Salt and Blood [A Pirate LitRPG]

Nothing is darker or colder than the depths of the ocean. The creatures who have evolved to survive there are some of the most terrifying, eerie beasts to exist in this world. Those who can venture down and return to tell the tale are the hardest sons of bitches I know

-Quoted from Kalamir Icefinger

Rose's memory was splintered. One moment she was awake, acrid smoke and the clang of steel assaulting her. Then darkness.

Ice and fire consumed her in alternating waves. Burning flesh, stinging pain. Shivering cold, ice in her veins.

She heard splashes, whether they were whorls or sounds of the world around her was unknown. In her half-dreaming fugue, she wondered what had become of her allies.

With the death of the rear admiral, they had a chance to survive. However, the numbers weren't on their side. What had happened in those final moments?

She only remembered raising a cutlass, charging to her death against two enraged commodores. Everything was blurry after that, broken.

So much pain.

It was proof she was still alive. A sudden sting as something cold and wet splashed over her. Then, relief. A gentle impact ran through her body and against her back.

Bobbing up and down. Faint voices above her. They sounded as if they were underwater, a hundred miles away.

Something deep inside Rose compelled her to shatter the mist. Her eyes snapped open, every nerve in her body screaming in protest against her actions.

She saw familiar faces around her. Bloodshot eyes, bleeding limbs. They were on board the ship. Pillars of smoke rose into the sky, flaming rubble tumbling down the cliffs of Eastfel Bay above.

They had succeeded. Her eyes shut and she stumbled, face smashing into the deck. Hot, warm blood gushed from her nose over her lips and chin.

Rose ignored the fresh pain. It was barely a drop in the bucket compared to what was already ravaging her with each step. Her hands gripped the metal railings, salty sea spray kissing her wounds.

It burned, but at the same time brought her immense comfort. Her eyes shut again. Even remaining conscious was a battle.

More splashes.

Rose couldn't read the words. Too much effort. She realised what her body was telling her. The waves swelled up and down as the engines whirred to life, pushing the ship out to sea.

Rose took a deep breath, her lungs screaming against her efforts. Then, she threw herself over the side of the ship, ignoring the shouts of shock and surprise behind her.

***

Sylack watched as his daughter fought to the edge of death. He felt her pain, her desperation. He felt her rejection of his power, pushing against the blessing he'd bestowed upon her.

It wasn't an outright denial, more of a rebellion. She wanted to prove herself without any external help. How very childish.

The feelings were unfamiliar to him. It was his first time having a child. Curse that damn woman, giving me terrible ideas.

Whether she lived or died didn't bother him much. After all, everything that came from the ocean would return to it in death. No, what bothered him was her frustrating behaviour.

The girl threw herself into chaos and death every chance she had, yet she refused to use all the tools at her disposal to emerge unscathed. Why had she taken the blessing if she wasn't going to use it?

His fishing rod bobbed in the endless ocean that he sat watching over. A splash, a drop of crimson.

He smiled, a face more ancient than time stretching into a satisfied smirk. Finally. He yanked on the rod, pulling a flaming fish from the water.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

It fell into his hands, struggling and fighting against his gentle, calloused grip. "Such a feisty one," he chuckled, rubbing a finger along the fish's spine.

The fish was covered in cracks, from which salt and fire bled. Its struggles only served to make the wounds worse, more of its lifeblood streaming away.

"Why do you struggle to escape that which is part of you? You've already taken the first step, now let it guide you," he said, pricking his finger.

A drop of azure-gold blood beaded from the wound. It dripped through the air, splashing against the flaming fish.

The fish went wild, flapping and fighting as the power of the droplet coursed through it. The cracks flashed gold and crimson. Sylack chuckled as he tossed the fish back into the ocean, watching as it raced into the distance.

