I woke up the next morning, the sun burning my eyes as I opened them, I crawled out of bed and slipped on a white tee shirt and black sweats. Then I walked outside and onto the main deck, the sky was clear and the sun was bright, it looked like a good day. I didn't want to waste this great weather so i walked into the control room, upto david, who was making some adjustments under the control panel and said,
"Morning sunshine."
"Morn' cap." He replied.
"So, since it's such a nice day, let's bring the ship down closer to the water. We could have a bit of a relaxing time." I said.
"Ya know, that doesn't seem like a bad idea.. Yeah, let me finish this and I'll lower us down." He said, his voice cheerful.
"Alright, imma go see how everyone else is doing, see if they wanna fish or something." I said.
"Alright, cya cap." He replied.
I walked out, into the library and found Emma reading a book in the corner.
"Hey!" I said, my voice happy.
"Piss off." She said, her voice aggressive.
"Damn.. I was just wondering if you wanted to fish with me." I said.
"No, I'm still pissed at you for yesterday." She said,
"What did you want me to do?" I asked.
"I dont know!" She screamed back.
"Jesus christ, im fine! So what are you so worried about!" I barked at her.
"I could have lost you!!!" She screamed, her voice high pitched and full of sadness.
That got me to freeze, she was scared for me. I didn't think of my actions from her perspective, what if i hadn't made it out?
"Hey.. I'm sorry ok? I didn't think of how my actions would affect you." I said, my voice low.
She was wiping the tears from her eyes now, "It's fine, you're ok and that's all that matters." She said,
I drew closer to her, grabbed her hand, and said "I'm not going to die any time soon, so from now on I want you to trust in my words when I say, I will make it back to you." I said, I could feel myself speaking from the heart.
I wrapped my arms around her and drew her in for a hug, she began to cry on my shoulder, her tears coming in full force now. We just stood there, wrapped in each other's arms, and I truly felt happy, like I didn't have a care in the world.
"Captain! There's a boat!!" I heard Marcus's voice scream.
"Damn.. I've got to go." I said, slowly unwrapping her from me.
"Be safe.." She said, her voice shaky.
I looked at her, our eyes locked and I gave a little smirk before I raced off.
I bolted out to the main deck and saw that Marcus was right, off of our left side there was a large boat, but it looked to be abandoned. The sails were in taters, the wood on the ship looked rotted, and the windows were broken in. I instantly knew that something was wrong with this ship, I had to see what it was.
"Drop Anchor! Ready the moring lines!" I barked.
Everyone started to work as I looked at the old ship that lay before us, looking like it would sink at any moment. In that moment I heard a loud groan, almost from that of a beast, echoing from the ship. I could tell something had attacked the ship, whether there were any survivors in something I'd have to see for myself. After a couple more minutes everything was ready to board the ship, everyone stood in front of me, awaiting more orders.
"Alright everyone, i'm going aboard with Marcus, we'll check it out and if it's clear we'll bring everyone on board and take what we can." I said.
"Let's go, Marcus." I said, turning towards the ship.
"Right." He replied.
We boarded the ship in silence, we walked around and began to explore. We found weapons, papers with information on them, books, and the ship's log. I began to read the ships log, the last entry said,
"Today was the day we were supposed to enter the siren's nest. But I was the only one onboard when I awoke this morning. No one else was in sight, or on the ship. Swabbie: Jason. Date: March 12 1999."
This entry is the key to figuring out this ship, they must have all been taken and killed by the sirens besides this guy. ANd it was so long ago, I mean it's 2022 now, so there's no way this guy is still alive.
All of a sudden a loud bang startled me from my reading. I could plainly see that it was a man, he charged me and knocked the log book out of my hand. I just managed to stick my forearm in his mouth before he bit me, the man actually looked to be a boy. He was no older than fifteen, his eyes were wild, his brown hair was matted and he only wore a small bit of clothes to cover his nether regions. Then he ripped off a piece of my flesh and then he raced off into the shadows again.
"Damn it! That hurts!" I barked, Marcus helped me up.
