Chapter 1:

Chapter 1

Endscape - Journey on the Seas


The sun is on the horizon, just starting to rise as most people would still be asleep. The cobblestone walkway would be wet, some puddles of water along the ground, where some holes can be found. The docks have a few ships around, anchored and waiting to depart, when the sun finally finishes rising. The pitter patter of footsteps could be heard, small and shoe-less, splashing in some of the puddles as well. Two children, no taller than one meter, and with a slim physique are running through the streets, the two looking the same, but different at the same time.

One is a girl, long black hair that covers the left half of her face, long enough to reach her thighs. He clothes are just a simple pair of tattered shorts and an old, tattered t-shirt, the clothes are dirty, not having been cleaned in a long time. Her eyes are as blue as the ocean and slitted, like a dragon’s eye. The other, a boy, wears the exact same clothes, his hair is just as long, but it's white and covers the right side of his face. His eyes have the same slit as the girls, but his are as red as fire. The two breathe heavily as they run through the streets, a worried expression on their faces. The girl leads the boy, holding his hand and not letting go of it.

“Hurry up, we need to get to the docks fast!” The girl shouts back to the boy.

“I... I am hurrying... but what's the rush? Other than the obvious.” Asked the boy, knowing someone is chasing after them.

He preferred not to think of the One-Armed Man, someone that chases after them, trying to kill them both. For their entire lives they have been running, trying to keep their distance from the man that hunts them. They were once a group of five, but things have happened over the years, getting separated from their other siblings and the one that guarded them getting killed. There was so much that happened, yet the two kept going, running for their lives and never turning back to fight the man. They hope he never catches up to them, but there is one obstacle ahead of them, getting off this island.

“You know one reason, the other is for...” She suddenly stopped and pointed to one of the ships. It was large, looking to hold fifty people. The sails would still be up, the crew still sleeping, at the moment. It was tied to one of the docks, the ships not having left the pier in a while. It is a brown old ship, there is writing painted on the side of it, the name of the ship. It was too dark for the two of them to see though, they won't know the name of it. There are also holes along the port and starboard side of the ship, allowing for cannons to poke through each of them.

“That, we're going to sneak on it and get further away from that psychopath than ever before.”

“But... what if he gets here before the ship leaves?” He asked, his left hand over his chest, right where his heart is, but it was on a different side of his chest, his heart appears to be on his right.

Their breathing is still heavy, they did do a lot of running, from one end of town to the other end. She turned to face the boy, placing her hands on his shoulders to reassure him that they will be alright. She would force a smile on her face, hoping she would be right about this, having heard rumors that the large ship was set to depart from the docks by first light.

“Look, I know it will leave soon, so we need to hurry up and get on there. I know you're worried about the others, about our siblings, but they can handle themselves. You and me, we need to get going and don't look back. Besides, he knows we're here, we have the land to our backs and the ocean in front of us, there's no where else we can run to.” She's right, there is nowhere else to run, they have to keep going forward.

The boy gives a nod of his head, lowering his hand and allowing her to discuss how they're to sneak on. This would likely be the hard part, sneaking on to a ship with a crew of fifty people aboard, and sleeping. Where would they even hide on the thing? Was there a good enough spot for them? They will have to get on and find out themselves.

“Alright, here's the plan, we will go into the water and grab the anchor chain. We'll climb up it and make our way inside. Once we're inside, we'll make our way to the room where they eat. We'll hide behind one of the barrels while they're awake and when they sleep, we gather food and find a better place to hide.”

“Alright, but what if their chef finds us behind the barrels?”

“He won't, we'll hide behind one of the ones that's barely used. And if we can't find a good place in the ship’s kitchen, then we'll look for something else, but right now, we'll just hide in there.”

It might be a good plan; he keeps up hope that they won't get caught though. He gives a nod of his head, letting her know that he is in with the plan. He looks to the ship and then to the water, taking in a deep breath, knowing there is one more step to this plan that needs to be done.
“So, are you ready for us to start? And don't forget to form your tail, since it's the water element, it will make us more resilient to the cold waters of the ocean.” She told him I hope it will work that way.

Another nod is given to her, not even needing to concentrate on what he was doing. Right where his tail bone is, a tail would start to grow, not a hint of pain on the child's face. Hi sister would have her own tail growing as well, but she would have a pained expression. It would take them mere seconds for the tail to be fully grown, for them anyways, they would smile a little bit. He didn't see that she had a pained expression on her face, so he wouldn't know that she was in pain moments ago. Their tails are longer than their bodies, able to reach the ground and stand up straight once more, to touch their foreheads, they also had hooks on the tips of them and an aqua color.

“Alright, now we're ready for the first part.” She said, soon walking towards the docks.
The sun was still in the middle of rising, but lights within the house were starting to light up. The pair took in a big gulp, ducking around a corner and looking around a little bit. When she saw the way was clear, she would signal for him to go on, letting him go first. Their movements were fluid, as though they had been practising this for years. He ran across the street, to the docks and came to a sliding stop, hiding behind a crate. He took the time to look around a little bit more, then gestured for her to follow. Not a single word was spoken as they moved, she repeated the same motions as he did.

He looked down into the ocean, taking in a few deep breathes, hoping she was right about their tails giving them enhanced water capabilities. If she was wrong, then this was going to be one cold dip into the water. He moved to the edge, slowly getting closer and looked down into it. There shouldn't be sharks this close to the shore, but he wanted to make sure there was no threat to them. When he saw that it was clear, or as clear as he could see, he would jump right in. The water felt cold, almost freezing him in place. He shivered a lot in the water, staying under though, as they needed to reach the other side. He heard a splash come from above him, looking up to see his sister having joined him and noticing she almost screamed from the frozen water.
They didn't have time to worry about that though, only time to get to the other side and up the anchor. She gestured to the rusted chain in the water, the brother taking note of her movements and began to swim. His tail swayed back and forth as he swam, giving him a boost in speed in the water. It was a short couple of seconds when they reached the anchor and grabbed it. They started to slowly pull themselves up, to get out of the frigid waters. He made sure to hurry, so his sister wouldn't have to wait too long to get on to something dried. His head poked out of the water soon, making him gasp for air, not used to swimming under water at his age.

