Pawns Three Kings part 2

“I want the Leviathan’s head here, dead or alive”

The words of an older woman reverberated through the room, which was filled with beautiful paintings, statues and furnishings, much unfitting for the barbarian looking men sitting inside of it. Some were leaning back in the expensive looking chairs with their feet on the table in the middle, while others were stuffing their faces with equally expensive looking meat.

“All right, all right, we know what the deal is, I know You’re old but You don’t have to be a nagging hag”

“You’ve got quite a sharp tongue Mr. Strein, would you like to test it against Florencian craftsmanship, I can assure You that it’s top quality.”

“I got quite a taste of those last time…” - The man joked as he showcased the giant scar that stretched from his chest all the way through his neck up to his jaw.

“I’m glad you share the sentiment of the quality of our goods then, now can I take that as Your acceptance of our offer?”

“Well, the initial deal was different wasn’t it? The “3 Scourges of the Seas” hunt for a single fish, but I’m not seeing “The Arctic Fang” anywhere.”

“The original offer didn’t include me finding the Leviathan for you, but It matters not, he knew this offer doesn’t last forever, his absence is the answer, if he tries to show up now the only bed we’ll offer him is the one in a prison cell. Or are you saying you’d lose to “The Leviathan” without help?” - The voice that came out of the old woman’s mouth was clearly mocking him

The man looked at her while smiling but he didn’t answer the question - “ In any case, We’ll just split his part of the reward between ourselves”

“If some money is all it takes for You to deal with that thing then feel free.”

“All right, well the sooner we’re done with this the better” - Strein said as he stood up, soon rest of the men sitting followed - “ Do We get to use like a secret exit of Yours?”

The woman sighed - “Just follow the guards outside the room, special arrangements have been made to allow for this”

The men left the room soon after that, and the woman took a seat on one of the chairs, her posture breaking down from being tense, and after letting out a big breath she started speaking to a girl who was standing near the wall as the whole situation unfolded:

“I’m sorry You had to see this Miridia…”

“No- no it's fine I don't mind, It’s part of the deal after all…” - the girl signaled her hands that everything was fine as she approached the old woman.

“I insisted to Your father that Your Brother should come instead but he was really set on sending You. What a cruel man he is, doesn’t he know beautiful ladies like You shouldn’t be put to hard work…” - She said as she started squeezing cheeks of the girls who didn’t seem to enjoy it a lot but still didn’t pull back

“Haha, You’re still beautiful Yourself GRANDMA?, If a little bit of work is gonna make me look like You when I’m older I’d be happy.”

“Oh what a sweet girl you are! I wish you were my child!” - The old woman said as she rubbed her own cheeks with the girls

“Don’t You say that to everyone…” - The girl asked jokingly but she did seem to take the old woman’s message to be pretty genuine

“Well… Yes, but that’s beside the point.”

The two of them chatted away for a bit longer as they walked around the beautiful palace. Neither of them seemed to pay too much attention to the intricate works of art around them and their focus seemed to be mostly on each other. In what felt like a short while to them, they reached the main entrance

“Stay safe on Your Journey, it’s such a shame we can’t send You off properly but if anyone knew who we’re dealing with I’m sure it’d cause chaos…” - The old woman said with concern

“I know I know, once I get off the ship it’s pretty much just a straight road to the capital”

“Did Your Father not set up any escorts for You once You reach the land?”

“Nah, we’re trying to keep it a secret after all right?”

“I guess that’s true, in any case, be well on Your Journey”

The two of them said goodbyes to each other and Miridia started moving towards the secret harbor. Her steps were light despite the fast pace, while she gazed at the city that reflected the moonlight straight into her eyes she nearly tripped which caused her to lose her balance for a couple of seconds, but ultimately she regained it.

Eventually she reached the goal, which seemed to be just a small boat with basic provisions and a small sword inside of it.

“I know we’ve contributed more than agreed to take down “The Leviathan” but couldn’t they at least prepare something safer…” - The girl muttered to herself as she poked the boat with a stick that was nearby.

After deciding that her inspection was thorough enough the girl tossed the stick away and jumped into the boat, which shaked and creaked quite a bit but in the end stabilized itself. Once she regained her balance from the jump, Miridia picked up the nearby sword and cut a rope that bound the boat to a PLIER?, she then uttered some indescribable words under her breath, which seemed to get the boat moving.

For a while she sat motionless on as she drifted away from the city, but once it came out of sight she took a good look around her and untied a piece of cloth that was tied to her arm, she carefully placed it in her cupped arms, as she unwinded it a shiny piece of metal illuminated the boat, it seemed to move around by itself, towards a certain direction..

“All right, it’s still here..” The girl took a sigh of relief upon seeing it and began to wrap it around again.

Once she was done, her tense expression loosened and she laid down on the floor of the boat, which despite not leaking still felt pretty moist and uncomfortable.

As time passed she tried to fall asleep, twisting around into many different positions, but eventually she settled on one which included laying on her back while keeping the legs on one of the seats on the boat.

