The Tides' Revenge

Chapter 1: Transformation

I'm dying. Drowning, to be more specific. And there is nothing I can do to stop this. My hands are tied, literally. My legs, too.

So, I guess you're wondering how I came to be in this situation. Well, many years ago, pirates starting sailing the seas once again. And pirates believe having a woman on board their ship is bad luck. Just like the Blackbeard days. Well, I just so happened to be a woman aboard a pirate's ship.

My brother, Killian, is a member of Captain Blue Mane'a crew aboard The Fallen Eel. Captain Blue Mane was an old friend of our father's, his real name is Edward Carabis. Father was his first mate, before he passed. Our mother died after giving birth to my brother and I, we're twins and I guess her body couldn't handle it. After her death, Father joined Blue Mane's crew and was made first mate. He kept us aboard the ship working odd jobs. Killian usually swabbing the deck and the cooking left to me. Although I lived most of my life on the ship, Blue Mane has never liked ny presence aboard his vessel. Father and Blue Mane always got into arguments over my presence on The Fallen Eel. Blue Mane believes the tales of women being bad luck aboard ships and thought that my presence aboard the ship would bite them in the ass. But, Father convinced Blue Mane to keep me aboard the ship until my 18th birthday, stating that I was but a child who couldn't survive on her own.

But, before my 18th birthday could pass, Father died. I still had six months and 2 weeks before I turned 18. After Father's death, I noticed Blue Mane's looks became more sinister as the days passed.

The first stop we made after Father's passing was The Seashell Haven. As everyone was leaving the ship, Blue Mane grabbed me by the waist and dragged me below deck. The things that happened to me that night are something I never wish to relive and I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.

When the crew boarded the ship later that night, I tried to tell Killian my days on this ship were numbered and I feared I would not live to see the end of the week if we did not leave the ship while we were anchored. Killian dismissed my fears and laughed at my concerns, his face flushed from the firewater he consumed at the brothel earlier. For the rest of that night, I laid in my hammock reliving the nightmares I had endured not hours before.

The next morning, we departed from The Seashell Haven, leaving my hopes of escape behind on the shores of the tiny island. By noon, we were on the open seas once again. I carried out my duties like any other day, hoping that Blue Mane would take mercy and let me live. But by nightfall, I knew that I would have no such luck, Blue Mane called his crew from their quarters and ordered them to tie me up. I knew what was coming and I screamed at Blue Mane for mercy, the crew for help, and my brother to save me from this awful fate. I caught my brother's eyes, as two crew members were swinging me back and forth to throw me overboard, and in them I saw that there would be nothing to save me from my fate. After a few seconds, he looked away and hung his head like the coward that he is.

And that is how I came to be in this situation, drowning with no hope for rescue. There were so many things in life that I still wanted to do, but they are out of the question now.

After I realize that struggle is pointless, I give up and go slack, waiting for the ocean to take me from this awful life. I float calmly to the seafloor and wait for the water to drown the sorrows and horrors from me. So, I close my eyes and wait for my reprieve....

Darkness... that's what I see and feel, but something is off. I start to feel a tingling sensation throughout my body. Maybe this is what it's supposed to feel like when you are drowning. I mean, I wouldn't know, I have never drowned before.

It's odd, though, I feel the tingling giving me power. And the longer the tingling continues, it intensifies until it is freezing my insides to the point of burning. It's like I buried myself in the snow and stayed there until the snow began to burn my body from the cold.

Then, it just stops. I open my eyes to find I am still underwater. I look around and find my hands still tied, but my legs have transformed into a tail. Not scaly like a fish tail, but dark grey and slick like a shark's. This goes all the way up to my chest area, but when I trail my fingers down my back, it is like normal skin. I examine the rest of my body and notice my skin has turned to a light grey color, and my nails have sharpened to a point and are as black as the night sky. The hair floating around my face has turned a dark purple, like the color of wine. I look absolutely sinister. And this new feeling is riveting. The power I feel is spectacular, I'm not weighted by feeling or emotions any longer. I still know they are present within me, but they are dull, muted even and no longer dictate my mind.