It was already midday when Jarvan and his team prepared their lunches on the ship. The scorching heat was unbearable, and the blinding sunlight shone onto their faces.
"We have some bread here. Actually, I brought loads of bread for our trip."
"Jarvan, you said you will handle food supplies, but can't you bring more types of food? Don't tell me you only brought bread for the trip!"
"Well, technically that's what I did. I did bring along some jam though, so there are many different types of flavors you can try—"
"You may be a bread addict, but I can't stand eating bread all day, Jarvan," Vayne said sternly.
"Oh c'mon, this is one of the best types of bread you can find in Demacia! Perhaps you should try it out."
Meanwhile, Twisted fate was watching the sea view, his hands holding the handrail, fully awake after sleeping in the cabin for four straight hours. He hadn't seen the ocean for a while, since all of his criminal activities were in inner lands, so it had been some time since he travelled by ship. The sea air was refreshing, and the water surface was near peaceful. It was quiet except the voice of the hextech motors at the end of the boat.
At first, Twisted fate did not expect to reach Zaun by ship—he thought they would reach there by land. However, the gypsy regretted the idea straight away after he was told by Jarvan that they had to go over the Ironspike Mountains to get to Zaun—which was itself a mysterious and unexplored region, and known to be near impossible to climb. Legends say there is an ancient Cryophoenix who has resided somewhere in the mountains for more than a millennium.
Since the Ironspike valley surrounded the entire north-eastern part of the supercontinent, the only other accessible way to enter Zaun was via waters—there was a port at Zaun, and it was relatively close to the College of Techmaturagy.
"Sir, do you know that there were reports of increasingly frequent pirate activities around the Conqueror's sea? There is a significant risk we might—"
"No fear, my dear sailor. First, that information is not true at all, and secondly, why fear for our safety when we have such a talented group of people?"
"But there were rumors that even the King of Pirates Gangplank himself came here—"
"So be it! They should be the ones running away from us, not the other way round! They won't stand a chance against us! Now stop this nonsense and keep on with your work."
"Yes, Sir."
Jarvan then continued to munch on his raisin bread.
"Twisted fate! Do you want to try out some of my bread? I guarantee it's the best bread you can find in the world." He yelled.
"Pardon?" Twisted fate turned his head. "Sure, why not." He went to Jarvan and took a piece of the bread.
"You like the feeling on a hextech boat?" Jarvan said. "It's also my first time. I'm rather astonished by how Hextech is developed in Piltover in such a quick rate—they really live up to their fame. I've heard that soon there will be Hextech-driven land vehicles, and I'll be the first one to try it. Feels good, doesn't it?"
"Quite so. I don't have many chances to enjoy much luxury." The gypsy answered.
"Oh. You do now. It's fun, isn't it? You live like a king here…but too bad we have a mission on our backs," he reminded.
"You're kinda right."
"Well then. I'll leave you here then. Enjoy these moments before our hard work begins." Jarvan said before he left. Twisted fate then continued to stare at the sea as mindlessly as always.
The sky had been dark for some time.
It was the third night, and they would reach Zaun in less than 12 hours.
The moon had disappeared, so it was completely black outside, and not even the water could be seen. There was literally no light out in the sea, and it was the cruiser which illuminated the nearby water surface. If it weren't for the light, it would have been pitch black—completely pitch black.
Twisted fate stared at the sea, standing in the same position as he did for the whole trip. He yawned. Actually, he had yawned for countless times before that. He didn't do much that day but felt exhausted for some reason.
It's late now. Perhaps I should go to bed instead.
"You stood here for quite some time, didn't you?"
Twisted fate almost jumped out of his skin. He turned and saw the person who scared him.
"Vay—"
Before he knew it her hand was already covering his mouth.
"No need to say that." Her voice was as cold as ever.
"Why are you here this late?"
"What did I tell you back in my house?"
"Er…that's a pretty weird question."
"Just answer it."
He didn't remember much…did she say anything important?
"I don't recall you telling anything important," he replied.
Or was there? He remembered something…
"Garen told me he found you in my bedroom."
"Yeah. Is that a problem?"
Though he had already realized what Vayne was talking about.
"Don't act innocent. You were there before Garen came, right?"
"Yeah. Right. I did."
"Why were you there in the first place?"
