A long crowd was occupying the whole dock. Someone was already overflowing into the nearby docks, but the new people were still arriving. Everyone was talking, asking about the recruitment, cursing or trying to push through the crowd.
It was an extremely chaotic and messy scene. The silent boy awakened exactly in the middle of it. Someone pushed him.
"Step aside, lowlife!" – Normally the push would make him fall but there was literally no space for the fall.
The boy looked in the direction of the voice and saw a very tall and well-built man. Some dirty clothes couldn't hide his massive bulging muscles. A scar was adorning his ugly face. The boy tried to move aside, but without any success. The man, angry at first, still didn't said anything else comprehending that his demands weren't very feasible.
'Trash' – He thought and forgot about the boy.
*BROOOOOOM*
Suddenly an ear-splitting thunder crushed all other noise in the dock. The boy looked up, but the sky was limpid, and the sun was still shining brightly. The next moment a white flash captured his attention. What he saw immediately left him breathless. Normally it was impossible not to notice, but in the crowd and general confusion the boy managed to do so very well.
An enormous black ship was towering in the dock. Three rows of cannons were silently waiting to unleash death and destruction. There was some ancient air surrounding the ship.
Five sails casted shadow on the crowd. The more the boy looked up the bigger they became. The sky was covered. The sun was no more. Only darkness and cold loneliness. The oppression he felt became more and more corporeal and it became difficult to breath. He could hear every single heartbeat and the time between them extended with the passage of seconds.
Every heartbeat was too loud and painful but the eternally long anticipation of the one become the worst of the tortures.
"TODAY ALL OF YOU CAME FOR THE RECRUITMENT! WELL, NOT EVERYONE WILL BE ABLE TO JOIN US!"
A loud voice suddenly broke the illusion. The boy found himself still standing in front of the ship. He looked around and to his surprise found that a lot of people were foaming on the ground. A few were even losing blood from eyes and ears. Then he looked up in the direction of the voice to see a silhouette of a man. If the circle is the perfect figure, then one could say that the man was perfect for how fat he was.
The strong man from before, even if a bit pale, was still standing not too far from the boy.
*BROOOOOOM*
Another crash of thunder accompanied the fat man who appeared with a white flash in the middle of the plaza. He had long white hair held together by an azure band. On his shoulder, left uncovered by the loose clothes, one could see a black tattoo with ship pierced by a huge sword. The hilt of the sword was in the form of a skull.
This image gave the boy a sensation of an extreme sadness and sorrow.
"I am the official crew member of the Sorrow of the Black Sea responsible for the recruitment."
He looked around to see how many people were still standing. – "All who didn't faint pass the first test."
"The second test is even easier than the first one, hahahahahahah." – His huge belly moved rhythmically with his laugh.
Suddenly he punched the ground and a dome of white crackling lightning appeared around him, and started rapidly expanding, pushing and electrifying everyone around.
The people on the ground were pushed and sent flying by the impact like some sort of rag dolls. The smell of burned flash assaulted the boy's nostrils.
"You only have to survive through my lightning!" – Announced the fat man grinning malevolently.
The white crackling wall was rapidly approaching. For a moment the boy seamed lost. 'That's the end of my little adventure…'
But in the next moment a strange determination appeared in his eyes. '…or maybe not?'
He looked at the muscular man who pushed him previously. He was very tensed and ready to be hit by the wall. A crafty light shined in the boy's eyes and he started running towards the man. The lightning was getting closer to the man.
'I will join! I will join! I will jo…' That was the only thought of the muscular man.
But, just before the white dome hit him, he sensed another impact from behind. It wasn't very powerful but still it pushed him towards the wall. – "Fuck…"
A scorching pain traveled through everyone of his nerves, and the physical impact smashed his face breaking his nose. Already ugly he somehow managed become even uglier.
The boy was in pain, but fortunately, by clinging on the man's back, he didn't need to endure the whole force of the impact but, even so the experience was terrible. Every single centimeter of his flesh was in pain and he couldn't move.
But he was still conscious. After some minutes he managed to stood-up. The vision was a bit blurry and he couldn't help but occasionally lose control of some portions of his body.
The muscular man was still on the ground, trembling.
The fat man was looking a bit amused. 'He managed to pass. Surprising. Well even if he used a trick, I can't go back on my words now. A pity for the other one who should've been able to pass, but lost consciousness from the impact…'
There were still one hundred people left on the plaza. Most of them were in very bad shape after the "test" and some were even fuming.
"Congrats! My name is James Markeez. You passed my small test and could join the crew as temporal members! Welcome to the Sorrow of the Black Sea." – He took out a piece of paper. – "Come on, now quickly come here and tell me your names."
After a few moments a line of roasted and beaten people was formed. The boy was the last one.
The sun was already going down that arrived his turn. Suddenly a big shadow appeared in his field of vision and approached him rapidly.
"You! Fucking piece of shit!" – It was a big man who somehow managed to recover. Until now he was on the flour, but then he woke up and saw the boy in the line, he understood what happened before. His rage was nearly corporeal. – "How dare you! I will fucking murder…" *BROOOOOM*
A white light flashed, and the already familiar thunder covered whatever the man wanted to say.
After the light disappeared only a charred skeleton could be seen.
"Audacious to try to attack the temporal member of our crew." – Said James with an annoyed expression. Then he turned back to the small boy in front of him. – "So, what was your name again?"
The boy remained silent for a moment. – "I don't have a name…"
"Well, that's not a problem! I will write you down as "Nameless". Ok that's all! Come back tomorrow morning." – He put away the papers filled with names and turned around to go back to the ship.
"Mister James." – A child's voice interrupted him. He turned around. It was Nameless. – "Yes, what do you want?"
"Can I sleep on the ship?"
"…" – The fat man seamed distracted for a moment. – "Can't you sleep somewhere else?"
"No."
"And I assume you don't have things to prepare before the trip." – James thought for a moment. - "Ok, follow me."
He turned around and went towards the ship. Nameless, a bit surprised, followed him behind. 'It really worked. I thought that he wouldn't allow me to stay on the ship today.'
'Well, not that I want to complain.'
The ship was even more massive than Nameless thought it to be. He and James seamed ants in comparison to it. Nameless looked around. Everything was very quiet, and the noise from the outside world was nonexistent, seemingly cut off. There were no one. Coupled with the dark and seemingly ancient wood from which the ship was made and black sails the atmosphere was gloomy.
James opened the trap door near the main mast and jumped down directly. "Come here!"
Nameless also jumped down. There were some barrels, boxes and other miscellaneous objects. "It's not some luxurious arrangement, but I don't think that this will be a problem for you hahahahahahaha."
He laughed for a moment but seeing the boy's "dead-fish" expression, he stopped. "Well, tomorrow morning go-out and wait for other people to arrive, then Captain will explain something to all of you."
With this he leaved Nameless alone.
Suddenly he was assaulted by the exhaustion and directly sat on the ground. After a few moments he was already asleep.
James was outside looking towards the see. A shadow appeared behind him. "Why did you bring that boy?"
It was a young man, he had long blonde hair. Behind a pair of elegant glasses, he wore, there was a pair of piercing green eyes.
"Well, Doc, I don't know. He seamed a bit different…And there was absolutely no difference in bringing him today or tomorrow."
The young man remained silent.