Archive of Our Own ^beta

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As this novelisation was taken almost word-per-word from the texts, please be aware of narration style changes as it was taken from multiple POVs. We have done our best to keep it as faithful as possible; Though we have taken extra liberties to switch around some conversations, rewrite some narrations for ease of digestion, and smoothen the flow of the plot by omitting or adding context. If there are details that we have missed or want to omit, please don’t hesitate to contact one of us and guide us through the part intended. 

This story was a retelling of a roleplay based on a Roblox game called Arcane Odyssey. While it was small, it has been reliably going and impressively predicted some mechanics in-game before it was implemented for at least 9 months as of writing since its inception in February 2023. Without the constraints of Roblox, the story has taken a significantly more gory and horrific route. Before proceeding forward, we would warn you that this fiction includes mild to heavy descriptions of gore , as well as some other non-sexual adult contents such as alcohol, smoking, gambling, and like a true sailor, a lot of slurs and coarse words. The Roleplayers have consented to all the scenarios described below with their ages above 15.

This novelisation was written as a tribute to the RP, as well as to be a one-stop document to give context to anyone outside of the RP that was interested in the story. Apologies in advance if anything that is contained in the novel was deemed to be offensive and or insensitive. All context here was meant to be light-hearted humour with good amounts of dark jokes. If you are one of the roleplayers who do not want to be associated with the RP or their character included in the document, feel free to contact us and we will rewrite the relevant parts.

Thank you for reading this foreword. Thanks to all roleplayers who have joined us, be it from the beginning or to the end. Thanks to Sky for putting up with our bullshit for those months, thanks to everyone who has been behaving well for the RP to run this smoothly. A special thanks to Forg for helping us log the Agora for the ease of RPers checking where they left off. Special thanks to Nish and Fell for being active until the end as well as the abundance of fanarts. Special thanks to White for writing the plot, novel, and doing bullshittery with me as well. Though, a massive fuck you to Tricky for being the most active one (lol).

A massive thank you for being interested in our little story. We are glad to have you on board.

— Shroud and Cat.

Chapter Text

Sailor’s Lodge, the hotspot for all sailors around Bronze Sea, criminals or heroes, to gather around and take their edge off. The bustle and laughs of the weary sailor echoed through the sunny morning, some others warm their cold bodies after a long journey in the seas by the firepit. The ones that were already warm opted to stand around the docks by its lower level, the distance between the sea and planks was close enough for one to dip their legs without much of a hassle.

A soul was sitting by the creaking docks. He sighs as he hooks another bait to his fishing rod and casts it again. Sitting on the southwest side, he waited for any treasure he might fish out, if any. The young man with Persian red hair kicks his leg around; The strings on his rod tug with every bobble of the waves. Behind him was a bunch of things he fished out; Cod, salmon, and the recent addition was an old boot. He took a bait from a can beside him, looping it around his bronze rod before plunging it back into the cold abyss. A game of chance, he was waiting for someone. Can’t say the same with the yellow-robed mage as he stepped into the bar at the higher level.

Oblivious to the other soul, Krysten put on a light show for the people at the bar, using his light magic and his glass piece to do some weird reflection stuff. He didn’t exactly know how it works, but it got him some galleons which he could use for repairs. A twirl, a little sleigh of hands, light follows each of his gestures and commands. He was gifted with the power to control light itself, a light mage on the commoner’s tongue.

The little light show has little contribution to how Skye was woken up. She's just sleeping on the comfortable bed within one of the rooms at the lodge, though it was interrupted by the sun rays going into her eyes. Skye grumbled; Aww... she had a nice sleep! Getting up, she stretches her limbs out and dresses herself into her usual outfit. Another day, another fun time. She steps down the stairs, making a large leap from the entrance of the lodge out into her ship docked. 

How in the world did she do that long jump? She sighs, gazing at her ketch docked by the lodge. The sea was a bit rough last night or something attacked her boat—again. She walked back up to the ramps, heading to the shipwright to get her ship fixed. There goes 139 galleons. Though, her eyes soon caught onto the rays within the lodge, once finishing the payment she walked back in to take a peek. A light show! Something to entertain her for a while in the peaceful morning.

As the light show attracted more and more sailors, the soul that was fishing by the docks was no exception. Light rays were coming out from the lodge. For a moment he stood up and unconsciously packed his gear hastily before noticing that it was not an attack. He looked back to his rod and bait. As much as he wanted to fish again, he shook his head, put his fishing gear on his boat, and went into the lodge. It felt wrong to unpack everything again.

The yellow-robed man, the girl, and the red-haired man.

They all gather inside the lodge. The lodge owner—Damon—perks up from behind the drink bar; One hand still wiping the beer off his collection of glasses whilst his ice magic cools them out. He can’t help but be impressed by Krysten’s little show. His yellow robe follows his act, and so are the sailors who are amused by the little trickery, chipping in the golden coins by his feet as a gesture of approval. The red-haired man rummages through his pocket to donate to Krysten—only to notice he has no galleon. He shrugged, getting himself a seat and drinking something off someone else’s leftover glass of beer. 

The girl—white hair with a feathered fedora, and something tucked under her cloak. She peeked into her wallet—checking if there were any remaining galleons to donate. Unlike that fisherman , Skye still has some leftovers. Counting while picking a few, she then tossed them over.

“That’s really cool magic you’re using! Is it Light?”

Krysten switched his focus to Skye, a smile on his face as he nodded. “Yeah, it is. How could you tell?” Ah, A normal conversation. 

“I’ve seen plenty of Light users, and fought some too. They’re really fast so it’s difficult to counterattack sometimes.”

“...Can tell you’re a decently strong magic user, due to your magic energy just kinda.. steaming off of you? What magic do you use?”

“Poison. Don’t really wanna use it here for obvious reasons.” Skye shrugs.

“Light magic…” The red-haired man mumbled. He thought to himself. Another annoying magic to have other than his...

“Anyway, thanks for the galleons.” Krysten—with his focus still on Skye said. “You’d be surprised how sufficient I am in light magic. I developed it for a second mind, even though most others get a different magic.” He twirls around the piece of glass, done with his performance.

Skye’s eyes were on the glass. “Oh yeah, typically mages who get their second awakening get second magics. Is Glass your first magic?” She asks, pointing to the glass pieces used during the performance. Krysten looks back to the glass before shaking his head. “No, these are just trophies from a glass warlock I killed a few months back. I saw how they affected my light, so I kept them to collect some extra galleons.”

The conversation continues as the red-haired man shuffles his seat. He grew uneasy. Those two really look like someone from the navy and — dear Zeus — if they were the navies, he’d set sail immediately. Worse, bounty hunters. They’ll follow their morals and god knows what they will do to him if he gets caught. One thing catches his eye however as he observes the two people; Something white seems to be poking out of Skye’s cape. Something… “ One is the light magic boy, and one... are those actual wings? ” He can’t help but to squint his eyes a little, mumbling once in a while while his train of thought runs.

“I see, Warlocks are pretty tough to fight sometimes, especially if they get up close. Good job on fighting and defeating one.” Skye replied, though then she froze. Perhaps due to the gaze of this one man, Skye can’t help but feel watched. With an uneasy feeling, she realizes one of her wings is poking out from her cloak. Skye adjusts it, pulling the white feathers to be hidden under the black cape again.

“So… what do you do for a living? Bounty hunter like me, or are you just an explorer?” Krysten pockets his glass. His sentence sends shivers down the spine of the sitting man.

“I KNEW IT! A BOUNTY HUNTER!”
The thought of the red-haired man snapped to the conclusion. He fumbled through the door and paced out as fast as he could to avoid Krysten. One step, two steps, and without even striding a third step, he fell to the ground, tripping on his attire. He quickly came back to his own feet and continued his power walk towards his caravel.

Krysten looked at the man screaming and running out the door. “He was probably a target on the board. Eh, I’ll get him later. Can’t run forever.” He clicks his tongue. Bounty hunting has become the norm in this part of the seas. Criminals running amok and killing innocents would be his duty later to stop him anyway. That would be Skye’s role as well, tilting her head as she looks at the scatterbrained criminal trying to pull the sails down off his ship.

