The sea was calm as I stood at the helm of my brand-new sloop, the Hellbound Phoenix. A fitting name, I thought—hellbound for the destruction I planned to rain upon the seas, and phoenix because no matter how many times she sank, she would rise again, stronger than before. And, of course, because I fully intended to set as many ships ablaze as possible.
With fiery cosmetics set, bare-bones supplies purchased, and my cannons primed, there was only one proper way to christen my new warship: battle.
Raising the Reaper’s Emissary flag, I aligned with the Servants of the Flame and activated the Hourglass of Fate. The ocean churned beneath me, and with a deep, ominous groan, the sea answered my challenge. Another sloop surfaced from the depths, its hull gleaming in the sun—my first prey.
The battle began.
I maneuvered swiftly, tucking behind the enemy vessel and locking onto her stern. The wind filled my sails as I rained cannonballs onto her hull, one after another, relentless and unyielding. Planks splintered, masts groaned, and smoke billowed from the wounds I inflicted. She twisted and turned, trying to shake me, but I was the shadow in her wake, a specter of fire and fury.
Then came the counterstrike.
A splash—then the clang of steel. A boarder.
I spun, sword drawn, but before I could react, the enemy pirate was upon me. We clashed, blades flashing, the deck slick with sea spray and blood. I fought, but I wasn’t yet the duelist I aspired to be. With a final, brutal strike, I fell.
The world went black.
The Ferry of the Damned welcomed me in eerie silence. I paced impatiently, the toll of my defeat tempered only by a single thought: Did I take them with me?
The doors opened. Light swallowed me whole, and I awoke back on my ship—Hellbound Phoenix, still afloat, still fighting.
Flames licked at her deck, the scent of burning wood thick in the air. I scrambled to the water barrel, dousing the blaze, coughing as smoke stung my eyes. Then, over the crackling fire, I heard it—the eerie silence of the ocean. No cannon fire, no creaking hull, no desperate cries of an enemy crew.
I peered over the railing.
The other sloop was gone.
The sea had claimed her, swallowed her whole in my absence. Victory was mine.
With a triumphant grin, I turned my battered ship toward port. Hellbound Phoenix had been christened in fire and battle, and she had prevailed.
And this?
This was only the beginning.
