He was looking at us suspiciously, and in all honesty, I would too. Anyone could say that they were acquainted with Yani, but not everyone had something he gave to us personally. I’d pull out the badge and he’d recognize it immediately. “Oh! You really do speak the truth!” He’d say enthusiastically, laughing as he thought that we were lying. “If that’s the case, then come aboard the ship! We depart in a few hours, so take some time to settle in. I’m Hawthorne Marth, by the way.”

“I’m Talis,” I’d point at the Reanne, Viella, and Iferos respectively, “This is Reanne Fairwind, Viella Caelum, and Iferos. We’re pleased to meet you!”

He’d lead the way aboard his ship, which looked just like any other merchant vessel you’d find in the open seas, and we’d go inside the living quarters where all four of us shared a single room and two medium-sized beds. “I want to sleep beside big sis’ Viella!” Iferos would exclaim, jumping on the bed to the left side of the room.

“Oh…” Me and Reanne would look at each other awkwardly, “It looks like we’re sleeping together… Talis…” She’d fix her hair on the side and I’d notice a slight blush on her face.

“Yeah… It seems so…” My heart was pounding, and I didn’t know what else to say. “I’ll uh… Head out for a quick stroll.” I quickly left, and I felt… Embarrassed. I went out for some fresh air and just looked out at the front of the ship, staring at the seemingly endless horizon. The sun was still high above the sky, but it was slowly setting.

I stood there for hours, and I looked like I was lost in thought but in reality I wasn’t thinking about anything at all, I was just enjoying the view. “Get ready! We’re departing now!” Hawthorne would say, as his crew lowered the sails and we departed from Altria. Compared to a week ago when we were at Thunder’s Call with shackles on us, this was calming.

Soft footsteps would approach me from behind as I watched us sail away from the docks. “It’s a beautiful view, isn’t it.” Reanne would say, standing next to me as we watched the sun slowly setting.

I’d look at the sunset, and glance over at her slightly, her beautiful light-green hair blowing in the wind, “Yeah… It’s beautiful.” Before I noticed, I was admiring a different view.

We stood there, for a while, before we both went back to our living quarters to see Iferos and Viella, peacefully sleeping on their bed. It was adorable, they looked like siblings together, and I could tell from our time in Altria that Viella was the big sister Iferos never had, and Iferos was the little brother she never had.

Reanne softly chuckled at the sight of the two, and she went to bed to lay down and get some sleep. I sat down on the opposite side of the bed; I didn’t feel sleepy yet. The cabin slowly got darker and darker as nightfall came, and I decided to head back to the bow of the ship.

“Sweet dreams.” I’d softly whisper to Reanne, tucking her blanket to cover her entire body as it was getting cold, and leaving our quarters.

I walked across the deck and noticed that only a handful of people were still awake, including Hawthorne. “Oh? What’re you doing still awake?” He’d yell at me from the helm.

“Ah, just wanted to get some fresh air.” I’d respond, going up the steps heading to where he was and standing beside him as he steered the ship across the large lake.

“We have seven days left till we arrive at Parthia’s Last Light; it’s going to be a long week.” He’d say, pointing at the river that stretched out as far as the eye could see. “The Passing isn’t even the long part, it’s the Rest that’s going to take up a majority of our time.”

I insisted on staying out and told him I’d get some sleep later. I’d stand around, looking at the stars, before hearing the heavy footsteps of Hawthorne approach me, extending his arm towards me with a pipe in hand. “Ah, I don’t smoke, sorry.”

He’d retract his arm, taking a long hit from his pipe before exhaling the smoke out. “You know, they say using this is good for your Numen!” He’d exclaim enthusiastically, before taking another hit.

“Yeah, good for your Numen, but not for your lungs…”

“Oh! Don’t be such a buzzkill, one day you’ll understand the feeling I’m getting!” He’d laugh hysterically, patting my back before returning to the helm.

After a few hours of doing nothing but staring at the sky, I decided it was finally time to get some sleep. I headed off to the living quarters and tucked myself to sleep beside Reanne, making sure to face the other way as to not make her feel uncomfortable or awkward when we woke up.

As I dozed off, the next few days came and we successfully made it across the Passing, and we entered Altrae’s Rest. “Woah! Talis! Look! There’s a big tree!!!” Iferos would yell, pointing at the large tree with brightly glowing light blue leaves to the west.

“That, Iferos, is the Tree of Beginnings.” Reanne would calmly say, “That is where everyone and everything goes to when they leave this world, their Numen leaving their body and returning back to the tree of beginnings, where it is then spread out all across the world for everyone to breathe in and use, in an endless cycle.”

