’s a good boy...” Avotash said condescendingly. “Now… where were we? Ah, yes… What did Jimmy ‘claim’ to you?”

Sairek paused for a moment as he tried to remember clearly through his boiling rage, which caused his testimony to come out in a hoarse growl. “He... explained to me... that about a month ago... a group had been sent to Karvadean to do a routine check-up, uhnf… a-and that only o-one man returned back alive from the check-up... despite having sent six knights, which in itself was already unusual behavior... for a routine check-up… *huff... puff...* The o-one man who did return back, th-they were raving mad and plagued with some kind of... i-infection nobody had seen before, his body deteriorating until it… ‘expired’...
“Then-n, he t-told me what Varhi had done... reading your precious little letter that you sent him to deliver to my castle... He also told me how Varhi had told him that instead of you reprimanding Varhi for a clear breach... that you gave him another ‘opportunity’ to investigate Karvadean, but could only go by himself. Jimmy even showed me a copy of the contract...” Sairek raised his glare up a little. “Five-thousand seru is quite a hefty reward for a routine check-up job for a little mercenary... don’t you think?...”

“A reasonable reward for how dangerous it was, don’t you think?” Avotash repeated the phrase mockingly.

“I think that to you, Varhi was getting too annoying, so you wanted him to go and die somewhere quietly... Maybe you didn’t know everything that was there, but you certainly knew a lot more than just ‘nothing’, especially the little secret you were keeping in that village...” Sairek glared. “You intentionally left him unprepared for what was going on in there, and you made him have to go alone as part of the contract so nobody would be a witness to his death or what was actually going on in Karvadean... How little must you value the lives of those under your protection to play such childish games with their lives like that...?!”

“Varhi was persistently being curious so I allowed him to investigate on his own just how he likes it. It is not my fault if he willingly throws himself into the fire and gets burned. He clearly wanted to investigate so I gave him the opportunity, nothing more. By law, he is a mercenary of Masirean and if he makes bad choices, especially due to his young age and egotistical attitude, then that is his responsibility and fault. Bad decisions often lead to death in his line of work. When people sign up to mercenaries, they automatically waive their rights if they get injured or killed. It is not my responsibility to come save him if he ends up getting into trouble.” Avotash claimed, leaning more forward on the table. “As the contract states, he will be rewarded upon his return, but he also must inform me of everything he saw. And I do mean everything. How fortunate for him that we have three other witnesses who decided to accompany him to back up any claims he has...”

“You were playing two hands... If Varhi died in Karvadean, to you, all would be well… just another 'casualty' lost in the line of duty... But if he somehow managed to actually make it and survived until the end, you could keep a hold of him and arrest him for withholding vital information until he spills the little secret that’s within the village you want to know so desperately about… that's the real reason you sent him in there was to investigate...”
Sairek leaned back in his chair as he sat upright, staring at Avotash. “Regardless of what you think of my actions, what I will tell you is that what is in there are nightmares that nobody in this realm could ever possibly conjure up in their wildest imaginations... You, ‘sir’, have a situation on your hands that I wouldn’t even wish upon my worst enemy... Even if I and my father granted you full access to all of the resources we have available to try and fix this problem—and believe me, despite everything even right now, I would still encourage my Father to do so because as far as I am concerned, the situation in Karvadean is that dire—we still wouldn’t be able to resolve the incident now... What chances do you think you have to fix this problem on your own—?”
Sairek raised his head to glare at Avotash slowly. “You can’t hide this secret forever, because it’s not going away tomorrow, it’s not going away next week, it’s not going away within the month or even the end of the year—Karvadean needs to be put into an exclusion zone and an attempt at quarantining the area needs to happen, because what’s going on in there is spreading. And the more it spreads, the more dangerous it can be... It's a ticking time bomb, Avotash...!”

Avotash’s expression shifted a little at this news, but Sairek did not let up. “I don’t even know if we’re infected with the same biohazard that was running around in there. Especially Varhi, who was nearly there for two whole weeks...!
“After... After Jimmy was desperate enough to absolutely beg me to find Varhi to save him because he just happened to have a feeling that Varhi probably bit off far more than he could chew this time... we went inside... found Varhi almost immediately, and I do not think he would have s-survived a couple of hours more if we had happened to have arrived later in the day... He hadn’t eaten proper food for days, could hardly move and was beaten up in just as dire of a state you saw him arrive here in...
“We did the best we could to revive him there and then, but our way back out had become unusable... so we had to force our way through that absolute nightmare out through the other side to even make it back here alive... and let me tell you; several times, we almost did not make it... That Varhi fought for his right to survive and the only reason he’s here is because Jimmy, unlike you ‘sir’, had the foresight to realize how much danger Varhi was truly in... Instead of arresting the man for treason, you should instead be rewarding him as far as I am concerned... but that would inconvenience your plans... wouldn’t it...?”

Avotash released a weary sigh, breaking his glare from Sairek, rolling his eyes almost like he was dealing with a petulant child and moved to stare at the ceiling. He was silent, thoughtful for a moment. “Well, it’s clear I’m not going to get anything useful out of you—”

“No… Not anything ‘useful’. You mean you won’t get out of me what you want to hear.” Sairek swallowed, his body shuddering slightly. His anger had helped him ignore it at first, but now the strain of the jewel was really starting to weigh down onto his body. “Do you honestly think you can get away with this…? I will tell my father everything—”

“Go ahead and tell him, then. The letter was only a ruse anyways.” Avotash sighed, moving to stand up from the chair.

“What…?” Sairek glared.

“You sound so surprised! I wouldn’t actually send such sensitive information without it being in code, you know—what kind of fool do you take me for? If I were to take a guess, I’d say Varhi is actually a Kiorian spy, and you willingly took the fall for him. Who knows? Maybe that girl that is accompanying you is no different.” Avotash said, moving around the chair and to the door. “Tie the Prince to the chair to prevent him from getting up in an outburst again and keep an eye on him until he passes out. You can use any force necessary to subdue him if he starts to resist. I’ll come and collect the jewel myself in a bit. I have a little mercenary to interrogate for information next.” He spoke to his two knights as he reached for the door and eyed at Sairek with a smirk. “After all, I don’t think the Cearestian Prince will last much longer...” He commented in finality, before closing the door.

Sairek shoved himself out of the chair and began making his way to the door. He wasn’t intending to really do anything, he was just acting on instinct due to his anger. Reality set in when he felt a fist dig harshly into his gut and he doubled over with a breathless grunt of pain, before being grabbed and forced to sit back down on the seat, gasping for the breath that had just been taken for him, drool slipping out of his mouth and onto the floor as he was buckled over, feelings his legs, arms and the rest of his body being restricted to the chair explicitly by the time he recovered from the blow.

...What was he going to do…?

* * *

“I’m not answering anything until I see Sairek.”

It was possibly the second dozenth time Cyial had to repeat that phrase to his “caretaker”. Once he had been put into the room, he was forced to sit down and was tied up like he had been a dangerous criminal, or was a hostage or something. He didn’t have the strength to fight, so the tying up seemed unnecessary, but after all, many humans treated his kind as such when they had the chance from what he heard unfortunately. He was tolerated, but often as it was, behind closed doors, many true feelings that humans had towards demons came out. His kind, especially…

Still, he supposed other than this rough initial treatment, he hadn’t been harmed so far. He had been afraid that once the door closed, it would start becoming physical once he had refused. He had no intentions of answering anything until he knew Sairek was okay.

“Look, I have my orders. Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to leave this room until my questions are answered.”

“Then we’re at an em’passe.” Cyial answered quietly and simply to the lone knight guarding him. “If I cannot be allowed to see my friend is okay, then I owe you or Avotash nothing...”

The knight sighed. “Did the Prince order you to stay silent? You don’t have to obey him. Answer my questions and I will implore to Avotash to ensure your freedom—”

The irises of Cyial’s garnet eyes shifted into a feral shape, narrowing into near vertical slits.

He kept quiet about Sairek, about how hungry all of the exertion how made him. How badly he wanted to feast upon Sairek to sate his hunger some more. Conjuring shields took up so much of his energy after all. That feral beast inside of him was rampant... But he and the beast inside of him, both agreed on something - to make sure Sairek, his Sairek was safe.
And now these creatures were threatening him. Threatening Sairek. It would not stand this.

Cyial leaned forward in the chair, his tone a bestial growl of dire warning. His garnet eyes glowed and burned crimson. “I do not care how urgent your 'orders' are. Do not ever suggest I betray Sairek and use him to save my own skin like that to me again, or no quantity of rope and chain you use will be enough to contain me. Do you understand me—?”

The man paused, seeming to consider this extreme reaction and Cyial’s words carefully. “I see... Please forgive me. I apologize for my indiscretion. That was wrong of me to say.”

Cyial’s eyes shifted their shape again after a tense moment. He forced the beast inside of him to quell its rage for now, to save its strength. He and Sairek were not in immediate danger. This fool in front of him was not the real threat. They were a scapegoat at best. Wait.
Cyial's pupils gradually started returning back to normal. He leaned back into the weight of the chair, forcing himself to speak in as gentle but curt tone as he could muster. “...Thank you. I accept your apology,” as he tried to ease the tension in the air a bit. He pushed the beast within himself further back down that he almost allowed to let loose escape. He sighed quietly, closing his eyes… and then an idea occurred to him.

