[SC] The Tides of Change

[Bezyle]

The regulars here looked like what you would expect, fisherman, butchers, chefs, and sailors. There was however an odd bunch, they were eye sores compared to all of the others here, sticking out like a sore thumb, and no wanted them here. An emissary from meticulous, and soldiers from draconian. Always meant trouble for everyone else when ever they had managed to cross the damn dam. Some of them would set sail and of course swim over to our side of the woods, but even before the calamity no one ever liked the city folk that came to visit and beg for the toils of our hard labor. An entire plattoon, a group of fifty people or so walked in formation, marching down the docks, the platoon leader would shout out commands and every once in a while one the men would jump out of formation and begin to question someone the platoon leader Jauraumer suspects thought looked suspicious. 

Jaurumer was sitting on the edge of the docks, a short tuft of brown hair waving in his eyes. He was shirtless and barefoot, wittling away at a piece of wood as long stretchy fingers positioned it for his small knife. When he heard the marching foot steps of the army approaching. He didnt think to look there way or risk being marked for doing something suspicious. "Mark Time March!" The Platoon began to march in place as their leader called them to a halt. They stood perfectly still waiting for further commands as the platoon leader began to walk down the dock and reaching out tapped a finger on Jauraumer's shoulder. Without standing up or stopping what he was doing "How can I help you commander" He spoke so as to not sound smug, or arrogant but he made sure there were no hints of kind intentions in his voice. 

Around them the buzz and humm of relaxed conversation was lost between the two of them. "Deus Dominus Jaurumer au Los correct?" He asked, as golden locks dangled downward, he breaking a very common rule in etiquete of a god lord... "A god lord should never be looked down on" He thought to himself. "you own the slave trade community that was being directed overseas..." The platoon leader was well dressed, while his troops looked ready for a battle to break out at any minute. The Commander was dressed elegantly, typical for an emissary of Meticulous white overcoat, black tailored shirt and pants, emblems from past accomplishments in his service to his house no doubt.  It was windy, windy enough for a storm to blow in despite the depth of the clear blue skies. The golden hilt catching a small ray of sunshine and reflecting it back into the ocean where Jauraumer could see the man standing above him.

(This is an Open invitation to anyone, to play anything or anyone outside of the things I currently have control over, you know the people, you know what house they are from, now lets go on an adventure)

[Stimmothy]

The only one who broke formation was a young man named Lan. He sat on a wooden pillar next to the pier and looked out onto the sea, leaning his metallic staff against his torso. It was a prototype, full of energy related flaws, but it was strong and it hit stuff which was all he really cared about at this moment.

The smell of the sea air was something that he missed. Even with the Calamity, it had a sense of freedom with it. He couldn't get too lost in thought though, he was here for a purpose. He turned his big joyful eyes towards the man that his "leader" was talking to. He didn't seem like a bad man, just different. Lan wondered what was to come from this

[Bezyle]

Jauraumer nodded, agitated by all of the attention that was being brought to him, rather than be swallowed by the public view he fixed his hair, so that everyone could see exactly who he was. "Yes I am that man... what do I owe for such a visit to my docks commander... come to enforce your way of life on another poor member of my kin... or are you here to admit defeat and request aid on behalf of your... what do you call it these days... Sovereign?" He spit into the sea, after using the word... any man that served another... in his mind... was a slave. So speaking to the commander alone left a bad taste in his mouth. He slowly began to stand, he did this carefully so as to make sure no one thought he had ill intent.


The commander sighed, "Actually we came here to see you free all of your slaves... or have them forcefully freed via your demise... you have been providing far too much support to our adversaries via sea, many of the ships that we have recently taken belonged to you at some point so we suspect that you are the primary supplier... on top of that we have reason to believe that before the calamity you were also smuggling drugs into the city, this is only due to evidence that we found when capturing and then freeing slaves of yours. Those who we found useful were given rewards, still ashamed of course... but the wealthy shamed live far better than slaves"


Jauraumer scoffed, disgusted by the mear thought, "So you mean to tell me... that not only did you steal from me... but you also choose to believe the lies of men who would probably want me dead anyway... interesting... well until you come back with better proof commander... I will be taking my leave now...." He turned away to be on his way.

[Apollo]

Apollo stood in front of the man, scowling he was younger then most of the soldiers here but he was none the less held in high regard due to his specific training. While he had the title of a mere private due to his age, they often gave him responsibilities of a Sergeant first class, Always eager to take charge of the positions he and his comrades found themselves in. He had been a mouse initially but seeing that the conversation was not going in his commanders favor, he transformed as a means cutting of the slavers path so that the conversation could continue, either by words, or by violence. Apollo held a careful grip the side arm that was holstered on his right hip, brandishing it in front of the Deus Dominus in an attempt to put him in his place.

[Stimmothy]

Lan lightly hummed to himself as he watched what was going on. To be fair, he didn't understand why they all came after Jara, he was one guy and even if there were a bunch of slaves so what? It was who they were supposed to be. When Apollo moved in though, that's when Lan tensed, almost ready to spring up. Lan respected the young mouse and wouldn't hesitate to jump in if things were heated. "Mister," Lan called out to Jauraumer, "Even if there's a misunderstanding it doesn't look like things will be good if you don't hear everyone out I guess. I'd be careful around that one, he may not look it but he's pretty strong." Lan's childish smile, a means of trying to show lack of ill will, seemed to offset his words.

[IsaacAran]

Phillip, working at the docks for merely a bit of food, couldn't help but hear and look at the commotion down the way. Sure he noticed the legion soldiers moving by but he wasn't sure what they were here for. However, once he looked closer, he recognized the Deus Dominus pretty quickly. Jauraumer was one of the few that had hunted Phillip for his strength in order to use it against the legion now standing nearby. Phillip felt a combination of things, shame that he didn't make it far, fear that he was going to be captured, anger that he couldn't get away. However, the courage of two young men standing in the Deus's way made Phillip reflect a bit. He wanted to see and hear what was going on. He forced himself to take his bird form and flew over, landing on Lan's staff, watching Apollo intently.

