The Sapphire Sword

Dear diary,
These days are very weird. We almost lost the crew, laimon is isabel not laimon anymore, our boat is empty and full of water, Xantinya has talked to the whole world, nixie is cursed ,vadrek broke his back and xebec lost an arm, and we met people from other dimensions AND an organization of very loyal people with fast "pew pew weapons” who are as bad as negotiating as Poolleius, Nixie and me. And it wasn’t even a week since I wrote last time. I do not even know if I should laugh at what is happening or cry, but one thing is for sure, autumn has come, and we still haven’t finished our journey. There are many things to say, so I will take it easy because I don’t know if I ever wrote that much.
The night after Maltor’s death was very busy for us. Nixie and me went to visit Laimon for a bit. She was feeling probably very upset, scared and discouraged, like all of us. It was a long conversation, about what is happening, about demons and about our goal. The whole feeling was very heavy and the more we talked, the more I felt that we push Isbel away. At some point, three onions fell in front of us. The middle one had a weird X sign on it, but that didn’t mean much for me, except well that someone was listening us of course, and it couldn’t have been the crew. Isbel (I’m still getting used to call her like this) got very scared and we had to calm her down a bit. The end of the discussion didn’t seem that solved something, but given the situation, there was nothing more we could have said to help her.
We all went to sleep, but sometime in the middle of the night, Nixie woke up and told us about some dreams she had with a sparrow and her brother, but at that time nobody could focus. So after a very short conversation, we all fell back asleep.
The next morning, as the days before, started absolutely great. Nixie told us all about her dreams and that there was some fight about a demon and someone else (we later figured out it was an angel), and she had more choices to do, and that in the end she woke up. She mentioned something about a green blood, wings, shovels, and so many things that it would take me the whole day just to write about her dream. Of course, it couldn’t have been just a dream but I was confused about what that exactly meant or how that would affect us. So I suggested that we have some time to think about it during breakfast.
When we got to the deck, all the crew was looking at us with a lot of death stares. I didn’t know what happened, but I could guess what it was related to. I have never seen them so upset and neither did Xebec, so i figured it was finally time for a long and hard discussion. Of course, Dillen came to ask Nixie to have a meeting after breakfast, so we asked him what was all of this about. He mentioned that, the whole crew had the same dream and that we should discuss everything in front of the crew later. There goes “not telling the crew about the journey”, seems now we had no choice. And like that, my appetite was all gone. I hate breakfasts and mornings.
Not very long after, all of us gathered on the deck. It was time for us to deal with this situation once and for all. It was our fault for not telling them in the first place, so now, we had to try to fix the problem. The crew was in front of us with Dillen and their speaking person. (not going to call him “sneaky snake” anymore). They were saying that we should renegotiate the contract and offered us a deal: They come with us to the first harbor, and they leave us there, and we gave the lands we promised them. While we were talking, I looked around for a bit. This whole image hurt worse than I expected. All of the crew, which until that day, I thought will be our friends no matter where we go, was now looking us with disappointment and anger. And what it hurt even more, it was that I couldn’t blame them, we should have told them sooner, we should have really treated them like our friends, not just some sailors. I did tell Xebec, so why did I not have the courage to tell them as well? Vadrek and Brunek were not making jokes with us anymore, Drenizek was so upset he could not even look us in the eyes, even Dillen’s words (who I didn’t think cared that much) were sharper than usual. I always thought of the consequences this would have for us, but not even for one minute I thought of the consequences for them, how much it would hurt them.
