The Sebekem Ocean
10th of Autumn
15th Bell
Everything was completely ruined.
Again.
Orion hadn't intended to get himself caught on a boat. He'd simply been called by some medical emergency involving a youth. A foolish sense of responsibilty, one developed over the past few years, had led him to leave the relative safety of Sunberth's solid ground, and put himself on the creaky planks of a merchant ship.
It was only supposed to be temporary. It was only supposed to be long enough to treat a child. Instead, Orion found himself below decks when the vessel cast away from the shore, searching for the one who had left the note at the Sunset Orphanage asking for his assistance, or at least that of a physician, as had been requested.
No one listened to his pleas to turn around. Beyond the tools of his trade, the clothing on his back, and the weapons constantly at his side thanks to Sunberth's dangers, he had nothing. Beyond that, Orion lamented leaving the children behind without so much as a goodbye. The friends he had made would just assume he ended up dead in an alleyway, and move on with their lives. But the children, some were ill, injured, and in need of his help.
When did I become so fucking soft?The ship's captain had nearly forced Orion to steel his emotions with a litany of threats against the physician. He'd been called a stowaway, and promised a trip back into the ocean - a concept which Orion quite opposed. While not a full blown phobia, the ex-squire had developed a healthy appreciation for the dangers of the deep. Thankfully, nary was there a ship which could not use a doctor.
The ship's gentle rocking was a welcome shift from the violation thrashing which had sent him overboard the last time he sailed. A strong current pushed the ship along, assisted by a soft sea breeze. Sailors moved about the deck, experience showing in their movements. They had no issues navigating the constantly shifting floor beneath them, a feat which Orion had never been able to master.
The blue eyed warrior sat near the center of the boat, back resting against the base of a mast. His fingers were intertwined with one another, elbows placed against his knees to form a triangle on which he could rest his chin. His lids were drooped, weary from the sleep which had evaded him throughout the ordeal. Each time he drifted off, a jerk of the boat brought him to awareness.
Sighing softly, Orion tried to decide his next move, but nothing came to him. The ship was bound for Zeltiva. He wondered, would Yahal punish him? The god had direct him to Sunberth on a mission to destroy a creature of Krysus, masquerading as his ex-lover, Lyla. In the near year which he lived in the city neither had made an appearance before him. He was supposed to destroy her, with Yahal's mark to protect him and guide him. Nothing had happened. Yahal had asked that he have faith, but Orion found such a thing in short supply.
Instead, as life had forced him to do time and time again, Orion would wait and see what twist he would face next.