The ship rocks along the waves, her sail limp and heavy, searching for the light, for the shore. It had been a long, fruitless journey. Disembarked from home three years prior, plotted for a course through the darkest part of the ocean. Told to find the beast that has ended so many of her siblings before. Instructed to not return until she has found and slayed the creature.
So, wide eyed she set off so long ago. A hungry hope to end the disaster in the sea, to avenge the deaths it had caused. Into the angry waters she sailed, cannons a-ready, armory stocked, pantries overfilled with smoked cuts and jerky. In high spirits she reached the grave of her siblings with no time to spare for grief. The only time available was to ready the cannons and deploy the nets.
Eagerly she had watched the water. For hours. It then turned to days and still not even a single fish. After three weeks of observation her food supply was running low. She hadn't planned on being out this long, but she couldn't go back, she wasn't allowed back without that carcass in tow.
So she started roaming the waters, searching, peering as deep as she could see into the depths. But there was nothing. no great beast to slay no enemies, not even a single upset wave. It was calm. Silent. Running on scraps she realized she had no choice but to return home, to report that there was nothing. and so she sailed back home. Downstruken after her months at sea and failure to complete her assignment.
And she sailed. with her trusty compass and the sun to guide her. But there was no land. She had gone back to exactly where her home was, she knew she did but there was nothing but more sea. No fish no rocks jutting up, no other ships. nothing. The only way she could've gotten turned around was if her compass was wrong, but even if it was she knew how to read the stars and sun, she had to of been going the right way. No storm had knocked her off course and certainly no fog. but her home was nowhere to be seen.
With nothing else to do, she kept going to where home should be. past it, even. Into where mountains had once stood and across the lands of enormous cities.
And still, there was nothing.
And she realized, this is where her siblings had gone to. This great sea of nothing. And she was lonely. Longing for the sounds of home, for the noise of the docks and the creak of the cranes. If she could just get home she could tell them to stay clear of that sea, she could protect them, save their lives, even is she couldn't get back the ones already lost.
But it never ended. No matter how far she sailed, there was nothing. The further she sailed the weaker she got, the more tired she became. And finally she decided to take a small rest, to hope that when she awoke, home would be just over the horizon. a short journey had turned to years of aimless wandering. hope dissipated to loss.
She wasn't sure if she wanted to wake again, if it was only to find more ocean. When she awoke it was dismal, a horrid experience. There had been hope, even just the tiniest gasp of it, but it was quickly dashed. Along with her boards. A storm. Waves towering over her so high she couldn't see the top. but as the waves crashed down, she could only think of how happy she was that there was something. finally.
