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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Fairy Tales & Fantasy
- Subject: Adventure
- Published: 05/12/2022
It had been many days since Karlcus Cole's ship left the port of Aliceport in the kingdom of Audland, a country full of debt and crime. Now they were in the middle of the western sea, journeying beyond the known world. Looking for the myth of the Kraken and they say where you can hear the creature's song. There was also a myth of the ancient treasure it guarded treasure that could see him and his crew living the easy life to their dying days. Maybe he could move out of Audland. after the nation's failed war with its neighbour to the north. The country's economy quickly declined as its crime rate was increasingly rising. The feeling of a revolt and later a violent civil war was in the air in that failing nation but there were other plans on Cole’s mind.
Captain Cole ate with his crew, and looking at the meal in front of them of fish and rice, he wondered how long it would last. There were only four bags of rice left, and the fish seemed more challenging to catch farther west into the unknown they went. There was a reason why humankind hadn't sailed this far west since they came into the world by the belly of a giant white dragon named Amundsen. Cole now prayed to Amundsen more than he ever did before, for it seemed more and more likely they were sailing to their doom. Yet, the crew seemed not to share their captain's worries as they sat down to their meal in the great hall on the ship's second deck.
They were listening to Jouc, the oldest member of the crew, talk about a woman he once loved "There was the one girl I knew back when I was younger. She had the most beautiful red curly hair and these big green eyes that could drive a man into madness. Rosa, we all called her Rosa the Red, but I called her the goddess."
Paulit, a skinny man with long hair, looked around at the other crew, and a large group started laughing. "Goddess." Paulit shouted so everyone could hear, "You really were soft arse weren't you."
"I was young, and you never met Rosa. If you did, you would understand." Jouc said in anger, jumping up from his seat.
"Settle down, Jouc." The captain told him, and Jouc just nodded his head and sat back down. As did everyone else on the ship, he knew the captain was a god in this little wooden world on the open sea. He was a war hero and a tough man who many knew as Cold Heart Cole. Once a man on another voyage tried to overthrow him. That man is now at the bottom of the sea in several pieces.
"Human women do nothing for me," The grey skin Orc Kastiaka told them. His yellow eyes went to Raina, the only female on the ship. "I mean you, no offence." He told her.
"None taken." She replied, taking her cup of ale to her mouth.
"But human women have soft skin whereas Orc women are tough and more able to show an Orc like me fun times. So, my friends, you know when you have been with an Orc woman."
"Aye, you do." Replied Paulit, "Because you end up looking for a bucket to throw up in afterwards. But what interests me is what type of man or woman. Raina goes for."
"I'm not interested in such things. Coin and adventure are the only things I need in my life." So, she told them, but then her eyes darted to Edmoran, the expert on the first people, a man who could even speak and read in their ancient language. She didn't understand why she had feelings for him, maybe because he was so unlike the others. He was more brain than brawn. The only reason he was on this trip was due to the poor investments he had made before and during the war.
The crew's mood changed only days after. With seeing nothing but the open ocean for over a month and a half. They start to believe they are sailing to nothing but the world's end. "they say the world was round, but what if that is a lie? What if you can sail off it" one of the crewmen once said.
Raina and Kastiaka were in danger of the crewmen's wrath. Kastiaka was the only Orc, a member of a race that humans often looked down on and often abused and Raina, the only woman. She was no beauty, but after a month in the middle of the ocean, you could put a little dress and make-up on a fish and that would get their hearts racing. Raina knew this, so she slept with a dagger under her pillow. Sleeping for both of them was very difficult. Every word she overhears the crew say beyond the walls of her private cabin makes her think it could be a plot against her. As she stayed awake listening to the ship's creaking, she heard a strange sound in the darkness. At first, she believed it was the sound of someone crying. It wouldn't be the first time a crewman started crying at night, but it didn't sound human. Instead, it was a deep moan like something massive, something in pain. She took the dagger from under her pillow and walked out onto the ship's deck. The night was dark. No stars could be seen, but the deep moan still could be heard through the darkness.
"You hear it too?" She heard Kastiaka say from the front of the ship as he turned his yellow eyes towards her.
"Yeah."
"It's out there calling us with its song."
"That's a song?" She wondered how such a horrible noise could be classed as a song.
"It's a song of loneliness and pain." So he said and then called out in excitement, "come here and look."
Raina moved towards him and looked out to the open ocean but could see nothing in the dark, and she said as much. "There," he tells her, pointing a large dark grey hand towards the dark sea. She sees it but only for a second, something rising from the water and falling back down with a splash.
