"Alright! Now that you guys are an official crew, you can now go on your first
voyage to get stronger, have fun, and find powerful weapons and tons of booty!" Cindy
cheered. "If you guys don't have funds for a ship right now. I have great news! The
Starter Ship is available and ready to set sail whenever you all are!"
"You hit the nail on the head." Jace said flatly with a blank face. "We are flat
broke. At least I am. How are you guys for money?" Jace asked his crew. Casie,
Flamett, and Thrasher huddled together and talked amongst themselves and then Casie
told Jace. "We all have money, but not nearly enough to buy a ship."
"Ok, it's all good! We just need to make it back with the Started Ship without a
scratch in it. Then we can keep whatever booty we find!" Jace stated excitedly. "We'll
take the Starter Ship Cindy."
"Ok, sounds good! It's just docked out by the main dock on the very end and on
the right. You won't miss it. It even has a sign beside it that says "Starter Ship." Cindy
explained.
"Alright everyone! Let's go set sail on our first voyage together!" Jace said
triumphantly to his crew.
"Let's go!" Casie, Thrasher, and Flamett yelled in confidence together. And they
all started to leave the Pirates Guild together with Jace.
"Good luck you guys! I hope you have fun and come back safely with tons of
loot!" Cindy called as she waved good-bye to Jace, Casie, Flamett, and Thrasher. Jace
and his crew flung the door to the Pirates Guild wide open and stepped out onto the
busy street with confidence. The sun was shining bright and filled Jace and his crew
with motivation. Jace, Casie, Thrasher, and Flamett made their way towards the main
dock of Port Savvy. When they arrived at the dock, they looked towards the end of it
and there they saw it. The Starter Ship. It wasn't much, just an average Sloop. It was
decently sized. Perfect for a four man crew.
"There's the ship we're gonna use! Let's go and get her ready for our voyage
guys!" Jace said enthusiastically. Jace and his crew walked down the long and creaky
dock and stopped at the Starter Ship. Jace and his crew boarded the ship and started to
get it ready for sailing. Thrasher checked to make sure all of his weaponry was in good
working order. Flamett was preparing the cannons and getting the gunpowder ready
and infused it with her magic. After she did, she loaded the cannons and got them ready
to fire. Jace started to untie the knot that was holding the Starter Ship to the dock. After
Jace had finished untying the knot that bound the ship, he went over to the steering
wheel and grabbed a hold of it. A huge and happy smile broke out on his face.
"I can't believe I'm about to sail a real ship!" Jace said to himself with pure joy.
Once Jace was ready to start sailing the ship. Jace nodded towards Casie and she
raised her hand towards the sails and closed her eyes. Then she said with a
commanding tone. "UNFURL!!!" The sails of the Starter Ship whipped open and started
to take in air and billowed. The Starter Ship lurched forward and Jace turned away from
the dock and into deeper waters towards the two massive cliffs that were the only
entrance and exit to the cove where Port Savvy was. As Jace and his crew left the cove
in between the two tall cliffs that were covered in long, winding vines and lush greenery,
The Starter Ship started to pick up more speed and tear through the water. Jace then
nodded to Thrasher who was standing by the main mast with some rope in his hand and
shouted triumphantly.
"Hoist the colors!" Thrasher started to pull on a rope over and over again. And
the unique and awesome flag Jace, Casie, Flamett and Thrasher made, slowly and
steadily rose to the top of the mast. Once it arrived, it flapped proudly in the warm and
breezy wind.
"Here we go everyone!" Jace yelled. It was an epic and beautiful day for a
voyage. The sky was a peerless blue and was filled with big and fluffy clouds. The sun
was big and golden, and the sea was calm with some small waves that brushed and
caressed the sides of the Starter Ship's barnacle-covered hull. Thrasher, Casie, and
Flamett all leaned over the sides of the Starter Ship and felt the warm and salty spray of
the ocean. It filled their hearts with joy and content and put smiles on their faces.
