A solemn lament for the departed, & one for the living[1]. The Dead had been mourned. Alurki looked around the ship for anything he could possibly use for repairs. There wasn't much metal around to replace the space in the hull. Searched & searched for hours, to only come up empty handed. The ship was able to drift, although in rougher waters, water would enter the hull & surely sink the ship. Alurki had tired himself out, for the day. Accomplishing little to nothing. He laid in his bed, thinking about the quartz room & the orb he talked to.
It was undeniable that the power of wind ran through him, he floated down using wing magic. Although it was all a haze. Does everyone get brought to the room & sign a contract? Alurki had so many questions that won't be answered. It just occurred to him, why was he even attacked? The tall silver haired man said it was revenge, revenge for what. That crew did nothing to him, it was just blind hatred cast upon him. Due to the organization he worked with, Polaris was a good man, Alurki was the closest thing to a saint the crew had seen. He did nothing to deserve what happened to him.
Wrapped on all this thought, he didn't notice how much the boat had shifted. Until the boat crashed into land, Alurki leapt outside. He found himself at the main base of the Birdcage Press, at least what was left of it. The small artificial island was completely destroyed, the Island itself was extremely small. He walked inside the tarnished building, saw the front office. The building only consisted of a kitchen, the front office & 3 offices, each with a bed, according to the floor plan. The whole operation was run on a shoestring. Yet the papers they published brought so much joy to the seas. The little comics, the sudoku puzzles. The papers are written with so much life & passion. Alurki searched the building, all the rooms left ransacked. Small blood stains in the carpets, papers everywhere. Of unpublished puzzles, or scrapped titles. He heard extremely loud booms from outside, despite that he continued to explore. A mysterious scene, until the last office door was opened. Burnt papers, more blood stains than usual; darker stains as well.
This was no accident, it was a murder. The stains grew as they reached the closet, Alurki didn't need to open the closet door to know where the bodies were. The question of why ransacked his mind, why would the entirety of the newspaper have to be exterminated. Knowing the papers were burnt, it was most likely a coverup of an incident. One thing was certain, he was not supposed to witness the aftermath of the extermination.
The barrel of a gun was then firmly pressed against Alurki's head. . .
[1] PM FANS RISE UP