Twenty minutes of hard work and a bucket of mopped up blood later, Liam sighs in relief. The room is now restored to its pre-murder level of cleanness. Taking a moment to add some finishing touches on the bed, crumpling up the remaining sheets and blankets more than they already were. Ignissa had supplied a spare sheet to replace the one they used for his body. Liam’s vomit was still drying on her clothing as she left shortly after to tell the other staff what happened and get herself cleaned up

With the work done Liam takes one last look around the room. A haunted look crosses his face as he thinks about what went down just thirty minutes ago. He tries to clear his mind, remembering Ignissa’s words, “the world is better off without him” Liam convinces himself.

Focusing briefly, Liam conjures his cloak around him and disappears from sight. He moves back down to the small hiding place a deck below. After a quick late-night snack of fresh fruit, he walks over to beside the stairs where a small patch of moonlight shines in from a window on the deck above. Feeling tired in more ways than one after the intense battle and cleaning, Liam spends a little over an hour meditating, stopping every few minutes to listen for noise above. Thankfully with most of the passengers sleeping he is left undisturbed.

Liam returns to his bedding and brings up his status to review. There is a new section called Abilities, however he sees no mention of spiritual power anywhere.

Name

Liam Terlock

Body

4

Mana

8/14

Spirit

Light(Foundling stage)

Condition

Healthy

Abilities

Create Light

Create an external source of light. Duration and intensity depend on how much mana is used.

Mirror Coat

Become almost completely invisible to most untrained eyes. Works better in low light conditions.

Happy to see the slight increase in his mana capacity Liam tries to experiment a bit. He imagines grabbing a giant handful of the moonlight from earlier. It’s difficult to get a hold of and he feels some internal resistance, as if he is trying to push a huge hedgehog-bear through a tiny gate. Releases his tentative hold on the moonlight he concentrates and tries again. This time grabbing only a pinch, some of it slips from his fingers but not all. The light moves quickly through him now, to quickly, it feels hot and cold at the same time. Opening his hand as it rushes to escape his body a silver white light emerges from his hand, it leaves a black mark on the wooden ship.

Bringing up his list of abilities once again Liam is delighted to see that it has appeared.

Lightbolt

Fire a fast-moving bolt from either hand. It will take on the appearance and characterises of whichever light source most recently absorbed.

Experimentation finished and feeling tired, Liam crawls into his makeshift bed, pulling a blanket that Ignissa procured over his body. Lord Wainstin’s pops into Liam’s mind keeping him awake but eventually, gentle rocking motion of the ship lulls him to sleep.

Up above in the crew’s quarters Ignissa breathes a sigh in relief, the quartermaster bought her story and even gave her some coins to keep her mouth shut. Right now, he thinks that Lord Wainstin is passed out drunk. As long as things go smoothly in the morning the two teens will get off scot free.

Feeling content, Ignissa snuggles deeper under the covers of her small cot. She thinks about what the quartermaster said earlier. “Look girl know he isn’t the exactly the most pleasant man at times, but his family are very important to the kingdom, the wood they grow is extremely valuable. It just better for everybody if you don’t make a fuss about this”. She nodded meekly, taking the offered coins and makes her way to bed. ‘Not the most pleasant man’ she snorted to herself. Smiling, she drifted off to sleep, happy to have pulled one over the quartermaster.

Liam awakes to the smell of freshly fried bacon and sound of snapping fingers in his ear. With bleary eyes he looks at the sight before him. Ignissa leans before him, clicking her fingers and holding an inviting plate of food. “Your hiding place suck, honestly I’m surprised you didn’t get caught yesterday” she says with a smirk. “I thought you would like some actual food” she hands the plate to him. Crispy bacon with bread and some grilled mushrooms. Liam can’t remember the last time he had bacon and he devours the food in seconds. “Thanks a lot, that was delicious, but how do you get hot food on a ship?” he asks while handing the plate back. The red-haired girl looks at him as if he has two heads and conjures a small flame. “Oh.. duh, of course” Liam slaps his forehead.

“Anyway, I checked with the navigator and he says we should arrive by evening, a full day faster than it took us the first half… something about good wind spirits” she tells him. Liam nods, he will be happy to leave this ship behind him. “What are your plans when we get there?” asks the girl.

“Well I want to go to enrol in the academy, not sure how exactly, so I’ll just be finding an inn or tavern to sleep in for tonight” he replies. “You’re going to need some serious talent or coin to go there” she counters. “Well, hopefully now I have both” says Liam, patting the ill-gotten gains from last night.

“How did everything go with?” Liam nods upwards as he finishes speaking. “Yeah.. well the first part went ok, Paul offered to bring him his breakfast so we should know in a few hours, Captain Kirin is going to investigate for sure. A lord doesn’t just go missing in the middle of the night”. She replies in a worried voice.

Liam in agreement. “Is there anything I can do to help?” She shakes her head “Just stay down here and don’t get caught, don’t go wandering around invisible, we just can’t risk it”. He nods in agreement.

She sighs before speaking again “Look, today I have to be a good little servant girl, or they might get suspicious. We need them to believe our story or there is going to be trouble”

“As much as I want to hold onto this it is just too dangerous, please come by tomorrow afternoon and return it. If I'm not around then give it to my sister." She hands him her share of the money as long with an address quickly written on a scrap of paper. She moves to leave but pauses, turns back and grabs Liam. Whispering “thanks” as she hugs him.

Hours later the sound of arguing voices snap Liam out of his daydream. It’s too faint to make out the words. Cloaking himself and craning his neck he tries to eavesdrop, but it is too muffled to make out any coherent sentences. Liam glances up the stairs, briefly considering checking it out but then reminds him self that it is an unnecessary risk. Hoping to himself that Ignissa is alright he tries to meditate. The poor lighting and worry clawing at his heart make it difficult and he is unable to properly focus. Sighing, Liam lays back down, willing the time to pass faster. Eventually he drifts off into a sort of half-sleep.

A large ship pulls into Eternia harbour, a pair of hydromancers waving the arms to adjust the water to assist. Once securely tied to the stone walkway, a gangplank is pushed across to let the passengers easily disembark. Patiently waiting on the deck sits Liam, crouched low in the fading sunlight and ready to leave. Several workers emerge from below deck, carrying some heavy looking boxes, the move across to the walkway and place the boxes on a small platform. An official looking man with sandy hair briefly inspects each box before raising his hand. The stone platform rises, and the boxes move along a series of metal rollers where they will be safely stored in a warehouse.

Liam eyes this in amazement from the ship, almost invisible in the shadows. He waits a few minutes to time his departure perfectly. On the workers fourth trip to the shore he walks slowly behind the last, staying low and keeping his footsteps light. As he follows behind the worker suddenly, the sandy haired official glances directly at him and frowns. Panicking, Liam kicks his foot forward and trips the large man in front of him, who is sent reeling forward into the next worker. In the commotion Liam quickly darts to the side and walks briskly away.

Hoping that Ignissa will be OK and with the setting sun on back Liam walks into Eternia City.