"What the actual-?!"
The Acheron shook once more. Everyone halted their attacks to balance themselves as the wooden boards beneath them attempted to fling them off.
"What's going on?" MJ barked at Sarah and Ian.
Before either of them could respond, a star-shaped animal the size of a carriage attached itself to the side of the Acheron. An identical specimen attached itself to the other side. Both had suction cups the size of an adult human's head throbbing on their barnacle-covered undersides. The backs were covered in a coral-coloured, rough exterior and dripping in sea water. Soon, other beings just like them sucked themselves onto the Acheron's sidings. That was when the vessel's wooden frames began to crack.
Lucas ran to the end of the ship and looked into the water beneath them. His gaze was met with the icy stare of a giant eyeball, completely devoid of any life, and several feet underwater. Lucas' assumptions were wrong. There weren't multiple giant starfishes terrorizing the Acheron. It was one giant creature belonging to the depths of a watery hell.
"W- What kind of squid i- is that?" Sophia sputtered.
"That's no squid!" Ian cried out from bellow.
"A Jorvik?" Jalen breathed out at the sight.
"Jorviks have no right to be that monstrous!"
"Well, there's no way it could be anything else," Lucas breathed out.
MJ swung by on one of the ship's ropes and removed something from her pocket. It was a long and grey object made completely out of... yarn? It was heading straight for the Jorvik, and in a flash, it transformed into a spear that pierced right through its flesh. A low rumbling could be heard from beneath everyone's feet, but the Jorvik just shook slightly before continuing to crush the Acheron.
"Dammit!" she fumed.
Stepan snapped his fingers, and the water surrounding the ship began to freeze over and creep onto the Jorvik's finger-like parts gripping onto the sides. A thick layer of ice separated the pirates, Lucas, and Jalen from the gigantic eye in the water. But then a monstrous bellow vibrated from the depths of the sea, demolishing the ice.
"No!"
"Lucas, can you face me for a second?" Jalen asked.
"Sure, why-"
A blow was sent right at Lucas' face before he even knew it.
"Ow! What the hell-?"
"Sorry," Jalen said sheepishly. He placed his hands together and closed his eyes. "I just need to..."
A translucent blue phantom flickered into the air. Soon enough, it became corporeal enough for its shape to become apparent: a ghost train. Lucas chuckled at the sight, but it soon cut right past him and overboard right through the remnants of the icy waters on invisible tracks. It sped right towards the Jorvik's eyes just before disappearing. The eye faded away in a crimson fog of blood in the water.
"Was that a ghost train?" Matthew asked.
"Uh, yeah."
"Huh," was all he was able to say in response.
The Jorvik growled once more before disappearing into the deep blue. Soon, after the waves calmed and the fires on the ship flickered out, it was just Lucas, Jalen, the pirates, and the sea. There was also a sort of unsettling calm after the storm. Calm, but it wasn't going to last. The storm would return and more disaster will follow.
That beast. That thing that came from the sea. It will be back, and it certainly will not be pretty.
✦✧✧✧✧✦
"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard," Stepan huffed.
"Oh, and you have a better idea, genius?" MJ retorted.
"Guys, please don't fight," Ashley said.
Stepan and MJ leaned back in their chairs in compliance, but that didn't stop them from glaring at each other from across the table. Night had fallen on the Stygian Waters and the deck was adorned with mismatching lanterns, lamps, and candles, giving the wooden boards a warm, orange hue. Everyone was sitting on chairs pulled out of the storage rooms that looked like they could crumble under their weight at any moment. They gulped down their vodka in silence (apparently, Stepan's Gift did more than just transform water to ice).
"Yeah, we really shouldn't," Ian piped up. "We called a temporary truce for a reason, right?"
"Doesn't mean we have to like each other," Matthew pointed out.
"But it'd be much easier if we pretended we did, right?"
Everyone sat around the table sighed and silently complied. In the stillness of the night, Lucas tried to grasp some sort of idea of what to say. The air was heavy with stubbornness to cooperate, hesitancy to speak up, and unsureness on how to proceed. However, if no one said anything, then they would all surely die by the time the Jorvik came back for revenge. Lucas sighed. Apparently, it had to be him.
"You know, before we came here, Lucas defeated a Jorvik just before we were kidnapped by your crew," Jalen said before Lucas could speak up.
"Really?"
Lucas' head span around to look at everyone looking up at him with hope. He felt his face heating up as he averted his gaze from their intense stares. "Uh, sort of. But that's because I figured it was a Jorvik related to thirst so I... drowned it. While also trying to drown myself. I attempted a double suicide with a Jorvik. The- The point is I don't think we'll be able to drown this one."
Everyone's intent stares became those of mild concern instead. This was probably more uncomfortable than the looks they gave Lucas before.
"But if we find out what that Jorvik is at its core - what sort of fear or vice it was born from - maybe we could find out how to take it down from there?"
Everyone around the table went into contemplative silence. But it wasn't long before someone spoke up.
"You know, the ocean is scary," MJ noted. "Unpredictable waves, the high chances of getting lost, the lack of knowledge of what lies at the bottom of it. I think that's a good enough reason for something like that Jorvik to exist."
"Fear of the ocean?" Matthew rubbed his chin. "Sounds believable enough, but... how the hell are we supposed to defeat the ocean?"
"Does anyone have a fire-related Gift?" Jalen asked.
A frog that had been idly sitting in the corner raised the volume of its croaks.
"Sort of," MJ said. "But unless we had a lot of gasoline, we won't be able to set the sea on fire. How would that even work against the Jorvik though?"
Jalen shrugged. "Just a thought."
"Maybe Stepan could freeze the water all around the Jorvik, immobilizing it?"
"Then it would float to the surface and melt. I know its pretty chilly right now, but it can get scorching hot in this area."
"Nothing compared to the Lyrin Desert."
"Ian should just gather up a bunch of sharks to bite the Jorvik."
"And risk getting them killed? No way! Tons of species of shark are ranging from' vulnerable' to 'endangered' status, you know? I'm not gonna contribute to shrinking their numbers."
"We're all ranging from 'vulnerable' to 'endangered'!"
"That's not how it works-?!"
Lucas watched as all the non-stop bickering ensued between the pirates. It was nonsensical and tedious, yet Lucas had no desire to stop them. The sight was similar to that of an extended family all sitting around the dinner table for the holidays, fussing over the most ridiculous of things. The sight was similar to... the life Lucas had before. The soldiers in the 43rd Cardinal Brigade, all gathered around just a few bunks in the tent, poking fun at Luigi's mishap during that day's mission or Mera and Sarnia debating on who performed better during training.
The nostalgia hit him like a train. However, what he felt wasn't a bittersweet homesickness. Sitting there, cupping the full shot glass of vodka in his hand, already felt like home in its own strange way. Lucas knew that one day, he'd re-watch this lamp-lit scene tinted with warmth with fondness. For now, he would just have to savor it before the sun rose and the seas raged on again.
---
A/N
Again, this one is short rip. Anyways, I'm bad at outros...
Bye