By: Bryant R. Haake, Honors College, Presidential Honors Student, English Major
Crimson left the two teens to their own devices and went off to a slightly more empty section of the clearing, which became almost entirely clear after she sat her few things down and closed her eyes to sleep. Jacob let Georgiana lead him back to the cave where she collected her materials and began using a stone the size of her fist to mash them together, forming into a strange green-grey paste that she began to lather onto the injuries of the patients laying around. Jacob watched her for as long as he could before his eyes eventually drooped and didn’t rise again for some time.
Jacob stood at the helm of a ship, steering against the strongest waves he had ever experienced; no, that any sailor had ever experienced. His clothes had changed, and while they were soaked, they were still better than his normal attire: a blue sailor’s uniform and a black captain’s hat. The blue of his uniform was stained almost black by the dark waters, rising up to meet the sky and roaring back down as a torrential rain of divine proportions. On deck he could see shapes moving, but none looked familiar to him. In fact, they all merely looked like shades, moving in synchrony in a hive mind of shadow.
A wave swelled before them, and through the murky waters a flash of lightning briefly illuminated a large, cylindrical object, as large as the ship, if not larger. As the wave fell, the object surged from the depths to encircle Jacob’s vessel, killing some of the crew in the process. They died soundlessly.
Jacob felt his body move without his command, shouting something to the fake crew and drawing two weapons: a cutlass crusted over with rust and barnacles, and a pristine flintlock with a glinting barrel, wave designs engraved into the cool steel. Jacob could feel the power behind both, but wasn’t sure why until they both flung up to meet the massive object, which was now clearly evident as a massive tentacle.
The cutlass slashed first, cutting a gash into the tentacle larger and longer than the blade should’ve been able to do. The flintlock fired next, burning a two-inch hole through the appendage that cauterized immediately, leaving whatever beast was at the forefront of the tentacles screeching in pain.
The tentacles released the boat in frustration, but another three soon shot from the depths and began to tear the vessel to pieces. Suddenly, seemingly from the sea itself shot a man, garbed in sea foam, jewels, fine blue and purple silk and an elaborate coral crown, wielding a platinum trident that sparked with lightning. The man shot for something in the distance that Jacob couldn’t quite make out — a large, blobby shape similar to that of an octopus — and stabbed the trident into it. Another blood-curdling screech filled the rainy night, masking the world in horror.
Tentacles shot from the water towards the man, grabbing him and flinging him around. He lost grip of the trident, which flew from his grasp and twirled through the air, pinwheeling before landing embedded in the wood of Jacob’s crumbling ship, just before his eyes. Despite the lack of light, it gleamed like water refracting the sun, glimmering over his face and just barely letting him see a few of the now dead faces that lay around him.
He didn’t recognise anyone right away, but something about them all felt familiar, as if he’d finally been reunited with long-lost friends of his… or enemies. He wasn’t sure which was right, but it was a feeling like one of the two.
His attention was called again by the gleaming trident. He broke his gaze away to peer back to the fight, which the man was now obviously in danger of losing. Even from this distance, Jacob could distinguish the blood from the sea, and could tell that more than a few of the man’s limbs were bent in the wrong directions. Yet, still, he fought on, using his uninjured arm to grasp a portion of the flesh of whatever the massive beast before him was, tearing at it and opening wounds. His strength was incredible, but Jacob knew that without this trident, the man stood no chance of winning.
He looked back to the trident, stashed away his own weapons and grabbed it, heaving it from the wood with newfound strength. He aimed for the man, called out in a voice that he knew wasn’t his own, and threw it further than any mortal man should be able to.
The storm stopped in its tracks, raindrops suspended in time and waves trying in vain to keep rolling over the broken ship. It wasn’t just the storm, but everything around him; all of it had stopped as if frozen in time, unsure of whether the laws of reality applied to them anymore. Jacob heard footsteps behind him and turned slowly, hands on his own weapons. A man stood before him, arms covered in a thin coat of clear slime. His gaze was like grease, slick and warm, but not in a nice way; more like in a way that was always trying to figure out how to make you slip up. His hair, despite the storm, was made up, short but not gone, swooped back across his head like black waves. His skin was scarred all along the arms, which rippled with lean muscles and accentuated the scars to be more visible than a whale breaking through the sea. His clothes were simple, tan, brown and grey, and unlike his hair were stained dark with water, just like Jacob’s own uniform.
