“All right, Valoro, think…” The sun isn’t even out yet, and we are supposed to go to the pier in a matter of minutes. “I could ask Niko to keep me updated on the location of enemies…” No, that wouldn’t work. I would be overworking Niko, “I could ask Donna and Carter to keep an eye on him…” No, that wouldn’t work either if they are in danger. Higen would be more inclined to use his armor. None of my plans are good enough. “Hey, Ozwald,” Higen called me from across the kitchen. “Oh, hey, Hig, did you sleep well?” He nodded and walked to my side. “Ozwald, is everything alright?” I don’t want to bother him with my thoughts so I just smile “yeah, why do you ask?” he pointed to the pan “well your eggs look like something I would make” I looked at the burnt mess I was cooking and flip it to the trash can, “Sorry I just… haven wake up yet” he pouted and clapped my cheeks with his hands lightly “Did that wake you up?” I blushed and nodded “Yeah, totally awoken now” he smailed and let go of my face “good becosse I need you on your best hunting mood, are you going to give me one hundred porcent?” he asked, I rolled my eyes “Higen you know I don’t like sports analogies for things like this “… okay but hipoteticaly if you where in a imaginary world, you would give me one hundred and twenty porcent, right?” I ruffled his hair, he knows how to make my anxaiety go away “sure if hipoteticaly I was in an imaginary world I would give you that”

  After some food we left to meet with Able he was already ready heavy navy green coat, pipe in his lips smiling at us “so you kids are this lad`s friends?” he asked through a thick smocke cloud “that is right Sir. This is Ozwald, that on is Niko you already know Carter and this is Donna” he extended his hand to all of us and firmly shake them, I have my doubts about him, theres something wrong with him that I cant pint point “alright lads, come on board I`ll be driving this beauty” he let us through the small bridge made of wood to his ship, it was bigger than I had imagined several feet long with a tall sailing mast “is anyone else`s first time in a boat?” I asked the guys, “nah my family goes to cruise ships a lot,” answered Donna, “First time for me on one this big.” Carter told me, “I haven’t either, Ozie.” Niko said and passed me on the bridge

  “Come on,” Higen placed his hand on my shoulder and helped me get on board. Once on it, we all wondered the surface of the ship while Higen went with Able to see how he drove the ship. “I don’t like this…” I told Donna, she looked at me and tilted her head, “Which part?” “I don’t know… all of this feels off to me” she was confiused “how so? To me this is something I would think normal for our Titan fighting” and normally I wouldn’t think too hard about it but there is this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that keep telling me to run but with the pier becoming smaller and smaller as we sail that wasn’t an option “maybe is becose he is not part of Tartaros and he knows about this, maybe I don’t like that Higen seems so happy around that man” Donna covered her mouth with her hand to held back a wave of laughter “Don’t tell me you are jelose of that old man” I hit her on her shoulder “No, im not! It`s just… when Higen act that way, like all “yes Sir.!” He is putting on a front, but with him seems genuine and…I don’t know” “hey” she said calmly and reassuringly, “Listen, we are going to do our job, we kill the monster, and then we go back for pi?as coladas.” I hope it will be as easy as she puts it, but something tells me that it won't.

  The deeper we go into the sea the darker the sky gets, the water darkened to match it and now all six of us were gathered in the middle of the ship “so lads, Higen here told me you know how to fight this monster” we all nodded but nobody told him how we fight the mosnters “that’s is going to come in handy… this shark murdered my crew gobble them up when they were down in the water after brakeing my ship apart” he walked to the edge of the ship, the waves started to become higher, wilder and chaotic “if what the Lad said is true you will be fighting for yer lives” “well old man that is normal for us” Carter answered, Able smiled flashing his teeth at us “oh I love that maind set, would you care to listen to this old man tail?”

