Raising Cain or Daniel's Gifts

Prologue: The Perfect Storm

The onyx black sky sucked the colour out of the sea. Bullets of water fell from the clouds, tearing through the sails of the ship. The bolts of lighting blinded the crew. One of which struck the ship’s mast. Swaying back and forth the mast began to fall. “We need to keep that sail!” yelled Captain Mike as he checked to make sure that his tattered old hat was sill on his head, as well as the sapphire ring on his finger
“Aye, aye, sir!” responded his crew. The sea tossed the ship every direction, the crew could not get the sail down in time before the mast and sail plunged into the sea.
“We are sorry sir, we could not retrieve the sail,” said the first mate, Matthias.
“It’s alright Matthias; I know you did your best. I just wish we could have kept the sail; it is a family heirloom. The sail had an image of a lion carrying a key, which is my family crest,” Captain Mike replied. He was worried that Matthias would see through his lies. Captain Mike knew that he was a terrible liar, and even in his childhood he could not lie. Since Matthias knew him during that time he would understand that Captain Mike was lying.
“I understand,” Matthias replied, recollecting that Mike’s crest was a bumble bee. He did believe that this sail was very important to Captain Mike, “What would you have us do sir?”
“Whatever you feel is best, in a storm like this it is every man for himself, but first I need to give you something. Matthias I want you to keep this,” Captain Mike said as he removed his hat and handed it to Matthias, “It is a very important object, I need you to ensure that this hat survives the storm; use whatever means suit you best.”
“I will sir, and may both of us survive the storm as well.”
Tear soaked eyes blurred Captain Mike’s vision. Matthias found an empty barrel and stuffed the hat inside it. Whilst Mike was watching his crew react to the storm, a wave jumped onto the ship and dragged many of the crew, including Matthias and the barrel, into the sea. “NOOOO!!” screamed Mike as he saw his best friend pulled into the sea. Two of the three have been lost from me. Mike looked down at his hand to see if his ring was still on his finger. But I still have one in my possession, which is better than nothing. I find the image of the lion very captivating it is as if its eyes are staring into my soul. Another large wave lifted the ship. He looked up to see the ocean below and said mournfully to himself, Death is a welcome visitor; I will then be able to see and be with Matthias again.  The ship then made contact with the water and splintered. Captain Mike was forced under the water like a volleyball player spikes the ball. Mike stayed under the water trying to discover which direction was up. He was running out of air. Dying would be better than living without a friend, but what would Matthias want me to do? I always remember him telling me to never give up and always try hard to beat the odds and survive. I’ll live my life, for Matthias’s sake I’ll live, and for my sake I will, in due time, have The Three in my possession again. After discovering which direction led to the surface Captain Mike used the rest of his strength to swim upward. Once he reached the surface Mike grabbed onto a piece of driftwood, and lost grip on his consciousness and entered into a world of darkness.

Chapter 1: The Ring

Rays of sunlight burst through the clouds and land on the market square. Barbra adjusts her hair and fixes her necklaces as she tries to impress one of the merchants, who is named Ethan. She walks by his stall many times, each time trying harder to get his attention, but he ignores her completely.
Barbra gives up on getting Ethan’s attention. She decides what to see what the jewelry stalls are selling. She goes to one stall; it has a beautiful necklace with an emerald pendant. She looks at it and puts it up to her neck as to see how it looks on her. She falls in love with it and pays the man for the necklace.
As she continues she notices and purchases many more articles of jewelry, which causes her purse to be virtually weightless. There is one last stall that I haven’t looked at, it usually has cheap jewelry but just incase they have something nice I’ll stop by the stall. She approaches the stall and she notices a bright blue jewel. She goes up closer to it and looks closely at it. This is a nice sapphire ring, but what’s this it looks like it has a lion holding something engraved into the jewel. The lion’s eyes are somewhat creepy; it’s almost as if they are looking inside of me. It is a nice piece of jewelry and I like it. “How much does it cost,” she asks the merchant, Andrew
“Three hundred gold pieces,” He replies.
“I don’t think I have that much,” she empties her purse and counts the money, “I only have 20 gold pieces left, can I get it for that much?”
“Three hundred gold pieces, that’s my final offer if you can’t afford it, please leave.”
Barbra steps away from the stall. A tall person with broad shoulders in a hooded robe glides to the stall and starts talking to the merchant. It looks like he’s distracted, I’ll just switch the nice ring for one of my cheap rings and he won’t know the difference. After doing so the tall man and Barbra walk away. Why does he wear a cloak? Is it because he is a criminal or is it because he is afraid of the sun? I want to find out. Barbra catches up with him in the crowd and asks him, “Who are you?”
“No one to be trifled with, you will thank me even more when you discover the importance and power of the ring you just stole. I will give you this warning: the original owner and creator of the ring will come and try to take it from you.”
“Could I get your name?” Barbra yells as the tall man disappears into the crowd. Well he was nice, but what did he mean

Chapter 2: The Island

Waves lap up against the sides of the boat. Jason looks over the edge and prepares to leap into the water. “You better be careful about going into the water so hurriedly,” says Allison.
“I’ll be ok,” said Jason to his fiancé as he jumps into the water.
Allison, wiping the water from her face, yells “Was it necessary to make such a big splash!!”
“Yes,” Jason replies. “What was that?”
“What was what?” Allison asks with a confused look on her face.
“That thing that just touched my foot!” Allison screamed as a black sheet began to climb up Jason’s back. “What’s wrong?”
“Look out behind you”
Jason looks up and sees the black sheet just above his head, “Help me Allison!” he screams
“Jon I can’t, there is something holding me back!”
“Do some thing anythi-” The sheet successfully submerges Jason before he can say anything else.
Jon tries to let out a scream so horrific that it could make anyone’s ears bleed, but he can’t. The constricting darkness prevents Jon from making a sound. He can’t move. Am I dead? I hope I’m not I was supposed to get married in two weeks. That’s just stupid. Maybe Allison is dead too. Is there no end to this darkness? I want to get out of here! Let me out! I want to live! I WANT TO LIVE! The darkness that envelopes Jon begins to loosen its grip. Arrows of light shoot through the darkness and blind Jason. “You were never in any danger Jason.”
After recovering from the sudden increase in sunlight Jon begins to look around. “Who are you? Where are you? I can’t see you any where! Hello! Is anyone there? Or am I hearing things?” Jason screams. After pausing for a moment, Jason only hears waves crashing onto the beach in response. Jon realizes that he is alone, and that he might be hearing voices.