"Go and get the captain," Kastiaka tells her, but she doesn't move, still trying to work out if it was just a large fish or something more. "Now." Kastiaka hisses at her. Raina runs towards the captain's cabin and repeatedly bangs her hand against the door. Finally, Captain Cole opens the door wearing just trousers and holding a lantern. Raina could see the scars across his chest and belly where he was once tortured during the war. "There better be a good reason why you woke me up, Raina." He hissed in anger.
"It's here, listen" That's all she had to say. He stood there for a short moment and listened to the deep moaning in the darkness. Then, a smile came on his face as he returned to the cabin, picked up his long green jacket, and walked out onto the deck to join Raina and Kastiaka. He stands near Kastiaka, looking into the sea. "Captain, do you see it?" and he does the giant red tentacle rising from the deep. "I do. I see her. Raina," He calls back to her ", Ring the bell."
Raina runs to the metal bell that hangs from the mast and rings it. Its loud ringing could be heard throughout the ship, waking up everyone on board the vessel. It would have been a shock to them, but they knew precisely what they had to do as they picked up their muskets and ran to the deck, and others ran towards the cannons stored on the lower floors.
"Lads, I hope you're wide awake because it's supper time, and we'll having squid." As the captain shouted those words, the Kraken arose from the deep. Only now do they understand the size of the creature is almost as big as the ship itself. It was no surprise that the crew and captain were utterly dumbfounded. They had never seen anything like it. Most of them started praying to Amundsen, hoping beyond any hope that the dragon god could save them. Captain Cole prayed to no god, dragon or any god for that matter. He wanted to fight this creature and if it meant the death of him and his crew, then so be it. He raised his hand in the air and called for the attack. The fool, Edmoran thought as the cannons started to fire with the roar of anger from the ship's side. The creature cried out in pain, letting out a most horrifying scream.
Raina looked to Kastiaka, who took a long metal stick from his pocket. An Orcish weapon she had seen before and had seen the damage it had caused to buildings. What would it do to a Kraken? The Kraken raised its giant tentacle in the air. The scream of the men was deafening as the tentacle fell down on the ship as they heard loud cracking of the wood and more cries coming from the men. Cole believed the cannons would rip the creature apart. Now it was his ship that was being ripped apart. They all fell to the floor as the top of the vessel momentarily arose from the ocean and fell back down with a splash along with the ship's mast that Raina saw landing on some poor crewman. Raina and the captain grabbed hold of the top of the vessel as it began to sink into the deep. Other men were now swimming to stay alive, trying to cling to any part of the ship that had been broken. They took a deep breath as the boat took them down in the darkness of the western sea. Raina swam up, hardly seeing where she was going in the dark. There was a strong sense of relief when she finally hit the surface and was able to breathe in air. She quickly turned to the Kraken, seeing it picking up the drowning crewmen and dropping them into its mouth as if it was picking grapes and eating them. Then her eyes quickly turned to Kastiaka who was not swimming away from the creature but towards it.
"Raina." She heard Edmoran shout from behind her, but her eyes stayed on Kastiaka as the Kraken's tentacle wrapped around him and pulled him up from the water. However, she could still see the light glowing in the darkness. The creature dropped the Orc into its mouth. As soon as he fell through that monstrous hole in its face, a large explosion blew up the creature raining blood and bits of Kraken down on the water. She felt Edmoran's hand on her arm, trying to pull her away.
"Come on, follow me." He screamed at her. She turned to him, whispering, "He's gone."
"He died a hero's death. We can't do anything for him now. Come on." They swam away towards some debris from the ship floating in the water. He told her to grab hold of the wreckage that was just big enough for both of them to hold. The Kraken was gone. Now they were out in the middle of nowhere in the darkness with a bit of the debris from the sunken ship to keep them alive.
As they floated in the middle of the ocean, Edmoran stared at Raina, wondering which one of them would die first. He hoped it would be him. He had no idea what had happened to Captain Cole, although he could see the bodies of many other crew members. He didn't know how long they stayed floating on that destroyed peace of ship, but they clearly remembered the sun rising, making everything clearer. The blue sky and ocean were all around them, and wait, what was off on the horizon? Could it be his mind playing tricks on him, or was it true? Was it an island? Edmoran looked to Raina, who was fast asleep lying on top of the ship's debris. "Raina", He croaked, shaking her leg, but she just lets out a low moan. "Raina", He croaked again. This time she slowly opened her eyes, saying in her own croaking whisper, "What?"
