"I'm not doing it."

"Oh, come on. Can you honestly think of a better way to get on?"

Gavin could only glare at Aoife, her violet eyes practically glowing in amusement as he continued to stand on the edge of a dock, staring up at the anchor of the ship she'd chosen. Forget his lack of being able to swim. The pure amount of people around them made sneaking impossible, all bustling about with boxes of fishes, goods, and knowing Malin, illegal items, if one knew where to look. He shuddered at the idea of his own carved off flesh out there somewhere, being 'sold for the war effort'. A scoff left his lips. A quick sale to see if Dávoln meat truly could be used to gain magik, maybe.

All the same, he shook his head, trying to get the attention of the girl who seemed far more interested in watching two men in the distance. "No, but this is impossible. You want us to climb up the anchor and haul ourselves inside a boat, while we are surrounded by people ready to catch us. Do you want to end up right back where we started?"

"Shh..." She pressed a finger to his lips, making him step back immediately. "Do you hear that?"

There was a lot of noise, given that it was a marketplace, but none of it stuck out to him in particular. "No?"

She gave him a blank stare. "You don't hear the men arguing, maybe twenty paces away?"

He tipped his head to the side to look at the same people she'd stared at before. Surely, their mouths moved, and given the way the dark-skinned Human flung his hands out, he was angry at the Demon man over something, but what exactly, Gavin had no clue. "No? Why would I? They're all the way over there."

Aoife pushed a few dark, wavy locks out of her face, confused. "...You're joking, right?"

"I toldja you were deaf! I said it 'ow many times, but no! You just couldn't listen to me. Fittin', now that I think about it."

Gavin shoved Eldrazi's voice away. Somewhere in his chest, he felt a flicker of annoyance or perhaps embarrassment, but it was soft, muted, like most emotions. Part of him wondered if that too, was something wrong with him to be added to the list, but he didn't have time to worry about it at the moment. There was too much going on elsewise.

"Anyways, what are they saying then that's going to magikally put us onto a ship without getting caught?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"It's not so much going to solve how we get onto the ship, but more what one we get on. You see..." She pointed an eager finger at the Human, turning to board a ship slightly further down with a huff. "That Demon there said something about that man having some kinda connection to the Lochulan. Apparently he borrows his Will to make his ship go the fastest, and whoever gets to the mainland first for them gets to set the prices, but for us..."

"-It has us leaving the fastest," he filled in for her.

"Exactly." She gave him a sly smile. "So, are you ready to practise your climbing?"

"What?" He almost shouted, not liking the way a few passers-by shot him a concerned look. He tugged the hood tighter to his face before turning back to her. "But we don't have a plan or-"

She was gone.

"Aoife!" he called out, but despite how tall the girl was, there were too many heads in the crowd to keep track of.

Come on! Couldn't she have given me some sort of indication? Or signal? Or-

As if to answer, a torrent of screams rose through the docks, the direction of traffic rushing against him as the hundreds of taller people around him turned to run. Confused, he raised himself up on his toes to see, but he didn't have to before the smell of smoke hit him, the air much thicker than the Dust usually kept it. Then he could hear crackling, the crowd falling away until he could make out a ship, completely engulfed in violet flames.

"So about that signal..."

Gavin could only stare with wide eyes. But why would she light an entire boat on fire?

"Probably for the same reason as to why she landed in a prison."

Is she psychotic? Mad or not though, her instructions tore through Gavin as the ship beside him began to pull away from the harbour, shouts echoing to leave immediately. This was his chance to get off the island. It was jump now, or be left behind.

The anchor drew up, one chain link at a time, and with a glance over both shoulders, Gavin dashed towards it. As the last wooden board of the harbour cut out beneath his feet, he narrowed his gaze on a single link, preparing to latch on. His boots left the dock in a smooth leap, and the cool touch of curved metal met his fingers, but only for a moment. Then wind rushed up from below, black, silky waves ready to greet him.

He plunged into the ocean, caustic liquid stinging his eyes and mouth. It tasted of sour soap, but only until his tongue burned, begging him to get out of the waves. But he couldn't. Gavin reached out a single hand, trying to grasp through the thick, yet smooth water, but he couldn't see anything more than the shrinking circle of light above him.

"Hey Gav, didja know your 'eart rate is dropping by a lot? It actually kind of 'urts in 'ere, so I recommend learning to swim and breathe soon. "

"Gav?"

"Gav!"

Gods, the water was cold. Ridiculously cold. It bit at Eldrazi's fingers and pricked at his face like thousands of icy needles that he didn't ask for. His limbs felt numb as he pushed them out, kicking with his legs until his head burst through the ocean's inky surface. Even as he choked on the Dusty air, it came as a sweet relief as he floated closer to the rising chain of the anchor, grabbing at it until his entire body was pulled along with it. He shivered as it pulled him into the crisp breeze whipping across the sea, but with a quick glance upwards, he could tell it wouldn't be much longer before he'd be tugged into the hole of the ship's side.

For a moment, Eldrazi sat there, looking at the market below. In the distance, purple fire continued to eat away at the wooden bodies of ships, spreading into the island of Malin itself. Even with no people left behind, a flicker of fear ran through his spine, all the way down to the tail he was curling around his legs.

Fire.

He hated it, the way it ate at everything until there was nothing left. The last time he'd dealt with magik like that, the Dragon had melted his flesh away until he was little more than ash. Then he'd been sent to Astren, his spirit wandering through the empty, eternal darkness of the afterlife. Even once he'd found Gavin, even once he'd gotten out of that awful, suffocating nothingness to find the Dragon race long since extinct... the memory had never faded.

