"Fucking Hells!"

I cursed myself silently for breaking character. But I couldn't not give myself some reprieve. I just saw the largest fucking anchor imaginable drop down on a phantom chain and neither Captain Vexx nor this Commander Hogaz seemed to care about it. Or my awe.

Singe, on the other hand.

"Ow!" I turned an angry eye to the smelly creature clutching my shoulder in a death grip. Why the fuck anyone would have a vulture as a familiar, I could only guess. But it was a smelly thing that was a dick to anyone but Cap, threatening to pull me overboard with powerful flaps of its wings.

"Alright, let's go." Captain Vexx silenced the beast, pulling my attention to a skiff like the one Seadog used, on a fast approach.

Suddenly eager to get a firsthand look, I bolstered my eyes with mana. But alas, the ship was pulled close and Singe nearly dragged me onboard. More curses were prepared and quickly cut short by the softest seat in existence condensed below my ass. I nearly moaned in ecstasy instead but composed myself with a passable grunt of frustration. Then, in a burst of power, we were off.

"Listen." Captain Vexx leaned close to me. It had only been seconds since we took off. But already, the two ships were in the far distance behind us while up ahead, the coast raced towards us. "Securing the area is the priority. After that, loot and explore or do as you please until the Commander finishes his business. You claim what you kill and you keep what you find. That's our way."

"Understood." I nodded quickly but looked around awkwardly. "It's just us?"

Captain Vexx let out a subtle laugh. "Not quite. More importantly," she paused, sizing me up. "I hope you have magic that can generate heat. It's cold where we're going."

"I'll be fine," I assured her with a confident sneer.

But she just giggled. "We'll see."

Indeed, I saw. I saw us skate across the water like a bird through the air, bringing us around Shujen Peninsula to charge through Helston's Brook, run upstream, and ram our skiff onto shore like madmen. I saw Commander Hogaz wave towards the waters, bringing me to watch heads breach the surface and rise into bodies both living and dead, striding and running forward into the forest to cover our flanks while we ambled through the snow.

"Y- you command the dead?" I shuddered, staring at the half-orcs back. But Captain Vexx was the one to answer.

"Our benefactor does. Among other things." She huffed. "Anyway, you need help keeping up?"

"I know how to fortify as good as any pirate." I huffed, to which she shrugged in agreement and told me to try not to be seen. Then they took off flying.

I struggled to keep up and silence wasn't my forte, leaving me no choice but to fling fire at anything that crawled my way. Goblins. Orcs. What seemed like a hundred feral creatures crawled from the snowy forest to meet an end or at least be blasted away before I caught pace with those two and nearly stopped in my tracks.

Before me was a dead forest, packed not in snow, but in ice. Trees and plants were encased in frost from root to canopy. Stones glimmered under thin sheets of blue. As I stepped deeper inside the strange landscape, ruins of ice began to appear before things suddenly got… neater. The grasses and trees and dirt disappeared to make way for walkways and stairs of glistening ice, bordered by stone rails and braziers illuminated with purplish blue fire- a cold, deathly fire, I sensed, leading up to a circular arrangement of towering pillars supporting a domed roof.

"What is this?" I muttered, looking around to reel back in horror upon seeing many undead creatures standing at their sides, and yet more waddling out of the woods.

"Come." Captain Vexx gestured for me to follow her inside the ice mausoleum, and with hesitance, I followed.

The building couldn't have been more than thirty meters across, of that I was sure. But when I stepped inside it was like stepping into an entirely new realm. Grasses, flowers, vines, and trees made of frost or ice spread across almost every surface of the inside. In a few places were podiums, stands, mounts, or plaques that rested frosted corpses resting in weird poses. And at their center was a figure that positively radiated death. The master of this dungeon.

"Zaraxus." Hogaz approached the thing with confidence to offer a generous bow.

I took a step back in horror as the thing slowly opened its eyes, showing bright orbs that flickered between bright blue and sea green as they quickly turned to me and back to, "Commander Hogaz."

The low, raspy drone sent a shiver down my spine that completely bypassed my scorch magic. Suddenly, I was frozen still, watching the creature- Zaraxus, gesture to a silver box sitting atop a podium beside him. With a nod, Commander Hogaz retrieved and opened the box, finding a silver bracelet within that he promptly pulled over his wrist; only for it to disappear in a flash of silver.

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Turning his wrist over, Hogaz studied the new ink around his wrist before nodding to the frost-dead creature. "Until next time, Zaraxus."

With a similar nod, the thing closed its eyes to resume its slumber before Hogaz turned and left, waving me down as he passed. "Let's go."

"What the fuck was that?" I whispered once outside, but Hogaz returned a dumb look to me and muttered, "Zaraxus."

Singe squawked, but I couldn't begin to ask, as I saw a line of undead and creatures of shadow approaching to add to the pile of singed corpses beside me.

"You claim what you kill." Captain Vexx gave my shoulder a rough pat as she passed.

