《Stormbringer》 The Beginning ¡°Street rat!¡± Those two words are what define my entire existence. I am a bastard, born from a one night stand between a prostitute and a sailor. Abandoned not long after I was born because my mother thought that I would be nothing but a burden, I was taken in and raised by a monastery till the age of 13. At that age, the monastery could no longer take care of me due to decreasing financial support by the local governor, so I left seeking work. It wouldn¡¯t take me long to find out that this would be harder than I thought. My reputation for being an ¡°unwanted child¡± only made it harder to find a job with decent pay. Most would try to rip me off by paying me wages that were half those of other workers. Mocked and laughed at wherever I went, unable to find a job, I ended up on the streets as a beggar for a time, but I barely gained enough from the ¡°donations¡± I¡¯d obtained to get a decent meal each day. Every day I would sit on the street, bowing my head towards those who passed by, hoping that they would spare me even the smallest amount of change. But each day would pass and I would find myself staring at a single copper penny. After months of living like this, I couldn¡¯t take it anymore. So what did I do? The obvious and only choice, I became a thief. Stealing food from local bakeries, pickpocketing well-off looking visitors. For a time, my life looked like it was getting better. I was stealing enough food to eat three small meals a day, and I stole enough money to pay for medicine to treat the various illnesses I¡¯d gotten while living on the streets. However, these days didn¡¯t last long. One day, while attmepting to pickpocket another unsuspecting victim, I was caught by the local militia and thrown in jail. There, I rotted from day to day, barely being fed, and was constantly beaten by the guards who were meant to be guarding me. After a week of this hell, I was released back onto the streets. Thoughts of a better life had long been erased from my mind, till one day I saw a poster plastered on one of the backstreets of the city. There, in bold letters, it stated: Looking for new recruits for the crew of the Maelstrom -No prior experience needed. -Weekly wages over $1000.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. $1000 dollars per week!? The average worker here only earns around $10 to $15 dollars per week! And since they¡¯re not from the island, there¡¯s a higher chance that they may hire me, since they don¡¯t know about my background! I immediately went to the meeting location stated on the poster, and soon arrived at the port of the city, and what stood before me was extraordinary. More than 2000 people had shown up for the recruiting session. At the front of this crowd, I could see 3 prominent figures. Behind them stood a massive ship, around a kilometer long, 300 meters wide, and had at least 5 different floors. I¡¯d slowly began to make my way through the crowd. In this case, my smaller frame helped me out, as it allowed me to slip through the crowd with ease. After maybe half an hour I¡¯d managed to reach the front of the line. Just when I thought it was my time to be recruited, a loud, booming voice yelled: ¡°Recruiting is closed! All of you left, go back home! We don¡¯t need anyone else!¡± With those words, my heart sank. This was my only hope left to get out of the rut that I had been left in. If I couldn¡¯t make it into this crew, I would have to go back to begging on the street! In desperation, I ran toward the front of the line and yelled: ¡°Wait! Please let me onto the crew!¡± The man who had announced the end of the recruiting process turned back to me. With an air of intimidation around him, he glared at me and said. ¡°As I said before, we ain¡¯t looking for anymore people.¡± That intimidating aura would have been able to make anyone lose hope at being recruited to join the crew, however this was the only glimmer of hope that I had left. ¡°Please sir! Please let me join your crew! I don¡¯t care what job I¡¯ll be assigned or even if you were to deduct my pay, just please let me join the crew!¡± Tears had begun streaming down my eyes. The man had become enraged. He yelled ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear me brat! I told you that we don¡¯t-¡± Before he could finish, another voice called out to him. ¡°Hold on Drac, I¡¯d like to see this young man for myself.¡± ¡°But Captain...¡± the man named Drac turned around and looked toward someone who was approaching. He was a man in his late 30s, and had a proud, noble air about him. He was well built and had a number of scars on his body, evidence that he had had years of experience behind him. The man came up and stopped right infront of me. He asked, ¡°Do you know what you¡¯re getting yourself into boy?¡± ¡°Yes sir, I do!¡± I responded ¡°You could lose your life in our line of work, you still sure you want to join?¡± the man asked. ¡°I¡¯ll die if I remain here sir, this is the only choice I have left! I¡¯ll work hard and will serve you loyally, so please let me join!¡± I pleaded. A moment of silence followed my words. I became anxious, scared that he might reject my request, however it soon faded away as his lips curved upward into a big smile. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, welcome to the crew of the Maelstrom!¡± Job Hunting It¡¯s been about two weeks since the captain let me onto his ship. During that time I¡¯ve become acquainted with the leading crew members and have gotten used to the way this crew works. The crew totals to around 200 members, with about 120 having been members for at least a year. The crew is run by the ¡°Big 3¡±, each having the most experience and longest membership among our members. They are in charge of managing and maintaining the various affairs of the Maelstrom and its crew. There¡¯s Michael, the ¡°Old Bull¡±, the captain of the Maelstrom and its crew.He¡¯s seen his fair share of hardships and strife and in exchange, he¡¯s developed a calm and collected demeanor, using his past experiences to help him push forward, earning him the respect and loyalty of his men. Then there¡¯s Drac, the ¡°Devil¡¯s Taskmaster¡±. Michael¡¯s second in command and the Maelstrom¡¯s Quartermaster. Cold and hostile to even those within the crew, he¡¯s been nicknamed the ¡°Devil¡¯s Taskmaster¡±. Finally there¡¯s Holms, the ¡°Money Man¡±. Holms is the Maelstrom¡¯s boatswain. Holms maintains the crews equipment and supplies. In addition, he¡¯s also in charge of the crew¡¯s funds. He can be pretty stingy when it comes to money related matters, but he¡¯s not heartless. If a fellow crewmate needs the money due to family or health related problems, he¡¯ll be willing to fork over a few extra dollars from his own pocket. In addition to the ¡°Big 3¡±, the crews hierarchy looks something like this: ¡°Big 3¡±- The leaders of the crew Staff members- These are the members of the crew that hold jobs that are necessary for the crew to function. This would include the cooks, navigators, and doctors. There are around 5 designated cooks, 2 navigators, and 2 doctors. 