Tzipora awoke with a start in her father's house, a bandage wrapped tightly around her head. The wound on her forehead started to throb, and she clutched it with a grimace. She tried to recall how she wound up here, but the last thing she could remember…
"Anak!" Tzipora suddenly called out worriedly. Some strange essence had erupted from Anak, and the last thing she saw before blacking out was the exploding body of Bian.
"Tzipora." Yothr softly called her name from across the room. He had a weary expression, and his eyes were sunken and hollow. "Anak is gone."
"Gone?" Tzipora began to panic, assuming the worst. "What happened? What did they do to him?"
Yothr shook his head in defeat. "I do not know. But I doubt he's in danger. The others at the scene say they were all unconscious or unaware of their surroundings. By the time you all came to, he had disappeared. It's unlikely anyone would've even been able to hurt him. No, it's more likely…" Yothr dejectedly sighed. "It's likely he just ran away."
Tzipora froze, trying to process her father's words. Run away? Anak wasn't the type. But she remembered her last sight before unconsciousness. He had just killed that man incredibly violently, and, apparently, he had somehow also hurt everyone else in the vicinity. As she thought of this, Tzipora suddenly understood. He had run away, but she couldn't blame him. She might've in the same circumstances.
"I'm going after him," She declared firmly. Yothr nodded. He had expected this.
"I already did some digging. A canoe went missing around the same time as he did. It's more than likely-" Yothr hesitated nervously, "That he sails the Sea of Non."
Tzipora took a deep breath. To sail that notoriously dangerous sea… it seemed she was right about why he'd left. Otherwise, why be desperate enough to brave those lethal waters? "I still must find him." She was undeterred.
Yothr walked over to Tzipora, and placed a warm hand on her shoulder. "I know. But please, don't traverse the sea. If you must follow, walk along the coast." Yothr made the one plea he could to keep Tzipora safe. He knew any attempts to make her stay would fall on deaf ears, but he could at least ask this much.
Tzipora nodded, "I understand, Father."
Running away as a slave was perilous, but with the commotion caused by Anak, everyone would be too distracted to notice until it was too late. Father and daughter embraced for a long while, before Tzipora set out on her journey. She had nothing but the clothes on her back, the collar on her neck, and the one loaf of bread they had left.
Yothr tearily watched his daughter's departing back, as she darted in and out of alleyways to avoid the guards attention. She had grown up over these days right before his eyes. "Until you return, my daughter." He whispered a hopeful goodbye.
...
A massive black wave towered imposingly towards the sky, before careening downwards like a locomotive. Anak hunched down as far into the canoe as he could go, bracing for the massive, watery impact. The waved impacted right before the tip of the boat, splashing salty foam all over the crouching Anak, and tilting the canoe slightly backwards. Anak sat up and leaned forward heavily, and the front of the canoe slapped back down onto the surface of the water, bursting through the wave onto the other side.
Thunder roared and growled like a giant in the skies, as lightning crackled down maliciously, illuminating the dark, heavy waves. Wind swept up, down, left, and right with chaotic energy, slapping Anak's cheeks harshly as it stirred up the abyssal waters. The little boat spun, swirled, and tossed to and fro between the swells, only remaining upright because of the skillful handling of its captain.
Rain pelted down like a battery of insects, stinging his eyes, ears, and nose. Anak's clothes were drenched, his upper body bare and streaming with water, and he shivered from the cold wind chilling his exposed flesh. He had long lost his oar, and was using his bare hands on either side to rudimentarily steer the frail canoe.
The deeply dark clouds that hovered overhead indicated he had left the range of Ischuoros' protective bubble, meaning he had no idea where he currently was being swept to. Little by little, fragments of the minuscule craft began chipping away under the force of the waves and the pressure from the wind. Anak frantically wrapped his arms around the craft in attempt to forcefully hold it together.
