Chapter 2: The Ghost Ship

Hero, along with Scorch's help, pulled over a large board. "This should help us walk over." he said nervously. There was something so creepy about that ship up ahead. What was it doing out here in uncharted waters? It didn't bear any insignia or emblems or even a flag so it was impossible to tell where it came from, or to whom it belonged. Hero went first. He slowly got on the board and began walking over. The board was rather slim so it was difficult for him to keep his balance. Scorch grinned and rocked the board a bit.

"Stop! I'm having trouble hanging on as it is!" complained Hero. He slowly got up again and walked to the end. He noticed a fog coming in from up ahead. He estimated it would take it a few hours to get here, just enough to explore. Slowly, Frost and Hawke went too and were shortly joined by Sierra and Sky.

"Well, well, well, this ship is pretty old. Look at the wooden floorboards. They're petrified somehow." noted Frost.

"Well, how does that help us?" questioned Hawk as he checked the captain's deck. There was nothing inside except for a broken wheel and a pile of bones.

"It means it's been around here for over a hundred years supposedly." said Frost. "What kind of ship is it? Have you found anything that will help us?"

Sky walked back up. "Nope. Except all the doors down below are locked. Like, bolted locked or something."

Frost nodded. "That might be a problem." he noted as left to go examine something. He walked back into the ship's helm. He picked up a skull and examined it. It was white and picked clean. Nothing remaining on it. "Interesting..." he muttered. he checked the other bones. They were similar. "Hey Misty!? Come here and check this out!"

Meanwhile, Hero, Sky, and Hawke went to go check out the doors. Hawke then attempted to crack open one door. It wouldn't budge. "Well this is weird." he said out-loud before trying again.

"Gah, has this thing been dead-bolted or something?" He sat back and frowned. Sky walked up to him and looked at the door.

"Anything we can do to open it even a bit?" she asked

"Maybe. All I really need is a damn key." He tried picking open the door again and the lock finally gave way. "There!" he said with a smile as he kicked it opens. It swung open with a loud creak and they were hit with the smell of rotten food.

"Ugh, that is nasty..." muttered Sky as she walked in first. The hallway was dark and murky with signs of wood rot in several places. It was also curiously wet here unlike the outside of the boat. An lantern swayed from the ceiling with a creaky noise. Hero went up to it lit it using a match. Further inside the corridor, there was a large puddle of water. Hawke went to it and tasted it.

"Fresh water. But how did this get in here?"

Hero shrugged and checked the doors on the side. All of the ones on the right were open, and the ones on the left were locked. He entered a room on the right and looked around. It was small with a bunk bed on the left, a nightstand in the middle up front, and a table on the far right. He tried to open the nightstand, but it wouldn't give. He noticed something under the bed from the corner of his eye. He crawled under the bed and looked around. There was yet another skeleton. He dragged it out and stumbled back as he saw it more closely. It was picked to the bone with not a shred of flesh or bone marrow.

“What the hell!?” he yelped.

Sky and Hawke ran in and saw it too. “What?” murmured Hawke. “That’s just freaking creepy.”

“So why are there so many skeletons?” asked Hero. “And why are they so…Minty fresh…?”

Sky shrugged. “I’m not sure. But it’s obvious something went down here.

Misty shooked her head after the third skeleton. “Yes, like I said, they've all been magically cleaned. This boat has been here for at most 5 years. Whatever did all of this, well, it preserved it. Including the skeletons. I think this was a prisoner ship. Like ours.”

“What the hell could have done something like this?” questioned Frost who was growing uneasy here.

“I’m guessing either a magical artifact, or a large group. Did you find any food or water?”

He shook his head. “No. Nothing. Though I think we just haven’t dug deep enough. Most of the doors are locked.”

She seemed distracted by something she found. She tossed from a bone fragment. He barely caught it in his magic and checked it. “A burn mark? So?”

“A cleansing fire.” she said. “Anti-organic magical flame. I've heard of stuff like this before. It clings on and burns quickly. Not even water or other magic can put it out easily.”

Frost frowned. The idea seemed far-fetched to him, but he didn't complain. “So? What does that mean for us?”

“It means that all of this probably took place a week ago. Around the same time the Brotherhood attacked.” she said nervously. “And judging by how they left this...It was probably a trap.”

Frost shivered slightly. “We have to warn the others.”

“Agreed.” she said as she got up and began to go, but both of them were suddenly knocked back by a shape that appeared from the top of the booth they were in.

A loud ticking sound could be heard and the shape dropped onto the boat deck. It was about 2 feet tall and three feet long. 6 legs, a long tail with spiked end and an unusual head. The thing clattered as it moved and Frost saw that it appeared to be made of metal The internal clockwork parts of it clattered as it moved awkwardly.

“Looks like trouble found us” mumbled Frost as he rubbed the back of his head. “What the hell is that thing?”

“It looks to be made of metal…” whispered Sierra

The machine clattered some more and tripped a bit to the side. Two of its legs looked damaged.

Frost reached around for anything he could find and grabbed a cudgel. The construct paused then hurried and swung its tail at him. He smashed at the ending with the cudgel and the pike fell off and hung limp by a few metallic wires. The thing hissed and still tried to attack. He got up and bashed it. He continued bashing at it until it stopped moving. “What the hell was that?”

“Not sure, but now we have an idea of what those guys left behind for anyone idiotic enough to stay.”

Hawke unlocked a door and opened it. It swung open with a creak. Satisfied, he walked in. The room was strangely empty, but he had a chilling feeling at the nape of his neck. He heard more and more creaks around. He walked out of the room and looked out. More doors were opening on their own.

“What the hell?” he muttered as he walked out to look for Sierra and Hero. They were nowhere to be seen. “Guys? Where the hell are you!?” he shouted softly. Just loud enough for anyone around to hear. He started getting a big agitated and nervous as he walked down the hall. He looked in each room and they were all empty. Nothing inside could have caused them to open. He heard a clattering noise and turned around.

Nothing was there except for the light on the lanterns they set up earlier. A faint tick-tock-tick-tock noise echoed from the ceiling. He shivered as he backed up, keeping an eye on the ceiling despite the poor lighting. He saw a shape skitter past. He turned around and saw a big shape and a hammering pain in his head. He lost consciousness from the blow.

The shape grabbed his body and dragged it into a room where two more were waiting.

The hunt has begun.

Author's Note

This chapter was written a bit differently from the others because I wanted to provide multiple points of view. As for the current antagonists, more will be learned about them later on in the story.

Please leave a comment as feedback to I can improve on chapter 3, and thanks you for reading

-Black_Ashes