Boarding the ships

I stood on top of the wooden deck of a patchwork wreck of a ship as sunlight streamed down the holes in the cave ceiling,

Listening to the sounds of orders being echoed among the sailors and sailors following those orders I stared at them all.

"Lower the sails!"

"LOWERING THE SAILS!"

"Raise the Anchor!"

"RAISING THE ANCHOR!"

"Prepare to set sail!"

"SETTING SAIL CAP'N!"

On board the ship that was besides the harbor, it burst into a flurry of motion as the tentacle'd Fisherman commanded everyone aboard the ship.

Watching all of this happen simultaneously underneath the command of the Fisherman was a sight to be sure.

The ship's deck itself spanned the length of a football field as the wooden surface was littered with various workers sporting various disabilities and injuries on them as they worked around them to man the ships.

I would've chosen to help them if not for the hindsight of me not knowing how ships worked in the first place.

But nevertheless, with several ship mates rappeling down the sides of the ship to pry off various sea life clinging to the wooden surface, the wooden patchwork of various other ships was astounding to see.

It was honestly a miracle to see this ship which was made out of various other ships was somehow able to work.

Oh yeah, did I mention that this ship was made out of several other ships?

The bow of the ship carried several figure heads on the giant front, reapers, angels, sirens, mermaids, harpies you name it.

Every conceivable thing I could think of was present.

The masts were taken from other ships as the varying woods contrasted each other against the sails which also contrasted each other.

Alongside the sigils of the Sevallian Kingdom, pirate Sails, fisher sails and even one of those cloths which were meant to soak up blood was flying in the wind.

Staring at the undulating waves that were on the backdrop of ship workers manning the ships, several port holes were flung open as trash of various sorts were unceremoniously dumped into the ocean.

Ranging from rusty weaponry to old skeletons, everything that wasn't remotely useful was dumped for the fishes to feed on.

And I hope I was hallucinating, but I felt like someone just tossed someone else overboard although they were to far for me to tell.

Announcing its departure with a creaking noise, my eyes were dragged up from the surface of the water to the giant cave structure upon which the ship was enclosed upon.

I was honestly curious on how they were supposed to get this ship out of the cave since there was not a visible way out of there save for the sea lowering to reveal a hole of sorts.

What I wasn't expecting was for the ship to suddenly start moving without regard of the surroundings.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

'What'

Staring blankly at the wall of stone that was slowly nearing me, I belatedly realized what the Fisherman meant when he said brace for impact.

Quickly stabbing a twin dagger and digging into the wood, the ship creaked ominoussly as the sound of stone breaking reached my ears.

Eyes widening I blankly stared at the stone blocks whcih were breaking apart as the wooden frame of the ship slammed against it.

Of course the ship didn't make it out of there completely intact.

But when wood meets stone one usually bets on stone winning the encounter, it was honestly impressive.

That was if not for the debris and resulting shock that traveled throughout the ship.

Bringing out my incredibly old pickaxe that had not been used since my brief venture on the island, I double jumped upwards and started hacking away.

I didn't know whether or not the stone was able to damage the ships, but seeing as the sailors were busily moving out of the way and how wood and stone comboes usually end in stones win.

I didn't really care.

Dashing through the air, the pickaxe slammed into the rocks with all the force I could muster in the air, Breaking it all into many more smaller pieces that would leave behind less devastation.

I kicked off against the fragmented stone piece and flew.

Ram runes dragging me across the air where my foot was pointing, both my foot and pickaxe broke apart the stones that were falling from the sky.

Drawing my bow, my eyes spun as they caught several things within them.

Drawing the arrows onto the purple wood of the Multiple nocked Bow, the arrows twirled from the strings they were on.

Drilling into the stones, I kicked others away as they knocked away the stones that were trying to crush people underneath them.

Dancing through the sky or rather the air, the ships sails were torn apart as the stones finally reached the ground.

Smashing against the planks, fragments of wood and splinters were sent flying everywhere as the stone plummeted through the deck.

And that was just the stones that were the first to reach the ground.

Enhancing my eyes, the air around me seemed to be ecstatic as several paths were drawn before me.

Feet planting firmly onto a rock, it burst into bits as my sword cleaved through the air and sliced the rocks apart.

And as I did so, the big hitters were finally arriving.

The large chunks of rock that were breaking apart as the centuries old pillars which held them up suddenly was removed underneath the not sso careful guidance of the goiant wooden ship breaker.

Losing their centuries old support beams, the large chunks of rock all fell from the sky as through the gaps of them the sun light streamed downwards.

Nu cracker appearing, I swung in the air and swung my arms like a baseball player.

'Home run baby'

Slamming the giant rock with the hammer, my arms trembled underneath the shock as stone dust and dirt flew outwards and stone fragmentss were doing what I wanted them to do.

