Sea Journey
Chapter 7 Visions
By: Major144
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. This is just a story for fun.
Moana stood next to a palm tree and looked out at the sea. She along with her pet pig Pua had tried journeying past the island reef in a small boat to see if they could catch more fish and had been met with some rough waters that had overturned their little boat and had forced the duo to swim back to shore. It had been an unpleasant experience, but Moana was undeterred by this. She was determined to go out to to sea and explore it. All she needed was a better boat to do it. As Moana thought about how she would build a better and bigger boat, she noticed some small black specs float down in front of her. She looked up in confusion to see that the palm tree next to her was turning black and decaying rapidly in front of her very eyes!
"What the?!" Cried Moana in shock looking up at the tree, before she turned her eyes back to the ocean.
The ocean was now a eerie red with multiple bodies laying face down and bobbing in it. Moana stared at the bodies in shock. Some of the bodies appeared to be women with fishtails, while the others appeared to be both male and female, but appeared to have blue skin or green skin. None of the bodies were human. Moana recognized them from the description from her grandmother's stories, they were mermaids and krakens!
As Moana tried to figure out what was going on the water further out exploded as two gigantic figures rose out of the water roaring at each other! One appeared to be a giant kraken, while the other looked like some kind of monstrous giant mermaid with long silvery-white hair that resembled water and was armed with a enormous black trident with green glowing runes on it. The two giants circled each other and then they each threw a punch. Their fists collided with each other and it sounded like thunder! The force of the blow knocked the two fighters back and the giant mermaid pointed her trident and fired a energy blast from it as the giant kraken fired beams of energy from their eyes. There was a explosion and blinding flash that forced Moana to look away.
As Moana looked away she was met by the sight of the island being devoured by darkness and the sight of her parents desperately running away in fear. Moana watched in horror as her parents fell to the ground and the darkness began to overtake them. Tui and Sina looked at their daughter with fear in their eyes.
"Moana!" Cried Tui before he and Sina were completely engulfed by the darkness.
"Nnnnnnnoooooooo!" Cried Moana as she suddenly awoke in her family's hut in a cold sweat.
Moana breathed hard as she looked around the hut. The whole thing had been just a nightmare, but Moana's nightmares had never been that bad or related to the blight that her island and people were currently going through. Moana thought the nightmare might be a warning of some kind, so she grabbed a torch and set out to find her grandmother.
Moana found Gramma Tala by the beach her feet a few feet deep in the water as she did a dance with some manta rays gently circling as if they were dancing. Moana was captivated by the strange and beautiful sight and she didn't say a word as she simply stood and watched. A few minutes later the manta rays stopped circling and headed into the ocean and Tala stopped dancing and turned to face Moana with a smile on her face.
"Hello Moana you enjoyed the show." Said Tala.
"I did." Said Moana.
"When I die, I'm going to come back as one of those manta rays. Or I chose the wrong tattoo." Said Tala indicating the manta ray tattoo she had on her body.
"That would be nice." Admitted Moana.
"So what brings you here?" Asked Tala sensing something was bother Moana as she walked onto the beach.
Moana told Tala her dream and a serious and thoughtful experience appeared on Tala's face.
"What do you think it all means?" Asked Moana.
"It sounds like a omen of things to come if action is not taken. Come I need to show you something." Said Tala picking up her walking stick.
Tala lead Moana towards a cave Moana had never seen before.
"What's is this place?" Asked Moana.
"A place to store our people's history. Tell me Moana do you believe our ancestors have always lived on Motunui?" Said Tala.
"Um...I never thought about it." Said Moana.
"Go inside, bang the drum, and you find some answers about our people." Said Tala.
Moana took a deep breath and headed inside the cave. She walked until, she found herself in a large cavern and was met by the sight of some large boats a few feet from some water that lead out of a cave and into the ocean. The boats were much larger then the regular fishing boats of the village and looked like they had been there for quite some time. Moana studied the boats and then her eyes landed on a large flat drum with a small club next to it. She grabbed the club and gave the drum a bang. The sound echoed through the cave and the next thing, Moana knew she was having a vision, but unlike the nightmare she had this was a pleasant vision and it showed her the boats before her sailing across the ocean with people on them singing happily. Then Moana saw mermaids leaping alongside the boats singing along with the humans and a couple of boats was having trouble keeping up with the rest, until some human sized krakens appeared to help pull it along and then a giant kraken appeared picking up a boat that was dead last and carrying it along in it's giant hands to place close to the other boats. All the humans, mermaids, and krakens were working together in harmony. Moana then realized that what she was seeing was the past and the people on the boats were her ancestors.
