Kip inhales one last great breath of salty air before leaving the cabin. As soon as he steps out, he's spotted by a tall, bulky man wearing a red bandana.
"Who in the Fates are you, boy." The man growls, eyes zeroing in on him as he goes for the sharp hatchet at his waist.
Kip moves his hand down to his own weapon, but finds that the sheath is not at his hip like it usually is.
When I was dragged on to the ship from Roaria, my friends must have taken my machete for safe keeping. Kip can guess where it is. Probably confiscated along with my friends' other weapons.
"Are you deaf, who are you?!" The man questions, having taken out his hatchet. The man now grips it in his hands tightly, poised for an attack.
Kip feels the dark power of Gahenna rush through him at the threat. His amber eyes glow bright as Kip crouches to the ground and touches the scratchy wood. The shadows from the lanterns hung along the hall screech at his touch. There's a building in Kip's chest, and then it releases as the shadows on the ground surge forward, pulling the bulky man to the ground.
Kip is so close to Gahenna that he can hardly feel any drainage of power. He watches in morbid fascination as the shadows rip the man to shreds, leaving nothing but a speck of blood and a pile of bones.
Kip feels nauseous as he steps around the pile. I can't think about what I just did, I have to save me friends.
This thought has Kip sprinting down the remainder of the hall and up the stairs, the shadows of the night devouring any that stands in his way.
The cool breeze and moonlight flood over Kip's form, adding to the addictive feeling of energy pulsing within his core. He feels his shadow stain thumping like a second heart on his back. The strange feeling brings him back to reality. Men from the docks below yell and point, but Kip ignores them, falling into a power-induced haze.
He easily jumps over the huge distance between The Sea Sorceress and The Dogfish. As soon as Kip lands on to The Dogfish, he is faced with a dozen angry faces and weapons. Kip flicks his hand and the shadows shove a path through them. He leaves them to busily demolish their human meals.
No longer feels rushed, Kip strolls through the destruction. His shadow stain throbs harder from the incredible high of all the death and darkness surrounding him. Cracking a sardonic grin, Kip's eyes glow bright in the night.
His grin widens as he lays eyes on a particular, evil smuggling captain. Baymont. He chuckles. His mind is overwrought with all the pain and cruelty he has done to the many people he's sold to the Shadowlanders.
The captain twitches and shakes in complete agony as Kip's shadows tear him apart piece by piece. With a single command, Kip halts his shadows and they slither away to partake of one of the other crew's flesh.
Kipdale leans down and beams at the captain. "How about I inflict some of the pain you have given to thousands unto you?"
Captain Baymont, already in much anguish can only silently sob and pray for mercy.
〰〰〰
Delia lifts her head from the ground, confusion and grogginess making her thoughts murky. Sounds of all kinds fill her ears. Even the half-dead people look up from their misery, eyes shining curiously.
That is when she registers the screams.
She feels more alive awake than she had in the past week as she shifts to a sitting position. Delia's eyes meet her friends', but she finds no answers within them.
Agonized cries fill the air, fear pounds in Delia's chest. What is going on?!
"Everyone, try to stay clear of the door!" Tavius commands the same time that Kagon shouts, "Protect your young!"
Delia shoves herself up. Black dots fill her vision as she wobbled unsurely on her feet. It has been awhile since she's stood up. Kagon and her friends stand alongside her, fists clenches and muscles taut.
More cries fill the air and then fall like the tides of the sea. There is only silence for a long time. Delia can feel her heart slamming and bumping around her chest within every passing second. Tavius places a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her, but it does anything to ease the rapid beating of her heart.
Finally, she hears something other than the heavy breathing of the people around her. Footsteps. The steps make a light thumping sound as they descend each step. Delia can tell that this person has no hurry in the world as they slowly make their way downwards.
Petrifying fear seizes her, from somewhere in the room a child whimpers, but it quickly hushed.
The footsteps stop and the door swings open. A young man steps out. The first thing Delia notices is the decapitated head of Captain Baymont swinging from the person's grasp. Blood dribbles to the ground, with every splat of crimson, more horror fills her.
