It couldn’t be called an actual calling out to me, but rather I felt the need for my presence. When I opened my eyes I was greeted by the darkness of night, the lanterns hung on hooks swaying along with the rocking motion of the ship.

A few sailors worked to take goods below deck and passed by my still form without comment. At the start of our journey they had felt the urge to call out to me but I had dissuaded them of that habit rapidly. No bones had been broken but a few of the sailors ended up unable to eat without grimacing for a few days.

I blinked to clear away some of the sleepiness from my eyes before I pushed myself up off of the wooden floor. Without any words to the hardworking sailors I slipped past them all and out the door, onto the main deck of the ship.

When I had gone to sleep the ship had been quiet, the sun high in the sky with gentle waves lapping at the wooden hull. At some point it had turned about entirely and crafted some sort of nightmare. Overhead lightning ripped through the darkened sky while the ship itself was hammered time and again by fierce waves.

Men shouted as they hastily worked to lower the sails and clear the deck, all of them knew the potential danger that came with running a ship during a fierce storm. The captain bellowed orders from his place near the wheel, one hand placed on the shoulder of the helmsman who had turned pale.

I had been on my fair share of ships before in the past yet even I had trouble with the current state. While I walked the wet floor of the deck combined with the random shudders from the waves to create a dangerous situation. I carefully worked my way across the deck, at times accidentally getting in the way of the workers, while I kept my gaze locked on a single figure.

While I struggled to maintain my balance a solitary man stood with arms crossed, unmoved by the unstable scenario that the weather had created. He rested against the mainmast of the ship with his back, a sword belted at his hip. He had opted to wear a black jacket which flapped wildly in the ever increasing wind.

“Taryn!” I called out when I came closer, my left hand reaching out to touch against his right arm. “What’s going on?”

He glanced at me with an upraised eyebrow, a look that I knew meant he hadn’t expected me to show up. “What? Nothing.”

“Don’t lie,” I told him. “You’re worrying about something.”

Taryn turned his full attention to me, his eyes locked onto my face for what felt like an eternity. He gave a small nod of his head, as though to confirm what I already knew, and pointed out toward the ocean. “That merchant ship.”

What he talked about was a ship similar to the one we rode on, a classic merchant vessel used by everyone in the empire. Even from this distance I could make out the small figures of the sailors as they worked the rigging, lanterns lighting the deck for all to see.

“It’s not the first time we’ve seen another merchant ship,” I pointed out, not sure what about it bothered Taryn.

“They aren’t dropping their sail or preparing for the storm,” Taryn explained as he glared across the ocean at the other ship. “Go warn the captain, I think they’re the pirates he was worried about.”

“Sure thing!”

A sheet of rain began to pound against the deck of the ship as I started my slippery trek toward the captain. The sailors had for the most part cleared all of the loose materials and supplies so I held the railing for extra balance. While I worked my way over I thought about how all of this had started.

I had returned to the orphanage a few months back, rested and ready for whatever life might throw my way. After almost a month of helping with the children I had become restless and sought something more. It was at that time I opted to help out with the jobs that Taryn used to help fund the orphanage.

The first job we did together had been a basic pest control, some troublesome spiders had infested a lumber mill. The second job ended before we even reached it when the creatures left before we could even arrive the town. So we had arrived at our third job which was a simple guard duty on a merchant ship.

It was when I had made it halfway to the captain when I felt a flicker of fear that came not from within but outside. It was a warning signal, one that I doubted Taryn even realized that he emitted, and it made twist around and look at him. However it was not what I saw but rather heard him shout that caused me to throw myself down against the deck.

“Brace for impact!”

I lifted my arms up to protect the back of my head while the impact of ship on ship nearly broke the merchant vessel in half. Wood splintered while people roared in confusion and rage at the insanity of the moment. Lightning ripped through the heavens, illuminating dozens of men as they threw themselves from the pirate ship onto our own.

“Pirates! Defend yourselves!” the captain ordered from his place at the helm.

When I stood up from the deck of the ship the two rings on my left wrist clinked together as though eager to be used. About me the pirates had already begun to attack the sailors, some of which had died in the confusion brought about by the ramming maneuver. A snap of my fingers and two short swords formed, one in my left hand and the other in my right.