But despite her satisfaction, the boat began to move more and more, though her irritation wasn’t enough to cause her to move just yet. Yet the boat continued to shake, and her feelings began to change to those of concern, as the water near her also began to make loud noises of movement. It wasn’t long before the whole area around was shaking violently but then it all suddenly stopped.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief, but then in an instant a set of giant jaws ripped through the front of the boat from below. Luckily the girl’s sleeping position allowed her to kick off of the boat seat into the air before her legs were bitten off.

The boost’s front was now completely chopped off, and as it sank the back of it which the girl was now standing on got up higher and higher, allowing her a better view of the sea around her, which was filled with what seemed to be shark fins, circling all round her.

“Shit” - these were the only words that came out of the girl’s mouth before she leaped to avoid another attack.

This time the shark came from an angle facing towards the girl but it was clear its aim was the boat itself, she jumped over it again and as she did she tried to slash its back using the sword from the boat, but it just bounced off without doing any damage. While she was still in the air the shark that jumped wanted to smash her with its fin, she used it as a foothold to jump high into the air again.

DIrectly below her one of the sharks kept its mouth wide open waiting for her to fall into it, however the girl didn’t seem to bother and instead seemed quite happy with that outcome.

As she fell and got closer and closer, a certain blue light began to form in the shark’s mouth, eventually forming into what seemed to be 2 people wearing full-clad armor, they seemed to hold the shark’s mouth open. The shark seemed to try to close its mouth but their force held it open, as the girl got closer and closer, one of the suits of armor moved one of his hands near its hip and seemed to materialize a spear that was now pointing inside the shark’s mouth. With the built-up momentum the girl landed on the spear, thrusting it deep into the shark's mouth and jumped up once again. The shark writhed in pain for a while but then its movement stopped completely and it was now floating belly up, on which the girl landed. The soldiers who were just a second ago in the shark’s mouth seemed to disappear completely.

Some of the blood from the shark oozed onto the girl’s face so she wiped with back of her right hand. As she stared at the rest of the monsters that awaited her next move, the moonlight behind illuminated the area, until something obscured it…

By the time the girl turned her head around to see what it was, she was already struck with enough force to send her flying, as she skipped on the water’s surface like a rock before eventually coming to a stop and starting to sink. The girl quickly regained her composure and floated back to the surface as she tried to catch her breath.

The salty water and blood got in her eyes, causing her vision to be blurry, but even with that she could tell that the monster before her wasn’t anything she had seen before. Its eyes illuminating with the same brightness as the moon behind it, the tentacles hunting all of the sharks that were present, some getting hit through with its sharp ends of tentacles with deadly precisions, while others were pulled out of the water and crushed.

The girl’s eyes filled with terror at the sight, but upon looking back at her armband, she gripped it tightly, shook her head and her face was once again filled with determination. As the beast was busy with killing the remaining opponents, it failed to notice the soldiers manifesting in water, the girl used her remaining strength to pull herself up to stand on their shoulders as they swam in the water.

All distractions were gone, the beast’s eyes were now locked with the girl’s, as she gripped the sword in her hand tightly she began to run forward, with each step another soldier appearing beneath her feet. The creature’s tentacles launched forward, one by one. She was able to redirect their direction with her sword, but each time she did so she slowed down for a bit.

Then once she got close enough, the next tentacle that was launched towards her was her gateway, instead of redirecting it with her sword, she waited for it to get close, at which point the soldiers beneath feet launched her above the attack. The monster realized what she was planning and tried to retract its tentacle, but she was moving faster than it anticipated. She cut along the tentacle with her sword as she ran towards the monster's face. Eventually reaching its face, at which point she turned the sword and tried to thrust it with both of her hands into the monsters eye, but before she was able to do it a sharp pain to her stomach caused her to lose grip on the sword, and before she realized she was lifted up in the air just like those sharks from earlier.

She tried to struggle but it seemed in vain as the creature didn’t seem to have problems with limiting her movements at all. Despite that, it didn’t seem like the girl gave up just yet…

As the creature moved her closer to its eye, both of them stared at each other, her small eyes contrasting the giant eyes of the monster, bigger than her head, and yet there was strange sense of familiarness behind them, for both of them it felt like only the other one existed, but because of that the monster didn’t notice something. The girl’s arm’s were free, and as she slowly muttered something to herself under her breath, the fire that the monster saw in the girl’s eyes grew more and more intense, but then the heat in front of its left cheek made it realize, that there was another fire forming, though it was too late.

“Just burn away…” - As soon as the girl said those words and closed her eyes, the ball of flames that appeared in the monster’s blind spot launched straight towards its face and exploded instantly.

The monster writhed in pain, thrashing the girl it still held firmly in its grasp, smashing her in and out of the surface of the water, but eventually it let go, and her body began to drift towards the bottom of the ocean.

As she sank deeper and deeper below she began to lose consciousness, the monster that was still near the surface of the water seemed to still be in pain from the attack, despite the situation she was in, she didn’t feel sad, she didn’t cry, all she wanted was to rest.

“Still kicking huh? You Monster…” - These were the final thoughts that the girl had, and with a final weak smirk on her face, her consciousness faded completely.

