“Vincent!” she yelled out. “I can use some help.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“Raise the sail! The wind is hollowing in too many different directions. Right now I am at the mercy of the Black Sea’s undersea currents and having the wind blowing us in five different directions every ten seconds is not helping. We risk a greater chance of a water sprout forming on top of us.”
A rouge wave kept barreling over the port side of the ship. Vincent was knocked off his feet and sent flying into the railings of the starboard side. He got up and felt that he was completely soaked through. “I’m on it!” he yelled.
Vincent grabbed the rope that was tied off to the mass of the ship. He pulled hard to try and raise it but he underestimated not only the sea but just how powerful the wind was blowing. He pulled with all his might but the sail wouldn’t raise. At that moment the rain stopped. The wind ceased blowing. And the sea was calm. Vincent was able to raise the sail once everything was calm.
“Captain. I feel as though we just entered the eye of the storm.” Mr.Pink said.
“I couldn’t agree more. This is not good.”
There was a sound of something heavy hitting the water. As if something had gone overboard. Vincent looked over the port side and saw ripples in the water. Something heavy did, in fact, hit the water.
“What do you see?” Marisha asked.
“Nothing.” He replied. “Just ripples in the water.”
“Ripples…damn…everyone, watch your head!”
With a loud crash, something hard hit the deck of the ship. It was a gigantic block of ice. The temperature in the air had dropped significantly. Everyone was able to see their breath and ice was forming on the sea threatening to crush the ship.
“Vincent! Mr.Pink! Grab as many casks of ale you can from bellow deck and throw them over the side.”
“What will that do?” Vincent asked.
“Just trust me! Now do it before we are crushed to death!”
Vincent decided to not fight her on this. He may know his way around a sword but she knew the sea. He has no choice but to put his faith in her.
They threw the cast of ale off each side of the ship. Marisha let go of the wheel and took out her flintlock pistol. She used it to ignite each cask of ale with a fiery explosion. The ice couldn’t completely engulf the ship now that the surrounding water which wasn’t frozen but is now on fire.
“That was far too close,” Mr.Pink said as he breathed a sigh of relief. “Any later and the ship would’ve been crushed by ice.”
“That the Black Sea for you,” Marisha said. “Calm one minute, it rains thunder the next, and next thing you have an entire ocean freezing right before your eyes. Which reminds me. Slayer! How far is the ocean frozen?”
“At least three hundred yards, give or take!”
“We won’t be here long then,” Marisha muttered. “Mr.Pink, ready the harpoon gun.”
It didn’t seem possible, but Mr.Pink went pale. He had the look of horror on his face. “No…you can’t be planning to do that.”
Marisha smiled. “You better believe that I am.”
“What are you planning?” Vincent asked.
“Something stupid but this stupid idea of mine will cut our journey time to Illya by at least a third. The Black Sea is relentless this time of year. We have to get there fast or we will die by fire, ice, electrocution, or drowning.”
“I’d rather risk all of that then have you call Tiny here,” Mr.Pink said.
“Who the hell is Tiny?”
“He’s not a who. He’s a what.”
“Mr.Pink, grab the rotten fish head barrel from bellow deck. Slayer, once the fish heads are overboard I want you to keep an eye out. It won’t take long for him to grab the scent of a free meal.”
Both of them were reluctant. Mr.Pink protested but his words fell on deaf ears. Marisha had made up her mind. Once a woman’s mind has been made up there was no changing it.
The sky cleared up and the sun's rays began to melt the ice. Mr.Pink began to toss the fish heads into the water. Now they wait.
“Who’s Tiny?” Vincent asked out of curiosity.
“I could tell you. But then I would be ruining the surprise.”
“Never been a huge fan of surprised.”
“Well, first time for everything, right?”
“Captain!” Slayer called out. “Here he comes.”
A gigantic shadow was underneath the ship. And it was moving. Seconds later, a dented and massive dorsal fin cut the surface of the water. It was gray and white. Heavy scars and puncture wounds decorated the fin. Fear gripped Vincent’s heart. “Marisha…what is Tiny?” he asked as he backed away from the edge of the ship.