  “ten years ago me and my crew sail to fish on a day like this, dark, gloomy and with rain falling all around us we saw it, a towereing mass brake through the dark waters a sight that should have terrify us was face to face with us looking into its dark navy blue eyes we knew that none of us would seen the brake of down unless we were bold and strong, that shark…” Able turned his back to us, and looked at the dark rippling water as if he was trying to find the shark “wreck us, one by one my crew fell until we were all in the stomach of the beast” rain started to pour un us, “wait but if you were eaten how did you survive?” Able shoot a glare at Niko for asking a question, he immediately piped down, “I am the captain… I have the mightiest of will…” he fully turned to us, and that’s when I noticed his patch; in this dim light, there was a light coming from under it

  “there`s this old seadog saying lads, theres only one certainty when you find yourself in unfamiliar waters” a thunder fell near by as Able started to undo his eye patch “it`s not your skills, your keen sight trainded by chaos, or the unbreakable bund between capitan and crew” a towerein figure with eyes shining in blue appeared from under the waters “many sailors fail to endure this trial and instead have been eaten alive by Supervia” Able extended his hand, took one of his harpoons and pointed it at Higen “Trust nothing but your own might and will to hold stead fast in the face of terror, in the face of a Calamity… Say lad” throwing his eye patch to the sea, revailing that instead of a glass eye or an empty socket a core shining in a birght dark blue was engraved “yer dear old pa made this happen, he let my crew die, he left me for dead, but I endure I strive and survived form inside of the shark I found its heart” he taped on the core “and when I sinked my teeth on it I felt so powerful and I bowed from the deepest part of my anger and sorrow” “SHELL!” I jumped in front of Higen when Able lunched forward with such force that he broke the floor under him, “that I would take Ruri`s head!”

  The storm picked up intensity, the wind was wild and strong as lesser Titans jumped onto the ship, everyone summoned their weapons and prepared for the fight. “You lie to me!” Higen yelled, Able scoffed, 'Of course I did, I assumed you would be as dumb as yer Pa. It turns out the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” With our barriers up, we all jumped into the fight. “Niko, how many enemies are there?” I asked,d but he looked worriedly at his mirror, “a lot… Able and the shark are the biggest threats however there are-” “fifty titans in the waters!” Able decleard as he jumped into the offence targeting Higen this time he was ready and blocked the hit with his lance “it was such a sad thing, to see my men, my friends die and every voyage requires a crew” I looked closely at the Titan that tried to claw me it looked like a malformed fish man but the most dredful thing about it was a big bit mark like if the shark had took a bite out of this titan “… you… You turned them into this!” Donna yelled as she kicked two of her enemies back into the water, “Me? No, Lassie,” He pointed at Higen. “All of this, all of this carnage, all of this hurt is his dear old man`s fault!” Higen roared and clashed against Able with all of his strength “Stop it!” he barked “My dad didn’t do this, he was a kind person, he protected everyone he could!” Able stabbed his harpoon on the deck and spinkicked Higen back “if he was oh so grandiose” he grabbed Higen by his shirt and dragged him close to his face “then why did he leave us to die!”

  Carter ran from Able's side and punched him square in the jaw. He then helped Higen to his feet. “Jesus, you are annoying, stop blaming Higen for something that happened in the past!” Able snapped his jaw back in place. “Nice hook, kid, but as long as a Banna is in this ship, I think I`ll take my anger out on him, tell them boys!” The titan's torso started to move as if it wanted to throw up “W…HY…?!?” “Did it just-” “YO…U…LE…LEFT!” The titans started to surround Higen and ignore us. “No… no, he didn’t, he-” “I…IT…HURT!” “I Do…DON’T WAAAANT TO DIE” “FA…FAMILY…I WANT…MY FAMILY!” “SIS…WHERE AR…ARE YOU?” “No… no please stop… STOP IT!!!” Higen held his head, confronted by this reality, a reality where, for now, he thinks his fatheris the most reliable person in his world, could have something to do with this.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “BURTS!” I yelled to open the way for us to reach him, “Stop messing with his head!” Able laughed and chaged at Higen, his harpoon aming to impale him I try to run to help him but one of the titans was holding me back, Donna and Carter where in the same situation “HIG!” and for a moment everything felt silent, the rain was muted the storm was silent exept for Niko`s scream first to warn Higen and then in pain as he was sent tumbling out of the deck and into the dark water and with a loud SPLASH everything whent back to normal time, Donna ran to the railing as fast as she could to try to spot Niko in the water but she backed away when the shark jumped out and back into the water “NIKO!!!” Donna cried she stood up with shaky steps and launched forward against Able He just smiled and pointed with his harpoon and to everyones surprise a part was now made of marbel and shoot pressurased water just like Niko`s mirror, in a quick motion Carter managed to held onto Donna so she didn’t fall out too, “huh… the small fry didn’t had much to offer, but, I cant denay that an upgrade is an upgrade” “What did you do?!?” I asked, “Jeje, I was surprised at first too, Lad, but when you stop and think about it, the shark ate me, I ate the shark and gained dominion over it, so wouldn’t that imply that I have dominion over everything it has eaten and is alive?”

