The Hunt for the Kraken (Winner!)

It has been seven months since my crew and I have set out to find the Kraken. Though, I still haven’t found it, heh, I know that big ink-sac beast is out there; and it knows The Princess is searching for it.

Why, you ask? Argh. A good captain is a good captain, but he’s gotta find the money to keep his beloved ship running.

I am the legendary Captain James Crout, hunting the Kraken for glory, God, and gold!

(oh the sweet valuable gold)

I have discovered a landform isolated from the world, that I have named myself, and Mount Cyrus, the only vast mountain to peak out from under the ocean in the Atlantic. I am an unmarried man, but I explore the mighty seas or at least that is how I planned it out to be.

Argh yes. The Kraken. What in Davy’s beard is that ugly beast anyhow? I was sitting having a drink with a buddy of mine on a very small island in the Bahamas, and he told me, “Argh, have you ever heard the Legend of the Kraken, dear Jamesey? You haven’t?! Well, let me tell you all about it. The Legend of the Kraken, as many call it, started out as this: When Satan ruled Hell for the first few centuries after he got booted from heaven, he adopted a pet. It was a giant, mighty squid that stretched as far as the eye can see. Ancient sailors called them Krakens. A kraken is a giant cephalopod, and has demon-like squid eyes. The kraken will kill anything that lies in its very eyesight. It is known for sinking ships and killing off sailors.”

“Is it looking for something?” I would ask.

“No, Jamesy, it was GUARDING something. Argh, but what the mighty Kraken guards my knowledge cannot tell you.” he told me. “The Kraken can destroy the entire world if it chooses to.

“The legend is, a mighty Kraken will soon appear if a ghost ship is found.

You must follow it for a fortnight, and keep up close to it, dear Jamesy or the kraken will not appear.”

“How will I know it’s a spirit ship?” I asked.

“The Dutchman, as sailors call it, blankets the entire seven seas in a great cloud of mist. Secondly, the green lights will flicker on and off. Then, the ship will appear in torn sails, and an evil crossbones.”

“By that very time a magnificent, majestic maelstrom, will engulf the waters around you. The kraken will pull itself up out of the water, releasing itself from Hell. It will howl, beyond how much your very ears can take it. And the soul who sees the very Kraken must fight it! It must….”

By then I had become more than convinced I could catch both the ship and the hideous monster. Through the oceans I could save the universe!. If I have to drive The Princess for eternity then so be it! This beauty was my prized possession. I won her in a bet, a legendary bet. It was a bet I knew I’d never lose. And my ship, I won …my beauty I claimed.

It was the summer of 1677. The buddy who told me of the Kraken, told me that if I could swim out to an island of his choosing, he would buy a ship for me. I told him it was a deal. He picked an island of his choosing, and I swam. I, funnily enough, almost got eaten by two sharks, poked and prodded by two big sailfish, and choked with seaweed by a dozen mermen, but I swam all the way. I achieved this beloved charm. I even saved up coins for a crew, well slaves…”

My crew and I have been feeling under the weather these past few weeks since I last wrote to someone. Is my journey meant to be? Is it a mistake? He was drunk.

It was 7:00 in the evening. The sun had gone down and I went down and headed for bed. I fell asleep dreaming, a horrid terrible terror.

(No …No…Missy, my love…..they’ll take you away! I won’t let them!) (Don’t James! Run! Protect our children! BUT HE’S DEAD! I LOVE YOU MISSY!!!!!!!!!)

(Go. I’ll always love yo— mmph! Mmph!)

(By order of the King you are to report to the Commander! Do not resist!)

I woke up. It was still nighttime. I walked outside of my bedroom, and peered into the cool twilight sky of England. I walked to a nearby garderobe and she was waiting for me with a knife. “Helloooooooooooo Jamesssssssss,” hissed Missy’s corpse. Mold had already grown on her, and her teeth were rotting. She looked like she had been left in a cellar to rot for forty years.

“You’re–you’re dead!” I gasped.

“I want you to see my shackles. Then I’ll tie you up and we can be imprisoned forever…and ever…” she pleaded in a child-like voice.

I woke up sweating and panting. I was blinded by green lights. I adjusted, but they still flashed. I looked to my bedside. No Missy. No knife. No rotting corpse smell, just the Atlantic. I peered out into the deep seas, but I saw nothing. Only     mist, sweet smelling mist. It lurked in my bedroom and throughout my ship’s corridors.

(The Dutchman, as sailors call it, blankets the entire seven seas in a great cloud of mist.)

My crew was asleep, so I made sure I was very quiet after sneaking onto the deck. I creeped up the stairs quietly so I wouldn’t wake them. I then found myself on the front deck of the ship.

