Khalfani waited against the box of cargo, silently as time went by. The cargo boxes were stacked up against each other one by one, probably containing some amount of food for the people of Astera, or perhaps it was some illegal goods. Whatever it was had nothing to do with him. As he stood waiting, he heard feet, then a voice. Cool, calm, collected and almost ghost-like there Veronica was. Veronica Wintour, his partner and crime for the past two days. She was his equal, at least that's what he saw her as. Even if she didn't realize it, her presence was appreciated. Doing quests alone was boring and not to mention dangerous. It wasn't like Khalfani couldn't handle his own, it was just that doing quests with another person meant that it'd be a lot easier. For the past two years and for as long as he could remember he had been doing everything by himself.
Not only the countless amount of quests for the rune knights, but also adventures that had to do with his own life. The Rune Knights for a while had him doing quests alone and he was twelve. Not long after was he promoted to Lieutenant. One of the strongest members on the whole force. He had a promising future back then, or so his superiors believed. However, they didn't know that he was simply a spy for the Wizard Lord. Even the Captain Jove had faith in his future. It wasn't long before he left the Rune Knights to reunite with his father.
What a time to be alive, he thought. Veronica didn't seem to be a fan of this city either. Who would?
"I know. The money's good though." Was his response. That's all there it was to it. Nothing more, nothing less. Little did Veronica know that Khalfani would be dealing with his biggest fear. The thought of exposing to her that meant that he was trusting her. Hopefully in the future she wouldn't use that against him. "Come on." He said as he walked from the dock towards the man waiting by the boat. When they approached the man would tell them the details of the quest. At night they would hear a loud screech and in the morning all of the food cargo had gone missing.
The pounds of fish they had captured the night before vanished as if a ghost had stolen them or something. It was the same story the last time he had come to Astera. Though that time was more of a shit show, this time he doubted it would be that way. Plus, the last time he had gone with Azure; a mage of Eternal Nightmare who he hadn't liked in the beginning. With a sigh Khalfani nodded, and the sailor would escort them onto the boat. He would allow Veronica to step onto the boat first, then he would step in. It was more about being afraid than it was about being polite.
Soon after the man had escorted them onto the Boat, Khalfani would squirm to the middle as his face began to pale. He sat on the deck and placed his head in his knees. The boat would sway back and forth and he would attempt to ignore all of it, but to no avail. It would be obvious that he had a fear of large bodies of water like the ocean and he knew Veronica would see it. Yet still, he hoped that she would at least pretend like she didn't see it. This was far too embarrassing after all. The boat would soon begin rocking wildly as a large snake-like sea monster arose from the water. Mouth parted revealing about seven-hundred or so teeth. How was that even possible, he thought. Khalfani wanted to be the hero in this moment, so he stood up, holding his breath and attempted to be the stoic man the world had known him to be. Except he just couldn't.
This all was just making his stomach feel queasy. Soon after standing up, he'd sit down and tuck his head back into his knees. This was just too much for him right now. He thought he could do it, but it seemed he had just been lying to himself.
"Vee, can you...please?" He'd grumble, trying his hardest not to puke. The boat captain looked at the panther in utter disappointment, then would turn to his partner with a nod. Khal had been caught up in trying to keep himself under wraps that he hardly paid any attention to Veronica. It would be entirely comedic if she too had a fear of large bodies of water like the ocean. If Veronica didn't handle this situation, then the two of them would just have to die. The Eternal Nightmare leaned over the boat with his eyes closed before puking his guts out, wiping his mouth and sulking back into the deck when he was done.
His fear of large bodies of water didn't come from nowhere. When he was younger, the slave masters would hold him underwater for long ass seconds as some sort of twisted discipline. It was a fear he would definitely need to get over, especially since they were going to be fighting a lot more monsters soon. So, whether Veronica had accomplished the task at hand or not, Khal would stand up and decide that it was his turn. Like an idiot, he ran to the other end of the ship and just when he was about to get into the action he threw up. His guts emptied into the water. Never again, he thought. This was indeed the worst quest he could have chosen.
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