3.
Eliza exploded. “A TALK?! With what, a monster? One who refuses to comply with the treaty, who ignores royalty!” She spat on the floor. “I’d rather be thrown overboard! I’m glad we exterminated most of your kind, you dumb monster. If I would, I’d crush your skull and turn you into tree fertilizer! How does it feel, to be one of the last remaining monsters on Earth? When my family finds out about this, you and your crew will be annihilated!” She paused for a moment and smiled darkly. “And Strand, was it? I’ll smash your arms and legs and make you watch as I grind his bones away. Slowly. Very slowly. I’ll make sure he gets plenty of healing from the priests to keep going, in fact—” “Silence.” Morrigan snapped. Eliza’s eyes widened as her mouth was sealed by Morrigan’s powerful mana. “When I release this, you are going to sit down and have a civil conversation with me or by the Great God I will fulfill your wish of going overboard. Preferably in an area with lots of Razor Sharks. Are we clear?”
Eliza nodded slowly, cowed by Morrigan’s powerful aura. As he released his power, she cleared her throat and sat down in the chair in front of her, taking the chance to look around the room. It was not a huge room, but larger than any ship room she had ever seen. One side was covered with a bookshelf full of journals and rolled maps. The other side held a weapons and armor rack, as well as a wardrobe and a hammock woven from some strange red fiber. The wall behind Morrigan had strange windows that were not made from glass but showed the sea behind the ship. Everything else was made from some material that looked like ivory, but she suspected it was bone. It would fit well with the whole theme of the ship. Finally looking up, she gasped as she saw the artwork that felt totally out of place in the room. “Why?” She asked Morrigan, confused by what she saw. “One of my crew members saw the world as a different place and made this to commemorate it. That’s all.” Morrigan replied. “But it’s blasphemous!” Eliza cried, “aren’t you worried the church will track you down for this?” Morrigan laughed. “The church isn’t omnipotent, and if the Gods didn’t like it, they would have struck me down already. Do you have any other questions?”
“Yeah,” Eliza eyed Morrigan, “What’s Haven?” Morrigan stopped for a moment before replying, “Hope.” “Hope? I don’t get it.” “You’ll understand when we get there, but for now…” Morrigan waved his hand and a teapot and teacup appeared. He placed them on the desk between them and placed his hand on the teapot. It glowed warmly for a moment before whistling with steam. “Careful, it’s very hot.” Morrigan warned. Eliza just sat there in amazement of the spectacle she had witnessed. “I’m going to take a nap,” Morrigan continued, “We have a way to go, so you can read anything on the middle two shelves.” He waved his hand and a thin bone lattice grew in front of all the bookshelves but the ones he specified. “I also don’t want you using the weapons or poking around my clothes,” he made bone lattices grow over those too. “I’ve already sealed your power, despite how weak it is, and you cannot hurt me. So, I suggest staying quiet and reading till we get there, understand?” Eliza nodded dumbly, astounded by such casual displays of magic. “Glad we’re on the same page.” Morrigan settled down in the hammock, quickly falling asleep. Eliza just sat there in shock as the tea grew cold, digesting everything she had seen. Finally giving up trying to make sense of her situation, she poured a cup of tea and wandered over to the bookcase to look for reading material.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Outside, the zombie deckhands had already finished dismantling the Neptune, even going so far as to start to tear the ship itself up and carry the wood inside large holes that had opened in the hull at just the right height. Strand oversaw the process, chuckling and giggling to himself every time he saw something interesting go by him. “And that should be the last of it.” He muttered to himself. “Alright folks!” He called out, “Back to the ship, we’re heading home!”
Most of the books available on the two shelves were journals detailing past expeditions or fairy tale books. Eliza passed over the fairy tales, having read enough of those while she was younger and focused more on the journals. She had tries breaking the lattices on the maps, curious as to what was there but she could barely scratch the surface. Giving up that endeavor, Eliza looked for the oldest looking journal among the ones she had access to. Finding a very worn dark brown one with a tattered cover, she opened it but when she began reading, she was shocked at the date found in the first entry. Time is classified as such; every thousand years is an era, given a unique name by the inhabitants of that era. Generally, each era is ruled by a different god and how well the god manages determines the prosperity of that era. Gods gain strength from worshippers, so they do their best to reward the most faithful and punish the non-believers. Most gods did that, but there were some crazy ones who would simply use the earth as their plaything and demand enormous sacrifices and death, lest they cause an extinction. The current year is year 999 of the Harvest Era, named for the bountiful harvests thus far. Eliza was shocked because the first entry is from one of the first recorded eras, the Great God Era! Eliza remember Morrigan swearing on the Great God instead of the Harvest God and glanced at him surreptitiously. She couldn’t believe he was that old, but he was a skeleton so it could be possible.
She returned her focus to the book and began reading. When she finished several hours later, she let out a huge breath and glanced at Morrigan once more. This journey was terrifying, describing how they had fought in a huge battle on the sea, and then a search for a relic that could revive the dead! ‘Is that why his crew is entirely undead?’ Eliza wondered. The journal was not complete, the part where they would have found the relic was missing. Standing up to put the journal back on the shelf, she stumbled when the ship suddenly quaked. A brisk knock came at the door. “We have arrived at the drop point. If you would take the wheel captain?” Strand’s voice came through the door. Morrigan stirred and rumbled, replying huskily, “I’ll be there in a minute.” Getting up, he turned to Eliza who was still standing by the bookshelf, “We’ll be there soon, you’re welcome to watch the show through the windows.” With that he turned and left the cabin.