Pawns: Three Kings Part 1

Splash

The young boy, who perhaps should be called a man judging by his already mature face, dove into the water gracefully from a wooden boat. The waves created by his entrance barely disturbed the surface of the water, and so the area stayed silent until…

“Augh” - The boy gasped for air as he resurfaced, pulling himself up onto the wooden boat, alongside with two fish hooked to his hip which were large enough to reach all the way to his knees. He sat down on edge of the boat as he regained his composure, looking at his haul, which included a dozen of fish, a couple of crustaceans and something that he was not sure if it should be classified as an animal or plant, yet despite the relatively impressive size of his haul, his eyes didn’t seem satisfied.

“Ah…” - he sighed - “it should be enough for today” - and so he took the oars in his hands and began to row.

After rowing for what seemed like an eternity the boy has finally made it back home. The huge ships near the alcove were imposing yet gave him a strange homely feeling, which even the boy found confusing. He soon landed on the beach, and began to walk towards the village with his whole haul.

As soon as he entered the village his vision was filled with people, old and young, working intensely. Be it weaving, smithing or cooking it seemed like everything was in full demand. Yet amongst them all a couple stood out, men with rugged faces, clad in leather clothes, staring with scornful looks at the boy, sometimes whispering something to each other.

The boy feeling their looks on him, sighed pitifully knowing how the rest of the day is going to look.

As he made his way throughout the town the frequency of the leathered men increased, but despite that none of them seemed to bother him personally, so he knew he’d get away with taking a small detour before reaching the final destination. After maneuvering through a couple of feeble looking shacks, making sure not to press too hard on the walls to avoid them collapsing, he arrived at a similarly shabby looking house. The door opened while creaking and his view was greeted with 2 children, a young boy and a slightly older looking girl, who both sat in front a fireplace as they seemed occupied with handiwork. At the sound of the door opening the children jolted backward but upon seeing who it was they ran toward the entrance.

Before she fully made it to the entrance the girl leaped at the door, screaming “Big Brother!!” as she flew. Eventually reaching the boy’s torso and wrapping herself around it.

Surprisingly despite the fishing basket weighing him down the boy didn’t stumble after being hit with the girl’s weight, and he just patted her head with his right hand as he looked down smiling.

“Welcome back…” - a quiet voice came from the timid looking boy, who covered his mouth with his long sleeve.

“Yeah…” - He said with a soft voice, while cracking a small smile.

“So did you find anything good?” - The girl who was still rooted to him said as she looked up, her face was a bit wet as it absorbed moisture from the still wet clothes.

“I would tell you if you let me come in…” - Said the boy in a joking manner, but the girl took the matter very seriously and after getting that revelation “Oh, that's right!” she quickly stepped and rubbed her face, now standing next to the timid boy.

All three of them made their way towards the fireplace. After they sat down, the boy began looking through the basket and taking out some of his catches, fish ranging in sizes, some slimy, some looking quite dry, crustaceans and even things that didn’t look edible. The children’s faces varied from sparkling with joy to filled with despair, depending on what was brought onto the table, but overall they looked pretty satisfied at the end of it all.

As the girl was looking through the food, she started to look more concerned “Are you sure the boss won’t be mad?”, as soon as she said that the timid boy also began to display signs of uneasiness.

“He won’t know about this if you eat it all haha” - said the boy, as he laughed, shifting the atmosphere back into normal - “Anyway, how’s Your mother today?”

The girl didn’t look too convinced about his words but as soon as her mother was mentioned she completely forgot about being unconvinced.

“She’s much better now!” - she said as she got up enthusiastically pushing the chair she was sitting on behind and slamming her hands on the table. “Come and say hi to Her, since You didn’t last time!”

“It’s fin-” - He tried to answer effortlessly but before he was able to finish, the timid boy that was now standing next to him pulled his shirt and looked at him with concern in his eyes. The boy shifted from his carefree expression to a more serious one and after a sigh a tired “Alright” left his mouth.

The girl was walking in front of both of them at a much faster pace, and soon reached the destination which seemed to be just a piece of cloth acting as an entrance, where she stared intensely at the pair walking. The two boys were lagging a bit behind, due to the taller boy matching his pace to the smaller one, but eventually they’ve also reached the end point.

