User:Nextoy/Short Stories/Circle

Serenahd. A seemingly derelict ship lost in space, with a crazed captain as the only natural resident life form. He keeps all essential functions running, with only a few hiccups here and there. Any repairs that Sabik, the deus ex machina of a captain, cannot fix, surely the ship he is approaching could.

At least, that’s what Kaeber had thought upon seeing the Caesura appear in the distance.

Somehow the nobleman had ended up aboard this strange place. He hid how much the technological difference between his own kingdom and this spacefaring vessel had astonished him. To go from a land where the most daring of ships would be felled by the seas and its monsters to one that could glide along the infinite void in a state of disrepair without any worries was something he wouldn’t have the chance to get used to. All he could do was stare out a window and wonder what he could have possibly done to got himself tied up in this mess.

Especially surrounded by strangers, both living and dead. Strangers who seem to be as equally equipped to deal with the mechanisms of this ship as he is. The best equipped for this situation was either the alchemist or the bard, far as he could tell. The rest were like him, swordsmen and sorcerers that had no familiarity with this kind of technology. The only one he didn’t know what to make of was that strange man with his lobster.

“Kaeber-Ros, what do you make of it?” Kaeber asked his guardian. The beast did not speak in words or visuals, but instead communicated with emotions and concepts. Kaeber would get the feeling of a reply. And this one was similar to most he had gotten in the past: mild intrigue ultimately smothered by the guardian’s apathetic nature.

“Why did you trust me?” The a voice rang through, making no attempt at a formal greeting. Kaeber sighed as he was brought back to the real world. The scarlet swordsman stood in front of him.

“Should I not?” Kaeber asked, a smirk returning to its rightful place on his expression.

“You showed distrust for almost everyone else. You aren’t stupid or naive.” Sorrell kept her distance from the noble. Their kind had no place in her life, yet this one insisted on injecting himself.

“That’s because none of the others seemed trustworthy to begin with. All except one, anyways.”

“Trusting someone just for his title is foolish.” They both spoke of the judge, Victor. Kaeber had shown blind trust in both Victor and Sorrell. To trust a judge was simply in the nobleman’s nature, but why would he trust one armored assassin but not the other?

“Kaeber-Ros seemed familiar with people like you.” Kaeber spoke, leading to more confusion. “You have the stench of a killer, but not the eyes of one.” “You’re joking, right?” Sorrell narrowed her eyes beneath her helmet, but Kaeber merely begun pacing the room with that smirk still on his face.

“You mentioned being a mercenary, right?” Kaeber asked, with Sorrell silently confirming. “Yet I do not sense innocent blood on your hands. Instead you remind me of a knight spoken about in my home. One who’s blade only accepted work that guaranteed death upon those who would take it.”

Under normal situations Sorrell would care not for such stories. But if it was relevant to his trust, then perhaps this Kaeber was going somewhere with it.

“If what Kaeber-Ros tells me was right, then you and that knight were one in the same. Warriors abandoned by something or another, only caring about the dangers of your work and not the money involved. Am I right?” Kaeber stopped pacing and looked upon Sorrell.

“You don’t know me. Stop acting as if you do.” Sorrell warned.

Kaeber merely raised up his hands and shrugged, the long sleeves of his coat falling down before getting caught at his wrist. He silently turned back to the window and looked out into the vacuum of space. There was a strange beauty about it that he didn’t understand. It wasn’t like staring up into the night sky. Something about this was far more pure.

“You’re right, I really don’t know you. But what I do know is that neither of us really belong here. Perhaps in another world I’d have you as one of my knights.” Kaeber stared into the vastness of space as he spoke. “You’re a mercenary, yes?”

“Are you trying to hire me, or is there some ulterior motive?” Sorrell asks, with Kaeber turning to look upon the knight in red.

“I’ve been mark for death. What ulterior motive could I possibly have?” Kaeber quipped. He turned back out to space before continuing. “I’m just thinking out loud. Thinking of another world where we hadn’t been stuck on this death trap of a ship, and your services could be used for something good.”

“Perhaps in that world, Sir Knight, you wouldn’t have to be dressed in armor stained with blood. Nor would we have to witness a child having been drowned upon waking up. A world where maybe that judge would have lead a healthy life, and the other knight would have peacefully served under Servas. As much of a bastard as that nobleman is.”

“Are you done?” Sorrell couldn’t muster up any interest in this man’s musings, as much as she tried.

“He said there will always be a Corsail, right? I wonder, who’s the Corsail of our worlds?” Kaeber asked, walking away from the window and towards the scarlet swordsman. “Then again, perhaps such a question is foolish. We may not return to our worlds.”

“There are worse fates.” Sorrell commented as Kaeber passed her.

“ARE YOU TWO FINISHED? | We cannot wait all day.” Sabik asked, his machine form materializing before them. This, too, was probably a phantom and not the main body. The captain had powers that seemed integrally tied to the ship, with this being one.

“Yes, I’m quite finished.” Kaeber would spend his last thoughts wondering whether or not his kingdom would one day see the stars as he did today. Not because such scientific advancement was important, which he acknowledged to be the case, but because he would have loved to see Grace’s awestruck expression upon viewing exotic constellations on all sides.