The Three Guardians (Working Title)

Chapter 1: Nikòlaos (Part 1)

The breeze was cool and the salty smell of the ocean wafted through the air. Nikòlaos grinned excitedly as he admired the vast ocean, the bright blue sky, and the promise of adventure from the deck of the galleon he was on. He adored the change being on the galleon brought compared to how his life was like before he had left home. The night he ran away from home, he had found the crew of a galleon before it had left and paid them a few gold coins to join their crew. As he gazed out at the sea, the crew he had joined bustled about, busy with the jobs they had been assigned.

It was only his second day on the ship, and so far, the journey had been pretty difficult. He had a hard time adjusting to the constant rocking of the ship, the rock hard bed he had to sleep on, the seemingly endless amount of tasks he had to do, and eating the bland glob of gruel they dared to call food. However, none of this dimmed his excitement, for the call of adventure and fun was strong. It was also the first time he had left his home island and the first time he had gone out without a servant behind him. So far, all he had discovered was that he absolutely hated physical work and having to constantly do chores. But that wasn't going to stop him from making the most of this adventure.

Everyone on this ship was, in a way, looking for adventure. This particular galleon and its crew was looking for islands. Mythical islands to be exact. Folktales, and recent rumors of some lucky pirates, spoke of Mystical Islands that gave people powers and abilities, sparking a mad search for islands. Even more importantly, folktales of people who had powers spoke of holding the secret to a long life. Those same folktales called those bestowed with powers and abilities "The Chosen".

Despite many pirates and sailors suddenly searching for powers, Nikòlaos and many others believed that chasing mythical islands was pointless. He was sailing to look fun. And to escape from home. If he ended up getting powers, then he simply got lucky. He would even consider going home if he did get powers, because if he had powers, he might be of use to his family and would be able to make his father proud. But really, he was just sailing for fun and to try new things.

Nikòlaos sighed as he thought of the crazy people who were madly searching for mythical islands. Honestly, the crew of this ship was not much better than the other crazed people. His attention was pulled away from the ocean and his thoughts, as he heard someone yell his name. He quickly spun around and saw the ship's cook stomping up to him, his face contorted in anger.

He yelped as the cook grabbed him by the ear, muttering on and on about how useless he was and how the captain of the ship shouldn't have let him on board. The words stung, but they stung far less than when his father had said those very same words. He ignored the cook's words as he was dragged back down into the ship's gallery. Once they arrived, the cook's scolding turned into a yelled lecture about swaddling on deck and not doing his chores.

Nikòlaos rolled his eyes in response to the lecture before going to do the dishes as quickly as he could. He rather be on the deck staring out into the ocean than be down here in the gallery. After what felt like an eternity, he had finished doing the morning dishes and was lamenting the lack of a pocket watch as he made his way back up to the deck of the galleon. Once he arrived on deck, he noticed a sudden crowd of people on one side of the deck. He made his way over to the rail at the edge of the deck and squinted, trying to see what everyone was looking at.

"Land ho!" some sailor in the crow's nest yelled, and suddenly, anyone who wasn't already on deck appeared and crowed at the rails, resulting in Nikòlaos being pushed around till he was far from the rails and unable to actually see the island that was spotted. He huffed at being shoved around and instead, he waited eagerly for the captain to appear.