"I think I see an island. Do you see it?"
Raina looked off into the horizon, her eyes adjusting in the bright morning sun, but she could see it off in the distance. "Yeah, I see it."
Getting closer to the island, they realise that it was much bigger than they first thought. Once they hit the white sandy beach, they lay on it out of exhaustion. The sun burning down on them. Just sitting up felt like a painful chore. However, Raina still sat up, looking around the beach she lay on and the row of thick trees in front of her that led into the woodlands.
"Edmoran, Raina." They heard a voice scream at them from afar. Both turned to the source of the voice. Were there was a very tired looking Paulit and a more giant of a man that once worked on the ship as a cook. "We thought you were dead." The cook told them.
"Yeah, likewise, did anyone else survive?" Edmoran asks him.
"Yeah. The captain, but he's been acting a little odd."
"Fighting that thing and getting us stuck on this rock, it seems like he was already a little odd," Raina said in anger.
Edmoran ignoring Raina's anger, asked Paulit, "In what way is he acting odd."
"He goes into those woods and starts speaking to himself. We asked him who he was speaking to, but we never got a response from him."
"Do you have anything to drink?" Raina asked.
"Oh yeah, we have some canteens of water. There's a stream not far from here."
"Good, I really need it."
They all moved down the beach toward captain Cole who sat on a log with his back to them. The cook turned to Edmoran, saying, "Be careful; Cole isn't himself."
Edmoran didn't say anything to this and stepped closer to the captain, who just remained sitting, looking at his hands resting on his legs.
"Cole?"
"Yes?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine. Good even."
"You could have got us all killed." Raina hissed at him.
"Raina," Edmoran says in disapproval.
"No, she's right." Paulit moaned. "He ordered the attack. He's the one who put us on this island. He's the one that got many of our good men killed."
Raina stepped in front of him, staring down at him. "We want answers."
"You choose to follow my orders. Didn't you?" Cole tells her.
"Because you were my captain."
"Were?"
"Yes, were as in past tense." Cole stood up, now towering over Raina. Even if he was beaten and driven mad, he was still an intimidating presence, with her now looking up at him. "I will always be your captain with or without the ship." He looks at the others, saying, "That goes for the rest of you. You need to remember who I am." Walking past Raina, he moves closer to Paulit whose courage seems to melt away. "Who am I?" He asks him.
"Our captain."
"What do people call me?"
"Cold Heart Cole."
"That's right, you should remember that."
The island had enough fruit and fresh water to be a reasonable settlement which made Raina wonder if they could create a colony there one day. She could see it being a good fishing port. They could cut down some of the trees and build homes, bakeries and even taverns, and this is what Raina found herself thinking about on the second night on the island as everyone else slept. Not everyone, as she soon found out as she spied Cole walking towards the forest. Why would he be going there at such a late hour? She slowly got up, taking a quick look at Edmoran, who slept by her side and then slowly followed Cole into the woods. He moved deeper and deeper into the woods. All the while, Raina felt that she was being watched by unseen eyes until suddenly, he stopped and fell to his knees. Staring out at nothing and crying out, "My lords, I am here" for only a short moment, they heard nothing but the wind blowing through the trees until she began to hear whispers in a language she didn't understand. Perhaps it was the language of the ancients. She looked around but couldn't see anything. She just heard the voices whispering.
"Show me the way, my lords," Cole called out as a tall figure moved out from the trees. Raina couldn't believe her eyes. It looked human or Orc as it had two arms and stood on two legs, but something about its face creeped her out. It had black spikes on top of its head, large black eyes and a mouth of sharp yellow teeth that didn't seem to move as it spoke in its own language, placing its hand on Cole's shoulder. Cole looked up at the creature as if he was looking up at a loving mother. Then the beast turned around and walked back into the woods through the darkness, and Cole moved back to the camp. Raina didn't know what to do, to follow Cole or to find what that thing he called his lord was. Her curiosity was too compelling. She had to find out what that was, so holding on to a small dagger, she slowly walked through the forest, trying not to get the creature's attention. Her heart raced, and she realised that she wasn't being brave, just stupid. She knew nothing about the creature, and there she was, following it through a dark forest. There was foolish, and then there was this. She turned around, making her way back to the camp she could tell Edmoran about what she saw, although there was no knowing if he would believe her. The feeling of fear's cold embrace now came to her, only heightened by a man's scream coming from the direction of the camp. "Edmoran", Raina whispered to herself before running towards them. It wasn't long until she found the cook running towards her with fear on his face. "Raina", He cried. "He's killed Paulit. He just bashed his head in with a rock."