  The battle raged on, I managed to snag Higen away from the water shots, after the first few, Able learned how to made them stronger, and was shooting indiscrimenatly against everything in the ship, a few of the lesser titans feel into the water, the shark rose up a few times to eat whoever was flinged out, we all took cover while Able was rampageing “this… this is my fault” Higen whispered, his eyes that are always big and shinie are now small and dark, “Higen… no it-” the crate nearby exploted “I`m going to put an end to this” he said and I watched as he was covering himself with blue light “Wait!” I held his hand and stopped him from using the lament of Sigurd “Ozwald this isn’t the time to do this!” he shook my hand away “You are not using that armor, we can do-” he snickered “look around Ozwald!” he gestured to the broken deck, the crazy man with a new pressurized water rifle and Carter holding Donna “I`m want he wants, If I had fought him on my own, Niko would be here” he wanted to stand up but I forced him back down “Let go of me!” he ordere me “If he want to kill a Banna so badly then I`ll just-” SLAP I never in my life tought I would phisicaly hurt him, and I have to admit that the way Higen was holding his red check while looking at me with big watery eyes is tearing my heart apart but I would never ever let him talk like that.

  “Don’t you dare to throw your life away.” “But” “But noting” I dragged him close to me by the collar of his shirt. “You train him, he is strong, and you need to have faith in him, in all of us!” Just then, Donna and Carter ran to our side. “Ozie, we have a plan!” Donna declared and took my phone from me, and immediately took the resonance stone from its string. “Sorry, I need this for the plan.” Carter looked at Higen, confused, “Hey, Banna did he get you in the face?” Higen shook his head, then Carter looked at me and smirked, “Lovers' quarrel?” “Bite me, Marten!” Donna glared at us to stop “Carter and I are going in the shark” Hiegn and I looked at her dumbfounded “look, he said it himself, eaten and alive Niko is probably passed out inside of the shark, but” Carter continued “if we jumped ourselves and use our weapons to stabilize the fall we won't be knocked out by the hit, we get Niko and bust out of the shark”

  “Donna, that’s insain” Higen said “How can you be sure you wont be” she smiled and placed her hand on Carters shoulder, he gently put his hand over hers “we don’t call it a girl`s intuition, we have barriers, and chances” Marten looked at Higen with nothing but determination in his eyes “Nobody bullies Niky dude, I`ll bring him back man, just leave it to us!” he wanted to say something but couldn’t “be careful, I don’t know if it would work but” I pointed at them with the staff and imagined a buble something that would protectem farther “Protection!!!” a gentail green hue covered them for a moment and I can only hope it would be enough, they nodded, gave us a hug so strong I tought they would break my back and hand in hand they jumped off the ship.

