A red flag carrying a skull that had two bones poking out of its eyes came into the background of Kruxe's view as the sea temporarily lit up, but this was not all that Kruxe saw in that instant as the face of a man was also registered in his brain.
Unlike the others who sported either thick brows or beards, and put on an assortment of clothes on their body or either went shirtless, from the little Kruxe could see, the man currently had on a neat white shirt.
The collars of the man's shirt stood well arranged with only the topmost button of the shirt unbuttoned.
Even with the lighting provided by the lightening, Kruxe couldn't make out whether the man's hair was black or blue, but what he did know was that he had long black hair which all sleeked to the back, giving him a perfectly refined look when added with his angular face.
In that one flash of lightning, this was all Kruxe saw, but he wasn't the only one watching as the man also stared into Kruxe's eyes in that short instance.
Kruxe's heart was filled with dread as the lightning went, letting darkness have its way once more.
The thought that he was going to die filled his head, but to his surprise he watched the dark shadow of the man who he could no longer properly see turn around and walk away, the man paying him no attention.
Complex emotions on his strange man's abrupt dismissal of his presence, him a noble, a prince, had Kruxe confused, but then another voice sounded out, this one reminding Kruxe of his priorities.
"All right men, fun times over, kill them all" a jolly rambunctious voice sounded.
"Can we keep the red hair guard, she's feisty" the voice of one of the men who had surrounded Cletina sounded.
"No prisoners, kill everyone" the rambunctious voice spoke once more, but this time in a hard tone.
Though this conversation filtered into Kruxe's mind, he wasn't paying any attention to it as his trembling eyes and both happy and fearful mind were looking up at quarter-deck, a few steps away from the fire.
There in that inconspicuous location was Amelia, her hair beautiful red hair tightly held in the grip of a mildly fat man who had a long nose on his long face with a traditional triangular seafaring hat and a long tobacco pipe in his mouth.
This somewhat fat fellow was the owner of the rambunctious voice that had just sounded, and he currently had a grin on his face as he reached into his baggy blue pants which stopped just a bit after his knees.
Where it any other time, Kruxe would have bolted straight for his mother but once again, he wasn't the only one watching as his mother was also looking straight at him.
With tears flowing down her eyes, she subtly shook her head, wanting to dissuade Kruxe from the dumb action she knew he wanted to commit.
With his mother's subtle movements, Kruxe was brought to an impasse.
Kruxe wasn't a hotheaded fellow and was more a thinker, so with his mother's action, he got his rampaging heart under control and his brain began thinking once more.
How he could save his mother and Cletina was the question that came to Kruxe's mind, and with almost no delay, the question was answered immediately with a 'not possible'.
That he could get through the two men strolling towards him was impossible, not to mention saving his mother from the bossy one who held her.
The thought of somehow helping Cletina had barely just filtered into Kruxe's mind when he heard a cry of anger for the rumbustious man.
"Bitch" he roared, and with his cry, Kruxe who had still been watching them saw him slap his mother into the air while the man himself quickly backpedalled from the red dispersing gas which had suddenly appeared in the air.
"Mom's sickness is acting up" was the thought that filled Kruxe's mind and that was all it took for him to lose himself
Ignoring the danger that his mother would also be to him, Kruxe got into a mad dash for his mother whose body was soaring in the air, over the quarter deck and bound too soon to land on the main deck.
While the veiny marks on his mother's face did disfigure her face, to Kruxe, the main reason why his father had begun hating and avoiding his mother was because of the deadly poison which she breathed out occasionally,
The first time it had happened, 27 people had been affected, and of those 27, 24 had died with only three surviving, Kruxe's father had been one of them survivors.
While the release of the gas was deadly for anyone nearby, It was also a deadly risk for Amelia herself as its appearance was always accompanied by her convulsing.
With worry in his heart, Kruxe moved as fast as he could, taking a path that would see him avoid the two savage fellows and making it just in time to catch his mother.
Kruxe was but 4 steps away from the desired position when there was a blur in front of him and he was suddenly lifted up to his feet by someone and was being carried backwards.
Despair filled Kruxe's heart as he felt himself be hoisted on a shoulder and be rapidly taken from his mother's vulnerable body, but a second later the despair in his heart changed to fear as he saw a scythe sweep over the area where his head would have been had he continued his charge.
As this fear filled his heart, Kruxe's mind was further shocked and terrified as he found the long-nosed man who was supposed to still be on the quarter-deck after slapping his mother now standing close to the position he had initially been running to, the position where his mother's body was soon to land.
The man had a tight frown on his face as he stared at Kruxe's departing figure, and then without even looking, he stretched out his hand to his left and precisely caught his about-to-fall mother on the neck, choking her and also ending the release of her red gas.
All this terrified Kruxe as he hadn't even seen any of the men move, especially the long-nosed man.
It was like one second he was going catch his mother, and then the next all these things suddenly happen.
Before Kruxe knew it, he was in the air and moving off the ship, but before that could happen, a man with a missing molar who wielded the sickle that would have taken his head swung his sickle at him.
Kruxe was at first confused by the man's actions, but soon all he saw was bright light while all he felt was death, and then it all changed to the cold feel of the sea.