After we heard the proposal, we asked for some time to think all of it through. I think everyone was shocked by what just happened. I was still seeing the whole image with the crew, so I couldn’t focus much on the discussion. I just didn’t want to do this anymore, Nixie was right, we couldn’t even take care of these people, how could we help to save the world. For a few moments, I just wanted to leave and not do anything but then Eve said something that “that’s how we can show them we respect them”. Respect…Respect…When I heard that, a flashback with all the happy crew came into my mind. We always asked for them to respect us, but we never did anything to earn their respect, and yet they still respected us. I didn’t feel so lost anymore, I felt a small flame growing stronger inside. It was too late to take back what happened, but maybe it wasn’t too late to fix the mistake. We had to try, to earn their respect, because we do not talk about just some sailors, we talk about our friends. If I really respected them as I said, we had to at least try to fix this, even if they chose to leave after all, we couldn’t let them leave with that disappointment in their hearts. Giving them a deal that is not even sure, wasn’t respecting them, it was giving up. Forcing them to stay, was also not respecting them, it was us being selfish. What we could do however, is be honest with them, remind them why they came with us, and give them the choice. I am not going to lie, I really really hoped they will stay, but Bart was right, if they wanted to leave, we should accept the consequences of our choice.
Each one of the party was saying their opinions, and what we should and shouldn’t do. Of course, there were many opinions and suggestions but even after a few hours, we still didn’t reach a conclusion. It was a total chaos in the room. At some point Heron and Eve started to fight and I felt how all the things were not going to end well if we kept like that. I sided with Eve on this one, but I couldn’t let that make us fight. Heron was saying that, yes, we were wrong, but the crew are babies and that they shouldn’t have this attitude. I was a bit shocked by Nixie who agreed, after the night before when she told Laimon, I thought she changed her mind, but it seems she still wasn’t happy with the fact that the crew acted the way they did. I sometimes don’t understand what she is thinking. She told Laimon because she was “forced” by the circumstances, then the first reaction in the morning was “Laimon told them” and she kept saying that “now we need to tell the truth to everyone, because they will find out”. After all we have been through, all the fighting, deaths, happy moments and parties, how can you not trust the people who were there all along. The same people that made you their captain and who, despite knowing they will not get anything, they decided to come with us. If you can’t trust them, then who do you trust? Well, even though I do not understand, I trust her. So no matter what she was thinking, I am sure she intended good for all of us. No matter of what we all thought, it was time to put these opinions aside and make a choice, as a team.
Eve, who strongly opposed with Nixie and Heron, took the crew side and said it was only our fault and that they have the right to be like this, and Pullius had the same opinion. I understood the crew, I would have probably felt the same. Let alone the feeling of betrayal, finding out about all the information in such a brutal way, must have been very shocking. It’s not like we hid the alcohol from them, we hid a much much bigger secret. We couldn’t have expected them to just get over it and fight this. Eve was indeed right with most of the things she said. We did act with superiority, we did wronged them. But there was one small thing I didn’t agree with. She said that we will never be able to take a decision with such a big difference in our perspectives. Yes, it is true, it complicated the situation a bit, but this difference is what is making us stronger. In the end, what is important is that we accept each other perspectives, act like adults, and find the most reasonable solution.
After the talk, we went outside and Nixie had a wonderful speech in which she told them all the truth, and reminded them why they came with us and apologized for what we did. I was impressed by it and I really hoped that the crew also understood what we said there. But of course, Dillen couldn’t give us break. “is there anything you haven’t told us?” he asked in front of everyone. It wasn’t hard to understand what he meant, but I did not know how to answer. Good job Dillen, you got exactly what you wanted, catch us in a trap. If we said anything, Isbel would get upset, but if we didn’t, we would keep lying to the crew. No matter what “Maybe the fact the Laimon is a girl?” continued Dillen. I know he was upset, but I couldn’t help but feel a bit saddened. Did he really want to get rid of us that badly? Yes, he was angry, but I thought, that maybe, despite our fights, we were friends. But this was just me being selfish, i wasn’t in the position to feel disappointed or sad, we had to solve this, and it was our fault. Maybe in his weird way Dillen was trying to push us or maybe not, at this point it didn’t even matter anymore. We needed to tell the crew, I wanted to do that, if Isbel wanted to hate me for it, then so be it. But I have learned from all of this, that hiding the truth, or saying it halfway, can have very serious consequences and can hurt people, and I didn’t want to hurt the crew again, or anyone there for that matter. Plus, it would be the greatest act of disrespect for the crew, lying to them again. So I answered Dillen with “Yes, and her name is Isbel Lofkia”. And from here, the chaos began.
