Armada of the Damned Prologue

Armada of the Damned: Prologue

“Everything happens for a reason” �" Unknown

I really hate the word ‘fate’.

That fact that someone, whoever this person is, whether it is God or some other being, that is binding me within a certain set of expectations, is something that I don’t fathom.

Nothing is ever written and set in stone. Life is what you make it. I, Siskier, am a free man!

But today, for the first time, that strange, clearly suspicious old woman made me believe that there is such a thing as fate.

Right now, as I lay on the freezing snow, peering through my overly expensive set of binoculars, I finally confirmed that there really is some being frozen in the ice.

My heart skipped a beat. A hope was ignited for discovering what was down there. A certain man, perhaps a hero or a demon, is waiting for me, just for me to op-

 

“Who have you been talking to all this while?”

Siskier’s epic monologue was interrupted just as he was finally ending. His mouth stopped the endless murmurs, and it was the first time that he shut up since they departed for the frozen lands.

Siskier turned around, just bordering elegantly and crossed his legs and peered upwards, finding his partner, staring questionably down at him.

“While I was narrating to our dear readers, I was attracted by a beautiful wo-”

Siskier froze and felt a chill and it wasn’t from the cold.

“Woo-man! The dazzling woo-man pierced me with eyes colder than snow, crystal turquoise eyes more beautiful than any gem!”

Siskier got up with a spin and got on his knees in front of the clearly unimpressed man who heaved an exasperated sigh.

But Siskier might not have been wrong in his deduction. The man in front of him, labelled as Number 2, named Shigekaze, was truly one of the most handsome men one would ever encounter. He possessed long, silky white hair and those mentioned light blue eyes. His skin was white as snow, giving the man a gentle and fragile appearance.

He wore a long coat, coloured silver. His boots were of a matching colour, and only the truly unmatched dark brown trousers, which Siskier had been antagonizing for so long, were the only thing not white. 

Even his weapon, a body long spear, ending as a sword which was decorated with beautiful, enviable diamonds which must have been worth millions, was almost all white.

“So, are you done observing?”

“That is what Shige asked, slightly tainting his beautiful voice with vulgar irritation…”

“Siskier!”

Shigekaze interrupted his companion’s pointless monologue once more, already preparing for a kick.

But Siskier rolled away dramatically.

“Thou c**t hurt me!” he said in a dramatic pose, properly choosing the wrong words.

“Are you guys done yet? It’s freezing out here!”

A little distant from them laid the last of the three men. He wore the thickest possible coat, masking his head with a thick beret and a face mask. No part of his skin was visible.

Unlike him, Shigekaze wasn’t wearing any particular clothing. His sleeves were all long, but certainly not enough to face the cold, even though the sun was up in the Arctic Circle and the land was covered in snow.

But like Shigekaze, Siskier had long since dominated the weather. He only brought his usual red coat which could really use a round of laundry. He had nothing else underneath and he left the coat half open, exposing the skull tattoo on his right breast and the ferocious looking tiger tattoo right next to his left hip.

With a noisy swish, Siskier rearranged his long, bubbly blonde hair and finally took a decision, for he was Number 1, the supposed, unrecognized leader of this band of mercenaries. But he was the first to step forward, signalling that he was done with the needless action and talking and descended the slope with a jog.

There was a cunning grin on his face, one that clearly showed that he was one hundred per cent sure that his gut feeling was right.

My beautiful gut is telling me we’re gonna have a new guy.

 

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Leader Siskier, still unofficially unrecognized from his peers was the one who decided to follow the advice of some strange old woman who appeared out of nowhere while they were in the cold city of Amzark.

The rumour the woman had passed onto him was too tempting to resist.

“Apparently, deep in the frozen lands, there is a strange being frozen in ice!”

The bended old woman, probably in her hundreds was completely wrapped in a coat, with only her breaking lips visible.

Siskier had to get on his knees to be eye level with her, and the posture he exhibited was clearly that of a thug harassing a poor old woman. He left his legs wide open too.

Siskier nodded to everything she said without a shred of doubt, thus was why they were in the frozen lands, in the middle of nowhere.

But to Shigekaze’s surprise, there was actually an out-of-place glacier visible for distance, so it got him interested. Unlike Siskier’s aggravating excitement and Shigekaze’s rising interest, the third member, a man calling him Vic was in a battle against the frost. His body trembled despite buying enough layers of cloth to make him appear five times his body size.

He followed clumsily, sinking his feet heavily into the deep snow, enviously looking at Siskier waltzing like a little kid without freezing.

It took a few minutes’ walk to get to the glacier in question. Upon closer inspection, it was a mass of crystalized snow, standing up to six meters and covering around ten meter radius. Spikes had looked emerged from the mass, pointing dangerously outwards, as if in attempt to keep away anyone.