"We were voyagers! We were Voyagers! We were friends with the mermaids and krakens!" Said Moana in excitement as she found herself back in the cave and ran to tell Tala.
"You saw the past." Said Tala with a smile.
"I did! It was incredible! We were voyagers! Why did we stop?" Said Moana.
"Maui happened. When he stole from the Mother Island, darkness fell. Te Kā awoke. Monsters lurked and boats stopped coming back. The mermaids and krakens blamed each other for the theft and turned on one another leaving us unprotected. To protect our people, the ancient chiefs forbid voyaging. And now we have forgotten who we are. And the darkness has continue to spread, chasing away our fish, draining the life from island after island." Said Tala as she lead Moana down to the beach to point at some dark lines that appeared to be sticking out of the water and touching the island.
The sight sent a shiver down Moana's spine.
"Our island?" Asked Moana in fear.
"But one day, someone will journey beyond our reef, find Maui, deliver him across the great ocean to bring peace between the mermaids and the krakens, restore the heart of Te Fiti, and bring balance to the world." Said Tala.
"Who is it?" Asked Moana.
"That someone is you Moana. The ocean chose you for this task along time ago, when you were barely more then a babe." Said Tala with a smile.
"Me?" Asked Moana.
"You. I was there that day to witness it. You protected a baby sea turtle from birds as it went into the ocean and the ocean saw what you did and chose you. Of course you were too young to go, so I told the ocean to wait." Said Tala offering a hand to the ocean.
A tentacle-like appendage made out of water rose from the ocean and went over to Tala and dropped a small green glowing stone into Tala's hand. Moana stared at the water appendage in awe and wonder as it gave her a little wave. Tala handed Moana the stone and she realized she was holding the heart of Te Fiti.
"Destiny has chosen you Moana and you must heed the call. You must find Maui." Said Tala.
"Where would...I find him?" Asked Moana.
"Our ancestors believed Maui lies there at the bottom of his hook. Follow it and you will find him." Said Tala pointing up at some stars in the night sky that had taken on the shape of a large hook.
Moana wondered why she had never noticed that constellation, until now.
"But... Why'd the ocean choose me? I don't even know how to make it past the reef. But I know who does. Father and the villagers are more qualified to sail then me. I need to tell them what's going on." Said Moana.
"There is no harm in telling them or asking for help. As for why the ocean chose you, it saw a selfless and brave person, who wishes to explore the world. Your first outing on the ocean may not have gone well, but that was due to the boat you were using, it wasn't meant to go out into the ocean. Now you have a proper boat you can use. Now go speak to your father and the others. I believe they are having a meeting about the problems are island is dealing with." Said Tula.
"Thank you gramma." Said Moana as she ran back to the village.
"That girl is brave, but she still one person and the task ahead of her is great. I pray my son and the others villagers will listen to Moana and aid her, but I fear they will not. I would go with her, but...I fear my time is coming to an end and my old bones wouldn't be too much help out there." Said Tala looking at the ocean.
The ocean patted Tala's shoulder.
"I know you will help Moana, but I worry about her dealing with Maui, that trickster could steal the heart and run off with it, plus there are monsters and other dangers roaming the sea, and there's Te Kā to consider, I doubt she'll just let the heart be restored." Said Tala looking a little worried.
The ocean looked at Tala and then it began to form a couple of odd humanoid shapes on the front of the water appendage. Tala studied the shapes with interest.
"Oh, you're saying Moana will not be alone of her journey. There are others tied to her destiny. Well that helps put my mind to ease. I don't know who these others are, but if you chose them then that's good enough for me." Said Tala relaxing a little.
The ocean's water appendage laid it's self on Tala's shoulder as if to assure her everything was going to be alright before receding into the water. Tala smiled and turned to head back to the village.
"Destiny is a funny thing." Thought Tala.
To be continued.