In September 2022, Celeste' friend Suzanne, 25, her sister Elina, 10, Celeste' sister Stella, 11, and herself, set sail from the port. For the longest time, they had dreamt of sailing in the seas, along with the waves, and the for the past 5 years they had spent all their leisure time honing their seafaring skills in water. So, when Celeste and Suzanne completed their 25 years, they decided to use all of their dead parents insurance money to fulfill their wish of sailing on Waterrush, a 360 m, 200,000 tons, cruise ship.

On their second day, the ship began to encounter strong gales. For the next few weeks they blew continuously. Gales didn't worry the people, but, the size did. The journey continued, nevertheless. Upcoming days saw no improvement in the weather but the captain reasoned that it had to change soon. And it did change- for the worse.

At dawn, on the next morning, the waves were gigantic. As the ship rose to the top of each wave they could see endless enormous seas ruling towards them and the screaming of the wind and spray was painful to the ears. To slow the ship down they dropped the storm jib. Then they double- lashed everything, went through their life- raft drill, attached lifelines, donned oil skins and life jackets- and waited.

But, it didn't change their fate. The boat rocked like a cradle amidst the sea. It continued until the tsunami washed over the deck. There was water everywhere. Unexpectedly, Celeste' head popped out of water. A few metres away, Suzanne was calling for her. She was already inside the cabin. Celeste started moving forward, her lifeline jerked taut, she grabbed the guard rails and sailed through the air into the main cabin. Subsequent waves tossed her around the deck like a rag doll. Her ribs cracked, she could feel it, her mouth filled with blood and broken teeth. Slowly, she found her eyes closing, while Suzanne called for her.

There was noise, very loud noises. Relief washed over Celeste as she realized that the noises were of humans rather than water. Slowly, she opened her eyes, afraid that might be just a hallucination. She feared that the water would still be there but, after opening her eyes she prayed that the water was better. This wasn't the same boat, she wasn't the same her. Sure her face was there and so was her body, but, her clothes...

She discovered her family had been replaced by individuals she didn't recognize, she never will. And she was in the body of a notorious pirate captain. Slowly she roamed around, absorbing what was happening. As she observed her surroundings, she discovered that she had travelled back to China in the 1800s. She was silent, there was nothing she could understand.

As if it didn't make matters worse, she suddenly heard the familiar noise. The first indication of impending disaster came with an ominous silence. She knew it all too well. The wind dropped and the sky immediately grew dark. Then came a growing roar and an enormous cloud towered on them. She came out of her cabin. With horror, she realized that it was not a cloud but a wave like no other she had ever seen. It appeared perfectly vertical and almost twice the height of the other waves with a frightful breaking crest. The roar increased to a thunder as the stern moved up the face of the wave and for a moment, she thought she might ride over it. But it was useless as she understood that there was no wave. It was something else.

A dragon, Yinglong, to be precise. It was a winged dragon and rain deity in ancient Chinese mythology. Did this body of hers offend him? Whatever the reason was, they were in trouble.

Her crew were entangled in a bloody battle with this angry rain dragon. How would she face this predicament? She had no idea.

The ship was shaking. She went inside her cabin where she had seen a box, a treasure box, just like the movies. She hoped that it could contain something which would be of help. There, she found a paper with much familiar names.

Nandhimithra, Suranimala, Gotaimbara, Theraputthabhya, Manabharana, Velusumanna, Khanjadeva, Phussadeva, Labhiyavasabha,
Maha Sena. These were related to King Dutugemunu. His ten giants. She knew it all too well as she had read about the cultural heritage of Sri Lanka in her history lessons.

Could she summon them? Did she have power to do that? Will it help?

Thinking it she grabbed the paper and placed it close to her heart. She wished with all her heart that they would appear and help her protect her crew along with herself. As if the paper was magical, a blinding light shine from it and in the blink of an eye, they were here. The Giants along with the King.

Water. Water. Everywhere. She could feel that the ship had water below but she dared not abandon the cabin to investigate. She was rash with her decision and now it was going to cost her the boat.

The Giants were too much of weight. This boat couldn't handle it. Outside, the Giants had started to fight the dragon but their constant jumping wasn't helping the situation and before she could wish again from the paper, the rain dragon roared. Dark- bellied clouds scudded across the sky and now were veiling the stars in casket grey. Thunder clasped across the deck and it split into half. Everyone tried gripping the railing to prevent their fall but it was useless.

Splash! Though she didn't hear it, that must be the sound it made when she fell inside the water. Above her, the wind had stopped. The air lay cold and still, like death itself. Just before her vision, stood Orion- the constellation that the ancient egyptians knew as the soul of Osiris, the god of the Afterlife- watching over her.
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Number of words : 1000
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