Pawns Three Kings part 3

“Quick! Quick!” - Zando said as he hurried Ecram who was currently hauling some crates from one part of the ship to another.

“I get it man, it’d be faster if You helped” - The boy said as he passed the giant, who was currently reading some letters and sipping alcohol.

“it’s training kid, training”

“You could use some Yourself if you still serve under a guy who’s younger than You”

Their conversation continued as the boy ran back and forth.

“Age has nothing to do with it kid, I could beat You with one hand even as a 10 year old.”

“How many years ago was that? Maybe if You didn’t spend all this time training You’d still have some hair left”

“Even if You traded all the hair on Your body you’d still years to get on my level kid, though looking at you I’m not even sure if Your balls have more hair than my toes, so You should wait a bit before actually doing that”

As the two bickered with each other the conversation started to take a more serious tone.

“How old is the captain anyway?”

“Hm? I don’t know like 20 something, why are You asking me that? Got a little man-crush?”

“Shut up dude, I was just surprised, You know back in the village He just seemed more mature, it’s like I was fighting against something old, or maybe I just didn’t get a good look at his face”

“Told you Age has nothing to do with it. Whether it's a 10 year old kid or a 100 year old grandpa, the guys up there judge them the same.” - The giant man said as he pointed towards the sky.

At some point the boy put one of the crates near the giant man, and sat down, the sun was pretty much already behind the horizon at this point, so their only source of light was a lamp

“You guys are like the top dogs in the area right?”

“I guess You could say that”

“How come there’s just these two ships around, shouldn’t you guys have like a whole fleet or something? ”

“The ones you’ve seen are mine and the boss’, There’s a bunch more, they’re just not here right now, can’t really control much if we just sit around hugging each other all time, can we? ”

“ I guess not..” - The boy answered a bit shamefully, almost as if the answer to the question was supposed to be obvious - “You’ve never thought about it?”

“About what?”

“Being a captain Yourself, You know all that “captain goes down with his ship” stuff.”

“A captain huh…” - The giant man seemed to reminisce about something, but he didn’t say anything, however this time he poured a drink for both himself and the boy.

“Drink up kid, this is part of the training as well”

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Both of them were laid out on the crates as the sun started to rise, the giant man was snoring very loudly, but ultimately it was the sunlight that woke the boy up. As he slowly got up he looked around, not sure where he was or what happened.

“This is worse than after that fight..” - the boy said as he grabbed his head due to the headache.

As he looked around himself and the giant, all he could find was empty bottles, random pieces of clothing and unfinished food.

The boy chuckled to himself as he reminisced -“ Heh, Aunt would kill me if we left a mess like this, Mr Arkel was nearly late for the hunt last time she made him stay to clean up”

As the boy was slowly getting to his senses and looking at the state of the ship, a sharp thing caught his glance, amongst empty bottles and plates laid a knife that one of them must’ve used yesterday to cut some meat. He stared at it, and the knife stared back at him, his face filled with confliction, but after confirming that the giant man was indeed sleeping, he slowly reached to grab the knife.

He made his way avoiding the obstacles on the floor, grabbed the knife and made his way towards Zando, who was laying on his back with his head hanging down from one of the boxes he fell asleep on.

He gripped the handle with both his hands and braced as he stared at the defenseless neck of the man. The loud snores were gone at this point, or at least the boy couldn’t hear them anymore, but even as he pushed his muscles to move, they couldn’t. Just as the knife got closer to the man’s throat, the boy’s body stopped moving, his face filled with uncertainty, and frustration, but soon after, he took a deep breath and stepped away, tossing away the knife onto the ground, and walked away, and as he did, the giant man whose life was at stake here, opened one of his eyes to notice the distance between them grow greater. He did nothing more than smirk, and went back to sleep.

The sun was now way overhead, the ship much more alive with the rest of the crew performing their duties. As Zando passed rounds around the ships, jumping from one to another, the crewmates seemed to tense up a bit each time it took place but otherwise the work went smoothly.