After a couple of minutes, the knight began trying to question him some more, but Cyial just ignored him, pushing past the noise as he tried to concentrate, reaching out his consciousness…
Both he and Sairek had been practicing this now and then during their walks, though Sairek seemed to still struggle at it, Cyial had started to become quite good at the whole meditation thing while under duress. Well... walking wasn’t exactly duress, but ignoring an, albeit, annoying guard was easier than meditating and walking at the same time. He supposed, though, he only practiced reaching out to Sairek for communication, while Sairek had been practicing the actual more practical use of meditation; restoring his ethereal at a quicker pace than normal.
Both he and Sairek had been practicing this, because, while they both liked Nayleen dearly, it did make it hard to be more… ‘intimate’ and private with each other and it was difficult to show their obvious affection for each other that they both shared. So they had been practicing connecting to each other’s minds for days, at least until Jimmy had shown up and… well, here they were now.

Cyial reached his consciousness out, feeling for Sairek’s. He was further away than they had usually been for practice but not too far away. Their rooms were right next to each other, less than twenty feet separated them. Walls did not really matter with obstructing him, if save it made it a bit easier to actually see who he was reaching out to. He latched onto Sairek’s consciousness desperately.

At first he felt Sairek releasing panic, fearing that his thoughts were being invaded to pry answers from him, but that only lasted a second as he recognized it was Cyial, and there was a wave of desperate relief, followed by a wave of despair at their situation. Sairek desperately clung onto this tiny fraction of comfort Cyial had provided like it was a piece of string preventing him from falling into an endless abyss. Sairek was panicking within his mind, his thoughts running around and flailing desperately, and Cyial flinched as all of these concerns were bombarded onto him. The Prince was at a complete loss on what to possibly do. Cyial was invaded with the intense pressure of responsibility his friend felt. Sairek was at the brink of releasing tears from his bottled emotions. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold up against the strain of the enchantments for long before his energy dried up. That already, it was becoming quite painful and hard…
...but all Cyial could do for Sairek was try to comfort him as a tear of his own slowly rolled down one of his cheeks.

* * *

“Grrrnnnhh… Will—Will you cut it out… already…?” Varhi grunted in both pain and protest. “Can’t you just let me… let me pass out in peace…?”

He knew once he was put behind closed doors that Avotash’s men would be rough with him and would do the bare minimum to make sure he was kept alive but the upmost to keep him aware—which was basically being fed unrefined ethereal... and that was basically it. There was no actual proper medical treatment going on to actually fix or help him. Any time he looked like he was going to be passing out, more was fed into him to keep him conscious and kicking. He wasn’t sure that would last forever. Eventually his body would protest again, just like it had done with the crystal Cyial had given him, but apparently it would keep him conscious for now if they kept doing it every now and then. Which was... annoying, as it meant he felt every aching bruise and soreness in his body. The ethereal would do very little to actually heal this and he knew the eventual overdose would end up doing more harm than good. Again, not actually killing him, but making this a whole lot more unpleasant...

Even as he was, he had been handcuffed behind his back, his upper half was bound and tied tightly with rope and then sat in a chair to be interrogated, which he could barely even sit upright in. They had taken his sword, letter opener and satchel, but he kept everything else, which was basically only his armor at this point. Varhi grimaced in pain, but glanced up hearing footsteps outside approaching the door and then the door opened and in stepped in Avotash himself, looking a bit disgruntled.

“Heh… You don’t look too happy… I suppose Sairek didn’t give ya what you wanted… so now you wanna try your cards with me…?” Varhi asked, managing a lopsided smirk that lasted three seconds before he groaned within his throat and grimaced again, clenching his teeth. Fucking golems… Why did he have to take a punch from one at full force…?

Avotash gave him a dull expression, one that expressed that could be quaintly described as 'I am so tired of your shit,' at least that was Varhi’s guess. Regardless, Avotash gestured at one of the two knights in the room at a chair and the knight moved to grab a chair and bring it to Avotash, who sat down in it to seat himself in front of Varhi.

“S-Sooo… don’t need to sweat me the details… lay on me what you want… You know I like simple and blunt, right...?” Varhi grunted, not even able to raise his head to look directly at the King.

Avotash tilted his head slightly, as if appraising Varhi’s response. He clucked his tongue once. “As you say, the Prince refuses to respond and the other two are refusing as well. So—” Avotash paused as Varhi was slacking more and more in his chair. Avotash let out a weary sigh, gesturing with his head at the other knight, who stepped forwards, grabbing Varhi’s head by the back of his hair to pull him upright and poured another gulp of ethereal in his throat.

Varhi doubled back over, coughing and spilling most of the mixture all over his boots and legs, wheezing and gasping for breath. “C-Can you fucking stop…? I… I can’t anymore…!” He growled. He forced himself to sit as upright as he could in the chair, glaring at Avotash. “You fucking suck at interrogations… Aren’t you supposed to wait to see if I don’t comply first and then torture me–?”

“On the contrary, I’m quite enjoying watching you like this.” Avotash replied, his tone was still neutral despite the words that came out of his mouth. “Besides, knowing your stubbornness, a little bit of pre-emptive… ‘discipline’ is recommended, I think.”

“Ugh... Royalty… Always making laws that suit them… then skirting around technicalities to suit their own needs when even that fails…” Varhi coughed. “I do a job for you… and this is the wonderful thanks I get…? Pahh...” Varhi coughed again.

“Not at all. You still have yet to fulfill the mission. I require your information.” Avotash said, leaning forwards. “What are in those mines? I know you’ve looked. Your curiosity is your weakness, after all. All you need to do is answer me, and then you are free to go and five thousand seru is yours.”

“Well, I saw a crystal golem… and got a very good close-up look of one of its fist.”

Avotash rolled his eyes at him.

“Surprisingly, the golem I saw during my little camping trip in that quaint mountain village was actually the most tame thing there…” Varhi continued to drawl.

Avotash continued to glare at him, unimpressed and unamused.

Varhi clenched his teeth slightly. “Fine, I’ll be serious: Don’t go in there… Seriously… the things I saw in there…? Even that freaked me out…”

“You’re trying my patience…” Avotash warned.

“You’re trying mine...! You noble morons always think you know best... but I didn’t see you sitting in there for over two weeks having to deal with and experience what was inside of that place…!”
After he finished another bout of coughing, Varhi gently raised his head, violet eyes glaring at Avotash as he sneered. “You can plug your ears and play the blissfully ignorant wise-ass all you want... But soon, my little King, you’re going to wake up to the grim fucking reality of what you’ve done and the consequences of which are leisurely served with it…! Sooner or later, your country and the whole world is going to know. It’s not a matter of ‘if’, it’s a matter of ‘when’... Your greed for power has doomed you. So, Avotash, I have a proposition for you—”

Varhi didn’t get to speak that proposition. Avotash stood up from his seat and began to slowly walk towards the door. “You, come with me.” He pointed to one of the knights, then pointed to the other knight. “You, restrain him harder and make sure it’s uncomfortable as possible so our sleepy little hero doesn’t nod off on us.” He said, storming out with one of the knights behind him.

Varhi snorted as the door closed and slowly shook his head with a weary sigh, then turned his head to look at the sole knight meant to watch over him. “So… what’s yer story…?” Varhi slurred a little, casually. “Got a wife… kids? Maybe one or some of them around my age...? Oh! Do you torture them as well when they do something really naughty?...”

“Silence, prisoner.” The knight said, his tone a little annoyed as he stepped in front of Varhi and began to bend down to fix his restraints.

“Ah, ‘prisoner?’ I thought as such…” Varhi drawled. “Well, I suppose my beef is with your ‘master’ and not you… would it be easier for you to do this if I were to stand?”

“That is uncharacteristically generous of you, given your condition and attitude.”

Varhi struggled to his feet slowly, wincing. “N-No problem…” He grunted. “Must have been the gallon of ethereal you force fed me against my will… and apparently according to everyone else, I’m just a glutton for punishment...”

The knight snorted and moved to grab some chains. He started the motions of wrapping around Varhi’s—
The man’s helmet began ringing.
Varhi’s right leg moved impossibly fast, with such momentum, that the man was thrown upwards a good four feet from the force of the blow alone from his kneeling position, and collapsed down unconscious onto his back with a heavy thud.

Varhi used the ethereal he had intentionally spat and coughed all over his legs and boots earlier to recharge his silver greaves, and then expended that energy to move his legs beyond their limits, just like how he had used the ethereal in the air to propel his legs into doing extremely long jumps, except this time, it was instead to move just his right leg into a kick. Very fast, and very hard. Right into the man’s jaw underneath the helmet.
A motion which had been so fast and powerful, that Varhi’s eyes widened and he yelled in pain from both his leg feeling like it was being torn from its socket briefly and his toes which faced the brunt of that impact when the kick landed. His cry was muffled within the room and the loud roaring of all the gears and the engine masked it from the ship at full throttle. Varhi ended up collapsing on his back, which also hurt too, because the rest of his body was still aching.

He lay there for a good two minutes, panting, drooling over his chin, gasping for air… He knew pain, like Cyial said, existed to send the body information and let you know that something with it was wrong…

But why did the pain senses seriously have to hurt so damn much…!?

“Ahhh…! Aarggghhh…! L-Landssss…!” Varhi hissed as he struggled to roll himself upright slowly and wiped his chin dry by pressing it and right knee together and did as much of a swiping motion as he could. Walking after what he just did to his toes was going to be a bitch… and he still needed to get out of these cuffs and rope, too...

