Chapter 5

Simultaneously, both of his eyes opened as he kicked the duffel bag he had traveled for to the side of the Captain's Deck and out of the way.

"Get up those stairs! He's gotta be up there!" One of the Relnad soldiers demanded.

Kai instantly reached to the knee-high wall that surrounded the Deck, pulling his hands back as he now held onto two medium-length curved blades. Planting both feet beneath him, he pushes up to stand and lunges forward to where the top of the stairs reached. His sword was barely visible on the dark Treader as it made its way to the first of the two men, slashing straight through his armor and across his chest, causing him to flip over the railing and to the main deck.

The soldier landed on his side, where he bounced into the water from the rough impact and quick speeds that the Treader was accomplishing. The second man behind where the first previously was glanced down, then directly to Kai. Sword raised high, the soldier swung down, but Kai smacked the blade to the side with one of his own before slicing the soldier's right thigh with his other blade, causing him to kneel. Immediately, the soldier screamed in pain and while doing so, Kai made sure to force a heavy foot to his chest to help him roll back down the stairs and to the main deck.

Kai crept down the stairs knowing there was one last enemy left, and when one foot reached the bottom, a bright flame surrounding a blade swung sideways at him from around the corner.

"Come here you little shit!"

Kai rolled under the swing of the soldier's blade, and once turned around, the young man spun the blades in his own hands by their hilts before swinging both of them parallel to each other in a slashing motion. One of the two blades was blocked, but the other slid across the soldier's stomach. Paying no attention, the man swung his blade back in retaliation to try and cut his opponent upwards, but Kai was too fast and defended it perfectly.

"You think a Faction of the Dusk Alliance will let a form of Treason go unpunished?" The soldier roared as their blades clashed again, Kai slicing one of the man's legs this time with his other blade.

"GAH!" The soldier shifts, trying not to fall to one knee. "Relnad will come for you boy! You are fucked! You will not escape this!"

Flames sprayed all over the Splitter the soldier carried, and as the last of his words left his mouth, Kai had swung one leg low and swiped a leg out from under the soldier. As the man's weight shifted and he began to fall sideways, Kai spun full circle while stretching one blade outwards to slash the soldier once more.

A giant thud was heard as the man had hit the ground. Groaning, the soldier's blood began to leak all over the main deck of the Treader, puddling alongside his previous comrades who lied beside him.

"Good ole Relnad rats. The shit that never sinks," Kai began to finally speak. "You know where we are, rat?"

The soldier could barely move as he groaned on his side in severe pain, Kai slowly circled him as he spoke.

"This, my friend, is the outer bands of the Varensvain Pass," when he spoke the words, red lightning decided to strike right next to the Treader.

Rain and even heavier waves crashed as they highlighted their surroundings. Reaching one hand down, Kai pulls the man up to his knees by his head at the edge of one side of the boat.

"If you're familiar with the area, then you would know that there is only one type of creature that inhabits these waters," Kai stated.

Finally forcing an eye open, the soldier peaked down to the water below. Swimming directly next to the boat was a creature half the size of the Treader and like no other the man had ever seen. Its' body was that of a giant piranha, but underneath its skin were small bolts of electricity. Even in the dark of night in the Varensvain Pass, the electricity underneath its skin would still reflect the giant razor-sharp teeth of it.

"Say hello to a Flake."

The soldier's eyes widened and suddenly he began to fly directly into the direction of the giant creature from a force that landed on his back.

"No-," the Relnad soldier couldn't finish his sentence as he hit the water.

Almost instantaneously, blood and electricity jolted through the specific area in which he had landed. Kai slowly walked over to the other soldier's lifeless body, rolling it off of the side of the boat as well. Afterward, he walked over to his cab and to a chest beside his bed in which he places the blades he had held. Returning to the Captain's Deck, he would change the direction of the Treader back to a Northern path.

His long curly hair was almost straight as it was soaked from the rain during the previous events. Grabbing the bag he had left up there, he headed back down the stairs. Once he had reached the bottom, he leaned down and picked up the sword the last soldier was wielding.

'So this is a Splitter up close.'

Investigating the blade up some more, he finally would head back to his cab once more. As Kai sat on his bed with a couple of candles lit to enlighten the area, he placed the Splitter to the side of himself. Pulling the bag up on the other side, he yanked the top of it open, eager to see what was inside. Turning it upside down, glass clinging was all that could be heard as multiple Glory-filled vials suddenly fell onto the bed from the bag. Searching through all of them, he noticed there were also a couple full of Crypt.

"Even gave me some Crypt on top of it," he spoke to himself with excitement.

Laying back on his bed, full of exhaustion, only one more thought would cross his mind.

'One last visit Catarei, then we are on to bigger and better things.'