The Isolation of the Sea 

{pictures}

Day 14

[Sir the ship's radar is picking up a signal! Scanning now!... it looks like a ship… pulling up the registry now…It... appears to be wanted for…! HOLY MOLY! Sir! It's the Green Death! We're going to be rich, my captain!] yelled the first mate in excitement

[So… this is the famous ship that fled after Bredale set fire to their fleet! Umm... this could be worth a ton of money or nothing at all...] said the captain to the confused first mate

[why do you say that cap!] replied the first mate

[Well, for starters, why is it just floating here seemingly abandoned with no crew? I'm not buying it! But… just to be sure, send one boarding crew!] replied the captain

As the captain stared at the ship through his deck display, he thought:

[so, this is where you ran off to…but why… I wonder… Did you lose your home to a certain star monster? If that really is the case, then…]

[sir the boarding crew is reporting in!] yelled the first mate

[already? patch them through!] said the captain as he had changed in thoughts

[tizz... Sir reporting… the ship… something wrong with it! I don't think we can savage anything…tizz. Rusted like it's been underwater for centuries! Tizzz] said the team leader

[umm... Like it's been underwater? How can that be! It's a flying ship not a boat!] thought the captain as the man continue to make his report

[tizz…sir! There doesn't seem to be any living goblins on board… tizz only barnacles and sea urchins…tizz WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT! SHOOT IT!] yelled the man

{Hears gunfire over the inner comms}

[team leader what is going on in there? I repeat! Team leader what is happening inside the ship!] said the first mate

{gunfire noise continues}

[tizz... Requesting reinforcement! Reporting casualties…MONSTER ON BOARD!] yelled the team leader

Hearing the boarding party's distress call, the captain yelled [Send another three boarding parties and tell them to get me that ship log on the bridge! I don't care what it takes, just do it! The one who does get the first pick of the treasurers we find later!]

Hours later

[sir… only the yellow team made it back! The others… well, here is the ship log…] said the first mate as he handed over the logs

[I see… but before I see these logs, report to me what the yellow team experienced inside that ship!] ordered the captain

[You sure captain… their story is… kind of unbelievable.]replied the first mate

The captain then slowly turned to his first mate and said while holding a weird symbol necklace in his hand: [No story is unbelievable... Just unbelievable men.]

[I... Understand captain but Cain... is not in the best condition...] replied the first mate

[lead the way] responded the captain with beastly eyes

Boarding parties short recount POV

[This is Blue team checking in! we landed in the engine bay] said Adam

[This is red team checking in! we landed in the cafeteria] said Baldwin

[This is yellow team checking in! We landed in the medical bay area] said Cain

[Alright we all seem to have made it successfully, who is closest to the green team's location!] said Adam

[I believe we are] replied Cain

[alright yellow team good luck on the rescue…] said Adams as his was abruptly cut off

[Adam? Are you there? Adam!] said Baldwin

[sigh, listen yellow team… good luck…] said Baldwin, when one of his men called out.

[sir!]

[shit! talk later yellow team…] said Baldwin

Blue team POV

As the blue team left their boarding vessel, Adam noticed that his coms suffered heavy interference in the engine bay, as his conversation with the other teams fizzled out. But not minding it too much for he has been on numerous death missions before, he readies his men and started to examine the interior of the engine room only to be filled with more questions than answers.

For as he and his men looked around, they saw walls filled with rust and sea life. And with flashing lights, they saw broken weapons and destroyed monitors. With growing mollusks and puffing smoke they examined the engine, while hearing bangs and hurried footsteps! As they shine their light in that rot and decay, they found a living goblin!

With guns pointed at the diseased and starved. The goblin looks at the humans while hyperventilating, as word slowly escaped it mouth to say:

[Get out! You mustn't…let them out!]

[let what out exactly?] replied Adam as he slowly approached the goblin with his trigger finger at the ready.

[there… no longer…] replied the goblin

[no longer what] replied Adam

[I…did…what… I… could…warn!] said the goblin, his head hit the floor!

Running up to lift the goblin head, Adam said: [Warn… Who?]

As the goblin lay dying in the man's arms it took everything it could to voice one last breath: [MY… KING!]

With honored eyes, Adam watched as the goblin in his arm abruptly exploded into sea moss and water!

[sir! Do you think that we'll find the goblin king?] ask a random team member

Taking a moment before replying Adam said:[I hope we don't! Let just go find those ship logs and get the fuck out of here as quickly as we can! Just make sure to leave a note saying the goblin king was in fact on this ship! For now, the king's whereabouts is the last thing on my mind! What worries me is the fact that a goblin as loyal as this one, felt the need to destroy the engine for some reason.]

[But why? To stop a mutiny?] replied one of the men

But before Adam could reply to their questions:

[BANG! BANG! BANG!]