10-man officers- As a way to relieve some of the pressure off of the Big 3, these officers are placed in charge of 10 members of the crew each. They are responsible for the actions of these 10 crew members and assign roles each week in terms of what jobs need to be completed. In total there are 20 members of the crew that hold this rank. Regular crew members- This would be the 168 remaining members of the crew. We are ranked at the bottom in terms of our influence. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The crew itself is listed as a ¡°jack of all trades¡±. We take on various types of jobs at various levels of difficulty. This, in part, is the reason behind the large number of crew members. By having a large roster of members with various different skills, we are able to accept a wide range of different jobs. Now, in terms of pay, the crew goes by one rule: You don¡¯t work, you don¡¯t get paid. You¡¯ll only be paid if you take part in the various jobs that are offered, and Holms will distribute the pay later based on how much you contribute to the mission. This has left me in a rather complicated situation. Who needs a theif on a ship? Although I do have various..... unique skills, we have yet to find any job that would need a ¡°thief¡±. To solve this, I decided to broaden my skillset. I¡¯ve been going around the to various other crew members - cooks, blacksmiths, doctors etc. - and asking them if they would be willing to teach me a few techniques. Within this last week, I¡¯ve learnt some blacksmithing, general medical care, as well some basic combat techniques. Each of these skills will eventually aid in me getting a better position on board the Maelstrom. My relationship with many of the other crew members, however, isn¡¯t that great. Everyone¡¯s got some beef against me because of the way I entered the crew, especially the other new recruits. I¡¯m known as the one weakling that begged his way onto the crew. I can accept being called a weakling. Honestly if it wasn¡¯t for the captain, I wouldn¡¯t even be here, so I can understand their sentiment. Today we docked at the port of Xylphas, a commercial trading hub for crews that specialize in various fields. I disembarked with the rest of the crew and followed them to our destination, where we would be able to pick up jobs. The city of Xylphas was like one giant market. The streets were filled with prospective customers looking for good bargains from the thousands of shops lined the streets. Even so, we managed to pass through relatively easily. This was more or less due to the captain, as soon as people saw him they made a path. The captain was a well-renown sailor who¡¯s legend has been built up by both rumors and truths. In this city where most of the population hold seafaring jobs, he could be considered the equivalent to royalty. We soon arrived at our destination, the town hall. All prospective jobs are posted on a bulleting boards that line the perimeter of the building. I skimmed through dozens of job flyers, searching for one that I could complete with the skills that I had recently acquired. I was planning to take an easy job for myself to see where my level was at. While I continued to look through the various flyers, a hand suddenly grasped my shoulders. A deep, rough voice asked, ¡°Hey rookie, what do you think you¡¯re doing?¡± I turned my head to see who had grabbed my shoulders and saw a familiar face. The man was Van Drake, the 10-man officer who was in charge of several new recruits, including myself. ¡°Hm? I¡¯m looking for a job, is there a problem officer?¡± I asked. Van Drake questioned me with a puzzled look. ¡°Eh? What do you mean looking for jobs? Don¡¯t you know that the first job rookies take is with their squad?¡± He waited for a few seconds, and after seeing that I still had the same confused expression on my face, he sighed, saying, ¡°So you really don¡¯t know? As a method to make sure that rookies are safe during the first few jobs they undertake, we make them take on a single job as a group. It¡¯s pointless for you to be looking for solo jobs right now.¡± After he finished speaking, I finally grasped the situation and asked, ¡°Ah, I see, but then, what job will we be taking?¡± ¡°The job? It¡¯s not that hard of a job. We just need to travel to the one of the nearby towns and bring back various medical supplies that they produce there. We¡¯ll be using one of the Maelstrom¡¯s skiffs to get there and transport the goods back,¡± Van Drake said. With my questions answered, I continued to silently follow along my 10-man officer. Van Drake was one of the few lower ranked crew members who didn¡¯t have that many problems with me, and so I tried to not get on his bad side. Little did I know, however, that this job would prove to be more dangerous than I initially expected. Van Drake After we had procured one of the skiffs from the Maelstrom¡¯s hull, we glided over the ocean toward the nearby island of Sarcus. Within twenty minutes, we had landed on the shoreline. The ten of us disembarked from the skiff. Among the ten of us, only two, Van Drake and a middle aged sailor, had had any experience with these types of jobs. Van Drake called for us to gather up so that we could hear his instructions. Naturally I stood a bit further away from the rest of the members, as, despite Van Drake¡¯s best efforts at pacifying the situation, there was still lingering animosity between the rookies and myself. ¡°Today we¡¯ll be transporting locally produced medical supplies back to the town of Xylphas. Although it¡¯s a pretty mundane job the pay is pretty good. Do your part and you¡¯ll earn yourself around $50 each," Van Drake announced with a low, booming voice. There were members of the group that complained about the pay, retorting ¡°You say $50 dollars is a lot? Bah, that¡¯ll only be enough to pay for my equipment to be repaired.