"Where's Edmoran?" She asks, grabbing hold of his shoulders.
"I don't know." She let go of him. He moved on in front of her, telling her to follow, to get away from the mad captain. "I have to find Edmoran." She tells the cook.
"What, didn't you hear what I said? Cold Heart Cole has gone mad." Raina ignored him and kept heading towards the camp. "You're just as mad as him. I'm out of here." The cook cried out before running through the woods. At the camp, she found what was left of Paulit, his head now a mash of blood and splattered brain, which made her feel sick to her stomach. Cole sat crossed legged in front of the body, wearing only his trousers and Paulit's blood splattered on his face.
"Hello, Raina."
"Why?" She said, shaking with fear.
"They demanded blood, and blood is what I give them." Her hand that held on to the dagger started to sweat.
"Who did?"
"The gods. They promise they would take me to the dragon god Amundsen."
"So, you killed your own men."
Cole smiles at her as he stands up from the sand. "I am a godly man, Raina." Raina noticed Edmoran slowly stepping towards Cole's back, holding a large branch in his hand. Cole, not seeing him, just keeps talking, "Now more blood is needed." Edmoran raises the branch and hits it against Cole's head, knocking him out. Edmoran then looks up at Raina, who moves closer to Cole with the dagger.
"No", Edmoran calls out.
"He's too dangerous to be kept alive."
"If we kill him, we become him."
"We're on a small island. It won't be hard for him to find us again."
"And then we will kill him. But not in cold blood. Never in cold blood."
"Your honour will be your death." She stared into his eyes and found that she couldn't just kill Cole as she wanted.
They journeyed through the woods all the time, wondering what had happened to the cook; with the sound of drums, they soon found their answer. They came across a cliff that looked down at a lake that was being filled with a waterfall, where they found more of those creatures with spikes on their heads. All of them were standing around the cook, who had his hand bonded as the one at the far side bangs on a large drum. All the spike-headed creatures screamed in joy as a giant creature made its way out of a cave that was hidden by the waterfall. The animal had long snout like a jackal but had a body like a skinny man on the top of a body that moved by its eight legs. The creature grab holds of the cook before showing its teeth that it uses to rip the head off the cook as if it was biting off the top of a sausage. The spike-headed creatures cheered in joy as the beast returned to its cave with the cook’s body.
"Come on, we can't stay here," Edmoran told Raina before they walked away from the cliff, moving deeper and deeper into the woods until they found something more mysterious than anything else they had seen on that island. It was something massive, about the size of the Grand Palace of Audland. It was something white, something old, something manmade. It looked as if it had a door on its side that had been sealed shut and words written in the ancient language at the side of the door. "What does it say?" Raina asked Edmoran.
Edmoran stepped closer to it and reads the words out loud. "Amundsen, a joint adventure of the people of the CANZUK union and the United States of America, 2107."
"What?" Raina whispered, not understanding it, and Edmoran felt the same. Amundsen was meant to be a dragon, not whatever this thing is. Then, behind them, they heard a croaky voice say, "What is that?" turning around, they saw Cole still topless, still with Paulit's blood staining his face and now with his own blood to join it. Cole could barely stand now. It was surprising he was able to make it through the woods.
"It's your god," Raina said with some satisfaction. She didn't expect what reaction she would get but laughing would have been the last one on the list.
"She's right. Behold your God." Came another voice from the trees where five of the spike-headed creatures with large teeth came out, one holding a long and strange firearm like that had never seen before.
"I did as you asked," Cole tells them.
"Indeed, but sadly you still didn't pass." As the leader says that, the one with the strange firearm points it to Cole, which lets out a blast of fire, setting Cole alight. His scream of pain was horrifying as he fell to the floor, trying to get the flames out. Soon the screams stopped, and Cole was no more. Edmoran and Raina feeling the same fate would come for them, stood in front of the creatures holding each other's hands. The leader of the creatures put his hand to his face and pulled off the mask that covered it, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with blue eyes and light brown hair. "Amundsen isn't a dragon. It's a ship, the same ship that brought your ancestors to this world. It crashed on this world that was full of strange creatures, some they named after fictional creatures from their fables. Your history has been a lie. But now I must give you a choice. Will you join us in keeping this lie, or will you die like the rest?"
Raina and Edmoran both looked at each other before giving their answer.
