Avast Me Hearties

[Caira Ayryn]

The giant silver contraption lurched from its resting orbit. Soon the slow currents were warded by its steel shell and propelling spherical wings. Her eyes fell along the steel surfaces, brimming with sharp corners and shining buttons of all shapes, colors and sizes. Her eyes fell on Gary, then Zack. The older man kept rambling on about destiny, or so it seemed, and the younger, she couldn’t quite figure out what had compelled him to come. It was time to brief him. The knight of Camelot stood up, her face was smooth and stoic, polished like the silver metal cage they were surrounded in, “Come with me.”

Caira lead him to a porthole where she found her eyes looking out into the deep unknown. Navy blue filled the small ray they had out into the sea, it was darkest in the water, but still somehow, the night sea was clear and desolate. “Zack, I finally have time to tell you why I’m here, people may have died for the information I’m about to tell you.”

“I’m ready,” he announced firmly, he examined her gaze, though directed far away, beyond the glass that kept them from a drowning doom.

“A few years ago, some astronomers caught glimpse of a meteorite of pure Omnillium. This was in Camelot, but the thing is, the same night, other scholars gazing at the stars in different verses saw several different ones land. Pure, raw, unadulterated power. I won their trust, those in Camelot, and they let me look at it. They fear it, and not just because they are secondaries, in a world where immortals are favored. They keep it under lock-down, I think, judging by how they were speaking, even one can do unspeakable things. And, there are more. Imagine a group of people who had all of them, combined their power together?” Caira paused, gulping, “I fear for their lives. Every person, everywhere. There are children and sick people, normal people working to do the best for themselves and the world they now live. They were stolen too you know, and... I just can’t imagine a world that has gotten worse because I couldn’t stop them.”

“Them?” he asked, absorbing it all silently.

“By now, I’m sure more than one rumor has spread, but my friend Marty told me to keep watch for a pirate who owns a crimson ship because he is out here, hunting it and those looking for it. You’re in danger, and so is everyone who knows it exists.” She finalized.

“To think, all this trouble, caused by a shooting star.” Zack sighed and stroked his sable hair.

“Gary did that to you probably to make sure you weren’t a crewman, or... Uh, he just doesn’t like you,” she smiled at the unusual dynamic, “But anyway, at least he doesn’t want it in the wrong hands either. I’ll admit, I’m not sure I’m strong enough to find it alone and keeping it, that might be a whole new challenge, but I can’t just leave it, waiting for it to be unearthed and used for evil. Or sold to the hands of the Empire, who only want to see enslavement of life.” Her cause was noble and Caira’s eyes were firm, though avoiding the ex-soldier’s gaze until her next breath, “If I find that you have betrayed me, I won’t hesitate to kill you. This coming from someone who knows the full extent of death’s consequence.”

“Ayryn,” the name sounded bitter on his tongue, and very wrong, like a lie, “I’m here for the fight, you don’t have to doubt me,” and then he saw it, she was still looking at them with those amethyst eyes of hers, but this time, he recognized the very real pain in them. It had happened before. Zack gulped, letting the words of truth surpass any other kind of persuasion he could have used, “I don’t want to see this thing get into the wrong hands either, okay? I’m right here by your side, I’m even dealing with Gary, who hates my guts, by the way, and I let him do that shadow thing that could have killed me, I’ll help you do this.”

His words were true, from what Caira could tell, but so had been Merik’s though he, was disguised by a curse that made him chose evil over good, making it not his choice at all. Her eyes sunk away from his and she felt a sack of guilt weigh on her shoulders. Zack seemed to want to ask more, to know everything, her story, her name, the reason behind that deep seeded compassion. But as his lips opened, there was a jerk in the entire boat, Zack’s feet skidded across the slippery metal, lurching with the sway of the boat. Caira had fallen backward, barely dodging Zack from landing on top of her. He was sure-footed, she was not so lucky, landing on the hard ground.

A hand was extended instantly. “Let’s go find out what happened.”

The clamor of heels on metal filled the low arches that loomed above them. They ran in, crimson flashing filled the room. They found Gary looking out a periscope and frowning grimly. “What is it?” she asked him.

