Chapter 18. Ocean travels
As I came back into reality I could tell I was laying down on something fairly soft. I would say it's a bed but the constant sway made me thing otherwise. I could also faintly smell salt in the air. I must be on a boat, I just wish I was in better shape. I took my time checking to see that I was still alive. I slowly opened my eye's to see I was in a room alone. The only light came in from a window the showed I was at a port. I could see the sea from where I was as well as a little bit of the town. I tried to lift myself up only to feel a large amount of pain and weakness fly through my body. Since I could get up I took my time to look around. I was in a room that appeared to be personal since there was no one else here as well as no other beds. I was laying on a type of stretcher that had a point on each end tied to a post. I saw my gear and coat hanging up on a rack. I also saw a meal waiting for me on the desk in the room. With my sense returned I lifted myself out of the stretcher and placed my feet to the ground. The first thing I noticed was that the floor I was on was moving. The second was the my wound had been stitched up and bandaged. I ran my finger's across it, the cut went from my shoulder to my across to my hip. The stitching was rather well done from my point of view, I must have been taken to a doctor. I put my coat on and put my gear back on as I walked out of the room. The ship I was on was rather large since I walked out to see a large deck in front of me. I was on the second floor (If you assumed the deck was the first) of the ship. There wasn't anyone else on the ship from what I could see. I walked down the stairs and hopped off the boat onto the pier. I almost fell into the water below due to the stab wound in my leg but I managed to save myself the trouble. The sky had turned dark and the water shined in the night. The view wasn't as breath taking as I thought it would be as I turned looking for the men who took me here. I walked down the pier to see a large tavern not to far from the pier. I stood there in the shadows of the night just observing the area. Since I was so focused I didn't notice the two men approaching from behind, just as I could kind of 'feel' them getting close I drew my sword and held it in front of me as I turned to confront them. The men didn't seemed phased as one of them calmly pushed the sword out of their way. "It's good to see your awake" one of them spoke. I eyed them for a moment and didn't break eye contact as I sheathed my sword "Who are you two supposed to be" I asked. The two looked at eachother for a moment before one of them stepped towards me "We are ninja from the order of the shadow, we were sent by our master to retrieve you".
"Retrieve me? What does your master want from me" I asked.
"We do not know, we were simply told to bring you to him with no restraints, however should you try to run we were told to kill you" he spoke again.
"So he wants to talk, he couldn't just come to me?" I said questioning.
The ninja shook his head "Times have been hard to bear recently, I don't believe out master would leave us alone in Ionia".
"So I'm assuming you want to take me to Ionia" I asked.
"Yes, He does not wish to leave the order leaderless" He responded. I was starting to get interested, I might be able to pick up a skill or two from these ninja. Even if I have to run I'm sure it might be nice to see Ionia either way.
"Fine then, when do we leave" I asked.
"So you will join us?" the one standing in the back spoke up.
"Maybe, I want to see what I would get from joining first" I responded. The two ninja looked at eachother and nodded. "Very well, We will leave on the ship you awoke on in the morning" he spoke before disappearing in the night. Since I had a night to myself I thought about what I would do. I looked back to the tavern still as lively as ever, people were laughing along with different smiling faces. For once in my life I was actually shocked at how I felt around this. Normally I would just feel uncomfortable or just annoyed but instead all I felt was a faint feeling of depression. From what I could tell it felt like the happiness that was filling the tavern was something I could never have. The more and more I thought about it the more I found myself realizing recently, even in noxus my feeling have been... sort of dulled. I cared less for what the mood was and became less affected by everything. Just like on the pier, it was less breathtaking then I thought it would be... I decided not to focus on it and went back to the ship. I started to feel how empty my stomach was and I remembered the meal waiting on the ship. I climbed the stair's and returned to the room and ate the meal. The rest of the night passed slowly, either by me practicing or simply looking into the town or off to the sea. Eventually I went to bed and fell asleep.
I woke up to the sound of someone knocking at the door, the strange stretcher bed was awkward to get out of but I eventually got up and walked to the door. I looked out the window on the door to see it was one of the ninja. I opened the door and he spoke up "Were about to set sail, if there's anything you want to do here before we leave I would do it now". I shook my head and he returned downstairs. I closed the door and shortly after I sat at the desk we started moving which almost cause me to fall out of my chair. It was fairly sudden and a few books fell out of a bookshelf. I decided to pass the time by reading. The books were on stories of captains and fishermen as well as a few books on the lands and one certain book strictly about Ionia and it's culture. It wasn't long before I got to the Ionian book and started to read over it. It held information about its government system and the certain key points in Ionia. One thing I found most interesting was the strange ninja clan known as The Kinkou Order. It was a order about keep balance in the world. It didn't hold much about the clan but one line from it stuck to me a little. Order, chaos, light, darkness – all things must exist in perfect harmony for such is the way of the universe. For some strange reason I felt a type of rage to it. At first I didn't understand why but then I felt it wasn't my rage but the thing inside me, The 'Living Shadow'. I did my best to focus on the rest of the book but couldn't so I put the book back where it was and went outside. I stepped out to see the deck a three people on it, they didn't seem to be doing very much just talking to eachother. I looked around to see nothing but ocean for miles and miles. It was impressive to say the least but not much longer after the faint view of a shoreline came into view. The guess was it was Ionia. The island was covered with trees and moutains, the shore itself wasn't even cleared of trees, with nothing more then a river to follow. The closer I got the more I saw, the forests teeming with wildlife, the waters seem oddly clearer and the air was much lighter to breath.
We followed the river for a few minutes before coming to a stop, I could see a large amount of homes along the side of a mountainous area. We had stopped at what seemed to be a peir for the town. "We need to secure everything here, you can go ahead" one of the ninja said before disappearing below the deck. I stepped off the boat to look around and see many many strange people. Most of them wore abnormal clothing and the air seemed to light and filled with energy. I wouldn't say I've turned into a gloomy person but this area just made me feel out of place. Eventually the feeling passed and I started to walk around. I found children playing about in the trees and few clearings around the area. People selling their supplies in stalls with no worry of any of it being stolen. I kept looking and slowly the feeling of being watched creeped up on me from behind. I found now every time I turned a corner the eyes of everyone were on me. I did my best to ignore it but found the feeling getting stronger and stronger the more I looked around. I decided to return to the ship shortly after a few of the children gave me looks of fear. Was there something wrong with me? Perhaps I just gave off a bad vibe to everyone... I started going back to the ship when I heard a voice I honestly never expected to hear again. The voice of someone I had thought disappeared never for me to see again. The voice of someone who held my skills higher the I thought. "Is that you Blade?" It was the sound of Que.