She eyed how fast the other was walking out the door. Hm... did she see his face when she bypassed the bounty board when walking into the lodge? She places a hand behind her back, pulling a single arrow out of the quiver she carried at her hip. Oh, she should answer Krysten’s question.

“Yup! Though my title is a bit awkward for someone seen as a hero. Can't really do much about it, unfortunately.”

Angel of Death , that’s her title perhaps for a reason. She flicks the arrow around, a faint purple mist forming at the tip of the metal then throws it at the runaway. From the doorframe, Skye aims her arrow to land right between the red-haired man’s hands as he frantically unties the ship. The purple cloud wafting around, choking the air around the poor man. Between the haze, a flash of light followed pursuit, followed by a thud as Krysten landed on the man’s caravel.

The yellow-robed mage crossed his arms, towering over the red-haired man. “Dude, what’s your deal? I was just in the middle of farming money.” His fingers curled; A magic circle was summoned, filled with the same lustre of his magic.

“I uh... Eh.. eheh..... Hello.” He gives Krysten a light little wave. His back on the deck of the ship, tripping with Krysten rocking the ship earlier.
“I was just uhhh... I was going to go to Ravenna, you know? Nothing suspicious, yes… yes…”

Let’s see the criminal himself. Persian-red-haired man with a tied thin curly rattail and a wolfcut, his orange-teal irises looked back at the black-haired yellow-robed light mage. A peculiar man, even with a full-blown red beard, he wears… A maid dress, topped with a black witch hat. For most people, he would probably be outed as a creep, but since everyone’s deranged in this universe, fashion would be the least of their concerns; Well, at least to Krysten as Skye came down to the caravel and handed him the bounty paper of the man himself. Krysten chuckles, his grin widened as he reads the ‘misdemeanours’ of the offender-of-fashion:

“Forty castaways dead? Three hundred merchant ships sunk? Oh my god, this is free money.”
“One thousand navies…” Skye mumbled alongside Krysten before they both looked back at the man.

Krysten cringed and queried. “So are you just a maniac or what? Answer truthfully.”

The question was answered with a swing of an old-looking greatsword from the figure. He pulled his leg back, the long dress followed pursuit as an orange-teal-coloured circle combusted behind him. His sword bursts into a deafening cacophony of explosions, yet the iron remains unharmed. “SWORD DRAW: EXPLOSIVE MOUNTAIN WIND.” He shouted, and with a single strike of the large sword, three tornadoes rushed down to Krysten. Yet, the tornado is imbued by the same orange energy. Such is the ability of this man, to imbue his magic to the weapon he chose to hold.

Slashed by the attack, the tornado followed in to deal additional damage, each swirl of wind detonating as it hit Krysten. The yellow-robed mage barked out. “ Goddamnit !” The strike ripped parts of his clothes, and blood oozed from Krysten’s body. He chanted, channelling his energy into a magic circle—with the blinding lights that waved his robe. Before slamming the criminal down with a beam of light.

“TEMPEST!” The girl’s words followed the criminal’s attack. She pulled out her greatsword—one in which is in a much pristine condition than the other’s. Swinging it in a clockwise motion, Skye lets inertia take hold of the greatsword. Just like the criminal, it too was imbued with her magic, only this time, purple smoke trails behind every gust of the wind around her.

The criminal seems to be in a pinch—getting blasted by the beam of light, his aiming missed as he was about to swing his sword again. A loud THUNK as the old greatsword clashed with Skye’s Tempest. Sailor's lodge became a battleground. People tried to avoid the three of them fighting, but the piers were destroyed—escape was no longer an option for some. The sound of explosions and sword swishing is enough to wake anyone up. Feeling the blade clashed with the other, Skye immediately releases a hand from the blade. A circle forms at the palm of her hands as she aims it at the man’s face.

“Arrow.”

A blast of cloud poison is released from the circle, although small, it carries a heavy cloud. Krysten covers his mouth before using his ultimate art, summoning a light dragon to come down on the nameless runner. “I think that should’ve done it. keougk– ” To fight alongside a poison mage has its ups and downs; The risk of getting poisoned would be one, despite being an ally.

The red-haired man got knocked back by the ambush of the light dragon, the poisonous cloud also made him hard to breathe. His greatsword was blasted to another end of his caravel. The deckhands can only stare in panic, one tries to stab Krysten only to be stopped by the others. He coughs and waves one of his hands, signalling that he’s surrendering. “Okay okay okay! Okay okay, you got me!” He wheezes, hands both up in the air with his back on the deck. One, two… Three? Three people on his boat; A person with a glowing orb as a head jumps in as well, attracted by the chaos of the fight. Before he could shoot his shot however, the fight ended.

Skye picked up her greatsword, heaving the heavy weapon over her shoulder and resting on the metal shoulder plate. Although her expression was simple, she was mildly disappointed the fight ended so fast.

“That was fairly quick.”

Chapter Text

“Ok, now what do we do? Sailor’s lodge is a generally unprotected island, so there are no navy ships around.”

Krysten, Skye, and the newcomer (whose name was Dirk) stare down at the cornered criminal. His dress was tattered, and his blood—dyed the black-and-white frills into a darker hue of maroon as it seeped in. Even if he attempted to escape and stand up—it would be a struggle—the wounds he received from the mage and the greatsword-wielding girl still ache.

“I can help break his arms if you want. Then he’ll be easier to transport.”
“No, that’s inhumane and cruel. We should not break his arms, dude.”
“Now that’s unnecessary violence.”
“I’m sorry what ?”

Dirk was the first to chime in, suggesting his modest proposal. Krysten cringes, and so is Skye. The criminal stood in disbelief hearing that. As if slicing him into an accordion was not enough. “Eh, suit yourself.” Dirk shakes his head, shrugging, before heading back to his sailboat. 

“Ok, Rico, I want you to tell me exactly how many innocents or merchants you’ve killed, and that will decide whether I melt your face.” Krystan steps in, closer to the red-haired man. Rico, the name of the man in the maid dress, scoffed hearing Krysten’s comment. While that happens… Skye looks around for her ship—Oh, there it is! Looking brand new, it seems. Repairment went well while they were fighting.

“Once you’re done with that,” Skye gestured to the side—pointing. “-bring him over to my ship." Before walking back to her Ketch. Speaking of Dirk, he cancelled his intention to return, turning his head back just to hear Rico’s list of war crimes. It’s definitely spicier than fishing to day’s end.

Rico rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. “First of all, all that bounty? They’re dead because they don’t want to hear reasonings okay? For the navies, I’m trying to explain that I am doing absolutely nothing . I was minding my own business but sometimes bam! The navies went up my arse.” He waved his hand, narrating his reasoning like some sort of a fairytale. “ ‘Oh you should use your magic in consideration’ Bullshit! I’d like to see you control an explosion without destroying a thing or two.” Rico quipped.

“Really doesn’t explain why you have triple digits on kills if that’s all from doing nothing.”  The interrogation starts with Skye following up on Rico’s reply. Yet, the drag only shook his head upon hearing Skye’s reasoning.

“That’s…” He coughed, clearing his throat. “... Just some unfortunate souls that got into the crossfire.”

“Poison user here, try not to kill someone with a single blast.” The statement about Explosion Magic was slapped back, Skye’s getting pretty annoyed, and Krysten’s not having it. “So why would the navy be ‘up your arse’ if you’ve indirectly killed several merchants?” The light mage asked back.

“Because they’re navies of course! They don’t listen to anyone, they just think that ‘Ohh this is good or this is baaaad ’ and chase around people who are trying to work normally. I work as a ship quality tester, you know.”

He’s bluffing. As Dirk stood there observing this, an idea crossed into his head. If Rico was wanted, then it stood to reason that some of these deckhands might be too, so he jumped into the air, and with light airsteps, kept himself stable enough to get a good look at every deckhand on the deck. His deckhands were… Not noteworthy. Just a bunch of people banding for their captain, their expression’s a mix between bored, annoyed, worried, but ultimately uninterested nor intimidated.