“Woah…” Iferos was in awe at the explanation, and he seemed to enjoy it whenever Reanne would tell us about trivia or facts that she knew.

“Not everyone, young miss.” Hawthorne would butt in on our conversation, overhearing it as he was passing by.

“Excuse me? What do you mean by that?” Reanne was confused, since what she had been taught was different from what he had just said.

He’d lean on the deck beside us, looking out at the distance that was just filled with water. “Those who, by any chance, die out at sea… Are sent to a place where no sunlight pierces through.”

“Could you please expound more?” She was intrigued by what he had just said, they never mentioned any of this in the textbooks.

“All you have to know, young miss, is that if you are swept away by the tides, then only the depths awaits.” He’d say rather ominously, leaving and doing his routine checks on the ship. Reanne was still puzzled; she didn’t know what he meant by that- none of us knew what he meant.

It was the third day since we left Altria, and we had four more days left until we get to the capital city of Parthia. Thud! Bang! Suddenly, the whole ship rocked from side to side, as if something had hit it.

We looked over at both sides of the ship, and we saw pirates. Of all the damn times this could’ve happened, it just had to happen now?! But… I was eager to test out my brand new equipment.

There were three small pirate vessels, all with around seven to eight people each. They threw ropes onto the ship and pulled the anchor down, bringing us to a full stop. Soon enough they’d all board. “Run us yer’ belongings, lads!” A man in the middle would say, he appeared to be their leader as the rest of the pirates just cheered him on as he rambled all about how we were going to die here.

 “And just who do you think you’re giving orders to, small fry?” Hawthorn would say, jumping down from the top of the helm down to the level we were currently at. “Don’t you know this area is under the protection of King Siegfried?!” He’d yell at them.

“So? That peace-loving king couldn’t do shit to us even if he tried.” The pirate leader would yell for everyone to hear, and Hawthorne’s crew seemed terrified.

“This bastard! Don’t sully the name of the king!” Hawthorne would yell back, unsheathing his cutlass and attempting to charge at him. I’d stop him before he did anything that would get him killed, “What do you think you’re doing? Let me go!”

“The captain of the ship shouldn’t be doing the fighting, Hawthorne.” I’d wink at him, giving him a sly smile as he sheathed his blade.

“Oh? More small fry lining up to be sent to the depths?” The pirate leader would unsheathe his blade and point the tip at me, challenging me to take him on.

I’d unsheathe the Tempest Song in all its beauty, and everyone was amazed by the beauty of my blade. “So, do you want a painless death?” I’d ask him, pointing the tip of my sword at him as well.

“I should be the one asking you that!” He’d say, foolishly rushing in towards me. I didn’t know how to quite control my power yet or the full extent of its capabilities, but I held out my left arm and lowered the blade on my right, conjuring a spear of both thunder and wind. “What’s that puny thing going to do?!” He’d yell as I threw it with all my force.

Bang! Just throwing it was enough to cause a loud sound reminiscent of a lightning strike, and everyone immediately covered their ears and eyes. The pirate leader now had a large hole going straight through his chest, and you could even see a part of his heart still beating, before he collapsed to the ground. Thud! The sound of his corpse falling down terrified the others, including Hawthorne’s crewmates.

“H-Holy shit…” Hawthorne would scream, absolutely petrified at the power that I held. “No wonder you’re acquainted with Yani!”

The rest of the pirates would quickly drop their weapons and surrender themselves to us, since we had no space to carry any prisoners, we forced them off the ship and back onto their own ships, where they quickly sailed away after being forced to put the anchor back up.

Everyone, still terrified at what had just had just happened, continued on with their duties. “Talis… That power of yours…” Reanne would talk to me about it, and I could see how scared she was as well.

“That was AWESOME!” Iferos would yell, the opposite of what Reanne was feeling. “It was like a thunderstorm passed by!”

Everyone else would share what they were feeling, and I promised to warn them next time if I was ever going to do something like that. We’d all look at Hawthorne, approaching the corpse and he’d suddenly spit on the body of the pirate leader, before tossing it overboard. Thud! The sound of banging on the ship was heard once again, we looked around us and saw nothing… We thought nothing of it and continued sailing towards the Last Light.

After a few minutes… Thud! Thud! The banging was getting louder… It was coming from the side of the ship, this time. I went to take a look while the others were in the living quarters eating lunch and saw another fucking Deimos.

It was hanging onto the side of the ship, and it slightly resembled the deceased pirate leader, but instead of long, flowy hair, it had seaweed as its hair. “Holy fuck!” I’d get away as quickly as possible from the side of the ship to warn Hawthorne, who was too busy steering the ship the right way to do anything.

It slowly climbed aboard, and it would speak. “Grr… Puny… Human…”