Terrick ran next to her, a confused expression on his face. She had just helped him escape, for no reason that he could fathom. He had kidnapped her! And she was helping him run from her own people!

'What is going on…?' Terrick thought to himself as he remembered the time he had gotten recruited.

Breta on the other hand, 'What am I doing? I knew I had too much to drink! G.o.d d.a.m.nit Breta stop doing stupid s.h.i.+t! Fuuuuuck!!' a hamster that resembled her mind cycled quickly and repeatedly through these thoughts.

and yet, she still ran.

Somewhere deep within her a spark of curiosity had been lit, a spark of curiosity towards this strange man. She had heard tales of the outside world from her mother. While other children of the island heard of the glory of the fragrant temple, her mother had told her of an open ocean, a tall mountain that touched the very skies and a plethora of interesting and new concepts that she had never again heard of.

"Oi! Where are you taking meeee?" Terrick said, being dragged down off the tiled roof halfway through his question.

"To the outer circle! You won't be troubled too much there!" She called over her back, still running.

"You know we don't have to run right? No one is following us." Terrick said, sneaking a few looks behind his shoulder just to be sure.

"The inner circle is too dangerous for someone dressed as weird as you are!" She snapped back relis.h.i.+ng the sense of control she felt dragging the poor guy behind her.

"How long to get to the outer circle?"

"Do you want to swim there? if not wait for it.."

And so he waited.

They ran in relative silence after that. They avoided most people on the streets below by running onto the roofs, getting down only in places where the fog thinned.

Terrick looked around him. He had not seen this part of the island yet. After he had gotten on he had a.s.sumed that the entire island was populated with the same monotonous buildings. Only now did he start to see a certain level of variation.

The thin cobblestone path had expanded, changing from a matt black to a more demure blue. At the corners of the streets stood tall lampposts. On these lampposts was a small bag like structure from which a glimmer of light could be seen.

The road no longer was just a simple straight line, instead it curved on itself nicely, the houses dotting its sides stood empty.

"Why are there no lights inside the houses?" Terrick asked as he looked carefully at his surroundings. The lack of people tingling his sense of suspicion.

"Eh.. Most people are at the fragrant temple at this time. Those that aren't don't belong to this sector. This sector is mainly for the soldiers. Those poor sobs have to patrol all day long, this part of the night is when they can actually pray in piece.

Of all the places you picked to sneak into, you chose the most populated place on the island. " She replied lazily as she made her way over to a small house.

With a look around she began to climb its walls, the weird jagged design of the walls making it an easy target. She motioned for him to follow with her hands before trudging onto the f.a.g end of the wide maroon roof.

"The east sector belongs to the scholars." She motioned towards the place that they ran from. "The west is for the soldiers. At the end of that turn there we shall come to the separation gate. It looks much like the island gate that exists on the outside of both circles. After we cross that we can go onto the outside circle." She finished as she looked over at him.

"Why are we going to the outside circle? My friends are here, I need to rescue them." Terrick said looking over to the only person he knew on the island.

"We need to get to the outer circle to get you a decent plan. I know of a friend who says she knows a secret way to get straight into the fragrant temple.

That's your best shot, and honestly, you don't like remotely like an islander. You won't be able to fit in." She announced decisively.

"Why are you helping me?" Terrick asked, looking at her with steely eyes. This question had been plaguing him since she had dragged him along.

"You look like excitement." She replied simply. Terrick merely looked at her, this was an important job that he couldn't afford to screw up. He had no intention of losing the people that he called family as soon as he got them. He had no time to screw around with random people. After all the things he had heard from Breta, a sense of desperation had welled up In him.

At this point he would willingly jump into a trap if it meant that he had a single chance of rescuing them. So, he did the thing that all desperate people would do. He took a chance…

***************

Somewhere out in the empty sea a single sailor could be seen on a s.h.i.+p cussing his mind out. The s.h.i.+p didn't even drift for a second and a look of pure helplessness could be seen in his eyes.

Lorean grumbled darkly as he faced off against the dark and deplorable sea. The only clue he had on the people that had kidnapped his people was the Amazon lily.

The only known settlement that existed on the calm belt, but they did not ride the Yuda the same way that the mysterious women had. They were one of the few islands that he had been interested in back when he lived with his father.

He had read up extensively on their tales and cultures. He knew all about them and that was why he felt this hopeless. They were on the other part of the f.u.c.king red line!

With a d.a.m.ning sigh he looked around him once again, a part of him wis.h.i.+ng against all manner of deities that existed for his observation Haki to be the voice of all things, but to no avail.

Suddenly the water beside the s.h.i.+p began to split, a blue head could be seen coming from under the water surface.

Lorean recognized this head, how could he not, this was the head of one of the sea kings that Terrick had killed the night before!

The creature regarded him calmly as it looked over, completely different from the feral predatory glare that was a.s.sociated with most sea kings.

A low toned yelp sounded from the creature as bubbles began to form around it, a collection of smaller heads appeared, each with their own weird looking sea king.

Most of the creatures were smaller than the blue one that had appeared first, but still they all regarded Lorean calmly.

A strange sense of calm and serenity filled the air as a final spout of water burst out. There a single small pointy headed sea king appeared. It looked much like the swordfish from his previous life, but it was much sleeker in its build.

It looked regally at the man, a sense of arrogance in its eyes. Though the sea king was by far the smallest there was the other creatures bowed down to it.

A soft sound began to hum from its sides as its mouth spread into a simple smile.

"One horn has spoken very highly of you.." The serene voice said as the sea parted. The sword headed sea king had spoken, and as the records would later say, the pirate captain was so flabbergasted he fell into the sea.