Chapter 99 - Unwanted Prayers

Theoric watches until the body sinks out of sight before heading up with the ship in tow.

After putting the ship back above the surface, he flew on board to check and see if everyone was alright, healing those that took some unintended damage due to the rapid movements.

Finishing, he said one last thing before freeing everyone- "I'm tired now and would like to rest, I would appreciate it if none of you disturb me."

Walking past the girls he headed below deck only pausing when Io commented- "You killed it." which caused an awkward atmosphere before he continued on down, not responding.

Sigyn frowned, glaring at Io- "Io how could you say that."

Io- "Oh god, I didn't mean it like that, I was trying to be sympathetic, I know how much he likes unique creatures."

Anna- "Well you did a piss poor job at it."

Sigyn feeling a little dissatisfied with Io started to head after Thoeirc- "I'll go check on Theo,"

Io called out- "Sigyn, I didn't mean it like that, I'm sorry."

Anna- "Don't worry, neither of them will hold it against you, but you need to start learning to care for them the way they care for us, they've done sp much for us and have been very kind, and, and... I love them, I hope you can come around or at least not be so grouchy all the time."

Io sighed, softly replying- "I know, I am trying."

Anna grinned- "As long as you do, I think it's fine... (Looking back at the rest of the deck to see how the crew was getting along)... What's all this now?" she asked just noticing their unusual behavior.

Io- "Great, how do we deal with this mess now?"

Sometime later Caius woke up after being one of the ones to fall unconscious, unable to handle the experience.

He stood back up, leaning against the wheel for support, almost toppling over again when it moved under his weight. Shaking his head he went over to look down at the deck to see what his crew was up to only to find all of them bowed down to the ladies.

Confused, he made his way down the stairs while rubbing his head, trying to stave off an oncoming headache due to the vivid nightmare he experienced.

Caius- "Ladies, mind explaining what I've missed and why they are doing that?"

Io- "Good your here, you can take care of this, they all decided to start praying to us like we're some kind of gods."

Anna smirked, she was half a god, maybe they should pray to her, she playfully thought.

Io seeing the smirk rolled her eyes at her.

"I'm sorry but what is going on?" Caius asked.

One of the crew members hearing the captain's voice looked up to answer- "We are showing our grateful respects to the Gods."

Caius - "What?"

"How dare you forget how they rescued us from the grasp of death and fought off the monster that would have killed us all."

A still confused Caius started to recall bits and pieces of his dream- "Monster? what monster, can someone please explain what you all are doing in words that make sense." he said rubbing his head.

Another of the crew spoke up who never like the captain- "This fool was probably one of the first to pass out and missed our lord's greatness."

Anna- "Caius, do you not remember what happened?" she asked.

Caius tried recalling what happened before he passed out at the helm, flashes of memories came to him, but all were way too unbelievable for him to trust.

Caius shook his head- "No, I mean I had the strangest nightmare of a monstrous creature attacking us, and that man Thoeric placing us in shielding just beforehand that we couldn't escape from."

Anna placed her hand on his shoulder looking him in the eys- "That wasn't a dream, that really happened."

Caius chuckled- "Haha, good one, but seriously you guys should get up, we still have sailing to do."

Io sighed- "Honestly that would be best, but they don't seem to want to get up."

Caius choosing not to believe in any of it for fear of his fragile mind collapsing started to shout at the men- "You heard the lady, we have a job to do, please get up and let's finish it."

Believing in gods was one thing, but seeing them was something else entirely, Caius couldn't accept that such otherworldly things existed. Thinking that if he accepted such things, that it would render his life meaningless. What greatness could he ever hope to achieve if gods and monsters exist?

He's heard the stories and believes them to a degree, to a point where he won't risk stepping on medusa's island, but he's never seen them, never experienced anything magical up close. They were/are still just stories to him told by others, some whom he believed, but still held doubts as anyone should if they haven't personally seen it with their own eyes.

He did wish to explore and hopefully see an interesting thing or two, but he wasn't the type to risk life and limb for it.

Anna second him- "Yes please, this is more than enough gratitude, Theoric was just doing as he should, you can thank him personally next time you see him, no need to bow and pray to him."

"But my lady, we are just mere mortals not fit to be in his presence, he deserves our prayers."

Io tried to clarify things- "Gods are not that different than us mortals, you only need to thank them when they do something that you are thankful for, just like anyone else, there is no reason to put them on a pedestal no matter how powerful they are."

The man frowned back- "You are lucky such a great god is willing to take you with him, I will overlook your slights in his consideration."

Anna addressed the men- "We appreciate all of your goodwill, but that's more than enough now, please rise."

Caius stood quietly at the side watching it all, wondering if everything that was said was really true, was that not a dream? Did that really happen? He denied it once again. The men and everyone must be experiencing seasickness, he rationalized, still unwilling to accept the reality of the situation.

The men all started to rise after their new god's lady accepted and told them so.

Caius- "Good, now that that's over with, make sure the ship is in working order and find out where this is, we are now drifting dangerously close to that small island." There was no telling how far off course they were.

One of the men spotting the island had his eyes go wide in fright- "Oh no." he said recognizing the rocky formation that jutted out all around the island, a distinct and unforgettable natural barrier preventing sh.i.p.s from approaching.

Alarmed he raised his voice.- "Escape! We Have To Escape! I know that island, that's the home of the Siren's, I'll never forget it... In my last crew, we sailed by these waters when we spotted that there island, Everything was fine until their enchanting song reached our ears, we lost all control as we sailed straight for them, crashing into the rocky barrier and sinking our ship. Luckily the crash knocked me out, and by the time I came to, the ship was mostly sunk... But the worst part... the worst part was, I could hear the screams of my crew as they were eaten alive, I managed to sneak away on a lifeboat that survived the crash... We Have To Stop! Turn The Ship Around! Turn The Ship Around Before It's Too Late!" he yelled frantically.

That's when they heard the song.