He glanced to the corner of the room, where his sword, satchel and also his letter opener had been placed. First, he tucked his feet in as close to himself as he could and lay on his back, moving his hands from his back towards his front by moving the cuffed hands over his feet so he had more leverage to move with. Then slowly, weakly, he wriggled and crawled his way over, each movement causing him to hiss or groan in pain, until he was able to grip onto his letter opener. With his hands still cuffed, he slowly sawed at the ropes. When he cut a few threads of it, he wriggled himself free from his entanglements, allowing him more access to his limbs and freedom of movement. Then he crawled back towards the unconscious knight, searching his pockets. Finding the key to his handcuffs, he inserted it into them and unlocked them, then placed the cuffs on the knight he had just knocked out.

He pocketed the key and slowly pushed himself to his feet. Varhi half limped, half dragged himself over to his gear and began to rearm himself.

Honestly, he didn’t know what his plan was now. Maybe he could take the knight out on the deck—he and Jimmy together, then they could send the ship off course and bail, take a lifeboat and row their way out of Masirean territory. He’d hate to leave Sairek and the other two behind, but he was in no state to help them right now as he was. He'd have to come and find them later after he had recovered. He didn’t even know if he could help himself; let alone everyone else...

Hmm…

...Maybe he should have thought about this a little bit more before kicking the soldier that was supposed to be watching over him in the face.

Well... nothing could be done about that now. What was done was done, he had begun the procedure of escape, and now he had to follow through with it...
Somehow...

Varhi affixed his letter opener and satchel to his belt and was in the middle of struggling to settle his scabbard with his sword onto his back and underneath his cape again when suddenly the door opened and in stepped Avotash and the knight he had taken with him following behind. Avotash jerked to a stop in the middle of the doorway mid-step, staring at Varhi, who was staring back at him like a child who had just been caught with his hands in a cookie jar, both unmoving and silent for a few seconds.

“Erm… Well, this is awkward…” Varhi mumbled, glancing towards the unconscious knight who he had already cuffed and was laying sprawled in the middle of the room. “Would it be too late for me to say 'I can explain?'” He feigned in a mock hopeful tone.

Avotash let out a long, slow sigh and stepped back out through the doorway.

“I’ll... take that as a ‘no’ then…?” Varhi asked rhetorically.

“Varhi has attacked an officer and is resisting arrest. Subdue and detain him.” Avotash ordered. “I will be back in... ten—no, fifteen minutes. Enjoy doing whatever you… ‘brutish types’ like to do for enjoyment until then, yes?”

Okay, that’s a definite ”no.”

In stepped Avotash’s knight, fully armored and not at all battered and bruised like Varhi was who was already struggling to just stay standing up. Then Avotash closed the door and turned the valve shut.

Varhi looked up as the knight stepped towards him, a good six and a half feet tall, maybe more thanks to the full plated armor... Nearly two feet taller than Varhi, twice his weight, fully armored in plate...

“Umm… Hmm. You’re kind of… big...” Varhi mumbled, eyeing the knight up and down. “Aren’t you just a little bit too big to be playing someone like little ‘ol me…?” He asked, hopefully.

"UNH—!"

*THUD!*

Varhi's hope was smashed and he released a cry of agony when he felt a metallic fist slam into his face, knocking him cleanly off of his feet and into the wall directly behind him with a harsh thud. A cry that was echoed with another as he was pulled from the wall onto the floor with even more force than before as his helmet visor bounced and slid along the floor.

The small room's walls soon echoed with Varhi's pained, agonized grunts and cries as he was inflicted with blow, after blow, after blow, after blow...

* * *

“...And when after slamming Balgira’s sword right out of his hand, he dragged it back towards himself with his foot like this… then raised his staff again over his head and like... slammed it down and broke that sword into pieces just like that. Sairek was really angry at how that man was treating Cyial. Heh, he’s only gotten more attached to Cyial since then. The two are practically inseparable from each other~” Nayleen relayed her story.

“I see...” The lone knight guarding her said. “You must have grown to have a lot of respect for him, even though you are a Kior citizen?”

“Sairek’s great! He can be annoying or moody at times, but he’s still a kid like the rest of us, we’re all like that. The important thing is that he genuinely cares about Cyial and I. Varhi too, now. He carried Varhi almost the entire way once we were on our way out of Karvadean for miles, all by himself. He refused to let Varhi go. He really, really wanted to save him and make sure he would make it. He really just wanted to save somebody's life so they wouldn't die. He cares about all things like that. He even gets upset at the idea of me hunting something for food because we already have plenty.”

Nayleen was surprised. She had expected an interrogation and she refused to answer anything specific, but the knight after trying for a bit, seemed to understand she wasn’t going to budge and so they just… chatted.
At first, she thought it was some kind of interrogation tactic, and she was extremely weary and privy to that, She was careful about what she said and how she talked, but they just kept having a conversation and eventually it was just about Sairek. About how he behaved, about his ideals, why he decided to come here, about what he meant to her, Cyial and possibly even Varhi. Actually it had been quite pleasant in a way. But she wasn't ignorant; she was trying to be as likeable and charismatic as possible, making herself be as endearing and not as a threat. It's not like she could do anything anyway. Besides, if anything, everything she had said so far was the truth. She didn't have to fake her passion and how she looked up to Sairek.
Like everyone else, Sairek clearly had flaws and behavioral issues, but his heart was always in the right place, even if he made mistakes and stumbled.

“From what I know what’s in there, you kids should have never been anywhere near that place. Including Varhi.” The knight said, paused, then continued. “I’ll be honest, I don’t know what Avotash has been thinking allowing Varhi to go near there. Technically he is a full-fledged mercenary, yes, but I think common sense about who he is and his age is should have still been considered…”

Nayleen nodded. “It was pretty bad. I haven’t slept yet, but I know I’m going to have nightmares for a while. We were only there for a couple of days. I don’t know how Varhi will manage, but I guess he might be used to that kind of thing by now?”

“How did the Prince fare?

“Uhhhh... Not so good! Sairek broke down at one point because he was very scared and the things in there were very disturbing. We managed to get him back onto his feet, though and he managed to pull through. Given some of the things Varhi was describing, we didn’t even see all or the worst of it. He said some of the monsters were part people and were aware of what’s happening to them but unable to control themselves.” Nayleen explained, then paused. “Maybe we did see something like that at one point… I honestly cannot remember anymore. I… don’t think I want to try, either. All I know is from what Sairek described how monsters are made, it's like that in there... but it happened to most of the people; alive or already dead.”

“...I know you won’t say anything much and I understand and respect your right to remain silent, but can you at least tell me how it is spreading?” The knight asked.

Nayleen paused, considering this. “I’ll answer your question if you answer my question first.” She offered. “Don’t worry, it’s a simple one.”

“If it’s within my ability, then I will try.”

“...Why are you being so nice to me? I get the feeling this is going beyond Avotash’s orders.” Nayleen pressed.

“I…” The knight stalled. “One of my friends was in the search party. Yes, that one, the one with the six knights where only one came back and… ‘expired’. He was one of the five men that never came back. I want to find out what’s happened to him… and maybe if his corpse is still in there… bring him home to bury him for his family. I owe him that much. From what you say though, if his body was still there, it wouldn’t really be ‘him’ anymore...”

“I’m sorry.” Nayleen apologized sincerely.

The knight shook his head through the helmet, the armor clanking at the movement. “It’s okay. It is an unfortunate grim reality as part of the job—” The knight stalled again and turned his head at noises coming past, through the wall, ones that Nayleen couldn’t make out. They were both silent, listening, when there was slight thudding against their wall… and then soon, another thud even stronger this time, followed by what sounded like a grunt. And these were thuds they could hear past the ship’s engine at that. “...Excuse me a moment.” The man said, pushing himself up from his chair and stepping out of the room. He closed the door, but didn’t even bother to seal it.

Normally Nayleen would have begun to plot an escape right there; the opportunity practically presented itself, but her gut said that it would be best to remain seated and still this time. Varhi trusted his gut after all, so she’ll decide to trust hers as well.

She could hear voices on the other end, an exclamation, but she couldn’t at all begin to make out the words, there was more calm talking, and then another exclamation. The sounds of the ship made it extremely difficult to hear in any clarity.

Two minutes passed as the voices continued, followed eventually by another thud and what sounded like another grunt, then the sound of the door by the hall being closed. Shortly after, the door opened again, and the knight entered and closed the door—fairly hard. Nayleen noted cautiously that the knight's demeanour had all changed, even though he couldn't see any skin due to every inch being covered in armor.

The knight was silent, glancing back over to the wall, where there was another thud against it. Then he sighed in frustration.
“...Would you and your friends like to get out of here?”


If Nayleen could pat her stomach for a job well done at that very second, she would have.

* * *

Sairek was beginning to space out, it was hard to stay awake. His eyes were starting to glaze and his vision was crossing and becoming double visioned. Cyial was trying to comfort him, to keep him alert, but it was no use. He… He just had no energy left. And the lack of energy while the jewel continued to ask for more was causing an incredible amount of pain by this point...

Left to be tied to a chair in chains, and having both hands and legs tied to the chair he was sat on, he was left alone to just slowly wither away until he eventually collapsed from his fatigue and the strain of the enchantments. He doubted he could endure this for another ten minutes… maybe only five… and even if he could manage to hold on somehow, the quickly increasing intensity of pain of strain as he tried to push his body to the brink certainly would. It was like trying to lift up an increasingly heavy object, as he became more and more exhausted and worn down. He grunted against the strain, pulling uselessly with his wrists against the handcuffs as he rolled his head back and groaned, sweat beading his face as he struggled in vain to hold on...


He was going to lose the Ceareste royal jewel he had been entrusted with… His friends—everything.


