adaptify

Open full view…

The Crew

kyrstenmarieathan
Fri, 18 Aug 2017 13:11:36 GMT

A gentle breeze pushed the sails of our tiny boat.  If it weren't for the wind, I feared that our journey would have taken months rather than weeks, especially considering the weight of my crew. Our boat, the Marauder, was tended by me and five other men.  Alanzo is my second in command; if i were to suddenly become fish food, it's him who i've designated to take charge. Our ship is quite democratic, so among the rest of the crew there are no ranks, just a general sense of camaraderie.     “Captain Shraight, how far aways do you estimate we go until we turn back?” A crew member affectionately nicknamed Tuna asked with a glint of despair in his eyes. I gave him a weak smile, and replied.     “It shouldn’t be much longer. We are almost to the edge of the world, if my navigation was correct. Let me check my compass again.” I grabbed a tiny copper compass out of my pockets and double checked for the thousandth time that we were headed the right way. “Clear your mind, Tuna, and drop your worries. I have no doubt we’ll make it to the edge.” I heard Enzino chuckle at my previo us comment. “Aye, do you have any contest to my last remark?” Enzino had a smirk on his face that made it feel like he knew something I didn’t...     “No, sir...I’ve just been thinking, what if we get there and it's not an edge? What if there's a wall? What if there’s more sea? What if we find new land and never come back to Spain again? Or what if some sort of creature sits out there waiting to snack on ballsy sailors?!” Enzino chuckled, but his worries came from a place of genuine uncertainty.  I walked over and put my hand on his shoulder.     “Do not worry about what is to come. Regardless of what we find, we are explorers; and I will risk my life for you, Alanzo, Micky, Renald, and Tuna.  If anyone is to go, I promise it will be me first. I am glad to call you my crew, even if our boat is barely enough to merit a crew of any size. Do not be afraid of what is to come, because we will face it when we get there. For now, let us do what we can here, and patiently await the future with a healthy excitement...” I smiled at Enzino to comfort him, and I could tell that my tiny speech helped ease his nerves.  Even Tuna looked relatively comfortable now.     “Well, Shraight, sir, we are seemingly closer than you may think to the edge...” I heard a voice behind me say. Alanzo was facing the other direction, pointing at a weird color in the sky. It’s difficult to describe because I could barely understand what I was seeing. There wasn’t an obvious color distinction, like a black circle would’ve been for instance, but the most ominous translucent barrier seemed to appear about 5 yards in front of our ship. It was as if there was an invisible cloth hanging from the sky all the way down to the water. It looked as if one could shoot an arrow at the invisible-ish thing and the arrow would bounce off and land back in the water.     “That can’t be the edge!! It looks like there's water behind it!!” Micky called excitedly, with a wild curiosity beaming from his eyes.     “Uh, that could just be a reflection of some sort...” Renald retorted.     “Well, whatever it is, mates, we’re getting closer, and quickly...” Tuna replied nervously.       “Ehem....” I coughed and momentarily broke everyone's hard stare at the odd thing in front of us. “We will find out, together, exactly what that is. We are explorers, and this is what we signed up to do. Tuna, you were just wondering when to turn back, and after we explore this, we’ll have something to bring back to shore thats of value to the kingdom. So let us continue on with unwavering courage, like the strong men our country would implore us to be.”  There was momentarily silence, and then a strong “Huzzah!” from my men.  Alanzo looked at me with a firm smile, signaling that i had done my job as captain to inform and lead the crew in any situation, no matter how foreign to me the situation was.     “Alright, men,” Alanzo said, “Pull up the sails, and brace yourselves. We are going right for it.” A commotion stirred on our small boat, and even though we were only six men, a large stir seemed about. Then, moments before we hit the wall, we all grabbed onto any sturdy wooden surface we could hold.  Finally, in an instant, we hit the barrier...and, in an instant, the sky changed colors.       As if god had hit a light switch, the darkness of the night sky overcame the bright morning sunrise.  We were no longer in the same sea, it seemed, either. This water was murky, and the sky felt as if there was less oxygen.       “What just happened?” Tuna asked.     “How would anyone know the actual answer to that stupid question?!” Renald replied, obviously annoyed and shaken by the sudden transition.     “Don't be so rude, Ren, he’s just scared too...” Micky interjected.  Alanzo looked at me with a glance that said, say something without needing to use words.     “Men, we just did our job. Let’s conviene and figure out what happened.” All of the men came over to me and we began discussing our experiences, and the after feelings, of the monumentally odd event that had just happened to The Marauder and it's crew. All of the sudden, we heard a loud sound.  “What the hell was that?” I thought aloud. Shade began to cover our ship, and when we looked up, a large ...thing was towering over our tiny boat.       “Is that the damned monster Enzino was talking about?!?!” Tuna shrieked. www.instagram.com/kyrstenmarieathan