Grand Entrance

“Keep your self safe, boys” shouted the old man one last time, before he fixed his whole body to face the rising sun, reminiscing about his past and the stories he had heard as a young boy, about worlds ,lost, forgotten and worlds born of forces which cannot be grasped.

       II

The day began as normal.

“Wakey wakey, come on little brother, there are pancakes waiting for you down stairs ”said Han while pressing his cheeks.

“Watt you want” muttered Mac through his slightly open right eye ”Ah-h-h-h, please leave.”

“Leave? You think you can give orders” Han, took the pillow under Mac’s head, took a deep breath and then ”I am only gonna leave with your spine, wrapped around my fingers” and then hell unleashed on earth.

Mac tried to defend himself from the ruthless attack“ Yeah, okay, okay I get it”.

“Okay” Han ceased his deadly swings ”go eat and hurry up, because in an hour the waters are gonna wait for us.”

“Roger’’ said Mac while looking for his pants.

…

Standing before Mac, in its full glory, was a navy vessel, shielding the bystanders from the killer waves. Two life boats on each side were swinging slowly.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t she.”

“She?” asked Mac while looking suspiciously at his brother.

“Yes, every ship is female. Damn man, educate yourself” said Han, pointing to the sky and looking triggered by his brother's words, while the passing women tried to walk away as fast and as far away as possible from him.

“What you say man” answered Mac, looking at the same woman.

“Now then, let's meet up with the crew” said Han, while both of them headed for the ramp that connected the ship with the dock ”I think you know some of them” continued his brother while adjusting the straps of his drawstring backpack.

“Is Runder still in the crew,” asked Mac ”lastly I have seen him six months ago, actually I was more worried about him than you”

“Thank you for the kind words and yes, he is still with us” said Han, who started reminiscing about all the tomfoolery he did with his old friend and with a small giggle added ”Yeah, Runder, everybody knows Runder”. After a brief moment, on the docs, he recognized one of his crew mates, standing on edge where the waves transformed into silk curtains. ”Oi, Ringo” shouted Han, while changing his trajectory at him.

Ringo unconsciously lifted his head from the book, he was reading, to see who was calling him. As he rotated his head, the two brothers came into his vision field ”Hey Captain, you are already here?” said Ringo, while going closer to the ship and his captain. Ringo was around twenty seven, he had big green eyes and short blonde hair, resembling more a soldier than a scholar, he was skinny, but agile. Wearing nothing but shorts, a towel around his shoulders, that he used to protect his head and skin from the sun and a back, filled with small notebooks and all kinds of tools and strange objects.

After three wave splashes the trio was standing in the shadow of Nanoka, which was the home for Han’s men.

“Captain, where did you vanish last night? When we woke up this morning, we thought that you were abducted by some nymphs" asked Ringo, while trying to put his book back again in the stashed back.

“I didn’t want to drink and didn’t want to spoil the party, so I went home.

“Yeah, I think we were too focused on the food and drinking" answered Ringo while trying to hide, with a smile, his embarrassment of not realizing the absence of his captain.

“Don’t feel guilty, you deserved it after such a long time out in the sea”  said Han while tapping his comrade on the shoulder. ”Now first and foremost, Han this is Ringo, our sorcerer. He carves and draws protective runes and sigils on the corpse of the ship and also does all…uh-h" Han tried to remembered and finally he came up with something"  and other kinds of stuff”.

“I am Han, nice to meet you”

“Ringo, me too.

The plank creaked under the weight of the three men

So Han, are you a marine too?” asked the magical scholar while stepping on to the ship’s deck.

“No, just a cabiner. I am helping crews that are lost or are left with no resources out in the sea.” answered Mac, while following his brother and the man he just met.

“Also” added Han while grabbing Mac around the neck” he is my younger brother and a very useful part of our crew”. The smaller brother broker free and started roaming around on the deck.

“No problems, the more the better” replied Ringo, while preparing for work.

“Hey Ringo,” said Han while looking around one question.”

“What is? replied the mage, while taking things out of his back.

“Where is everyone? I remember that we decided that everybody was supposed to come an hour earlier.

“AN HOUR?” shouted Mac furiously at his brother ”You had woken me up two bloody hours earlier” while the sun was reflecting off his anger, making him look like a small red fire goblin.

“There is no need to be pissed” answered Han with his hands slowly waving, while avoiding his brother, knowing that he had waken him up, earlier, on purpose. “You are young, you don't need to sleep so much,” continued Han, while trying to hide his devilishly curled face.

“The more important thing, Ringo,” said Han, while trying to elude his brother.

“Yes, the others, I came earlier to check some things, I think that after our teambuilding, some went to celebrate their homecoming with their families.”

“I see” said Han while looking for some chores for his brother ”Hey Mac, can you check the inventory for rotten fruits and if we have illegal passengers."

“Yeah, no problem.” replied his brother and after a brief pause he added ”Han, ask Ringo if he can help us with the steel cubes.”

“Ah, yes, thank you for reminding me” said the captain while taking out one of the cubes, while Mac went to the lower deck.