The first pirate to make note of me was a short and pudgy fellow who held a spear. He lunged at my stomach with the blade, a practiced attack that would normally have failed due to the slick nature of the deck. Yet somehow he kept his footing, a testament to the experience he most likely had built over years of piracy.

I twisted my right wrist, swinging the sword in a downward motion that knocked aside the oncoming spear. Before he could retract it I stepped in closer, left sword snapping out in a quick slash at his right hand. Blood blossomed from the slash as one of his fingers was reft from his hand, a scream emerging moments later from the pirate’s mouth.

There was no time for him to recover from that as I moved in even closer and drove my right sword into his chest. While his body crumpled toward the deck I ripped free the weapon and stepped away, making certain to not step on any blood spilled.

I felt a shudder that rumbled through the whole of the ship and looked toward the origin point. Taryn had taken his boot and crushed the skull of a pirate who had been knocked down, the stomp so strong that wood splintered beneath the ferocity of the attack.

“Taryn! Control yourself!” I yelled at him, aggravated by the fact that I had to remind him of that.

His response was a bit flippant as he merely waved one hand in my direction, though I could feel a glimpse of embarrassment through our connection. Taryn turned his attention from me and back to the disposal of pirates, his sword undrawn as against these regular men such a glorious weapon would be overkill.

The downside to my yelling at Taryn was the fact that every single pirate had turned toward me. Even in the thunder and the roar of the waves as they hammered the ships I had been easily heard. At least five of the pirates began to move toward me, while the main bulk of the rest focused on Taryn.

Those sailors who were still alive gathered up near the captain, a tactic which put trust in the mercenaries to get the job done. A tinge of pride welled up within me at the fact that they would so readily believe in me, though due to the power Taryn had demonstrated it was understandable.

It was a bit sad though that when the pirates came for me I barely had to pay attention to them. The man on my left came in with a quick slash at my midriff, an attack I parried before I slashed his throat open. A pirate approached from behind and I dropped low to the ground, his attack piercing nothing but air.

When I came back up I sliced the spear he had used in half before I spun and drove my sword into his face, the blade easily cutting through the hard skull. With an exaggerated flourish I ripped the sword free and sent a splatter of brain and blood into the air, a warning for any of the other pirates interested in me.

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The grotesque spectacle I had crafted was enough to dissuade one of the pirates to abandon his plans to attack me, the grown man turning and running for the pirate ship in fright. His two other friends ignored both him and what I had done, pressing forward with a combined attack.

It was for this reason I had opted to use twin swords, as both pirates attacked at once I was able to deflect the double assault. What most likely shocked them was when rather than approaching either I instead tossed my swords at their chests. One of the pirates fell over to the ground, the sword embedded in his heart, while the second managed to avoid a fatal injury by leaning to the side.

The sword still pierced his lung and for me that was enough to kill him. With a snap of my fingers the sword disseminated into dust that filtered into his bloodstream. Confused by the fact that the sword had vanished the pirate was able to live for a few seconds longer before miniature blades shredded the inside of his body.

While I scooped up the sword that had pierced the first pirates heart the rest of the shatterblade flowed out from the corpse. It floated through the air like a silver stream with hints of crimson and reformed into a new sword in my left hand.

I felt another shudder seize the ship and immediately glared in the direction of Taryn. His response was almost comical as he lifted up one hand, bloody as it was, while he shouted out his innocence. “It’s not me! Really!” he claimed while with his one hand he had casually pitched a pirate over the side of the ship.

It took a few more minutes for me to realize what had caused the shudder, as a large crack in the wood of the deck tore open. The point it originated from was where the pirate ship had collided, and with every wave that hit the large vessel shoved even more against the merchant ship.

“Don’t they care about the supplies!” I called out, confused by the reckless behavior of the pirates.

Nobody cared to respond to that question I had, instead the pirates who were still on board immediately turned tail and went for their own ship. One of the thieves who ran near Taryn was snagged by him and then smashed against the mainmast of the ship. Wood cracked loudly as the bone caved in due to the force of the blow.

“Abandon ship!” the captain roared, waving his sword wildly over his head, before he ran for the boats well in advance of his companions.

