Chapter Text
1682 | The Deep Blue Plague
This attitude is basic human nature. We'd rather look outward and blame others for ills that befall us then point the finger at ourselves.
- Amish Tripathi
The water rides up the golden sand, wetting it's dry texture which darkens it's color. Ship's halt at the dock near the markets of the village, tying the ropes to the wooden beams that hold the pier above water. The Market bussles with chatter as the people buy the goods that are sold, trading coins for bread, apples, and more. People out of town drink they're beer in the tavern down the path, sinking into the good feeling that the drink intoxicates them with.
Sunshine beams over the town in a warm glow, making drinks and water sparkle and shine. Wanted posters are pinned to the sides of some shops, tethered at the sides with the writing of ink having faded slightly from the suns ray of light. The people seem happy in they're day to day life, going about they're own business and trading goods.
A woman slips through the crowd in ragged clothes, bare feet avoiding the leather boots so close to crushing her flesh with a single wrong move. She clutches a small oval shaped emerald stone in her hand, dark brown plated rope looped through a small hole in the gemstone. It sparkles from the light of then sun through the gaps in her fingers, highlighting it's gorgeous forest colors.
She appears small compared to the tall muscular men that arrived on their ships, the one's with a cutlass at their side and stubbles on their chin. Pirate's they're known as, thieves of the sea that hunt for shiny gold and trinkets worth a pretty penny.
As she makes her way through town, the air shifts into something ominous, dark. Though no men or women seem to notice, yet she does. They say it's a curse, an illness of evil. Black eyes and ghostly skin, collapsing people and villages filled with blood as black as ink.
They blame the one's beyond the shore, the sea monsters. One's that creep onto land and disguise as a mortal, blending into the crowd while they remain clueless of the imposter. Land Monsters they call them.
Then came the day, the one they dub "the deep blue plague", the deadly illness that spreads like wildfire once it arrives. It started on the day one of the "Land Monsters" invaded town, at the same time the plague started. They blame them, say their cursed and bring only evil and darkness.
Hunters tried to poach them, finding their scales to be worth a high price for their radiant array of colors they come in. Those same people never returned. Some say they were eaten by the monsters, others say the monsters dragged their ship under with them aboard. News got around fast like a virus, everyone catching word of these creatures.
If only they knew the truth. That these monsters had nothing to do with such dark magic. But they'll never believe it, they fear what they cannot understand. So they point fingers at the one's they fear, pushing all the sins apon them to deal with.
They call these so called "Land Monsters" the cursed ones, when they are just as cruel if not more. They stand in a pool of darkness and carnage that sickens over time, while the monsters hide from the ones that try and slaughter their kin.
The scales now decorate the riches attire like a luxurious jewel that the poor cannot afford. But in the eyes of the one's below land, it sickens them that this is what has happened to their species. Just items to be used for trade, like a deers head mounted on a wall, a trophy of their endeavors.
Oh if they only knew that they were the cause of their downfall, that it was merely a spell of the witches beyond the woodlands. A curse for the greed, the arrogance, the bloodshed. Spoiled they were, ungrateful for what they have, continuously searching for more as what they have will never be enough to satisfy their gluttony.
The woman steps aobon the wooden docks still slick with wetness, her next step faintly showing her turquoise scales from the dampness that stains the skin previously there. No one seems to notice yet as she heads for one of the pirates boats that are docked at the pier.
She starts to climb up onto the deck, eyes shifting into something unnatural. Scleras lighting into a bright yellow color, her hazel eyes changing to a forest green while her pupils turnto slits. Her vision is a blur of shades of grey, scanning over every inch of the boat for any heat signatures but finding none. Her eyes turn back to normal as she retrieves the plank back onto the deck.
It's only then do the owners notice her from the market, yelling out in anger for her to get off what's their's. But is it really their's if they stole it from someone else?
She steps on a woodem crate to reach the wheel, turning it north and setting sail to leave this place.
The air thickens at her departure as the plague arrives. A woman drops to the ground, eyes sunken as black goo pours from her eyes and mouth. The people panic as they drop one by one. "The land monster! They have cursed us once more!" Some yells as they point towards the distant form of the stolen ship. Only seconds later do they drop to the ground as well.
Screams and choking gurgles echo over the oceans waves as each one dies, leaving a horrid smell from whatever sickness caught them. She knows it's not her fault, but even so she feels responsible for their demise, even if she was only at the wrong place at the wrong time. Like many of her species were.
But no matter now, the past is the past and she must move on, shield herself from the guilt she shouldn't have to feel.
So onward she travels, and to where?
Anywhere beyond the shore.