So why? He thought to himself as the chain finally wound enough to lift him into the side of the ship, slipping through the circular hole to find a wide open storage room. It wasn't hard to ease Gavin's small body off the chain link and onto boxes running along the wall from there, and soon his feet were securely on the floor, leaving a trail of water behind. He shook his head wildly, flinging the greyish drops to the floor. Why do I want to help this girl?

Every aspect of her sent shivers through him, and it wasn't as though she had anything to particularly pique his interest. She was a Halfbreed with basic magik, not even the strange colour something to bat an eye at in the grand, boring scheme of a universe that had the audacity to go on and on and on... And yet, right now, a part of him was hoping she made it safely onto the ship with him. Like him leaving on the ship alone would be abandoning her once again. But he'd never met her before; he was sure of that.

More frustration ran through him, but whether it was because of caring for Aoife's wellbeing, or the dampness making Gavin's hair cling uncomfortably to their neck, he didn't know. Grabbing the green ribbon off their wrist, he yanked it back, tying the fabric around it. After all, if the empty silence in his mind meant anything, Gavin would be out for a few hours, which meant for now, he had the option to do as he pleased.

At least, whatever he could do after focusing on forcing the boy's heart to beat at the ridiculously fast pace Human's wanted so badly, not to mention the lungs, and all the other fleshy bits that being alive seemed to come with. Moving was much easier when Gavin was awake, but it wasn't as though it was Eldrazi's first time... just still an annoyance.

After stabilising the important things, he glanced around at the ship's cargo he'd managed to land himself in. Among the boxes was a crate of dried meat, and with a wrench of his knife, the wood burst apart, allowing him access to the hundreds of jerky strips inside. With a flick of his tongue, he could tell it was venison, but it was followed by another scent, one of ash and mulberries. The 'Alfbreed girl.

"I leave you for ten minutes and you start stealing?"

He turned to find Aoife standing there, hands on the hips of her russet tunic. There was no anger on her face though, her thin lips holding that same smirk.

"You left us for ten minutes and started arson. I believe we're even, and besides that, I just escaped prison. Why shouldn't I celebrate?" Eldrazi shrugged, laying back onto the crate. Above him, footsteps echoed along the ceiling, but he doubted anyone would head down to the storage so soon after leaving. If they did, there were plenty of things to hide behind, and if that wasn't enough, he'd fight, but for now, he wanted to relax. Nearly dying did that to the Human body, it seemed. So he reached into the box for another piece of meat, handing it to Aoife. "Want one?"

She nodded, and Eldrazi went to pass it along when her head snapped to the side, her arm jumping, startled. Craning his head forward, he tried to see what she was staring at along the tenebrous walls, but there was nothing there save for more goods, and the gentle curve of the ship's interior. Finally he turned to her, confused. "What's the matter?"

She sighed, her worried expression shoved off her face as she waved the concern away. "Nothing. I thought I saw a Shar Drak'na slipping in between the boxes."

A Shar Drak'na? Eldrazi frowned. "What, are you scared of them or somethin'?"

Aoife laughed. It was a warm, hearty sound. "Not really. I think it'd be a bit hypocritical if I was. No, they're just so unpredictable. Pure chaos... no god to guide them. It's a bit nerve-wracking, don't you think? Not what we need when we're so close to getting out of here."

Eldrazi only bit his lip in thought, letting a fang poke out as he eyed the dark. The shadowy creatures had never bothered him much, despite their tendency to prank the other races. If anything, they were fun, tracking muddy footprints all over the house while you slept, or giving little tricks of the light. Truth be told, it was something he'd do himself, if Gavin wasn't such a stickler for blending in. But that was another matter, and for this...

He gave Aoife another shrug. "Not really. Besides, a little chaos keeps life interestin' when you've got all eternity to live it, right?"

He went to throw a small punch to her shoulder with a grin, but she ducked away, continuing to stare off. So instead he turned back to the meat, his mouth dipping into a frown.

Gavin had assumed she was a Halfbreed, and on some levels, Eldrazi agreed with him. She had violet eyes when Eunsis typically had blue, and Demons red on occasion. Her magik was certainly a strange choice given people's usual denouncement of the vanished fire god, but then again, hadn't she said that magik didn't come from the gods? The only truly odd thing with her then was that her ears were rounded instead of sharp points or feathers like the other two races, but then again, the Will of the Eunsi's god, Eór, could form illusions. She could look like anything, and choosing a Human guise was neutral enough to help to blend in more.

But from one Immortal to another, she's a mite too quiet, and that's not the only thing not linin' up.

Leaning back, Eldrazi tossed a glance out the rounded window of the ship, catching the first of the goddess' three moons climbing into the sky. The white light cast an almost mature beauty against the black of the sea, moonbeams calling out into the rich blue of the night above. It cupped the stars so brilliantly, all entwined by the grey, Dusty rings that orbited Esternia.

Ah, whatever.

Fifty-three days in that prison, four years in the one before that. So what if the girl was strange? If it could let him live all this again, then it was worth it. Gods be damned. He was alive, and he was going to live until he died once more. And, as much as something in his heart made him want to keep Aoife safe, if she stepped in between his bond with Gavin... if her and her secrets ever dared to preemptively send him back to Astren...

The Shar Drak'na wouldn't be the only thing she'd have to fear.