On the raging waters of the Aegean sea, a trireme was struggling to stay afloat. The storm was cruel and unforgiving, beating the poor ship with powerful gales and heavy waves. 5 crewmates were already swept by these tides and the rest were losing hope of ever passing this storm.
The only one aboard who still kept a straight face was none other than the captain himself. He was a proud man who used to be a member of the navy and spent the majority of his youth sailing the ocean. From the calmest of waters to the deadliest of hurricanes, this man had seen it all. So to him, this was just another storm he had to face. Though, he couldn’t shake off this strange feeling he had with this particular tempest.
But as a man of the sea, he couldn’t think about it now. He had a crew to take care of, and their lives took priority at this moment.
Another wave was heading towards their ship, one large enough to capsize them if they didn’t get away in time. Taking the wheel, the captain began to steer the ship, hard a-starboard, as fast as he could. He ordered his men to pull the sails in the direction of the wind so that they could get some more speed. The wave came closer and closer to the trireme, ready to crush it beneath its weight. But in the nick of time, the boat managed to escape in the nick of time. The wave crashed back into the sea, causing a large torrent of water to spray into the air and onto the already soaked ship.
The Captain breathed a sigh of relief as he and his men barely escaped death. But he knew that he couldn’t rest now, and continued to steer the ship while barking orders to his surviving men.
The storm began to rage on until the evening before everything finally calmed down. The crew was now having a hardy dinner of ham and honey-mead. These items were special cargo for a royal coronation taking place in Serifos, so normally the captain would tell his men not to touch such items. But with the life-threatening storm that had just taken place, the captain knew his men needed something to raise their spirits. The captain was a smart man, and just took enough of the cargo to keep his men happy. They were still professionals, and so they needed to keep their products in pristine condition.
“Oi, Captain!” A cabin boy with a cup of mead approached the captain with a wobbly gait. “Ya aven’t touched ya mead sir! Not thirsty?”
The captain turned to face the drunken apprentice. “No… I just have a lot on my mind at the moment.”
“th’king avot ar los gomrads?” A plump sailor muttered with a mouthful of ham.
“Aw lighten’ up cap!” A tall and stringy sailor approached. “It’s why you told us to dig in the first place right?”
“True.” The captain sighed. “But I couldn’t shake this strange feeling about today’s storm…”
“Somethin’ wrong?” The tall sailor’s interest peaked as he took a seat next to the captain. “Well, spit it out then. Get it out of ya system cap!”
The cabin boy and plump sailor nodded in agreement. Peer pressure made the captain give in, and he sighed.
“I suppose I might just be crazy, but that storm just didn’t feel normal.” The Captain explained. “Something about it just felt wrong…”
“Dere a right way for how Poseidon, gets ‘is kicks?” The cabin boy joked. The tall and plump sailor chuckled at his remark.
“I wouldn’t say there was a right way for anything the Sea God does.” The captain replied. “It just felt like Poseidon was in a really bad mood. More than usual, I might add…”
As a man of the sea, he was a follower of the Olympian known as Poseidon. It was mandatory to pray to him if you were to step into his domain. Those that don’t would face his wrath at sea and meet a watery grave. The storms caused by the ocean were connected to his emotions, after all, so if a single person angered Poseidon, a storm like before would immediately appear and wreak havoc on the heretic.
Unfortunately, these storms were indiscriminate. So while he and his crew did no wrong, they would still get swept in and face the brunt of the Olympian’s Wrath.
“Ah, so ya just concerned about the bloke that had the bright idea to piss off the God of the Sea?” The tall guy rested his head on his hand. “Well, I definitely think he’s dead.”
“Chuu shaid it!” The plump sailor said with a full mouth. “ Any blok dum enaff ta do dat, wood drow!”
“Sailor’s code, no. 1” The cabin boy raised his finger. “Ya must swear allegiance to Poseidon, lest ye meet a watery grave!”
“That’s why I’m concerned.” The captain looked at his fellow compatriots. “I have traveled the Aegean sea for as long as I can remember, and I have seen many typhoons like today. But this particular storm caught me off guard because… we weren’t even close to the eye of it. In fact, we were literally at the edge and we almost got killed!”
The captain’s word spoke truth for they were at the boundary of the cyclone, and the weather was enough to nearly decimate them. In most storms, this type of damage could only be seen at the epicenter. But the fact that they were barely hanging on just at the edge, spoke horrors at what would happen if they went further. This news knocked some of the drunkenness out of his crew. But they decided to play it off, seeing as how this whole event was to boost morale, not kill it.
“Well, all the more reason why we should be relieved that we’re not the ones in da middle of dat right?” The plump man finally swallowed his fill and began to talk normally.
“Dey ar’ definitely dead. No way in Hades would they have survived the eye of dat storm!” The cabin boy remarked.
“So we should just be glad that we’re the one’s still kickin’. Right boss?” The tall sailor declared.
With a solemn sigh, the Captain nodded his head before finally taking a swig of his mug. “Perhaps you’re right…”
The captain wanted to assume that whoever earned the ire of the Sea God got their just desserts. But even as he joined the festivities, he couldn’t shake off this horrible feeling he had in his gut.
