HugForLupin
December 9th, 2007, 8:25 pm
This is my NaNovel, I won but it's still a work in progress! Please read and leave feedback!
Prologue - Dawn Of A Destiny
Legend has told us many stories. King Arthur and his beautiful Guinevere, the dragon being slayed by Saint George, and five young people destroying the most evil force that was ever known.
Maybe you haven't heard of the last one? Maybe you, like the subjects of this adventurous tale, have never heard of the less-known legend of the Dawn of Destiny, when five teenagers beat the odds to destroy someone who threatened to end the lives of them and everyone around them.
Maybe it's time that you learned of the Dawn of Destiny.
Just a short prologue to get the ball rolling!
Chapter One - Captain Kallisto
Ava Kallisto's day had not gotten off to a very good start. On the contrary, if the start of the day was anything to go by, she was likely to be dead by the end of it. As she sat at her desk, listening to the mutinous cries of her crewmates below her office, she began to wonder what she was even doing here. A fourteen year old girl, forced into piracy just because her parents had happened to be the daughter of notorious pirate captain Lucasz Kallisto and his wife Pax. When they had died, the crew had suddenly decided that of course, the best choice for their replacement was undoubtedly a twelve year old girl, just because of her parentage. Nevertheless, Ava had taken to her position remarkably well. She loved living on board a ship, and also living with the people who were aboard it.
They were usually very friendly, giving a family feeling to life aboard the Kallisto's famous ship, the Siren's Call. They weren't particularly friendly today, though. It wasn't Ava that they were mutineering against, it was the first mate, a cruel and hard old soul called Maxwell Hill. If Ava had had her way, she would've kicked Max off years ago, but her parents had always told her not to. But by now, things had gone too far. Plus, as Ava had reasoned, her parents weren't exactly going to find out. Max could easily have just fallen off the ship, instead of being keelhauled. It didn't really matter, because there was no-one alive that would care if Max Hill was dead. No-one really cared that he was alive, either, except for acknowledging a feeling of longing to see Max being thrown overboard and forced to die in a cold, harsh sea. Ava wasn't usually cruel, and often scorned pirates who killed their own crew members. Then again, desperate times called for desperate measures, and if the worry of the crew turning on Ava wasn't a desperate time for the young girl, then there was no such thing as a desperate time at all. Plus, it would be a relief to finally be rid of the grumpy old bugger that was Max Hill.
It was doubted that Ava had ever seen a spot of trouble from her crew. Being of Lucasz Kallisto's blood, she was basically worshipped by the crew members, and often treated like a princess. Unlike many girls would, however, Ava didn't revel in the special treatment she received. She firmly believed in working hard getting it's just rewards, and so strived to work as hard as possible. She was good to her word, too, trying her utmost to make the plundering life as comfortable as possible for her crew, whilst making sure that she was treated with fairness and respect at the same time, of course. Sexism, something that was usually rife aboard Laeossan pirate ships, was a thing that was seeminly unheard of aboard the Siren's Call. Ava wouldn't stand for any discrimination at all - racism, sexism and any other discrimination against people who looked, acted or were different was punished with death, often at the hand of Ava herself. It was messy business, but someone had to stand up for the other side. Even if the other side was where there was no discrimination at all.
Pirates were normally always boys. Certainly there were never any female captains, until Ava came along. People hoping to join a pirate crew would be given a list of possible crews that they could join, and seeing the famous - or rather, infamous - name of Kallisto, they would immediately sign up. However, they often didn't think twice when noticing that the name was not "Captain L Kallisto", but "Captain A Kallisto". It might have helped them to know that they were not under the reign of the most notorious and best pirate known to the world, Lucasz Kallisto, but his fourteen year old daughter, Avalon Kallisto. She was named after a mythical place in a popular story that had once been brought over from Earth, back when the two countries had been allies and not enemies with one another. It was the myth of King Arthur, who had apparently done something at a place called Avalon (no-one could really remember where, as the book had been lost for decades), and the name had suddenly gone up in popularity. That had been decades ago, however, and the name had slowly faded from civilisation to make room for a new fad name, from another book that had been found - boys were all being called Oliver (or Dodger, if the parents felt particularly adventurous), and Olivia (the choice female counterpart) or Nancy for girls. The book's author had become quite the namesake too, with a sudden rush of children having the first and middle names "Charles Dickens". Lucasz Kallisto had reportedly read the book when Pax Kallisto, his beloved wife, had been pregnant with twins. He hadn't thought much of the book, and chose instead to revert to his favourite text, that had been read to him when he was a boy - which was, of course, the myth of King Arthur. When Pax had given birth to a baby boy and a baby girl, he named the boy Arthur and the girl Avalon. When Arthur vanished from sight at the age of seven, Avalon had become a proper pirate girl. Her parernts, desperate to make sure that they still had an heir, even if it was a girl, should they be to die, taught their little girl everything there was to know about piracy. Ava fought in her first battle when she was nine years old, and went solo on plundering a ship at the age of eleven. Then, when she was twelve, the King of Laeossa had ordered out a special task force with one goal in sight - to destroy Lucasz and Pax Kallisto. He had succeeded, despite a ferocious fight put up by the crew of the Siren's Call. The death of her parents completely destroyed Ava. She became reclusive and often refused to talk to anyone. And then, one of the crew members discovered the Will of the captain and his wife. They had given everything they owned to their only daughter, including the captainship of the Siren's Call.
Despite still mourning over her becoming an orphan, Avalon had realised that if she wanted to get over things, she had to feel confident that her parents were happy that Ava was continuing their legacy. And so, as though to avenge the deaths of her parents, she became the captain of the Siren's Call. Although Lucasz had been a true hero in the eyes of every single pirate in the world, it was often rumored amongst the crew of his old ship - now his daughter's ship - that Avalon was a friendlier, possibly better captain. Die-hard Lucasz worshippers critisiczed them, calling them disloyal and traitors - but surely, as Avalon's crew had retorted, the best way of showing your loyalty to the old Captain Kallisto was to show your respect for the new one. Some people had agreed, others had demanded that if they really believed that, they should hang themselves straight away.
Of course, Ava would not hear of any of her crew hanging themselves, and so went forth to destroy any ships that belonged to crews who had suggested such a ludicrous thing as hanging themselves over split loyalty. Whether they supported her father or not, they were still the enemy, they were still trying to get her own crew killed. Ava wasn't going to stand for that, and so her motto became - "If you can't make them play nice, completely obliverate them". And that was what she did, swiftly and silently killing anyone who dared to suggest that Ava was a disgrace to her father's name. It didn't stay silent for long, however. Word got around that a fourteen year old girl was killing off the other pirates, and taking their ships as her own. She would leave behind a scrawled autograph of her name, and a little smiley face with an eyepatch over one eye. Never let it be said that Captain Ava Kallisto did not have a sense of humor to rival her father's.
But along with having a wonderfully vast sense of humour, Ava could not be called a pushover. She was witty, sarcastic and determined, and not afraid to hurt anyone who tried to get in her way. Underneath her hardness, however, was an emotional side that was rarely ever seen. She had a heart of gold, but it was covered by a longing to avenge her father, to be the best and to complete the one goal in life that she would actually tear the world apart for.
Ava Kallisto longed to find out where her brother was. She wanted to know what had happened to Arthur, whether he was still alive, where he had gone when they had both been just seven years old. The world was a cruel and harsh place, even before the days when the world was ruled by fear and hate that went by the name of Maleficus. It was unlikely, everyone knew, that Arthur Kallisto was still alive, but Ava refused to give up. She was determined to find her twin brother, and would rip open the universe if that was what it would take. She was prepared to do anything and give up everything, for the one thing that she desired the most.
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Captain Kallisto's day, as you may have already noticed, was not off to the best of starts. With a mutinous crew calling for the death of a crewmate that her father had told her never to get rid of, and the rising worry of that nasty bugger called Maleficus, it was clear that things were shaping up to be a pretty **** day all in all.
Then again, things could easily take a turn for the better, she mused. The crew could suddenly calm down (or, as Ava mused wryly, she could keelhaul Max and make everyone happy, except Max), Maleficus could get hit by lightning, and the day could be average. Yeah, right. Ava knew that the words "normal" or "average" didn't apply to her or her life at all, and was in truth perfectly happy with that fact. After all, what was life without a few deaths and a big evil guy trying to wreck your life completely?
