Chapter 220: Dimensional Leader, Yellow Lightning, and the Lost Words
Sitting on the captain's bed, her back hunched, Item-M had the oddest expression on her face. A mixture of disbelief and terrified apprehension as if some hidden memory was trying to burst out of her shocked eyes, but before she could turn the memory into words, some unknown and complex magic spun its gears in her mind, making her forget it in the very next moment.
Kai was too busy with the sudden opportunity that his extraordinary mind had birthed for him to notice those expressions. Neither he tried to consult with Item-M and Petyr, nor did he let them know what he was about to do next. He still wasn't being lazy, but his grasp over inhumane manipulation did make him a little arrogant.
He stood up, his facial curves mimicking the fanatical aura Item-M always had for him. He must be not only practical now but also prudent and calculative with his words, as he knew nothing about the Drowned God other than what his Item had told him. Ordinary words were not enough to convince a true devotee. He must rely on the supernatural show he had already shown to Andrik that night, he concluded.
"You are right," Kai said, looking out of the windows, towards the open sea. "You are wrong, too."
Bullshit. Kai was building a foundation around this word; a practice common among many fraudulent cults and religions, he had learned. "I am HIS favored, yes," Kai continued, noticing the bewildered look on Item-M's face for the first time, his eyes narrowing. "But I am not some mere priest, Andrik. For I have been to a place where no man could have been to, even in their dreams, and return alive to sing the songs of those unearthly vistas."
Kai turned around, approached the giant whose head was almost touching Kai's chest despite kneeling, and now whispered, his voice echoing in the unnatural silence of the cabin, "I have been to HIS watery halls."
Andrik shivered, tears running dry on his face. He gawked at Kai and didn't dare to question the absurd proclamation with his mortal mind and will.
Bullshit was working, Kai thought, laughing derisively within his mind. "You have seen how I thwarted the Storm God's fury," he said, his voice high and eerie. "That was not a happenstance, but a true power of the Drowned God, materializing through me. Now, Andrik, I will give you the same chance. A chance to let go of your past and serve the Drowned God's purpose through me. A chance to go beyond the ordinary scuffles between Houses and Kingdoms. Oh, Andrik, the Unsmiling, a chance to visit HIS watery halls and discard your mortal self for undying piety and immortality. Dare you bow your head and kneel in acceptance?"
Once more Kai's voice boomed, "Answer me!"
There was a mystery in Kais' words apparent to all listeners. A watery shiver had run down both Item-M's and Andrik's spine, unknown to Kai, and now both were looking at him with such intense fervor that made him think if he had overdone it a bit. Nonetheless, the effect, though in the same direction as Kai had intended, had gone beyond his imagination and out of his hands.
"I do." The words came by themselves out of Andrik's mouth.
Steam was already rising off Kai's body, and Item-M had stood up in shock. "Then close your eyes," he told Andrik, motioning Item-M to stand down. "Let me baptize you in HIS waters afresh, washing your past sins away, and giving your life a new purpose and meaning."
Andrik shut his eyes, steeling his nerves, and taking a deep breath, as if knowing what was about to happen next. A sizzling heat seared Kai's surroundings momentarily before Selene sent out a burst of chill, making it disappear. This brief event followed the morphing of Kai's body into a blue-skinned demon, a tail swishing, flailing behind him as if it had a mind of its own. Once again Kai had taken the Golduck form, and from the appalled look on Item-M's face, he could tell that if Andrik were to open his eyes now, no supernatural explanation would be enough to save him from the cruelest fate known to Contestants.
It did not faze Kai at all. Risks were a part of his life as much as anything. His instincts were sharp and meticulous enough to let him know he had this man figured out long before. Andrik was a warrior who lived by his words and blade. A proud and skillful seafarer who bowed to no one other than the God he worshiped, not even to the Lord he served. For the same reasons, this man would never open his eyes unless told so by Kai.
Kai used Hydro Pump to spit out a bucketful of water, but he had not aimed it at anything. Nor did it fall upon canceling the Skill. The moment it left his mouth with a gurgling noise, the bean-sized mind-gem shone bloody on his forehead. Kai had been experimenting with his Advance Telekinesis for far too long now, and with Item-M's help, he had figured out a basic understanding of it.
Elementary Telekinesis would have let him control solid objects, Kai had concluded. But there would have been heavy restrictions on the objects' sizes and numbers. Advance Telekinesis not only relaxed those restrictions but also let him control liquid now. To increase his Proficiency in it steadily, Kai must control liquid as efficiently as he controlled small solid objects. Though, it had been becoming excruciatingly difficult for him to do so, what with his pounding headache. That's why Kai had stuck to controlling many pebbles instead to enhance his Proficiency using liquid.
Now, with the headache gone, Kai knew he could once again resume his planned course of training.
The thinnest layer of red covered the water from all around like smoke, entrapping it into an enormous spherical drop of water the size of a human's head. Kai, his teeth clenched hard, controlled the drop and sent it hurtling towards Andrik's head, who flinched as the water drowned his head. Yet, the man didn't open his eyes.
2 minutes. 3 minutes…
Only at the end of the 5th minute did Andrik show signs of struggle, his head shaking, as his monstrous lungs grasped at escaping breath. Bubbles rose into the water sphere, and the struggle increased. Now, even Kai's hands were shaking, and his face had crumpled in a hideous scowl, a thin trail of blood running down his nose.
Suddenly, the last traces of air abandoned Andrik, and the man lost consciousness, his eyes on the brink of getting shut forever. Kai knew the time had come, and he canceled his transformation. Item-M had told him about this ritual where the priest of Drowned God drowned the followers and then revived them, following a process called Kiss of Life. Kai was replicating the same, knowing well that this "Kiss of Life" was nothing but cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
As he pumped Andrik's chest and breathed air into his mouth using his strength, it only took a few seconds before the giant man returned to life, coughing out water and gasping for air.