Living at sea has made him hone his instincts for these kinds of disasters. A sixth sense, for the ocean. He wanted to trust these instincts, but he had a job to do. So he had to assume that whatever he was feeling was all in his head.
The Next Morning, the Captain came out of his quarters and began his daily patrol of the deck. They lost a good number of men yesterday, so the rest of the crew scrambled to get everything in order. He took a deep breath of salty fresh air and scanned the horizon for any signs of yesterday’s storm. Whether it was from the stress of losing his comrades or from the hangover from last night’s party, he was suffering a huge migraine. But as a man of the sea, he had to remain vigilant even in calmer waters.
“Captain!” His cabin boy called from the front of the ship. “I just spotted some debris, just off the horizon!”
‘It must be a wreck from yesterday’s disaster…’ The captain thought to himself. “Do you see any survivors?”
“Not at this distance, sir!” The cabin boy replied. “But I do spy some barrels floating about! Might be some leftover cargo!”
“Well, then you know what we have to do.” The captain pointed in the direction where the cargo was spotted. “Salvage any remnants from the destroyed vessel and take it aboard!”
And so the trireme headed towards the nearby wreckage, just as the captain ordered. When they arrived, bits and pieces of driftwood floated about and a couple of barrels were floating on the surface. But no survivors in sight.
“Ya think there might be some extra mead in there sir?” The tall sailor asked.
“Might be just fish.” The plump sailor replied. “I reckon this ship might’ve been a small fishing vessel before it got crushed.”
“Well, whatever it is, we have to bring it aboard.” The captain approached the two sailors. “All cargo is precious in these waters and leaving some out here like this would be a waste. So quit lollygagging and get those nets.”
“Aye Aye Captain!” The two sailors saluted their leader before getting the fishing nets. Throwing the nets out, the men fished out the barrels and pulled them aboard.
“Quite a haul, we got captain!” The tall sailor lifted up a barrel and shook its contents. “I feel we got some fruit in this one!”
“That sure is a rare find!” The plump sailor chuckled. “That stuff spoils fast out here in the blue.”
“The fella of this ship must not have realized it!” The cabin boy noted. “Fella must not have been sea-worthy if that’s the case.”
“Indeed.” The captain nodded as he began to help his crew pull the remaining barrels aboard.
This went on for 10 minutes when the last barrel was finally on the ship. This barrel seemed to be a lot heavier than the other ones, so the crew assumed that it must have had some valuable cargo.
“I can’t seem to tell what might be inside from just shaking its cap!” The Tall sailor remarked. “Doesn’t feel like ordinary cargo.”
“Then should we open it, sir?” The cabin boy looked toward his captain.
“Certainly.” The captain nodded. “Though we should be careful not to damage whatever is inside.”
“You can leave it to me, boss!” The plump sailor saluted the captain before approaching the barrel with a knife.
The captain looked at the barrel with much scrutiny. Whether it was from paranoia or instinct, the captain’s bad feeling seemed to have worsened after pulling the last piece of cargo aboard.
And that bad feeling only got worse when a hand burst from the barrel and grabbed the Plump Sailor’s face. The crew were all but flabbergasted as a man slowly emerged from the cask and lifted their fat compatriot.
The newcomer was a tall muscular man, 6 ft in height. He had a light tan complexion and wore little to no clothing other than several bandages covering his limbs and a loincloth to cover his groin. What’s even stranger was the iron corinthian helm adorned upon his head, leaving his facial features hidden to all those aboard.
The captain took one look at him and realized that he could be dangerous. So sparing no hesitation, he ran to the fishing spears at the back of the boat to try and save his compatriot. But before he could pull off his daring rescue mission, the masked man shortly collapsed. The plump sailor took deep breaths after his neck was freed, and the rest of the crew remained silent for what seemed like an eternity. The captain, who just retrieved a fishing spear, looked at the fallen man before walking up to him.
“... He’s still breathing.” The captain noted as he spotted the silent movement of the man’s chest. The captain then turned to his crew and barked out a single order. “Well, what are you waiting for? Go and bring him to the infirmary!”
“Is that really alright Cap?” The tall sailor scratched the back of his head. “He seems dangerous.”
The crew was in silent agreement but the captain shook his head. “Sailor’s Code no. 5, all sailors are to rescue any survivors they find at sea. So even though he could spell trouble, we are to follow this conduct. Understand?”
The crew grouchily but unanimously agreed with the captain’s words. They were men of the sea, so they had to follow these rules lest they suffer Poseidon’s Wrath. So quickly but carefully, the crew dragged the unconscious stranger to the bottom deck.
The captain looked on as the mysterious newcomer was brought away. He had been at sea for years and had a good eye for trouble. So he knew right away, that whoever this guy is, was going to be a problem. But as a man of the sea, he had to follow the rules, even if it could spell doom for his ship.
“Who was that man?” He muttered.
He could only hope that his current assumptions about this stranger were wrong.