The two children stayed behind as he entered through the cloth that was hanging by the doorframe. The room was mostly empty, bar for the bed in the corner, which was placed near a window that looked like it’d fall apart with a single strong gust of wind. He slowly made his way towards the bed, and soon in his vision came a sickly face of a woman, her eyes sunken deep and her skin pale, looking like she was clearly in pain, but that all the pain disappeared from her face when she saw him.

“NAME” - Despite her now looking much more vigorous, her voice still felt quite weak.

“Yeah…” - He responded, as he knelt down and grasped her hand which was sticking out of the blanket. It seemed like she tried to squeeze it hard but it didn’t cause any discomfort, due to her grip being quite weak.

“I’ve got the good stuff this time around, Aido and Khana seemed happy with it at least”

“Good” - She said with a stern tone - “ If they weren’t I’d have to get up and show them how to thank properly”

“Haha, I think they’d honestly take the beating with a smile on their face”

“Hoh? Is “Hand of the South” really not that scary anymore? I don’t remember you laughing when I caught you sneaking into Mr. Arkel’s expedition ship that one time…”

“I was astonished at how young and beautiful you were, that’s all...”

“So surprised with my beauty that you had to Run through the whole village market while flipping every stall before I caught on to you?”

“It was hard trying to find a perfect gift for someone like you, so it took me a while to look through all the options…”

“I see… So you’re saying I should’ve thanked you more diligently back then?”

“Well I’m sure I would've appreciated it a bit more than leaving me with the inability to sit for like a week…”

“Ahh” - the woman sighed tiredly as she smiled- “I wish you'd never caught on to my quick-wit style, nowadays it makes it much harder to get you to stumble on your words”

“Student becomes the master as they say…”

They both joked around, yet the atmosphere in the room was not that of a happy moment, but a rather melancholic feeling, which is why after a short break to catch her breath the woman asked with concern:

“But are you sure this is all right?”

The boy looked at her, his eyes tried to give the illusion of being confident, but there was some wavering to them “I didn’t catch what he asked for anyway, and It’s not the first time I give you this much food if he cared he’d do something about it already.”

“Hmm…” - The woman didn’t seem too convinced, but she gave in in the end - “I don’t think it's possible to win you over at this point but just get going now, I don’t want you risking it any longer”

“Yeah, I’ll see you around, all right?” - He said as he got back up

“Don’t say it with a tone like this, it makes it sound like I could lose…” - The woman was back to her joking and energetic tone

“That’s exactly why I said it, you’d beat the devil himself to prove me wrong” - the boy was now walking towards the door as he held his right hand up and waved with the back of it towards the woman on the bed.

The woman let one last smirk before closing her eyes and falling asleep.

He left through the cloth door and both Aido and Khana were waiting for him

“Did you see? Mom really has gotten better!” - The girl loudly exclaimed.

“Yeah I saw, almost as vigorous as she was back in the day” - Of course, the boy exaggerated but the children hearing that got really happy.

“She told me I need to go see the Boss now, and I’m not gonna worry her any more than she already is, so I’ll get going now…” The boy continued talking, he knelt down in front of the children and placed his hands on the shoulder of each one - “ She might not show it as often now, but she needs You as much as You need her, take care of her for me all right?”

The serious tone surprised the children at first, but they both shot each other a determined glance and answered “Of course!” simultaneously.

He then used their shoulders his hands were placed on as support for pushing himself back up, which made the children nearly fall over and as they both were looking down to the floor he put his hands on their head and patted them hard enough to cause their hair to get all messy

“I’ll see ya later!” - He said enthusiastically as he grabbed the fishing basket, put it on his back and left through the door.

The children were still fixing their hair and regaining their balance but as soon as they looked at each other both of them started laughing.

As soon as he left he started a fast stride back into the alley he came from, stride hard enough to mask the sound of knocking…

WIth his pace being fast it wasn’t long before the boy reached his destination, a pitched tent, surrounded by the same men in black leather from earlier, but this time none of them paid any attention to him, and instead they seemed to be occupied with themselves.

In front of the entrance stood two twins, each with a tattoo that mirrored the other, they kept glancing at each other and then at the boy, which just made him sigh before he asked them:

“Boss mad today?”

“That would be right” - the one on the left started, while the one on the right finished with “ Because of your incompetence”

The look on boy’s face dismissing the comments seemed really fake even to the twins -

“I'm sure he’ll understand, now can I get through?”