Not Siskier. Nothing pulled that kind of s**t on him.

He stepped on the slippery surface and peered at what might have been inside. Then he turned around, seeing an almost enthusiastic Shigekaze approaching, but the latter swiftly changed expression, an attempt not to get caught in Siskier’s ideas.

“Ah! A bear!” shrieked Siskier in horror at the approaching figure of fur.

He got a slap on the head.

“That’s Vic, you idiot!” Shigekaze shouted in his face. Vic only sighed and took a breath.

“So what do you think it’s in there?” Siskier questioned, having immediately recovered from the sudden violent hit he had just sustained.

“There really is something though” clarified Shigekaze.

“I bet it’s the Avat-”

“Be serious” Shigekaze said, looking at the almost beautiful structure of ice.

“I bet it’s an ice king, or something” added Vic, having finally come close to them.

“Not you too…” lamented Shigekaze, further lamenting that he was between them. “How about it being a nice, normal guy seated on a throne?”

“But that would be a tad boring…” said Siskier, sounding a little disappointed by Shigekaze’s thoughts.

“And I think I see something on him” added Vic, immediately gaining Siskier’s vivid interest.

“I bet it’s a lem-”

“It’s a child.”

Shigekaze’s voice interrupted all guessing and swirling excitement. His voice was colder than the snow and Siskier had to give up and sigh.

Then he touched the crystals to see how rough and robust they were, so he might entrust the task to his trusty gat.

But upon touch, the ice crystals broke in perfect symmetry until they melted instantly, revealing the wonders that were hidden inside. 

 

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Seconds later, the heavier crystals started crashing down violently, forcing the three to move back. Sudden frost and cold air assaulted their eyes until their vision readjusted again, letting them glimpse as to what was inside.

They could finally make out a figure seated on a large, frozen throne.

It was a man. And there was a child, a little girl seated on his lap.

“See, I was right. It’s a guy and a child!” Shigekaze affirmed, pointing shamelessly at the sleeping man.

“Woah, woah, woah. You said it’s a nice, normal guy. How can you call a guy frozen in ice a normal guy?!” Siskier complained, having already prepared for such an occasion.

Shigekaze clicked his tongue.

While they were bickering, the child had opened her eyes. Amidst the chilling wind and the reflections of the sun on the ice, the child, blonde with long hair and probably no older than five years old, looked at them with sparkling puppy eyes. She was wrapped in a torn robe.

Then, the man opened his eyes in a very slow manner.

“Wh…ere…?”

It was a murmur from the man as the group observed. The girl kept staring in their direction, until she finally got up and walked to them in small steps. She stopped in front of them and raised her hand to address them.

“My name i-”

“I hate kids…”

“Huh?”

The poor child was stunned and traumatized after she courageously was about to tell them her name. Her incoming cheerful expression and voice were shrouded by an incorrigible evil young man who cruelly spouted his dislike for children without a shred of compassion.

Shigekaze, at the side, had kept the weapon at his side, just in case Siskier said something stupid. Not for a possible enemy. Just for Siskier. He didn’t expect him to say something stupid so quickly. He had zero expectations of him not doing something stupid but that had gone beyond belief.

Tears filled the child’s eyes who sprinted back and hugged the foot on the large man who stood up from the throne and tiredly looked at them.

He must have been a little shy two meters tall, just about Shigekaze’s height. He was wearing a black full body robe. He had long, unmaintained brown hair, partially obscuring his view.

 “Who are you?” asked Siskier with some caution, unlike what the others were expecting. In fact, Shigekaze had already lifted his weapon towards Siskier, but was forced to refocus on the man, who had quite a presence.

Even Vic, a tad back, acted cautious.

The man looked slowly at Siskier. The two maintained eye contact, until something popped out of his chest. It was unlike anything Siskier was expecting. From his robe emerged the head of the same little girl. Just her head. She must have climbed from underneath the long robe and latched onto his torso to manage such a feat.

“I-I…” the man murmured softly again, letting his gaze wonder again. His eyes showed that the landscape was unfamiliar to him to.

“Kaigetsu…!”

It was the girl who interrupted with a high pitched voice. His eyes roamed for the girl’s voice, and as Shigekaze noticed, it was the gaze of a man laying his eyes on an unfamiliar person.

“Kaigetsu… huh…” he said, as if remembering.

Siskier grinned and approached.

“So, wanna join us, pal?” he said with overbearing confidence.

Kaigetsu nodded, but only after the girl accepted beforehand.

“Okay, then let’s get outta this place!” Siskier said with an acceptable recommendation and turned around.

“Just a second.”

A voice stopped them and Kaigetsu; with his large body walked slowly back to his throne.

“What? Changed your mind?” Siskier said with an exasperated voice, until he saw that Kaigetsu went to get from behind the throne.

