Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

24. How i met your mother

"Papa." Ophelia asked while Shayley and Cal held hands watching the waves.

Nobody was surprised when he walked out of his room with the princess. Apparently, everyone helped smuggle her on board under his nose for the surprise. He gave them a playfully stern talking to, and only promised that there would be Hell to pay for deceiving him. 

"Yes, Squirt?" Cal looked over his shoulder at Ophelia and her friends.

"We were talking about how our parents met, but I don't know how you met mommy. Or how you fell in love." Ophelia finished.

"That's a good question. Do you remember how we met Shayley?" Cal asked.

"Hmm... I think it was shortly after you joined the North Wind." Shayley tapped her lip.

Cal shook his head, "nope. It was before that."

"No way, really?" Shayley looked surprised.

"You're the reason I joined the North Wind. It's actually a really long story." Cal leaned against the railing of the ship. "This is all between us, you got it?" He put a finger over his lips as if shushing them.

They are nodded their heads.

"I'm originally from the Western shore. I left to become a dread pirate. I slaughtered everything in my wake. I earned the moniker 'Captain Scourge the Red.' I maxed out my dread pirate class, and gained a second, The Red Blade. With an exclusive broken class and a hidden legendary class I ruled the sea. I maxed out at level 30 and gathered a ghost crew, at my peak I could basically solo any raid. I don't know what you think of me now, but I truly embodied the evil of the Dread Captain class. I was the most powerful Villain of the sea. Players called me the hidden event boss, I had entire guilds come after me like I was some raid boss. Ellie probably remembers." Cal grinned wickedly and Ellie nodded. "I even heard that there was an entire group of people that joined forces to keep watch for me and sold my location on the map for money."

Then he shrugged. "But I soon grew tired of the same old thing. I got the rarest item drops I could at sea since I did the raids so much. The Ace of Cleavers, 27 cursed swords, 19 holy blades, more sets of equipment then I ever wear, I raised the Nightmare from the depths, I discovered the lost forgotten goddess, I picked up every tome of forbidden magic that could be found, I had more treasure than I knew what to do with. I went wherever the winds took me and went along with every whim."

He squeezed Shayley's hand and looked her in the eyes.

"Then 'it' happened."

"You fell in love!" Loca asked.

"I got bored." He laughed, but Shayley didn't think it was very funny. She brought his hand up to her mouth and bit him as she crushed it. "Ow, ow, ow." He laughed.

"I was in a tavern one day in disguise, and but some noob approached me. They wanted to hire me. I didn't need the money, but took the job for cheap. That was the start of my merc days. The infamous Captain Scourge the Red, helping noobs, then doing quests, even helping with raids. I spent more time on land and stopped being bored. Then a phenomenon happened, my kind call it a New Expansion. It's like when the world grows, maybe something big happens, or a new race is discovered, stuff that affects the entire world. The Godslayers Expansion. The Dravenkin were deiscovered."

Cal squeezed Shayley's hand lightly and looked at her fondly while recalling the memory. "An ancient race of elves hidden in the edges of the world. A fearsome race of hunters who hunted everything from ghosts, to demons, to dragons, and even hunted gods for sport. Since they only recognize strength they challenged their own gods who they were supposed to worship. They were so strong that they killed their gods after a prolonged war. That was when they earned the name the Profane hunters. The Dravenkin heard of the strength of the guilds, they issued a challenge and that began the Profane Raid. The hardest raid the world ever knew. It was too hard. Only the top ten guilds could complete it. The requirements were to prove your strength to the Dravenkin. This could be completed by doing enough damage to their leader. Steinman Godslayer the heir of the gods, Steinman O'heira."

Cal held a single finger. "But there was an optional secret questline, only one guild unlocked the requirements for the Optional Questline, The North Wind. Defeat Steinman's best warrior before doing any damage to Steinman. Steinman's Strongest, and royal guard would fight alongside him during this much harder version of the quest. Then you'd unlock the ability to beat Steinman into submission. Prove your strength to the Dravenkin and get a reward, or conquer them and get a wish. The Strongest of the Dravenkin would be yours."

This event was a fluke. There were many things happening outside the game world. High ranking players and guilds said that the game was stagnating and wasn't tough enough. The developers were under pressure to create something new something harder. So they came up with the most impossible raid staring the biggest badasses they could think of, and unleashed a horde of ultra strong monsters in the world way over the players' level 100 level cap. You'd prove your strength to their leader. He'd say you did good, but he hadn't even broken a sweat or looked tired. The secret questline let you anger him then beat him down where the ending animation would show him bloodied and beaten. He'd then laugh and swear a favor to you.

"It was an impossible questline, and I was hired to help." Cal pointed at his chest. "I was to paid to help them finish the quest and offered a bonus if I helped them through the Optional Questline. I looked forward to fighting the strongest Dravenkin, take them down first and then beat down the chief. Easier said than done, right? First, I wiped out the Dravenkin hunting party while the others gathered the location of the main camp. I stood among their bodies when the guild came for me. I was the vanguard when we stormed the camp. I unleashed my ghost horde on them, they set them up and I knocked them down. I'll be honest I had fun. In my mirth I was the first to stumble upon the boss room. There, my world changed forever. Standing in front of me was the most beautiful and powerful warrior I'd ever laid my eyes on. Shayley Godslayer. I was smitten so fast I didn't even realize it when I used all my ultimate techniques."

"Wait a second... I remember that day. You weren't there!" Shayley looked surprised.

"Maybe this will sound familiar..." Cal sneered as he continued...