Dawn- An age of Darkness

The day went by rather quick. It's not easy staying on board a pirate ship. One, the stay isn't free, two you have to work your ass off every possible second-from tending small cracks to washing clothes of those filthy jerks, and three the food is terrible.

At the evening just like before they partied and the two of us sat in a corner of the deck. As usual we were sitting tight watching the stream of water flowing by. So far, no monsters started jumping around.

For some reason, there was a little warm fluffy feeling close to me. I felt that all day. Maybe I was missing the rabbits; I could even hear their babylicious sounds. Although they were carnivorous and tried to eat me for the last two months, they were still my most favorite animals. Sigh* I'm really hopeless aren't I?

The stars appeared one after another. As I looked carefully, the constellations were a little different. Most of the earth's constellations weren't present in the sky. The ones' that were present looked distorted. They could have been entirely different constellations altogether.

"How come there's no moon?" I always heard people saying the moon was just a legend and all that. But I'd never asked people about it. at least I didn't feel like asking.

"Dunno." The old man chuckled. Well, he wasn't helping. "But I heard you can see the remnants from the demon kingdom. Maybe you'll find your answer there?"

"Hell no. I ain't going over there." The remnants? So the moon did exist. Of course, to an earthling like me, the moon was a common thing. but in this world, it wasn't. And since no one could freely venture to Galbatia, it was impossible for the people to confirm something like the moon.

The old man burst into laughter but a second later he looked rather serious. "It's best to prepare ourselves. The path he talked about won't be easy. There are some islands on that route that have been said to be rather scary." The old man began in a nonchalant way. But his words oozed seriousness.

"Well, we'll figure something out. As long as-" I stopped. I'd just said something stupid again.

Seeing my silence, the old man couldn't help but laugh, again. "Well, at least you're confident."

That kind of ruined the mood and made me mad again.

Sometime later when the redness of the western horizon disappeared, Brend came with another two plates. This time just roasted squid and shark tail. I didn't like the looks of either.

We started eating. Brend didn't talk much at first. I was still confused about whether to call him a, him or her. In the end, I settled for him.

Is this stuff really edible? But my question was still the same. The food didn't look appetizing nor smelt good. I just couldn't bring myself to gulp down this stuff. Even that gooey stuff from yesterday was better than this.

Before I could force myself to take a bite, Brend started barraging me with questions. Rather heavy ones too. "That time, ye were talking about going to the moon. Were ye serious?"

Would it really be alright to tell him the truth? I weighed the merits and demerits of me telling him. The worst that could happen was that he'd spill the beans and I'd be treated differently. But the best case scenario didn't seem all that best either. After all, I didn't want to be treated as a liar and wanted to be laughed at.

Cough* the old man made a little sound and left the place. So, he's leaving it up to me? I didn't like it, but I guess he was just being considerate.

Well, I know his secret, I guess… I knew Brend's secret and so I thought maybe I could tell him mine. But in the end it seemed a little weird or rather a little embarrassing to say it. Besides, I still didn't know if he could be trusted or not.

"Well? Were ye serious?" But his eyes were too innocent. I couldn't help but be enchanted. I didn't swing the other way but I still gave up and decided it would be alright to tell him.

I looked around. There were pirates on the deck too, but most of them were far away and almost all them, were busy drinking, and gossiping.

With a lot of resolve I answered. "Yes." I prepared for him to laugh it off and all that.

"How?"

"How should I explain this to you…. you see I'm not from this world. I come from a different world where technology is used for everything. The rocket thing I told you about before was a technology too."

I said something complicated without actually considering what I was saying. But I didn't think he'd believe me. But I didn't have any reasons to lie to him. Well, I wouldn't blame him if he thought I was weird or anything.

"I see. At first I thought ye were weird but I see. Hmm… okay I believe ye. How do you get to yer world?"

Huh!? Weird, really! At least he believes me. But really? That easily? I was going through a complicated string of thoughts. I couldn't say if they were good or bad. "Actually I'm trying to figure that out too." I came out clean.

"What's that supposed to mean? Then how did ye get here?" His face was awfully close to mine. Now that I see it, why his eyes were the same when he was a girl. No wonder he looked so damn dashing.

"Actually I can't tell you that. It's complicated."

I almost crushed his dream but he didn't really seem all that crushed. If anything he seemed more excited. "If ye could return to yer world think it would be possible for me to go to the moon?"

"Theoretically yeah. But you'll need loads of money and patience though."

He didn't even bother hearing the rest of the sentence. He was too excited. His eyes were glowing with excitement. If this was a movie or something, we'd have sparkles everywhere. "WOOHOO!!! YARRR!" Yup, he was excited alright.

