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"Blue Scales, Blue Drops, and the Blue Lightning" (Merc Fort) The basement was dark, among other things. It was also damp. And the floors were muddy. And the rats seemed to have formed a primitive tribe that worshiped a spoon some idiot guard dropped while he was eating. Yes, Abizboah finally felt like he had found something close to home. He was resting in the corner of an unused storeroom watching the door with his large, black eyes. On occasion one of his tentacles would shoot out and nab one of the rats, and the room would be filled for a few seconds with nauseating slurping noises and the rare burping sound. When he finally convinced himself no one would open the door and disturb his private sanctuary, he allowed his mind to drift, reflecting on how he came to live here and why he knew he would have to leave soon... Flik stared at the sleeping mass of scales and tentacles before him, his bulging eyes almost comically mimicking the ‘o' formed by his gaping mouth. He was so surprised by the creatures appearance that his discomfort for being called to the basement was instantly forgotten. "What..." Flik chose his words carefully "is that...that...thing!?" he asked. Eric squirmed like a worm on a hook at the blue caped warriors words. "Well sir, its um...what did she call it...oh yeah, its called a Kraken!" he explained with some semblance of pride. His happiness at being able to recall the creatures name soon faded as Flik glared at him. "Kraken?" Flik asked "I thought they were extinct." "Well sir, this one is certainly alive" "Are you trying to be funny, soldier?" "N-no sir, Sir Flik, sir!" Eric said, obviously scared out of his wits by the older man. Flik groaned, wondering why he was cursed with such incompetence for guards. "Okay, tell me again why you let this...creature in here?" "Uh...well sir, I was guarding the front gate like Viktor ordered, when the girl and this kraken just walked up and-" "Girl? You mean to tell me you let ANOTHER person in here!?" Eric wasn't sure because it was so dark, but he thought he could see smoke starting to come from the ears of his yelling leader. "What if she's some spy from Highland!? She could be here to unlock the door when Luca comes bustin' through!" "Uh, sir...with all due respect, she doesn't seem to be much of a threat, not how she came in, and besides-" Eric was cut off once again by what was certainly one of the weirder noises he'd heard in his 18 years. "Kroooonnn..." "Huh?" Flik turned his attention back to the sleeping kraken, which was waking up very quickly. "Sir Flik...I think you woke him up..." "I can see that soldier. I'm not blind. Draw your sword before it fully wakes up!" Flik barked the order as he drew his own sword, ready and more than willing to fight the kraken if it should make one move. Abizboah woke up slowly, his eardrums in a slight bit of pain from some fools yelling. He opened his eyes, resting his gaze on the two figures before him. The first, Boah noticed, wore mostly blue, and had a sword drawn and pointed at him. Boah recoiled almost instantly as he recognized the human was brandishing a weapon. At his movement, the blue clothed human began to step forward, apparently thinking the kraken was threatening him. He was stopped by a younger man to his right, who drew his own sword and held it in the larger mans path. He had red hair, and was wearing the same type of clothing as the guards from before were. Upon closer inspection, Boah realized it was the same young man from before, the one who let them into the fort. "What are you doing?" Flik asked, astonished. "Just...relax, Flik. It wont hurt us." Eric said. He knew that he, just a young recruit, couldn't possibly overpower a hero of the Liberation War and hope to live to tell about it. He hoped his reasoning was stronger than his muscles were right now "You were more worried about the girl, remember?" Abizboah, still too weak to fight, backed away a bit more, watching the two humans grapple. The younger man said something to the larger, and seemed to be reasoning with him. "The girl..." Flik said, still not taking his eyes of the kraken. "Where is she?" "For safeties sake, we put her in one of the holding cells, near that princess. I think that Makoto kid's looking up on them." he said. Flik looked back at Abizboah, into the eyes of the kraken, who was pushed into a corner, trying to stay in a defensive position. He looked into the dark swirling mass which seemed to envelop his attention. The dancing torchlight played off of Abizboah's eyes as Flik stared into them. Unbeknownst to Eric and unnoticed by Flik, the Blue Drops rune on Abizboah's forehead began to emit a quiet, almost imperceptible glow. Flik saw, in what seemed like an instant, the years of fear Abizboah had spent hiding from the humans, the tears he shed in sadness from the loss of his family and friends. All of it was hidden, like a secret story, in his eyes. After staring for a few more moments, Flik drew his sword back into the scabbard, turned his back to Eric and Abizboah, and walked towards the doorway which led to the dungeons. "I'll go see the prisoner who was brought in with the kraken." Flik said "I want you to find someplace to keep him; I don't want him running around loose upstairs, you got that?" Without waiting for a answer, Flik opened the door, and left without another word, leaving Eric to stand there, dumbstruck in the warriors sudden change of emotion. As Abizboah's tentacle shot out and he snagged another rat, his thoughts on his first meeting with the blue clothed man began to diminish, to give way to his own fatigue again. If one had ventured close enough to the door, unheeding Flik's warning, and put their ear to the hard wood, they would have heard one of the most bizarre sounding noises ever known...a kraken snoring.
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