I would like to thank all of those who read the first chapter and a special thank you to soulspark for reading and reviewing. It means a lot to me :)
Chapter 2 -A Journey Begins
~Somewhere on the Arabian Sea~
As the ship began to sail, the beautiful array of orange and yellow that illuminated the skies was slowly being substituted with twinkling stars and a full moon that projected over the crystal clear waters of the rocky Arabian Sea. Arman emerged from his quarters to relax and join the rest of the group out on the deck for dinner, but his favorite thing to do after a long day was watching the sunset scenery as he always did when they had enough free time. It was certainly a pleasant way to end the tiresome and stressful events of a long day.
Everyone on board seemed to be getting alone quite well for having just met each other less than a few hours ago. The two groups dined together peacefully, laughing and sharing tales of their adventures and superstitions they had been told with each story being interesting and unique in it's own way.
"Who's up for a song?" One of the crewman asked as he pulled out a musical instrument. The crew assembled together near the open fire, singing and dancing merrily to the tune escaping through the lutes, viols, drums and bagpipes.
From time to time, Maxi would notice the way Xianghua looked at Kilik or playfully teased and caressed him and of course Kilik was completely clueless and hadn't caught on to her "fondness" of him, but he could tell that the pair had a stronger bond and were definitely closer now. Perhaps they would actually become an item one day.
He then turned his attention back to the musical show before him discovering that Arman had left. "Where's Arman?"
One of the crewman let out a chuckle and answered "Ah, he's probably back in his quarters messing around with some old documents or doing research on something."
"That figures," Maxi replied. "I'll be right back."
Maxi decided to pay a quick visit to Arman's chambers. It wasn't like him to disappear without a word, something must have been bothering him.
"I figured I'd find you in here somewhere," his rough voice pierced through the silence. Just as the crewmate stated before, Arman was in the captain's quarters apparently hard at work overlooking the various files on his desk.
Arman peered back, a light smile upon his face. "Ah, Maxi. I'm surprised you're not lying unconscious in a pool of alcohol," he teased.
Maxi gave a short laugh. "Come on now, I don't drink that much...do I?"
"More than you realize, pal," Arman replied now turning around in his chair to face him.
"Well maybe I wouldn't be if there were more babes on board."
"You can have all the women you want once we reach our next destination. Until then you're gonna suffer like the rest of us."
"Yeah, yeah. Anyways, what the hell are you doing all closed off in here anyways? You're missing out on one hell of a party."
Arman licked his finger as he carefully sifted through the thick stack of papers that were piled up on his desk. Most of them looked to be old maps, letters or documents that were torn or either splattered with unidentified stains. What the hell was he looking for?
"Just going over these documents and making sure that we stay on course. You don't wanna end up stranded on a deserted island somewhere, do ya?"
Maxi simply raised a brow. "Uh, no?"
"I thought so."
"What's this?" Maxi asked picking up a journal that was lying beside the stack of papers.
"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Arman stood up and quickly jerked the journal away from Maxi's grasp and placed it in a drawer before realizing what he'd just done. A long, deep audible breath emitted from his lips as he took a seat in his chair, sinking into it. "I- I'm sorry, Maxi. I don't know what came over me. I've just been a bit stressed out lately."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Nah, I think I might actually turn in a bit early tonight. That seafood gumbo you made has got my stomach flipping out," he teased. "Just the idea of you cooking a meal is priceless!"
"Hey, it ain't my fault your stomach's a bitch. If anything it was all that ale you ingested back at the Tavern. You sure can throw them back, which is pretty surprising for a man with a sensitive ass stomach," Maxi grinned.
"Be that as it may, my sensitive ass stomach and I forbid you from ever cooking anything again."
Maxi grinned again and walked back towards the door. "Whatever, you asshole. I guess I'll head to bed as well. Oh, and by the way, I hope you shit your guts out."
Arman laughed and shook his head. "Well goodnight to you too."
The scorching day star set fire to the sky once more, radiating it's warm glow among the seas. It had been a little over a month since the group set off on their sea journey, but they soon learned that they were on route to dock at a port in a Mediterranean city, which excited much of the crew.
Back in his room, Maxi was dreaming, or rather experiencing a horrifying nightmare centered around his fallen crewmates. Scenes and images of disfigured bodies, bloody faces and agonizing screams filled his head once again. Having endured all he could take, Maxi quickly sat up to find himself in a pool of cold sweat, gasping for air. There seemed to be no cure for these never-ending nightmares and as a result they always left the poor pirate fighting against a booming headache. However that could easily be due to his poor choice of drinking the previous night away.
"It was another dream..." He let out a couple more deep breaths before allowing himself to resume sleeping, or at least attempt to. Suddenly there was a soft tapping at his door.
"Maxi..." the voice called out with sort of a sing song tune behind it. Immediately he knew the voice belonged to Xianghua. "Time to get up. You're going to miss breakfast if you don't." She then let herself in only to discover the shirtless, hung-over pirate still tucked away underneath his covers. There were bottles of some sort of unknown alcohol lying on the floor along with Maxi's boots and the vest he was wearing.