After checking out all the stations, the giant man eventually came towards the ship’s steering section, he signaled to the current operator that he needed to use it, and soon after the steering wheel was empty.

He stared at the steering wheel before actually moving his hands onto one of the handles. At first, his grasp on it was very firm, but as he stared at the ship and people in it, it seemed to grow weaker and weaker, and eventually he let go of it completely.

“You can take over now” - He said to the person who was operating the wheel before him - “Me and the new kid are going hunting for some food, don’t cause too much trouble while we’re gone”

“Yes sir!” - The formal tone that the pirate let out seemed very out of place.

Ecram was organizing and sharpening knives, harpoons and other metal work when the giant man came up to him

“Kid, we’re putting your title to the test”

“Huh? What do you mean” - The boy didn’t even bother looking up at the man.

“We’re going hunting, I need to know if “The Crusher” is better than the greatest fisherman of Alborst ”

“Can’t, I gotta finish up all this stuff” - The boy signaled at the vast pile of metalwork in front of him

“It’s fine, just get one of the guys to finish it, or are you scared you’ll lose?”

Ecram stopped the handiworks and looked up at the man:

“Ahh, I knew you’re getting old, but didn’t think you’re at the age where You start losing Your mind”

“So You’re in?”

“Yeah, yeah” - the boy said as he shrugged his hand - “Just don’t slow me down”

The two men got ready straight away, grabbing random supplies they might need. The Giant man signaled to the people nearby to take over the boy’s workload for now, and both of them got on the way. Both of their seats had oars attached to them, but they didn’t row in unison, instead they took turns and each time they tried to row harder than the other, by the time the competition ended both of them were a bit out of breath, but eventually the giant man won.

While panting he just laughed at the boy “ It’s my win, you row the whole way back, but if You use those strokes of Yours, your hair might fall out before we get there.”

The boy was breathing heavily too: “Shit…I thought Your Bones might be a bit more crooked than this, what are we hunting anyway?”

“Whatever moves, I guess”

“Not much of a plan is it?”

“This is part of the fun kid, wanna bet who catches more?”

“Not that I think I’d lose, but I don’t even have anything to give to You if You win, unless you plan on shaving my head and making a toupee”

“Hmm I guess you’re right, but I don’t think I’m gonna lose as well, so what about this, if You win, I’ll tell you the secret to killing Avellion.”

“Huh?” - The Shocked boy answered, the giant man staring at him intensely.

“I mean that’s what You always wanted right, kill him and You’re back to being a free bird, doubt any of the other guys would come and chase after You, especially if You already beat the boss”

As the boy seemed rather conflicted about the whole thing, the gaze of the man made him sweat. But then he erupted into laughter and slapped the boy’s back:

“Bhaha, Just kidding” - as he continued to slap his back - ‘ You freezed up like some statue kid, did You think I was serious?”

“R-Right…”

“All right now, we don’t have the whole day, You go first, just don’t sink all the way to the bottom Mr. Statue”

The boy seemed to regained his composure as Zando joked around, he soon jumped head first and disappeared into the ocean, and as he did the smirk that was on the giant man’s face turned into a more stern look.

“I guess not huh…” he muttered to himself, before pulling out a glass bottle from his pocket, and from it some sort of piece of paper. HE seemed to read over the contents carefully, and once he seemed content with what they said, he bit his own thumb enough for blood to come out, and seemed to write something else in it, after which he put it back into the bottle and sealed it with a cork.

The second he put the bottle back into this pocket, the boy resurfaced.

“Back empty handed? Don’t tell me You already gave up on winning”

“It was a reconnaissance trip, just checking out the area.”

“Whatever you say kid, just don’t cry when the only thing left to catch after I come back is going to be some seaweed.”

As the giant man said this he leaped into the water head first like the boy did before, though the splash from his entrance was a bit larger. As the boy recovered his breath he looked at the ocean, not knowing what to make of this whole situation. The tone of the offer wasn’t a joke, and for some reason he felt that if he answered his offer, he’d be met with a genuine plan on how to take Avellion down, but for some reason he hesitated, but why? The answer to that question was not even known to him, as he stared at the ocean in front of him, he seemed to remember the cold gaze that he faced back in Alborst , but he quickly shook his head to regain his composure.

