Grey clouds choked the sky, letting no sunlight through the dull atmosphere. Barely visible through the mist, a cloaked figure carried a small bundle, running beside a small river. The river carved a jagged path through the terrain, like a stream of purity and cleanliness through a harsh, unforgiving terrain. The mysterious person placed the bundle, which was actually a baby, besides the river. How ironic that such fresh young life will be snuffed out next to a landmark representative of hope and the living.

Saif woke up, finding himself in a large, plump bed. He had seen something. Being blind, his dreams were usually auditory, full of the cries of death as he killed recklessly. But this one had visions- he had felt, if only for a short while, the sense of sight.

They say that the blind can only dream of what they have already seen. Perhaps Saif was not always blind. That dream may have been real. After all, it was remarkably similar to his life. Saif was found by a tribe of savages as a baby, abandoned by a river in Perion. They were the ones responsible for his upbringing. Responsible for the killer he was now. Saif learnt to use his senses, making up for his lack of sight. With their training, Saif could sense things a normal man could not see. Yet Saif still hated being blind. People immediately saw him as weak, not a serious opponent.

Sometime in his early teenage years, Saif’s tribe was attacked by a gang of bandits. They came as swift as shadows and just as silent. The tribe, when they were awoken, fought ruthlessly but were all massacred. Saif was one of the few survivors after being stabbed several times. Somehow, Saif showed inhuman resilience through his survival. Saif showed little love or compassion for his fallen companions, instead, he felt rage- the bandits had taken all he had. Since then, Saif hated all bandits. He would have killed Max back on that ship if he had the chance.

Hearing a knock on a door, Saif was brought back to the present. It had not occurred to him through all that deep thought about how he had found himself waking in a bed. He remembered being hit by BenZ’s spear and a feeling of falling, but nothing else. What he judged to be a light-footed girl walked into the room.

“Hi,” greeted the girl, casually.

“Hey, you another one of BenZ’s girlfriends?” asked Saif suddenly.

“You know, if you weren’t my patient, I’d slap you,” replied the girl haughtily. “My name’s Alice and I’m supposed to check up on you.”

“You have light footsteps,” said Saif. “You’re a bow person, aren’t you? Shouldn’t you be more useful in fighting or hunting then as a healer?”

“Life’s not all about fighting you know,” said Alice. “Anyway, do you feel any nausea or anything like that? BenZ told me you fell in the sea and the waters around Florina Beach are more polluted than you’d think.”

“Nah. I’m fine, you can go,” said Saif dismissively.

“Alright, but if you feel weird or anything, it’s my job to make sure you’re fine.”

“Just go. I don’t need your help.”

Alice walked off indignantly. Saif wondered what had annoyed her so much. He never understood girls.

In a corridor not too far away, BenZ was leaning through an open window, also in deep thought. He was not thinking about any dreams; his dreams were all the same- full of naked women. Rather, BenZ was thinking about Saif. Was it safe to keep him around? BenZ had suspicions about him but after knocking him unconscious in a fight, Saif seemed much less threatening.

The light of two slugs of plasma flew across the air, bouncing across the thick skin of a shark. Jimmy swore. He stood next to Zeratul, who was staring grimly as two large, rather menacing magical cold sharks approached them.

“Here, take this,” cried Zeratul, invisible somewhere around Jimmy. He threw one of his vorpal blades to Jimmy. “Those things aren’t normal sharks- you can’t defeat them with guns, use my blade.”

Jimmy stared at Zeratul and raised an eyebrow, looking insulted.

“Now why would I need your little butter knife?” said Jimmy.”Watch this.”

Surprising Zeratul, Jimmy ran as fast as he could towards the sharks. One was ahead of the other by far. Jimmy slowed down and took more caution as he approached it. Its jaws moving like a powerful motor, the shark snapped at Jimmy, who dodged nimbly. The shark snapped again several times, Jimmy each time one step ahead. Spinning around, the shark attacked with its powerful rear fin. Jimmy jumped over it and onto the shark’s head. He kicked the shark in the nose. Adding insult to injury, he proceeded to jab its eyes with the tip of his gun. The shark, now blinded, opened its mouth to shoot icicles as a last desperate measure. Jimmy took the chance to jam his gun into the shark’s mouth and fire.

Though a Cold Shark has skin tougher than most metals, there was no way anything could survive a burst of plasma, hot enough to melt steel, blasted at supersonic speeds through the mouth, directly to the brain, at point blank range. The shark almost exploded. Jimmy laughed and grabbed his gun out of the bloody mess. Zeratul ran past him muttering, going for the second shark.

“Showoff. Could’ve lost your arm,” he mumbled.

Zeratul had wielded a blade longer than most people have lived. He made short work of the shark, cleanly decapitating it without any hassle. Looking up, he saw more sharks approaching out of small cracks in the rocks. Most people would flee at the sight of at least a hundred sharks pouring out of the walls. Zeratul did not beg to differ. Turning around, he ran as quick as he could, trying to catch up to Jimmy, who no longer looked so smug.

Jimmy knew he could hide, but could not run. Trying to outrun a shark swimming underwater was suicide. He found a crack in the wall, not unlike those that the sharks swam out of, but this one was smaller, too small for the sharks to get in. He tried to get in as quick as he could and Zeratul followed.

Instead of the pitch black he had expected Jimmy saw a dimly lit cavern with a crude bed and table. He also realised that he was not underwater anymore. He was in a sort of pocket of air. But that was not important. Someone was in here. Jimmy braced himself for any sudden movement. He heard a clanking behind him. Instantly, Jimmy spun around, half-expecting another shark. Instead, he saw Zeratul, restraining a rather strange man, a blade pressed to his neck.

The man looked like noone Jimmy had ever seen. His skin was unnaturally pale; his hair white, possibly from living underwater with no sunlight. He wore rags, the remains of what may have once been clothes.

“Heeey. Lumpy not mean to hurtsy you,” he said. His voice sounded like a combination between a hiss and a rasp. “Please tella big bully to take da knife away.”

“If you didn’t want to hurt us, why’d you sneak up on us?” asked Zeratul, not relaxing his grip.

“’Cause you making da big shark angry,” answered Lumpy. “Wanna be careful wit’ anyone can kill da big shark.”

“Let him go,” said Jimmy.

Zeratul put his blades away and let go of Lumpy.

“Who are you?” asked Jimmy. “And how the hell did you get here?”

Lumpy grinned. He seemed to enjoy talking, possibly from not having the opportunity to talk to someone for a very long time.

“Well, I comes from a big ship. Which sink and I cannot remember da rest,” he said, looking sheepish.

“Your reckon he’s crazy?” asked Zeratul to Jimmy under his breath.

Jimmy was about to tell how much he agreed when there was a loud crunch. Lumpy was the first to react.

“Oh dear, sharkies are here.”

Managed to introduce my own character AND leave another cliffhanger.