"Well guys! Where should we go? Or what should we do?" Jace asked his crew
with anticipation. "Should we search for an unexplored island and look for treasure?! Or
should we fight some evil swashbuckling pirates?!"
Casie, Flamett, and Thrasher looked at each other and said together happily.
"Let's do both!"
"BOOM!!!" A loud and thunderous smash of splintering timber could be heard
coming from the Starter Ship's hull. Jace and his crew all fell to the deck from the
shaking the impact had caused. Thrasher was the first one up on his feet and yelled.
"Off on the starboard side! A couple leagues away! There's a ship with red sails
flying the colors of the evil pirates!" The evil pirate's colors were a red flag with a black
skull and crossbones on it.
"Well… Looks like we're not making it back without a scratch on this ship." Jace
said to himself with tears of defeat rolling down his face as he laid on the deck.
"Let's counter fire! Everyone, to their stations!" Thrasher commanded Jace,
Casie, and Flamett. Jace got up and started to steer the ship once more. Casie got up
next and commanded the sails to unfurl more so they could grab more wind and speed.
Flamett got up, reached her hand out and yelled. "IGNITE!!!" All the cannon's fuses on
the starboard side of the ship sprung to life with sparks and fire and every single one of
the cannons aimed at the evil pirate ship went off one after the other with glorious
flashes of orange and yellow that sounded like a roaring avalanche. The cannon balls
flew as fast as lightning, just grazing the water of the sea towards the hull of the evil
pirate ship and made connection. The evil pirate ship's hull on the port side shattered
into a million pieces. But only a small chunk of it. For the evil pirate ship was a Galleon.
It had multiple levels, many canons, and was filled to the brim with evil pirates.
"Awe! Come on! How are we gonna take that thing down?!" Jace yelled in
frustration. "Load the cannons again Flamett!" Jace commanded.
"Already on it!" Flamett replied as she was putting more gunpowder and cannon
balls in the cannons.
"What colors are they flying, captain?" The tallest of the evil captain's first mates
asked as his captain was looking through a periscope and peering at their target.
"I've never seen that flag before." The evil captain replied as Jace's crew's flag
was in the lens of his periscope. "But one thing I do know for sure. That's the Starter
Ship of the Pirates Guild! We need to destroy it and keep looking for this bloody Port
Savvy! FIRE!!!" The evil captain yelled at the top of his lungs to his crew. All the
cannons on the two levels of the evil pirate ship went off with a roar and lit up the evil
captain's smile stricken young face with malicious tones of red and orange.
"I'm all done loading the cannons Jace!" Flamett exclaimed.
"Alight! FIRE!!!" Jace yelled. Flamett reached out her hand and opened her
mouth to say "Ignite!" But it was too late. Before Flamett could say a word. The evil
pirate ship's return of fire arrived at the Starter Ship and shattered the entire thing into
pieces of shredded wood and bits of metal, the cannons on board went flying and
flipping into the ocean in all directions and Jace, Flamett, Casie, and Thrasher were all
flung into the sea as well. The evil pirate ship slowly floated over the wreckage and
checked for survivors.
"I don't see any of them, captain." One of the other, but really short, evil captain's
first mates pointed out while all the other crew members were looking over the side into
the ocean.
"I don't see them either. We must have got them! They're all in Davy Jones locker
now! Ha, ha, ha! Good job everyone!" The evil captain congratulated loudly. The evil
pirate crew cheered. But as the evil pirate ship coasted on the surface of the water.
Jace, Flamett, Thrasher, and Casie were all under the water holding their breaths
watching the evil pirate ship sail away. When the evil pirate ship was far enough away,
everyone popped out of the water and gasped for air and grabbed a piece of the blown
apart Starter Ship to float on.
"We're definitely not coming back without a scratch on this ship." Jace said
sarcastically.
"At least we're alive and not hurt!" Casie reminded Jace sternly.