[Bezyle]

Jau froze in his tracks, noting a slight resemblance of himself in the boy that now openly threatened a great Deus Dominus within his own realm. "Call off your boy Commander... this is your last warning... I have broken no laws and by coming at me this way in these harsh times... I will be forced to take action... and no one here wants that... let's do this the civilized way... or as you would call it... honorable... yes... you gentleman have a way of doing things or am I wrong... do you have no honor commander" When he spoke, he did not turn his eyes locked with the haze of red that lingered in Apollo's stare. His breathing became shallow, as he took long gasps for air, at the same time his breaths were quiet extremely quiet the only indication being his lungs growing wider made his frame increase with each breath shrinking back down as the calmness around him slowly began to fade. A voice broke his concentration, someone called him mister, definitely something he hadn't been referred to as before, someone else was in his realm not unwelcome but foreign.


The Commander curled his fingers into a tight fist, his honor being spoken about so casually, that alone was an insult that couldn't go unanswered.. and yet his nerve was stilled, if he took action against the Deus Dominus now... he would be proven to be barbaric, and should he not take action he would present an opportunity for someone to report his shame... the Deus Dominus possibly being the one to do it. He was of House Meticulous... he could not be burdened with these decisions, luckily for him he had an eager little mouse on his side. "Apollo, take the lead guarantee that no slaves remain under his control you now have full control over my staff and resources... I will be going to acquire a warrant through the proper means... in the meantime you are to keep the Dominus under close watch.

Jau let loose a sigh, "Passing off your duty commander... so disappointing..." He shoved Apollo and began to walk past him. As he made his way down, a small slave girl quickly ran to him, towel in hand, and began to dry his bare feet, two other young boys collected the knife he had been using to wilt, and the wooden whale figure that had been shaped and crafted with attention to detail. Once his feet were dry he turned as to mock them.

[Apollo]

As the man locked eyes with him, as he felt the man's breathing chill a gust of cold wind blew he could feel it on the sides of his arms, but this god lord stood in front of him, blocking the harsh cold that could nip and frost the wetness on the tip of his nose. A cold… no… something made him scared… that was always the case when he was scared, and he was only scared when he didn't know what exactly he was up against. Something took him back, a form of ptsd almost as if something of this man reminded him of the past he so desperately tried to hide from his peers. He snapped too, his thoughts that were initially on apprehending his target were then shifted to following him, and freeing his slaves one by one somewhat in secrecy… but it would be difficult to free them, he knew that world all too well, most would rather be slaves to good masters… as opposed to being shamed “I don’t know what this man is capable off… but he seems terrifying” 




The simple fact that he was so calm and collected but at the same time seemed as if he could pounce at a moments notice reminded him of his former master, friend, father… He acknowledged his new orders, but as soon as he done so he had been shoved to the side, as as soon as the man moved a torrent of bitter cold wind blew over him his eyes widened as the shock somewhat nearly distracted him, so much so that a large rat tail fell out of his trousers, lucky for him it was something his commander was used to seeing. He didn't dawdle, that tail gave him a new sense of balance as he followed the slave owner, not masking his presence at all. There was no need… Jau knew his intent, what bothered Apollo though was why didn’t Jau try to stop him at this point… “How bloody powerful is he…”

[Stimmothy]

Lan looked at his commander, then to Jau, and back at least once more before giving Apollo a confused look. If this is how it was going to turn out, then what was the point of mobilizing everybody?  A small specialized force could've taken care of most of this. And for that matter why give up quickly? Because of appearances? One is always supposed to fight for what they believed in, or so Lan was taught. He never really understood these customs but he knew if he didn't follow them he'd get in trouble again. 

Lan had a quick thought to attempt to trip Jau up with his staff since the Deus Dominus was being gruff and calloused to both the commander and Apollo, but Lan bit his tongue and simply stood making sure he was close but not in the way. His confusion and concern mostly melted away when he noticed the pretty hummingbird perched on his staff. "What's your name?" he smiled at it pulling it closer. The young man pouted when it flew off his staff. However that was dissipated when he noticed it remained nearby.

[IsaacAran]

Phillip hovered decently close to Apollo, close enough that if Jauraumer turned around, he or his slaves may be able to recognize the bird.. Something about the heart of the young man made Phillip comfortable enough to risk that. Phillip was almost tempted for a brief second to attack Jau, though he knew that was dishonorable and decided against it. The excitable child was more of a distraction than anything else, luckily Phillip could fly. 

The man waited near Apollo, just in case Jauraumer did something quick and horrid. Subverting others to your will was wrong, and if Apollo and this legion would help to change that, Phillip would lend every ounce of strength he could to that. His small beady eyes burned into the back of the slavers skull.

[Bezyle]

Jau made his way to another area of the docks where one of his vessels rested, sure that the soldiers would follow him. His slaves ran the ship and were keeping it clean as the whips cracked of the Dominus and Domina under Jau's employment. The ship was made of wood, an antique vessel that was more for sport and appearance than anything else, on the hull the words Vessel of God were etched onto the side. He called out to one of his domina she jumped down swinging on a rope and landing on the docks next to her employer. Jau aimed a finger at Apollo whispering something in the the mistress' ear. He then began to climb up the rope, "come along young soldier... if you want to free my slaves you'll need to meet them all"


The Domina smirked and then took off for some destination or another, the orders she was given a secret mission. The slaves of the ship began to line up dropping everything they were doing. They all bowed down pressing their foreheads to the ground. They didn't speak, one of them had been shivering as the other Domina and Dominus hovered above them presenting the worth of their training towards the God Lord.


Jau began to inspect them, "Gentleman... the Draconian and Meticulous Sovereign have asked me to free my slaves... should any of my slaves be free would any of them not be shamed? would they be free?" There was silence as they all knew not to speak or risk punishment, speaking without being given the right to speak alone was reason for punishment. He then pointed to a young man, he couldn't have been much older then apollo "You... speak... do you wish for freedom slave?" The Domina that was supervising him kicked him slightly, and the slave stood up, and waited. "You have permission to speak slave"


The small slave boy shivered, the pressure overtaking him, he did not hesitate in stating "I do not wish for freedom, as being free would mean being less than what I am" Jau nodded and the slave went back into that bowing position, the fear he appeared to have had somewhat shrunk down.

[Apollo]

Apollo followed Jau as he had been instructed, he then made an eye signal with Lan and two other members of their platoon and pointed at the girl indicating that they should follow her. The risk of her getting information about what was going on to people who could aid Jau once their commander returned with a proper means of doing what they came to do. He then followed Jau up the rope and seeing the ship had a sense of awe, he had never seen anything like it, outside of books and the ships that he saw being sunk over the last year.


