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Region: St Abbaddon

A hundred nights had passed. No night was greater than this.

The storm continued to shake the lighthouse, making it shake with rage as it stood still on top of the coastal cliff. Thunder roared and shook the earth with trembling howls. Water, color of dark blue-gray, rollers of the waves, dashed along the cliff side as it had done for centuries and generations. The tall cliffs provided the spacious look for the lighthouse during its days of use. Sailors, merchants, mercenaries, pilots; once all used this same lighthouse for guidance by its light. Now the lighthouse was dark and empty, its old and ancient lights now dim. No ships ever came. No maintenance ever occurred. The only friend of the lighthouse was the empty darkness and the howling wind.

The sky was yawning in a starless and moonless form. Rain poured down from the heavens, forming pools of water on the ground near the lighthouse, dark-gray water growing bigger by the hour.

Now though, two figures stood clashing in front of the lighthouse. One was decorated with a black uniform. The other had a brown leather jacket. Both had one thing in common, they had the Oceanic banner engraved on their uniform. They clashed. Fists flying. Rain pouring. Lightning in the distance. Both fighters were evenly matched. Hatred flashed in their eyes as a lightning strike hit the top of the lighthouse, sending sparks flying below them, which drowned in the rain.

"Your a good match," said the black-uniformed figure. "too bad we never could've worked together, Elias."

The two figures stood staring at each other. Neither had inflicted severe blows on the other so far. But that could change.

Elias pulls out a dagger from a pocket in his dark-brown pants, while keeping his gaze on his opponent.

"So are you Leuthen," Elias responds. "Too bad ill have to execute you right here. For treason."

Elias runs towards Leuthen, knife in hand, prepared to strike. Leuthen paces back a bit to allow Elias to get close. Elias lunges towards Leuthen's throat with his knife, allowing for Leuthen to use his left arm to grab Elias's hand and stop the lunge.

"Too slow," Leuthen smiles.

He swiftly has his right hand clenched in a fist swing towards Elias's face, knocking Elias with a powerful blow, allowing for Leuthen to loosen his grip. Elias also drops his knife in the process.

Leuthen's face shows a smile. His eyes flash with hatred as another strike of lightning hits the ocean waves from beyond the cliff area. "I respected you at one point, Elias." Leuthen laughs sadistically "It was a time when we both believed we we're right. When we both respected government—well you did—I believed you were my equal, people against the corruption that purges this world, hoping to make it better." Leuthen walks towards a stumbling and collapsed Elias. "But I was wrong about you. You're no better than the former president of Oceania, Willow Vinski. Wanting to hide her father's actions against the people of Oceania."

Elias whom was still on the ground looks back at Leuthen. Guilt flashes his eyes, memories fly, and sadness makes him move his head down. "I've done horrible things. That I can agree with. But me and Vinski have something in common. We would never betray our friends!" Elias leaps towards Leuthen, grappling both of his hands onto his neck, beginning to choke him.

Leuthen gasps for air, looking for something to grab onto. Immediately, his hand grabs something metallic, he swings his hand towards the thigh of Elias, slamming the object. Elias yells in fury as his dagger is plunged into his leg. This loosens his grip from Leuthen's throat, allowing Leuthen to kick Elias off.

"You betrayed General Nemo," Leuthen yells at Elias through the howling of the wind. "Don't think I never knew about that."

Leuthen saunters towards the groaning Elias. Dragging his arms towards the edge of the cliff. Elias tries to resist, but his attempts fail as his arms are unable to fight back, and his legs are weak.

"Goodbye," Leuthen bids farewell towards the weakened Elias.

The body of the brown-uniformed figure falls into the dark gray waters.

A Lost Soul

He stood walking through the woods. The search had not yet finished. Where was he? Eliezer came across a clearing, beautiful, with bloomings of flowers. Bees hovered and buzzed as they flew around the flowers bringing their pollen. Boulders were situated at the edges of the clearing, covered with moss and surrounded by ferns. Eliezer had never seen such a beautiful sight. The sunset streamed down from the branches of trees above, streaming Eliezer's black hair in a bright shine. The illumination of the sun brought a beautiful sense of peace and happiness.

But in the blink of an eye, the entire scene changed. Eliezer saw it in a heartbeat. There were bodies, motionless and rotten, flies surrounded them, maggots sucked on the eyes. Eliezer turned away, nearly vomiting with disgust. He attempted to run away, but his feet were glued to the ground; so he felt. He couldn't move his legs, they were stuck, gripped, and glued. He pulled with all of his might, strength, energy. But it was worthless.

He saw something towards him. The dark-black uniform of a soldier, carrying a machine gun in his hand.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

"Ahh!" Eliezer jumped from the nightmare. His head felt dizzy as if he'd bumped his head on something hard, but he couldn't be sure about it.

He looked around and stared. Noticing the dark white color of the walls around him, the hospital bed he was in, the medical gear that was around him, and throughout the room. He knew he'd been asleep for a long time. He just didn't know how long.

*Creak!* The door of the room opened in front of Eliezer. A male medic walked into the room, his green uniform showing him as a soldier.