"Yeah! I know! That's good! I'm glad we're okay!" Jace replied defensively and
changed his tone to a positive one. "We just need to float here now and wait for the tide
and current to take us to where it decides to."
"Hey look guys!" Flamett piped up. "There's an island!" Flamett pointed towards
an island that was pretty far away. It looked like the size of a rock from where Jace and
his crew were.
"I guess we should start swimming guys!" Jace said enthusiastically. And
everyone turned towards the island and started to kick while still hanging onto what
remained of the Starter Ship. "Maybe there's treasure there!" Jace exclaimed.
As Jace, Casie, Flamett, and Thrasher drew closer to the island they were
paddling to, it grew larger and larger until it looked like a proper and majestic island.
Jace and his crew made it to the shore of the island and crawled exhaustively out of the
water and onto the beach. Jace caught his breath and got up first.
"Woah!" Jace said loudly. "This island is pretty big! I wonder if there's gonna be
any treasure or something here." Thrasher was the second to get up and replied back to
Jace with frustration.
"There better be something here. Or else I'm going to be pretty upset coming out
of our first voyage with nothing but failure."
"Like Casie said to me, "At least we're all okay", even if there is nothing here. We
still made it out with our lives." Jace encouraged Thrasher. And Casie looked at Jace
and smiled with a slight blush.
"Jace is right." Casie got up. "The best thing we can do right now is brush and
shake the sand off ourselves and move forward and look for something on this island."
Flamett also stood up from hugging the sand.
"I agree with Casie! I hope we find something good!" Flamett said excitedly as
some sand fell off of her face.
"Sweet! Let's go and see what this island has to offer!" Jace said, filled with
morale. Jace and his crew all made their way together into the island. The island Jace
and his crew ended up on was a pretty big, lush, and jungle filled island. It was filled
with thick trees, vines, and shrubbery that were as green as the richest rainforest. It was
a really hot island too, the beating sun mixed with its humidity made it feel like a steam
sauna. After half an hour of trudging through the island's jungle. Jace and his crew
started to get closer to a clearing that had a band of evil pirates camping in it.
"Oh my word! How thick is this jungle! And why does it have to be so hot!" Jace
complained loudly.
"I'm with you there brother. I'm dying over here." Flamett said as she faded in the
back of the group.
"I'm. Also, With… You… Guys…" Casie agreed with long and exhausted pauses.
"Oh would you guys just suck it up and keep moving. I think we're getting close to
something." Thrasher said while still going strong, cutting vines and shrubbery away
with his saber, and just barely breaking a sweat. "Wait! Everyone stop!" Thrasher
instructed with a harsh hush to Jace, Casie, and Flamett who were behind him. "I hear
voices up ahead." Thrasher cautiously led Jace, Flamett, and Casie to the edge of a
clearing. Thrasher, Jace, Casie, and Flamett all peeked their heads out of a bush to see
what was in the clearing. Jace and his crew all became wide eyed and saw a large
camp of evil pirates. They were all sitting at fires by their tents, and two of them that
were close to Jace, Thrasher, Casie, and Flamett were talking about a treasure on the
island.
"So why are we here again mate? I'm just askin' because we've been here for
almost four days and all we've done here is send out bloody searchin' parties into the
woods." One of the evil pirates asked another one of the evil pirates. They were both
sitting at a fire and drinking rum.
"I think it has somethin' to do with a "treasure" I heard someone tell me about.
They told me that we were sent here to find it and bring it back to The Shadow's
stronghold." The evil pirate replied.
"I see. I just hope we find this blasted "treasure" soon because I'm gettin' tired of
bein' on this island."
"I hear ye mate. I want to leave just as bad as ye do." The evil pirate said in
agreement with the other evil pirate. The evil pirates would get their wish sooner than
they thought. Because, behind them was Jace and his crew. And they overheard
everything the evil pirates talked about.
