Northern Coastal Temple
Special Agent Delta and his cohort had arrived at the northern coastal temple later than planned due to increased road patrols which forced them to go on foot for a lot of the way. Instead of arriving at dusk, they arrived after midnight. And when they did…
"There's too many of them…" Delta said to his squad
"Have we been exposed?" Delta one asked
"Quite possibly." Delta two replied
"What should we do, Captain?" Delta three asked
"It is clear we are too late and it is no longer safe to proceed. The guard routes and information we have is invalid and thus I'm calling it. We're falling back." Delta said, calling for them to turn back
They were still a few hundred metres away so they were not in any immediate jeopardy.
'I just hope Immoriens didn't have the same issue… or if he did, then I hope he didn't force them in.' Delta thought as he led them back
Hours passed and the sun rose, the agents were now walking under sunlight toward their transport vehicle.
Under an azure sky, a group of men on a ship picked up floating corpses at sea.
"They have f*ckall on'em." An unkempt man said as he scoured a corpse on his ship
"B'side da dark cloth, hav thy nut'ing?" Another man asked, his hair and beard black and patchy, his teeth missing and plenty of scars riddled his face
"Lookie here- this young'un wasn't bad. Would've earned a pretty coin for his pretty face. Too bad he dead—" a middle aged man said, looking far better than the men he was surrounded by and wearing dashing clothes and a hat that indicated he was the captain
In that moment though, the boy's corpse began to glow in a cyan light. As the light flowed, his pale corpse began to return to its usual colour and the hole in his chest where his heart was meant to be began to be filled by blood vessels, cardiac muscle, bone and skin.
"The hell—" the captain said
"GRUUUUAAAAAHHHHH" the young man gasped as though he just came back to life
"HOLY SH***********TTT" the captain shouted as he jumped back in shock.
It was not everyday that he saw a corpse come back to life.
Without his cloak and outfit, Immoriens had been stripped to his skintight combat suit.
Immoriens turned to the side and began to vomit lots and lots of seawater.
As he wretched, the people on the ship gathered around.
'Ugh— what happened..?' He thought in a daze
Then he saw them… the corpses of the Delta agents…
His eyes widened and shook in horror but he could not scream. He wouldn't let himself show weakness.
"Lok'eh ths un. Hys aliv." The unkempt man with missing teeth and patchy hair said
"What have we here?" The captain asked with intrigue, trying to play off his earlier fright and scream
Immoriens shot them a glance but could do nothing more. Before his heart was carved out, all his essence had all but been consumed. He could not fight them in his present weakened state.
So they tied him up and threw him in a barrel.
And that was how Immoriens ended up spending two days in a barrel.
Usually a wooden barrel and normal ropes would be no trouble for Immoriens at all, but there were problems beyond those restraints.
'The captain is an elite and his second is an expert… I could maybe escape them but from what I can sense we're in the middle of the ocean away from anything… so I'd need to fight them for the ship… which I can't do.
Not only that but they've not given me any food or water for two days so I'm drained of all energy… as if trying to escape from an elemental lord didn't take enough from me.
I'm in so much withdrawal of celestial essence after receiving the visions of my deaths and then getting my chest healed that I can't recover wounds or even receive visions anymore. And to top it all off… I'm all alone…
I wonder how much longer until Delta tries to find what happened… maybe I can get rescued if they can't find my body. But I really should just count on myself… so I guess I'll wait and see what they want to do with me.' Immoriens thought as he endured the hunger and thirst
It was only several hours later that the top of the barrel opened and the captain looked over Immoriens with a cup of water.
"So, revived corpse of a kid, what's your story?" The captain asked immoriens in Centralese
"Water." Immoriens replied in a coarse voice
"Sure, here." He said as he tipped the cup over Immoriens' head, pouring the water over him
Immoriens responded to this by creating a funnel that directed all water to his mouth.
"A rank 4 wind attuned. At your age— you'll fetch a good price. What is your name?" The captain asked
"Don't have a name anymore. Just a code name." Immoriens replied
"What's that?" The captain asked
"Immoriens. It's from a long dead language lost to history." Immoriens replied
"That's too long and strange. Your name is now Rien." He said arrogantly
"Sure- but where are you selling me?" Immoriens asked
"Yen Port, probably. But who knows where you'll end up." The captain asked
"I see… any chance you'll let me buy my freedom?" Immoriens asked
"No. You probably know a master or two so I don't want to be prey for an apex predator." The captain replied with a chuckle
"Smart. Can you at least take better care of me?" Immoriens asked
"If you behave. You've not tried to break out yet so I'm inclined to believe you do behave. Agreed?" The captain asked
"I've learned some time ago to not fight elites." Immoriens replied
The captain chuckled as he pulled Immoriens out of the barrel and untied him. They walked together from under the deck to the top deck.
The crew stopped everything they were doing and simply watched.
'The rest are weaklings. My mere essence zone would satisfy. But the captain is wind attuned like me and his second is water attuned. Im outmatched— so might as well enjoy my time on the seaa—-' imprints thought before he began to vomit violently over the side of the ship
It was easier when he was stuck still but now that he was moving and standing on the ship among the waves, the motion really struck him.
