HoloPirates: A Tale of Adventure

Drinking

"So, what happened after that?"
"Well, I found out the next night, when she came to me sobbing. I never heard her sound so....hurt in her life." He said. "So after that, I grabbed a carving knife, snuck into his room, and stabbed him 43 times while I held a pillow over his head to drown out the screams of agony."
As he said those words, a sudden chill went up and down my spine. I've never been scared of Jansen, and of course the ex fiancé got what he deserved, but still, hearing him talk so casually and calmly about stabbing someone 43 times while suffocating them with a pillow honestly scared me.
"What was the dude's name?"
"Charlie. Charlie Francis." He said. "He's the reason Marine wears the locket around her neck."
"That's what that is?"
"Aye."
"She said it was from some relatives, back when the voyage just started. I didn't think it was from her rapist ex-fiancé."
"Aye, no one ever does. But the locket is special, in a horrible way." He said. "Every single night, at the tenth hour of the night, the exact time that she was raped, the locket forces her to relive her worst memories of him, as a curse. And she can't just ignore or remove it. It'll burn her until she either opens it or puts it back on."
"Thats sick."
"Aye, it is." He said with another swig. "But hey, the curse can be broken."
"How?"
"She has to find a true love. See, Micheal, Charlie was a sick, twisted, yet incredibly clever man. He knew how scarred she would be after what he did, and he knew that she wouldn't want to find love anytime soon. So thats why he cursed the locket like that."
"So if she finds a true love..."
"...then the curse is broken." He said, finishing my sentence. "Now, Micheal, I think thats about all I can tell you. If you want to talk to Marine about it, thats fine, but we'd both best be getting to sleep, yes?"
"Aye, I am tired."
"Aye that. Goodnight Micheal."
"Goodnight Jansen. And listen, I won't tell anyone, except for you or Marine. Trust me on that."
He gave me a genuine smile, then patted me twice on the shoulder.
"I trust you." He said, and with a turn, he got up from the table, stretched, and began to walk away, up towards his cabin.
I sat at the table, thinking over everything that had happened, and I took another swig of the rum, heating up my throat and mouth yet again. I finished the rum, then set the bottle down, got up from my seat and made my way down into the crew quarters, where most of the crew were sleeping peacefully. On the very far side was all of my friends, fast asleep in their bunks, and the Storyteller was there too, sound asleep in his bed. I rubbed my eyes with a yawn, then unfastened my jacket, slipped my shirt off, climbed into the bunk, and tucked myself in for the night. I laid there, on the rather soft sheets, and I tried my hardest to get comfortable enough to go to sleep. But, every time I tried to sleep, the things that Jansen had told me came rushing back to my mind, especially about Charlie, and as I laid there in bed, contemplating everything, one thought came rushing to my mind.
I have to help her.
I threw the covers off of myself, then got up from the bed and climbed down the side of the bunk, trying to keep quiet so that I didn't disturb the crew. Thankfully, none of the crew were disturbed, but I failed to notice the Storyteller staring at me from his bunk.
"Hey." He whispered, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin.
"Dude, you scared the hell out of me." I whispered back. "What are you doing?"
"Thats what I should be asking you." He said. "I was reading your mind, and you were thinking about Marine."
My eyes widened as I looked at him, and I felt my jaw drop as I tried to comprehend what he just told me.
"How long were you reading my mind, exactly?"
"Not very long, just the part where you thought about going to help her."
"How many times have you read my mind in the past?"
"Not very much. I try to lay off of that power." He said. "But I can see that you wanted to go see and help Marine, so I had a question."
"What is it?" I asked, a little annoyed that he read my mind.
"Do you like her?"
"No, I mean..."
My voice trailed off as I looked at his extremely doubtful expression, and my words got stuck right in my throat. I was basically trying to lie to a god, and so far, he didn't believe me at all.
"Okay, fine." I said, kneeling next to the bunk. "Don't tell anyone, but yeah, I like her."
"I knew it." He said shaking his head with a smile. "I figured you did when you two first met, but I could just never be certain."
He yawned, then closed his mouth and laid back down in the bed.
"Alright, I'm going back to sleep." He said. "Good luck with her."
"Wait wait wait, before I go, do you know if she likes me?"
"Nope."
"You never read her mind about that?"
"Nope. Like I said, I figured that you two clicked, but I just left it at that, since we had a target to kill, you know?"
"Aye, I know." I said. "Is there anything you can tell me about the guy we're supposed to kill? Anything more you remember?"
"There's not much that I do know about him now. But I do know that he was the Storyteller before me, before I toppled him from his throne and cast him out of the Palace."
"Why did you do that?"
"Well, okay, I have to explain how Storytellers are chosen."
He sat up in the bed, and he crossed his legs, almost like he was getting ready to give a lecture.
"Okay, so when a Storyteller is nearing the end of his immortality, they begin to lose touch with the Stories. So, the Council of Old, which is a council of all previous Storytellers, will chose a new Storyteller. Generally, its someone who is extremely passionate about writing, but they also weigh the facts of the person's personality, and their ability to wield the powers of the Storyteller without being corrupted. Well, the Storyteller before the one we are going to hunt began to lose touch, and they chose the one we are going to kill, and he quickly became corrupted with the power. All Storytellers are writing to keep the universes in balance with each other, but he wanted to weaponize the power and take revenge on all of the people that have hurt him in the past, which was strictly forbidden."
He paused for a moment, and I noticed a very slight shuddering to him, as if it was extremely difficult for him to get the words out.
"There was an attack." He said, pursing his lips. "The Council of the Old attempted to apprehend him and bring him to justice. But, he was much, much more powerful than they had ever realized, and it was a slaughter. So many of the Old Storytellers died, so much knowledge lost, so many ideas destroyed, and so much history erased, and for what? Petty revenge. But two of the old Storytellers survived the initial massacre, and they chose me to be the Storyteller before he hunted them down and killed them."
"What happened to him?"
"Well, when I was brought to the city, I met one of my now dearest friends, named Lightning, who was the ruler over all of gods of lightning and storms across every universe. Basically, the God of Gods of Storms, and when I got to the city, the two Old Storytellers entrusted the full power of the Storyteller to me, and they died, right in front of me."
He shook his head, and so did I, thinking of the stupid reason that the guy had killed all of the Old Storytellers.
"I fought him, and the battle shook the Universes. We warped in and out of the Folds, fighting in and out of cities all across the Multiverse. We tore through nebulas and shook countless galaxies, ripping through the fabric of space and time with every strike. We destroyed countless cities in the fighting, Micheal. We tore entire universes in half as we fought. So many lives were destroyed, and countless more injured. But finally, I defeated him, stripped him of the power of the Storyteller, and just casted him right out of the palace, and, unbeknownst to me, right into this world."