Behind the door, blades ready, eyes wide for the intruder that had dared to find passage to their domain. What a stupid fellow that must be, they all collectively thought. We are many.
Which was true for they were about 30 pirates, swords ready, standing guard before the dark, welded door, waiting. Strong metal that was, the door. No way the intruder could so easily bypass it. No. not possible. That steel, they knew, had been commissioned from Moon, the most mysterious of the Free Cities.
Some say their exact location was unknown and could only be found through 'special means'. Magical, yes. That door was mighty, simple, its surface rusted with dots of grainy dirt, but it would last. It always did. They had tested it.
One time, they remembered, an Excubitor sent from the local brightCrown had attempted to breach it. He had failed, as expected. Although there were rumors that the excubitor was actually a mere squire, an excubitor not yet granted the famous Excubitor rings, their source of power.
But what did that matter? One smiled, hands tightening around his blade. He had surety, loyalty. They were pirates, but they were strong. How many could claim to have sailed the Brightriver near the Citadel of the Excubitors, have seen the famous Blueblood river near the Valor Clan? Very few. So what was there to fear?
They would rain their bodies before this attacker, batter them into submission. They would take them and prove their strength. And even if they couldn't, surely, undoubtedly, their captain, the Great Illyrio, would do. That man—they all remembered was a Caster. A powerful one of the Devoted rank—a level above the common Vested ones. Yes, he was mighty. A MysteryWatcher.
They grinned.
Come! Come. Come and die, you fool!
The entire wall exploded, the door firing forward, slamming into the body of a man. He went hurling, turning into a splatter of bloody across the rock-scattered floor.
They gasped, turned—there where the door once was, an expansion of greyish fumes spilled out, washing across the floors and into the small obdurate chamber—at least they believed so. But... now, did that still hold as true?
They panicked, for there, a shadow approached, brightened by the flickering lights of the base lamps. It seemed a monster—a creature with an impossibly large arm. Yes, an arm... Wait, was it? Could it? The thing had a smaller frame in comparison to the larger limb.
What was that?
The shadow coughed. "What kind of door was that?" She said in frustration. "That thing was hard... really hard..."
The door was strong? The stunned pirates muttered within, pondering then how such a strong door could be battered. Cause it was. Was it?
One turned, slowly, his eyes drifting towards the slab of metal, its edges splattered over by blood. A member of their group, He knew that guy. Sound drinker, and now he was dead.
But more importantly, the door... it had not a single scratch on it.
Ah... They realized, laughed even at their stupidity: Why break the door when the wall was so much easier?
And thus chaos came upon them!
A flash.
And the first to go... A man nearest to the fumes, he stared, some sense of final bravery burning in his old wrinkled eyes. He spat, brandished his sword, and heaved into the smoke, screaming. That noise was quickly silenced, replaced with a crunch as a mangled corpse was spat out.
The corpse bobbed atop the earth, bouncing, resting finally beside a pillar. Oh heavens, what was left, barely human: A folded mass of flesh as though the man was crumpled into himself, his head tilted, blood leaking from ears and eyes. He had died. Sudden, unknown to even him.
God above!
And the next was quick to join: A woman slapping up into the sky, a pile of rocks floating up with her, piercing, puncturing through her flesh as if she were a common paper. Blood rained down. She had died.
But they were strong, right?
One turned to run, wailing, arms swinging back and forth, frantic for some inkling of hope—of survival. He, too, was claimed, erupting out from within, his blood splashing over the faces of the stunned pirates. His former allies.
How was this happening?
Pirates by nature had seen the worst of the worst—they had sailed the black seas, battled more Fallens than any normal born could claim. With skyships or not, they had done these things. And yes, from time to time, they sank other ships, pillaged, as they had to. One did not survive without food, no matter who you were. No one did. Those things, those nights battling against the dread of the Everstorm, the sky churning with bright whiteness, with sounds so loud it seemed the end of the world.
Yet they had survived.
But this?
Another had his head blown off, fountaining up the roof, dropping down, and rolling to a stop. Final. That one, a woman, wore that look of absolute confusion. It said: How did I die? How could I die? A commonality to such things. But not them—it shouldn't be them.
They had the numbers, the steel, the door—not the door, but numbers nonetheless, and yet, they were dying.
What kind of thing had come for them?
And where, for the love of all things good, was the Captain? Where was Illyrio?
The world twisted!
What?
All of them, the living fell up... or was it down, slamming into the roofs, no, not the roof, or was it the floor. They looked up, there, standing upside-down before them was the intruder. Out from the fumes, they glimpsed the fullness of the monster.
It was a girl!
What?
A slender lady, hair wrapped to the side, falling over her left shoulder, blonde like those of the Honor Clan. She was clothed in blue—a slight sheen to it, clinging smoothly to her form from a high, tight collar, and down it went, growing freer around the waist, becoming a wide, fluttering dress that ended just there below the ankles. Then there were the heels, almost crystal.
She wore a casual smile, a knowing, erudited look present in her piercing blue eyes. Beautiful really.. All except for the large broad sword resting over her shoulders. How? That weapon, they saw, was twice the size of a grown man, and yet, there she was, holding it as if it were a twig.
What monster had come for them?
How could they survive? They wanted to, after all, Pirates were feared, but they were not suicidal. Damn the group if need be.
The woman waved at them. "So which one of you is the wanted pirate Illyrio?"
One screamed before the others—a taut woman standing beside a pillar, staring up at the girl seemingly standing on the ground. Or were they the ones on the roof?
"I KNOW WHERE HE IS!" The woman pleaded—gone was the strength of the pirate, not even the black orb she had for a left eye did anything. Just aesthetics.
"You do?" The slender monster asked. "I thought he would have escaped in all this chaos."
They froze, realization setting in. Of course, Pirates weren't bound by loyalty, anything but that. So why did they think the captain was to come? He wouldn't. He would run, and only emerge if the threat was something he believed he could stop.
And could he?... Stop her?
"I hear you are looking for me?" They beamed to that voice for there, staggering through the piles of rocks above them, the captain had come. A bottle of liquor in his hands.
They brightened. "THAT'S HER!" They shouted. "SHOW HER, CAPTAIN! SHOW HER YOUR POWER!"
Their captain, yes, he was powerful. A lean man with slightly purplish hair, something about the effects of the symbols. Not that it mattered. The man had come. They truly were bound by loyalty. They waved. They screamed.
Show her!
The Captain coughed. "So you are the dog the Theocracy sent after me?" He nodded, taking a large gulp of the drink, some dripping down to the earth. "Very good finding this place—I mean, it's like neck deep in a mountain range, but anyway." He shrugged. "You gonna be taking me now to Impale hall, or is it going to be the black jails?"
The woman frowned.
The captain chuckled. "I know, right? How does he know about the hall?" He staggered a bit—shouldn't he be slaying her? They thought, then realized: Often, casting required the passage of time.
The captain continued. "See, girl, I know a lot of things. I even know what the ten Hands of the church know... I know the Kael'theuron has been born... Oh, not that, I mean the El'shadi—"
He exploded in a fury of blood and flesh, splashing a canvas over the earth. Gone, just like that..No words, no battle, no end in a flare of glory. He simply exploded.
How did that happen?
And just then, Geni looked up at the stunned pirates--filty creatures all of them. And woese, they had heard of those words.
Well, that makes things easier!
She smiled and snapped.
And thus, the sky was painted in raining red!