Anirus stood on the highest deck, looking out over the calm ocean. Light winds made slow travel, but at least things were peaceful.
They were two weeks out from shore now, having just reunited with two crewmembers- Celees, and Nirael.
Anirus had been surprised to see the former, but after regaling woeful tales of betrayal and abandonment by her lusus and friends, they were glad she chose to return.
Nirael came and went as he pleased, somehow managing to find the ship when he so desired. He paid them well with each visit and caused little trouble apart from ruffling some feathers with his flippant demeanor.
This time, he seemed in low spirits, barely acting like his haughty self and spending more time away below deck in the cargo hold. Though, as per usual, he badgered Anirus for work or did whatever unattended jobs he could find.
With the calm seas came downtime, and most of the crew was loafing about, doing some odd tasks to occupy them.
One troll sat on the railing with a fishing rod. As far as Anirus had seen, he'd caught precisely nothing, which wasn't much of a surprise.
Anirus watched as something tugged hard on the rod. The crewmember pulled back, resituating himself for better stability on the railing… And then pulled up his line, baitless and fishless.
Anirus smiled faintly to themselves as the troll probably muttered a curse- They were across the ship, unable to hear- And went to re-bait his hook.
Then they caught a flash in the moonlight, on the other side of the ship. They glanced, but saw nothing.
And then with no further warning, the sea roiled around the ship. A massive scaled serpent breached the surface, long coils winding around the vessel and ensnaring it. Anirus narrowly avoided getting crushed by one such coil, watching in dismay as the beast tightened its grip and cracked the wood of the deck and hull.
"Attack! We're under attack!" Bellowed Anirus, turning their head to find one of the serpent's coils blocked their path to their quarters, where their weapons lay. The crew had already begun to move, dodging the serpent and fumbling for weapons with which to jab the beast with.
Anirus willed up their psionics, but knew that it would take far too long to summon up a bolt of lightning or anything strong enough to drive off the serpent. The sky was clear, and in these conditions it would take at least an hour to whip up a storm, even with all the water around them.
"Oh, I see." They heard a calm voice from below, and watched Nirael step out from the cargo hold. Nirael looked up to Anirus, and smiled. "Save your psionics, Captain, we'll need you in good sorts, won't we?"
With that, Nirael reached out and lay a hand on one of the serpent's coils blocking his path. Anirus wasn't quite sure what happened- Psionics of some sort that Nirael never mentioned, not that they knew fuchsias could even have psionics- But there was a flicker like lightning, and a massive chunk of the serpent exploded.
No, it didn't explode, not exactly- There was some gore, some viscera, but it was reduced to a fine mist.
The serpent shrieked and pulled away, too tangled in the ship to recoil and instead jerking the entire vessel along like a toy.
The beast lunged for Nirael, quickly pinpointing him as the cause of its distress- The other crew members barely seemed to have pierced its hide, thick and slick with algae.
Nirael deflected the blow with a single strike of his palm and then grabbed the beast's lower jaw, its teeth so large he barely had to mind where he put his hands.
He planted one foot on the serpent's jaw and kept the entire creature pinned with apparently no effort, Anirus watching as the massive creature writhed uselessly under Nirael's grip.
Nirael extended a hand. There was a pulse in the air, like a giant heartbeat of the universe itself. The beast froze. A second pulse, and then the serpent was unmade.
That was the best way Anirus could describe what happened. They watched as its skin split along its spine and disintegrated, followed rapidly by layers of tissue and muscle, and by the time the bones were reached by this wave of destruction, the beast was gone, rendered into mist. The mist drifted away on the wind and disappeared, and the ship rocked for a moment as it righted itself.
All was still and calm just as it had been minutes before. Nirael straightened and dusted off his palms. "Well, let me see if I can do something about those leaks."
"Oi!" Heil barked, darting forward. He snagged Nirael by the collar, and Anirus tried to comprehend why the violetblood looked so furious. "What the hell was that?!"
"Just some extreme measures," Nirael brushed Heil off, walking towards the railing. "We're taking on water, so that should take precedence here, no?"
"You- There's no way you're—"
Heil cut off as Nirael jumped overboard. Anirus realized they were gripping the railing tight enough that their knuckles showed white, and relaxed. "Heil, he saved us. I don't think we should look a gift horse in the mouth." Anirus said levelly, trying to process what just happened themselves.
"It's not that- He's- By the stars, there's no way it's him." Heil just stared at the spot Nirael vanished at, some mixture of horror and disbelief on his face.
"Heil?"
Anirus picked their way carefully down the broken steps to the main deck as Heil shook himself. "Nevermind. It's nothing, Captain."
Anirus patted his shoulder wearily. "Let's just focus on assessing the damage, and thank the heavens for our stroke of luck."
"Yes, Captain."











