Chapter 31. Freshwater
Charles threw off the covers and tried to stand up. The moment his feet touched the ground, a piercing ringing sounded in his ears. The murmurs overwhelmed him like a surging wave.
This time, his auditory hallucinations were much more severe than any of the previous times. Charles even began to experience hallucinations. He witnessed the bodies of his crew members decaying and sprouting bizarre, misshapen tendrils as they transformed into monstrous abominations.
Ignoring any possible consequences, Charles swiftly took out the box that Elizabeth gave him and swallowed a large piece of the green jelly within.
The murmurs in his ears gradually grew softer and faded. At the same time, the distorted crew members also returned to their normal appearances.
Drenched in cold sweat, Charles stood at a distance from the rest and panted heavily.
Disregarding all concern for him, Charles instructed between gasps, "Notify everyone to gather in the captain's quarters."
Shortly after, everyone on the Narwhale had gathered in the captain's quarters for an emergency meeting.
"What is our exact location now?"
"Well...It can't be confirmed as of now. The huge wave seemed to have tossed us quite far off course. Fortunately, we managed to not capsize due to our First Mate's extensive experience."
"What about our casualties and loss of property?"
"We lost two sailors, presumably swept overboard. Our Third Engineer was pierced by the butterfly's claw and died. Chef Frey's left arm is dislocated," Second Mate Conor reported.
As soon as he finished his report, Chief Engineer James spoke, "Captain, the creature's foreleg directly penetrated the turbine chamber. We have sealed the hole for now but the turbine's power has been severely compromised. The Narwhale can only achieve a fifth of its previous speed now."
Hearing one piece of bad news after another, Charles could feel the weight of responsibility growing heavier upon him.
He took a deep breath and addressed the crew. "First Mate, readjust the crew's shifts to fill up the vacancies. Abort the original mission. We will head south for now, where there are more human settlements. There's a higher chance of encountering the safe islands."
The crew members gave an affirmative response and the paralyzed Narwhale finally started moving again.
After the crew left the captain's quarters, Charles grabbed the liquor bottle from the bottom cabinet and took a huge mouthful. His previous composure was completely gone and was replaced with extreme fear.
A colossal arm larger than a mountain—was it the same as the giant from his dreams? What exactly was it?
He had heard tales of the divinity in the subterranean sea. Regardless if the tales were true or not, he remained indifferent to them. However, today, when he laid his eyes upon the divinity, for the first time in his life, he realized how insignificant humanity was.
"Is this place still on Earth? There's no way Earth can harbor such colossal creatures! Gravity itself would have crushed it!!"
For a brief moment, the thought of selling the ship and spending the rest of his days on an island crossed Charles' mind. However, vague images of his family flashed through his mind and his gaze gradually became resolute.
"I cannot give up! Not even a god can stand in my way!" Charles proclaimed.
Charles took another swig of the liquor bottle before putting it away. He then put on his cold demeanor once more and headed out of the room.
As time passed, the atmosphere on the Narwhale grew calm once more under Charles's command. Even though they were still not out of danger, at least, their morale had stabilized. Some of the crew members even had the luxury of time to collect the yellow "snow" in an attempt to brag to those on the Coral Archipelago when they returned.
However, everyone seemed to be in an unspoken agreement to not bring up the giant hand that had emerged from the sea. They treated it like it was a taboo topic.
"Mr. Charles, Dipp bullied me!!"
In the canteen, the white mouse Lily stormed toward Charles in a rage and interrupted his meal.
"That guy said that if we run out of food, he's going to eat my friends!"
Hearing the mouse's complaint, Dipp tried to stifle his laughter and lifted his gaze to meet the Captain, "Captain, I was just teasing her. Also, mice aren't tasty."
"Stop being so childish, we are not even out of danger yet." Charles scolded the boatswain before he looked down at Lily who was on the floor.
"We have enough food. Even if we don't, we can cast a net to catch fishes. We won't have to resort to eating your friends."
Hearing Charles' words, Lily felt reassured and jumped before Dipp to confront him once more.
Although Charles showed no signs of nervousness on his face, he was anxious deep inside. They did have enough food, but their supply of freshwater was running low.
If they couldn't find a new place to dock before their freshwater supply ran out, everyone on board would die of thirst.
Seemingly aware of Charles' thought, First Mate Bandages approached him while munching on a piece of bread. "Captain...I have a solution..."
Charles grew interested as he asked, "What's the solution?"
"Sacrifice...just three... souls. God Fhtagn will lead us to..."
A trace of disgust appeared on Charles' face as he lashed out, "Throw those disgusting thoughts out."
Bandages grew silent for a brief moment before he stared at the sailors standing in the distance and commented, "The freshwater on board can last us for another month. If we draw lots to become sacrifices... the survivors can drink the blood of those...In the worst scenario, three of us can endure up to half a year..."
Charles abruptly turned to look at Bandages. His eyes narrowed into slits. It felt like this was the first time he was actually getting to know his first mate. That man was far from harmless, contrary to his outer appearance.
"Sorry...It's a contingency plan...I've encountered a similar situation before...I ate my captain..."
"Enough!! Just eat!" Charles roared. His sudden loud voice startled everyone.
The next day, the crew noticed that freshwater on the ship was being rationed. No one objected to the action, but they seemed to dawn upon a realization as the smiles on their faces noticeably diminished.
As the supply of freshwater dwindled with each passing day, Charles even took out his alcohol to be rationed.
When the day arrived that everyone could only have a cup of water a day, someone finally snapped. He felt desperate and desolate about the situation and wanted to jump overboard but was held back by other crew members.
Bandages once again proposed the idea of offering a life sacrifice. Just when Charles was feeling wavered, a faint white beam of light swept through the darkness from above. It was the light from a lighthouse.
Surrounded by the cheers of his excited crew members, Charles let out a sigh of relief as a wave of assurance washed over him. The hellish scenario that he feared had been averted.
As the Narwhale slowly approached the light source, a strange island appeared before their eyes. If other islands were described as a flat pancake, this island resembled an egg.
At the bottom of the egg, there was a crack where various steamships, adorned with red flags, were able to enter and exit.
As they had lost track of their coordinates, Charles didn't know the name of this island. From his memory, this island was not marked in any of the nautical charts he had chanced upon either.
However, since it was a human settlement, communication should be possible. The Narwhale followed the other ships and entered the giant egg.
A giant city sat within the egg. Gothic-style buildings were neatly lined up. Perhaps due its cave-like structure, bats often flew overhead.
"Boatswain, check with the locals if there's a shipyard. The Narwhale needs to replace her turbines."
"Aye!" Dipp held two small green flags and stood at the bow and gestured.
A moment later, Dipp returned with an awkward expression on his face. "Captain, they seemed to be using a different flag language. I couldn't understand it."
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m