In the vast sea, more and more people lived, they traveled, they had choices they made that led them to where they are now. And for this person, choices were made for her, the ones she could make, were all driven aside by the people she met on her journey, and just a few hours later, she'd make a choice that would change hers and the lives of others. She looked outside a barred window only to see the sea, no one out there, even if there was, she couldn't call for help. The door to her room swung open, the creaking of the hinges sounded sure to fall off in the next few days. But by then, she might not haven been on the same ship.
"Eat." A man said, dropping barely enough food for a child on the ground. The twenty two year old girl looked at him calmly. She got off her dirty mattress and took the plate, quarterly filled with red bean soup. Only two spoonfuls were needed to finish it. The girl was a prisoner. Who could only hope that the stars would lead her to freedom.
*****
Elsewhere, Alloy and her crew finally left Tavira Island, with her new members, she began her journey, Damion had joined her, Tasue had joined Damion, and as much as Alloy didn't like it, she liked her company and she was definitely going to get her to join her, but not now. The waves flowed past the enforcer ship as it sailed across it with ease. The sails were still up, the Syndicate symbol was painted widely on it, and a great breeze blew across the entire deck, hitting every member of Alloy's crew, as well as her interim crew.
"I heard you all have drifts." Yukio said. Looking forward at the sea. Right in front of him was Alloy. Sitting with her legs crossed.
"Yeah, we do."
"What are yours?? I assumed you'd have swords after seeing Spire's wounds. They were deep cuts, I don't know anything else that can do that in a fight."
Alloy was about to show Yukio her shadows but was interrupted by Damion as he walked behind them.
"Where will we find this navigator, Alloy??" He asked. She turned her head to look at him.
"I don't know. We'll look for one wherever we land. By the way," she turned to Yukio. "Where is the ship headed??"
"A kingdom toward the Western side of the Calm Gale, however, their king is feared more than respected. He holds a guild that gets into small altercations with the rest of the world, but The Arcane Syndicate is an organization meant to protect kingdoms, that's why there's a Syndicate port in many many islands."
"A guild that disturbs everyone?? Even pirates and the Syndicate??" Alloy asked.
"Yes. The Syndicate was once just the navy, but after guilds, pirates, mercenaries and others rose with more powerful and capable people, one very strong and independent guild was created, it saved multiple kingdoms from danger, with each save growing their popularity and fame, it was only a matter of time before 16 different kingdoms decided to grant the guild with the power to sail into any territory and take care of business for them, they even granted them the capital to create their headquarters in the Northern Drift (The Northern Sea/Northern part of the world). The Arcane Syndicate was built, and they spread out into the world with more influence, leaving people at ports to build and enhance the kingdom's lifestyle and raise the Syndicate's face. But of course, quite the number of members join for the wrong reasons. Like…"
"My brother."
"Yes. But the Syndicate isn't the only one with people preventing peace. Rogue guilds, fugitives, and pi-"
"PIRATES!! I SEE PIRATES!!" One of the three troops called out as he saw a ship that was approaching them. Yukio quit the story and asked for their direction.
"The East!!" Another shouted.
Alloy got up and looked out there only to leave her mouth hanging. The ship with the black flag that had a skull with bones on the sides holding cutlasses. The ship held two masts, one of which was broken and merely hanging down, this also meant the sail on it was unusable, the second one however, was on top of a poorly repaired mast, it had multiple cuts so it was stitched back together, so poorly that it forced Tasue to cringe at the craft. That was all Alloy could see from that distance. However, Yukio noticed the same and he wanted to arrest them, pirates were lawless, hence it was a crime to be one. But he had to ask the actual captain of the ship.
"Alloy, what do you want to do??"
"Let's go!! It's been four days at sea and I'm bored!!"
"Alright. Men!! Get ready to attack!!"
"YEAH!!" They shouted.
"Wait!!" Damion said. "We don't attack people without reason. Even pirates. Alloy said 'let's go', not 'attack'."
"That's true," Yukio said. "Stand down."
In no time at all, the pirate ship shot from their canon, the ball of doom flew in the air, whistling as it did. They all saw it, but it passed right by them, making a large splash in the water and as a result, splashing water on Tasue. Damion asked if she was okay and she was. He didn't mind it because its not like they hit the ship, but three more doom balls were already flying.
"Tasue, get down!!" He demanded, removing his bow and readying his flaming arrow. He made it just slightly bigger and shot two consecutive shots, each piercing through the cannon balls and blowing them up in the air. Alloy only had an excited face, but someone threatened her crew, so she jumped high with her left sword formed by the time she got close to the ball. With a 360 degree spin, she hit it with the back side of the blade back at them. "YUKIO!! Head toward them!!" She shouted.
He heard her call out and acted.
"Full speed ahead!!" He commanded as Alloy landed with a seriously curious look on her face.
*****
The entire place ran rampant with shouts of excitement.
"We found a ship!! It's a Syndicate ship!! And it's just an enforcer ship!!" She heard outside. When she looked out the bars again, she lost all hope, her current situation was the second worst thing that could happen to her. The first was being caught by the Syndicate. And what she saw was none other than one of their ships. Disappointed even more, she curled up in a corner in the room. The four shots were heard and felt from within the ship. She heard the first fall to the sea, saw the other two blow up in the air and once the fourth one was shot, there was a silence. Wondering why, she checked the bars to see a cannonball fly fast toward the ship. It connected, hitting them and the chaos began. People running left and right, others shouting, other people in other distant rooms shouting as well, and the girl still unaware of what was going on. Her door suddenly swung open, only one person had the courtesy to open it all the way.
"Tella…" She said.
*****
The wind helped blow the sails of the enforcer toward the pirate ship. It wasn't neck-breaking speed but it got close in a matter of minutes, the space between the ships greatly reduced, giving each party a clearer view of the other. Yukio noticed the wear and tear on the entire ship, it was fragile, and now thanks to Alloy, it began breaking apart slowly.
"Damion, Tasue-chan, I've gone to confront them. Are you coming??" Alloy said, her sword still out.
"I can help out better from here. Tasue, you can go with her, I have your backs." He replied with a smile.
"Okay!!" Tasue said.
The both of them leaped to the pirate ship, but on landing, Alloy landed on the bulwark, but Tasue miscalculated, and landed inside the ship's already broken deck. Damion clearly seeing this in form of Tasue's entire body disappearing into the ship, "TASUE!!" Both he and Alloy called out, he had no choice but to go after her. He too, began running toward the edge, but shots from the pirate underlings got in his way. Sending him a bit behind. The ships' differences in height weren't that much, the pirate's ship was bigger though, so he decided to jump onto the mast of the Syndicate Enforcer, keeping his balance steady, he took out his bow and aimed.
"Fire!!" They heard a rough voice command the group of what seemed like over a hundred pirates on the beaten up ship. About ten of them raised their arms and began shooting. Damion, being on the top of the mast, began dodging on different areas on the ship, however, the bullets hit the sails, not enough for them to worry, but they had to keep an eye on it. He began drawing arrows. Five flaming ones were summoned and he let them fly to five exact people on their chests. Causing them enough pain to fall on the ground unconscious. The other pirates noticed this and called other people to take their guns and continue, but someone else wasn't going to let it happen. Alloy ran through the ten with her sword, rendering them all unconscious when Damion landed right beside her.
"Thanks." He said.
"Don't mind it, go after her." Alloy replied as she pointed the area Tasue fell through.
"Yeah." He jumped in a hole that he thought was where Tasue went… he was wrong. But he'd soon find out. Alloy then went ahead to begin business when she demanded:
"Who is your captain?!?!"