The twins looked at themselves again and moved out of the way, inside the tent was relatively dark compared to the outside, with only a few candles illuminating the room probably to limit the risk of something catching fire. In the center of it, a desk with a handful of books was placed, and amongst them a pair of legs could be seen, which stretched to the man sitting back in his chair. His hair, unkempt. His beard, dirty. His face, unsightly. But at this moment, there was no man more important in the village.

Their gazes met and the boy instantly tensed up as he began his report:

“Here’s today’s haul, Majority of it is fish like you’ve asked but there was too much mer crabs, I know You don’t like the taste but they’re easy to store they should be fine on the next jour-” - He was interrupted

“Did you catch any black pearls?” - The man instantly asked, dismissing pretty much anything the boy brought up

But he knew it was coming, the famous black pearls that the Florencian navy uses in their guns and canons, an ingredient indispensable to a pirate who he was negotiating with, if it even could be called that.

“N-No… There’s none here just yet, the flood is coming in a few years and hunting them based just on the records is basically impossible…” - The boy answered timidly

“I'm sure you can do it, greatest fisherman of Alborst …” There was no joking intent behind what he said, the boy knew it was a threat.

“Living up to my title huh? I’ll get to it as soon as the sun rises again”

“It’s still up isn’t it”

Silence filled the tent as soon as he said that

“I'm sure those brats would appreciate the food a bit more after they learn how hard it is to ge-”

“I get it” - The serious tone coming from the boy’s mouth shocked even the pirate captain - “Just leave them out of this”

As the boy said those words he took the now empty fishing basket, and made his way out. He could feel the gaze of the Pirate on his back, but he was too preoccupied with his feelings to feel threatened by it. The twins looked at him as he went out, and after glancing at each other they just started smiling.

It wasn’t long before the boy made it to the beach again, pushed the boat and began rowing back to where he came from. This time with both determination and frustration in his eyes. He traveled further than last time, around him the vast ocean. As he sat at the edge of the boat he stared into the blue abyss, gathering his thoughts and then he jumped right into it.

First time, he dived as deep as he could, scouting for anything that seemed like it’d have black pearls in it. He swam back up, and before he even caught his breath properly, he dived again, and again, and again. Before he even noticed, next time he resurfaced alongside the stale air from his lungs, vomit left too. And again, and again, and again. Even though he was beginning to lose consciousness, and had faded in and out every time he resurfaced, only saved by the fact that the boat was heavy enough to not topple over with him resting on it on one side, he kept diving back in. The faces of everyone in the town have plagued his mind, sure, but sometime during his task, he noticed that something was wrong. The water felt… different. It wasn’t his first time in these waters, yet the coldness of even the deepest water felt so unfamiliar to him that it made him nervous with each further dive.

“Ohh” - he gasped for air as he resurfaced, the nervousness from the depths overcoming his feelings of sickness - “Sun is nearly down, this is the final one..” - he reassured himself.

As he made it down the depths, he noticed something unusual, a strange animal floating at the bottom, but it was still too far for him to reach it, especially in his exhausted state, so he hesitantly made it back up. His basket was loaded with some of the interesting things he caught, even if none of it was what the boss was looking for, he was sure that tomorrow he’d bring back something that was worth his time.

Normally the journey back home feels shorter, but his determination from earlier was gone now and combined with his tired arms, it all made the boat swim quite slowly. Nevertheless, he eventually made it back home. The sun was just about to set, casting a gold glimmer onto his path. “Maybe he’ll think I actually spent so long on the sea and not that It took me ages to get back”, the boy thought to himself, with his happy attitude being back after his finding, but the feeling of nervousness still lingered somewhere back in his mind.

This time he didn’t give himself the luxury of taking the long way out, so he started walking towards the tent straight away.

The village was still as active as ever, the people from earlier still doing the tasks from earlier, though clear signs of exhaustion could be seen on their faces, they still performed their tasks diligently.

The tent finally came into his view, and with it the pair of twins who were now smiling more than before

“Why so happy of all times? Your shift about to end?” - The boy joked to the twins

“”Worry not” - this time the twin on the right started while the left one finished - “We’re just happy to see you back…”

The boy chuckled under his nose as he made his way past them, but he soon moved back into having a serious expression.

As he walked inside, the same view as before could be seen. The captain was still sitting with his legs up on the table, but this time, there were other pirates surrounding him, 2 on each his right and left side. The boy knew that the atmosphere this time was going to be even more tense, but before he even was able to speak about his haul the twins entered and stood right behind him, making him even more alert.