Despite never having met each other, Maleficus seemed to have it in for pirates, and Ava in particular. After all, as had been reported in the Evening Listener, more and more pirate ships were being made completely deserted, and all that was left behind was a note saying "I want Avalon Kallisto, Maleficus". It was quite scary to be a fourteen year old girl in that position, but Ava shrugged it off with a grin and a comment of "He can search all he likes, but he won't find me". Ava Kallisto was brave, feirce and determined, but she was also honest. She would never lie to her crew, unless she really had to, and would always share her opinion with the world (even if the world didn't really want to hear it. Especially if the world didn't really want to hear it, in most cases).
As she longed for a peaceful day aboard the Siren's Call, Ava began to hum a tune that she knew. Then, she started singing it. It was an Earth song that she knew well, because her mother used to sing it to her. How did it go again? It was from a kids' television program called Hannah Banana, or something like that. Who said, Who said, I can't be superman, I say, I say, that I know I can, who said, who said I'm not electrified, I say, I say, time is on my side.... that was the one. Who Said, from Hannah Montana. It was a favourite of Ava's, because it reminded her of a phrase her mother used to say, that you could do anything if you put your mind to it. Despite being uneducated and from an
incredibly poor family, Pax Kallisto had been extremely intelligent when it came to matters of the hear of of the mind. Ava had no doubt that her mother could have been a phsychologist, had she not chosen to marry Lucasz and become a pirate who stood for everything illegal, unlike phsychologists, who were strictly legal. Still, that didn't stop her from providing counselling for any particularly troubled crew members.
In a way, the crew saw Ava and Arthur as their proper phsychologists. They considered the two little kiddies to be little rays of sunshine in cloudy skies, glimmers of hope in a sea of helplessness. It was just the sight of the pair rushing around, having fun and enjoying their life aboard the Siren's Call, that brightened up the day of even the most hard hearted pirate who was having the worst day of their lives. That wasn't saying much, though, because having two kids and a would be phsychologist on board the ship meant that none of the pirates were particularly hard and unfeeling, and all of them liked to take care of each other. Apart from Max, of course. He was a modern day Scrooge (that book had somehow arrived in Laeossa too), and it was rumoured that no Christmas spirit of any kind could make him happy at all. He treated everyone, even Ava, the captain, as a slave. Of course, Ava refused to stand for it, and would tell Max off with as much vigour as possible, much to the delight of the other crew members. It gave them no end of joy to see that hard hearted Ebenezer, cowering in fear as he was threatened with death and marooning by a fourteen year old girl.
Girl. That was the part that made Max feel the worst about his captain, not that she was young, but that she was a girl! To think that he, Max Hill, had to take orders from a girl, the weaker sex. Of course, Ava was a much stronger person (and this is meant by emotionally and mentally, not physically) then Max would ever be. She saw everyone as what they were - human beings, and it wasn't their gender or their appearance or their age that made them weak, it was how they behaved and how they treated people. She knew that Max was certainly a very weak person, and also very insecure if he felt that he had to find faults with everyone else. No one else saw it that way; they all thought that Max was a cruel and nasty old bugger who enjoyed causing other people distress and anger. It was probably true, but Ava also had a point, in saying that Max was insecure. He was.
Two years ago, Max was told by Lucasz Kallisto that he would own the ship if the captain and his wife were to die. And then, when the deaths of Lucasz and Pax had occured, Max began to take command of the ship. The problem was that he wasn't as careful not to upset his crew as Lucasz had been. Max was vicious and power hungry, so it was with much joy that the crew discovered to whom the ship had been left to in Lucasz's Will.
Ava was a great captain, as Max knew well. He acknowledged the fact in his mind, but refused to come to terms with it for the rest of the crew to see, that he was taking orders from a fourteen year old girl. The fact that Ava was fourteen years old and a girl was neither here nor there, however - the fact remained that Ava had been the better person for the job of captain, both in the eyes of the crew and in the eyes of her father. Max often wondered why Lucasz had promised him the job, before going ahead and giving it to Ava, and at some point it clicked to him that the old captain had probably realised what the rest of the crew had been saying for ages - that it wasn't right for hard, unfeeling old Max Hill to be given the job, and that Lucasz's more emotionally secure teenage daughter deserved the position more.
Despite the fact that Max was a pain, and that the crew could sometimes get a little out of hand if they were drunk, Ava adored her job, and wouldn't have given it up for the whole universe. Yes, she was one of Laeossa's most wanted people, and every day was a constant struggle with the whole Maleficus problem, but being a pirate was a job where you could be free and do whatever you want. With rules, of course. And since Ava was the one making the rules, she intended to have a little fun, and make sure that her crew did too. The rest of the pirates loved her immensely for this, and Ava found herself considered an idol, someone to look up to, by the rest of them.
She had her friends on board the ship, of course. There was Sebastian O'Connelly, who was seventeen and came from Earth. He'd stumbled upon the Portal one day whilst going for a walk after leaving his family. They had been constantly arguing and fighting, and Sebastian had soon decided that he had had enough. Unable to find a job in any of Laeossa's cities, he went to Captain Lucasz Kallisto at the age of fifteen, and requested to join the notorious crew. Seb had been the last admission to the Siren's Call before the death of Lucasz and Pax, and so was often singled out for teasing. Some people blamed him (wrongly, of course, since Sebastian had nothing to do with the deaths of the ex-captain and his wife) for the deaths of the ex captain and his wife, but as soon as Ava became the captain she immediately stopped it. She was one of those people who refused to stand for bullying or discrimination of any kind, and would stamp it out immediately and with much certainty if she ever heard about it happening. Sebastian was a close friend to Ava, and helped her to deal with the deaths of her parents a considerable amount.
There was also Ruth Minelli, a young woman from Gatador who had come to the Siren's Call looking for a better life. She had been the first one to be allowed to join the crew by Ava, and had always shared a special bond with the younger girl, despite the age difference. Ruth was in her early thirties, and was good friends with Ava. She had a sort of mystic feeling about her, and she dressed like the fortune tellers that were often found at the carnivals in Gatador every spring. Ava remembered going to a carnival once, in disguise with her parents, when she was five years old. She and Arthur had watched the circus, eaten candyfloss for the first time (and gotten very sticky with it too) and even had their palms read by a fortune teller called Rose. She had predicted strangely accurate things. Arthur had gone first, and had been told that he would have a strange and uncertain future, but things would become better for him in the end. And then, Ava's predicition had been that she would one day be in control, and be charting her own course to do something special.
Whilst Ava had been in the fortune teller's tent, however, something strange had happened. The woman had seemed to go into a trance of sorts; her eyes had become all misty and unfocused.
When she had spoken, however, her voice had not been the same airy, misty voice she had used before, but was deep and rasping. She sounded like she was a man with a bad sore throat, as Ava had crudely described it in her mind at the time. She appeared to be trying to get her words out, but was unable to. Ava was unsure whether to run and get someone, but then, Rose regained enough composure to be able to speak, so Ava stayed.
'Five young people.... beating the dark that threatens to overwhelm them.... their future is unclear ....I see darkness, it shines in the eyes of one of them...I see a sixth, a sixth who shall betray the rest.... do not trust the last to join, do not trust them.... they could destroy the world's only hope forever... the dawn of destiny calls, grows ever nearer.... could go either way, but those poor children.... those poor, poor children.... their number, whittled down to four..... the final battle, where the betrayer shall be revealed.... dawn of destiny....'.
And with that, the old woman had snapped back to her normal self and shooed the shocked little girl from her tent, and beckoned in her father. When Lucasz came out, however, he had mentioned nothing about a trance or strange voices or something odd that the old lady had said. Neither had Arthur, and neither did Pax when she came out of the tent five minutes later. They had all remarked on how long Ava had been inside, but none of them had seemed to notice that anything out of the ordinary had happened.
At five years old, little Ava had been too young to understand anything that Rose had said, but she kept those words with her for the rest of her childhood. She dreamt of them every night, thought about them every day, but never said a word to anyone. It was a secret, her secret, and she intended upon guarding it with her life. As she grew older, however, the words began to mean more and more to her. She learnt that what she had heard was a prophecy, sometimes told by phsychics and fortune tellers. Many times it was a hoax to get more money, but from what Ava read, none of the experiences of hoaxes and fakes had sounded anything like that Ava had heard inside that small tent. She was convinced that she had heard a real prophecy, and she had been right.
