The sun rose over the horizon, casting a golden glow across the expansive northern sea. The waves, now calm after the storm, lapped gently against the sides of the sturdy boat as it made its way northward from the Naviran coast towards the eastern continent.
Aghora stood alone on the deck of the ship, his eyes fixed on the endless stretch of water. He could taste the salt in the air and feel the cool mist against his skin, certainly not a refreshing change from the day before.
Aghora and Maaec were both imposing figures, large, muscular dark skinned men with intricately braided hair. Their presence commanded respect among their own people but on this ship they stood out more.
Based on the fact that the ship was setting sail from Noi the contrast between their dark skin and the lighter tones of the crew members seemed odd to Aghora but he came to learn that Naviran people did not travel a lot, after all this ship was captained by their oldest brother but his crew was mostly a shorter light skinned people from the eastern continent called, Zoanese. Though a lot of the crew looked more like Zamir, than actual Zoanese people.
Of course Aghora was not really interested in the Zoanese people, afterall he had already spent a year working at the ports for his oldest brother. Now every time he took a look at the crew memories of his past life kept running through his mind, the first time he traveled abroad...
His mind didn't wonder far because he noticed people approaching him and It turned out to be Maaec and Rohkar, his oldest brother.
The man was in his early thirties and although he wasn't as fit and was even a head shorter than either Maaec or Aghora. He still had well defined muscles on display and was very much a stereotypical Naviran.
Yet what stood out the most about him was the absence of the green circle over his forehead or rather its replacement with tattoos that stretched all over his body starting from under his neck.
Looking at him side by side with Maaec it was obvious that he was someone who didn't care much about Naviran tradition giving him a welcoming atmosphere.
An atmosphere that would alway break the instant he started speaking.
"When I watch over you I feel like Father made a mistake to call you Aghora, he should've called you A'gerhora (Onlooker-Bystander)"
Aghora's expressionless face immediately turned into a scowl but Rohkar ignored him.
"Across the sea is a different world, I know you are like me and fathers traditions make no sense to you but I also see hate in your eyes" he paused and looked at Aghora.
"Whatever you are looking for it is already within you, I have never talked to you about these things but I watch you. I do not know why, but you feel like you do not belong here, that is something I can relate to-" Maaec wanted to cut into the conversation but Rohkar only raised a hand to signal him to stay quiet.
"When you get off this ship I recommend you find work as a hunter or mercenary, whatever you choose is up to you but know that once you get off this boat your life is in your own hand,"
After saying those words his demeanor changed, almost as if he was different person.
First he yawned then he lazily said "We still have a few days at sea so you can relax and you know," he didn't finish his sentence, instead he yawned again and sat down cross-legged on the floor of the deck.
"I have a letter from father, when we dock we should go find his brot-" Maaec said but Rohkar cut him again.
"Don't rely on that old man too much even when I got there ten years ago *yawn* he was ahh, What you need is to find work as fast as possible, I'll give you both coins so don't worry about it. Just find an Inn and look for work,"
Maaec and Aghora remained quiet, they knew they didn't have much of a relationship with Rohkar but this was his way of showing that he at least cared for them on some level.
He sat by them a little longer, constantly interrupting till they got the hit that he wanted them to stay quiet.
"My tattoos are called the mark of Remembrance, they are a gift from one of the lesser gods"
Maaec's eyes widened and Aghora made a confused face.
"When I pour my faith into these marks I become invisible to people, the less they know about me the less visible I am to them. Now why do I say this? Aghora I know you are different from Maaec, you do not have faith in the goddess" as he spoke, the tattoos on his body began to glow a soft white light and a white mist began to emerge from his body.
As they looked at him his features started to fade and he began to turn invisible.
To Aghora and Maaec looking at Rohkar felt like a veil was set over their minds, they knew he was there but their eyes were showing a blurry image.
His voice came from behind Maaec who had been standing behind him, it was then that the blurry image of him sitting in between the two boys faded away in the wind.
"Maaec I know you are well studied in the teachings of the goddess but pay close attention to 'my next words, they are not meant for just Aghora," with that said, his figure became more visible and the tattoos stopped glowing.
"Faith is a limitless resource, like the vast waters of the sea and the gods are tools we use to draw out that resource. Aghora is not faithless, no one is, his faith is just not with the goddess. Across the sea there is a faith they call 'The way of heaven', it believes in many strange things but it's simplest idea is that all men have boundless faith and they can do whatsoever, serve as many gods as they want and even become their own god."
Rohkar was about to keep going but a sudden bolt of thunder interrupted him and as the three brothers, along with all the crew mates turned in the direction of the thunder they saw storm clouds rapidly approaching.
One the horizon, there was a wave of creatures swimming towards their ship.
The crew members started to yell, "It's jawfish, the storm brought a pack of them?"
Rohkar rushed to the other edge of the ship and stared intensely at the group of jawfish frantically swimming towards them.
"This is not normal, the storm came from nowhere and those jawfish, they never swim near the surface in groups"
No one new what to do but they fastened the ropes on the wooden crates carrying any cargo, and they started pulling out harpoons, short swords and tridents.
From the first bolt of lightening it took a short few moments for the jawfish to arrive near their ship and everyone noticed something even more absurd. There were riders on the backs of the large creatures.
"It's those damned barbarian molokites, defend the ship!"
Rohkar didn't need to yell those words, because the moment everyone saw the tanned white skin and blue tattoos they new they were in for a fight.
The first jawfish and its rider jumped on the ship, the jawfish itself was too large to actually get on the ship but it could extend its head enough to get a bite out of one of the crew members, slowly grinding him in its crocodilian head but the rider had worse luck.
A trident went straight through his head , prompting his body to fall into the sea and for his confused mount to dive off the ship.
There was a short yell of victory but it died down when the first scene repeated itself, this time a number of molokites jumped into the ship and cut down a few crew members before being driven back into the sea.
The molokites encircled the ship, trading cheerful banter in their language. There were about forty jawfish and double that number of riders, this was a full blown army!!!
Rohkar had noticed one particular rider in the center of the molokites. Where the others used saddles and wore light armor this man was standing on the bare back of his jawfish rides and he neither had armour nor was he even wielding any weapons, more importantly his tattoos were glowing with a faint blue light.
The rider had also noticed Rohkar's intense stare and for a moment they made eye contact.
The rider raised both his arms and began chanting in the molokite language following which, lightening began to gather at a point in the storm clouds and at first it seemed as if the lightening was going to strike the ship but the more it gathered the more it seemed otherwise.
The lightening gathering in the sky calmed down after the rider finished chanting and a sudden massive bolt of lightening struck him!