“Here's the rest of today’s haul…” - he said as he placed the basket on the floor in front of him, all while keeping his eyes locked with the pirate chief.

The chief signaled with his right hand and one of the men on his right walked towards the basket, picked up a small fish and tossed it towards the chief, who after looking at it, proceeded to bite of its head, and while still chewing the meat and bones asked:

“What about the black pearls?”

The boy knew this question was coming and he left out a small grunt when the chief asked that, but his response was calm “ There were none today, but I think I might’ve found them, their lair was still too deep for me to check today but tomor-”

“So you didn’t get any” - The voice was much more serious than last time

“No..” - The boy answered hesitantly but soon followed up with - “ But I’ll get them tomorrow, I promise!”

“How many times have you promised me this?”

The boy could say nothing so he stayed silent and looked towards the ground. The man stared at him disappointed and this time he signaled the two lackeys on the left, who reached behind themselves and picked up a large sack, soon after they emptied it in front of the boy. His eyes widened in surprise, he started clenching harder and harder and his face formed into a terrified shape.

In front of him were the two children, tied with ropes around their mouth to prevent them from screaming, their legs and arms were also bound. Their eyes were still red from crying, and bruises and scratches were seen on whatever skin they were showing, but they were still breathing.

The boy was about to move over to check on them but the two twins behind him placed their hands firmly on his shoulders, keeping him in place, so all he could do was talk

“ You’ve said you won’t touch them, we had a deal!” - Their hands could contain his movement but not his anger.

“I just treat promises with the same care as you..” - The chief said smugly - “ I had to take a bit more of regular haul from you this time since you fell short time and time again” - his finger pointing now at the pile vomit in the corner of the tent, which was still mostly undigested and just looked like mushed up food.

The boy knew what this meant but despite knowing he’s powerless in this situation, he became angrier and more frustrated, the twins could feel that so they tightened their grip.

“I’m not sure how long I’ve been here at this point, how many failed deliveries you’ve made. I guess it’s finally time to get all the gifts you’ve given out back…” - The chief continued his rant, and was now smiling as he said - “But how can I get the food that’s gone now..”

The man didn’t expect and answer

“Ah that’s right! How could I forget it’s not gone! It’s part of the villagers now isn’t it? I just have to take it in its current form! But man, years of under delivering surely won’t get bought off with just an arm or a leg…”

As he said this he looked in the eyes of the boy, which just frustrated him even more. The chief extended his left hand towards his comrades and they passed him a rusty knife. He stood up, and walked around the table towards the two children. As he got closer and closer the twins noticed they had to use more and more force, soon the knife was in front of the girl’s face and the boy’s feelings became strong enough that he was just about to escape the twins’ grasp and launch himself towards the captain. Yes, just about… since when he finally reached that point, a giant explosion could be heard, which threw everyone into chaos. The pirate chief stood up instantly looking around, and the twins loosened their grip, but the boy was still too confused to get out of their now weaker grip.

“What was that!?” - The chief screamed as he walked towards the entrance, no one answered him , they all looked confused at each other - “Everyone come! Leave the brats behind” - his tone was much more commanding than before, but the nervousness behind his voice was clear.

The boy ignored the men as they walked past him, he rushed towards the children as soon as the twins let him go. His hands were shaking but they were still dextrous enough to untie the ropes that the kids were put into. He started with their mouths, and as soon as they were free to move both of them started coughing

“W-We ate it all, haha “ - the girl said with a weak voice while laughing, perhaps to hide her pain

“Yeah…” - He answered emotionlessly, while continuing to untie them, this time freeing their hands.

“ That big slimy one tasted really bad, isn’t that right Aido”

“That’s true, haha…” - the timid voice confirmed, though the laugh was followed by a cough

“Is that so…” - he said as he untied the rope from their legs

“But I’m sure mom would be proud, man that much food all at once I think it’s good that we spat it out otherwise me and Aido would look like grandpa Arkel, tha- “ the girl’s cheerful rant was interrupted when the boy pulled her and her brother in closer to hug them.

Their heads resting on his shoulders, though he hugged them tightly, they didn’t mind the pain. But as soon as the words “I’m sorry…” came out of his mouth, both of the children couldn’t hold back their tears anymore.

“I was so scared!” - The girl screamed, her words muffled with so many tears flowing down her face.

“I know…I'm sorry…” - That’s all the powerless boy could say to them, his voice starting to break down as well.

