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.

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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.