Kraken Song(Darren Turner)
It had been many days since Karlcus Cole's ship left the port of Aliceport in the kingdom of Audland, a country full of debt and crime. Now they were in the middle of the western sea, journeying beyond the known world. Looking for the myth of the Kraken and they say where you can hear the creature's song. There was also a myth of the ancient treasure it guarded treasure that could see him and his crew living the easy life to their dying days. Maybe he could move out of Audland. after the nation's failed war with its neighbour to the north. The country's economy quickly declined as its crime rate was increasingly rising. The feeling of a revolt and later a violent civil war was in the air in that failing nation but there were other plans on Cole’s mind.
Captain Cole ate with his crew, and looking at the meal in front of them of fish and rice, he wondered how long it would last. There were only four bags of rice left, and the fish seemed more challenging to catch farther west into the unknown they went. There was a reason why humankind hadn't sailed this far west since they came into the world by the belly of a giant white dragon named Amundsen. Cole now prayed to Amundsen more than he ever did before, for it seemed more and more likely they were sailing to their doom. Yet, the crew seemed not to share their captain's worries as they sat down to their meal in the great hall on the ship's second deck.
They were listening to Jouc, the oldest member of the crew, talk about a woman he once loved "There was the one girl I knew back when I was younger. She had the most beautiful red curly hair and these big green eyes that could drive a man into madness. Rosa, we all called her Rosa the Red, but I called her the goddess."
Paulit, a skinny man with long hair, looked around at the other crew, and a large group started laughing. "Goddess." Paulit shouted so everyone could hear, "You really were soft arse weren't you."
"I was young, and you never met Rosa. If you did, you would understand." Jouc said in anger, jumping up from his seat.
"Settle down, Jouc." The captain told him, and Jouc just nodded his head and sat back down. As did everyone else on the ship, he knew the captain was a god in this little wooden world on the open sea. He was a war hero and a tough man who many knew as Cold Heart Cole. Once a man on another voyage tried to overthrow him. That man is now at the bottom of the sea in several pieces.
"Human women do nothing for me," The grey skin Orc Kastiaka told them. His yellow eyes went to Raina, the only female on the ship. "I mean you, no offence." He told her.
"None taken." She replied, taking her cup of ale to her mouth.
"But human women have soft skin whereas Orc women are tough and more able to show an Orc like me fun times. So, my friends, you know when you have been with an Orc woman."
"Aye, you do." Replied Paulit, "Because you end up looking for a bucket to throw up in afterwards. But what interests me is what type of man or woman. Raina goes for."
"I'm not interested in such things. Coin and adventure are the only things I need in my life." So, she told them, but then her eyes darted to Edmoran, the expert on the first people, a man who could even speak and read in their ancient language. She didn't understand why she had feelings for him, maybe because he was so unlike the others. He was more brain than brawn. The only reason he was on this trip was due to the poor investments he had made before and during the war.
The crew's mood changed only days after. With seeing nothing but the open ocean for over a month and a half. They start to believe they are sailing to nothing but the world's end. "they say the world was round, but what if that is a lie? What if you can sail off it" one of the crewmen once said.
Raina and Kastiaka were in danger of the crewmen's wrath. Kastiaka was the only Orc, a member of a race that humans often looked down on and often abused and Raina, the only woman. She was no beauty, but after a month in the middle of the ocean, you could put a little dress and make-up on a fish and that would get their hearts racing. Raina knew this, so she slept with a dagger under her pillow. Sleeping for both of them was very difficult. Every word she overhears the crew say beyond the walls of her private cabin makes her think it could be a plot against her. As she stayed awake listening to the ship's creaking, she heard a strange sound in the darkness. At first, she believed it was the sound of someone crying. It wouldn't be the first time a crewman started crying at night, but it didn't sound human. Instead, it was a deep moan like something massive, something in pain. She took the dagger from under her pillow and walked out onto the ship's deck. The night was dark. No stars could be seen, but the deep moan still could be heard through the darkness.
"You hear it too?" She heard Kastiaka say from the front of the ship as he turned his yellow eyes towards her.
"Yeah."
"It's out there calling us with its song."
"That's a song?" She wondered how such a horrible noise could be classed as a song.
"It's a song of loneliness and pain." So he said and then called out in excitement, "come here and look."
Raina moved towards him and looked out to the open ocean but could see nothing in the dark, and she said as much. "There," he tells her, pointing a large dark grey hand towards the dark sea. She sees it but only for a second, something rising from the water and falling back down with a splash.
