Celestial Saga: Exiled To Earth III 11 Stage Eleven: Brooding Harbor

STAGE ELEVEN: BROODING HARBOR

The pirate held his hands up, and slowly walked away from the girl. The leader of the pirates felt Kirin, Freyja and Alaric's strong auras leaking from their bodies. Although Freyja's group could not keep the pirates from taking some of the goods, they were able to drive them away without harming a single person.

"My crate!" A trader shouted, one hand tightly holding onto the railings of the dock with his body half submerged in water. His other hand tightly holding the rope of the crate that's about to sink down the sea with him. Alaric ran to him first, being the nearest one. He took the man's hand and tried to pull him up. However, he was too heavy, all because of the heavy crate he's unwilling to abandon. Freyja tossed a rope to Alaric, which the young runemaster tied around the man's waist. "Help me pull this rope up!" Freyja called the people out for help, but surprisingly, they only looked at her. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? THIS MAN's GONNA DIE!" She shouted and still, they only looked at her, some even looked away. Kirin ran to Alaric to a.s.sist him. Kirin hit the man's shoulders so that his arm would momentarily lose its strength. The man dropped the crate to sink under the deep sea while Alaric pulled the man back up the ground.

"Are you alright mister?" Freyja ran to the middle-aged man to help. But Instead of being thankful for saving his life, the man shouted curses at them for losing all the goods that sank. He stood up and ran away, ignoring his saviors.

"What an a.s.shole. Forget about him, we should have let him drown to death." Kirin turned his back with crossed arms, "Let's go, we have no more business here." Freyja sighed, disappointed. She glanced at the leaving pirate s.h.i.+p before following Kirin and Alaric back to the inn.

The room was especially quiet. Freyja and Alaric were both visibly disappointed and bothered by the townspeople's reaction towards what they did. "For crying out loud, we saved their a.s.sess and this is what they give us!?" Freyja groaned. "Yeah, we should have let those pirates rip their guts out instead, shouldn't we?" Alaric added. Kirin couldn't bear the depressed mood any longer. "How about the nearby resort? We could relax for a bit before we leave." Alaric and Freyja were both suddenly excited.

"That's a good idea Kirin! We can just forget these ungrateful b.a.s.t.a.r.ds for a moment."

"Yeah, I think so too. They're just greedb.a.l.l.s in and out. Let's go!"

~ o 0 o ~

Just right outside of town, a beautiful resort that's quite famous for its scenery and hospitality, welcomed the three. They led them into their private suite, a full lunch feast prepared for them beforehand.

Freyja's eyes sparkled in delight, she almost drooled seeing many of her favorite dishes before her. "Fish fillet… fried chicken…. honey glazed squid… fried potatoes… shrimp fry…. chocolate cake!" Freyja took a seat and went to eat ahead of her friends. ���Hey, calm down, don't make it look like I'm not feeding you properly." Kirin sighed, grabbing a chair beside her. "You're quite the cheapskate though, I paid for the airs.h.i.+p, just so you know." Alaric commented, grabbing the other chair beside Freyja, and a plate for himself.

"You PIG! Are you a living stomach or something!?" Kirin shouted, noticing that the fried squid he just got is gone from his plate. "That's mine!"

"Here you go Freyja, you can have mine too!" Alaric smiled while feeding Freyja with a piece of fried shrimp. "Say ahhh!"

"AHH!!!" Freyja opened her mouth like a baby chick. "Yum!" Alaric smirked at Kirin and stuck his tongue out. "Bleah."

Kirin's veins bulged while he pulled Freyja's cheek. "Eoww!"

Alaric chuckled, until a dark-aura dagger fell from above and split his plate into two. "What was that for!?" He summoned an ice dagger and broke Kirin's plate.

The hotel staff, a bit afraid of their new guests, politely excused themselves and left the three to have their not-so-peaceful lunch.

Kirin sighed as he threw himself on the bed and covered his face with a pillow. "You little imbecile" he murmured. "Room service sir!" There was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

A woman, around 5'4 in height entered with a food tray. Kirin eyed her suspiciously, and the woman just smiled sweetly at him. "Sir, if you're going to look at me like that, I might get the wrong idea." The woman smirked, seductively walking towards Kirin's bed, gracefully flaunting her full hips. "The lady gently caressed his expressionless face with her smooth hands while slowly climbing on top of Kirin. Kirin examined every move she made, confirming his suspicions and about to dislocate her arm and capture her when suddenly, the door opened.

Freyja stood there, speechless. "Ki….rin." Freyja just received the shock of a lifetime. A hundred different emotions roared inside her. She was completely taken aback. She felt tears quickly form on her eyes. Instinctively, she turned back and dashed away from Kirin's room.