"Huh?!" Jace gasped. Casie who was beside him noticed Jace's reaction and
watched him curiously while he thought to himself with a serious and shocked look on
his face. "They're looking for something for The Shadow?! What treasure could The
Shadow be after on this island that he or it would send so many evil pirates to look for
it?"
"Are you okay Jace?" Casie asked curiously.
"Huh? Oh, yeah! I'm fine, I was just thinking about something, that's all." Jace
explained. "So what should we do about all these evil pirates and supposed treasure on
this island? Any ideas?" Jace and his crew huddled together.
"I think we should all run out with shouts of pride and strength and kill every last
one of them! Then we should look for the treasure!" Thrasher said with excitement.
"Hmm, that could work." Jace replied to Thrasher. "We should definitely look for
the treasure after we beat the evil pirates. But I don't have a sword yet. I never bought
one, I didn't have the money for it. What about you two? What do you think?" Jace
turned towards Flamett and Casie.
"I have a dagger I could use. So I can fight with that." Casie pulled up her cloak
and revealed a dagger strapped to her leg.
"And I could shoot fire out of my hands! I haven't tried it before, but this is a really
good time to see if it works! If it doesn't, I could just hide behind Thrasher." Flamett said
with a big smile and side hugged Thrasher in a joking way. Thrasher just stayed still with
a stoic expression and blushed a little.
"Alright! We'll charge the evil pirate camp! And then look for the treasure! But
before we all charge. Let me sneak up on those two evil pirates we heard talking with
my invisibility ability. I'll steal one of their cutlasses and kill both of them. I should be fine
using the cutlass because of my weapon experience level. But killing them and then
yelling "charge" will be the signal." Jace, Flamett, Casie, and Thrasher all nodded in
agreement and the plan went into motion. Jace activated his invisibility by snapping his
fingers. He vanished right in front of his crew and slipped out of the bushes and into the
evil pirate camp. Jace slowly and stealthily made his way towards the two evil pirates he
and his crew overheard talking earlier. And once Jace got to the two evil pirates, he
snuck behind one of them and slowly and gently unsheathed his cutlass from his belt.
Inch by inch the cutlass made its way into the open air and after what seemed like a
century of stress and tension, the cutlass slipped out of its sheath. Fortunately the other
evil pirate was looking at the fire the whole time and didn't notice the cutlass moving by
itself. Jace held the cutlass in a ready position and paused.
"I've never killed anyone before…" Jace thought to himself. Then he sighed. "I
can't do it." He thought with a heavy and sympathetic heart. "I'll just knock them out and
make it look like they're dead. With my super strength talent, I'll just have to tap them on
the head with the pommel of the sword." Jace tapped each evil pirate on the top of their
heads, and they both fell over in an instant and were unconscious. Then Jace
deactivated his invisibility with another snap of his fingers, and held up the cutlass and
yelled. "CHARGE!!!" After he yelled, Casie, Flamett, and Thrasher all came bursting out
of the bush they were hiding in and sprinted towards the evil pirates with weapons in
hand and Flamett with fire balls in her hands, ready to throw.
"HUH?! Where did these landlubbers come from!" An evil pirate noticed Jace's
crew's charge and yelled. "Everyone! We have intruders! Ready yer weapons and get
ready to do some killin'!" The evil pirate and all the other evil pirates in the camp
grabbed their pistols, muskets, spears, magic staffs, cutlasses, and sabers. Then they
all started to charge towards Jace and his crew to meet their assault. The evil pirates
outnumbered Jace and his crew ten to one and as both sides of people drew closer to
each other, Flamett made the first attack and launched two powerful and blazing bright
fireballs towards the evil pirates. They both blew up with extreme force and sent many
evil pirates flying in spheres of hot and bright reddish orange flames. Then Thrasher
made the next move. He unsheathed his saber with aggressiveness and dashed at light
speed through multiple evil pirates. All the evil pirates couldn't even see what had just
happened. But they all fell at the same time with cuts on their throats. Thrasher
sheathed his saber quickly and grabbed his musket off of his back and aimed at a group
of evil pirates that were coming towards him on his right and fired. The hammer met the
pan on the musket and sparks flew like fireflies and the gunpowder in Thrasher's gun
was ignited, then with a bright flash and loud bang, his musket went off and shot out a
massive yellow beam of destruction. It disintegrated the group of evil pirates he shot at.
