The Beast’s Destruction

The story of how Henry's dreams sadly came true one night at sea.

The peaceful, deep sea held a dark tinge as a Dutch Fleut vessel made of beautifully carved oak sailed along the vast open plains of the sea. The 80 foot ship carried a small crew of twelve, travelling to a port along a tropical island to the east. The captain, Barnabas, has been sailing with his crew for over 12 years, and he couldn’t trust any other band of pirates to be as loyal and hardworking as they were.

 

The voyage to the pirate port had begun just a little over a week ago, most of the crew fairly eager to go to get a few bottles of rum into their systems and meet a lady or two, even though it was only a trip for supplies Captain Barnabas was lenient with his crew, and didn’t mind letting them have a bit of fun every once and a while �" they deserved it. But there was one member that wasn’t looking forward to the trip, and was agitated at the captain.

 

Henry was reluctant to join the crew just a month ago as the landed in the docks at Port Noble, but he had no work, no money, no home; Barnabas was his last hope. But he had a bad feeling about the journey that had embarked on, because of dream he had had the night before departing the docks.

 

Screams of agonizing death, the yelling of battle cries, unearthly roars bellowing from a beast’s lungs �" that was all that could be heard.

 

Destruction of precious cargo, flames burning and hacking through the main deck, a monstrous figure rising from the depths of the ocean, a destroyed ship left in pieces �" all that could be seen.

 

The same dream had replayed over and over in his head with the little sleep he got each night. He tried to explain it to the captain, who scoffed and laughed at him, saying it was only nerves about going out to sea for the first time. But he knew that it wasn’t nerves, he had been to sea twice before and he had no fear of a bit of water. He knew that something bad was going to happen to him, to The Rouge, and it would only be a matter of time before it did.

 

**

 

Night fall graced the crew as the moon lighted the freshly cleaned deck. A crew member was lighting lanterns with the guide of moonlight, as another was repairing a broken piece of deck.

 

“Hard work today, wasn’t it mate?”

“Yeah, let’s hope we make to the port sometime soon aye? Can’t wait to go see that minx from the last trip”

“Heh, which one, that fiery redhead or that raven-haired beauty?” His mate chuckled as he looked away from repairing the deck.

“If I’m lucky mate, maybe both,” he laughed and his friend joined him.

As their laughter died down, they went back to their work on the ship. Lanterns were now lit and the yellow glow they emanated helped the man working on the deck. What they didn’t know was, the lanterns had attracted more than just small insects.

 

Underneath the now black looking ocean, the appearance of a large monstrous figure swam with a deadly grace towards the shadow of the boat and the glow of the lights. It looked to be twice the size of the vessel it was ready to attack, with many tentacles that would be perfect to destroy his new toy, the pirate ship dead in its sights.

 

A rumble was felt as the ship was hit with what was thought to be a rough wave from the sea. It was that strong that it had woken and gathered the captain and crew onto the deck. Most of the crew were disgruntled about being pulled away from sleep or games of cards to see what caused their ship to rock violently for that brief moment. Barnabas gathered his group of faithful crew members as he cleared his throat.

 

“Now crew, I know you lot were playin’ cards,” he turned towards the group of sailors with hands of cards still clutched between their fingers, “and well, obviously you two were asleep, heck you’re barely awake now,” two men sleepily looked towards their captain, giving him weak nods of agreement, “but we need to find out exactly what hit the boat.”

 

Someone laughed from the group, one of the younger lads of their group, and scoffed, stating it was probably just a wave. But Henry had his doubts about it being just a wave.

 

A sudden, monstrous roar filled the air, which made the crew draw their weapons and stare into the sky, as they tried to see what had made that noise. A monster rose from the murky sea, ready to destroy his toy that was now the ship in front of him. It raised enormous tentacles and began to slither them around the ship like snakes; others it raised above its head, ready to thrash against the ship and destroy everything on it.    

 

In what had seemed like a slow motion reply, the horrifying scene in front of him played out just as Henry had seen it in his dream. Some of the crew screamed from agonizing death, the captain yelled out battle cries as they tried to fight the beast, and that creature polluted the air with its unearthly roars. All their cargo had been destroyed and lost to murky depths, flames engulfed the main deck, and the monstrous figure that rose from the depths of the ocean had left a destroyed ship left in pieces, with not one survivor to tell the tale of the horrifying kraken. 

Author's Note

This was written as an English assignment last year where we had to find a news article and than write a story based on te general idea on what had happened in it. I chose one about a whale breeching a boat and made it into the story above. I hope you enjoy it :)