Forgotten Dreams of Eternity: Lost Odyssey: Thousand Years of Dreams

(Short Story -XV.) *Seth's Dream Part 1*

Forgotten Dreams of Eternity: Lost Odyssey: Thousand Years of Dreams

Copyright © 2011 Sky_Knight

(Short Story -XV.)

*Seth's Dream Part 1*

O, wondrous beast Aneira--Proud descendant of the white-winged clan!

You alone were my irreplaceable companion.

Would it anger you to hear me call us two of a kind? Were we not, in fact, a perfect combination, you and I? Bound together by a single thread--that gossamer thread we know as loneliness...

Aneira,

I owe my life to you!

Not, of course, that you "saved" my life in the ordinary sense of the word. Mine is not a life that can be lost under any circumstances. It is an irrevocable burden. I will not die--I cannot die--and therefore my life was not for you to save.

O, Aneira!

What you saved, I now see, was not my life but my heart.

Back then--long, long centuries ago, I was a pirate--the only woman pirate on the open seas.

Seth Balmore: that name was known to all who plied the sea. Some spoke my name in fear and trembling, while others voiced it with deepest admiration.

Some even called me the "Righteous Buccaneer," nor were they far wrong, I'd say.

The pirate ships I commanded had rules--rules that were clear and strict.

We targeted only one kind of vessel, those opulent passenger ships the wealthy boarded for pleasure cruises. We would put a bit of a scare into the passengers, of corse, maybe rough them up a little, but killing was strictly forbidden. All we did was squeeze a few drops of treasure out of the purses of those who had more money than they knew what to do with. We traded our booty for cash with shadowy dealers, and the money we shared in the world's dens of poverty.

I would cringe at being called a "champion of justice," but we prided ourselves on being far more than "villains."

I became a pirate for one simple reason:

I hated the law, and I hated even more those who flaunted the law for their own self-aggrandizement. In a word, I wanted a life of freedom.

Whenever I stood at the prow of a pirate ship sliding its way through the waves, and I viewed the vast ocean stretched out beneath the clear blue sky. I felt enveloped in the joy of having taken limitless freedom in my own two hands.

True, I need not traffic in the fear of death and aging known to all who count as human.

And because I will neither age nor die, infinite time means for me infinite freedom.

Not bad, wouldn't you say?

I would spy the ship that would be our day's quarry.

I was always the first to board it, springing lightly onto their deck with a shout.

"I am Seth Balmore! Now be good and hand over your money and valuables!"

Then, taking the booty we had snatched, my men and I would raise a cry of victory and leap back into our ship.

I was absolutely free.

Nothing stood in my way.

Eternal life overflowing with freedom--

Not bad, wouldn't you say?

"'Righteous Buccaneer'?!' What kind of fancy-pants nonsense is that? How about 'Pirate Bitch'?"