EmBark

A legend of rough water, Seven Seas took his ship through any passage deemed too perilous by others, emerging unscathed on the other side. He was peril himself. Alone aboard a crewless ship, facing raging storms, his instinct was not to retreat, but to venture forth. Seven Seas was said to have cut a rogue wave in half with the bow of his ship. He did so not just for sport, but in search of something taken from him long ago. His captain’s hat was torn from his head, whisked away by the ocean herself. It would not keep the hat forever, though.

Seven Seas searched many shores before coming upon the Big City port. His little dinghy was dwarfed by the vessels of commerce heading in and out. He docked and stepped onto land for the first time in what had to have been months. After interrogating and intimidating every captain he could find and searching every ship at the port, he gave up hope that he was in the right place. 

Before getting back on board, he stopped as he heard a sound from a canoe that floated near his boat, untethered. It slowly drifted away, and with it the sound Seven Seas was curious of.

He left the dock and sailed towards the canoe, chasing it a good way into the ocean before grabbing its side and tying it to his boat. He lifted a burlap sack and found underneath a puppy. She had been barking softly, calling for help. Now she sat up and smiled at him.

This grizzled seafarer, who once escaped a monstrous shark’s stomach with its own tooth, a man who dove to the bottom of the ocean to retrieve a dropped sandwich, who fished a real merman out of the water to slaughter and use as chum, who picked his teeth with the end of a 10 foot narwhal tusk, who survived a full year stranded in arctic water by peeing continuously for warmth, the sailor who had sailed more of the Earth than any other, melted in this puppy’s presence, and she knew it.

“C’MERE YA LITTLE SEA DOG!”

Seven Seas took the shivering puppy and wrapped her in his coat, showing her the majesty of the vast ocean before them. He presented her a picture of himself in his captain’s hat so she could understand his quest.

She stood there at the front of the ship, standing firm against the pressing of the wind for many years as they scoured the globe.

Much of the known world had already been checked. Seven Seas knew the hat couldn’t leave the ocean, nor could it sink. So either it floated endlessly, rested on the head of another boatsman, or it was - as his instincts told him - resting on a beach awaiting discovery.

The pair braved many storms and toured many shores before there was nowhere else to be seen. Seven Seas’ pup held down an old map as he scanned it aggressively, while petting her head with one hand. His eyes landed somewhere he never thought to look. A miniscule island in the center of the ocean had vanished from all modern maps. Seven seas always assumed it sank, but he knew the area well and recalled this spot of land.
    On they went into a vast wasteland of water. As if the universe itself knew they were getting closer, a storm emerged from nothing. It grew and raged, battering the ship violently, mercilessly. The pup shivered in the captain’s wheelhouse, while Seven Seas stood at the bow of the ship, laughing like a madman. He found the chaos inviting. Every so often, he’d check on and feed the puppy, but he truly didn’t want to miss out on the excitement of near-death.

    A bump caused the dog to roll out of the wheelhouse and lifted the boat from the sea, flipping it over. She was propelled out and found herself on just a tiny patch of land, not even enough room for her to pace. Her eyes fought to stay open in the heavy rain and winds, searching for Seven Seas, listening for a maniacal laugh. The storm let up as night fell; she kept on looking until morning.

    For many years, she stood searching for the captain. She swam to eat fish. She drank each day’s rain. She was an elderly dog by the time fate’s plan resumed.

    Old and exhausted, the little dog saw something nudging the shore and knew it instantly. Seven Seas’ hat was found, though he was lost. There wasn’t a moment of hesitation. She entered the water and swam under the hat. Suddenly, the years she spent on the island were erased, her fur aglow with youth. Her eyes sparkled like they once did. She walked back onto the shore with the captain’s hat firmly on her fuzzy puppy head. 
From the dark depths of the sea rose a ship reminiscent of the one she rode with Seven Seas, but at her size. As she felt the call to step on, she was ready to face the ocean alone to find her friend. It was time to set sail, time to EmBark.