I let out an exasperated sigh. "I'll appreciate it if you kept quiet about this." I didn't want him running around, telling people that I was out of this world or something.

He didn't hesitate for a second. "But of course! The same to you." For a second I almost thought he was normal. But when he started to chug down the fish and blend in with the crowd, I knew it: he was just like them.

The ship's name was Andromeda. It was probably a coincidence that this name was used in this world but I didn't pay any attention to it. At night Andromeda was lit up using small oil lamps here and there. For pirates, those guys were rather laid back. I wondered why they didn't do that the first day, but today they were really partying and lighting up things randomly. They had too much free time on their hands. Didn't they know they were inviting attention by lighting up?

It was close to midnight but the party hadn't stopped. Brend almost begged me to tell him more about my world. But at one point he started investigating my bag. "By the way, I like yer pet. Are ye gonna eat him or keep him?"

"Pet what-" I looked around and there was nothing. I didn't know what he was talking about. "What are you talking about?"

"This!" She grabbed something from my pouch. A little squeak escaped into the air.

"When ye were moving it was moving too. Maybe that's why ye didn't notice. So that means I can eat this right?"

How did I not notice?

I snatched the little guy from his hands and acted like a mother protecting her child from predators. That was obvious because the little guy was a rabbit and a baby one no less. It was the most precious thing I had ever seen.

"So, ye wanna eat that?" He seemed a little confused.

My heart beat fast. Sweats overflowed throughout my body. "I think there must have been some sort of miscommunication. I'm not going to eat him. Ever!" I exclaimed.

At that moment other pirates were peeking in to our conversation.

"So you're going to share it with us?" Brend said, utterly confused.

Where the hell is this going? Should I just tell them I love bunnies? But even my friends laughed at me for saying that. I still remember the day when my friends at school found out that I loved bunnies. One of my friends had strangled a bunny just for poking fun at me. All of them laughed at me. I later beat the hell out of them though. Maybe that was why I never had many friends.

"This newbie is quite sincere. Give it to me. I'll cook something up and give it to everyone." Gack took the little guy from me. The little bunny was frightened to the core and looked at me with watery eyes. My heart fluttered when I saw those black eyes dripping with tears. The pure silky pinkish-white fur was calling out to me; the marvelous-wondrous ears twitched and enticed me. I had to save it. I had to answer it, I just had to.

"Hey!" I went towards him with aggression. I looked the guy in the eye. His eyes were black too but my mind was made up. I took the bunny out of his furry hands by force and declared a speech that was rather something. "LISTEN UP! THIS IS MY PET AND I LOVE BUNNIES. ANYONE WHO HAS A PROBLEM WITH THAT CAN COME AND ARM WRESTLE WITH ME!" What the hell did I just say? Have I ever arm wrestled before? I was looking intently at everyone but honestly I was too embarrassed to look away. What is wrong with me?

"Umm…I don't see any problems in that. In fact I love bunnies too. Those little critters are too delicious," Gack said. Gack was looking away hiding his red cheeks. What the hell was he blushing for?

Everyone was laughing. They weren't laughing at my words, but rather the situation. I laughed too albeit for different reasons.

I didn't know why but for some reason the pirates understood me more than my actual friends back on earth. That just explains how sad my friendships' were. I never thought I'd get along so well with pirates of all people. And yet, somehow I felt grateful.

The old man came near me and again my logical brain prevented me from punching him. He sighed and started, "I was hoping we would eat him when he got a little older but I suppose there's no helping it."

You knew? Can I punch you now? All this time I thought the damn geezer was asleep but never in a million years had I thought that he had plotted something like this.

"SO, what are ye gonna call him?" Brend said, ignoring the crowd.

"Let's see, how about little Whi-… AWWW!" I was fiddling the little thing around its face but suddenly it bit my finger. I quickly took out my finger, but didn't drop the little thing; the pirates were too busy laughing. It doesn't hurt as much as I thought. "Hey, there's no blood." Meaning there were no teeth either.

"Looks like he hasn't grown any teeth yet. Lucky you eh!" The old man said.

How is that lucky? So in the end this guy is a meat-eating monster too? I was basically crying inside. But at least it was still harmless… and cute… for now.

I didn't really have to think anymore. "I changed my mind, I'm calling him Bitey."

"Cause he bites? If so, then that's just sad," Brend said, chuckling all the way.

What else could I name a monster that bites like that? Whitey? Mighty? Cidey?

It was constantly trying to eat my finger although it didn't even possess teeth. If the damn thing wasn't as cute as it was I'd have surely eaten it instead.. But, just by looking at it, made my heart melt. How could I have even considered eating it?