Michael carefully placed the letter and gold on the table. He knew he should have told his parents in person, but he was too afraid of what they would say. Taking the coin had already committed him anyways so at least now he could avoid that painful farewell. His sister Kara would have been even worse. She would have no doubt blamed herself and just like with his parents, Michael couldn't bring himself to face that.
He looked towards his sister's room one last time before quietly opening the door and starting his midnight walk towards town. Michael covered the distance quickly. The towns train station lay only a few miles from his family's small farm, but his nerves kept him walking quickly.
As he neared the first bend in the road though Michael stopped. His breath caught in his throat as he looked at the tree where he'd spent so much time playing with Kara. Fond memories of climbing the highest branches or playing with the small rope swing together danced through his mind. For a brief moment Michael began to regret his actions, but then remembered his vibrant and playful sister becoming a husk of her former self after she fell I'll.
The thought of his sister pale and sick in the house behind him stiffened his resolve. With the money he left from his enlistment bonus he knew his parents could finally afford taking his sister to a real healer in the city. Michael took one last breath, turned and looked at the only home he'd known in his life, and set off towards near certain death.
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Five days later, Michael gazed out of the train window as it began to approach the city of Mistport. The previous days had been boring but stressful, with little to do but think about how every second brought him closer and closer to his likely death. Now though, he felt the same sense of excitement and adventure that had made him brave enough to sign up for the expedition in the first place.
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Michael had grown up hearing stories of people sailing into the mist and returning with riches, treasure, or even odd abilities. As a child he and Kara had even loved playing explorers, taking turns shouting orders or climbing their tree to act as a lookout. Those fantasies had ended though when they realized that for every ten ships that entered the mist only one would return, and even then with most of the crew missing or dead.
Thoughts of becoming one of those explorers had died, but returned when he heard about the recruiter in town a few months earlier. The recruiter knew that even the young, brave, and foolish knew better than to sail to near certain death, so she had made very clear that the pay was both good and mostly in advance. That meant that some desperate few, like Michael, were willing to take the risk.
Michael was jostled from his thoughts as the train came to a stop. He quickly grabbed his bag and stepped off the train into the smog filled city. Michael started to walk away before realizing he had no idea where exactly the port was. He looked around and made his way to an open ticket window. The older man didn't look up, so finally Michael asked "how do I get to the port from here?"
The man looked up, taking in Michael's appearance and small bag. After a moment he dismissively waved his hand to the left saying " head that direction. Can't miss it." Michael hurried off in the indicated direction but heard the man mutter "foolish bastards" before he got out of earshot.
The walk to the port went quickly with Michael able to see all sorts of new things in the shops he passed. He even managed to ignore the occasional passerby that would sadly shake their head when they saw him. Michael reached the top of a small hill and saw the port in front of him. Steamers came and went, smoke bellowing from boilers. "There it is" Michael thought as he saw a single ship off to the side with a mast and sails in place of the cylinders on the other ships. So with his stomach twisted in knots of fear, excitement, and nerves, Michael set off towards the M.E.S. Spirit, towards his fate, and towards the unknown.