It wasn’t long after that the giant man resurfaced, and under his arm a giant eel, with its head as wide as his body. There were some teeth marks on his skin, but other than that he seemed to be fine. Despite the previous boasting the boy was actually impressed with the catch.

“Try and beat that!”

“All right all right, don’t get too excited now I’ll show you what real hunting is about”

The two of them went in and out of the water, sometimes bringing elaborate looking creatures, and other times coming back empty handed, getting bruises and cuts each time they went, but right until the end none of them seemed to complain about the task.

“Huh? Where’s the Octopus I brought back?” - Ecram asked

“What do you mean? You’ve never caught anything like that, I think going so deep damaged Your brain kid”

The boy looked at where he placed the giant octopus on the boat, but it wasn’t there, all that remained was a slimy puddle.

“So that’s how you’re doing it, all right…” - the boy muttered to himself as he got up on the boat, the giant man dived the second the boy got on the ship.

Next time Zando resurfaced he straight away looked at the spot where he placed the eel from earlier, it was now gone, a suspiciously eel shaped moisture soaked into the boat.

“Where’s my eel kid?”

“You didn’t bring anything like that back, maybe You saw it near the bottom and for some reason thought you already caught it, but it’s fine, I’ll catch it in Your stead.”

The two of them proceeded to exchange positions again, as the boy dived into the water, the giant man got up on the boat .Eventually the sun began to slowly go down, and both of them knew it’s time to go back soon despite the amount of time they spent out, for a reason neither of them wanted to admit, the haul ended up being pretty miserable.

Like they agreed earlier, boy was the one rowing back, and from all the work he’d done at this point the journey back was slower, but the giant man didn’t make fun of him this time around, either because he was tired himself, or because he realized how pointless this whole outing was. By the time they got back it was dark already, a couple of people were patrolling the ships and when they saw the boat coming closer, they all gathered to help haul everything, but soon they noticed that there wasn’t much.

As the rest of the crew inspected the haul the giant man simply said “Here” as he handed all the equipment to the people surrounding him, then he and the boy silently walked past the group that was still amazed at how measle the catch was.

“So whose win is it?” - The boy asked

“Eh, I guess we can call it a draw this time around”

“I see…”

“Anyway, I’m going to sleep, “ - He said as he walked away towards the cabin, and as he put his hands in the air to signal a goodbye.

The sounds of his footsteps reverberated loudly through the silent ship, but it didn’t last long:

“What about the offer?” - The boy matched the serious tone from before

Zando turned around to look at him, almost as if questioning him what he meant, so the boy continued to speak

“I mean we both won, right? So the deal should still be on”

The giant man chuckled, and muttered “I guess there’s a change of plans” to himself

“Huh?” - the boy answered with a confused tone

“It’s nothing, We’ll see if the deal is still on after I wake up” - The man began to walk away once again.

Ecram didn’t feel like there’s a point in pushing this further so he let the matter go for now. He hesitantly made his way back to the cabin he was supposed to be sleeping in for tonight. As he laid in the makeshift bed, he stared at the wooden ceiling. The snoring of others mixed with sounds of waves was surprisingly calming.

He reminisced about the day and about everything that happened up until this point, in a strange way he couldn’t make sense of it all, this wasn’t his home, he would leave if he could, at least that’s what he thought, but now he wasn’t even sure of that. Why did he bring up the deal from earlier, was he actually planning on killing Avellion, could he even pull it off? As all that raced through his mind he started whirling around in the bed, eventually coming to a stop once all that movement tired him out, as his body relaxed he began to fall asleep. But as he was drifting away, he suddenly opened his eyes wide awake, As he stayed silently and listened for something, the boat was hit with something causing it to shake rapidly, screams of terror erupted above the deck, sounds of cannonballs and flesh being cut could be heard, he quickly got on his feet and run back up.