¡± However, my eyes shined when he told us we would be getting $50 worth of pay. To put it in perspective, I typically lived off of around $3 a day at best before I joined the crew. To me, $50 could give me a months worth of meals! There are 5 different locations where our group members will have to go pick up medical supplies from. Thus, we were grouped intopairs and soon headed out to our designated pick up locations. In order to reduce the likelihood of a scuffle erupting, I was paired up with Van Drake. The location we were assigned to was an old warehouse on the far side of the island. Deep in the middle of the woods, the warehouse was isolated from the rest of the town. Passing through the unkept thickets and bushes was a pain, even more so considering that we would need to do this multiple times. ¡°You having a hard time newbie," Van Drake questioned. ¡°N-no, I¡¯m fine," I stammered while replying to the unexpected question At my stuttering, old man Van Drake gave me a warm smile. However, it was soon replaced with a look of worry. Hewas genuinely concerned out my emotional state, and pressed on in his inquiry.Stolen novel; please report. Anxiously, he asked, ¡°How are you holding up?" ¡°What do you mean by that? Everything¡¯s fine," I replied as calmly as possible, yet he had noticed my discomfort while answering the question. ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me boy, you know what I mean. Ostracized on your first day. Spit at, insulted, and beaten by the crew members who would have typically been your friends if the situation had been different. That¡¯s got to have some affect on you,"he said, sounding more like a considerate old friend than someone who was my superior. I stayed silent for a bit, reflecting on the words that Van Drake had said and taking a moment to formualte my reply. ¡°...I won¡¯t lie and say it¡¯s been easy. I¡¯m used to it. I¡¯ve had to live my entire life as an outcast, and have been treated much worse so than this. To me, this is child¡¯s play," I replied with a somber tone. Van Drake stared at me, trying to figure out if the words that I had spoken were the truth. Then, he said, ¡°Those aren¡¯t that types of things you should be getting used to. You¡¯ve already told me your backstory before, so I know what hardship you went through. However, remember that you are now a part of the Maelstrom¡¯s crew. Remember the words that the captain gave to all you newbies the day we set off from that hometown of yours," he said, his words redirecting the flow of my thoughts. My mind slowly reminices about the moment before the crew set off from my hometown. The middleaged captain had given a grand speech to welcome us to the crew. However, one part of that speech had left a particular mark on me, and Van Drake knew it. ¡°We are family, through and through. Rely on your brothers and sisters that are beside you when you find yourself in trouble. For those of us who take on this path, very few of us live to a ripe old age. Thus, live your life to the fullest and, more importantly, make sure that those around you can live a day longer in this terrifying, yet beauitful world," the Captain had proclaimed in a deep, resonating voice. Having grown up without a family, those words had a huge impact on me. With a gentle smile, Van Drake said, "Remember that as long as the Maelstrom sails these wide oceans, you¡¯ll always have a home to go to." I smiled and nodded, showing that I had understood what he meant and appreciated his kindness. We finally arrived at the warehouse, and we began to load the various marked crates onto the cart that we had brought with us. Just as we were about to load the last crate, however, a loud yell came from the woods. It was one of the rookies that had been assigned to the other pick up locations. He was limping, holding onto an injured arm, and was bleeding profusely from several severe injuries on his body. ¡°Officer Van Drake! We¡¯ve been attacked! The crates, they¡¯re AGHH!" The rookie had been yelling at the top of his lungs before giving a sudden cry of pain.A gunshot coincided with the man''s agonizing shout,and the hecollapsed on the ground, a pool of blood forming around his body. In the same direction as the rookie had come from, aman with a pistol in his hand appeared from the forest. With a tone that made it evident that he saw this situation as nothing more thenan inconvenience, the unknown assailant said, ¡°Huh? So there are more of you here? Guess I¡¯ll just have ta kill ya too.¡± Ambush The sudden turn of events stunned us for a second, but Van Drake soon regained his composure and managed to drag me behind the walls of the warehouse before the unknown assailant launched another round of gunfire. ¡°Damn, we¡¯re pinned down,¡± Van Drake yelled, aggravated by the current set of events. ¡°What are we gonna do Drake? We don¡¯t have any firearms to fight him with,¡± I asked anxiously. Van Drake takes a moment to think, then replies, ¡°Tch, we¡¯ll have to pull back further into the forest and ambush him there. Hurry!¡± We ran to the other end of the warehouse and found a locked door. Van Drake managed to kick it down and we continued our retreat. The man chased after us, spouting profanity while occasionally shooting bullets toward us. After running for some time, we noticed that we could no longer hear the man following us, and decided to take a break and discuss what had happened. ¡°What the hell was that!?¡± I yelled, unable to contain my anxiety from the sudden turn of events. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but try to calm down. If you start panicking now we¡¯re as good as dead if that guy finds us again.¡± Van Drake told me with a calm yet assertive tone. I took a few deep breaths and tried to relax. Once Van Drake had noticed that I had calmed down, he began discussing his thoughts on our situation. ¡°So what we know as of right now is that there¡¯s a third party that doesn¡¯t want us to be here, and will kill us on sight should they find us. Now, I¡¯ve had situations like this come up before during the many jobs that I¡¯ve taken, so I can at least come up with some ideas as to why this might¡¯ve happened.¡± He paused for a moment to see if I had grasped the contents of his previous statement before continuing. ¡°One possibility is that this could be a raid group, and that we were just here at the wrong time and ended up getting caught up in the situation. However, the fact that the town is both quiet and relatively untouched leads me to believe that this isn¡¯t the case. Still keeping to the idea that the party in question is an invader, another possibility is that this town may have caught the eye of a certain noble from one of the various empires of the archipelago. A deal could¡¯ve gone wrong, and as an act of revenge, he¡¯s wiping out the town and its people. Although there are international laws that are meant to prevent these situations from arising, they are a surprisingly common occurrence. Furthermore, to prevent the backlash that could arise from committing such an act, these nobles will send in assassins to wipe out the village quietly. However, there is a problem with this hypothesis as well. This town is a pretty valuable producer of medical resources for Xylphas. If it were to be wiped out, the overall prosperity and commerce within Xylphas would plummet. Thus the culprit would be tracked down and punished without remorse.¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! He pauses once again to see if I have any objections to his statements. Having lived on the streets, I have some knowledge of the situations he¡¯s described. All his statements so far were predictable reasons as to what could have led us to this situation, and his reasoning as to why those situation couldn¡¯t be what¡¯s happening now were also logical, so I stayed silent. ¡°Lastly, and the most likely reason as to the situation we¡¯re in right now, is that we¡¯ve gotten ourselves caught up in an underworld deal. Xylphas is a large and prosperous city, so it would be impossible for it to not have some illegal activities going on behind closed doors. From the rumors that I¡¯ve heard, there¡¯s a syndicate of gangs that currently conduct various illegal deals in the shadier parts of the city, and have various other connections and influence on the town that surround Xylphas. What we could have stumbled onto is a deal between gangs gone wrong, and currently one of the gangs are trying to procure the originally promised goods. If that¡¯s the case, we need to deal with them quickly, but also remain anonymous.¡±(Van Drake) With a puzzled look on my face, I asked, ¡°Remain anonymous? What do you mean by that? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to make it known that we were the one¡¯s who dealt with this matter? I heard that the Xylphas authorities pay a pretty penny for people who take care of these illegal activities.¡± With a stern look on his face, Van Drake said, ¡°Yes, it¡¯s true that the rewards for dealing with gang activities can grant you a pretty hefty reward. However, some of these gangs are extremely dangerous, and have been running the underground of Xylphas for decades. If we¡¯re fighting a gang like that, it wouldn¡¯t be good for us. They would take revenge, and the Maelstrom and its crew wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it. We may have around 200 members, but the majority of them haven¡¯t even been on the crew for a year, let alone have combat experience. We¡¯d be wiped out. Anyways, what we need to take care of first is that man that¡¯s been following us.¡± We agreed to first track down the man we had first spotted, eliminate him, and take his weapons. Afterwards we would deal with the situation in town and try to find the other teams. It didn¡¯t take us long to find him. The man had gone back to the warehouse and was combing through the various medical crates that we had loaded on board. Another man had joined him since then. He was a tall, slender man with a rifle slung around his shoulder. Van Drake crept up to the tall man while I snuck closer to our original assailant. With a quick punch to the face, Van Drake disarmed the tall man while he was still dazed from the unexpected attack. Before the other man could react, I leapt at him. The man had a small frame and was half a foot shorter than myself, thus I managed to easily overpower him, pinning him to the ground before he could react. We then took their weapons, and without a hint of mercy or hesitation Van Drake killed them. I hadn¡¯t been opposed to the idea when it Van Drake had suggested that we kill the men instead of subduing them, because if they were to remain alive and somehow remember our faces, it could prove dangerous to not only us, but the rest of the Maelstrom¡¯s crew as well. However, this was my first time seeing someone killed. During my time on the streets I had seen people die due to starvation and disease, but I¡¯d never seen someone murdered in cold blood. I started to feel queasy, and soon I couldn¡¯t hold back the feeling that was building up in my throat and puked. I heard Van Drake murmuring to himself, ¡°Huh, so this is his first time seeing it huh?¡± After I had collected myself, we set out to deal with the situation in town. Resolve Van Drake and I snuck our way into town. The town was quiet, and not a single soul could be seen. We were on high alert the entire time, and reacted to every little noise that arose around us. The windows of the houses had were jalousie styled, however at certain angles you could still see what was inside. While passing one of these houses, I decided to take a look inside. What I saw was a family huddling up at the corner of the house. They were scared, and once they saw my eyes peeking through the window, their eyes filled with terror and panic. To most, this would leave a lasting image that they could never forget. However this was a situation that I had become familiar with. Those who live at the bottom will always have to live in fear of their surroundings. Debt collectors, gangs, corrupt government officials, these were all groups of people that the lower class had to live in fear from. Fear of being killed for offending them, fear of your family members being taken away as punishment, I could understand these feelings to a certain extent. I had felt the fear of being possibly being killed for making a mistake or offending the wrong person before. The latter....well I could understand the cause, but have never actually felt it before becoming a part of the Maelstrom¡¯s crew. Even now, after having developed my friendly relationship with Van Drake, I still don¡¯t think I would be able to fully grasp their fear. Maybe one day I will, but that¡¯s a problem I¡¯ll leave to when it happens. Eventually we did find some more gang members, however they were already dead when we found them. On had had his neck snapped while the other had multiple gunshot wounds across his chest. We continued on and found another cluster of bodies, and then another, and another. By the time we had combed through the rest of the town, we couldn¡¯t find a single gang member left alive. However, what we had noticed while looking through those bodies was that a few had a different gang sign tattooed on to their bodies. The conclusion that we came to was that one the gangs must have wiped out the other. The question now was where they were. We couldn¡¯t find a single trace of them in town, so we decided to check out the other pickup locations to not only find the remaining teams, but also to see if that gang were or had been there. When we arrived at 3 of the other pick up locations, however, all we found were the dead corpses of our comrades and empty crates.The fourth location had several gang member corpses as well, and a lone corpse of one our crew members. We surmised that this was the location that that rookie had come from to warn us. If I recalled correctly, those two had previous experience as town guards, so it was no wonder that they had managed to hold out for a time. However, it was a miracle that he had even made it to us. This warehouse was a distance away from where our pickup location had been. I¡¯m surprised he hadn¡¯t been killed on the way.