Episode 2 – The Calm before the Storm

The hum of the ship's engines filled the cabin room. All seven members of the Heaven's Seven guild sat around in absolute silence. Saevio was standing up and looking out the window and watching the flashes of thunder outside.

Andrea noticed Helen looking over at him and leaned over and says to her, "Are you going to go talk to him?"

Helen broke her stare and lazily looked at Andrea and responded with, "I think he wants to be alone."

Andrea shoves Helen off one of the boxes and responds with, "Don't give me any of that crap, go over there and talk to him…geez girl."

Helen says with a worried expression, "I don't think there's anything I could say to him."

Andrea looks at Helen with a "sarcastic" (F3) expression, "Oh please, the only person here who has known Saevio longer than you is Ruder. I'm sure you can come up with something."

Helen looks back over to him, thinks for a moment and then gets up and heads over to Saevio. When she reaches to him she just stands there for a minute. As if she was trying to decide what to say to him. Finally, "So what are you thinking about?"

Saevio doesn't even move his eyes towards her but responds, "The future I guess."

Helen looks at him, "You mean about what we're about to do."

Saevio turns his head a little towards Helen, "Mostly."

Helen looks back out the window, "Then what's the other part?"

A flash of lighting forms a shadow on the clouds, which catches Saevio's attention, "Complicated stuff."

Helen, "Oh…" Helen looks around, "You know, you make things very difficult to talk to you."

Saevio gets a slight smile on his face, "Yea, I've heard that one before."

Helen notices the smile and says, "Wow, I think that's the first time I've ever seen you smile."

Just as Helen finishes her sentence, rain starts to pour on the deck of the ship. Small amounts of rain start to drip through the door going up top.

Saevio turns to Helen, the smile he just had was gone, and tells her, "We'll have to cut this conversation short."

Helen responds, "It's ok, I'll stay up here with you."

As this is going on Sizzer wakes up from his sleep and notices the nervous look still on Zain's face. He decides to get up and have a little talk. Sizzer moves across the cabin. Zain doesn't even notice that Sizzer is now standing in front of him. He taps Zain on the shoulder; Zain quickly picks up his head and looks up at Kaizen with a startled look.

Sizzer asks, "May I sit?" Zain looks down at the empty spot and back up to Sizzer, Responds "Ummm, sure.

Sizzer sits down and says, "Good, so…tell me what's been on your mind."

Zain looks straight ahead, "Well Mr. Sizzer…"

Sizzer interrupts, "How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Sizzer? Calling me Mr. Sizzer is just over doing it and sounds too up tight. Now…with that said, continue."

Zain continues, "I'm having doubts about this. I'm not sure I can handle it…I know I cant."

Sizzer, "Tell me Zain, do you remember one of the lessons I gave you on controlling your Ice powers."

Zain answers, "All I can remember is how at first I couldn't get anything to happen. And then when I was finally able to make something happen I ended up freezing your leg to the ground."

All of a sudden Ruder's voice cut through the conversation, "I remember that. The expression on Sizzer's face was priceless."

Sizzer continues, "Ahem, well, even though you made a lot of mistakes back then and had a lot of difficulties. You've grown at an amazing rate since when your sis first introduced you to us."

Ruder puts his hand on Zain's shoulder, "Don't worry kid, you'll do fine. No one is this group has more confidence in you than me."

Zain looks up at Ruder and makes a slight smile, "Thanks Ruder, that really means a lot to me."

After the conversation between Zain, Ruder, and Sizzer ended there was a brief pause. No one spook a word. It was as if they knew what was about to happen. The entire ship began to vibrate and shake. Each passing moment it became worse and worse.

The intercom in the ship's cabin then relayed the captain's voice, "We're experiencing some turbulence. Please stay situated until we are able to work is through it.

Instead of heeding the captain's words most of the members started to gather up their things. Pulling together potions, making sure their armor and robes were tightly strapped on.

The crewmate in the cabin stands up, "Yo dudes, didn't ya'all hear the captain. He said to stay seated."

Kaizen looks over at him, "In my opinion, it's you that should stay seated. Things are going to start getting rough."

Ruder finished strapping on his helmet and turned to the rest of the team but his eyes were more focused towards Zain, "Everyone ready to get this show on the road?"

Most of the team made a little nod to let him know that they indeed were. With that Ruder moved to under the door that lead up to the deck of the ship. Water was dripping down from the top.

The crewmate stood up again, "Hey man, what'cha doing. I bet the wind be ripp'n mightily up there, it's unsafe."

Kaizen turns around, "Hey man, how many times I gotta tell ya. Things are about to get pretty crazy."

Just then the shaking of the ship was replaced by a sudden jolt of movement. It was as if something huge had ran straight into it. Only the crewmember and Zain had been knocked off their feet. Everyone else was able to stay standing.

Ruder started to smile really big and began to apply pressure on the door, "That's our cue guys. Everyone out!"

Ruder flung the door open and jumped out onto the deck. Sizzer, of course not being as agile as Ruder had to climb up the ladder, followed right behind him. Andrea and Kaizen were equal distance from the ladder. They both looked at each other, Kaizen made gesture letting her know that he was letting her go first. Andrea smiled and jumped far up onto the deck. Then Kaizen followed suit and did the same thing. Helen walked up to the ladder, and calmly went up it. Saevio ran up to the ladder, and then jumped up to the top of the ladder. Then he turned around and stared at Zain. His stare was so odd; Zain wasn't able to tell what he could possibly be thinking. However, before Zain could say anything about it, Saevio continued the rest of the way up. Zain slowly walked up to the ladder and put one hand on one of the steps. Then he took in one deep breath and let it all out. Then went all the way up the ladder and onto the deck.