A gentle current rocked at the sides of the boat; a tiny thing barely longer than the oars used to propel her through the water. Laying in the boat on her back, Aurelia suffered as she stared up at the endless blue sky. Her ship and crew now lay at the bottom of the ocean, her first mate having subdued her into the rowboat with his dying breath.
Tears ran down Aurelia’s face, a wet itch blossoming from her cheeks to her neck as she refused to wipe them away.
“Anything,” she said to no one, “That’s what I’ll give. Anything and all, whatever it takes. Please,” Aurelia choked back a sob as she continued, her eyes stinging from the sunlight and tears, “Please give them back to me.”
Aurelia closed her eyes, the sun shining through her lids as she drifted through the ocean that had been so kind to her throughout her life. From the moment she could walk, Aurelia knew that she belonged on the water. Throughout the years, she found others with the similar callings, forming a small crew to man her meager sloop. What fun it was, sailing over countless horizons to lands unknown with her friends. Throughout it all, from fighting cursed dead, to battling for the independence of free people, to stealing the hearts of all who saw her, Aurelia never once regretted her life. Until now at least.
Aurelia saw through her closed eyes as a dark coolness overtook her, though whether it was a storm or the embrace of death she didn’t know or care. Waiting to feel the cold droplets of rain on her face, Aurelia lay impatiently as the waves slowed, eventually ceasing all together. Opening her eyes, Aurelia sighed contently as an endless darkness stretched out before her into eternity.
“Anything you say?” A voice came, deep and kind as it surrounded her with its presence.
“And all, whatever it takes,” Aurelia repeated, her brow furrowing in conviction.
“And what if I were to tell you that you were dead? A broken heart stealing what the fire of cannons and ringing of swords could never hope to obtain?” the voice came, sounding closer that it had a moment ago.
“If I were to go to my friends I would accept it,” Aurelia said, sitting up in her boat. “But if they are to be taken from me in death then I would sink a thousand armadas to be reunited.”
“Only a thousand?” the voice asked quizzically, a tone of humor lingering in its words.
“A million, a million million, and another million more,” Aurelia shouted, standing in the boat even as it was rocked by her movement. “I spent my life finding them, I’ll spend my death doing the same if I must.”
“And how would you plan to do such a thing, you have no arms to defend yourself nor cannons to fire?”
“I have this,” Aurelia said, picking up an oar, “And that’s all I need.”
Laughter filled the darkness, a rich booming rocking the boat and threating a capsizing.
“Aurelia Maren, I find you more than worthy to start again, but you should know, you cannot force anyone to go down this path with you. It will have to be their choice to join you again or stay at rest.”
Four glowing orbs of light, each pulsing with a mixture of blue, silver, and gold, appeared from the darkness. Flowing through the air, the orbs surrounded Aurelia, circling her like leaves around an eddy.
Aurelia reached out to touch one, the feeling of her first mate Nathaniel Forester overtaking her as she did. In an instant, Aurelia could feel all of Nathaniel; his hopes, his dreams, his loves and desires, but most of all, his conviction towards his captain and his friend.
Aurelia held the orb close, remembering all the adventures she lived through with Nathaniel, and all of the ones they had just barely survived. He had been the first person to join her crusade, having been nothing more than a slave when they had first met. His owner had attempted to dupe Aurelia into gambling her life away over a game of dice but was saved by Nathaniel after he revealed the weighted con. A slash of the knife and the flash of a pistol had made Nathaniel a free man a moment after the ruse was revealed. He had been a loyal friend and a valued ally ever since, betraying her only once with his dying breath.
The orb vibrated lightly in Aurelia’s hands, turning a steady blue before floating above her head. Looking up at the orb, Aurelia knew that it was signifying Nathaniel’s undying loyalty.
“Well well,” the voice said, joyful surprise overtaking its tone. “That was faster than I expected. It seems as though Nathaniel is eager to join you again, but I wonder, will the rest of your crew be so willing?”
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“Without the shadow of a doubt,” Aurelia said, the blue orb pulsing a bright blue above her in acknowledgement.
“Would you care to place a wager on that?” the voice asked.
“On the loyalty of my crew? I’d wager my life,” Aurelia said, folding her arms in front of her chest.
“Excellent, well then, I propose the following wager. If the rest of your crew, or rather the ones I was able to salvage from the Astral Ether, join you without hesitation just as Nathaniel has, then I will provide you with a ship of my own design to aid you in your journeys. If however, any one of them should refuse, then the lot of you will accept your fate without contest.”
“Deal,” Aurelia said without hesitation, her voice filled with certainty.
