A wave in the ocean

A drop in the rain

Amidst the furious ocean

A lone ship braves the waves

Men with relentless hearts

Who refuse to bow to destiny or fate

It was a quiet evening, all the work had been done, the sun was disappearing behind the faraway mountains, a gentle breeze made the trees and grass dance, I was lying in the meadow, relaxing and nearly sleeping, next to me was my dear mother, "you know mom one day I will become someone, like a knight" I said to her, "yes... now relax..." she said nearly snoring.

Dreams of the far future, my conquests and tales of my courage and strength, all appeared before my eyes, I heard a voice, a distant and confused voice, it cried hard, it cried a name," ERIK!!!".

All suddenly disappeared: the mountains, the grass, the breeze, the colours and meadow, I was now in a furious sea, waves high as mountains, lights and thunders that crack the ears and illuminated the dark night, nearly hitting the ship, "ERIK!!! WAKE UP, THE SAIL IS TORN!" I looked at him confused, my head was bleeding, I felt like waken in a nightmare. A sudden blast nearly pierced my hearing, a bolt of lightning had hit the master tree.

I stood up and look around, I realize that praying to the gods was the only thing that we could do. The ship started turning, faster and faster, there was no way to control it, we were at the storm mercy.

"Land!" someone cried out, all the crew looked at the horizon, a small dot had appeared, we oared as fast as we could, desperately trying to reorient the ship, to make it move where we wanted to, but to no avail, but the land didn’t seem to become more distant, at the contrary, it seemed more close, "that is no land, that is another ship... wait..." he paused "IT'S THE CORDOSA!" It was bigger, richer, stronger. And stabler than our ship. We looked each other in the face, in a moment it was decided, we will fight to the end.

We held our sword ready, that ship managed to stay stable in the midst of the violent sea, like some titan of ancient lore. We oared towards it. our ship nearly cracked at the moment of impact. We manage to tide some ropes to it.

Outnumbered and desperately we fought. Fighting knowing that no retreat existed. We fought for that glimmer of hope, that we could capture it and survive, see again our families, see again our land.

I fought with all my courage and strength, the waves made the ship dance like a madwoman. Many of both crews fell off the ship. It was not a sword that made me went down, but a titanic wave that hit me like a mountain. I felt off the ship, the armour that had protected me so many times before now was drawing me down, deeper and deeper into the sea. Darkness surrounded me, my vision became blurred, my senses weaken. My will to fight vanished, death was welcoming me. I saw many of my comrades falling with me. Is this how death feels like? I began to drown, all the peacefulness was gone. I begin agitating, trying to remove my armour, rushing, hurrying. But alas my strength left me. And as the darkness welcomed me to the realm below, something else took my hand. I blacked out.