Gregory's Journal Entry

The waves slowly lapped against the sides of the large wooden craft as he stared into the endless depths of the ocean, searching the surf for answers. Gregory knew his search for the mystical would inevitably send him beneath the waves for answers to his most burning questions. Magic was bursting forth from the very seems of the world, out of every crevice, as if it were begging to be discovered. How could there not be answers to the mysteries of magic in the ocean, just as there were mysterious creatures living within it. He knew something grew beneath the waters, something stirring, writhing, something alive.
Gregory sailed the coastlines for years now, searching for signs of magical outflow or cracks in the ethereal plane pouring into his world. He had discovered several smaller islands on the out skirts of the mainland that were inhabited by several different humanoid races but nothing inherently magical about them. Currently searching the area for signs of the mystical, he heard stories from multiple ports that there were sightings of giant creatures, underwater societies, and structures jetting out of the ocean in the area between the established islands and the mainland. By locating and observing these strange anomalies, he hoped to study and eventually bend these potential unknown magics to his will; doing so would solidify his position as one of the most influential scholars in history but more importantly feed his veracious hunger for control.
Slipping below deck, the young explorer sought the company of his books. Gregory poured over his notes, seated at his desk, and watched the candle light flicker off the wooden beams in his chambers. They swayed back and forth across the rooms, casting shifting shadows as if the light was dancing to the beat of the ocean. Up and down, back and forth, slowly tossing shapes and light across the room in a hypnotic pattern, Gregory felt his eyes become unnaturally heavy as if they were compelled shut. Soon everything went black. There was no time, space, or morality, there was only black. Slowly he began to hear the sounds of waves crashing around him and the smell of salt water stinging his nose. He looked around, finding only blackness all around him. Then his foot touched something. It moved beneath his feet, undulating, alive. Looking down, Gregory found himself walking barefoot on the ocean surface. He continued walking in the direction the waves were traveling, as if they were driving him closer to a specific destination; but still there was nothing in front of him but the endless seascape reaching out to the horizon. Only endless blue and green waves pulsing towards some distant destination were visible to the scholar.
Soon Gregory began to feel a sense of unease as the waves began to change in attitude, as if they had become frustrated. He felt pushed and pulled simultaneously towards a central point that he could now see on the horizon, a dark swirling void. Frantically he began running away, clawing at the amorphous waters around him but they only pulled him closer to the pit, forcing him onto a deadly tack. Terror choked the air from his lungs, wrapping its icy fingers around his heart, stripping him of his senses; the closer the waves pulled him in towards the whirlpool the less he could breath, as if the rhythm of the waves wrenched the very air from his lungs. As he approached the twisting vortex Gregory screamed out in horror but no sound left his throat. The black abyss sucked Gregory into its maw, devouring him whole.
As the tide ripped Gregory beneath the surface, moments away from death, his final thoughts consisted of the disoriented mixture of regret and bewilderment. Several moments of panic ensued as Gregory thrashed about in the black void, eventually giving into his inevitable fate as he drifted back into black nothingness. Then as he began to drift into unconsciousness, a single melodic note rang out inside his mind at the exact moment his foot touched down on a solid surface. He opened his eyes slowly as he came to stand on what appeared to be the sea floor. All around him glided strange alien like creatures, never seen before. Some creatures were long and slender with multiple appendages, slipping through the water with graceful ease while others powered through the water with muscular tails and fins, hunting for prey. Mixed among these strange life forms were enormous schools of various fish that filled the areas around him, moving about without fear as if they could not see him. He watched these schools continue to emerge from the edge of a precipice in front of him, as if exploding out of the ground like a geyser. Perplexed by the sight, Gregory walked along the sea floor, inching towards the brink. Looking over the edge into a deep chasm, he saw a terrible creature with multiple arms much like a giant squid but gargantuan in size.
