Well hello there lovelies!
Back at it again with another uploaddd
And just a heads up, I took PTO this Friday so I can really take my time on getting y'all one of the most hyped endings I personally think I've ever written
This chapter might have errors cause I've been writing on my breaks at my day job, so just lemme know if you find any
Enjoy, lovelies!
xoxo

P.S. song above is 100% the suspenseful vibe... you'll understand the lyrics better between this chapter and the next lol. Playlist is updated with it too!

Davy Jones' Locker: A mystical fable about an evil spirit from the bottom of the ocean that draws pirates or sailors down to their death

Caspian

Before I felt the strong pull of whatever had dragged us to the very bottom of the sea, that coldness of the water engulfing the deck in its entirety as it swept all unstrapped cargo away with it... I first felt Alistair's lips against my own.

The only difference with this kiss was that I could barely register it as the bone chilling waters quickly devoured us whole.

I soon trembled against the only man who seemed strong enough to hold us both still against the strong currents. I didn't dare open my eyes for the saltiness of the sea would almost blind them, however once I felt a gust of air enter my mouth from Alistair, I breathed it in thankfully and held it. This was what he had meant when he told me to take a deep breath in, and I now chastised myself for not just trusting him... Regardless of how utterly bizarre a scenario this was.

Nothing could've prepared me for what shot out from the sea shortly before we went under. That large tentacle thing wrapping itself around the highest beam. It all happened so quickly, I didn't understand how I was the only one that seemed to be reacting appropriately... In complete and utter disbelief.

My hearing was fully muffled from the sounds of water flooding it, and if it weren't for the strongest knot Alistair had tied to keep us strapped down to his vessel, I didn't know what would've happened to me.

It was his strong arms wrapped around me and this wooden pole, his lips remaining attached to my own as if his oxygen was a tap on a barrel, seemingly willing to give more. I tried not to deplete his own oxygen, even though wherever I could feel us being dragged towards felt like hell itself. Air had to be the least of our worries.

The only noise I could hear through the blockage of water, was the sound of Ol' Bess standing her ground as she was forcibly mangled by both the water, and this octopus like creature that had since claimed Alistair's ship. The bending of the wood echoing through the thick currents, but nothing snapped.

The thing that had shattered more of my perception on what it was I had currently found myself in, was the crisper sounds of items suddenly crashing against the floorboards. Something I realized couldn't happen underwater...

Before I then realized that we were no longer under water.

At least, I didn't think we were.

The first thing to confirm it was when my now drenched hair finally fell forward towards my shoulders, the water no longer suspending it all around me. Alistair separating his lips from mine to finally breathe deep heavy breathes only further solidified it. I felt one of his hands grip the wooden beam forcibly behind me as he struggled to gasp for air. And I immediately felt my own stupidity overcome me once again.

I should've listened to him when there was still time to. Whatever air he had given me, hadn't left him with any at all.

My hands reached for where I assumed Alistair's shoulders were, for we were now standing in complete darkness, yet his own hands slowly slipped into mine and he brought them down from his shoulders to his chest. He was still coughing, working to clear his passageways of sea water that had slipped through.

"That fucking heathen," Alistair more or less rasped out before his breathing regulated itself. That was when he finally spoke to me. "I'm sorry-" he started to whisper, to which I swiftly shook my head regardless of whether he could see it or not. Alistair had indisputably kept me alive. And though I knew there was many a times I wish this sea could take my shattered immortality, something told me that whatever this was that pulled Alistair's ship under, any death I found during it would be permanent. I didn't know how I knew this, but I just did.

Whatever this was, was stronger than Alistair. And that was simply one terrifying thought to think of.

"Are you okay?" I whispered to the man, realizing now that while we both stood in a place with air we could breathe, I really couldn't see any bit of him. We had found ourselves in eternal darkness.

"Whatever happens," he whispered to me, "I want you to remain on this shi-"

"No." I countered almost immediately. The last time I left this man to go on his own, I then had to go retrieve him. "Either we approach together, or we don't approach at all."

I heard Alistair sigh deeply... before a slow chuckle eventually followed. I felt that tension between us both now, the entire front of me flush against his, however the tautness slowly loosened before it I heard the rope fall to the soaked floorboards completely.

"Men!" He called out to the rest of his crew, yet his words didn't carry through the floorboards like they had above the waters. "Remain aboard. We won't be long."

"We can't see a single thing," Cael replied almost instantly, "So I'm not sure where exactly you'd expect us to go."

Even with a situation seemingly as dire as this one, Cael refused to forfeit that sharp personality. And strangely enough, It worked well to calm my otherwise growing weariness.

"Come on then," he whispered to me as his hand slipped completely into my own. I couldn't see a single thing in this darkness, and yet I allowed Alistair to lead me across this main deck. He somehow found a path that was clear amidst the chaos I was sure the waters had left this main deck in the state of. With my position behind him, it took me a moment to realize that he had pushed that eye patch up to use his left eye.

And I only noticed once he turned back to me, for it was the only thing I could see in this darkness. The glowing red that offered just enough light for some of his handsome features to be displayed.

His hands had suddenly wrapped tightly around my torso before he lifted me over what I expected to be the ledge of the ship. I could feel myself panicking once I realized how deep this drop would be if he were to let me go over the side, yet I reminded myself to trust him, and found my legs buckling back in surprise when my feet landed onto a soft ground only a few feet below the ledge.

I... I wasn't sure how to explain the ground we were now standing on.

I wasn't too sure if it was really ground at all.

And the smell of this place? It reeked of chum. Of the disgusting aged fish one would throw over a fisherman's boat for the sharks to feast on.

