Guild Wars

To be one with the waves?

To commune with the spirits within the swirls?

To take charge of the beasts within as their leader?

To most, the very idea was drivel that was better for the big screen or some comic book character.

For Conner Lord, this question was about as crucial as the question of \'what is the meaning of life\' was to the average person.

Right now, Conner was assisting his fellow deckhands in preparing their fishing boat for sail. He lived in a small town off the coast of Los Angeles, right beside Monterey Bay.

His eyebrows were furrowed as he devoted his concentration into his work. Conner was a tall man, at 6\'1, enough to tower over most of his peers.

His body was beautifully sculpted, making many mistake him for an elite personal trainer, while remaining relatively lean. This had the effect of making his body stand out no matter what he wore, though he preferred thick wrappings due to his locale.

It was windy and extremely cool here, so dressing light was reserved for those with thick blubber to retain heat or with a good tolerance for the cold. Conner Lord had that tolerance, but given his past, he would rather just not act out of place again.

Once the fishing boat was ready, a group of 20 fishermen dressed similar to Conner boarded it with smiles on their faces as they chatted about many things, including their previous catch, how the weather would affect their catch today, and who would come out on top as they made a collective bet.

Conner listened to this near the walkway as the various fishermen also greeted him warmly, treating him as one of their own. Conner smiled slightly and nodded back, but no one was bothered by this. They had long gotten used to his eccentric nature and reserved personality.

Just as Conner was about to board, a voice called out to him. Conner turned to see a dainty young girl just fresh into adulthood run over with her face flushed from the exertion.

She was quite slender and stood at 5\'5. The young girl had fair skin that was deeply slushed as well as bright green eyes and blonde hair tied in a knot behind her head, with the front tied into two little ribbons that lay on either side of her temple.

She had a round face with a little fat in her cheeks, a small nose, and cute lips. Her body was mostly average in terms of sensuality, but rather gave off a gentle and feminine vibe.

She perfectly embodied the ideal girl next door, and she stood before Conner Lord, looking up into his dark blue eyes with awe. Every time she looked into his eyes, it felt like she could see the majesty of the sea in them.

Then, she snapped out of her daze and blushed, bringing out an item from a cute red purse she had to present it to Conner. He took it and observed the small hand-drawn talisman with a strange oriental character.

"I-I heard online that if you do this for a person going out to sea, t-they\'ll return safe!" She stammered out as her face flushed even further.

Conner smiled gently. "Thank you, Greia. I will make sure to return safely."

Greia twirled her hair as she swished her skirt. "You must! I haven\'t shown you my full collection of seashells yet!"

Conner continued chatting happily with Greia. When speaking to this sweet lass, he always felt like his heart was at peace, tranquil despite the turmoil he was undergoing at all times.

Eventually, the old fishermen teased the young lass till she went red to her ears and ran away, the old coots laughing uproariously. Conner shook his head and boarded, allowing the fishing boat to set sail.

He looked over the railings in a daze, seeing the waters parting rapidly as the ship moved quickly across the surface. He couldn\'t help but mutter to himself about how he was right back here, and he felt it again.

The call of the sea.

Like a voice in the back of his head, telling him to abandon everything and dive inside the water, taking it over and making it his eternal domain. He shook these thoughts away, as he had been getting them ever since he was sapient, yet never acted on them.

Conner just silently watched until they reached far enough into the sea that they slowed down to a halt. From the main fishing boat, many smaller ones dropped and began to head out, each finding their own prime spot to begin work.

Conner watched them go as he stayed on the fishing boat with the captain, as well as a few others. Knowing that they would be spending more than a while working on this, he went below deck to enter his cabin, whereby he lay on his hammock and tried to sleep.

Conner\'s mind wavered a little as he lost concentration. He couldn\'t help but ponder the questions he had asked himself the first time.

What does it mean to flow like the sea? Conner felt that the sea had a steady, pervasive, and all-encompassing flow that drowned out everything else.

What did it mean to be one with the waves? Conner felt that one who was in tune with the waves would always know when to advance and retreat, ebbing and inclining in a steady rhythm.

What did it mean to commune with the spirits in the swirls? Conner did not really have an answer to this one, as it was more spiritual than philosophical, and he frankly didn\'t really believe that there were any spirits hiding in the water.

What did it mean to take charge of the beasts within as their leader? Conner was not sure why he even asked himself this, as this was straight out of fantasy. It was not like the first two which were philosophical and could be applied to life as a whole, nor was it like the previous one which was spiritual and required a bit more than just rational thinking.

It was just nonsense to think that someone could control sea animals using anything other than scientific tools. Conner knew this, as his chosen course of study at the Monterey University had been Marine Science.

He had initially been offered a job at the Monterey Aquarium, which was a high position and a quite high-paying too boot, yet he decided to stay out here, away from urban society for one special reason.

Conner had… problems.

They weren\'t the typical kind that most normal people would face, but some more bizarre and weird. For a while, he felt as if the sea had suddenly become more attractive, a home more comfortable than what he had on land.

Not to mention… when he was around marine life. He sometimes heard strange voices. They were not spoken into his ears, but transmitted into his mind through emotions, thoughts, and will, coming together to form some form of language.

Conner could… talk to fish. Or at least, he thought he could hear them... at the same time he was aware that admitting it out loud would make anyone believe him to be batshit crazy. Not only that, out when at sea, he always had this urge to suppress it, which was nonsensical, as the sea was endless.

Still, he knew he had some strange form of passive hydrokinesis as he had used it before in his youth to save a life.

Conner couldn\'t help but think back to the difficulties he had gone through once he had lost the nurturing care of his parents after he was 14. He knew his parents had loved him, so their demise still weighed on his mind.

Conner continued to cycle through random thoughts before eventually falling asleep just like that. The lovely sea breeze kept him cool and the smell of the saltwater helped him enjoy good dreams as always.

....

"Con… "

"Conn… "

"Conne… "

Conner\'s eyebrows furrowed as he began to rise from sleep, feeling his body being shaken. Eventually, he noticed that somebody was shouting his name, though not understanding why.

"Conner! Wake up!"

Conner slowly came to, as he suddenly noticed that the pleasant smell of the sea was gone, replaced by the smell of fierce wind. The bobbing ship no longer rocked gently, instead, it was being tossed about like it was in a drain.

Most importantly, the place was severely dark where there had been sunlight just a while ago, and the thunderous sound of lightning was ever-present in Conner\'s ears.

Immediately, he was fully awake. He recognized the voice as belonging to the ship captain who had stayed with him, the man\'s face desperate and haggard, as he had obviously never expected something like this to happen, not even in his wildest dreams.

"Conner! Good, you\'re awake, lad! There\'s a terrible storm! I-it\'s taken most of the men underwater! We have to do something, Conner! We have to save them!" The captain roared over the sound of thunder.

Surprisingly, Conner was silent for a long time, which startled the captain. Then the usually gentle and quiet lad gave him such a fierce look that the captain reeled back.

Conner sighed and got up from his hammock and removed his jacket, revealing his extremely toned upper body. He went above deck to see that it was almost flooded with water as rain battered it furiously, seemingly not wanting to tolerate this desecration to the sea to stand any longer.

Conner then gazed at the sea from the front railing, seeing the capsized boats and the various men struggling to catch their breath, likely screaming for help.

How was he supposed to resolve something like this?