“I’ve never heard of a ship quality tester as a job... is that a real thing or is that just something you made up on the spot?” Skye continued her interrogation.

That sentence felt like a jab to Rico. He gulps, thinking of some—

“Uh… Hey, look! A navy ship!” He pointed out to the sea.

“Where?”
“Mm?”

Both airheads look up to where he pointed. Taking the sweet opportunity, Rico whispered something. He clenched his fist; The rusty claws he wore glowed orange. He dashed forward, aiming to slash the three of them before swimming out to the sea. With that, blood gutted out from Krysten—he stumbled to the ground, knocked down—while Skye had the time to block it—out of her instinct, the fuller of the greatsword quivered upon the impact. 

“Ow…”
“Skye…” Krysten seethed through his teeth, his wounds stung. “... Do you have a spare healing potion..?” 
“... No...”

Rico kept his pace. From the looks of it, he’s heading towards Ravenna, leaving his ship altogether. "Alright, let me try to find a half-open one that can work for the time being." Krysten rummages through his bag. How did he get outsmarted by a simple point and look? Dirk leapt into the air before the slash was done. Airstep, with each of his steps up—propels himself higher and higher, giving chase to Rico who’s currently swimming away.

“...Yeah he does that all the time” One of the deckhands speaks up.

“Seems like he’s swimming all the way to Ravenna. He might drown along the way. In the meantime…”

Skye swings her greatsword back down, jumping up and landing on the abandoned ship. Her focus switched to the deckhands again. “Sounds rough. Why are you still with a captain like him if he’s just going to leave you like that?”

“Well.. between his tendency to run away and actually looting people’s ships, he does make a decent amount of money... Hell, we found a lot of scrolls to enchant our weapons rather than just y’know, getting robbed by Yasmin at Whitesummit.” A deckhand with a striped shirt replied. She looked so fed up, at the same time not surprised with Rico’s antics.

“Fuck this... I’m going to go hunt another criminal.” Krysten rolls his eyes. He strides his steps out from the caravel. Perhaps it was for the best to leave the criminal alone and pick another target. But—Krysten immediately changed his mind. “–Actually, no! That guy is a maniac and deserves to have his brain fried.” He turned back to the caravel. “...And if I’m lucky, he might have a clue on how to find an Aether scroll.”

Skye tilted her head, waiting for Dirk to haul Rico back to land. “What’s an Aether scroll?”

“Guess.” Krysten put up one finger, and with a confident smile, he teased Skye. The girl thinks for a moment, perhaps racking her brain to list all possible magics in the world. She ultimately shook her head. “No idea. I know of pulsar scrolls but can’t use one.” She replied to the yellow-robed mage.

“It’s the key to unlocking pure light. Once I read it, I can harness my light magic and turn it into Aether. I remember reading something about wizards being able to do that naturally, a few hundred years ago. Maybe we just got weaker over time.” Krysten shrugged.

"Perhaps a forgotten or ancient magic? They’re rare and difficult to come across."

The convo continues as Rico’s crew looks out to the sea; Dirk has put Rico in a chokehold, trying to drown him to prevent any more escape attempts. “ACK! I GAVE UP, FINE.” The ginger wheezes. One hand thrashing the sea, one other holding on Dirk’s arm collaring his neck. 

Back to Skye, her focus turned back to all the deckhands on board. Seems like Rico employed people of all ages, with a girl with ginger hair and rags being the youngest. “Well consider yourselves all arrested for tagging along with a criminal.” Ah. It was Skye’s duty to detain criminals anyway. Krysten doesn’t seem to care, instead, he continues his spiel.

“Yes, rare and difficult to come across. That basically describes it.” He waved his hand, his search would probably end in nought.

“You mean like these?” One of the deckhands pulls out a green scroll. It seems to be an old-looking scroll, but definitely not lost magic. Skye and Krysten took a good look at the scroll. The seal, the green ribbon that tied the yellowed parchment, yet…

“That’s a bursting enchant.” her eyes focused back to the crew. Krysten followed Skye’s gaze, taking a really good look at the crew. To see such a ragtag group, serving evil in the seas… “Wait, we shouldn’t arrest these people.” He had something in mind.

Skye furrowed her brows. "You sure that’s a good idea? Being so hopeful to some criminals, they can take advantage of that to get away y’know." Krysten waved to Skye, dismissing her. “They’re misguided and probably just mentally slow.”

Dirk gasped. Resurfacing after towing Rico, he has successfully put the criminal unconscious. The wet, soggy mess of human meat is now resting on the deck, much to Rico’s crew’s dismay. The orb-head man climbed in, and without skipping a beat, he broke both of Rico’s arms.

Laying their eyes on it, the deckhands cringed. Krysten winced. Skye’s focus immediately turned to Dirk.

‘WHAT THE FUCK! Why did you break his arms?” Krysten yelled to Dirk, to which the man only replied with a confused ‘stare’. He looked down to Rico, then back to Krysten.

“He’s dangerous.” Dirk shrugged innocently.
“That doesn’t give you the ability to torture him!”
“He’s unconscious.”
“Give him to me, I’m gonna go give him a healing potion."

As the disgruntled banter goes on, Skye pulls out an apple and munches on it watching the show. Even though she just said she wasn’t hungry. She realised she hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. “Healers are super rare in the bronze seas. Nobody has any cool stuff around here! That’s gonna last months!” Yellow-robed mage mumbled as he combed his inventory to see whether he had any potions left. “Mmm... I mean you could find healers in other regions.” The girl is looking at Krysten panicking. Krysten shook his head again as he rummaged through his bag.

“Yeah, across the seas. Great, just another region.” He’d scoop up Rico and take him to his caravel, giving up after some searching. Dirk takes a step back. The lodge has returned to its usual activity; Perhaps it was the cue for Skye to leave as well. “I just remembered I gotta go, got a meeting in Palo town with a guild member later. Byeee.” And with that, she dips on out to her ship and begins to sail off. Maybe she’ll come back later, leaving both Krysten and Dirk on Rico’s caravel still.

The two stared at each other, then at the criminal. They’re bounty hunters, there’s only one thing left to do.

“I’ll turn him in first, but if you want to hold on to the healing potion, I can give it to him afterwards, on my word as a…” He hesitated before thinking of something. “... Student of master * gibberish*. ” Dirk circled his arm again around Rico intending to haul him to his sailboat. And as for the pirate’s crew? They followed behind; Leaving their captain alone sounds like a bad idea. By the way, Dirk said his statement about a teacher, well… Let’s just say he made a pretty bad impression for a lie.

“No.” Krysten halts Dirk and steps onto Dirk’s ship, using one of his pots to make a strong healing potion before finally force-feeding Rico. The red-hair choked on the potion, causing him to wake up. As he jolts up, he hisses in pain, just realizing he might’ve broken a bone or two. He tried to stand up, only to be pushed back down by Krysten.

“Stay still! I’m trying to keep you in one piece, literally.” He keeps forcing Rico to drink his potion.  Rico coughs profusely, his lungs were screwed and Krysten’s additional pressure was not helping. “Are you done?” Dirk crossed his arms as he watched Krysten choking Rico.

Rico, after receiving the full brunt of police brutality, shoots an annoyed look at Krysten before giving up and slouching on the wall of the ship. Oh, whatever his life has become. “Alright, that should do it.” Krysten pats his hand, looking around the ship whilst Dirk starts patting Rico for weapons. The amount of weapons the man hides in his dress is pretty astounding: Rusty claws, a musket, a purple-looking bow, a cutlass, and even an entire trident. On top of that, Dirk found his quiver loaded with all kinds of arrows, and a bullet pouch with a lot of bullets in multiple shapes and sizes.

“Seriously, this is some shitty day.”  The maid man’s thoughts were going to a full halt as Dirk kept robbing him of his weapons. “Take his items. He won’t be using them anytime soon.” Krysten gestured to Dirk. “Because he’s going to be joining my group.”

