Challenge Submission Beasts Among Men

[Chernabog]

Note: This is an excerpt/post from one of the stories I'm currently writing in; Of Princedom and Piracy.

If you end up liking what you see and are curious about the adventures of the pirate Captain Wolf Bloodsooth, feel free to take a gander! CW; It is very much an 18+ MxM story.

Thanks for reading! ​

---

Directly outside of the eye of the hurricane was just as awful as the first. Directly around the eye was the worst part of the storm, and even though it was early morning there was no sign of the sun. It was like sailing through hell, if hell were completely void of all color or light. The only thing that allowed the crew to see, and only for moments at a time, was the wicked lightning strikes all around them, especially so when hitting the top of the masts and surging down the chains down off the sides of the ship.

A colossal wave crashed onto the vessel known as the Mariposa, possibly one of the biggest that had hit them so far. So much water flooded over the ship that it was almost swallowed and dragged under, submerging the men on deck for what felt like multiple solid minutes. But with the sudden tactical yanking of the helm's wheel completely one direction by the Captain Wolf Bloodsooth, the side of the ship was sent careening out from the water, allowing another wave to toss them up and over out of the depths.

Coughing violently, Wolf heaved for air but even through the thunder, rain, and enraged ocean, was a shriek that pierced through it all, and it absolutely didn't come from a man. The wailing continued, so unnatural of a sound it quaked through to the souls of all the men tied to the stern, and could even be heard deep below in the belly of the ship.

"What the fuck is THAT?" Screamed a sailor, even if his voice could be barely heard over any of it. Yet between the two screams, the Captain's head jerked to look behind him to see what the hell was going on, as he was still tied to the stern; an act done to make sure he couldn't be washed away. Immediately his eyes snapped wide at the vision before him.

The source of the shrieking was then revealed. With so much chaos about them, it was hard to truly see what was before his eyes, but the strobing lightning that struck the sea nearby illuminated a colossal mass of writhing tentacles. The suction-cup covered arms of the creature curled and flapped, and started to try and move its body across the deck. It slapped down its tentacles onto the wood, each one the width of a man and suctioned to drag itself through the water on the stern, but its elongated mantle dragged far behind. For just a breath of a second as another flash of lightning illuminated the undulating creature, an eye was revealed; as round as a plate but closer to the size of a serving tray. Its pupil was wide, and opened its arms and tentacles as if an umbrella, revealing a beak as large as its eye and the source of the shrieking surrounded by thousands of fist-sized suction cups.

It was realized in those moments however, that it was not merely a scared and unfortunate trapped animal trying to escape off the side of the deck. Instead the mythological creature furiously whipped its tentacles forward and encircled around one of the crewmen, its pupils constricting in focus. The man screamed in such a haunting, bloodcurdling manner that even it could be heard over the storm itself as the man fought to try and free himself.

Cutting his bindings, First Mate Paul Saunders suddenly ran towards his Captain, and pulled the sword and scabbard he had hanging from his hip in emergencies such as these. He hurled it at the taller man as he ran to the helm. "I'll take over here! Let yehrself go, get that thing the fuck offa of this ship!" He yelled at the Captain's ear. "Release yehrself and take it out on that thing before it eats onna us or sinks this goddamn ship!"

Wolf had immediately raised his hand to catch the scabbard even as it was thrown from behind him through the rain. His eyes, still wide, suddenly changed as though a flip had switched. His pupils constricted harshly before blowing out, now more black than the normal pale green of his irises. Tugging himself free from the ropes, they were almost shred just from the sheer strength that was pulled at them while the First Mate took over and looped himself in the other man's place to try and steer them as best as possible.

Adrenaline pulsed through Bloodsooth's form, pumping with every beat of his hammering heart. With every surge of the energy through his tall body, his face contorted along with it. His eyebrows anchored downward as his upper lip pulled back fiercely. As his body started to launch itself forward and causing his hat to fall backwards, there wasn't much visible to his face besides the fierceness of his eyes and his teeth seen bared past his lips and facial hair. His body hauled into a sprint and as he drew the sword and then with both hands held it high above his head to slice downwards with as much force as possible. The blade landed into the tentacle that held the screaming sailor and was bringing him towards the gnashing beak, so black in color it almost seemed to be darker than the skies around them.