“They took us… and then and then… “ - The girl continued to speak but soon after she went back to wailing

This time he didn’t even usher a response he just hugged them tighter, they continued to sit together like this for a while, while all of them regained their composure, which is when he asked the siblings

“Is Your mom safe?”

“Yeah.. they took just us…” - The girl answered with a clearer composure now

“I see.. That’s good… I know it’s a bit selfish of me, but can you trust me this one last time? - The boy pushed the children back so they could see his face. - “I want you to stay here and hide, I’ll go for Your mom, and we’ll all get away from all this”

They didn’t like that idea at all, but seeing his determined face they couldn’t refuse. He got up and patted their heads. As they sat in middle of that empty tent, he began to scour through to find something useful, a metal chest place and a knife, he took both of them and made his way towards the exit, but as he was going to exit, Aido grabbed his shirt, not with enough force to stop him, but nevertheless he stopped to look at him.

“What’s wrong?” - He asked with concern, - “ I know it’s gonna be scary, but I’m sure you and Khana can find the best hiding spot, you learned from me after all”

The boy didn’t say anything, but he continued to grip the shirt, so Ecram started to reassure him more:

“ I don’t plan on fighting, but it’d be stupid to not take anything with me. You never know what’s happening out there right now, I’ll be back soon, I promise…”

“Stay safe…” - the boy let out those words as he loosened his grip

“Of course!”

As soon as he left the tent, the sound of fighting became much more prominent. There were bodies lying on the floor next to the tent, bodies of the same pirates who scared him not even an hour ago. The golden glimmering light was still there, giving him the final push that he needed, stopping his shaky hand as he gripped the knife tightly.

Sounds of fighting could be heard as he ran across towards the center of the village to figure out what actually went down. When he tried passing in between the buildings, in a tight alley, he met his first hurdle. One of the pirates coated in black leather stared at him down, but his eyes were filled with more terror than the boys’. Both of them stopped in their tracks, and the man panicking lifted up his sword with the intent to strike him down as he approached, his eyes wavering even more now. But there was only way for the boy, as he gulped he launched himself forward with full speed, and luckily he made it to the man faster than he could bring his sword down. The knife he held in his hands was now pierced into the man's chest. He held the knife with both his hands and continued running eventually bringing both of them out of the alleyway they were in, and landing on the floor. As his eyes wandered down he saw the terrified face of the man who was now dead, as he layed in a puddle of his own blood. This sight terrified him so much that his body froze up, and since he also instinctively pulled up, taking the knife with him, which just made the blood splatter even more. As he desperately tried to regain his composure while gasping for air, he finally realized what was happening around him.

Fighting was happening everywhere, swords, fists, even random objects being used to beat each other. But something felt off, even to the boy, the pirates he feared before, were being completely overwhelmed by the new invaders, if anything it seemed like this wasn’t even a challenge to them, but a chore. Some of them were trying to fight back, but even when their swords clashed they were quickly overpowered, some ran as fast as they could, stumbling over themselves but those were shot down.

The confusion on the boy’s face grew higher, but he didn’t have the luxury of sitting and observing so he once again went on the move towards the center of the town, which is where he’d be able to access the shortcut from before.

He dodged people as he ran, sometimes pulling them in the direction where bullets came from to avoid getting hit, but despite all the effort he put in, it didn’t seem like he dodged the invader’s attacks but rather, that they were purposefully missing him. Nevertheless he finally made it to his destination, which is when the most surprising view came to him. The powerful twins were knocked out, dragged by an even bigger man whose hands were big enough to grasp their whole heads in each of them. The same pirate chief whose presence was terrorizing the town was also down for the count, being held up in the air by his collar by one of the invaders, who upon locking eyes with the boy dropped the pirate chief to the floor.

All their terrors gone, the looming presence that made their existence hell, wiped away in a flash. This wasn’t just what the boy was feeling, everyone who lived in that village felt the same way. As the boy watched the rest of the townsfolk, tears formed in their eyes, tears of relief, of happiness and it wasn’t long before all of them started cheering. Amidst the boy’s vision, a familiar figure seemed to appear in front of one of the houses, the figure of a woman, using the nearby walls to help herself stand despite her feeble character, and upon her face, a smile, unlike the one she showed him when he visited her earlier, this one was truly genuine, which made him truly believe it was over.

