That was an unexpected turn of events. Lucian thought as he plunged through the enormous expanse of clouds.
Am I really falling to my death because I was intrigued about what was outside Volans? Was their only option to shove me off the railing? Soon after the view of the stormy and abyssal sea became clearer and clearer.
"Shit, I'm really going to die" Lucian remarked with a bleak expression. The distance with the sea's violent waves shortened so quickly that before he knew it, everything went black.
.
.
.
The muffled sound of wood creaking multiple times awakened Lucian, though his vision was blurry, his sense of touch was vague, and his hearing was slowly recovering. Why is my memory so blank. I can't remember a thing as to what transpired before the impact.
*Thump*
"So, our sleeping noble has finally risen?", Said a strange middle aged looking man with long flowing black hair, wearing a pair of circular glasses, a white buttoned-down shirt, and a dark brown leather trench coat.
The combined sound of the shutting book and the man's expressive voice startled Lucian. While looking at the strange man, Lucian suddenly snapped out of his daze and blurted out, "w-who are you, h-how did I get here!?"
"Oh, my apologies, my name is Ozzus, Ozzus Senkrad. Me and my younger sister witnessed you hurtling towards the water."
"That still doesn't answer my question. How exactly did I survi-"
"You didn't", Ozzus remarked with a soul piercing gaze.
Lucian felt a cold sweat trickle down to his chin, "Then how...how can I-"
"Be alive and breathing? That's something I can only answer if you swear an oath of absolute secrecy to the goddess of reflection.
The goddess of reflection? That title seems familiar, but I just can't pin who it belonged to because my damn memory happened to have gone mostly blank! The best choice right now would be to do whatever oath this man is talking about. Lucian pondered thoroughly for a couple more seconds and finally answered, "Yes, I swear an oath to the goddess of absolute secrecy but only if you tell me the full truth."
"No problem" answered Ozzus faster than Lucian thought he would, "I'll explain everything later, because first I should probably get you acquainted with where we are so if you don't mind and are feeling better, please follow me so I can give you a tour."
Damn this guy, I thought he'd just explain everything on the spot. Well, I can sort of see why though. Everything happened so quickly I'm having trouble following what's really going on. after all I wake up in a strange room on what seems to be a ship and find this odd man jabbering on about some goddess. Lucian sighed and answered as he got off the hard couch, "Fine, this is a ship, no?"
"Correct, you are currently onboard the "Senkrad Piercer", exclaimed Ozzus.
What an original name. Lucian strolled pass a mirror next to the door while exiting and stopped for a moment. Lucian noticed that his, somewhat wavey hair looked as though it was freshly washed, his skin was completely clear, his body felt as though it could run for miles without stopping and his brown eyes seemed to show a new radiance of sorts. his clothes were also freshly changed he wore a casual buttoned-down long sleeve shirt with black trousers. Is this what he meant when he called me a noble?
"Our ship is currently headed towards Novus port. we'll drop you off there at about 8.30 PM. In the meantime, I'll acquaint you with my sister, she's the one who saved you after all."
"Really?" I would have thought that this guy was the one who saved me, isn't it the doctor that's supposed to monitor the patient?
"Yes, she should be on the deck.", Ozzus stated as he opened the door to reveal a dark raging storm. There on the right side of the deck was a young girl who seemed to be about the age of 15 or 16, with the same black flowing hair as Ozzus dressed in the same attire Lucian was in. she appeared to be lighting some oil lamps before Ozzus loudly blurted out, "hey Priscilla, our sleeping noble has awakened!".
I wish he'd stop calling me that
"Is he really? I didn't expect him to wake up so soon."
"Yup, now come inside before you catch a cold!"
"Alright, alright, I'll be right there! Take him inside for dinner, I'm sure he's hungry."
