Jeremiah woke up with sand in his face. He looked around stunned at how much coastline there was. In the far distance he could see the storm clouds he’d escaped moving in. There were roiling and dark black. Every few miles there was even a waterspout raising up to meet the sky for a few minutes before they dissipated. After jumping from the ship, he swam until he passed out. There was no land in sight at that point and the waves were cresting high, so he let the current take him. He knew he could breath the ocean waters and wasn’t concerned about drowning. What did concern him were the denizens of the deep. He had heard stories of the wild Sea Elves being very territorial. Even waging wars against the merfolk. That was just the sapient dangers. An entire separate class of aquatic based monstrosities lived beneath the waves.

That left Jeremiah to wonder how he got here. Common sense told him that passing out in the ocean depths was a death sentence. There was a very slim chance of making it to land. He would go as far as to say the odds are astronomical. Unwillingly to spit in the eye of good fortune, he got to his feet and took a closer look at his surroundings. In the far distance inland, he could see a city nestled in a bay. It was notable due to the great cliff overhang above it that lead to a mountain range. He found it odd to build a city that way until he noticed the small islands dotted above the city. From here they were little more than specs in the air, but they were specs that didn’t move.

In his immediate surroundings he could see the beach gave way to blue-green grasses and rolling hills. Beyond the hills were small hamlets of farming communities. He had been on the ocean for so long, his legs wobbled a little as he trod solid ground. He looked up to the road noticing a caravan of carriages headed his way. They were about twenty minutes up the road and moving at a slow pace. Jeremiah assumed they weren’t in much of a hurry. He went to scratch his neck and remembered the slave collar. It was still around his neck. That thought made him frown. If he could join the oncoming group of people, maybe he could find a way to remove it.

Jeremiah looked back over the waters. In the distance he could see the rain line of the storm. It seemed like there were ships skirting the storm. He couldn’t tell from here if they were the boats of the Sharkfin Armada, but he wasn’t waiting around to find out. He was finally free, and he wouldn’t go back to being a slave.

Deacon stared at Sun Wu as he sped up his movements and landed a round house kick connecting with Deacon’s temple. He then found himself spinning to the ground in a heap. Tantus was swinging a long weighted pole back and forth that Sun Wu had Alfred construct. Tantus was trying and failing to mirror a clone of Sun Wu who was expertly weaving his staff around his body. Ralph wasn’t feeling well due to the curse, so he didn’t join training this morning. Deacon stood back up to confront Sun Wu about his obvious cheating.

“You have been increasing the speed of your strikes at the last second. How am I supposed to block an attack like that?” Deacon asked.

“You will not always fight an opponent slower than you. I’m trying to break you out of your bad habits. You often just stare at me during sparing instead of preparing for the next attack or pressing your own. You have an aura. You must learn to use it more instinctively. When you aren’t actively focusing on it, you are ignoring the signals it’s sending you.” Sun Wu replied like he was talking to a child.

This gave Deacon pause. He knew the speed at which he grew was unusual based on what his companions have told him. Wondering if this was to his detriment, he decided to spread his focus during this sparring session beyond just what was in front of him and lean on his aura more. The next exchange of blows felt more natural. He wasn’t as much looking at Sun Wu’s movements as he was feeling where he needed to move. Deacon blocked two incoming kicks before Sun Wu dropped into monkey style throwing a right cross. Deacon ducked under the blow landing a full strength punch of his own on Sun Wu’s armor. Sun Wu slid back three to four feet before stopping. His head snapped up and his eyes met Deacon’s. Then he grinned. Without warning Deacon dove to the side as another copy of Sun Wu kicked out at his torso before vanishing.

“I only had to tell you once and your ability has already improved. How do you do that?” Sun Wu asked standing up straight.

“Just lucky I guess,” Deacon answered.

“Hey Deacon, what was that noise this morning?” Tantus called out before sitting and wiping his forehead.

