The two squads were transferred to Outpost B, the second outpost by the coastline. It had a well managed port where the ships come to drop off supples. It was a busier outpost compared to D. Almost everyone was on the move. They met with the major of the outpost, Major Devlane. He assigned them the task of patrolling the coast. A quick and simple job. Best case scenario, nothing would happen.

  They arrived at the port and boarded one of the ships. The captain introduced himself. He was called Captain Halsoce Two-Fingered. Avryn was struck by that nicknamed and asked why. The captain held up his left hand. He only his thumb and index finger were still attached. The rest was wooden prosthetic.

  “Does that answer your question, lad?” he laughed.

  “How’d you lost them?” Jenilah asked.

  “I’ll tell you after we finish this job, now get to your stations,” he made way to the bridge.

  The horn sounded, and the patrol ships were off. Avryn explored the ship. There was an air of familiarity that got to him. He made small talk with fellow soldiers as he kept an eye on the ocean. There was some stirrings within him, some feeling of uneasiness. He felt particularly uneasy on this ship. He looked to his head for answers, but nothing came out of it.

  The waters weren’t so bad. It had a greyish color to it, same as the foliage of the Lost Lands. Normal fish dreaded to come close to these waters. Avryn wondered what foul magicks did the waters contained. It wasn’t long until he found his answer.

  “Sharks, ho!” one of the crew members called out.

  Their normal weapons wouldn’t fare well in this situation. They all gathered their harpoon guns. Avryn quickly taught Valoche and Tvira on how to operate it.

  “Just aim with the point, and press the trigger to shoot,” he exclaimed.

  Sharks started to ram themselves onto the boats. The soldiers hurried to the starboard and port sides. They shot the harpoons onto the Corpse sharks. Avryn took a good look on the surface. His eyes widened at what he was seeing. There was at least fifty sharks infesting the waters below. Halsoce took notice of him,

  “The sharks ain’t gonna stop if you don’t stop them, boy, now get to firing,” he commanded.

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  “Y-yes, sir!”

  The captain phoned for reinforcements. The ships rocked back and forth from the ongoing vicious assault. Kiria was about to shoot her harpoon before a shark rammed again and got her off balance. She nearly went overboard if she hadn’t grabbed the rail. Avryn ran over to her and helped her back inside.

  “You alright?” he helped her up.

  “Yeah, thanks,” she picked her harpoon gun back up.

  “Why the hell are there so many sharks here?” Avryn wondered.

  “Mating season,” captain Holsace answered.

  Reinforcements finally arrived and helped take care of the sharks. Those ships were equipped with mounted guns and cannons which made quick work of the beasts. The sharks fled into deeper waters as the bullets flew.

  “Avryn, you alright there? You look pale,” Harver observed.

  “I-- I think I am,” he looked down, his hands were shivering. “The hell?”

  He wasn’t like this before. His first time on a boat went fine. Many questions ran through his mind. Why now? Was there something in the Lost Lands that gave him pause? He did not know. All he knows was he needed to sit down.

  “If a break’s needed, you can take one, lad,” Halsoce said.

  “Thank you, sir,” Avryn saluted.

  Avryn went down to the cabin. He was given a room. He fell to his bed. Rest felt like the last thing he needed but his mind refused to follow his orders. He took this time to play with his thoughts. What was it that made him feel this way? He looked within himself. Old memories. Thunder rumbled above. A storm was coming. He slept it off.

  A flash of light, and then the pouring of rain. A memory so old, he’d have forgotten it. It was a younger version of him, crying as the boat was rocked by the ocean waves. The raindrops felt like cold needles on his frail little body. Mother nature was cruel to him that day. He remembered making landfall.

  Two guards arrived at the boat, with their captain not far behind.

  “It’s a baby, sir. What do we do?”

  “What do we do? We take it in,”

  “You know the ways of our town, sir. This baby is bad luck,”

  “Then it’ll be our responbility,” the captain cradled young Avryn in his arms.

  Avryn awakened from the dream, he saw Jenilah sitting by him.

  “Captain told me to check on you,” she told him.

  Avryn smiled and chuckled,

  “Thanks,” he sat on the side of his bed.

  He explained his dream to her and recounted his memories as a baby. There were still some details that were foggy to him. He also still couldn’t figure out why he felt what he felt awhile ago.

  “Captain Holsace thinks you’re sea sick. It happens to a lot of rookies,” Jenilah explained.

  “Sea sick, huh. That could explain it,”

  The horn blowing interrupted their conversation.

  “All hands report on deck,” the speaker announced.

  “What’s happening?” Avryn wondered.

  Jenilah explained Leifren had put a tracking device on one of the sharks and found out where they were based at. The ships are now armed with explosives and guns to help exterminate them. They were up to the northeastern sea now.

  “Let’s get to it, then,”

  Jenilah and Avryn returned to the deck. They were given their guns. Their squads were to support the bombing boats, preventing them from being overwhelmed by the sharks, who were already aggravated by their presence.

  Shots were fired. Some of the sharks jumped up on the boats. They thrashed and wailed across the decks. Avryn and the other melee users switched to their main weapons. Their weapons bounced off the teethy shark skin like nothing. Valoche wrestled the shark and used his axe to slash across its throat. Avryn and Harver double teamed the sharks and stabbed them through the underside.

  Much blood was spilled in the ocean, it was turning purple.The Corpse shark’s numbers were dwindling down. The bombs were set and the ships sailed away. Explosions fired off from behind them, creating large ripples on the ocean’s surface. Ripples that even helped push the ships away.

  The squads looked behind them to admire the handiwork of everyone involved.