The sea was wrong. Every sailor aboard The Maelstrom Crown felt it that foreboding stillness, heavy as the air before lightning splits the sky. Even the waves seemed to hesitate, recoiling from the dark shape cutting through them. Above, gulls cried once, then vanished island , as though they too feared what was coming.
At the prow stood Mordeclai, iron jaw gleaming beneath the rising sun. His ship the mightiest of his fleet moved like a beast stalking prey, its black sails emblazoned with a crimson sigil: a serpent coiled around a heart of blue flame. Behind him, rows of cannons waited like sharpened teeth, ready to bite at any who dared oppose him.
Today, the seas would remember his name.
"Raise the banners," Mordeclai commanded, his voice echoing across the decks. "Let every soul on these waters know the tide has chosen its master."
A flare shot into the clouds. Moments later, a ripple of answering lights flashed across the horizon signals from his fleet. Dozens of warships, flying Mordeclai's mark, turned their bows toward the open sea.
He lifted a golden goblet high. "To the future!" he roared, and the crew thundered their response, voices carrying across the waves like thunder.
Then, silence.
A messenger approached, trembling but resolute. "The broadcast stone is ready, Captain."
Mordeclai smiled. "Good. Let's give the world its news."
He stepped onto the upper deck where a large crystalline orb sat embedded in bronze. As he touched it, the gem flared to life, and his voice boomed across the waters, carried through magic and steel alike echoing to ships, islands, and strongholds across every sea.
"To all who sail beneath the sun and moon pirates, navymen, outlaws, and traitors alike I bring you tidings of a new dawn.
I, Captain Mordeclai Thorne, Lord of the Abyss, hereby announce my union with Captain Alexandria of the Marine Whispers.
The wedding shall be held upon the deck of my flagship, The Maelstrom Crown, beneath the full moon in three nights' time.
Those who wish to stand as witnesses or kneel as allies are welcome to attend.
But those who come with steel or treachery in their hearts... will be fed to the sea."
The broadcast ended. The silence that followed spread like a plague. Across the waters, reactions erupted like cannon fire.
The Shattered Reef Galen's War Council
Galen crushed the edge of the table beneath his gauntleted hand as the last words echoed from the communicator orb.
"Marrying her?" he hissed. "He's parading her like a trophy."
Selene Tidecaller, ever calm, folded her arms. "He's daring you to strike."
"He wants war," said Kaelen Red Blade, spitting onto the floor. "And the fool will get it."
Galen's eyes darkened. "He's forcing our hand. If that wedding happens, every pirate will either kneel or die. He's uniting the seas by fear."
YOU ARE READING
The Legacy of the Uncharted
FantasyIn the late 18th century, Alexandria finds an old journal hidden in a secret part of her large house by the sea. The journal is written in an ancient language she doesn't fully understand, filled with strange maps and mysterious hints about the ocea...
