The Beast of the Sea~Chapter 28

I felt some kind of strong force inside me bubbling to the surface. I still couldn’t will myself to move as Blackbeard walked toward me, flicking his sword to the side causing small splatters of blood to stain the deck of the Orca. With every step he took, I felt every dark emotion I had ever had build up inside of me. It was like Blackbeard was shaking up a can of soda with everything I was inside of it and if he shook too much, everything would explode all at once. Then, he was standing directly in front of me and looking down with those red eyes.

“What’s the matter, have I upset you in some way?” He joked, obviously not seeing me as a threat or even an obstacle. He raised his hand and then placed it right on his chin. “How about this, I’ll give you a free shot right here.”

He was making fun of me now. He was mocking me and there was nothing I could do about it as I watched El bleeding in the edge of my vision. I was angry and helpless, there wasn’t even any earth here for me to control. All this pain seemed to flow into my newly created fist and I punched Blackbeard right in the chin. Much to my surprise however, Blackbeard went flying across the deck and crashed against one of the railings. Parts of his coat were on fire with green flames, putting me once again in a state of shock. I looked at my hand and instead of the blue flames I was used to, the fire I held was a bright shade of green like that of Greek Fire.

“Alright, so you have some fight in you after all, but I was made to fight.” Blackbeard said as he got back up on his feet and brushed the flames away like it was nothing. As he walked I felt another surge of anger and it must have shown on my face. “Have you gone and made you angry demigod?”

“You haven’t seen me angry,” I said, but I had wondered where I got the nerve to say them. I no longer seemed in control of my body as I pointed my sword right at him and Greek Fire seemed to swirl around it like a snake. “Now the real fun starts.”

Our swords clashed as Blackbeard charged us. He seemed to be pushing pretty hard, but I was pushing back just as strong which shouldn’t have been possible considering how big the guy was. Blackbeard jumped back and we traded strikes, each one of us gaining the upper hand.

That’s right, let it all out!

I heard that voice in the back of my mind again, just like I had back at Camp Half-Blood when fighting Thresh, another son of Ares. But I pushed it back as I blocked another strike and was forced to move back. Blackbeard moved with unimaginable speed as his sword seemed to come to life in his hand. By now I could barely keep up with him as he advanced.

Let your anger out, let your pain out, let your fear out!

“Getting tired?” Blackbeard said as he made a move that I could barely follow. He moved his foot forward, almost stepping right on my toes and I on instinct pulled it back, causing me to stumble a bit and Blackbeard hit me with his shoulder, sending me tumbling to the hard wood deck.

“I’m not done yet,” I said, gasping for air and trying to at least sound threatening, but it failed miserably.

“But you are boy. Don’t feel ashamed, you put up a good fight,” Blackbeard said as he extended his hand onto my head and I saw red energy flow into it as a twinkle flashed in his eye. “In fact, I think I’ll even allow you to join my crew.”

All at once I found myself being filled with raw emotion. It was like I was being consumed by battle, war, killing, pain, bloodlust, and a hundred other feelings I couldn’t even describe. The feeling was eating away at my very soul and all I could hear was the laugh of Blackbeard as he enjoyed watching me become one of his little puppets.

It’s time now to let me out…

I could no longer control my body, but I watched as my hand rose to grab Blackbeard’s arm. The only difference was that it wasn’t my hand grabbing it. The hand was covered by an armored gauntlet that was as black as a nightmare and Greek Fire seemed to be pouring from the cracks. Blackbeard was obviously shocked by this, almost as much as I was.

“You will submit to me! No one has the power to defy my orders!” Blackbeard shouted.

“There’s always a first,” I heard myself say, but it wasn’t in my voice. The voice I heard was dark and piercing, with just a hint of mischief tossed in for good measure. Before Blackbeard could react, his hand was pulled away from my head and was squeezed so hard that he began to groan in pain. “What’s the matter, have I upset you in some way?”

My hand let go of his wrist while the other swung around and once again punched him right in the face. He fell back, but managed to regain his balance. He then had a confused look on his face before I watched as his tongue seemed to explore his mouth and he spit out a tooth.

“You’ll pay for that,” Blackbeard threatened. I wanted to run away or do something, but by now I was a prisoner in my own body, I was no longer in control.

Just then chains shot up from the dark vastness of my mind and wrapped around my arms and legs. Then I was pulled straight down for what felt like an eternity until I came crashing into the ground. It didn’t hurt like I thought it would and I started looking around.

“I know this place,” I said as I remembered this place from a nightmare. I was once again in a grey world without color. It was dark and I felt a chill run up my spine. I turned around as best I could and saw…me.

“So you finally decided to listen to me,” I said, or he said. I wasn’t even sure what was happening anymore. “About time too, that idiot was about to run you through with his sword.”

