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November 8, 1800
Asra Devorinak

Asra Devorinak wanted nothing more than to sleep for another day, but the sun had different plans in mind. And so did Zeus.

That alone made her curse out Zeus's name. Loud enough for the mothers to keep their children away from her as they walked past her, muttering how a woman shouldn't even know those words.

Funny how Asra only increased her volume after that.

Asra was already three days late. She was supposed to be at Belises Port on November fifth, and here she was buying mangoes from a stall at least a few more hours away from her final destination on November eighth, throwing a black hood and cloak over her frame to protect herself from the sun Southern Tereline had to offer.

Asra groaned as she threw her head to the sky, hoping her voice would reach the clouds she'd been standing on a few days ago.

It was hard to believe that it wasn't a dream or an illusion, that she had been burdened by god-given responsibility. There had been no signs, no warnings. Duty was dumped onto her because some horse with wings thought she was worthy.

Or it could be because of her parents, her lineage, the impure blood in her veins that ran as black as darkness. You couldn't tell what it was until you felt it between your fingers.

Tar.

But the opportunity to meet Aranaz for a second time brought a smile to her face even as she thought of the many reasons she wanted nothing to do with Zeus or the title he'd bestowed upon her. As if it were a crown when it was nothing but a nuisance.

She had concluded that the title was a fancy way of saying she was Zeus' stand-in, an ambassador of sorts. That she was to extend his reach onto this plane of reality.

Her whole life, whenever she read a novel or something of the sort, the characters had so many motivations, reasons for saving the world and whatnot. Was it that disgraceful to just exist without any ambitions? Was that such a crime? Was it so horrible that all Asra wanted to do was exist, go on a few adventures for the sake of it, and do whatever she pleased? What did it matter if she didn't have any dreams? This world had snatched that right out of her hands and so did the one she came from, but the second that stopped bothering her, everyone who kept her from her passions took that as an offence. A personal offence.

What did they want?

As an assassin, Asra lived many lives. She'd seen the world from so many angles and the only one it looked good from belonged to the very people she hated. Everyone with a semblance of power and no sense of duty or humanity, the people leading the country who had never once seen a day of struggle, never seen the problems they were supposed to fix; therefore, they never acknowledged the presence of those issues. They never wanted to fix the world, to watch it grow. They wanted to suck it dry and keep the juice for themselves.

Thank the skies they were the very people she killed for a living.

With another yawn, Asra threw her mango pit at a nearby bush and made it a point to be tired the rest of her journey to Belises Port. To drag her body along the way, hoping Zeus would watch and take pity on her poor soul and transfer the responsibility of being the Sovereign to someone else. Asra knew it wouldn't work, but she could always hope.

Then again, there was something oddly exciting about leaving behind the life she'd come accustomed to. Sneaking out at night to kill a wealthy man, scamming people with fake fortunes. That was certainly an abnormal life, but being amongst pirates was going to be a different story. Battles on the seven seas, cursing to your heart's content, drinking mugs of beer. That would be a different kind of excitement.

So Asra used that to propel her steps. Asra had no intention of being an apathetic pirate. Sadly, she was unaware of Sehyun Han's rather "laid-back" approach to life as a pirate captain, so the high seas adventure she was looking for wouldn't be as invigorating as the ones in her dreams.

Would there ever be a time when she would return to her life, miraculously alive after attaining such a terrible disease? Would the king doubt her? Would Sicarius be welcomed with open arms?

Whatever, she thought, throwing the questions out of her mind. The future was a matter to be dealt with later.

She should focus on what she would say once she met Han of the Black Egret.

Would she apologize for being late? No. That didn't fit her reputation, her character. Should she immediately start talking business or develop a relationship with everyone of importance on board? Probably not considering her communication skills were on par with a goat. She could never get her point across in English.

In her native language, a simple change in tone or the way a verb was conjugated would convey more than enough, but in English, you needed the perfect wording, the perfect synonym. Whoever thought learning English was easy—especially getting rid of the accent—should rethink their view on the world. They must certainly be too narrow-minded to think that way.

So absorbed in her thoughts and the exquisite taste of her second mango, Asra didn't realize that she made the journey of a couple of hours in just two. Before, she was taking into account her intention to piss off Zeus by being late, but that certainly didn't matter now that she could see the silhouette of ships and boats in line.

Belises Port was just a few steps away.

Butterflies swirled in her stomach the way it did the first day she spent as Sicarius, the first day she could smell human blood without having to search for its metallic aroma.

Asra scanned the horizon, searching for the Black Egret. The ship was huge enough to catch anyone's eye, but no one knew what it looked like. However, it would be clear. As the name suggests, the ship would be black and there would be a bird at its head.

