Forastero's Redemption

[Ryummel]

Jack felt resentful as he noticed how he so far proved to be a mere toy for the Corsairs at Rhodes, eventually seeing Alonzo as some kind of savior. He not only fed him properly, but also took Jack to Crete, which now looked very different compared to the last time he was there, nearly two weeks ago. It was still a barren planet and even the toxic air of Leeds would be a gift from the gods too, everything but the hell of Rhodes.

Despite the more favorable odds, the Corsairs at Crete were obviously as tough as the ones in the shipyard, not stopping Jack from earning yet another bruise in the cheeks. As more days passed locked in that facility in the middle of the desert, he became more and more convinced that he had only made a bad decision. Strength wasn’t to be earned through endless smacking, kicking and torture, and he was so sure about it that just when one of Alonzo’s guys in training was about to deliver a last punch onto his stomach, Jack raised his hand and backed off from the combat ring. “I… I give up.”

Surrendering still meant a kick in the rear to get him out of Alonzo’s sight, which he thanked with a malicious glance, earning him a last slap before being left alone in whichever desert of Crete the facility was located in. The walking trip to Valencia could roughly take seven days, but his calculations were made without adding the fact he would have a vast barren between Alonzo’s place and the city.

He was given nothing aside from decent clothing -‘decent’ according to the locals-, so his wandering through the desert didn’t take him more than nine hours before Silver managed to find him at midnight, nestled in between the rocks and gulping down the last bit of water he had.

Jack already owed a lot to Silver, and after that event he felt his life would really be attached to her in the afterlife, for she was the Holy Death. Where could be his strength tested now, but at the same time have the Corsair Empire benefit from it? First-line ‘trenches’ in the Omega battlefronts. Corsairs surely mocked him. “I’d pray for my life if I were you, forastero.”

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