Uncharted

A sea. A sea full of ancient monsters, legends, curses, and most of all … humans, trying to conquer it. Today, the sea was calm. There was a slight breeze, but overall a quiet, nice and warm day. You could smell the salt of the endless sea, the aged oak planks of the deck and the dry masts. You could feel the cool wind on your face and hair. You could see the clear blue skies and the endless ocean, hear the sound of the waves on the ship, and the noises of the livestock, cows, chicken and pigs. The ship was huge, made of wood and steel. The hull and part of the structure above water was covered with steel. The part above made from sandalwood.

Eleven masts in total gave the ship great potential for speed, and the shape of it helped too. It was shaped like a drop with the masts facing sideways having a shape of a triangle with rounded edges. On the deck there were all kinds of weapons , muskets, canons, crossbows, scorpions and spears. Most effective on killer whales, sharks and perhaps small krakens. This though was not a battleship, but rather an explorer, trying to find new lands and map the waters. The captain of the ship was named William Oberson and was a seasoned pilot and commander. The crew consisted of experienced sailors. Jack was the watcher and Jason the spokesperson of the entire crew.
On that day, they both decided to visit the captain’s cabin. They walked down the stairs and knocked on the door. They heard a voice from inside. “Come in!”

It must be noted here that William Oberson is an excellent captain. He always takes into consideration his crew’s desires, wishes and advises. He always tries to prepare as much as possible for future events. He is an excellent strategist and problem solver. When he is sober at least. He always drinks, stinks and almost never shaves. It is said that his beard has more salt than the ocean itself.

Jack opened the door and looked at the captain, sitting at his desk, looking at old maps and drinking whiskey. He had placed his hat on a hook on the side of the desk, and was looking in Jack’s eyes. Jack was pale as paper, same as Jason, and terror shaped their faces. Jason spoke first “There is a storm coming, Captain”, he said. Jack slightly kicked his leg, silently telling him to say the rest. “a rage storm, Captain” he said. The moment Jason said the word ‘rage storm’ the captain immediately took his hat and ran upstairs to give out orders. Rage storms. Rare weather condition, but deadly. With waves reaching astonishingly high and winds with speed up to 23 Bofor. The captain commanded “engines to full power! Sails open!”. William would now have to pilot the ship from the pilot’s cabin. That particular cabin allowed the captain to pilot the ship through a window. Once the sailors were done, he commanded they all get in, and seal the cabin doors. He saw the storm darkening the sea. Soon, the only light left was from the ship’s lanterns. The captain was not so sober, but he could handle this. He grabbed the steering wheel with both his hands, and was ready for everything. For just a moment, absolute peace occurred. Then, all of a sudden, a huge wave hit the ship on the front left side. The deck flooded with sea water, but the ship did not tilt nor suffered any damage. But what came after, not even the legendary ship could handle. A giant monster wave literally picked up the ship from the left and started tilting it. The captain screamed “ When I say, engines on the limits!”. Then, he steered left and went with the flow of the wave. He screamed then, ”NOW!”. He saw the white pointer move across the rev-watch and as it reached the red area the ship started roaring and shaking horribly. The engine pistons were yellow from the temperature, but they held up, as they were forged from the blue steel of Erebor. Suddenly, the captain turned right and seconds before the wave swallowed them, he escaped. And as they thought they had escaped, a killer wave, a wave only found at such storms, moving at an unbelievable speed, hit them in the front. The creeking sound pierced the ears of the sailors, as the little mast broke.

The skies started clearing out, and seeing that this horrible storm was coming to an end, he commanded to open the valves to drain the deck and fire up the forge for repairs. The crew worked hard for the rest of the day, and managed to repair the broken mast as well as other minor damages. At afternoon, the captain ordered the Chef to open a barrel of rum and cook a goat. Then, he grabbed the accordion and started playing a happy pirate rhythm. The crew then, each with a cup of rum started dancing around him in a circle and singing “I am a pirate yo ho!...”.When the goat was ready to eat, large tables were put on the deck for the entire crew to eat and talk. After some hours, the tables were withdrawn, and everyone except the captain , Jack and Jason went to sleep. After they were left alone, they pulled out some pipes, and started smoking tobacco under the moonlight’s reflection to the calm waters. The first to talk was Jack “ that was a nice maneuver you pulled up, cap.”. “Yeah” said Jason. “You know we have ran out of tobacco, and nearly out of rum” said Jack. Then the captain responded ”I know, but what did you expect? The last time we stopped at a port was almost 20 years ago.”. All three were quiet after that, thinking. “ Amazing to think that we started this journey 32 years ago. But it is not all nostalgia, cap. We have started to age. I do not know for how long we will endure to do this.” Then the captain said “We don’t have the supplies to return to any land, and you know it. We will push forward, and see where it takes us” The other two paled, with this terrible realization, although they already knew it, deep in their soul. “We do” said Jason, surprising both of them. “ didn’t we calculate everything? Didn’t you cap, personally make sure we have at least twice of everything we are going to need?” desperation filled his voice. “I believe Jason, that if the edge existed, we would have found it by now. If we were on the right way, then we would have at least encountered the kraken-guardian of the way to the edge. Perhaps it is endless ocean from a point on”. “I believe this to be the last time we do this, I suggest you enjoy it” supplemented the captain. After a few hours of silence Jason left, leaving William alone with Jack. “Does the crew know?” asked Jack. “no,” replied William ”you know those men will follow you till the end , no matter what it is, but you have to tell them” said Jack. The captain left, and Jack was left alone, smoking the last tobacco and drinking his last rum forever. The next days passed by quietly, with the only thing worth mentioning being the speech of the captain informing the crew about the shortage in rum, tobacco, and other goods. Months passed by, until one day, while the captain was reading in his cabin, Jack ran down filled with excitement “Captain! Land!”. William throwed the book on the desk and hurried upstairs with Jack to see the land, but what he saw was not land. It was a Huge tall rock in the shape of a drop sticking out of the water like a bait . He instantly recognized the shape of the rock, and knew that this was the kraken guardian. He rapidly commanded to change direction but it was too late, they were too close. The rock changed color, from a rocky dusty gray, to a wet glistering purple one. Giant tentacles started rising from the water, and started attacking the ship. But the reinforced blue steel hull earned them some time. As the captain grabbed the wheel and set the engines to the limits, he raced to escape the kraken’s territory, before it tore apart the ship. Deadly poison was being shot by the kraken’s tentacles, and men started dying like flies. But there it was, the border! A gray line of water distinguishing two different colored waters, exactly as legend said. As he avoided the tentacles with his excellent piloting skills, we drew closer and closer to the border. But as he closed up to a few meters, the engine exploded, with the rear end of the ship, giving it enough thrust though to escape the border.

When William woke up, he was on the floating remains of his ship. The wreck that remained of his once legendary ship, was now all that he had, with the eight surviving men on it. Jack and Jason had died and now he was determined to cross to the other side; for his friends. After sixteen days, they ran out of food, and they just had to hope they were close to the edge, and the promised island beyond the edge. After almost a week, they finally reached the edge. It was strange, like the sky folded. When they were about to fall of, gravity changed side, and suddenly, they were in the bay of a beautiful island, with golden sand and coconut trees. Then, they saw a huge metal bird flying above them. It was an airplane. When they looked behind, the edge was nowhere to be found. There was just endless ocean. Then they realized, there was no coming back.


END