Chương 17: [17 - An amended balance]
[Five days later]
A cold westerly wind blew across Callian's masked face, ruffling through his soft blue hair.
The man was sitting inside the topmost crow's nest, leaning back against the broad centre mast which overlooked the rest of the ship.
He closed his dulling eyes, cutting out the sound of the muffled voices that emanated from the deck below; instead focusing in on the rhythmic sound of countless waves collapsing inwards on top of each other, one by one.
This method of transportation was far more soothing than the hex gates.
"Back at it again?"
A young male voice sounded from his left, and Callian cracked open an eye to see a teenage boy standing next to his seated figure.
The teen leaned onto the wooden railing before him, his hair swirling back and forth in the sea's breeze; his tailored leather boots colliding with the planks underfoot.
"Arthur." The older man acknowledged, shutting his left eye once more and sighing.
There went his peace and quiet.
"So where's Zeri?" The boy asked, glancing back at Callian furtively. He then chuckled nervously. "She usually never leaves your shadow, not even for a minute."
The young brown-haired lookout was sweet on Zeri, despite having known her for less than a week, and not even having seen her face. He had stopped trying to hide it from Callian as well, sensing that the man somehow knew of his well-concealed feelings.
His apprentice's attitude toward the boy was cold and uncaring though, as she barely took note of his existence, despite the obvious attention he paid her.
But Arthur wouldn't give up and kept trying to talk to the girl, and had now started to bug Callian as to her whereabouts the moment she disappeared off his radar.
"Stop asking me for her. Or better yet, give up on your pursuit."
Arthur, slapped his hands down onto the railing, before turning around the face the seated man.
"I probably should shouldn't I?" He said ruefully, jumping up until he sat on the thin railing. "There's just something about her." He muttered.
Arthur leaned backward, pivoting downwards until he hung off the edge of the crow's nest, his legs clenching around the thin guardrail tightly.
Callian opened his eyes - both of them this time, staring ahead at the precariously balancing teenager.
Not once did his heartbeat stutter during that stunt. It was a second nature to the boy.
Originally, Callian had been surprised as to why Camille had allowed such a young man onto her expedition, but after assessing his skills, he could see why.
Arthur's eyesight was impeccable, no it was even more impressive than that. The boy was agile too, scaling the ship's rigging as if it were a simple sprint on solid ground.
Callian had to concede that the Ferros head had picked up a real treasure finding the lad; likely having scooped him out of the lanes somewhere, judging by the nasty scarring that ran down his throat.
You didn't get that kind of injury sauntering around in topside, and it looked like some sort of chemical burn, backing up this arbitrial assumption.
"Oh shit." The boy exclaimed, bringing up a hand to shield his eyes from the cold winter sunlight. He reached down and grabbed the collapsible telescope that was hanging from his twine necklace.
The teen cranked it, extending the drawtube out and holding it up to his eye.
"Oi Denver, land to the southeast!" He yelled down to one of the deckhands below, adjusting the telescope's focus further. "Looks like the Mudtown port to me!"
His energized shouts sparked the men below into action, who were previously lazing about and chatting like they usually did.
The deckhands sent a runner to inform Davros of their arrival, and Callian felt the ship begin to steer southeast, following through with Arthur's observation.
Zeri flickered into view in front of him, now perching on the railings next to Arthur. The boy yelped in astonishment, nearly falling off the edge in his panic.
"Hey Cal." She said, ignoring the flailing Arthur and hopping down to sit next to the man. "So, we're almost there?" The girl asked, her yellow eyes flickering toward the light mist that hung above the ocean surrounding them.
"The boy has a good set of eyes, I'll give him that," Callian replied, taking out a hand and subtly scratching a small runic symbol onto the platform below them with his armoured forefinger.
It glowed a brief jade-green underneath his palm before the deep scratches disappeared, with the wood melting back into its original form.
"So yes, we are close - an hour away at most." He continued smoothly, having finished with his task.
Zeri grinned in anticipation. "Remind me again, what's so special about Mudtown?"
"It's basically just one massive casino." Arthur butted in, trying his best to appear helpful. "All sorts turn up to gamble there; Ionians, Noxians, Demaciana - hell, you even see a few yordles if you're lucky."
The green-haired girl didn't even spare the teen a glance in response to his comment, instead looking toward Callian for confirmation.
The man nodded, adding a little more context to the boy's broad statement. "The town was built upon its brick trade and gambling operations; meaning that it's a very influential place. Everyone needs to build a home after all, no matter where in the world they live."
Callian had asked Camille for a full rundown of the place's history after they had settled down, with Zeri separating from him during that time as she wanted to fully explore the ship they would be living on for the next month.
"But - surely bricks can't be that important, I mean can't people just use stone from their own land?" She asked Callian, frowning curiously.
