Chapter 3- Monsters
The moment the man's words ended, and their echo spread across the harbor, people's cheers exploded. The feelings of excitement and thrill it invoked in them were immense. They felt as if they were the ones venturing out there to find the other side. Their hearts beat faster, and their eyes flickered with sheer hope.
Even those who were skeptical could only watch in a daze. That was a true noble, a man who invoked nothing but hope and strength in his people. His words, his eyes, his strong figure, all gave them enough reasons to believe, and that was the strongest weapon a human could have… Belief.
"We wish you all the best!!"
"Sir Elric! We are certain you will find the other side!!"
"We will leave this cursed land!!"
The cheers were welcomed with a faint smile by Elric as he stood there, basking in the glory of his historic day. Indeed, that was Elric's day, and the start of his legend, and he was ready to savour it all.
After a while of cheers, he finally turned around to the men on the ship and said. "Get ready to set sail."
"Roger that!"
The sailors turned around and scrambled to finalize everything.
"We shall see you again when God intends for us to see each other again." He said as he turned around and walked away.
A few minutes later, the engines of the ship roared, as steam rose from the large funnels. The entire harbor shook as this behemoth of a vessel started moving away.
"Wooooo!!!"
"Look at that!"
People watched in awe as the Serenity of the Sea slowly left the harbor, moving large quantities of water as it cut its way forward.
"Will they truly make it?" One person asked.
"Perhaps… I feel like this time might be a different one. Who knows?"
"Truly. Who knows? Only time could tell."
***
Rein sat on the cold floor of the ship, staring through the window at the waves of dark water being pushed around the ship, splashing into the thick glass window every few seconds. The city slowly faded into the horizon and in a few minutes, became completely invisible from his position.
It was the point of no return, and it seemed everyone had accepted that, as even the cries of despair stopped, and a very solemn and dark silence cast its shadows upon the prisoners.
The sound of coughing, groaning, and all kinds of curses took place instead. Everyone slowly gave up the hope of ever seeing freedom again. This was their very last destination, and soon enough, the journey will come to an end.
The entire ship swayed left and right as the waves smashed into its hull. Not violent, but strong enough to remind them of how truly close to death they are. That black water, the vast stretches of it they were cutting through now, had every single worst nightmare they could imagine.
It was no secret that, just like the land and the air, monsters infested these waters, perhaps in way higher numbers than all the other environments. Many sailors and people who work at the harbor had seen monsters swimming near the shores, and their tales sent chills down everyone's spine.
The word 'monster' alone made them feel that kind of fear. After all, the citizens of the city of hope had seen enough of them across their lives.
This was one of the reasons why these expeditions started to begin with. Abominable creatures attacked the city walls every single day, from land and from air. They were strong, viscous, and incredibly horrid to look at. They boasted enough strength to maul and kill any normal person with ease and then eat their flesh.
Many innocent people died due to these attacks, and so, they had to defend themselves. That was how the warriors of the city emerged. People who were blessed with supernatural abilities to fight back against these monsters.
They were the strongest layer of defense the city had against the danger lurking outside the walls, and they were also the hope of all the citizens.
Rein closed his eyes for a moment as he let his ears listen to the water splashing against the walls of the ship, almost like a soothing song of the sea… Except it was not soothing whatsoever.
Weirdly enough, he found some peace within that rhythmic splashing and the swaying of this vessel.
"What is a kid like you even doing on here? Have the nobles finally lost their marbles?"
As he was like that, one person sitting next to him asked as she looked at Rein. She was an older lady with a shabby appearance and broken teeth.
"..." Rein stared back at her, but didn't reply.
"Even kids aren't spared from the hands of those vicious monsters." She muttered. "Curse them all, by the Dead Gods…"
"Don't curse, you fool!" Another person chimed in with an angry tone. "They can hear us, and if they do, they will behead all of us!"
"..."
No one there believed those words to be merely ridiculous or even unrealistic. Because they had seen what insulting the nobles could cause the perpetrator. Unlike the picture those high-ranking individuals show to the public, they were demons with cold blood. All the prisoners there knew that, because they all had a taste of what these nobles could do.
They were tortured, abused, and made to work extremely hard in mines and other heavy-labour jobs with no actual income. Many were killed or slowly tortured to death because they tried to resist or escape.
For them, the monsters living outside the walls were less cruel than the humans they called nobles.
Rein knew that too, but, unlike everyone else, he didn't feel anything. Not fear, not hopelessness, not even despair… He felt nothing. Sitting there, he simply stared into the vast stretches of ocean passing in his vision.
Just like that, an hour or so passed in complete silence and darkness. All the noise that permeated this large room was the sound of the ship moaning and groaning, broken by some coughs every now and then.
As they were like that, they suddenly heard the door to the room slowly open, making everyone look up with fear and hope in their eyes. As the door opened, a man clad in armor walked in. Judging from his attire, he was one of the guards, the people who came with the nobles.
His presence immediately dominated the place, putting pressure on all the prisoners. He glared at them, one by one. Some instinctively crawled back, wishing not to be seen.
"Give me the list." He said as another guard handed him a scroll. "Hm, it seems the number of prisoners hasn't decreased since we started preparations."
"Yes, sir. We made sure to keep them alive." The guard replied. "They will be useful assets. Everyone here is in good condition."
"Good."He bobbed his head. "Very good, indeed. The nobles will be pleased with your work."
"Thank you, sir!"
"Now, to all you pathetic imbeciles within this room." He finally spoke. "There are only three things you need to know as this journey begins. Three things that, if followed, will increase your chances of survival. I'm sure all of you wish for that."
'Survival? Hm, interesting.' Rein squinted his eyes as he looked up, almost as if that word caught his attention. The same could be said for the rest of the prisoners.
"The very first thing is that you must abide by the rules, and when I say rules, I mean anything we tell you to do. If you resist, if you even think about doing anything foolish, then we shall make an example out of you in front of everyone here. Understood?"
The warning was clear. Be the slave that you are, and you will get to live another day. It was basically what they had already been told before countless times, so it wasn't anything new.
"The second rule: food and water will only be handed out every two to three days. The supplies aren't enough to accommodate you comfortably, so you will only eat and drink then."
That was also not that uncommon for them. They have experienced going days without food before. The water, however, was going to be a brutal one.
"The third rule, and this one is the most important. Tonight, you have an announcement that might be of interest to some of you. Perhaps one of you will get to change his life tonight forever." He said with a dark smile before he turned around and left the room.
"What?"
"Change our lives?"
"What is he talking about?"
Sounds of confusion spread everywhere. That was something they didn't expect at all. Why would the nobles want to change the lives of some measly prisoners… And what exactly did he mean by 'change their life'?
That question bugged everyone there.
"Hey! Maybe the nobles are finally pitying us and giving us our freedom!"
"And pigs can fly." One person replied sarcastically. "Stop dreaming about freedom and think about prolonging your life more. We aren't leaving this shithole any time soon."
It seemed most prisoners shared the same feeling… Scepticism. They didn't believe whatsoever that these evil demons would try to grant them a chance in life for no reason. They had learned the hard way that there is no free breakfast in this world, only free lashes with the whip.
Rein stared at the door as the words of the guard resonated in his head. He had understood something that the rest of the prisoners didn't.
'It seems our first night on here won't be quiet.'
"What do you think the announcement will be?" A man noticed Rein's rather peculiar look, and he decided to ask him.
"Who knows?" Rein looked at him bleakly before replying. "Don't get your hopes up."
"..." The man pursed his lips and didn't reply. That was the first rule: never get your hopes up as a prisoner because most of the time, your hope will be crushed mercilessly.