With every flap of its tail, the cracks closed, the flames turning from raging red to a gentle gold. "Now, it's time to pay her a visit. She cursed me to this, so it's only proper that she offers a hand," the ancient god muttered to himself, standing up on the rock in the middle of an endless ocean.

***

"Did she just throw herself overboard?" Daniel exclaimed, jaw hanging open in shock.

"Unless this is all a dream, then yes," Everyn replied, equally stupefied.

The two youths stood at the railings of the ship, gazing into the choppy waves. The final battle had been intense.

Only two-thirds of the soldiers who'd set sail had returned to the ship. Those who had were all wounded to various degrees. Quite a few might not survive the journey home.

It was lucky that the ship had come stocked with advanced medicine from Minenblum. Daniel's head was bandaged, covering a nasty gash he'd sustained from his dramatic arrival at the fortress.

From what Commander Axel had told him, his explosive entrance had saved Rose and the two men from death, but also nearly killed them all. I need to figure out how to direct the explosive forces better, he mused, more worried about how to improve his explosives than anything else.

"Should we stop the ship? Send someone to get her? Won't she drown? I mean, she could barely stand," Daniel spluttered, the questions leaving his mouth the moment they appeared in his mind.

"We can't stop the ship. The smoke is visible for miles. They've probably already sent reinforcements. If we turn around we might not make it home," Everyn said, rubbing his chin.

"I'm sure she knows what she's doing," Jason said, approaching the pair from behind. "When has she ever let us down?"

"When she beat us bloody for a week without a shred of remorse," Daniel immediately retorted.

"Aren't you still alive?" Jason snorted.

Daniel glared at him, but he couldn't argue with facts. Rose might have trained them ruthlessly but it had given them the strength to not only survive, but for the first time deliver a blow against an opponent far stronger than them.

"Let's hope she is, too. It would be a shame for the mastermind of this decisive attack to fall before we can celebrate our victory," Everyn said with a sigh.

***

While the boys were discussing her apparent demise on deck, Rose was sinking into the depths of the sea. Unlike on board, where her consciousness flickered between strained awake and half-dead, she was utterly relaxed.

The moment she'd crashed into the waves, she felt a comforting warmth embracing her. She hadn't wanted to draw on her blessing during the battle, but the sea was still more of a home to her than the Emerlan Isle.

Her burnt flesh burned harder in the stinging salt, but the pain wiped away the damage, the warmth repairing her body. Pale skin, almost translucent, formed across her rejuvenated muscles.

She felt a familiar surge of power from her core. Divine energy. She almost cursed Sylack, before realising that the source of the energy was her own body.

As she absorbed the energy in the ocean around her, it travelled towards her core, where most of it became arcane energy and cycled through her circuits. Each time she did so, a single droplet would be condensed a little more than the rest, taking on a golden hue as it transformed.

Well, that's new, was all she managed to think. The overwhelming mental fatigue wasn't so easily washed away as the physical wounds were.

She saw flaming streaks lighting up the darkness as burning chunks of rubble fell from the city above. Fish and other marine predators darted about, feeding on the corpses while avoiding the destructive rubble.

Death brings life, life brings death. It was the endless cycle of the ocean. Rose smiled as she watched them feed. She felt the unspoken connection between herself and every creature around her.

If she so desired, she could call upon them, imposing her will. However, she had no need or want to do such a thing. Right now she was only an observer.

Watching the droplets of divine energy bursting and filling her body with strength, healing her wounds, she realised why her mind had forced her overboard.

All this time, she'd been subtly rejecting the power of her blessing. She hadn't wanted to rely on external sources of strength as she forged her legend. However, Rose wasn't like other people.

She wasn't some random person who'd received a blessing from a god or goddess, borrowing that divine power for themselves. She was the daughter of a god.

This power was hers to command. To create. To wield the way she wielded a blade. The moment she realised that, the energy around her surged into her body.

When the first bone broke, Rose cursed the fact that every breakthrough required so much pain. Only through blood can you forge a legend.