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"No thanks, I don't smoke. Why did you tell me all this?" Noah declined the cigar David offered him.
"You need to understand our situation for us to live peacefully. Also, I noticed that the man Ronan was wary of you. He didn't even blink when confronted by three unknown ability users, yet he looked prepared to surrender the moment you sided against him." David replied.
"He and I had a few run-ins until I finally lost my patience," Noah said vaguely.
"I see. I have arranged for you to be staying in the previous captain's quarters, should you not object to living separately from your companions. They will be residing in the crew quarters. There is a member of the crew waiting to escort you when you are ready. I will leave you now with the oil lantern, but I must prepare for tonight's show. Please excuse me" David returned inside where a crewman was waiting patiently with another oil lantern to guide him.
Noah leaned on the rail looking back towards the ruined city, illuminated to his enhanced eyesight by the beautiful aurora in the sky. It could only be seen at night by someone who has become grade two. He noticed that the number of prismatic light beams that allow access to the Store had almost halved. There used to be more than a dozen, there were now only seven continually moving throughout the city.
Things are only going to get harder from now on. Today was the first time that my [Battle Instinct] ability didn't warn me of danger. Does my ability have something to do with the creature's intent? So when the strike is random, my instinct won't alert me?
I read somewhere that when sharks bite their prey, their eyes roll up into their head, or they are covered by a thin membrane to protect their eyes. That makes sense if I think about it. When the Kraken hit me, it couldn't see me either.
Noah mused to himself before deciding that he was ready to see where he would be living from now on. After approaching the crewman waiting inside, the man silently nodded before leading Noah through a maze of dark corridors until he arrived outside a door on the upper deck outside the bridge. The crewman handed Noah the key to the room before politely excusing himself to return to his duties.
Noah found a well-furnished living area, meeting room, and bedroom inside the door with a king-size bed covered with a red, weighted blanket. Featuring a luxurious ensuite attached, fully tiled in black and white with a large double shower.
Noah opened the wardrobe to find only spare captain uniforms. They were of little use to Noah. He ignored searching the other drawers as he made a show of stuffing his fire escape axe, along with his swimwear bag, into the wardrobe. He then placed them inside his [Zero-Space Dimension Ring] in the off chance someone was observing him by mundane means or through a new, unknown ability.
He threw himself onto the bed, quickly falling asleep due to exhaustion. He was awoken a short time later by banging on his door. Noah cautiously opened the door to find the crewman who had escorted him earlier, waiting impatiently in the corridor with a frown as he prepared to knock again.
"Are you here to take me to the theatre?" Noah asked the crewman.
"Yes, please follow me," The crewman answered, once again leading Noah through the maze of corridors.
***
Half an hour or so later, they arrived outside a pair of large ornamental doors which the crewman opened for Noah before ushering him into a seat inside. The theatre was spacious with more than enough seating to house roughly a thousand people at a time. Currently, only about one-third of the seats were filled. Unexpectedly, that was not only passengers but also crew members, numbering far more than Noah had anticipated based on the welcoming party.
The crewman led Noah to where Mister Kim, Su, Alex, and Josh were seated before excusing himself. The crewman rejoined his companions, sitting at the back with a round of laughter as they made jokes at his misfortune of having to escort Noah.
"Noah, this place is huge! Someone told us that there are normally around two thousand crew on this cruise ship and almost twenty performers and a bunch of musicians as well! But that was before the arrival. Most people had gone to shore and never made it back," Su excitedly informed Noah.
"Hello, Noah. What do you think of your room? They put us in the lower quarters where the crew used to live. There is a lot of room for us to have our own rooms each. There used to be around two thousand people living together. It's now empty as they're all no longer on the cruise ship or moved to the passenger quarters," Mister Kim greeted Noah.
Josh and Alex gave Noah a smile and nod as they cuddled close together to prepare to enjoy the show. They didn't look like they intended to let go of each other anytime soon after making it through the day's ordeals.
"The performance is said to be about the woman we encountered earlier, Mistress Deville losing her husband after arrival. Her husband was also her dance partner. It's so tragic. Poor woman, I couldn't imagine how I could ever cope had I lost Alex today." Josh empathically informed Noah as tears appeared in his eyes.
Music began to play as the curtains to the stage parted to reveal a lone dancer. It was Mistress Deville dancing ballet in the centre of the stage. The dance appears to tell a story of loneliness as Mistress Deville moves from each end of the stage as she searched for her lost husband.
Suddenly, the theatre became obscured in darkness as flickering prismatic lights appeared above the stage. A mist began to form until the lights were completely hidden. Shadowy silhouettes appeared amongst the flickering lights surrounding Mistress Deville. She attempted to flee from them. As she danced, they surrounded her before joining her in an awkward dance as they seemed to move like a marionette.
A prismatic light beam appeared through the mist to highlight Mistress Deville as she looked upwards toward the light source. A flash of light and thunder sounded as fire ignited the fog while the lights faded away. A pulse of energy passed through the clouds to encompass Mistress Deville to reveal the entire stage. It had become filled with demonic shadows approaching her, dragging her to the floor. The stage dimmed in supernatural darkness.
The theatre audience began to clap as the room became lit by a three-dimensional Galaxy suddenly floating in the air above them, with stars drifting among the seats. Su exclaimed in delight as she tried to catch one of the balls of light in front of her.
Now standing on the stage was David glowing with green-lifeforce accompanied by Mistress Deville. The pair held hands as they bowed, and the audience rose in thunderous applause as the illusionary Galaxy faded away.
Josh and Alex had tears streaming from their eyes as they stood clapping enthusiastically. Su was excitedly speaking to her grandpa while pointing towards the stage. Noah sat numb to the world around him as he reflected on the story the performers had told. He felt the emotion being shared with loss, loneliness, and fear being prominent but supplemented by the wonder of exploring a new world.