Thrasher started to reload his musket and shouted out. "Cover me!" After Thrasher
called out for help, Casie swooped in and guarded Thrasher who was starting to get
surrounded by more evil pirates.
"Ye'll pay for killing all of our mates!" One of the evil pirates yelled out harshly.
"I don't think so!" Casie jabbed back confidently. "You won't put a scratch on him! Or
me." Casie swiftly grabbed the dagger from her leg, raised it up and called out.
"Powerful wind, the wind that lets me control the speed of dauntless ships. Heed
my call and pour out your power on these men!" Suddenly, a rush and gust of wind
came out of nowhere and a large tornado formed on the end of Casie's dagger and
started to thrash and whirl with anger. Before she even made another move with her
dagger. Lots of evil pirates were already being sucked into the swirling cyclone. Then,
with a powerful and strong thrust. Casie smashed her dagger into the ground and
stabbed the earth. The relentless tornado stayed in the air and all around Casie and
Thrasher the ground cracked like glass and rumbled. The tornado shredded apart and a
huge explosion of powerful, gale force winds was released in all directions, sending
most of the evil pirates into the jungle. The rest of the evil pirate camp was heading
towards Jace, who was slowly walking towards them with a serious expression on his
face.
"Don't worry Jace! I've almost reloaded my musket, then I can finish the rest of
the evil pirates off for you!" Thrasher yelled as he shoved a ram rod into his musket's
barrel to ready another salvo.
"No. It's okay Thrasher. Let me handle this." Jace called back with focus and
confidence. The rest of the evil pirate camp stopped right in front of Jace and heard his
comment.
"Ye really think ye can beat all of us?! There be twenty of us, and only one of ye.
Ye don't stand a chance mate." An evil pirate said with a confident smile on his face.
"You really don't know what's coming, do you." Jace's words were riddled with
threat and power. The evil pirate's smile disappeared and he was filled with fear. Jace
threw and stabbed his cutlass into the ground beside him then raised both of his hands
and put them together to make a fist. Then he slammed his hands into the ground with
tremendous force. The earth shattered and was flung up into the air in bits and pieces.
All the evil pirates were flung into the air as well and couldn't do anything to defend
themselves. Then Jace leapt into the air and jumped off of all the floating chunks of
earth and punched each one of the evil pirates in the face with blazing speed and agility.
All it took was one punch to finish each evil pirate off. They were all knocked out at once
in a blink of an eye. Thrasher, Casie, and Flammet all gazed at Jace in awe as he
floated through the air after his attack. Jace then landed near Thrasher and Casie with a
heavy impact that broke the ground.
"Man! That super strength is really freaking sweet!!!" Jace yelled out in joy and
laughter. "Did you guys see me! I felt like I was in an anime! That was the best!"
"What's an "anime?" Thrasher asked curiously.
"Oh, don't worry about it. It's kind of a different way to tell stories." Jace explained
while he blushed with embarrassment.
"They must be pretty epic if what you did reminds you of an anime! Thrasher said
with excitement.
"Oh, they are Thrasher. You have no idea!" Jace yelled proudly.
"Yeah!" Flamett called as she ran towards Jace, Thrasher, and Casie. "That was
one of the most awesome things I've ever seen, Jace!"
"Thanks, Flamett! Your fireballs were awesome too! They were devastating!"
Jace said encouragingly and pumped his fist. Flamett blushed intensely and squeaked.
"Thanks Jace..."
"AHEM!!!" Casie cleared her throat intrusively. "Alright, now that we've finished
defeating all of these evil pirates. We should maybe try to find some clues as to where
and what this treasure is that they were looking for."
