In treacherous waters, fog, and storms the single ship still sailed. Thunder was at its peak as always. The crew was losing hope, but they nonetheless trusted their captain to lead them to their destination.
Inside a large room on the ship sat a large table with a map of the surrounding area and points marked in red. Around the table were four men.
One who was the first mate wore a blue vest with a white collar undershirt and black boots. Another of shoulder-length hair who was the second mate also wore a white collar undershirt but had a brown vest and a black coat on his shoulders. The third man was the bearded captain who wore a grey coat decorated with medals. Lastly was a young man, who was a mercenary who wore elegant clothes. He had an elegant white shirt, black pants, and black boots with the left one having a gear on it.
The brown vested second mate slammed his right hand onto the table and yelled "We have to turn back the tides are too strong, the storms will kill us all, and worst of all this blasting fog!"
The grey-coated captain shouted back "No we keep moving forward! We will make it!" The brown vested man retorted "You're going to get us killed! Look outside!" roar… Thunder crashed as water came flying and tilted the boat.
Everyone held onto what they could to not fall over. Some held onto the table and others onto decorations. The young gear-booted mercenary joked "well seems all your yelling is angering the sea."
The shipmates ignored his jest as they all gathered back around the table. The brown-vested man pointed his finger at the captain and once again yelled "See we have angered the sea gods with this foolishness! We have to turn back before "He" sends something worse!"
For the first time in the meeting, the blue vested first mate expressed his opinion "Brother shut your mouth! We do as the captain says."
The second mate immediately snapped back "Brother! You have to see th-" "shut your mouth! We have followed the captain's orders for years and he's never let us down" The two went back and forth for a few minutes.
The captain's patience grew thinner each passing minute until he finally yelled louder than both combined "Shut it both of you! We're going! We're already so close it'll be a waste to stop now!"
Suddenly the ship started turning in all directions, in a circle. All of them held onto the nearest handrail they could again. Screams were heard outside the room. Click click… The three did not know where that noise was coming from but they didn't have time to think about it only hold onto the closest thing.
The fourth person in the room, the young mercenary was walking steadily to the window "You need not worry about the noise it won't kill us. I suggest wherever we're going we should get there quickly. I see something in the water."
The spinning stopped as the three men immediately ran towards the window to see what the young mercenary was talking about. All they saw was shaking waters and an endless sea of fog.
The young mercenary curved his lips as he says "Aren't we forgetting a fifth member of our little circus troupe?" He looked at the captain.
Neither of the vested brothers knew what the young man was talking about so they pulled out their swords at their hips and moved to a stance of being back to back with each other.
The captain laughed for all the crew to hear "hahaha good to see being all that yelling you two are still ready for anything. Put down those swords we don't need them." The captain pulled a small container with three stones.
Inside it was the small creature of soft skin and butterfly wings. It looked around the room at the sword mounted on the wall, the 4 men with weapons by their sides, and worst of all the raging storm outside.
Roar…
The vested brothers both looked confused at this new member of the meeting. Small chuckles were heard by the door. It was the young gear-booted mercenary. "Hello, dear map."
——
Both Arius and Jega stood with swords in their arms. Arius was lighter due to the strength difference. Jega advised "listen little one this isn't safe so I want you to be absolutely careful with this ok?" Arius nodded.
"Alright," Jega said as he pointed his sword forward with both hands. "This is how you hold it… actually hold on" he put the sword down and bent down to Arius's level.
Jega explained "I want you to be especially careful for a reason. Your mother told you how you break more easily and breathe harder than others."
But that hasn't made you change how I've trained before… Arius inwardly joked. He nodded which gave Jega the signal that he would be cautious.
Jega then explains as he pointed his sword forward once more "Your mother doesn't like talking about this but there are different paths of power or different wells and the way to get stronger in these wells isn't by training."
Arius tilted his head in confusion not understanding what Jega meant. He noticed this and once more explained "I don't mean you don't have to train since of course you do. What I mean is that there's a limit and to increase the limit you need something."
Arius still didn't understand "what something?" He asked. He had never heard of this something but he suspected it was because of his mother.
Jega didn't answer he instead looked forward for a long 10 seconds before saying "I'll explain another time. I'll teach you how to use a sword for now.
This disappointed Arius but he was still excited to finally learn after reading dozens of stories of knights. Jega did a simple vertical swing forward.
It wasn't anything flashy or exciting just a simple swing. Jega turned back towards Arius. No words were needed as Arius tried his best to copy his grip and swing.
But when the sword fell forward so did Arius. Luckily or maybe not, Arius didn't hurt himself. "Hahaha," he heard chuckles from above. It was from Jega with his hand out.
Arius took Jega's hand and got up before teasing "You're laughing now but I know when you were my age you definitely made the same mistake." Jega put his left hand over his face while still laughing "That's exactly why I'm laughing. Hahaha."
Jega stopped laughing as he bent down to pick up the dropped sword and gave it back to Arius. This time he put his hand over Arius's fingers. "Here, now your grip is better. Also, try not to put your whole weight into the swing, you're not actually killing anything."
He let go of his fingers and stepped back. Arius tried once more… swing… just like last time he fell injured. "Ow" Arius said on the floor. "You didn't seriously expect yourself to understand on your second try, did you?" Jega mocked once more.
Instead of taking Jegas hand like last time Arius instead looked towards Jegas eyes "You know I'm not dumb. I can tell when someone's purposely trying to get me mad." Jega started walking to the right of Arius and thought out loud "Guess what worked for me isn't going to work for you."
He continued walking to the right of Arius going in a full circle before saying "swing for a hundred times then we'll try different weapons…" Arius immediately turned his head and blurted "What?" Jega looked back and pointed his eyes at the sword "already lost your enthusiasm."
Sigh… in the distance in the forest on a branch was a bluebird watching intently.
——
In the dead of night feathers of a nighthawk flapped through endless wood and leaves. There was no sound coming from the feathered bird not even a chirp.
It flew through the trees swiftly and steadily following the river until in the distance was a small village. The outside of the village was empty with all its residents inside their houses sleeping soundly.
The nighthawk looked around until it saw a point in the river where it diverged. It was leading into another fog of trees. The nighthawk flew towards it, following the sight of water once more.
Along the way, it suddenly stopped. The water was too clear and seemed to glow. It came close to the water and started drinking it. After a few sips, it moved a bit further down leaving a small shadow behind until it found its snack for the night. It flew straight towards it.