"Knights! stop the ship immediately!" Huxley ordered, his voice booming across the whole area while he locked eyes with Kai.
The knights were baffled and shocked at the sudden order and had no idea how to fulfil it. There was no way to stop a moving ship that had already set off.
"Sir..do you want us to shoot down the ship?" A Knight meekly asked.
"Shoot down?! No! I want you to stop the ship and turn it around. The person we're all looking for is in there!" Huxley snapped, he could feel his last string of sanity was slowly thinning.
Huxley ran towards the coast, as close as he could get before his shoes touched the water. He felt his heart being crushed. "Kai..why?" he murmured.
Kai heard his father's loud voice all the way in the ship. He continued looking at his father. His father seemed to have aged quite well. Did he get more muscular? Or even taller maybe?
After seeing what there is to see, Kai smiled at his father and turned away, leaning his back against the window. If he were to dwell on it, it'll crush him, he thought.
Luar stayed silent and stared at Kai's face. The child was always smiling and what not. Seeing him in such a vulnerable state made him seem more human. The way he got worried and impatient and the way he was shedding tears now.
He stared blankly at the wall while tears flowed down his face. His expression remains unwavering despite the endless tears.
"Who was that?" Luar asked.
"My Father."
"Don't you want to go back to him?"
Silence.
"It's not whether I want it or not. It's a matter of fact whether I can even go back." Kai said with a small smile.
Luar couldn't understand what was going through the child's mind. As Luar thought, humans are difficult to understand. So it decided to change the topic.
"Our final destination is the humble town of Gia. My owner lives there along with her grandson that's around your age." Luar stopped to see if Kai was still listening. It didn't seem like it.
"I often venture out on my own without warnings and bring back items for my owner. Whether it'd be gold or a..human being?" Luar sounded confused at it's own actions. It was about to continue before it heard footsteps getting louder.
A man that looked like he was in his youth walked into the hallway. He saw a cat and a human sitting on one of the chairs. Strangely, he saw the cat's mouth moving rather humanely and it stopped the moment he came closer.
"Uhm..hi there?" He nervously greeted them.
Kai looked at the man and smiled. "Hi." He responded politely.
The man awkwardly scratched his head and finally felt like the atmosphere around the boy relaxed a little. "So the trip is going to be a day or two long..I'm here to escort you to the shared room for the night.."
"Oh..right." Kai said, getting off the seat and gently carrying Luar in his arms. The cat rested its head but it's eyes refused to let the random man get out of it's sight.
"So..are you parents not with you?" The man asked, trying to make it less awkward.
"No." Kai replied.
"Your cat..it seems to be glaring at me." The man said with an awkward laugh.
Kai tilted his head in confusion and looked at Luar. He saw Luar eyes fixated on the stranger. It showed distrust. He petted the cat and whispered under his breath. "You okay?"
"He's strong. Be careful." Luar spoke in his mind. It's words were full of wariness.
Kai stroked the cat's fur in response. "It hates strangers." He simply said.
"Oh really? Haha..I normally get along well with animals." The man said while looking at the signs to make sure he was guiding the boy to the right direction. He was trying to fulfil one of uncle's requests as courtesy but this was not what he had in mind.
"Maybe it's a delusion. Or you think too highly of yourself."
"What..?" The man asked, completely bemused by the harsh words that smacked him in the face. He laughed it off and started clicking his pen and writing something on his clipboard.
Kai smiled and shrugged. "I was joking."
"Uh alright..so here is where I stop escorting you. I think we'll see each other plenty more times since we're on the same ship." The man scratched his chin nervously. "I'm Lewellyn. What's your name?"
"Don't you have my name on that clipboard? Seeing as how you came to me specifically to bring me here. I even saw you put a tick right beside my name."
Lewellyn froze and stayed silent. Realising how he messed up. "I..forgot?"
Kai nodded and didn't bother the poor guy anymore. He walked into the room and was appalled by the foul stench of sweat.
The people in the cabin were ill mannered, judging by their habits of taking off their shoes and smoking in such a public space. Some were playing and betting money with a game of cards, some were sniffing weird indistinguishable powder of sorts.
Even Luar couldn't hide it's disgust. "You don't need to sleep tonight, right?" It nervously asked.
Kai stood in the room for a while and inevitably made eye contact with one of the smokers who was swinging on a hammock.
"Whatcha starin at kiddo? Mind your own damn business." The man growled. That seemed to have roused some of the other's attention.
"Sorry." Kai apologised, bowing respectfully before making an attempt at escaping.
"Your cat looks delicious to eat." The man stated with a grin.
"Is that so?" Kai replied with an innocent tone.
"Give it to me and I'll let you off for looking at me."
Kai froze on the spot. Not because he feared the man that was threatening him. It was because of Luar's insanely demonic yelling that was exploding inside his head.
"I can't..it's my companion." Kai murmured, he couldn't even hear himself over Luar's repetitive vile insults.
"What did you say?" The man was now getting aggressive. He sat up from his hammock and threw his cigarette bud on the floor and crushed it with the heel of his shoes.
Others seemed to follow suit. They dropped their activities and their eyes were glued on the current entertainment.
"Now what, Luar?" Kai whispered, sounding tired. He could see them inching closer to him but he remained still.
"Can't you..beat them?" Luar asked.
"No. No, I can't." Kai repeated. This time, he was sure he'd lose. After counting the amount of enemies, it'd overwhelm him. And Luar didn't seem to have a plan in mind either.
Kai walked backwards cautiously and with one hand, he unlocked the door. He bent down and let Luar out of the room. He saw it's confusion but he slammed the door shut with no hesitation.
"Self sacrifice for a mere cat, eh? Kids nowadays are so brave." The man commented.