𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞!𝐚𝐮) 𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐙

CH. 37 ~ Home Sweet Home

"Everybody get ready, we're approaching land!" Captain's loud voice booms above the commotion on the main deck as everyone moves to get to their places. We had been sailing for a couple of days when Yeosang warned us that we would be arriving at noon today at Ocleavear. He had seemed so excited about coming home when he first mentioned Ocleavear but now that we're actually arriving he seems fidgety.

"Are you alright?" I ask him, laying a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He snaps his head towards me a bit surprised, giving me a nervous smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just— it's been a while since I've seen my folks you know. I guess it's getting to me." He reasons, keeping his eyes trained on the patch of land that slowly gets bigger as we creep towards it. He looks absolutely tense, his jaw clenched and hands balled up into fists. His foot is even tapping on the wooden floorboards which is something he does when he's extremely anxious.

"How terrifying are your people? You look like you're being sentenced to death." I try to joke around with him to lighten up the mood but it flies over his head.

"I might as well be." He whispers under his breath, spinning around to start pacing across the main deck. I follow closely behind him, trying my best to calm him down but he doesn't listen. So, I resort to drastic measures and use my magic to keep him in place. He freezes up mid-stride, the orange glow of spatial energy, encasing him in a bubble.

"Yeosang, calm down. You're going to be fine. In fact, they probably won't even know we were here—," I don't get to finishing consoling him because the Aurora lurches to the side after being hit by another ship. My grip on my magic falters and Yeosang falls to the ground roughly because he couldn't quite catch his balance. I help him up as quickly as I can, turning back around to face the oncoming ship.

"Did you just use your—."

"Shhh!"

"Don't shush me!" Yeosang bickers, only growing quiet when he sees the ship that hit us. The mysterious ship's size is on par with ours, only it has more sails and a wider build. It doesn't seem to be built for speed, and unlike ours, it's built for combat. The rivalship looks oddly quiet, with no sign of life at all, which catches our attention. In fact, the whole crew gets so drawn into the mysterious sight that we don't even notice the shadows of the figures scaling down our masts. When I see the rope connecting our masts to their boat's masts, it's already too late to warn Captain because he already had a sword at his throat.

"Hongjoong—," I hear Yunho get cut off as well when another figure appears before him, brandishing a large sword at his head. One by one, these mysterious people, drop onto the main deck, seizing control of the Aurora in under seconds. We were so distracted by the sight of the man less ship that we didn't care to notice who was climbing aboard.

The boat is soon filled with these mysterious soldiers, so I press my back against Yeosang's in an attempt to protect both of us. We're surrounded by at least four soldiers, each pointing a long sword at our necks. I study all the soldiers closely, noticing that they don't look like the Royal Navy. They actually are dressed in all black, in comparison to the standard royal blue navy coats. Their suits seem to be made entirely of leather save for the masks that they wear to hide their identities. This specific detail is what catches my attention and I begin to rack my brain, thinking of all the possible meanings of this.

"It's the shadow soldiers," Yeosang whispers, the name and it finally rings a bell with me. I remember studying about them in history textbooks. They were a highly trained set of individuals, set in place to protect specifically the people of Ocleavear. Dressed in black leather-clad, they would stalk and hunt potential dangers... annihilating them before they get the chance to hurt Ocleavear. I gulp, looking around frantically for any sign of an escape route. If things begin to go south here, I'm probably going to need to use my magic to help us get out. And it won't be pretty.