by Feint » 07/02/2016 8:06 PM
Cahir sleepily squinted at Elgyn, and put up a paw to block the light. Blessedly, the door closed again. He stretched his legs out and yawned, then rubbed his face with his paws and groaned.
"I don't really want to get up," he said, and weakly giggled. Sadly, get up he must, so he did. He stretched, hoping to pump some life back into his legs, then pushed the cupboard doors open and shuffled out. His long claws clicked against the wood, and his tail scraped the floorboards with a soft hiss.
The first thing he inspected was the pool. The ship, on its side as it was, had a rock jutting into the bottom somewhere, and water flowed into the cavernous belly freely. They were napping in what had been the captain's quarters, which was elevated above the rest of the ship, therefore significantly drier. The quarters had stairs leading down to a lower area for private dining (which was the precise location where they'd slept), and double doors from there leading into what had been for entertaining guests of honor, which was fully submerged.
The double doors were long gone - likely used as rafts years ago when the ship had first sunk - so Cahir had a very clear view of the water and the rotting wood within it. The area was just deep enough to host a curious shark, and though he hadn't spotted one yet, Cahir was absolutely certain he would find one.
My wraiths, though not wraiths then, wandered deep into the heart of the polar storm. They tried to fight sleep, naive to the inevitability of their fate. When they awoke, they saw before them my own self, so much a part of the ice and cold they almost fail to see me. I wear a crown of the coldest, sturdiest ice, and my claws and fur have coated themselves in it.
I stand aloof to the cold, for I have lived in it so long, been a part of it so long, it no longer concerns me.
My wraiths are cursed to wander the polar tundra, eternally freezing, following mortal explorers and trying to warn them with their presence that they should not travel onward, should not make the same mistake. But there will always be those who persist in pressing on, never knowing what they are doomed to face, or destined to suffer.