- TMK -

Northbound air stung the fresh cuts along Joh’s snout. The cloudless night danced with stars as the galleon bobbed high above the plains. A breeze passed over the deck.

           

Joh detected salty notes of the frigid sea. His belly felt heavy from the tasteless biscuits and gravy the ship’s cook doled out to the other forlorn. Below deck, the few worldly possessions he did have were likely being rifled through by other passengers…or the crew themselves. The hammock he was assigned was too small, the ropes gnawed through by moths or other ship insects.

           

Joh did not mind, however.

           

Here, far from the mud of Rat Hollow, the eugenic castes, or the Coterie, was the promise of something new. Whether that promise past the Skald sea was paradise or perdition, Joh could only guess. His life, and the life of all the other forlorn on this ship, had been gambled on the word of a Human he barely knew for a cause he had no interest in. Joh was certain of one thing only, one thing that made this leap worth his life.

           

This ship was taking him to a land without Gods.

           

Only devils.

​

THE END