Aurelia reached out and touched the next orb as it passed in front of her, this one filled with the soul of a mercenary that had become honor bound to her during a Trial of Adulthood that she had accidentally stumbled upon. During one of their early adventures, Aurelia and Nathaniel had stopped to refill on supplies and make some minor repairs to their ship when they discovered a young woman struggling to survive in the wilds of the island. Marissa Galvin, or Mari as she had liked to be called, was a native to the island, which starkly contrasted against the foreign settlers that had recently overtaken her home.
Mari’s goal at the time was to go and claim a piece of land as her own, defending it for an entire year against any man or beast that would try take it from her. By the rights of her culture, she was allowed to make allies who wouldn’t work against her but was to have no help other than that of her Blood Bound in securing the land or keeping it for herself. In a moment of heroinism, Mari had decreed that she was claiming the whole of the island and would drive out the settlers. Finding her goal worthy of respect and awe, Aurelia and Nathaniel had gone through a ritual to become Blood Bound to Mari, helping her rid the island of colonizers over the course of several months and dozens of skirmishes and battles.
Aurelia held the orb close to her chest, allowing her respect for her Blood Bound sister to spill into the orb, turning it a deep red before it floated above her head alongside Nathaniel.
The next orb held the soul of Aurelia’s shipwright, a burly man named Warren Baxter. Warren was born to a poor family on a desert island devoid of most vegetation and culture. The only export of the island was a silica-based sand that provided glass for most of the world. Despite the high demand for glass, most of the island’s residents lived in poverty under the control of their King, which angered Mari beyond words, driving her to want to help the people of the island.
Upon meeting Warren, Aurelia had discovered that he was an immensely talented wood worker, glass blower, mason, and metalworker, despite the limited resources of the island. Warren had been forced by the island’s King to develop weapons in hopes of furthering his wealth, though Warren had refused time and time again, choosing to live as a prisoner rather than provide a dictator with the means to control his people even more. Discovering this, Aurelia, Nathaniel, and Mari had freed Warren, encouraging him to give a rousing speech to the guards of the King’s Glass Palace and insight a revolution, leading to a bloody end for the King. The effort it took to get Warren to join the crew was something that they had joked about up until their last days, with Warren himself rarely admitting that he was more stubborn than he was talented.
“I need you Warren,” Aurelia said to the orb, holding it softly in her hand. “I can’t hope to build a future without you, I don’t think I’d even want to see it knowing you wouldn’t be there.”
The orb glowed a bright green as it pulsed in Aurelia’s hand, lingering for a moment longer before floating up to join Mari and Nathaniel above their captain.
Aurelia smiled at the three orbs circling above her head, feeling the comforting presence of the souls within as she looked at the last orb. Without touching it, Aurelia knew that this would hold the soul of her cook, Abigail Meister. Having her suspicions confirmed as she reached for the orb, Aurelia held no surprise as it immediately flashed a bright pink, soaring above her head to join her friends.
Abigail had been an interesting woman the first time Aurelia had met her. None of her crew at the time had been particularly gifted at cooking, but they weren’t so bad as to warrant incompetency. Once they met Abigail however, they had discovered that she had been working as a chef on her island, cooking high class meals for low class citizens, much to the dismay of the higher classes. Abigail believed that good food, no matter where it came from, would be able to bring people from all walks of life together. The only problem was that good food was hard to come by if you didn’t come from money, which many of the people on her island did not. Knowing this, Abigail set out to find cuisine from all over the world, that she might learn to cook from different cultures using all manner of ingredients.
At first, she was more than willing to join Aurelia on her travels, as long as she would be able to return home someday. After several years on the sea however, and after visiting hundreds of islands and learning of thousands of different ingredients, she knew that she wouldn’t ever be able to stay in once place, not as long as there was mystery to be found in the world. Abigail then became dedicated to sharing her knowledge with everyone she would meet who would listen, teaching culinary philosophy and recipes to thousands. She had also been key in ending several battles before a weapon could be raised, opting to fight with her flavors rather than her fists,
Aurelia looked up in joyful glee as the four orbs of light swirled around her head, feeling as if she were at home on her ship surrounded by her friends and family.
“Excellent work, Aurelia,” the voice said, having remained quiet as Aurelia silently conversed with the souls of her crew.
“So what happens now?” Aurelia asked, wiping a tear from her eye with the back of her hand.
“Now you come to shore, speak with me, and get your ship back. There are uncharted waters that you cannot even begin to imagine that are waiting for you, and adventures beyond reason calling your name.”