Each night, she went through the words that the fortune teller had said. Five young people .....one of those was possibly her, especially as the prophecy had been told to her. Beating the dark that threatens to overwhelm them.... Maleficus, possibly? He was most certainly casting a dark shadow, and threatening to overwhelm Ava. Their future is unclear.... self explanatory, Ava decided, it meant that the fortune teller didn't know what was going to happen to the five people she was prophesising about. Shines in the eyes of one of them..... this was the one that puzzled Ava the most. How could darkness shine in someone's eyes, when darkness didn't shine at all? A sixth who shall betray the rest.... again, pretty self explainatory - someone is going to betray those five. Do not trust the last to join.... another puzzler. To join what? A club, a group, a crew? They could destroy the world's only hope forever..... that probably meant that the five people were the world's only hope, and that this mystery sixth person could destroy them. The dawn of destiny calls.... what destiny? Whose destiny? And why was it the "dawn" of destiny? Ava was drowning in a sea of questions. Those poor children.... obviously, something bad was going to happen to the five children about whom the prophecy was made. Whittled down to four... it probably meant that one member of the group was going to die, or else go missing.
Ava dwelled on those words for a while as she sat at her desk, still listening to the angry cries of the crew in the galley below, but she could still not explain many of the phrases.
It really was a puzzle, like a jigsaw with a missing piece or two. Not only was it incredibly challenging, but it was also extremely annoying. There was a missing link somewhere in the fortune teller's words, and Ava was determined to find the link and work out what the prophecy had meant. Did it have something to do with Maleficus? It certainly seemed that way to Ava, and things were quite fitting if what Rose had said had been true.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of her quarters. She opened it to find a bedraggled looking Max Hill standing outside, looking furious. His clothes were torn and his round glasses were askew on the bridge of his nose, making him look as though he had just been at the centre of a massive brawl (which, knowing the way the crew felt about Max, seemed very likely when Ava came to think about it).
'What's wrong this time?' Ava asked, sounding incredibly bored. She was using the monotone voice that she saved for Max whenever he had his "complaining" look on his face, which was quite often. Max ALWAYS managed to find something to complain about, be it the way Ava ran her ship or how much dust there was on one square foot of the ship. Ava had been confused, and stressed the fact that she had seen no square feet at all on the ship, dusty or not. Max had sighed that same bored, exasperated sigh that HE saved especially for Ava when she was having one of her "uneducated" moments (which was rare compared to the amount of times he wore his complaining look), and had explained that he didn't mean feet as in what was at the bottom of your leg, but the measuring term "foot". Ava had latched on immediately, but said "Why didn't you tell me before?". It was another Kallisto trait, stubborness. Lucasz had never been content with losing an arguament either, and it had evidently rubbed off onto his daughter. She was convinced that she was right and if anyone dared to contradict her, THEY were wrong and would have to suffer the sharp end of her sarcastic manner. If she felt like it, Ava would poke them too, but that was because she was a teenager, and liked getting on people's nerves, like most teenagers do. The fact that she was a teenager probably had something to do with how stubborn she was, but there was most certainly some that she had inherited from her father.
'It's YOUR crew, Avalon. They're rebelling against me, and practically calling for my keelhauling! Can't you do anything to stop them?' Max asked, in his whingy voice. Ava called it his "complaining" voice, and it matched his "complaining" face if he was really ticked off. The voice really got on Ava's nerves sometimes - so did the fact that Max insisted on calling her by her first name, Avalon.
'Hill, how many times have I told you? It's Captain Kallisto. You can call me Captain if you wish, or Ma'am, if you're that desperate for a touch of formality, but not Avalon and not Ava. Secondly, of course they're rebelling against you! You're a stingy, tight, cruel old bugger, if I was forced to take orders from you - which none of the crew are, by the way, although you have told them otherwise -, I'd mutineer against you and ask the captain to keelhaul you! And the only way they'll stop is if I do what they want - and what I want - and throw you overboard! Either put up with it or walk the decks. Would you care to make your choice, or shall I make your job a lot easier and choose for you?' Ava said sharply. She was never this angry towards her crew, but always made sure to make a special exception for Max. He got on her nerves so easily, that it was hard NOT to get very angry.
There was one thing about Ava that made her different to other captains - well, other than the fact that she was fourteen and female -, and that was that she never shouted. She never raised her voice (unless the crew were drunk and making such a racket that it would be impossible to get yourself heard without shouting), and never went over the top and really offended someone (unless, of course, they'd offended her first. Ava was good at finding loopholes). What she did, however, had a much bigger ability to strike fear into the crew's hearts. She spoke in a low, cold, quiet voice, dripping with disappointment and sadness. She never swore at her crew (unless it was needed), but said powerful words that meant a lot in the eyes of the others. They didn't want to upset their captain, even if they were big, strong, burly men. Captain Kallisto was so fair and just with them, that it seemed unfair and like cheating if they were to go and repay her by not listening to what she said. Ava had tamed a group of wild and fierce men into respectful, careful men (although they still wouldn't bat an eyelid at chopping your head off with their cutlass if you annoyed them enough, but neither would Ava).
'Fine then, Captain Kallisto,' Max said heavily, sarcasm cascading off each word that escaped his lips. Whether he was being told off by the captain or not, Max still managed to use that voice that had an air of condesencion in it, that made most people want to crawl under the ground and stay there for a millenium or two. Not Captain Kallisto and her notorious pirate crew, however. No one was scared of mean old Max Hill, not even the timid cabin boy whose parents, in a desperate effort to make him toughen up a bit, had requested that their son Lesley (or something like that) be allowed to join the crew. Ava had agreed (but had not really been listening to what the parents had said, and had somehow mistaken the words "a bit timid and shy" for "a big strong man"). Of course, neither the cook nor Lesley had been particularly pleased to learn that they would be spending a lot more time with each other, but Ava didn't really care. He was new meat, and she was sure that old Haggis would toughen him up a bit. 'I'll ignore their petty threats and their stupid comments. I'll ignore you, too, because I know that I am the better person. If your brother was the captain, I'd have none of these problems. Those troublemakers would be "man overboard" quicker than you can say guacamole... which, of course, you can't, so quicker than a normal person could say guacamole. Destined for darkness, that lad was. You could see it, shining in his eyes'.
'Yeah, whatever,' Ava said, not really listening. Then, the words registered with her. She sat up suddenly, staring around as though she had been bitten by an angry llama. 'What? What did you - Max? Max?'. But Max had already left, slamming the door behind him with a sigh of contempt.
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The missing link.... the missing link. Ava couldn't stop her mind from going over those three words for the rest of the day. Max had helped her to find the missing link! She now knew what the prophecy had been foretelling - at least, she had a pretty good idea. Her brother, Arthur, had been the one with darkness shining in his eyes! But that didn't help much, other than to put Ava's mind half at rest. More questions had sprung from that one answer. If Arthur really was the one with darkness shining in his eyes, did that mean that he was still alive? And Max had called him "destined for darkness" - so what did that mean? That Arthur was bad? Ava had read a similar story before, where one twin had been good and one twin had been bad. Was that like her and Arthur? Ava knew that she herself couldn't exactly be called good, because being a pirate was quite possibly the most illegal thing you could do in the eyes of the King of Laeossa. It was punishable by hanging, and Ava had known many a pirate to be hung by the neck for his crime. Not her parents, though. They had been deemed as highly dangerous, and the words "shoot upon sight" had been used when the king was telling his guards about them, Ava had no doubt.
If she was the good twin, did that make Arthur bad? Really bad? What if - what if he was Maleficus? But no, Ava had seen Maleficus before, in posters and in the newspaper. He had looked nothing like Ava, not even remotely like her brother. They had not been identical, far from it, but both had shared wispy
brown hair, brown-ish green eyes and the same type of nose - almost a button nose, almost normal. At one point, when Ava had had short hair and her brother had had long hair, the only way to tell them apart had been the fact that Ava had her two front teeth missing after her brother had pushed her into the door of her father's office - the same office that she now occupied. Arthur had been worried, but Ava had merely laughed, grabbed the two teeth, wiped away the blood and run off, giggling and calling to her brother to chase her, so that she could show her parents that she had lost her first tooth. Well, teeth.
It was memories like that that had forced Ava to be as strong as she tried to be. She was sure that her brother was still alive, and needed to stay strong if she was ever going to be able to find him. Ava wrote letters to Arthur occasionally, despite knowing that it was highly doubtful that her brother would ever be able to read it. She still used the nickname that she had called Arthur when they had been children, "Arf". She said it reminded her of a dog for some reason, and since the dog was a favourite animal of Arthur's, the nickname had stuck.
