CHAPTER 17: Ship

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the sweet ocean breeze scent. I felt the sun's warmth on my skin as we boarded the ship. My worries increased as I stepped foot on the ship. I saw the horizon and knew the challenges ahead wouldn't be easy. I prepared myself for the adventure ahead. "An impressive ship right?" Ashir said to me with a smile on his face. I didn't reply and just smiled at him "Sure, I'm a prince after all, so I don't need help with the bags." Zagreus said as he dragged three bags across the floor.

Ashir let out a small chuckle as he approached Zagreus carrying one bag on his shoulder and throwing one at me. "Don't be a baby Zagreus, remember you are not a prince right now, you are a simple commoner" Ashir smiled "Shut your mouth, we are still on my kingdom land and I can order you to be thrown into the sea, Ashir" Zagreus said with irritation and frowning his brows. I just rolled my eyes and walked away from them, ask some workers where our rooms are.

As I entered the room, I threw my bag onto the bed and lay down. I felt the softness and warmth of the bed on me.

[Fourth task:

Save the protagonist from the sea depths.

Reward: 100 points

Difficulty: S

Punishment: Death

Rules: None

Time limit: None]

I widened my eyes as I saw my newly assigned task was "say what now?" I mumbled to myself, staring at the task menu, as the boat slowly moved. I could feel my eyes twitching as I read the words in front of me. There was no way I could do this, I thought to myself. As I was deep in my own thoughts, suddenly the cool ocean breeze filled the room. I looked up to see that Ashir opened the window of our room and sat on the edge of the bed with the book in his hand. He flips through its pages. Zagreus forcefully grabbed the book from Ashir's hand and put it back in his bag. "This is not a toy, Ashir" Zagreus frowned at Ashir.

Ashir smiled, pleased with Zagreus' expression. Zagreus shook his head in annoyance and walked out of the room, still grumbling. Ashir stood up and walked to the window, laughing and feeling content with his actions. He looked around the room and smiled. "Let's go outside and explore," he said as he turned to me, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the room. I followed Ashir outside and both of us walked around the ship looking at the different things that were on the ship. This felt like being on a field trip to a museum, it was fun. I got to see different things that I didn't even know existed in my novel.

We thanked one of the crew for the fish they gave us, "well, that was a fun day" Ashir said with a smile on his face while eating his roasted fish. I nodded and ate my fish. Both of us walked back to our room, still talking about what we saw on the boat today. As we entered the room Zagreus glared at us both for a second "cool your head man, we got one for you too" Ashir said giving one of the roasted fish to him. Zagreus swept it away from him fixated on the book he was reading. "Zagreus, you should eat something" I told him while sitting down on the edge of my bed but he just glared at me and said nothing.

I stood up and grabbed the fish from Ashirs hand and shoved it down Zagreus mouth, he pushed me away and coughed up a bit "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" he yelled out to me grabbing his sword and ready to attack me with it "you better have a good reason for shoving that in my mouth unless you don't want yours to be sliced up wide open" he said to me rage filled his eyes. "YOU HAVEN'T EATEN A SINGLE THING IN THREE DAYS BECAUSE YOU LOCK YOURSELF UP IN THE LIBRARY READING A LOT OF OLD BOOKS UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR THIS JOURNEY" I shouted out to him "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL YOURSELF BEFORE YOU KILL HADES HUH?" I said to him standing up. "THAT DOESN'T CONCERN YOU" he yelled out "IT DOES HOW ON EARTH ARE YOU GOING TO FIGHT AGAINST A GOD IF YOU DON'T HAVE STAMINA, YOU WILL JUST BE A SMALL FLY TO HIM" I also shouted out to him and he just graunted and sat back down on the bed eating an apple that was on the side on the table near his bed.

I thought I would lose my voice from yelling so loudly at Zagreus. Even if it's a small chance the soon assembled party won that day, I'll take it if he can defeat a god. "damn" Ashir said laughing out loud from the top of his lungs. "I never saw someone yell that loud, a side from my-" Ashir was cut out from continuing his sentence, when Zagreus throw a knife to him barely missing his eye. "That almost killed me you know" Ashir said to Zagreus stomping his feet on the floor. Zagreus, with a smirk on his face, replied "That was the idea" "you are a spoiled prince and a weak one" he replied while walking out of the room and shutting the door behind him.

"You know, you can be nicer to your friend, right?" I turned to him crossing my arm. "Ashir isn't my friend, he is just someone who works for me that I can dispose of at anytime I please, like you" he replied with a serious tone to his voice. I felt my anger rising but I was determined to stay calm. "Your attitude is not going to do us any favors," I said firmly. He only shrugged and did not pay attention to anything I said. "You know Zagreus-" I couldn't finish my sentence because the boat suddenly tipped over and water is slowly entering our room, both of us rushed out of the room and into the hallway, where screams can be heard all around the both.

As we arrived at the dock, we were welcomed by a large sea serpent in front of us. What the fruit is this? I thought to myself as I stared at the large monster that was sinking and moving back to the ocean. "What the hell is going on here?" I asked myself trying to wrap my mind around what I just saw. "This isn't part of this chapter" I mumbled to myself as fear and confusion suddenly sank into my body.