The dimmed light, in this part of the ship, made it easier for small creatures to hide, but there were no traces of any. This storage place was neither small nor big, just big enough for everyone to have a place to sleep, including the food and water. Nothing spectacular. Mac passed by the wooden containers that were put in such a way that the absence of light, gave the impression that these are people, seated around in a half a circle, watching a play. After he ended looking around, Mac found his place under one of the windows that in the past was used for the canons. The young sailor had positioned himself just under his brother and the ship’s sorcerer Ringo, who disguised the strange runic cubes.

“No, I haven't the slightest idea ,but can I try something?” asked Ringo wondering what he had been holding in his hands
“Yeah, no problem.” said Han, thinking what the blonde sorcerer would do.

Ringo took the mysterious relic, holding with his whole right hand and just touching slightly with his left thumb and pointer finger. The seagulls pierced the clouds. The shadows in the lower cabin danced, following the movement of the waves. Through the window, over Mac’s head, blue butterfly-like flickers flew into the shady storage, lighting it just for a second.

“Sorry, captain, it looks like this thing is resistant to magic, I can’t do anything else” said the young scholar.

“No, don’t worry about it, when we come back I am gonna show you the other that I left home” this sentence, sounded more like a slow melody that went through the wood into the warm, soft, dimmed just right lower deck right into Mac’s ears. The young sailor, leaning at the walls of the marine vessel, slowly closed his eyes. The wood began rhythmically to curve. The sound became more dull, combining with the waves songs, Mac was already under their magic, falling asleep.

Mac felt as if he was flowing, slightly opening his eyes, he saw that the dark wooden interior, under him, gave its place to the light blue waters. ”Hey, what’s going on” he felt a force pulling him from behind “Han I am gonna…” said Mac furiously, before lifting his head to see what was happening and after a moment he gasped “Runder? Is that you” shouted Mac in disbelief. Runder, was around two meters tall, using his size, he had leaned over, holding for the ship's edge with one hand and with the other had grabbed Mac for the neck, who was asleep, and dragged him out.

In front of Mac, stood a tall blonde giant, with a beard, that was colored from the different ornaments, every one from a region where this ship has been. Of course, Runder, for its size, had big broad shoulders and wide as tree legs. Sometimes Han even wonders if Runder was just a hairless bear, whose remaining fur was bleached by the sun.

On the left side of this happy giant was a man who had darker skin than others. He was tall as Han, with dark colored ropes coming from his hair and one big bum behind his neck. His clothes were tightened only around his joints making him look like he was inflated and was about to fly away at any given moment. As Runder put Mac down Kuba greeted him “You must be Han’s little brother, Mac, nice to meet you.” I am Kuba, the ship's navigator” he said while both of them shaked hands.

“Ohhh” , almost crying out, shouted Runder ” how is it going?” while lifting him once more and then hugging him.

“Nothing interesting” said Mac, while hugging Runder, shouting how much he missed him.

The giant blonde bear freed Mac from his grip, asking ”So is there Miss Mac?”

The boy answered while trying to avoid everyone's glazes ”Right now…No. Also I don’t need one..”

“You don’t?” shouted Runder ” I need you to need one, so that we can build the strongest crew. Yours and Han’s children will be the heart of our crew, while mine will be the muscles. Right? ” asked Runder with a big smile, waiting for an answer.”

“I think he is too young” said someone “ and for our captain I think it is too late” this voice came from a guy just coming behind Runder.

“ Too late, why is that Jeigho " angrily replied Han, knowing that maybe there was a bit of truth in those words.

“Just joking, hahaha…” this Jeigho, that stood right of Runder, had long limbs, he was almost as tall as Runder, but much skinnier and with a waist, which women would be envious of. He wore nothing more than a short sleeve shirt and shorts with embroidered flowers on it. Two pistols hung from his waist, pointing at sandals and at his big long feet that can only be compared to his long wrists and fingers. His face and nose were also quite long. In his left hand he held his rifle and with his right he shook Mac. “Mac, I am Jeigho, the sniper or the artelly guy.

“I think this is everyone” said Han ” Actually Mac we have five or six more guys, but this is just a day off for us and we are not supposed to go much further in the sea, so these are enough.” looking around Han added ”I almost forgot, Ringo where are the magic tools that we received?”

“There” said Runder pointing to a bag behind the main mast.

“What tools?” confusingly asked Mac

“You are gonna like them” said Kuba, while watching as Ringo and Han went to the back. Mac, curiously, also went towards them, to see what this fuss was about.

Everyone took a different item from the back. Some one had pulled a scepter that created fire, with quite strong kickback force, some objects were just small enough to fit in one’s hand, but firing strong energy pulses when hit. There were weapons that turn the area of impact into ice, some protective amulets, that heal, and a knife that creates a smoke cloud.

“Everyone please, be careful” said Ringo "Remember that the Marshal gave us this to test how useful they are in a mission and to say where they need improvements, so, please be gentle.”

“No problem Jermano” said Jeigho.

