It was a night without stars. Yet, in my heart burned the most brilliant star of them all, hope.

After all my misfortunes, the whisper in my ear that spoke of wealth and abundance was the most welcome sound. Though it might have meant I was going crazy, I chose to believe.

I believed it was some kind of greater power putting me on the right path.

"Unearth my treasure. It's time," the voice said.

I didn't know to whom the voice belonged, and I didn't really care. The mere word 'treasure' caused me to salivate in anticipation.

"Where are you going?" my wife asked as I started putting on my clothes.

"To accept my destiny," was my brief reply.

Before she could say anything else, I was gone.

Something was pulling me forward, telling me what to do, where to go.

Without even recalling how I got there, I found myself on the Chesapeake Bay beach, walking down it with purpose.

When I heard stories about treasure hunts in the past, this wasn't what I was imagining. It was inevitably following a map where 'x' marked the spot. Following a disembodied voice was not even an option in my imagination.

A burst of hearty laughter that seemed to echo through my skull brought me out of my reflection.

"That's utterly foolish! Why would I ever make a map of my treasure? Someone could have uncovered it. The only map I ever required was the one in my memory," the voice said.

"Who are you?" I finally dared to ask.

"Think, boy. You grew up in this area. Buried treasure. This beach. Remember the stories," the voice said, getting louder as I approached one of the sand dunes.

"Blackbeard," I said in awe.

The moment I uttered his name, his beheaded specter appeared. It was as if I had summoned him by saying it out loud.

"One and only," Blackbeard said, bowing exaggeratedly.

"Wait a minute. Why would you reveal the location of your treasure to me?" I asked, recalling all the stories about him and how fiercely protective he was of his treasure.

"Ah, my boy, you are smarter than you look. I am guessing you heard all the stories about people 'disappearing' while seeking my treasure?" he asked.

I bob my head vigorously, lost for words. After all, it wasn't every day one stood before one of the most vicious pirates who ever lived.

"I've been guarding this treasure for more than three hundred years. I think it's time for a change," Blackbeard said, his transparent body floating towards me.

"But why would you allow ME to find it? You aren't exactly known for your generosity," I said.

"Well, if you must know. You are my last living descendent, the offspring of a bastard I had with one of the irresistible ladies of the night," Blackbeard said.

That made sense to me, and naïve as I was, I believed that was all there was to the story. Now, I wonder how I could have been so ignorant. Blackbeard was a ruthless pirate. I should have expected he would have a hidden agenda.

"It's time to dig," Blackbeard said as I put down all the equipment he had me haul.

While I was digging at the spot that the pirate pointed out, his head started appearing back on his shoulders, where it was cut off in the ultimate battle of his life. No matter how odd the occurrence was, I did my best to ignore it, focusing all my attention on the prize that was almost in my reach.

"Well done, my boy," Blackbeard said the moment I uncovered the vast wealth that was one of the most famous buried treasures in the world. One of the rare ones that hadn't been discovered.

I couldn't help but feel proud that I was the one who got to see all its shimmering beauty before anyone else. Because of my ancestry, I was about to solve all my financial issues.

"What happens to you now?" I asked, looking into Blackbeard's newly recovered eyes.

The malice radiating from them didn't escape my notice, but it was already too late.

"Now, I live anew," he said, jumping into my body and immediately taking control of it.

And here I am now, just a fraction of who I was. I am just a tiny voice, a whisper in the back of the mind that is no longer mine. While Blackbeard lives in luxury as he had always planned to do.

He was just waiting for me, the weakest link in our family line, to use to free himself. And to live once again with all of his wealth at his fingertips.