Chapter 34: The Boy Who Was the Key
The sea was quiet as they rowed back to the Black Pearl.
Too quiet.
Even the wind seemed hesitant to blow. Jake didn't say much, which was rare. Raina sat with her blade across her lap, scanning the horizon with guarded eyes. And Elias… Elias stared into the water like he expected to see someone looking back.
The rowboat bumped against the hull. They climbed up the rope ladder, boots hitting the deck one by one.
The crew was unusually silent as they returned. Some looked at Elias with awe. Others with fear.
The tale of the ghost fleet, the cursed island, and the thing Elias killed had already spread. Among them
Elias walked to the edge of the ship and stared at the sea, gripping the railing tight. It looked normal. Calm. But it wasn't.
Not anymore.
He closed his eyes. And for the first time in years… he remembered everything
---
A storm.
Lightning splitting the sky. The sea roaring like a living beast.
He stood on a ship—not the Pearl—bigger, older, forged of blackened bones and gold. He wore armor etched with spirals and salt, and in his hand was a sword, longer than any mortal's.
Men bowed to him. Not because they feared him. Because they worshipped him.
And in the distance, rising from the heart of a whirlpool, was a throne of coral and bone.
A voice echoed in his mind.
"You are the Key. The only one who can open the sea's memory."
---
Elias opened his eyes, breath ragged.
Jake was beside him now, leaning against the railing. "You alright there, mate? You look like you just saw your own ghost."
"I did," Elias said softly. "And it was me."
Jake blinked. "Well, that's poetic. Horribly unsettling, but poetic."
Elias didn't smile. "I remember pieces. I wasn't born. I was… made."
Jake raised a brow. "Come again?"
"I was forged. Not in fire. In depth. In pressure. In silence." Elias stared at his hand like it didn't belong to him. "He—the Drowned King—needed a key. A weapon that could walk the land, make choices, and eventually… open the sea's memory."
Jake looked genuinely disturbed now. "So, what are you? Some sort of enchanted cutlass with legs?"
"I don't know," Elias admitted. "But I know I wasn't supposed to escape. I was supposed to serve him. And something—someone—tore me away from that fate."
Jake leaned closer. "That sword you've got—did it come from him?"
Elias nodded. "It was mine, even back then.it was bigger back then. It binds me to what I was. That's why it knew where to go. Why it opened the door."
Raina joined them, arms crossed. "You said he made you to open the sea's memory. What does that mean?"
Elias looked out over the water. "The sea forgets. On purpose. To protect the world from what came before. Before maps. Before gods. Before even time made sense. He remembers everything. Every betrayal. Every secret. Every death. He wants to unseal it all."
Jake gave a low whistle. "That sounds… catastrophically stupid."
Raina frowned. "But why now? Why is he waking up again?"
Elias turned toward them. "Because the sea is dying. You heard the prophet. The gods are gone. The world's lost its balance. It's unraveling. And in that chaos, old things crawl back up."
Jake stared at him for a long moment. Then, with a sigh, he spoke. "So. To recap—you're a sea-forged memory-knife boy made to unlock the nightmares of an undead sea god. And now we're all caught in the middle."
"Pretty much," Elias said.
Jake gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Well, at least you're good-looking."
Raina rolled her eyes.
Elias gave a faint smile—his first since they left the island.
"Do you think I can choose not to be what he made me?" Elias asked.
Jake didn't hesitate. "Mate, you stabbed yourself in the heart to open a door. I'd say you've already made your own choices."
Raina nodded. "Whatever he made you for, you're ours now."
The wind returned then, slow and steady. The Pearl creaked. The sea stirred.
Elias looked down at his sword.
The black blade pulsed faintly in his hand, like it remembered too.
And somewhere far below, beneath leagues of silent water… the Drowned King waited.
Not angry.
Not afraid.
Just… patient.
Because the sea always gets back what it loses.
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