Lafk’u and the fastodans, hearing that, started saying that they will not fight alongside a Lofkia, Dillen pulled his sword and wanted to protect Isbel, while she kept asking why I have said that. And here we were, once again, some against the others. But we couldn’t let this happen, not this time and I promised Isbel I would protect her. Since she might have not talked to me after what happened, I decided it was the time to tell her something I wanted to tell her a long time ago. I understood how she felt, i have felt that a long time ago, when Forsun and Flavia died. I couldn’t let her do what I did, killing other people for revenge. She is a smart and good person, and I just didn’t want to see her suffer more. Fighting for revenge would have not gotten her peace, it would have gotten her more pain. She was the one telling me she wanted to be free, but revenge would have only chain her even more. I tried to explain her a bit more about this, and, by her expression, she seems to have understood what I said. It was her choice what she will do, but somehow, I knew that she will not kill Pullius, I trusted she won’t. Nixie, came to help me, as usual, and handed Isbel the sword and saying: “It’s your choice, Isbel, if you want to, you can kill Pullius right here, right now”. I was so happy to see her do that. I was indeed wrong, maybe she had more trust in Isbel than I thought. Hearing all of this, Pullius fell to his knees, just like Nixie predicted, and apologized to Isbel. Of course he regrets it. No matter what they say, Pullius is one of us, and will always be and he is our friend. It was all up to Isbel now.
But before she had a word to say, the fastodans interrupted the whole thing, saying that they still won’t accept Isbel among us. This was a difficult situation but Drenizek came to our rescue. He really is true friend, even in these times, when we disappoinded him, he still decided to help us. But another shock came to us when we heard his suggestion: a duel to death between him and Talion. If he were to win, the fastodans would have had their revenge, if the other way round, the fastodans will accept the situation. He gave us the choice, if we agreed to the duel, we kept what we were doing, if not, we would all throw the swords. In an instant, I threw away my sword, and looked at the party to do the same. Nobody would ever agree to such thing, Drenizek, once again, sacrificing his life to solve our problems, and two men from this ship fighting each other.
Laimon, looked once again at Pullius, who was still in his knees, and she threw away the sword. It seems that she is indeed, a true fighter. She found her strength to forgive Pullius, and made him promise that Talion will help her become what her father wanted her to be. I didn’t meet her father, but I am sure that, he would have been very proud of her. She has a long fight ahead, but, in this moment, she made the choice of how she will fight it. It was a weird feeling I felt when she did that, somehow, i was happy she wouldn’t need to carry the weight of revenge with her, and I was so proud of her. It made me smile a little bit thinking that maybe I really helped her a little bit, maybe my words, had, just a little bit of an influence over this decision. It wasn’t the time, I know, but for a second there, I also thought: “Would my father be proud of what I did?”. I didn’t have time to process that too much though. We were still in the middle of a discussion, and the fastodans still didn’t throw his weapons.
I had to try to convince them that their revenge, has nothing to do with Isbel. After all, in all this time, Isbel was as much as their comrade-in-arms as we all were, and that despite knowing all that happened, she decided to fight alongside them until now. I could see that the fastodans, especially Lafk’u was a bit conflicted. After a bit of time for thinking, he replied that he doesn’t know what to do, but that “Our gods told us to fight all other gods”. I didn’t see it that way, this was not a god’s fight, it was a choice we, as humans had to make. I tried to explain this to Lafk’u knowing that, despite being a fastodan and following his gods, he is also a kind man, who, at least in my opinion, knows when it is time to fight or throw away the sword. I tried to make them understand by using what Lafk’u taught me, maybe it would make more sense. I respect the fastodans, Lafk’u and their gods, so I did not want do go against what they choose to do, but I promised to protect Laimon, so I had to try. After a bit of convincing, they also, threw away the swords, and finally, we had a bit of peace.