“I told you about the shower thing,” Deacon replied waving at Sun Wu for a break.

“No, no. The crashing sound, I passed Alfred on my way up to your room, but everything was fine. Then you started rambling about the hot water,” Tantus explained.

“Oh the bed broke,” Deacon said.

Tantus looked over at Sun Wu who looked back at Tantus from behind Deacon. Sun Wu quirked one eyebrow and Tantus shrugged his shoulders up. Then Tantus looked back at Deacon who looked down at him with a scowl.

“Not like that. Children. When I awoke from my meditation my bed was just crushed. I think it has something to do with my new halo. I haven’t tried it yet and I don’t fully understand it,” Deacon answered.

“Isn’t this what the training ground is for? I mean better to try it out here than when we are in trouble. Could have avoided Hani having to toss me out of the way when you discovered your steam kettle powers,” Tantus said.

“That was exciting, wasn’t it? I’m so happy you learned to do it,” Sun Wu gleefully interjected.

“Why were you pushing me so hard to try that? What’s in it for you?” Deacon asked now quirking an eyebrow at Sun Wu.

“Why would I have an interest in you being able to build conduit’s between dimensions? I can’t think of a single reason,” Sun Wu replied as his index finger twisted back and forth pointing at his left dimple.

“I don’t think that gesture is as cute as you think it is. It’s kind of freaking me out,” Deacon said.

“It is rather strange. So which plane of torment did you gain access to this time?” Tantus questioned.

“According to my slate, it’s called The Suppression Plane,” Deacon replied.

“The hell of weighted burdens. That makes a lot of sense. They say you go there when you die irresponsible. Of course you have to be a bad person as well. They say you’ll be crushed for eternity by the things you shirked in life. What were the hells like for you back home?” Tantus inquired.

“We only had the one in our religion. It seemed like plenty to me,” Deacon responded.

“The Chinese have a lot of hells,” replied Sun Wu.

“Different religion,” Deacon said before the doors at the top of the stairs flung open.

“Deacon, come quick. We need your talents,” Sophie called from the doorway.

All three of them jogged up the staircase to find out what was going on. Ralph came out of his room followed by Amanda. Alfred peeled himself from a nearby wall to see what all the confusion was about.

“What’s going on?” Deacon asked.

“We found a Sea Elf outside. He’s got news about a potential attack on the Shattered Sky from some mercenaries. His only real proof is a slave collar around his neck,” Sophie explained as they all headed toward the door.

They all excited the carriage to see the Deep Dweller forces all laughing at the Sea Elf as it tried to explain his position. That put a scowl on Deacon’s face as he stepped closer to the crowd. Several of them had weapons drawn as the blue elf stood in one place. The carriages and wagons continued to pass by at a snails pace.

“You think some pirates could sack out port? We have the might of the Deep Dweller nation at our back. They’d get crushed. Go sell this tale to someone else,” laughed several of the guards.

“What’s going on here?” Typhus asked coming from the opposite direction of Deacon.

“We got a wet-behind-the-ears profiteer here. It’s all under control,” replied one of the guardsmen.

Deacon was getting heated. These are the armored soldiers that came from the city. They were already too late to save their kin at the pass before and now they were picking on this Sea Elf who couldn’t be more than eighteen if that. Then Deacon realized he couldn’t tell how old any of his Elven friends were. They had that magical beauty to their faces. At the end of the day he just didn’t like bullies. He instructed his slate to switch titles to the Slave Masters Bane. He finally shouldered his way through the crowd.

“Would you like me to take that off of you?” Deacon asked as one of his locks of hair fell across his face.

The Sea Elf nodded vigorously and spun around to pull his dark green hair away from the keyhole on the back of the collar. Deacon spun him back to face him and lightly tapped the collar. It shone with white cracks that ran up and down the metal. The metal seemed like it was trying to fight the effects and hold itself together before the substance it was made from lost all cohesion. It just gently faded from existence broken up into its component parts.