“Sea beast, category III, we should be okay, as long as it doesn’t realize that we’re inside, we must exercise precaution and be very still. Here lass, have a look for yourself.” He ushered her to the binocular-scope and she gazed through, her eyes blurring to the extra lenses before adjusting to see the swishy movement of a large fin. Zack was passed the scope next and blinked as he saw a set of it’s buster-sword sized teeth. Yikes.

“Okay, so, we’re going to just sneak right by it?” he guessed, as the torpedoes mounted weren’t being fired.

“If we can, boy, I have deployed the cloaking device, hopefully it tricks ‘im and he walks right on past. C’monnnn Blue.” Gary held the steer but did not usher the old sub forward, any movement now would warn the gigantic beast, resembling a well-fanged whale more than a shark, which could cause attack and punctures to the hull. They would drown.

Red lights flickered on and they stood in suspense. Gary frequently watching through the keyhole that lead to the outside sea, and Zack and Caira, who had each taken a less-than-comfortable seat on the chilled floor. “Gary, how does one man steer a ship like this alone? Where's your crew?”

He turned around almost immediately, the grown man’s stature now rigid from either pain or anger. A shadow hung in the hollows of his eyes, the light was so dim, she could not see what muscles were pulling his face taught, just that they were. “A long time ago, I killed them all.”

Caira gulped immediately, Zack’s jaw hung open, he had known this guy was bad news from the very beginning, the Prime was about to jump to a stand -never would he tolerate such a massacre, let alone a madman who would openly admit it- when he felt Caira’s hand hold him back, her hand fell so gently on his shoulder, “You didn’t command them to evacuate, did you? Instead, they drowned and your ship sunk. Somehow, you awoke in the aftermath, your worst nightmares come to life. You had survived, and all that you had worked and lived for, had been eaten by the same ocean you had once sailed so freely on.”

“Aye, where’s my damn whiskey?” his hands patted his pockets for the tin container, a sip of fire on his throat. “That’s better, and yes, that’s the tale lass, I’m searchin’ to kill it now and avenge me men. Their ghosts fill these hollow halls. I can still hear ol’ Jim’s laughter, and see my dear Cynthia’s smile.”

“It’s been ten years, hasn’t it?” Caira spoke, somehow, it didn’t seem like a guess.

“Eleven in one month,” he said, touching the ring on his finger, hidden by his oversized sleeves of his coat.

“And when you rebuilt it, the word ‘Blue’ took on a new meaning for you,” she presumed.

“Primes like you don’t have to deal with endings, the finalization that death brings to us secondaries, chosen and those who aren’t, many men were just as special, but not as worthy, to be chosen by a god without eyes to be deemed worthy of the blessed curse of immortality. Maybe he couldn’t see the injustice of it, or maybe, he saw it just a little too much. Those who live get stuck with the guilt. You never get to die, and me? I get to choose which way I’ll go.”

“It doesn’t have to be that way, Captain.” she said through the crimson-stained darkness, her tone soft, “There are too many monsters to triumph over to ever want to choose to succumb to just one.”

“You make it sound so small. Do my grievances mean nothing to you?” he spoke as though the girl couldn’t understand. She was a Prime after all.

“Tragedies are often as big and meaningful as you’ll make them, to die for only one, seems like a tragedy in itself.” Zack listened with his ears as the wisdom coated his heart. The girl was beyond her years, that was for sure, or, she had witnessed the unimaginable. “You can live if you choose to, and I think, you’ll be able to take on many more monsters that way, and bring meaning to the lives that mean so much to you, though they have been lost.”

Neither Zack nor Caira could see the tears streaming down his face. He had turned his back and was glaring up the scope again, he wheeled it around, checking as many angles the ship would allow, before triple checking the monitor’s cam. Radar-check next. Clear. Some tapping, “We’re all set,” the lights flickered back on, by the time they had, the old seaman’s cheeks had dried. “Miss Ayryn, a word please?”

“Whatever you have to say, may be heard by Zack as well. I-”

“Fine fine, I get it, you hold honor to a high regard. Everyone’s an equal, even the pathetic secondary with the half-life. But, how in the Omniverse did you know?” he asked, there was a twinge of pain in his voice, which was defeated by the curiosity at the corners of his tongue.