Ava hadn't written to her brother for about three months now, but if there was any day that she felt she needed to speak to her family, then it was today. So, she sat down at her desk with a sigh and picked up a quill and a sheet of parchment type paper. Ava had always said, just like her father, that if you were going to be a traditional pirate ship then you had to do it right, and that included writing the old fashioned way too. So, Ava dipped the quill in some ink and began to write.
Dear Arf, she wrote. I know that you can't read these letters, but it just makes me feel better if it actually feels like you and I are still mates, still best friends, still proper, always together siblings. By writing this, it does feel like you and I stay in contact regularly, but you've just gone away for a while, that's all. It's been a while since I last wrote "to you", but things have been pretty hectic. Remember that scary old Max Hill? He's still here, lording it about as usual!
Anyway, I've got some news for you. Do you remember that fortune teller we went to when we were five? I never told anyone what the woman really said, but I think I can tell you. She went all weird. Her voice went all deep, and her eyes were misty and unfocused, and she wasn't like she had been before. She.... she said a prophecy. About six kids having to do something to beat the "darkness" - I guessed that it was Maleficus, because he's proving to be a bit of a pain in the derriere at the moment. There were some bits I understood, but others that I didn't. She said "do not trust the sixth one to join, they will betray the rest". That was a bit puzzling, but I think I got the jist of it. Basically, these five people would be in a group, a sixth person would join and do something bad to betray the others. Anyway, and then she said that the darkness shines in the eyes of one of those six people. That confused me enough, but I was talking to Max (he was complaining because the crew are calling out for him to be keelhauled, and it's a pretty tempting offer at the moment), and he told me about you. He said that you were destined for darkness, and that he had been able to see darkness shining in your eyes, which worried me a bit. It was also sort of happy, though, because if what the fortune teller was saying was true, and if by even the slightest chance that things are turning out the way I think they seem to be turning out, it could mean that you're still alive. I never heard otherwise, you know, but you've been missing for seven years, and the world's cold and hard, especially for a kid. I never doubted that you were alive, but no one else really believed it. Anyway, it just felt nice to be able to write to someone in my family, even though they won't be able to read them. Lots of love, Ava.
Ava put down her quill, and looked at her letter for a few moments as she waited for the ink to dry. She had always dreamed of one day, sending off her letter and getting one in reply from her brother. There were a few problems with this idea, though, the main one being that she had no idea of an address, not to mention the fact that her brother could be anywhere in Laeossa. Despite only being one island in a vast sea, it was a pretty big island. About the size of Earth's Russia, although no one in Laeossa knew this, because the portal had never been crossed. At least, no-one thought it had ever been crossed. If it had, however, there was no survivor or no one to tell the tale.
Despite adoring her life as a captain of her own ship, and knowing that she had a second family in the crew, Ava sometimes wished that she could be the one to cross the portal, and live on Earth. Stories had been told of it's magnificence, of skies made of gold and gadgets that the likes of Laeossa had never seen before. Things called computers and televisions and cars. In Laeossa, everyone travelled by boat, by foor or by carriage. They didn't need a horse or anything like that to pull it, however, the world was hi-tech enough to have been able to program the carts so that they could move themselves. Ava had never ridden in one, however, having been born on the Siren's Call and lived on it for practically most of her life. She had never spent a night away from the ship, that she knew, because she and her parents could only spend a day in one place, before the risk of being noticed got too large and they were forced to flee. Ava didn't mind, of course, because the Siren's Call was her life, her meaning - but she did sometimes dream of sitting in her own carriage, well dressed and out of her pirate's clothes, sitting as regally as Carita Heddwyn. Ava, unlike most other girls, did not dream of being Carita Heddwyn, although she did dream of having the Laeossan Princess's lifestyle every now and again.
The pirates all scorned Princess Carita. She was royalty, she had class, ettiquete and was well educated. Even Ava had been known to make fun of the girl, and Max had had the audacity to suggest that the captain was slacking from her usually anti teasing attire because of jealousy. That had sent the pirates, all eager to argue with Max, into an uproar, with Ava claiming, in her usual sarcastic style, that of course she dreamed of being a bimbo airhead with no purpose in life other than to sit and wave whilst a tutor desperately tried to teach her the three times table. Despite being educated, Carita was not known for being intelligent at all.
Quite the opposite, in fact, as Carita was often (secretly, of course) nicknamed the "Bimbo Princess of Laeossa". It wasn't an unfair nickname either, because Carita went out of her way to make life awkward for pirates, with Ava and her crew seeming to be, not only Maleficus's target, but Carita's too.
Ava was a lot less bothered about Carita than she was about Maleficus, but it didn't stop her from looking at Carita as a small fly, intent on getting in her way, that Ava had to squash with much vigour and as soon as possible. Still, at least she didn't prove to be a threat like Maleficus. Compared to the great big shark that was Maleficus, Carita seemed like a fluffy little rabbit. She even looked like one, too - pale, with rather large teeth, and rumoured to have large feet too. Still, Ava always said that she had no room to talk, as she wasn't particularly pretty herself. Good looking, in a ragged pirate way, but not pretty or beautiful like Carita was supposed to be. She was also dirt poor, but rich in another way. It was known that Carita's parents were sick and tired of their daughter's constant complaints and whinges and moans, and were annoyed with their daughter to the point of not particularly liking her very much. Whilst Ava was poor when it came to treasure (although she didn't do too badly when it came to loot), she was very rich in friends and people that were like family to her. She had friends, she had a second family, she was loved and wanted and looked up to by all. The strange thing for Ava was that she found that she didn't feel the need for money or treasure, it was just the great feeling when she plundered a ship succesfully that made it all worthwhile, plus being able to spend time with her crew, teaching them and also learning from them.
Humans weren't Ava's only friends, however. She seemed to have a knack with animals, dogs in particular. There was one dog that had stowed away on the ship for some reason, back when Ava had been three years old. She had found the puppy lying in one of the barrells, soaking wet, shivering and whimpering pathetically. Ava had taken pity on the puppy, scooped him up and toddled away to show her parents. "Pease?" she had asked, her eyes large and pleading, just like the poor little dog's. Lucasz and Pax relented, and the dog - who became known as Pease, after Ava had said those words to her parents after finding the puppy, and her parents had thought that it was his name - had been with the crew ever since. He adored all of the crew, but held a special bond with Ava, like he had done for years. He had always loved Arthur too, but not as much as he did his Ava. She was his Ava, and would lead her around the ship and help her to get out of sticky situations, like the time that Arthur had knocked the honey pot over on top of her, and Pease had licked his beloved mistress until she was clean and not sticky. Ava also loved hamsters, after they had saved a couple of little dwarf hamsters from the raging inferno of a newly raided ship that had been set on fire. Macaroni and Cheese were their names, and they had no particular favourite, although they were quite partial to Sebastian, because he was in charge of feeding them each day.
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'Captain Kallisto? We're approaching land!'.
The voice of Amelia Montague reached the ears of the young captain, making her look up from the letter she had written not five minutes ago. She had been re-reading it again and again, as though worried that something would go wrong if she didn't memorise it and check for mistakes. Tidings of land were great, though, as it provided a chance for Ava to stretch her legs a little, slack off from her duties once in a while and mingle - well, as much as she could without getting caught - with the locals. Today they were to arrive in Gatador, a Laeossan city famed for it's handsome men with accents that most girls would die for. There was no particular reason for the Siren's Call to make a stop at Gatador, except for the fact that, as Ava had put it quite bluntly, she was "bored and had nothing better to do, so why not?".
Ava raced up to the deck, a broad grin on her face. This was when her love of sailing the seven seas was at it's most obvious, when the crew were approaching dry land. Ava straightened her denim jacket (stolen from another ship, of course), and took the binoculars that Amelia was offering her. They were indeed approaching land, and the shining white temple that was just visible on the coast confirmed that it was indeed Gatador that they were approaching. The temple of Gatador wasn't a religious place, but a sight of natural beauty. It was rumoured that all of the magic power that Laeossa seemed to have came from the temple, as anyone who entered it immediately felt safe and at peace with the world. Despite it being a tempting thought, however, Ava was not in Gatador to visit the temple. She just wanted a day off, a day to relax whilst her crew could go to the taverns (without revealing their identities, since Gatador often had posters of wanted pirates plastered over the buildings) and mix with the locals for once in a while. Ava herself was looking forwards to a day of relaxation, a lazy walk around the market and if she was really lucky and could find a Laea or two lying in the gutter, maybe even a carriage ride.