"Go and get the captain," Kastiaka tells her, but she doesn't move, still trying to work out if it was just a large fish or something more. "Now." Kastiaka hisses at her. Raina runs towards the captain's cabin and repeatedly bangs her hand against the door. Finally, Captain Cole opens the door wearing just trousers and holding a lantern. Raina could see the scars across his chest and belly where he was once tortured during the war. "There better be a good reason why you woke me up, Raina." He hissed in anger.
"It's here, listen" That's all she had to say. He stood there for a short moment and listened to the deep moaning in the darkness. Then, a smile came on his face as he returned to the cabin, picked up his long green jacket, and walked out onto the deck to join Raina and Kastiaka. He stands near Kastiaka, looking into the sea. "Captain, do you see it?" and he does the giant red tentacle rising from the deep. "I do. I see her. Raina," He calls back to her ", Ring the bell."
Raina runs to the metal bell that hangs from the mast and rings it. Its loud ringing could be heard throughout the ship, waking up everyone on board the vessel. It would have been a shock to them, but they knew precisely what they had to do as they picked up their muskets and ran to the deck, and others ran towards the cannons stored on the lower floors.
"Lads, I hope you're wide awake because it's supper time, and we'll having squid." As the captain shouted those words, the Kraken arose from the deep. Only now do they understand the size of the creature is almost as big as the ship itself. It was no surprise that the crew and captain were utterly dumbfounded. They had never seen anything like it. Most of them started praying to Amundsen, hoping beyond any hope that the dragon god could save them. Captain Cole prayed to no god, dragon or any god for that matter. He wanted to fight this creature and if it meant the death of him and his crew, then so be it. He raised his hand in the air and called for the attack. The fool, Edmoran thought as the cannons started to fire with the roar of anger from the ship's side. The creature cried out in pain, letting out a most horrifying scream.
Raina looked to Kastiaka, who took a long metal stick from his pocket. An Orcish weapon she had seen before and had seen the damage it had caused to buildings. What would it do to a Kraken? The Kraken raised its giant tentacle in the air. The scream of the men was deafening as the tentacle fell down on the ship as they heard loud cracking of the wood and more cries coming from the men. Cole believed the cannons would rip the creature apart. Now it was his ship that was being ripped apart. They all fell to the floor as the top of the vessel momentarily arose from the ocean and fell back down with a splash along with the ship's mast that Raina saw landing on some poor crewman. Raina and the captain grabbed hold of the top of the vessel as it began to sink into the deep. Other men were now swimming to stay alive, trying to cling to any part of the ship that had been broken. They took a deep breath as the boat took them down in the darkness of the western sea. Raina swam up, hardly seeing where she was going in the dark. There was a strong sense of relief when she finally hit the surface and was able to breathe in air. She quickly turned to the Kraken, seeing it picking up the drowning crewmen and dropping them into its mouth as if it was picking grapes and eating them. Then her eyes quickly turned to Kastiaka who was not swimming away from the creature but towards it.
"Raina." She heard Edmoran shout from behind her, but her eyes stayed on Kastiaka as the Kraken's tentacle wrapped around him and pulled him up from the water. However, she could still see the light glowing in the darkness. The creature dropped the Orc into its mouth. As soon as he fell through that monstrous hole in its face, a large explosion blew up the creature raining blood and bits of Kraken down on the water. She felt Edmoran's hand on her arm, trying to pull her away.
"Come on, follow me." He screamed at her. She turned to him, whispering, "He's gone."
"He died a hero's death. We can't do anything for him now. Come on." They swam away towards some debris from the ship floating in the water. He told her to grab hold of the wreckage that was just big enough for both of them to hold. The Kraken was gone. Now they were out in the middle of nowhere in the darkness with a bit of the debris from the sunken ship to keep them alive.
As they floated in the middle of the ocean, Edmoran stared at Raina, wondering which one of them would die first. He hoped it would be him. He had no idea what had happened to Captain Cole, although he could see the bodies of many other crew members. He didn't know how long they stayed floating on that destroyed peace of ship, but they clearly remembered the sun rising, making everything clearer. The blue sky and ocean were all around them, and wait, what was off on the horizon? Could it be his mind playing tricks on him, or was it true? Was it an island? Edmoran looked to Raina, who was fast asleep lying on top of the ship's debris. "Raina", He croaked, shaking her leg, but she just lets out a low moan. "Raina", He croaked again. This time she slowly opened her eyes, saying in her own croaking whisper, "What?"