After a moment of maniacal laughter to gather my wits, I went to looting and didn't find much interesting. A bunch of shoddy weapons and food scraps Singe happily took, but nothing in the way of gold or trinkets. And so, I turned back to the other two and fell backward immediately.

"Is… that a… a ship?" I pointed needlessly to a wedged shaped… ship, sitting atop the ice walkway on metal feet. It had the same pearly color and gentle curves as that massive ship and the skiff we came on, so I knew. But… "Why is it on land?"

"Come aboard and find out!" Captain Vexx called to me in an almost irresistible way. Elven women would be the death of me one day, I knew. But not this day. This day was the start of something incredible, I realized upon boarding that ship. As comfortable as the skiff, it was, but ten times as luxurious.

Alas, we sat on the stern with the creatures of shadow and went inside with purpose. Meanwhile, the other two kicked up their feet, tending to food and drinks that appeared from seemingly nowhere.

"Hungry?" Commander Hogaz asked before biting into a piece of steak, but seeing the undead so close by, I passed and instead asked Captain Vexx if she could share a smoke.

She happily agreed, even lighting it for me before she leaned back to intently watch the look of utter bliss cross my face- and the subsequent look of surprise once the ship surged beneath me.

I shot up at once, thinking us under attack, only to see the snow-capped canopy of a forest disappear below the railing. "We're-" I shot over the rails and laughed maniacally once I saw trees zipping below us at a furious pace. "The ship is flying! What the fuck?"

I must've looked like a child from their point of view. But I didn't give a shit. It was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen and it indeed made me feel like a kid again. But when the snowy banks gave way to open waters, I was suddenly reminded of who I was, Jack-Jackie of the Smoldering Pirates. Pirates who belonged at sea. And so, my amiable smile faded to a stoic look of contemplation in mere seconds.

They had at least one ship that could fly. Another that could glide beneath the waves and surface at a moment's notice like a whale. A whale with big ass guns that shot silver light. As such, this crew could not be defeated at sea or on land. Not by us or possibly anyone around the Peninsula, I was certain. The difference in power was just that great. That left us with only a few choices. We could form some form of partnership, agreement, or alliance. Or at the very least, get on their good side. But, I couldn't see Cap joining anyone, even them. More than anything, I hoped his refusal didn't place us on their bad side. But even that wasn't what I feared.

I feared giving my report to the Cap. Cause there was no way to give it without buttering them up something good. Not that I even had to, not with this damned bird.

The sobering thoughts or the hateful presence of Singe did little to bring the child inside me down, though. Especially once we returned, not to our ship, but to the stern of that massive vessel to have our boat taken by a metal claw and secured within the hold. Then, the child inside me became lost in amazement as we walked through an outright fucking palace on the water. Plush carpets and marbled walls lined with gold and exuberant art were found in every corridor and indeed, every room. Private rooms for the crew! I couldn't believe it. Nor could I believe the wondrous aromas and the pleasant music drifting through the place.

Through and up and around the floating palace we went until we came to a dining hall fit for a king's court, in which sat many of our crew. And Captain Burns.

"Jack-Jackie!" He threw his arms out upon seeing me, recalling his damned bird. "I saw ya come in on that fine ship! And, Commander Hogaz." He hopped to his feet with a sweeping bow. "Seadog 'ere told me all about their plans to build fleets an' conquer the World Seas. All of 'em. Followin' that, they said their on a recruiting spree. Aimin' to hire all the pirates in the Peninsula. They claim we'll even get a ship like this 'ere as long as train and become... professionals.

"What say you, Jack-Jackie?"

'Professionals.' I huffed. While it made little sense then, it made perfect sense now. Buttering me up. Showing off a lavish lifestyle- the so-called rewards they gained from doing what all mortals knew not to do. "I say, I saw a ship emerge from the sea, ready to blow us outta the water." I sighed, looking Cap deep in his eyes. "I say I saw two people cross the land at speeds I struggled to keep up with, felling beast like it were nothing all the while. I say I saw…" I sighed, letting out a shudder. "I saw death at their beck and call and monsters talk to 'em as friends. I say, I came back here on a ship that started on land, flew through the fucking air, and splashed down in the water to dock with this ship. Halls of gold and smokes that made me feel like I was in heaven. I say, it wrote a script that said if we join them, we'd be unstoppable for damn sure. That if we say no, we'll regret it and wonder what could've been for the rest of our days.

"But..." I sighed again. "That's the thing. They're damn fine rewards Cap, don't get me wrong, but it's the icing on a cake o' shite that'll make us vomit our principles. What's a professional pirate? A privateer who lies to himself. So we're being asked to be privateers who joined up with our enemies to sail the World Seas, competing with the likes of dragon turtles and dragons, sea elves, the Mer-Mob, tritons, storm giants, Kraken, and the leviathans of the deep, and it comes at a cost? The greatest cost of all.

"That ain't a cost the crew will be willing to pay. And you ain't the type to bend the knee, sell us out, or sell your soul."

"Right..." Captain Burn's grin grew wider than I'd ever seen as he spread his arms to Captain Vexx and this silver-toothed half-orc. "Guess that leaves us at an impasse."