The sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue and a gentle breeze blew over the waters of the Great Sea. Seabirds wheeled to and fro, calling to each other as a great trade ship came into view. The captain, Noreus, was worried. “We’ve been drifting east for a dangerously long time,” he said to his first mate.

“Mare Galiciata is known for its vastness, but the current is getting faster so that our hope of freedom is much diminished, eh?” his first mate said to him.

“It’s worse than that,” said the captain. “We’re getting close to the Mouth of Lamoth! If we get much closer, it’s curtains for our ship!”

The first mate had a horrified look on his face. “What about the monsters that lurk in that area?”

“That’s another problem,” said Noreus. “Well, we must try as hard as we can to avoid it. It’s time to work the oars! Tell the crew to start rowing as hard as they can!” The first mate saluted and left the cabin.

Suddenly, there was a grinding sound, and the ship began to tip. Noreus ran to the window, and looked out to see a monstrous head attacking the boat. “A Sea Dragon!” he shouted, as the hull was completely sliced away. Noreus cursed and shouted, “Throw our kegs of blasting powder! Drive it off!” Then he grabbed the wheel and began pulling it as hard as he could toward the west.

Suddenly there was an explosion as several kegs of the ‘blasting powder’ were thrown at the head of the sea monster. The dragon withdrew, likely for only a few moments, and set the ship aside with a flick of its massive tail.

The vessel went flying off to the side, where it crashed into the body of yet another sea dragon. “Heavens!” shouted Noreus. “We’re doomed!” The serpent looked at the vessel with its evil, jet-black eyes, and then roared furiously as it rammed its mouth into the boat. Another chunk came out of the side, and water came pouring in. Then, they could hear it: the horrible sound of roaring water in the distance.

At this moment, the ship began to spin slowly, as it filled with water. The man in the crow’s nest shouted, “The Whirlpool! We’re approaching the Mouth of Lamoth!” Noreus closed his eyes and cried earnestly, “Help us Varyian! Keep us from that cursed place!”

CRASH! The sea dragon rammed its head into the ship again, taking out yet another large chunk of wood. The ship was going lower into the water, and now Noreus could sense that they were going around in a large circle. Panic had broken out on the deck.

Dark clouds had gathered in the sky, and thunder could now be heard. The wind was whipping around the masts. Suddenly, there was a loud crack as one of them snapped off and was blown into the swirling water. “Varyian!” the sailors were calling.

Suddenly, a bright light broke through on the eastern horizon.

The Sea Dragons didn’t at first see the difference, and thus struck at the ship yet again. This time, a shockwave spread down through the entire craft, splitting it down the middle. The ship disintegrated into two fragments. Now the wall of water could clearly be seen, a vortex noticeably, yet the bottom of which was still shrouded. The billowing froth and mist drove aboard the tottering pieces of the vessel, buffeting it, washing it over and over with chilly water. The serpents whirled around the crafts in circles, looking for the optimal place to strike; then they blasted forward, with immense pump-blasts of water streaking out of their mouths, the impact blasting apart the foremast. They didn’t notice a powerful breeze sneaking up behind them.

Noreus felt his body falling into the water, and climbed further up his ships torn hull. Sealing himself into a finely crafted chest, he prayed that he would have enough air within its confines.

The ship halves streaked around and around, tilted at an abnormal angle around the vortex of the whirlpool. As the remaining crew members on board could see more and more of that whirlpool, they knew that their worst nightmare was about to come true. An immense wave struck one of the two ship-halves, sucking it and all on it down into the depths. The sailors on the other fragment gasped in horror as a few seconds later it reappeared from the waters’ edge a hundred feet below them, ejected into a gasping void and falling farther and farther toward the depths.

Then the whirlwind picked up. It struck the remaining ship-half like a storm, and pulled it out from the wall of water, upward and out of the whirling waves, catapulting it through the air, spinning and whirring, propelled by a column of spiraling clear water, a watersprout.

The ship half and Noreus’s chest were tossed into a sandy beach when the twisting winds finally subsided.

“You are fortunate to be alive,” a voice said. “Most mariners will avoid the terrible waters of Mare Galiciata, but you chose to take the fastest route possible, out of impatience! I comend such bravery.”