Prologue: Sea of Thieves
"Yo ho! Yo ho! A pirate's life for me!"
"Captain! The water's comin' in too fast! We best be turnin' back while we still have a ship to sail!" A crew member cried out with a bucket tightly held in their hands. Their voice was barely audible amongst the booming thunderstorm and pouring rain.
Suddenly, a dark figure with a large stature appeared on the quarterdeck. They placed both hands over the wooden railings, leaning toward the one who cried out. "We dredgers do not turn back. And by the seven wonders, I'll be damned if a little rainwater has us turnin'. We sail forward! So lest you want to sleep with Davy Jones, keep bailing." The captain sneered, his red eyes being the only visible feature in the dark atmosphere.
The fellow pirate did not immediately go back to bailing. They looked shaken, almost too scared to move.
Then, a younger-looking, slightly shorter man approached the scene, standing by the captain's side. "Well? You heard the captain! Keep bailin' ya sea slug!" The younger man's shouting snapped the first pirate out of their fearful state, and they went back to bailing.
The younger man then received a pat on the back from the captain. "Taking command now, aye, Nicolas?"
Nicolas jolted to attention. "'Course not, Cap'n! Every sailor worth their coin knows ye be the only one fit to lead."
The captain let out a hearty laugh, and at the same time, lightning streaked across the thundering black sky. "No, no. That be good lass! We need a lad who ain't got a buncha barnacles for brains."
"I appreciate the praise, Cap'n. But if anyone deserves it, it'd be—" Nicolas stopped short, scanning the decks for something—or rather, someone. After spotting them, he patted the captain's arm. "Sorry cap, I'll be right back." Nicolas jumped over the quarterdeck railing and rushed across the main deck, passing other rugged men who were all drenched from the pouring rain.
He came to a stop next to a man who looked not only younger than him but also nearly identical. The man wasn't as burly or muscular as all the other crewmates, being rather lean for someone of his stature. Anyone would mistake him for a teen.
He struggled to get two buckets filled to the brim with rainwater up on the ship's ledge, spilling more than a few drops along the way.
It was only after the man dumped the contents of the buckets into the ocean that Nicolas spoke. "Sam! You always this slow, or has the water dampened yer socks?"
Sam gritted his teeth before tossing a bucket Nicolas's way, who swiftly caught it with ease. "Seems like you've got plenty of time to spare! Instead of watchin' me like a creep, get to bailing like the rest of us!"
"Ah, you know as well as I do an extra pair of hands won't change a thing. We'd need 'bout a hundred more men to bail a ship this big!"
"I know that. You know that. The whole damn crew knows that! The only one who doesn't is the captain!" Sam angrily tossed his bucket on the wooden floorboards before pointing at Nicolas. "I told ya to tell him to turn back! These are cursed waters!"
"Cursed waters? And ye know this how? This be our first time here!" Nicolas shook his head. "And anyway, ye know as well as I do that the captain won't listen to a word we say. Not outta I, and especially not outta them." He gestured to the rest of the crew. "Whatever he be after, he's very adamant 'bout gettin' it."
"If we keep goin', the only thing he'll be gettin' is a lungful of salt water!" Sam pointed to the open hatch at the center of the deck, which led to the lower decks. "Brook be sayin' the orlop has completely flooded. Even with all of us bailing, the rain is just comin' down too fast! At this rate, we'll be at the bottom of the ocean."
Right after Sam expressed his concerns, lightning struck the top of the crow's nest, igniting it in flames. This caused him to let out a guttural shout. "First, we enter that damned fog, blinding us so we can't tell port from starboard! Then, this blasted storm comes outta nowhere, threatening to sink us. And now, this! What's next?!"
"Whoa, don't be askin' that. Ye tryna pick a fight with Poseidon?" Nicolas bent down, picking up the bucket Sam threw. "Now, you go handle them flames 'for they spread and make our job ten times harder."
"Why I gotta do it?"
"Oh, I'm sorry Mr. Weak Arms. Would you like to lug around these heavy buckets?" Sam remained silent. "I didn't think so. Now go on, get." Nicolas gave Sam a dismissing wave, and the younger man stomped off, still angered over the whole situation.
Sam grabbed a smaller bucket, which was already halfway full from the rain. It should be enough to extinguish the flames. Then again...
Sam looked up, barely seeing the top of the crow's nest through the dense fog. With the flame's size, the nest resembled a torch—or some kind of makeshift lighthouse. "All this rain shoulda put the fire out by now." He said to himself, wondering how the flame hadn't been snuffed out the moment it started. Was he just wrong about how fire worked? Or were these waters really cursed? Most likely the latter.
Sam huffed and began his ascent up to the crow's nest. It was difficult climbing with one hand, but he made it work. That was until he reached about halfway up the mast; then the ship violently jerked to one side.
Sam dropped his bucket right onto another crewmate and lost his footing, now hanging on the side of the ladder with one arm. Looking down, he saw the other members tripping over themselves and slipping across the deck. It was like an earthquake had nailed their ship. "We made landfall?" Sam wondered. That could be the only explanation for why the ship lurched to one side like that. It was either that, or they bumped up against another ship of equal size. However, after securing himself back on the ladder and looking around, Sam saw nothing of the sort. He didn't see land either. Instead, he saw something much worse.
From the deep, a beast of impossible proportions rose from the side of the ship. Sam could see the beast's features clear as day, even with the fog. Its shape was similar to a sea snake, and its length probably matched that of the legendary world serpent. The monster's body was covered in blue scales with speckles of yellow spots dotted around it. Its white underbelly seemed softer than the rest of its body, but still much more durable than even their sharpest cutlasses.
"Oh my stars..." Sam gawked, feeling his breath get caught in his throat as the beast turned to look at him. Its large red eyes were as beaming as the captain's, acting like a spotlight.
Sam desperately wanted to believe his high-stress levels caused him to hallucinate this great beast. But when he heard the equally frightened gasps and shouts from the others below, he knew this creature, whatever it was, was real.
"JORMUNTIDE!" He heard the captain shout with primal anger. "BATTLESTATIONS!" The crew did not move in that instance. They were paralyzed with fear. This angered the captain further. "YE ALL BE DEAF? I SAID BATTLESTATIONS!" His second roar of a command quickly snapped the crew out of it. Whatever this monster was, their appearance was not nearly as terrifying as the captain's wrath.
Before Sam himself could snap out of it, Jormuntide—as the captain called it—let out a bellowing roar of its own. Had it not been for the thundering storm muffling out a portion of the roar, Sam was sure his eardrums would've burst.
Without warning, Jormuntide leaped over the ship, biting the top part of the mast that Sam was on. The mast did not snap; instead, the monster tilted the whole thing as it dove onto the other side of the ship, eventually breaking the mast at its base. After it broke off the ship, Jormuntide released the broken wood into the ocean with Sam still on it.
Something must've hit Sam's head along the way, as he felt his vision blur momentarily, followed by a nauseous, lightheaded feeling. "SAM!" He heard Nicolas yell, though a loud ringing noise muffled his voice. Soon after, Sam crashed into the waves below. Luckily, he managed to take a gulp of fresh air. Unfortunately, that was all he could do as he felt strength leaving his body, preventing him from swimming.
As his vision darkened, the last thing he saw was a silhouette breaking through the waves and swimming towards him... It looked like Nicolas.