Rico raised his eyebrows. Him? Joining his crew? 

“I already have my own group, thank you very much. They’re all nicer than the two of you combined.” He rolled his eyes. Krysten replied with a click of his tongue. “Not anymore. I'm annexing your crew.” Whispers can be heard amongst the deckhands. One seems to be very worried, but the others seem to just follow whatever comes next.

Dirk placed all the weapons in a trunk that he hadn't bothered to fasten to anything before, since it was easy for him to keep it still with a leg or an arm the whole time. Then, at first thinking about what to do about it, he stabs the trident through the bottom of the chest and the deck, so that the handle sticks out the top of the opened trunk. The necessary repairs would easily be afforded once Rico was turned in.

Krysten opened his mouth, “I mean, if you were to all join the crew of a Hero and do good acts, wouldn’t the Navy lessen your jail time, and even remove it entirely?”

Chapter Text

What an interesting hypothesis. The mere thought of him doing good made Rico scoff.

“Also— Uh, what’s your name?” Krysten turned to Dirk.
“Dirk.”
“Dirk, hand me the weapons and I’ll give you 200 galleons.”

“Make it 5k and see if he still wants it.” Rico barked at Dirk, a taunt against Krysten.
“Make it 5k.” Dirk nodded. Rico wheezed upon hearing that, letting out a loud “HA!”.

That… Kind of pushed Krysten to burn Dirk with his light magic. But he took a deep breath and calmed down, withholding the intention. “Nevermind. Looks like you need new weapons now, Rico.” He flattened his lips while crossing his arms.

“I can probably get some of those for you on a pirate ship.” He continued, shaking his head. Rico maintained his pose, sleazing himself to the railings of the ship. All those conversations felt like fuzzy murmurs to him, save for some words that caught his attention. The downside of explosion magic: It’s loud, and poor man Rico was half deaf. He’s still a bit fazed by the entire ordeal, and he has this confused look towards Krysten. What did that man just say to him?

“Sorry, but you’re not taking him either. I caught him again after you let him talk his way out, so I’m going to turn him in, and if you really are a hero, you’ll let me do it.” Dirk shook his head. The yellow-robed mage shook his head as well upon hearing Dirk’s proposal, crossing his arms.

“Nah.” He chuckled, waving his hand around in dismissal. “If you really were a hero, you'd rather they be redeemed and do good to repent for their sins instead of spending meaningless time in a meaningless jail cell.”

Dirk still bites back, jumping in front of Krysten’s throat. “People like this are too far gone.” Taking a step closer, he remarked and half shouted out. “They can’t be redeemed any more.” The orb covering his head still glowed with the hued pink—you can’t see his expression that well. The tone of his voice, however…

Rico seems to be a bit oblivious to what they’re discussing about, now can only stare at his dress and coughs once in a while. Skye looked down; The way that the two men bickering with each other bored her. “...I really should do something about my poison’s potency if you’re still coughing, huh…” She mumbled. Some more bickering and Rico seemed to be bored already. The crew shot a glance to their captain who’s now lounge around watching the free entertainment. ‘Do something’ one mouthed. Rico could only sigh.

“Say.. you guys went into my ship uninvited, mind telling me your names? And speak up; I can't really hear that well actually.” His remark took the attention of Krysten and Dirk, as well as Skye who was beside him.

“Skye Rose.” Skye curtly replied.

“My name is... Darek.” The way Dirk pronounced his name… Just Darek.

“My name is Krysten, your new captain, and leader of the.. Shining Warriors. That’s a good name.” And Krysten replied with his part, still thinking about how to integrate Rico into his newfound crew. The aforementioned man rolled his eyes upon hearing the word ‘ New captain ’.

Krysten took offence at Rico’s gesture, “Hey, dumbass! I’m the one trying to save you from execution here!” He walked up to Rico, looking down. This entire thing has been testing his patience to the limit. Rico looked back at Krysten, his eyes drooped a little, bored and unamused mixed in his expression as if his only reason to be here was to spite the mage.

Then, a chuckle. “Oh... an execution...” Rico yawned in front of Krysten, “Not my first time… I escaped them like what? Five times now? It was fun.” Rico gave a sweet smile to Krysten, a mocking one.

All that Krysten wanted from Rico was cooperation , how hard was it to ask for that? “You can't really erase what he’s done but it’s not going to be easy to repent for all that either.” Skye replied to Krysten, trying to put some sense to the mage before Krysten possibly drowned the pirate.

Krysten looked back at Skye; A lot of things were running through his head. Anger, disappointment, annoyance, but hope still reigned supreme. Krysten scoffed as he looked back at the girl, not giving up. “Well, that’s why he’s going on the ship,” He smiled, “And if you try to challenge me, Darek, I’ll beat your ass the same I beat his!”

“You do know you’re gonna have to talk with the Navy about this later? Cause they might see him on your ship and get pissed.” Skye strutted around Dirk’s sailboat. The woman looked to the crew, then to Rico. To salvage them into an upstanding citizen... Sure, in theory, it should be easy with constant effort, but sometimes officials are hard to convince.

To Rico, he’s racking his brain again. Yes, he might be stupid, but his brain is still functional enough to calculate the risks. Right now, what Krysten did was the equivalent of ‘Hey, I’m going to adopt a random squatter on the road to help me.’

“Wait, Krysten,” Rico raised his voice a little, his tone filled with confusion. “... You are going to recruit a quote-unquote, ‘irredeemable criminal’ here as part of the Navy ?” And even though Rico hated Krysten’s gut already, he could not help but feel pity for the man’s stupidity, at least to his standards. “Are you sure about that?”

Krysten grinned. There’s one answer he won’t let go to reply Rico.

 “Yes.”

Silence. Then, a raucous laugh from Rico’s crew, as well as their captain himself.

“Wow, the navies are NUTS.” Rico grinned, wheezing between his laughs. Choking on his laughter. “Or scraping the bottom of the barrel, maybe.”

“I ain’t a Navy.” Skye corrected Rico—which was ultimately ignored by all the laughing. Well, for a while, before he changed his focus again to the girl. “You’re not?” The colour blue has been Skye’s signature colour, coincidently, it’s the same colour as the officials of War Seas. The girl shook her head, “Nope. I bounty hunt for fun.”

Krysten remained straight-faced. He flattened his lips, jaws clenched. The humiliation would be nothing compared to his goals, and to test that hypothesis, of course, belittlement by an ill-mannered crew was included. "So, Rico, which of your deckhands do you wanna take?" He spoke once everyone was done laughing. He leaned to the man, his face remained serious. Krysten whispered, "We gotta have some cannon fodder."

Hearing the word ‘cannon fodder’, Rico irked to himself. Glancing over to the crew, his crew only consisted of some people who were useful to help him, but he never really saw their combating prowess. “Either you take them all with me, or you only take me but leave them behind. They only follow me.” His voice turned stern. 

“...Or I can drop them off at Silverhold later.” Skye interjected, again ignored by Krysten. 

 "I wasn't planning on leaving you in the first place. I wouldn’t give up a good vice-captain. I'll take all 3, I guess to man the cannons,” Krysten continued. “You’ll be very useful with your exploding guns.”

Whatever happened to our other boy Dirk? His mind went full throttle upon hearing Krysten’s threat towards him, being silent to think his options thoroughly. Dirk wasn’t worried about Krysten beating him, but it would be too risky to leave Rico unattended while fighting, so Dirk decided to say: “If we fight, he’ll escape, unless you’ll let me break his arms again first."

That reply was replied with a quick shot of glance from Rico, a look of disbelief painted his face. “Wait, you actually broke my arm? ” He cringed. Skye patted Rico, "He did. And Krysten later healed them by feeding you a healing potion."

Replying to Dirk, Krysten’s tone seems to be dismissive as usual, “I could probably take him down again if he did. Whatever happens, it’s a win for me. So, do you wanna fight, or just leave it be?” This entire convo made Rico groan in exasperation. Can’t they just hand him over to the officials? He thinks for a moment.