The Dutchman was before my very eyes! It was here! I had found it. I have completed the first step into finding Satan’s Kraken. I called out to the ship, “HELLOO!” I called, “I AM JAMES CROUT, BROTHER OF JOHN CROUT, A GREAT KNIGHT OF THE NORTHLANDS! I AM LOOKING FOR YOUR GREAT SQUID! WILL YOU TAKE ME TO THE MAELSTROM?”

No one had answered back…until something revealed itself on The Princess. It was a lady, a beautiful lady. She was thin and slim, but had no face.

She had a lantern and raised it to my eyes to disperse the mist “Hello,” said the woman blankly, “Do you seek the Kraken?”

I shrieked out of terror and shock. The woman looked and was surely dead, but still did not have a face. Her rotting corpse smelled of fly regurgitation.

“Who are you?” I asked, “Why do you not show your face? Why do you come aboard my ship, uninvited? Speak woman!”

“I am………..my name is…..I do not know who I am, but I serve my master, Captain David Jones, of the East Indian Ocean. Do you seek the Kraken?”

“I seek,” I muttered, with my heart still filled with terror after seeing the body, “the Kraken. I seek the means to slay it, and to win what it is hiding.”

The undead servant stared at him, with her eye sockets. She had no eyes, they were taken from her long ago.

“Be careful what you seek, handsome sailor. Those who seek do not always like what they find. But come aboard the Captain’s ship.” the woman commanded, “He would be pleased to meet you. You are the first sailor in a thousand years to seek the Kraken.”

I was puzzled. How was I to board? “Your ship is meters away. How am I to board? It is impossible! I cannot leave my ship and my crew.”

She smiled, “Ah, the Land of the Living, and their barriers of space. Take my cold hand and you will board, and as for your crew, they will never know you were gone.”

I sighed. I gave my left hand to the female apparition and her hands were quite warm, which was dreadfully peculiar.

(Who was this woman? She sounds familiar!)

On Captain Jones’s front deck. I saw barrels that glowed a paranormal green. The barreled were labels of specific human body parts. It was disturbing. There were bloodstains on the floor, and ghoulish slaves worked tirelessly and endlessly.

This has to be a dream I thought to myself. This is just all a night terror. “I know what you are thinking,” said the apparition. “You are in no dream. The very air you breathe is as real as I am. The hair that stands up on your skin when you look at me is as real as the ghost ship.

“The legends …about The Flying Dutchman, they are all true. All of them are true. They are not just some drunk fantasy tales a drunk man tells to get women.”

The undead woman vanished. I was so afraid and so alone. I walked towards the doors that lead downstairs. On the door was engraved, “Enter and You Shall Live or Die”.

I breathed, and I pushed open the doors. There was an empty table, and at the head of the table, sat Captain David Jones. He wore a ripped up black sailor’s outfit. He did not wear a hook for a left hand as the tales were told, but he did only have two fingers on his left. As for his face, he had a long scar, but no eyepatch, like the legends told me, and his skin was peeling and rotting. He was dead as well. His eyes gleamed of a shining yellow, the color of greed and evil.

“Good evening, Mr. Crout, I am, as you know, Dr. David Crout. I am, or was, a doctor at sea. Over the centuries I have experimented with life in hopes to make life better. I assume you have heard the tall tales about me? Hmhmhm, most of them are true, but I do not terrorize man. In fact, most of them terrorize me!”

“I don’t mean to harm, you sir,” said I shivering.

“Good, I’d expect you to not, or I’ll drag you by the neck and put you in the cellar. Ararararar, I’m kiddin’ around. Now, do you seek the dreaded kraken?”

“I do.” I answered.

“Good, you have found the Kraken. And by this time, The Princess has been following my ship for eleven days since you woke up from your nightmare.” said David Jones, mysteriously.

“How did you know…wait did you say eleven days?? I thought you said my crew would never know I left!! Alas, they must think I’ve caught scurvy and died overboard….”

“But they do not know you have left, Kraken Seeker. As far as they’re concerned you’re still sleeping in your nice warm bed!” said David Jones.

“Intriguing, can my crew see your ship? Does it meet their eyesight?” I asked curiously.

“Of course they can.” said both of them, “Anyway. The maelstrom is opening and you need to figure out how to kill this Kraken after it comes crawling out. I have swords if you need them, but I do not have much ammo for cannonballs.”

“I can manage on ammo, but I cannot do this alone. I need you. You could be of great help.” I reasoned.

“Goodbye, Living dweller.” said the woman. (Missy.)

I was confused, “Missy?”

I gasped. “The woman…Missy…British…MISSY!!! NOO!!!”

Missy, DAvy, and his crew faded away into the mist and so did the ship along with them.

I found myself steering the wheel to The Princess and I blinked many times to get myself together. It was daytime and my crew members were at work.