“Who are you?” I asked the figure.

“I’m you.”

“No, I’m me. You’re something else. Just an imaginary part of my mind,” I tried to rationalize. There is no way he was me if I was me.

“You’d like to think I was just an imaginary friend, but I’m much more than that,” he said as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t you take a look outside if you don’t believe me.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant, but when he placed a finger on my forehead it was like I was back in my own body, but I still had no control. Blackbeard was being pushed back as he was now on the defensive. He was unable to keep up with my sword strikes, but that wasn’t all. Greek Fire had formed a type of armor around my body and was acting on its’ own, acting independently of my sword strikes and attacking Blackbeard with reckless abandon. He managed to block on strike and it landed just a few feet from El. Blackbeard was eventually pushed back against a wall. He swung his sword in order to block a direct strike of Greek Fire, but his sword was knocked from his hand when mine hit the hilt and twisted it from his hand. I watched as I placed my sword right to his neck and I saw fear in his eyes. I also saw my own reflection, something I couldn’t see myself. In his eyes, I saw a dark green glow coming from my eyes and an evil smile that I wasn’t used to. I was then pulled from my vision as the other me pulled his hand away.

“You were the one that attacked El and Angel when I was under the Siren’s spell,” I told him. That look in Blackbeard’s face was the same one I had seen when I saw on Angel and Joe when I first woke up.

“No, we attacked them. You saw them, they think we are weak and useless. Now they fear us and always will,” he said.

“I don’t want that!” I yelled at him, and it was true. I didn’t want my new friends to fear me, that was the last thing I wanted.

“It is too late for that, it has already happened. Now that they have seen what we are, they won’t be able to look at you without thinking of me. It is only a matter of time, soon everyone will fear you and I’ll just keep getting stronger,” he said with that same evil smirk. “Now if you’ll excuse me, someone needs to be punished.”

“You’re going to kill him?”

“Obviously.”

“Then what?”

“Then my attention will turn to his crew.”

“What about the ones he turned?”

“No one will be spared.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Who's going to stop me?”

“I will,” I said. I began pulling at the chains, but the other me just laughed at my efforts. I didn’t give up, I had to believe I could stop myself from doing something I would never be able to live down. I dug deep and tried to call any kind of power I could to me. Blue flames encircled my body and erupted into a raging inferno, melting the chains that held me in place. By now I had gotten the attention of my other self. He ran toward me, pulling out a dark version of my sword, but I wasn’t planning on staying and willed myself out. I flew up like a rocket and broke through the ceiling of the sky.

“You’ll be back here, you can’t hide forever!” I heard from far below, but I didn’t care. I’d handle that when the time came. Before I knew it, I was standing over Blackbeard with my sword against his throat and his head looking down at the deck. The green flames that had surrounded me were now gone and so was the dark gauntlet.

“Go on and do it already,” he said, but he sounded completely defeated.

“Swear on the River Styx you will never harm a living thing for the rest of your life,” I told him. I hoped it would be enough to at least prevent him from causing any harm in the future. However, he looked up at me and smiled, giving me the perfect view of where I knocked his tooth out.

“Of course, of course, anything you say,” he said. He placed both hands on the deck of the ship. “I swear on the River Styx that I will never, ever, harm another living thing for the rest of your life.”

“That isn’t what I told you to…” but before I could finish, there was a sudden shake and I was thrown from the ship, landing on the soft sand of a beach. I was more than a little shaken up and when I finally gathered by bearings, I noticed Blackbeard had run the ship onto the shore of an island. I also noticed his sword was sticking up out of the sand a little ways away. Just then, Blackbeard jumped off the side of the ship and landed easily in the sand below.

“Sorry boy, but I still have a long pirating career ahead of me and can’t stop now that I have my sword once again in my position,” he said as he began to walk toward his sword.

“You still promised not to harm anyone as long as I am alive,” I told him. I then jabbed my sword into the ground and called on the power of the Earth Elemental. The sand around the sword began to swirl and dragged it away from Blackbeard and just kept going until it stopped at the edge of the beach by a small waterway at the edge of my range.

“Don’t worry boy, I won't harm you,” Blackbeard said as he pulled a blue sphere from his pocket. Red energy ignited from his hand and flowed into the sphere. The water around the island began to ripple as a tower of water erupted from the sea. “However, the Water Elemental is under no such promise.”

The tower of water came flying at me and I poured all my energy into my blade. The Earth rose up to meet me and collided with the water. I was being pushed back as sand wasn’t as strong as solid water, but then I heard a booming sound from above and I noticed the Collector’s ship had fired a stream of fire that collided with the power of the other two Elementals. As the three powers twisted and turned, the sky went completely dark and I heard a cry so strong that it shook the very ground.