Chapter One- Unfortunate Instances
Mark woke with a start. An alarm blared through the ship, swiftly rousing him from his dazed state. The sirens pounded through the ship like rolling thunder, an unrelenting rhythm that screamed, “This ship is on a one-way trip to the bottom of the ocean.” Scrambling to regain his senses, he ripped off the canvas like sheets and threw himself out of bed, wincing and cursing loudly as the ceaseless, heavy rocking motion of the ship slammed him shoulder first into the doorframe. Not many events had enough power to be able to truly rock a ship of this size. Whatever was going on, it was virtually guaranteed to go bad quickly.
The cargo ship Sea Hawk had set out from the states earlier that year, with a route that would bring it to port on several small islands in the pacific known to be a habitat for several poorly documented species of cephalopods. The hawk was manned by very few crewmembers, maintaining only the minimum number required to run the ship, and bring it and its cargo where it needed to go.
Mark was trying to reach one of the larger inhabited islands in the archipelago. His job required that he travel often, and on a budget, but this was different. He’d stumbled onto this opportunity, this once in a lifetime chance, when an old college roommate had emailed him saying that he could get him a “Killer gig.” A large oil and natural gas company had found a huge deposit, larger than any ever located. Mark didn’t know much about natural gas besides the fact that it powered his stove, but he was strapped for cash and the company was offering one and a half million dollars for somebody to come and live on a tropical island for 5 months. Of course he took the job. How could he not?
The only thing Mark had to do as an employee was to verify that the area in which the company planned to build their rig was not home to any particularly rare or endangered denizens of the animal kingdom, and then the money was in the bag. Better yet, he would still be paid regardless of whether or not the location turned out to be suitable for drilling, so there was no need to compromise on ethical integrity either- his values were safe. Housing and transportation was also provided, and the Sea Hawk, being the only ship which would get him there for less than a fortune, was of course the one his employer had picked. He didn't have the money for anything else. His occupation as an ecological surveyor and consultant didn't pay poorly, but it definitely didn’t pay him enough for him to spend thousands to charter a boat to get him there a little faster. He just didn’t have that kind of pocket money. Although, he thought as he was tossed sideways down the hallway; maybe it would have been worth it. He crashed into the far wall of the adjoining hallway and screamed when something in his arm snapped with a sickening crack.
The intense pain hit him hard and fast as he stagnated, clinging to the handrail on the wall and trying to regain his breathing.Then the ship groaned, a horrible shrieking noise being the sound of metal rent apart by overwhelming force. Mark’s heart settled in his stomach. Shit, he thought. I’m going to fucking die. A pipe running along the ceiling suddenly burst, showering him in frigid water that chilled him to the bone, and he ran, stumbling his way through the underbelly of the ship to the deck door. Using his good arm, Mark leveraged his body weight to force the damn thing open. Just then, a massive shudder rocked the boat, snapping the ties holding the shipping crates down, and they fell overboard at a rapid rate, crashing into the water below. That wasn’t good. Hell, it was just bad, but whatever was doing this the ship was a bigger problem at the moment.
Mark yelled for the crew at the top of his lungs. “This is bad, guys,” He shouted. “Where in the hell are you?” Instinctively, however, he somehow knew they wouldn’t ever respond. He went for a lifeboat, only to find them all gone, the loose tie-down straps flapping freely in the blustering wind. They left me. He realized. Fuck. Any lingering sense of hope faded as the rocking of the ship turned to a constant tilt. “Oh shit!” he screamed. He sprinted to the starboard railing, looking out over a turbulent sea for the first time. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed. The ship was caught in a death spiral, surrendered to the clutches of a mind bogglingly huge whirlpool. The swirling current had a diameter of at least three miles.The water crackled and glowed with energy, and the dark shapes of strange creatures could be seen in the shadows between.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
At the epicenter of the whirlpool, a massive glowing obelisk stood, completely unaffected by the torrential currents surrounding it. At this point, the Sea Hawk was already more than halfway done with its final adventure. There was absolutely no going back. As Mark locked his eyes on the obelisk, a strange feeling of calm pervaded his mind, overcame his senses. His fear faded, the pain from his broken arm diminishing to nothing, all overtaken by a sense of calm acceptance. He took one last deep breath, and stared deep into the mesmerizing surface of the strange anomaly. Mark felt time slow around him, and recognized that these were to be his final moments. The strange energy was almost tangible in the air now, the power coursing through his body. Despite his current situation, he felt almost… good? Then everything devolved into sharp pain as his consciousness violently separated from his body. Both his body and the sea hawk were completely disintegrated upon impacting the pillar. Nothing remained. Pins and needles overtook Mark, and everything faded to black.
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King Dimitri Katuunka was distraught. Nothing could diminish the unadulterated anguish coursing through his body. His only daughter; a victim of the indigo-eye plague. The disease, which was thought to be long gone, had no cure and no discernible source. The best healers in the kingdom could do nothing, not even to ease the seemingly unending pain. He had brought in alchemists of great renown. His third son’s wife, a dryad from the northern forests, had managed to convince a shaman from her grove to visit her, to see what could be done. Priests came and prayed to the god of life, Viesse. Many came, tried, and inevitably failed to cure Lilliana.
Over the course of the past month her screams had turned from lucid exclamations of pain, to Incoherent ramblings about nonsense, and now to screams of pure agony. This was no intermittent screaming either. All hours of the day and night; She hadn’t slept in so long. There was nothing to be done. Nobody, no matter which of the many races they may be, had ever survived the indigo-eye plague. Lilliana is so young. He thought to himself. So good, so kind. She deserves so much better than this. Succumbing to a virus thought long eradicated throughout to whole continent of Tevitae was the last thing he would have wished for his daughter. After so long, the kingdom had an established peace with all of the surrounding nations. He had signed the comprehensive treaty yesterday, ending more than three centuries of war. But, he thought, she’ll never be able to see what she made possible.
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Three days later, Dimitri sat by his daughter’s bedside. The virus was not contagious, simply killing its victim before dissolving into the aether. The servants watching over her had come to get him in the early hours of the morning, as the screaming had paused. He didn’t mind. Haven’t been sleeping much lately anyway, he thought to himself. He watched over Lilliana as she lay quietly in her bed. Her eyes, once a beautiful blue that reminded him of her late mother, now glazed over and tinged throughout with purple. He had been here for an hour now, watching over her, when she suddenly turned to him. He swiftly got up from his chair and went to her, kneeling to be closer to her level. A semblance of lucidity could be seen in those eyes.
“Lili. Daughter. Can you hear me?" He started. "I’m here, do you need anything? I-” “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” she rasped quietly. “Lili, let me get the healers, I'll be right-” He tried. “I love you father. But it’s OK now. It doesn’t hurt anymore” she said. “You aren’t alright, cub.” he said definitively. His ears flicked back in worry. You need food, and water, and-". "I’m sorry, Father.” She said, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. “I love you,” she repeated. “Goodbye.” Shock cut through the king like a knife through butter. “Lili, what-” and this time he stopped himself. Lilliana’s chest stopped rising and falling, and the sound of her heartbeat slowed to a halt, the room fell silent, and Dimitri’s blood ran cold as he felt his daughter’s mana signature snap out of existence. Then the screaming began again.