⋅⋅⊱༻༺⊰⋅⋅

The waves slam the little rowboat against the sinking ship's flank, almost shaking its passengers off their seats, before pulling it away once more.

Cyrus hands each one of them an oar and gets back in position.

“GET TO WORK ALREADY THE OTHERS ARE STARTING TO GET DOWN AS WELL!!” He starts rowing the moment he could, his legs are still shaking from that high jump, his back is burning, and his view is getting a bit.. funny? Well that doesn't matter. They need to get to the dock. It's so close...!

"EVERYONE ROW TO THE RIGHT FOR NOW!! WE NEED TO TURN SLIGHTLY!" Yohei’s butt is sore from when he landed harshly into the little boat, but like really sore.

Clematia is doing her best to row with shaking hands, the flames are getting bigger and closer, the heat and toxic smoke making her eyes tear up.

"YOU-" Cyrus notices Konran spacing out and SNATCHES her by the back of the collar, putting her behind him. "START ROWING YOU IMBECILE!!"

Everyone does their best to get the boat to start moving, and they do quite a good job at it. Enthralla seems closer than ever now...

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⋅⋅⊱༻ THE DOCK ༺⊰⋅⋅

This dock is, like the one at Imalnatir, small and simple: wooden boards lined up in a pathway that extends into the wrathful waters. Except the one at Imalnatir had people… and boats. And, stuff. Stuff you'd normally find strewn on a dock's floor: rope, empty fish crates, discarded fishing nets, the bones and the shells and the gunk. But not here. One needs not watch their step, the walkway is clear, clean. The waves are harsh and the fog is thick and cold. The stillness of the scenery is rarely ever disturbed…

⋅⋅⊱༻༺⊰⋅⋅

They were all rowing as fast as they could, out of breath by the time they reached the dock.

Clematia is constantly looking back as she rows, stupefied by the view of the majestic ship blackened by smoke and getting swallowed by the sea... it doesn’t even stop burning as it finally goes underwater, whatever chemical reaction that set off the explosions is still stirring and bubbling, heating the water around it and boiling any survivors close enough... their screams, to her dismay, are loud enough to reach her ears...

She can also spot another small boat full of pirates, and many others just swimming, slowly making their way to land.

The rowboat finally gets to the dock, and Konran jumps off first, landing on her feet, before looking back down at the others.

"Come on come on!! We've finally gotten here!!"

‘How does she still have so much energy left?’ Clematia takes a moment to breathe first, bending in on herself as she pants.

Yohei gets up, stretches his arms and throws his pack on the wooden dock, he then hauls himself onto it as well, and after some more stretching he turns back and offers a hand to Clematia.

"Give me your pack first.”

She hands him her pack, then takes his hand as he pulls her up onto the dock. Finally, firm land...

"Thank you." She is too tired to offer a smile. He nods and pats her on the shoulder.

Cyrus soon follows after up on the dock, but he seems much slower than the rest... "We should find a safe stop as soon as possible."

"Oh definitely!! I'm really hungry and nature's calling too!!" She puts her arms behind her head as she starts walking.

Cyrus follows behind, focusing mostly on keeping himself upright.

The wooden planks creak pathetically under their feet as the fog grows thicker and thicker the closer to land they get... and Cyrus is lagging behind…

Clematia slows her walk until she matches his pace, then glances up at him. ‘Gee he looks terrible…’

"....Cyrus, what did they do to you?"

"...."

He doesn’t answer, it seems he doesn’t feel very talkative at the mo-

Thud

“Wa” Konran turns just in time to see him face plant on the floorboards. “He passed out”

"Cyrus?!!" ‘Of course he'd pass out, he looked like an undead!’ She turns him on his back and checks for his vitals....

Pulse; check.

aaand..

Whew, he’s breathing normally as well, but his complexion is very pale.

Hearing the ominous thud, Yohei rushes back to where Cyrus and Clematia are. "What happened to him?!"

"He just passed out, and he's as white as a sheet. I don't even know what’s wrong...” She did hear the pirates mention scars…

She pinches his arm hard to see if he would react to the pain.

…

No reaction, not even a flinch... As if he completely shut down now that they're on land...

"D'awwww but we still have a long way to go!" She pinches Cyrus’ cheek, not for any particular reason. "Finding comfy beds will be hard too!"

"Crap. Does he look like he can hold up for now? We really need to get going, I don't want to wait for the pirates to join us." He looks out into the water, the fog got so thick that he can't discern anything. "Konran help me put him on my back- actually no, help me carry him." If she’s helping carry Cyrus, at least she won't be running off anywhere, she's rather volatile.

"Okiiii!!" She grabs his feet and raises them up. "Choo Choo let's gooo!!"

Yohei wraps his arms under Cyrus’ shoulders and lifts...