Arthur decided this was a good time to intervene again, and answered her question for him. "Nah, Mudtown bricks are proper special - strong stuff. Never seen one break, ever."
Zeri looked toward Callian, her displeasure toward the boy's consistent interruptions growing more evident by the second. "Was Camille's mansion made out of them?"
Callian nodded.
The Ferros family estate had indeed been created with bricks from Mudtown. The former head hadn't accepted anything less than the best when it came to building something as important as his own home.
"Can't have been that special then," Zeri muttered. "Camille broke her wall apart just by punching it."
Arthur's eyes widened in utter shock. "She did what?!"
"Did I stutter?" The girl snapped back, finally acknowledging the infuriating boy's presence there.
"No, I just - well… If what you're saying is true then Madam Ferros is strong. Like really strong." Arthur ran his hand through his short curly hair, baffled. "I've seen Vastayan beastmen attack those bricks in showings, and they didn't even leave a scratch."
Callian chose his next words carefully, intending to contradict the amazed boy standing before them.
If Camille wanted to hide her strength from the world, then that was her choice.
So in accordance with her wishes, he would not allow Zeri to uncover the woman's meticulously laid pretenses on a whim; least of all in front of a talkative teenager who didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.
"This is true, but it is more likely that what she damaged was the mortar, not the bricks themselves. They likely slid out of place after having their connections broken."
That was a lie.
Camille had completely destroyed the specially, specifically chosen Mudtown bricks with her punch, shattering them into pieces.
"Oh." Said the masked girl, slowly starting to lose interest. She leant her head against his shoulder gently. "I see."
Zeri and Arthur stayed silent, digesting this new information.
The shimmer contained within Callian's blood suddenly ignited, searing a painful white hot underneath his pale skin, the man's violet eyes exploding with a burning colour.
"Oh." The masked girl said, immediately losing interest. She leant her head against his shoulder gently. "I see."
Zeri and Arthur stayed silent, digesting this new information.
What?
What the fuck.
—
[Somewhere in Zaun]
A glowing turquoise energy pulsed outwards within the darkness of a Southside alley; the bubbling light growing stronger and stronger.
It began to coalesce into the shape of a person; somehow cloaked in dark shadows despite the glowing light surrounding them.
The laws of the world did not buckle under the strain of maintaining the figure's continued existence, and they did not scream as they had beforehand.
All was well.
All was planned.
The fuzzy aura disappeared, the glowing mass of energy being sucked into the confines of the figure's glimmering pocket watch.
"Hey? Are you there?" A distinctly feminine voice called out, glancing around in the dimly lit street. "Did it work?"
No answer.
"Damn, so it did work?" They dropped the mechanical watch, allowing it to swing freely by their side.
They dropped their hood, the eerie green light emanating from the nearby street lamps illuminating the woman's short blue hair.
Her hand reached down for the watch again, haphazardly painted nails scratching against its metallic surface.
"Okay… The moment of truth." She muttered fervently, turning the dial and watching silently as the temporal anomaly trapped inside the small machine began to spin. "Come on. Please work."
It glowed brightly, the special alloy it was crafted from heating up, burning the woman's right hand and making her seethe in a painful shock.
She heard a loud thud echo from behind her; as if something heavy had just collided with the stone wall - hard. The 'something' coughed wetly, its head dropping down to the dirty ground.
"Shit shit shit." The woman panicked, fumbling with the thin chain that attached the pocket watch to her belt, ignoring the searing pain as her injured right hand pressed into the small clasp.
A thick arc of blue lightning snaked toward her leg, singing a blackened hole into her trousers. The flesh underneath it melted, and she yelled out in pain, dropping to one knee, still struggling to release the chain from her belt.
The woman managed to free herself a few precious seconds later, throwing the watch away from her person with as much force as she could muster.
The object left her hand, freezing midair, the infinitely accelerating hands on the anomalous watch instantly halting at four hours, four minutes, and forty-four seconds.
It exploded outwards in a radiant, magically charged shockwave, vaporising the blue-haired woman's left arm and sending her figure spinning into the nearest wall.
She coughed wetly, looking up to see herself fumbling with the watch's chain.
"Shit shit shit." The blue-haired figure in front of her muttered; and the disoriented woman's eyes fluttered wildly as she tried to stay awake.
'Oh fuck… My arm - it's gone.' She thought dazedly.
The woman blacked out, managing to stay awake just long enough to hear the devastating explosion that rocked the abandoned Southside street.
—
Bet you guys didn't see that one coming.
—
On another note - Laurent has now been renamed to Lawerence; as I wasn't aware that there was an existing Champion with the same last name. - My mistake for any confusion caused.
—
(Total word count: 1865)
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