A large, body sized sword. The handle itself was about thirty centimetres long and the sword, double edged was an oblong, coloured light blue with crack-like symbols, ending near the hilt at the round red stone. It looked remarkably heavy but Kaigetsu handled it with one hand, completely effortlessly and put it against his back.

And Siskier grinned, having realized that this man possessed a strange power he had never seen before. It was faint, but it was definitely there.

Fate had finally brought him to someone, and some people worthwhile.

 

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“So where are you from? How old are you? Where did you get that sword?!”

“Siskier, stop bothering him!”

It was Shigekaze who interrupted once again as Siskier unleashed a barrage of questions which the girl, Mimi was answering with a truly bored manner. The little girl, still sticking her head underneath Kaigetsu’s head, and while Kaigetsu wasn’t slow in any way, she was always prepared to fire back, without giving Siskier the chance to get a decent answer.

The city of Amzark was located about a mile away from where Siskier recruited Number 4. It was a fairly small village, with brick houses literally attached to each other, creating a long singular road with short branches at the side.

“So I’m number five?!” Mimi asked excitedly.

“No, you’re just Kaigetsu’s mascot” replied Siskier coldly.

“You really hate kids, don’t you?” Shigekaze asked as he stopped after Vic wondered off for a few moments.

“There are only three things I love” Siskier said, pointing three fingers at them. “Sex, woman and money!” Siskier proclaimed with pride, clenching his fist tightly, impressing no one.

“I want a number!”

“Number four point five!”

“No! No! No! No! No!”

“Oh come on! Kaigetsu tell her something.”

Kaigetsu merely patted her and she stopped, not without pouting and holding back her tears.

“I still want a number!” she added frantically, forcing Siskier to slam his head into a nearby post.

“Sorry for the wait.”

A man emerged from a deserted shop in the practically deserted town. He was still putting on the long, light purple coat, which was usually worn as a cape. It was decorated with enigmatic tribal designs at the end. The man was also wearing clothing fitting for survival and a polo shirt, the rest of which were coloured light brown, ending with thick boots. His hand were covered his elbow long fingerless gloves, with a glowing stone on each palm.

“What?” the man with neck-long curly brown hair asked with a puzzled expression.

“Who da f**k are you?” questioned Siskier, who bothered stopping his on-going battle with Mimi.

The man stared pitifully at Siskier, then faced the other man at his side.

“Shige. Can you h-”

There was no need to end that statement. Shigekaze was already swinging his arm to deliver his signature hit in the head, but this time, unlike any other time before, Siskier dodged dramatically, sinking down on his knees and rolling two meters away.

The attacker cursed.

“Just ignore him, Vic. He’s being a dick” Shigekaze remarked furiously. Vic shrugged at that thought and approached the newcomer to their team.

“Nice you to meet you” Vic said, stretching his hand to Kaigetsu who slowly shook his hand. Vic felt a shiver, feeling how abnormally cold his hand felt.

“Hello!” said the little girl, seeing everything as a spectator in adult’s business.

“Nice to meet you too kiddo” Vic said with a mature smile, patting her head.

“So you’re another member?” Kaigetsu asked after Vic straightened up.

“Yeah, I was the walking bear under all that fur.”

“Ah, I do recall someone following us.”

“Vic hates the cold. What a wimp!” Siskier shouted from a safe distance, earning a glare from Number two, but Vic let it go.

“I went to sell all of that now that we’re heading elsewhere. I believe you’ve met the others” Vic assessed, examining Shigekaze’s nod.

“Siskier and Shigekaze, right?” Kaigetsu confirmed.

“Call me Shige. That’s what everyone does” Shigekaze said, since his name is too long and a pain to write.

“And I’m Siskier!” the leader shouted, still from a safe distance and almost hidden behind a barrel.

“Meet King Scumbag” Vic said with some sarcasm.

“Hey!”

“He has some good points, but his personality has some serious issues” affirmed Shige with a whisper.

Kaigetsu nodded and took note.

“Where are we going now?” Kaigetsu asked as Siskier had begun walking and the others followed almost naturally. The former never had any intention of going anywhere anymore.

“We’re mercenaries” Vic said, stopping to address the slightly larger man.

“Wherever the benevolent winds take us” Shige said with an elegant, poetic manner.

“We have no destination, no goal” added Siskier without turning back. He opened his coat wide and let it flutter in the wind. “All we do is for our pleasure, our life, and our joy and for money! All for money…!” Siskier continued.

But then he got a serious look at Kaigetsu and moved back in a hurry towards him.

“We will travel to every inch of the world and discover all sorts of treasures and fight all sorts of strong enemies!” Siskier said with a child’s grin of excitement, waltzing back away.

“Yeah…” said Kaigetsu with a soft voice and a soft, matching smile, surprising Shige and Vic that the uncrowned king of idiots had successfully recruited such a strange warrior.