Hi all,
long time no see. I hope everyone's been good. I came to share a story with you. We're all pirates, merchants or fishermen, simply no strangers on the seas, but sometimes, even seasoned pirates manage to forget, why they are even sailing around. This is a short story about love.
Once upon a time, a young man, in his early 20s began to dream about adventure. You all know how it is. The sea started to call for him. He knew, that his family would never allow him to join the navy. And frankly, he never was the type to follow the rules. He wouldn't be happy serving on some navy ship. He wanted the freedom and excitement that only a few people truly experience. So he stayed home, got a job as a carpenter, got married, had children and became one of those men, who do things the way, our society expects us to do. When asked about his life, he'd say " I am happy, I have everything i need." What a lie that was. He was full of himself. He hated his ordinary, comfortable life. He'd often say, that his family and commitment's what's keeping him from leaving. What he didn't know, was that it was all going to change soon...
One stormy evening, he came home from work, like many times before. "Honey, I'm home!" he said. But no response. He didn't pay much attention to it. "What are you thinking of for dinner?" he tried again, while taking of his coat. " You in here? Hello? Kids? Anyone?" But the house stayed silent. He wouldn't know it then, but his whole life was about to be torn apart. He sat down on his old wooden chair. Not knowing what to do. Where did they go in this weather? Why didn't his wife leave a note, like she always did? The ominous silence was getting on his nerves. The only thing he could hear, was the thunderstorm outside. And by the sound of it, it was going to get worse. He poured himself a glass of whiskey to calm down a bit. He reached for the glass, but at this moment, a sudden knock on the door.
He got up from his chair and went to answer it. His wife had keys, there wasn't any reason for her to knock. But who else could it be? Did she forget the keys again? He couldn't thing of any other reason for this. He opened the door, expecting his wife and kids to stand there, but he found this strange old guy standing outside.
The look of this stranger shocked him. Tattoos everywhere, hook for hand, missing an eye. " I just ..." he uttered in shock. The stranger interrupted him: "No time for that, get your coat and come with me, if you wanna see your family ever again! Quickly!" He couldn't tell why, but the stranger seemed somehow trustworthy, despite his very unusual look. "Oh god, I'm coming! You know where they are?" "Not exactly, but we need to go, now!" As they were walking down the street, towards the harbor, he noticed how strangely the the man walked. He looked down and noticed, that the poor fella also had two wooden legs.
" I'm Merrick by the way, not that it matters." the stranger uttered. They arrived to a small rowboat, parked in the water. Our hero looked at the size of waves, that were crushing on the shore and immediately had the feeling , that he's gonna be sick. "We gotta go! What are you waiting for?" the stranger yelled. Now, it may not make a sense to you , why someone would just hop into a boat, with a complete stranger during a storm, but you have to understand , that the love he left for his wife and children was stronger, than any fear of death, he might have had. Never underestimate, what a man can do for his family.
"It's gonna take awhile to get there, hold on tight." Merrick yelled, trying to talk over the loud sea and thunder. "Just give me the paddles and sit back. I'll get you to them." The boat moved up and down over the waves. He never experienced anything like this and his face color started to change into greenish tint. "You gonna be sick boy? Use the bucket!" Merrick laughed. "Old man, let me worry about myself and you just make sure to get me to my family and don't let this boat go down ." For someone, who has never before been at sea, he endured the worst of it pretty well. Maybe he was born to do this, or it was the determination, that he was gonna survive and find his family.
After a few hours, the sea calmed down and our hero fell asleep, exhausted from filling up three buckets. He dreamt about his family. How the kids used to run around , how his wife made them both take dancing lessons and how they spent time together. But this wasn't a pleasant dream, it ended with his wife taking the kids and leaving. How could she do that? Why did she desert him? He woke up with a cry and all sweaty. "Did you have a bad dream lad?" Merrick smiled at him. "Don't worry, that happens. It's never a good idea to sleep, when crossing the shroud." "The what now?" he asked. "I'm not gonna explain the whole thing to you now, we're almost there..." Merrick said. "Also, there's a kettle in that box, make us some coffee. You know how to do that, don't you?" "No, I don't, that feature hasn't been released yet." our hero said, while starting to cry . Merrick looked at him, puzzled by what the young man said. "I've never heard anyone talk like that. Something wrong with you? You gonna be sick again?" Our hero just shrug his shoulders. "I don't know, i've heard some guy in the tavern say this. I thought that's how all pirates talk." Merrick stopped rowing. "Pirates? How do you know i'm a pirate? What if I was a simple merchant? That's something that could be very offensive and I'd probably have to say goodbye to you."