The sound of the valve on his door turning roused Sairek from his depressive thoughts and he only just had the strength to lift his head and weakly open his emerald eyes to see the door open and a knight stepping in, and then closing the door behind them. Sairek sagged his head again. “...S...Sorry to disappoint… you… b-but I’m not… out yet-t…” He managed to rasp through clenched teeth, closing his eyes for a moment as his head rolled back downward until his chin pressed against his collar with a groan.
He heard the footsteps of the knight stepping closer and stop in front of him. He opened his eyes, and watched in confusion as the knight pulled out a flask of ethereal—not unrefined, the good stuff, pure raw ethereal, refined—and grabbed at his gem while pulling him gently by the hair to lift his head back up. The knight began pouring a generous dose of it it onto the royal jewel.

Within seconds, Sairek gasped in relief as the jewel brimmed with a pearly white light and reactivated again, good as new. It was like being released from being crushed and having the weight of the world off of his shoulders. He leaned back in the chair, trying to blink sweat that had rolled into the sockets of his eyes. The knight pressed the flask of ethereal to his lips and titled it, and he began to drink thirstily before even thinking. Unlike when it was unrefined, the fluid actually tasted delicious, and he could feel himself perking up immediately. His body was still exhausted and tired from all the physical labor and trials they had endured since he woke up in the morning in Karvadean, and it had probably been a full twenty-four hours since they had even gotten up from their previous sleep by his estimate, but he felt a sore-sight better than he had been feeling for hours at this point.

“Unnhh... What is happening…? What is this…?” Sairek whispered suspiciously, confused as the knight bent down and began untying him from his restraints. Did someone in the group blab and tell Avotash everything...?

“Your friend Nayleen, happens to be extremely persuasive, and my dear King is using interrogation methods that I very strongly disapprove of on mere children.” The knight explained to him curtly. “Avotash is on the deck right now. I will distract the knight in your other friend’s room so you can collect him. However, I will be unable to distract the knight in Varhi’s room. The knight there is otherwise engaged with his... 'extreme interrogation’ of Varhi… You will have to find a way to retrieve him, quickly. The sooner, the better. I can only give you a small window, mere minutes at best.”

“I… Th-Thank you…!” Sairek whispered in absolute astonishment and relief. He felt like he was about to cry with this courageous act of mercy he was being given. “B-But what about you—surely this is treason? You could get in big trouble for this…!”

“I feel like this is something my friend I’ve lost in Karvadean would do. I am okay with it. Besides, the one guarding your incubus friend… I kind of know him well. Better than the other knights. Maybe I can convince him to agree with me on this…
“Listen, Avotash has been… very unkind to Varhi. You must move fast. I won’t be able to buy you a lot of time. Stay here for two minutes and get ready in the meantime. After two minutes, go and collect Nayleen and your demon companion. If you can, try to steer the ship away from the both the mainland and the Masirean continent, I will work to sabotage the engine. If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to escape on deck, grab a lifeboat, and row out of here with everyone. I am afraid I must go now. Good luck, Prince of Ceareste.”

The knight stood up and left the room without another word. Sairek, now free, stood up from his chair and quickly relayed the information to Cyial. Sairek couldn't help but smile slightly as a feeling of hope lit in Cyial’s mind, but he had to cut the connection there and prepare himself. He ran over, grabbing his staff that was buried under the things that he had been forced to lay out. He considered grabbing everything again, but when he thought about what just happened, he didn’t know if he could afford to take anything else… He was still pretty weak and he'd need to expend whatever energy was left in hightailing the row boat out of here if everything went to plan. Having all of the items still weighed him down and there was an extremely high chance that a confrontation was going to happen in a few minutes. He needed to keep light and efficient.

If there was one thing he was going to take though, it was the seru and diary, so he went over to grab the money that and pocketed the money pouch into his shirt pocket where he remembered he still had Varhi's contract and put the diary into the jewel instead from out of his shirt pocket. At worse, they could repurchase everything with the seru if they somehow got out of this but had to abandon it. For now, everything else was, unfortunately, a burden, and he could not risk the diary being soaked or damaged in any way. He was too tired and exhausted still. He needed every ounce of energy and bit of precision he could muster to spare.

Finding the money, diary and staff took the two minutes he was apparently alotted anyways, so after pocketing the money, he moved and pushed the door open and tentatively peeked out into the hallway, just in time to see Nayleen step out of her room, they glanced at each other and Sairek ran over as quietly as he could and they gave her a quick, tight embrace.

“Are you okay?” Nayleen asked, hugging him tightly.

“It was awful…” Sairek whispered with a hiccup over the noise of the ship. “Avotash… He… He was literally torturing me, Nayleen…! He did it in the most hands-off way possible, but it was literally torture…! I don’t know what you did to convince that man, but thank you so much…!”

“Apparently Varhi’s getting it worse… Come on, we have to hurry and move. Let’s get Cyial quick.” Nayleen reminded him.

“Cyial is right next to my room.” Sairek said, leading the way and quickly tucking his staff under his arm as he turned the valve to the door and opened it, applying as much strength as he could muster to turn the door as quick as he could.

Alone in the room sat Cyial, still tied to his chair. Cyial cried out, tears beginning to stream down his eyes. “Sairek…! Nayleen…!”

Desperately, Sairek ran over, practically throwing his staff to the ground as he began to untie Cyial’s ropes and chains desperately. Nayleen reached over into her pocket and began undoing the handcuffs with a key while Sairek worked on that. When Cyial was completely free, Cyial moved his hands to cup Sairek’s face for a couple of seconds before throwing his arms around the Prince and pulling him into a tight embrace, and Sairek did the same. Both boys squeezed each other tighter than they had ever before. Sairek began to sob as his bottled fear but relief overwhelmed him at having his dearest friend back with him again, even if had only been only a few hours.

“I was so scared…” Sairek sniffled as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“I know… me too…” Cyial choked, tears still streaming down his own face as well. “But we don’t have time for this Sairek… We need to move…”

“I… I know…” Sairek sniffed, reluctantly relinquishing his hold from Cyial and moving his arm to wipe at his eyes, a motion Cyial mimicked. Sairek bent down to reclaim his staff. “We need to rescue Varhi… That knight said that Avotash’s interrogation tactics on Varhi were…”

“My room was next to Varhi’s… and we were hearing thumping against the wall...” Nayleen explained grimly. "That was that guy’s turning point… I think he witnessed what’s going on over there and from the sounds of it, it isn’t good. We only have a few minutes before Avotash finds out we’re escaping. Come on.”

“Avotash will not get away with this…!” Sairek seethed through gritted teeth. "He won't get away hurting us like this...!" He made his way to the door and opened it with his left hand. Cyial quickly went to grab his book that had been left in the corner of the room and followed behind Nayleen who was behind Sairek. Sairek made his way towards Varhi’s door, and cupped his left hand over the jewel and held his staff ready. He gestured at Nayleen to open the door as his staff soon began to burn with a brimming amber color.

...Then faded out as the door opened, and he reeled in shocked horror, gasping at the sight before him...

Varhi was crying out in helpless pain as he was pinned with his left arm being bent back in a position it should most certainly not be in. Blood was leaking from a busted lip and from his forehead, causing blood to drop over his left eye. His helmet visior at some point had fallen off of his head apparently, as it was discarded on the floor at one edge of the room, toppled over near a wall; as was his sword. The knight who was tasked with Varhi’s “interrogation” was kneeled over top of him, knee pressing into Varhi’s back to maximize the pain as he was in the middle of the task of breaking Varhi’s arm. Blood was stained in multiple areas of the room, clearly Varhi's. His leather armor was dyed black in some areas, possibly from bleeding underneath it...

Sairek shook his head quickly to try and attempt to get rid of the pure raw shock that overwhelmed him from what he was witnessing. Quickly, as the knight looked over to spot them, Sairek raised his staff, the head of it now glowing green instead while he was still cupping the royal jewel in his left hand to empower his spell.

“WUAIE…!”

It was as if the man had just been grabbed from behind and hauled back as a powerful blast of concentrated wind dragged the man from Varhi and pinned him against the wall. Then while he was still pinned, Sairek shouted angrily, stepping closer and closer as he maintained the spell, until he was close enough to attack. He grabbed his staff and both hands and swung the staff down overhead and down on top of the man’s helmet, letting a loud 'DONG' sound ring out as the staff easily dented the top of the helmet. Two more swings from right and then from the left was apparently sufficient enough to knock the man out as the spell from Sairek faded and his foe crumpled to the floor. Sairek stared for a couple of seconds before running back towards the center of the room.

“Varhi!? Varhi–!!” Sairek cried desperately, moving down to check on him.

“A...Aaah… Argaah…” Varhi gasped and whimpered uselessly, his face against the wooden floor, spreading a small trail of blood as he rolled his head in a writhing motion.

“That fucking monster…!” Nayleen hissed, holding back a sob.

“I don’t think the arm is broken but… it’s going to be a while before it recovers...” Cyial said through clenched teeth. “Dammit… We don’t have time to tend to him, but we can’t move him like this...! The amount of pain that would cause is just...”

“Wait,” Nayleen said, quickly scrambling over to the unconscious guard and rummaging through his pockets and then he moved back to Varhi holding a small vial of ethereal. “Do you think this will help him any?”

“It… It will help but—” Cyial stammered.

“Okay, come on Varhi, drink.” Nayleen encouraged the hurt boy desperately before Cyial could finish. “Shit, I need to roll you over... Come on big tough guy, you can do it…! Guys, come help me.”

Sairek put his staff on the floor and with Cyial, tried to lift Varhi.


“AAAAHAHHHHGHHH–!!”