The sounds he heard earlier were amplified even more now, one of the other ships that was left with them was up and totally in flames, the screams of people being killed there could be even heard here, as he scouted rest of the area, he saw it, a giant ship, charging straight at them, on its hull there was a man with a scar running through his neck and up to his jaw, who seemed to be smiling.

“Kid!” - The giant man ran just behind him

The boy turned around and looked at the panicked face of the man, he wanted to ask what was happening but before he even could open his mouth the giant man continued speaking

“Get to the storage room, and bring me the purple looking knife, Now!”

The boy nodded and ran straight away. As he stumbled on his way, the panic on the giant's man face changed back into his normal face.

The giant ship rammed into the one Ecram and Zando were on, causing an even greater shake then before, and as soon as they both were still again, The man that was on the ship’s hull jumped down from it and faced Zando.

“Zando! How long has it been!”

“I sent the message that Avellion is not here”

“Straight to business huh? You’re no fun”

“

“There was a, I guess you could say change of plans”

“Huh?”

“Ignis..” As Strein said those words, he instantly unsheathed his sword and thrust it into Zando’s stomach.

“Figured” - He lifted his right arm,clutched it into a fist and threw a punch at Strein, but before it reached Strein pulled back with a sword.

“You know how orders go, hell, I’m probably next in line” - He shrugged almost as if the whole situation didn’t matter to him

“Right” - As he said those words the wound on his stomach seemed to close itself

At first both of them seemed to relax,and then they quickly lunged towards each other.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The boy ran into the storage room, he felt the shock of an enemy ship crashing into their own, which distracted him for a bit, but soon after he got back into searching for what Zando wanted. As he scoured all the chests that were there, flipping barrels and looking through swords, spears, sables, whatever could be used to kill, but the knife was nowhere to be found. Suddenly a chill on his back, not being sure what it is, only knowing it’s an enemy, he leaped through the barrel and used it to shield himself from the attack. As he peeked his head up he saw that the barrel had 3 different knives pierced inside of it. and Upon looking up he saw his enemy.

“So that’s Avellion's new Toy, huh?”

The man standing in front of him was very slender, the moonlight that entered through the cracks of the ship illuminated his pale skin. The dark spots under his eyes were easy to notice due to the contrast with his skin. His dark purple hair reached below his shoulders. His clothes were surprisingly clean, at least for who the boy presumed the person to be.

The boy grabbed one of the random swords from the ground and assumed a battle stance.

“Not even gonna use a Relic? I heard you’re good but can a “pure” really do that much these days”

The boy had no idea what the man was talking about.

“Well, whatever, doesn’t matter if you’re going to be dead anyways”

A similar aura filled the room, the boy felt the same dreading feeling when he faced Avellion for the first time in the village, though this time it wasn’t as suffocating, and was in fact much weaker in comparison.

This is why he didn’t hesitate, he ran straight towards the enemy, but another noise from behind distracted him, even though he knew it was risky he turned around to check, and saw the knives that penetrated the chest he hid behind now flying towards him.

As he dodged to the right one of them slashed the back of his shoulder but it wasn’t deep enough to cause any serious damage.

The man displayed all of the knives in between his fingers.

“Still going easy on me huh..”

He slid all of them so that they were lined up as if there was only one of them, and then almost as if the rest disappeared he passed one to his other hand.

“If that’s how You wanna play, let’s do it”

He launched at the boy, slashing in a horizontal direction. Ecram turned the sword sideways, gripped the other end of the blade with his other hand and accepted the impact. Though he stood his ground for a few seconds, he was knocked back soon after.

As he was on his knee and recovering his breath using the sword as a support to not lose balance., the man attacked again, slicing from both his sides. Ecram grabbed the sword with both hands and propelled himself up using it to dodge the attack. As he was in the air he kicked the man away, but his face twisted into a painful expression. The spot where he kicked the man had knives attached to it, which were now colored red with blood.

The boy grabbed another sword from one of the barrels, this one was shorter and a bit mismatched but still better than nothing. He quickly swiped them back into a defense position, one behind another.

