Quoted By:
>SELECTED: “THIS VESSEL IS UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD. STAND. ASIDE.” You hold your sword before you by the blade as a cross, hilt first to the sky as if to shield the entire ship under it. [Hearty]
<span class="mu-i">“THIS VESSEL IS UNDER THE PROTECTION OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD.”</span> Every man and woman aboard the ship flinches at the sound of your voice, echoing over the cacophonous noise of the raging sea like a god of antiquity. The storm roils and rumbles, as if intensifying in response to your challenge rather than ignoring it. <span class="mu-i">“STAND. ASIDE.”</span>
Lightning snaps out at the cliff-face above, a jutting rock explodes into shards of deadly debris set to rain down on the crowded decks of the Coy Siren below. But not one fragment, not one <span class="mu-i">pebble</span> touches the wooden frame of the vessel. As splinters of the destroyed rock land in the water either side of you, some as large as your skull, the thunder roars its own challenge back at the solitary figure standing fearlessly before it on the prow.
<span class="mu-s"><span class="mu-i">“STAND!”</span></span> Your sword is held before you like an artifact of sovereignty over the ocean. You demand, no <span class="mu-i">command</span> the elements to grant safe passage. For who is mightier, the wind and the waves or <span class="mu-s">The Almighty God Himself?</span> <span class="mu-i"><span class="mu-s">“ASIDE!”</span></span>
The wind howls and the waves crash. The lightning flashes and the thunder rumbles. But only for a moment, the final indignant shriek of a child sent to bed without supper. The wind dies and the waves settle. The lightning stills and thunder grows distant, as the clouds above clear. The first faint ray of sunlight shines upon your face, warming your smile even as the steely rain trickles to a light drizzle.
All around you, all around this specific place and moment, the storm continues to rage and expend its fury. The Coy Siren sits in an island of tranquility in an ocean of darkness and chaos. You don’t know how long you stand their, guiding the way as a torchbearer, but when you turn you see every single man and woman aboard the Coy Siren on their knees. The pilgrims are praying, clasping fist in hand above their heads in the sign of the Brothers’ Unchained. They pray with a fervour and sincerity that can only come from deep, genuine faith. The sailors are less certain, a few join the pilgrims in prayer but the majority remain on their knees in hesitant obeisance to… to whatever unearthly power just spare their lives. A power invested in you as its avatar.
Captain Alfonso stares at you, shock, awe and a fragment of fear writ clear on his face. He clutches his recovered full-brim hat to his chest while on his knees, like a lowborn making way in the street for higher nobility. Beside him, First Mate Yori and Benicio the lookout won’t even meet your eyes. But it is very factor that turns your temporary reprieve into true salvation. Benicio’s nervous askance look suddenly turns to elation.
[1/2]