Kai laughed. "Rise," he told Andrik, standing up. "You have drowned in HIS waters and been returned to us. What is dead may never die!"
Andrik rose, his muscles pulsating with power. "But rises," he said, growling like a beast. "Rises again and again. Harder. And stronger."
"You do not belong to House Drumm now," Kai proclaimed, looking up into his dark eyes. "Nor do you have any obligation to any Lord. You belong to HIM and only HIM, the Drowned God. Now kneel once more, but not as Andrik the Unsmiling. Henceforth, you are Andrik the Twice-Drowned, and the crew member of the White Serpent Pirates."
"Yes, captain," Andrik spat, his knees bending once more. No longer he was trying to look away from Kai's eyes, and no longer there was any meekness in his voice. He was once again the fiercest warrior from the Iron Islands, but now his loyalty was for Kai and Kai alone.
The stagnated black color of the Abnormality Limiter bar shot up, becoming full instantly. It didn't come as a surprise to Kai as he knew Andrik must have equated all supernatural scenes he must have seen three days ago to the power of Drowned God that was backing up Kai in his struggle with Storm God's fury.
And then the notification appeared in between Kai's hazel and Andrik's dark eyes like a divine message.
[
You have unlocked a New Title…
Title: Dimensional Leader
Specification: Make 3 main-storyline characters follow you voluntarily and unconditionally
Status: (1/3)
Effect:
1. Intelligence +3
2. Worth +5
3. Charisma +10
4. Luck +1
5. Skill: Dimensional Summoning
Note: Only 1 Title can be equipped at a time
]
Kai sighed inwardly. He knew if the System had recognized them as a pirate crew, then he would have gotten more notifications regarding some Milestones and Titles. Now he would have to wait to reach Pentos before having them. Still, it hadn't diminished the elation of seeing the ridiculous rewards of this Title. Once more he found himself looking at a Skill given by a Title, and Kai couldn't help but lick his lips in anticipation.
'I am no leader,' he thought, sitting down majestically as both Andrik and Item-M fawned over his presence. 'I do know how to use Items, though, and I care about them better than most leaders care about their followers, whetting them like I whet my sabers, ever-ready to strike the enemy down. If having Items around me makes me a leader, then so be it.'
"Now that we are done with the holy business, Andrik of White Serpent Pirates," Kai said, resuming their unfinished conversation, "answer me the questions I had asked of you. Of course, let me introduce you to Priestess Shae. She has come far into understanding Drowned God's mysteries. If you would underestimate her because of her age, then you would presume too much."
Both Andrik and Item-M nodded at each other, though Kai noticed Item-M's stiffness.
"I had followed your orders, captain." Andrik began the tale, recalling the events of three days ago. "But no true ironborn would want to die hiding among cowards. So I had returned to the deck to let Drowned God's waters take me and lose my life to the sea, rather than getting crushed by the shipwreck. But the moment I came up, through the hail, black wind, and water, I… I saw a blue figure walking on the deck. It had a tail, and I think I saw webbed hands and feet as well. (-Kai and Item-M shared a glance-). From the old texts, I already knew that the Drowned God's favored priests are half man and half fish."
Andrik's breathing was rising again, despite the calm in his voice. Silence pitched and rolled along with the ship for a few moments before Kai nodded, urging the sailor to go on.
"I heard the words then," Andrik said, his eyes losing focus. "The words that had shaken my soul in awe, and I am ashamed to say, captain, in fear as well."
Kai was confused and surprised. "Words?!" he asked incredulously. "What words?"
To Item-M he asked, -/Did you hear words as well?/-
Item-M pressed her brows and almost immediately shook her head.
Andrik gulped, cleared his throat, and then spoke with as much might and hoarseness as he could muster. "I am a Stormborn," he began, and Kai almost left his chair. "I am the Devastating Despair, the Blue-skinned Demon, and the Unforgivable Cursed One… Then I think I saw a flash, like a yellow bolt of lightning. The next time I opened my eyes, Priestess Shae was standing over me."
'Yellow?!' Kai felt odd, a queer disgust rising in his heart. 'Wasn't the color of Focus Punch red?' It was then he sensed an upheaval of intense emotions from his side. Kai turned his head and found Item-M, shaking like a leaf, and her mouth opened wide. Her eyes were almost popping out of her skull, and she was extremely anxious about something, Kai noticed. "Leave us," he told Andrik. "Go tend to the crew and take note of all the maintenance that the ship requires."
"Yes, captain." Andrik bowed in acceptance and left, closing the cabin's door behind him.
"What's going on?" Kai asked Item-M, not unkindly. "What's wrong with you? How come he, a normal human, heard me from so far away, but you, who was standing just behind me, heard nothing?"
Item-M looked at Kai in disbelief. Her legs shook, and she fell back on the bed, sweat pouring down from her forehead like thick drops of water. "I remember now," she said, her voice trembling. "I remember you saying something about a Stormborn. But that's it. That's it, master. I heard nothing after that. Nor did I hear a single word Andrik said just now ."
Kai saw the truth in her eyes, and an indescribable chill ran down his spine.
********
AN:
1. Kiss of Life - Followers of the Drowned God are ritually drowned and then revived by priests. Many ironborn are symbolically drowned as infants by being briefly dipped into a tub of seawater. Older traditions have devotees literally drowned, however. Priests and their acolytes, the drowned men, then work the arms, pump the chest, and repeatedly breathe the kiss of life until the devotee revives.
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