“Don’t stop, he needs this!” Nayleen ordered through Varhi’s scream of pain. The sound made Sairek’s eyes begin to well with tears as they lifted Varhi and placed him as gently as they could onto his back. As Sairek looked down at Varhi, he could see tears streaming the other boy’s face as well as he gasped and cried out again.

“I can’t feed it to him if he’s screaming like this…!” Nayleen shook her head.

“Come on Varhi, try to endure it…!” Cyial attempted to encourage him.

Varhi seemed to recognized their words, clenching his teeth, squeezing his eyes even tighter causing more tears to stream down his cheeks, a reaction from his body from being in so much intense pain. He let out high pitched whining heaves. “You’re doing good, Varhi. Just for a few seconds, mouth open now.” Nayleen encouraged, and Varhi obeyed, allowing her to pour the contents of the vial into his mouth.
Varhi tried to swallow, and got most of it, but the pain was too much and it caused him to cough and a sizeable spittle of it lurched out of his mouth as he released another wailing cry of agony. Some of the mixture spilled onto his chest, and some on his lip, ironically healing the busted lip slowly. Varhi gasped, then made a gurgling sound a few moments later as his body began to seize.

“Damn... He’s going to vomit…” Cyial growled, moving to lift Varhi to sit more upright.

As if on cue a moment later, a large stream of vomit released from Varhi’s mouth, covering over the front of his armor. He heaved and released another stream of bile, some blood mixed in with it this time. Nayleen reached into her pocket and pulled out a cloth, trying to wipe off as much from his mouth, chin and armor as she could.

Sairek had to look away, turningh is head and squeezing his eyes shut. He couldn’t stomach this anymore… Tears began running down his own face. This was all too much.

Varhi let out a gurgling gasp and collapsed limply against Cyial's arms that were holding him, eyes slowly opening until they were half-lidded. “J...Jimmy…” Varhi managed to splutter, then began to release another coughing fit.

“I’m not planning to leave him behind…” Sairek said, shaking his head still having his eyes closed tightly.

“G-Go...od…” Varhi rasped, rolling his head to look at Sairek, who also opened his eyes to look back at Varhi, tears still streaming down the Prince’s eyes. Varhi’s expression, as much as it could, softened a little at seeing that. “Thank… you… Sairek...”

“We still don’t know where the lifeboats even are… How are we going to escape if we don’t know where to go...?” Cyial asked, still holding some of Varhi’s upper half in his lap.

“When we were climbing the ship the first time, there were some at both the front and back of the ship on the side we’re on now. I didn’t look on the other side but I’d imagine there’s some there, too.” Nayleen said.

“Is there even a back deck to this thing…?” Sairek whispered.

“I don’t know, but Avotash will be back here any moment. We’ll have to confront him and stop him before he calls any other reinforcements on the ship." Nayleen said.

“I’ll stop him...” Sairek growled, reaching for his staff and standing up.

"Sairek—" Nayleen started to protest.

"I will stop him." Sairek cut her off sharply with a piercing glare. She swallowed and looked away from him.
“Cyial... stay here and—and do anything you can for Varhi... Nayleen, I want you to find out how to access those lifeboats at the back of the ship. Hopefully you can work your own magic twice and convince that other knight to help out, too... We have to make sure they can sabotage the ship’s engines. Escaping in those life boats won’t do any good if they can still steer and control the ship and come after us, especially with how fast this thing can move…”

“Even if we sabotage the engines, this thing has a sail. How are we going to escape it afterwards?” Nayleen asked.

“With my own magic.. Avotash may have a jewel as well, but I’m from Ceareste... We’ll see who can control who’s country's jewel better.” Sairek growled, stepping towards the door and opening it, before closing the door shut behind himself. When he was in the hallway, he inhaled a deep breath and marched his way forwards with purpose, heading towards the deck. His left hand balled up into a tight fist and his right hand clutched his staff tightly...

He was blasted by a burst of sea wind as the storm around them was still happening as well as due to the speed the ship was traveling at. It caused his cape to billow to his right side when he walked out into the opening A quick glance to the sky shown that it was starting to become dawnbreak, even through this storm. The morning sun would rise soon. It had been about three hours since this nightmare had begun…
It didn’t take long for them to notice he was there. There were only two other knights, one holding a sword at the ready behind Jimmy. Avotash was quick to glance back at the behest of one of his knights noticing Sairek and informing him.

“S-Sairek–!?” Jimmy exclaimed in shock, holding the steering wheel of the ship as he glanced back behind himself.

“What the deuce are you doing out here!?” Avotash demanded in shock, which bubbled into anger. “Those… bumbling idiots…! They can’t even keep a few helpless young children bound!? You two, seize the Prince and recapture him immediately!!”
Sairek raised his left hand towards his royal jewel and was getting ready to unleash something in self defense. “Wait, halt!” Avotash yelled at his knights who only managed to take two steps forwards before realization dawned on him. “The brat is armed with Melina’s jewel. He recharged it somehow...!”

Sairek glared at him with a piercing gaze as the wind picked up, causing both his cape and Avotash's to flail through the momentary harsh gust. Despite its power and his smaller size, Sairek barely budged as he let his dissafaction clearly known.
“'Melina's jewel' you say...? It is MY jewel, Avotash! Mine, as the rightful heir to the Ceareste throne, and it is most certainly not yours to take as you please—!” Sairek snarled venemously, keeping the energy he was about to peak out ready to be unleashed at the slightest sign of further provacation. “I was still willing to help you fix what you have wrought onto Karvadean despite everything, but Varhi is right—you’re nothing more than a viscous dictator, Avotash!!”

“You still don’t even have the foggiest idea of how hard I have worked to build up what I have!” Avotash spat. “My country prospers and the people benefit because of the hard work and sacrifices I have put into it! You're nothing but a mere fledgling. You don't have the wisdom or experience to rule like I do! I do what's right for my people, to make the most of the masses happy! That's progress—that's evolution! Humanity must make sacrifices to progress forward! Just look at yourself now; you are only able to even stand before me here because of the sacrifices your allies have made to you; you'd be nothing without them!”

“A country built on nothing but lies! You dare have the audacity to claim you are not a tyrant right to my face whilst you have a helpless, dying child around my age be physically brutally tortured and beaten for your own selfish benefit because he won't answer your 'questions'–? You, who tortured me, a boy not any older than Varhi! You, who have ordered his people to their deaths, disappearing under mysterious circumstances as they do your bidding and you refuse to tell their families what happened to them! You who have had an entire village transformed into monsters within a forenight in a desperate bid for power — THIS is your so-called 'paradise!?' Just what kind of King are you!!? You and your country are nothing more than an epic sham–!"
Sairek's grip onto his jewel tightened, his arms shook and quivered as he bubbled energy from within himself and held it, hoarding it inside of himself to the point where his emerald eyes began to glow from how compressed the energy inside of his smaller frame was.
“You... You have sacrificed nothing! You have taken and stolen from other people—YOUR people!! The proof is in the fact that you don't know anything about Karvadean while we do! And you would sooner torture a child who slightly inconvenienced you to learn the facts than go face the responsibility of your own creation! You are nothing more than a parasite to the people you lead!"

"Insolent boy...! Not even a few hours ago you were pleading to me and groveling at my feet and now you think you can try to lecture me about sacrifice and insult my country that you invaded–!? I'll teach you your place in this world—a lesson you won't soon forget!!"

"My place...? Well then, how about you face the seering wrath of the twelve-year-old Prince of Ceareste–!?”

Sairek poured all of the harnessed energy into his left hand, which crackled and twitched viciously. He struggled to contain it. Even if the jewel had done most of the work into conjuring and maintaining the spell and he could shape it within the jewel itself, there was still some finishing work that needed to be done on his part to release bigger, far advanced spells like this that he normally couldn't even hope to cast on his own without the jewel... and this was a lot of energy. Still, Sairek managed to will the spell into shape before thrusting his left hand out open palmed and shouting with utter hate and visciousness towards Avotash...

“LIGHTHALZEN!!”

Streaks of thunder crackled and boomed, releasing several arcs—aiming at everything metallic, including the knights who were suited in their armor. They shook and shuddered under the force, and Avotash yelped in surprise as a stray bolt of lightning arched and flung into his crown—Avotash's own royal jewel; knocking it off of his head cleanly and causing it to roll on the deck. As the two knights almost simultaneously flopped to the ground, twitching from their metallic armor being extremely conductive, Sairek immediately took off into a sprint for the King's crown. Avotash glanced at Sairek and reacted, sprinting as well for the crown... and was much closer. Sairek raised his staff pointing it at the crown, the head glowing blue as he sprinted as fast as his already exhausted legs on a rocking ship powering through stormy waters could carry him.

“WAERT!!”

As Avotash was about to retrieve his crown and his own royal jewel, a blast of water hit the crown, causing it to tumble against the deck and back out of his reach.

"Sairek—!" He heard Jimmy yell at him as he sprinted past.

"Steer the ship away from the land!!" The Prince ordered the mercenary captain and then shortly arrived at Avotash. With all of his burning rage, he viciously leapt off of his feet and tackled the man outright to the ground.

Being smaller, and already physically exerted, Sairek knew he was at a disadvantage, but he was younger and more fit.

And he was pissed.

Wrestling to get on top of Avotash, Sairek managed to pin him down with his mere 4'4" frame and raised his left fist, slamming it into Avotash’s face hard, causing the man to grunt at the impact. Sairek raised his left fist up and followed it up again, and again...

"How dare you–! Threatening me...! Torturing my friends...! Trying to manipulate my father—my country—you back-stabbing, useless, venemous serpent!!"

