PROLOGUE: Salacia
Twenty years ago the world ended on December 21st 2012 when three cloaked figures emerged at the footsteps of the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois. Five years later the world began to rebuild itself, step by step, little by little with the help of three heroes known as The Sanctum Knights. The events that transpired between those two dates caused the world to dramatically change. What humans once were, changed forever. Everybody everywhere began to develop extraordinary abilities. Some abilities were trivial, but most were potentially dangerous if they were obtained by the wrong people, which was the inevitable conclusion.
“It’s looking pretty murky out there, Cap’” Said Paul Simmons, a fisherman from Jersey. Since the Earth’s reconstruction, Paul had gone back to what he loved to do, sail. He was forty now, and beginning to lose his hair. When he was twenty, he had been at the peak of his game, a master of the sea. He sailed several seas, but his all-time favorite place to sail was in the Bahamas, where it is warm all year round and near his home in New Providence.
Once the 2012 Massacre happened, Paul was forced to live in a safety center known as “PLAGA 44” where he began getting into trouble. He thrashed Plaga stores around, and vandalized property. He insisted on not being forced to stay indoors, but knew in the end, the world outside was not safe, and he would die within minutes.
Now the world is nearly complete with his reconstruction, and he is happy to be back out on the water, but living in that Plaga Center for 20 years has changed him, now darkness has taken place in his heart, something he will never be able to remove. “Captain,” He repeated, “It’s getting darker by the second, I thought you said it would be a clear one today.”
“It should be,” Captain John Rivers said, hands on the helm, steering the boat, continually Northeast. “I’m sure it’ll clear up soon, don’t worry about it.” Captain Rivers never let his guard down. He was a calm man of 63 and had years of sailing experience on his belt, and knew how the rules of the water worked.
The sound of nearby fisherman began to rise and they began to crowd together, looking at something in the water. The captain let go of the helm for a moment, and he and Paul walked to the side of the boat to see what all the commotion was about. What he found was mildly unnerving. In the water lay the body of a woman, facing down, dead. She floated there lifeless, wearing nothing but a white bikini, floating away like a piece of lumber fallen from a tree.
“Don’t just stand there,” Captain Rivers spoke with compassion, “Get her out of there.”
The captain’s men did as they were told. One stepped into the water, put his hands around the lifeless corpse, and carefully pulled her up to the deck, and laid her on her back. Her eyes were closed, but the skin surrounding them were a dark red color, and they could faintly see the small purple veins that ran underneath.
“Poor thing.” Captain said, sighing, “Looks like she was into some heavy drugs, probably was doing a deal around here and something bad went down, and she was probably pushed into the water while they got away with their drugs. She probably drowned while trying to stay above the high tide, not to mention probably kicking her little feet for hours before they gave out. A terrible way to die.” The captain removed his hat, and made the sign of the cross with his other hand.
“Such a waste,” Paul said, behind everyone, “She is very attractive.” His gaze at her motionless body disturbed Captain Rivers, but only for a moment, when Paul walked away. Suddenly, the woman gasped for air, and immediately sat up.
“Oh my, are you alright?” Asked the Captain, in shock that the woman hadn’t perished in the water. It had to be a miracle. The woman didn’t speak. She looked confused as to where she was. She had pure red eyes, and the Captain knew right away that this girl was an albino. Her white hair and eyebrows along with her red eyes confirmed it.
“What is your name?” He asked her, this time she met his eyes.
“Salacia.” She calmly said.
“Salacia, my name is John. I am the Captain of this ship. Are you hurt?” Salacia shook her head. “Get the girl some blankets!” Captain Rivers shouted to one of his crew members.
In only two minutes the girl was under warm comforting blankets, and in the lower deck of the ship, sipping on hot coffee. Captain John Rivers continued to ask her the basic questions anyone would ask, how she got into this predicament, if she needed anything, if anyone hurt her, but she wouldn’t budge. So far the only thing she had said had been her name.
After the Captain left the chambers to return to his duty has commander, and to get his boat back on schedule, he went back to the helm and tried to reach the coast guard, but couldn’t reach them, and the clouds were continuingly getting darker and darker. Paul walked into the chambers and sat down across from Salacia.
“I’m Paul.” She just stared at him. “You’re lucky we found you.” She stared, not blinking. “I can make things a little more comfortable for you here if you like. The high seas can make people nauseous.” He leaned forward and touched her leg.
The veins that were visible through the redness in her eyes began bulging from her skin, and her eyebrows sank lower, obviously showing anger. She swatted his hand off her leg, and used the same leg to kick him in the chest, making him fumble off his chair, and sent him rolling a few feet away. Standing up, he said, “Hey now, there’s no need for violence.”
She lifted her hand outward towards him, palm wide open. He quickly began to choke, and brought his hands to his throat. She wasn’t nearly finished with him. She flipped her hand around, and clenched it, to which fluids began draining themselves from his body. First sweat came trailing drown from every pore in his body, and then he began drooling uncontrollably under her control. Not long after, his bladder uncontrollably was released, and then came the blood and vomit. Out of every opening, blood came pouring out, liters of blood until there was nothing left. 70% of the body is made of water and other liquids. All of which were forced out of his body, he lay on the ground, dead, eyes whitened, skin and lips cracking up like a thousand year-old painting, and he couldn’t be drier.
Once she was enraged, Salacia couldn’t be stopped, not until every living person on the boat had ceased to live. When she stepped out onto the main deck, it was pouring rain, and the workers were busy trying to keep the ship together. The captain saw her calmly walking outside, and he tried to move her back into the cabin. That’s when he saw Paul inside, dead, as white as a ghost. She kicked him in the gut as she did to Paul earlier. She raised both hands to the heavens, and the water surrounding the boat mimicked her actions. She then shot her hands toward the captain, and water forced its way into his nose and mouth, quickly filling up every part of his insides. His lungs were the first to fill with water, then his stomach and intestines. And like the thin layer of plastic in a balloon popping after too much air, a similar reaction was reached when too much water was forced inside his body. Unlike a balloon, however, his skin had 7 thick layers, and wasn’t plastic, to be more specific, the inside of a balloon is hollow, while the inside of a human being is filled with vital organs that get us through the day. Captain John Rivers didn’t pop, he exploded, as did his organs. The entire boat was littered with a piece of the Captain.
The crew erupted in cries of fright, and frantic running about. Salacia started to rise, the water around her followed her, and encircled her body, slowly at first, but then it quickly went faster and faster, a twister in the sea. Before long, they couldn’t see Salacia anymore, as she was surrounded by 80 mile an hour winds and water. The faster she went, the more she sucked in, more water, some appliances on the boat, people who weren’t holding on for dear life were sucked in, then finally the boat as a whole was sucked into the twister. Faster and faster the twister went, and the boat ripped apart under air pressure. As did the crew members. If they weren’t already decapitated by discarded scrap metal, their insides were torn apart, until when the coast guards found them the next morning, they would be unrecognizable. They would have died in a mysterious unknown freak accident.
Salacia finally calmed down, and rested back onto the water, where she stood, not falling in. Looking at the destruction, she smiled, the storm had subsided, what lay before her was a bloodbath on a clear day, happy with the aftermath, she turned around, and walked away.