Prologue 2

7 Years Ago

Timodrin Verich the Second stood on the boat he captained, looking out at water that was as dark as the pit of death. The rains were mild right now, but they had been enough to flood all of Orren, as if that swampland couldn't have any more water. The only source of light was a lighthouse about 5 miles out. The journey had been rough, and he was glad his decades of experience and gut instinct led him to wear simple grey trousers and a blue coat over white shirt. His boots, he laughed as he thought about the holes which let in a little water at the tips. It was definitely time for a new pair, though he had once gone a whole year with near constantly wet feet. The only reason they hadn't caused a disease was due to the excellent doctor he always had with him: Dr. Kaminko. He was surprisingly young for one so skilled, barely past 16. Strangely enough he always talked about building an even better boat than old Stormbreaker.

Timodrin shook his head and smiled, stepping up to the wheel and patting it fondly. Some thought ship captains were crazy to think of a ship as a living being, yet near death experiences tend to make a man change his mind on even the most fundamental level.

"Captain" said Jonnath, one of his three regular deck hands, who ran up with a looking glass in his hand held out to Timodrin as he spoke "Whale spotted port side about 3 miles out"

Timodrin took the looking glass and turned to his left as he held it to his eye. He didn't have to search for long before he saw it. He couldn't believe his eyes, so he blinked a few times and looked again.

There, a giant bright red whale, an astonishing 200 feet long, twice as long as his boat, had jumped in the air. Not as a whale normally would, half in half out, but the whole body now leaped like it was nothing.

Then he saw its enormous mouth open, and he heard the roar. It rattled his bones, he truly felt vibrations running down his body. The rain suddenly started to fountain down, he actually had to strain to keep standing. Then windfalls slammed into him left and right, mostly in front of him, forcing him to lean forward. Jonnath, bless the boy for sticking to his training and not being a brave fool, ran as hard as he could and went down into the cargo hold. There was no point in unfurling the sails now, if they even survived these winds they could take him anywhere, or nowhere.

Timodrin could not himself leave. He was scared whitless, but he couldn't back down. He had to be a brave fool himself to keep the men's courage up.

And he had to see what this beast would do next.

He didn't know how, he simply knew that this was all coming from that mighty bright red whale.

Thunders and lightnings hounded his ears and nearly blinded his eyes. He watched with stunned awe as a bolt of lightning literally shot right past him. He felt the aura of the bolt still moments after, coupled with a deafening thunder right after that made that ear shut down.

The beast roared again, and a tidal wave rose around it as it hung, suspended in the air.

The wave grew taller and taller. The beast itself was eclipsed by its height. It rose ever higher. 200 feet. 500 feet. It finally peaked at 1000 feet.

Yet the peak did not wane, it simply moved outward.

Outward and towards his ship.

The looking glass shattered on the deck as he dropped it. He didn't even notice a shard of glass that had landed in the boot hole and sliced past his toe.

He was doomed. He was surely doomed now.

This would be the one storm that Stormbreaker would lose to.

He took a deep breath and measured the distance. Based on its speed, it would be here in half a minute.

He ran to his cabin and slid this item or that trinket away or off the desk. He didn't care about any of that. Where was it?

Then he saw it. The letter.

He read it again, as short as it was:

"Dear my splendid captain,

I saw you from afar and felt ashamed.

I am a lady of the court, yet my memory did not recall until now.

We have met before and I wish to again.

Return safely so that I can finally receive that which you tried to give all those years ago

Your old sweetheart,

Darlea"

The winds and rains and thunder sounded outside, but it all got quiet in his head.

His hand shook as he held the letter dear to him. He had received that just before he left for this voyage. He wished to be with her. Darlea and he had grown up in the same town. She had lived in a mansion on a hill, but he was the mayor's son, so they had been allowed to spend time together.

Would he ever keep his promise? How could he? This storm was so strong, and he was only a man.

No. He couldn't give up. He had to live. He simply had to.

He tucked the letter in his water sealed belt pouch, and rushed out into the storm. He looked and saw the looming wave was only ten seconds away now. He couldn't crane his neck high enough to see the top.

He ran into the cargo hold, and after closing the hatch, he had the men quickly gather in a small circle. They had just enough time to strap themselves to the emergency drift wood. The five of them. Dr. Kaminko had just put on his right hand's strap when the boat was hit. The waters instantly broke through the boards of the boat. All around the ship he loved, Stormbreaker, was itself broken now.

Lightning struck the wood, somehow there was a little lightning within the wave. Fires broke out, which were immediately doused and the wood more easily destroyed. The last thing Timodrin knew was thunder rumbling in that distant, echoing way sound travels through water.

Then he blacked out