Eastern White
Aboard the Carniac Vessel
A few hours later
The waves hit the monsterous beast which was the Carniac Vessel. The wind picked up speed as the beast sped up towards the Main Line, the point that is roughly located 1000 yards from the vicinity of each Island in the Eastern White. As they cross it, the Captain finally spoke.
"So", he says, carefully navigating the tides of the Eastern White. "When you all get to the Village Hika Centre, you will be given five simple tasks that you will have to complete in a given time. If you fail to do so..", he says, his tone never shifting to anything other than dull, null and void of any emotion. He was, in other words, a walking and talking skeleton. But considering that even Brook has a personality..yeah, he's cooked.
"If you fail to do so..you will lose your life." A shiver runs through the kids as they once again are reminded of the significance of not failing this entrence exam, which would change their lives forever. Depending on the results, in either a good or bad way. They continue to sail over the sea, the tides growing rougher and rougher by the second. The wind became a roaring beast that refused to slow down or retreat, and the weather grew colder and colder.
"That's a cute name, Hiacho."
Hiacho shivered, the cold getting to him. The sky grew dark, and thunder roared in the distance. He blushed as her words hit him again, and he snuck a glance at her from the corner of his eye. Leaning against the railing, looking absolutely gorgeous was Lisa, Hiacho's childhood best friend. But that's a stretch, since he hadn't had any other friends other than Lisa. But back when they were friends, they were really close ones, ones that would die for each other. Ones that would hide each other's secrets from the world, storing them deep, deep within them. It was truly a good friendship they had. But obviously, after the incident happened, they could no longer be friends. Well, they could but it would be extremely weird for them. And so, they parted ways.
And this is why Hiacho was losing his mind.
Why would Lisa, the prettiest girl in Poco Village talk to him like that? It made no sense. It was an unspoken agreement to never talk to each other again even if it killed them - at least, that was how Hiacho saw it. This was really unexpected, and more than unexpected - it was infuriating. Infuriating because he had had real, genuine feelings for this girl. Lisa had been the shining light in a world full of grey and then, one day, she just..left. No goodbye, no 'I don't wanna be your friend'. No..nothing. No closure to their friendship that had lasted less than a year. But it was a year. And they had formed a bond within that year that not even death could break.
"Alright, kids!", yelled the Captain, his old age betraying not from his body - his build was insanely buff for a 50 year old - but rather his voice, as his vocal chords stuggled to reach the volume that he wanted. However, even with that, almost all the kids quietened down and turned their heads to the Captain. The few who didn't lacked simple respect or simply didn't care. The Captain didn't either as he did not bother yelling for order again. Instead, he began the 'Leap Yearly Vessel Speech' (Don't ask how I know this okay just chill out calm down it's not my fault I'm a nerd and spent a lot of my time alone in the library and it's better than spamming 67 all of the freaking time).
The Captain cleared his throat and began,"You will be tasked, as candidates of the Village Hika Ranking Exam, to complete 3 quests, selected and given by the Village Hika himself."
A murmur runs through the crowd, both terrified and nervous, with of course a few loose egoists in there who think that they can defeat 10 Celestial Dragons in a row, but the general emotion rippling through that crowd was fear.
"You do not have a choice of which quests to choose, and the quests may vary from person to person.", the Captain continued. "You will all be given the same weapons whether or not you have to fight the easiest enemies, the 5 Bandits, or the most powerful enemies, the Celestial Dragons, to truly assess whether or not you are a B rank.."
The Carniac Vessel sails closer and closer to the Island that will, undoubtedly, change their lives forever..or rob them of one. The thunderous clouds only seem to affirm that fact, as they only get darker and darker, with louder sounds of thunder.
"A rank..", said the Captain, turning the ship to the right a little. The already terrified children get even more terrified, some already crying and begging to go back to Poco Village. These were kids with ambitions, goals and dreams though - all of which Hiacho didn't have.
"S rank, or Z rank.", the Captain finished, either completely unaware, or shall I say, blissfully unaware of the crying children begging for their lives before they had even gotten to the Village Hika. To Hiacho, it was all a little too much. Maybe it was because he didn't care for his life, since to him it didn't matter whether or not he lived or died, or maybe it was simply because he was way too emotionally dead. Either way, he felt extremely uncomfortable and pitied those who cried for their lives, as if it were a sacred thing.
"However.", said the Captain loudly, shocking the terrified kids. "You can choose to not do the quests if you don't want to."
Silence. Complete utter silence. And then an explosion of furious yelling and shouting and utter chaos erupted from the crowd, making the Captain wince.
"You should've told us this from the start!", a boy with blond hair and a white cape yelled, half-angry and half-relieved. "You scared us half to death right here!!"
The Captain lowered his hat and chuckled. "Kids, kids..settle down.", he said in a tone that would send Sung Jinwoo glazers to the deepest corners of shame. "I haven't told you the drawback of doing that, though."
The voices that were yelling louder than when Lebron breaks a 19 year old's ankles suddenly dissapeared. People stared at the 50-year-old Captain like he was delusional, before bursting into confused and mocking laughter.
"Hey, old man.", said a boy from deep within the crowd of the Carnican Vessel. "In case you didn't know or couldn't comprehend because you're so old.", he continued, mocking the hell out of the Captain. "There are no drawbacks to saving your own life."