'How the hell am I seasick—' he thought as he tried to compose himself
Immoriens was well adjusted to burst movements that reached over two hundred kilometres per hour… but somehow the waves of the ocean destroyed his balance and tolerance for motion.
"You alright kid?" The captain asked
"I'll live." He replied
The captain led Immoriens to a dining hall— or more appropriately a table surrounded by barrels.
"Hey you sh*tty cook, prepare food for the Rien here." The captain ordered
"Just great— another mouth to feed. You know we actually need money—" the cook replied, a man in a black outfit with missing fingers.
"This kid is special, you see. He's a walking coin purse. So we need to take good care of him so we get more money for him." The captain replied
"A special kid huh?" A woman's voice resounded on the ship
She was none other than the second in command
She was a well endowed tall woman wearing a pristine white shirt and pants with a red short coat. Her black hair and brown eyes and sharp face made her look stunning, especially by comparison to the company she kept.
"Welcome Julia. This is Rien, our most expensive good." The captain said with a chuckle
"Well well well, if it isn't Markus Windwave. You're quite far from Tuatri, Mr President." Julia said, circling Immoriens
"Mr President… Tuatri… ah— the school you wanted to send our daughter to. What a small world, that Rien here— no, that Markus Windwave here, would be hosted by us." The captain replied
"Indeed. How did you end up dead at sea, kid?" Julia asked
"A long series of unfortunate events." Markus replied
"Uhuh. Well let me tell you something Winston. This kid could take down experts as a learned. As an expert, he could probably take me down quite easily, so keep a close eye on him." Julia said
"Don't worry Julia, Markus here agreed to behave. He learned his lesson about fighting elites." Winston, the captain of the ship, replied
"Good to know. But now that we know who he is, we cannot just sell him to anyone. He has a lot more value now. Certain ladies would pay a great fortune for such a talented and prevalent young man." Julia said with a smirk, licking her lips
'Get in line' Markus thought as he rolled his eyes
"Of course we could always keep you for ourselves. I certainly wouldn't mind your company." she said slyly
"Hard pass. I'm technically engaged." Markus replied
"Engagements and marriages do not tie down men and women on the sea. Indulge yourself kid, life is meant to be enjoyed." Julia said
"Let me rephrase, I will unleash all my essence and stir up enough whirlwind to pulverise this entire ship and you with it if you lay your hands on me." Markus said, his essence flowing from within him with malice
"Okay okay. I won't lay a hand on you. Now go and eat up." Julia said as the cook came over with a hot plate of food
Markus turned and snatched the plate.
"Eat slowly." The cook said
Markus began to slowly eat the cooked fish and rice.
"Good." the cook said, turning away
Julia meanwhile pulled Winston aside
"You sensed it too. He did not lie when he said he could pulverise this ship, meaning he either genuinely believes such a fantastical and improbable thing…" she said
"Or he can actually do it… it's best to not antagonise him. He came back from the dead, we do not know what else he can do." he replied in whispers as he kept an eye on the young man who was eating as much as he could
"You don't want to listen to me but you will hear my words. You all stand to lose something here, so you all behave but once you are sold to someone else, they won't be as accommodating. The queen will not find you immediately so you think long and hard about playing along before you get stuck into something you cannot escape." a voice in Markus' head resounded
But Markus did not even acknowledge the ghost was even there, instead, he simply continued eating in silence.
Another day passed uneventfully but the ship was now steering toward land. Toward Yen Port.
Markus looked starboard and saw ships leaving from one concentrated area, the same area they were heading to, so he could guess their destination.
"Colour me impressed kid, you really didn't try anything." Winston said
"Normally I would, but I am too drained to ensure my escape. Alive escape that is." Markus said
"That's what I actually wanted to ask. How did you end up as a corpse in the sea?" Winston asked
"We went in not knowing what monster awaited us. So we paid the price with our lives… only that I happen to be resistant to death." Markus said as he recalled the terror of his encounter
"Who did you encounter?" Winston asked
"Knowing that might get you killed. Do you really want to know?" Markus asked
"Sure— if it's that bad I'll just pretend I never heard." Winston replied
"(Sigh) we were on a mission to scope what the Stonebournes are up to. As it turns out, one Master Taeru Stonebourne…" Markus said
"The eldest son of the Duke of Stonebourne." Winston added
"Well… he is no longer a master…" Markus said
"What? Did he go down in rank!? Or was he never one!?" Winston asked
"Oh no he was… but he didn't go up in rank…" Markus said
"Then where the hell… oh… oh spirits…" Winston said
"You can say that again… as you just figured out… he is an elemental lord. And he just happened to be at the southern coastal temple when we went there. And then… well— we ran into each other. Needless to say six experts against a lord is nothing short of a death sentence. Was… a death sentence. And that's what we found out. Consider this information your reward for treating me well." Markus said with a tight lipped smile.
"What information?" He instantly replied
"Smart man." Markus replied
Winston left him but as he left… his body was trembling slightly.
'Can't blame the guy.' Markus thought in pity as he stared over the horizon line, enjoying the breeze as much as he could given the motion sickness