But, as his gaze finally made it back to his saviors he realized something was wrong, the look on their faces wasn’t that of satisfaction, but of confusion, they all looked at each other not quite knowing what the villagers were talking about. Their confusion didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the villagers, they knew what the confusion of the invaders meant, what leaving them alive meant, their faces which were filled with hope just a few seconds ago were starting to go back to their old expressions, which were engraved into them at some point. At that sight, the boy clutched the knife he nearly let go of tighter, as he grit his teeth, all the feelings that were still bottling up for these past years were still not let go, just a tiny more push, and then, he saw her face again. Face of the mother of the siblings he left behind in the tent, face of the woman who raised him the best way she could, and also, the face of a woman who became completely hopeless, her eyes sunken dark and devoid of life, which is when his grip tightened to the point his fingernails pierced through his skins and it started bleeding. The feelings he held all those years finally left his heart:

Heh.. hahaha” - his manic laugh echoed through the now silent village, which earned him the gaze of everyone that was present - “ Are you fucking kidding me? All this time, we waited for this moment and this is how it happens? Stop fucking around, all of these people haven’t had a moment of peace for years, when was the last time you think they all sat to dinner without worrying something is going to happen tomorrow?I didn’t even manage to teach Aido about the best fishing spots yet…” - The boy rambled hysterically

“What is he doing?” - The giant man who took down the twins whispered to the invader who held up - “ No clue” - he whispered back, but neither broke eye contact with the boy. And neither did he

“I won’t allow it… I won’t… My name is Ecram, the greatest fisherman of VILLAGE NAME, and to take this village, you have to beat me!” - The challenge finally left his mouth.

The silence after everyone noticed that he stopped talking didn’t last long, as the invaders soon burst into laughter, all but two of them who the boy was staring down, while the rest of the village hung their heads down, purely because they were ashamed they couldn’t stand up with him.

The man who held the pirate chief up in the air put his right hand up in the air, and everyone stopped laughing instantly, their faces changing to shock. The giant man next to him asked “Are you serious about this captain?”, and while his voice didn’t seem concerned about his comrade, it was definitely full of surprise. “Yeah, it might be fun right?” The so called captain answered enthusiastically which the giant man just sighed to.

The boy was still standing ready for the challenge, and the man answered his call. Their eyes still locked together. To the man perhaps it was nothing more than just a game, but to the boy it was everything. The man took a step forward and proceeded to introduce himself as well:

“My name is Avellion, I humbly accept the duel for this village” - His voice mimicking the boy’s tone, but in a bit of a mocking manner, which earned him quite a few chuckles from the rest of the invaders.

The boy was ready to go at a moment's notice, the man raised his arms to around shoulder length and spread them, probably showcasing he didn’t plan on using any tricks. And so their fight began. Ecram’s run towards Avellion wasn’t the most graceful but it did its job, The slashes with his knife seemed a bit chaotic but it looks like he put some thought into it. The first thrust towards his left eye was simply avoided by Avelion twisting his body and letting the knife fly right before his eyes. The force from the thrust made the boy stumble but from his position the next slash was aimed right below the ribs, to which the man gently jumped back to avoid. The boy noticed his miss and flipped the knife around the top of his hand, now wielding it like some sort of stake, and launched it towards the man’s stomach, but the force of his previous jump was enough that even with the boy’s extended hand the knife didn’t reach.

“Come on, You look like You’re the challenger here” - Avellion taunted him, but he seemed to be enjoying himself.

The boy didn’t answer, he pressed on, but the taunts got to his head, this time the knife in his hand seemed to go into all directions indiscriminately, which despite making Avellion’s job of evading easier, seemed to disappoint him quite a bit. Eventually he let out an audible sigh, and disappeared from Ecram’s vision. “ Where is he? He was just in front of me” These were the only thoughts he managed to form in that short timespan, since mere milliseconds later, avellions hand reappeared holding the boy’s face, and in even shorter time after that he was thrown with enough force to hit the ground causing him to spin the air, and eventually hit the wall of one of the houses , where he made a dent and and then fell to floor once again.

The look of disappointment spread on the avellions face onto the giant man as well, while the rest of the invaders seemed quite satisfied with that outcome, their cheers roaring. The villager’s had no more tears to shed, their hopes once again defeated.

“Get the things for the boarding ready” - The disappointed voice of Avellion was directed at the giant man, who answered with “Yes captain” - with a similarly disappointing tone. Both of them walking away from the fight

But it was not over yet…

The voices echoed in Ecram’s head, his eyes not being able to focus, and his mouth being filled with mud and blood. Despite that, the life in his eyes wasn’t gone yet, as in his mind memories of the life everyone would need to go back to flashed through, he started mustering the remaining strength he had. His fists clutching tightly as he got up, Slowly but surely. His grunts and coughs were loud enough for everyone to hear.