"That's a good idea. I wonder where we could get that information though. We
destroyed those evil pirates, I doubt we could find one and ask them." Jace said. He
looked around at the destroyed and defeated evil pirate camp and noticed an untouched
big tent that was in the middle of the evil pirate camp. "I wonder if any information will be
in there?" Jace stated and pointed at the tent he spotted. Casie, Thrasher, and Flamett
looked in the direction Jace's finger was pointing and they saw the tent as well.
"Perfect! Let's go see if we can't find anything in there." Casie said brightly. Jace,
Casie, Flamett, and Thrasher made their way to the tent. The tent was a big ivory white
tent that was in the shape of a large square. Jace went to the opening and lifted the
entrance flap open and went in, and everyone followed behind him. In the middle of the
tent was a large table with multiple chairs surrounding it. On top of the table was a large
map of the island that Jace and his crew got washed up onto. Jace and his crew went to
the large brown and oaky table to take a look at the map. The map had every bit of
information you could want. The island was called "The Sleeping Grounds." It also had
the name of the landmarks, and was detailed to the last tree and cliff. It labeled the cliffs
on the north side of the island as, "The Perilous Edge." It called the jungle that covered
most of the island as, "The Gruesome Grave." It listed the shore on the south side of the
island where Jace and his crew landed on as, "The Golden Grains." And the island even
had a river running through it that Jace and his crew never stumbled into. It was called
the "Raging Rapids." The only information that the map didn't have was the exact
location of the treasure the evil pirates and The Shadow were looking for. It only had an
approximate location which was circled on the map. The approximate location of the
treasure was near a waterfall that was near the middle of the island, just north west from
the evil pirate camp. The river flowed towards it as it flowed through the entire island
and back into the ocean. From east to west it ran.
"It looks like this is where the treasure is." Jace said as he pointed towards the
circled waterfall on the map.
"I guess the only thing left for us to do is to find this treasure! Hopefully there's
enough treasure so we can pay the fees to rebuild the Starter Ship!" Casie stated
happily.
"Alright then! Let's go!" Jace exclaimed. Jace and his crew left the tent and
headed north west towards the waterfall.
As Jace and his crew drew closer to the waterfall, they could hear the sound of
pounding and rushing water grow louder and louder.
"We must be close, the waterfall sounds like it's right on top of us." Thrasher
explained as he led Jace, Casie, and Flamett through the jungle. Thrasher slashed at
the vines and shrubbery in their way with his insanely sharp saber. After Thrasher
swung his saber three more times and cut more vines and bushes out of the way, on his
fourth swing, he cut open a pathway into an opening through the jungle. The sound of
the waterfall was even more powerful than before. Jace and his crew stepped out of the
jungle and into a clearing at the base of the waterfall. There were plenty of sharp and
slippery rocks at the bottom of the waterfall and Jace and his crew gazed up in awe at
the waterfall. It was so big that they had to look up as high as they could to see the top,
it had to be at least one hundred and fifty feet tall. To be able to hear over the
thunderous water, Jace and his crew had to yell to make conversation.
"I wonder where the treasure could be!" Flamett shouted.
"I don't know! There's not much around here if I'm being completely honest! It's
just the river and this blasted, insanely loud waterfall!" Jace yelled back.
"Wait! It looks like there's an inscription on some of the rocks close to the
waterfall!" Casie said loudly as she pointed towards the right side of the base of the
waterfall. Jace and his crew made their way to the inscription to see what it said.
"It says here!" Flamett started to read the inscription engraved on the rock. "Take
a leap of faith, dive into the rapids and battering waves. Jump into the unknown and find
the resolve to overcome death's gaze!"
"What the heck does that mean?!" Jace shouted quizzically.
"I wonder if it means to jump into the bottom of the waterfall?! You know?! "Take
a leap of faith, dive into the rapids and battering waves!" Casie stated.