Our hero started apologizing "I'm sorry, i've never meant to..." Merrick almost fell out the boat laughing. "Calm down lad, if i was gonna leave you to die, i'd have done it by now. Now, tell me, what do you know about your wifes past? And don't try to tell me a lie , i'll know." That was a strange question, our hero starred at Merrick for while, trying to make sense of this and thinking about what to say. "Well, she grew up in London, with her wealthy parents. We met in a tavern, where she stayed while she was traveling." "Hmm... did she ever try to hurt you or rob you?" "What??? Why would she???"
Merrick put the paddles aside. "See lad, she isn't from London. She comes from this place. It's called the Sea of Thieves and she was born here. We've found her as a newborn, in a rowboat, just like this one. Noone had ever known , who her real parents are, but we took her in. We took care of her, loved her like our own, but with each passing year, she became more and more aggresive. My other children refused to play with her, because even when fighting with wooden swords, she'd often hurt them. Once, she even went for my other eye." he taps on his head. "It became dangerous to keep her around, so we've sent her on a long journey, aboard a merchant ship." Our hero was stunned, by what Merrick has said. His wife? That had to be a mistake, she was always a gentle, kind person, who would prepare your meal, before taking care of herself.
His heart's aching, just by the thought, that he had been deceived, for some unknown reason. Aching slowly turned into rage. "Old man! You may have told me the truth, but i feel, that you're leaving out much more! You're going to tell me! Right now! Or i'll go for your eye too !" "Alright, alright lad. Just calm down. I'll tell you. You know her to be a shy and calm person, right?" Our hero nods. "Well, how to say it ... It's just an act. Inside , she is a very, very rotten person. The first time that we have seen her, after her long voyage on merchant ship was over, was when both me and my wife were traveling on a galleon. We've seen a battle of two other ships from afar. I took our looking glass and saw, that one, that we know , was a galleon of a well known pirate, captain Bronzebeard, but what's the other ship, has been something much worse. You're probably not going to believe it now, but that ship was full of skeletons. And on that ship, we saw her. She was commanding them. Now, I don't know how that's even possible, but the look in her eyes, the way she looked at all the carnage... it was like it's all just a game for her. She slashed and shot those poor pirates, without a single sign of remorse. So we're standing there, looking in horror at what's gonna happen next. She turned her ship around, strangely easily, like it was a child's play to turn the huge ship and started to sail towards us.
Our crew didn't stand a chance. It was over quickly. Me and my wife were the only survivors. Skeletons took us and brought us to her. If i had any doubts about her, they dissapeared quickly. ' You will live.' she said. 'I know, you want to ask me why, now. It's not because you took care of me before, but because I want you to spread the word about how these men died. Tell everyone, that I'm the ruler of these waters now!' See lad, that was a worse feeling, than loosing my limbs. You don't ever want to see someone you love, turning into a monster like that, or tell you something like this." Merrick paused to wipe down a tear runing down his cheek.
"Why are you telling me all of this? You're surely mistaken! My wife can't be the same person! She's too gentle to do something like that! You're almost blind , i'm sure you have to be mistaken! Can't you see , that this doesn't make any sense? If it was her, why would she leave this place and start an ordinary family with me?"
Merrick looked at him, opened his mouth to say something, but after a few seconds, he just closed it again and started to row. In the distance, they could see an island slowly aproaching. Merrick looked at our hero, who was visibly shaken, by what he's heard. It was obvious, he'd never imagine that something like that was gonna happen. Merrick knew, he had to comfort him a little, to give him at least some peace of mind. "Lad, you know up in your heart, that it's all true. But you should never give up on your kids. We're gonna be at the Plunder Outpost soon. So let me tell you this. Whatever goes down from now on, i believe that she'd never hurt your kids. She is probably gonna try to make them do terrible things, to run a skeleton ship with her, to turn them into her. Physically, they are safe, when around her. But you still must find them quickly and bring them back to your world, before they desert all the good, all the humanity, that's inside them. I can't tell you how to do it. Chances are, you'll have to do things, you'd never imagine you were gonna do. It will be the hardest adventure of your life, you will have to make decisions, you won't be comfortable with. Life in here is a far cry from the comfortable life you had till now. But you must never give up. The sea is gonna be harsh on you. People you'll meet will say , that it's impossible. That you'll better say goodbye to your children and leave. Never listen to those! You're gonna find them. You'll tell them that you love them and that everything's going to be alright."
The rowboat arrived to the dock. Was this all just a lie ? Maybe, but could our hero take the chance and not believe this old man? No, if there is but a small chance, that his family is here somewhere, he has to find them, before they get hurt or worse. Merrick said to start looking at the local tavern, so that's where he'll go. Man up, their fate depends on you ...
This is where my story ends, but yours begins. When you're sailing around, keep an eye out on the horizon, maybe you'll notice a ship, with a man and his children sailing happily around. If you do, say hi to them for me. Thank you for reading.
Oh and in the words of Steve Jobs, there's one more thing. You may have noticed, that some words are bold. Read only those, for a whole new story....