The two were still walking away at a slow pace chatting leisurely..

“Have You had Your fun yet?” - the giant man asked

“No… But something else came to my mind, I need to talk to you once all of this is done”

“Isn’t it already done?” - he said with a confused voice, but was met with silence.

Blood, sweat and tears all mixed on the boy’s face, as he exerted himself to get up one single time. His heavy breathing masking the sound of Avellion walking away, but despite not being able to confirm it himself, he felt their distance growing apart.

“Are you smiling?” The giant man asked his captain

“Just your imagination” - Avellion responded, to which the giant man just shook his head and sighed.

And then… He stood, wavering, bloody and bruised, and yet in that state it was the first time the invaders thought they could lose. Their cheerful laughter from earlier turned into an eerie silence. When all other noise stopped both the men who were walking away now stood in place, but their backs were still facing the boy.

“Avellion!’ - The voice echoed intensely throughout the village - “Our fight isn’t over yet!”

Upon hearing this the smirk on Avellion’s face was no longer deniable, he turned around to face the boy and quickly answered his challenge “Very well! You’ll get the honor of what it means to face “The Leviathan”!”. Although his tone still felt a bit mocking, it seemed like there was indeed some seriousness behind it.

The boy was barely standing, pushing with one of his hands on his leg to help himself keep balance and with the other, he pointed the blade of the knife towards his enemy. Everyone was watching intensely, the only noises were Avellion’s slow footsteps and the boy’s loud breathing, but neither of them could hear them.

The distance between them was getting smaller and smaller, and as that happened, the boy seemed to drown in Avellion’s gaze, His deep azure eyes which made oceans seem shallow were staring him down, which caused him to struggle to breath. It seemed like he was being dragged down somewhere, but then it finally happened…

Avellion stopped in his tracks, despite still being pretty far away from the boy. His eyes became much more serious which caused Ecram to tense into a defensive stance. Avellion lifted his left arm, and with a simple diagonal motion of his finger, the boy was sliced in the same direction. The knife he was holding was shattered in half, the metal plate he put on earlier in the tent cut through like butter. His skin oozed blood as he fell to his knees, and then to the floor. The light that was previously flickering in his eyes, now extinguished completely, all happened so fast that the boy didn’t even have time to process what happened.

Despite the scene that just took place the place was still silent, neither the invaders nor the villagers made any sound. Avellion turned around and began walking towards the beach, his face this time filled with satisfaction. And so the duel for the village was over, and with it a new path opened. A path which would shape the world forever, unbeknownst to those who took it…

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Smell of salt rushed to the boy’s nostrils, just enough to wake him but not get him moving, though soon after that the bed he was placed in rattled, throwing him onto the wooden floor, which finished the job of waking him up. As he writhed in pain from falling he started looking around the room, which didn’t give off the most hospitable vibes due to it just having storage lying around, yet there was some sense of calmness as he looked at the wooden crates and boxes.

As he gazed around the room he eventually made it back to himself, where he saw the large amount of bandages around his chest. As the slash from earlier came into his mind, he tried to touch where he believed it happened but due to the pain he moved back his hand reflexively.

“Where am I?”, his confusion finally escaped his mind as he asked himself, not that he expected an answer. Using the bed as help he pushed himself and stood up. He slowly made his way towards the door he spotted while looking earlier.

After stumbling and finally reaching his destination, he pushed the door open and was instantly blinded by the sunlight due to his eyes being still accustomed to the dark room he was in, which persisted for a short while even after he used one of his arms to cover them.

Once they started to adjust, he also started to notice the intensity of everything else, the smell of the sea, sounds of people walking, pulling ropes and throwing things around. As everyone seemed to be busy, no one paid any attention to him even when they nearly bumped into him, to which they just angrily said something like “Watch it kid!” or simply grunting angrily.

Eventually the faces of the people on the ship started to click in the boy’s head, most of them were the same invaders that came to his village during the attack. Upon realizing this, he tensed up involuntarily, looking for a way to get off the ship, tracing a path which would avoid most of the enemies in his mind. Just as he was about to commit to one of his plans, a huge hand gripped his shoulder, as soon as he turned around the giant man from earlier came into view:

“Moving about already, huh? Bit early, but that’s fine Boss told me to show you around, let’s go” - The words that came out of his mouth didn’t sound like a suggestion but they had a sense of gentleness behind them.