I had time to think later about everything they said, about gods and choosing what we fight for. I learned a lot from the fastodans, and I want to learn more. Their actions in fights, their style and courage, I want to learn all about it but as I said before, there is something I do not agree with. I cannot choose to fight for their gods, like they do. I do not feel it is right. Yes, i do think it is important to have faith and try to fight in such a way to prove your faith. But I see a big difference between having faith and blindly following their orders. I do not want to fight for them, and as I see it, The Almighty never asked us to. He showed us what is right and gave us the choice to fight for whatever we want. So I have made up my mind, I will learn everything I can from the fastodans, and by having faith in what The Almighty taught us, I will use all these learnings to fight for the people, protecting the life as we already do for both the bad and the good. Because I believe, that, if there is a demon in each one of us, there is also an angel to help us. And while it is a choice the person has to make for themselves, I can try and show them that there is a good side. Yes, it will not always be something I will be able to do, for it doesn’t depend only me, but I have to try. Like we tried with Isbel, like we tried with the crew.
The next moment when Lafk’u threw his sword, everyone calmed down. It was time for us to finish this talk. Nixie lifted Lafk’u sword and gave it to him, and I wanted all of us to join swords. But before that, Drenizek suggested, that all of them should say what bothered them. Everyone, had their own reasons, and we listened to all of them very carefully. If we wanted the crew to trust us again, we had to fix these mistakes. After that, we apologized once again. It was time for all of them to decide if they stayed with us or not. All of them agreed to stay and follow us, the fastodans took a bit longer saying that “they cannot swear loyalty to anyone and that if their gods lead them somewhere else, they will leave” but in the end, they agreed to stay. Do not get me wrong, dear diary, we are just at the beginning of solving this problem, but it was very important to us.
To end this in the proper way, Orman suggested we have a party. And since it was Eve’s birthday as well, we couldn’t refuse. But before that, there was a bit of organizing to do. First of all, Dillen was now part of all the decisions we made, and we would present everything to the crew, no matter how hard the truth is. Then, one last matter needed to be discussed. The name of the boat, it didn’t represent us. I hope Damaschini won’t mind that we changed it. From that day on, the boat was now named: The Sapphire Sword. I believe this name has a lot of meaning for all of us and represents a new beginning as well.
That night, a huge party took place. Eve seemed to still be upset and was not having fun. We finally wished her happy birthday, but I don’t think it helped much. I thought that giving her Sea’s mask will help her become better. She was always very sure on what she believes in, and herself. She didn’t act like herself earlier and probably she was mad at herself. I hope we can make her understand, that all of us have these moments, of disbelief. We are not perfect, but we need to get over this, to stand up and fight again. I want to help Eve do the same, but I feel it is not only my support she needs, but Bart’s.
There was one more person I wanted to talk to, before I got to drinking. My dear Xebec, was very quiet the whole day, he didn’t stay with the crew, or with us. In all this mess, he must have felt a bit alone, and hurt. Probably he thought that he doesn’t belong anywhere. But he does. He belongs by my side, in the party. I wanted to let him know that, because like today, maybe I am not there to support him. So I wanted him to know how much he means to me. I may be strong, but I do need him. Well, I am not good at explaining what I feel so I don’t know if he understood, but I think he did. He is always paying attention, so he must have understood. I would have talked a bit more with him, if I didn’t hear Nixie, near a barrel, listening to us.
Well, since she was there, it was the perfect timing to take her and talk with Drenizek. I wanted to apologise to him, and I am pretty sure that Nixie had a few things to say as well. Compared to her, I didn’t want to interrupt much, so I quickly told Drenizek what I wanted and then left. I spotted Nixie giving him a painting some time after. I don’t know what they talked about but Dreniek started playing music again. He seemed to feel a bit better, which to be honest made me feel a bit better. And he even came to tell me that he appreciated I tried to help him. I hope he knows how much we appreciate and love him as a friend. AND HE STARTED PLAYING MUSIC AGAIN.