Avotash growled as Sairek slammed a fist into his face again, and retaliated back slamming his fist into Sairek's own face. Sairek grunted and recoiled, but didn't retreat off. Instead he counterattacked back by slamming his left fist down a fifth time twice as hard, his own teeth clenched and his emerald eyes glared with absolute hate for this excuse of a King.
Avotash coughed as crimson blood spat from his mouth. Sairek then grabbed the man's long greying locks of hair at the front of his head, yanking the man's head forward, before slamming it down hard against the wood of the deck, briefly stunning the man. Sairek pulled his staff horizantally and pressed the brunt of it against Avotash's throat with his hands on both ends and pressed down, clenching his teeth in effort and anger with the intent to choke the man out into unconsciousness.

Avotash released a choking sound, grasping fruitlessly for a few seconds at the staff, than Sairek's arms. He was caught off guard at how viscious and how much strength such a small adolescent had. Avotash squirmed his legs as he struggled underneath the Prince. Sairek ultimately wasn't heavy nor large enough to keep Avotash's legs contained, and the Prince grunted breathlessly in pain as the man managed to wedge his knee and drill into his gut, causing him to curl inward as the wind escaped him. With his leverage lost, Avotash smacked Sairek in the right side of his head, causing the Prince to collapse onto his hands on the deck with his knees still on top of the King, struggling to still keep him pinned down onto the floor. With Sairek's insistance to still refuse to give leverage, Avotash planted his foot right in the middle of Sairek's already reeling gut and kicked out harshly from underneath the lad.

“Unh–!...” Sairek grunted as he slammed onto his back and was sent rolling a couple of times along the deck before he could stop himself, clutching his stomach with one hand as his head still reeled from the punch he just received until his rolling ended with him laying facedown. He made a few gasping coughs as he struggled to breathe. Avotash began scrambling to reach for the crown again, coughing for air himself as he did so, one hand still grasped at his throat. Sairek hastily began pushing himself up onto one elbow as he pointed his staff with his right hand and a formation of rock began forming at the head of it. “ETH...IRUL–!” He shouted, launching the conjured boulder of stone, leading it to where Avotash would be when it would reach the impact point.

Avotash, hearing the incantation, quickly stopped his momentum and rolled out of the way, causing the boulder to fly into the front railing of the ship. The bouldered exploded and crumbled upon impact into dust, denting the railing a little. Sairek hissed out an oath through his teeth and clawed at the deck of the ship with his left hand in frustration at his miss. He didn’t have enough time to stop him—

Jimmy at the wheel abruptly turned it sharply and as Avotash was bending down to snatch the crown, the sudden shift in weight of the ship caused him to stagger and then roll backwards along the deck. Then Jimmy quickly rolled the wheel in the other direction. The crown tumbled and began to roll away once again from Avotash. Sairek too stumbled about from the rocking of the ship, but only having gotten back up onto one knee, he had more balance than Avotash, and when the crown began sliding and rolling away from Avotash and the ship evened out again, Sairek pressed himself off into a dive, scrambling for it.

"Unmph...!" Sairek huffed as his stomach slammed into the deck of the ship again, sliding on his stomach, reaching out with his left hand and snatched it into his grip.

“NO!” Avotash yelled and began reaching into his pocket desperately as Sairek quickly scrambled up onto his feet.

“Shit! Look out Sairek!” Jimmy yelled.

Sairek twisted his body around to face Avotash as Jimmy yelled his warning. He saw Avotash, only briefly, pointing some sort of black and gray mechanical thing with a circular hollow end at him... And then, there was a loud cracking pop in the air.

"A-ANHHH–!!"

Sairek screamed out in agony that faded into a high-pitched gasp. He felt a sharp pain in his left arm that he had grabbed the crown with, which was immediately dropped. He clasped at where his arm was hurting as best as he could, still managing to keep a hold of his staff. He took two staggering steps backward. He shakily peered under his hand to see his arm was bleeding profusely with equal amounts of pain to match the flow of blood oozing out—even through the protective enchants his clothes had to prevent blows from doing so much damage to him.

What… What had Avotash just hit him with…?

"Uunnngh—" Sairek hissed, his body hunched forward. His left arm dangled limp while he clutched it desperately with his right hand as best he could. He blinked out water that was accumilating within his eyes due to the searing pain and his gaze moved slowly over towards Avotash to see him holding a small hand sized… cannon of some type…?

“He has a pistol…!” Jimmy warned sternly, answering Sairek's question and yet giving him another one.

What is a pistol…? This… This had to be some kind of Kiorian weapon… right?

Sairek found out in the worst way possible. Avotash aimed the weapon at him again. Though Sairek grunted in effort to react in a dodge by throwing all of his weight off to the side despite the pain, it was too late. With another loud pop and flash from the weapon, Sairek cried out in pain once more as his left leg took a hit this time. He crumpled down hard onto the floor, now bleeding from there too. He screamed in agony until his voice gave out, his body writhing from the pain before laying limp, succumbing to the hot discomfort... He blinked his eyes weakly, his vision was hot, filled with red and it felt like the world was spinning... He couldn't see straight... "...U...Ugh... ..."

Avotash then aimed the weapon at Jimmy, who released a cry as three more pops rebounded within Sairek's eardrums. The mercenary captain quickly crumpled to the ground as well just like Sairek had with a sharp bark of pain, his arms spinning the wheel of the ship to the left as he dropped, causing the ship to once again lurch around, causing Avotash to stumble and Sairek to roll weakly onto his stomach with aid of leaning of the ship and its momentum.

He... couldn't accept this. Sairek struggled to crawl as the immense pain within his limbs crippled him. He gasped in pain, forcing through sheer willpower to reach out towards the crown with his shot arm which shook and shuddered as he outstretched it. The abrupt steering of the ship caused the crown to slowly slide towards his hand. At the same time, he began to call upon his own ethereal from within himself as he let go of his staff with his right hand and gripped the jewel at his breast underneath him. He stole a quick glance past the crown coming towards him and saw Avotash raise the weapon at him again, aiming for his left arm once more that was outstretched to catch the crown.

“R-Ra...pol...aaah…!” Sairek chanted through clenched teeth, though the last syllable came out in a pained gasp, using his royal jewel for assistance just before the pop from Avotash's pistol went off.

“ARGH!” Avotash cried out as the projectile that fired from the pistol tinged off the ice barrier Sairek summoned in front of himself and bounced right back to strike Avotash in his lower right arm where the muscle was, causing him to drop the weapon. It clattered to the ground and slid away with a spin after a couple tumbles, due to the veering lopsidedness of the ship. Avotash gripped his arm with his left hand, growled and stormed his way towards Sairek. With his uninjured left hand, he reached to try and grab the crown. Sairek reached out with his own injured left hand as it continued to roll his way and managed to grasp it in conflict with the Masirean King's grip at the same time together.

"Self-righteous little bastard...!" Avotash cursed him, pulling hard on the crown.

"Urrghghh...!!" Sairek growled in pain and effort through clenched teeth. His body was jerked and yanked forwards from Avotash's tug, but he absolutely refused to let go. Despite his resistance though, he felt his grip on the crown slipping.

"You are like a cockroach... Let go!!" Avotash demanded.

"Fuck you..." Sairek seethed.

"You belong on the ground begging for mercy at my feet! You are nothing more than a punk who got lucky with becoming royalty by blood! You clearly lack what it takes to rule, unable to sacrifice anything for the progress of many! Coming in here, risking the lives of you and your "subjects" for a mere orphan peasant who mindlessly wanders around, unable to even find his own place in this world until I gave him one and this is how that brat repays me!? He's not even one of your subjects! You dare criticize what my people would think of me—what about yours!?"

Sairek cried out, shaking his head rapidly in refusal and dismissal at what Avotash dared to claim. "I never chose to be a Prince..." Sairek grunted. "Maybe I don't deserve to be one... because where... I belong... is with my friends...! I didn't order them to do anything... they willingly came with me by their choice... I didn't need to order them—because they understood my choice...! And n-nobody... nobody... will decide my destiny for me...!"
Sairek glared upwards at Avotash through clenched teeth, tears beginning to stain his emerald eyes from the pain but it didn't deterr the determined look in his eyes.
"No one will ever choose for me ever again...! Not you... Not my subjects... Not my father... Not my blood and definitely not you! Only... ME!!" Sairek roared, pulling back on the crown in sheer defiance with the greatest amount of efforts he could muster, causing Avotash to stumble forwards. "And if I decide I want to be a Prince, then still nobody will decide that for me, either, because unlike you... I don't see myself above any other person! And for that... that makes me humane...! But you...? You are nothing more than a mere monster...! The one who should be on the ground is you— groveling on the ground, apologizing to every single person you have hurt, begging them for their forgiveness!!"

Avotash tugged the crown back. Sairek clenched his teeth, groaning as his grip on the crown began to slip. His arm was beginning to feel incredibly numb. He was losing control over it...
"I don't care how much you hope you have or how determined you are!" Avotash growled, pulling harder, practically lifting Sairek's upper half up off of the deck as the Cearestian Prince still struggled to hold on with just his one arm. "This is reality, boy! Only two kinds of people who exist in this world: Those who rule and those who obey. You are not fit to rule, so you will obey me, you insolent brat! You will pay for—"

—and then a pot lid slammed right into the side of the Masirean King's head, knocking him right off of his feet and to the side with a heavy thud.

