Saturday February 14th, 2213 ATE. Unnamed Islands.
I spent another three months at sea. Nothing but myself, the smiting of the gods and the beasts below.
Like always, time blurred. Three months alone in waters so fierce— night so dark. It feels like decades. You enter tangents with the sun up and the sky clear. You leave and find it snowing.
Combo that with a diet of high level monster flesh and it only gets worse. The conflicting magics soaked into their flesh was like low grade psychedelics.
I was stronger than ever.
I am stronger than ever.
But my mind. In times like this it's fractured. There's a reason every OceanLord before me took their own life in these same waters that brought them endless fame and fortune.
This isn't a job for man. Not unless you have a way to temper the storm….
I could hear their welcoming calls from shaped seashells before seeing them. It called to me and their guardian mounts.
Sharks slithered through the waves beside my boat. Their bladed grey fins cleaved through the blue. Some scarred with age and battle while others were barely large enough to breach the surface. I didn't recognize some.
They must've been born in my absence. I only come once a year if at all. Things change.
"Others remain the same…." I thought as the familiarity of the siren song called to my memories and the people on the horizon welcomed me.
With the sharks I made it as close to shore as I could.
Both men and women came running— splashing through the shallow waters, like children. Even their eldest warriors had a youthful vigor to them as they approached, still hooting and hollering along with the music as they came to greet the sharks with food and jewels harvested from their own watery domain.
I left my ship, dragging along offerings gained on my travels. The stillness of earth started my nausea quickly with each step I made into the mushy sand.
As I walked to shore, children followed me. With sun kissed bronze skin and permanently pruned hands they reached up to catch my armor as I shrugged it off.
I didn't worry that they couldn't manage the weight. Even the smallest of them was as strong as a man from my homeland and nearly just as big.
With each hulking segment of Giant-Krab shell armoring removed, a group of children ran off playing in the waves as their parents watched and even joined.
Id never seen people so human. So untouched by the horrors of the world. It healed something within my soul if only for the moment.
Everything was temporary. Even bliss.
I made it to land and bowed to the people regarding me. My way of showing respect.
Theres was quite different.
The men and women covered in beautiful tattooing and pierced by ceremonial claw and fang began to dance.
Their faces twisted into grim scowls and tongue curling sneers as they stomped their bare feet into the sands and beat their shoulders to some imaginary war beat.
They ended it with a roar and the smiles returned with their greeting over.
I didn't speak much of their language. I didn't need to. A mutual respect for one another hung in the silence as I looked among their ranks for someone in particular.
One of the older women smiled knowingly as they all split. Oddly, she was the only one smiling. The others faces went grim. She pointed deeper into the island with an inked finger.
I followed where she aimed. Despite the sporadic clutter of buildings sprinkled along the entry island, I recognized which she pointed to bordering a road made of sea-shell and vine.
It's the one I spent the most time inside.
They were nothing like the homes of my birthplace. Much less gaudy and ambitious. They didn't usually rise all that high. Made with nothing more than timber, ground stone and thatch rooftops that provided a full coverage, touching the earth on both sides. Like dens or caves.
I could smell the tree oils coating them. A way to combat weathering, insect infestations and survive storms. I associated the scent of oceans and essential oils with this island.
With some of its people.
Some more than others.
As I approached the building marked by a ring of shark teeth around a flower I found it surrounded by more grim faced people. They had weapons. A rarity. A purpose. Especially since most of them were strong enough bare handed. Not at all for me, but it still meant something.
One of the men guarding the home grew animated as I approached. He wanted to face me despite the others holding him back. But he was stronger. He charged me. He brandished his weapon. A polished stone mace layered with enchanted shark teeth. They were called Patu.
I didn't move as the weapon came hurling towards the left side of my face. It shattered like glass as it came into contact with my head and the man stumbled from the unmet resistance.
Everyone gasped. Some cursed him in their native language. Not that I knew for sure, but curses were universal in the feelings each viscerally pronounced word evoked.
In the silence we stood face to face. Like the rest of his people he was a giant. More than two heads taller than me with pierced nostrils flaring like a raging bull. The ink— known as Ta Moko, marring his face and speaking to his strength in symbolic tales, animated his features. His fury.
What had I done?
I wasn't unfamiliar with violence and its causes. I wasn't immune to its effects.
Id watched him grow into a man. We got our markings together.
And here he stood.
"The Sword-Fish has returned…."