“Krysten, I just want to say that, if you recruit me, there may be some other people that don’t want that to happen. You see this purple sash on me? It’s a clan, and I’m the leader.”

Listening to Rico’s concerns, Krysten crossed his arm. “How many people?”

Rico tilted his head left-right, rolling his eyes as he did a quick count in his head. “Ehh.. give or take around 15, though we’re more of a laid-back type of clan, so we kinda don’t interact with each other that much.” He concluded.

“That’s rough bud. So why exactly would they get annoyed by you getting recruited?” Skye got her focus back, a change of topic after the constant bickering about Rico. Dirk was still mad, this entire plan was doomed from the start according to him.

“You’d let him escape again. There’s no point. If you can’t accept that, and try to fight me, you’ll be the aggressor.” The arcsphere-headed man jabbed Krysten. He really can’t accept this plan, and even though it was not business, it is now with how stupid this entire thing was.

Krysten scoffed, “Darek, I’m not trying to fight anybody here. I want to take my crewmates and go. By engaging me, you’d be the aggressor.” He waved his hand to Dirk, ignoring him yet again.

Rico ignores Dirk and Krysten, he would rather talk to the girl who’s sane enough to not take any sides. “Because we live a free life damnit! We’re a mixed bag, sure I know some of them are affiliated as heroes, but most of them sink ships for fun! If anything, if they know I’m being recruited by a hero, they’ll be livid.” He made a little gesture with his hand. “It’s their main income to sink ships, so naturally I should help ‘em out.”

Krysten has a different answer to Skye’s query. 
“Imagine if you were a very loyal follower of a person. Now imagine this person in question joins the group of somebody much cooler and much more powerful. That’s exactly what’s happening here.” Both Rico and Skye stared at Krysten.

“I don’t really see the cool part but ok.” Skye flatly commented.
“Krysten, you are not cool nor powerful” Rico grinned, in unison with Skye.

“Yes, I am. Trust.” The yellow-robed mage was at the end of his wits. With one hand on his own chest, his words were loud and clear, full of his pride.

Dirk? Still complaining. Still able to bark back to Krysten’s words. “I caught him so I have a right to turn him in– oh and by the way, by helping him escape, you’d be making yourself liable to prosecution,” He threatened.

“I was the one who hit him first.” Skye snapped back as if that helped.

The two men Dirk and Krysten stare at each other with intense hatred. Rico fixed his witch hat and rummaged through his pocket to pull out what seemed to be a chunk of pie. He eats it as he watches them fight over who gets to turn him in.

A good couple while of staring before Krysten backed out. This is stupid, he’s not supposed to make beef towards someone, he has more pressing matters in hand. He clicks his tongue, giving Dirk an annoyed look. “Eh, I don’t really care. Now Rico, let’s just dip. Get your crewmates, while I paint the ship white and yellow.” Krysten sighed, hopping off Dirk’s sailboat and heading to his own to grab some paint. The crewmates of Rico followed him, perhaps in an attempt to stop him from painting their ship off its natural timber colour.

Krysten is away. Silently, Rico tries to sneak through to get a couple of weapons from Dirk’s trunk; A golden opportunity he could not miss out on. Skye’s still there, and she saw him take some stuff from the trunk but it’s not her stuff so uh. But, she doesn’t care. She turned to Krysten, her focus following him. “I guess the situation is resolved now or something?”

As Skye’s focus was not on the pirate, Rico’s still kneeling by the trunk with Dirk looking away as well. Rustle, rustle, the sound of him blindly dipping his hands into the pile of junk before pulling out a wooden bow. A poor quality one but eh. He took 5 arrows and slipped them somewhere between his dress. He then stood up, brushing his dress off the dust. With a little swing and a sway, he calmly stepped away from the boat.

“Are you guys done here? I’ll take my leave.” He smiled and waved goodbye to walk back to his ship. Alas, the girl snapped back to earth; She grabbed Rico before he could walk off.

“Hey, you stay here or you get another poison blast to the face.” The man jolted.
“Ehh...” He chuckled. “I thought that could work.”

By walking away in plain sight? Skye’s gaze remained stern. "Also I saw you steal that bow. Might want to put it back before you get caught." With one hand, she tries to get ahold of the bow Rico is holding. “You mean this?” Rico pulls out an arrow and immediately stretches the bow, holding onto the nocking point and aiming straight to Skye’s face.

This caught the attention of Dirk and Krysten again, to which they both stared blankly at the duo.

Krysten sighed.
“Actually, this isn’t worth it. Rico, come with me, I’m turning you in.”

Chapter Text

The bow glows in an orange hue. The manic grin is back on Rico’s face—Ho boy, it’s time for him to strike again. Skye? Her face remained unamused. Instead, she grabbed the arrow, snapping it.

“Flimsy, pal.”

Rico barked out a laugh. His ears remained oblivious to what Krysten said, he was far away from the light mage—and he was a bit deaf. 

“RICO!” From the side, Krysten shouted out when the blow from Rico was delivered. “I said I’m just gonna turn you in!” His words were like fuzzy static to Skye, though. Not listening to what Krysten had to say, her palm glowed a tint of purple—growing the circled matrix, and ready to release a spell. 

She took a step back, raising her hand to Rico’s face. Skye hollered, gritting her teeth. “Eat this! ARROW!”

Her magic circle released a poison blast that took the shape of an arrow— exactly like what the name might’ve implied. A flash of light blasted over to Rico’s direction as well. Following up on Skye’s attack, was it an attempt to block her? Or was he trying to attack Rico as well? “This is my prey, Skye,” Krysten grumbled at Skye, closer than ever. “I got the last and first hit, I believe.”

Then it was only silence. The sound surrounding them felt like a foggy blur, completely incoherent. A wave of explosion on the ground deafened their ears–and it came from the direction of Rico, right beneath him, shielding him from the attack of those two.

“Cascade.” Between the ringing in the ears and ashes in the air, Rico calmly stated his spell. A large shockwave explosion was cast, and it knocked both heroes back as well as charring them. A splash from Skye as she fell into the sea while Krysten was knocked to the bar, reopening his old wounds.

The piers broke into splinters, and Rico himself dropped to the sea with the docks destroyed, though he quickly recovered and jumped towards the nearest intact flooring. The yellow-robed mage rushed back to the edge, his eye flared with anger staring down at the pirate. As a response, Rico grinned. To see the bounty hunters getting pissed at him brings him joy.

“That’s it!” Krysten summoned a circle, clenching his teeth as his breath shortened. The shock sent him back, knocked over to the bar, reopening his wounds. “I’m not fucking playing anymore!” A yellow glow surrounds Krysten. Aura, and that would enhance his speed. Shortly after charging, he fired a beam at Rico only this time it was noticeably faster. The pirate was nimble even in the dress, he dodged to a side and returned Krysten’s favour by blasting 2 beams from him as well.

Skye popped her head out of the water, getting on the dock while taking out her bow and arrows. Doing a leap spell, she points the bow upwards and releases a volley of arrows.

“Poison Magic: Rain of Arrows!”

Lo, half of the battlefield was already gone by Rico’s attack. And now, the air itself was denied by the – like the name of the attack – Rain of Arrows. The pirate did not expect the incoming arrows, and thus he is showered by a bunch of arrows, stabbing deep into him. As Rico was shortly paralysed by the poisonous arrows and the pain of the arrowheads jabbing deep into his flesh, Krysten took the sweet opportunity to jump down.

“Well, I’ll need to do it myself.” Krysten goes in close and hits Rico with a point-blank snare. The speed was now too fast even for Rico to follow. Being stunned by the pain did not help as well, and like a chain combo, he too was trapped into a snaring spell, locking his body in place.

A decisive victory for Krysten. He walked up to the man, and with a smug smirk he grabbed the man who was wriggling weakly on the floor. With the lift of Krysten, Rico stopped putting up a fight. He relaxed his body, the blood dripping from his wounds and dress felt warm as his cold body slowly went limp.