"I was…just curious, and I can't control myself. I sincerely apologize."
"I don't sense any sincerity here, Twisted fate. And what did you do there?"
"I just sorta hung around your room. Saw your artifacts. Nothing else."
"Really? Nothing else?"
"Nothing else."
Twisted fate could feel her eyes locked on to his, despite she wore her iconic sunglasses. He was sure she didn't believe a word of his.
So he kept silent.
Vayne let go of him and crossed her arms, while the gypsy continued to stare at the sea.
"Listen. I've certain you knew more than that. I can already see signs of lying from your face. We might be in the same boat now, but if you dare say a word about what you've seen in the room…I'll make sure you regret it. And don't think you'll get away with this—I will find you, not matter how elusive you think you are."
"Is that such a big deal, Vayne? There's no need to be so serious about this, isn't it? I promise I won't speak of it, but…Vayne?"
She was gone. Instead, he found himself talking to thin air.
She really likes to disappear from my sight. I wonder how she did that. But maybe she really has a boyfriend, or else why would she care so much?
As he pondered the question he walked back to his cabin, smirking. So Vayne has a soft point after all.
The next morning.
Why is it so dark outside?
Twisted fate had woken up, half naked, and was looking out of the window whilst lying on the bed. He could see the clouds, which were rather…dark in colour.
Suddenly, there came an unexpected "BOOM", which made Twisted fate instantly jump out of bed.
"Woah! What was that? A bombshell?"
He quickly got himself dressed and ran out of his cabin, wondering what was happening outside.
It turned out that the whole sky was filled with dark clouds, blotting out the sunlight. The temperature dipped greatly, vastly different from the day before. The sea surface was peaceful as ever, but he guessed that it would change in a short time.
Twisted fate saw a bright flash of light far away, which he recognized as a thunderbolt. Within seconds the sound of thunder could be heard, like a bombshell, exactly the same as what he had heard when he woke up.
It was a thunderstorm. And it was not to be underestimated.
"Sir! A huge storm is coming! I advise you to stay in your cabin!"
It was one of Jarvan's men, who was also a sailor on the ship.
"Does Prince Jarvan know about this?"
"Oh, right! I'll have to inform him about this! You stay here and wait while I go and look for the Prince!"
"There's no need to look for me. I'm right here."
The sailor turned and saw the man standing right behind him, smirking.
"Oh! Well then…you heard the thunder, right? I'm sure the whole world can hear it!"
"Geez, that thunder jolted me awake! Anyway, we have a pretty huge storm ahead. It stands in our way to Zaun, right?"
"Yes. And it's heading for us! Maybe we can just try and force our way through the storm-"
An ear-popping, thunderous explosion was heard miles away, louder than ever.
"I guess that's not the case, David. This thunderstorm will strike us down. How far are we from Zaun?"
"We're just 10 minutes away from Zaun, but not if the storm remains here. And it's heading for us, so we can't escape from it in time."
"Dammit. If we can't stay in the sea, we have to get to land as soon as possible."
"You can see Zaun right here, actually." The sailor pointed to a direction far away. Just like what he had said, a glimpse of a speck of land could be seen in the distance.
"Great. We will head there right now. Tell the captain that we will not change course."
"But…but it's going to be dangerous to venture into a storm this strong!"
"David, if we're just 10 minutes away from our destination, why shouldn't we make it there? And you might have forgotten that there's a rooftop shelter built in the Zaun port. If we get there, not only us, but this vessel will also be safe from the storm!"
"You're right, sir."
As the sailor left the scene, Twisted fate stared at the grey clouds ahead, which might spell doom for them.
"What time is it, Prince Jarvan?"
"It is…five-thirty. In the morning."
"What? It's so early?"
Twisted fate felt unusually tired after hearing this. Yet the sun was blotted out so he couldn't really find out the time of day.
"Whatever, we need to get out of this storm. It's going to be dangerous." Jarvan said.
The thunderous sound came again. Just then, Twisted fate could feel liquid hitting his head.
It was starting to rain. And this wasn't good news.
"The weather's getting worse. Help me move the things outside the cabin to indoors! Nothing is safe outside the cabin! We need to act now if we want to survive this!" Jarvan yelled because all of a sudden a gust of wind swept by and his voice almost died in the air.
