"STORM! THE STORM IS COMING!"
Navigator Kulnir's voice, screaming at the top of his lungs as he practically tumbled down the stairs, momentarily cut through the chaos on the deck like a knife. His face was pale as chalk. "Our end has come... God Sonmedyi has sent his wrath upon us all! There can be no other explanation for this storm, for these waves! I warned Dorn, I told him we should flee!"
Kulnir's trembling voice was drowned out by the cracking of a massive wave crashing against the ship's hull like a sledgehammer. The ship lurched violently to the right.
In those exact seconds, up in his luxurious cabin, Captain Vargo was blowing cigar smoke while tossing a silver coin into the air and catching it. As the ship suddenly shuddered, he lost his balance, and the tossed coin bounced and rolled into a dark corner of the room. Vargo's eyes widened. Gritting his teeth, he took his cigar from the ashtray and crushed it. Dorn was right. The storm was breathing down their necks.
"For the love of God Sahjo, what is going on out there?" he grumbled, kicking open the heavy wooden door of his cabin.
The sight before him was enough to freeze his blood. Ahead, several oarsmen were leaping into the sea in panic, the deck washing with blood and water. The first mate was nowhere to be seen. The helmsman had grabbed the cook and the scrawny cabin boy, boarded a small lifeboat, and was already a hundred meters away, swallowed by the waves.
The astonishment on Vargo's face gave way to pure fury. His eyes had turned bloodshot. "DORN! HOYKE! WHERE ARE YOU, YOU PACK OF DOGS!" he roared. He kicked a barrel in his path, shattering it into pieces. From the leather pouch at his waist, he pulled out a thick book with a cover full of strange symbols. A cruel smile appeared on his lips as his fingers traced the cover. It was finally time to settle the score with that lowly mercenary, Valit.
Meanwhile, in the dark and damp lower deck of the ship, as Navigator Kulnir tried to explain the situation breathlessly, Sharp Sword Valit cut him off.
"Let's summarize the situation," Valit said with a relaxed, mocking laugh. "The first mate is bolting, the oarsmen are fleeing, and our brave captain is snoozing in his cabin, oblivious to the gravity of the situation, is that it? How tragic."
He ran his eyes over the mercenaries around him and fixated on the scrawniest of the bunch. "Jor! Come on, my boy, climb those stairs and see what's happening up there for us."
Jor swallowed hard, his hands trembling. "B-but Valit sir... Shouldn't we be escaping the ship too? We're not going to get paid anyway, why do we care about the captain?"
Mad Heart Varug slammed his massive hand hard onto Jor's shoulder and bellowed: "JOR, YOU BASTARD! Don't test my patience! What's with this rebelliousness today? Don't question Valit and get moving!"
Jor stuttered helplessly, "O-okay." Just as he was about to take his first step toward the stairs, he felt a cold, tight grip on his wrist.
Kaelith had slipped from the darkness and stopped him. Although from the outside he looked like just another ordinary captive in chains, years of military training and mental discipline had allowed him to sense the heavy footsteps echoing from the ship's wooden floor long ago. The calmness in his eyes starkly contrasted with the surrounding chaos.
"I don't know you," Kaelith said in a whisper-like yet authoritative tone. "As I see it, no one should force another to their death. Don't listen to them. If you climb those steps, you'll be the first victim of this chaos. Take it from me."
Even though Jor shuddered at the deep, eerie expression in Kaelith's eyes, he swiftly yanked his arm back. "Let me go! If I don't go, they'll kill me anyway."
Jor began to climb the stairs slowly, shivering. Kaelith sighed; trying to turn someone from their chosen path to death was just a waste of time. He withdrew into himself and began waiting for the slightest opportunity to trigger his body's muscle memory.
Right as Jor reached the door, the sound of shattering hinges echoed through the lower deck. Captain Vargo's footsteps resonated like those of an executioner. Navigator Kulnir cowered in the corner in terror.
As Kaelith watched upwards from the darkness, he saw the crimson, hot glow radiating from the pages of the book in Vargo's hand. Magic was drying the air, sucking out the oxygen.
"WHY DID I POUR MONEY ON YOU DOGS!" roared Captain Vargo. His voice echoed in the stairwell. "SO YOU COULD LOUNGE IN THE LOWER DECK WHILE THIS SHIP TURNS TO RUIN?"
The pages of the book turned rapidly, and ancient words spilled from Vargo's mouth: "Eternity of the Blazing Flames... Flame Eruption!"
The moment Kaelith heard the name of the spell, he swiftly threw himself backward, taking cover behind a thick pillar. Suddenly, a steady and incredibly fast-moving pillar of fire cascaded down the stairs like a waterfall.