"C'mon let’s hurry- this bastard is heavy- Stay close Clematia the fog is stupidly thick!" He starts walking backwards, looking behind him to see where they're setting foot.

Clematia grabs Cyrus's pack and follows after them, her arms are sore from rowing and it’s difficult to carry two packs..

Then Konran stops, and her face twists uncharacteristically in surprise. "careful behind you Mito!!"

He startles and almost drops Cyrus, instead twisting to the side -twisting Cyrus with him- to look properly behind.

…

Nothing. It looks safe?

"hehe gotcha~"

"KONRAN THAT IS NOT FUNNY!"

"Be careful with him you two!! We don't know where he's injured! You tryna make it worse?!"

"Sowwy :("

"…...Its’s fine." Mito couldn't even stay angry at her for five full seconds.

"okiii again choochoooooo!!!" She giggles and starts stepping forward. "ah are we going deeper in?"

He struggles to keep up with her for a few seconds as she started walking before him. "Yes, there should be houses a good distance away."

"How far?" Clematia feels uneasy, she wants to check on Cyrus immediately, but they probably need to find cover from the pirates.. and a place to lay him down would be nice.

"Uuuh fairly far? Enough to tire out the energy left in us.. maybe not Konran though."

"uuuurgh so much walking!! Why don't we start running instead? The earlier we get there the better!!"

"No no! I don't think I can run!" She probably can't either.... probably riiiight?!!? He's starting to get scared of her.

"Eeeh let's walk then!! And off we gooo!!!"

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⋅⋅⊱༻ FOREST HAMLET ༺⊰⋅⋅

The houses aren’t too far from the foggy dock, situated in an area so dense with trees that the light barely reaches the ground; denied the sun’s warmth, the temperature in the permanent shade drops pretty low. The trees tower high, the leaves swaying in unreachable heights as there isn't enough light below that point for them to grow; well, it makes for easy treading as there aren't many branches to obstruct the way, but it also robs the traveler of the comforting singing of birds, their chirps are distant, high up in the sunny canopy, as if two different worlds.… Most houses don't have the lights on, and it's just very... Quiet around here...

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"Whew.. huff... I was starting to think.. huff… we went into the wrong direction.. huff... let’s pray no one's home." He just wants to break in and put Cyrus down already... and Koran doesn't seem bothered by his weight at all........

"You can put him down here while I check out the hou-slowly!" Clematia puts down Cyrus's pack and walks up to the door. She hesitates to knock and eyes the open window for a second, trying to peek through it. A curtain is obstructing most of her view, but a gentle breeze sweeps through and for a moment she can-

"Ah... can I help you...?"

A smooth, weak and feminine voice is heard to her right as a lady sits on the edge of some steps, holding what seems to be a baby wrapped in a cloth.

"It's a little... Quiet around here... They won't.. hear you..."

"Ah!.. yes we are!” The woman had startled her, her nerves must still be messed up from the whole pirate ordeal. “We'd be so grateful if you let us in, we just need to tend to our friend.." She motions to Cyrus behind her.

"Ah right... Yes... Follow me..."

The woman smiles and slowly stands up, she starts walking in a certain direction, almost swaying in her steps... Wait, so that wasn't her house?

They follow behind her, and it takes them some time to notice they are going down a ‘street’, the path is almost completely hidden by vegetation, only if they focus can they guess the outline of it.

The woman walks at an easy pace as she hums softly, her voice all that can be heard in the quiet atmosphere of the woods... and soon she stops at a door.

"We're here...come in..."

She opens the door and heads inside.

"…I don't- Clematia I don't wanna go in there." Yohei whispers to her, the woman is not okay, and who would just let people into their house this easily in this side of the land?

"Don't be so rude... and it’s not like we have a choice."

"Yes we do! We can look for an empty house and use it."

"Ah all of em are full actually!" Konran's voice slightly echoes into the high canopy…

".....See? Let’s not keep her waiting." She goes inside before hearing another argument.

"......How do you know?" No seriously, how does she know?! She's not messing with him again is she? He reluctantly follows after Clematia.

It is only then that he finally notices the way Konran is carrying Cyrus. Has been carrying him for the last half hour; from the feet, like some cart. He squints at her.

"Carry him properly, from his knees, he takes really good care of you you should do the same."

“Ooh okii”

She grabs Cyrus by the calves since that's the closest thing at the moment. Her small hands aren't enough to fully wrap around them, and they sink into the muscle… it looks, painful. Cyrus remains unfeeling.

“…” Mito refrains from telling her that that’s actually worse, it doesn’t matter now, they’ve already made it. They haul their unconscious companion into the odd woman’s house, and shut the door.

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⋅⋅⊱༻To be continued༺⊰⋅⋅