“Come on now, just grabbing more swords isn’t going to help, where are you gonna hold the next one?

The boy began running towards him again, but this time the man didn’t close the gap between them straight away, and instead he began tossing knives into the boy’s direction. 1st at his eye, 2nd at his Thigh, 3rd at his shoulder, but as the boy deflected them to the left and right, he failed to notice that the 3rd attack composed of two knives one behind another, and even if he managed to deflect the first, the second hit the target, causing him to loosen his grip around the sword, which fell to the ground.

The man instantly took advantage of that opportunity and by the time the boy realized he was hit, the man was already standing and preparing a kick, leaving the boy with no options but to brace for the hit.

He knocked the boy into the wooden wall with enough force for him to bounce back, and as the man was going to use one of the knives to stab him, he bounced back when he realised that while hitting the wall, the boy ripped a piece of wood from it, and was going to use it to smash into him.

While kneeling on the floor again and looking at the man, his only instinct was to throw one of the barrels, which he did. The man brushed it off with ease, but it obscured his vision just long enough for the boy to manage to hide.

He sat motionless in a dark place, thinking of his plan for beating the enemy. For some reason, the thought of running away didn’t cross his mind, or rather, he forced himself to abandon that option. He waited for the man to move.

“Really? Is that the best thing You could come up with?” - His disappointed tone rang out in the empty room, his eyes staring at the blood trail that led to a barrel which was now closed.

He started walking slowly towards it, gripping the knives between his fingers tightly.

“Who would’ve thought that what fascinated “The Phantom” was this much of a disappointment” - He opened the barrel which the blood trail led to, but found nothing inside, despite his boasting earlier, there was now some panic on his face.

When it clicked in his head what the boy had done, he started to turn his head around, but it was too late. The boy had already swung his blade, the only thing that the man was able to confirm was the wound on the boy’s arm, where he cut himself to create a distraction.

The cut was diagonally along the man’s back, but it was not over yet. He finished turning around, and screamed, after which the knives that the boy deflected earlier, came flying from the floor and pierced Ecram’s back.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed through the pain, and with one last motion, thrusted the blade into the man’s stomach, pushing it upwards until it went through the man’s heart and left through his shoulder blade.

He put enough force to lift the whole man a bit into the air, and he only let go when the blood that came out of the man’s mouth started dripping on the boy’s face. Whether from disgust, or surprise he let go of the sword, and the man’s lifeless body dropped on the ground. He breathed heavily as he stared at it, before eventually starting to feel just how painful the knives that pierced his back were. He pulled one after another, dropping them on the floor, and after doing that he was finally able to regain his breath.

As he stared at the entrance to the storage, he decided to go back up onto the deck, the outside was strangely quiet, but he wasn’t sure why, whether it was his brain blocking out the sound, or whether simply all of the invaders left.

As he slowly made his way upwards he started to feel an unbearable heat, and when he finally got high up enough to see the deck, he saw an almost crimson sky, filled with dark ashen clouds. The fire that was eating the deck alive roared high into the sky. But amidst it all, there was one thing that caught his attention the most, causing his eyes to widen in shock…

“Z-Zando!!!...” As he screamed he slowly made his way towards him.

But suddenly a figure of a man appeared in front of him. The same man who was on the hull of the ship that rammed into theirs. He looked slightly roughed up, but it was nothing compared to the state the boy was in.

“Yo” - he said as he swung his sword to put it on his shoulder.

The boy stood in place, as the man observed him while scratching his chin.

“So you beat Nurhan huh, not bad, so what’s your trick? Relics? Or maybe a mage? I guess a talented “pure” would make sense. No way you’re a contractor, unless someone high up wanted to have some fun”

The way he was stared at made him really uncomfortable, but he still has not raised his voice.

“Well, either way, job is a job, guess we’ll see”

As the man said those words, he jumped straight towards the boy, readying his sword. With the remaining strength he had left, the boy simply parried the attacks, though the man attacked with enough ferocity that the boy's sword would often get nearly knocked out of his hand.

