Davina Jones was on the floor. Her body was low, pressed against the blood-slick wood, her eyes those countless eyes that covered her flesh were beginning to show signs of fatigue. Her movements were slower. Her reactions were duller. The information that flooded her brain was becoming too much to process.
She blocked the attack of one pirate.
Her hand rose slower than before, weaker than before, less certain and met his blade. The steel clashed against her palm, cutting through the flesh, opening a wound that she had not been fast enough to avoid.
SHLIK!
A cut appeared in her palm.
Blood poured from the wound dark, thick, endless dripping onto the deck, mixing with the blood of the fallen, painting the wood a deeper red.
Her face was filled with pain.
She grimaced. Her teeth ground together. Her eyes all of them squinted with the effort of ignoring the agony.
The Black Ledger watched.
He sat in his chair, his black book open on his lap, his eyes fixed on the daughter of Davy Jones. He raised his hands and began to itch a side of his face his fingers scratching at the skin, tracing the lines of his jaw, feeling the satisfaction of a theory confirmed.
His eyes gleamed.
They held a pure expression of one knowing what will come next like a man who bet on a horse in a horse race, a man who knows his horse is going to win.
Davina Jones grew weaker.
Her breathing was ragged. Her movements were sloppy. Her eyes the ones that had been so sharp, so alert were beginning to dim.
One of the pirates noticed her weakness.
His eyes lit up. His mouth opened. Saliva poured out of his mouth like drool thick, yellow, uncontrolled as he shouted with the joy of discovery.
"I DREW BLOOD!"
His voice echoed across the deck.
"I DREW BLOOD FROM HER!"
The pirates that had suffered damage the ones whose bodies were broken, whose weapons were lost, whose hope had been fading heard his shout. Their faces twisted into smiles. Their eyes burned with renewed hatred.
The ones that were attacking began to laugh.
"HAHAHAHA!"
The sound was horrible a chorus of joy that should not exist, a celebration of suffering that was pure, absolute, terrible.
Then at once, they started a full-on attack.
Stabbing.
Slashing.
Cutting.
Thrusting.
They came from all directions blades flashing, bodies pressing, death descending. She was no longer able to dodge anymore. Her body was too slow. Her mind was too tired. Her eyes the ones that had given her so much advantage were failing her.
The eyes that she had on her hands started to look different.
Blood began to pour from them dark, thick, uncontrollable and they lost their colours. The irises faded. The pupils dilated. The sight that had once been so clear was now clouded.
The Black Ledger spoke.
"Though not how I perceived it..." His voice was calm, almost satisfied. "...it is happening."
He leaned forward.
"Now..." He smiled. "Make your move, Davina Jones."
He looked at her men at the pirates who were still fighting, who were dieing, who were struggling to protect their captain.
"Your men are occupied." His voice hardened. "And cannot defend themselves."
He chuckled.
"As they are dieing."
Now more pirates were filled with joy.
Their numbers swelled. Their confidence grew. Their hunger for blood intensified.
Multiple pirates began to attack her at once, using multiple weapons cutlasses, daggers, axes, whatever they could find. The ones whose weapons were broken switched to broken floorboards sharp, jagged, deadly as they targeted her eyes and weak parts of her body.
Her right-hand man, Brody, shouted from the other side of the ship.
His voice cut through the chaos.
"CAPTAIN!"
He was fighting desperately, ferociously, hopelessly his tall, thin body weaving through the enemy lines. A pirate's blade cut through his arm SHLIK! severing it at the elbow, sending the limb spinning through the air.
His arm was cut off.
But he felt no pain.
His face pale, hollow, sickly did not twist. His eyes bright, fierce, alive did not waver.
He turned back immediately.
His remaining hand reached for the wound, grabbed the stump, squeezed the flesh. Blood poured from the severed limb thick, dark, endless and he threw it at his enemy.
SPLAT!
The blood splashed across the pirate's face blinding him, choking him, distracting him. Brody used the moment to lunge forward, his body colliding with the pirate's, slamming him against the railing, sending them both tumbling into the sea.
The fight continued.
Brody's sacrifice was not enough. The pirates pressed forward, their numbers overwhelming, their blades relentless. Davina Jones fought on dodging, blocking, countering but her body was failing. Her movements were slower. Her strikes were weaker. Her eyes were closing.
The floor boards of the ship began to crack under the weight of the battle.
Wood splintered. Nails popped. The deck groaned as if it could no longer bear the weight of the violence that was being done upon it.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The entire floor board of the ship broke.
CRAAAAAAAAASH!
The deck collapsed splitting open, swallowing the combatants, sending them plummeting into the dark part of the ship. Pirates and Davina Jones alike fell their bodies tumbling through the darkness, crashing against beams and barrels and each other.
She hit the bottom.
The darkness was absolute thick, heavy, suffocating. The wood was cold. The air was still. The sounds of battle were distant.
Davina Jones lay on the floor of the ship's hold.
Her body was broken. Her eyes were bleeding. Her will was nearly spent.
But she was not done.
She transformed.
Her hands shifted stretching, swelling, growing becoming something other than flesh. The skin turned dark, slick, rubbery. The fingers merged into tendrils. The palms became suckers.
Her hands turned into gigantic tentacles.
WHAM!
The tentacles slammed against the walls of the hold shattering wood, scattering debris, crushing the bodies of the pirates like powder. The flesh squished under the pressure. The bones cracked. The blood sprayed.
She breathed fire.
Flames erupted from her mouth scorching the darkness, illuminating the chaos, burning everything in their path. The fire licked at the wooden walls, consumed the bodies of the fallen, turned the hold into a furnace.
And acid.
A green, hissing liquid poured from her throat melting through wood, dissolving flesh, eating through everything it touched. The acid sizzled and smoked, eating its way through the floor, opening a hole into the sea below.
She let out a roar.
The sound was deafening primal, ancient, terrible and even the Black Ledger, watching from above, was forced to cover his ears.
The Black Ledger smiled.
"Yes." His voice was barely audible over the roar. "Yes."
He leaned forward, his eyes glowing with excitement.
"Show me the power of a monster." His voice hardened. "Show me your anatomy."
Davina Jones, now in the dark bottom of the ship, used the blood that flowed through her veins.
The blood of a man who conquered all sea and beast.
The blood of DAVY JONES.
in the space between the monster's rage and the observer's hunger, between the tentacles that crushed and the power that was only beginning to unleash.
Davina roared.
The Black Ledger watched.
And the darkness burned