Before Jor could even say "Stop!", the crimson beam of flame struck him squarely in the face.
Everything happened in a split second. When Kaelith looked up after that brief moment of stamping out the sparks that had leaped onto his cloak, Jor was still standing. He had raised his arms as if to shield his face, but there was no face left. His skin and muscles had instantly vaporized, and his skull was calcified and scorched in seconds. Jor's lifeless body collapsed onto the wooden floor, accompanied by the stench of burning flesh.
The soldiers' screams mingled at the sight of this horrific scene. Everyone scrambled for cover to get out of the Captain's line of sight. Kaelith, taking care to remain completely invisible among the shadows, focused on listening to Vargo's words.
"Valit... Valit... Valit," the Captain said, slowly descending the steps. His voice was filled with a sickly glee. "Gathered a couple of looters and acting high and mighty to the captives, huh? Where are you, you pathetic wretch? Face me! You ate my coin! That cargo was everything to me. Do you know what Lord Vorren will do now? He will flay us all! It's all because of you!"
From amidst the shadows, Sharp Sword Valit's voice was heard, trembling but trying to maintain its arrogance: "You're wrong, Captain! It's all your fault. You hired me to guard those captives. It was your job to maintain authority! Because of your greed for gold, you never left that cursed cabin of yours. You didn't even deign to come down to us, leaving us to deal with this spineless crew! Now we're both going to die, thanks a lot!"
"Because of me? BECAUSE OF ME, YOU SWINE!" Vargo, mad with rage, pressed his bleeding finger against the cover of his spellbook.
"Justice of the Flame God Loglus... Vines of Flame!"
The spell did not manifest instantly. First, a blinding orange light radiated from the book, and then whips made of fire began to sprout like vines from the cracks in the ship's floorboards. As the flames engulfed the room, they wrapped around the soldiers' arms and legs like snakes. The sizzling sounds of flesh and screams intertwined. This magic also heated the captives' chains, subjecting them to unbearable agony. Vargo now knew exactly where everyone was hiding.
Kaelith gritted his teeth as he felt his chains heating up. Vargo was walking with heavy steps through the hall illuminated by the flame vines. "Well, Sharp Sword Valit? What happened? The hand that gripped your sword isn't working, I see?" he mocked. He laughed savagely as he listened to the agonized groans of Valit, who was bound by the flames. "Ah, you're right. I made the biggest mistake by relying on a loser like you!"
Vargo turned his gaze to the captives writhing in pain in the corner. There was not an ounce of mercy in his eyes. "You... Insects whose lives are worth less than a copper. You rebelled against the Kingdom of Valeroth, did you? Thanks to them, they wiped out your lineage, your families, your very existence, one by one. And now, you are perishing with me!"
Just as the Captain raised his hand to deliver the final blow... The words caught in his throat.
Kaelith had materialized behind the Captain, as silent as a shadow and as fast as death itself. Years of assassination and combat training had given him the ability to maneuver masterfully through this chaos. Before Vargo could even realize what was happening, he felt the cold, sharp steel of a dagger pressed against his throat.
Kaelith's voice whispered like ice in Vargo's ear: "Let me speak in a language you'll understand, Captain. Why do you serve Silas? Where is the real oath you swore to Lord Vorran?"
Captain Vargo's eyes widened in horror. Spitting his words out, he stammered, "W-who are you? How do you know these things? Did Caspian send you? If it's him, you won't get a word out of me..."
The moment Vargo's hands moved toward his spellbook in a final act of desperation, Kaelith did not hesitate. He drew the dagger in a single, smooth motion. The hot blood spurting from the Captain's throat spilled onto the wooden floor, and the flame vines in the room turned to ash in seconds with their master's death, extinguishing completely.
As Kaelith swiftly loosened his chains with the dagger in his hand, he turned to Valit, who was staring at him in sheer terror from the corner. "I'm getting these captives out of here. Maybe we can save the ship before it takes on water."
But Valit seemed to have lost his mind from the panic of release and the brutality Kaelith had just displayed. "To hell with all of you!" he screamed, sprinting toward the upper deck without even looking back.
Kaelith broke his final chain and took a step toward the captives, just about to reveal his true identity and intentions when...
A horrific roar tore through the ship's skeleton. The ocean, with all its fury, crashed against the ship's hull, ripping a massive hole in it. Before Kaelith and everyone else inside could even comprehend what was happening, they were thrown violently. As the salty, dark, and freezing ocean water swallowed the room, they were all pulled into the merciless embrace of the waves like leaves drifting toward an abyss.