Prometheus: Harbinger of Conflagration (Shatterpoint part 1)

Chapter 8

When we arrived at Captain August's personal quarters, the quartermaster slammed the door open. Groggily, Captain August sat up in his bed, "Who's there?" he said, as he clumsily reached for his sword.

"It's me, the quartermaster. I found your 'guest' sending off a messenger owl from the cannon deck. When I asked him about it, he refused to answer any questions unless they were from you. So I dragged him up here."

The captain's eyes wided. "Alex," he said, getting up, "is this true? You know owls are bad luck, right?"

"Sir, with all due respect," I said calmly, "it wasn't me who was sending owls. It was your quartermaster."

"What!" cried the quartermaster, "Sir, that is preposterous! Why would I incriminate a child? Besides, what was he doing out of bed at this darkened hour?" Both the captain and the quartermaster turned to me with quizzical looks.

"Sir," I said, turning to Captain Augustus, "I think my reasoning for being out of bed would be best discussed behind closed doors."

"Nonsense my boy," said the captain, "anything you can say in front of me, you can say in front of the quartermaster."

"Well Captain," I said sighing, "I was awake and topdeck because I had had a dream and awoken to find I had almost set the ship on fire. However, I managed to put it out before any true harm could happen to the Abigail, and then I went topdeck to clear my mind and get a breath of fresh air. I was looking over the side when I saw an owl fly out of the cannon deck. Racing down there I found your 'trusted' quartermaster."

Captain August pursed his lips. "Yes, perhaps there are some things that should have been saved for my ears, but that is of no matter now. You said you almost lit the Abigail on fire? Can you prove it?" he said carefully.

"Yes," I replied, "there is a small burnt circle around where I was sleeping, and you'll find the burnt remains of my hammock around as well. Also several crew men were awoken by me, you can ask them to confirm."

"Preposterous!" shouted the quartermaster. He turned to the captain and roared, "Sir, if you are to believe this boy is a Powered individual, and you promised him passage aboard this ship, with that knowledge," he held up the his ring, the one he and Captain August both wore, and continued his tirade saying, "then under the laws of the Blackwoar Guild and August Blackwoar, you are no longer fit to be captain of this vessel. "And by those same laws," the quartermaster rose to his full height. "I challenge your authority and sentence you to the brig!" He bitch-slapped Captain August, knocking him to the ground. I stood there in shock. The new captain spun around to glare at me. "So...," he advanced menacingly. "You're a Powered now, aren't you? Isn't that fun? Have you ever heard of the Blackwoar Guild before, kid?" I slowly shook my head and backed up. Still advancing, he continued. "Well, time for a history lesson. The Blackwoar Guild ain't too friendly to people like you. Ol' Franklin August over there was a member, but it appears he's gone soft. The rule is pretty simple for Powereds: join, or die. If you join, you get to go out and spread the rules. If you die, well, that's pretty simple, isn't it?" He loomed even bigger now. "So what's it gonna be?" With every word he took he took a step.

"I'm an American, but I doubt you know what that is. We live by one rule too! It's viva la freedom, baby!" I said, and turned to run out the cabin's door.

"Oh no you don't," the new captain growled, and with a surprising speed, grabbed my shirt. "I don't think you realized this kid, I'm a Powered too. I took the smart path. And I'm from the future, so I know all about America, you dumbass. My name is Jax Maximus, and I'm the Apex of human power! There's no way you're escaping me!"

'Oh yeah? Watch this-,' I thought to myself. I relaxed, spun around, and thought about my need to find the four-scar-man and help everyone stuck in this time, and the now-familiar fever ignited through my body, and a flaming fist hit Jax Maximus square in the jaw, sending him flying into a bookshelf. Noticing him almost immediately get to his feet, I spun around and bolted out of the cabin, not wanting a round two now that he knew what I could do. I formulated a plan and raced towards the bow of the ship. "Abigail!" I yelled, praying the ghost would hear me. "Jax Maximus the quartermaster has mutinied against Captain August! Your father is unconscious and I need your help! Set and lock the vessel by a degree of negative 20 degrees, then maintain course!" I yelled. "And unless I say otherwise, don't adjust until the last second!"

A roar emanated from the stern as the door to the captain's quarters flew off its hinges and off the side of the ship. "Kid!" bellowed Jax. "You're dead!" he began to charge towards me. Diving out of the way at the last minute, I rolled down the stairs onto the main deck. I felt the Abigail lurch downward and I knew Abigail had heard my pleas. As Jax pulled himself together after running headlong into the jib-boom.

'Damn,' I thought to myself, 'I've really picked up a lot of ship-speak in the past few days. I'm honestly pretty surprised at- WOAH!' I narrowly missed Jax's second charge. And thus began the longest game of cat and mouse I'd ever played.

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For what seemed like forever, Jax and I danced around the main deck, each pass barely missing me. I had just slammed into the railing on accident and heard it crack under my weight when I saw the faint lights of a city in the distance.

'That must've been Milan,' I thought to myself as I again dodged both Jax and the piece of railing that I had helped break off.

"Alex!" Abigail's voice carried through the wind. "We're approaching the Alps now. If I take us any lower, I fear we won't be able to climb back up in time. Whatever you're planning, do it now."

"Alright!" I called back aloud, much to Jax's confusion. Making my way back to where Jax had damaged the rail, I looked down and felt my stomach drop. We were still a long ways up from the mountainside. "Hey, ugly!" I turned to face Jax, "the ship's yours! See you on the flip side!" Giving him a hand gestures I knew only him, Abigail, myself and a handful of others would recognize, I let myself fall off the side of the ship towards the icy mountainside below. As I fell, I could see Jax peering off the side, laughing like the idiot he was.

I could also hear Abigail's ethereal voice crying out "Alex! No!"

As I fell, I whispered to the wind, "I'll remember you," and knew that Franklin August's daughter had heard me. The wind whipped up and the snow flurried around me. Before I blacked out I could feel the fever igniting throughout me and I smiled, knowing this blessing and a curse would keep me alive- at least for a while.