The hummingbird that had been near him left him suspicious of it, he then looked around and motioned for the others not to follow him and instead wait there on standby in case something more tragic on the ship would occur. He smelled a trap waiting for him, and if he could spring the trap then he could use that alone as a probable cause to take action. "So why show me all of this slaver... just because you have a few slaves too afraid to oppose your will you expect me to go away..." He scoffed combing his hair back with his hands.


His eyes narrowed at the small boy whose fear seemed to vanish, he remembered the feeling of security his last master gave him. 

[Stimmothy]

Lan seemed to frown, being forced to chase a girl on the off chance she may set things astray. Would've just been easier to bring her to the ship and make sure she didn't leave. However, he'd follow her and wait for signals from the others just in case. The four split, looking down different avenues and paths with Lan following the girl at a slight jog to keep up. It wasn't the first time they did this and it wouldn't be the last.

A few of the regulars grunted and attempted to loosely block the legionnaires from following, but between their skills, it barely bought any distance. It only bought her enough to start mentioning what had happened to three brutish people in the background. Lan thought they looked like a group of people led by the wolf guy they had to retreat from a while back, except these ones had different brands in various places on their skin and they were dirtier in a different way. Lan was the first one on the scene and was quickly rushed.

Lan easily dodged the first wave watching as his target began to slip by. His face furrowed into a childish scowl as he quickly switched his focus to the combatants in front of him. He quickly evaded the swings and strikes, barely noticing that they had drawn weapons. Once he had decided he got enough distance between them a slight click and a hiss popped from the end of his staff. A curved blade of plasma shot in a reddish hue about 18 inches out from the main shaft. Lan gave a wide eyed smile as he rushed in quickly swinging the staff in quick circles in order to continue to keep his foes at bay and push an attack, looking for openings. "Got you!" Lan giggled as he swung at an opening he created in one of the chests.

"LAN THAT'S ENOUGH! WE ARE NOT HERE TO KILL!" bellowed a blonde officer who stood in front of the youth, holding the Domina bound and over his shoulder.

"I just wanted to end this quickly," Lan pouted, as he drew back turning off the blade as the other two members of the squad Apollo sent flanked the group. Since his fun was ruined,  Lan hoped they moved quickly enough to get back to the ship before anything happened.

[IsaacAran]

Phillip landed on a net nearby, choosing to watch the events unfold. He looked at the recently punished slave's back, the lashes open, raw and bleeding from the intensity of the lashings. It almost made him remember of people that beat him for fun as a boy, or those that beat him to get their money back. He almost wanted to lash out at all the "lords" here. However slow he may be, Phillip wasn't foolish. He knew he was outnumbered and that the young man he was following would attack him as much as help him at this point.

The young leader was brave if foolish. How could anyone else save him if the Jau decided to attack? No, Phillip decided to fly to a higher point, between the boy and lord, waiting for one to make a move.

[Bezyle]

Jau nodded, "see that the young man is rewarded for his loyalty, clean him up and send him to the deeper level of the ship" Four other slaves then ran up and put a towel on the boys bloody and bruised back eager to do as they were told. There was no fear here, only pain, and suffering but it was all in absolute, nothing ever happened that the slaves were not aware of. "Now as for the rest of you.... get back to work... I want the deck to be in top shape... for when their commander returns... no loose ends... no survivors..." He then turned back to Apollo "I suppose you're not convinced then... and with that I have no other options, you lot are truly ignorant... willing to follow me here... at the same time it is something I can respect..."


He looked to his slaves and nodded, "Slaves... this man aims to free you, thus shaming you... he is a threat to me, and a potential threat to your status... I now give you full permission to do as you wish should you feel threatened" He pressed the tips of his pointer and middle fingers fingers together and sighed, "There... you may speak to them I will not be leaving the ship... I will be in the captain's quarters... anything that happens now is between you and them..." He turned and began to take steps upwards on the ship, and immediately afterwards, the ship's anchor was lifted, the sails fell and the ship began to disembark.

The slaves continued to work, what they intentions or feelings to the situation were completely unknown, the only way to truly know would be to investigate, but something about the aura of the situation, and the impending doom of the ship that lingered wherever the ship sailed would surely settle in his enemies bones. Disrupt their very core.

[Apollo]

As the old wood creaked beneath his feet, and the waves took the ship's balance, Apollo stood unfazed by this thought, his tail kept him balanced, along with some protruding whiskers that had grown abnormally long. His ears began to round out as he was agitated by the situation, mistakenly separating himself from his platoon and squad was his first mistake. His nose twitched, and his teeth began to protrude slightly from his face as he scampered towards a slave on all fours. Once he made it to a slave, he stood on two legs and locked eyes with him, He then looked out towards all of the other slaves and began to shout... "Look.... if you all stop piloting this ship right now and come with me... I will adopt all of you into House Baer... you will not be shamed... your status will only increase... and you don't have to worry about this life anymore... I can promise you a better life..."


Not a soul, budged... He was just a boy in their eyes... powerless, he was a slave... just like them... taking orders and doing the bidding of others... One of the Dominus chuckled. "You have no power here boy.... no worth... you might as well be one of them..." The Dominus walked up to him and locked eyes with him, "Why don't you just jump in the water and turn tail... rat boy... actually... you look kind of familiar... something about you... you've been on this ship before... haven't you..."

Fear swelled up inside Apollo's chest, fear of being discovered seized his actions as his tail slipped around and latched onto the slavers foot and flung him overboard. He knew he was in trouble now, this was no longer following orders... he had to kill every slaver on this ship to protect his secret. He unsheathed his sword, and immediately struck down one of the domina, his blade stuck in her spine as she screamed. He kicked her off his blade, looking around to hunt down the next one, and he would end with Jau... he was tired of playing these games of democracy.

[Stimmothy]

Lan came just as the ship was pulling out of port. The legionnaires began to panic, some doing partial shifts in order to make it to the ship but even Lan knew that wasn't going to work fast enough as they'd have to travel on the wind. Lan looked at the angle of the ships motion, getting into a starting stance holding his staff in front of him.

The commanding officer gave charge of the four captives to a few of those who would have to be left behind regardless before approaching Lan. "So how many of us do you think you can take with you?" Lan's focus didn't break as he waited for the ship to line up.

