32 Travel (Part 3)

[POV AQUILES VIRIDIUM – YEAR 276]

When the Captain looked at the man, he was already drowning, struggling with all his might to free himself from the water cocoon that had formed around his head, moving his head from side to side with fear and despair. Watching the man who had worked by his side for over 10 years dying in such an agonizing way, the Captain felt his fear deepen along with a sense of sadness.

He wanted to plead for mercy, but he was too paralyzed to speak. "What if he kills me? If I ask to spare him, this maniac will kill me!" The Captain affirmed to himself inwardly, trying to alleviate the guilt of not trying anything to save his friend and right-hand man.

As he watched, Aquiles saw tears start to trickle down Captain Oswell's face as he watched his friend die, but Aquiles couldn't tell if they were tears of sadness, tears of fear, or tears of anger. "Probably all of the above," thought Aquiles as he watched Captain Oswell shift his gaze from him to Jonas repeatedly, lacking the courage to utter a single word on behalf of his friend.

As seconds passed and Jonas continued to struggle to breathe, the expression of despair on his face gradually softened more and more until finally, after three whole minutes, air bubbles began to escape from his mouth and nose, and seconds later Jonas lost consciousness.

It didn't take long for his face to start turning increasingly blue, at the same time, the agonizing expression carved on his face became more and more relaxed, as if the man was just sleeping, but the Captain knew, all the men present knew, Jonas was dead.

With Jonas's death, the tears stopped flowing down Captain Oswell's cheeks, he had lost all hope, and now he was too afraid to speak, afraid of angering Aquiles even more, and in turn, hastening his own death.

Noticing that the captain remained silent, Aquiles spoke again, breaking the silence that had taken over the ship. Now, Aquiles amplified his voice with mana and exclaimed in a tone of genuine admiration: "Wow, I thought he would only last for 2 minutes, but he actually managed to hold his breath for 3 whole minutes!" At the same time, Aquiles began to clap for the dead man, making his captors even more uncomfortable.

Moments later, Aquiles stopped his applause and at the same time, his gaze turned cold and fixed on Captain Oswell. "You haven't answered me yet, Captain Oswell... Do you want to die by burning alive or by drowning?" Aquiles inquired with a voice as cold as ice.

"He's going to kill me! This bastard is really going to kill me, he's going to kill everyone!" Captain Oswell realized horrified, looking at Aquiles with wide eyes. He considered himself a smart man, but he couldn't think of a way to get out of there alive, not after beating Aquiles, stealing his gold, and revealing that his plan was to sell him as a slave to some Pleasure Garden in Lys.

"Since you can't choose, I'll choose for you!" Aquiles asserted, and with a hand gesture, the water tentacle holding the captain by the torso, restraining his arms, began to extend upward. The water slowly started creeping toward his head to suffocate him.

Feeling the water rising up his neck, the captain lifted his face upwards, trying to gain more time to breathe. At the same time, he cried out in terror: "Please, no, please, wait, spare me, please, I'll do anything!"

Immediately after saying these words, the water that was slowly crawling up his neck towards his head stopped advancing. "Anything?" Aquiles inquired and the Captain nodded desperately, repeatedly saying, "Yes, yes, yes..."

"I just killed your second-in-command and trusted man, I don't think you can forgive something like that! In fact, I think you'll stab me in the back as soon as I give you an opening or let my guard down, it's better to kill you now!" Aquiles said as soon as the captain stopped nodding positively and speaking repeatedly.

The Captain struggled, looked at Aquiles, and shook his head negatively like a madman as he shouted, "N-no, I met him a day before leaving Lys, please spare me, I barely knew him. I've only known him for a few months, he meant nothing to me, just listen..." The captain yelled, and the men began to cast irritated, discontented, and disgusted glances towards him. He didn't care and continued speaking: "I'll do anything, damn it. I have a pregnant wife, my son will be born soon, they need me! I'll take you to Braavos, just let me live!"

"Human survival instinct," thought Aquiles with a bit of amusement as he looked at the old man. He didn't like this type who would betray so easily, so he wanted to kill him, but he knew he couldn't do it, at least not for now.

"You will have to swear loyalty to me, do you agree to that?" Aquiles inquired in a cold tone, and the man nodded affirmatively. "Your subordinates will also swear, and then you will take me to Braavos!" Aquiles moved his arms, and as he did so, the water tentacles began to place the sailors back on the ship's deck.

"I hope you don't try anything funny, or next time it will be fire tentacles grabbing you." Aquiles threatened as he rotated his hand with the palm up, and with that, flames appeared in his palm, and they began to dance until forming a small flame demon, which opened a wide smile looking at the sailors, causing the men to look at the flame demon with an even greater dread than the way they looked at Aquiles.

