"…"
"…"
Yezekael and a grey-skinned Caelum found themself in the cabin of a huge pirate ship. Enslaved.
Around them, maybe a hundred or so other slaves were bound by chains, and dressed in tattered rags.
It was hot and incredibly humid. A foul odor lingered.
"I'm… sorry we got us into this mess. This is all my fault.
Caelum looked down at his lap.
After the explosion occurred, they were knocked unconscious. Luckily, or unluckily, a pirate ship found them and captured them.
"It's fine. It's just an unfortunate series of events."
"No. It was my fault."
"Huh?"
"I'm… part demon."
"Quit joking with me, Caelum."
"It's not a joke. I'm part demon."
"… Okay. What does that have to do with that monster suddenly appearing."
"That monster… it's a manabeast. It's not like an orc or a goblin. Manabeasts are creatures that never manifest on this continent, except for extremely rare occasions. For a manabeast of that size and power to manifest… something must've attracted it into existence — that something being me."
"So… because you're a demon — no, part demon. Because you're part demon, the manabeast entered reality..?"
"It didn't enter reality. It was born."
"And you being a demon explains the grey skin?"
Caelum looked down at his hands, now completely grey in color. He laughed awkwardly.
"Aha… yeah. I suppose absorbing all that energy caused my skin to revert to this state…"
He then pointed at his right eye socket, now empty.
"The overflow of mana entering my body destroyed my eye, as well."
The two sat quietly. There was a single window. Stained glass, with bright beautiful colors that came from stray rays of light, shining onto the pair.
"Me being a demon… doesn't make you fear me?"
"Of course, I'm a little scared. The mischievous demons that my mother used to read me bedtime stories about, sitting right next to me."
Caelum's head slowly lowered, and he began to stare at his lap again.
Seeing his change in emotion, Yezekael smirked, parting his lips to speak.
"But then I remember… this demon is one who saved me, gave me a job. This demon is a demon who decided to venture into a foreign land all alone for the sake of a country. A demon like that, isn't all so bad, is he?"
Caelum lifted his head back up, looking back at Yezekael. Maybe to find the sincerity in his eyes.
Yezekael suddenly sat up.
"Well. It's time to escape, now. These chains don't restrict mana. Did they expect us to be weak and helpless-"
Caelum pulled him down.
"Oof!- What the hell was that for?"
"Are you crazy? We have no idea where we are right now. Can you fly? Jeez, if only Oscar was here, we could've rode his dragon out of here. But, we can't. We have to wait until we land and hope that we're at Sar."
"Haah!"
Yezekael let out a loud, obnoxious sigh, before slumping onto the wet ground.
"You two kids new here?"
Caelum and Yezekael looked up. Speaking to them was a middle-aged man, with brown hair, grey hairs appearing every so often. He was tall and plump, with beady black eyes.
"… I guess you could say that."
"The Association of Rogues have stooped so low, they would even take kids like you… how evil."
— I'm not a kid. I'm 17.
Caelum stared blankly.
"Association of Rogues?" Yezekael repeated, the term being unfamiliar to him.
"AOR. Association of Rogues. They're evil. They're like the Southern Penensiula barbarians, with a sense of direction and a leader."
"Do you… know where we're all headed?"
"Sar. They'll drop us off through some secret route, so we aren't detected."
Caelum muttered under his breath. "That is… favorable."
"What'd you say?"
Yezekael answered in his steed.
"Ahem. Thank you. Stay safe."
Yezekael and Caelum walked over to their own separate corner, in the packed, sweaty cabin.
.
Within the cabin, light no longer shined down. Instead, dimly lit lanterns illuminated the room, hanging from the middle of the ceiling. Six of them, in a row, stretched from one side of the cabin to the other.
"It's time to eat."
There were three slavers within the cabin at all times, meant to monitor the slavers. They held cutlasses and wore chainmail, some even bearing eyepatches.
"I'll need something like that…" Caelum whispered to himself.
The food was an amalgamation— more like a paste than anything else. A mixture of several different foods. From the looks of it, maybe a potato, some carrots, or slices of meat ground into slush?
"It's hard to tell what this is."
Yezekael stared down at the mixture of foods.
"Yeah. But it doesn't smell bad. I think it's safe."
"Obviously it's safe. They wouldn't poison their slaves."
The portion wasn't that big. 4 bites was all that was needed.
Yezekael finished it in a single bite.
"God damn…"
"We need to be planning things. Planning our escape," Yezekael's voice was heavily muffled; he chewed.
"You two thinking about escaping?"
A third voice entered the conversation.
A young ginger, with pale skin and rough green eyes. He, like everyone else, wore simple rags, with chains and shackles bound to his feet.
Without waiting for Caelum or Yezekael to answer that, he continued.
"Choose to stay awake, you'll be involved with the plan. The slavers fall asleep too."
And just like that, he disappeared.
"Woah. That was cryptic," Caelum said.
"So what do you say?" Yezekael asked.
"No way. Have you forgotten? We need to stay on this ship until we reach Sar. These slaves have no direction. They take over the ship, then what?"
"Maybe they have someone who knows how to drive a ship. Don't we?"
"I'm too lazy to do that. And right now, it's too risky to rely on a 'maybe'."
"What about all the slaves? You don't feel a little bad about them?"
"… Of course I do! But I have a responsibility. To reach the kingdom, end this war. To avoid senseless violence. To kill that king, and gain vengeance for those who fell at the first battles on our soil."
"…"
"Plus, I want to get some sleep in. I get cranky."
"You can get really irritating at times."