"Two maybe?" he made it a question. "I mean If we leave now and they aren't much bigger than you. I could do more but then I couldn't fight for a while." The officer stripped off some of the higher weight armor and called over a skilled female soldier. "Hold on tight!" Lan said as the gripped decently hard onto him. He rushed quickly, using a lot of his muscles to gain speed as he quickly approached the end of the dock. His eyes widened in excitement as he tilted the end of his staff down catching it hard on the end of the dock, forcing it to catch and act as a pole vault.

Lan laughed like a child having a great time as the two warriors holding on to him screamed. Realizing he probably overshot his target he grabbed the officer first, trowing him gently towards the deck before turning to do the same to the woman. Lan held tight onto his staff as he shoved it hard into the top of the mast, twirling on it to displace his energy and land safely. Now how was he going to get down with it?

[IsaacAran]

Phillip wished for a peaceful means to end this, though a part of him knew it wasn't likely to happen. He watched the young man's action in fear before a dark resolve came over Apollo. After Apollo struck the first, it wasn't long before a mob of slaves and Domina followed, attempting to outnumber Apollo. Phillip jumped off his perch, shifting to his human form on the way down, landing hard on a group of three to prevent harm from coming to Apollo. "If you fight, you fight fair and honorably" His voice was deep slow and slightly slurred.

Despite his words, not many on the ship cared to listen and he was forced to swing through a mass of slaves, doing his best to cover the young man's back. Three Dominus rushed Phillip, as he was turning back. He couldn't help but do a quick flinch and close his eyes before.... nothing. He opened his eyes to see three resourceful slaves attempting to strangle the Dominus from behind. At least someone decided to keep the fight up and it made the giant smile.

Until he heard screaming coming towards him through the air. He grunted as he caught one then the other quickly, setting them down on the ship. How did that happen? Phillip was really confused but he figured he could use the help. He went quickly, back to fighting hoping that it would all work out.

[Bezyle]

Jau stood in the captain's quarters, his eyes transforming along with the majority of his body as he stood at about fifty percent. A crab claw smashed into the wheel of the ship, He looked to his captain and other slaves that also worked as the crew, "it looks like they are taking another ship from me... lucky I will be able to get away this way... sink the ship if we can't end this rebellion kill the traitors... get me the whale" The crew bowed and scattered as slaves began to fight other slaves, everything came crumbling down quickly, Jau thought he could hold the civil matters a bit longer but something must have set someone off, it was something he hadn't calculated. "That boy must be unpredictable..." A small girl walked up to him "Y-you wanted to s-see me god lord..." She was timid shaking, afraid of what people wanted of her, a herbivore for travel... not war. "Stay close to me dear... I may need you soon"


A group of five slaves each took partial animals forms, one took the form of a fox, and its body burned hot as the wood around his feet caught fire. The other became an ox human hybrid with massive horns, he stomped his feet and then charged at apollo with the hopes his horns would do damage. The last of them grew a large scorpion stinger from his backside, this stinger was green full of visual poison.



On the levels below a different battle was taking place as secret repositories of gunpowder were being gathered and stacked on top of one another, a red haired masculine domina could be seen flinging a whip that could cover the distance of the ship's hull after a long fling of course. The whip hitting the back afterwards would be a brutal one, small tiny splinters on the whip would cause anyone the shriek in pain just by being grazed with it going in any direction.


An elite force of underwater dominus and domina who worked under Jau appeared, possibly hearing about the legion of Draconian soldiers from the "regulars." They exited from the sewers and shot out into the ocean where they would surely cause more chaos for everyone else. 

[Apollo]

As the hummingbird revealed his true form, he had quickly proven which side he was on, Apollo let loose a sigh of relief as he pulled another sword from another slave that had chosen to attack him. His eyes locked as he saw his comrades coming via the air to rescue him from someone he deemed a tyrant. The giant catching them and setting them down put a smile on his face, what made him feel even better though was that the slaves were now rebelling, a secret dream of his, was to destroy those who enslaved him and his mother. See their ships burn, and put an end to their ways forever. This was it... this was the start of the war he always wanted.


Apollo looked at his three new challengers and held out a hand to them, "Break the chains... why fight me... when you can fight Jau... why fight the man who only offers you the right to do what you want to do..." The fox nodded in agreement, but the bull charged him, he grabbed him by the horns ripping off his shirt and throwing it over the bulls eyes, as he went flying overboard. The scorpion shook his head at the moment but feeling the whip of a dominus on his back sent him back into the correct mindset. His stinger jabbed at Apollo with high hopes. Apollo blocked with his sword as the poison dripped and leaked out.  He parried the blow after, then blocked and locked as the stinger grew close to his cheek. Thinking quickly he pushed it to the side and rolled on his back, jumping back to his feet effortlessly and slicing off the men's stinger entirely. The pain and shock on the man's face as his own venom dripped and sprayed all over his human features, his eyes snapped shut and his eyelids swelled as he screamed, the venom entering through his eyes and mouth.


Amidst the chaos, seeing how things hard turned out he pointed his sword towards the captain's chambers flicking the accumulation of poison off of it. He didn't do this as a means of giving command, but despite this the slaves who had the chance took it as him directing them to the source of the problem. It was a warning to Jau... Apollo had managed to fall into his trap. spring it, and turn it on its own master. His sword was pointed as a warning, not just to Jau but to all of those of house Discord.

He let out a loud battle cry as he charged, scampering his way up the stairs hopping on a few foreheads as he shrunk in size, he transformed back into his partial state, where the slaves pounded away at the door, that had been sealed for the safety of the Dominus, the bodies left in the wake of it all, more than three quarters of the ship's crew were being massacred, those strong enough to seek freedom being to much of a match for those who welcomed submission to masters who didn't truly care for them. Fist punched, toes slammed in their boots, and shoulders and elbows ran into the doors over and over. A man screamed out "Coward!" The doors felt impenetrable.

[Stimmothy]

Lan struggled with his staff for a bit before getting frustrated and turning it on causing a loud crack and the tip of the mast to come off. He didn't completely figure out the plan to get down and started to fall. He reflexively reached out grabbing onto some support of a sail before swinging down, mostly safely. As the big man and everyone else ended up watching the door as quite a few slaves tried to assist in attacking Jau, Lan decided instead to try to signal some of the people coming toward them. He caught sight of the Dominus and Domina as they breached and as they began to chase his comrades. He tried to wave and point it out so those that had left could turn around to help their comrades. There was no change so Lan sighed pulling his staff up. his hands moved extremely methodically, the staff had bits that twist, slid, and changed as he press it against his shoulder like some form of rifle. A clicking sound happened as the plasma chamber opened, but no blade came out. Lan took a deep breath, moving his hand nearest him quickly after he finished exhaling. A reddish bolt flew through the air with a loud unusual sound past most of the flying friends. It whistled through the air before cutting through a Domina's shoulder mid transformation. It got quite a few of the Draconian legion to look behind at the docks which was Lan's intent. He smiled and looked around at the ship, figuring out if he was needed after all.

