Haiban leads the way on these snug paths in the ship.
"Wow. She never changed. Not even centuries can rot the ship."
"What's with this ship? It's... like a mansion standing in the middle of the seawater."
"This was my offering to Captain Afvshaganifs before she gave me the spell to retrieve my life again."
I hum. "Oh, that's why it's majestic."
"I thought it creeped you out?"
"Emotions are changeable."
The noise of cheer inside the room caught our attention. Strong lights and shadows of moving people are coming from there. We approach there in a stealthy manner and squint at the doorway. The very first scene I saw is a stumbled man with an ax gaffed in his face! Every pirate is cheering for the death of that man. And when the captain yanks off the ax from his face, the man I thought was lying dead inhales and stands on his feet!
The weird activity continues without the eliminated man. Two pirates are passing the ax to one another while there are about 7 foreign people and a few pirates playing in the middle of the two pirates. And their objective is to kill anyone in the middle with that ax.
"Yap. She never changed," Haiban commented from behind me.
“What? Does he look like a woman to you?”
Then he points at the pirate who killed and raised the man from the dead. "That's the captain. It's her daily life. And—"
"Captain Afvshaganifs!" I called. However, the scream of their cheers and thrill is louder. Watchers are betting on who will be the next dead with a mix of chortles which made it louder than the arena. An enchast lit up before I made a screeching and deafening whistle that sure shook their brains. When I finally caught everyone's silent attention, "Captain, I'm an enchantress from Plandreas, and I need to talk with you," I said.
"..." He was holding the ax when he faced his body to me and tossed the ax! I move aside, the ax pierced through the wooden wall where Haiban is still peeping. The cheers roll on. The captain pulls the ax and tosses it to the players in the middle—deliberately ignoring me! How dare he embarrass me!? He's neither hot nor handsome enough to do that! He's just an old fat hairy pirate that stinks!
There isn't any way to abrupt him but to play his game.
This is for Hessuel.
Haiban ceases me but I march to the stage of the game. At first, I huddle with the commotion of these people as they try to elude the ax toss above us. The captain pulls it from the floor and hurls it incredibly fast! The man who got the attack was decapitated! The other pirate caught the ax and hurled it quickly as well. I curve down to dodge it. The game becomes highly deadly when the watchers toss their swords to us like a rain of arrows! I pull one of the players and use him as my shield.
Many of us died and I'm one of the few who stays in the game. My yellow loose dress tightened with a belt got sprinkles of blood. The headless man walks on his own and attaches his head back... and back to his life. All those who were stabbed by swords are eliminated from the game. The space became wider. But now, the captain is grinning at me—exposing his dentures. He swings swiftly, I grovel and snatch a sword on the floor. However, 'twas a fake throw.
Watchers are cheering to kill me. I caught a glimpse when the captain throws the ax at me and to my panicking reaction, I strike the ax by the sword upward, it clunks, and the ax is thrown above, then spins down to me. I drop the sword and move a little to evade the ax, then I pull it off from the floor.
"No! Wait, wait!" Haiban takes the ax from me and drops it afar. "It's enough. The game is over."
"Haiban?"
"Avi~!"
They embrace each other like long-lost friends. I should've used Haiban to engross his attention in the first place.
"It's great to see you breathing."
"I told you. I'll come back to life."
I felt sudden dizziness and later realized that I lost balance when I found myself in the arms of Haiban. "Don't be braver than you can," he counsels. He carries me inside the captain's cabin together with Afvshaganifs. He relaxes on his royal chair and 6 other pirates remain on the corners for orders, including serving the visitor. They gave me water as I composed myself. 'Twas true that I overworked my courage. My condition couldn't handle the amount.
I spilled the water out of the blue. "It's salty!"
Haiban takes the glass from my hand and enchants it. "You're not good with visitors as always, captain," he teases, then gives me the glass with purified water in it.
"You," the captain leans his elbows on his table, "brought a woman with you. What do you need to talk about with me?" he asked. His cold sharp eyes and the monotone are so unwelcoming unlike his laughter while slaughtering his people a while ago. What a psycho.
I exchange glances with Haiban first before I speak, "I need a spell that will make the half-dead whole again."
"Be precise..." Haiban whispers. "He's a slowpoke."
The captain asks, "I am not a healer, woman."
"He's a werewolf who lost his Intelligence because of death and now his wolf remains alive as an ordinary one."
"And how did that happen?" He's combing his long beard with his fingers.