"That boy must be the kid from the log book, he is somehow still alive, but a bit cannibalistic." Marcus said.
"Yeah, I think I have a pretty good idea how he's alive." I said, looking at the massive bite wound on my arm.
"What do you think?" Marcus asked, wrapping a torn bit of cloth around my wound.
"The sirens, they must have fed him the flesh of his crewmates and all the other humans they have caught. My guess is he was their pet, a toy for them to play with. They must have kept him alive that way, and in turn that turned him into a cannibal in the process." I said.
"Makes sense, but how is he not an old man, time didn't just stop for him?" Marcus said, his voice thick with anticipation.
"My guess is the same method the sirens use to stay young, the blood and flesh in the humans must have some special property that we don't know how to exploit that the sirens somehow do." I replied.
"When you put it that way, it makes sense." He replied.
I was about to talk, but I heard some more noise. I instantly pinpointed its location and drew my sword, ready for any attack. I could see the boy, but he kept moving as fast as I could lay my eyes on him.
"Be ready. We have to see if he understands speech." I said.
"Jason! We're not here to hurt you!" I called.
"Hun…gry.." A deep voice replied.
"We can give you food! Just calm down, we can get you food." I called.
"Flesh… Hum..an…. FLESH!!!" He screamed, launching himself at me.
I grabbed his forearms, twisted his body, and placed my knee on his spine.
"Jason calm down!" I barked.
"Marcus go grab meat!!" I screamed.
While he raced off I held Jason down, I tried to talk to him but he wouldn't listen.
"Jason calm down! We can get you food, just calm down! I know what they did to you was unfair, they starved you and made you eat your friends didn't they? I know! Just calm down!" I cried to him, my voice shaky.
"Hungry…. So… hungry.." He groaned, his voice weak.
I placed my hand on his head, speaking softly and I said, "Damn it Marcus, hurry up."
After a moment of brief silence he started to cry, then he began singing. The song was so beautiful, I could feel myself being drawn to the notes. I instantly knew that he had copied the sirens' song, after being kept prisoner by them for so long he must have been able to replicate it.
After a few minutes of listening to the music I began to cry, I could feel his emotions and his pain. I slowly got off of him and layed down, he laid right beside me. After a brief moment of laying down together I began to see his memories. I don't know how or why but I knew they were his. I could see the corpses of his crewmates laying on the deck, freshly killed, and I could see Jason in the corner, his eyes bulging with fear.
"Come on, eat up.. You're hungry arent you?" A soothing voice hissed out from the darkness.
"Go away!! Your music won't work on me! And I won't eat my friends!" Jason screamed, his voice barking feebly.
"Tsk..tsk..tsk.. All good boys must eat their meat." The siren hissed back.
"I won't do it!" Jason replied.
"You've been a bad boy.." The siren said, her voice turning from soothing to angry.
Then she began to beat Jason, over and over, she beat him until he cried. She kept beating him after he was unconscious, when she was done he was completely unrecognizable, then when he couldn't stop her, she fed him his dead crewmates.
When he awoke he was fully healed, and he remembered everything she did, even after he was unconscious. This went on for years, Jason then began to obey her, and she treated him like a pet, keeping him confined to this old boat. She kept feeding him human flesh that she captured and killed, eventually he slowly began to lose his humanity, he rarely spoke and when he did he could only say a few words at most. As i layed there with him, experiencing this with him i could tell what he wanted to do most, he dreamed about leaving this place, killing the monsters who tortured him, and then he wished above all else to go explore the world and live a happy life. I could feel his pain and sorrow, it was too much for me to bear, I began to cry. Moments later Marcus burst into the room with a handful of steak and a handful of chicken in the other, he froze instantly when he saw me laying with him, as if he could feel the emotions encircling both of us.
"Josh.. I have the food." He said, his voice low.
He sat down and began to slowly toss each piece next to Jason, he slowly arose and began to eat. He ate each piece like a ravenous beast, his eyes darting around as if someone would take his food. We watched in silence as he ate each and every piece of meat, then we slowly approached him.