“Hey, hey, where’s the power in those swings, it's almost like you’re just some mannequin”

Maybe the provocation worked on the boy, or the seriousness of the situation finally got to him, but there was once again fire burning in his eyes.

The next time the man attacked, the boy was able to parry all the attacks, and finally on the last one, he dodged the overhead swing, and used one of his arms to lock the man in place. With his wounded hand, he formed a fist and smashed it into the man’s face. But it had no effect. Instead, the man smirked, and used his other free hand to pick the boy up by his neck and while laughing threw him back.

“Heh, Hahaha… What a fucking idiot, if he wasn’t dead I’d kill him myself, losing to someone who’s not even a pure yet”

Although the boy was confused, he knew the man was speaking about the person he defeated in the storage room.

“Well, whatever, I’ll show it to you, the difference between You and Me” - The man closed his eyes and put out the sword in front of him.

“Ignis…” as he said those words, the temperature around started to increase, the flames around intensified, but they also started to circle around the man’s sword, their spiral pattern was almost blinding, despite that the man didn’t seem to notice the heat at all.

It was once again the same as back in the village, the sense of powerlessness and terror froze him in place, the grandness of what he was facing was just too big. He knew that this time he wouldn't escape death.

“Any last words?” - The man asked the boy, but it seemed like he didn’t actually plan on hearing what the boy had to say, so after a brief silence, he launched himself and the pillar of flame towards the boy.

It got warmer and warmer, and also brighter and brighter. He had no energy to dodge anymore, so the only thing he could do was close his eyes as he waited for his demise. And as the sensation of incoming attack got more and more intense, it suddenly stopped. Unsure as to what was happening, perhaps thinking he might’ve died a painless death, the boy hesitantly opened his eyes and saw him.

Avellion, “The Leviathan”, stood in front of him, holding the sword which would’ve surely pierced and killed him effortlessly. The smirk on Strein’s face was still there, but it was clear it was hiding his panicked self.

“Good job holding out” - he said to Ecram without looking but his focus was on the enemy - I’ll take it from here” - as soon as he said those words, he flung the man up into the air and jumped after him, leaving the path clear for the boy to walk forward.

The boy walked even slower than before, in his ears the fire crackling, broken by the occasional sound of clashing between the two fighters above him. But eventually he made it, to where the giant man was impaled.

As he coughed with blood he weakly answered “Oh, it's you … so You made it”

“O-Of course I did, who do You take me for” - despite trying to speak in their casual manner, the boy’s voice was breaking.

“I see… That’s good… “

The boy began to fiddle with where the man was impaled, trying to pull the large chunks.

“What are you doing?”

“Can’t You see… Pulling you out of this thing”

He seemed a bit happy with it, but despite that harsh words left his mouth soon after:

“Leave it… I can feel it kid, this is it for me” - his eyes seemed almost lifeless

“What are you talking about! What about all this about me needing 100 years to catch up to you, and You’re gonna get done by this?” - The boy could not understand his own frustration, after all it was his enemy who was dying, right in front of him, so why was it so hard for him to hold back tears.

“Hah… Looks like I might’ve exaggerated a bit…”

“Don’t fuck with me! You can’t die like this, our score isn’t settled yet!”

“Heh, Our score…You’re too much like him ”

“Huh?”

“It’s nothing…”

As he desperately pulled at the wedges pierced into the giant man’s body, his strength started to give out, eventually, all he did was simply hang on to them, after which both of them stood silently. The boy felt the gaze of the giant man move from his to somewhere behind him, which is when he noticed Avellion, his clothes and face splashed with blood.

“It’s not mine, it’s fine.” - Avellion answered almost as if knew what puzzled them both

He stared at Zando, who knew what that stare meant:

“Kid… Let me talk to the captain alone… for the last time…”

Upon hearing this, and seeing that’s what both of them wanted, he mustered enough strength to walk over to a nearby chest and sit on it, for some reason the flames that were still spreading around were now colder and he didn’t seem to mind them as much. As soon as he got far enough away, Avellion pulled out a purple ornamental knife and fiddled around with it with his fingers.

