""When I exist, death doesn't; and when death exists, I don't."
— Epicurus
Age of Light. Year 1804
Month – Bhadon, Date 23
Everything was dark as the entire sky was covered by clouds. The whole coast was filled with the scary sound of the sea, raging as if it would soon wage war against the land and swallow the city into its lap.
(Wooosh)
(Thunder ⚡⚡)
In the dim light of thunder, the grand tall ships tilted and swayed, nearly crashing against the upper coast of the port, the sea waves creating a scenery of fear.
Pat pat pat pat pat…
Big drops of rain started to hit the ground. Slowly, the rain grew heavy. A thunderstorm struck the coast, fast winds began to blow, thunder flashed brighter, and the roar of clouds became more fearsome.
(Woosh)
Amidst the storm, near the port — around 300 meters away — a chain of buildings stood. Above their roofs, some beings in black hooded robes were running, leaping from one rooftop to another.
They were so fast that even an eagle's vision would fail to locate them.
…..
The shadows maintained an arrow formation, eight on each side and one at the center. Suddenly, a red light came blinding them, followed by a red glowing fog.
They had finally entered the domain of the one they were searching for.
Suddenly, all the buildings vanished. The sky above was gone. The earth of the city had turned into dark cave stone.
The sound of the sea was no longer there—no trace of thunderstorm or even rain.
The fog cleared but left only darkness.
The robed shadows knew what to do.
One of them took out a small blue glass bottle, no bigger than a pinky finger, and slammed it into the ground. Fire burst from the bottle, revealing their forms.
Each one wore a hooded black robe with golden thread designs. Even beneath their hoods, they wore silver eye-masks.
Among them stood a man different from the rest: a golden mask, a red-gold robe. His presence marked him as special.
They formed a circle, hand in hand, dotting themselves like points on a ring. At the center, the red-robed man stood near the fire.
The flame rose a foot high. He faced it, drew his steel sword from the sheath at his belt with his left hand, and gripped the blade tightly with his right.
(Slash)
Blue blood spilled from his palm.
He cast his hand towards the fire and offered it.
As his blood came in contact with the flames,
it turned blue… soon the fire began to create a blue smoke
that enveloped the entire group. Everything became blue.
Then they began to hear the sound of the sea.
Raindrops started to fall again, and a great gust of wind cleared the smoke.
They had once again entered the building.
They began to search for something.
One of them wandered too close to the edge of the roof near the sea.
His body started to shiver in fear.
Goosebumps crawled over his skin as he realized
what they had been searching for was right in front of him.
He screamed in terror—
[Captain! It's here… in the sea!]
He threw the same bottle as before into the water.
The moment it touched, flames began to burn in thin air.
Fear swallowed all of them.
In panic, all seventeen of them drew their swords, eyes fixed on the sea.
⚡ ⚡ Thunder.
In the flash of lightning—
it revealed itself.
An eighteen-foot glowing eye with a demonic pupil appeared before them…
To be continued.