Chapter 1
The sea could be a frightful place.
With its near endless depths and fickle weather and not to forget the monsters and creatures only mentioned in legends who dwelled here.
Monsters only few could tell the tale of, features and abilities so exaggerated that most chalked it up to fairytales and distress
Fanged beasts larger than any ship with an insatiable hunger for the flesh of men.
Most of these stories were tall tails from frightened sailors and lone survivors of shipwrecks.
But i have a different story.
It's not a happy one, but most stories that come from such a place as the ocean and its unmentioned barriers tend to end that way; for i havent yet heard a story were something wasnt lost never to be found again.
This one's full of many things, so i hope you're prepared to hear it, and judge it as you see fit.
My names is Rockie, no last name, didn't need one i was well known
And of course well travelled, ive touch every island and sailed to every corner My ship, the cliff edge, was my pride and joy who had been scuttled years ago as to end our voyages together and to start the next, much safer, chapter of my life.
She was a good ship, strong and near impervious.
She carried me where i needed to go without any trouble.
Shes apart of this story, a very large part.
Although it's not my story to tell, more of a second hand telling. But i had been told it was okay to tell you all this, that it had been long enough and that someone, anyone should know what happened all those years ago, while most of it had been striked from history books those that still lived would tell the tale for years to come
And a long tale it was
It all started back in my youthful days, when i was nearly in my prime and our world was only what we saw on our maps, I'm old now, my years of traveling at seas were far behind me, but i had seen more than my fair share of the adventures that waited there.
It was well known that those who went outside the boundaries of pur maps never came back, but those who did were said to come back twisted and a shell of their former selves
that's a story for another day, so do keep up.
We're hereto focus on whT happened before they went to the boarder
How we met.
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Idont remember theexsact date, but it was around twilight when all this had started, although the sun was setting quickly and the panic of putting out the fires made it hard to see what was attacking us it seemed to move though the sky as it was on one end of the deck one moment and the other the next
But we had heard of such events happening to other ships who travelled along these routes for months now, and even others who were nowhere near here.
Gashed sails and charred decks were counted as the lucky ones, most ships were sunk with little to no survivors
It was becoming even more dangerous to set sail these day because of it, and the government had set a handsome reward for whomever ould bring such a creature back alive
But dead was still an acceptable option.
"Man the nets," i yelled as i splashed another small fire on deck "and someone get a light on it."
A hard blow to the side of my ship sent it teetering over, but the iron enforced hull stood strong against the onslaught, before i had pondered if it really was a waste of money to laden the bows with iron but i was greatful i had
More fires lite up the deck causing billions of balack smoke to partically block the skies, making lighting it immpossible, this was not looking good.
"Where are the nets!" I yelled.
"We have them" someone yelled just as the ship was rocked again, more aggressively this time, pushing her onto her side taking the net and my crewmen with it.
"Shit" shit was right with force the ship sprang upright again, causing us to brace ourselves to avoid being thrown off as she rocked side to side like a see saw, the waves seeming to pick up in ther ferocity.
And i wasnt looking to drown today, knowing what paddeling thrlugh anocean chirning with vengence would feel like.
And i looked out across my deck, the charred surface and frazzled crew, i knew immediately that there was no way we were going to catch this thing! Not without loosing more men then we already had. We had serverly underestimated the ferocity of the creature, amd stories of its attacks didnt specify the speed that it had nor the fact that it moved around with little to no sound
Or the fact that the waters we sailed on were its allies and the clouds, currently gathering into dark grey tuffs above out heads rummbling with an approching storm, were its best friend
Our best change now was to drive it away
And quickly
"What do we do captain, we need orders!" My first mate pleaded there was really o option here
"Well have to shoot it away" i answered quickly pulling my firearm from the holster on my belt, "nothing fancy just shoot"
Aiming at the sky i shot there, the crystal from the weapon shimmered leaving a glittering trail as it hit something and then exploded, many followed suit, littering the sky with dust and light as we all tried our best to scare it away
And the silence that surprised us had let us know we had succeeded
The storm that had threatened us before had disappated also as the seas around us grew gentle
"Is everyone alright, how many men did we lose?"
"Not many sir, but a lot of burns and.."
"And!"
"Our sails, they're shredded."
Looking up i couldn't dispute the fact he was right, between the fires and the rocking how had it found enough time to shred our sails?
"We'll have to pull them down and mend them quickly," moving forwards as my crew got to work pulling sails down and setting up the crystal laterns Which bathed the deck itself in a warm glow making the burns and scortch marks more profound while also bouncing off small shards of ... something... on the ground
On closer inspection they appeared to be dark scale like plates not bigger then the nail on my thumb
-xxxx --
It was pitch black now, no more tattered streams of sunlight to guild us but the seeker stone compass normal ones didn't need anything more than coordinates to function, but this ones was a seeker stone, it was designed to follow the waves on the person it was tuned too
Stone compasses were a small crystal infused with the blood of a greater sea serpent, it needed to be replaced every few years, but they were easily recycled as simple as popping the cap and replacing the stone with a newer one, it was cheaper to replace the stone then it was to buy a new compass
They were a must have too, for any sea goer, as long as you had a clear coordinate in your mind the needle would direct you there.
Magical stuff and all, don't ask me how it works.
This one led to a friend of mine and we went way back.
He told me he had something rare and exciting to show me.
His words not mine.
He was a travelling trader, and always managed to get his hands on rare and exotic goods, most of the time they were very illegal.
Other times not.
I had no interest in his goods, only to share the infomation that he most likely hadnt heard of yet.
"Rockie!" He greeted me with a firm pat on my back, chuckling heartily "long time no see!"
"Isaac, it's been almost an entire year now. Where have you been?" he laughed.
"I traveled to the edges of the map, it's as terrifying as they say, the waters flow without direction and there's no land in sight for miles," i glared at him.
"You know how dangerous that is, and you promised me you'd never go there."
"Relax friend, i didn't stray too far," my glare lessened and i sighed deeply.
"Let me guess, you plan to go back?" He chuckled again
"You know me too well, and besides, if i hadn't gone there, i wouldn't have got this rare treasure" now i was more curious, it was rare to come back from adventure to the edge, even rarer was it to bring something with you, that something usually being your ship and it crew.
But this man came back with extras
So you couldnt fault me for being a little curious
"You sure are doing a lot of telling and not a whole lot of showing Isaac" with a wide grin, he beckoned me to follow.
Leading me to his hull stores, a space filled with glittering trinkets and fabrics of all sorts.
But what caught my eye, past all the sparkling jewels and vases.
Was .. her