Rumours say that every time the ship breaks, it repairs itself into a different shape. Even the Navy of various countries seemed to believe it, but Asra was near-certain that it was a tactic to avoid an attack. By adding unnecessary confusion, the chances of being ambushed or suspected lowered. Or perhaps it was true.

If she truly wanted to, Asra could analyze the theory for hours without reaching a consensus.

But once Asra's eye caught on a glorious sail of ebony and wood smooth as metal, on the egret carved into the ship's front, everything else vanished.

The Black Egret spent too much time on these docks to not have been noticed, but even Britain had to agree that it was much better at eradicating pirates than their naval forces. Perhaps that's why they left the beauty alone. To shield itself from the beast the Black Egret was yet to bestow upon them, the same way they had bestowed it upon their many victims who just so happen to be their enemy as well.

Jogging along the coastline, Asra's eyes caught on anything that resembled Aranaz's hair colour as she searched for the quartermaster, a soothing near mahogany colour, just barely brown. It was a peculiar hue, one that didn't feel natural on anyone's head. Perhaps she coloured it to conceal a tone she did not like, or she was simply born with a brand. Something unique to her, to cater to her personality.

Where Asra was born, such a colour usually pointed out immunity to poison or pain, though finding it as a hair colour was out of place. It tended to appear on family crests or sigils.

"Miss Devorinak?" said a voice smooth yet rough, deep yet light. A sound so rich not a single word could describe it without tipping too much out of balance. "Is that you?"

Asra snapped her neck to face Suzy Aranaz. "Miss Aranaz," she acknowledged. "I see you've found me first."

Suzy offered a dry chuckle, tucking her hair behind her ear. A motion too delicate to match the stories she'd heard of the infamous Aranaz. "I had been waiting here for a couple of days, so you were harder to find than I thought. My eyes must have grown weary as the captain grew tired of waiting. I nearly forgot you were coming."

Suzy searched Asra's eyes for a hint. Mistaking the sparkle in her eyes as a curiosity for the captain rather than awe for getting to meet Aranaz once more, Suzy said, "The captain returned to ship just a while ago. He's not the most patient person. I know." Despite making everyone around him wait for his arrival and services.

Immediately embarrassed for intentionally arriving late for her own comfort and Zeus' anger, Asra scratched the back of her neck. "I'm sorry for coming so late. It took a while to tie up all the loose ends. My..." Asra searched for a word to replace "king". She concluded that revealing she was an assassin was a stone better left unturned. She wouldn't want the captain or Aranaz to create a distance from her or ban her entirely—even though that seemed unlikely. "My boss had a hard time letting me go and coming up with a lie took a while as well."

That was, of course, a lie. The king had no problem letting her go if she had a "contagious disease".

Suzy smiled much warmer than her laugh, an expression she had a lot more practice in. "That's quite alright. You get used to such tardiness when you're constantly late yourself."

Asra raised a brow. Aranaz didn't seem like the person to get late. Could it be the captain was? She shook her head. There was no way the captain of the Black Egret could be on the laid-back side.

He could only be the stealthiest and silently angry person on Earth. The epitome of everyone's fear. The strongest force on the sea, a monster, a beast. Merciless.

That, of course, was far from the truth. Sehyun Han was about as relaxed as someone could be.

"Come," Suzy said, turning around, beckoning Asra to follow. "The boat is around here."

Settling into the damp wooden boat and ignoring the spider web under Aranaz's seat, Asra took in a deep breath as Suzy began to row, the muscles in her arm flexing for the world to see. The sleeveless turtleneck was a fashion choice meant to murder Asra. There could be no other explanation for wearing such perfection in November.

The entire way to the Black Egret, Suzy did not betray a single word and Asra kept tucking hair behind her ear, scratching her neck, trying to keep her eyes off Suzy's arms. Her stomach at itself in excitement, the type of rush that came when she realized she enjoyed her job as Sicarius.

The bloodthirst, the addiction to thrill was a part of her heritage she kept shut out. Anything to deny her father for not protecting her, but in this world, he didn't even know her name or where she was. She had no use denying someone so worthless, but if the day ever came that she met him, Nevarias Rejkn' Fjisw would cease to exist. She would not even give him the satisfaction of addressing him as her father. To her, he was another existence that the world was better off with.

But he was the only one to thank when it came to her evil tendencies.

Asra let the lull of the sea relax her muscles, to sway her out of her rampaging thoughts, but she came to reality only when Aranaz tapped her shoulder.

"We've arrived."

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WORD COUNT: 1900