The water sloshed as the ketch sailed through it. The fastest ship in the sea, the Flying Seagull. Jack steered his ship further out into the water away from the land and closer to the dark sea. It felt great, the sea breeze in his hair and the beautiful sunlight streaming from above. Even the threat of a storm did not deter his fun. What was life without being a little carefree at times?
Jack’s peace was cut short when he saw a body in the water. A young boy hanging on to a few planks. A castaway. Jack sighed, “Now what happened to this young one?” He closed the sails and dropped anchor nearby before pouring shark repellent into the water. He hopped in and swam over to the young boy.
The boy looked at him and smiled, “An angel?”
Jack chuckled while treading water looking at his own white hair and white clothing, “No, not an angel, just someone looking for fun. Now let’s get you on the Flying Seagull.”
Jack dragged the boy back to the ship before climbing up with him and setting him down. The boy had fallen unconscious so Jack set the Ketch’s sails and sailed deeper into the sea. He didn’t plan on returning even with a castaway on board. The boy could wait.
It didn’t take long for him to forget the boy was onboard. He sailed into the edges of the dark sea and the fins on his boat caught the wind. The boat rose out of the water to begin sailing through the wind tossed magic seas. The ship flew above the water, the fins granting thrust and the darksea’s winds granting lift.
“Where are we, angel?” the boy asked.
Jack jumped a full three meters into the air, “Oh Vetex, I forgot you were on board. You nearly gave me a heart attack.” He then pulled out a yellow potion, “Drink this, once we get into the more dangerous portions of the sea it’ll help. Also I recommend tying yourself down, if you fall off I’m not heading back for you.”
The boy drank the potion of warding before talking again, “So how does the ship fly?” He looked over and saw them touch the top of a 15-foot wave with ease.
“Oh, yea. The fins. I saw a fish do it once and decided to try and copy it for my boat. Low and behold it worked and now I have the fastest boat in the War Seas.” Jack took a second to change the sail’s direction and rode on the top of a wave for a bit before turning away behind the wave.
“So, a flying fish. That seems ridiculous.” the boy said.
“You’re right. The fish was kind’ve small and I watched a seagull pluck the fish out of the sky. Fish weren’t meant to fly.”
“You seem friendly. Do you use light magic?”
Jack paused at the question. HE turned and looked at the kid before answering, “Well I wish I did. Actually I -,” Jack was cut off as one of the fins touched something other than water. The entire ketch tilted and the boy looked like he was flying.
Jack grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled him back before he could go flying into the sea. The boy grabbed the slick wooden railing, shivering in fear. Jack turned around to look at what they hit, he wished he hadn’t. A giant shape was moving under the water tailing the boat, probably hoping to snatch the ketch when it touched the water.
Jack finally sighed, even if he didn’t like it, it was useful. The entire ship suddenly became encased in shadow as Jack released magical energy to cloak it. He turned and began heading back to the War Seas. He’d return the boy to society and head out into the dark sea to search again the next day. The shape was thrashing out to see flinging waves of water trying to find the Flying Seagull.
“This place is scary,” the boy said, regaining his speech.
“Yes. Its no place for castaways.” Was Jack’s only response as sunlight fell onto the seagull again. The wind lessend and the boat settled back into the water, the fins submerged and hidden underneath.
It wasn’t long before the island of Ravena came into sight. The boy thanked him for rescuing him before heading off. Jack smiled, he didn’t care about any reward, the boy’s smile was enough for him.
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