Scav's Redemption

Scav's Redemption

rating: +10+x

Scav's Redemption

True Treasure

Preface

With the countless adventurers and crews that venture the many legendary seas of Thalasso, it is a given that some would write down their stories. Some write exaggerated tales of their heroics. Others write songs to honor fallen comrades. These stories get spread from sea to sea and eventually get printed into physical books for the Landers1. Because of Thalasso's abundance of legends, libraries, and books are common in Lander cities.

Legends like that of Nemo 8 and Captain Goner are used to inspire the next generations to venture out and make names for themselves. Cautionary tales like Specto the Great and The Sinking Hospital are spread to warn people of the many dangers of the sea.

One story stands out amidst the plethora of legends. True Treasure is a book that was made from the journal collection found in a shipwreck in the Exodus layer's Treasure Shores—a sea of immeasurable wealth. Altogether, the journals tell the story of a Scav2 crew's redemption. The book is known as "True Treasure".

The taken section is the earliest recovered journal's first chapter.


True Treasure

Of all the loot we plundered from the belly of the fallen white titan bird, a little lass was perhaps the most peculiar. Amidst the shiny guts, treasures, and fresh bodies, a lassie bundled in the cold dead arms of a collapsed human caught my attention. The corpse's hold on the lass was harder than the clamp of a hungry Thanatoshark!3 I could hear the lassie’s heart beating rhythmically and slowly like that of one of Bumpy’s famous drum songs! I could not pry the lass out of the mother’s arms by me-self. So, I called me buckos.
“Oi Pearl and Crimbo! Avast Ye!” I shouted to the tide of comrades picking clean the fallen titan bird.
Shortly after, Pearl and Crimbo scuttled next to me.

“Sink me!” said Crimbo.

“This fish food still breaths?” asked Pearl.

“Aye!”

The three of us tried to loosen the grip on the lassie but could not break her free. Aye, it was a pitiful display. But then, Cocos came by and loosened the lassie with his one mighty claw! Even with Cocos' help, we couldn’t actually heave the lass. As all was lookin grim, Captain Grump scuttled by us with a wafer in one claw and a pipe in another. He took a munch on his wafer and barked two dozen other crewmates over to help us! With a mountain of plundered loot and a child in tow, we boarded our prized ship—the Azure Serpent.

By the time we were all aboard, The Great Lighthouse4 had already turned its gaze away, leaving only the celestials above to light the sea. Our ship lacked any beds, let alone a bed large enough for the child. So, we lay the lassie in a crude nest of fine silks and clothes we looted from an abandoned trade ship drifting into two gigantic rocks we found on our way to the fallen titan. After laying the child to sleep, we finally got to enjoy our bounty! Aye, we feasted together on the deck—heaps of wafers and bottles of rum for everyone! After one too many downed drinks, Crimbo started to sing our victory song in a booming and somewhat grainy cheer. One by one each of us more and more inebriated joined in!
“Glory blue, glorious blue, glory blue! Bout time for our due! Rush now fore thee storm brew! Glory blue, glorious blue, glory blue!”5
It had been a while since we could celebrate a good haul and I was genuinely ecstatic. But then I noticed our captain in the dark staring with his dull black eyes toward the endless blue horizon.

I began to scuttle over to him but my drunken state mixed with missing two of me walking legs made moving harder than getting an Emerald crab to give up their doubloons! I stumbled and tripped over a knocked-out cold Crimbo and fell straight into a pile of discarded clams. After that humiliating display, I crawled to me captain. Just as I was about to remark about his torn hat, he turned his hollow eyes toward me and asked me a sobering question.

“Terra, what is it we are doing with our lives?”

His words sank me heart like an anchor, but I felt compelled to spread the goodwill of the evening's celebrations to him and clapped him on the back anyways.

“Well, are we not living the dream? We sail a million seas in search of treasure and adventure!” I cheerfully said, trying to mask the dour mood that fell upon me from his question.

“Why do we plunder? Why do we need this abundance of riches if we don’t spend it?”

“Ye don’t remember? Ages ago in those slimy and creaky cages, ye told me and the crew that we were gonna live freely!” I asked.

“And what does it mean to live freely?”

“To live freely is…uh…to… do what we want?” I answered with little confidence.

“And what is it that we want?”

“We want to sail the million seas and sleep on mountains of wealth!” I answered instinctually.

“Why? What about that life is appealing to ye?” He asked.

It be truer than I would like to admit, but I had seen it. That pall upon me captain's face and the gloom about them like a dark horizon and a frothy sea; he was troubled. Had been troubled for a long time, and only now was sorted out to dredge his guts and speak him black thoughts.

“I think we want trea-” I began to say before being cut off.

“We are just pale imitations of our demons.” He answered, his eyes reflecting fire like an obsidian coast.