Everyone was in a good mood. It seemed a bit like the old times, when Gerki, Vazi’e and Maltor were here, when there weren’t so many problems in our way. I felt a bit nostalgic, but happy at the same time. We got a second chance to protect this, and this time, we will try our best not to waste it. And dear diary, believe it or not, I even became official friends with Dillen. Well, he surely had some benefits from what he did, but I do not believe that he means bad for us. And as much as I do not like to admit, I would be a bit sad if he died. Plus, we sometimes have the same opinions, which i find it very weird, but I guess I will have to deal with it.
The party lasted all night and I remember some parts of it. I remember that we danced and drank a lot, we did some hand fighting and Xebec and me were equal. Somewhere in my memory is also Nixie and Eve who kissed in front of everyone, Heron who stayed with Xixi in the Jacuzzi. Vadrek who got his face smashed by Xebec because he wanted to touch me, and Heron being naked. And for some reasons, my whole hair smelled like alcohol in the morning, but I couldn’t figure out why. I think we all got more drunk than we needed. When I woke up the whole boat was a mess, but since I had a lot of energy, I decided to clean it all up. It took a few hours, but the others were sleeping anyways.
Well, the good mood didn’t last long, because the next day, a huge storm came again. And guess what, there were 40 dragon raiders boat coming closer to us, from two directions. The following days were a nightmare again. We were trying to hide for the dragon raiders ships, survive the storm, keep the boat floating and follow the elves who were leading the way. Vadrek and Brunek were trying to fix the hole in the boat that this time, was huge. At some point, we saw Brunek coming to us, full of blood, saying that a rock hit him and the boat while they were downstairs. Now, half of the ship was full of water. We tried to repair some other parts of the ship, like a part of the stick that catches the wind, but somehow Vardek feel, and broke his back and fell unconscious. In the meantime, Xixi who, was trying to fix the huge hole that was underwater, almost ran out of air. Nixie managed to hide us from the dragon raiders boats, but we were so slow, that we couldn’t see the elves ships anymore. We had to fix that hole and take the water out as fast as possible.
And in the end, after a few good hours we did. The plan was very easy, Nixie would make bubbles with air in the water which Heron, Lafk’u, the fastodans, and me would breath from while fixing the boat. Then, we spent the whole night, trying to get the water out. During the storm, we threw over deck everything we didn’t need. Still, our boat could barely move. We spent another few day on sea, praying that we would reach land soon.
We decided to stop to the closest port, because we needed a lot of fixing. We got to the land and decided to gather with the elves, to talk about the next days. Slowly, we entered a bay.The waters were very weird. It seemed like they were boling.Then, on the sky, we saw red lightings going in all the directions. The whole thing made me feel a bit worried, so did Xantinya’s voice who we heard from the sky. Probably everyone heard it. It sounded like a thread to all of us, like it was meant to scare everyone. Everyone was terrified, and I must admit, it was a bit scary. But we had to stand in front of this, we had to fight it. It was the first day of autumn, and we might be late, but we still have to try. Dear diary, you may think I am fool, but I do believe in us, I believe that, somehow we can stop all of this. Convincing the crew to stay with us was just a small step, compared to what will come it may prove to not be so big, but it made the flame inside light brighter than usual. We might die fighting, or we might miserably fail, but I will fight until the very end, I will not give up. For the crew, for my new family, and for everyone that believes that life still has a chance. So yes, Xantinya may threaten us, but we will not back down, she may be a demon, but we have more than she can understand. We have love, faith and hope. So yes, it is worrisome Xantinya did all of that, and we are only small people. We will need to hurry, because everyday Xantinya is growing stronger, but we will not despair at her threats, nor bow our heads to her. We will fight, with the tiny bit we have, we will fight.