"As you wish my lady", Ozzus said mockingly leaving a slight pout on Priscilla's face while heading back the way they came. "The dining room is this way"
As Lucian followed Ozzus, he noticed that the inside of their ship seemed more like a home than it did an actual ship, the floors were pristine and the rooms were that of a small apartment with only 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and a mixed kitchen and living room where he'd previously woken up. the room was rather small with a dining table located in the center only about 5 feet long and 4 feet wide, it had 4 chairs, and a lamp in the center. The kitchen and couch were on opposite sides of the room with the kitchen on the left side of the entrance and the couch on the right with a small bookshelf. the kitchen only had 1 pantry, 1 iron stove, 1 faucet, 1 ice box, and 2 Drors with one containing silverware and the other containing plates and bowls.
As Lucian walked over to the bookshelf, Ozzus got some bread from the pantry and cut off 2 pieces for each person, then he added some water to a pot and put it on the iron stove. "You like books?", asked Ozzus with a slight smile as he added some beef to the water.
"Yes, very much, In fact, It's practically my only hobby." Lucian pulled out a book titled "King of the outside". It had a bookmark nearly halfway through. This must've been that book he was reading before I woke up. "what's this one about? It seems quite interesting"
"Oh, that one, it's about a peasant who's been exiled from his city which leads him to seek revenge, but along the way he meets two people, a man and a woman who eventually become his friends. They too were also seeking revenge, but in the midst of their friendship the main character decides revenge isn't what he was seeking at all, but it was a home, a home that he found within his two friends."
"Wow, it seems pretty good"
"When we drop you at Novus, I'll be in town for a while so I'd be happy to show you where the bookstore is so you can get one."
"Thanks, but I don't have any money as of now."
"That's not a problem; we figured you didn't so we're going to give you a couple pounds to live off of."
"Really, you sure it won't cause you any trouble?"
"Not at all, we've got more than we need right now because I happened to catch a rare crimson tuna. I obviously sold it for more than it was worth, Hehe"
"I appreciate it a lot, I promise I'll pay you back someday"
"Alright then, sounds good to me"
As Lucian and Ozzus talked, 20 minutes passed by in no time. as Ozzus set down the bread and beef stew on the table, Priscilla entered the room. "I sorry if I took too long, I dropped one of the lamps, so I had to get another one from below the deck"
"Not a problem, come sit down with us I just finished everything, so you actually came at the perfect time." remarked Ozzus while pulling out a chair for her.
"Is that beef stew?"
"Yup, it's still pretty hot so blow on it first"
As they ate Lucian sat across from the two facing towards the kitchen. "Now that we've all been acquainted, shall we resume our prior conversation?
"Sure" I thought he'd just try and put it off for as long as he could.
"Don't worry, I'm not petty, I would never do something like that.", Ozzus said with a grin.
"H-how did you-"
"Know what you were thinking? That reason is actually connected to how we saved you. Me and my sister are what you would call "Ethereals". Ethereals are ordinary beings who obtain unnatural abilities such as controlling the temperature, seeing a person's emotions clear as day, future sight, and even revival. Although these abilities are extremely useful, they come with major drawbacks that are commonly referred to as shackles. Each shackle varies from ethereal to ethereal, for example the mind reading I just demonstrated, after reading one's mind, I'll get a headache, but that headache will vary based on how much stronger or weaker the other person is. For example, if I were to try and read someone twice as powerful as me then my headache would go further than just a throbbing pain in my head. My blood vessels will burst, and it could be potentially fatal. I can use my ability on command though, so I only use my ability when I really need it."
"My ability is revival", Priscilla stated. "I can revive anyone and anything I want with just the simple touch of my hand. Whenever I revive someone, they come back to life completely, it doesn't matter how broken or decayed it is, the restorative effects make the person seem as if they're completely brand new, although my shackle is one of the worst.
I wonder how bad it could be, Ozzus' sounded pretty bad.
"The shackle doesn't affect me; it affects the revived. Once someone is revived, they lose all of their memories."