Eliezer gave a sigh of relief. He wasn't stuck in an Anarchist facility.

"Had a nice rest?" The medic walks toward Eliezer, examining the gear around the bed, as well as examining the injuries. Eliezer doesn't respond. "I know what you're going to ask; however, I can't tell you much except that the Admiral wants to see you."

Eliezer was confused. Admiral? Eliezer had speculations this could be the Rowandale remnants. The ships he's been looking for this entire journey, and what got him in bad shape.

For the next four hours, different doctors and nurses came to examine Eliezer. They gave him a green uniform to wear, which was the same uniform worn by the first medic that Eliezer saw. Eliezer put on the uniform in one of the bathroom stalls in the medical hall. Since he had already guessed he was on a ship, he wasn't surprised when they escorted him across the ship through the deck. He saw the blue waves lapping at the naval ship he was on. The rays of the sun slammed brightly across the blue-clear waters, emitting a beautiful sight. The rays reminded Eliezer of his nightmare. He shuddered at the reminder of his terrifying vision.

Arriving at the front of the ship, he was escorted down several stairs which advance inside the ship. When they reach the bottom of the stairs they come to face with a hall going forward. One of the two soldiers opens a wooden door at the end of the hall, then stands guard. The other soldiers move Eliezer into the room and stand guard outside. They close the door as Eliezer enters.

Eliezer looks at his surroundings; no windows, pure concrete, no desk. There were only two chairs. One for the Admiral and one for him. There was currently nobody else in the room, so he just sits down on the chair to pass the time. He whistles, it feels nearly like an eternity. But soon the door creaks with the sound of a visitor.

Eliezer stares at the chair in front of him, not bothering to look back at who the person is. He knows exactly whom he is meeting.

"Welcome to the battleship Tau." The voice rings from behind him.

The Admiral walks towards the chair where she is to sit. Eliezer takes a good look at the visitor. A gray uniformed woman, officer cap on top, several naval badges patched on her uniform, and a long strand of brown hair falling from behind her cap. Thats strange. Eliezer wasn't sure if the naval officers of Rowandale used buns at all, or if this Admiral was just breaking her old code. She had olive skin, brown eyes, and the face of someone being a veteran of several battles. They seemed stern; so it seemed.

She sits down. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions," She hands Eliezer a photo. "Which I'll be happy to answer."

Eliezer grabs the photo and examines it. It's a photo of the littered bodies of the clearing. The prisoners. Jinha. Eliezer's corpse. . .

"Did anyone else survive?"

"No." She responds grimly. "It was just you. We found you barely breathing. There was a large sounding of alarms from the dockyard. We sent a couple of scouts on some dinghies. They searched for hours and hid for hours, but eventually found the entire dockyard empty. They followed the route you and the other prisoners took, and found your bodies, took photos, and brought you back."

She stops for a bit to let Eliezer examine the photo further. "Our doctor said you got shot twice in the left arm. Two shots in the center of your body, which avoided major organs. Your friends and prisoners took the major hits, however. The doctor said you hit yourself on a boulder when you collapsed. You probably have a headache."

Eliezer finishes looking at the photo. His mood and emotion drop into deep sadness. Jinha dead. His fellow prisoners dead. It's as if he had been cursed by Bahamut to remain alive to suffer. He had started this mission with enthusiasm, but he messed up by coming here.

"How long have I been in a coma?" Eliezer asks.

"Four days." The Admiral responds. "We noticed your uniform was patched with the Draganisian symbol. It's semi why the others decided to extract you when they found you still breathing."

As Eliezer is about to ask another question, an officer walks into the room.

"Admiral, you're needed at the starboard."

She looks at the officer and nods. She turns to Eliezer as she is about to leave with the officer out of the room. "We'll finish this conversation tomorrow. What's your name?"

"Eliezer." He responds. "Eliezer Alexander, from Oceania. I was enlisted by the Draganisians. . .its a long story."

"Well alright, Mr. Eliezer." The Admiral responds. "You can call me Admiral Tau."

She walks out of the room. Eliezer turns back to the empty chair in front of him.

"I hope I don't end up becoming stuck and confined to this ship for the rest of my existence." He mutters.

He'd found the Rowandale remnants, but he wasn't excited or enthusiastic. He didn't feel happiness. Jinha was gone. Helena and Snake Man were out of reach. Eliezer's instinct was to try and find a way off this ship to head back to the moorland, but he knew it was unlikely. He had no idea where he was. For all he knew, he could be in the middle of the Rowandale Sea.

Eliezer is escorted into a small cabin in the medical hallway. He's given a tray of food along with a tin cup of bottled water. But he doesn't eat. He slumps onto the bed to feel miserable over himself.

His vow to Jinha felt worthless. He hoped his friend would have made it through the prison unharmed. However, this never happened; instead, all the prisoners and Jinha were dead because of a trap set by the Anarchists.

Eliezer rubs his right hand along his left arm. He touches the hard tracker which was worthless now, embedded in his skin. No aid was ever going to come from them anytime soon.

He fell into exhaustion and fell asleep.

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