During all this fight, Dirk contemplated a little before acting. This was definitely a precarious situation... for his boat. Whatever he did would be risky, but in the heat of the moment he decided to capsize his own boat: he put his hands on the front end of the deck, then threw his legs in the air and used rapid, forceful airsteps to push himself and the bow below the surface. Since it was a small boat, he knew he would be able to bring it back up later, though with some damage, no doubt. It was… for nought, as the fight took place at the piers anyway.

Skye jumps upwards, giving Krysten a thumbs up.

“Wasn’t really after his bounty anyway. Also might want to do something about those arrows, my poison’s pretty toxic.”

Like a classic Krysten move, he’d completely ignore Skye’s compliment. “This is my bounty and my galleons. I’m out of here.” He dashed onto his caravel, before setting sail and entering the Bronze Seas.

That… Was a dick move. Skye walks over to the bounty board, ignoring her charred wounds. They’ll heal over time anyway. Looking at the board, she looks at what other bounty there is... oh? It’s her rival. Ripping the paper off the board, she headed off to hunt the person.

Poor Dirk goes to buy some rope to pull his sailboat back up again. He thought sinking the boat would protect it from any potential damage above, yet instead, the damage that it caused was a headache and a half for her captain.

Chapter Text

The sea was calm. The yellow-white boat glistened with the sun and the ocean. On board is Krysten, alongside the newly captured criminal, Rico.

Krysten woke Rico up and proceeded to make him another healing potion which he would force-feed Rico. Jamming the bottle to the unconscious man, he tilted the bottle to make sure all of the green liquid was ingested. Well… Rico almost choked on it again but this time he just drank it, waking up just in time before he drowned.

He gave Krysten a stink-eye, groaning a little as he heaved himself back up. “Never do that again, please,” He cringed as his eyes scanned his body. Rico inspected his wounds and tried to pull out the arrows that were rained upon him. “Et,” Krysten extended one arm, halting the man before he could pull one.

"Don't pull those out." He warned, Rico gazed at the head of the arrows and then sighed. He fully understood what Krysten meant; There are no ship surgeons right now to handle the heads properly. "Just stay on your back," The yellow-robed mage took another step forward, kneeling beside the criminal as he inspected the wounds. "There's this cool thing called gravity, so you'll bleed less."

For once, Rico was cooperative. The man nods and stays down, his tattered dress cushioning his seating and with the thickness of his black-and-white maid dress, it served well as a bandage too. “... So…” He queried,  “Why do you want to recruit me in the first place again? Before well, letting myself get executed. Again.”

Krysten clicks his tongue as he tries to loop a bandage around Rico’s arm. "Because you're actually strong, and would be very useful in a combat scenario. Just misguided," His eyes are still staring down at the wounds, focusing on healing the criminal. "Also, I need two people to dig for any charts to a scroll, for more efficiency."

Hearing that, Rico can’t help but smile a little. “Awww, thank you.”

“So, what's next?” Krysten patted his hand, standing back up and looked to the horizon. Rico repositioned himself to make sure he didn’t misplace broken bones, if any. The red-haired man tilted his head a little, thinking about his moves. “Well, now I'll have to explain why I got recruited by the navy,” He put up one finger, then two. “And, you said it to yourself, you're the cap'n,” His smile grew wider. “I'm following whatever you want me to do, of course.”

"True. We should probably focus on doing some good, and then recruiting a third member." Krysten walked back to the middle of the deck, fiddling with the sails as he thought of a destination to go. 

“Is sinking navy ships not good? They do more property damage than I do,” Rico pitched his idea, with the reply being a shook of a head from Krysten.

“Also, what is your magic that you're aiming to get?” His focus goes back to the criminal on deck. He tried to remain straight-faced, though there was this nagging thought behind Krysten’s mind that Rico does look a bit silly with the witch hat and the maid dress. Thankfully his figure was pretty slim, so that helps a little.

“Magic..?” Rico raised his eyebrow, thinking about what to answer. “What do you mean what magic I'm aiming to get?” Wasn’t explosion enough for him? Though, admittedly Rico does feel a bit iffy about his magic…

"Actually, do you even know about those?" Ho boy, an uneducated criminal, Krysten thought. That was replied with Rico shaking his head as well. "They're more powerful versions of magics," Krysten continued, now sitting near Rico.

“Hmm..?” Rico pursed his lips, what does he mean by that?

“I remember there being... Gravity, Storm, and the one I'm searching for, Aether.” Krysten lists the magic on top of his head. Only when Krysten mentioned those magics, something clicked in Rico’s mind.

“Oh... that kind... I think I've heard gists of it” The idea of receiving Lost magic sounds interesting to Rico, but even then, would it be possible for one to learn one at this age? It was called lost for a good reason. Even more impressive if one could learn Ancient magic; More arcane and perhaps volatile forms of magic.

“So, let me chart this out,” Krysten stated his roadmap to Rico. "1. Clear your name. 2. Search for clues on lost magic. 3. Recruit more people."

That sounds good enough. The red-haired man nodded. “Mmmmm... I like my name on the board actually, They could see my handsome face, heh ” he chuckled. Clearing his name would mean someone would have to burn his list of misdeeds at the Navy’s archive.

“There will be Grand Navy ships after us in 2 days tops,” Krysten squinted, his eyes now focusing on an incoming island. A lush-looking green island filled with trees. “That's all the time we have."

A shrug from Rico, he’s indifferent about that statement.

Chapter Text

Forest of Cernunno. It is a standalone island with lots of trees. One might mistake the place as some sort of forest, and it’s true. A humid swamp where a powerful wizard named Cernunno allegedly has a company of fervent followers. They called themselves Greenwish Cult, and they would set up camps around the place, guarding and waiting for the leader to come back. The density of the trees would also serve as a good hiding spot, be it the criminals or heroes who are tracking down the criminals between the thick shading. This one person was no exception.

Dammit, dammit! Another loss to their rival. A tree sets aflame in the damp forest, before being punched down into the shallow water. Crossing their arms, they pace around in frustration. Meet Decker, a rival of Skye, and right now, malding for the fact that they have once again lost to the bird brain.

A boat docked on the short cliffs of the island. Krysten wandered through the forest, as he had landed here while sailing looking for the ‘White Eyes’ he had heard somebody talk about. The forest’s fog didn’t let him see far, but as he walked through he saw Decker, seething.

The ground around Decker is burnt to a crisp, and any trees in a good radius are either punched to smithereens, burnt or burning. A fire Warlock by the looks of it, and a very pissed one. If Krysten looked at the bounty boards recently, they may recognize Decker as ‘The Searing Blaze’. Quite a force to be dealt with.

But it looks like Krysten hadn’t looked at the boards, though, due to him being at sea for a while monster hunting. He’d look at the stranger, and ask: “Hey, what are you doing out here?”

“Huh-?! Oh, what.”

A fist was reared back ready to punch, though paused upon seeing Krysten not recognizing him. Up and down, he scanned the individual… “Just letting my rage out if that’s not obvious, bud.”

“I’m just trying to see if you’re fine, don’t patronize me, man. And anyway, this place seems completely fine. Why are you burning it down?” Same old Krysten being clueless.

“I just said- I’m letting my rage out!” Their fist flares out in flames, making a jumping leap at a tree and sending the poor trunk flying into the distance.

“Wouldn’t you get pissed if you lose a fight against your sworn nemesis?!”

Krysten’s unfazed by the brunette in the red coat. “It’s not really that deep, wouldn’t you say? I mean, as long as I don’t die, who really cares?”

“I’d much rather be killed than read my name in the news of getting my ass kicked for the tenth time this week.” They put their fist in the water, cooling it down.

“The hell you doing here for anyways? Aside from the Greenwish Cult, this place is just a weird forest.”

“Greenwish Cult? Interesting. I’ll probably mark this place down and come back later to investigate. But anyway, I’m here because I got lost. And you’re here because you willingly chose to fight your rival who mysteriously seems to beat you every encounter?”

