"The heart hears the sea's call, while the mind whispers warnings of its teeth"
— The Song of the Sable Coast
They stared at him, wide-eyed and incredulous. The words they'd just heard were beyond belief.
The man who had just said the unbelievable said nothing, only continued cleaning his blade.
There was no need; the steel gleamed, spotless and sharp, but he wiped it anyway, more out of habit than a necessity.
Silence stretched across the deck.
It was Oddrin who finally broke it. He stammered, struggling to find his voice, but at last the words came. "C-Captain Ren, did we all hear you truly?"
The captain made no attempt to answer, he wasn't of the habit of repeating himself.
Besides, the question wasn't the type that was meant to be answered anyway.
Oddrin swallowed deep, sharing glances with the rest of the crew mates. They were speechless. Their captain had spoken the type of words that stilled the tongue.
Oddrin spoke again. His voice steady than before, but still carrying the hints of shock and fear.
"Captain, you'd fight those calamities alone? You'd have to break the world's laws and remake 'em to win y'know?."
The captain stopped cleaning his blade. Then he met Oddrin's eyes. The look in his eyes were resolute and fierce, making Odrrin cower under his gaze.
Then the captain spoke. His voice was soft and gentle, and yet the wind carried it to all the corners of the ship's deck for everybody present to hear.
"Not the first time I've stared down impossible odds, eh? And past time someone fixed those rotten laws don't ya think?."
Quiet gripped the deck, then laughter erupted.
When the captain had made his declaration earlier, the whole crew thought him mad and suicidal. But those traits are exactly why they chose to follow him in the first place.
The tension amongst the crew began to melt away when they realized that this was truly nothing new.
The captain stood, sheathed his blade, and donned his cloak from beside him. He looked at each one of his crew one by one, saying nothing, yet somehow they all understood.
He stretched, yawned and scratched his eye patch before speaking again.
"Well then, mates, our road's run dry. That itch what drove you to toss safety overboard for me, I hope it's dulled, if not dead. Go find a home, or make one. Live quietly. Wed some lass or lad if that's your preference, raise whelps and spin 'em tales of our mad days."
The captain grinned. "They won't believe you, naturally. Can't fault 'em, sounds mad even to me, looking back."
Noises of agreements echoed through the crew. The captain waited for it to die down before he continued.
"I have uhhh... on some days been an unreasonable captain..."
"Nay, every damned day!" Someone interrupted him, drawing laughter from everyone.
"Fine fine," The captain chuckled. "I've been always unreasonable. But you lot have stuck by my side through it all. At my craziest. My lowest. That has not gone unappreciated. I thank you all."
The captain frowned as Oddrin's eyes began to bring tears. Damn fool wept at everything.
"Oh, hell's teeth, Oddrin, every time? If you cry I'll throw you over board.
"B-but captain..."
"Don't bloody cry."
"Aye, aye."
Oddrin mumbled, wiping tears from his eyes and snort from his nose.
The captain sighed then continued.
"Me, I've lived too fierce, too grand, to rot old and soft in a bed. Death came for me once, and I defeated it. And ever since, it has evaded me. My final journey's to hunt it down and make it claim me."
A gust roared across the deck, and the wind, still favoring him as it had since he was a child, lifted him gently off his feet, guiding him to the edge of the ship.
"With that said, I end the age of pirates," he declared.
Then the captain leapt into the sea, vanishing beneath the waves in a heartbeat.
The crew mates gathered around the edge to watch. But he was already long gone.
A few seconds passed before one of the crew mates finally spoke.
"So, what say you, lads? We heed him—snag a wench, spawn whelps, grow old and wither to death in our beds?"
A mocking laughter and some boos emanated from the crew mates.
Oddrin sighed.
"He asked us not to follow him did he not?"
"And?" another shot back. "Since when do we heed his mad notions?"
Oddrin smiled. "True"
And he leapt into the sea.
One by one, they followed.
23 YEARS BEFORE
Ren sat in silence watching the sea. The moonlight cast an ethereal blue glow across its surface.
He gazed at the ocean, wondering what mysteries lay beneath and what worlds stretched beyond.
Everybody he asked either had no convincing answer for him, or just said it was the design of the gods.
Which Ren thought was a load of horse shit.
It wasn't that he didn't believe in the gods' existence—he just craved a deeper explanation.
But he never got it.
So at night he'd sneak and come to the sea and watch, hoping to see or learn something.
His understanding was limited, and he didn't have much in the way of education, besides he was only twelve.
But he watched, and he learned.
Early signs of dawn began to show. Ren stood up and dusted himself. He needed to go back home in time before his parents woke up.
He broke into a sprint. Ren was small and fast, and as if he was blessed by the wind itself. it offered no resistance to his movements.
Instead, it helped him, his strides were longer, his movements were faster.
Within a few minutes, he had arrived at the edge of his village.
He took a moment to catch his breath, as he scanned around. The market was before his village, and it was empty for now. Give it a few more hours the place with be swarming with people.
Ren began moving again, but this time at a walking pace. He didn't need to rush anymore.
His home was still a bit far but he knew the short corners to pass to get home quickly.
In no time he was at the door of his home.
This was the tricky part. The house was old, perhaps a hundred years at this point.
This father used to brag that ren was the fourth generation to live here, which ren thought wasn't a thing to brag about.
Just build another damn house
Anytime the door was opened, it made a loud creaking sound.
Ren took his time, slowly opening the door.
The door groaned slightly, threatening to scream at every movement.
Eventually he successfully got into the house, and went to sleep without waking up his parents or siblings.
He did this for as long as he could remember, helping out at home and at the market during the day and sat by the sea at night till just before the break of dawn.
Until one day, as he sat and watched the ocean. He spotted something in the far distance. At first it was tiny, barely visible. But ren had unusually sharp eyes. He stood up, excited as it became bigger. It was a ship.
He had never seen one before but he knew what it was intuitively.
Ren could barely contain his excitement. He kept shouting and waving to gain the attention of the ship.
And as if guided by ren's voice, the ship changed direction and began moving towards him.
When the ship eventually got to the shore, It was silent, as if empty. But ren knew it wasn't. The wind carried sounds to his ears, that told him of the presence of people.
So, he waited with baited breath for what seemed like an eternity.
Then a sharp noise split the quiet. The sounds of boots and a lone man's huff.