  Our hiding place was soon destroyed by the water and seeing that Able didn’t shoot fire or wind I guess Donna and Cartere are fine I looked back at Higen, his world has been shaken and for a moment I saw myself the way he is down right now remaind me of so many times I was in his place so I did what he always does, I clicked the staff with the wood “Ozwald?” he asked when I put myself in fornt of him “Higen you have always been there for me when I needed you” the lesser titans marched to us with an Alber full of glee in the back commanding them with his harpoon “even when I didn’t know what to do, when I let myself be consumed by Allure, when everything I wanted was just to crash and burn you were always there to shine bright like the sun!” everything was coming after me and right now I know exactly what I need to do I turned to Higen confiused and hopless and I smiled as he would do and said “you have protecting me and now” I slammed the staff on the ground “PING-PONG!” the deabry and boxes left jetted toward the enemies “It`s my turn to protect you and give you hope!” I roared and ran to the fight.

  A good hit with the staff is enough to take the lesser titans out, however the number keeps incrising I guess that the number Able gave us was wrong and he himself is just looking at my struggles, I swing at one in front of me and use the staff to get out of the way of claws and teeth I have to get rid of all titans so I can focus on Able, if I take him out that will get everyone to safety I breath in and let the air out when the titans gave me the space to use an incantation “Frozen tears that fall from above” The water stopped for a second I looked around a few ebemies were confiused and looked up to see if the storm had stopped “With this words turn into weapons to maw down my foes” the sky ilumineted for a moment as the rain drops reformed into lances ready to fly down at my command “I summon thee come! RAIN of RUINA!!!” the lances flew from the sky down into the ship and the waters hopefully that helped the guys with the shark, the lances pirced the titans in sight all of them try to run away back into the water but it was useless in seconds all of them disapired a few lances were broken by Able he simply deflected with his harpoon and finally started to move “well, well, well finaly one of those street corner magicians appeared” he took a swing at his smokeing pipe.

  “Okay Mr. Magic” said and pointed behind him “you can leave and I wont gut you like a fish, all I want is that Banna boy” I laughed and took some steps to the right to keep Higen out of the danger “Sure, let me just abandon everyone, do you really think I would leave?” he relized a thick smock cloud next to him “brave and sarcastic I like that but we both know I'm not like these weakling or the shark” he tapped on the core that had bloomed into a flower the mark of a calamity “You hurt my boyfriend and my friends” I twirled the staff in my hand an pointed at him “one of us is not getting out of this ship alive”

  I don’t like the way he is smiling when he took the pipe out of his lips. “I see…” he darted with bloodshot eyes to stab me with the harpoon. “REJECTION!” Before he could connect, he was pulled back and was sent flying back to where he started, “Killing you…” Able threw himself back at me, this time I blocked with the staff he dregged me back a little and looked at me with malice “You just gave me something far better than stabbing and guting that boy” the jabs broke my barriers and send me to the ground “Something tells me that if I hurt you then little Banna there will scream his head off” He brought the harpoon above his head and with a snickered laughter was going to jam it into my stomach “BARRICADE!!!” sparks flew when the tip of the harpoon meet the barrier I had created “I′m not that weak!” I swingged with the staff and hit him in the stomach “I like it when they fight, it makes it thrilling” Able pointed at me and shoot at me “SHOOT!” the two streams meet and rejected each other but unlike him I don’t know how long I can maintain mine, I have used too much power already my vision started to blur “come on just give up, what can you do on your own? And for him? Someone who clearly has abandoned you!” “No! `cos I believe,” he laughed again and put more power into his shot, “In what? That the Banna boy will come and save you? That your friends are more than stomach acid? You are killing me, the only thing you can believe in is yourself!”

  The water was strong enough to overwhelm mine and I was pushed back against the railing the staff flew off my hand and landed near some crates I managed to hang on to the railing but down below me the shark`s fin was circling, Able walked until he was in full view he lifted his harpoon above his head and smile at me one last time “Any last words chum?” I looked to the side and smiled back at him. “Yeah… it`s heavy,” he looked confused, and then was hit with the staff from his right. “This stupid broomstick weighs a ton!” Higen ran to the railing and effortlessly picked me up and then pulled me into a tight hug. “I`m sorry,” he whispered, “I was lost, but your valor and words brought me back.” “Glad to hear it,” he let go of me and summoned his lance and shield. “Now, let's take that bitter old man down!” I opened my hand and called the staff back to me.