Chapter 1: The Mysterious Plan!

 In the middle of the quiet Atlantic Ocean, far away from land…

A cargo ship cruised with the powerful waves, the skies boomed with thunder, but that didn’t stop the crew onboard from preparing the ritual.

According to their Grand Leaders, they were supposed to prepare the items needed for the ritual, it should happen on this ship because they don’t want any pedestrians finding out their schemes, but it is quite frustrating that a ritual should be held on a cargo ship, as most rituals should mostly be held on some sacred fields or abandoned buildings.

But that order was from the Grand Leaders, and unless they are one of the Grand Leaders, they can’t object the idea and they have no choice but to do it without asking anything (except if they are confused on their tasks).

In the centre of the ship, a blackish round object materialized, it got the attention of a few members, they are slightly frustrated since they didn’t expect someone to create a warp gate to board the ship…

“He’s here.” The captain announced from a loudspeaker.

The others mindlessly gathered around to form two lines, from the gate, a man stepped out, he wore a cape, which is black like the dark and dark purple clothes, in his left hand, he held a magic staff with two cubes dangling around it. The crew recognized him immediately, they all bowed to the man. “Welcome, Grand Leader Abisai.” They greeted.

Abisai nodded, “How are the ritual preparations?” He asked, “They are going well, sir.” One of the crew replied, “With the exception of the blood.” “You may raise your heads.” Abisai said, “All of you can take a break now.” “Thank you, Grand Leader.” The crew scattered off; they can finally have a break from their hard work.

A man came down from the stairs and walked towards Abisai, he wore a typical ship captain’s hat, and wore fully white clothes, his face was pale, like he has been spooked by ghosts every night. “Captain Pablo.” Abisai acknowledged him, “Grand Leader Abisai, The Lady wants to have a meeting with you.” Pablo said.

“Where are the others?” Abisai asked, “I mean the other Grand Leaders?” “Well, you know that Akumu is probably out there doing, vampire stuff.” Pablo replied. “I don’t know about Astrid and Estrid, Lorenzo is trying to free our mercenaries that got arrested, and Dylan, ah Dylan, he is so mysterious that no one knows what he’s doing nor where he is.” “I see, so there are four of us, including me, on this ship?” The captain nodded, “Don’t worry Grand Leader, the nine of you will be reunited when the ritual begins! And plus, our beloved and quite often confusing mistress!”

“Yes… very soon…” Abisai’s voice was almost like a whisper, “You should be at the meeting now, the giant doesn’t like to wait, you know.” After Pablo had finished his sentence, Abisai whooshed out of sight. He rushed to the meeting area, which he hardly remembers, since he has rarely been on this ship. He whooshed past some confused crew members, causing some to drop whatever they were holding.

He also is slightly frustrated that why would the meeting area be in a place full of giants. Abisai had no choice but to rush by the working and busy “living mountains”. All of them were human-like, and they are at least twelve meters tall, and even Abisai himself doesn’t want to know how much they weigh. He was almost trampled by the unaware giants, when some do notice, they dropped the heavy objects that they were holding, and those almost crushed Abisai.

But he made it out alive. He hated it when he will have to risk his life for some meeting. The doors of the meeting area were insanely tall, and Abisai knows the reason for the tall doors to be built. He opened it, and the others in the room stared at him. There was a total of five (including Abisai) people that are facing each other from a circular table in the room, there was a man with a friendly face and a front-facing cape, a woman, who has a mechanical mask that is covering her mouth, Abisai knew why she had that mask, another man, no, a giant, who can still crowd the space despite the fact that he Is sitting, and lastly, a figure who is sitting on the throne in the dark, ‘The Lady’ herself.

“Welcome, Abisai.” He heard her calm voice from the throne. “Good afternoon, Mistress.” Abisai greeted back and bowed at the throne in the dark. He turned to the giant, “Afternoon, Gigas. It’s been a while since we last met.” He could tell that Gigas was looking at him, but the giant made no response. Abisai turned to the man with a friendly face, “Good afternoon, Devansh.” Devansh smiled and waved, “Long time no see, Abisai!” Lastly, he greeted the woman. “Good afternoon, Ava.” The masked woman turned to him, and he was sure that she is smiling.

Abisai took a seat at the table, and faced to the throne. “How are the, preparations?” The Lady asked, “Everything is going smoothly, Mistress.” Devansh reassured. “It will be ready in… let’s say, for about… maybe two months?” “I see… so, if I recall, the only thing left is, blood from a, prince?” “A prince and a princess, actually.” Abisai corrected. The Lady sighed, which she often does when she forgets or mistakes something. “Can they be related? Like siblings…” After saying the word ‘sibling’, The Lady went silent. The Grand Leaders looked at each other in frustration, they knew something is wrong when she is silent.

“Mistress?” Gigas’s voice echoed the meeting area, “Is anything wrong, Mistress?” “Who’s there?” The Lady questioned. They all looked around the room, and they then looked at each other again with more confusion, “Is, there an intruder?” Gigas wondered, “Mistress, I’m sure there’s no one here other than the five of us. Who else are you referring to?” Abisai asked. “I-I don’t know…” The Lady grunted, “N-never mind, but, as I was saying, can the prince and the princess be related?” “Yes, Mistress. They can be relatives.” Abisai answered. “Devansh, Ava.” Both Devansh and Ava stood up, “Yes Mistress?” Devansh asked. “I will give you two the permission to get a prince and a princess to the ship.” Devansh and Ava lowered their heads, “As you wish, Mistress.”

“And one thing, I forbid you to hurt either of them, no matter the circumstances.” “Yes, Mistress. In fact, not harming anyone is m-” The Lady grunted again, but this time, it sounded like she was in pain. All of the Grand Leaders stood up, which included Gigas, who shook the entire room when he did. “M-mistress? Are you okay?” Devansh asked, The Lady made no response other than grunting even more. “Mistress? Mela-?” “Dis-dismissed.” The Lady struggled to speak at least one word, “I wo-would need s-some t-" She yelled in pain, and in a heartbeat, the four Grand Leaders found themselves somewhere away from the meeting area.

“Get the remains! The sea serpent below is hungry!” They heard a call, with two giants appearing with a crate, dripping with blood, and they dumped the meats into the ocean. Human arms, legs and organs splashed into the salty water, and a titanic figure beneath the waves surfaced and gobbled them up. Abisai glared at Gigas, “I thought I told you to not kill anyone from any boats that passed by.” He hissed. Gigas had the guts to roll his eyes, “And what? Even after memory-wiping them with the gas from your special potion, they can still remember the incident if they saw another ship that is similar to ours!” “But that doesn’t justify into killing them all.” Abisai hissed calmly.

Gigas lowered his head to Abisai, “When you don’t end up in Hades, you’ll appreciate my decisions.” He raised his head, and walked away, his loud footsteps rumbled the place. Abisai turned to the two giants, who backed off as if they think that he can slice them all into gigantic pieces of flesh, which in fact, he can. “Go back to doing your own things.” The two giants retreated, dropping the crate. Abisai then turned to Devansh and Ava, “Find any prince and princess, and bring them here before the night of the ritual.” Devansh and Ava bowed, and, POOF. They vanished into thin air.

Abisai’s emotions had calmed down, he stared at the dark sky, which had become even gloomier than before. He sighed, and walked away, hoping to get a good drink at the cafeteria, if this ship has one.