"Are you nuts?! Anyone would get killed if they jumped into that madness!" Jace
yelled. "But what about the rest?! What does "find the resolve to overcome death's gaze
mean?!" What's the resolve?! Is it metaphorical or is it talking about something literal?!"
"What if finding the "resolve" is finding something to help prevent drowning or
getting crushed by the waterfall?!" Thrasher shouted over the sound of the waterfall.
"Okay! So we have a vague idea of what this inscription is saying! So who's
gonna jump into that craziness?!" Jace asked his crew at the top of his lungs.
"Dibs out!" Casie, Flamett, and Thrasher shouted as they touched their noses
and sat down. Jace just stared blankly at his crew and said under his breath.
"I didn't see that coming… Especially from you Thrasher!" Thrasher looked away
instantly with embarrassment as Jace called him out. Jace calmed down and sighed
heavily and said to his crew still shouting. "Looks like I'm gonna jump in!" Casie's
attitude and face changed to a more serious and concerned look as she heard Jace's
statement. Jace turned away from his crew and faced the waterfall. He looked up and
then he looked at the base filled with crushing water. Then he thought to himself.
"I guess this thought never crossed my mind before now. But what if I die in this
world? Am I already dead and in some sort of afterlife? Or am I just in a different world?
I'm not sure, but that inscription did tell me to take a leap of faith. So that's what I'm
gonna do. If I die, then I guess I will die." Jace started to get ready to jump into the
waterfall and as he was about to jump, he felt a tender hand grab his shoulder. Jace
turned around and saw that Casie had grabbed his shoulder.
"I can't let you do this, Jace! It's too dangerous! You could die!" Casie shouted.
"Let me do it!"
"Wait! You're not serious?!" Jace exclaimed with a surprised look on his face.
Then he grew a more tender expression and grabbed her shoulders too. "You just
dibzed out! And I won't let you risk your life for me! I care too much about you to let you
do that!" Jace turned from Casie and leaped into the fury of water. And as he jumped in,
Casie held out her hand towards Jace while she blushed emotionally. After Jace
disappeared into the water, she stared at the base of the waterfall with worry in her face.
All she could do was hope and pray that Jace would survive.
Jace was instantly smashed by the waterfall and drug deep underwater. He
couldn't see it, but his health was being shredded down piece by piece on his tattoo
while he was tumbling and rolling everywhere, he didn't even know which way was up.
All he could do was shut his eyes and go with the flow. After what seemed like a lifetime
of being beaten by powerful surges of water, Jace suddenly came to a stop but was still
underwater, he unclenched his eyes and looked around. He was really close to the
bottom of the river, he looked around to see if he could see anything, and his eyes
caught something. It looked like a statue holding out its hands. It was just sitting
peacefully on the river bed. Jace swam to it and inspected it. Jace looked at every inch
of the statue and couldn't find any clue to what it was or why it was there. But Jace had
a feeling that this statue was his way to survive. That it was his way to find the "resolve
to overcome death's gaze." Jace looked at the statue some more and his lungs started
to burn. He had been in the water for a minute now. He then looked at the statue's
hands. They looked like they were reaching out to hold something. Jace was really
wanting to take in a breath at this point and he just went with the idea that just popped
into his mind as he was starting to panic.
"Maybe if I just put a rock in its hand, that might do something. I hope it does.
Cause I'm getting to my limit with holding my breath here, and there's no way back up, I
would just be flung back here by the waterfall!" Jace swiftly swam to the bottom of the
river and grabbed the biggest rock he could find. After Jace found a suitable rock to his
liking. He lifted it, swam to the statue, and placed it onto the statue's hands. When Jace
placed the rock onto the statue's hands, he took a glance at his tattoo on his left
forearm. As his lungs burned more and more, yearning for air, his health bar was
gradually getting even more low, almost to the point of being empty and fear started to
creep into Jace's heart and mind. But the statue's arms started to go down and as they
did, Jace let out the last of his air and started to pass out and sink to the bottom of the
river with his tattoo showing almost nothing on his health bar.
