EXPEDITION: An Unmatched Fanfiction

Chapter Six: Into The Woods

Sinbad did not know how he would defeat the unidentifiable flying vessel in the sky, but that would not matter, as he found himself and his boat in the middle of a large portal. When it opened up, he looked up to see what numinous force was causing this. He saw Doctor Strange, still floating high above the ship, with him arms pointed in the portal's direction. He could only assume Doctor Strange had some righteous reason for opening this portal and casting him through. Otherwise, if this magical individual had lied to him and his crew about his true intentions, Sinbad did not know if he would make it out of this voyage alive.

The orange portal--whose circular movements appeared like fiery sparks--consumed the boat quickly, sending it and everything on it hurtling far away from the aerial threat. Unlike the inexplicable teleportation he had experienced in the black smoke that brought him to the shores of England, this portal was much more efficient with its methods of transportation, dropping him immediately into another environment.

Unfortunately, this new environment did not contain any large bodies of water the boat could gracefully land on. Instead, Sinbad and the large boat were falling into a tree-filled ecosystem, which did not prove to be kind to the ship's structure.

As the boat collided with the ground at a punishing angle, a thousand wooden fractures exploded outward from the ship, dusting the land in a rainfall of wood shavings. The ship almost instantly lost its shape as it crumbled into an unidentifiable pile of rubbish. The main mast bent and collapsed as the wood it stood on fell apart, shredding the sailcloth as rogue debris tore through it on its way down. The bow--which hit the ground before any other part of the ship--disintegrated into fine powder as the rest of the ship plummeted mercilessly on top of it. The wheel and stern towards the port of the ship cracked off from the pressure of the fall and soon became indistinguishable from the rest of the detritus.

Right before the boat crashed into the ground and turned into wooden mush, Sinbad leapt from the deck with a short prayer and fell onto the forest floor. He hit the ground with a roll to prevent damage to his legs, then hastily repositioned himself into a small ball, covering his head and hoping no fatal pieces of wood struck him. He held this position, mildly quivering with fear. All the details of his previous voyages flashed through his mind, and he began to wonder if he would ever see home again.

After what seemed like a lifetime, the noises of the ship's demise fell silent. Sinbad dared to uncover his head and see the wreckage with his own two eyes. Even a master carpenter would find it impossible to create a ship from the pieces that were left. Demolished wooden scraps lay carelessly about. Many pieces of the ship, from the wheel to the mast, were unrecognizable. The worst part was all the rations, supplies, and even treasures from the journey were now deeply buried under unfathomable amounts of rubble. Looking at all the damage, Sinbad could not estimate how long it would take him to recover all of these items, and he certainly would not be able to carry even a fraction of them to his next destination.

As this thought came across his mind, he arrived at another dark realization. He did not see any of the crewmates. Or Hindbad.

"Hindbad?" Sinbad called out, running to the wreckage. "Hindbad!"

Sinbad jumped into the debris, indifferent to the wooden splinters digging themselves into his soles. He grabbed pieces of ravaged wood in front of him and threw it aside, digging through as far down as he could. However, it was no use. Sinbad did not know if Hindbad and the others had been plucked off the ship by the flying vessel before they had went through the portal or if they were somewhere submerged under the shipwreck. Either way, they would surely be dead or severely injured, and Sinbad could do nothing to save them.

After several more minutes of unsuccessful rummaging, Sinbad finally gave up and let out a loud, primal wail. Tears streamed down his disheveled face as he mourned the death of his dearest friend.