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. We reached the last pick up location not long after. Here, like at the last warehouse, there were corpses for gang members scattered about. However, this time we managed to find survivors. It was the veteran and another rookie. Like us, they had retreated before circling back and eliminating the gang members. However, by the time they had come back, their crates had gone missing as well. With the mission a failure, we gathered the corpses of our fallen team members and sailed back to the Maelstrom. Once we arrived we stored the bodies in a room that was designated as the Maelstrom¡¯s morgue. Some of these men had had families that were relying on them back home, so we planned to deliver the bodies back to them. Furthermore, the captain made it a must that each of the sailors¡¯ family members would receive a months worth of the dead sailors¡¯ pay should they die, as well as a personal apology from him. When we went back to the city hall to report the failure of the job, we were initially fined for losses that the commissioner of the job suffered. However, due to the fact that the risks of undertaking the job had never been stated, and that several of our members had died, our fine was annulled. I remember that during this entire process, the other surviving rookie had just continued to mutter, ¡°They¡¯re dead, they¡¯re all dead.¡± His voice was shaking and his eyes seemed to be staring at something that wasn¡¯t there. If I recall, he was the son of a noble. Against the wishes of his father, he and several of his friends had joined the crew of the Maelstrom. Having lived such a sheltered life, I can only reason that this was a likely reaction to today¡¯s events. A few of his friends had been on our ten man team, and now they were dead. Now while reflecting on the events of that day, I cannot say specifically what type of affect that it had on me personally. However, I can say that it gave me a better picture of the disparity between the veteran crew members and us rookies. These veterans had probably had to watch hundred of their friends and crewmates die during their time serving on the Maelstrom. Despite this, they still lived on, pushing forward and refusing to become stagnant because of one traumatic event. I realized that the reason that there were so few crew members that had worked for a year or more on the ship was not only due to the fact that many of the members had died, but because many had decided to quit. In fact, before leaving Xylphas, at least 20 members of the crew decided to leave, as they weren¡¯t able to deal with the trauma that they had developed from the jobs they had taken. That day, I realized something. I realized that I wanted to become like those veterans. I wanted to become strong, someone who was dependable, and most importantly, someone who couldn¡¯t be ignored.... Days That Have Gone By Since that day, the number of jobs that I¡¯ve taken on has increased. Due to the majority of our team being wiped out, Van Drake, the veteran, and I formed a party of three and took on various low risk jobs. The other surviving member of our ten man party had been among the members who had left the crew at Xylphas. Through these jobs I began to have a steady income, and soon I was taking on jobs independently. Day by day I would complete jobs that were slightly more difficult compared to those I took the day before. At the same time, my reputation within the crew seemed to have been elevated. As I was the only rookie to have survived and remained a part of the Maelstrom¡¯s crew from Van Drake¡¯s party, the other crew members began to develop an interest in me. In a way, I had proven my worth as a member of the crew, and that the captain¡¯s decision to hire me wasn¡¯t a mistake. Slowly, the animosity between the other crewmembers and myself began to decline. People who had once shunned or ostracized me were now sitting with me during meal times, asking if I wanted to team up with them for certain jobs, and in general just hanging around me while talking about anything that was on our minds. After a month of these developments, the captain called me into his office and asked me if I would like to be promoted to ten man officer. I was thrilled. A ten man officer has a higher degree of influence within the crew. Furthermore, they aren¡¯t as restricted in their actions as the rest of us are, since many of the rules set for the crew only apply to those who hold no official rank or position. So of course, I agreed. Two days later we stopped at a port and began recruiting new members. I was assigned 9 new rookies to take under my wing. Among them were street rats like me, lost and searching for a ray of hope.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I took it upon myself to train this new batch of recruits. We began by taking on easy jobs so that they could get a feel of their own capabilities. After our first sucessful mission, I slowly began increasing the level of difficulty of the jobs we took. By overcoming the hardships that came with each new job, we became closer to one another. We started to reveal our pasts to the rest of the team, helping us to further develop the bonds we had already created. Soon, we had become one of the crew¡¯s top earners, taking on higher difficulty jobs while earning a decent sum of money in return. The situation of these recruits has also improved. They have been able to develop relationships outside of our group, which comes to me as a relief. After having to take care of the guys for so long, I¡¯ve grown quite fond of them. Most of them are younger than me by at least a few months, so I see them as something akin to a younger brother. Some of their upbringings couild be considered harsher than my own, and I¡¯m genuinely happy that they were able to improve their situation. Today I was called in to a meeting with the captain and the rest of the officers. Everyone there was anxious, as no one knew what matter the captain had called us all together for. The tension in the air remained until the doors to the captain¡¯s quarters opened and the captain himself walked through. After glancing at the surrounding members to make sure that everyone was in attendance, the captain began the meeting by announcing, ¡°Today I have called all of you here regarding a certain job the Maelstrom has agreed to take on. This is a job was recently issued to any ships and their crews who were willing to take it on, and I am here to ask you on what our next steps should be. In most cases, I would merely inform the crew that we¡¯re undertaking a large scale job and that would be the end of the matter. In this case, however, the job is too dangerous to merely be decided by me. You ten man officers know your boys well enough to know what they would think about this decision. Thus, onto the heart of the matter.