Life is about the journey not the destination.
No one proved this more than Ferdinand Magellan.
After Columbus pillaged the new world, Spain was willing to send ships everywhere for expansion.
Magellan took the offer and traveled west not to visit the new world but to travel beyond its land and venture to the Spice Islands via a different path than any before him.
He took a similar path as Columbus, he traveled the east coast of South America but instead of destroying the people there like a sociopath, he kept his armada sailing towards Patagonia.
Despite the treacherous storms that threatened him and his crew his entire stint in the Atlantic, they made it to the strait that now bears his name, traversed through it and reached Mar Del Sur, the more peaceful side of South America, what we know as the Pacific Ocean today.
Despite the water being calmer, this was about to be the most dangerous part of his voyage.
The first stop was barely notable, his crew step foot in Guam, explored, and went their way.
The next, however, would be Magellan’s last.
His crew of 270 reached the Philippines and they waged combat for the province that aligned with them.
They encountered a force five times their size, the warriors of Lapalapu overpowered them and focused on Magellan himself.
He was first poisoned by an arrow, then stuck by sword and spear until him and the crew around him were decimated.
Out of 270 that started his adventure, only 18 survived this battle and continued the journey.
Their next stop was the Spice Islands in honor of the king then they ventured back home to Spain making them the first men to circumnavigate the entire world.
What allowed those 18 men to complete the journey when Magellan himself could not?
Loyalty, he gave up his life for theirs, the least they could do was complete it.
Weirdly, you think our relationship is the same. After all , you’re my captain right?
I should take up your mantle as The Nekken and finish out my days as you have?
No, I’m done being the first mate, the passive man who has to finish what other people have started time and time again.
I’ve done it for my parents, for my country, even when Yahweh himself died, I still kept going on.
I completed the task out of a sense of duty to those I’ve loved and lost.
Do you not realize the difference, Grimwolf? I owed those people, my county, my god. I owed them my life.
O captain, my captain! I owe you nothing, the only thing I’ve ever owed you was respect and you threw that away a long time ago.
So no, I won’t take your mantle as the Nekken.
I won’t change myself again to try and survive like I’ve done for so long.
If I die, I’m doing it my way.
I’m going out the way it was always meant to be.
I’m dying as Cael Gable and I’m going out the same way I came in, kicking and screaming with another person’s blood all over me.