Chapter 19 - The Song of the Sea

Chapter 19 - The Song of the Sea

The audience burst out into chatter and screams. Chaos quickly descended into the inner hall as Captain Havoc struggled to control the passengers.

He shouted, "Silence."

Immediately, the passengers quietened and looked at the captain expectantly.

"Now, let's not panic. I called you here to assist in our investigation. The best protection is yourselves. Keep an eye on your neighbours and if you have even a tiny bit of suspicion, report it to my men."

He gave a final address, calming the audience. "We will get to the bottom of this. I am sure of that. Please be patient."

He calmly walked out of the podium and went back to his duties.

Immediately, the passengers gazed at each other with caution. Even the mindless chatters ceased as if everyone was suddenly enemies.

"Yo, Reve, Ren. I have been looking for you for so long." Calen approached them with his signature grin on his face and an older male by his side.

The dark-haired man had sharp eyebrows and brown eyes. He wore a worn-out waistcoat but still managed to look semi-formal.

Calen introduced, pointing at the man, "Meet my new friend, Klyd. Klyd here is really the best friend you can ever get. He knows everything that goes on. He might even know who has been going around killing."

Ren gaped in surprise. "Did you say 'friend'? You know to make… you have a fucking friend? How is that possible? Is he lost in the head like you?"

Calen flipped a finger at her. "Low blow, Ren. Low blow!"

Reve rolled his eyes but stopped as he remembered something Calen just said.

He asked, "Why did you mention murder, Calen?"

Captain Havoc hinted at a possible abduction, but not murder.

What did Calen know?

"Huh, I expected you to have figured it out? It is not a kidnapping. It's pure killing, one that I suspect has no motive. I mean, Mr.Killer is so focused on his secrecy more than anything else."

"What do you mean?" Ren questioned.

Klyd interrupted with a smile, "Calen, let me do the honours."

He whispered to them. "If it was the case of abduction, the captors would need a space to keep the captives. It has to be on the ship, because, where the fuck else, right?"

"But that's not possible, since no one knows the ship like Captain Havoc. They can't possibly hide from him… unless he is the one behind the abduction, which again makes no sense. Which leaves us with our final option."

"Murder. The captors killed those passengers and dumped them in the ocean. That is the only way to get rid of them without making a mess. Of course, they must have been so skilled to make it quick and effortless."

Calen grinned, "I think it's a Class-3 Meister with a stealth ability. There are quite a few of them on the ship, which narrows our options. But then again, it could be an Initiate with a crazy ass ability. Or we could just be in over our heads."

Reve looks at him and nodded.

His conjecture was sound and solid.

'I guess every psycho understands each other.' Reve thought.

Jokes apart, the situation might be more serious than he thought. These past nights, he had been getting mysterious magical sensations. He didn't think much of them before as it wasn't that rare, but they could be from the captor's ability.

"Hmmm…"

Reve suddenly halted as he spotted two familiar people exiting the inner hall. A cold expression appeared on his face as he teased an evil smile.

Ren spotted them and hissed, tightening her fist. "Val and Kallum."

She would never forget the feeling of being stabbed in the back. It haunted her some nights.

Val turned around just in time to see Reve and Ren looking at her with dagger eyes. She frowned and quickly fleeted off.

Calen asked, "Who is that?"

"Val, she was the one that betrayed me," Reve said.

Calen smiled, "She is quite the package. Pretty on the outside, but gnarly on the inside. Kinda like Ren."

"What did you say, bitch?" Ren shot her dagger-like eyes at him.

Calen gulped. "Hey, it's just an observation."

"That's what I thought," she said. "Reve, what do we do?"

"We ignore them. We can't risk adding to the chaos. It won't be good for us."

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The following night.

Just as Reve was about to sleep, he heard lithe footsteps heading for the door.

He jumped out of his bed and confronted the person. "What are you doing, Ren?"

She was in a black outfit with a dagger in her hand and a raygun hoisted by her waist.

"What does it look like? I am going to kill that bitch. She stabbed me, Reve."

Reve argued, "I also want to kill her, but now is not the time. If we kill her, we will draw attention to ourselves. Everyone is so tense now, and I reckon we can't do anything without causing a ruckus."

"But she killed me!"

Reve said gently, "I know that. We will get her. I am just as angry as you are, but I also understand we need the perfect time to act on our desires."

Calen quipped nonchalantly, from his bed, "I take Reve's side. Revenge is best served hot… or is it cold? Anyway, you get the point. If you want to kill a man, you make sure he begs you to live. You give him hope and then stab him. The despair on his face will be to die for, I promise you."

Ren frowned, speechless. "..."

She listened to Reve and dropped her dagger, retreating back to her bed to sleep.

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"You saw Reve and Ren?"

In their room, Kallum paced around as he received new information about his previous friends.

Val sat on a chair with her legs dangling from another chair.

She said, "Something like that. I'm more surprised you didn't see them. You must have the eyes of a fucking bat, Kallum."

"...I wasn't looking," Kallum replied. "I thought you killed Ren. How is she still alive?"

Val sighed reluctantly. "I don't know. I definitely stabbed her heart, but then again, it's hard to kill a man in this world. Next time I see her, I'm cutting off her head and burning her flesh. That should do the work."

She was frustrated about the event at Ashtown. Despite Nonevat's promise, he never came back for her. He might even be dead for all she knew.

She knew she had to press on with her plans, suppressing the tiny glimmer of hope he had ignited within her.

Kallum's voice broke the silence. "Did you think they would come for us?"

Val's eyes narrowed with a mix of irritation. "Don't be a fucking pussy. What kind of question is that? If they come, we kill them again. I don't think it's going to be any–"

Suddenly, a sharp knock reverberated through the air, cutting off Val's words. Kallum looked at Val with a meaningful gaze, and she signalled for him to go for a look.

"Who is there?" Kallum called out as he approached the door.

He received no reply, only an eerie, growing silence that set their nerves on edge.

"Who the fuck is there?" He growled, his voice tinged with anger.

It was the same response–an unsettling stillness.

Kallum turned to Val, who retrieved a dagger and conjured wisps of ether upon her fingertip.

She hollered, "Open the fucking door. Reve thinks he can frighten us!"

Kallum slowly swung the door open, only to be greeted by an empty hallway. No fleeting footsteps. No signs of a presence.

Confusion etched itself upon his face.

Suddenly, the shadows in the room spread wide, consuming the warm space voraciously, and an otherworldly melody seeped into their minds.

The door slammed shut with a force that set shivers on Kallum's spine.

"What—"

He turned to Val for further instructions, but his words faltered as his gaze fixated on what stood behind her

He muttered, "By the gods–"