Timeline: August 2014
Word Count ~ 2.5k
TW: Blood, violence, weaponry
Keralis wasn't one to believe in luck, but a situation like this was certainly unfortunate. Sure, perhaps he'd gotten a little ambitious by trying to use his magic to earn himself a living, but apparently he'd severely underestimated how quickly news could travel across the seas.
He wasn't entirely sure what a bunch of pirates could want with an Empath like him, but with a sword to his throat and no hope of escaping, Keralis made no attempt to resist his capture. The only thing worse than being held hostage was being dead, and he wasn't foolish enough to risk the latter. The pirates had immediately bound him with magic-resisting cuffs, the kind any magic user around these parts was far too familiar with, and to Keralis's surprise, these pirates seemed to know exactly what it was they were dealing with.
However, even a week after he'd been dragged onto their ship, he still wasn't sure why they wanted him. Perhaps they were bringing him to someone else for a sum of money, or perhaps they wanted his powers themselves. Keralis didn't know why a pirate would want an Empath to read his mind or alter his emotions, but he knew better than to question those holding him captive.
It wasn't long later that he realised why they'd taken him captive. 12 days after he'd been kidnapped by the pirates, they had the misfortune (or perhaps fortune in Keralis' case, if he were to believe in luck) of running into another ship owned by naval officers. They hadn't been thrilled to run into pirates in the waters they were supposed to be protecting, and had swiftly issued arrest warrants for everyone on board.
That was when Keralis had been dragged up onto the deck, brought before the officers and to his surprise, uncuffed. For a moment he'd been confused, wondering if they were planning to exchange him for their own freedom, but seconds later the captain leaned in close to him
"Make them scared." He demanded, pushing Keralis forwards. "Make them fear us so deeply that they know not to go near us ever again. And if you try to run, there's a gun pointed at the back of your head as we speak."
Keralis glanced over at the officers. He could feel their fear and concern, and see them reaching for their own weapons. The captain wasn't bluffing, there was a gun being held to his head and he had no means of avoiding its bullet. Regardless, he maintained a straight face and a calm attitude, determined not to let the threat of a gun let him be pushed into following his captors' orders.
Keralis turned his head back towards the captain, and felt the barrel of the gun brush against the hairs on his neck. The trigger wasn't pulled, not yet anyway, but the telltale click told Keralis that the pirates weren't afraid to shoot, or use his precarious situation as leverage against the officers. In spite of this, however, Keralis merely shook his head.
"No."
The captain was stunned into silence, in disbelief that Keralis could so calmly refuse an order, let alone with a gun to his head. For a moment nobody spoke, the naval officers exchanging worried glances as the pirates tried to figure out what to do.
"What do you mean, 'no'?" The first mate eventually repeated. "Are you stupid? You don't ignore what the captain asks of you, especially not when there's a loaded gun being pointed at your head. Do what you're asked, or-"
"But there isn't." Keralis interrupted. "The gun isn't loaded. You used your last bullet playing roulette last night, but your captain wouldn't know that because you weren't planning on telling him. So I may have a gun to my head, but it's not a threat to me."
Mind reading, it was really quite the useful skill. Sure, the click of an empty gun when the trigger was pulled was what really gave it away, but Keralis had had a feeling that the crew were actually bluffing. The naval officers, suddenly more confident now that they knew the pirates were essentially unarmed, made no attempt to wipe the smug smirks from their faces. "Well then, let's get through with these arrest warrants, shall we?"
The only thing Keralis respected about pirates was their ability to improvise. Even though he'd refused to help them, even though they were unarmed, and even though the captain was livid, they'd managed to fight the navy off and escape before backup could be called. Needless to say, nobody was particularly impressed with how he'd ruined their plans, but it wasn't as if they could get rid of him with empty guns.
He'd been thrown below deck, as the cuffs had been destroyed during the fight and he couldn't be let hear anyone for fear he'd trick them into letting him go. The first mate came down an hour or so after they'd escaped, and Keralis couldn't tell if his bloody nose was from the fight they'd gotten into or the captain's rage. He dragged Keralis to his feet, pulling him up the stairs and onto the deck, seething with anger and loathing.
"You're a real riot, you know that?" He spat bitterly. "Now half the crew's been beaten bloody, the captain's throwing a fit, and I've been left to get rid of you."
Keralis froze, digging his heels into the ground and forcing the two of them to stop. "Get rid of me? I thought you wanted to keep me on board to help you."
"We did, and then you resisted the captain's orders and almost got all of us thrown in the slammer. We'd be much happier to have you dead than alive, and it's far easier to kill you than to try and convince some rich bloke to buy you off of us."
Keralis frowned at the idea as he was pulled along by the first mate. He'd much rather be dead than left to spend the rest of his life as nothing more than a treasure to show off at parties, especially after all he'd done to try and keep himself away from such a fate. He knew so many like him who'd been thrown onto a lifetime of debt and servitude, and if avoiding that life meant forfeiting his own life altogether, so be it.
Even as he was led onto the deck and towards the plank, Keralis held his head high. For years he'd been trying to retain his dignity as a magic user with no home or wealth to his name, and this was no time to stop.
"So... Do we knock him out first, or tie him up so he can't swim and then throw him in?" One pirate questioned. The first mate sighed, pinching the bridge of his bruised nose between his index finger and thumb, his frustration radiating off of him like waves of fire.
"I don't care how you get it done, I want him dead and off this boat within the next thirty seconds." He instructed. Several pirates glanced at each other, before one shrugged and grabbed a hold of Keralis. One hand was held over his mouth and nose, the other locking him in a chokehold and leaving him unable to breathe.