Marisha ignored him and jumped over the railing. She ran towards the harpoon gun which was mounted at the head of the ship. It was a massive target swimming just below the surface of the water. Only someone who doesn’t have the use of eyesight could possibly miss.
The harpoon impacted on the back of the creature.
“Everyone hold on!” Marisha yelled.
The creature took off like a cannon dragging along the St.Maria. Mr.Pink wrapped his arms around the railing and kept muttering to himself. “I’m gonna be sick, I’m gonna be sick, I’m gonna be sick.”
Slayer was doing her best trying not to fall out of the crows perch. Vincent all the while had his arms around the mass of the ship trying not to be thrown off which each wave they crash into at top speed. Marisha seemed unaffected by all of this. In fact, she wasn’t holding on at all. She was laughing. Vincent got the feeling that if it was up to her they would be going faster than this. “Marisha!” he yelled. “What is this thing?”
“A Megalodon!”
“A what?!”
“A Megalodon! It’s the king of the ocean. It gigantic shark. There are very few things in this world that can stand against it. Let alone stop it!”
“And we are using it as a free ride?! Are you insane?!”
“Yes! Haha!”
Vincent began to look back on a lot of the choices he has made in his life. This decision comes in at number two.
In was not smooth sailing. For hours the sea battered against the ship. It was a miracle in itself that the ship was even holding together. The trip was indeed cut short by a half a day. Marisha cut the line as soon as a white wall came into view. The ship was slowing down, but not fast enough. “Mr.Pink!” she yelled out. “Hard to port!”
Mr.Pink ran up the stairs and grabbed the helm. He turned the wheel as fast as he could. Marisha lowered the anchor. Something one shouldn't do going at such speeds. You have a chance of ripping the ship in half, but being caught in the mist would be a death sentence. Lucky the ship stopping with only minimal damaged to haul. Nothing that couldn’t be patched up.
“So, who wants to do that again on our way back?” she asked.
Both Vincent and Mr.Pink threw up over the side of the ship.
“Too bad we aren’t fishing.” She said. “I hear that vomiting while on a ship is good luck. Said to bring you a bountiful haul of fish.”
“You’re insane…” Vincent weakly muttered as he fell on his back.
“Are you just noticing this? I think our first encounter should’ve been your warning. Mr.Pink, as soon as you are done vomiting, check for haul breeches. I don’t want to sink.”
“Yes…captain…”
“Slayer!” she yelled out. “How are you holding up?”
Slayer raised a thumb in the air. Chances were she wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want anyone to see her throw up.
While repairs were underway, Vincent found himself staring at the Fog of War. It was gigantic. He thought that the Dividing Line was huge but this is on a whole other level. It was ominous, almost. It looked like a gigantic wall made of mist. Perhaps Vincent was going crazy but swore he saw something moving inside that mist. Something alive. The way his right arm was pulsing almost confirmed his suspicions but he wasn�
�t about to go confirm it himself.
Once repairs were done, the anchor was raised, and the set out for the cove.
Shatter Skull Cove. Such a fitting name. The cove had a massive rock formation that looked as though it had been carved out to form the shape of a broken human skull. It even had teeth. Whoever it was that carved out that rock structured wanted people to be scared. Well, they succeeded.
The sky turned black once again. The storm was picking up. Waves began to batter against the jagged rocks the surrounded the cave entrance. Right, did I forget to mention that the entrance was the mouth itself? Seems and important fact to know.
“Steady as she goes, Mr.Pink,” Marisha said. The ship was scraping the bottom. The water wasn’t that deep here. Any lower and they would’ve been beach and stranded.
There was a sign just outside the entrance. “Turn back!” it read. Never a good thing. Especially in a place called Shattered Skull Cove.
It was dark, nearly pitch black inside. There was no light, they saw no one, but then why was Vincent’s arm pulsing? Something wasn’t right. He kept a watchful eye out on the rock platforms on both sides. There was movement, but it came from sea slugs and crabs covered in barnacles. Nothing dangerous. Yet the further they journeyed inside the more his arm pained him.
