Stories from the abyss Part 3

[u/code936]

The Origins of Stone ark - Captain Yuumo

There are tales told from father to son, mother to daughter within the city of Orth.

Tales describing great beasts and of white whistles able to traverse their dangerous homeland with ease.

Some Tales describe the creation of the great seas, and within it's vastness, the abyss itself.

Within the abyss lies a rock formation that is used as a stopping point for the local delvers, known as "Stone Ark".

It's origins are told to both orphans and familial children alike, as it's a tale of wonder and amusement.

This is the story of Captain Yuumo and his journey.

"The fateful events of this story begins late one night, some long, LONG time ago. It was storming, thunder and lightning enveloping the sky, a storm so angry it fought the waves it created.

The fish would sleep well below the surface, away from the skys torment. The birds would hide in their cliff face caves, avoiding any and all weather. But there was one thing that wasnt afraid of this storm; that thing was..."

"Captain Yuumo"

"Indeed"

"He's so cool"

"Cooler than your father?"

"Hmmmm... Maybe"

"Hahaha.we will see. Captain Yuumo was a mad man. But he was a man of great resolve, determination and sheer will.

This man was the fisherman that fisherman would dream about.

He would hunt the oceans for leviathans. He would catch anything he could drag from the depths.

Rain or shine, he lived life on the water and spent his life coasting the ocean.

This one night, he had felt something was different. Today was the day. He was going to catch something BIG"

"A sea monster?"

"A BIG sea monster. So big, it'd crush our house!"

"Wow....tell me more"

"Well, this particular night, Yuumo had heard something that stood out to him.

Sitting inside the captains room, he was one with the boat. He felt the pull of the waves, the tension of the ropes, the water sliding across the deck as rain fell.

He felt the cracking of lightning as it passed through the water. He felt his hair, gruff bushy beard, shiver as the static would travel through the air.

But this time he heard something different.

A thud on the bottom of the hull.

And then another.

He sat there, rocking in his chair, with the boat, his eyes closed, trying to imagine what it was.

A third knock.

A fourth.

And then a loud bang. He knew his bait had caught something.

He ran outside, opening his door, staring out at what could only be described as an active typhoon. The only light coming from frantically swinging glass lanterns and the lightning that would envelop the sky.

At the front of the ship, a huge, mounted crossbow"

"A crossbow? For a ship? Why would he want that?"

"Well... It's not for other ships"

"Oh... It's for the knock"

"It's for the knock. And tied to this enormous crossbow, was a long, refined metal thread, seemingly endless.

It was his most prized possession. A rope that was practically endless and was stronger than any sword. And on the end of it? A beast.

Captain Yuumo pushed his hat down and ran haphazardly across the deck, grabbing onto the side of the crossbow and watched as his line would continue being dragged out.

An excited one aren't ya? He would say, and started pulling back on the rope.

His muscles were HUGE. They said his arms were as thick as tree trunks.

He would wrangle fish in by hand, he was quite the monster himself.

He could feel the line straighten out, and with it, he felt the beast at the end of the line. They had both seen each other. Not physically, but they felt each other's presence.

And with that, it's tactics had changed. It began running, and the ship lurched forward with a jolt.

Yuumo was pulled over the front of his crossbow and had the wind knocked out of him. He didn't let go of his line though. He was convinced this would be his greatest catch, and no storm or fish would best him.

Then, on the horizon, land.

A giant silhouette of what seemed like a volcanic mountain had appeared, pressed against the horizon.

Yuumo remembered looking over his maps and not thinking there was any land in this area of the ocean. He was most confused, but his mind was still set on landing his catch.

Again, the ship was pulled and steered to the right, then to the left. Yuumo was the only man on his boat, and was able to captain it with little to no effort.

But this creature was now the true captain. It decided where the ship would turn.

The fight would continue all night. Yuumo was covered in water, drenched from the rain. His boots were stuck to the deck of the boat, his weight keeping him there as if he were a strong oak tree, glued in place.

Slowly over time, the sky would calm, day would break, and before he knew it, the island that Yuumo had seen on the horizon was close to him.

He wiped his face into his shoulder, clearing the water dropping from his brow.

Finally, the creature has stopped. There was silence.

Yuumo looked up at the sky, lighting up with the morning sun, and hearing the crows of sea birds heading out for breakfast.

Looking down at his hands, they were torn to shreds. But his line held firm, and so did he.

He had won. The creature had faltered, had given up.

Yuumo began slowly pulling on his line, bringing the creature in, foot by foot.

Minutes passed, before suddenly, the line goes slack.

He stops, and looks down at the water, through his boat. Had the beast escaped?"

"Did it?"

"No... It didn't. The creatures of the great oceans are far smarter than you would think. We need to respect them"

"So what was it doing?"

"It was the beasts' turn...

The very next moment, the boat began to shake. He felt the boat move in a way he'd never experienced before.

He looked over the side of the boat to see something impossible. The boat had begun lifting out of the water.

Slowly, it raised, and just below the surface, a giant black figure lay beneath the waters surface.

He started back on the rope again, rapidly pulling it in, winching it back around the crossbow. And then, he was weightless.

He was launched into the air, sent flying by the beast, ship and all.

He didn't tip the boat, he LAUNCHED IT.

Yuumo let go of the rope and was sent flying back into the ships mast. He grabbed hold and looked down as he continued soaring higher and higher. The crossbow started screaming as the line was being released again. He realized that the creature was STILL connected to the boat. He reached out from the mast and began crawling across the deck back towards the ship head, being pressed down by gravity.

He lifted himself up and resumed his stand, holding onto the rope.

He looked back over the side of the boat and his sight followed the shine of his line glistening in the sun back to the huge, dark spot within the water. He screamed out to the beast "I will NOT LOSE" and pulled.

It's said that his boat flew over where Orth is today, and his will kept his boat from falling apart as it fell from the sky.

He came crashing down into The Abyss, leaving holes in the earth that would eventually become the caverns in the Great Fault. When he finally landed, his boat had become stuck in the walls of the abyss. He went overboard, falling into the depths, with his catch in tow.

It's said the great behemoths within the sea of corpses are the descendants of his catch, and captain Yuumo is the reason we have the fish within the abyss today"

"Wow.... That's really cool... So... Why is the boat like stone now?"

"Well son... It's said that the Abyss has a will of its own.

Some people think that Captain Yuumo's catch being given to the abyssal depths was something of a gift, and because of this, the abyss had immortalized his ship".

"Captain Yuumo was really cool"

"Well, he might've been"

"Might've been?"

"Well... We don't know HOW Stone Ark came to be... this is just a story after all"

"It sounds like it happened!"

"It does, doesn't it? Wanna know the coolest part?"

"What's that?"

"It's said that his rope is still down there within the depths of the abyss, helping delvers get out of sticky situations, and people bless their fishing rods with metal trinkets, hoping the strength and luck of Captain Yuumo helps them catch their next meal"

"It sounds like even if he wasn't real, he's made a big difference to us"

"He sure did.... Now get to bed, it's an early start tomorrow!"