“Street rat!”

Those two words are what define my entire existence. I am a bastard, born from a one night stand between a prostitute and a sailor. Abandoned not long after I was born because my mother thought that I would be nothing but a burden, I was taken in and raised by a monastery till the age of 13. At that age, the monastery could no longer take care of me due to decreasing financial support by the local governor, so I left seeking work. It wouldn’t take me long to find out that this would be harder than I thought. My reputation for being an “unwanted child” only made it harder to find a job with decent pay. Most would try to rip me off by paying me wages that were half those of other workers. Mocked and laughed at wherever I went, unable to find a job, I ended up on the streets as a beggar for a time, but I barely gained enough from the “donations” I’d obtained to get a decent meal each day.

Every day I would sit on the street, bowing my head towards those who passed by, hoping that they would spare me even the smallest amount of change. But each day would pass and I would find myself staring at a single copper penny. After months of living like this, I couldn’t take it anymore.

So what did I do? The obvious and only choice, I became a thief. Stealing food from local bakeries, pickpocketing well-off looking visitors. For a time, my life looked like it was getting better. I was stealing enough food to eat three small meals a day, and I stole enough money to pay for medicine to treat the various illnesses I’d gotten while living on the streets.

However, these days didn’t last long. One day, while attmepting to pickpocket another unsuspecting victim, I was caught by the local militia and thrown in jail. There, I rotted from day to day, barely being fed, and was constantly beaten by the guards who were meant to be guarding me. After a week of this hell, I was released back onto the streets.

Thoughts of a better life had long been erased from my mind, till one day I saw a poster plastered on one of the backstreets of the city. There, in bold letters, it stated:

Looking for new recruits for the crew of the Maelstrom

-No prior experience needed.

-Weekly wages over $1000.

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$1000 dollars per week!? The average worker here only earns around $10 to $15 dollars per week! And since they’re not from the island, there’s a higher chance that they may hire me, since they don’t know about my background!

I immediately went to the meeting location stated on the poster, and soon arrived at the port of the city, and what stood before me was extraordinary. More than 2000 people had shown up for the recruiting session. At the front of this crowd, I could see 3 prominent figures. Behind them stood a massive ship, around a kilometer long, 300 meters wide, and had at least 5 different floors.

I’d slowly began to make my way through the crowd. In this case, my smaller frame helped me out, as it allowed me to slip through the crowd with ease. After maybe half an hour I’d managed to reach the front of the line. Just when I thought it was my time to be recruited, a loud, booming voice yelled:

“Recruiting is closed! All of you left, go back home! We don’t need anyone else!”

With those words, my heart sank. This was my only hope left to get out of the rut that I had been left in. If I couldn’t make it into this crew, I would have to go back to begging on the street! In desperation, I ran toward the front of the line and yelled: “Wait! Please let me onto the crew!”

The man who had announced the end of the recruiting process turned back to me.

With an air of intimidation around him, he glared at me and said. “As I said before, we ain’t looking for anymore people.”

That intimidating aura would have been able to make anyone lose hope at being recruited to join the crew, however this was the only glimmer of hope that I had left.

“Please sir! Please let me join your crew! I don’t care what job I’ll be assigned or even if you were to deduct my pay, just please let me join the crew!” Tears had begun streaming down my eyes.

The man had become enraged. He yelled “Didn’t you hear me brat! I told you that we don’t-”

Before he could finish, another voice called out to him. “Hold on Drac, I’d like to see this young man for myself.”

“But Captain...” the man named Drac turned around and looked toward someone who was approaching.

He was a man in his late 30s, and had a proud, noble air about him. He was well built and had a number of scars on his body, evidence that he had had years of experience behind him.

The man came up and stopped right infront of me. He asked, “Do you know what you’re getting yourself into boy?”

“Yes sir, I do!” I responded

“You could lose your life in our line of work, you still sure you want to join?” the man asked.

“I’ll die if I remain here sir, this is the only choice I have left! I’ll work hard and will serve you loyally, so please let me join!” I pleaded.

A moment of silence followed my words. I became anxious, scared that he might reject my request, however it soon faded away as his lips curved upward into a big smile.

“If that’s the case, welcome to the crew of the Maelstrom!”