Eternal

The thick fog hanging lower over the ocean clung to its torn robes as the Wraith glided over the still black water. The icy air flowed through the creature, neither noticing the other. It moved without thought, unburdened by wants, only a need that lay deep below the surface. The wailing souls rotting for eternity, strewn about the ocean floor. As the moon crested above, it cast the wraith in aching light, the scent of something odd, some fresh torment, distracted the cloaked figure.

The black outline of the ship hung on the horizon. The sails hung limp against the three masts, glowing in the moonlight, and motionless in the unnaturally flat water. A muffled yell rippled through the air, easily dissolved into the jeers and taunts of a mob.

Candlelight flickered across the sails, casting deep shadows over the faces of the pirates in the crowd. They encircled the center mass, laughing and cheering as the muffled yells dissolved into helpless whimpers. The wraith circled the ship, absorbing the despair.

A single harrowing note of a melody invaded the air, rippling over the ocean; an onslaught of waves shook the ship. Her lungs out of breath, her eyes shut tight in concentration.

“Tighten the cloth; we can not hear her wicked tongue.” The Captain demanded, standing above them on the top deck, throwing his hands over his ears.

Their emotions filled them, outlining the creatures in dark shades. A siren of the deep water, with black-green scales over her long tail, hung partially suspended in the air from the center mass, hopeless despair and anger. A pirate, scared, struggled to tighten the gag around her mouth as she threw her head wildly, fighting desperately. A young boy, pitying and horrified, with sun-bleached hair and ragged coveralls, held a heavy bucket. He dug his hand within, pulling out a handful of fine white salt. The crew slowly lowered their hands from their heads, their hearts racing nervously as they cheered him on. Disgusted, he threw the salt at the siren just as she freed her mouth from the gag. The scales of her tail smoked, crumbling to the ground as she shrieked in pain. As the scream flowed over the wraith, it ignited something in its empty chest.

“Secure that cloth!” The Captain demanded, fear well hidden by anger.

The siren struggled, gasping, until she finally went limp. As she lost consciousness, the mob wining and complaining, her despair dissolved, revealing a smaller but deeper, desperate anguish from somewhere in the crowd.

A glowing molten branding iron was pulled from its furnace, reigniting their eager cheers. The gag was tightened once more, the fearful pirate struggling not to touch the sea creature. As the metal was pressed against the siren’s bare stomach, her muffled cries reverberated into the night sky. Her curtains of hair fell away, her pale green eyes glowing into the sky, her hopeless anguish turning to desperate anger.

Her tear-stained cheeks, cracked and burnt where the salt struck, shimmered in the moonlight, and her eyes found something she wasn't expecting, an outline hovering outside of the ship. She fought harder, her eyes wild, fear overflowing her anger, as her muffled words were lost to the eager, excited crowd.

The urge, the want for another pure shriek, beckoned the wraith forward. Pulling something odd to the surface, something from a distant past too long forgotten to fully understand.

An ear-splitting shriek rippled from the empty jaw of the wraith, casting the mob in hollow silence as they stared at one another, a weak hope fading as each one looked to the other.

It glided through the damp wood of the ship, bearing down upon the red-faced pirates, too startled to move. Gunsmoke plumed as bullets sank through the wraith's robes, the Captain gripping his pistol with shaking hands, as two of his crew dropped to the floor.

Undeterred, it swam through the air, fog billowing from its robes, seeking what flowed from their hearts. It invaded their bodies, filling every cell, building and consuming their dread as each one shriveled. Gasps and cries choked out as their throats dissolved. Their hearts still beating, they collapsed to the ground, nothing more than skeletons. The youngest pirate stood on the edge of the ship, his eyes wide and pleading as he took in the cloaked figure looming closer and closer. He dove from the ship, a tiny whimper swallowed by the sea as the wraith turned back; he would be for later.

It crossed the main deck towards the siren. She struggled against her ropes as it slid across the wooden floor. Its robes slithered over the skeletal remains, no eyes to see, no joints to run, no vocal cords to scream.

The beautiful melody fell from her in rushed clips, her breaths overtaking the notes. Its hand extended towards her as a sword swung. Its hand inched closer and closer as the Pirate Captain sliced through the air that was the wraith. His eyes froze over as her melody clawed at his brain. His fist sank into the wraith, his cheeks sank into themselves, and he crumbled on top of the pirates who were still bleeding to death.

A final desperate shriek escaped her. The wraith’s skeletal hand found her soft skin, wanting something it could not reach. As its hand caressed her cracked cheek, her eyes wide, a faint gasp escaped her, and the delicious despair peaked and quickly faded.

The ship clung to the surface of the ocean as the water stirred, rocking as the waves slipped over the banister. Skeletal remains slipped and slid around the deck and over the edge until the wood, long since molded and dilapidated, gave way, and it too sank below the surface. Deeper and deeper the ship fell, breaking apart and dissolving in the salty water, until it crashed upon the dark sandy bottom. The Wraiths glided below the stormy surface, feeling the stale despair of the wailing souls, rotting for eternity, waiting patiently upon the ocean floor.