Lan jumped from the elevated platform and worked his way through the crowd towards Apollo. He ended up stopping behind Phillip. "Excuse me mister, but could you open the door for us?" Lan asked loudly to make sure he was heard. "I also think it may be a better idea for you to stay out here for the time being. Be a lookout ya know? I kinda got a bad feeling and the more eyes we have the better." Lan smiled his joyful smile.

[IsaacAran]

Phillip found the young man near him endearing if slightly off putting, and he wasn't sure why. However the child did have a point, if it was addressed oddly. The other officer seemed to give an inaudible sign of protest, possibly hopeful that Apollo would object to just rushing in there. Phillip however paid him no mind as he grunted on a full force punch against the door, knocking it away from it's hinges. Phillip then focused on keeping most of the people out with his size, preventing them from interfering with the Draconian warriors as they figured out what to do. "The young man is right," Phillip told the slaves, "we are best used out here in case something else happens. Can we turn this thing back to land? Look at those on the docks who are fighting." He wasn't sure if his pleas would fall of deaf ears, but he'd be damned if nothing was done to prevent this from happening again

[Bezyle]

As the elite squadron of Dominus and domina breached, they did so in a fifty percent state of beast and man, each of them creatures of the sea. A whale, Shark, Dolphin, sea lion, and hippo emerged climbing up the ship's hull. They began to kill everyone, the dolphin leading them as they attempted to rush to their masters aid. All of sudden a beam of red light struck the dolphin in the shoulder causing her to tumble over and fall into the water, not knowing if she were dead or alive her comrades simply continued their mission. The shark and whale were effective at killing, using massive jaws to bite the heads off, and tossing the bodies aside. The hippo was effective at ignoring the attacks that came for it, his flesh bloody, but his maw filled with crooked and jagged teeth, covered in the blood of his enemies. Despite their efforts the could not reach the door in time before a giant man punched the door open. The Slavers charged and made more haste after that, the hippo transforming to a full eighty percent, stomping on the heads and leaving flattened organs on the stairs, their combined efforts made short work of the small army of slaves that had little combat experience. A few of the slaves jumped overboard to avoid them, taking chances with the sharks below rather than the humanoid sharks on the ship. This was all for naught tho as the killer whale followed, and covered the ocean in blood.


Jau quickly pressed a button, and he and his last faithful slave dropped down a trap door, heading to the lowest point of the ship. He grabbed a microphone in his hand and yelled "I demand you all stop..." He spoke not in his usual tone, but the tone of a god among men. "As you can see we are far from the shore now... and I hold the self destruct means, and I have quite a large beast that will not hesitate to eat you all in one gulp as you are lost at sea... do not follow me... or you will all surely die" His once calm demeanor had been completely shattered upon the realization that some of his slaves actually revolted against him. This was the reckoning he had been warned about, the god lords were being hunted and put to some form of justice. He found it odd, that the allies of Meticulous would hunt him under the guise that he was a slaver... didn't Meticulous use slaves as well... He quickly abandoned the thoughts and went back to focusing on his survival. Now that he had gone from the top of the ship to the very bottom he had a few moments to plan. He grabbed a single small jar that held a spider in it. It was completely red in color, a new breed. The small slave girl he had with him trembled unsure of what was going to happen next. He grabbed her by the hand, and made sure she was close to him.

[Apollo]

Apollo nodded to the giant, in a wordless thank you and stepped into the captains quarters, seeing him plummet to the ground, he instantly followed diving head first into the hole in the ground. He slipped and turns sliding on his stomach, he feared for his life, as he clutched his unsheathed sword making sure he wasn’t accidentally cut by it. It was a mistake to jump down head first as he saw the end, his sword smacked against the hull and was embedded, poking a hole in the ship and allowed water to begin to fill it, additionally he hit his head which had the effect of him becoming dizzy, from the fall, he was lucky to not be dead. He could hear Jau giving orders at this point but couldn’t make any of them out, instead his head rang and he was seeing stars.

[Stimmothy]

"On second thought big man, you follow Apollo." Lan said with a dark glint in his eye and an unsettling smile spreading across his young face, "I've got a handle on this." He turned over to the other two Draconians, "How about you two find the ones still living and help them out, I think I can get this." Lan walked out from the door to the cabin and watched as his aura seemed to make those still able to move out of the way. He twisted his staff around and snapped it into place. Lan was half tempted to start up his blade again, but he held off. Firstly he wanted to enjoy this, secondly he wasn't sure how much energy he had left in it.

Lan wasn't the most physically intimidating person, relatively thin for his size and short for his age. However, that made it so he was underestimated near the beginning of almost every fight and by the time anyone realized the mistake it was often too late. Fortunately, most of the Dominus did just that. They laughed and flexed slightly before Lan stopped in front of them his staff held loosely in front of his body vertically. His face read unimpressed which got under the sharks skin.

A fist flew at Lan who casually side-stepped, using his staff to guide the fist away. In less time than it took to finish the punch motion, Lan quickly used the opposite end to take out the shark's knee and reversed the motion to hit the shark across his chest sending him sliding slightly. "I want to enjoy this." The look in Lan's eye deepened as he readied his stance. "I'm going to need you to try harder."

[IsaacAran]

Phillip paused a moment, unsure if the young man really could handle that many trained people on his own. However, Lan shortly proved that even if he couldn't, enough time could be bought in order to stop Jauraumer. Phillip shifted and flew down the shaft. He noticed Apollo was uneasy, shakey on his feet so Phillip flew in front of him, hoping the bright plumage would keep his attention until Apollo regained his senses.

Phillip had never been so nervous before, well before a fight at least. Here he was, a man with no formal training going against heavily armed armies and merciless tyrants. He needed something to defend himself with. He noticed that Apollo cause a small leak and took some of the water into his beak. It tasted horrid but he'd have to survive. He only had one shot so he had to make it count.

