The Longest Journey...
                                             Part 1: The beginning.
                                                    (By Myaskill)


It was a cool, bright night. The stars were shining and the moon was full. The galleon Marcus was on held good speed. Everyone was in high spirits, and the ale ran in rivers from every corner of the ship, with the exception of the bridge. There stood the tall, handsome Marcus. His long, blonde hair was gently pushed forwards by the same winds that gave the galleon its speed.

Marcus had volunteered to take the place of the third mate, when the third mate had fallen ill that same day.

And so, here he was, keeping the ship from changing course, and all the while hearing the squad he had once been in, singing, dancing, drinking and fighting (mostly the latter) with the men from the other two squads.

From time to time the general would come out of the cabin and stand beside him, shake his head, and go back again. But other than that, Marcus was left mostly to himself.

He himself had now the honorary rank of corporal, and had risen quickly in rank from the time he had belonged to one of the squads.

He had joined the army when he was eighteen, but after his squad had been ambushed by enemies and the corporal had been killed, he had led his comrades to victory against a much larger force, and been promoted, because of his bravery.

Marcus sighed when he thought of that night. He had been so sure that he’d die there and then, and yet here he was, half a year later, leading them once more.
The shouts and singing slowly faded, until all that was left was the sound of the wind.

After what seemed like an eternity he suddenly spotted some lights that seemed to disappear down into the sea.

“Dammit Marcus,” he said to himself, “Your eyes are beginning to play tricks on you.”

He was about to call out for relieve when he spotted the lights again, closer this time. But this time he also saw something circular around it.
Just as suddenly as it had appeared it vanished again.

“Strange. I’d better call the general.” he said to himself.

He started calling; “Gene…”, but realized that the general was already there.

“Hmmm… What do you think Moore?” The general said, staring at the same spot as Marcus.

“I don’t know what to think, sir, at first I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me.”

He had barely spoken the words when the lights appeared again, this time they could see something that looked like a glowing disc beneath them, and the wind suddenly fell still.

“Well, whatever it is, it’s coming this way.” The general said, more to himself than Marcus.

General Green began ringing the bell, and at the same time yelled; “ALL HANDS ON DECK! TO BATTLESTATIONS!”, over and over again.

It was amazing to see how quickly everyone managed to get from their berths to their places on deck fully prepared for battle.
Just as everyone had gotten to their places, the lights came on again. And there was that disc beneath it, only this time it was glowing enough for them to see what the lights were attached to.

"It's a ship..."