Delia can hardly recognize the shining, bloodthirsty eyes and grin of the young man. However, the amber gaze is unmistakable to her. Delia moves forward as far as her chains would allow her. "Kip?" She asks tentatively, swallowing her fear.
"Wait, that's Kip?" Maude asks, his single eye as round as a platter.
Kip goes to Delia in one fluid moment, dropping the head along the way. One of the children screams as it lolls over beside them. Delia's nails dig into her palm as she tries not to flinch back from his sudden presence. When she finds the strength to look into his face, she sees tears falling from his face, his bright eyes dimmed to their normal pallor.
"Kip, what happened?" Part of her wants to wrap her arms around him and do her best to offer comfort, while the other half wants to take more than a couple steps back.
Instead of doing either, she stands there and studies him carefully in an attempt to keep in mind that Kipdale is still the boy that saved her and Kagon on Mount O'Haire. He had become a bit taller than her since she last saw him awake in Roaria and perhaps older, but besides that he's still the same Kip. After one more moment of uncertainty, she embraces him.
"I had to kill so many to get to you all." He whispers. "I lost myself to Gahenna amidst it all. When I saw Captain Baymont, I knew all of what he must have done to these poor people and what he was planning to do to you all. I-I..." Kip swallows. "I inflected an agony upon him that not even he deserves."
Delia's stomach clenches. The last person's cries she had heard must have been Baymont's. "I can't tell you that this is all okay, Kip." Delia says, her voice gravelly from both raw emotion and disuse. "But you'll get through it."
Kip hugs her tighter to him like he did in the misty dreamland. Delia realizes that this is so much better than it ever was in that dark place. After a moment she pulls away and looks around. Everyone had been watching their transaction, some with wide frightful eyes and others with relief that the crazy young man wasn't going to be dragging their disembodied heads next.
"Kip came here to save us all." Delia establishes, looking into everyone's eyes for any hint of a challenge towards her statement.
"Yes, we are thankful towards you." The old man who had first talked to them says with a weathered smile.
At his words the others began to look more relaxed. Delia can tell that this man is the unspoken leader of the group.
"We have much to talk about, Kip." Kagon says, speaking for the first time.
Delia winces, his very voice is painful to her. After she had bared her heart to him, he had denied her. All she has left is embarrassment, sorrow, and anger.
Kip simply nods his head.
"In the meantime, we need to all be freed from our chains." Tavius smiles lopsidedly.
"That as well as have a group discussion on how to bring these people back to their homes safely." Kagon adds.
"Agreed. They've been through so much that their needs should go first." Delia says.
"Hmph, I guess you're right." Maude says, though he does not look happy about it. "Anyway, do any of you know where the keys are?"
"No, the crew were careful to keep them hidden from our line of sight." The old man says. "They were brutes, but they had cunning."
"That's fine." Kip says. With a snap of his fingers, the shadows cast from the few hanging lanterns swarms towards the chains at everyone's ankles.
Delia, along with some others let out a shriek as the shadows eat away the metal bands around their ankles. She only feels the coolness of the shadows on her skin for less than a minute before the metal is completely eaten away and they fade back to their natural position.
Delia can't help but shudder as she looks at the now-natural looking shadows pooled underneath the lantern's glow. Delia knows that she will never look at them the same way.
Some of the people still appear horror stricken as they look down in shock at their shackle-freed ankles.
Tavius steps up to Kip and places a hand on his shoulder with an uneasy smile. "Please don't ever do that again, mate."
"Sorry." Kip apologizes, sheepishly.
Tavius shrugs, ever the easygoing pirate. "You're fine. Let's just get out of this brig. I've spent a week too long in here."
At that, everyone files out of the brig and up the stairs. When Delia enters the main deck, she can see the sky beginning to brighten with the oncoming morning. She can see the lights of a small seaside village off in the distance from where both ships are docked.
"Where are we?" One of the people asks, voicing her question.
"From the looks of it, it appears to be a small port on one of the islands that make up the Kingdom of Za." Tavius replies.
"How close are we to the Shadowlands then?" Kagon asks.
Tavius opens his mouth to answer, but is cut off by Kip. Though the boy's eyes have gone back to their natural hue, they spark as he answers. "Very."