“Lost something?”

“Heh… So You knew...”

“Had my suspicions”

“Suspicions of which You were sure, right?”

He pulled the knife back into his pocket and smiled - “You could say that” - after a small pause he also asked - “If you had the chance would You do it again?”

“Heh… In every lifetime…”

Avellion let out a small chuckle - “ Thought so” - at which point both of them were smiling

“Anyway, time doesn’t wait for anyone, I’d love to stay and ask You why, but I we need to get out from here” - As Avellions said that, he turned around and began walking back - “Farewell, save a seat for me, wherever you go”

“Wait… Let me talk to the Kid one more time…”

He was surprised at first, and even though he wasn’t going to disrespect the request the giant man began explaining further:

“I need to tell him something… Or what, are You more scared of the kid than me?” - He clearly meant to rile him up.

For a second his face was serious, but soon after he burst into laughter, to which the giant man smiled.

“All right”

As he walked towards the boy, he signaled with his thumb pointing at the man. Even if he got up rather quickly, his walk was as slow as before.”

“Yo..Kid… We still didn’t decide on it, on the deal from before,you wanted to hear it right?.... The secret to killing Avellion?”

Because of all that happened, the boy wasn’t even sure if he really cared for it, but he still listened intensely.

“Heh… Run away and pray that fucker dies from old age one day” - As the man said those words he started chuckling, the boy joined him, though both of them stopped when Zando started coughing painfully.

“But, there’s one more thing… I decided on it, on my part of the win…”

“Hm? Right…”

“A single order… or perhaps a request…Ecram, the greatest fisherman in Alborst ...”

The sound of fire intensified around them, muffling what the request was…

The boy was shocked by it, but after looking at the determination on Zando’s face, he responded with same earnestness: “You got my word”

Upon hearing those words, the man let out a final smile, as the light reflected in his eyes became dimmer and dimmer, his head started to move towards the ground as well, his neck not strong enough to support it. The boy began to walk back, and when he was close enough to Avellion he was asked:

“Said Your goodbyes?”

“Yes…”

“Well then, let’s get out of here”

Tonight, “The Leviathan’s” crew has lost an important member, a friend to some, an enemy to others, but even if what’s lost cannot be regained, perhaps it’s this loss that pushed “The Leviathan” and the people around him, onto a path which would change the fate of this world.

As the two of them drifted away silently on a small boat, observing the burning ship falling apart, pieces falling into the ocean. Neither of them said a word. Sense of time was lost to them, whether they stood there for an hour or for 1 minute didn’t matter. But eventually, the ship that was before their eyes disappeared into the ocean completely, and the silence in which they were standing was even more deafening, before Ecram broke it:

“Avellion, I decided” - He said while still staring at the spot where the ship was

“Hmm? On What?”

“I’ll stay with You”

“I knew that already”

“But… Not how I am right now”

Avellion seemed a bit puzzled but he continued the boy speak

“First the village, now this, all these powers, which I have had no clue about, if I continue like this, I’ll just die a dog’s death”

“Probably”

“So I have a single condition, teach me how to overcome the summit that I’ve just seen.

“Isn’t that two conditions? I thought You were adamant on keeping Your conscience pure?“ - Avellion said with a joking tone, but soon he got back to a more serious tone - “But… It doesn’t seem like that bad of an offer”

Ecram looked him in the eyes, and extended his hand for a handshake, which Avellion accepted. While still in that position Avellion started speaking.

“I guess now is a better time… Ecram, welcome to “The Leviathan’s” Crew..”

After which both of them pulled their hands back.

“All right, time to go”

“Huh? Go Where?” - The boy was a bit confused

“To meet up with the rest, I went ahead to check on You guys, He told you this is, or was, just a part of the main fleet, right?”

“Oh, right”

“Let’s get to it then”

As Avellion said those words, he sat down and took the oars in his hands, and the boy followed him soon after. They weren’t rowing with much strength, but perhaps it was what they wanted.

They drifted silently in the ocean, illuminated weakly by the moonlight.