After few minutes of enjoying the new toys the captain started to wave his hands and said “I think that we had enough playtime, come on everybody, check your positions, and let’s leave” after that he turned at Kuba, who stood behind him, watching at the sky ”So how is the weather, should we be worried”

“Not all, a small storm is coming but it's quite far away from us. The only thing we need to worry about are the small waves.” said Kuba with a smile, looking quite optimistic.

“Thank you,” replied Han with a joy on his face "Runder untie the Sails, Jeigho, Ringo free us from the docs and let's go and you Mac, go take some food out!”

***

Down, in the lower deck, the wooden caskets were swinging around. Emerging from the water, creatures were looking for food. Vast emptiness occupied the sea and sky, while Mac wasn’t feeling very well, after the food he ate, would anyone feel different. Into the marine vessel’s exterior, waves were charging.

In vain Mac tried to contain the evil in his body. Lifting his head he rushed to the edge of the ship

“Something is coming gyu’s” said Mac while holding his mouth ”this one…is… large one,” he leaned over the ship, preparing for the worst and then…nothing.

Down on his knees, pushing them against his belly, the young sailor felt a bit of ease, maybe the stillness of the sea made the danger of throwing up go away ”that was close” taught Mac, while looking at the others.

Everything was fine. Around an hour ago Nanoka was set into the waters. The interior of the ship was lit by a small string of light that went through the holes of the ship’s planks. Hovering over the sun was in its zenith.

***

Some small islands later, Mac looked once more at the water. At that moment a small wave hit the corpus of the ship. “I didn’t expect the sea to be this calm,” said Mac to Kuba.

“Me neither”, answered Kuba “I even asked the regional base, to make sure, maybe the storm changed its course.“ After that Kuba raised his voice and said “Hey Ringo can you help me when you are done?”

“No, problem” Ringo’s voice came down from the deck ”Just to finish my job down here.”

“I am going down” said Kuba to Mac, heading for the stairs while Mac went to his brother and Runder who were back at the helm, making sure the ship was on the right path. They discussed how Runder’s family reacted to his absence.

“And your mother did all that alone?” in disbelief asked Mac.

“Yeah, she caught and butchered a whole boar by herself, while dad was his troops away for a week” answered Runder while laughing with his deep whale-like laugh.

“I always feared that woman” said Han ”now I have one more reason" both of them started to laugh even louder, actually the whole ship gave a little giggle. After Mac exchanged a few words, why he hadn’t joined the navy forces, he headed for Nanoka’s bow, the front part of the ship.

While slowly moving on the right of the ship, someone shouted ”Ai, Mac, catch” a second later Mac was holding an orange, infront of his head.

“Why are you trying to kill me?” asked Mac the crew’s sniper.

“Good reactions,” answered Jeigho, who was seated near the bow. “Here in the sea you need some vitamins, if you don’t want to catch something.

“Thanks for the present” answered Mac, while coming closer to Jeigho.

The sniper stood up “Let's see how good you are with firearms.”

“I had never held one," answered Mac, as he was under pressure .

“Don't worry. There is a first time for everything,” said Reigho, while giving his revolvers to Mac “Hold it strong, with both of your hands. This gun, that you are holding I modified to shoot using the crystal inside it, so the drawback is weaker, but still, watch your fingers.”

Mac took the gun, lifted it, set his legs in the position that Reigho showed him, aimed through the scope and took a deep breath. While getting ready to shoot, he saw one long wave, hitting the lower part of the ship and then the wood surrendered to the pressure.

White spears penetrated the ship, swallowing it and breaking it in half. Mac fell into the water, realizing that coming from the water, a skeletal creature used its enormous rib cage as a mouth, demolishing the ship.

Planks flew around. He shouted for his brother. Someone shouted that they were under attack, at that moment an explosion lit the water.

Mac didn't realized what was going on. People started laughing. He tried to swim, but he couldn’t. He had lost all strength and at that moment a greenish cloud filled the soundless space. Someone shouted “What is this crap?”

The helpless sailor felt someone dragging home through the water. The fear kicked in. After a second of trying to break free, he came to his senses. He was dragged by his brother, who carried a rope and used the fire wand as a perpetual tool. 

“Stop, okay. We need to be as quiet as possible,” Mac nodded, while the pain became stronger.

After a few meters, they reached a boat “Luckily for you this boat remained whole. Also, they are on the other side, so they won't see us. Now listen” said Han, helping his brother to get on the boat. 

“You are severely injured,so don't move” Han took some magic trinket binding with a bandage around Mac’s wound on his left hand “This will help you to heal faster, but after that it will be useless. Now, you are gonna leave” continued Han, while tying the wand for the boat.

“But..”said Mac through his teeth, the pain became unbearable.

“There is no but. Listen, you are gonna be more of a drawback. We are the professionals after all” said Han, while looking around him. 

Some voices could be herded in the distance. 

 “We don’t have time,” muttered Han.

“But I can’t let it…” tried to say to Mac, but his brother hit him in the face, making him almost lose consciousness.

Trying to keep his eyes open, Mac saw his brother using a knife to stab the crystal of the scripter, that spitted flames, which made the boat move, after that, another green fog appeared.

Everything faded away. “Come at me,” said someone.

“If you want to die so badly” answered someone else.

Everything became black.