“So, you’ve finally decided to visit? After all these years…” the man said.
“Who are you?” Jacob asked back, not in his voice but with his own words.
“I am who sailors fear above all; the collective fear, child, of shipwrecks. Does that ring a bell?”
Jacob shook his head, and the man frowned.
“No, I suppose this sort of knowledge has been lost to the general population, hasn’t it?” he said with a flourish, gesturing over to the battle taking place. Jacob followed his gesture to where the man with the trident battled the gigantic creature, and then looked back.
“I… don’t understand.”
“Yes, I see that,” the man sighed. “You will, though, in time. The others did, as will the ones after you. It’s an endless cycle, one which I wish for you to end, but know you will ultimately fail at doing so. This dream is only for my purpose of introducing myself, and you know my name already. Trust me, all who fear do. It is only a matter of realizing that you do.” The man glanced down at his wrist as if looking for an invisible wristwatch. “Well, it seems I am out of time. I have so enjoyed our little chat, Edmund. Er…” he stopped himself. “Sorry, that’s not your name, is it? Things like this are tricky after so much time. You’re Jacob now, aren’t you? Anyways, I will be in contact. Feel free to ask me anything at any time.” He grinned evilly. “I might answer, or not, but I’ll always be listening. Watching. Waiting. Goodbye.”
The man disappeared, and with it so did the concept of stopped time. The battle resumed, and a loud BOOM! erupted from the ship’s side, cannonballs firing forth into the flesh of the beast. A tentacle fell onto the ship, blasting it into pieces, and Jacob went flying. Wood, metal and people all sailed through the salt-stained air and came crashing down into the ocean. Jacob closed his eyes to keep them from stinging, then slowly opened them. There, staring at him from the depths, were two yellow eyes, and with a single snap of its unhinged jaw, the sea serpent swallowed him whole.
Jacob shot up, his damp coat flinging off of him from the force of his awakening. Georgiana lay three feet from him, faced away, cradling her plant bowl like a stuffed animal. She stirred as his coat hit the ground, but didn’t wake. Outside the cave, it was dark again, the moon having risen only a few inches off the horizon so far, but already it had stashed the sun away for tomorrow’s morning.
Jacob carefully got up and put on his coat, shivering as the damp cloth touched his skin in the wet, cold night. He slowly picked his way across the field of sleeping bodies, emerging into the outer edge of the clearing, which was only about five feet across from the nearest dreaming individual and the rest of the bog. He turned and looked back to the cave, around the camp, and even cast a short glance towards Crimson.
This is a mistake, boy. I am no danger to them.
“You were in my dream.” Jacob said it as less of a question, and more just a statement.
Yes, the voice answered with a sigh. I am he.
“What can I call you?”
Those of the past called me Ren before knowing my name, he said after a moment of pondering. I have no preference to your mortal names. They are… cumbersome to me, but if it makes conversation easier…
Jacob nodded and took a step towards the bog.
Don’t. You do not yet have full power, boyo. Jacob recognized the nickname Sergi had for him. Stay with them. I can’t harm you, them, or anyone else without your own permission. Why do you think I am so reliant on you?
“I don’t know anything about you!” Jacob said a little too loudly. He quickly covered his mouth and looked around. A small child was glaring at him from roughly ten feet away, stuck their tongue out and then turned over and went back to sleep.
What a strange child, actually wanting to sleep…
“Shut it, Ren,” Jacob whispered. “These people have had a long couple of days. They deserve to sleep.”
I didn’t say they weren’t allowed to. After a moment of silence, with Jacob still considering bounding off into the bog, Ren said, Why are you so hostile to me? Have I done something to you?