"AAAGH!" Anak strenuously cried out under the pressure of fighting against the power of nature itself. Finally, unable to bear it, he relaxed momentarily and the canoe promptly snapped in two, capsizing.
Anak sank slowly beneath the waters, exhausted and no longer able to struggle. His eyes stared upwards at the darkness, unable to discern direction. His lungs screamed for air, threatening to burst. His breath finally exploded out from his lungs in a rush of bubbles that marked his doom, as he began sinking like a stone.
A row of lights suddenly sprang from the depths, illuminating a whale-sized sea beast. The lights, like so many oceanic predators, were a part of itself. It had massive crocodile-like jaws, with teeth in rows like a shark, a scaly back, and tentacles instead of fins or flippers. It was a krakegator. The krakegator swung a tentacle slowly towards Anak's sinking form, closing the distance as fast as a being of such size could underwater.
Suddenly, a white beam of light pierced the dark sea from above, enveloping Anak, while an orange light orb seemed to explode like a cannonball through the enormous tentacle threatening to crush Anak. A kind and cheery voice rang out in his head. 'Anak, you cannot die here. Do not despair, you're destined for amazing things.'
'As a weapon?!' Anak angrily retorted in his thoughts, half delirious from the lack of oxygen. The tears spilling from his eyes absorbed into the dark, weighty waters surrounding him. The now fleeing krakegator just might be able to relate.
'What?' The voice was momentarily startled. 'Whatever you may think, you aren't a tool of destruction. Follow my instructions, and you will learn the truth.'
A light of hope suddenly lit up Anak's eyes, and he slowly began being lifted up through the beam of white light, as the orange ball sped about in the dark sea like a guard dog, keeping various monstrous sea creatures at bay. They would all warily avoid the ball of orange light as if by instinct.
'You have not gone so far as you believe,' the voice echoed through his mind once more. ' When I set you ashore, find the inn at the town called Mimma, and stay for three days. Someone will find you there. Follow them to where they would take you.'
At last Anak emerged from the waters, and in a flash of orange and white light, he found himself in the airspace above a white, sandy beach. Before he could try to see the face of his rescuer, he realized he was falling.
"Aaaaah!" Anak screamed as he fell, launching an explosion of powdery sand as he impacted the shoreline. He began coughing up water almost instantly after the impact, which had the fortunate side effect of knocking most the water from his lungs along with the air. After some time of hacking, gagging, and struggling to inhale, Anak finally got himself together and raised up his head.
"Fuck you, whoever you are. And thanks." Anak bitterly expressed his gratitude.
In the starry space above the clouds, Raguel brightly smiled."You're welcome." He whispered back, though Anak wouldn't hear. He turned around to the duo of Triac and Uriel behind him. "How was that, Lord?"
"Excellent." Triac smiled. "He will have to grow up a bit before he's ready, but these experiences will help with that."
"What about Azazel?" Uriel impatiently prodded, and a flicker of pain and betrayal crossed Raguel's face.
After arriving, Triac had seen through most everything being hidden on Vinetum. The timeline the Demon King had formed had packed the events of about ten years into a single one, and that was only following Anak's birth. The reason Anak grew up so quickly was because he served as a focal point for many of these events, and so was forced to explosively reach the maturation of a decade over the course of that year. The fact that his body appeared like an adult's and his mentality had already reached late adolescence was due to his star DNA. He would've reached that point naturally at ten years old, but Time had mercilessly forced its whims on the boy, because it would rather force one person on an unnatural path, than completely re-write its original plan.
He had also seen through Azazel's lies. He knew Anak was his progeny, he knew the Book of War was not alone in Ischuros, and that these divine arts and sciences had been corrupted and given to the people by the stars working with Azazel. At this particular point and time, all signs pointed to a conspiracy designed and headed by Azazel.
After a long silence, Triac finally answered, "Azazel and his cohorts will give a proper explanation. Then they will be judged." Disappointment, rage, and determination laced this infallible declaration.