As the people on the ship were preparing themselves, the storm was starting to close the distance between itself and their cruiser. The number of lightning increased around them, and the winds became stronger, forming gigantic waves just as what Twisted fate had expected. The rain had only become heavier, and there were already puddles of water on the deck. The conditions were worsening.
Unfortunately, they were still two miles away from the Zaun port.
It wasn't until a few minutes later did every person on the cruiser assemble in the Bridge (the room where the steering wheel was located).
"We're already heading straight for Zaun, prince Jarvan. But we're still cutting into part of the storm and although it's not as destructive, it might be able to sink us," the captain said.
"It's risky, but it's the safer option. After all, we don't have much of a choice. We can't escape from the storm in time." Jarvan answered.
"Shouldn't Zaun authorities inform us of this storm, back in Demacia?" Vayne questioned.
"They claimed the sky was clear with no sign of bad weather!" Another sailor said. "The storm must have been formed very recently, or else they would have detected it."
"Guys, look at the waves outside."
"What's the matter, Twisted fate—HOLY—"
It was no longer calm outside the cruiser. The frequency of thunder had doubled, bombarding the whole sky, and constant jagged bolts of lightning illuminated the dark sky. The wind howled behind the windows that separated them from the outside world as if it was taunting them. The rain was now pouring heavily, obstructing the view. If there was another ship in front of them, they will only see it barely, which made matters worse.
But luckily there was a radar display screen that helped detected objects, including land. That way, they wouldn't be completely blind to their surroundings.
A flock of seagulls soared high up in the air, seemingly safe and unaffected by the violent weather.
If only we were up there like those birds, the gypsy thought.
Suddenly, Twisted fate could feel the whole vessel bump into something hard. A huge wave slammed onto the bow of the ship head on, knocking the whole cruiser up by 40 degrees. Everyone in the room slipped and fell backwards, except the captain, who sat steadily on his seat, and Vayne, who had grabbed the Captain's seat in time and prevented herself from falling. Twisted fate slipped all the way to the end of the room, bumping his head.
"How—how the hell did you react so quickly?" Twisted fate asked while he struggled to stand up.
"None of your business," Vayne replied. Just then, the ship then crashed back to the sea, tossing them like toys in a room.
"Hang on tight, guys! This will be tough until we reach the shelter!" Jarvan warned. "Hold on tight to the steel bars!"
"Wait, what is that on the radar?"
On the radar was a green spot, which represents the cruiser. On the northern side was a large area of blue, which presumably represents Zaun territory.
Then there was a red spot on the southern part of the radar.
"What does red represent?" Twisted fate asked.
"It means…...other boats." The captain replied.
"Boats? Why will they be in such a storm at this hour? They shouldn't be here! Or maybe they're also stuck in this sea, like us." Jarvan suggested.
"That might not be the case. In fact, they're heading for us."
"Heading for us? Why on earth will someone do that? Unless…"
"They're pirates!" David exclaimed. "But hold on, not even pirates have ships that can sail in this kind of weather."
"No idea. What we know now though is that they haven't sunk and are after us."
"Just stay on our course, captain. I'm sure once we entered the shelter, we'll be safe."
Suddenly, a high-pitched sound, like a scream, was heard. Twisted fate noticed a high-speed unknown object on the left side of the cruiser, speeding through the air. It then dived into the water right beside the boat, resulting in a huge explosion of water. The shockwave tilted the boat slightly.
The group was rather shocked by what happened.
"That…that's a missile, right?" David asked.
"They're aggressive towards us! They must be pirates!" Jarvan said. "They might even blow our cruiser up!"
"They move very quickly according to the radar. How on earth do they do that?"
"Pirates do own some of the most well-equipped ships, Twisted fate," Vayne answered. "We won't be able to outrun a pirate ship. And we can't even see what the ship looks like in this kind of weather."
Suddenly, an even louder explosion could be heard, shocking the whole boat and tilting to the left, only this time it stayed tilted.
"Why didn't the ship shift back to its position?" Twisted fate asked.
"It must be one of those missiles. It hit our cruiser on the left!" David said. "The motor seems undamaged but at this rate, we will get sunk before we reach the port!"
"Then we must destroy that hostile ship. Captain, we have two missile launchers on this ship, but do we have missiles?"
"We do have a decent number of them."
"Great."
