Disclaimer: Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas belongs to its respective owners. Nothing in this belongs to me except the stuff I make up.
Author's Note: Man, all these ship terms are hard to learn. Apologies for inaccuracies and the leaps of logic. Will amend them ASAP. Oh, and anastasios is apparently Greek for resurrection, for those who wanna know (not sure about this, though). This is a new fandom for me. Corrections are encouraged, as are reviews.Please no flames, though. Big thanks to my friend Angelie for her role as a fellow conspirator and consultant for this story. Bet she'll hate me for this later. o
Anastasios
By Fanficworm
Prologue: Glorious Chaos
The velvety fabric of space shimmered in the ethereal dome of infinity. Creatures made from diamond-like stars snapped and growled impatiently from their posts on the fabric as celestial fixtures, awaiting an opportunity to do something fun as they regarded the globe before them. A charcoal violet puff of smoke materialised in the room's centre, and they suddenly ceased movement in a mixture of respect, relief and fear. The puff of smoke reformed, first slowly and then faster, into the larger-than-life form of a very familiar person. And when the form's trademark black hair and flowing purple dress took shape, the globe itself before which she stood seemed to shrink back in apprehension. Eris, the goddess of chaos, had descended.
"Another day, another adventure," she said, grinning at the endless possibility for chaos that was the earth. With a flick of a finger she sent up into an unsuspecting boat a deadly wave. Her grin became a low bark of a laugh as she rejoiced in the loss of lives. "Another chance to wreak havoc upon the world." Upon closer examination of the new disaster she caused she found a woman being separated from her lover in all the commotion. Neither of them seemed too happy about it, screaming and crying as her little hand slipped away from his and she was forever lost to the mercy of the sea. Except the sea wasn't going to be showing any mercy, was it? Eris grinned. She would personally make sure of that. "Chaos," she purred. "Glorious chaos."
She stood back and admired her handiwork from days gone by. Wars, famines, racism, sexism and some deep-seated political tension. The world was going mad, and it was all because of her. She scanned the surface of the globe, not unlike a predator hungrily seeking prey. "What else can I do here? What more can I corrupt and taint and destroy and curse with some much-needed misery?" No sooner did she begin asking herself these questions did she spot it on the other side of the globe, much like she spotted it before those few years ago. There, in the open sea on its way back home, sailed a ship from Syracuse bearing the royal motif, and on that ship stood the crown prince of Syracuse himself. He stood there in that annoying happy look of his, admiring the view from the deck, his brown ponytail fluttering in the wind and his royal lips slightly curled upward in a dreamy smile as his stately black clothes swayed with the gentle sea breeze. "Ah," Eris said, smiling herself again. "Prince Proteus of Syracuse. Our paths cross again."
Cetus drifted from his post on the dome wall, seeking permission to again attack the ship. His tentacles twitched with impatience in the gossamer blackness as he awaited her orders, the stars making up his basic form shimmering like adamant with his movements. "No, Cetus. Not now." Eris batted him away, studying the prince all too closely now. "I have different plans for him this time around." Ignoring Cetus's sulking retreat to his position, she gleefully clapped her hands together to create some deafening thunder. Twirling her divine finger around in the now-darkening clouds in Proteus's vicinity, she turned her attention to him. "You may have done well before, little man, but let's see how you handle things without your friend Sinbad to save you."
The grin playing upon her lips widened ever so slightly. "Something tells me this is going to be a bit more interesting than our last little encounter."
Royal blue eyes shifted their focus from the ever-moving horizon to the suspiciously dimming sky overhead as a clap of thunder bellowed in the air. They narrowed in outright confusion, as just a few minutes ago the sky was alight and clear with the morning sun. Proteus frowned as he studied the clouds above his royal person. "Strange" was all he could manage to say of the whole thing, especially as rain that seemingly appeared out of nowhere began pelting mercilessly at the ship. A vicious wind howled around the woodwork and driving rain already formed puddles underfoot.
"Prince Proteus!" Tycho, a crewman, called from the fore topgallant mast. "Prince Proteus, you'll have to go inside! This storm's just going to get worse!"
"That's impossible!" he answered, still more confused than anything. "Storms can't come up this fast!" As if to undermine his point the rain poured harder on their backs, getting very close to giving them some painful bruising.
