Tales of Aeora (1.8)

"the Storm"

1.

Storm clouds coil, 

build a wall of condensed smoke

overhead

quickly approaches with wild

roars and flashes, torn

sparks of electricity will dance in jagg’d

branches across mid- 

night sky, cackles cracked lightning 

bolts to the

sea.

Kraken swift

upon oily waves that rip

apart normally

calm sea surfaces with ragged rows — 

teeth explode — 

bursting over lurching wooden decks,

water drains

past the curve of her brow, reflects the storm

as she peers

into sheets of flashing rain. Broken

cliffs, like mountains

weathered by the widening current, rise

o’er the ship — 

island peaks awake with swarms of determined 

birds of prey;

blood-red haze of Phrixus' dim light fills

smokey, speckled

rain clouds between lightning strikes,

illuminates the eye

(solid darkness reflects swift drops of rain)

‘fore it dives

under water in an explosion of tidal waves,

while the ship

veers into the spiraling current

propelled

by a mysterious force.

2.

Gazes up at the sky, her view blocked

by the thick

swarm of black clouds brewing o’er

blended moons

(whose refracted light cast scenes

layered in

umbras) bound by violet haze,

as the ship’s

foremast snaps and falls

into the water.

She looks for the priestess,

but can’t see

through the veil of rain and wind

except for

the silhouette of a rising spire

and the dark

center of a maw swallowing

the edges

of the ocean into an endless… 

3.

… void. Spiraling past islands,

each time fists

clenched, sure that this will be when

they will crash

into rows of angry, jagged teeth

— but escape

until, on the horizon, that peak

(known as Arafel)

looms like a monstrous statue

bathed in the 

shadows of a dying light;

and behind,

writhing in the tumult of the sea,

is the great

beast, hissing and spitting at

the broken

sky. And, for the second time,

she takes a

bite of the forbidden fruit…

… all things are

colors, and a tree

branch hanging

off the edge of a cliff.

She reaches

up and grabs

it as the

ship barrels

past, and bursts

open on the rocks.

Left behind, she watches 

as the rest of the

crew floats a-

way into

the angry,

abysmal

spiral

of the

sea.