Relaxation, however, was one of the last things that was ever going to happen to Ava Kallisto on that day, however.
Prologue - Dawn Of A Destiny
Legend has told us many stories. King Arthur and his beautiful Guinevere, the dragon being slayed by Saint George, and five young people destroying the most evil force that was ever known.
Maybe you haven't heard of the last one? Maybe you, like the subjects of this adventurous tale, have never heard of the less-known legend of the Dawn of Destiny, when five teenagers beat the odds to destroy someone who threatened to end the lives of them and everyone around them.
Maybe it's time that you learned of the Dawn of Destiny.
Just a short prologue to get the ball rolling!
Chapter One - Captain Kallisto
Ava Kallisto's day had not gotten off to a very good start. On the contrary, if the start of the day was anything to go by, she was likely to be dead by the end of it. As she sat at her desk, listening to the mutinous cries of her crewmates below her office, she began to wonder what she was even doing here. A fourteen year old girl, forced into piracy just because her parents had happened to be the daughter of notorious pirate captain Lucasz Kallisto and his wife Pax. When they had died, the crew had suddenly decided that of course, the best choice for their replacement was undoubtedly a twelve year old girl, just because of her parentage. Nevertheless, Ava had taken to her position remarkably well. She loved living on board a ship, and also living with the people who were aboard it.
They were usually very friendly, giving a family feeling to life aboard the Kallisto's famous ship, the Siren's Call. They weren't particularly friendly today, though. It wasn't Ava that they were mutineering against, it was the first mate, a cruel and hard old soul called Maxwell Hill. If Ava had had her way, she would've kicked Max off years ago, but her parents had always told her not to. But by now, things had gone too far. Plus, as Ava had reasoned, her parents weren't exactly going to find out. Max could easily have just fallen off the ship, instead of being keelhauled. It didn't really matter, because there was no-one alive that would care if Max Hill was dead. No-one really cared that he was alive, either, except for acknowledging a feeling of longing to see Max being thrown overboard and forced to die in a cold, harsh sea. Ava wasn't usually cruel, and often scorned pirates who killed their own crew members. Then again, desperate times called for desperate measures, and if the worry of the crew turning on Ava wasn't a desperate time for the young girl, then there was no such thing as a desperate time at all. Plus, it would be a relief to finally be rid of the grumpy old bugger that was Max Hill.
It was doubted that Ava had ever seen a spot of trouble from her crew. Being of Lucasz Kallisto's blood, she was basically worshipped by the crew members, and often treated like a princess. Unlike many girls would, however, Ava didn't revel in the special treatment she received. She firmly believed in working hard getting it's just rewards, and so strived to work as hard as possible. She was good to her word, too, trying her utmost to make the plundering life as comfortable as possible for her crew, whilst making sure that she was treated with fairness and respect at the same time, of course. Sexism, something that was usually rife aboard Laeossan pirate ships, was a thing that was seeminly unheard of aboard the Siren's Call. Ava wouldn't stand for any discrimination at all - racism, sexism and any other discrimination against people who looked, acted or were different was punished with death, often at the hand of Ava herself. It was messy business, but someone had to stand up for the other side. Even if the other side was where there was no discrimination at all.
Pirates were normally always boys. Certainly there were never any female captains, until Ava came along. People hoping to join a pirate crew would be given a list of possible crews that they could join, and seeing the famous - or rather, infamous - name of Kallisto, they would immediately sign up. However, they often didn't think twice when noticing that the name was not "Captain L Kallisto", but "Captain A Kallisto". It might have helped them to know that they were not under the reign of the most notorious and best pirate known to the world, Lucasz Kallisto, but his fourteen year old daughter, Avalon Kallisto. She was named after a mythical place in a popular story that had once been brought over from Earth, back when the two countries had been allies and not enemies with one another. It was the myth of King Arthur, who had apparently done something at a place called Avalon (no-one could really remember where, as the book had been lost for decades), and the name had suddenly gone up in popularity. That had been decades ago, however, and the name had slowly faded from civilisation to make room for a new fad name, from another book that had been found - boys were all being called Oliver (or Dodger, if the parents felt particularly adventurous), and Olivia (the choice female counterpart) or Nancy for girls. The book's author had become quite the namesake too, with a sudden rush of children having the first and middle names "Charles Dickens". Lucasz Kallisto had reportedly read the book when Pax Kallisto, his beloved wife, had been pregnant with twins. He hadn't thought much of the book, and chose instead to revert to his favourite text, that had been read to him when he was a boy - which was, of course, the myth of King Arthur. When Pax had given birth to a baby boy and a baby girl, he named the boy Arthur and the girl Avalon. When Arthur vanished from sight at the age of seven, Avalon had become a proper pirate girl. Her parernts, desperate to make sure that they still had an heir, even if it was a girl, should they be to die, taught their little girl everything there was to know about piracy. Ava fought in her first battle when she was nine years old, and went solo on plundering a ship at the age of eleven. Then, when she was twelve, the King of Laeossa had ordered out a special task force with one goal in sight - to destroy Lucasz and Pax Kallisto. He had succeeded, despite a ferocious fight put up by the crew of the Siren's Call. The death of her parents completely destroyed Ava. She became reclusive and often refused to talk to anyone. And then, one of the crew members discovered the Will of the captain and his wife. They had given everything they owned to their only daughter, including the captainship of the Siren's Call.
Despite still mourning over her becoming an orphan, Avalon had realised that if she wanted to get over things, she had to feel confident that her parents were happy that Ava was continuing their legacy. And so, as though to avenge the deaths of her parents, she became the captain of the Siren's Call. Although Lucasz had been a true hero in the eyes of every single pirate in the world, it was often rumored amongst the crew of his old ship - now his daughter's ship - that Avalon was a friendlier, possibly better captain. Die-hard Lucasz worshippers critisiczed them, calling them disloyal and traitors - but surely, as Avalon's crew had retorted, the best way of showing your loyalty to the old Captain Kallisto was to show your respect for the new one. Some people had agreed, others had demanded that if they really believed that, they should hang themselves straight away.
Of course, Ava would not hear of any of her crew hanging themselves, and so went forth to destroy any ships that belonged to crews who had suggested such a ludicrous thing as hanging themselves over split loyalty. Whether they supported her father or not, they were still the enemy, they were still trying to get her own crew killed. Ava wasn't going to stand for that, and so her motto became - "If you can't make them play nice, completely obliverate them". And that was what she did, swiftly and silently killing anyone who dared to suggest that Ava was a disgrace to her father's name. It didn't stay silent for long, however. Word got around that a fourteen year old girl was killing off the other pirates, and taking their ships as her own. She would leave behind a scrawled autograph of her name, and a little smiley face with an eyepatch over one eye. Never let it be said that Captain Ava Kallisto did not have a sense of humor to rival her father's.
But along with having a wonderfully vast sense of humour, Ava could not be called a pushover. She was witty, sarcastic and determined, and not afraid to hurt anyone who tried to get in her way. Underneath her hardness, however, was an emotional side that was rarely ever seen. She had a heart of gold, but it was covered by a longing to avenge her father, to be the best and to complete the one goal in life that she would actually tear the world apart for.
Ava Kallisto longed to find out where her brother was. She wanted to know what had happened to Arthur, whether he was still alive, where he had gone when they had both been just seven years old. The world was a cruel and harsh place, even before the days when the world was ruled by fear and hate that went by the name of Maleficus. It was unlikely, everyone knew, that Arthur Kallisto was still alive, but Ava refused to give up. She was determined to find her twin brother, and would rip open the universe if that was what it would take. She was prepared to do anything and give up everything, for the one thing that she desired the most.
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Captain Kallisto's day, as you may have already noticed, was not off to the best of starts. With a mutinous crew calling for the death of a crewmate that her father had told her never to get rid of, and the rising worry of that nasty bugger called Maleficus, it was clear that things were shaping up to be a pretty **** day all in all.
Then again, things could easily take a turn for the better, she mused. The crew could suddenly calm down (or, as Ava mused wryly, she could keelhaul Max and make everyone happy, except Max), Maleficus could get hit by lightning, and the day could be average. Yeah, right. Ava knew that the words "normal" or "average" didn't apply to her or her life at all, and was in truth perfectly happy with that fact. After all, what was life without a few deaths and a big evil guy trying to wreck your life completely?