The inhuman shrieking became louder as the Captain's blade sliced down into the tentacle and he hacked at it without mercy, the creature's blue blood pumping out of the appendage in a spray that seemed to align with its own heartbeats, covering the the man even if the rain only started to wash it away within seconds - but left his clothing stained. Soon the arm was severed, but still continued to constrict around the crewmen as the other crew ran to free him. Now, however, the creature had a new target and focused an eye towards Bloodsooth.

Each tentacle that unfurled towards him was met with his sword, hacking at them and chopping them into pieces even if just small chunks at a time. As the beast screeched in rage and pain towards the man, he screamed towards it in return, and the lightning in those moments revealed that he again appeared to be more animal than man. Teeth bared, face pulled in ways no human features should be able to do with so much rage, and the eyes of an apex predator. Some moments between flashes from the storm left them all in darkness; though for just split seconds it was as though the only aspects of the Captain that could be seen were his teeth and eyes in the dark.

Some of the other crewmen finally had joined in the fight in those moments, all having to try and fight the ship being tossed about in the enraged ocean while trying to take on the massive cephalopod. They fought all the arms with whatever they could, even if it was just stabbing the soft but muscular appendages with knives. They were all just annoyances to the creature, its focus on the prey that challenged it as a fellow predator instead.

Hauling itself forward, the monster lashed out and wrapped a tentacle around Wolf suddenly, gripping him tight around his long torso. Hurling him towards its mouth, suddenly the human sneered. "That's right ye fuck, take me right to ye!" He snarled at the creature. He timed it out, eyes focused on nothing but the creature before him, waiting until he was close to its head and mid-section.

Stabbing the sword down into the tentacle wrapped around himself repeatedly the beast howled again and loosened its grip, which was exactly what he was waiting for. Sword raised high above his own body and hilt and pommel pointed towards the enraged sky above, suddenly lightning struck all three masts at once, lighting up the stern, almost looking as though he had summoned it himself. But as the light still lasted and his body was dropped, in that light it was revealed that Wolf was… smiling. A horrible, rictus grin that slithered across his contorted features. In the light his too-large pupils constricted sharply to mere specks in a sea of inhuman green in those moments.

Using his body weight as it fell, Bloodsooth's sword was slammed down into one of the massive eyes of the kraken, only to be ripped up and out of it and plummeted back in even as the man's body hit the deck. The sheer savagery and brutality of his slightering stabs was seen while his whole body was thrown into the fatal actions, the sword raised high above his head each time and nearly bending in half with the downward thrust before repeating it all again over and over.

The shrieking of the beast exploded far worse before it got better. The Captain stab-pulled himself up onto its mantle as if his sword were a climbing axe; only to attack the second eye with as much vehemence, until finally he seemed to have struck and severed its brain and the legendary creature fell silent. The tentacles could be seen slowly losing their ability to be controlled and left spasming as the creature went limp, flattening onto the deck as if deflating under its own weight.

This left Wolf stumbling and sliding off of it until his boots hit the flooded stern, to where he faced the creature in the rain, his body heaving for breath with his exertion. The way he stood was not quite human either, shoulders curled forward as his mouth was agape and panting, teeth continued to be bared. Even in the never-ending rain he held the sword at the ready, in case that the being wasn't dead, and his wild eyes stared unblinking at the mass that was once his own prey.

It was a violent lurch of the ship that started to take the creature sliding along with it, leaving bright blue blood in its wake. This also caused the Captain to stumble and collapse onto his knees, only to start falling forward. If it wasn't for the other crewman running to catch him he could have fallen face-first into water on the deck.

Being suddenly grabbed by the crewman seemed to snap the Captain from the exhaustion and dropping adrenaline that threatened to drive him to collapse. He took a deep inhale, and for a moment his eyes were still wild. "I'm fine!" The man growled in a snap, though his contorted features were softening and almost returning human. The part of himself that had been allowed to fight the creature was slowly being allowed to slumber once again. He pointed for the men to get themselves tied back up along the sides as they had while he heavily moved his form back towards the helm.

However, facing the front of the ship again, it was clear that far in the distance… was light breaking through the clouds - meaning that they were only possibly a few hours from clearing the storm's edge.

Finally… the end to their current state of oceanic Hell.