"Unmm—mmph!..." Sairek grunted weakly and in agony when all of his weight that he been getting pulled up by Avotash fell right back down onto the deck all at once and he crumpled in a bleeding heap. He lay like that for a few seconds before groaning in effort as he dared to push himself onto his right elbow. He blinked once, twice, mouth half open in confusion, half open to just pant for oxygen. When he had the strength to, he glanced over his shoulder weakly in the direction the pot lid had come from. He saw at the end of the deck, Cyial was holding Varhi upright, who once again had dawned his helmet visor and was pantting heavily. The young mercenary’s left arm was outstretched, angled to his right and his left foot had taken a big step forwards from having just thrown his beloved cooking utensil at the King of Masirean's head, and had hit a bullseye.

“Those who rule and those who obey...? I will do as I please... You don't order me around. Sit the fuck down… you son of a bitch...!” Varhi heaved, dropping his left arm tiredly to his side and clutching his arm weakly with his right hand. Then his eyes looked down and widened. “Shit... Jimmy…!” He cried out wrestling away from Cyial’s grip. He staggered forward to collapse down next to his partner. Cyial allowed Varhi to go and rushed his way towards Sairek with equal levels of concern.

“Sairek…! No, no...! Sairek! Are you okay?!” His best friend cried desperately.

“Cyial…? Nngh... What the Flaming Lands... is a pistol…?” Sairek grunted, looking down at his left arm, still clutching the crown within his hand weakly. Then he looked down at his leg that wasn't doing much better in the bleeding department. “B-Because they—unf… they really... really hurt! Ahghh, what a... bastard...!”

Cyial stared at him, dumbfounded, blinked, then shook his head. “I… um... I’ll explain them to you later… Shit, Sairek... We can't afford to stop the bleeding right now...! Can... Can you walk…?”

“I… I don’t know—maybe… urrrgghh… I-I'll definitely... need help... mmgh...” Sairek struggled, having to use the right side of his body almost solely for leverage to try and stand up, which Cyial helped him with. Sairek tried to put weight on his left leg and hissed, but he managed to stumble a step, and then another as he worked his way towards Jimmy and Varhi. He tried his best to use his staff to keep as much weight off of his left leg as he could with his right hand. It was made much easier when Cyial jogged back up to him and held on to him to support him. “Jimmy—Are you alright...? Nayleen should be preparing the lifeboats in the back… We need to—anh...  to get out of here...” Sairek tried to explain between heavy breaths.

The man was conscious and moved to sit himself up from his laying position on the ground with a deep groan. Sairek glanced down at his state and could see he'd been shot in both legs, two in the right and one in the left.
“Guys… I’m not moving like this…” Jimmy stated plainly. “You don’t have much time left… You need to get out of here right now. Get to a lifeboat—I’ll veer off course away and then dump the fuel so they can’t use it. It’ll give you guys a small window to escape... You have to escape...”

Varhi stared wide-eyed at Jimmy for a moment, then snarled with rapid shakes of his head. “What…? No…! If you’re staying behind… then so am I…! We’re supposed to be a team, dammit...! You... You said we were...!”

Jimmy smiled at Varhi. “I think that’s the nicest compliment you’ve given me so far.”

“Fuck you. I refuse... I'm not leaving you…!” Varhi protested, shaking his head even more rapidly as he could before snarling again. "You are either coming with us or I am staying here with you...!"

“Will you just listen to me for once in your life?!" Jimmy snapped at Varhi. "If I don’t buy you guys time to escape, then nobody will be escaping…! Besides, you know that I need to be here to lower the lifeboats! You’ve all got a chance to get out of here — Go!"

“No! I am not going to leave you, dammit…!” Varhi shouted in protest.

Nayleen burst through the doors, running towards them. She stopped, her mouth agape as she spotted Sairek and Jimmy in their current state. She quickly glanced around, and spotted Varhi’s pot lid. She ran over to it and stopped by the unconscious Avotash to glare at him, then gave him a nice harsh kick right into his stomach for good measure. She picked up the pot lid afterwards and ran back over. “The boats are ready. We gotta go right now. The other guys are on high alert and are making their way over here. We may have to fight through them if we stay here any longer!”

“That’s too risky. I will lower the life boats at the front here and will drop the other ones off so no one else can pursue you all.” Jimmy grunted, moving and crawling his way to the levers in front of the steering wheel, which he began manuevering them in a specific pattern. “...There. Head to the right side over there.” Jimmy pointed with his right arm. “Get in and I’ll lower the boat...”

"Don't—Don't do this to me!" Varhi growled through clenched teeth. "Not like this...! It's not fair! You know it's not fair!!"

“...Are... Are you sure about this…?” Sairek asked the man quietly, heavy regret in his voice.

“I’ll be fine. Like I said, I need to be here to lower the boats anyway. A captain isn't supposed to abandon their ship, after all. Besides, it's not like they will kill me. So... please, Sairek. Please take care of Varhi for me for a little while longer…” Jimmy smiled.

"...I... I will." Sairek said, looking away from the man's gaze, unsure if he could really keep that promise, but he nodded. "I promise I will..."

“No… No! Stop this…! STOP—!” Varhi cried as Cyial moved to pull him up to his feet and away from Jimmy.

Nayleen tossed Varhi’s pot lid into the lifeboat and moved to hold Varhi who was struggling against Cyial. “Varhi, please, we don’t have the time!” She pleaded.

“Let go of me...! Fucking... bastards!!” Varhi demanded and struggled to no avail as both Nayleen and Cyial began to drag him against his will towards the lifeboat. “No! I do not consent to this! Both of you…! Let me go...! Right now!!”
Nayleen and Cyial managed to haul Varhi into the boat forcefully, despite his repeated struggling and protests. The boat they were in began lowering via a crane like system gripping it tightly on one side as Jimmy pulled a lever.

Sairek looked towards Jimmy again, who looked back at Sairek in return. The man gave an urgent shake of his head towards the life boats. Sairek swallowed dryly and nodded. He turned around, staggering his way towards the boat as quickly as he could, grimacing and sucking air through his teeth which each step. He needed to use his staff to help aid him to even flop inside when he reached it. He cried out as he crashed himself inside of it, the pain in his two shot limbs surging.

“Come on, come over here—you can jump in the boat right now...! Jimmy—!” Varhi pleaded helplessly, still struggling even as the life boat began to lower past the point of him being phsycally able to climb back up onto the deck again.

However, just as Varhi made that claim, three knights burst out onto the deck and after a quick look around, began approaching Jimmy and one towards the unconscious Avotash. Jimmy glanced over and gave them one last quick look, eyeing Varhi specifically. He flashed them a grin, at peace with his choice.

Varhi's expression began to break. "NO!! Please stop—!"

"Remember what you promised me. Remember to live, Varhi. I trust you."

Then he pulled another lever...
The slow crawling descent as they were lowering suddenly became a free fall down towards the ocean as the latch the crane had on their boat released abruptly, letting gravity guide them the rest of the way down

"NOO!!" Varhi cried out, his scream fading from the ship's deck as they plummeted downwards...

“Oh shit, hold on!” Nayleen yelled. She gripped Varhi as hard as she could with one hand while holding the life boat with the other for dear life. Cyial clasped Varhi's pot lid and ducked down into the boat and wrapped his tail around Sairek's waist, as Sairek struggled to attempt to brace himself at all for the incoming impact with the water with one hand and trying to secure his hold to his staff with the other.

There was a large splash and both Varhi and Sairek cried out in agony from the force of the impact as it caused the injuries they had to surge. Sairek himself bounced dangerously and was only saved from rebounding out of the boat thanks to Cyial's tail; the demon grunting in effort to keep him weighed down. Water splashed all around them, causing them all to get fairly wet with frigid water. A number of splashes surrounded them all as several empty lifeboats fell into the water all around them along the sides of the ship.
The ship then made a loud blaring horn sound. A torrent of water splashed and almost flipped the lifeboat they were in as the large mechanical boat abruptly picked up speed as it turned, and then began speeding off into the distance away from them, nearly once more tipping the lifeboat over as a large wave caused them tilt around dangerously, only saved by both Nayleen and Cyial acting fast by shifting their weight within the boat to counter balance it out as best as they could manage against the waves that threatened to throw them overboard. The intense rocking of the ship caused Sairek to cry out and gasp in agony, but the waves were soon nothing in comparison to Varhi loudly slamming his fist hard against the steel frame of the life boat so hard, the boat nearly tipped over completely.

“FUCK! NOOO—!! DAMMIT! DAAMMIIITTT!!” Varhi yelled and cursed into the open ocean, slamming his fist against the rim of the lifeboat yet again, watching helplessly as Jimmy’s ship quickly began to disappear over the morning horizon, his angry scowl broke into one of solemn defeat. He crumpled slowly and squeezed his eyes shut, digging his fingers through his bangs of dark brown hair on top of his head whilst he shuddered... His helmet visor slackened from gravity and the intrusion of his hands. It fumbled from atop of his head into the boat with a hollow thunk.
“You bastard… Why…?! Why can’t I save anyone...!? Why am I the one always being saved and sacrificed for...!? I don't even know why I exist—Who I even am... I'm just some orphan kid who can't even remember who I was...! Just some brat looking for something, any reason to live for! Some excuse to die!... Dammit—Why!?... I, I...”

They all stared at Varhi silently for a moment as the weight of his words carried through the air. It was Cyial who slowly moved to wrap his arms around Varhi in a gentle hug, trying to comfort the other boy who gave up and surrendered himself to sink helplessly into Cyial’s embrace, completely defeated at his circumstances. Sairek and Nayleen could only watch helplessly for a long pregnant moment.
Nayleen after they sat in long silence aside from Varhi's haggered breathing, turned around to look at Sairek, who himself moved to look down now at the crown he still held loosely within his left hand. “Sairek… We need to get out of this location… You know he’s going to be after you looking for that.” She said, glaring down and pointing at the crown that had the Masirean royal jewel embedded within it.

