#twinflame413

[twinflame413]

Yuzef the pirate

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"Wanderer. I fell, asleep, please… Do excuse me."

He slowly unclenched his hands, like a butterfly freeing her wings from the cocoon and gripped the armrests, leaning towards his visitor, supposedly to take a better look at him. The chair creaked, echoing his movements. The bulge on his forehead was now apparent, the eye still visibly moving underneath the closed eyelids. Passionary's bizarre mannerisms threw Joey off, leaving him with the thought that he had encountered some covert life form. The passionary softly raised the edges of his lips, suggesting a smile, but his gaze remained pointed. His speech flowed leisurely, leaving you painfully exposed to the passage of time.

"My name is Reefert, and I have lived in these, lands, for as long as I can remember. Introduce yourself to me, stranger, and state the reason, for, your visit."

"I go by Joey, I'm a sailor, and I was sent to you to ask if you are interested in some leftover goods. There are three boxes...

Joey didn't even get to blink before the passionary gave his affirmative response, then dove into an unrelated question.

"Sure. We take everything… It shall not be wasted. Have you ever been, to, Tuavemari lands before, boy?"

Joey shook his head, "no".

"We have an interesting tradition here, which the locals call a "Chawtide". Something like, an annual competition, and an important asset, in, the life of the inhabitants of Tuave."

Reefert gestured at Joey in a suggesting manner.

"Young men living here are engaged in a test, for, strength, wit, and dexterity. Do you wish, to, participate?"

Joey pulled back his shoulders and adjusted his belt.

"Yeah! So what do I need to do?"

"Flying creatures reside here, ruzes, that terrorize the way of life, of, the people. Ruzes are truculent, unbridled, and intrusive. Local youths, having matured, go in search of their hollows in the tree trunks, and tear them down."

Reefert mimicked the motion of ripping something in half, then clutched his fists. Joey took notice of his sharp claws, just like his own. Just then, the fists opened to reveal his pink palms.

"Then, after a successful hunt, people rejoice and prance happily, for, the whole night. People love to celebrate."

Joey silently evaluated the task at hand.

"And what are they, these ruzes?", he inquired further.

"Their wingspan are that of a two-seated shallop. Their flight produces hum loud enough, to, rupture your hearing, and they usually prefer to attack first."

"Oh. And do they bite?"

"My dearest friend, you shall not be afraid, of, the bite, but afraid, of, the sting", Reefert shed light on why right then and there. "If they dive their stinger into you, then if you do not die, from, loss of blood, then poison shall destroy you, from, inside out."

Joey widened his eyes, contemplating his decision to participate in the Chawtide, then concluded, "I still have a lot of questions."

Reefert got up from his chair and approached his shelves, pulling out some kind of big rounded shell, which contained a collection of papyrus sheets inside, just like the ones he saw in the captured cargo the other day.

"I am aware, of, your concerns, Joey. It's never easy, to, develop into a mature being. However, if you can excuse me, I am encumbered with plethora, of, tasks this evening."

He glanced back over his shoulder, holding the shell close to heart, like some sort of treasure. Just this one gesture made Joey incredibly curious for the contents inside.

"At dawn, they will create a smokescreen that will mark the start, of, the event. You follow it to the beach, and I'll be expecting, to, see you at the competition. Do not disappoint me."

Joey got the hint that it was time for him to leave, and went down to the first floor. He looked around the place just once more before climbing the stairs, and got a feeling that he would return here someday.

[twinflame413]

- My crew struck gold while we were out sailing - someone's ship was loaded with wine barrels and healing herbs.

- What coincidence. Our ship got ransacked in the middle of the Cordial sea just recently.

- No way! This would get those sinners years of hard labor back in Chemry!

[twinflame413]

[twinflame413]

Portrait of a king

[twinflame413]

[twinflame413]

[twinflame413]

The ground was covered in a soft, dense layer of tall grass, which was flattened by hundreds of people who had stepped a foot inside of the hut long before. Joey cautiously observed the ground floor, making sure no one was there, and began to rise the winding mud stairs. His gaze caught someone's cloaked figure, imposingly settled in a large chair.

"God, what a strange soul," Joey thought, but then he remembered why he was there.

"It's the passionary". The man was dozing off peacefully in his comfortable seat, his long legs stretched out and arms crossed on his chest. It would be an understatement to say that this man had a salient appearance. His skin was painted in the color of clear skies, and his hair, draping over the collar of the inconspicuous caftan, reminded Joey of the sun.

Joey wasn't sure on how he was gonna strike a conversation with such an important individual, and could not utter a single word - he only patted the arm of the chair in hopes that the passionary wasn't hibernating.

The man's eyes slammed open, and glanced right at the intruder - Joey's ears stiffened underneath his headband. Before he knew it, he was now staring intently at the third, golden eye that was sat down the middle of the passionary's forehead. The eye was bloodshot and irritated, it's pupil fluttering in it's socket like a wounded animal. Joey felt the fur on his back rising, then seized to move, clutched by fear, still reaching over to the chair handle. The passionary also hasn't moved a muscle since waking up, but he did shut his third eye, sensing that he was scaring his new guest. He then proceeded to speak in the strangest manner, suckling on his every word, as if human speech was burdensome to him. His voice was soft and wary, which pulled Joey into the fetters of doubt.