The creature utilized several of its limbs to grasp dirt, which it flung into the area above its head. Using its other arms in a circular motion, the beast began to weave the dirt cloud into a larger orb. Gregory watched as the earth began to swirl and arc inside the watery orb, like a creature writhing inside its mother’s womb. Then the monster did something strange, something impossible. It began to sing. It rose like a gentle lullaby and boomed as the sound reverberated off the walls of the chasm. The sound overwhelmed Gregory, enthralling his senses. The song etched its hauntingly sweet melody into Gregory’s mind, as if bonding the very words into his flesh. He felt himself entranced by the music, lost in the creatures ancient melody; so powerful was the experience that Gregory found himself unable to differentiate between his own life force from that of the undersea creatures around him, as if he was a fish flittering by on the ocean currents. Enthralled by the sound, the scholar found himself mimicking the monsters actions and sounds, as if dancing with the creature. As the song carried on, Gregory lost track of time, space, and even his own identity.
The song continued onwards for what seemed forever, climaxing into a single clear note. As the creature wove its arms around the watery cocoon, the writhing dust began to vibrate and expand. These pulsations quickened to a sickening pace as if they were a heart about to explode from exertion. Then for a single moment all the sounds of the ocean disappeared. No crashing waves, no bubbles drifting of skittering fins, no underwater current pulsing, no sounds of life at all. Suddenly, the monster’s watery orb exploded into the area above its tentacles, releasing a live school of fish that erupted upwards towards the cliff edge, jetting in front of Gregory’s face. The fish blew past him as he stood on the precipice of the chasm; the school of brightly colored fish rose like a swarm of bats pouring out of cave, hungry for their first meal. Somehow this horrid monster had created life. Out of this ancient’s song and the elements around it, the monster breathed life out of nothing. This was magic, raw magic. This was true magic which had the power to call forth life out of nothing.
Overwhelmed, Gregory stood in awe of the creature’s power, remaining at the edge of the chasm as the creature continued its ritual several more times. Every song was unique, though equally beautiful, which in turn created a unique species of fish. As he stood there considering the nature of the song and its power, Gregory failed to notice the monster had stopped its ritual practices and turned towards his direction. Noticing his onlooker, the creature slowly crept towards the nearby cliff edge. Placing a tentacle on either side of the human, the monster slowly pulled himself up to eye level with the man. Gregory turned around to find himself staring into a single giant yellow eye. As if a giant spike had been driven into his head, Gregory felt a soundless voice saying, “I am Krillon, the Summoner.”
His eyes flashed open with a rush of adrenaline, lying with his cheek pressed against the desk. He lifted his head up, coughing up the sea water that was trapped in his lungs, as he looked around the familiar setting of his office. The familiar planks, shelves, and shiplap walls replaced the underwater Eden with their drab consistency. Gregory looked around the ship searching for the monster that spoke to his mind but only found his books and notes that were keeping him company previously. After clearing the last of the water from his throat, Gregory recalled the vision and put to memory everything he saw while quickly scribbling down his thoughts and memories of the strange encounter. What had he experienced? Was it reality or just a hallucination brought on by too much time in isolation on the seas? He looked down at his feet and saw a bit of the foreign sea floor, mixed with the regurgitated salt water. What if it this vision was inspired. He grasped the bit of wet dirt in his hands and whispered some of the words from the monster’s song into his cupped hands. He closed his hands around the materials and recalled the sea life he observed just moments before. Suddenly, he felt something begin to move inside his grasp. Opening his fingers, Gregory gasped as he saw the small starfish begin to wriggle across his palms.
While Gregory marveled at his discovery, a voice from the deck above called out, “Land Ho!” Still mesmerized by his discovery, he slowly walked up the stairs to the upper level decks, unaware of the chaos circling around him as sailors ran back and forth. Then Gregory noticed that everyone had stopped speaking, let along moving, as they stared out over the ship’s bow. There in front of him loomed a giant mansion seemingly erupting out of the sea. The structure stretched eerily upwards, as if it were peering down at the unfortunate sailors. One massive edifice, built on a single rock in the middle of the ocean, miles from civilization. What was this terrible manor doing alone in the middle of nothing and why couldn’t they stop sailing towards it?

Type

Journal, Personal

Authors

• Greg The Mariner or "Old Greg"