"The Moon Goddess took his Intelligence."
"And why did the Moon Goddess do that?"
"I had a deal with her. If I ask her to bring back his Intelligence, then I will break the deal."
"In short, she needs your help to restore the life of a dead werewolf intelligence," Haiban said. He's sitting idly beside me and his arms are folded.
"That's not short," the captain teases.
I expound, "I need a spell you created to bring someone into life again. This time, for a half-dead werewolf."
"That means," his hand filled with rings slides horizontally on the table, and his spellbook that has an anchor embossed on the cover floats and glows in front of us, "what you want to happen is to retrieve the Intelligence from the Moon Goddess's grasps. Why didn't you ask for the wolf to die instead of the Intelligence?"
"The Intelligence is the Moon Goddess's property but the wolf is not."
"And how did you make a deal with the goddess?"
"I'm a Moon Priestess. I've studied spells on how to perform that plea."
"How did the goddess reclaim this werewolf's intelligence?"
His questions are becoming suspicious. Therefore, "I enchanted a vessel for the goddess to talk with her face to face," I answered bluntly.
"In short, she completed the spell you wrote long ago," Haiban said.
"That spell..." He jolts up and points his sword at me, the other pirates point their swords at us as well! "You are the thief of my spell!"
"Why are you blaming me!? I saw that spell in our university as part of my study! The book contains anonymous creators and that includes your spell! I completed the spell on my own and kept it until now!"
"You benefited from it."
"I can share the spell with you as collaborators!" I expose my spellbook and the page where I've written the spell.
"In short, she didn't steal your spell. Probably, the thief sold it to the university she was talking about," Haiban speaks like my lawyer. Tranquil, 'tho the swords are at his neck.
"You're not making it short. You're making it complicated."
"What I'm trying to shorten is this negotiation."
The captain fixes his butt back to his chair, then the pirates return to their spots. Calmly, "So, you can finish an unfinished spell? Then I can give you what you need," he responded. "A spell that can bring back a life. But what will it profit me?"
"... I thought about it too. Lucky for you, I don't negotiate unprepared. A spell for a spell." I wiped my face with my hand, then I became old. "I can give you a spell that will preserve your age even randomly. You don't have to suffer the death of being old anymore." I wiped my face again and came back to 23. "So, what do you say?"
Haiban chuckles.
☪ ✧ ✧
We left that ship during the solo celebration of Captain Afvshaganifs, bragging and exposing his teenage appearance throughout the ship. I've spent another day analyzing and rewriting the spell to connect to Hessuel's condition. The good news—that I was expecting somehow—is Haiban's offer of help. "It's for my son," he intoned. Therefore—as an addition to my memories with my father-in-law, we collaborated on the spell and completed it at night.
We relax in front of the furnace side by side while sipping coffee. My dogs are sleeping around us too. "Father, how long did you create the world of Asfara?" I opened the conversation as hospitable as—surprisingly—my niece.
"Hmm, in the first month, I created the dark forest. I built my office there and studied my spells until I felt lonely. In the second month, I created pishnies. I gave them affectionate and frisky characteristics. In the third month, I created the portals on the earth into my world including the huge statues outside Asfara. In the fourth month, I created the land I called Asfara—adopted from the name of my foster mother who taught me the spells of creation. I made it an abundant land.
"In the fifth month, I created the colossal castle for the whole pack. In the sixth month, I created the pond. I filled it with memories that I removed from Hessuel in preparation for his return. And in the seventh month, I rested in peace. It was a total of seven months. I lost a huge amount of my power and mortality. That was why I named the spell 'Finger of Immortality'. Because only immortals can create such a world like this."
He gave me a scroll from his spellbook. "You have a spell that defies mortality. Maybe I can pass on the spell of creation to you. Study it."
"Y-You're giving this to me for free?"
"Just make it useful."
"Thank you!" I rub with my finger the carved name on the scroll. "You love naming your spell, huh?"
"Hm? You don't?"
"... I'm lazy," I excused myself.
"You should start naming them. What will you name your spell for Hessuel?"
"Since... it's for him... then I shall name it after him. 'In loving memory of Hessuel'."
"That sounds painful."
I cuddle with him, laughing and bonding. The house felt big. The lights were brighter. It was more peaceful than ever notwithstanding nothing literally changed.
The next day—without wasting more days—we traveled to Lanbarc to make this house louder, to see how much my love for my mate can conquer all.