Deepwoken: For Glory And Beyond

Hereafter

The man stared at his body that was lacking of life, in deep sleep on the bed. His black middle-parted hair was soaking wet. His clothes were torn and were bad enough to be called 'rags' rather than 'cloth'. His white full-face mask covering his dark-bluish skin was full of scratches.

"Hey. Wake up." He said, nudging him gently, to which he responded with grunts. It seemed like he was having a headache. He jolted up from his slumber after.

"Gah! My crew!" He exclaimed, frantically looking around.

"Relax. Here's a towel. Why don't you dry yourself up and we'll talk after. I'll explain everything." The man said.

The door closes shut after the man walked out. The silence in the small room was deafening. Upon further inspection, he noticed that the room was quite solitary, not even a table to be in sight. Only a mattress was to be found in the wooden room.

Soon after he dried herself, his exhausted body walked out of the room, the towel in his hands in front of him. He approached the man, who was now leaning against the wall chatting with an armed man.

"Ah, traveller. You're wide awake! And looking much better without that seawater dripping from your hair." The man spoke.

"Where am I..? Where is my crew? My captain?" He asked in panic.

"Let's start with formalities first, there's no need to rush. You're safe." He chuckled, "My name's Trenti. An Etrean."

"E-Etrean.. this.. this is Etrea?" He asked, her eyes darting around the building indicating that he feels very lost.

"Mhm. And.. as for your crew.. i'm afraid you're the only one we found washed up on our shores..." His chuckle fades off as he trailed into the somber topic. "That includes your captain of the merchant vessel as well, I believe."

"What.. there's no way..!" She exclaimed, covering his mouth to silence his gasps of sheer panic and sadness, "Cap'n is.. not here..?"

Trenti sighed, patting his shoulder and shaking his head in disappointment and empathy.

"Hey, it's alright. Why not you tell me your name?" He switched topics, attempting to coax his, "What's your name?"

"..Acedia," He looked up at Trenti, his eyes teary as if he was on the verge of crying. "Acedia Ixatoki.."

"Acedia..?" Trenti thought, "That's a girl's name.."

"Alright.  It's very much alright. In this world, times are tough, you know. It's very much normal to lose the people close to you." Trenti said, forming a weak smile across his face trying to cheer him up.

"You're quite the fighter. Anyone else would've drowned in the water like that. We're glad that the Etrean Navy had spotted your ship being bombarded and relayed information to us." Trenti continued.

"..." Acedia knows not what to say next after hearing Trenti try hard to comfort him.

"Well, welcome to Etrea. You've made it here one way or another so you might as well make the fullest of it, right?" Trenti straightens himself up against the wall.

Acedia nodded, and he looked at Trenti again after looking around.

"Uh.. may I have some money..?" He asked.

"Alright," He sighs, putting 25 Notes inside Acedia's hand. "Here you go. That should be enough to get you started — remember though, my generosity has limits."

His eyes beamed with joy and surprise. He didn't expect Trenti to give him money so easily.

"Oh.. th- thank you..!" He looked up at Trenti and formed a weak smile.

"That's more like it. Off you go now. Just come back if you have any questions."

He went back into his room and set his towel down on the mattress before leaving the room and walking out of the building to see the Etrea that he had longed to see. As he looked at the cityscape, she was in utter awe. The Etrea he imagined was the Etrea of reality. It had an abundance of buildings, lively chatter among the townsfolk and it was decently guarded as well. He smiled. Perhaps he could work his way back up to the status he held before everything that had just happened.