The Pirate's Legacy: New Horizons

Prologue: Storm Clouds Brewing

The chamber had no discernible walls. The shadows hid the corners and edges, creating the illusion that the room seemed to stretch into infinity and beyond. The floor was made of clouds that swirled constantly underfoot. The ceiling was made of shining pinpricks of stars and other cosmos, held up by six colossal onyx pillars that gave the room the impression of being circular. On these supports were ancient murals of the first gods, the Greater Powers, and their glory. Constellations flickered with life of their own, not the mere groupings of stars that sailors or landlubbers alike thought they were. One or two liked to move in and out of the ceiling to interact with its brothers and sisters.

In the middle of this mysterious room was its main purpose and source of light. A granite basin stood in the center of the room. The container was large, the size of a full grown man in diameter. Slim pegs stuck out horizontally from underneath. Emeralds encrusted the rim. Light smoke hovered an inch from the top of the basin, but it did not impede the white light that shined from within, casting shadows on the onyx pillars and dimming the starlit roof.

Hovering above the smoky basin was the goddess of the sea in her true form. Tendrils of her long, inky hair floated around her body, moving sinuously as if in their own accord. The light illuminated the crown of seashells and its living starfish atop her head. As well, it cast an almost human pallor unfavorable to her golden tan skin. Calypso's presence filled the observatory, but she seemed not to be the only one present. Whispering voices that were distant but no less distinct flitted throughout the chamber with no exact origin point.

At that moment, Calypso's keen attention on the basin's contents shifted. She looked up at the newcomer as he stepped out of the shadows and into the light. The crook of one slender finger beckoned him near.

Dread Pirate Robin stopped a few inches away from the pegs. The voices were coming from the basin. Like most basins Roger had seen, this container was more wide than deep, but that did not mean he could see its bottom. Looking into it, Roger's black eyes widened as he stared down at the mortal world. The smoke hovering atop the surface was actually thin puffs of clouds. In this strange device, he could see everything: chain bumps of snowcapped mountain ranges, various shades of green and yellow for either forests or deserts, and wide expanses of Calypso's domain holding up these vast and distant lands not known previously to the pirate. Amazingly, on the stretches of ocean blue were tiny ships sailing or battling each other under the brightness of sunlight or the dimness of moonlight.

"I recommend you do not touch that," spoke up Calypso, whose voice was not unlike a gentle ocean wave, and whom the pirate had forgotten momentarily about in his wonder. "Who knows what unnatural mayhem you will inflict upon your mortal world?"

Roger retracted his hand, which on its own had stretched toward the surface of the basin. His black eyes met the goddess's blue ones. They were equally at eyelevel. She had been always as tall as he was in her true form. "What is it?" He could not help the awe in his deep, muffled voice.

"Videns Mundus, the Seeing World," explained the sea goddess with a slight smile. "Named so because We frequently like to see the happenings of the world. The pegs you are very prudent not to touch can be moved around to see a desired spot better."

Roger tilted his head in contemplation. "Hmm. So the world is round. Those mad Politickans were right after all." His shook his head as Calypso let out a tiny chuckle. The pirate remembered himself and his earlier confusion.

"Why am I here? Why now?" demanded the deity's worshipper, not very polite, yet not so rude as to offend the goddess. "I haven't heard from you in three weeks."

Calypso's smile grew, but the upturned corners of her lips looked more devilish than kind to the pirate. The hair on the back of his neck prickled warningly.