16
The small figures huddled behind the warship's rail like a row of frightened birds, revealing only fingertips clenched around the planks and eyes reflecting firelight and the figures facing off.
A figure hung in the air, his black robe snapping in the currents.
His silence weighed heavier than the howling wind, pressing against the chest of every witness.
On the strangely shaped ship opposite him, a blond man laughed hoarsely, like a blunt knife scraping rusted sheet metal.
"Are you gathering fledglings to fill your future nests?"
The question came from the sky, every word clear as it struck the silent docks.
A louder string of sneers answered him. "Fufufu... and what about you? Does a jackal looting amid the flames deserve to talk about nests?"
The wind seemed to freeze for a moment.
Then an exceptionally tall figure stepped out from behind and beside the black-robed man.
Mesh fabric hugged an excessively muscular body, its plunging neckline forming a strange contrast with fluffy curls.
The enormous head tilted slightly upward, and a booming voice drowned out the wind. "We intend to try to heal this land. Even if hope is slim, we won't turn our backs!"
"Anyone can say pretty things."
A sticky voice drifted from the bizarre ship. A figure constantly dripping a mucus-like substance pressed down his hat brim. "Why don't you show everyone how you'll cure someone being eaten away by 'white stones,' behehehe..."
Before the clashing words had settled, the ground beneath them suddenly gave a muffled **.
Paving stones and earth rolled back to either side as though torn apart by invisible hands.
An enormous creature slowly rose from the opening, drawing every eye.
He was a giant with thick body hair and a tangled beard, yet he wore an incongruous short skirt,