"Thank.. You…" He said, his voice raspy.
"You must go! Master come back!!" He began to bark, his voice slightly raised.
As if on cue, a low soothing voice came over me,
"What do we have here?" It said,
I recognized it, it was the person who tortured Jason. I could feel my better judgment telling me to leave, but I didn't move.
"I am the Son of Darkness! Show yourself Beast!" I screamed, drawing my sword.
"Ohh you're the one.." The voice said, as if disappointed.
"SHOW YOURSELF!!" I barked, my voice full of rage.
Out of the shadows a woman crept, she had gorgeous physical features up until I looked at her face, it had bird-like features, and when I looked on her back I saw a large pair of wings.
"Jason is coming with me! Youve tortured him enough!" I barked.
Instead of responding she just attacked me, my sword meeting her beak. She tried to grab at me with her arm, but I kicked it away and rapidly began to slice and stab her. I only barely grazed her arms, barely drawing any blood or dealing any damage. We sprang apart, my mind was racing through ways to kill her, my only viable option was to destroy everything and hope she gets trapped inside the rubble.
"Marcus, get Jason out of here. I'm going to deal with her, but first light this place up." I said, my voice oozing with rage.
He did just as I asked, lighting fires to the central support structures of the room we were in.
"I'm going to kill you." I said, my voice perfectly calm.
"Come try, boy." The siren called at me.
I channeled my darkness into my arms and legs, which rapidly increased my physical strength. Once I could contain this power no more I attacked. I rapidly slashed at her, dealing more damage and drawing more blood than I had last time. By the time we separated she was covered in loose feathers and warm blood, but I was bleeding too. She had slashed at my head, my legs and my sword arm, all of which was bleeding heavily.
"I see you have some power to you… I wish I could play with you longer but I believe that you have something that belongs to me.." She said, then she blasted a hole in the wall and escaped.
"Damn it all.." I spat, I raced out the door and back to the ship.
Only then did I realize the ship was under attack by the sirens, everyone was being lured in different directions from each other. I raced into the middle of the upper deck on the ship, my mind racing. I pushed my darkness into my hands and blasted it out all around me, knocking the Sirens back and disrupting their songs.
"PLUG YOUR EARS!!" I screamed, my voice full of fear.
No one responded, they just plugged their ears and began to counter attack. They were each holding their own against them one on one, but Marcus was out numbered two to one. I raced over to help, I stabbed one siren in the back and tossed it aside, that one wasn't the one I was after. As I tossed one aside I grabbed the other by the head and dragged it away from Marcus, who was feebily trying to defend himself and Jason at the same time.
I began to carve up the Siren, I used no darkness, no speed enhancements, I used nothing other than my brute physical strength. I wanted her to feel every inch of skin I cut, to feel every limb I severed, every inch of my blade inside her. I was about to cut off her head when she spun away and feebly began to fly away. I didn't chase her, I just watched. Before she got out of range I put an end to her pain, I channeled a small portion or darkness into my finger tip and like a finger gun I shot her in the back, straight through her heart. Once her corpse began to fall out of the sky all of the other sirens backed off and retreated, leaving us to watch as they flew away into the now night sky.
"Alright, let's get these wounds healed up on everyone and let's get some rest!" I barked, everyone slowly began to walk down into the infirmary.
I began to patch up everyone and send them off to bed, one by one everyone left, it was just me, Marcus and Jason in the infirmary.
"Thank.. You.." Jason said slowly, his eyes lowered to the floor.
"I would do the same for anyone in need, no matter who they are." I replied, my voice soft.
I could see that he was blushing, but I didn't mind. I looked and realized he had a huge scar on his left arm, it was like the scar wrapped around his whole arm. I patched up his minor injuries ad said,
"You can sleep in the engine room, that way you can be warm." I said.
"Thank…You…" He said.
"I'll show him down there and give him some food and blankets." Marcus said, his voice calm.
"Thanks, i'm gonna go get some sleep." I said, I turned and walked into my room.
I collapsed onto my bed and instantly fell asleep.