Through the thick veil of water threatening to overcome him and the brown hair clinging to his face, Proteus could make out Tycho looking up and studying the clouds as Proteus had before. "Tell that to the gods!"
The gods. Of course. Proteus had yet to forget Eris's last attempt to have him murdered. Sinbad literally saved his neck more than once that time, but to Proteus's ultimate misfortune Sinbad was sadly absent, probably off on some adventure with Marina in tow. Proteus's frown deepened and the infant wrinkles between his brows furrowed slightly deeper. He started towards his cabin when something prompted him to stop. A sharp metallic taste registered in his senses and the force of the rain lessened substantially, and Proteus stiffened in alarm. He willed his legs to move, but they took their sweet time.
Behind him came a deafening crash and the smell of burning wood, and instantly his fears were confirmed: the ship was struck by lightning. He turned and headed back, hoping to help those hurt by the crash. Before him now the peaceful blue of the sails slowly darkened to an ominous black before disintegrating and finally disappearing. Nothing the strangely powerful rain did could stop it. Some of the masts, formerly proud and tall, bent over double, ravaged by fire. The main mast in particular was the most affected, the flaming main topsail yard coming dangerously close to snapping off and impaling the guard beneath it, who seemed to be trapped by a fallen sail. Proteus had to do something. Throwing logic and caution into the wind he ran towards the direction of the fire to help the poor guard, ignoring Tycho's screams of protest from the as-of-yet unharmed fore topgallant mast.
What seemed an eternity later, Proteus reached the trapped guard only to find him laying on the ground motionless, deathly pale, eyes wide open and mouth agape in horror. Proteus shiverred, not just because he was soaked to the skin. "Died from the shock," he whispered. No one deserved a death like-
Snap!
"PRINCE PROTEUS, LOOK OUT!"
Proteus looked up too late to see the flaming yard, released from its support, shooting his way. His royal blue eyes widened, mirroring the widened eyes of the dead guard, before the yard struck him with its full force on the head and thrust him into the raging sea. A crash into the tempestuous waves, and then saltwater and pain assaulted his senses, and clutching to his remaining consciousness Proteus struggled to get his head above the foamy water to hold on to something buoyant. He took hold of the thing nearest to him: the very yard that hit him just a few moments ago, blackened by the fire and still searing hot to the touch. Unaware or simply uncaring of the scorching heat and pain it gave him when he touched it, he held on tight. And as he smelt the flesh on his face and arms slowly burning, his handsome eyes closed for what could be the last time, and the world turned black.
Later, in another part of the sea...
Lycou, true to his nickname of "Wolf", yawned something fierce that almost sounded like a wolf howl. He stretched out lazily on the termite-ridden crow's nest, keeping an eye out for Kratos or that crony of his Kleitos - they hated it when he stretched out on his post; said crap about it being "lazy" - or anything important he'd have to report. Though it didn't look like there was much to look at these days. Miles and miles of open sea and they'd only come across one ship to rob so far: a beat-up old thing that looked like it came from Syracuse. Sure, it had the royal emblems and all that stuff, but they had nothing of any real value for thieving pirates. Turned out they lost a lot during that freak storm a few days ago, including their entire main mast and their crown prince. Lycou smiled, exposing a his impressive canines as he did so. They didn't lose enough, though. The score he and the guys got from those highborns wasn't exactly good for retirement, but it was enough for now. Lucky thing Kratos was in a good mood that day or those highborn snobs who survived the storm would've been finished off. He chuckled to himself and looked out over the horizon. Yep, nothing whatsoever to look a-
He stopped in mid thought and sprung out of his relaxed position. Was that... a body holding on to a piece of driftwood? He leaned in closer to take a better look, almost toppling out of his spot as he did so. It... It was! And the guy looked alive! Better yet, he looked rich despite the fact his clothes were torn and roughed up a bit. Rich. Lycou's smile widened. If he'd known his wishes were coming true then maybe he should've been a bit more specific about what interesting thing to spot from the crow's nest. A great horde of gold was something that came to mind, a very attractive woman was another. He shouted down to the person nearest the floater. "THERON! HEY, THERON! LOOK OVER THE STARBOARD BOW! YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT IT IS!"