¡± He paused for a moment to catch his breath and gather his thoughts, then continued, ¡°The mission that we¡¯ve been asked to find and eliminate the Leviathan, are there any takers?¡± Two Roads ¡°The mission that we¡¯ve been asked to complete is to find and eliminate the Leviathan. Are there any takers?¡± There was a long pause in the room, then a large commotion ensued in the hall. The younger officers had gone into a panic, while the older officers stood there quietly, staring at the captain in an attempt to find out what he was thinking. ¡°Captain what are you thinking!?¡± one middle aged officer questioned. ¡°The Leviathan is a monster! Do you really think we¡¯ll be able to kill it with only barely two hundred men!?¡± retorted one of the younger officers, unable to control his anxiety. The Leviathan was a legendary monster. No one knows where it comes from, but as soon as you see it, you may as well resign yourself to death. The grim reaper of the sea, the Leviathan is a monster that appears every thousand years. To date, only three groups have ever successfully killed a Leviathan. These groups, however, were armies of kingdoms who possessed thousands of soldiers, with only tens of them having survived the battle. Thus, the younger officers¡¯ reactions were quite understandable. ¡°I understand your concerns young¡¯uns, however, we may not have a choice in the matter,¡± Captain Michael said. ¡°What do you mean by that, Captain?¡± Van Drake questioned the old man. ¡°The Leviathan is heading for our next port of call, the city of Litharia. Our supplies are starting to run dry, and if we change courses now, we won¡¯t be able to reach the next city before our supplies run out. Therefore, no matter what, we need to resupply at that city. However, I know that what I¡¯m asking is as good as a death wish, so I¡¯m asking you if you¡¯d like to jump ship with one of the skiffs.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. A long silence enveloped the room as the officers began to ponder what they should do. Then, the captain said, ¡°If you would let an old man like myself ask you to contemplate a certain matter, I want you to think about all the people who are in Litharia right now. Everyone there, the men, women, and children, will be wiped out if we don¡¯t do anything. However, if we can just hold it off for even a second longer, we will be able to help the citizens there evacuate to one of the neighboring islands while redirecting the Leviathan''s focus onto ourselves. Now, I¡¯m not saying that I want you die a hero¡¯s death, however, I am asking you to at least give staying a thought.¡± Silence. Until.. ¡°I¡¯ll do it captain, I¡¯m with you,¡± came an anxious, yet resolute voice. The young officers heads turned to the one who had spouted the words that not a single one of them had even contemplated. What they saw was me, staring with eyes of determination toward the captain. ¡°Ooh? Are you sure that you¡¯d want to do this officer Marcus? Your life has been pretty rough until now, hasn¡¯t it?¡± The captain asked in a surprised, yet at the same time unsurprised, tone. ¡°Don¡¯t get me wrong captain, I have as much intention of living as anyone else. Furthermore, I have no intention of playing the hero for people who I don¡¯t even know. However, I can tell that you¡¯re serious about this, and that whether we agree to go with you or not, you will go to Lithania to fight the Leviathan. Therefore, I can¡¯t just simply run away as my captain is trying to get himself killed. As you said when all of us were inducted into the crew, we are family. Me and my men have no one else but the crew to call our family, and the Maelstrom to call our home. It this ship¡¯s going down, we¡¯ll go down with it,¡± I continued my proclamation. After a pause and further contemplation, the other officers began to make their decisions as well. The majority of the officers decided to stay, however, there were some that decided otherwise. ¡°I ain¡¯t givin up my life for people I don¡¯t even know, same goes for my boys. Sorry captain, but me and my men are out,¡± said one of the young officers, before departing from the room to gather his men and leave the Maelstrom. Many left due to fear and their unwillingness to die what they thought were pointless deaths. ¡°So, this is everyone who¡¯s staying?¡± the captain asked while looking at the remaining members of the crew. We nodded to confirm our intentions, and as he watches our heads bobbing up and down, the captain breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Man, I was scared for a second that I might have to die alone! Well, let¡¯s start planning our attack, shall we?¡± Preperations That day, as 80 of our comrades left, the captain, remaining officers, and I began to devise a plan to take down the Leviathen. We didn¡¯t see them off. We didn¡¯t have the luxury of saying farewell to those who left the crew. Some of their reasons for leaving were understandable, though. Many of those who left had families that, if they died, would no longer have anyone to support them. Others, however, left mainly because they had been afraid of dying. We made an oath on the day we joined the Maelstrom, that should we ever arrive at a situation in which the crew or Maelstrom was in danger, we would fight to the bitter end to defend them both. To those men who would abandon their ship and crew for their own survival after making such an oath, we held no sympathy. The first matter that had to be settled was that we had to gather more support. Be it weapons, suppllies, or people, we needed more of it, and fast. Without them, we would have no chance of killing the beast, let alone holding it off. Thus, we decided that once we got to port, we would request for the assitance of Lithania¡¯s local militia to help defend the city, and thus gain the extra support we needed. When we arrived the city was already in a panic. The mayor had fled the city the minute he learned of the impending attack, leaving the entire command structure in utter chaos. Despite