Despite never having met each other, Maleficus seemed to have it in for pirates, and Ava in particular. After all, as had been reported in the Evening Listener, more and more pirate ships were being made completely deserted, and all that was left behind was a note saying "I want Avalon Kallisto, Maleficus". It was quite scary to be a fourteen year old girl in that position, but Ava shrugged it off with a grin and a comment of "He can search all he likes, but he won't find me". Ava Kallisto was brave, feirce and determined, but she was also honest. She would never lie to her crew, unless she really had to, and would always share her opinion with the world (even if the world didn't really want to hear it. Especially if the world didn't really want to hear it, in most cases).
As she longed for a peaceful day aboard the Siren's Call, Ava began to hum a tune that she knew. Then, she started singing it. It was an Earth song that she knew well, because her mother used to sing it to her. How did it go again? It was from a kids' television program called Hannah Banana, or something like that. Who said, Who said, I can't be superman, I say, I say, that I know I can, who said, who said I'm not electrified, I say, I say, time is on my side.... that was the one. Who Said, from Hannah Montana. It was a favourite of Ava's, because it reminded her of a phrase her mother used to say, that you could do anything if you put your mind to it. Despite being uneducated and from an
incredibly poor family, Pax Kallisto had been extremely intelligent when it came to matters of the hear of of the mind. Ava had no doubt that her mother could have been a phsychologist, had she not chosen to marry Lucasz and become a pirate who stood for everything illegal, unlike phsychologists, who were strictly legal. Still, that didn't stop her from providing counselling for any particularly troubled crew members.
In a way, the crew saw Ava and Arthur as their proper phsychologists. They considered the two little kiddies to be little rays of sunshine in cloudy skies, glimmers of hope in a sea of helplessness. It was just the sight of the pair rushing around, having fun and enjoying their life aboard the Siren's Call, that brightened up the day of even the most hard hearted pirate who was having the worst day of their lives. That wasn't saying much, though, because having two kids and a would be phsychologist on board the ship meant that none of the pirates were particularly hard and unfeeling, and all of them liked to take care of each other. Apart from Max, of course. He was a modern day Scrooge (that book had somehow arrived in Laeossa too), and it was rumoured that no Christmas spirit of any kind could make him happy at all. He treated everyone, even Ava, the captain, as a slave. Of course, Ava refused to stand for it, and would tell Max off with as much vigour as possible, much to the delight of the other crew members. It gave them no end of joy to see that hard hearted Ebenezer, cowering in fear as he was threatened with death and marooning by a fourteen year old girl.
Girl. That was the part that made Max feel the worst about his captain, not that she was young, but that she was a girl! To think that he, Max Hill, had to take orders from a girl, the weaker sex. Of course, Ava was a much stronger person (and this is meant by emotionally and mentally, not physically) then Max would ever be. She saw everyone as what they were - human beings, and it wasn't their gender or their appearance or their age that made them weak, it was how they behaved and how they treated people. She knew that Max was certainly a very weak person, and also very insecure if he felt that he had to find faults with everyone else. No one else saw it that way; they all thought that Max was a cruel and nasty old bugger who enjoyed causing other people distress and anger. It was probably true, but Ava also had a point, in saying that Max was insecure. He was.
Two years ago, Max was told by Lucasz Kallisto that he would own the ship if the captain and his wife were to die. And then, when the deaths of Lucasz and Pax had occured, Max began to take command of the ship. The problem was that he wasn't as careful not to upset his crew as Lucasz had been. Max was vicious and power hungry, so it was with much joy that the crew discovered to whom the ship had been left to in Lucasz's Will.
Ava was a great captain, as Max knew well. He acknowledged the fact in his mind, but refused to come to terms with it for the rest of the crew to see, that he was taking orders from a fourteen year old girl. The fact that Ava was fourteen years old and a girl was neither here nor there, however - the fact remained that Ava had been the better person for the job of captain, both in the eyes of the crew and in the eyes of her father. Max often wondered why Lucasz had promised him the job, before going ahead and giving it to Ava, and at some point it clicked to him that the old captain had probably realised what the rest of the crew had been saying for ages - that it wasn't right for hard, unfeeling old Max Hill to be given the job, and that Lucasz's more emotionally secure teenage daughter deserved the position more.
Despite the fact that Max was a pain, and that the crew could sometimes get a little out of hand if they were drunk, Ava adored her job, and wouldn't have given it up for the whole universe. Yes, she was one of Laeossa's most wanted people, and every day was a constant struggle with the whole Maleficus problem, but being a pirate was a job where you could be free and do whatever you want. With rules, of course. And since Ava was the one making the rules, she intended to have a little fun, and make sure that her crew did too. The rest of the pirates loved her immensely for this, and Ava found herself considered an idol, someone to look up to, by the rest of them.
She had her friends on board the ship, of course. There was Sebastian O'Connelly, who was seventeen and came from Earth. He'd stumbled upon the Portal one day whilst going for a walk after leaving his family. They had been constantly arguing and fighting, and Sebastian had soon decided that he had had enough. Unable to find a job in any of Laeossa's cities, he went to Captain Lucasz Kallisto at the age of fifteen, and requested to join the notorious crew. Seb had been the last admission to the Siren's Call before the death of Lucasz and Pax, and so was often singled out for teasing. Some people blamed him (wrongly, of course, since Sebastian had nothing to do with the deaths of the ex-captain and his wife) for the deaths of the ex captain and his wife, but as soon as Ava became the captain she immediately stopped it. She was one of those people who refused to stand for bullying or discrimination of any kind, and would stamp it out immediately and with much certainty if she ever heard about it happening. Sebastian was a close friend to Ava, and helped her to deal with the deaths of her parents a considerable amount.
There was also Ruth Minelli, a young woman from Gatador who had come to the Siren's Call looking for a better life. She had been the first one to be allowed to join the crew by Ava, and had always shared a special bond with the younger girl, despite the age difference. Ruth was in her early thirties, and was good friends with Ava. She had a sort of mystic feeling about her, and she dressed like the fortune tellers that were often found at the carnivals in Gatador every spring. Ava remembered going to a carnival once, in disguise with her parents, when she was five years old. She and Arthur had watched the circus, eaten candyfloss for the first time (and gotten very sticky with it too) and even had their palms read by a fortune teller called Rose. She had predicted strangely accurate things. Arthur had gone first, and had been told that he would have a strange and uncertain future, but things would become better for him in the end. And then, Ava's predicition had been that she would one day be in control, and be charting her own course to do something special.
Whilst Ava had been in the fortune teller's tent, however, something strange had happened. The woman had seemed to go into a trance of sorts; her eyes had become all misty and unfocused.
When she had spoken, however, her voice had not been the same airy, misty voice she had used before, but was deep and rasping. She sounded like she was a man with a bad sore throat, as Ava had crudely described it in her mind at the time. She appeared to be trying to get her words out, but was unable to. Ava was unsure whether to run and get someone, but then, Rose regained enough composure to be able to speak, so Ava stayed.
'Five young people.... beating the dark that threatens to overwhelm them.... their future is unclear ....I see darkness, it shines in the eyes of one of them...I see a sixth, a sixth who shall betray the rest.... do not trust the last to join, do not trust them.... they could destroy the world's only hope forever... the dawn of destiny calls, grows ever nearer.... could go either way, but those poor children.... those poor, poor children.... their number, whittled down to four..... the final battle, where the betrayer shall be revealed.... dawn of destiny....'.
And with that, the old woman had snapped back to her normal self and shooed the shocked little girl from her tent, and beckoned in her father. When Lucasz came out, however, he had mentioned nothing about a trance or strange voices or something odd that the old lady had said. Neither had Arthur, and neither did Pax when she came out of the tent five minutes later. They had all remarked on how long Ava had been inside, but none of them had seemed to notice that anything out of the ordinary had happened.
At five years old, little Ava had been too young to understand anything that Rose had said, but she kept those words with her for the rest of her childhood. She dreamt of them every night, thought about them every day, but never said a word to anyone. It was a secret, her secret, and she intended upon guarding it with her life. As she grew older, however, the words began to mean more and more to her. She learnt that what she had heard was a prophecy, sometimes told by phsychics and fortune tellers. Many times it was a hoax to get more money, but from what Ava read, none of the experiences of hoaxes and fakes had sounded anything like that Ava had heard inside that small tent. She was convinced that she had heard a real prophecy, and she had been right.