As he pulled himself up, his tail would slowly disappear, making his way further up the chain. Step by step, he slowly made his way, and it wasn't long. He pulled himself into one of the holes of the ship, to get into the interior of it. Once inside, he would look around, to see what room he was in. He needed to get down to the kitchen, but he also needed to wait for his sister. He looked back, expecting to see her pop through the window soon, but nothing. Maybe she went into a different room, he'll just have to try and find his way to the galley on his own. As he looked around the room though, he realized what room he stumbled into. He is in the captain’s personal cabin, his eyes widening. He swiftly made his way for a closet, to hide himself, knowing the captain would awaken soon enough. He can only hope he chose a closet that was used the least, and that he doesn't get found soon.

He should have known it was the captain's quarters he leaped to when he jumped off the chain, but there were some questions that bothered him. What is the captain's quarters doing at the bow of the ship and not at the aft? Is this captain a crazy one? Or is he a captain that respects his crew enough to be around the same spot? These questions will have to wait a while to be answered, he just has to wait him out and hope for the best, and that his sister is fine.

The girl made it through a window, but when she leaped off the chain, a wind blew and forced her a little bit further than her brother. She ended up landing inside the crew cabin, seeing all of the crew members of the ship gathered in one spot. She swiftly dove under one of their beds, knowing they would awaken soon enough, and hoping they don't spot her. She was lucky that she hid under one of the skinnier of crew members, it meant more room for her. She held her breath as they woke up, getting ready for their workday. They all got out of their beds, each of them walking around the room and gathering the supplies they needed for the day.

When all of them were done, they all left the room, leaving her inside the cabin alone, and under a bed. Since they were all gone, she released a small sigh of relief, hoping her brother was somewhere safe. She can't move about the ship freely, stuck within this one room for the remainder of the day. She crawled out, looking around a little bit more, taking in the details of the room. All the clothes of the shipmates were scattered about, a bunch of slobs. She didn't want to have to touch their clothing, thankful that she never will have to do that kind of work. As she kept looking, she would spot something a little bit off, wherever a bed wasn't found, there would instead be a hammock hanging.

Each of their closets were closed, except for one, and something sparkled within it, catching her eye. She approached the closet, slowly opening it to see what it was that was inside the object that caught her eye. When it was opened, a cutlass falls to the ground, making her jump back a little bit. Normally, she wouldn't be surprised there was a sword aboard the chip, but this wasn't just a sword. This was a sword commonly used by pirates and she knows that her eyes looking up above deck as she hears them moving about. She and her brother, are aboard a pirate ship, it's no wonder they planned to depart as soon as possible, but does the people of the town know about them? She could only guess not, but what of her brother?

Wherever he was, he could be in trouble. He was never the best at hide and seek, she always found him right away. So, wherever he was, he might just be caught already. That's when she heard something, the voice of a man, gruff and loud, speaking to his crew.

“Weigh anchor men, raise the sails, we be blowing this town and getting outta here.”

As soon as the man made the orders, she would hear the anchor being raised. The flap of the sails being lowered from above, they're stuck out here now, stuck in the middle of the sea with pirates, and if they get caught, they might get killed. Continuing her walk around the room, she was trying to get as much exercise as she can right now. She walked around the room for a couple of hours and sat on one of the beds. Her legs swung for a while, nothing really happening at the moment, looking towards the ceiling of the deck. She wondered what the name of the ship was, since they didn't see it last night.

A loud noise was soon made that forced her to jump up. It was a cannon being fired, it sounded like someone being dropped or thrown to the ground. Maybe it was just one of the crew members being punished for going against the captain. She needed to find out though, glancing towards the door for a moment. She slowly slid down the bed and approached the door, listening for any crew members that might be outside the door. Even with all the creaking and swaying of the ship, she was able to tell there was no one on the other side now. She opened the door and stepped out, looking up to the deck above her, wondering what's going on.

“This here, sea dogs, is what we call a stowaway! And what do we do with stowaways?!” The captain's voice shouted, making her realize what was going on above her. Her brother was caught, and they were going to feed him to the fishes. She was thinking, soon about to run up to try and save her brother, but stopped when she heard the voice of another.

“Please... don't kill me, I heard rumors, that the one-armed man was on his way to the town you left. Please, I was just trying to get out of tha-” The next thing heard would just be a head rolling on the ground as the man was slain with haste.

She felt disgusted by what she heard, hearing more words from the captain soon enough, making her back away from the stairs.

“That's what we do with cowardly dogs like him, right maties? Now, back to work, the lot of you. I will be in me cabin, looking through some charts,”

All she would hear after that was some footsteps headed down the stairs, making her dash for the crew cabin once more. She swiftly, and silently, opened and closed the door, making sure no one saw her or heard her. This was just the beginning of their travels and the two were already separated. She didn't like this one bit, worried for her brother and what might be happening on his end, if anything at all. She walked over to one of the beds and sat one it once more, taking in a few deep breaths. It had been a few hours since she slept and she might need the rest for night fall, when she can travel around the ship without worry.

She crawled under the bed she hid under before and curled up some of the dirty clothes. She balled them into a nice little pillow, not the best in the world, but it works for her.

"Gaslyrok, please be someplace safe, and out of danger." She whispered to herself. It took a while, but she finally drifted off to sleep, knowing she's safe and the pirates will never find her.