Casie was now sitting where Jace had jumped from with worry still in her eyes.
Thrasher and Flamett were standing by her side and comforting her with warming and
reassuring hands on her shoulders. But to their surprise, the ground started to rumble
and quake. They all looked at the waterfall and to their awe, the river bed was rising out
of the water and a jutting rock was starting to interrupt the waterfall's flow about twenty
feet above the rising river bed that was slowly coming out of the water. Casie, Thrasher,
and Flamett were all just staring at this baffling view. They had never seen anything like
this before. Casie, after gazing at the sight of the waterfall, noticed a lifeless body that
was laying on the river bed beside a statue that had risen out of the river.
"JACE!!!" Casie yelled with shock as she got up and sprinted towards Jace.
"Oh no!" Flamett said loudly as her voice quavered in worry.
"This can't be!" Thrasher shouted with frustration and sorrow. Casie arrived
where Jace's body was laying and she went on her hands and knees to check if he was
breathing. She leaned her head towards Jace's mouth and put her ear close to his lips
to see if she could feel or hear a breath.
"Oh no… He's not breathing..." Casie said as she lost the hope in her face and
heart. But she regained her nerves and got focused and determined. "I won't let you die,
Jace!" Casie shouted and started to do CPR on Jace. She pumped Jace's chest over
and over again, for minutes she did. She also did mouth to mouth many times. But she
wouldn't give up. While Casie was giving it her all to save Jace, Jace's health bar on his
tattoo was slowly gaining a spec of health from virtually nothing with each attempt Casie
made to get Jace to breathe again. Even though it seemed like all the resuscitating she
was doing was doing nothing, Casie pumped a couple more times on Jace's chest, and
he finally coughed up a lot of water and started to take in great big gasps of air. He
rolled onto his side and shook as he was trying to get his bearings back. Tears of fear,
sadness, and shock were rolling down his face.
"I almost died!" He thought to himself with fear. Then Casie interrupted his
thought and said.
"I thought you died!" Jace looked over at Casie and also saw that she was crying
with a look of relief on her face. "I'm so thankful that you're alive!"
"Jace! You're okay! Thank goodness!" Flamett shouted as she jogged towards
Jace and Casie with Thrasher close behind her.
"I'm so glad you're okay! We need a captain, and you're a great one too!"
Thrasher said with sincerity as he crouched down and held out his hand to help up
Jace. Jace took his hand and got up.
"Do you really mean that, Thrasher? Do you think I'm a good captain?" Jace
asked in a normal tone. The waterfall being parted made it not as loud as it was before
so everyone could talk normally again.
"Of course! What kind of captain would willingly risk his life like that? A good
captain would, especially for one of his crew mates." Thrasher complimented Jace with
a smile.
"What do you mean I risked my life for one of my crew mates?" Jace wondered.
"You jumped in instead of letting Casie go for you. She offered to go because she
didn't want you to get hurt. But you didn't let her. I'm assuming you did that because you
care about her!" Thrasher explained to Jace happily. Jace glanced over at Casie while
Thrasher was talking to him. Casie made eye contact and quickly glanced away with a
blush, and so did Jace.
"It was no big deal! I would do anything for you guys, and for her!" Jace said
genuinely while his blushing started to fade.
"Hey guys! There's a cave behind the waterfall! I guess it was hidden when the
waterfall was normal, but now we can walk right in!" Flamett stated joyfully. Jace and his
crew looked at the cave and waterfall. It almost looked like a mouth that was wide open
and ready to eat anything that entered. The river bed and the jutting out rock looked like
the teeth, mouth, and jaw, and the cave resembled a throat.
"Well guys? Shall we?" Jace asked as he looked at each of his crew mates.
"Let's go!" Casie, Flamett, and Thrasher yelled together energetically and Jace
and his crew started to make their way into the cave.