Blood for Ankrus.

[DISCOLIQUID 2701]

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Thematic Music?]

 

Neph cut the tie on her single-person boat, allowing the roll of salty sea to tug her out into the Northern Ocean of Axios. Her azure eyes locked onto the horizon, inspecting the lackadaisical sun as it drifted its yellow rays closer to the vast expanse of dark sea before her, and a comforted grin grew on her lips.

 

"Back at sea," She murmured to herself, before taking up the job of rowing herself far into the frosty waters of the boreal. The smells of Neph's journey wafted around her: salt, water, and the soft reek of chum. They filled her nose, prompting her to shut her eyes a few times and reminisce about times when she was younger -- when her explorations onto the vast sea had been guided by the hands of her parents. Neph chuckled to herself, watching the slinking sun grow ever lower before tucking itself into the folds of the cold water. Purple hues danced like fae along the dappled waters and cirrus clouds of the sky. Neph leaned back into her boat, casting her sight upwards at the peaceful menagerie of colours that a sunset sky produces. She, like the sun, allowed sleep to steal her mind, the rocking of the boat serving only to quicken her descent into rest.

 

Neph awoke to the cacophony of gulls migrating above her head. She cracked open her eyes and smacked her lips.

 

"Blech.. thirsty." Neph rose and searched the boat for her waterskin, and upon locating it, quenched her thirst with distilled water from a natural aquifer she had found in the northern expanse of wilderness. She satiated her hunger by nibbling on the dried jerky of a wild pig she had put down herself and prepared the week before. Neph nodded, as she was satisfied with her rest, and ready to complete her task. Gripping the bucket of pungent chum, Neph scooped a helping of it into a thin bag and cast it about twelve feet out from her boat. She then hooked a dead fish onto the hook of her trusty rod, cast it out, and sat down. Using a section of rope, she strapped herself into the to the boat and began to wait.

 

It was not long before the maroon chum and dead flounder attracted the hulking form of a shark, swimming to the surface of the cold sea. Neph narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on the rod. The shark tugged at the rod; she set the rod into the catch on the boat and began to reel in the predator. The thrashing of the beast rotated Neph’s boat, though she remained upright and continued to pull the line as taut as she can. The murky figure of the shark was visible, just underneath the surface of the water. Neph snatched a harpoon and hurled it at the figure, piercing its skin.

 

The shark lasted a short time before succumbing to the wounds Neph inflicted upon it as she pulled it closer to her ship. She hauled its hulking form to the side of her boat, and made her way to the nearest glacial outcropping. She panted upon landing her boat upon the iced land. Tugging the shark onto the land, she finished it off, and murmured words of respect to Ankrus.

 

Neph, exhausted from her hunt and rowing her kill back to a shore, set up camp for the night with a small tent.

 

[HedgeHug 2049]

Judgement awaits her

[PraiseTheLord 868]

Turkurz Nods, remembering the shrine he and Yuglix built in Vailor, Honour of Ankrus.