“Your first mate told me, he’s standing right next to you, but not in body." Caira paused, "He said you haven’t told anyone for ten years, that’s quite a burden, Mr. Summers. It is... Quite liberating to have the truth be told, than to hold the shame trapped within.”

"He's... Next to me? God... Don't we ever get to rest?" Gary clutched his fist together, the lighting was growing back from its dim shadow, "He should be gone, free from this living Hell."

"I think you know more than most why he couldn't leave your side. He was your brother." Zack was forced to watch, he strained his eyes but could not see, restored lighting or not, anyone there. Caira didn't seem like a liar, but this was absurd. "He said you never forgave yourself, but Jim stayed because he feared you'd never forgive him, for dying and leaving you alone in the world."

Pain convulsed on the secondary's face, but after ten years of carrying the sorrow, of course it was time to let it free. "I... I may as well have killed him-"

"No, you saved him by helping him live his dream when he was alive. He wants you to know that." Caira stated.

"Where's he standing? How do I know..." Gary asked, suddenly skeptical.

"A foot next to you. He says its his spot." No one was there, to normal eyes.

"How long has he been waiting there, trying to get me to hear him and notice him?" Gary asked.

"Almost eleven years, Gary. Jim also says he doesn't have to prove anything to you, you uh, scumbag." her expression changed to one of shock, and she had obviously censored the sailor's words. "I myself, assume I can see him, since I am a monk and... Maybe when it got dark I closed my eyes and meditated for a short period while I was listening and... Well I've never done this before. I can't really see him now, Captain."

"Jim? Jim, if you can here me, brother, I love you. Please, let me go and be free. I promise, I'll do my best to move on, in my own way. I'll sail the seas once more, looking for adventure instead of vengeance," Gary's resolution seemed certainly prompted by the heartfelt moment.

Caira blinked, her eyes strained, she couldn't see anything so she closed them, maybe the girl would try meditating again. She shook her head after growing exhausted, "I don't see him anymore... That was extremely weird." The Prime stood up, only to catch her hand on the nearest navigating station. "Gary, you didn't kill your men, a sea monster did. I was surprised you didn't go after this one, after hearing that... I know you feel responsible for their deaths. All eighty six of them."

"You kidding? When I make a plan with someone, I keep it. Else I wouldn't be a very good captain, eh? Plus the only one I care about... Is Bertha." Summers, Zack thought that was overly cheery, for such a dismal man. Though, now he knew the old man's reason. The haggered not-so-drunk in front of him didn't much resemble a captain, for he had a disheveled beard and his posture was a measly slouch, while he also didn't seem to wash his hands too often. Pirates had captains, didn't they?"

"You want me to get the star, don't you? What do you think its power is? Or... More like, what do you hope it is?" Caira asked, her eyes slightly narrowed.

"I'd love for it to give us secondaries the ability to morph the Omnilium it is made out of into whatever we wish, a genie in a bottle, with no limit. 'Course, it's more of a dream than a reality, I'd bring them all back, but... Part of me fears it. For them to die again, the inevitable... An' going the journey alone, sure, I know Clowney, but I need to be alive to kill Bertha. Y'see my dilemma? Even if I could use the piece to kill her, or somehow even create them in my memories, I feel like I'd be risking it all, or admitting my own faults. I only heard about it recently, see, but I've known Clowney for about two years. I warn you when you meet him though, always look in his eyes. He doesn't like when you don't. He's that kind of man. He's also a bit suspicious."

Both Primes nodded, making a mental side note, while Zack and Caira could only wonder what the real truth was behind the coveted treasure. She hoped it wasn't a war machine, nor that it could be used as such. Zack, hoped they'd make it far enough to find out. Summers manned the steer. Time flooded on, but in a room with no clocks, only the soft sound of beeping coming from the radar, it was hard to tell how much time had passed.

Ding! Gary spun the wheel fast, then skittered along to some of the control panels, asking Zack to press a certain glowing red button. The propellers ceased and there was a ripple of creaks that filled the sub. "Well folks, we made it. Welcome to Cinnabar Island."