Because of the surface, I hadn't even heard Alistair jump until I felt his hand slip into mine again. "Walk carefully," he whispered, which forced me to watch each step as I equated this experience to that of walking on the softest mattress.

"What is this?" I whispered amidst the complete darkness to him.

"Its throat." Alistair replied... as if that would ever be an appropriate answer for any question ever asked. Ever.

"W-What?" I found myself now practically begging this man for any hopes of a clarification.

"We've been swallowed whole." He explained, to which I had since struggled completely to understand any of this. Not like I was thriving before, but now...

We've been... swallowed?

My fingers tightened their grip on Alistair's hand unintentionally, however he affirmed that grip with his own once I tried to loosen it, and we continued down this abyss of darkness.

In a mere day, I had now seen one mythical creature fully annihilate an entire group of men, and another had... well, it had eaten us.

When Alistair had threatened me with life itself all those moons ago, I had assumed the worst would be the scrubbing of his floorboards. Never would I have wagered that this man would be guiding me through a creatures throat that I could only think to be one thing. The Kraken. I had read about its tales in the same mythical book that contained stories of the sirens, and their call to sailors.

Upon now facing the real face of one, and being swallowed whole by the other, I realized that whoever had created these stories had really left some critical, important details out.

I had only read about the Kraken pulling ships down to sea, not fully devouring them.

Then I finally thought about all this through a lens that wasn't my own. Alistair had told his crew he would be back soon. He knew to strap both the cargo items, and ourselves down long before this creature had breached the surface of the water. Though I assumed his eye provided us clarity through this darkness, he even must of known where it was we were heading.

This had happened before. And the simple thought of that left me completely at a loss for words.

I allowed Alistair to continue to lead me, however the walk itself felt like it took far longer considering the unevenness of the ground below our feet. With each step, my foot would sink lower into whatever made up the throat of this thing.

It was only when I felt like we had been walking for almost half a days time, the ground below us had started to grow more firm, and there was light around us started to form. I hadn't realized how large of a space we had found ourselves in, until the walls around us slowly lit up. It was a light blue colour that that seemed to disperse, the light spreading through what looked like vein's within the otherwise pinkish flesh walls. Alistair slowed our pace, allowing me to catch up to him before we further slowed to a stop.

I turned my head to look slightly up at this man.

"This place is-"

"Shh." Alistair whispered quietly to me as he brought a finger to his lips.

And considering we were now inside the Kraken, I decided I would follow every order this man gave me until we were safely outside of it. That was something both my mind and my body were quick to agree upon.

As soon as I drew silent, I allowed myself to really listen. And once I did... I could hear it now. A faint beating of a heart. A heart I assumed to be the creatures, until Alistair's hand suddenly tensed and he slowly let go of mine.

Something was coming.

"Well well well," A voice spoke through the otherwise silence, pulling my attention to the dimly lit opening in front of us. There was someone walking further towards us now, its figure seemingly appearing out of thin air. "It's been some time Alistair. Or should I refer to you by the name you've built for yourself. The Pirate King."

As my eyes darted from this emerging figure to look at Alistair, for the first time since I had laid eyes on this man, Alistair looked rather unsure. I wasn't sure of what, but that uneasiness brought my own to great new heights. Whoever this man was, Alistair didn't have any hold over. And it was as if I could feel it. The disparity in power.

"Alistair is perfectly fine." Captain spoke, taking a step towards the figure. Everything in me told me to remain exactly where I stood, but I soon recalled the words I spoke to Alistair while we were still on his ship. We would approach together... regardless of the feeling so deep inside me that told me to listen to my fear.

I heard this figure laugh as I followed closely behind Alistair. He had shifted himself somewhat in front of my path, putting himself between I and whoever this man was.

"You've been wreaking havoc in these seas for many years... and yet, through it all, I've never seen you go to war with the men on land." The figures voice was deep and raspy. Like words themselves rarely ever drew past his lips.

I had to peer past Alistair's broad shoulders to get a glimpse of a man whose appearance was slowly starting to come to the light.

The man that approached was tall. His height I'd reckon about the same as Cael's. I could see his long black hair that looked awfully similar to Alistair's, however this man's wasn't quite as long. What took me by surprise was his paleness.

Then again, if he lived inside this thing, the sun would be nonexistent at this depth. Perhaps his skin only reflected that. And considering my own paleness, it would be rash of me to cast the first stone.

"I had a debt to settle." Alistair explained, slowing us now to a stop again as this figure continued towards us. I couldn't tell whether it was the lighting, or whether this man truly had eyes as black as his hair. The hairs that stood to attention across both my arms made me believe the latter. And the drenched fabric of this cloak didn't help, as cold shivers ran down my spine.

He was close enough now to really take his entire appearance in. He was someone I had never seen before, and considering how much energy I could now feel almost bursting through him, I was grateful to my core that this was not a face I recognized.

...

However...

Before I could see it, I heard it.

His steps were barely audible considering the ground in which we all found ourselves walking upon, however there was a slight variance in his step. Once my eyes peered more carefully over Alistair's shoulder to the man ahead, I found myself slowly moving from behind Alistair to the side of him instead.

There was no way, I thought to myself. Simply no way...

And yet I did recognize this. The way he walked.

It was distinct.

I knew what formalities existed, and how I should address this man if he were to be who I thought he was. While there was no rational explanation for how King Daedron himself could be both alive, and inside the mythical creature of the Kraken, I still found myself daring to take a step further. One step past where Alistair stood.

I had meant to address this man by his royal title if my assumptions were correct. To address him as I knew... however the word that slipped past my lips was as informal as it came. It encompassed the more private moments that made me recall that walk of his.

Something I could never forget.

"...Grandfather?" I found myself whispering.

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