Into the Dragonmont

The Quartermaster took out a scroll, unscrolled it, and then used a quill to sign it. It seemed they had stored many recommendation letters beforehand.

Raul went to take the scroll and then passed it to Kai. Another notification popped up, not entirely unexpected by him.

[

Item: Recommendation Letter

Grade: Common

Specification: Recommendation letter issued by Black Betha's quartermaster, Matthos

Requirement: Elementary Seamanship

Attributes: The Item raises the chance of the Contestant being recruited on a ship as a seaman by 80%

Skill: Not Applicable

Quality: 89%

Warning: The Item will disappear after using it once

Warning: The chances of getting recruited can decrease depending on the importance and type of the ships that are part of the main storyline.

]

Kai stuffed the scroll under the cloth tied around his waist.

"Now," Matthos said, twiddling his thumbs, "Raul will take you to the guards, who then will escort you to lady Melisandre. If she has seen potential in you, Desmond, then surely you are destined to do great things in the service of the Lord of Light. You can deliberate on what to do next after reporting to her. OK?"

Kai nodded solemnly, ignoring Raul, who had just taken a nervous gulp.

"Go on, then," Matthos commanded, flicking his hand. "If you see my father, then don't forget to give him the captain's courtesy. Dismiss."

Raul, not waiting for a moment, put his thick-fingered hands on Kai's left shoulder and took him out the cabin's door. His every next step seemed heavier than before as he approached the stairs leading up to the main deck.

Kai had already planned his escape after leaving the ship with guards. So he walked quietly with Raul, and when the second mate stopped under the stairs, he stopped with him.

They stood there for a few moments, making Kai wonder if the brute had forgotten something.

"Desmond," Raul said with a hushed voice, "you are a good kid. I don't know what you did to Jared. Yeah, I've heard the rumors. But unlike those whoremongers, I know it was not something any human could do. I heard the red… lady Melisandre and quartermaster talking about it. I was there. She said… she said, Jared's fire had gone out. Some monstrous abomination had used dark magic on him to suck out his soul. She called it the work of a dark creature who stands opposite to the Lord of Light."

Kai was dumbfounded. He did not know that the red bitch could figure out the darkest magic used by one of the foulest creature known across the Multiverse. He could see Raul shivering too, and with his size, it felt like a massive storm was trying to upend a thick, old tree.

'Where's it going?' Kai thought, seeing Raul taking a deep breath.

"I won't let her have you," Raul said, squeezing Kai's shoulder. "I have talked about this with Grantt, and we've both agreed on this. Quartermaster is… well changed. But we know Captain Davos will side with us if it comes to that. I will fake getting hit by you, catching the guard's attention. You must run away at that chance. Find a ship leaving the harbor, and show the recommendation letter to that ship's captain. By the time they would come for you, you would already be gone."

Kai gawked at Raul. He couldn't believe his luck, if Luck was at the play. Was it Charisma? Kai questioned himself about that too. Whatever it was, it was too good to pass. So Kai nodded immediately.

What happened next was smooth. Smoother than at least what Raul must have had in his mind. The moment Raul and Kai reached the main deck, Raul shoved Kai towards a corner and roared out of his lungs, falling back down into the officer's compartment. The crew was still busy at work. The moment Raul's scream echoed out, they came rushing towards the scene, and the three well-armored guards followed them.

"The fucker tripped me!" Raul bellowed from down there. "That fucking mute son of a whore!"

The guards shoved the crew aside, taking out their swords, and fumbled to do a panicked search of the main deck. One of them went off the ship to let other patrolling guards know about Kai when they couldn't find even a single hint of him. It was as if Kai had vanished into thin air.

But unbeknown to Raul, Kai hadn't made a run for the other ship. Nor he had run off the ship on foot.

He had jumped into the sea.

*

*

On the opposite side of the island, where the rocks were a thousand knives, and the waves were soldiers marching amass, bleeding thick white blood upon the impact, a blue creature leaped out like a fish determined to conquer the land. The moment it left the water, though, its blue tail vanished, and its figure squirmed, becoming a mass of nothing but dark, foul mist.

Or that's how Dementor-Kai looked when seen from some hundred meters away in the night.

Kai had used his Golduck transformation to swim around the island, cutting out any possible interference. His Side Mission needed him to search for the last egg in the lava tunnels, spreading out like an enormous and complex web. There was no point in remaining in human contact for that.

Kai did not know how any other Contestant in his place would have tackled this Mission, as even 3rd-Set Contestants couldn't remain alive after diving into the lava if he was right about all this. Without powerful and ridiculous Skills and Items, no Ability could help any Contestant, either. But Kai was a different and almost a standalone case. He had an item that could swim into the lava as if it wasn't there.

-Selene- Kai hissed, landing on the rocky beach. -Come out.-

A silver mass burst out of him and materialized into a 6 ft long white serpent. It had three eyes, one black, one yellow, and a third that was closed as if someone had used a knife to open a vertical gash in the middle of her head in between her eyes. Its dragon-like white scales rattled as it slithered around Kai's shoulder, illusory, alternate rings of black and yellow running across its length.

-Master, it's hot,- Selene hissed, flicking out her tongue, and kissing Kai's chin. -It's better for me to remain in my intangible form.-

'That's a quite rational thought,' Kai reflected, flying towards the volcano's mouth. But then, almost immediately, she hissed again, sounding utterly different. Vile and evil.

-I will Kill that bitch- she hissed furiously, spitting out the venom. -She dares threaten you, master.-

Kai's face was stone. This sudden and involuntary, but equally mad ravings were annoying him. 'Is this her new Ability?' Kai reflected, burying the annoyance bubbling in his heart. 'Lunatic Corruption. Is she even aware that she is using it?'

This wasn't the end, though.

She hissed once more. Now more dreamy than murderous, and more visionary than calculative. -I can spend eternity on your shoulders, master,- she hissed reminiscently. -Nothing will make me happier than trampling the peak of Absolute Power along with you.-

Kai ran his shriveled skeleton hands through his hair under the hood. He did not know how he could use this Ability in a battle, but for now, it was truly pushing him towards lunacy.

-Less talk, more action,- he hissed in a tone that meant Now. -Listen…-

And then Kai told him what he wanted her to do.

To Kai's surprise, Selene hissed, which sounded to him as if she was cackling evilly. -Search for an egg into the tunnels running underground?- she hissed, almost sneering. -That's a piece of cake, master.-

One moment she was coiled around him, in the other, she became a silver ghost, seeping into the ground.

'Sigh!' Kai shook his head, landing on the steep volcano's ashy and rocky slope. 'Now… I just need time.'