3. The Wickedness Lurking

Chapter 3

The Wickedness Lurking

The Pirate

" A nother dead end, Captain," the man to my right informed me as I stared blankly at him. I couldn't recall his name. Just another first mate in a long line of first mates. I missed Willy. At least I could remember his name…

The darkness within me must have attempted to leak out as I'd been lost in thought because the first mate blanched, stepping backward as he stared at me through wide eyes. That had been happening more often lately; a fact that worried me. I never remembered my actions in those moments. It was as if I lost myself to the darkness as it consumed me piece by piece.

I turned, dismissing him, and his fear of me, without a word. I stood at the helm of my ship, the sea breeze rippling through my dark hair. To the outside world looking in, I was every inch the notorious pirate captain—rich, feared, unrivaled in power across the seven known seas. Everything I wanted was mine for the taking, but it had come at too-steep a cost. I knew that now.

I had everything I'd bargained for, but it left a cold, infinite emptiness. At first, the glint of plunder and taste of victory had satisfied my greed and ambition. As the years stretched on, a never-ending hollowness grew within me. Everything I wanted was worthless.

The ocean glistened and rippled the same as it always had, glittering beneath the warm rays of the sun. The days had melted into years and the years into decades. It all turned meaningless. An endless loop that brought no joy, no sense of accomplishment. Just an empty void. Not even the regret of forcing the sea witch to give me this power could fill this void. I now knew it for the curse it was.

No one looking upon my tall, commanding figure would ever guess the darkness festering within, not truly. They might sense it from time to time when it consumed me, but I'd become quite good at reining it in over the years. Even those with the sight couldn't see the wickedness lurking beneath my skin. My attitude, however, now that had become twisted and dark as that void continued to grow within, eating me alive from the inside.

"Set it on fire," I demanded, my voice a low rumble as I grasped the worn wood of the helm with a white-knuckled grip.

"Set what on fire?" the man asked.

We both looked out at the woods containing the village that had once held the sea witch. A village I'd spent untold years searching for. My gaze hardened, anger tightening within my gut as it simmered. Nothing. We'd found nothing.

"The village," I'd said between clenched teeth, as if a part of me wanted to hold the wicked words in.

"But…" the first mate began, his words trailing from him as if he couldn't fathom my decision to burn a village to the ground.

My icy black eyes glared at him. He was new. He didn't know me well enough yet. He'd learn all the wicked things inside of me soon enough. Everything was mine for the taking. Anything I wanted. Except the ability to break this damn curse.

"There might be people hiding who we didn't find, or they might come back and find their village burned to the ground and their food storage with it," the man said, rooted to the spot with an unsure flicker behind his eyes as he watched me.

My gaze snapped to him and his braveness, then I smirked, and he shrunk back. I knew he wouldn't be on this ship for long. Probably gone by the time we left the next port. This man reminded me so much of myself at his age. I hoped he did leave the ship, hoped he left this life before he ever found more than he bargained for, before he ended up like me.

"I didn't ask for your opinion. I said burn it. Now!" I demanded, knowing these very words would be what sent him over the edge. I'd secured his future just as I'd cursed mine. He may never thank me for it, but he'd be off the ship and have hope.

I'd spent the years of my youth believing the curse nothing more than a myth, but the wickedness had been feasting on my soul for years. Smiles turned to sneers; mercy to a ruthless cruelty. The man I had been…drowned in darkness.

The only hope I had left was to find the sea witch and force her to break the curse, but she'd been clever. Her lair always hidden by magic. I'd spent decades searching, but I always returned empty handed, the darkness consuming me from within unrelenting.

Tonight, after finding the original island, the original cabin, that emptiness was a gnawing abyss. It had taken far longer than I cared to admit to find this piece of wretched land, only to learn it wasn't her only accursed hiding place. As I turned from the man, gazing down upon the blackened waves below, wayward thoughts of ending my cursed existence surfaced. I tightened my grip on the helm, shaking my head as I closed my eyes dejectedly. There had to be another way.

I tilted my chin, gazing up at the stars. My mind racing for solutions and finding none. And then it came. One desperate, dangerous plan to find the witch and break her infernal curse. A plan that would take trickery, courage, and sacrifice.

I drew myself upward, my spine straightening, my eyes glinting with wicked delight. By my black heart, I would be free of this living nightmare. I vowed it.