—CRASH!!—

The sound of glass shattering, wood splintering, and a cacophony filled the air on this warm summer night. It would seem a brawl had broken out within the walls of the tavern, the origin long lost in drunken haze. It was by no small miracle that this scene was yet contained within the walls, though this wouldn’t last long.

Another crash could be heard, this time accompanied by a body falling to the street outside after being thrown through a window. The form hit the street and rolled, standing in one fluid motion and brushing himself off. His shirt was torn at one shoulder, his right sleeve now hanging from his wrist by the cuff and revealing a ball-jointed arm of a mechanical nature, though unlike that seen today. Those who knew the work of the goddess Shiloh might recognize the work. “Alright,” he said with a fierce grin as he stalked back towards the tavern’s door, “We’ll play it your way then!”



Before he could reach the door, though, bodies tumbled out as the fighting finally spilled out; drunken punches and kicks reaching every which way. A hand reached out, seizing Kale’s ankle and pulling it out from beneath him as to send him to the ground. The owner of said hand pulled himself out from beneath the mass of grappling drunks, never releasing the ankle. The figure stood, hauling Kale up and holding him upside down off the ground with a wicked smile plastered upon a scarred face. “You owe me a ship,” the gorilla sneered, “You sank me ship and left us for dead!”



“Now, now,” Kale chided with a mischievously, “I dinnae leave people to die. Ye had the islands right there on the horizon! S'not my fault ye’ve got no sense of humor!” The brute apparently did not appreciate this; he responded by tossing the admittedly smaller man against the wall of another building nearby. Kale struck with a thud loud enough to be heard over the drunken din and fell once more to the ground. Slowly, he picked himself back up as the gigantic fiend approached.

Yup, he thought, it’s going to be one of those nights. At least Angela won't ruin this one; it's not like I'm trying to die this time.

The brawling in the Winking Mermaid was decent background noise as she prepared for a meal. Her stomach was growling just as loud as punches being throne. Travelling around the ancient ruins of Canelux for ancient tax records left little time for a sit down with some good food. The barmaid made her way through the brawling and gave her a delicious roast chicken, sliced with vegetables lining the edge of the plate. It wasn't as fancy as some places but the smell was mouthwatering.

She placed her fork into the meal, tearing some of the meat off. Just as she was about to take a bite of the heavenly meal, a man was thrown at her table and fell out of one of the windows. Time seemed to slow down as the precious chicken flew off the table and shattered on the floor. Before she even had the chance to retrieve the precious chicken, it got trampled by the tavern brawlers. 

"OKAY THAT'S IT YOU BITCHES ARE DEAD!" She shouted in rage. 

She picked up the table and threw it at one of the brawlers in the tavern who had stepped on her precious meal. Then she took one of the chairs and a bottle then went outside to join the brawl outside. Her temper was terrible and she wanted to beat the shit out of anybody she could get her hands on. She saw a random large brute and set the chair down. Dala aimed the bottle at his head and threw it as hard as she could. Then she threw the chair for good measure. 

"You bastards better say your fucking prayers you assholes!"

Who cared if this brute was bigger than her or stronger? She just wanted to beat the shit out of someone. More brawlers from the tavern entered the scene and a medium sized man punched her across the face while the brute just focused on Kale. Dala got back to her feet in a matter of seconds and lunged at him, knocking him over then sending a series of punches to the medium guy's face. Dala stood back up and stomped hard on his crotch, using full force and a scream of pain filled the air. 

Snorting laughter burst forth from Kale as he watched a bottle and chair crash into the gorilla of a man. He couldn’t see who had thrown the objects, but more than appreciated it. As he rose, he held out a hand, “Wait, wait. Surely we can talk about this, yeh?” His eyes locked with the brute’s and, for the large fiend, the world around him faded. A sledgehammer fist rose and the man began punching himself. “Why ye hittin’ yerself,” Kale repeated with each strike in a singsong manner, laughing all the while.

After a few strikes, the light in the brute’s eyes went out with what little remained of his consciousness. Kale lowered his hand and the gorilla crumpled to the ground, alive but very much unconscious. Stepping over the knocked out giant, he spoke up “Right then, which of ye’s next?”

Unbeknown to Kale, the rest of the man’s crew had been part of this brawl as well. As their eyes went from their comrade to Kale, they wormed their way free. One whipped a plate through the air, just missing Kale’s head. He paused a moment, “Alright, tha’ answers tha’, then. Bring it on!”

A fist met with the side of Kale’s face, sending him to the ground once more. It seemed he’d slipped in his time of isolation in Khoisan. Damn. He kicked, knocking the assailant’s ankle out from under him and bringing him down to his level. Kale scrambled, landing a right hook and taking the man out of the fight. “Blindsidin’ prat,” he spat, just in time to get tackled. Just how many more of this lot were there!? “Tha’s it,” he roared. The man who’d tackled him was now careening through the air, sailing into the very heart of the brawling mass. 