To this day I will never know if it was divine retribution or mere bad luck, but when the flash of light was over it was already too late to do anything. Where the captain had been there was a body that smouldered, weapon and clothing melted to the flesh, while a gurgle that could not be called understandable emerged from his mouth.

The lightning bolt had been close enough to me that my entire right side had become heated, the exposed skin of my arm burned. While I winced away, my right ear deafened by the thunder, I could neither see nor hear anything. The brilliance of the lightning had been enough to make me temporarily blinded, and so I sought desperately for some help.

To that end I could do only one thing and that was rely on Taryn, to try and see through his own eyes. What I saw sent a cold chill down my spine, as the lightning had not helped the situation in the slightest. Instead the crack that had begun to tear apart the ship only worsened, and the world beneath my feet slipped away.

Then I hit the raging waters of the ocean head first and everything went black.

♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪

I gagged when I woke up, salt water spewed from my mouth along with a bit of my stomach contents. The fatigue I felt was heavy, my eyes struggled to open, while the warmth of the sun beat down on my backside. Even without looking I knew that my ponytail had become undone and lay loose and wild.

The sand beneath me felt soft and in an aspect welcome, though as waves lapped at my legs I knew I had to get up sooner or later. With a loud groan I shoved myself away from the ground, bones aching from the intense thrashing I had received by the waves and currents.

When I stood up all the way I stumbled to the left, hair swaying behind me, and I managed to regain my balance only when I windmilled my arms in a slight panic. With great difficulty I opened my eyes all the way and peered up at the sky, the blue a pristine and clear hue which was well lit.

On the eastern horizon the sun rose upward, already halfway toward the apex of its climb, and made it obvious that it was morning. When I had gone overboard it had been close to evening so at least half a day had been lost in my drowning.

Before I went anywhere I upheaved some more salt water from out of my body, a shudder coursing through my body. Somehow I had managed to survive a situation that should have killed me, so either the gods were on my side or my connection with Taryn had given me more of a boon than I realized.

It was at that thought of him that I realized he wasn’t present, nor were any of the sailors of the ship. A quick survey of the beach showed only a bit of wood debris, no bodies nor even the supplies the ship had been transporting. Though it seemed likely that the sailors had drowned and sank to the bottom of the ocean it was common for the transport crates to be waterproof and buoyant.

“I wonder if the pirates fished the stuff out of the water?” I wondered aloud to myself, my voice a bit raspy.

In the end it didn’t matter as I was alone, and so I turned to stare at the eastern horizon and temporarily bask in the warmth of the sun. I stretched out my body, checking over every part for any major injuries, and was sufficiently pleased to find that I was merely bruised.

“Wait...east?”

With a start I turned and stared at the sun which hung in the eastern skies. Perhaps I had been turned around? I ran over to some of the flotsam and picked up a piece of wood, before I rammed it into the sand and waited.

A short while later I made note of how the shadows had moved and found that it was indeed an upward climb of the sun. That meant the sun was to the east, which also meant I was on a beach facing toward said eastern direction.

Our ship had been on the western side of the empire, transporting goods toward the north. There were no beaches that faced the east on that side of the empire. I could feel the blood as it drained from my face, my body almost refusing to turn around, at the thought of where I had to be.

The empire rested on a continent that was almost tear shaped with the southern end unsettled. After the invention of ships the empire had discovered another continent and attempted to settle there. I had heard tales from the various soldiers of the Legion who had gone to it before, and of what laid within.

I fell to my knees, a hint of despair welling up within, while I merely stared with an open mouth at what lay before me. Even from where I was I could hear the thunder of something as it wandered freely, a massive creature that let all know of it’s presence with a roar. Massive black shadows emerged that flew upward in fright of the predator, birds that easily dwarfed any I had ever encountered in the past.

Before me all I could see was the jungle of the western continent. It was an uncivilized and dangerous place with monsters the likes of which the empire had never seen before. Even Taryn had no experience with it, nor the tribes of people who lived within.

I snapped my fingers and summoned my shatterblade. In my mind I had the image of a spear, I would want something with good reach if I ran afoul of any large predators. My right hand opened and I waited to feel the comforting sensation of the weapon in my grip.

It never came.