They sailed through the exit of the cave on the other side without incident. Everyone was breathing a sigh of relief. All except Vincent. He was on the floor clenching his arm.
“What’s wrong?” Marisha asked.
“I…I don’t know…somethings coming!”
Slayer rang the bell on top the crows perch. “Captain! Kraken!”
Gigantic tentacles shot out of the water. One of the tentacles wrapped around the ship and raised it in the air. The Kraken’s head then emerged from the water. It was monstrous in form. Its eyes were pitch black. It had thousands of teeth the size of swords all in the front row. From within the water emerged these two massive humanoid harms. This was no regular squid, to say the least.
It moved the ship to its face. Everything went silent. Then it roared. The sounds it made was like a hundred thunderbolts striking simultaneously inside your ears. It was preparing to eat them.
Yet, just as it was about to eat them. A dorsal fin could be seen cutting the water at incredible speed. The Megalodon had returned and it was looking for blood.
It leaped from the water. It's opened its massive maw that looked like it could swallow a dreadnought class ship with ease and exposing it’s razor sharp teeth. It bit down hard on the Kraken, slamming it into the back of Shattered Skull Cove.
The Kraken thrashed around wildly trying to get free. It began to punch the megalodon with its fist. Why does this squid have fists?
While it was thrashing about, Slayer and Mr.Pink were thrown from the ship. Landing god knows where. Marisha and Vincent held on for dear life. Yet even they could not hold on and were thrown from the ship.
Vincent swam to the surface, yet as he did, the storm got worst. The waves slammed into him. He found perched on a jagged rock sticking out of the water, but the Black Sea was relentless, and he eventually fell back in.
The Kraken managed to toss the Megalodon off him and back to the sea. The beast slammed all it’s tentacles into the water, including the one holding the St.Maria. It broke apart with the sheer force of hitting the water. Vincent remembered the girl. The one who gave him a hateful look. He was about to dive under to go for her, but then he hesitated.
“She isn’t my problem.” He told himself. “She’s just a girl who…who…FUCK!”
He swam down into the now blood-filled sea. It was hard to see anything in the redness, but it was not impossible to see a gigantic shark and squid-like creature tear each other apart, almost quite literally limb from limb. Yet with each tentacle that was torn off, two more grew in its place like some sort of hydra. One thing was clear, though. It was no Kraken. It was no hydra. It was something completely new.
Vincent saw the wreckage of the St.Maria floating down into the darkness of the Black Sea. It didn’t take him long to find the holding cell with the girl in it. She was out cold with blood oozing from her head. No doubt from when the Kraken was thrashing about. Vincent placed his feet on the cage and his hands in between the bars. He began to pull. After a few minutes, the bars came loss, but he was running out of breath.
He grabbed the girl and swam quickly to the surface. His lungs burned. Everything in his body told him to open your mouth and take a breath, but he powered through and just kept swimming. When he broke the surface of the water, Vincent gasped for air. The girl still had a pulse. He was glad to see that what he did wasn’t in vain.
Darkness soon engulfed him. A gigantic shadow loomed overhead. He thought it was from one of the two creatures still fight, but he was wrong. The sea was retracting. Both the Kraken and the megalodon were swept away inside. Inside what, you ask? Well, inside a tsunami!
All Vincent could do was watch as the massive wave, Kraken, and Megalodon crashed on top of him. It sounded like a hundred trains crashing into one another at top speed.
Vincent lost the girl, lost everyone on the ship, and even lost consciousness as he sank down into the Black Sea.
Chapter 19
Vincent awoke to the sound of seagulls flying overhead. To the feeling of the tide rushing up his leg. And to the feeling of a crab pinching his earlobe. He swatted it away but the crab scuttled back, raising its pincers preparing to fight. Vincent crushed it beneath his boot.