A tankard raced through the air, once again missing its mark by a hair. Whoever was tossing things at Kale was an awful shot and only succeeding in pissing him off. His right arm shifted, splitting up the arm, opening to reveal a strange contraption coursing with electricity and what looked to be a small cannon opening. The arm discharged, electrical energy struck the man throwing objects at Kale and sent him convulsing on the floor, effectively removing him from play. The arm collapsed, closing up before falling to his side. Yes, Kale was most definitely out of practice.

Just as she finished stomping the man's crotch, another person came up behind her and grabbed her by the shoulders. She grabbed his wrist and threw him over her shoulder, slamming him onto the ground. Then she picked him up and slammed his face into the rough stone ground. After a kick to the head, he was out for the count. Dala turned around to see a man with a strange arm that looked familiar somehow but she couldn't exactly remember where it was. Then he shot out the electricity at the dude throwing stuff at him when she suddenly remembered what it was familiar to. Before she could say anything, another brawler grabbed her and picked her off of the ground. Dala quickly bite down on his arm as hard as she could. The man screamed and tried to shake the woman off. 

"Get her off! Get her off!" He screeched trying to push her off. 

She slammed her fist into his face and sent him flying. Then she snatched another one of the brawlers and picked him up above her head. She then remembered the arm and looked towards Kale. 

"Hey do you know Shiloh?! That arm reminds me of one of her stuff!" She shouted at Kale. 

Another brawler was trying to sneak up behind Kale. She threw the man she was holding at the brawler and send them both to the ground. These were one of the times she wished she had magic. Dala could do without magic but it always made things seem more cool when there were fireballs and lightning being thrown around. If only she didn't have the weak light magic affiliation she could have done something even more cool. Instead she just tackled another brawler and began pulling on his hair until he began crying. 

The name ‘Shiloh’ caught his attention, his eyes settling on a blonde throwing punches on par with the best of brawlers. “Uh, aye; ancient magitech,” he said perplexed, becoming distracted. Normally, he’d have a better sense of things going on, but he’d spent a long time removed from adventure and excitement. He had no idea someone was closing in behind him until the woman tossed someone else. “Um, thank ye,” he said in a bit of a confused daze.



The metallic arm still hung limp at his side, a useless limb waiting for enough charge to begin moving again. Understandably, this caused some issues in a brawl, but luckily for Kale he’d spent a number of years with only his left arm before Shiloh crafted his metal one. The practice, however, didn’t help him avoid the knife that appeared in his leg. It seemed somebody was playing dirty; they’d used magic to get next to him and made the mistake of planting the knife in his leg. There was electricity dancing and sparking along the blade as it travelled from Kale’s blood to the knife-wielder. Their muscles locked as their body went rigid, unable to release the bloodied knife. “Eejit,” Kale scoffed, pulling the knife from his leg.

Reaching down with his working arm, he lifted the twitching man from the ground, hoisting him up by his shirt and throwing him at a figure readying a kick for Dala. “Figure I owed ye,” he said with a grin. He then vanished, a sea breeze stirring in the night’s air and ceasing when he reappeared back amid the mass. At the rate things were going, the guards would show up soon; when fights sprawled into the streets like this, the guards always showed up to ruin it. Kale made a note to himself to pay the woman’s tab after all this was done.

"Ha! I knew it!" Dala declared with satisfaction, "She always had interesting stuff like that!"

She could recognize that type of equipment anywhere. It had been many years since Shiloh was her teacher but she still remembered the unique mechanics in the temple and strange metal. Whoever this Kale was, probably had a connection with Shiloh in some way which was a good sign. The goddess was an excellent judge of character. Already she wanted to have a proper sit down with the fellow to chat about stuff. He was clearly an excellent fighter and knew a thing or two about magic. Even if hers wasn't working, she still liked to hear about it.

Dala battered a man over the head with a leg of that broken chair from earlier until he went down. Her back was turned to the figure readying a kick when suddenly a man was thrown at him, knocking him down and the figure was unable to escape the weight of the other man. She turned to see Kale and gave him a grin. Despite the occasional hit, the brawl had turned into a fun fight. But like all fun things, it would eventually have to end. She could hear the sound of soldiers marching in from a distance. Dala quickly ran over to Kale and snatched him by the wrist to attempt to drag him near the alley.

"Guards!" She explained with a grin, "And I don't plan on going to prison tonight!"

The alleyway was a dead-end but she didn't seem concerned in the slightest. Like a little rat, she managed to hop on the stacked barrels and use the wooden beam to climb up to the roof of a nearby building. She looked down at Kale with a little smirk.

"Well are you gonna get up here or what?" Dala asked.

The guards were close enough to hear now; the sound of their boots and the metal of their armor resounding off the building walls and stone street. It wasn’t like a cell could hold him, but it was still definitely time to get moving; getting arrested would only give Angela one more reason to laugh at him. He let out a heavy sigh; he could hear her teasing now: Imagine, a once deity of air captured by mere city guards. How the mighty have fallen!

The woman grabbed him by the wrist of his limp arm and pulled, his fingers starting to twitch with life once again. Dala pulled and Kale followed, racing down a dark alley to allude the city guard. As he slipped around the corner, he had the satisfaction of seeing the brute being picked up and placed in irons. Pure satisfaction.