“MISSY!” I yelled frantically, writhing on the floor, “No! Missy no, no, NO!” One of my crew members came to help me up, “Sir…SIR!”

I came back to reality.

“Are you alright, Captain?” another crew member asked.

“Yes …yes I am alright, argh this scurvy is getting to me, but get back to swabbing the deck or I’ll throw you off for sure!”

What devilry was at work? What compelled me to hallucinate? And why was she I know who the woman is…..she was my woman…..the woman I would have married. She was my woman and I did not notice her beautiful presence, under all that disaster of a corpse.

I wept for hours while steering, yet the sun did not set when I asked for it to set. It was daylight for far too long. The Kraken was coming. The waters started to part, like in the book of Exodus, only the water swirled into a great MAELSTROM! My heart started to race. I saw the first tentacle come out from the depths of Hell, then another, and another, and another, until six tentacles were latched onto the surface. And up sprouted the Kraken, it was hideous-looking. Its beak shrieked cries beyond what the human ear should hear. It was fish green, and it reeked of rotten flesh.

I lost control of the ship, but everything was okay. I saw Captain Jones driving the ship, “Arghhhhhharahararar! Slay the beast m’lad! I’ll handle your ship!” David cried.

“HIT THE DECKS MY CREW!! ARM YERSELVES MIGHTY CREW AND TOGETHER WE CAN SLAY THIS BEAST AND WE WILL BE IN THE HISTORY BOOKS FOREVER. WE WILL BE PAID BY THE MILLIONS IN GOLD” I yelled.

The crew got to work. I climbed my way to the central mast with two rifles and a sword given to me by the apparitions.

“So this was not a daydream,” I realized. I held my sword and I grinned at the monster. The Kraken had waved one tentacle and smashed it down on the deck. Its tentacle had gotten stuck. The crew members had gotten their own sword members, and started to slash the tentacle. With a few strikes from each crew member the tentacle fell off. The Kraken shrieked and tried to smash the ship in half with another tentacle, and got the other tentacle stuck. It started to cry out. The crew and I cut off the beast’s second tentacle, like it was a noodle!

“Crew members!” I yelled, “The ship can withstand the beast’s strikes. But I do not know for how much longer! BE WARNED! All of ye! The Kraken seems to have an exoskeleton, so arm yerselves with rifles, and aim for the eye.”

The crew yelled their warcries, and fired. There was smoke that came from the rifles after they fired. The smoke diffused into the daytime air, and the Kraken was silent but was not killed. It started to roar again, but I flew by swinging on an old rope, and shot the Kraken twice in the eye, before the rope swung back to the central mast. It started to bleed fast.

“Every living thing has a weakness,” I muttered.

The Kraken started to wail, and shriek. Its one eye was spilling out black blood into the waters, and the waters around us turned black. It fell on our ship and my crew and I cut off its other eye and beak as evidence to show people. The Kraken’s cephalopod beak was massive, and was about three times the size of my body. The eye, or at least what was left of it, was about the width of our deck.

I anchored my ship awaiting my prize. I dove into the waters, with the crew waiting at the boat. I found gold, much of it, and many many diamonds. I collected as much as I could and distributed it amongst everyone. We were rich…filthy rich.

As soon as Davy left, I sailed The Princess to the nearest dock which was somewhere in Spain or Portugal. “Today was the day from a dreadful terror! I killed the most powerful Kraken that dwells in the deep!” I would tell in drinking pubs. “Drinks on the house!” money was never a problem anymore. I made the repairs to my ship. I was awarded even more money and gold coins from almost every country you could think of. Our journey was at an end. The Princess was brand new, and I sailed off into the sunset. I had decided to sail due west to the New World.

————————————————————————————

On a cool night just a few days after my courageous adventure, I sat thinking and dreaming about my lost Missy. Why was she on the ship? Why did she not recognize me? Why did she serve Dr. David Jones? I then felt four cold fingers drag across my chest briskly. I felt goosebumps starting to sprout.

“Hellooooo James,” said a whispering voice. I stood up. The howling wind was the only sound present. WHAM! I heard the door spring open. Everyone was still asleep. Her shadow stood silent. “I am here standing before you once more.” she hissed.

“My love, why didn’t you call out to me on the boat? Why were you servicing the Dr. on The Dutchman? Why weren’t you there for me?! I loved you!”

“Crimes…” she muttered, “too many crimes I have committed in the spirit realm….they put me into slavery, INTO THESE CHAINS!!!”

“I do not see chains on you,” I muttered.

“Ah, the living. Only in the spirit realm could you possibly see my iron shackles,” she said.

I was silent.

“Well, why don’t we make it that way!” she screamed!

I jumped out of dreadful terror. “What? Are you talking about?” but it was too late to say that. A sharp cold object had alre—-

THE END