"Wake up!" She spoke a bit louder being sure to assert herself.
"Ugh! Stop yelling so loudly, Xianghua. Your voice sounds like a raging bull!"
"I'm not. You're just experiencing a huge hang-over which makes even the slightest sounds seem louder than they are. You know these things wouldn't happen if you would lay off it sometimes."
"Well forgive me for wanting to have a drink every once in a while. After all we've been through we're entitled to kick back and relax for a little while, don't you think?"
"Drinking yourself into a stupor is not exactly what I would call "relaxing" Maxi."
"Whatever," was the simple reply.
"We're also going to be docking soon, so get it together."
With that said, Xianghua left Maxi's quarters to go tend to something else. A sigh escaped from the pirate's mouth as he thought about the journey ahead of him. Xianghua was right, after they docked, he wouldn't have time for such things. He had to remain focused on his mission and he wouldn't rest until he finally got justice for his comrades.
How exactly am I going to find this freak? Even if I am on the right track, he could be anywhere!
At this moment he had no clues to go on other than a rumor he'd heard back at the Tavern. There was a rumor going around about a giant axe-wielding monster attacking a city in Europe. Random villages and civilians seemed to be the targets of the monster's attacks. With any luck, Maxi would be able to find more clues there and finally track down that demon and put an end to his reign of terror.
Pulling himself together now, Maxi dressed himself and fixed his hair back into it's signature style before exiting his chambers. He made his way to the outer deck of the ship to find Kilik and Xianghua sparring with each other. He stood by the ship's railing and silently watched the pair, studying their moves and technique closely.
"You ready Xianghua?"
"As always, but just know that I won't be holding back on you."
"Fine with me." Kilik firmly gripped Kali-Yuga with his hands before taking a swing at Xianghua's torso, causing the young warrior to leap back and counter with an attack of her own. Her attack was blocked with ease as Kilik swiftly swung Kali-Yuga across the floor, aiming at Xianghua's feet. She quickly jumped up to avoid being swept off her feet before instantly thrusting her sword towards Kilik and once more he dodged the attack before landing one of his own, causing her to draw back and regain her stance. He was about to unleash one more attack when suddenly Xianghua forced her foot into the ground, releasing a powerful but violent tremor beneath their feet resulting in Kilik's balance being thrown off.
"WHAT THE-"
"HAAAAA!" Xianghua grabbed Kilik by the arm and flipped him over her shoulder and to the floor, but it didn't end there, she then proceeded to strike him with a series of sweeps and acrobatic maneuvers, some which Kilik had never seen before. He bounced back and hopped to his feet once again, quickly recovering from the series of attacks.
"Impressive moves!" He pointed out before crouching down into one of his stances. Just as he was about to fire back with a series of his own attacks a light round of applause sounded and a dark figure emerged from the shadows.
"Not bad if I do say so myself," the voice stated
Kilik and Xianghua both turned around to spot Maxi looking on.
"Hey Maxi! It's about time you got up. Have a good sleep?"
"Not exactly, Kilik. In fact, I don't even think I managed to get any sleep at all."
Xianghua walked over towards the railing and crossed her arms, looking to the pirate curiously. "What do you mean by that?"
"There's...just a lot on my mind is all. Nothing I can't handle though. I mean, we've been in all kinds of ridiculous situations before, right?"
Something like a nervous laughter oozed from Kilik's mouth as he rubbed his neck sheepishly. "Speaking of which, there's something important we need to inform you of. Actually we should have said something about this weeks ago, but..."
"...Soul Edge has regenerated itself once again," Xianghua finished.
Immediately a glowering expression ran across Maxi's face, he had already half expected his companions to mention something regarding Soul Edge so it wasn't much of a surprise to him when they finally did. Some things never change. Although he would never say it out loud, Maxi was actually a bit happy to hear this. Maybe now he would stand a chance against that freak show!
Kilik raised a brow when his friend didn't seem moved. "You...don't look surprised."
"Maybe four years ago that announcement would have been a shocker, but nothing amazes me anymore. Looks like we're going to be traveling together once more," he replied, a slight grin now plastered on his face.
"Hey look!" Xianghua pointed. The sights of the city suddenly came into view as the trio stood silently, taking in it's beauty. "It's so beautiful!"
Kilik and Maxi gave each other a look and shook their heads. "Oh brother," were the only two words to leave their mouths. Whenever Xianghua fell in love with the beauty of a city during their travels, there was always a good chance that she would want to go shopping or explore every square inch of it. Arman surfaced and joined the trio out on the deck as the ship pulled into the port.
"Quite a beauty, isn't she?"
"Yep," Maxi agreed. "But I can't wait to meet some real beauties. I've heard the women here are quite the catch."
Kilik and Arman laughed while Xianghua just shook her head. "You're hopeless."
Some things never change.
Alright, chapter 2 is finished. Now I can finally move on to the more action packed segments and all that fun stuff! Hopefully you guys found this enjoyable to read anyways. Until next time :)