"But it takes some time to load those launchers. By then it might be already too late."
"**** . So what should we do? Surely they will continue to fire their missiles!"
During this time, Twisted fate had his eyes closed, because he was channeling his spell Destiny and had already seen who was on the enemy ship. He couldn't work out what the ship looked like, but he could see two men standing in front of their own missile launcher, its head pointing at the cruiser, while in a dark room. Two men were on the bridge of the ship, sitting in front of a large number of buttons. And standing behind the two men was none other than the King of Pirates.
Gangplank, the Saltwater scourge.
Why didn't I know this earlier? It's obvious that he is the only pirate that has the guts to raid the Prince's ship!
He could teleport into the vessel and kill the men responsible for the missile launching, but then Gate would be on cooldown and he wouldn't be able to get out in a short time. And he was sure that Gangplank was smart enough to suspect something when no one fired the missiles, essentially turning the gypsy into a sitting duck. And teleporting directly into the bridge room? Out of the question. Gangplank was notorious for being a tough duelist, which he didn't have the slightest of chances of beating.
So what can he do?
Wait, he didn't need to be physically near the missile launchers to destroy them. If he controlled his cards with his mind, he could command them to the launchers—and destroy them.
"I can stop them."
Everyone else was baffled by the idea.
"How can you stop them?" David asked.
"I have the ability to command my cards using mind control. So I can command my cards to their missile launchers and destroy them."
"In this kind of weather? And rain? Won't your cards get blown away? Or anything?"
"Well, rain cannot ruin the magic within my cards, and I'm confident I can control it fairly well. Even at far range."
"Not a good idea in my opinion."
David though Twisted fate's powers were limited to just throwing cards, not such advanced tricks.
The ship then took another shock for the second time.
"Jarvan! We must do something right now! Or else we'll sink in the next few seconds!"
"Fine! Twisted fate, do whatever you're planning in your mind!" Jarvan ordered.
Twisted fate drew out a red card, and infused it with his mana. He needed it to be more durable than usual in order to survive the harsh weather conditions.
Then he let go of the card.
The card first descended, halted and floated in mid-air, like magic. Then it flew out of the room, spinning, down the stairs and out of the door into the storm.
At first, it was hugely affected by the powerful winds and it flew to the left unintentionally. But then Twisted fate concentrated hard and successfully made the card overpower the winds, reverting back to a straight line. Even the relatively larger and heavier water droplets did not become a nuisance.
A minute later, it reached Gangplank's ship.
Twisted fate could see the ship from the card's view—it has a similar size and shape as the cruiser, also a double-deck ship, but was made in metal, coloured like a military tank. It had two pipes at two sides of the ship.
Not pipes, but missile launchers. The culprit of the whole ordeal.
Twisted fate was about to command the card to dive towards one of them when he thought of a new idea:
Why don't I just kill the two men instead? That's even better! That way I don't need to destroy the other missile launcher using another card!
With that, he commanded the card to go straight into the small round opening of the launcher.
But the card did not destroy the launcher. It destroyed its way into the room where the two men were standing. Twisted fate grinned as he saw the surprised faces of the men before killing them in mere seconds.
Then the Card master broke his mental link with the card, breaking himself from his trance.
"It's done, guys. I disabled the missile launchers."
"What? Are you kidding me?"
"Believe me, there won't be any missiles from now on, David." He replied, not exactly cool with the sailor's attitude.
True to his word, the cruiser was not attacked afterwards.
"Sir, we have already arrived at the Zaun shelter."
Indeed, in front of the cruiser was a large port encased in a huge building.
"In addition to that, the enemy ship is switching course, heading towards the open sea instead of us. We're safe."
"Well, thanks to Twisted fate," Jarvan said. "He deserves a round of applause."
Jarvan clapped. So did Twisted fate. Then the others obliged and joined them.
"A marvelous achievement, Card master." The captain praised.
As the cruiser sailed into the indoor port in joy, the other ship was not so happy about the result.
"Why didn't those two idiots fire the goddam missile? Find them, and bring them to me!" Gangplank yelled at his henchmen, who immediately obliged, not wanting to further enrage the pirate.
"You won't get away with this, Jarvan. One day, I will get my hands on your precious wealth, Demacian prince."
It turned out that the storm stayed in Zaun for the whole day.