They came to a dead end, but Dala simply began hopping up to the roof above, turning to smirk and tease. Kale raised an eyebrow before simply rising and setting down on the roof. “A gift from my past, you could say,” he said returning Dala’s smirk. “We should be fine here, but I’m not sure how long until we can go back into that tavern… At least not until the guards finish hauling away the rabble.” With the adrenaline leaving his system, Kale’s speech had noticeably changed; many centuries ago, his mentor had instilled a sense of propriety in him and taught him to present himself. For all his teaching, even Daniel slipped into the same patterns when worked up.



Kale took a seat on the edge of the roof, making sure he could see the scene below. Two rolls appeared in his hand and he held one in his mouth before tossing the other behind him to Dala. “It’s not much,” he said around the roll and took a bite, “But it might tide you over until the scene dies down.”

Instead of climbing up, he just rose up to the roof as if by magic.

"Show off." She said before flopping down on the roof.

Her fighting friend's voice changed from the unique accent to this new voice and she could only guess which one was his regular voice. Probably the one when he was fighting. Suddenly two rolls appeared in his hands and he tossed one to her. She snatched the roll and stuffed it in her mouth, then coughed for a moment but continued eating it. Her irritation from before died down as she finished eating. Dala glanced over to the tavern and noticed the guards were still rushing after people and placing folks in handcuffs. She sighed then looked back over to Kale.

"The names Dala. You?" She asked.

The guards in Adeluna were lazy and slightly stupid so it would take them a while to finish up at the tavern. A friendly conversation would pass the time and Kale seemed like a nice person. If he was an asshole he wouldn't have any honor during the fight. Nor would he have that arm.

"So what's your story then?" Dala asked, "Owed the folks down there money or somethin? Or were you just brewing for a fight?"

Her muscles and fists ached from all the fighting but there was a smile on her face. She felt calmer after beating the shit out of a few people who obviously deserved it. With the past two weeks, she needed to vent her frustrations on somebody. Now she felt much calmer and in a more friendly mood.

“Kale,” he said with a nod, “As for the group from the tavern, I may have sent their ship to the depths of the Luna Sea… They didn’t really appreciate my relieving them of some cargo they were carrying. None of them died, obviously; I left them their rowboats and they had an island nearby. I guess they’re holding a grudge.” He let out a laugh and took a few more bites of bread. “It was their fault, really; if they’d given me the cargo I asked for, they could’ve been on their way.”

The man thought a moment, “I guess the most accurate label for me would be ‘pirate,’ but there’s far more to it than that. Pirate, outlaw, artifact or treasure hunter; they’re all labels that might work. I hunt artifacts, legends, and myths; treasures and creatures lost to time and history. I’ve been around for a long time and over the years I’ve begun to do what strikes me. I live my life my way; a life of freedom on the seas and winds going wherever they may take me.”



Kale tossed the last of the roll into the air and catching it in his mouth. “Like I said,” he let out a sigh, “I’ve been around for quite a long time and done a lot of things.” He looked to his arm, clenching the hand into a fist a couple times. “I’ve done a lot of foolish things, too, and lost a lot more than I’d care to admit. Shiloh gave me back one of the things I threw away years before, but there’s a limit to what someone can get back.”

He shook his head, tearing his mind from somber thoughts. “Enough about me, what’s your story? What dragged you into the brawl, not that it takes much for that to happen.”

Dala listened to him as he explained who he was. When he mentioned the word pirate, her eyes lit up with excitement and curiosity. She had met night phoenixes, nobles, thieves, hunters and other people of many professions but this was the first time she met a pirate. He spoke of a life of the seas and wildness that matched up to the stories she heard about pirates when she was younger. He then told her about the foolish things, mentioning his arm and the limit on the things he could get back. Dala had always loved a story so she was fully invested when he suddenly turned the question towards her. She let out a sigh as she remembered how fast her temper flew back in the tavern. Her anger had always been like that but with the past few weeks it had been heightened. 

"Well I was going to have a roast chicken when the fight broke out and someone got thrown through a window and knocked my meal to the floor. Then people stepped on it." She said still mourning the loss of the chicken, "I guess… well to be honest I also needed to vent my anger. So two of my friends died a couple weeks ago and I was pretty bummed out about it. Then they came back to life! At their own fucking funeral! No warnings! They didn't go, hey we are gonna be dead for a bit but don't freak out! Nope! Just went off and fucking died!"

Technically neither of them knew they were going to die but that wasn't the point. 

"I mean its not really their fault since they didn't know they could come back." She admitted, "And considering they're night phoenixes with weird magical powers, I should have seen it coming. I guess I'm just used to getting left behind…"

It was only then that she realized how depressing their conversation was getting. The last thing she wanted her new brawling buddy to think was that she was some kind of downer. She stood up and looked over to the tavern, noticing the lack of guards and decided that it was time they got into a more fun environment. 

"Well fuck that!" She said with a confident smile, "The tavern's back to normal so lets get back in there!"

Dala hopped down onto the barrels then jumped to the ground, looking back to make sure Kale was coming with so they could both go to the tavern.