"I think I see an island. Do you see it?"
Raina looked off into the horizon, her eyes adjusting in the bright morning sun, but she could see it off in the distance. "Yeah, I see it."
Getting closer to the island, they realise that it was much bigger than they first thought. Once they hit the white sandy beach, they lay on it out of exhaustion. The sun burning down on them. Just sitting up felt like a painful chore. However, Raina still sat up, looking around the beach she lay on and the row of thick trees in front of her that led into the woodlands.
"Edmoran, Raina." They heard a voice scream at them from afar. Both turned to the source of the voice. Were there was a very tired looking Paulit and a more giant of a man that once worked on the ship as a cook. "We thought you were dead." The cook told them.
"Yeah, likewise, did anyone else survive?" Edmoran asks him.
"Yeah. The captain, but he's been acting a little odd."
"Fighting that thing and getting us stuck on this rock, it seems like he was already a little odd," Raina said in anger.
Edmoran ignoring Raina's anger, asked Paulit, "In what way is he acting odd."
"He goes into those woods and starts speaking to himself. We asked him who he was speaking to, but we never got a response from him."
"Do you have anything to drink?" Raina asked.
"Oh yeah, we have some canteens of water. There's a stream not far from here."
"Good, I really need it."
They all moved down the beach toward captain Cole who sat on a log with his back to them. The cook turned to Edmoran, saying, "Be careful; Cole isn't himself."
Edmoran didn't say anything to this and stepped closer to the captain, who just remained sitting, looking at his hands resting on his legs.
"Cole?"
"Yes?"
"How are you feeling?"
"Fine. Good even."
"You could have got us all killed." Raina hissed at him.
"Raina," Edmoran says in disapproval.
"No, she's right." Paulit moaned. "He ordered the attack. He's the one who put us on this island. He's the one that got many of our good men killed."
Raina stepped in front of him, staring down at him. "We want answers."
"You choose to follow my orders. Didn't you?" Cole tells her.
"Because you were my captain."
"Were?"
"Yes, were as in past tense." Cole stood up, now towering over Raina. Even if he was beaten and driven mad, he was still an intimidating presence, with her now looking up at him. "I will always be your captain with or without the ship." He looks at the others, saying, "That goes for the rest of you. You need to remember who I am." Walking past Raina, he moves closer to Paulit whose courage seems to melt away. "Who am I?" He asks him.
"Our captain."
"What do people call me?"
"Cold Heart Cole."
"That's right, you should remember that."
The island had enough fruit and fresh water to be a reasonable settlement which made Raina wonder if they could create a colony there one day. She could see it being a good fishing port. They could cut down some of the trees and build homes, bakeries and even taverns, and this is what Raina found herself thinking about on the second night on the island as everyone else slept. Not everyone, as she soon found out as she spied Cole walking towards the forest. Why would he be going there at such a late hour? She slowly got up, taking a quick look at Edmoran, who slept by her side and then slowly followed Cole into the woods. He moved deeper and deeper into the woods. All the while, Raina felt that she was being watched by unseen eyes until suddenly, he stopped and fell to his knees. Staring out at nothing and crying out, "My lords, I am here" for only a short moment, they heard nothing but the wind blowing through the trees until she began to hear whispers in a language she didn't understand. Perhaps it was the language of the ancients. She looked around but couldn't see anything. She just heard the voices whispering.
"Show me the way, my lords," Cole called out as a tall figure moved out from the trees. Raina couldn't believe her eyes. It looked human or Orc as it had two arms and stood on two legs, but something about its face creeped her out. It had black spikes on top of its head, large black eyes and a mouth of sharp yellow teeth that didn't seem to move as it spoke in its own language, placing its hand on Cole's shoulder. Cole looked up at the creature as if he was looking up at a loving mother. Then the beast turned around and walked back into the woods through the darkness, and Cole moved back to the camp. Raina didn't know what to do, to follow Cole or to find what that thing he called his lord was. Her curiosity was too compelling. She had to find out what that was, so holding on to a small dagger, she slowly walked through the forest, trying not to get the creature's attention. Her heart raced, and she realised that she wasn't being brave, just stupid. She knew nothing about the creature, and there she was, following it through a dark forest. There was foolish, and then there was this. She turned around, making her way back to the camp she could tell Edmoran about what she saw, although there was no knowing if he would believe her. The feeling of fear's cold embrace now came to her, only heightened by a man's scream coming from the direction of the camp. "Edmoran", Raina whispered to herself before running towards them. It wasn't long until she found the cook running towards her with fear on his face. "Raina", He cried. "He's killed Paulit. He just bashed his head in with a rock."