Jarvan had originally planned to hire a carriage that travelled directly from the port to the College of Techmaturagy, but they couldn't leave the port because of the storm. So the group had to spend their time in the port—everyone except Twisted fate roamed around the technologically-advanced port, exploring every corner of the place. The gypsy stayed in the carrier, fearing that his identity would be exposed—which was something that he did not want to happen.
It was already late into the night when the storm finally calmed. Jarvan made the call to stay in Zaun for one night, despite Vayne's protests, due to him claiming that "it was a tiring day" and "the carriage wouldn't arrive until tomorrow".
They decided to stay in a hotel near the port. Twisted fate took off his hat, hoping that people wouldn't recognize him easily because of it.
Now Jarvan was standing in front of the reservation desk, booking for the night, while the others hung around.
"Where's David?" The captain asked. "Haven't seen him for a while."
"He said he wanted to buy some food for us," Vayne replied. "Must have taken him some time to look for a restaurant."
The other sailor, who Twisted fate had not chatted with before, was leaning against the wall, smoking a cigar.
"He doesn't talk much, but he's a hard-working guy though. Have to give him credit for that."
"How did Gangplank own such a durable warship?
The captain froze.
"What? It's a warship?"
"I saw it with my spell. Couldn't be wrong. And it looks advanced in terms of technology."
"That's terrible! Imagine if someone like Gangplank owns a warship! He's already a monster in the seas, destroying every fleet he sees with the Leviathan, Swain's warship. Now you're giving him the technology to play with. Soon he's going to dominate all the seas in Valoran! That's an even bigger threat to our navy!"
"The pirate is a problem. But we have more important matters to deal with first, and it can potentially be the end of all of us." Vayne said.
Twisted fate looked around. The hotel lobby was large and rather luxurious, and quiet, with less than 10 people in the lobby. It was a comforting sight, after experiencing the life-threatening situation back in the cruiser. Twisted fate almost thought he would die there. His heart jumped as he recalled the events.
"Guys, I've booked six rooms for you guys. One person for each room. Captain, you can sail back to Demacia with the other sailors, or stay here for a while, if you're afraid of another attack."
"I won't take a chance. I'm staying here."
"Well then. The hotel assistants will lead us to our rooms."
The hotel assistant, who was a female, led them to the elevator. Twisted fate had taken an elevator before, during his stay in Zaun, but the Demacians seemed new to this invention. The assistant had to explain to them for a while before they could go up.
"Why did the reservation take so long?" Vayne asked when they were in the elevator.
"The receptionist said she "had special orders to take from her boss", so she held on her phone call for quite a while before she talked to me. Says her boss wanted to provide us the best rooms as they can."
"That's very caring of them."
They arrived shortly at their rooms, in a hallway.
"Here is your room, Twisted fate. And here's what they call a "key card". You can open the door by placing it right beside the sensor beneath the door knob. Like this." He did what he himself had said and the door unlocked. Jarvan pushed open the door.
"Let's call it a day, Twisted fate. Rest well, and we'll meet at the breakfast hall tomorrow morning at eight, all right? The breakfast hall is on the second floor."
"Got it."
"Good night then, Twisted fate. Our rooms are all beside you, so if you have any problem feel free to come. See you tomorrow."
Twisted fate entered the room and closed the door.
Whew. What a day.
He looked at the room. It was a rather standard room, with a restroom, a large bed, a table, two chairs, and a window which faced the sea.
And a refrigerator?
It wasn't the refrigerator that surprised Twisted fate—he had seen plenty of these Piltover inventions in Zaun, but it was the shape of the refrigerator. It was really large in size—around two meters wide, with two comparatively short and small legs supporting it. A huge circular button in light-blue colour was on the lid of the fridge, blinking in colour, compelling him to press it.
Which he did.
He pulled the lid, and instantly a gust of cold—no, freezing wind burst out from it. Twisted fate immediately shut the lid.
How can this refrigerator be so cold? It's worse than Frejlordian winter!
Regardless, he decided to just take a simple shower and sleep straight away.
As Twisted fate sat on his bed though, he felt that something was not right from his senses. It might be because of the strange shape of the refrigerator, but his mind told him that something bad was about to happen.
Something was wrong. But the Card master had no idea what it was.
Author's note:
Can you predict what will happen in the next chapter?