Knocking the giant stones out of the way of the ship before they could do more harm to it.

Of course, after a brief non action by all the inhabitants of the ship, they started to move with incredible effeciency.

Sailors getting over the brace for impact and recovering brought out planks of wood from out of nowhere alongside their somehow existent nails and started hammering down on them.

Fixing the gaps in the ground, several men with large beards all held literal cannons in their hand and aimed them upwards.

Bracing themselves, large metal balls of steel that were more meant to end the lives of ships flew through the air and bore straight into the stones.

Following that the sounds of gunpowder being lit rang out in my ears in the semi enclosed space.

Bullets and cannon balls whizzing through the air, the stones were sent to the abyss as the barrage of bullets attack them.

I was more focused on something else though.

The gigantic piece of rock the size of half the ship and the Fisherman that met it.

Unfurling its shirt, the tentacles reminscent oof Conjunctivis spran outwards as the tentacles grew larger and larger.

Wrapping around the giant stones the acted like muscles as the wrung fibrous arms ripped the entire stone in half and sent them hurtiling to the sides of the ship.

Sending giant waves which crashed against the ship, large amoutns of sea water splashed once again and drenched the entire ship with it.

Sea life accompanied it of course.

Landing on the ship with a light tap, I glanced around as the sailors nodded towards me all slick with sea water.

Whether that was with gratitude or something else, I don't know for since something else took my breath away.

Remember how the time loop encapsulated the entire island and reset it every few weeks or so?

I had always wondered how it worked, and now I knew.

Ignoring the piercing sea salty smell of well, sea salt, a barrier of sorts seemed to unravel before my eyes.

A large cloth of undulating colors with an undeniable majesty unraveled before my eyes.

Responding in sonorous hues of purple, red and blue, the sky itself tore apart at the seams as I glanced through them, several time frames could be seen.

In front of us was a large gap in the time barrier which covered the island.

Staring at the gap in disbelief alongside my fellow? sailors, they stared dumbfoundedly at the first unrepeated act on this island condemned underneath an eternal loop.

Well at least before the captain snapped us out of it.

"WHAT ARE YE DOING YOU LILY LIVERS? SET SAIL AND GET US OUT OF THIS BLASTED HELLSCAPE BEFORE THE GAP CLOSES!!!"

Snapping loudly, anger was definitely present in his vvoice but I could also detect some other emotion within it.

Disbelief or joy perhaps.

Snapping into action,t he sailors instinctively moved their limbs and started to do what they were doing.

Adjusting the sails to catch the most amount of wind there was, the sea currents seemed to be on our side as the ship went along the waves and pushed us to the gap.

In a colorful hue of apricot sun, several things appeared throuh the gap as if the world itself was trying to decide where the sip was to appear.

Sometimes it showed a sea covered in thick smatterings of blood, sometimes the moon hung in place of the sun, sometimes thundering storms cracked against the seas.

It was offputting to see the world be split into several things at the same time while the time loopped kingdom stayed static.

Or maybe it was the world itself that was static and the time looped kingdom was just hopping through the world.

It was honestly brain melting to think about.

So ignoring all of that because I did not want an existential crisis a few years into my timer in this world and breathed in the great sea saltiness that was the sea as the ship passed the threshhold of the time barrier.

Passing through the intangible membrane, I instinctively felt it alongside all of the others.

We were out of the time looped Kingdom of the Malaise.

---

The Queen sighed as she watched the ship leave the time loop besides her old friend.

Slowly following the currents which pushed the ship forwards, upon passing the threshhold of the time barrier, it disappeared beyond her senses.

No doubt it was back in the real world where time wasn't chaotic and was instead underneath the natural order of things.

"...At least before you intervened."

Staring at the Time keeper that blankly stared at the barrier which was slowly patching itself up, the Timekeeper glanced at the queen.

"You know 'that' cannot escape right? That's why you allowed me to make the time loop in the first place my Queen"

"At least drop the formalities Timekeeper, we both know that you don't really mean your words."

Staring at the time barrier which was now completely patched together, the world which she briefly glanced out of now matched the idle movements fo the sea that was lagging outside of the barrier.

"..."

Glancing at the time loo[p to make sure that it was completely fixed and didn't have any flaws in it, the Timekeeper silently moved their arm and opened up a portal.

Silently entering it, the Queenw as left alone as she stared at the time barrier which kept the orderly world seperate from the Malaise ridden kingdom of hers.

All to keep 'that' from breaking out of its seal and wrecking chaos onto the world.

+++

Sorry for the incredibly late upload.

I was unleashing Managed Democracy and having Liber-tea onto bugs and bots.

A very healthy spending of time if I do say so myself.

All it takes is a large bite out of my sleep schedule.

On the bright side I at least contributed to Malevelon Creek and helped end the freaking Automatons