The crowd laughed and even hooted for the boy, who was now grinning like he ended world hunger, and his ego only multiplied by the millions.
"What a dumb Captain.", said another egotistical dumb behemoth belonging to the category of specimen that are humans,"Aldo just cooked your ass. Stop trying to scare us."
Hiacho watched all of this happen with the most non-interested face of all time. It was like watched paint dry, except the paint was Hiacho. He was the true embodiment of I don't give a fuck.
Which would remain until the Captain said this.
"Aldo.", The Captain said, the wind blowing through his hair, Marine cap and Captain attire.
"You seem to be very over-confident in your bullshit."
Aldo's smirk died on his face, replacing it with a 'oh shit he's actually clapping back wtf I thought he was old and couldn't do that' look. The hoots and shit talking of the Captain who was taking some of them to their inevitable deaths stopped. Even the wind slowed it's speed, as if it were holding it's breath.
"What you fail to realise is the fact that if you choose to not do the quests, you will not only be tortured half to death, but you will also be permanently banned from ever getting Ranked in your life."
The wind died, then started blowing faster than a F1 race car. The looks on the teens faces was more beautiful than the Mona Lisa getting painted. Their faces were not of smug looks now, instead they were replaced with shock such that would shake the heavens and the Earth itself.
Hiacho's chest tightened inexplainably.
The Captain's eyes glinted in the stormy weather, and it glinted nothing good and kind anymore. They were eyes of both fury, pain and warning - warning to those who were underestimating the severity of what it means to be Ranked, what it means to partake in an exam that could rob you from a good life - hell, it could rob you from a life, doesn't matter whether it's good or bad - and what it means to make sure that you live.
"Do not underestimate the power of the Village Hika.", the Captain said, steering the ship towards the Final Gates - the Gates through which the Island of Reckoning, and the Hika, resided. The air grew colder and warmer at the same time, if that were even possible, and the overall atmosphere upon the Carniac Vessel grew dimmer and dimmer of hope. The world, which just a few hours ago looked so full of colour and life, now looked even deader than a cemetery, and that's an achievement not most people in life get to experience.
"Now get ready as in just a few more hours, we will arrive at the Island of Reckoning, where the Village Hika, or simply Hika, resides."
"What!? Already?!", shrieked a girl right next to Lisa. Lisa. Lisa, who looked like somebody had forced her to eat a dead mouse that was stuck in her throat. Hiacho felt his chest tighten even more, deep in his chest, and he didn't know what it was. Whatever it was, though, it was killing him from the inside. Like actually tearing him apart, emptying out all of his organs, making him feel emptier and emptier and emptier. He balled his hands into fists to try and regain his composure, but it didn't work at all. The truth was, the more he sneaked unhealthy glances at his former best friend, he started to realise something. Something that he didn't want to admit, but by how hot he was feeling and how much his heart was aching for her, he came to one single conclusion that was probably the worst one. Since it gave him a reason to live.
He had feelings for Lisa.
Now this was, of course, very obvious since he had blushed and made a complete fool of himself when they had made conversation a few hours ago. But now she was acting like Hiacho didn't exist, and they hadn't even made eye contact once on this whole trip. The fact that he could die in less than a day and he wouldn't even be able to talk to Lisa one last time really annoyed him, since he was not the type to chase after someone at all. But there was something about her..something that he couldn't quite place, that made him unconsciously gravitate towards her. He imagined them together, his head in her arms, her hands in his hair, soothing him to sleep..
Hiacho's eyes widened. No. No way. No fucking way was he going to do this. He shouldn't have met her, he shouldn't have talked to her. This was a big mistake, a very big mistake. He couldn't..he possibly couldn't..
He looked down, unwelcome tears forming in his eyes. He couldn't have a reason to live! He shouldn't have. He never did. So why, out of everyone in his life..
He swallowed the tears and looked at Lisa one last time. But, once again, she paid no attention to Hiacho, as she had her back towards him, her hair flying gracefully and beautifully in the air, the winds speed increasing slightly.
The shock of the fact that they were either about to meet their end or welcome new beginnings was finally dawning on the kids, as they stopped yelling in fear and began strategising in groups. Or, like a lot of other kids, they just simply stared out at the open sea that stretched on seemingly forever.
The Captain, looking exhausted, asked one of the backup Captains to take over, and leaned back into the wall behind him.
"Sir, we will be arriving at the Village Hika's Island in 20 minutes."
The Captain nodded slowly, and told him to announce it to the ship. Keep in mind, this is a very, very big ship, so a loud announcer is needed.
"All candidates of the Ranking Exam.", said the backup Captain loudly, much louder than the Captain. All heads turned north as the backup Captain said the words that would finally break all delusions of the kids on board the Carniac Vessel into a million pieces.
"All candidates of the Ranking Exam..", the young backup Captain yelled, staring into the souls of all of the Poco Village kids. "The Island where the Village Hika resides, the Island some people call 'The Island Of Death'.."
"No..please don't tell me..", said a terrified girl who was probably 14 or 15.
"We will arrive on the Island Of Reckoning in 20 minutes!!"
Next chapter coming soon!