A King of The Sea
"That's a good goal for now". Aaron muttered after confirming that the ship had reached a complete stop and that the anchor had reached the bottom.
Large areas of the sea had endless depths that were unexplored, with dangers lurking deep below the waves. The deepest recorded depth was 3,200 meters below the sea, which was found by creating the largest anchor in known history and throwing it in the Sea of Dreams.
The Sea of Dreams, one of the calmest seas, where a majority of the world's remaining population claims refuge, and is ruled by the weakest of the Seven Sea Kings, Lepaie Quinn, who wields the largest of the seven known Ghostships and also has the largest crew out of any of the Sea Kings.
These two facts influenced his decision that since the anchor had reached the bottom he could safely disembark without the risk of becoming a sea monsters lunch.
Aaron jumped from the bow of the ship into the shallow water facing the boat. The water filled his boots as he quickly swam to shore, careful not to attract any monstrous gazes. As he stepped onto the beach, he studied the general terrain of the island.
The island was filled with snow-covered trees, with vegetation snaking its way across the lush forest floor. That's odd. The climate on this island is seemingly tropical... why would there be snow? Aaron gazed at the snow with a look of curiosity.
Back in the Eastern regions, they had heard of snow, but since he was from a Southeast archipelago, he had never actually seen it with his own eyes. The powdery substances coated the trees while they rapidly melted, leaving droplets of water to drip from the trees onto the peaceful plants that lay below.
Aaron had no idea how the snow had gotten there, and it was seemingly fresh by the speed at which it was melting, meaning that the temperature had to have been freezing only moments before he arrived on the island.
That can't be right? The whole voyage here was in the tropical climate that was exclusive to the South... As Aaron debated inwardly, he suddenly heard cracking as if something was moving through the shrubbery with great speed.
He quickly took cover behind the nearest tree while also trying to conceal himself with the bush that was near it. The creature that had begun its march towards Aaron had seemingly stopped judging by the sounds, but Aaron knew that it hadn't given up yet.
What Aaron had yet to realize was that the being chasing him was nothing he was anticipating. It was something much more dangerous than a simple island animal.
Aaron peeked out from behind the tree cover and caught a glimpse of the creature that was looking for him. It was cloaked with dark wings that were the color of leather, it had the claws of a wild beast that ripped apart its prey without mercy, and a sharp tail unlike anything he had seen before. The body of this creature was that of a large mammal that resembled the large wolves that hunted near the northern continents, but the most striking aspect of this creature was its human face. Grizzled and rugged, the man looked like he could be anywhere between the ages of thirty to fifty with bright blue eyes that reflected the terrain around him.
What kind of creature has the body of a beast, the wings of a bird, the tail of a reptile, but the face of a human?
Suddenly, he had a his eyes widened in shock,
"A Manticore!"
He had read the ancient fantasy tales about a creature with the body of a beast, wings of a bird, tail of a reptile, and the head of a human, however, this creature looked much more frightening than what was shown in the fairy tale book.
It's cold and calculated eyes scanned around the forest looking for prey. The deep blue eyes, the color of the sky, whipped around and stared at the location where Aaron was hiding.
Aaron's heart froze as he felt an unimaginable fear of what was about to happen to him.
I'll be ripped to shreds then eaten!
He thought of trying to run away and give up the cover of stealth, however, decided against it due to him not being discovered.
Meanwhile the Manticore simply stared at the tree with a cold, calculating look and then, flicking its tail behind it, turned around and walked deeper into the forest.
"Phew," Aaron sighed as he relaxed, finally feeling safe enough to let out a sound.
That was almost the end for me! He mumbled inwardly.
He decided to take the rest of his exploration with extreme caution. He had even contemplated returning to the Ghostship and leaving this dangerous island; however he decided against it because he needed to find something to eat and, if possible, something to discern his location.
Once he was sure the Manticore was completely gone, he removed himself from the shrubbery and carefully made it deeper within the forest.
...
After walking for what felt like forever to Aaron, he came to what looked like the ruins of an ancient town. Ruined abandoned buildings adorned a road that had greatly suffered from the lack of maintenance, and many collapsed buildings were covered with vegetation.
Aaron made his way towards the largest-looking building that he assumed to be the town hall and carefully studied the exterior, making sure it wasn't going to collapse if he entered.
The exterior was covered in vines and moss, and except for a couple of cracked walls, the building looked stable enough to last for another fifty or so years.
After confirming the security of the building, Aaron opened the deteriorated door and was struck by the smell of what seemed to be a rotting corpse. He inched slowly closer to where he had determined the smell to be coming from, a small crack in the floor which revealed a terrifying image.
A rotten body that was nearing complete skeletalization, that was floating within what looked to be foggy water mixed with blood. The skeleton seemed to be that of a human, with Aaron identifying it by the small mark that was engraved onto all islanders when they were born through a genetic mutation that developed in an era long lost to time.
Depending on their birth sea, the mark varies in design, with Aaron's mark being that of a skull that had plants growing from the eyes.
This is the signature sign of the Sea of Dreams is due to the majority of the population being farmers who grow food for the largest human settlements with many crops being exported to the various other large capitals of the world.
Finally! With this mark, I can finally tell what Sea I'm in! Aaron thought while quickly bending down as close to the floorboards as he could get without falling into the pool with the corpse.
The marking on this man's head was that of a creature with many tentacles that was wrapped around a treasure chest that bore the symbol for shackles.
"It can't be...?" Aaron jumped back in shock.
Having been taught the marks of all habitable seas, he knew each marking with utmost certainty. A mythical creature with tentacles that were wrapped around a chest symbolizing shackles was the mark of one of the most vile and dangerous seas throughout the world.
It was the mark of the Sea of Chains, a sea that consists of pirates and criminals that not even the Sea Kings rule over. It was the sea that had previously sought to control all other seas through overwhelming force, only to be stopped by a coalition of five of the Sea Kings along with the person closest to achieving the status of Sea King.
This is... extremely bad. Aaron finally realized the severity of where he was; this was one of the most dangerous places on the planet, and he had been mysteriously transported here!
As thousands of thoughts flooded his mind, he suddenly heard a cracking sound coming from the floor.
Immediately, he looked down to where the body was floating, but the body had vanished without a trace!
"What the--" He stuttered in total confusion.
He quickly scanned the room, making sure nothing had changed yet. To his surprise, nothing had moved in any way, shape, or form, leading him to believe that something had taken the body when he wasn't looking, or it had sunk beneath the foggy water.
As he was thinking of grabbing a long stick from outside the town hall to see if he could try to test the depth of this little pool, a noise was heard from the door.
"Knock Knock"