HoloPirates: A Tale of Adventure

Hard Truth

    Heat. That was the first thing that hit me as my brain slowly drifted back to the land of the living. There was the feeling of heat blasting down on my face, and even thought it wasn't uncomfortable, it still drove me to wake up.
    "Mmmmm." I moaned, then opened my eyes, looking up at a bright, sunny blue sky.
    The Sun was high up in the sky, and it was roasting me, so I picked my hand up and held it in front of my face, before I realized that my other hand was still intertwined with Marine's, and she was laying right next to me, her shoulder and body pressing against me. I slowly shook her, trying to get her to wake up, but she just curled against me, and she pressed her face against my shoulder. I shook her again, and this time, she squeezed my hand in protest.
    "Mmmm noooo." She groaned. "Five more minutes."
    "Nah, we gotta get up. Its almost the middle of the morning." I said, and that seemed to get her attention as she squirmed next to me.
    She sat up, followed by me, and we both rubbed our eyes, trying to scrub the sleepiness out of them. Once I was awake enough to see again, I opened my eyes and looked around. Like before, it was a clear day, but man, was it hot. Just from sitting in the crows nest, beads of sweat were forming on my face, dripping down to my eyebrows and threatening to get in front of my vision. I wiped my forehead, then got up, swung my feet over the ladder that was built into the mast, and started going down, pumping my arms and legs to get me down the ladder. When I finally got down off of the mast, I looked around the deck, and I noticed that all of the crew were already working, pulling ropes, tying them down,
rearranging the cargo, adjusting the sails, and angling them to catch the wind so that the ship kept moving.
     It was amazing the way they worked, and at the far end of the ship, two of the crew were showing Botan how to tie down a rope to the holster. On the other side of the deck, there was Noel, who was cleaning her mace with a clean rag, wiping all of the grime and bits of blood off of the surface of the weapon, and at the very, very front of the ship, there was the girl with the mask, and the Storyteller, and they were both using sign language to communicate, which I never would have guessed to use.
    Marine finally climbed down the mast, then took out her spyglass, put it up to her golden eye, and spotted something up in the distance, ahead of the ships projected course. She leaned over to me, then whispered in my ear, keeping her eyes on the Storyteller.
    "So your friend, the God, what's his name?" She asked
    "I mean, he said he was the Storyteller."
    "Wait a minute. THE Storyteller?" She said, her face almost having a dumbfounded look to it. "There's no way."
    With that, before I could stop her, she marched across the deck, with me in tow, and she marched straight up to the Storyteller. As we got close, the girl with the mask and the Storyteller both looked over, and when they saw Marine walking up to them, their faces transformed into both confusion and a little bit of fear.
    "I have a question, and be honest." She said.
    The Storyteller gave me a weird look, then averted his eyes back to her.
    "Who are you?"
    His expression dropped, and he sighed, turning to face me while he shifted uncomfortably.
    "Micheal, what is this about?" He asked, giving me a quizzical look.
    I gave him a shrug.
    "Just tell the truth, man. She kinda already knows."
    Immediately, he gave me a death glare, but after just a second, he grimaced, trying to regain his composure, and he looked back at Marine.
    "I am the Storyteller." He said, and he said it quite loudly, enough for the rest of the crew to hear.
    Immediately, everyone stopped. I looked around, and I saw that all of the crew mates had completely stopped or dropped whatever they were doing and were staring right at us. As I looked around the deck, I locked eyes with just about everyone, and I saw that Botan was still holding the ropes, looking at the Storyteller and I quizzically, while Noel had holstered her weapon and was looking right at us. I looked back at the Storyteller as the crew began to gather around, and he sighed.
    "I guess its time for my explanation." He said, then, climbed on top of the foremast, standing on the mount for it and facing all of us, ready to deliver a speech.
    "Micheal, Marine, Jansen, I haven't been completely honest with you." He said. "Yes, I am the Storyteller. Micheal and I are on a mission to kill a very old enemy of mine that I thought I had defeated a long time ago. But he is attempting to regain my power. If he does that, then your world is doomed to destruction, and all of you are doomed to a life of slavery."
    The crew was silent, and I saw Jansen pushing his way through the crowd as the crew began to get a little bit agitated.
    "So we're on a death mission." One of the women yelled.
    "Yeah, we're gonna die for following you!" Another of the crew yelled.
    The guy that yelled that, a gigantic dark skinned man, pushed past me and charged at the Storyteller, but even though he had a six foot nine guy come charging at him, his face remained steely calm as he held his hand out and struck him directly in the forehead. The moment his palm made contact, the man stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes glazed over, and he fell backwards, the back of his head slamming against the wood of the deck unnaturally.
    "Is he dead?!?!" Marine asked.
    "No, I simply shut down his nerves. He is in a coma, at the moment." The Storyteller said. "Do not attempt an assault on me, or it will end in a fate far, far worse than death."
    Everyone was dead silent, and he scanned the crowd before continuing his speech.
    "Alright, I mean none of you any harm." He said, then glanced down at the unconscious man laying on the deck. "Well, I mean you no unprovoked harm. All we need is a transport to him, and we will compensate you, quite handsomely."
    "Compensation?" Marine asked, her eyebrows raising.
    "Yes do you remember what I told you, way back when we first left that town?"
    "Oh aye that." She said, nodding. "Anything we find, we can keep, aye?"
    "Yes. This man is a very old enemy of mine, and likely, he has a large coffer filled to the brim with money to pay all of his mercenaries. Along with that, he was the greediest, so the treasure in whatever slimy hole that he's hiding out in will be beyond your collective imaginations."
    "But we're going to die fighting a man like that!" Noel said, holstering her mace.
    "No, he will be after me, I am sure of that much as well. We are simply asking or a transport. If any of you wish to fight with us to kill him, then you are more than welcome to tag along."
    "Do we get more for helping you?" Jansen asked.
    "No, he will kill you."
    Jansen fell silent, and he turned to the rest of the crew, who were silent as well. The entire crew contemplated this, and slowly, one by one, they began to disperse, and they went back to what they were doing, sneaking glances and glares at the Storyteller. I turned to the Storyteller, the girl in the mask, and Marine just as Jansen walked up to join us.
    "So, what's the plan from here?" The Storyteller asked. "Micheal here told me about the plan of the Rifts, and while it sounds incredibly dangerous and, as he described, exciting, I do agree that it is a smart idea to get to him faster."
    "Aye that. What's his name by the way?" Marine asked. "The man we're going to kill."
    "Truthfully, it has been so long that I do not remember." He replied. "It may come to me, given enough time."
    "Aye that, I do that sometimes." Marine said with a laugh. "Now, there is a plan that I wanted to talk to you about.     There's a shipwreck up ahead, and there's an artifact that may help us with surviving the dangers of the Rifts."
    "Alright then." The Storyteller said. "And how do we get said artifact?"
    "Well, in Wake, our friend Noel over there won an eating contest." Marine said. "And the reward was either a Diving Bell or a load of riches. I chose the Diving Bell."
    "So, we lower the Diving Bell, swim through the wreck, and grab the treasure?"
    "Aye."
    "Alright then, lets get to the wreck."