He was standing on a beach in Illya. He knew it was Illya because he saw an elven caravan passing by. The children in back waved towards him. He waved back. He must seem like an oddity in a land of elves. That was when he remembered the girl. He looked up and down the beach for hours looking for her. He was about to give up when he saw that part of the St.Maria had washed up on shore.
The girl was underneath piles of wood. Vincent easily tossed it off her and checked if she had a pulse. She was alive. Vincent began to perform CPR. After a few minutes, she coughed up nearly a pint of sea water she had swallowed.
She rose to her feet in a daze. She began to stagger. The floor beneath her was spinning. When she got her bearings and the world stopped spinning, her gaze fell upon Vincent. She ran from him in fright. Tripping along the way.
“Your welcome!” he yelled out. Vincent didn’t bother giving chase. She was alive and that was good enough. Whatever she does now is her business and her business alone. Vincent has his own problems to take care of.
Vincent wandered the beach for another hour looking for Marisha and her crew. They were nowhere to be found. It was a good chance they were dead. Vincent felt bad, for a moment. He said a prayer for them hoping that they found peace in death but he had to move on.
The road nearby has seen a lot of foot traffic. From horses to wheel marks to footprints——all heading east. He followed the road and found himself climbing a steep hill. When he reached the top he could see Illya in the distance.
Illya is the elven capital of the world. It is ruled by Empress Cygnus. She rules from the gigantic Whitespire at the heart of the capital city. She is said to be a beauty with no equal. Blonde hair, sea blue eyes, always wore a white silk dress but was always barefoot for some reason. Rumor has it she is also immortal. She’s been ruling ever since the fall of Constantine. Whether there is any truth to that no one could say for sure. But for someone to have been ruling for hundreds of years and not age, always looking the same. There must be some merit to these rumors.
The road was lined with cobblestone. Illya reminded Vincent of Avia. Of what it once looked like before everything went bad. Everyone in the city had a strange glow to them. It was nothing magical it was just that Vincent had never seen it before. Happiness. Pure happiness.
Vincent stopped as he passed a nearby alley. On the wall were many illustrations, wanted posters (his included), and a flyer for the circus. It was new. Everything else on the wall had begun to sun bleach. It has proba
bly only been hanging here for a few days. The location was at the center of Market Street. Vincent wasted no time and hurried there.
He arrived outside a massive white pitched tent at the center of Market Street. There were wagons filled with animals of all sorts. Lions and tigers and elephants and so much more. Walking inside, Vincent was hit with the flavorful scent of popcorn and sugar. At the center was a sand pit with a net tied off just above it. Two beams were on each side and had roped at the top the tied off to each end.
“You!” someone yelled. Vincent turned around to see who it was that was yelling at him. It was a woman who wore all white face paint with a fake red nose and gigantic yellow shoes that looked just a size too small to fit a giant. She grabbed him by the collar of his jacket. “Give him back!” she yelled. “Give him back!”
Vincent grabbed her by the arm trying to get her off. It was at the moment he could see the paint around her eyes beginning to wash off from her tears. “Lady, calm down! I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Liar!” she yelled in his face. “It’s all your fault! They’re going to kill him because of you!”
Hearing the commotion, the circus people all stepped out of their wagons. A bearded woman ran and grabbed the clown pulling her off Vincent. “Trish!” she said. “Calm down, okay? You need to calm down.”
“Calm down? Calm down?! How can you tell me to calm down when…when…” Trish began to cry in the bearded woman’s chest. A couple of gnomes took Trish back to her room.
“Please, forgive Trish. She’s had a rough few days. I’m Cassandra, by the way. Folks around here call me the bearded woman.”
“Pleasure. I’m—”
“Vincent Valentine.” She interrupted. “I know who you are. I also know why you are here. You’re looking for Alvarez, right? This is about your sisters.”
“Yes. But how did you know that?”
Cassandra took a seat on top of one of the nearby water barrels. “Zeke Maller told us.” She said. Vincent could feel anger begin boiling inside the pit of his stomach. “Two days ago he came here looking for Alvarez. He demanded to know where your sisters were. Alvarez wouldn’t tell him. So he beat him.
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