Theofylaktos knelt in the hold of an airship, his scraggly hair knotted and messy, his hands covered in oil. He swelted over a broken component, a part of the landing gear of his parent's flagship, the Anemostróvilos, that his father had asked him to take a look at. Although Theo was young, barely 12 years old, he was talented at such trivial work such as this.
A large crack of thunder suddenly filled the young boys head, the sound reverberating throughout the hull of the ship. He could hear voices from the deck above him, muffled through the hardwood decking over his head.
Another loud crack sounded above him, which caused him to drop his tool and rush onto the deck. As soon as he opened the cabin door, he met with a torrent of rain that caused him to stumble backwards before he got his bearings. Now that he was onboard the deck, he could hear his father, Mihail, issuing orders to the crew.
"Get us under those clouds, we need to make it to the dry docks and wait it out!" He called to the helmsman as he saw to the ship, his hands deftly lashing a rope to the hull.
"Aye captain!" The helmsman called back, his voice beginning to be drowned out by the sudden storm. Something felt wrong to the boy, something about this storm put him on edge.
"Theo!" A woman's voice called to him, she rushed to the boys side, her long braided brown hair wet against her leather jacket. Her light brown eyes, so usually full of wonder and light, were dark and focused. "What are you doing up here? You need to get back under."
"But I wanted to help you, Ma." The boy said, his voice quiet under the wind.
"I know, Dio, but its not safe up here." Olympia said calmly as she gently ran her fingers through her son's hair.
Another loud crack sounded from above the airship, lightning illuminating the dark sky, silhouettes of figures blotting out the sky; humanoid figures.
Before Mihail could finish his sentence, a man landed on the deck of the ship, towards the aft, on the raised deck that housed the helm. The man was dressed in traditional sailor garb, but his form was sodden, with what looked like water gushing out from his mouth. He cut down the helmsman before Mihail could react.
The airship suddenly lurched towards starboard, the winds carrying it off course and the helm spinning wildly without guidance.
With Mihail staggered against the railing and the boarder thrown towards the fore decking past Theo, Olympia leapt forward and took control of the helm. Her face scrunched in pain as she barely managed to regain control of the ship, its downward course regaining control.
Theo watched the man slowly get up, his movements unnatural and sluggish, his gait uneven as one knee near refused to bend as he, or it, moved towards the young boy. It looked him up and down before it turned to move away. Theo could see it more clearly this close up; its eyes were clouded, it was completely drenched, he could see several oceanic animals clinging to its skin, and his nose was full of salt, irregardless of the rain.
It moved away from Theo and moved directly towards his Mother, the boy tried to call out but felt his voice abandon him as his legs moved on their own. He took a tool from his belt, an oily spanner, and charged the man that now stood over his mother, its sword raised to cut her down like their comrade before her.
A silent cry errupted from his throat as he brought the spanner down with both hands against the things back. It staggered and paused before it slowly turned back towards Theo. It raised its sword again, its point aimed directly for Theo's heart, and thrust for the young boy. He closed his eyes, arms up hopelessly to ward off the killing blow.
With a violent shove, Theo opened his eyes to find himself in the embrace of his mother, several feet away from the thing, its blade still tipped with blood.
"I told you to stay in the hold, Dio" She scolded, her blood flowing from a wound in her arm over her son.
She stood and put herself between Theo and the thing. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small device, its purpose unknown to Theo.
The thing moved emotionlessly towards the pair, its sword by its side. Before it could attack the two, Mihail jumped in the way, his own sword out.
"Not on my watch, you bastard!" He cried out before he took a swing.
The fight was over it seconds. The pair traded several blows, a parried overhead from Mihail, an avoided stab from it, and a side slash from Mihail. However the second attack from the thing managed to hit the man in the shoulder, which caused him to drop his blade. Olympia went to cry out, but the thing followed up awkwardly with a thrust through the captain's chest.
Mihail grasped the blade with his pale hand, his remaining strength channeled into holding the blade for as long as possible. The light died from his eyes and his hand went limp, his warm blood diluted by the rain.
Olympia cried out and charged the thing, wrestling it for control of its blade. Even though her grip should have slipped off due to blood and water, through shear force of will her grip was iron. Several small ocean creatures, insects and crustaceans, began to leap from the thing and onto Olympia's face and chest, their small natural blades clawing at her body, but she didn't care for the pain, only her son.
Theo looked at the combat in complete silence. Fear gripped his heart and prevented him from moving. His eyes moved past the fight where he saw a figure upon a lightning flash. A man in robes, flying effortlessly in the storm, wearing a white mask. The man flew up as the flagships sister ship, the Afxitikí Avgí, was thrown into their ship. That was the last that Theo saw of his mother, as she and that thing were flung over the edge. Theo held tightly onto the railing and screwed his eyes shut, the loud explosions and vibrations reverberating through the deck and up through the rails.
Moments later Theo felt the sudden impact of the ground and everything went black.