"Hey wait!" Equally surprised Kirin tried to run after her, but the suspicious woman immediately immobilized him with her aura reinforced hair. Her long brown hair quickly crept around him, locking his feet and hands together while she grabbed his pale neck with her hands. "Don't you find me pretty?" She positioned herself in front of him, her face inches away from him. She was about to kiss him when Kirin's aura blade emerged from his chest, piercing her chest badly. Her hair retracted, setting Kirin free in an instant. Green liquid gushed out of her wound, but she was still fast and strong. Seeing this, Kirin was sure she isn't human.

"You… what is your true form?"

The woman ran away, but Kirin didn't follow her. "A phreinian? Or perhaps Ahrin's? Impossible…" He could not think of anyone who would want them dead other than Phrein or the Aethelmaer family. Kirin sighed in frustration. He was planning to capture her, but Freyja's sudden appearance got him fl.u.s.tered. "Freyja!" He remembered, running outside. "That thing may be after her too!"

Freyja panted, after running quite a distance. She found herself in the woods, far outside the resort. She heard the sound of gus.h.i.+ng water from nearby. In need of distraction, she followed the sound until she reached a waterfall. "Wow…" Freyja knelt and saw her reflection from the crystal clear water. "A child." She murmured while scooping water with her hands and splas.h.i.+ng it onto her face to cool down. Finally calming her thoughts, she felt quite guilty for not even listening to Kirin's explanation. "Kirin won't do something like that, would he?" She thought, hitting her own head. "Freyja you dumba.s.s. Now I'm acting like a jealous brat. I have to go back and apologize to Kirin. And I have to hear his explanation at least. Besides, it's not that I own him or what. NO! Argh! I'm confused!"

Although her mind was preoccupied, her senses were still sharp. Freyja sensed a sinister presence approaching. "Avice!" She jumped back and summoned the celestial guardian who immediately fled up in the air with Freyja on his back.

"Can we see the lurker from up here?" She searched until Avice grinned and pointed to a man clad in black jumpsuit and a black mask, hiding behind a tree. "Lenfie, your lurker is over there."

"I see. We have to greet him then. He's lucky I'm in a 'good' mood." Avice returned his master to the ground. At the exact moment her feet touched the ground, Avice disappeared into the medallion and at the same time, Freyja felt knives flying towards her. "ASTRID!" One call, and the celestial rune blade materialized in her hands, deflecting the flying knives. Freyja wasted no time. She immediately rushed towards that direction and attacked the lurker. A smirk escaped from her lips as she confidently charged onto him. In a few seconds, the lurker fell down unconscious.

Just as when Freyja was about to unmask him, the body immediately turned to smoke, blinding her for a few seconds. "Lenfiare, behind you!" Astrid's warning was late. All she was able to do was to swing Astrid randomly, hoping that she can somehow block attacks that way. Freyja winced, prepared to take one knife or two. However, nothing touched her.

The enemy presence was gone, except for another one. Before the smoke cleared, that one, mysterious person suddenly hugged her from behind. Freyja felt no sinister aura from this man, rather, an awfully familiar one. Just as when she was about to turn to look at him, to confirm her suspicions, he let go of her and ran, disappearing from her sight.

Freyja wanted to confirm her suspicion at all costs. She almost called Avice to chase after him, when she heard Kirin's voice. "Freyja! Where are you!?"

"Kirin! I'm here!" The first thing Kirin did was to hold her tight in his arms. "Don't wander off by yourself!" He scolded. Freyja sighed and apologized. "Yeah, sorry. But I'm okay now." She looked to where her mysterious savior disappeared to, and hesitantly returned to the resort with Kirin.

As soon as they returned to Freyja's room, Kirin explained everything about the suspicious woman he just encountered. He detailed his plan, the reason why he didn't push her away, and what happened after Freyja ran away. Freyja was relieved, but Kirin could tell her mind is preoccupied still. "Don't you believe me? Do you really think I'm that kind of person!?" Kirin held both of her cheeks and made her look straight at him. "No, that's not it, Kirin." Freyja gently pulled away from him. "Actually, I was attacked by some lurkers a while ago, when I ran to the forest."

"What? Are you hurt? You should have told me sooner!"

"Relax, I could handle them just fine. Well, almost."

Kirin raised an eyebrow, urging her to continue.

"I miscalculated the number of lurkers and got a bit careless. There were more of them than I thought. But there was someone who saved me. I wasn't able to see his face because of the thick smoke and he ran away. I tried to chase after him to thank him but—"

"Ran after him to thank him?" Kirin raised his voice, he inched his face to hers, narrowing his eyes. "That habit of yours is dangerous."

