A song of birds enriched the sea.
The morning sunlight soothed the once raging sea of Selivian.
In the middle of it all was a lone ship, both ruined and lifeless, at least it was supposed to be lifeless.
On top of the ship's deck, a sleeping figure could be discerned.
The figure was both wet and naked.
The figure belonged to the odd boy, the odd boy that once sailed within the Brigade as a slave.
The boy suddenly stirred from his sleep.
COUGH! COUGH!
He then coughed out a decent quantity of water out of his lungs.
The boy shook his head to regain his senses, he then looked around in confusion.
"Where am I?"
The boy's voice was hoarse.
The sea, the sea was all he could see from whichever side his head turned to.
With great effort, the boy got on his feet.
He then shifted his eyes to inspect the ship he was on.
The ship seemed to be entirely made of some kind of black wood.
It was about 150 feet long and 30 feet wide.
It possessed three masts with torn sails attached to them.
The ship's weather deck was filled with cracks and holes.
The naked boy carefully moved towards the ship's stern.
As he walked towards the stern, the boy continued to inspect the ship.
The gunnels were worn and barely standing.
The three masts seemed on a verge of falling.
In front of the cockpit was the hatchway whose doors were facing the bow of the ship.
As he reached the ship's cockpit, the boy inspected it.
Situated on the cockpit was the helm which was utterly black like the rest of the ship and just like other parts of the ship it was worn beyond compare.
The boy turned and continued walking towards the stern, his eyes were fixed on the cabin that was below the ship's quarterdeck.
When he reached the cabin, he examined it with interest.
The cabin was rather simple in appearance with two stern windows on both of its sides.
It was entirely black with a simple door on its front.
The most distinguishable thing about it, were the mysterious symbols etched above its door.
Despite the fact that the boy could not translate the symbols, he could still understand the meaning behind them for some weird reason.
And they read:
ONLY THOSE WHO KNOW NOT OF FEAR SHALL BE FEARED BY ALL.
The boy gazed at the words and then shook his head.
He then twisted the door's knob and pushed.
But the door refused to barge.
He tried again but the result was the same.
The boy blinked in stupor.He then tried a different approach.Instead of pushing, the boy pulled.
Criiick!
The door gave way as it opened outward with an eerie sound.
The boy immediately recoiled when he saw what was hidden behind the door.
There, right in front of him, beyond the door's frame was a darkness that made the boy's skin crawl.
The darkness in front of the boy was different from that of the night, was different from the one cast by shadows.
It gave the boy a feeling that he was looking at an open gate, a gate to another place or....world.
The boy gulped down.
"Nah! I am not getting anywhere near that thing."
With that said the boy slammed the door shut.
Bam!
The boy then turned and headed towards the hatchway.
When he reached the doors of the hatchway, the boy bent slightly and reached out for the handles of the two doors.
He then pulled outward.
As the doors opened, a wooden staircase greeted the boy's eyes that led to the crew deck.
The boy took a deep breath and set his foot on the staircase leading to the lower floor of the ship.
As he descended across the stairway, a sense of unnatural coldness assaulted his bare skin.
The boy had to rub his hands against each other to get a semblance of warmth.
When he reached the end of the staircase, the boy looked around.
A hallway ran across the crew deck measuring about 100 feet long and 5 feet wide.
The stairway led directly to the middle of this hallway.
In front of the boy were six doors situated on each side of the hallway and above each door was an unlit lantern.
The boy inspected each of the rooms in curiosity.
The first five doors on each side of the hallway led to rooms which were probably meant to house the ship's crew.
The layout of the ten rooms was the same.
Each room somewhat spacious with a bunk on its left side, a huge chest on its right and opposite to the door was a wooden chair and a mid-sized wooden table with a lantern resting on its surface.
There was a small window on the wall opposite to the door that gave one a view of the sea in each room.
The last two doors on the hallway were different from the rest.
The door on the left at the end of the hallway led to the toilet while the one on the right led to the bathroom.
The boy turned and walked to the opposite end of the hallway.
This side of the hallway consisted of only four doors with a hatchway situated at the end of the hallway.
The first door led to the galley.
The second door led to the hold which was currently empty.
The third door led to what seemed to be a recreational room.
The fourth and last door led to a meeting room that consisted of a long rectangular table with five chairs situated on both of its sides.
At the head of the table was an imposing fine crafted wooden chair.
The room and furniture were black in color just like the rest of the rooms and furniture the boy had seen so far.
The boy made his way towards the hatchway situated at the end of the hallway.
When he reached, the boy breathed out a wave of cold.
"I hope it does not get any colder."
He then opened the door.
The boy shuddered and rapped his arms around his naked body for his wish went unanswered.
He then stepped on the staircase leading to the cargo deck.
Unlike the other two decks, the cargo deck was mostly empty.
The only thing that could draw one's attention on the cargo deck was the unnerving door that stood in the middle of the deck.
Just like the rest of the ship, the door was black in color.
The door was filled with white shimmering symbols that the boy could neither comprehend nor dared to comprehend for just setting his gaze on these symbols made the boy experience an intense headache.
The boy took a step back as he massaged his forehead.
"What the hell?"