Apollo slowly regained a sense of self as Phillip led him through below decks, looking for Jau. They came across 2 shadows when they reached the center of the ship, and Phillip noticed how one was holding something. He quickly flew in, seeing the red tinge of the spider in the jar but being unable to identify what it was. He reflexively shot his water at it, cracking the jar and killing the creature inside. He dived between the two figures, grabbing the slave and taking her to the end of the room after he shifted. He turned to Jau, prepared to fight by himself if need be.

[Bezyle]

As the Shark stumbled back, the sea lion jumped forward  screaming, and jumped into the air his left foot lifted above his right as his right foot came hurling down on Lan towards his head. The Hippo came charging in, two large feet aimed for his ankles, and should they have missed a large gaping maw would surely catch his ankles.

The killer whale could be heard laughing in the distance as the screams of slaves being eaten alive filled the air. Many begged for help, but as some of them had survived, and begged for death, that death never came as they bled out slowly in the ocean.

As the spider was cut in two, Jau let loose a scream of anger he grabbed at the bird in frustration. Unable to grab him he used his giant claw to swat at the bird, but he was unsuccessful the bird was a man, and the man had stolen his whale. He cursed once more picking up the remains of the dead spider, "It's fine..." He took a breath, "Listen whale... transform... now... go as far as you can... or else..." He glared at the small girl as his claw clamped shut a subtle but stern threat.

As the girl was pulled to safety she tensed her heart skipping a few beats cause her to already begin the transformation before even being ordered too, she was disfigured, transforming the wrong parts of her body in the wrong order, something was wrong with her fear drove her instinct out of all kinds of alignment. She began to pant fear encircling her every thought. She fell to her knees as her body slowly expanded.

Jau seeing her transform knew this was his chance, he charged at the giant with his claw, he did this in a series of flips, not allowing any particular part of his body to be in one space for too long. He grew extra legs that were in the shape of a crab's, able to do wild acrobatics as he kept an odd series of balance. His kicks would follow with his flips, the tips of his feet like small pincers.

[Apollo]

As Apollo was regained himself, he regained his sword and allowed himself to be lead by Phillip, his head became less dizzy and he became more of his right mind, when they made it towards Jau and his slave girl, and not understanding what had happened her to make her become the way she was he jumped to aid her. His actions only made things worse tho, as lungs burst from from a small body, becoming much to big as the girl tried her best to not fully transform despite her feat commanding her. Her ribs broke, her bones ached she screamed. Apollo watched in horror, "Let yourself go... your free..." He stroked the poor girls hair once and then clutched his sword and ran to aid his new giant ally. Catching the claw with his sheathed blade. "Jau... I am now placing you under military arrest... surrender or die...." This was his training coming out, something he had to say before he intended to kill a man to protect his loyalty. This was not a blood feud, this was justice.

[Stimmothy]

Lan side-stepped by pushing off the end of his staff. When his feet touched the floor, his hands quickly rotated and brought his staff up into the sea lions spine hard. He then quickly adjusted his hands again to bring his staff down across the bridge of the hippos nose. He caught sound of the shuffling of feet behind him so he shoved the end of his staff back, catching the shark in the diaphragm. Lan smirked and looked back as the shark doubled over.


The Hippo and Sea lion stood regaining their composure and standing moving to flank Lan. "Much better!" The boy giggled, "See now it's not so easy for me to dodge." He meant it as words of encouragement but they didn't take so well to it. They rushed Lan, the Sea Lion dodging when Lan jabbed quickly towards him. Lan quickly swung the other end, catching the Sea Lion in the jaw. Lan turned back, jabbing at the Hippo suddenly who caught the staff in it's jaws. It laughed as it tried to crunch down, causing only a sharp jaw pain. "Yeah, they did some weird chemical thing to help it stay strong," Lan explained before shoving the tip of the staff forward and hard into the back of the Hippo's throat and nearly through.


The Shark recovered quickly, punching Lan and tearing open his cheek and something snapped with a loud pop because of the shark skin. Lan stumbled from the force of the blow. The boy turned with an excited look in his eyes and blood welling from his cheek, dripping down slowly. Lan moved to talk, surprised his mouth didn't move. He was flustered at that but chose to push and offensive against the shark, whaling against the shark, parrying against every counter attack, forcing his staff against the sharks arms harder and harder with each blow. Eventually Lan hit hard enough to break the sharks arm, forcing it outside the skin in a large spray of blood and forcing the shark to back away in pain for a bit. Lan turned back slowly facing the Sea Lion with a face covered in blood and sweat, a curious look in his eyes.


The officer focused slightly as he looked over the edge seeing the killer whale as it seemed to rush through slaves. The officer exhaled sending quick ripples through the air at the beast from the source of two fingers pointed towards it. "Only a coward fights those who can't fight back," he said as the impact against the water made a large splash. He decided to turn his attention to saving those he could as his companion focused on keeping everyone else away from Lan. The officer began to throw many of this ripples towards the whale, keeping the focus near himself.

[IsaacAran]

Phillip was at an extreme disadvantage and he knew it. The giant was a slow brawler who did best against groups instead of against a single agile opponent. Phillip kept his arms in and close, focusing on dodging and preventing him from being hurt too bad. He tried swinging when an opportunity presented itself but he knew it was pointless. He would've shifted, using his more agile form to stay out of harms way but his focus at this point was to keep the young girl safe. The longer Phillip stayed in place, the more he noticed the way Jau moved in patterns. He waited a bit longer, catching the motions before exploiting it, hitting Jau in the chest before Apollo came in. The chest felt like punching a wall but it did buy Phillip a bit of time and distance.

Phillip looked at Apollo as he spoke, hearing the determination from the boy. Phillip smiled, feeling as if he'd be in the way. He wanted to stay just in case, but he also wanted to take the girl away and try to calm her down. Perhaps he could work on that last part regardless. "We'll protect you," Phillip whispered to her calmly, "I need you to relax, focus on keeping yourself together as you should be. We'll get you to safety. Just let me know what I have to do."