“Because you-” Jacob stopped himself. “Okay, you make a good point, actually. But, you still won’t tell me who you actually are, and you tried to get me to kill someone.”
First of all, you don’t even like the person I told you to kill. Second, if you knew my identity already, your brain would melt.
Jacob couldn’t tell if he was kidding.
Look, I get that having me in your head is strange and sudden, but I can be useful to you. I can tell you things, teach you how to use my— er, your power. Isn’t that good?
Jacob stayed silent. He wasn’t sure what to think anymore. His legs fell out from under him and he sat down on the squishy peat below. It was like a soggy couch cushion. His eyes still felt tired despite the almost twenty four hours he had slept. He lay his head back, only a foot from the nearest person, legs curled up so as to not stick out into the trees.
“Fine. Just… don’t bother me too much. I didn’t ask for a second mate in my own brain.”
Your way with words is astounding, Ren said with contempt. But, I understand. It is rather… uncanny. Enjoy the silence if you must. Just don’t do anything idiotic.
Jacob listened for a few more seconds before deciding that Ren had actually gone silent. Jacob continued to lay there, unmoving, thinking only of what he could have done differently in his life to avoid this point in it.
Jacob awoke again as the sun was barely rising over the horizon. A new day had come, and despite the still early hours, most people in the camp were already up and about.
Jacob groggily rose to his feet, subconsciously using his tentacles to push him from the moist ground. Some people gave him dirty looks, but no one stopped him from his morning routine. None of his usual chores awaited him, so instead he headed back to the cave to find Georgiana. Crimson stood at the entrance, back to him, blocking half the view. He ducked around her arms, which blocked even more while propped up on her sides, and entered the cave.
“Hey squirt, kind of you to finally join us. Your girlfriend was worried you’d run off or somethin’. If I were you-”
“Shut your fish trap already, Captain.”
Crimson’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything in response. Jacob sauntered over to Georgiana, who was knelt down next to an injured man. He tapped her shoulder and waited for her to finish working on the man’s wounds. She nodded and applied the last of the ointment needed, then turned and glared at him.
“Where were you last night?” she demanded, hands on her hips.
“I just moved out of the cave, edge of the bog is all,” Jacob stated, technically telling the truth.
“Yeah, well next time tell me,” she said. “The bog is dangerous. You shouldn’t sleep that close to it without someone there to help protect you.”
Jacob nodded, not trusting himself to say the right words. She nodded back, seemingly satisfied, and knelt back down to help another patient. Her hands were covered in blood, paste and grime, and she definitely shouldn’t have been touching people’s wounds, but they were out of options at this point.
“So, what do we do now?” Jacob asked no one in particular.
Georgiana shrugged. “I guess we will send someone into town to check on it. If the pirates are still there, we’ll leave and wait until they’re gone. Rinse and repeat until we have the town back. There’s not much else we can do at this point.”
“Right…” Jacob wasn’t convinced. He knew the people would want their town back, and he was pretty sure those pirates wouldn’t stay for very long — if they weren’t gone by now, they’d assuredly be gone within a week — but from what Georgiana had told him the night before as she did her head count, only about one third of the town had actually survive, and they had lost their mayor. Sure, they could elect a new one, or Georgiana herself could just keep on with the family position if they wanted, but would the town even still be able to function after such a loss of life?
Jacob’s thoughts slowed and he realized he had subconsciously pulled out the small balled object Captain Vexx had given him. His fingers flicked at the edges of the cloth, telling him to unwrap it. No one was looking at him, and yet Jacob felt the eyes of everyone bearing down on him. Whatever this was, it was not something he wanted to open up.
“Youch!” Georgiana exclaimed. “Dang carving knife.”
She went to stick her finger in her mouth to stop the bleeding, but just barely remembered how many other people’s blood also coated her hands. Instead, she wiped them off on her dress and began tearing off a part of the hem to wrap around her finger. Without thinking, Jacob unwrapped the object and handed her the cloth, object still in hand.
“Here Georgie, use this instead.”
She nodded and took the cloth from him, then fell back as her blood touched the ball of Krakenstone he had unwrapped.