Each night, she went through the words that the fortune teller had said. Five young people .....one of those was possibly her, especially as the prophecy had been told to her. Beating the dark that threatens to overwhelm them.... Maleficus, possibly? He was most certainly casting a dark shadow, and threatening to overwhelm Ava. Their future is unclear.... self explanatory, Ava decided, it meant that the fortune teller didn't know what was going to happen to the five people she was prophesising about. Shines in the eyes of one of them..... this was the one that puzzled Ava the most. How could darkness shine in someone's eyes, when darkness didn't shine at all? A sixth who shall betray the rest.... again, pretty self explainatory - someone is going to betray those five. Do not trust the last to join.... another puzzler. To join what? A club, a group, a crew? They could destroy the world's only hope forever..... that probably meant that the five people were the world's only hope, and that this mystery sixth person could destroy them. The dawn of destiny calls.... what destiny? Whose destiny? And why was it the "dawn" of destiny? Ava was drowning in a sea of questions. Those poor children.... obviously, something bad was going to happen to the five children about whom the prophecy was made. Whittled down to four... it probably meant that one member of the group was going to die, or else go missing.
Ava dwelled on those words for a while as she sat at her desk, still listening to the angry cries of the crew in the galley below, but she could still not explain many of the phrases.
It really was a puzzle, like a jigsaw with a missing piece or two. Not only was it incredibly challenging, but it was also extremely annoying. There was a missing link somewhere in the fortune teller's words, and Ava was determined to find the link and work out what the prophecy had meant. Did it have something to do with Maleficus? It certainly seemed that way to Ava, and things were quite fitting if what Rose had said had been true.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door of her quarters. She opened it to find a bedraggled looking Max Hill standing outside, looking furious. His clothes were torn and his round glasses were askew on the bridge of his nose, making him look as though he had just been at the centre of a massive brawl (which, knowing the way the crew felt about Max, seemed very likely when Ava came to think about it).
'What's wrong this time?' Ava asked, sounding incredibly bored. She was using the monotone voice that she saved for Max whenever he had his "complaining" look on his face, which was quite often. Max ALWAYS managed to find something to complain about, be it the way Ava ran her ship or how much dust there was on one square foot of the ship. Ava had been confused, and stressed the fact that she had seen no square feet at all on the ship, dusty or not. Max had sighed that same bored, exasperated sigh that HE saved especially for Ava when she was having one of her "uneducated" moments (which was rare compared to the amount of times he wore his complaining look), and had explained that he didn't mean feet as in what was at the bottom of your leg, but the measuring term "foot". Ava had latched on immediately, but said "Why didn't you tell me before?". It was another Kallisto trait, stubborness. Lucasz had never been content with losing an arguament either, and it had evidently rubbed off onto his daughter. She was convinced that she was right and if anyone dared to contradict her, THEY were wrong and would have to suffer the sharp end of her sarcastic manner. If she felt like it, Ava would poke them too, but that was because she was a teenager, and liked getting on people's nerves, like most teenagers do. The fact that she was a teenager probably had something to do with how stubborn she was, but there was most certainly some that she had inherited from her father.
'It's YOUR crew, Avalon. They're rebelling against me, and practically calling for my keelhauling! Can't you do anything to stop them?' Max asked, in his whingy voice. Ava called it his "complaining" voice, and it matched his "complaining" face if he was really ticked off. The voice really got on Ava's nerves sometimes - so did the fact that Max insisted on calling her by her first name, Avalon.
'Hill, how many times have I told you? It's Captain Kallisto. You can call me Captain if you wish, or Ma'am, if you're that desperate for a touch of formality, but not Avalon and not Ava. Secondly, of course they're rebelling against you! You're a stingy, tight, cruel old bugger, if I was forced to take orders from you - which none of the crew are, by the way, although you have told them otherwise -, I'd mutineer against you and ask the captain to keelhaul you! And the only way they'll stop is if I do what they want - and what I want - and throw you overboard! Either put up with it or walk the decks. Would you care to make your choice, or shall I make your job a lot easier and choose for you?' Ava said sharply. She was never this angry towards her crew, but always made sure to make a special exception for Max. He got on her nerves so easily, that it was hard NOT to get very angry.
There was one thing about Ava that made her different to other captains - well, other than the fact that she was fourteen and female -, and that was that she never shouted. She never raised her voice (unless the crew were drunk and making such a racket that it would be impossible to get yourself heard without shouting), and never went over the top and really offended someone (unless, of course, they'd offended her first. Ava was good at finding loopholes). What she did, however, had a much bigger ability to strike fear into the crew's hearts. She spoke in a low, cold, quiet voice, dripping with disappointment and sadness. She never swore at her crew (unless it was needed), but said powerful words that meant a lot in the eyes of the others. They didn't want to upset their captain, even if they were big, strong, burly men. Captain Kallisto was so fair and just with them, that it seemed unfair and like cheating if they were to go and repay her by not listening to what she said. Ava had tamed a group of wild and fierce men into respectful, careful men (although they still wouldn't bat an eyelid at chopping your head off with their cutlass if you annoyed them enough, but neither would Ava).
'Fine then, Captain Kallisto,' Max said heavily, sarcasm cascading off each word that escaped his lips. Whether he was being told off by the captain or not, Max still managed to use that voice that had an air of condesencion in it, that made most people want to crawl under the ground and stay there for a millenium or two. Not Captain Kallisto and her notorious pirate crew, however. No one was scared of mean old Max Hill, not even the timid cabin boy whose parents, in a desperate effort to make him toughen up a bit, had requested that their son Lesley (or something like that) be allowed to join the crew. Ava had agreed (but had not really been listening to what the parents had said, and had somehow mistaken the words "a bit timid and shy" for "a big strong man"). Of course, neither the cook nor Lesley had been particularly pleased to learn that they would be spending a lot more time with each other, but Ava didn't really care. He was new meat, and she was sure that old Haggis would toughen him up a bit. 'I'll ignore their petty threats and their stupid comments. I'll ignore you, too, because I know that I am the better person. If your brother was the captain, I'd have none of these problems. Those troublemakers would be "man overboard" quicker than you can say guacamole... which, of course, you can't, so quicker than a normal person could say guacamole. Destined for darkness, that lad was. You could see it, shining in his eyes'.
'Yeah, whatever,' Ava said, not really listening. Then, the words registered with her. She sat up suddenly, staring around as though she had been bitten by an angry llama. 'What? What did you - Max? Max?'. But Max had already left, slamming the door behind him with a sigh of contempt.
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The missing link.... the missing link. Ava couldn't stop her mind from going over those three words for the rest of the day. Max had helped her to find the missing link! She now knew what the prophecy had been foretelling - at least, she had a pretty good idea. Her brother, Arthur, had been the one with darkness shining in his eyes! But that didn't help much, other than to put Ava's mind half at rest. More questions had sprung from that one answer. If Arthur really was the one with darkness shining in his eyes, did that mean that he was still alive? And Max had called him "destined for darkness" - so what did that mean? That Arthur was bad? Ava had read a similar story before, where one twin had been good and one twin had been bad. Was that like her and Arthur? Ava knew that she herself couldn't exactly be called good, because being a pirate was quite possibly the most illegal thing you could do in the eyes of the King of Laeossa. It was punishable by hanging, and Ava had known many a pirate to be hung by the neck for his crime. Not her parents, though. They had been deemed as highly dangerous, and the words "shoot upon sight" had been used when the king was telling his guards about them, Ava had no doubt.
If she was the good twin, did that make Arthur bad? Really bad? What if - what if he was Maleficus? But no, Ava had seen Maleficus before, in posters and in the newspaper. He had looked nothing like Ava, not even remotely like her brother. They had not been identical, far from it, but both had shared wispy
brown hair, brown-ish green eyes and the same type of nose - almost a button nose, almost normal. At one point, when Ava had had short hair and her brother had had long hair, the only way to tell them apart had been the fact that Ava had her two front teeth missing after her brother had pushed her into the door of her father's office - the same office that she now occupied. Arthur had been worried, but Ava had merely laughed, grabbed the two teeth, wiped away the blood and run off, giggling and calling to her brother to chase her, so that she could show her parents that she had lost her first tooth. Well, teeth.
It was memories like that that had forced Ava to be as strong as she tried to be. She was sure that her brother was still alive, and needed to stay strong if she was ever going to be able to find him. Ava wrote letters to Arthur occasionally, despite knowing that it was highly doubtful that her brother would ever be able to read it. She still used the nickname that she had called Arthur when they had been children, "Arf". She said it reminded her of a dog for some reason, and since the dog was a favourite animal of Arthur's, the nickname had stuck.
