Turning back to the fire, she let the warmth of the flames and the rhythm of ancient myths wash over her, drowning out the distant echoes of music and laughter.
The air carried the scent of brine and burning driftwood as Vivienne drifted from one fire to the next, her thoughts still tangled in the first myth she heard. As she approached a familiar group, a gravelly voice called out, rich with mirth.
"My name is Bare Fang Bill, and me and the lads are here to tell you a tale," the nearly toothless sailor from The Pelican declared, his weathered hands weaving through the air as if conjuring magic. "Thing is, the lads ain’t much for words. We prefer singin’ our stories."
The 'lads'—a row of tattooed, battle-scarred men—threw their arms around each other’s shoulders, their voices rising like the tide. The deep, steady rumble of their song rolled across the sand, a harmony roughened by salt and time.
"Oh, gather ‘round, ye sailors bold, and hear the tale I tell,
Of cursed lands and treasure grand, where ancient shadows dwell.
The verdant isle, with whispered wiles, their secrets dark they keep,
But those who dare to venture there will find no peaceful sleep."
"Yo-ho, yo-ho, we sail against the tide,
To break the curse, we roam the earth, where hidden dangers hide.
With moon and star and flower fair, we'll brave the endless sea,
With another verse, we’ll lift the curse and set our people free."
A cold shiver crawled up Vivienne's spine as the sailors sang, and goosebumps prickled her arms. The song was hauntingly familiar.I've heard this before.It echoed in the depths of her memory, a song she couldn’t quite place but had somehow always known.
"On fiery heights where shadows dance, an ember’s heart is found,
Forged where the flame and darkness meet, in silence so profound.
In lands where time does twist and turn, a shard of night we seek,
To bind the past and shape the fate of those whose future is bleak."
"Yo-ho, yo-ho, we sail against the tide,
To break the curse, we roam the earth, where hidden dangers hide.
With riddles old and secrets veiled, we'll brave the endless sea,
With another verse, we’ll lift the curse and set our people free."
Vivienne’s breath hitched. Her mother’s journal. The words—“tear of light” and “ring of mist”—had been scrawled in the margins, nestled between sketches.Is this about Osimiri’s islands?
"In lands where whispers ride the wind, a ring of mist does gleam,
Hidden deep in shadowed glen, where sunlight dares not beam.
Beneath the waves where darkness rules, a tear of light does sleep,
Guarded by the ocean’s wrath in caverns cold and deep."
"Yo-ho, yo-ho, we sail against the tide,
To break the curse, we roam the earth, where hidden dangers hide.
With riddles old and secrets veiled, we'll brave the endless sea,
With another verse, we’ll lift the curse and set our people free."
