The Ocean's Curse

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 1 ~

The dark fierce waves of the Chalassa sea thrashed against the oak keel of the ship, the sound of feral water trailing off the glass portholes mingling with the muffled voices of a few crew members roaming the decks keeping the ship on course. The moon's luminous glow casting spotlights within my room chasing away the darkness. An amber lantern hung above my bed casting swaying shadows across the floor, the familiar feeling of the boat gently rocking side to side adjusting my balance.

It was midnight and many of the crew members, me included, had turned in for the night leaving a few remaining men to insure the ship stays steady. I felt rather restless as always struggling to fall asleep so I took a book from a shelf in my cabin, tracing my nail across the binding. I don't read often, in fact most of the books I own are either filled with illustrations of maps and boats or old fairytales I kept from my childhood.
Unfolding the pages I skimmed through writings of an ancient treasure map said to be made by a prince who escaped palace life to become a ruthless pirate. His fancy black and porcelain ship inked into the worn parchment pages looked as if it was about to float slowly off the vintage paper.
He was said to be driven by shameless passion and a mysterious girl that he would meet every night down at the shore of a sapphire ocean. The girl was known by the name Harriet; she came from a poor family whom none of which were born in the kingdom. Harriet and The Prince wished to be bonded together, by love and freedom but were forbidden, for Harriet was not of worthy class to be with him and therefore The Prince and Harriet decided to flee the kingdom together, so he joined her one night on a boat to journey the seas and escape the kingdom. Shortly after though, their ship was discovered by the royal guard and fell to the brute force of gunpowder and cannonballs. It was deemed that Harriet and The Prince died along with their boat but their bodies were never discovered. Legend has it the Prince's body lays in the darkest part of the sea along with her's and their spirit's flow free with the waves and are now bonded together to be in love in peace.

Turning the page, an irritated chuckle left my mouth. Fools. Both humans dedicated to escape their lives for a new one together and then died shortly after, and why? Because they were 'hopelessly in love' how absurd. Why would anyone waste their time on such a feeling? Love is nothing more than a malevolent trap. An act of sheer folly. Ask any king or Queen if they truly love their partner and they will tell you what's what. Of course everyone has different perceptions but to me, love is an undoubtable curse.

After a few minutes I slumped down on my bed and lifted a goblet from my bedside table, gently swirling the scarlet wine within it before taking a sip. The moment the cold edge of the goblet touched my lip out of no where an abrupt thrash jolted my body forward spilling some wine down my skirt, peering down at my body I quickly brushed myself and placed the goblet on a table. The loud noise was shortly followed with a rush of muffled shouting from the few crewmen outside. Here and there more bangs and clashes added to the aggressive shouting.

''What on earth is going on out there? Any louder and the Kraken will have us all as a midnight snack''

Unsettled, I got to my feet and dashed to my cabin's door, grabbed the lantern hanging next to it and quickly unturned the handle to open the door. I only made it a few steps out my room when my body came to a sudden halt. My fingers unfolded one after the other causing the lantern to fall away from my grasp, my head suddenly felt rather light and my previous thoughts swirled up like a chaotic whirlpool: when I saw what was happening.
There on the deck was the three crewmen, that were stationed on the ship for the night, wrangling an unfamiliar figure that was struggling to break free from their grasp.

A stranger? Here? On the Ocean's Curse. The most feared ship to ever sail the Chalassa sea, the boat said to have sunk the Kings vessel with no less than six mighty canon balls, the only pirate ship that has only had one permanent Captain to stay at the top. A brilliant and daring Captain with a loyal and fearless crew. And somehow, for some reason a random stranger has travelled miles across the frigid ocean and snuck up onto The Ocean's Curse and has only now been discovered? How long has he been here? And better yet, why?
The top half of his face was hidden by sweaty strings of black hair and I could see him gritting his teeth in frustration against the crewmen's restraint, they were forcing the stranger to stay knelt to the ground with his hands being brutally pinned to his back. The commotion unsurprisingly woke the rest of the crew. The awoken crewmen rushed out of door on the bottom deck in a large cluster snarling and clearly vexed. A toned man with dark taupe coloured skin known as Ronin Parker stood in front of them all, snarling the most, he was in his late forties and is the meanest of the crew, of course not to the captain or me for that matter.