Curse of the Zodiac Serpent
The Sunrise

Ayako was trying her best to take the captain seriously. But honestly, he was the least threatening of the entire crew to her. She chuckled softly, calling his bluff. “You’re men are more convincing.”

He rolled his eyes releasing her with a heavy sigh. In truth, if she had been in any danger he would have thrown her to the bed and had his way with her by now, or at least tried to. He racked his hand through his short hair shaking his head.

“What am I going to go with you?”

“Just let me bunk with you.” She pointed out. “I’ll take the floor if needed.”

He groaned. It was as though her very presence was a nuisance.

“Besides, I’m not going to be here for much longer right?” She added.

He stopped. His head angled to look at her, his expression wasn’t something she’d seen him wear before. But she hardly knew this man. Was it pity, sorrow or just his resting bitch face? she couldn’t tell. She got to her feet and headed for the broom that was now on the floor by the door.

“Where are you going?” He asked suddenly panicked.

“I have to swap the deck, it’s the least I can do for Dimitri getting my ass out of trouble earlier.”

He grimaced at her terms.

Oops, she’d slipped up. Placing her hands on her hips, with the broom through the loop of her arm she sighed. “Look, I don’t see the need to follow palace etiquette here, don’t act so surprised.”

He let out a disgruntled sound. “Don’t stay out all night, I need you peachy for tomorrow. Back here before sunrise.”

“So... I can stay in this room!?” She asked again only to have him let out a heavy sigh.

With no response he flung himself onto the bed, the man was clearly tired. Leaving the room she causily took in her surroundings, quickly found the bucket she needed and headed up the stairs to the upper deck.

When there was more than one person around the pirates were actually quite pleasant to be around. Well, to rephrase, at least when they weren’t in her face trying to scare her. Though once they figured out that it wasn’t working the practical jokes soon stopped.

It took her around 2 hours to swap the deck with seawater, Dimitiri explained that it was imported to keep the wooden board filled with water and swollen. This stopped water from seeping through to the lower levels keeping the sleeping quarters and storage as dry as possible.

Next, she cooked them a meal as promised, requesting the 3 men help her with bringing up supplies, they couldn’t expect a female to carry a barrel full of grain up those stairs now could they?

The island to the west was slowly growing larger on the horizon and with it her anxiety. She stood with an empty food bowl in hand, the worst part of all this was not knowing. If she had details she could at least make a plan.

“Worried about tomorrow?” Dimitri asked as he limped up to her side.

“Hard not to be.” She turned to smile at him, though it was forced. “Anything else I can help with?”

He shook his head. “Best you get some rest, the captain with have our heads if we work you all night.”

She frowned, she didn’t exactly want to head back down to the lower decks.

“I’ll come down with you.” He tried.

She’d told him that someone had followed her earlier, confirming all the more reason why his warning had been necessary. And why she’d requested so much help to gather the food.

“Oh, no no. I can’t force you to use those stairs with your leg in that condition.”

“It’s not as bad as it looks.”

She gave him the side eye before raising a brow.

“Okay... It’s as bad as it looks, but a couple more transformations and it’ll be good as new.”

Shaking her head her eyes turned back to the east horizon. the line where the water meets the sky was beginning to brighten, the sun was on its way.

“Oh crap, it’s that late already!” Dimitri sounded panicky.

“Well, actually it’s early now.” She corrected.

He gently pulled her toward the stairs.

“Come now, a sunrise is amazing to watch, just a few more minutes!” Her eyes never left the horizon.

The first rays drifted upward coating the horizon in a gorgeous orange-pink glow. The beauty of the scene soon turned into a horrifying experience as Dimitri let out a painful grunt beside her. Her attention divided, she knelt next to the hunched-over pirate who appeared to be in excruciating pain.

None of them screamed, though as she looked around many were in turn grunting and collapsing to the ground. Her eyes bulged as she watched Dimitri try to speak but his tongue split in two, only a hiss escaping as he fell to his knees.

His body was changing, his limbs appeared to liquefy under his weight. Collapsing to the deck, his arms appeared to fuse to his sides, Soon his entire form was coated in what appeared to be a rubbery goo, and his legs also fused together below his waistline.

Touching him she yanked her hand back as the ooze coated her fingers, with a grimace all she could do was look on, she didn’t know what to do.

Over several long agonizing minutes, the crew morphed from human to something that could only be described as grotesque blobs before they shrank down and turned into snakes. They really were cursed, it’s like their bodies were cocooned for a time as the bones dissolved and their skin contracted reducing their size... somehow. She couldn’t replace an explanation for the bizarre transformation.

Dimitri now in his snake form rose his head high to meet her gaze, he motioned for her to head below deck as he slithered away from her and toward some flailing snakes that appeared to be writhing on the deck, flipping and flopping around as though distressed. It seemed not everyone coped with the change as well as others.

Unsure what else to do she headed for the captain's quarters. Caption grumpy will probably scold her for staying up so late anyway. But someone would have to wake him for the day shift now.