Chapter Text
“Isle’s up ahead, lass.” The dwarven captain turned her weather-beaten face towards her passenger, raising her voice over the howling winds. “Should be there within the hour, lest these winds pick up.” The cutter pitched and rocked on the murky waves, its vast sails billowing as the seas churned below.
Lara gripped the edge of her seat with cold, clammy hands, trying to ignore the rising nausea in her stomach. She trained her eyes on the horizon, willing herself not to look down at the heaving sea. “Thank you, Captain,” she said. “I hope it won’t be too much trouble for you to get back.”
“I’m not afeared for myself – ah, hells – ” The captain gripped the tiller with strong hands, steering the cutter into the waves. “Go and adjust those sails for me, would you? I’ll tell you what to do.”
Although the boat rocked mercilessly, threatening to knock her off balance, Lara managed to lower the sails as the captain instructed. “You were saying?” she asked, stumbling back towards the stern.
“The air on Skybreak Isle’s thick wi’ Talos’ presence. Not many would sail to the seat of the Storm Lord himself.”
“I know. But this is important.”
“Aye. I gathered as much.” The captain glanced over her shoulder, her sun-bleached hair whipping across her face. “You didn’t say when you wanted collectin’.”
“I don’t.”
“What?”
“I don’t need to be collected.”
There had only been a handful of sailors at the docks who were willing to brave the journey to Skybreak Isle. The dwarven captain had seemed the most experienced seafarer – and the most discreet. Still, it was only fair that a captain would want to know why their passenger was hells-bent on travelling to such a hostile place. In truth, it was a long story, one which Lara hoped would die with her.
The captain frowned, eyeing the darkening clouds on the horizon. “You’ll catch your death out here, girl. I don’t like this – ”
“I know what I'm doing. And I said I didn’t wish to discuss it.”
In the distance, Lara could see the jagged silhouette of the isle piercing the restless sea. She could make out the rough waves crashing against its obsidian-black cliffs, the central summit shrouded in thick cloud. Amid the rushing winds, beneath the throaty shrieks of gulls overhead, a distant rumble seemed to emanate from the isle like a beast lying in wait. It was as beautiful as it was foreboding, a shrine to Talos’ divine cruelty.
As the land drew closer, Lara was gripped by a dread she had never known before. It seized her from within, its clawing, grasping fingers stealing the breath from her lungs. The last twenty years had been a slow march to the end, but after all this time she thought she had come to terms with it. Now, though, a primitive fear was taking hold of her, freezing her like captive prey.
Transfixed, she blinked numbly, her gaze locked onto the summit at the isle’s centre. The Altar of Ruin, as it was known by acolytes of Talos. It was considered an honour to die here: Lara thought, with grim humour, that she had done little to deserve such an honour.
Helpless fear and bitter resignation tangled in her gut as the tides swept her towards her fate. She began to wonder what she would see in that final moment. What she would feel. Whether it would hurt. It would most certainly hurt –
Through the swirling fog, a darkness began to emerge from behind the peak, only a vague outline at first. As it drifted closer, the shape started to gain form, moving with a fluid grace. Long, undulating limbs stretched and probed the mists.
Lara watched, agape, her mind working frantically to identify the creature. It moved as if through water, suggesting that it was organic in nature. It resembled a giant squid, or perhaps a mollusc, yet… it was airborne. The beast defied definition.
And it was heading straight for the boat.
“What is that?” Lara shouted over the screaming wind.
The captain, grasping the tiller with white knuckles, shook her head frantically. “I’ve never seen anythin’ like it afore!”
“Get below deck!”
“You’ll die – !”
“I’m not asking! Go!” Lara barked.
With one last desperate look at her passenger, the captain released the tiller and dove into the cabin.
The boat lurched violently as Lara struggled towards the bow. As the hulking mass floated closer, she could now see that it wasn’t a creature at all. At least, not entirely.
Set over the enormous coiled shell was what appeared to be an exterior deck, fringed with barbs of serrated cartilage. The tentacles, slick and glistening, moved with a consciousness all their own, grasping and testing the air as if tasting it.
It looked like a flying ship, but with a grotesque sort of… aliveness. Lara couldn’t shake the feeling that this strange vessel wanted her.
Planting her feet on the deck, she took a deep, shuddering breath, willing her fear and dread into submission. Raw emotion churned within her, stoking a fierce, familiar heat in her core. As the sensation spread into her limbs, static crackled around her. White-hot sparks surged between her fingers, awaiting her command.
The vessel drew nearer, silent as a wraith, its tentacles sweeping the air with eerie sentience. Lara made rapid mental calculations of timings and trajectories, raising her hands in anticipation of the right moment to strike –
Now.
Her hands flew out in front of her with swift precision, aiming a blinding bolt of energy straight into the ship’s hull.
Tendrils of lightning burst across its surface, releasing the smell of ozone and burnt flesh into the salty air. The vessel juddered almost imperceptibly, but did not slow its approach.
One tentacle stretched towards her, extending its clubbed tip like a slimy, grasping hand.
Lara channelled another lightning bolt through her outstretched palm, hurling it forward in a blinding flash of white.
Searing, blazing electricity surrounded the tentacle, leaving puckered welts in its wake. The rubbery limb spasmed and jerked, flailing towards the darkening sky.
Lara watched. For just a moment too long. In that foolish fraction of a second, she allowed herself to exhale.
She didn’t see the other tentacle in time.
Not until it wrapped around her waist, wrenching her away in a single, agonising instant.