Two Seas

Chapter One

"Captain, the ship's going under! We must abandon it!"

The captain turned, eyeing his crew mate Harry with a fire in his eyes that could even be detected through the rain rocketing down from the skies. "I'll not abandon my ship. She's weathered more beastly storms than this!" He leaned over, clasping his hands around the wheel, cranking it to the left as hard as he could. The wood creaked and groaned as the ship helplessly was gargled in an oncoming wave, which sent it and its crew careening to the right. 

Harry tightened his grip on a rope, holding against the rain and wind pelting his bare skin. His unease was clear and matched the rest of the crew, which were now all thinking of leaving their deranged captain aboard while the vessel sunk.

"Cap'n, the storm be weathering our sails, we'll never make it out!" one of them shouted from the main deck. 

The captain sneered, his knuckles white against the wheel between his hands. He wouldn't let this ship go, not after all the things that it had conquered. It was far too valuable to abandon.

"All hands on deck! Raise the sails! Keep the-" his shouts were gargled as a body of water crashed over their heads, pushing them to the left side of the ship. Once the water receded, the captain immediately sprung to his feet, rushing down towards the mast of the ship. He took a rope into his hands and started pulling with his might, keeping the sail open and aloft to push them out of the storm.

"CAPTAIN!" one of the men next to him suddenly threw himself in sideways, knocking them both over onto the slippery wood of the deck. The captain turned on his back while seizing the crew member around the scruff. 

"What in blazes are you thinking?! This sail needs ev'ry hand you no brained-"

The man he was holding was suddenly gone, snatched out of his hands in the blink of an eye. The captain scrambled to his feet, fighting the sting in his eyes the rain caused. His face paled as he suddenly noticed tentacle like ligaments wrapping themselves around his crew, pulling them off the ship and into the dark waters below. 

Taking a full on sprint, the captain raced towards the wheel, grabbing it between his hands and yanking it to the right. The screams blasted into his ears as the ship took a careening turn to the west, launching most of the remaining members across the deck.

"Damn mermaids," he muttered under his breath. "Brace yourselves!" 

The few men left were struggling to hold onto the ropes as more tentacles were searching for more bodies to snatch. Captain Leonardo's heartbeat was roaring in his ears and the anger of his lost members was kindling with every second. With a hard push, the ship was turned again against the fierce winds of the sea. Just before the captain could face the ship north, suddenly the rear of the vessel started to tilt upwards. A growl from the captain morphed into a scream as a giant tidal wave rose up behind them, sending the ship into a vertical decent into the ocean. Before the hull of the ship was consumed by the seawater, the captain could see something quite peculiar in the water. At the base of the wave, somehow a small strip of sand was visible, untouched by the howling, vicious storm around them. It was as if Moses himself had parted the water.

The captain closed his eyes and prepared to meet his end as the ship collided with the sand below.

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"Helloooo, earth to Terra!"

Terra's head snapped up, raising an unplucked eyebrow towards her cousin Debra.

"What?" she griped, ripping an ear bud out of her ear. 

Debra rolled her gray eyes, drumming her thigh impatiently. "You've been staring off into space for half an hour. Is there something I should be worried about?"