He knew he couldn’t get away so he complied with the instructions, and they walked leisurely around the ship as they chatted, well at least the giant man did. From one room to another, “Here’s the storage, most of the things here are shared so if you leave something here don’t expect it to last long” to a different one “ You can sleep here, don’t think there’s anything to cover yourself up with but it doesn’t get too cold so You’ll be fine”. As they walked the man explained each part of the ship, as the boy listened without really responding. They eventually made it out to the main part of the ship once again, where the giant man looked back at the boy and sighed.

“Such a pain… What was it? Ecram? i’m Zando, good show back there” - He said as he extended his hand

The boy looked at it hesitantly but soon after he met the handshake, both of their grips being firm.

“What do You actually want from me? What happened to everyone from the village?”

“Hoh, got Your spirit back?”

“I really don’t have time for this” - he said as he was forced to stop the tremble in his voice.

“Neither do I, I think the time is about right, let’s go meet man of the hour, he’ll take on from here”

As they slowly walked up the stairs to an upper portion of the ship, the man who defeated him slowly came into the boy’s view. He was discussing something with one of the crewmates, but as soon as he saw the two of them he quickly hushed the person he was talking with away. Now that he had a good look at Avellion, he seemed only a few years older than the boy, which surprised him.

“It’s my favorite duo! How did you like the ship tour?”

“Right I’m sure he enjoyed it, pulling him away from the great attractions like the moldy storage rooms was harder than skinning northern florencian sharks. I’m going back to my own ship, call me if you need anything else” - The giant man said as he turned around and began walking away

“Wait Zando, I still need to talk to You about something” - Avellion stopped him

“All right, just make it quick”

“Don’t worry it won’t take long, I have stuff I need to as well”

‘Just get to i-” The giant

“What happened with Alborst ” - Ecram’s serious tone interrupted the conversation between the two of them

“Straight to it huh? I guess it makes sense, in any case we “cleaned up” the previous “owners” and left, bu-”

“I see… Thank you” - The voice that came out of Ecram’s mouth was truly filled with gratefulness - “But I’ll be leaving now”

Avellion smiled at the boy saying that but soon he began speaking again:

“I left it alone because I try to not destroy things of my subordinates, helps keep the morale up you know?”

“Subordinates? What are you talking about, I never said anything about joining up with you.” - the boy said with confused tone

“That’s right, You didn’t, but I did. Believe it or not that whole duel performance was pretty impressive, enough for the greatest fisherman of Alborst to be worth the rest of the people that live there, to me at least. I thought You’d appreciate my offer.”

“You can’t be serious. Are you insane? You expect me to join up with someone who nearly killed me, and to become some sort of psycho who just goes around killing innocent people? “ - The boy’s tone was brimming with anger at this point

“Now now, not every relationship has a good start, didn’t You ever become friends with people you first hated? ”

“This isn’t the same…”

All of them were now silent, Ecram clutched his fists as he stared towards the ground, Zando continued to observe in silence, switching his focus from the boy to Avellion, who was still completely relaxed.

“Well, if You really wanna go back home, feel free, we can even give You a ride and then You’ll nicely explain to the rest of the people that you traded their freedom for those morals of Yours”

The boy’s eyes widened once he heard this, but soon after he was gritting his teeth, and after his internal struggle was visible on his face to all those around him, he shook his head and stared into Avellion’s eyes, who was resting on the ship’s railguard.

“I’ll do it…”

Avellion moved from the rail guard he was resting on and placed one of his hands on the boy’s shoulder as he was walking past

“See, I knew you’d agree to join”

He soon after let go of the boy and continued speaking as he was going away “Zando is gonna show you all the basics, I have some things that need to be taken care of so enjoy your new life”

“Huh?” - The giant man broke from his uninterested stance - “Did you really tell me to stay back just so I can babysit him?”

“Who Knows?” - Avellion said with a joking tone

Both of them stared at each other equally as confused , but after Zando took a good look at the MC, he sighed and stretched back of his own head:

“Well looks like You’re stuck with me for now kid”

As both of them resigned themselves to their fate they got interrupted one final time

“Oh yeah I forgot!” - Avellion shouted as he turned - “Kid, Welcome to “The Leviathan’s” Crew!”

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