Keralis kept trying to draw a breath, relentlessly struggling against his captors, but to no avail. He tried to summon his magic, to gain some form of control over their emotions, but was panicking too much to use it efficiently. It didn't take long for him to become lightheaded and his vision to blur, and within seconds he'd collapsed into the pirate's arms, unconscious.
The next thing Keralis was aware of was the fact that he was breathing. He didn't think much of it at first, his mind too foggy to remember what had happened or where he was. Bits and pieces of it slowly came together, the memories reconstructing themselves inside his head. He remembered being dragged onto the deck, grabbed by the neck until he passed out, brief glances of the ocean surrounding him, and something, or perhaps even someone, pulling him out of his own watery grave.
Keralis awoke with a gasp, before immediately coughing up a concerning amount of seawater. His lungs seemed to burn as he sat up, looking around only to find himself on a beach he didn't recognise. He certainly wasn't home, that much was for certain, but it didn't seem as if he was dead either. It may have seemed like an unfortunate situation to most, but as far as Keralis was concerned, still being alive was a triumph.
But how was he alive? There was no way he happened to conveniently wash up alive and unharmed, not without some form of intervention. Perhaps Keralis was just confusing his memories of being held down by pirates and sinking through the water, but he distinctly remembered someone holding onto him as he was in the sea. And Keralis had a very good feeling that the someone in question wasn't that far away.
He could sense fear, caution and uncertainty, but at the same time, hope, curiosity and excitement. He turned to his left, hearing a gasp and seeing a head of navy hair disappear behind a rock. Keralis raised his eyebrows, amused by their blatant attempts to hide from him. "I can see you, there's no need to hide. I don't want to hurt you."
The head of hair slowly popped up again, this time accompanied by wide aqua eyes that conveyed the same emotions Keralis was picking up on. Although exhausted, he smiled, holding out his hand. "Were you the one who brought me here?"
The stranger nodded his head, before fully poking his face out from behind the rock. Keralis was taken aback by his bright orange ear fins and the tiny cyan scales scattered across his cheeks like freckles, but then realised that it wasn't too surprising that it was a merperson who had been able to save him from drowning and pull him ashore. Or perhaps not a merperson, he realised, when the stranger came out from his hiding place.
He wasn't quite sure what he was at all. He had legs just like Keralis did, which would usually be a strong indicator that he wasn't a merperson, but his lower back led down into a long, guardian-like tail that rested behind said legs. Keralis had never heard of someone having both, meaning that his saviour was likely a rare hybrid that had never been recorded before.
However, what stood out even more than his strange appearance was the state the hybrid was in. Cuts, bruises and other varying injuries covered his body, particularly his arms and legs. Most notable were the red marks resembling rope burn, suggesting that he'd been caught in a net of some ilk. Keralis could only hope it hadn't been one belonging to the pirates.
Despite his injuries, the stranger nudged sideways, slowly inching toward Keralis in a rather awkward manner, as if he wasn't sure how to get himself from one point to the next. And, between his odd movements and general aquatic appearance, he probably didn't. Keralis held back a laugh, not wanting to dishearten the peculiar hybrid.
"Are... are you okay there?" He asked, having to hold a hand over his mouth just to mask his grin. The hybrid stopped moving, frowning as he glanced at a nearby cast of crabs making their way across the sand.
"The crabs make it look a lot easier."
The unfiltered bluntness of the hybrid's remark, coupled with the fact that he had been mimicking crabs of all things in an attempt to move above water, made Keralis laugh so hard that his lungs began to hurt again and his laughter quickly became coughing. "Th-the crabs?" He repeated, trying his best not to come off as rude as he brushed away a tear. "That's not how you- oh dear, let me show you."
Keralis stood up, still weak in the knees from his near-death experience, and held a hand out to his saviour. The hybrid took it, and although he was alarmed when Keralis pulled him to his feet, he managed to keep his balance. "First time up here?" Keralis asked, still helping the stranger remain upright.
"Is it that obvious?" He asked, blushing with embarrassment. His eyes went wide as Keralis pulled him forwards a little, and although he stumbled and almost fell, he remained standing and managed to take a few steps forward.
"Yeah, kind of." Keralis shrugged, still holding his hands as he helped the guardian hybrid walk along the beach. "But you're getting the hang of it! And the least I can do is help you learn... you saved my life back there before you even knew me, I owe you a lot."
"You don't owe me anything." His saviour admitted, letting go of Keralis and slowly walking alongside him without assistance. "I couldn't leave you out there to drown, even if you're a stranger to me I wouldn't just let you... well, die."
He suddenly stumbled, almost planting his face into the sand, but Keralis quickly took a hold of his wrist and caught him. "Well, it's a noble thing to do for a stranger." He pointed out with a grin. Then, whilst holding onto him, Keralis was reminded of the hybrid's injuries and his smile swiftly faded. "I just hope you didn't hurt yourself that badly because of me."
"Oh, that... that was someone else." The guardian hybrid sighed, standing up straight once more. Without warning, Keralis was hit with waves of shame, betrayal and disappointment, each of those emotions reflected clearly in the stranger's aqua eyes. His saviour was suffering, and Keralis felt somewhat obliged to help him with it.
"Well, you don't have to stay with those people if they hurt you." Keralis told him. "I may not know them, or you either, but I know that nobody deserves to be hurt like that."
"Thank you, but I'm just not sure where I'd go."
"You can go to the same place I'm going." Keralis offered.
"Where?"
"I don't know, we'll find out when we get there!" He replied, holding out his hand once more. "But forgive me for not introducing myself... you can call me Keralis."
The guardian hybrid smiled, and Keralis didn't need to be an Empath to feel the genuine joy and gratitude he was expressing. He'd been denied love and kindness for many years, and it almost made Keralis himself emotional to feel his saviour's euphoria at finally receiving it. "Thank you Keralis, you can call me XB."