The Beginning of the End of Magic

Grimoire 01 - Chapter 01 - First Meeting in Lindonium [Part 03]

The time was currently midnight. The moon was in a shape of a crescent. A small amount of moonlight could only be seen falling down from the murky and overcast sky above. At irregular intervals, the low rumbling of thunder could also be heard from afar.

The area seemed to have sunken into pitch black darkness.

In this very darkness, what filled the air the most however, was not the occasional rumble of thunder, but the incessant sound of heavy waves hitting huge walls and slabs of concrete.

This place was filled with huge cranes, warehouses, heavy vehicles, complicated machinery and the like. Large numbers of metal containers that were stacked on top of one another, almost rivalling three to four storey buildings in height, had filled every other possible space. In addition, the perimeter was filled with ships of all sizes, ranging from small tugboats to humongous freight ships.

This place was no doubt a port.

Usually, a port would be bustling all day round, even into the wee hours of the day and night. This was to accommodate to the never ending list of ongoing shipments and slated deliveries that would simply snowball if left neglected. Yet for some reason or another, the port was actually closed. The cranes were unmoving. The electronics were offline. The ships were all anchored and no one was on board.

All except for a single, large freight ship anchored right near the far edge of the port.

Officially, the ship was a commercial one, and it was recognized, belonging to a well-known international shipping company.

But that was just on the surface.

A lone girl woke up.

She was literally dressed in rags and tatters and was also barefooted. Because of this, much of her skin was revealed but it only showed that her body was battered and bruised all over. The wounds were not fresh, but not old either. Overall, it seemed to have been progressive due to the presence of dried blood and partially healed spots.

Even with all those injuries however, the girl was a beauty.

Her long, brilliant silver hair ended around her waistline and she had an hourglass figure along with a toned physique. Accentuating her beauty further and could also be said to be her most distinguishing feature, was her eyes.

It was vermillion in colour and it shone as vivid as molten lava when it reflected the minuscule amount of moonlight in the darkness of the night.

The girl rested her back against the cold metal.

She was currently in one of the numerous containers on board the freight ship, though she herself was clueless as to which container she was in. All she could roughly tell was the weather outside and the time of day, thanks to a few slits on the top of the container which allowed a sparse amount of light in.

Tilting her head down, she looked at both her arms. When she moved her left, the right would follow. When she moved her right, the left would follow. Whenever she did either of the two motions, light metallic sounds entered her ears.

It was as if she did it just to remind her of the fact that she was handcuffed.

The girl lifted her head and looked directly in front of her, at the other metal wall just a little more than a couple of metres away. Right on the metal surface, there were a few small slashes which she inscribed using a small piece of broken metal that was lying around.

Five horizontal and one vertical. A total of six. That was the amount of days she had been in this container, as far as she could remember. That was also the amount of days, she had not seen the outside world.