The last man to be placed on the ground was the captain, and when the water tentacle stood him up on the deck, the man quickly fell to his knees, just like everyone else present. "I swear," affirmed the captain, looking at Aquiles' feet, and he wasn't the only one; everyone present did the same.

Aquiles snorted; he would never believe in such an oath. "No, not that kind of crappy oath," Aquiles asserted, making the captain look at him with confusion. "Captain, get up and change the course of the ship to the nearest lands," ordered Aquiles while looking at the kneeling man.

"Y-Yes, yes, of course, my lord," Captain Oswell quickly responded as he rose from the ground, but before leaving, he retrieved the bag of gold from his side and hastily tried to return it to Aquiles.

Aquiles took it and then called one of the sailors and ordered him to place it with the rest of the ship's gold. "I hope not a single coin goes missing," Aquiles threatened, his eyebrows narrowed, and the man swore by the old and new Gods that not even one coin would disappear.

Captain Oswell quickly began to do as Aquiles commanded, starting to give orders to the sailors. They all seemed irritated with him, after all, he had betrayed them. But as they glanced at Aquiles and saw him watching them, they quickly began to obey the orders. The fear had not yet disappeared and would not for a long time. After the display of power, they all feared him; each of them feared being killed for the slightest mistake, and so they rushed and strived their hardest not to give Aquiles any reason to kill them.

While the sailors worked and Captain Oswell searched the map for the nearest land, Aquiles leaned back against the railing of the deck, closely observing every move of the sailors. After what he had shown them, Aquiles doubted any of them would try anything against him, but still, he didn't plan to lower his guard until all the men present on the ship made an oath of loyalty to him at the Pillar of Oath.

...

Hours later, as the midday sun rose high in the sky, Aquiles and the crew disembarked onto the sandy beach of an island. The men followed him as he led the group to the nearest patch of land. When Aquiles stepped onto the land, he began to chant aloud for the first time. After his training with Luna, Aquiles no longer needed to chant for most spells, but for high-level spells, chanting aloud was necessary.

The Pillar of Oath is the same magic that the 'Son of the Forest' forced Aquiles to swear five years ago when he captured him. Luna had taught him how to conjure it during his training, taught him how to choose the punishment for breaking the oath, and when Aquiles learned that the punishment was chosen by the conjurer, he realized that Luna's brother had deliberately chosen the death penalty for him when he forced him to swear.

As Aquiles conjured, the Pillar of Oath began to emerge from the ground, with runes adorned all over the structure. These runes described the entire contract written in runic language around the pillar. Aquiles described the punishment for breaking the oath as: 'Death by Fire'. He would have no mercy for anyone who tried to enslave him.

Casting his eyes over the men, Aquiles ordered: "Listen, I want you to form a line and come to the Pillar. Then, I want you to spill some of your blood into the top hole of the Pillar while swearing Eternal Loyalty to me. Then I want you to swear never to tell anyone what happened in the last 3 hours. Know this at once, an oath made here cannot be based on lies, nor can it be broken, or you will die immediately upon trying."

After all the crazy things Aquiles had done, no one doubted his words or tried to test if his words were a lie. Initially, no one wanted to swear, but when Aquiles stated that he would kill those who did not swear, Captain Oswell took the initiative and was the first to swear, then another, and so on, sailor after sailor.

Meanwhile, one of Captain Oswell's men sneaked behind the group, thinking that Aquiles wouldn't see him leave, and then ran, fleeing towards the forest. Unfortunately for him, the man didn't run fast enough. When Aquiles saw him running, he quickly conjured a fireball, hurling it at the man's back. Upon being hit, he fell forward in his run, with his back slowly burning. The fire had ignited the clothes he was wearing, and they, in turn, began to burn his hair.

The man screamed, cried, wet himself, and begged, but no one helped him. Burning incessantly, the man tried to roll on the ground to put out the fire. As he did so, his melted skin began to stick to the ground and peel off his body, leaving parts of his face raw, as the smell of burnt human flesh began to be felt by Aquiles and the group. "Does anyone else want to try to escape?" Aquiles asked in a calm and indifferent tone.

The place was silent, and all that could be heard were the final screams and moans of the burning man. "Great!" Aquiles said in a neutral tone as a few moments passed and no one dared to answer his question. Not wanting to continue hearing the man's screams, Aquiles waved his hand again, and a dozen earth stakes emerged from the ground, piercing every part of the man's body, freeing him from his agony.

"I hope you don't think for a second that you'll get away. I wouldn't want to have to kill you. Now, continue to swear. We don't have all day, and I want to leave for Braavos as soon as possible!" Aquiles said impatiently, and the group of sailors hastened. When all the men finished their oaths, they set sail again for the sea on the ship, now bound for Braavos.