The sea is too quiet this morning.
Not peaceful - unnatural. Like it's holding its breath, waiting for something to rise.
I am Captain Seraphine Vale.
I stand at the front of my ship called Moonfang, wind catching the ends of my hair as the sails stretch and groan above me.
The sky's a dull smear of gray and gold, and the water mirrors it so perfectly it looks like we're sailing straight into a dream.
Or maybe our graves.
In my hand, the compass trembles. The one my father left me before he vanished chasing ghosts. It doesn't point north. Never has.
It pulls toward something older. Hungrier.
Behind me, footsteps creak across the deck. I don't have to turn to know it's Orric. First mate. Loyal, mostly.
Dangerous and handsome.
"We're leavin' the charts behind, Cap'n," He says. "You sure about this?"
I glance at him, just enough for him to catch the warning in my eyes. "If I wasn't sure," I say, "You'd be overboard."
He laughs, raspy and low. "Aye. That's our girl."
I hate when he says our. I don't belong to anyone - not the crew, not the sea, not even the ghosts I carry. But I have to let it slide. For now anyways.
The Moonfang cuts through the waves like she's hunting something, and maybe she is.
Her hull groans with magic - runes I carved myself into her bones, magic symbols I burned into her wood myself.
The sails whisper in tongues older than gods. Even the anchor hums below deck, pulsing with power I barely understand.
I close my eyes for a breath.
I can feel the call - deep in my chest, behind my ribs, like the ocean is reaching inside me. Something's out there. Something that remembers my father. Something that knows my name.
I flip open the compass again.
It spins once. Twice. Then stops.
Due east. Straight into the Forbidden Abyss.
The place where ships vanish and legends are born.
The place where my father died.
I breathe it in. Salt. Magic. Madness.
Then I raise my voice.
"Set course. We sail for the Abyss."
No one argues. Not because they trust me. Not because they don't fear what's waiting out there.
They fear me more.
And maybe they should.
Because I'm not just after treasure.
I'm chasing the truth.
And when I find it?
The sea won't be enough to stop me.
YOU ARE READING
Captain Seraphine Vale
Fantasy(COMPLETED SHORT STORY) They call me Captain Seraphine, and the Moonfang answers only to me. I don't sail for glory. I don't sail for gold. I sail to find what killed my father. He died chasing a treasure buried deep in the sea - a place the sane do...