“The Call, it beckoned the demons who caged us to venture further into their deepest pits of greed and vanity. Those men were more monstrous than the life under the tides because they were not plundering and killing to survive but rather, they enjoyed taking lives. We were caged so long aboard that damned ship that we were dulled to evil.” He spoke clearly with sorrowful rage.

And surely it rang true. Our captors, those filthy maggots, cared not for any of us when we were under the toil of their lash and chain. Oh, they plundered all right, they plundered and stole and pillaged as a demon might — taken by greed of the coin and drink. And naught did they feed us but scraps and slop even when we did the heavy and dirty work for them sun rise to sun down, till the salty winds blew hollow through us and left us cracked and wore our claws down to dust!

“Why ye be bringing this up now?” I asked.

“I remembered something… primordial. Something from eons ago in my past… I was smiling but in a different body. It was me in that reflection but it was not the me I know now.” Captain said softly.

“It be time for a change. We have played the demons for too long. There were times before when we were truly free. There were times when we were not feared. While we weren’t loved, it certainly was better than being despised."

“We can bring back the good in the world that was stolen by our captors. We can be the good guys. We can give back to those who lost their own treasure. We can be more than directionless pirates!”

“How would we do that? Everyone is used to being pirates who steal. How could ye convince everyone to change?” I asked.

“We can start small.” He said whilst pointing his metal claw toward the cargo bay.

A spark flicked like a freshly lit candle in my mind. I knew exactly what he was implying… the child.

“So ye figured it out huh? Yar ack arg arg arg arg! Ye were the brains behind our escape after all Terra!” Captain Grump laughed while snipping his free claw.

“It was an excellent plan. Causing our captors to turn on each other by hiding their supplies and riches!”

“Anyways, I’ll tell everyone tomorrow. For the time being, check up on the child.”

I walked past my compadres who were exchanging boastful tales and laughs over our haul. They all looked so full of joy and purpose. I thought to me-self how Captain Grump would be able to change us. All we have known is to steal—all we have is each other and what we take. As I neared the cargo bay, the laughing grew quieter, replaced with a soft sobbing.

“Ahoy? Are ye ok? Do ye need help?” I loudly asked into the darkness.

The crying became muffled as if trying to hide from my voice. I switched on my headlamp and searched for the source of the crying. As I walked into the cargo bay, my lamp illuminated the child swaddled in the silk holding her hand against her mouth and staring at me with absolute terror.

“Ahoy! Ye are finally awake.” I said as I approached her.

She remained motionless like a statue. Something about her eyes awoke something I had buried deep in the sands of me mind. Her eyes were like that of me glassy-eyed friends back when we were caged like animals by our twisted captors. I could see myself glowing in the reflection of her eyes. I knew what I had to do.

“Have ye ever heard the story of the Wonderful Crab Terraken?” I asked.

She remained frozen and on guard.

“I take it ye haven’t… well, the Wonderful Crab Terraken was a legendary crab that grew so large that its shell could be compared to a mountain! People would swear that the mountain was moving but didn’t realize that it was part of a giant crab. The people ended up settling upon the Wonderful Crab Terraken’s shell and grew into a large village.”

Her eyes began to ease.

“The people lived for several decades without realizing why their island would move around the sea. That was until one day when the Wonderful Crab Terraken grew sick with Mutiny. The dreadful sickness is caused by the Mutiny, a species of scary barnacles. Slowly, the mountain began sinking as the Wonderful Crab Terraken grew weaker.”

She clutched the silk covering tightly.

“Instead of fleeing to another island, the islanders dove under the water to investigate what could be causing the island to sink. Aye, They were shocked to find the earth-covered face of a giant crab staring back at them. The Wonderful Crab Terraken was slowly being drained and could barely control itself anymore. The Mutiny was taking over its body. Luckily, one of the islanders had witnessed The Mutiny and its effects before. She taught everyone on the island how to remove the Mutiny from the afflicted. The islanders all worked together tirelessly day and night to remove all the Mutiny from the Wonderful Crab Terraken.”

The lassie’s shoulders were laid back, she looked completely captured by the story as if that was all that existed.

“After three days, all the Mutiny was removed from the Wonderful Crab Terraken. To repay the islanders for their actions, the Wonderful Crab Terraken stood tall and took them to a bountiful spot in the sea. The Wonderful Crab Terraken and the islanders continued living in coexistence for many more centuries.” I finished my story.

“What happened next?” she asked eagerly.

“W-well, that is up to ye imagination. What do ye think happened?” I asked shocked.

“They all live happily together and no one dies.” She responded.

“That be a nice ending.” I replied.

Her tears had vanished. Her smile shined brighter than the most brilliant Cosmic Eels above. She laughed full of sincerity and joy. I could feel something within me warm… and happy.

“Why are you a crab?” she asked.


Further reading

Part 1Part 2

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license