[Bezyle]

Jau clenched the blade with his claw, holding it at bay, as his body quickly became covered in a hard armor that matched the texture of his claws. “You can’t arrest me boy! I own the world!” He pushed him away, but not before a small incision was made into his claw. He then unsheathed a sword of his own, pointing it towards the young apollo, and taking an offensive stance. His claw was over his head, as if it were a shield, but at the same time it allowed for him to be open with his attacks as though he were not burdened by a shield. His Left leg made it so that his body was in a rigid straight line, so that should apollos blade thrust forward or come from the side, he would easily be able to deflect it with his own sword. He charged in a flurry of quick and light jabs his blade was much thinner and moved elegantly with what felt like no resistance from the air. He was in fact so fast, that an untrained eye wouldn’t see the blade coming.

The small girl had felt reassured by Apollos words, she calmed her breathing and began to focus. She didn’t revert back, but instead she simply became more and more used to her transformation. She was too young to understand it all, what was happening to her, this past year would be the year where children her age would realize that they were alive for the first time, that they had their own thoughts, goals, dreams and desires. This was no situation for someone her age to find herself in, no girl her age should have to endure the harshness of being a tool for someone else.

[Apollo]

Apollo couldn’t see it coming, the fencing portions of his lessons had grown dull, and this was one of his worst subjects. Quick jabs and cuts were made to his shoulder, Jau didn’t have good aim and missed his heart several times. Despite this Apollo kept fighting the small cuts and puncture points were painful, but not life threatening, and when he did lock swords with Jau his sword always won due to its size and overall power. This allowed him to get some shallow slashes in, but due to the hard armor, his attacks proved fruitless. That is until a lurking mouse tail wrapped around the feet of a man's eyes who were focused on Apollo’s blade.

[Stimmothy]

Lan watch as the Sea Lion stumbled backwards a bit before tripping and impaling himself on the part of the mast that fell earlier. Was it his breath? The young one wondered as his smile faded. Surely nothing he could do would be that scary. Lan shook his head lightly, pushing away some mild dizziness as he remembered that Apollo and everyone else went down below decks. He took a deep breath and began to rush, looking for a way down to Apollo.

The officer fire off two more shots, hitting in front of then then dead onto the killer whale, soaking the water with it's blood. He and his companion soldier worked together, finding rope and small flotation devices and tossing them to the slaves still in the water. They lowered a life boat, keeping it tied to the ship as they focused on getting as many slaves to freedom as they could.

[IsaacAran]

Phillip watched as Apollo and Jauraumer danced. Phillip didn't know two people could move like that and he stared in awe for a brief moment before regaining himself. He looked back at the young woman noticing that he had a plethora of small cuts on his body from his own tussle with the slaver. "I'm going to go help the young man," he said as softly as he could manage. "If you see Jau come towards you, run. I'll keep him here." He gave a small smile before he slowly circled behind the slaver.

Phillip was getting a pretty good idea about how Jauraumer moved, and Phillip knew all he needed was an opportune moment in order to knock Jau off guard so Apollo could finish this. Phillip waited for Jau to hop back before shoving hard, grunting with the effort foward, pushing the man to the tip of the boys blade... or at least hoping to.

[Bezyle]

Jau's body tripped, the force of the push and the lack of balance from the tail cause him to fall onto his back, a slight injury to the head left him in a severe amount of pain, nothing stopped the pain of blunt trauma, underneath that armor he was still soft. He felt he should have seen that coming but his vision slowly became blurred and he vommited blood. Unsure as to why, he noticed the meat underneath his claw had become swollen and stiff along with the rest of his arm, shoulder and even parts of his torso. He saw a slight change in color as he coughed and hacked once more. "What... what did you do to me...." The poison from the blade earlier was finally taking hold, his body had already been feeling the effects that extra adrenaline would cause him to ignore but at the same time elevate the rate at which the poison traveled. He began to crawl towards the whale girl, he knew he would die here, but he had one last goal in mind, one more trick up his sleeve.

"Cynthia... die enim Deus vester." Jau's words echoed in the back of the girls mind, it was a trigger word, spoken in latin that would initiate a form of brain control. Something that was common among the training of newborn slaves. A sleeper activation code that would trigger parts of the mind that had been locked away. The girl unable to control her eyes widening, breathing still stood up in her 63% misconfigured form, and began to sprint as fast as she could, toward her master. HE then called out "Eat Glass!" He screamed it over and over again, Despite Apollo's attempts to silence him, he bit the boys fingers as the poison rang through his body. It wouldn't be apparent to them what he was doing right away unless they had known the language. 

The small girl ran to the cut in half spider on the ground, saw that it was in pieces. She picked up shards of glass, and parts of the venomous spider and began to chew. Trickles of blood began to escape from her mouth as the glass cut her tongue, and gums. She swallowed anyway using her own blood to help wash down the roughness of it all. She continued to eat, what she could before Phillip or Apollo could think to interrupt her.

[Apollo]

As Jau fell, Apollo quickly cut off his sword arm to eliminate the threat of a continuing battle. He then watched as Jau crawled to the whale girl his blood leaving a trail on the grounding they had. He then looked at the whale girl. "Even if it was wrong.... He was her world... I owe them this moment" He thought remembering his initial days as a slave, full of a false warmth that he didn't understand at the time. He thought to close his eyes, but knew that would be naive of him even with Jau unarmed. "Say your goodbyes... then we will haul you o-"

Jau spoke, a language that Apollo was very familiar with.... "Die for your god...." A sense of panic rushed over his face. The girl's eyes widened and she began to move. Something was off,  Jau began to scream at her, and when Apollo heard this he panicked running quickly to silence the slaver. Only to get his fingers nipped at, he drew blood. He looked back at Cynthia, not knowing what was in the jar, his first thought was that Jau was attempting to take the girl with him in death. He silenced Jau permanently. Lifting his blade underneath Jaus through, where the soft part of the shell was located, and send his blade inward until he felt bone. He rolled over the Deus Dominus and pulled the blade out only to look as the poor girl ate glass, and the remnants of what ever happened to be inside of that glass.


He rushed to her, kicked away what he could, and attempted to restrain her with his small body. He was not prepared for what happened next.

[Stimmothy]

Lan rushed through the bowels of the ship, looking for Apollo, hoping that Jau was taken care of. Fatigue began to take it's toll on his body. Lan knew exactly why his body was beginning to slow down and he knew the repercussions of his actions on his body, another stay on rest. The thought made him try to grumble, but his jaw was still mostly unresponsive. That was probably going to take the most to heal. He needed to get everything he could done soon and get out of there to see the extent of the damage on his body.