this, the captain managed to use his fame to his advantage. He took up a position in the middle of all the chaos and began directing orders toward the panicking crowd. Seeing the legendary figure, the people began to calm down and quickly evacuated the city. No longer having to deal with the crowd of terrified civilians, the captainrallied the militia as well as several volunteers to keep the monster at bay till the civilians were able to evacuate. Second, we needed information, anything that could help us against the Leviathen. It¡¯s a beast that has only been killed three times, each of which required more sacrifices than we had up for collateral. Thus, we searched through the town¡¯s library, sifting throught the unending columns of books, gathering as many of them as there were that related to the Leviathen. When we were done searching, we had managed to find around 50 books that had some relation to the monster. Several of the books only held bits and pieces regarding the legends surrounding the Leviathen, ultimately proving useless. Others held written accounts of survivors¡¯ experience with the creatures, providing us with a great deal of information to work off of.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. From the information we found, we discovered that the beast was susceptible to bright light, part of the reason as to why it so rarely surfaces from the depths of the ocean. It¡¯s scales are as tough as iron. However, if it¡¯s exposed to certain level of heat, these scales will begin to soften, opening up a chance to land some hits on it. Thus we began making our defensive prepartions. Luckily for us, the city of Lithania is surrounded by a massive wall in addition to guard towers that appeared at every corner of the island. They had been built in case of an attack by raiders or a neighboring island, however they should still do well as a defensive structure against the Leviathen. All the oil in the town was moved to the port, then divided into several crates. Some were moved up to the towers that surrounded the port, while others were left at the docks. They would be used for both defense and attack when needed. The Maelstrom as well as three of the militia¡¯s own ships were docked not far from the port, with several crew members on board preparing the canons for use should the Leviathen appear. Cannons were being moved on to the walls that surrounded the city as another angle of attack. My ten man squad was assigned to the walls as a canon crew. The anxiety had finally started kicking in for me, but I pushed that feeling to the back of my mind. If I lost my nerve now, not only would I be risking my own life, but those of my allies. As the last member of the defense team got into his position, silence fell as we waited for the upcoming assault. Aftermath The Leviathan had appeared roughly an hour after we had finished making our defenses. We began to direct a bright light towards it with massive flame lit lamps that had been fueled by the oil we had brought up to the towers. Next, we began throwing the barrels of oil remaining at the docks toward the beast. Once they had drifted close enough to the monster, those who had archery skills shot flaming arrows towards the barrels, igniting the oil within them and setting the sea ablaze. We then began to open fire on the Leviathan with cannon and rifle fire. All that could be heard was the igniting of gunpowder and the blasts of the canon. The results of these attacks...served nothing but to enrage the beast. Although we did end up doing damage due to weakening the Leviathan''s state with the fire and bright light, it retaliated with an attack that dealt ten times the amount of damage that it had received. It spit boiling hot water towards us, which killed tens of the defenders on the walls, while leaving several dozen scalded. It began to attack the ships that had surrounded it. With its tail it enwrapped one of the ships, and with a crunching sound, snapped the ship in half. It dove down into the water, only to reappear by penetrating the hull of another ship, leaping far into the sky and landing back in the water. It then approached the last of the militia ships, raising its body high and body slamming the ship, crushing the ship and its crew. How could this have happened. We had prepared for the battle, gathered men, weapons, and supplies to help bolster our forces, researched about its weaknesses, yet... how... how could this have happened. These were the thoughts that had begun to flood my brain along with the distinct feeling of terror and despair as I looked on to the carnage before my eyes. The sea was a fiery red and three shipwrecks could be seen as they began to slowly sink to the depths of ocean. At the port, bodies laid strewn all over the walls, while more screams of terror and agony could be heard from those who had survived. Then, it launched an attack of boiling hot water toward the walls, killing tens of soldiers once again. Many of the wounded were not as lucky the second time around, and perished while emitting shrieks of agony. The Maelstrom and the remaining cannon crews had been firing at the beast the entire time, yet it still continued to attack as if nothing could hurt it. Then, the Maelstrom began to sail headfirst toward the beast. I could see crew members beginning to bail off the ship as it began a suicide run at the Leviathan. The monster noticed this and began to attack the ship. However, it was not able to stop it, and soon the ship crashed into beast. A loud explosion ensued from the collision and the beast was lit aflame. I could roughly make out a silhouette being launched from the explosion. It was the captain.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I ran as fast as I could toward the docks and dove headfirst into the dark waters, ignoring the possible dangers that lay within. If found then captain slowly sinking down to the depths, so I swam as fast as I could, catching up to the sinking body. I managed to grab him in time and brought him ashore. The captain began to have a coughing fit as he looked out into the ocean. ¡°Hah, so we weren¡¯t able to kill it, but it seems like we were at least able to scare it off,¡± he said. I turned to see that the beast was beginning to flee. It had taken on too much damage during that last attack and was now swimming for its life. The captain then directed his gaze toward me and asked, ¡°Do you know why I let you onto the crew that day?