I didn’t know how long I was out, but the bright light I’d seen seemed to have been extinguished and I tried to open my eyes. I realized that I couldn’t see anything from my right eye and only a blur from my left.

I raised my hands and wiped my eyes, only to find that my right eyelid and eyebrow were swollen and painful to the touch. My HP was slightly below the 10% mark but at least wasn’t decreasing any more.

I finally managed to focus my eyesight and understood what the weight on my chest was. The lifeless body of the man who attacked me was on top of me, his blood spread over my body. I pushed him away and as the body rolled over, I saw multiple puncture wounds on this throat.

With panic rising in my chest, I turned toward Kai only to find that he wasn’t there. His chain was broken and the metal collar was smashed to pieces next to it.

The gate of the cell was open, though the wooden door of the room was still closed. I tried to stand up and the sudden yank of the collar reminded me that I was still chained to the wall.

I went down on my knees and searched through the dead man’s pockets for the key. I found a metal ring with numerous keys on them. They jangled against each other loudly as my hands shook with fear about what might have happened to Kai.

I tried one key after the other on my collar and the fourth one made a clicking sound and I was finally able to rip the horrible piece of metal from my neck.

I muttered a spell of lesser restoration while touching my eye and my eyesight immediately became better, though the pain over the rest of my body did not subside at all.

Name : Minor Healing

School of Magic : Restoration

Verbal Components : 8 words

Somatic Components : Simple

Material Component : None

HP Consumed : 0

MP Consumed : 0

Divine Mana Consumed : 220

Range : Touch

Casting Time : 6 seconds

Precondition : None.

Description : A basic form of healing. The warm light that manifests from the caster’s divine mana travels to the target and restores skin tissue, muscles, and even bones.

I walked out of the cell and pushed against the wooden door, ready for a fight but the door didn’t budge. I pressed my whole body against it and managed to open it wide enough to get out.

The body of the red-haired woman that had tricked us in the forest was laying on the ground, obstructing the door from opening fully. She was facing the ground, again with multiple puncture wounds in her neck and body and she was also not giving me anything no matter how hard I tried to scan her.

As I looked down the corridor, I saw more bodies, some of them on the ground and others with their backs against the wall. I walked between them, my foot splashing with every step.

It was not water that I was stepping on but small puddles of blood. The gory scene was reminiscent of the liturgy massacre and the fact that Kai was missing added to that feeling. Had The Divine resurfaced? I walked down the corridor, trying to remember the way they had brought us, but our lengthy captivity and my distraught state of mind made ne take the wrong turn and backtrack.

The path I accidentally took was also filled with bodies, as were the stairs that led to the level that was just below the deck of the ship. The scene here was equally gory, with bodies filled with black charred holes littering the corridors.

I didn’t waste any time and, despite the pain still in my body, I ran toward the next set of stairs and up to the deck. I opened the hatch and had to shield my eyes from the light of the sun.

Once I was able to see clearly again, I was faced with an even more horrifying image. There were bodies here too, but this time there were also children among the dead.

I recognized most of the men that had captured us in the forest some days ago, and the two children that took advantage of our naiveness laying next to them. I saw the bodies of women with children in their arms.

I tried to tell myself that these were the people that had kidnapped us, tortured us and were planning on selling us as slaves, but I could not help but feel sorry for the horrible death they suffered. And the children… They had been awful to us, but they did not know any better. They were innocents.

I was walking among the dead, trying to figure out what happened, when I found Kai sitting on top of a barrel, looking toward the horizon.

“It’s over,” he said, as soon as he noticed me.

“Did you do this?” I asked, fearing his answer.

“I… I don’t know.” He looked at the palms of his hands. “I’m not sure. I’m not even able to cast spells, but…” He trailed off.

“By The Divine, Kai!” I couldn’t help myself from saying. “The children! All of the children are dead.”

“I know, I know.” His voice was trembling. “I don’t know how it happened. I remember feeling angry when that guy was hitting you and…”

He started walking toward me, his hands raised in a way that suggested he wanted me to hug him, to comfort him. But this was not something to be brushed away with a hug. I did not return his embrace and instead I stood unmoving as he put his arms around me.

“We need to figure out where we are, and how we’re going to get off this ship,” I told him, though I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. “Go find our chest, and I’ll try to figure out a way to the nearest coast.”

“Myriam, I—” he started saying.

“Kai!” I almost shouted at him. Nearby I had noticed a group of three girls, barely eight years old, dead on top of a pile of small leather balls that they must have been playing with. “What happened here is something we need to talk about. And we will. Together. But not now. Please go.”

Kai carried himself dejectedly downstairs and I was left alone on the deck, feeling sick and confused.

“He must still have The Divine’s mana in him,” I whispered to myself.

But did he kill all these people on purpose?

I looked over at the horizon to calm myself down but that only increased my nausea and I barely managed to reach the ship’s wooden bulwark before I threw up. I felt horrible, but knew I had to act if I wanted to leave this damned ship.

First, we needed to reach a coast, and then I would have to deal with Kai.