He had a chart on his hand, staring at the first person to come to the clinic of his own will. The patient's face was pale, eyes half-squinted, and his hands were shaking.

"Um," Gabrio made a sound. The patient straightened his back. Gabrio gestured for the patient's hand.

"Sir," he extended his hand to Gabrio.

Gabrio took his hand, examining the patient's wrist. Down the elbow, there was a purplish spot. Gabrio pulled the patient's hand forward, placed a finger on that spot, and tapped his finger on the bruise.

The patient had wanted to squeal. He bit on his lower lip instead.

“Does it hurt?”

He shook his head.

Gabrio straightened his face. He had seen this type of bruising on a prisoner. It was a type of bruising caused by the clotting of blood. The people who have this are usually those who have been under the sun for too long or they are old. He had no treatment for this kind of bruising.

“How long have you been working as a sailor?”

“Sir?”

Gabrio didn’t repeat himself.

“All my life, Sir.”

“Do you have a kid? A wife?”

“Both are here, Sir.”

Gabrio wrote on his chart. The bruising was minimal. It will become faded brown, but if the pain continues then he had no idea what it would be.

“You are getting old. Usually, these types of bruises are caused by too much exposure to the sun or you are old. You are in for a sick call.”

“I have to work. I need to be under the sun, Sir.”

“You have a kid?”

“Yes, Sir. He’s a cabin boy.”

Gabrio took a piece of paper on the side of his table. He wrote on the paper that by his authority as the Physician of the Grand Galleon, the patient would be out of his duty. He will return to his duties the moment the Galleon leaves for the Thousand Islands. Handing the paper to the patient.

After that, Gabrio took a piece of cloth inside of the medicine chest. Wrapping it around the bruising part.

"Wrapped your arms with a cloth, make sure it's protected all the time from the sun. Try not to strain it when you're doing something that exerts strength. If this becomes worse and it becomes far worse. Then let me see the bruise again. One last thing, do you have any bruises other than this?"

He shook his head. Gabrio mopped his face. He stared at the man with a deathly stare. Gesturing for him to turn around.

"Take your shirt off, and let me see your back," Gabrio said.

The patient nodded.

There were no bruises on his back. Only scars and scratches one would expect from a veteran sailor to have. He turned around with a frown and placed his shirt back on.

"Your good," Gabrio thumped his back. "Cover that bruise all the time. Return to me when it gets worse."

"Do I have to take a rest, Sir? I am needed up the deck."

"You need to. If this bruise gets worse then the fault would be yours," Gabrio placed his writing stick on the side. Please follow it, or I'll have to have that arm manipulated, and have that boy of yours turned into a sailor. Believe me, my colleague would be eager to cut up your arm."

He swallowed. His face paled.

"I understand, Doctor," the patient said. He stood up, walked to the door, and whispered curses outside the hall of the ship.

“Sir?” Wiles entered his head in the room. “Everything, okay?”

"No more patients?"

"No, Sir."

"Good," Gabrio eyeballed the breechloader rifle fitted with a bayonet he carried. "New rifle?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Looks like they are making you arm to the teeth, Wiles. Who gave it to you?"

"A Constable, Sir. I didn't catch his name."

"Looks new, haven't seen it before," Gabrio took his journal and wrote a line on it. "Is the weather clear, Wiles?"

"Haven't gone topside for a while, Sir."

Gabrio nodded. He placed the journal back to his satchel and sauntered out of the cabin.

"Lady Surgeon still busy reading?"

"Not anymore," Zyra's voice said. She walked out of her room with her eyes on them. Gabrio thought that Zyra's round baggy eyes, and floral patterned robes suited her. It was a natural look to Zyra.

"You look like a mess, Zyra."

"Am I?" She examined herself. "That tome of yours was interesting. It has extensive details of the internal organs. He was also fond of cutting up genitals, gouging hearts, and have been examining them since he was a junior. Though I do think that the paragraphs could do without his constant spew of hate to his Mentor."

"I did read through that."

"Are you like that to yours?"

Gabrio grinned. She returned that grin with her own. Then she turned to Wiles with her eyes on his crotch. "I do wonder if I can operate on one. Wiles, if you do get your balls wounded, come and see me. I will do my best to heal it."

Wiles shuddered. He took a step back from Zyra, who then threw his head back with a laugh.

"Enough of that, Zyra," Gabrio said. "He'll run away. So are you done reading it?"

"Not at all, I still need to read it. The mind of the Madman of Rava is quite interesting."

She said. Gabrio shrugged his shoulders and braced his back on the walls of the hall.

The Madman, Butcher, and the Surgeon of Fort Rava were respectable for his thirst for knowledge. Gabrio admits that he was someone who had pursued knowledge. Even so, if Gabrio was asked if he could cut his mentor up again, he would do so without any hesitation. For he remembered his mentor as a man without a soul. A man who had sold his soul to the devil in return for the betterment of medicine. Whether his goal was noble and pure. It didn't matter to Gabrio. He could not stomach what he did. He did it for progress, that was something Gabrio could understand. Yet, something inside of Gabrio didn't want to accept that. It was necessary for progress, yet he couldn't do it.

*****

Five days later, on the top side of the Galleon, on the fence railing on the back of the ship, Gabrio gazed at the bay. He thought to himself how many ships had arrived in the bay. How many of them had prepped their sails? It had been five days and nothing happened other than that sailor returning with his wife and kid. He wanted his wife checked and his lad examined. There was nothing wrong with, and Gabrio was glad that he had something to do. At the moment, he was watching the Grand Fleet separate itself from the docks of Old Carthan. With the crew settled already, the Union Merchant's fleet arriving. The Grand Fleet was readying its sails for the thousand islands.