"But before he left, he suddenly embraced me." She continued, instinctively feeling her arms. "Just because he helped you, doesn't mean that you can let him get close! What if he's an a.s.sa.s.sin too? You're so carefree!"

"Do you really think I'm that dumb to not sense malicious intentions?" Freyja raised her voice.

"Then you're just going to let some stranger hug you?"

"I didn't say that!"

Kirin stood up and stomped his way out of Freyja's room. She sighed and locked the door, turned the lights off before turning in for the rest of the night.

It was just before sunrise, when Freyja and Kirin were awakened by a loud crash from next room. Freyja grabbed her sword and barged into Alaric's room, just a few seconds after Kirin did. They found the rune master all covered in sweat while shooting fireb.a.l.l.s towards black-masked a.s.sa.s.sins. The moment they saw Freyja and Kirin, the a.s.sa.s.sins fled sensing that the three of them together is too much for them. "Those were the same people who attacked me last night! Why are they after Alaric now?" Freyja exclaimed, running to the rune master.

"I don't know, they just barged in here all at once and attacked me. It means it's not only YOU that they're after… it's all of us." Alaric took a deep breath before gathering his things to his bag, "We have to leave this place, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Alaric's right." Kirin agreed. ���The lady who tried to kill me, those people that attacked you and Alaric. They couldn't possibly be random bandits, could they?"

Going with Alaric's suggestion, Kirin and Freyja gathered their things and hurriedly left the resort. But even before they left, the resort owner, along with the resort staffed blocked their way. "Hey, we already paid, just in case you haven't noticed." Freyja sarcastically said, drawing her sword out.

"Something is wrong with them…" Alaric pointed out, preparing a spell.

The hotel staff started hurling knives and sharp things at them. Thanks to Alaric's barrier, they were able to get through and leave the place without a problem. But just as they thought they were safe, random people in the harbor town started throwing knives, rocks, dropping flowerpots from above.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!?" Freyja exclaimed, she had enough. She stopped running and drew her sword, reinforced it with her white aura, and was about to retaliate when Alaric stopped her. "Freyja, calm down! They're civilians!"

"Go on, slice them into two." Kirin urged sarcastically, making her retract her aura and go back into the defensive.

All of a sudden, the town's bells started ringing loudly again, and every single one ran back into their houses, holding their precious goods, wares, in their arms.

"PIRATES! THEY'RE HERE AGAIN! PIRATES!"

"You again!?" Freyja sounded almost disappointed. "Why are you people ransacking the town anyway?"

"This may sound mean, but I think they deserve it." Alaric joined in while Kirin nodded. Just then, what appeared to them as the leader of the pirates came down from the s.h.i.+p holding a huge 'wanted' poster, that has Freyja, Kirin, and Alaric's pictures on it.

"In case you haven't figured it out, there's money on your head guys, that's why these greedy a.s.sholes want you dead." The pirate's poster did surprise them. "That's kindda brave to put the Runerich tower's next guildmaster's son on that poster you know. Though I am not surprised at Kirin being there." Alaric commented, confirming that it is indeed the three of them on the poster. "So, I a.s.sume you're after the same thing?" Kirin smirked, summoning a dark aura blade in his hand. "No, that's not—"

Freyja, Kirin and Alaric were about to attack the pirates when suddenly, a hooded man came down from the s.h.i.+p. "Leader!" the pirates exclaimed, making way for their boss.

"So, he's the big boss. I thought it was the old dude." Freyja thought, trying to catch a glimpse of the man's covered face. However, the longer her eyes lingered at him, the more he began to look familiar. Before she knew it, Freyja was walking slowly towards him, and he too, did the same. Kirin and Alaric were about to attack the hooded man, but Freyja stretched her arm out, stopping the two at once. "Why?"

Freyja's hands were trembling, she could feel tears form at the corner of her eyes as she slowly removed the man's hood. Even before seeing his face, she could already tell who it was. As she slowly uncovered his face, her heart raced, desperately praying for her hunch to be right.

And she was.

Kirin and Alaric were both taken aback, not a single word can come out of their mouths. Before Freyja stood a pale young man around 5'7 tall. His messy black hair is tied in a short pony tail, his bangs almost covering his onyx eyes. Freyja held his cheeks, still with trembling hands, and then traced his frame down to his broad shoulders.

"Freyja, I-it's you." The raven-haired man stuttered cupping her face with his equally trembling hands. "You were alive." Tears rolled down his cheeks, much to his pirate comrades' surprise.

"KEON!" Freyja shouted, jumping into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around him. "You are alive! You are alive!" Freyja felt a heavy burden slowly dissipate from her chest. The guilt and worry that haunted her for so long has finally vanished from the depths of her heart.

~ o 0 o ~