“N...Nayleen…” Sairek whispered hallowly, not lifting his eyes off of the crown, staring at the pearly white jewel at the base of its center. “I… I think—I think I... may have just…" He stopped, taking a deep breath and trying against so what he was saying wasn't incoherant mumbling.
"...I think I may have just... started a war…” He whispered hoarsly, swallowing. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut. His throat felt so dry... “The first war in over… three centuries… I... I—”

He felt her grasp his right arm extremely tightly. It was so hard, it hurt. “YOU didn’t start shit!!” Nayleen scolded him sternly. "Don't even presume you did anything wrong! You did the best you could!"

“...I hope so…” Was all Sairek could manage to whisper solemnly with a slow shake of his head.

“Stop shaking your head like that. It means you don't believe what you are saying." Nayleen scolded him with a level of harshness and conviction in her voice to which he hadn't heard come out of her before. "I know so, Sairek!”

Sairek had to swallow again, his form was shaking. “Y-You’re right, though… I need... I need to get us out of here… Do you know which direction is what…?” He asked, opening his eyes again to look at her.

Nayleen appraised him, a look of being unconvinced, but her expression softened as she sighed, pulling her hand off of his arm and glanced around them briefly. “Well... the sun is rising to the east right now… so…” Nayleen informed as she glanced back at him.

“R-Right… So then that's North, East, South,  West..." Sairek whispered to himself as he looked around at the apparent compass directions he could surmise as there was nothing but ocean, sky and sun out here. "...Jimmy steered the ship and sailed it back Northwest… He gave us the most options he could...” Sairek said to himself sadly as he continued to observe around, then shifted where he sat towards in the back of the life boat, closing his eyes again as he deliberated what to do in his head. There was a minute of silence. Then another as he concentrated hard, the only sound was the lapping of the waves and the gentle creaking of the boat and the strong gusts of wind from the storm, as well as Varhi's shallowing gasping breaths as Cyial still held him. After a moment, Sairek finally opened his eyes, a look of woeful resignation on his face. Nayleen frowned at him. He knew she wasn't going to like what he said next...
"Nayleen... row and steer us Eastwards…”

Her mouth gaped open for a second before she stammered. “E-East?! Sairek…? That will take us right back into Masirean!” She exclaimed.

“I know that…” Sairek said tensely through clenched teeth.

“So why the heck would we want to do that?! No way, you've lost it!”

Sairek shoved his staff down into the boat at his feet and abruptly sat upright and forwards as he dared in the boat, glaring daggers down at her. Cyial twisted his head in surprise to look. “NAYLEEN! JUST LOOK AT US!!" He snapped with tears streaming down his face. He gestured urgently with his right hand as he spoke.
"We’re deep out in the middle of the ocean with not a damn single landmark in sight!
"Varhi is still critically injured and only being held together by copious amounts of ethereal! We can't take care of that in a life boat!
"I got shot by something twice in my arm and leg by the way and I'm still bleeding, just in case you haven't noticed!
"We’re all physically and mentally exhausted!
"All of our provisions were left on the ship — ALL OF THEM! We’ve got no food, we've got no water! We've got nothing to even perform basic first-aid with!
"There is massive storm that's brewing and in a few hours, we're going to be torrented by rain and winds while we're out in the middle of the ocean in a small boat!
"Last but not least Nayleen, the last time we all slept and ate was all the way back in Karvadean over twenty-four and eighteen hours ago!
"So on top of everything else, we’re all tired, hungry and thirsty! Nayleen, we—we…AAAHHHH!!!” Sairek's exclaim halted. He hiccuped a sob and shook his head as he crumpled back weakly into the boat, cupping his head into hands as he released a scared, frustrated, anguished cry.
“We—We’re not gonna make it to the mainland like this!! It would take us at least a couple of days–! I don’t think we are going to last that long... Especially Varhi in his current condition...! Varhi needed proper first-aid over six hours ago and ever since then he's only been tortured and hurt even more and we still can't even provide it to him! We need to get to land as soon as possible and find him something—anything! If he dies, then all of this... all of this would be for nothing! All of it...!”

Nayleen didn’t respond to that, her expression fell as the realization of their situation was beginning to set in. "S-Sai—"

Sairek pulled his head away from his hands and looked at her, crestfallen. "I'm—I'm sorry..." He whispered to her. "I... I didn't mean—"

She shook her head slowly at him, and reached over, taking his right hand into hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. He took that as her accepting his apology. He desperately squeezed back as hard as he could. It was still weak.
“.....L-Look... The way for us to get to the mainland is where they would definitely try to go to look for us… East will give us the best chance to make it onto land and I don’t think Avotash would expect us to go back into his territory like that... When we make it to land, we can store this boat in the jewel and take it with us. W-We can hide inland—forage for supplies as best as we can and recover, then try to leave again once we are ready. I think it’s the only shot we have… We are all going to die out here otherwise...” Sairek's words contorted into a choked whimper as he squeezed his eyes shut and bit his bottom lip hard as he struggled not to break down and cry. "Lands—Yggdrasil, please... Please give me the strength... At—At least allow me to make one right decision for once..." He whispered out loud to himself in prayer.

Nayleen was silent as she considered Sairek’s argument. After a long pause, she nodded. “Yeah… Yeah, you’re right. Let’s do that then..." She sighed and looked at him. She moved her hand from his own hand onto his shoulder instead. Sairek opened his eyes weakly and looked at her, tears beginning to roll down his face anew.
"And by the way, for what it's worth... You did make the right decision already, Sairek. Varhi wouldn't be alive and safe from a tyrant right now if it weren't for you—he'd already be dead. You saved his life. Don't forget that for even a second. If anyone ever, and I mean ever tells you that was the wrong decision to make—to save another person's life? Then they are inhumane and you are better than them."

Sairek's form quivered and he closed his eyes again, but gave a slow, silent nod. He was unable to trust his voice right now...

Nayleen gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before she pulled back away from him. "We’ll head towards the sunrise. For a little bit of time, that should hide us under the blinding light of the sun too if they happen to come back. It won't be much and it won't last long, but it's a small blind spot we can exploit. Give me a minute to steer this.” She said, fumbling with the oars inside their little boat. She got herself into position and began paddling to turn themselves around. “I think Jimmy did it like… this or something…?” She grunted, beginning to paddle the oars to get them moving, turning them around where Sairek wanted them to face, and moving them clear of the other empty lifeboats in the area. “Where are we possibly going to go when we get to Masirean, though…?” She asked.

“I…" Varhi began to mumble hoarsely, pulling himself away from Cyial and gasping in pain as he moved. The adrenaline by now had faded away and was causing all of the pain and exhaustion he had to come back in full force and it was clearly showing. "I know of a place we can use… G-Given the speed of Jimmy’s ship, we should be about half way to Cyvolta where Avotash was trying to take us… Between this side of the coast, there’s not much else other than Cyvolta on the south side, and Karvadean to the north…" Varhi paused as he clenched his teeth and grimaced in discomfort. "Urghh... I-Inbetween those two points though, there’s an old abandoned monastery… I passed it on my way to Karvadean. It’s... not great. But we can hide there, I think... P-People don’t really go there since it’s out of the way and it won’t be too far of a walk for us once we become a little less… desperate—” He forced the last word through clenched teeth.

“Why’s it abandoned?” Nayleen asked.

“—P-Probably because the high amount of monsters there... C-Crowen and cravenbats... they are a real bitch to deal with... and I can speak... from personal experience... Uunnh…! Fuck-ck… th-this... hurtsss…!” Varhi whimpered and his form began to wilt weakly in front of them all. Cyial reacted, removing Varhi’s sword from his back and then moved him gently so the other boy could lay down one of the benches of the life boat, trying to get Varhi as comfortable as best as he could.

The other boy groaned, gasped and cried out weakly. The rocking of the boat from the waves made laying down like this quite uncomfortable still, but gravity was becoming too strong of a force to oppose and keep seated upright for him. Varhi's eyes remained squeezed shut as he continued to painfully gasp. Cyial could only help keep him steady as he looked up at Nayleen and Sairek with a sad shake of his head, a look of desperation on his face. "...I don't know how much ethereal they give him guys... but it seems like it's running its course." Cyial whispered hoarsely. "I... I don't know what I can possibly do for him..."

"W-Well... W-We still have... my satchel..." Varhi groaned.

"...Does it have medical supplies...?" Cyial asked hopefully.

"Heh... n-no... used those up... within the first... couple of days of Karvadean..." The mercenary grimaced, causing Cyial to sigh.

Nayleen huffed. “Great... And our best place to hide is an old creepy and abandoned monastery which is apparently a nest for monster activity and it's also right in enemy territory? Yeah, we are totally doing great." She drawled sarcastically with a shake of her head. "Sairek… is this direction good?” She asked, pausing her rowing of the oars.

Sairek opened his eyes and blinked the excess water out of them. “Yeah…” he croaked weakly after a brief pause. With a heaving sigh, he moved to reposition himself as best as he could, then picked his staff up from the floor of the boat with his right hand and cusped his jewel with his left. “Wuaie,” He chanted a bit wearily, forcing wind outwards, and using that to begin to propel them in their boat forwards like if he himself was the boat's engine and sail. It wasn’t nearly as fast as the ship, but it was giving them momentum and movement, more than Nayleen could manage with just the oars alone.

Tired, hungry, various levels of critically wounded and suffering emotionally from trauma, the group slowly drifted along the ocean waters, miles out, slowly creeping their way back towards the Masirean continent...