Ava hadn't written to her brother for about three months now, but if there was any day that she felt she needed to speak to her family, then it was today. So, she sat down at her desk with a sigh and picked up a quill and a sheet of parchment type paper. Ava had always said, just like her father, that if you were going to be a traditional pirate ship then you had to do it right, and that included writing the old fashioned way too. So, Ava dipped the quill in some ink and began to write.
Dear Arf, she wrote. I know that you can't read these letters, but it just makes me feel better if it actually feels like you and I are still mates, still best friends, still proper, always together siblings. By writing this, it does feel like you and I stay in contact regularly, but you've just gone away for a while, that's all. It's been a while since I last wrote "to you", but things have been pretty hectic. Remember that scary old Max Hill? He's still here, lording it about as usual!
Anyway, I've got some news for you. Do you remember that fortune teller we went to when we were five? I never told anyone what the woman really said, but I think I can tell you. She went all weird. Her voice went all deep, and her eyes were misty and unfocused, and she wasn't like she had been before. She.... she said a prophecy. About six kids having to do something to beat the "darkness" - I guessed that it was Maleficus, because he's proving to be a bit of a pain in the derriere at the moment. There were some bits I understood, but others that I didn't. She said "do not trust the sixth one to join, they will betray the rest". That was a bit puzzling, but I think I got the jist of it. Basically, these five people would be in a group, a sixth person would join and do something bad to betray the others. Anyway, and then she said that the darkness shines in the eyes of one of those six people. That confused me enough, but I was talking to Max (he was complaining because the crew are calling out for him to be keelhauled, and it's a pretty tempting offer at the moment), and he told me about you. He said that you were destined for darkness, and that he had been able to see darkness shining in your eyes, which worried me a bit. It was also sort of happy, though, because if what the fortune teller was saying was true, and if by even the slightest chance that things are turning out the way I think they seem to be turning out, it could mean that you're still alive. I never heard otherwise, you know, but you've been missing for seven years, and the world's cold and hard, especially for a kid. I never doubted that you were alive, but no one else really believed it. Anyway, it just felt nice to be able to write to someone in my family, even though they won't be able to read them. Lots of love, Ava.
Ava put down her quill, and looked at her letter for a few moments as she waited for the ink to dry. She had always dreamed of one day, sending off her letter and getting one in reply from her brother. There were a few problems with this idea, though, the main one being that she had no idea of an address, not to mention the fact that her brother could be anywhere in Laeossa. Despite only being one island in a vast sea, it was a pretty big island. About the size of Earth's Russia, although no one in Laeossa knew this, because the portal had never been crossed. At least, no-one thought it had ever been crossed. If it had, however, there was no survivor or no one to tell the tale.
Despite adoring her life as a captain of her own ship, and knowing that she had a second family in the crew, Ava sometimes wished that she could be the one to cross the portal, and live on Earth. Stories had been told of it's magnificence, of skies made of gold and gadgets that the likes of Laeossa had never seen before. Things called computers and televisions and cars. In Laeossa, everyone travelled by boat, by foor or by carriage. They didn't need a horse or anything like that to pull it, however, the world was hi-tech enough to have been able to program the carts so that they could move themselves. Ava had never ridden in one, however, having been born on the Siren's Call and lived on it for practically most of her life. She had never spent a night away from the ship, that she knew, because she and her parents could only spend a day in one place, before the risk of being noticed got too large and they were forced to flee. Ava didn't mind, of course, because the Siren's Call was her life, her meaning - but she did sometimes dream of sitting in her own carriage, well dressed and out of her pirate's clothes, sitting as regally as Carita Heddwyn. Ava, unlike most other girls, did not dream of being Carita Heddwyn, although she did dream of having the Laeossan Princess's lifestyle every now and again.
The pirates all scorned Princess Carita. She was royalty, she had class, ettiquete and was well educated. Even Ava had been known to make fun of the girl, and Max had had the audacity to suggest that the captain was slacking from her usually anti teasing attire because of jealousy. That had sent the pirates, all eager to argue with Max, into an uproar, with Ava claiming, in her usual sarcastic style, that of course she dreamed of being a bimbo airhead with no purpose in life other than to sit and wave whilst a tutor desperately tried to teach her the three times table. Despite being educated, Carita was not known for being intelligent at all.
Quite the opposite, in fact, as Carita was often (secretly, of course) nicknamed the "Bimbo Princess of Laeossa". It wasn't an unfair nickname either, because Carita went out of her way to make life awkward for pirates, with Ava and her crew seeming to be, not only Maleficus's target, but Carita's too.
Ava was a lot less bothered about Carita than she was about Maleficus, but it didn't stop her from looking at Carita as a small fly, intent on getting in her way, that Ava had to squash with much vigour and as soon as possible. Still, at least she didn't prove to be a threat like Maleficus. Compared to the great big shark that was Maleficus, Carita seemed like a fluffy little rabbit. She even looked like one, too - pale, with rather large teeth, and rumoured to have large feet too. Still, Ava always said that she had no room to talk, as she wasn't particularly pretty herself. Good looking, in a ragged pirate way, but not pretty or beautiful like Carita was supposed to be. She was also dirt poor, but rich in another way. It was known that Carita's parents were sick and tired of their daughter's constant complaints and whinges and moans, and were annoyed with their daughter to the point of not particularly liking her very much. Whilst Ava was poor when it came to treasure (although she didn't do too badly when it came to loot), she was very rich in friends and people that were like family to her. She had friends, she had a second family, she was loved and wanted and looked up to by all. The strange thing for Ava was that she found that she didn't feel the need for money or treasure, it was just the great feeling when she plundered a ship succesfully that made it all worthwhile, plus being able to spend time with her crew, teaching them and also learning from them.
Humans weren't Ava's only friends, however. She seemed to have a knack with animals, dogs in particular. There was one dog that had stowed away on the ship for some reason, back when Ava had been three years old. She had found the puppy lying in one of the barrells, soaking wet, shivering and whimpering pathetically. Ava had taken pity on the puppy, scooped him up and toddled away to show her parents. "Pease?" she had asked, her eyes large and pleading, just like the poor little dog's. Lucasz and Pax relented, and the dog - who became known as Pease, after Ava had said those words to her parents after finding the puppy, and her parents had thought that it was his name - had been with the crew ever since. He adored all of the crew, but held a special bond with Ava, like he had done for years. He had always loved Arthur too, but not as much as he did his Ava. She was his Ava, and would lead her around the ship and help her to get out of sticky situations, like the time that Arthur had knocked the honey pot over on top of her, and Pease had licked his beloved mistress until she was clean and not sticky. Ava also loved hamsters, after they had saved a couple of little dwarf hamsters from the raging inferno of a newly raided ship that had been set on fire. Macaroni and Cheese were their names, and they had no particular favourite, although they were quite partial to Sebastian, because he was in charge of feeding them each day.
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'Captain Kallisto? We're approaching land!'.
The voice of Amelia Montague reached the ears of the young captain, making her look up from the letter she had written not five minutes ago. She had been re-reading it again and again, as though worried that something would go wrong if she didn't memorise it and check for mistakes. Tidings of land were great, though, as it provided a chance for Ava to stretch her legs a little, slack off from her duties once in a while and mingle - well, as much as she could without getting caught - with the locals. Today they were to arrive in Gatador, a Laeossan city famed for it's handsome men with accents that most girls would die for. There was no particular reason for the Siren's Call to make a stop at Gatador, except for the fact that, as Ava had put it quite bluntly, she was "bored and had nothing better to do, so why not?".
Ava raced up to the deck, a broad grin on her face. This was when her love of sailing the seven seas was at it's most obvious, when the crew were approaching dry land. Ava straightened her denim jacket (stolen from another ship, of course), and took the binoculars that Amelia was offering her. They were indeed approaching land, and the shining white temple that was just visible on the coast confirmed that it was indeed Gatador that they were approaching. The temple of Gatador wasn't a religious place, but a sight of natural beauty. It was rumoured that all of the magic power that Laeossa seemed to have came from the temple, as anyone who entered it immediately felt safe and at peace with the world. Despite it being a tempting thought, however, Ava was not in Gatador to visit the temple. She just wanted a day off, a day to relax whilst her crew could go to the taverns (without revealing their identities, since Gatador often had posters of wanted pirates plastered over the buildings) and mix with the locals for once in a while. Ava herself was looking forwards to a day of relaxation, a lazy walk around the market and if she was really lucky and could find a Laea or two lying in the gutter, maybe even a carriage ride.
Relaxation, however, was one of the last things that was ever going to happen to Ava Kallisto on that day, however.