With guns suddenly pointed at the door leading out, they looked at each other as they cautiously advanced forward! As Adam placed his ear against the door, a wall panel popped out from the wall to his right! Startled, they turned to see not one, but multiple wall panels being blown off! Not knowing what's going on, they gripped their guns tight, when they heard terrifying screams! As hands forced their way out of tiny holes, as they splashed blackened water pouring through the holes.

With the smell of sea rot and decaying flesh, the hands pulled goblin sized heads through the panel holes! The men stared scared as the goblin forced their way through in a way that should not be possible for normal goblins! As their bodies hit the floor, the men shined their lights to see goblin faces on shrimp elongated bodies!

As the monster charged forward, the men wasted no time to put them down in a hail of molten lead! Though easy to kill they would not stop! For as one died another would squeeze its way forward! Not knowing how many there were, Adam tried to turn the wheel to open the rusty crusty door! But not having the strength to do it alone, he had another man help him.

With the strength of two people, they were able to open the door but without their two guns to keep the monster at bay, one of the men got piled on as the horde was too great in number! As the monster ripped the man apart, the rest of the blue team kept firing hoping to at least shoot their former team member in the head to silence his pleading screams! As his screams died down men rushed to squeeze their way out, for no man wanted to be the last! For the last was indeed pulled back into that hellish crowd! However only his legs were! For the rest of him was spilled out, as his team slammed the door closed and locked it!

While watching their fellow men bleed, knowing full well that they couldn't protect him in this death ship, they decided to, 'in acted' the pirate code. "For if a man falls behind, he stays behind!" Thus, they shot him! As the man lay dying, he left the world with a smile on his face, for he was eternally grateful they didn't leave him to the monster's mercy.

[we just got here, and we already have two deaths! At this rate the rescue party is going to need a rescue!] said a random member as he could hear the monster on the other side of the door chewing fresh meat.

[that where you're wrong] replied Adam

[I know… we all do… the captain won't spare anymore men… were it! If we fail, he will most likely just sink the ship.] replied the crew member

Knowing they didn't have the time to dwell here any longer, the men gathered themselves prepared to leave when they realized their only way up top was to go through the brig of the ship!

[hey boss… you don't think there is anyone still alive in those cells do you? Like…] ask a fellow man

[what captured men or women from the vast number of settlements they attacked before Bredale managed to put a stop to it?] replied Adam

[...]

[sigh, we can't help those who can't move or those who are now freaks of nature, in fact that's an order! We can't risk bringing more people with us! And if it bothers you that much, then put a bullet in their head and move on! That will end their suffering at the very least!] replied Adam

Ignoring the now gloomy atmosphere the men pushed forward, as they heard the sounds of metal banging, glass shattering, with lights above their head swinging with lamps falling! Needless to say, the men stayed in their formation as they pressed forward! As they lit up those darken corridors they heard low growling, while capturing the fringes of pale hands that stuck in and out of doors and metal walls! With every step further, they felt the cool waters beneath their feet, they felt the stares of monsters in the backs of their minds!

As they walked past spent candles and old ritual markings, with melted candle wax they saw cages of livestock with grotesque mutations! Sheep with fish heads or cows with coral horns with barnacles infested bodies! Failed experiments to be sure! For as they made their way to the cells of the brig door.

They feared their captain's previous words… words that all came but trues! As they walk from cell to cell, as they witness with each passing a man or a woman that was no longer human! Many if not all were un-savable, where mercy shots were their only saving grace, for as the men witnessed people melded with the ship, lost in sea coral, or bodies that were torn in half but yet still alive and called!

The men continued as they tried to zone out all the cries of men and women begging to die! As they flashed their lights on captured children in cages, like those of livestock! They examined their yellow sharpened teeth and coral horns and feared their fishy eyes and tumor stomachs! With gilled necks and fish tails, that caused men's heartache!

Knowing they can't leave them like this, for even Adam had stopped to put his hand on the head of a precious crying child. Though pirates are known to be monsters, they were still at the end of the day 'human'. With tightly closed fist Adam ordered:

[set fire to the rooms! Let the fire light their way home!]

As the fire raged and burned, as the living walls screamed and bellowed the men stood still, while honoring the departed! For though they are sailors of the sky, they know full well the coldness of the sea.

"Though the skies are with joyous light and warmth, with the freedom to roam! The sea is dark and lonely, with your freedom at the mercy of the tides! Murky and scary are its depths filled with wrath of ghostly aberrations!"

As Adam stared into the fiery blaze while hearing child cries, he closed his eyes, as he replayed his captain's favorite quote, while he played with his soaring crest. He always wondered why the captain would say those words so often when talking about the ocean. He always believed the captain hated the ocean but why the men never knew, for the captain would never speak of it! But as Adam watched the scene before his eyes, he now understood a little why his captain never left the skies