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The sunlight finally got bright enough to wake the girl up, as she tossed around in the sand to get some more sleep she realized what situation she was in and quickly got up while looking around to assess the situation.

There didn’t seem to be any open wounds anywhere, in fact there seemed to be some bandages in the places where the monster inflicted a lot of damage, though they didn’t seem to heal quite just yet since the girl flinched when she tried touching them.

“Where am I?” - The girl muttered to herself,

The area around her was empty with nothing but sand, with a vast ocean to one side and what seemed to be an endless forest on the other. She tried listening for any movements to see if maybe someone was nearby but the only thing that she could hear was the waves that were hitting the shore and coming right back.

Almost as if having an epiphany she grabbed onto the piece of cloth that was still tied to her arm, and removed it promptly. Upon checking that the piece of metal from earlier was still there, she breathed a sigh of relief, and once it began to move in the direction of the forest she knew what she had to do.

“All right!” - She firmly grabbed the piece that was still in the cloth, and after wrapping it around her arm again she started walking towards the forest.

The closer she got the more intimidating it got, the overwhelming size of the trees which were towering over her gave her an illusion of the forest almost being alive , but she knew that’s the path back home so there really wasn’t another choice.

She steeled her nerves as she stepped into the forest, but once her foot set into it surprisingly her nerves calmed down, and she began walking slowly.

Slowly she made her way through the vast greenery, passing alongside plants she’s never seen before, some beautiful enough that they’d put even the finest works of art to shame, while others seemed dangerous as if they could eat her whole. The only thing she couldn’t see as she was walking was animals, or rather the lack of them.

While the feeling of anxiety was gone for a while once she stepped into it, the deeper she went the stronger it seemed to have come back. She double checked where the piece of metal seemed to be pointing and picked up her pace.

The faster she went, the more alive the forest became, the rustling sounds between the leaves, the cracking sounds of wood, all coming closer to her as well. Before she even noticed, her walking turned into a jog, and then into a run.

The pain she felt was catching up to her, as she pushed herself her breathing became heavier, and the presence she felt behind her felt stronger and stronger. As the sweat in her eyes blinded her, she still ran, but eventually her legs gave out, and she fell to the ground. In the short time she had to prepare, she braced her back against one of the trees, which felt surprisingly gross almost as if the wood from the tree held her in place, but nevertheless it was better than leaving her back open.

As her eyes wandered from left to right, up and down looking into all directions, the noises became louder and louder, and eventually the creatures emerged, a pack of wolves of some kind, their fur blended in with the trees behind them, their fangs dripping with saliva, their claws buried deep into the ground whenever each of them stepped. All of them stared at the girl as they approached her slowly, her eyes wandering from one to the next wondering which one will attack first, but before she was able to single one of them out, the distance between them got too close, and all of them started to sprint at her. As they got closer and closer, the girl’s panic got worse and worse, she put out her hand in front of her, and just like before a small fire started to appear there, as it grew the wolves kept accelerating towards her but then…

All of a sudden, a powerful voice echoed throughout the area screaming “Halt!”, at which the animals stopped right in their tracks, the flame in front of the girl’s hands was still forming into a shape but she didn’t fire it just yet.

There was a new sound coming from behind the trees, a sound of footsteps. The girl’s gaze was focused on where it was coming from despite the wolves near her. As the girl’s breathing calmed down, a man came out from behind one of the trees, with his hands lifted up in the air slightly, and upon seeing his face, the girl relaxed and dropped her arm to the ground.

“I’m really sorry about this…” - The man continued to speak as he approached the defenseless girl, who despite letting her guard down was still suspicious of him.

A small snake fell from the tree onto the girl’s shoulders at which she twitched in fear, however the snake just slid down her torso and then her leg, after which it proceeded to climb onto the man and wrapped around his hand.

“Haha, Sorry about this too” - the man joked as he laughed - “ I found you washed up at the beach, didn’t expect You to wake up so soon so all those guys had no idea You were coming…”

“Did You put all those bandages on me?”

“Oh right, yeah I did, don’t worry I didn’t look or anything.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about that..” - The girl said as she smirked - “Can You help me get up? I really have somewhere that I to go”

“Ah… I really think You shouldn’t move about just yet, Your wounds looked pretty bad already and now the whole chase thing..”

“No no I’m All right …” - As the girl tried to push herself up she fell back down

“See?”

The girl seemed dissatisfied, but it looked like she was more mad about the man being right rather than her being unable to stand up. Since her focus was on standing up she didn’t notice when one of the wolves from before got close to her, and was now licking her face.

“One of these guys will stay with You while I get something for us to eat, shouldn’t take too long”

“Oh right, Your Name?”

“Huh? Oh right, Vyrmont”

“It’s Miridia, I’m in Your debt..”

“Haha don’t worry about this much, it’s nice to speak to a person once in a while, either way, I’ll be back soon, We can talk more then.”

The man whistled and the remaining wolves scattered into the forest> The man smiled at her as he disappeared as well.

The previous atmosphere that filled her with unease was now gone, and the quiet forest was surprisingly calming.

“I guess it’s not so bad…” The girl muttered to herself as she played around with the wolf’s hair.

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