“Nah we come across each other either by coincidence or with one of us hunting the other. Typically me.” Getting up, Decker shook the water off their hand and dried it off on their ragged scarlet cloak. Turning their body, they face Krysten raising an eyebrow.

“... As for the Greenwish cult, they’re a bunch of hooligans that believe in some weird entity and that's what this forest is named after. Cernunno. How the hell do you not know this shit?”

“Because I’ve never been here before, duh. And Cernunno... I’ve heard that guy’s name in the books. Made a few offerings, but no results. I’ll check it out later.” The mind of Krysten flew back to the other man in his boat. Rico fell asleep in Krysten’s boat. Too tired from the entire ordeal on top of the fact he hadn’t slept the night before.

Hearing all that, Decker smacks their lips. This man on their opposite, what a hassle. “Suit yourself if you’re that reckless.”

The conversation distracted them from their anger and eventually calmed down to the point where they were now sitting down. They’re still wary of Krysten though, not letting their guard down. Their side had some bandages... a wound?

“Consider yourself lucky that I’m injured right now or you’d get a flamethrower in your face.”

Flamethrower? Really? Krysten folded his arms. “I’m not scared or anything, I mean, even in my current state I could still probably beat you. Eventually, even Averill will bow down to me.”

“The fuck is Averill-?”

Decker squinted at Krysten at the mention, having never heard of such a place or being. They don’t deny being beaten though, they’re currently an easy target. Krysten himself? He’s thinking about this uneducated criminal to be able to roam free around War Seas.

“Averill’s the leader of the Shining Pirates, and the most powerful light user in both the War and Seven Seas.” He continued. Perhaps, this convo was stroking his ego for how much knowledge he knew.

“Uh-huh. A light user. I’d be more scared of an explosion.”

Either Decker taunting or... they don’t believe him. Seven Seas? Never heard of it. Nimbus? Yes. Bronze? Yes. The cluster of them all being War Seas? Obviously. But Seven Seas? Truly, Krysten’s smirk grew wider and wider.

“Well, that’s not exactly a good comparison. An explosion is actually pretty scary, and I do have one on the ship. RICO!”

…

Krysten’s focus turned to his back. He clapped his hands, any form of noise would perhaps attract the attention of the drag, yet… 

Rico didn’t hear anything. He’s in a deep sleep. The distance between Krysten and the ship cemented his slumber. Being half deaf does wonders drowning most of the background noises, and Krysten’s distant voice unfortunately fell into that category.

Awkward silence.

“Excuse me what the fu-”
“Well, you get my point. And actually, light’s pretty strong. If us light mages didn't become weaker over time, we'd kick ass even harder.” Krysten waved his hand.

“It’s fast at the cost of firepower. Can’t have one without losing the other."Decker chuckled, flicking a small flame in their hand. Though they extinguish it shortly after. “The best you can do is light up a cave but you can’t keep someone warm.”

The light mage can’t help but shrug at the statement. “True, but if something’s not fast it can be easily dodged. When’s the last time you’ve seen a successful juggernaut out on the seas?”

“Aside from being a pain for how long it takes to beat them, they’re pretty pathetic. Where are you goin’ with this random switch?”
“I’m saying that quantity over quality in most cases.”

“Huh?” Decker stared at Krysten in confusion. This is the first time they’ve ever heard anyone say the opposite of that motto.

“You got a loose screw in your head?”

“No, but what I’m saying is that the more attacks you can throw out, the more likely your opponent will be dead.”

“Considering the weaknesses of light magic... I suppose you got a point there. Though at the same time, could make it better than just spamming the same various spells and being predictable as fuck. Have the right defences you'd be just an annoying woodpeckering pest.”

“True. So, do you ever get tired of getting beat by your rival all the time? Want something more?”

The switch of topic again. “Sure, sure. Like how her poison is flammable and yet she’s able to strategize to use that against me somehow? She knows she can’t beat me in a fist fight so she resorts to cowardly yet effective moves.”

The hook. “Sure. So, I know that your life is probably pretty meaningless currently, and there's a little crew I’m running. We’re looking for a third member, and I think you'd fit well.” Krysten grinned.

Decker stared at Krysten, their mouth hung slightly ajar. They quickly composed themself. "The fuck?” They snapped. “...What do you think I am, some stranded castaway fresh for recruitment? Mind you, I’m a fucking criminal.”

“Ok. So, yes or no?” 

… That reply only made Decker take a step back. Now they’re dumbfounded. This guy... huh? They let out a sigh, the urge to facepalm had never been this strong before.

“Why the hell do I keep meeting the most insane of people on a regular basis,” Decker mumbled, their face cringed by Krysten’s question. Just before they open their mouth to reply, a loud explosion can be heard from a distance. Krysten furrowed his brows, turning his body towards the source. Decker raised their brow, instead confused by the noise.

“Rico! Whatever you’re doing, stop.” Krysten tried to calmly subdue the man, though what replied from between the trees was the sound of fire crackling. “... Godammit.” He ran over to the ship, in hopes that his boat would be still in one piece.

He kissed his hopes goodbye as he saw the burnt sails, blackened timber, and Rico with a shit-eating grin standing in the middle of everything. Krysten has made one big mistake. A stupid one but proven fatal: He forgot to cuff the criminal.

The man has scoured through Krysten’s ship to gather his weapons back, as well as taking his time to pull all the poison arrows that had rained down upon him earlier. With all his wounds bandaged and neatly treated, Rico would not hesitate to go for a second round.

Decker kicked a rock into the water, watching Krysten run off. They waited a bit then followed, though hidden behind the foliage of the forest. Free entertainment, and this man wanted them to join his crew when he didn’t know how to control one man.

“Rico, I swear to god if you don’t cut this bullshit out I am gonna melt your skin off with a light explosion strong enough to put your face up your ass and make you sing Beethoven.” Krysten’s steps hastened, one hand already glowing yellow brightly. But all that threat doesn’t bother the drag.

“Alright! That should do- Oh hi!” Rico turned to Krysten, that smile on his face was still there as Krysten huffed towards him.

From the tree they were hiding in, Decker recognizes the arrows...

“Tch... so they came in contact with her of all fuckin’ people.” They could act, though they decided to wait. For now.

Rico wheezed, coughing out the pressure from his body. “This should even us out. You took me in, but that doesn’t mean you have the right to control me.” He winked, it truly is funny to see the mage grumbling in anger.

“I never wanted to control you! You’re a backstabbing dickhead that I decided to give another chance and you screw me over like this?” Krysten shouted, and all that shouting was treated like how Krysten treated all common sense that was hammered by all the people he met before: Ignored. Rico walked him, his pace relaxed like a stroll in the woods.

Never wanted to control him? Rico rolled his eyes upon hearing that. He heed no further, and continued his walk. “...There should be a shipwright here. I’ll call my mates here rather than just waiting for you doing god knows what. And since when did I backstab you?” That was his reply as he walked deeper into the woods. Krysten trotted to him, following the man as he traversed through the forest.

“So what’s your endgame here?” Krysten’s holding back his anger.

Of course, Rico has to return the favour of all the people before: He keeps ignoring the man. Aside from the weapons, Rico seemed to have some blueprints and scrolls between the folds of his dress. From his belt, two scrolls, from his hidden pockets, ten prints neatly folded. Krysten waited for an answer, yet the man kept walking towards the east side, looking for the shipwright. He just needs to sell his blueprints for extra money.

Krysten’s giving a chance for Rico to answer. The next five minutes have proven that Cernunno has created way more noise than the maid man. With the rustling trees and the crunch of the grass with each of their steps, Krysten has finally snapped at the blatant disrespect.

“That’s it!”

He charged his magic energy, using his aura before firing off a beam in Rico’s direction. With the speed aura and the already-known properties of light magic, this was sure to hit. And a hit did it land; Rico got hit on the back and knocked to the front, tripping him down. This, however, somehow does not offend him, instead gives Krysten a stink eye and laughs it off. It hurts, but he still manages to move forward.