¡± I shook my head in response. He was becoming paler by the second, and a deep gash leaked out a crimson red from his body. I knew that he hadn¡¯t much time left, so I tried to reduce the amount of useless chatter between us. ¡°I let you onto the crew that day because I saw a spark in you. Although you yourself may have only been filled with desperation, I could see the light of determination to survive within your eyes. If we had not picked you up that day, I¡¯m sure you would have still been able to find a way to keep living. However, people like you, whose determination to keep pushing forward no matter the adversities they face, are one in a million. I couldn¡¯t let that chance slip by,¡± he said. He began to have a coughing fit, with blood spewing from of his mouth with every agonizing cough. ¡°If I had had more time, I was planning on training you to become my successor. However, now that seems to be an impossible dream.¡± His words drifted off as if reminiscing about something, then he turned his gaze back towards me and gave me a heartwarming smile. ¡°Live on young man, and carve your name into the history of this world, so that you shall never be ignored again.¡± Those were his last words before he died. When morning came, the rest of the crew and I regrouped and decided on our course of action. We would hunt down the Leviathan, kill it and avenge our fallen brothers. No matter how long it took, we would make it pay for what it had done. That night, as the citizens of Lithania returned to the city, we purchased a new ship and began our hunt anew. Epilogue Two days after having defended the city of Xylphas from the Leviathan, the citizens of the city began to return. There was joy as friends, families, and lovers were reunited. Others wailed in sorrow as they learnt of the deaths of those who were close them. The mayor was the last to return. He and his close advisors had fled to a military fortress five days south of Xylphas. When they returned, it took all the citizens¡¯ willpower to not beat them to death. Whenever they walked through the streets of the city, hate-filled eyes would follow them. In an attempt to change the mood, the mayor and his advisors wanted to hold a victory parade for those who had survived the battle against the Leviathan. The militia, being under the payroll of the local government, had no choice but to comply with their superior¡¯s decision. The remaining members of the Maelstrom¡¯s crew, however, refused their offer. We were not in the mood for celebration after having lost both our home and our comrades. As sounds of cheers and celebration resounded through the city, we simply huddled up in a corner of a bar close to the lodgings we were provided, running the bar¡¯s liquor supply dry. A month passed with us continuing to drown our sorrows away. By the end of the month, however, we finally ran out of money. At that point, we decided that it was time that we pick ourselves up and get back to work. The crew, however, needed a new leader. For now, we decided that Drac would take over command till a new leader could be formally assinged. Now, the only problem left was that we didn¡¯t have a ship. Luckily for us, however, Holms recalled that we had yet to collect our reward for having defended the city. We made our way to the mayor¡¯s office to collect our fee. When we got there, however, the mayor tried to feign forgetfulness. At this cheap attempt to keep the reward that we were due, Holms pinned the man to his office table and demanded that he either give us our reward, or we would bring this up to the citizens of Xylphas. Knowing that the citizens would most likely side with us rather than support him, the mayor surrendered and gave us our reward: five thousand dollars. Although it looks like a lot of money, the remaining members of the crew silently agreed that the cost heavily outweighed the profit. We spent around four thousand dollars in purchasing a new ship and supplies. The last thousand was left in the care of Holms, who had resumed his role as the ships boatswain. When all our preparations were completed, we set out, once again sailing toward the endless, aqua blue horizon. As we sailed out of the port of Xylphas, we had two goals. First, to reclaim the former glory of the Maelstrom¡¯s crew. Second, to find the Leviathan and kill it, avenging fallen crew members and all those who had lost their lives during that battle.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It¡¯s been ten years since we lost the Maelstrom and our captain. Since then, I¡¯ve had a lot of time to reflect upon the event, as well as if it could have turned out any other way. However, no matter how many times I replay the events in my head, no matter how many changes I make to the decisions we made, the outcome is still the same. There would have been no way for us to have repelled the Leviathan without sacrificing the Maelstrom, and it would have been impossible to have convinced the captain to abandon ship. He loved the Maelstrom. To him, the ship was his home, as well as all those of the current and former crew members. Furthermore, tens of our comrades have died defending the Maelstrom. He wouldn¡¯t be able to face those who had passed on before us if he had simply abandoned the ship as it sank to a watery grave. I¡¯ve come to terms with the fact that it had to turn out this way. Life isn¡¯t always fair, and fate very rarely acts based on logical decisions. As someone who grew up on the streets, I learnt this lesson a long time ago. Knowing this, however, does not make it any easier to accept. If possible, it would be better to somehow dignify their death, but this is very rarely the case. In the end, the best we can do is to just move on. Of course, this doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯ve given up on revenge. I will avenge our fallen if it¡¯s the last thing I do. During that time, we¡¯ve once again managed to build up our reputation and have recruited hundreds of members into the new crew. I am now the new captain of the reformed crew, guiding our new ship, Stormbringer, on our hunt toward the beast that had caused us tragedy all those years ago. There have been sighting of the beast here and there, yet not once have we been able to catch up to it before it disappeared once more. The feeling of hate and rage toward the beast hasn¡¯t died in these last two years, however I have noticed that I¡¯ve grown as a person during my time within this crew. I cannot say for myself what I want to do with my life. I cannot say that I a plan for confronting the beast either, let alone what we¡¯ll do if we defeat it. However, I have a wish. To avenge our brothers who died fighting it, and once again bring back the smiles of the crew members that had lost it all those years ago. For this family of misfit of mine, I would go to hell and face the devil himself to bring them back.