BloodStar

It was deep into the night with only a sliver of a moon overhead providing little light over the deck of the Neptune as the entire crew awaited their captain.

“He’s late.”

“He’s been in there with that woman, Xenia. Wouldn’t you be late too?”

Several of the crew members chuckled until one chimed in, “Tiber plans to have his cake and eat it too. He’s having his cake at present but mark my words he has not forgotten about our true purpose here.”

Within the captain’s suite, Tiber awoke regaining consciousness after being smothered into submission by Xenia hours earlier. He groggily shook his head recalling the events that led up to his current predicament.

He then turned to look at a sleeping Xenia as he thought, “Who is she? She is a problem.”

Tiber would have normally lied to himself claiming the two of them to be equal in strength and power; however, the gap between them was so large that it pained him to know he couldn’t simply hide from the truth behind a veil of denial. Xenia was much much stronger than he.

As he dressed, he eyed Xenia like a hawk while in thought, “I can’t have a monster like that looming over me on my ship. A monster like that would eventually kill me and take what she wants. She must go. But how? Ask her nicely? Hope she moves on by her own accord?”

He growled lowly to himself and said, “A problem for another time. I am late.”

He moved with haste to exit his suite. He burst through the door to the deck to find his entire crew waiting patiently for him.

Many of the crew members had wry smiles on their faces expecting a lighthearted captain after his late-night soiree with a beauty who could only be described as a goddess.

However, Tiber was anything but in a good mood, “Has anyone come in or out of my suite this evening?” Having been completely out of it, he had no record of the happenings, particularly pertaining to Xenia, while he was out.

The crew assumed looks of confusion, and Tiber followed up, “I am ashamed to say I fell asleep unintentionally. Did Xenia come or go from my quarters?”

“No, sir. No one at all has been in or out the entire evening.”

Tiber nodded, “Very well. Thank you. Let’s move.”

As the crew prepared two small boats to go ashore, one asked, “Will Xenia be joining us? You said she is a powerful ki user, yes?”

Tiber responded instantly, “Crew only.”

“Yes, sir!”

Under the veil of a dimly lit night, the entire crew of the Neptune made it ashore and scaled the cliffside to enter the cave. The crew of 50 silently careened through the cave tunnels coming to a long tunnel.

Tiber looked back and nodded his head as they all applied gas masks. However, as they progressed, they found no aerosolized toxins of any kind released. They gingerly moved forward anticipating toxic gas at any moment; however, they reached the underwater passage way without alarm.

Tiber looked back at his crew, “The information we have been given is either false, or they know we are coming. Stay alert.”

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The men then braved the underwater passage with the aid of small oxygen tanks and flash lights until they reached the exit into the larger cavern. Tiber rose from the water into the large cavern to find a horrific scene.

He and other crew members looked around in shock with each passing second of their gazes presenting new disgusting details.

Tiber approached the sharpened log with several men skewered clean through upon it. He then turned and winced as he approached and examined a completely skinned man lying separately from the others.

“The information wasn’t bad. They didn’t know we were coming. Someone beat us here. Someone terrifying. A monster.” Tiber then moved his gaze to the narrow tunnel leading to the mana stone.

“Everyone stay here!” Tiber shouted as he marched towards the narrow tunnel. He quickly made his way through the tunnel, and upon entering the smaller cavern, he laid eyes on the mana stone with a sigh of relief.

“Thank God. Whoever beat us here may have been terrifying, but they failed to break the barrier. We still have a shot at it!”

Tiber marched back down the narrow tunnel and began to bark orders to his men before re-entering the larger cavern, “Men! Prepare the...”

As he rounded the corner, he saw a new faction rising from the underwater tunnel and shouted, “Behind me men!”

A husky giant of a man just over 7 feet tall and weighing over 400lbs stepped up the ramp from the water and into the cavern followed by a small group of ten men. The massive man leading the group wore a chest plate of armor with black pants and wielded a large wooden club with numerous dents along the surface from the devastating impact upon its prior victims.

Before the water finished rushing off of his body, he yelled, “TIBER!!!”

Tiber merely nodded in response, “Warlord Ganon.”

Ganon looked around at the horrific scene greeting him as he entered, “So you have gutted my men, impaled them, and skinned them? Has the honorable Tiber really stooped so low?”

Ganon then held out his club pointing it directly at Tiber, “Do you wish to try such atrocities on me?”

Tiber held an anxious stance, “This is not our doing. Someone has come and gone before us.”

“Hmph.” Ganon walked over to the man whose body lay skinned and ran his finger along the dead body collecting fresh blood as he did, “You’ll need a better excuse than that piss poor generic one. This blood is still fresh. Have they come and gone right under your nose while you struggled with the barrier around the mana stone?”

“We are just as confused, but this is not our doing. And we have made no attempt on the mana stone just yet.” Tiber held steadfast.

Ganon laughed, “Did you know, Tiber? That not even I can break that mana stone’s barrier. You have wasted a lot of time and resources coming here. I’d hate for you to not even try. Go ahead. Give it a shot.”

Tiber grimaced with anxiety as Ganon walked around carefree like a king in his castle.

“If that is true, then why rush here at the first whisper of the stone’s peril? Why station men here to protect it? You’re bluffing.”

Ganon held out his hands and laughed, “I’m a warlord, Tiber! And this stone is a flicker of light that attracts the strongest in this part of the world. It recruits for me.”

Ganon pointed to the skewered men and then eyed the flayed man, “The fate these men met is terrible. Truly terrible. But they were expendable. I would never station valuable assets here.”

With a swift change of demeanor from carefree to threatening, Ganon then said, “Nonetheless, there is a price to be paid for what’s happened here tonight. You will be increasing the strength of my forces directly or indirectly. Join me and bolster my ranks against the other warlords. Or don’t join me and sacrifice your crew to me at once.”

Ganon then took the club and softly struck it against the palm of his free hand, “Which will it be sea master? In the open water, you may fight me to a standstill with your elemental stone of water you’ve stolen but on land you know better than to fight your way out of this.”

Tiber’s crew shot nervous looks to their captain as he stood in silence mulling over his options.

“Let us go. Let us return to our ship. And I will give you something even greater than myself to bolster your forces.” Tiber had decided to gamble.

Ganon laughed, “Very well. I’m in a generous mood. But your crew stays on the beach head with me. And if you fail to return, I won’t simply be bashing them in with my club.”

Ganon pointed to the dead men in the cavern, “Eye for an eye. I’ll be skinning and skewering your crew. So run if you like. Someone will be paying the price to me in the end.”

Tiber nodded, “Deal. But I won’t be running.”

Ganon nodded back to him, “Deal. And good. I look forward to seeing my payment. See you on the beach then sea master.”

Ganon and his men made their exit, and Tiber turned to his men, “Stay with Ganon. I will return. I am bringing him Xenia.”