Finding Sanctuary

Prologue: The Peace That Was Preciously Near...

   "The world has known war for centuries. But peace is finally, preciously near. We'd deliver the princess to the kingdom across the sea, where a marriage alliance would save us all. Failing this mission would surely plunge us into darker days."

    The wind had continued to howl against me, roughly pushing itself onto the heavy armor on my back. Rain pouring down onto the ship's wooden floors, nearly seeping through the cracks onto my very body. It was cold, even with the warmth of the clothes on me, staring down the dim hallways of the basements down below the ship's main floors. Crates and rope filled up to the brim on the insides along with a few barrels and jars full of beer, wine, and fruits. Lamps loosely hanging from the leather ropes of its handles. With my sword and shield at my side, I could feel myself slowly regaining the courage I once lost. Soon after, my body began to move. 

    I felt paranoid for once in my life. Not knowing of what dangers could lie ahead, looking around each and every corner with each and every sound making me feel like I jumped straight out of my armor out into the open cold. It was only the mission that made me continue further, let the princess be married and peace will be from the alliance that forms. Only then will we prosper in our own days. Sounds of the wooden platforms creaked below me as I moved down the stair case, heading over to what seemed to be...a wounded voyager?! I rushed over, worried for the man yet my mouth seemed to not be able to speak a single word. Speechless as I stared at his hand onto his stomach, blood seeping through the silk of his shirt, the heaviness of his breath filling the room. He then began to speak in a grunt of pain.

  "...You there, stranger!" I listened in close as he grunted once again, looking around for any threat that could harm our very lives. "We've been boarded in the night!..." My thoughts began to move rapidly with many questions lingering in my mind. Another grunt of pain. "They...they'll want to kidnap our Lady...ransom her..." Worry seeped through my very body with the wonder of who exactly were the ones who could have boarded. Why exactly did they want to take our way of peace and what for in the first place?!

  "Protect her....save us--!" What happened next was something that could not be in belief. A mercenary fell down from above until suddenly slamming his blade into the voyager's back. Blood spilled into the creaking floor, the assassin removing the cutlass from the now frail body, skidding himself backwards for an attack. As the scream of a battle cry was heard and a rushing of footsteps, my senses kicked into gear. With the clang of my shield, I parried him off guard and slashed through him with ease of a sharp blade. With news of us being attacked, I had to make a run for the deck. It was the only way I knew I could survive.

  I began to move upstairs, reaching up the ladder and quickly climbing my way up. Another shriek came out, catching me by surprise, almost letting go of the ladder with only one hand hanging on. Luckily, I was able to slash through this one as easy as the last one, the body falling with a loud thud. Yells along with the clashes of metal could be heard from up above as my curiosity helped me up to the next floor. My eyes could only see the blood beginning to spray, allies falling down to the cold floor of their own demisr. Three trespassers were left standing and all I could do was fight or be left to die. One rushed, the other rolled to the back of me, trying to stab into my spine yet leaving his chest out into the open. I took a risk and slammed my elbow into the one behind me for him to fall down on his back off the ladder, the other, stabbing through his chest with one thrust to end his life with a single blow. I quickly removed my blade, looking over the edge of the platform to see the the dead body of the one I had killed, feeling the fear of my own sins begin to weight upon me. There was no time to glance because of the one I had forgotten was already rushing his way through, bloodlust in his eyes and the sharpness of his cold steel.

  I rolled under the trespasser and began to run, my feet moving quickly even with the heaviness of the armor upon me. There was no time to look back as I soon had reached a staircase, rushing up the stairs to the nearby entrance on my left. When I had ran through the entrance to my destination, I immediately had regret what I done. Fear now had a grasp on me as if it were the weight of my own armor. If only I could describe what I saw...the deep blue of its skin, appearing like the ocean. A large giant of a monster...a gigantic beast! If I could describe this beast in one word...it would be unspeakable. Fear itself.  The Unspeakable Deep is what I'll call it but if only I had the time to think.

   As I could hear the loud creaks of the wooden floors before me, it was only fate where I would be slammed by the palm of its fist. Black had soon surrounded the world I once knew. Full of war, hatred, and disease beyond imagination. Soon...it would never be the same. The peace that was once so preciously near was going to be a lot more farther then any of us could have ever imagined. And only God could predict how long it would take to gain it back. The peace that I once knew...