Leaning on the railing of the ship, gazing at the boats surrounding the Galleons. The docks itself was close by the authorities. None of the merchants, the onlookers, and even the fishermen were able to take a step inside the docks. The Magistrate himself wanted the bay to be free from any small boats that might hamper the fleet.

So far he was hearing only the flags billowing. And the mast of the ships groaning as the ropes holding it. Below, the water was getting muddy with the boats moving. The carpenters, caulkers, and engineers looking at the side of the boats. They were inspecting the side of the hull.

Gabrio was with Zyra as he watched the scenery. She was smoking her pipe. Puffing one or three times between every breath.

"I didn't think of you as a smoker."

"I dare you to go Accad and not find anyone who does not smoke. The real question is, as a man of medicine, why don't you smoke?"

"I like healthy lungs, Zyra," Gabrio said.

"Oh, I see, you opened up a smoker?"

"I did," Gabrio leaned on the railing. "Not a good sight to have. You should stop before it turns your lungs into charcoal."

"Not in this life," Zyra said. "Accad is a haven for smokers and even though it had published a study about smoking. None of the smokers of Accad stopped. There were a few of them, but when they saw the Grandmaster smoking. None of them wanted to stop."

"Imitating the Grandmaster of Accad then?"

"It's one of the Grandmaster's greatest virtue."

"She's still on her prime?"

"She is," Zyra said. "The blood on her is strong. Accad's greatest asset has always been the Grandmaster, not the walls, the cannons. It was always about her existence. She's the reason why Accad is still a place of learning. Have you been to Accad, Gabrio?"

"I had been there once. On a trip to pass the writings of my mentor to my seniors. I had to give my seniors the writings of our mentor. They had to publish the writings of our mentor for reading. The tomes that are with me are the original ones."

"I see. Still, how come you didn't learn how to smoke them?"

"Let me be clear," Gabrio said. "I do smoke, but I do not do it all the time. I don't get the fascination for smoking that you have. Do you know how strange it was for me to see how a land filled with knowledge was fond of smoking? Are they even afraid of burning the city down?"

"Blame the Grandmaster who allows it, and the Alderman who enforces it. You see, Gabrio, smoking is the hobby of the people of Accad. Which means that there is a profit to be made from selling tobacco. Do you know that other than knowledge, we also import tobacco? Not to mention that we have an entire battalion of firemen ready to take action for the sake of keeping that tobacco safe."

She paused. She looked at the bay.

"And with someone who possessed the blood managing the city. I do not think that it will come to that."

Gabrio nodded. "I found it strange that there are many people in Aon who possessed the blood in their veins. I always wondered if the Chancellor himself had the blood in him as well.

"That would explain a lot of what he can do. How he convinced the Elven to cooperate," she tapped her pipe on the railing, the ashes flying away. "But that is not the case. If he had the blood then the Chancellor would have a far easier time to conquer the lands. Besides, there are only a few men in history who possessed the blood in their veins. If he had the blood. Then the people of Roan wouldn't have even talked to him knowing this.

"I disagree. The Chancellor might be hiding his powers well."

"No," she said with a sharp tone of voice. "When I was studying in Accad, attending the lectures of Grandmaster Abella. I had met her Wiseness and had learned that the blood does not manifest without everyone knowing. The Chancellor is human."

“I am not saying that he is not human, but the way he united the Kingdoms into a United Continent is a miracle. Some even call the Chancellor...a divine.”

“Blast me,” she spat. “Don’t tell me you are one of those?”

"No, goodness, no, I am not that obsessed with the Chancellor to think of him as a divine given by God to rule the continent.”

“That’s what they always say, Gabrio.”

"I don't care about politicking, Zyra," Gabrio said to her. "Believe me in this."

"If that's what you say, then I will not pry."

Gabrio mopped his face. " I respect the Chancellor, but I do not particularly care about whether he’s divine. I don't care if he wants to be the Emperor of Aon.”

"I get it, Gabrio," she said. "How about we stop talking about politics then?"

"Good idea."

Her pipe's smokes drifted on the wind. The smoke couldn't defeat the wind as it was washed away.

It was then that he saw something flash on the distance. On the bay from east and west. In the middle of Old Carthan itself. Gabrio saw atoms gathered in one spot. The glowing orbs churned for minutes before it was sucked inside a tear in space.

"What the-!?"

He could not finish his words as streaks of violent light imploded from inside that tear on the space. The whole world shook as a loud voice then boomed from somewhere, a voice that created a banner made of clouds. It manifested a barrier that seemed to point in a direction.

Gabrio held to the railing of the ship. The voice inside of his head told him to run for cover and he did. He started sprinting the hatchway along with Zyra as chaos erupted.

The crew started working the sails. On the side, Gabrio saw the whole fleet started moving forward to the direction of the banner of light. The streaks of light made of purple light fought with the light manifested from the banner.

Then, a gust of wind slammed on the sails of the Grand-Galleon. Eyeing the sea he felt an impulse to go to where that banner was. Looking back at Old Carthan from the side of the Galleon. He saw the cliff face covered in roots glow against the atoms tearing space itself. But the streaks of light that came from that hole on space was like invisible claws.

The force was unstoppable, primal, and was that of cosmic origins. Light itself then winked for a second as the tiny ball of light located in the middle of that hole exploded. Sound vanished. The wind became still. The world lost its colors and that tiny ball of light grew larger, swallowing the town of Old Carthan whole. The very beaches of the Old Carthan turning into a desert made of salt.

On the 10th Day of the Third-Cycle of the Year 1500, of the Ghealach Calendar. The known world came to know of the destruction of Old Carthan. And the departure of the Grand Fleet of the Reconnoiter Company to the Thousand Islands.