Memories (Of Dreams and Demons)

Prologue Part 4 - Once Upon (2022)

This chapter is part 4 of the draft rewrite of Memories' Prologue. I hope you enjoy 😊

A heartbeat. My own. Each beat giving a split second of sight, of life. Glimpses before death.

Kaiken is blade-locked with Hannya on the far side of the ship. She pauses, sensing something is wrong, and turns to look directly at me. Her eyes go wide. Darkness.

A heartbeat.

The horn blares again, waking me up from a deep slumber. The magnificent battleship is closer, now towering over us. I can't strain my neck any higher as I try to look up. It's so painfully loud. Time seems to slow. Soundwaves, like ripples, slowly glide across the sky, shoving away the clouds. The dark man at its bow, it must be the captain, still watches. My vision blurs and blacks out again.

A heartbeat.

Black tendrils spring out of the ocean, coils of shadow. As far as the eye can see, patterns of darkness dance upon the pitch-black waves. They float in the air, thousands of them, towards me. And towards the towering steel vessel. Darkness.

A heartbeat.

Kaiken's eyes flash white as she screams in my direction. Panic, or a warning, or rage, or all, I can't tell. She vanishes from sight. Is the figure on the battleship smiling? Darkness.

A heartbeat.

An unfamiliar face glares down at me through the emptiness. It's not Kaiken. I don't know who it is. An eye of swirling shadows studies me intently, darker than the ocean, than the tendrils, blacker than a world void of light. A primal shadow darker than anything I've ever known. God help me. Death.

And.. nothing.

These aren't heartbeats anymore. Convulsions. I can't think clearly, can't see. In a fraction of a moment, it's over, I will succumb to the rodent's blade. This is it. I cough black blood over the side of the deck. Shadows weave towards my hand, intertwine with my fingers. I look up a final time. No stars fill the midnight globe, no light behind the battleships black silhouette.

Bang. Air rushes into my lungs, jolting me upright. My hand spasms. I can feel myself screaming, mirroring Kaiken's. Shadows roar through me, turning my arm black; a sensation I've never felt before, could never imagine. And it doesn't stop. Immense strength snaps me back into place, my heart spits poison to the breeze, and I roar back to my feet. Blackness swirls throughout my vision as I almost stumble backwards, struggling to control the power that runs through my veins, a raging torrent. This must be from the darkness; the shadows are a cyclone around my arm. From the waters a tide of darkness rises to the top of the ship. The world has shifted sideways, as if turning into a new dimension. Our surroundings are corrupted by sickness; a crystal blue seafaring journey has turned to oil-choked misadventure. Even the skies turn an oily black now.

Kaiken lands lightly beside me, and slashes at the rodent as he pulls his blade from my side, narrowly dodging her own. My wound instantly closes, black skin filling the empty space where flesh was. I can breathe clearly. Whatever is happening, the shadows have healed what a moment ago was a gravely mortal strike.

"Why you little," she hisses.

The rodent sniffs in her direction, before grinning widely and vanishing in a puff of smoke. I gag and turn away as a strong smell of toxic chemicals blasts against my face, shadows swirling my vision. Kaiken too, swearing uncharacteristically.

A loud grinding sound pulls our attention back to the other deck. The last of the Skewer splits and sinks entirely as our collision runs its full course. Splinters, bodies, and wood lie burning on every open space, making fast movement about our ship dangerous. Nothing of the other ships frame remains but a footnote in some history book that might one day tell our tale here.