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The song began on a gentle breeze, carried across the waves like a lullaby of the sea. It was the sound of distant shores, of journeys untaken, of lives lived between the tides. The words, ancient yet familiar, whispered of times forgotten, of dreams adrift and fading beneath the water's edge.
Beneath soft skies, the dawn alights, On silken waves, in golden light. The ocean hums in gentle grace, The wind around, a vast embrace.
Lira's voice had always been part of the ship, her notes ringing through the air as clear as the blue waters below. Her family had known only the sea, their blood tied to the tides, their fortunes made in distant ports. Her father, a man of navigation, charted their courses with precision and pride, while her mother ensured their ship ran as smoothly as the currents themselves. Young Oliver, her little brother, was just beginning to learn the ways of the sea, helping their father with boundless excitement.
Lira was the soul of the ship. With her golden-red hair catching the sunlight and her emerald eyes reflecting the ocean's depths, she was like a creature born from the very heart of the sea. Her songs, once joyful and full of life, were the heartbeat of their travels.
But everything changed the day the pirates came.
They had been far from Port Azura, headed toward a lesser-known port in a quiet stretch of the kingdom's coast. The journey had been long but peaceful, until the dark silhouette of the pirate ship appeared on the horizon. It grew larger and larger as it closed in, and the shadow it cast seemed to swallow the light.
"Pirates!" her father had yelled, his voice filled with an urgency Lira had never heard before. He shouted commands to the crew, trying to steer the ship away, but it was too late. The pirates came fast, their black flag fluttering ominously against the clear sky.
Lira stood frozen, her heart pounding as she watched the boarding ropes fly across the gap between the ships. Within moments, the pirates were upon them, swords drawn, eyes gleaming with malice. Her mother grabbed Oliver, trying to shield him, while her father stood at the front, determined to defend his family.
But there was no defense. The pirates, ruthless and cruel, cut them down as if they were nothing. Lira's mother fell first, her body crumpling to the deck as she screamed for her children to run. Then her father, struck through the chest while trying to protect Oliver. The little boy, her sweet, innocent brother, was next, cut down with a laugh by the pirates who cared not that he was just a child.
Lira could only watch, her mind too numb to react, her body too paralyzed with fear to move. When the pirate captain approached her, she did not flinch. She stood there, trembling, waiting for the end that never came.
"Her," the captain said, his eyes scanning her with cold calculation. "Bring her aboard."
They took her. They took her as they took everything else: her family, her goods, her innocence. Locked in a small cabin with nothing but a bed and a desk, Lira sat in shock, unable to comprehend the horror she had just witnessed. The silence of the cabin pressed in on her, a suffocating weight.
