9 Sailor’s Sorrow

"Um sure. I would like you to take me in as your student!"

"…Why?"

Lucas eyes seemed to glaze over as he looked at Stephen with frighteningly dead eyes.

"Huh!…Well..Be-because I know your true identity… You're Lucky aren't you?"

Lucas continued to stare at Stephen for a few seconds. Stephen couldn't help but want to pee his pants. He could feel cold sweat rolling down his spine and his hands start to get clammy. Those eyes that were staring at him were no longer the eyes of a supposed drunkard, but that of a predator; a beast!

"Fine."

"HUHH!? That's it?…like really..you sure..?"

Before Stephen could even react, Lucas snatched the pearl from his hands. The pearl seemed to pulsate in his hands and even started to glow brighter.

Carefully pulling of his shirt, Lucas breathed in slowly. He had ripped enough clothes acting cool for him to finally realise that handling them with care as a thing.

Lucas's upper body was on full display for Stephen, showing him a multitude of scars that covered his torso. Slash wounds, stab wounds, and even bullet wounds could be seen to have once graced his muscular body.

He then started to clench his palm around the pearl causing his muscles to bulge and veins to pop out. With an audible CRACK, the pearl that was as big as a baseball started to shatter.

Stephen watched on in horror as the pearl suddenly seemed to explode into numerous tiny shards that all seemed to only target Lucas's body.

Stephen felt as through he were watching a car crash. Too horrifying but still very much enthralling.

Lucas didn't seem to care about the shards that stabbed into him leaving him looking like and overly abused voodoo doll. He only seemed to care to block the ones aimed at his face, that too with his bare hand.

Moving at inhumane speeds, Lucas managed to block every single shard aimed at his face leaving his left hand looking like a pin cushion.

All that remained in Lucas's right hand was another pearl!

And the numerous shards that pierced his hand…

The pearl unlike before was not unusually large but looked almost exactly like a normal pearl.

If not for it being ocean blue in colour, most would just assume that it was nothing special.

Pinching the pearl between his index finger and thumb, Lucas inspected the pearl with apathetic eyes.

Right now, Stephen felt as though the Lucas in front of him was completely different than the one who he talked with a few minutes ago.

The Lucas in front him seemed more apathetic and emotionless contrary to the previous cunning and grumpy Lucas.

Placing the pearl on the left side of his chest, perfectly aligned with his heart, Lucas pressed down onto the pearl with his thumb.

Slowly, the pearl pierced through the skin, muscle and bone blocking its path as blood started to gush from the hole. But as soon as the pearl touched his heart, all of his blood seemed to freeze.

Even down to the blood flowing through his veins!

All the blood spilled from his body started to rush back into Lucas's body and the wounds all over his body seemed to regenerate in the blink of an eye!

All that was left was a bunch of archaic inscriptions painted with his blood and a hint of sea-blue to accompany it, forming an exquisite pattern.

The pattern resembled the symbol for infinity.

"Come find me at the SandCastle tomorrow at 4pm. Ask for the owner Yuri and tell her I sent you. That's all."

Stephen could not say even a word, before Lucas vanished.

Sighing, Stephen turned to go back home but noticed something left on the ground where Lucas was standing before he left.

Picking up the card, he realised it was the business card of the SandCastle.

"Haahhahaaha…that went better than I thought it would.."

Smiling up at the night sky, Stehen could feel the familiar feeling of hope coursing throughout his body.

The {Heart of the Ocean} was essentially useless to him. It's only function was to increase the affinity one had to the water element.

But for people with zero or close to zero affinity to the water element, it was an absolute waste to use for their personal use.

The other elements had their own corresponding natural treasures that have the same capabilities. An example being the {Heart of Flames} that was once found in a dormant volcano dated back to 3000 years ago.

***

Lucas could feel the moisture in the air surrounding him.

Comforting him.

He could always feel it.

The ocean..the water…they all took great care of him and cared for him.

Thanks to absorbing the pearl, Lucas could connect with the water at a deeper level and maybe someday even learn the truth of his origins…

With a "SPLASH", Lucas arrived at the front gate of his house. It was a small house that liked quite cozy being painted in blue and a small garden at the side growing veggies and fruits along with some varieties of flowers. A tiny pond could be seen close by with tiny fishes frolicking about in it. The pond was man made and was only about 1.2 meters deep with the water being clear enough for one to see the ground underwater covered in different aquatic plants and insects.

"A tiny piece of home near home" as Lucas proclaimed when he had this place built.

Sitting on a rocking chair set near the pond and shaded by a parasol, Lucas sighed as he pulled out a purple bottle of rum that looked so old that the glass bottle was too murky to even tell how much was left in it.

{Sailor's Sorrow}

"A cup in hopes for a better tomorrow.

A bottle for company in thy sorrow.

Too little to quench, ye must borrow.

Loneliness to spare, for all must wallow

Forsake the light, through the dark we follow."

Suppresses all debuffs and ailments of the soul but in turn instantly leaves the user drunk with emotion. [RUM BUM] is negated by this spirit tool.

Lucas took one last look at the bottle and then downed it all in one go. Not a drop was spilled as he drank. He blankly looked at the bottle, waiting…

Suddenly, looks could feel a cool sensation rolling down his right cheek…then his left cheek.

Lying back into his chair, Lucas covered his eyes as he cried. Tears continued to stream down his face as he furiously wiped them away with one hand.

The tears rendered his vision blurry but Lucas could still see the moon, his only company and witness.

Suddenly, a fish flipped out of the water and back in and then proceeded to swim towards the edge of the pool of water near his rocking chair.

"Hehe…and you as well I guess…I'm really tired you know..and oh so lonely, heh."

"…"

The fish didn't respond, but continued to stare at him with its unblinking gaze as Lucas quietly cried to sleep.