Lan ran finally reaching the room where the battle too place, unsure of what happened due to Phillip's broad shoulders. Something didn't feel right. Lan rushed in to fearful and horrified faces as two people paused watching a girl eat the glass around her. Lan rushed forward, pushing her forcefully to the Giant and stepping between her and Apollo, wondering what was going on. Something didn't feel right, but at least Jauraumer was mostly out of the way.

The slaves who remained on the ship began to trim the sails and let out what oars they could find, doing their best to turn the ship around, mostly unawares of what was happening around them. They focused on getting to their new rescuers , making sure to arrive safely.

[IsaacAran]

Phillip reflexively caught the girl, keeping her near him. He remembered the creature in the jar, how Jau held it near the girl. Perhaps it was something related to that. He also remembered the words the slaver spoke before they headed down and her partial shifting earlier. Slowly it all began to click as he looked down as the struggling girl in his arms. A sense of dread came over him. "GET OUT OF HERE" he bellowed as he ran the way Lan came from.

Phillip wasn't fast, but he wasn't slow either. All he had to do was make it to a window before whatever it was took effect. If the shaking was any indication, he didn't have long. He made it about halfway up the path Lan took earlier, almost directly at the front of the ship when she began to expand. Phillip dropped her suddenly, shifting and flying through the nearest port hole, looking for someone to warn.

[Bezyle]

The once small girl then let out a scream as she foamed at the mouth, she crawled on all fours as she charged apollo lunging at him with an open mouth. Only for the tip of a sperm whale to impale him through the ship, her size expanding so much that the ship itself could not contain her, the bindings on the ship broke, the wood cracked and the boat began to sink as the small girl was freed into the waters. All of the others who had been on the ship were now lost in the ocean. The small girl swam down apollo's body flinging off her and moving up with a current. The whale then turned around eyeing the bodies attempting to stay afloat above. She then shot herself upwards, breaching from the water catching a hand full of slaves and slavers where she would drag them back down to the depths below.

[Apollo]

As He heard Phillip speak, which he had so far only heard him mutter a handful of words the urgency in his voice made his bones feel weak. He glanced at his partner Lan and then heard the shrieking of the girl she charged at him, and unwittingly grabbed his sword once more, but rather than fight he intended to flee. It wasn't in him to kill this girl, but he was too slow. He felt a sudden rush and then everything went dark. He was thrown out of a sinking ship, he felt a sudden rush of pressure and then he felt weightless. He never unclutched his sword but he could feel death's grip, clutching at his insides as he realized he could breath. His body wouldn't move.

[Stimmothy]

Lan struggled for a moment, doing what he could to stop his body from flipping and turning in the waves. He exhaled a bit to see which way the bubbles moved, a trick he picked up when being taught how to forage. After he orientated himself, he looked for Apollo, knowing they were running out of time. Lan removed some of the heavier bits of his armor, he was going to be tired enough and it's not like it'd help against some crazy whale lady. When he caught a body floating lazily, he swam towards it, finding his friend. He did the same to Apollo that he had done to himself, removing the heavier bits of armor and the began to guide him up. Lan knew he wasn't able to do much here, instead he took his ever weakening body and that of his friend's and headed to the shore.

The commander looked back at the now destroyed ship. He wasn't sure what had happened to it but he knew it wasn't good. He sighed looking at the small life boat he was on before looking around him. Sacrifices had to be made. He bit his tongue and shot his ability over and over again, accellerating back towards the dock at high speeds

[IsaacAran]

Phillip watched helplessly as his friends surfaced in extremely dangerous waters. He wasn't a strong swimmer and this form didn't have much strength. Even his feat wouldn't be enough to stop the beast. But would it be enough to distract it? 

Phillip didn't think twice, he swooped down, getting a mouthful of disgusting water and waited. Every time the beast surfaced near Apollo and Lan, Phillip shot it which was enough to cause extreme pain to divert it away temporarily, but no real damage. Phillip kept assaulting the beast as long as Lan moved with Apollo, as the young man tried to wake up the boy.

[Bezyle]

As the torrents of water were fired the whale could do nothing, kept at bay by a humming bird with a powerful water saw. She did however eat those who couldn't swim, and she found it quite easy to pick selective foes and drag them into the depths one by one where if she were hit by a razor blade of water she could turn and enjoy a meal below. Eating like this would have been useful in tiring her out before she could get everyone. What would happen if she went out to shore, would she turn back just so she could eat more.


The screams of the slaves and slavers as they attempted to swim towards the shore did not fall on deaf ears, sailors seeing the events happen over the horizon began to swim out to aid the men, however they had not been sure what it was that was out there. What was eating them. Another scream ended with sudden silence as the whale took another victim. The sound of water escaping a spout allowing for the whale to breath occurred, one could see her below eyeing them, choosing which one to pick from the boundary of air and sea. It was clear she would not rest until they were all eaten, or others got away.

[Apollo]

Apollo weakly opened his eyes drifting in and out of consciousness, he felt parts of him had broken or shattered. He had no idea what had happened and he was seeing two times as many stars as he had before when he hit his head. Realizing that he was being carried his fainting wish was to be less of a hassle, less of a problem for those who were trying to keep him alive. He began to shrink in size and weight using his mouse like features and making them more prominent. He closed his eyes for a well deserved rest once he felt that Lan should be able to get them to shore safely after a while. He had no idea that he had been tackled through a ship, he had no idea how close he was to death's door.


Their commander, the man from meticulous appeared once more, this time with large wings appearing from his back, his throat drooped over with what looked like excess skin as he flew above the water. "Lan!! Shrink down... I will get you both out of here at once...." The commanders first thought was to help who he could, he had already sent a messenger to send reinforcements of the Meticulous Navy, not that it was a strong force but it could handle a single whale he hoped. He feared touching the water, after witnessing the beast breach once he kept to the skies circling above, waiting for his two soldiers to become small enough for him to scoop up in his mouth.

[IsaacAran]

Phillip watched as Lan began to shrink and gain a bunch of hair, still doing his best to keep Apollo afloat. Phillip quickly turned to the whale, keeping it at bay as the pelican quickly swept up and gathered the boys. Phillip quickly followed, landing on the docks and shifting into his human form. He was scared now, he stepped into something and felt like he was going to be in trouble. He watched as he was nearly ignored, the people shifting lazily into their human forms and being taken into a med tent. Phillip decided to stay and keep things organized, helping where he could. He was going to need to remember what was in the jar. Phillip sighed, well, he'd get there before long.

End

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