Decker watched from the trees, smirking to themself as the situation below them unfolded. If only they had popcorn. Wait, does popcorn even exist in the 1800s?
(A/N: yes they do, but not commercial.)

“This is stupidly entertaining…” They grinned, hopping from tree to tree as to silently follow the two of them.

To the fumbled man, Rico—he looked back at Krysten, laughed it off, and continued walking towards. Krysten fired off another shot. “Fight back.”

Light as an element was fast, but before the blast could reach him, Rico dodged it as if he fully expected another attack. He turned his body towards Krysten, one arm clutching all of his scrolls of blueprint, one other outstretched towards the man. A giant, orange arcane circle appeared below Krysten.

“Well, do it again . I dare you.” Rico flattened his lips; Unimpressed and truthfully, getting tired of Krysten’s antics.

And so he did. Krysten charged right at Rico, trying to hit a snare and recover his items. A light scoff from Rico as he snapped his finger. He immediately releases the spell.

“Nuclear Explosion.”

Chapter Text

The next thing Krysten knew, searing hot air blew behind his back, knocking him far ahead. A bright flash of light temporarily blinds him, the ground caved in, and the sound was so loud, just for a moment he could hear ringing in his ears. A literal pillar of the mushroom cloud was where Krysten was standing before, blowing hot smoke and air.

Thanks to Decker hiding in a tree and at a decent distance, they weren’t overly impacted. Although the knockback was enough to send them tumbling out of the tree and into the water.

Rico winced upon his spell being activated, even though he too was standing within a reasonable distance, he would still be impacted by the shockwave that came afterwards. He panted for a moment after casting the spell, before making a run for it towards the shipwright. He can’t cast more spells after a time being now; That spell cost him too much energy.

Krysten was blown back into a tree, as shrapnel from around the area flew into his torso. Even then, he got back up and followed the criminal, shooting quick light dragons each chance he got.  The pirate tried his best to dodge everything, but of course, running away wouldn’t save him from the raging light mage. He got hit multiple times, but not before he had this brilliant idea to suddenly turn around and head deeper into the forest with the last of his might.

Decker came out of the water, holding their side while hissing in pain. Ow... the wound might’ve reopened. Crawling out of the water, they check on their wound as they see Rico running deeper into the forest.

“... That guy’s gonna meet the damn cult.” He whispered, swimming back to shore.

That was Rico’s intention.  He ran past the dreaded camp he knew well. Once accidently stumbled there, and he’ll do it again. Zig-zagging between the moss-green camps, he ran and swiftly climbed up the ladders after dodging the angry tree huggers. Standing at the end of the ledge was Cerynx, the archon of the cult.

While the Archon was surprised, Rico only stood there with the biggest grin on his face. He looked back to the ground below: Krysten gave chase to him, and livid was not an intense enough word to describe the mage.

“Alright, it’s time to end this.” Krysten flew after Rico, and when he thought his energy might’ve run out, he charged up his ultimate attack.

“ULTIMATE ART: GRAND FLASH!” 

The forest erupted in burns, as Krysten would be heavily tired out by this attack, but unlike Rico, he had a second element of magic to spare.

Like the explosion before, the light flashbanged everyone, that would include Decker who was about to approach the group. Rico was blasted by the incoming attack... but so was Cerynx. He fumbled back, falling to the cliff. Cerynx shook his head and glared at Krysten with rage in his eyes.

And while Rico coughed on the ground – perhaps breaking a bone or two after not only getting knocked back by the art but also falling pretty far down – there was hope lingering in his heart. His only hope is now the angry cult leader. That’s right: Rico purposefully went to the camp to make sure Krysten attacked the leader so that the man could do the curb stomping for him.

Cerynx dashed towards Krysten. A huge earthy branch immediately spiked up below him. In retaliation, Krysten hits him with a flurry of light arrows, blinding him for the time being while he hides in the bushes. “ YOU DARE TO WALK INTO OUR TERRITORY AND… ” Cerynx looked around in surprise, “... Decimated our place…”

His worries were soon distracted by Krysten’s barrage of attacks. He immediately shielded with another spike, before doing a reply by lobbing earth chunks towards Krysten. The yellow-robed mage squatted, thinking of the options he had. He can only ponder shortly before Cerynx dashes through one of the bushes and stomps down, blasting the earth around him.

“Nope, this isn’t worth my time.” That was the man’s conclusion. Krysten gets out of there as soon as possible, while shooting the occasional light arrows at Cernyx to blind him a little. He kept giving chase to the criminal. Those little jabs worked extremely well towards the earth mage. Cerynx was blinded by the arrow as he tried to give chase towards Krysten, but before he could launch another attack, what greeted him was the destroyed terrain that he caused beforehand. Dejected, he can only head back to his shed, and clean the mess.

Whatever happened to Decker? Rubbing their eyes, they finally could properly see. As for their wound, yup. It’s reopened and slowly bleeding. Ugh. They begin to limp before seeing the continued destruction in the distance. “Tch…”

Rico was no longer around the area. Despite all of his injuries, Rico does not want to die in some forest. He kept running and running, Krysten continued to chase after Rico, knowing that both of them would soon be out of energy. He’s confident of this, and this confidence would probably be the one thing he could back it up because Rico, on the other hand, pants as he collapsed on one of the cliffs. 

He has drained his energy to cast that one spell, and chased around the huge forest with little to no time to rest, not to mention his earlier wounds have reopened with his brash movements. 

“Mages. And the bounty hunter . If they caught me again there is no chance for me getting saved while being executed.” He mumbled.

And he’s fully aware. Currently, he has no one he can contact right now, as they are all busy either getting chased down by the Navies or for the Heroes—who don’t want to tarnish their reputation. For a man of his calibre, a capital sentence would await him if Krysten managed to capture him. Must he surrender though? No, if he surrenders, his bounty would be the least of his concerns. He has a clan to run—unfortunately, and he has nothing to repair his ship so that he can escape, so ironically, his only hope right now is to sell his remaining goods to the shipwright before reclaiming any more stuff.

So close, yet so far . The shipwright was near, Rico planted his arm onto the ground to stand back up before a sharp pain hit him in the face. Krysten finally caught up to Rico, and without wasting a second he punched him onto the ground. He took a sharp inhale, one hand preparing a beam of light—aimed directly at Rico.

Decker made it over to the cliff they’re on, though they can’t get up there without risking opening their wound further.

“You two done scuffling up there like cahoots?! You really pissed off the Greenwish.”

Another surprise for Decker, as the scene they saw by the ledge was nothing but bright light. “Say goodbye to your leg.” With a quick gesture, Krysten fired off the charged-up beam of energy, completely decimating Rico’s leg from point blank.

Rico’s irises constricted. He gritted his teeth as Krysten blasted his leg off, only a yelp that came out from him as he had no energy to scream. All he could do is to hiss in pain on the ground as the warm crimson liquid pooled on the ground. Krysten looked to Decker by the ledge, his face remaining placid.

“Decker, we’re done. Are you coming, or not?” His voice, however, juxtaposed his current demeanour. It doesn’t take a psychologist to tell that Krysten was pissed to its end. He looked to Rico again, before shrugging and switching back. “I need a new quartermaster anyway.”

Flabbergasted, Decker paused. “...”

They give it some thought... they do need their wound checked or they could risk infection or worse, bleeding to death. And they now saw the lengths Krysten would go at the betrayal, so loyalty, at least temporary, is demanded . Well, not like they’ve done it once before. A short reflection before Decker clicked their tongue.

“Fine, I’ll join your damn crew.”

Krysten nodded approvingly. He circled his arm around Rico to drag him back to his ship. “Good, let’s go. I’ll make you a healing potion.” That’s all he said to Decker as he carried the 70kg meat. Decker followed him from behind, leaving the crime scene without much thought.

For Rico, the cold swamp air suddenly felt warm. How many times has he blacked out today? Doesn’t matter, there is a chance this might be his last anyway. He closed his eyes, feeling tired and in pain.