When we met with the elves, they seemed very very worried. And the situation didn’t get better. On the Stick that catches wind, we saw a huge ugly bird that seemed. It was big and ugly and had red eyes. The elves became more plaer than usual when they saw it. They kept saying that our boat is cursed and that Nixie was cursed and kept asking what did she do. I would normally think this was a trick from the demons, but knowing the dream she had and the white feather and green blood, I assumed the elves were right, she is possessed. I couldn’t panic, it wasn’t the time. Moments after, Nixie came closer to me and whispered that she sees Marcel and a lot of purple eyed cursed things that were heading north-east. I didn’t see any of this, but somehow, the air was a bit heavier, and the sky a bit darker. One of the elves hit the big bird on the stick and it fell down, transforming back to a normal bird. The elves were now obviously disturbed and asked Nixie to talk separately. She still needs to tell us about what happened, but for now, we are a bit caught up with negotiations. If it is true, and we are cursed, we will need to work on it, and fast, because the more we wait, I think the more powers demon we have. Dear diary, I know I may seem like I have a lot of confidence, but I am worried and sometimes afraid. I am worried about all of this, and I always rethink my decisions, every step we make can destroy us or have huge consequences. But I can have both, I can hope and worry at the same time. I can hope for our victory, but I can also prepare for the worst. I do not dream of a perfect ending, but I do hope for one. Because, without this hope, I would not have the courage to fight. I am just a normal person, so I am scared, of course I am, but I can’t leave this take over my emotions.
Since everyone was tired, we decided to take a break for the day. We went to a trade post and asked for help. They said they could fix the boat and help us, but first we needed to talk with their boss, who lived in a small castle there. They called him: The red knight. Nixie and me didn’t have a good feeling about this, but we had not choice, we needed to leave as fast as possible. Dillen and Xebec made of us for being scared of something like that, but well, you can’t never predict what happens. So we went it, and had a very good dinner. Then, the so called Red Knight came in. The red knight, was a girl, and she was wearing a full armour made of steel, and had the face covered with a mask. Her sword was made of something white, but it wasn’t elvish iron, it was something different. She didn't seem to fit at all to these places. The conversation was fun but of course, something had to happen. The red Knight asked us to write our names in a log before leaving. And so we did, well, Pullius, being a bit scared, decided to write his name differently. He wrote POOLIEUSS. Of course, everyone was extremely amused and we started making jokes and laugh about it. At some point Xebec called him “Talion”. Suddenly the red knight said: “Talion Almas, what a coincidence”. Is there any place in this world where Poolieuss doesn’t have enemies? The very next second, all the people around us, pulled some “guns” out and surrounded us. To explain you a bit, these "guns" are like some kind of steel bows that shoot arrows in you very fast. Well normally, we would have probably reacted immediately, but we were so amused at POOLIEUSS that we couldn’t stop making jokes and laugh. The poor people must have thought we are crazy. They were threatening us, and we were making fun of our friend. I couldn't even take the thing seriously, i was so curious and distracted that i even asked miss Red Kinght, if it's possible for me to use a gun.
After a bit of talking, the Red Knight told us that her and her people were from an organization from another dimension, that was searching for POOLIEUSS. They were in some kind of secret organisation. When things finally got serious, They gave us the choice to leave Pullius and go on with our lives or not do that. Of course, we would not let him behind so we had no choice but fight. It was one of the most difficult fights we had so far. Although we only fought with the Red Knight, she had a very unique way to fight. And her sword was very strong. My poor Xebec lost his fighing arm, i am sure his must be feeling destroyed about it. The rest of us, barely survived. Most of us were hit by electric powers, or by the sword, or both. We managed to make the Red Knight go unconscious thanks to some of Poolieuss powers, but we are still surrounded by the "gun" people. To be fair, i do not like the name of "guns", i will call them "pew pew weapons". The other people here seem to be very loyal to what they do but since both parts can kill the other, we decided to negotiate with them. At first we were peaceful, but then we decided to go to a more aggressive strategy: if they want Pullius alive, we threaten to kill him. Nixie and me are very good at wasting time and pretending to be crazy, I mean, for people who never saw a grirl of fire, works very well. To be honest, i didn't want to make a deal with them, i wanted to talk with Miss Red Knight, we would have more chances like that. It took long enough for Miss Red Knight to wake up again. Now, Nixie and me need to negotiate with her. If we ever make it out alive of here, you will know.
 
May the Almighty protect us all and help us help the others in time.