Memories (Of Dreams and Demons)

Vault - Prologue - An Ocean of Shadow

Time slows as we get closer to the inevitable crash, chaos descending as my heart pounds. The Light's Pursuit struggles at the peak of a high wave, almost frozen still in time, like a movie scene being set to play in super slow-motion. Any moment I expect it to split in two, to break upon the rough waters, but it holds firm, defiant.

There Kaiken stands upon the deck, her head held proudly high, her hair riding its own wind, grinning at the other ship bearing menacingly down upon us. I follow her stare. Hannya, her sworn enemy, stands upon the deck of The Stomach Skewer as it rushes towards us.

The wind at its back howls across the sea, its sails flap as if excited for conflict, and seagulls take flight squawking in annoyance. I wince as I hold on to nearby railings, barely able to steady myself. The Stomach Skewer is larger than the Light's Pursuit, rising high with its own wall of water, before falling to slam directly into us.

Both ships groan as their structures grind against one another stubbornly, both refusing to yield to the other's bulk. Wood begins to splinter apart, shrieking as it splits, pieces of all shapes and sizes are flung about. The blood of sailors below is spat upon the decks above, mingled with salt and fear.

The rodent bounces up and down, spittle collecting at the edges of his mouth as he cheers, for who I can't quite tell. Ghekre growls, his glare alternating between the capybara and the enemy ship.

Kaiken laughs at my side, and instinctively grabs my hand even as I reach to grab hers, our fingers intertwined. At our touch sparks shoot forth, sparkles of light woven instinctively to protect us from the avalanche of destruction that is to come. She squeezes playfully, before a shield of light bursts forth from within us to surround the forecastle deck.

Debris flying about from the vessel's collision disintegrates as it hits the shield; a barrier that protects Kaiken and I, as well as nearby denizens as they dive for cover within, from danger.

Determination, no, murder, paints Kaiken's face; her glare makes Ghekre seem a timid cub. Her jaw locks into place as she clenches her teeth, ready for conflict, anger flares upon her high cheekbones, flames given form. Her hair weaves knots in the wind, and she closes her eyes to say something underneath her breath. A stream of whispers, a spell I can't quite make sense of; the command of a queen.

In response to her words our ship stops breaking. For fractions of a second I stand on nothing as it flickers in and out of existence. Yet with one final blink, the Light's Pursuit weaves itself back into its original form, whole again, as it were before the collision. Kaiken changes our world effortlessly: her words truly are the works of wonder.

The outcome of our collision decided with her magic, swine and boars leap from the Stomach Skewer. Fleeing the doomed ship as it breaks apart beneath their feet; rushing forth to lay claim to our own. They snivel and growl guttural curses, drawing barbed weapons and instruments of torture. Two crews, one ship; our conflict is now one of survival in its purest form.

And so the enemy is met, sharpened blade and honed spear in hand. The sound of clashing steel and screams of pain replace shrieking wood and groaning frame. I open my palm, a slight finger twitch, and a blade extends from a jeweled hilt that appears within my grasp. It's time we end this chase upon the high seas.

Yet as I'm about to step forward to meet the enemy upon our decks, a blinding pain causes my vision to go dark. Locked in place by an attack I did not expect, my legs lose their strength, my body pierced from behind our barrier of light.

How? I turn. The rodent, that little grubby capybara sneers at me. His eyes aflame, almost bursting with a burning red hatred. He grins: a disgusting slimy leer, his rotten teeth mocking my foolishness.