"Where's Edmoran?" She asks, grabbing hold of his shoulders.
"I don't know." She let go of him. He moved on in front of her, telling her to follow, to get away from the mad captain. "I have to find Edmoran." She tells the cook.
"What, didn't you hear what I said? Cold Heart Cole has gone mad." Raina ignored him and kept heading towards the camp. "You're just as mad as him. I'm out of here." The cook cried out before running through the woods. At the camp, she found what was left of Paulit, his head now a mash of blood and splattered brain, which made her feel sick to her stomach. Cole sat crossed legged in front of the body, wearing only his trousers and Paulit's blood splattered on his face.
"Hello, Raina."
"Why?" She said, shaking with fear.
"They demanded blood, and blood is what I give them." Her hand that held on to the dagger started to sweat.
"Who did?"
"The gods. They promise they would take me to the dragon god Amundsen."
"So, you killed your own men."
Cole smiles at her as he stands up from the sand. "I am a godly man, Raina." Raina noticed Edmoran slowly stepping towards Cole's back, holding a large branch in his hand. Cole, not seeing him, just keeps talking, "Now more blood is needed." Edmoran raises the branch and hits it against Cole's head, knocking him out. Edmoran then looks up at Raina, who moves closer to Cole with the dagger.
"No", Edmoran calls out.
"He's too dangerous to be kept alive."
"If we kill him, we become him."
"We're on a small island. It won't be hard for him to find us again."
"And then we will kill him. But not in cold blood. Never in cold blood."
"Your honour will be your death." She stared into his eyes and found that she couldn't just kill Cole as she wanted.
They journeyed through the woods all the time, wondering what had happened to the cook; with the sound of drums, they soon found their answer. They came across a cliff that looked down at a lake that was being filled with a waterfall, where they found more of those creatures with spikes on their heads. All of them were standing around the cook, who had his hand bonded as the one at the far side bangs on a large drum. All the spike-headed creatures screamed in joy as a giant creature made its way out of a cave that was hidden by the waterfall. The animal had long snout like a jackal but had a body like a skinny man on the top of a body that moved by its eight legs. The creature grab holds of the cook before showing its teeth that it uses to rip the head off the cook as if it was biting off the top of a sausage. The spike-headed creatures cheered in joy as the beast returned to its cave with the cook’s body.
"Come on, we can't stay here," Edmoran told Raina before they walked away from the cliff, moving deeper and deeper into the woods until they found something more mysterious than anything else they had seen on that island. It was something massive, about the size of the Grand Palace of Audland. It was something white, something old, something manmade. It looked as if it had a door on its side that had been sealed shut and words written in the ancient language at the side of the door. "What does it say?" Raina asked Edmoran.
Edmoran stepped closer to it and reads the words out loud. "Amundsen, a joint adventure of the people of the CANZUK union and the United States of America, 2107."
"What?" Raina whispered, not understanding it, and Edmoran felt the same. Amundsen was meant to be a dragon, not whatever this thing is. Then, behind them, they heard a croaky voice say, "What is that?" turning around, they saw Cole still topless, still with Paulit's blood staining his face and now with his own blood to join it. Cole could barely stand now. It was surprising he was able to make it through the woods.
"It's your god," Raina said with some satisfaction. She didn't expect what reaction she would get but laughing would have been the last one on the list.
"She's right. Behold your God." Came another voice from the trees where five of the spike-headed creatures with large teeth came out, one holding a long and strange firearm like that had never seen before.
"I did as you asked," Cole tells them.
"Indeed, but sadly you still didn't pass." As the leader says that, the one with the strange firearm points it to Cole, which lets out a blast of fire, setting Cole alight. His scream of pain was horrifying as he fell to the floor, trying to get the flames out. Soon the screams stopped, and Cole was no more. Edmoran and Raina feeling the same fate would come for them, stood in front of the creatures holding each other's hands. The leader of the creatures put his hand to his face and pulled off the mask that covered it, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with blue eyes and light brown hair. "Amundsen isn't a dragon. It's a ship, the same ship that brought your ancestors to this world. It crashed on this world that was full of strange creatures, some they named after fictional creatures from their fables. Your history has been a lie. But now I must give you a choice. Will you join us in keeping this lie, or will you die like the rest?"
Raina and Edmoran both looked at each other before giving their answer.
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