“I was so blind then. Blinded by a rage toward this man. I believed he did all of what he did out of his pride. His own goals.”
“Alnen. Buk.” They sob. “All lost. Just for me to see.”
The Figure releases a rose from their grasp, setting it on the Captain’s corpse. The blood of the Captain turns the rose to black.
Cedar starts to break down into tears as the rose turns black.
“Captain… if only we could have stopped Leonard from harming ya, then… we would s-still be standing together singing our usual tune… like a family I never had…”
The Figure turns to Cedar, hugging him while still sobbing
“Buk needs you to move on. Buk needs you to bring prosperity to the Green Kraken. To carry on his legacy where he fell.”
“B-But how? … I don’t even know where to start.”
Cedar doesn’t mind the hug, in fact, he embraces it as he feels slightly more relaxed because of it.
“He knows you are capable. Parn, the first mate, shall help you. He was informed of what would take place by Buk beforehand.”
“I must go now. There are many that wish to hunt me down.” The Figure sobs.
“… Good luck then.”
TIMESKIP FORWARD THREE HOURS TO EVENING
After soaking in what the figure has told him a few hours ago, Cedar decides to find Parn so he can speak with him.
Cedar finds Parn on the Crow’s Nest of the ship
By this time, Faris has already left the docks back to the forest leading to her village.
He decides to yell towards Parn to get his attention.
“First Mate! I need to talk to ya!”
A nearby plume of smoke comes from the forest. Likely from a cottage, it looks way too big to be just a normal fire.
A fire?.
She rushes towards the scene without a second thought.
Parn exhales. He’s been through a lot today, and now he needs to push himself even further than he ever has before.
“'Bout what”
“About what to do now. I’m clueless on how to avenge the Captain!”
Faris runs to the scene of the disaster, spotting a strange blood red fire and 5 figures wearing cloaks of red.
The sun slides down. Merchants start to check in into inn and rest. Travellers return to their lodgings. Andar, too, return to his room. Not from sightseeing, from his nap on the roof.
“Prime time for some dinner,” he mumbles to himself before taking a swig at the bottle he holds.
It’s empty.
Andar rolls the bottle under his bed, where numerous bottles reside already. He goes down for dinner. The tavern is getting filled, but it’s still manageable. Ina, the servant for evening shifts, pass by meals and order quickly, covering for her colleague who hasn’t arrived yet.
“Busy time, busy time,” Andar comments when Ina puts his plate on the table.
“You should cut down your habit of talking to yourself, Andar. It’s a bit creepy hearing you mumbling in your room.”
“Oh? So you have been listening to my room?”
No answer. Andar chuckles and digs into his meal. The slight flush of red on Ina’s cheeks are easily caught by his eyes.
“Man, evenings are best.”
Again, he says to himself.
Parn looks at Cedar, smirking. “He wants you to find a way to dethrone that pile a shit.”
Immediate alarm bells rang in her mind, and she hides behind a tree.
Who are those? This ain’t normal!