Aether : Calraem

Chapter 3: New Quest

"Thish is shooo goood!" Kaizoku exclaimed as he stuffed his face full of food.

"Of course! A true chef made it." Sulvanath smiled as he proudly proclaimed this.

Everyone was on the deck sitting around each other enjoying the food and drinking booze. It had been a quiet afternoon and the wind was especially great in the sunny weather. Mary Jane, the ship, had been sailing as smoothly as the day it was built.

Everyone was dancing and singing on deck as soon as the liquor started kicking in. Kaizoku was in the centre of it all stuffing his cheeks to the brim with food and inhaled the rest of it. His crew could never understand his appetite but were always in awe as he ate.

Someone who had been sitting silently and watching everyone was Hikari. He had just been accepted into the crew an hour ago but his position hadn't changed. He was still the cabin boy that most people were avoiding. He loved being there, seeing all the excitement around the ship made him feel happy. He couldn't understand how these people would shift from having an all serious personality to being as jolly and carefree as the wind itself. It just made him feel out of place that he didn't know how to enjoy himself.

"What's with that look, Cabin boy?"

Hikari turned to his right to see who was talking to him. It was a women with curly silver hair and green eyes. What made her stand out was her colourful wings on her back. The wings looked large enough to enclose her body. The feathers had an assortment of reds and oranges and blues that made her look even more beautiful. What's more is that her face almost made Hikari lose his composure.

"W-What do you mean 'look'?"

"Unlike everyone else here you've got the look on your face a man who met the Kraken for the first time." Ironically, he had, in a way, met the Kraken through Kaizoku.

"I-I just..." He knew what he had to say but didn't say it.

The women looked at him for a few seconds then smiled. She handed out her hand for him to shake.

"The name's Alavara Talbot." She then gestured her wings. "I'm a Faery."

Hikari blushed when he took her hand. He didn't know why, but her presence really made him nervous. He awkwardly looked away and answered back.

"I-I'm H-Hikari."

After the awkward greeting the two of them sat down and talked while the others were fooling around. Kaizoku and Samurai Sensei were having a race to see who could run the fastest on there hands. Everyone was cheering to see who would make it to the finish line first. They were doing really well until they both fell over and snoring could be heard from them. Their red faces clearly indicated how much they were drinking.

"How long have you put up with that?" Hikari asked, covering his head in embarrassment because he use to respect his captain and the first mate.

"You get used to it," Alavara laughed as she said it. A large drop had formed on the back of her head.

"How come I've never seen you before?"

"That's because I'm always in the library. My job requires me to know a lot."

"What's your job?"

"I'm a scholar. I seek to find knowledge that was passed through all these books and how this information could help us discover new things about the world." She sounded extremely proud as she said it. "And because of my noncombatant abilities I'm always reading. Are you strong?"

Hikari shook his head in disappointment. "I need to train so that I can get stronger," he said so with determination in his eyes.

"If that's the case. Then you need to beware of these monsters..." She pointed at a few of the crew members.

Afshang Caspian. He is also the lead gunner of the crew. His hairy face and hands indicated he was from a different race but Alavara explained that he was a Wolfman, the cousins of Werewolves. He also had a habit of naming weapons. His favourites were Ebony and Ivory.

Elaine Marsanth. She is the doctor and lycra of the crew. Her skill set in healing is so high that they say she can bring a person back to life who had just died. She wasn't partying with them because she was in the doctor's room working on potions.

Sulvanath Dagon. He's the chef who has the best cooking skills ever known. He is a crossbreed between a human and a demon but he doesn't seem to care about it. He is an excellent swordsman in battle. He's also a heavy coffee drinker.

"I'm sure you already experienced the abilities of those two idiots who are lying there asleep." She painted at Kaizoku and Samurai Sensei. " So if you wanna get stronger, they are the one's who can help you." Alavara spoke with excitement in her voice. She was enjoying the fact that she could explain to someone something they didn't understand.

Hikari just nodded after she spoke. He remembered what Kaizoku had told him.

"Your stats are the weakest. You have no real skills, the crew doesn't like you and the possibility of you dying is a 100% on the first mission. Frankly, all you've been doing is working the jobs that no one else wants to do."

He had his work cut out for him, but he wasn't going to give up.

Alavara held onto his shoulder as she stood up. She then gave him a smile and said.
"If you want to be part of this crew, you're gonna have to show that you're worth being with us. Good luck!" And off she went. As sudden as she appeared, as sudden she was gone.

After another hour of partying everyone gave in and was snoring on deck. Hikari was one of the only people awake because he didn't touch the alcohol. He may have lost most of his memories he knew that alcohol was something he should avoid. As he was about to stand up -

Boom!

Something crash landed on the deck.  A lot of crew members flew overboard. Kaizoku slowly opened his eyes and let out a yawn. The crew members who didn't fall overboard had also started to wake up. In the middle of the deck there was a large man covered in reptilian skin. It was dark brown and he had glowing orange eyes. His pupils were like that of a snake. It was clear that this man is a dragonman.

What bothered Hikari is that no one even tried to unsheathe their blades or try to pick a fight with him. They all looked like they know him as they role their eyes again. When Kaizoku saw him he ran towards the man and gave him handshake that was continuously shaking as the talked.

"Kasper! Do you have another quest??" Kaizoku asked him. He had the excitement of a child as he asked Kasper.

"Oh, so that's Kasper..." Hikari muttered to himself. He learnt it during the 'cleaning' week.

Kasper was a Quest Giver. Quest Givers have a lot of freedom in the world as they work with the system. They are found all over the world and have special quests that they give with great rewards. They also had special abilities and unparalleled wealth, although they never used it. They also live in certain areas indefinitely to make it easy to find them but Kasper was different. Normally they didn't teleport to areas to give quests but Kasper was an old friend of Kaizoku. Every now and again he would arrive to give Kaizoku a quest that normally affected Kaizoku's life personally.

"Eva is being attacked by the Heathen Pirates. Reward for quest is nothing. Do you accept?" He asked. His voice sounded oddly unnatural. It bothered Hikari a little.

"Eva's in trouble?? Of course I accept!" Kaizoku was panicking and began kicking everyone who was still sleeping awake.

"Wake up yer scallywags! Eva's in trouble!!"

Everyone immediately woke up in a panic and began running around fixing everything on the ship to set sail. The crew members who had fallen overboard were back and working just as hard. They were working so fluently that it was almost impossible to believe that most of them were suffering from hangovers.

Kasper then snapped his fingers and a large magical circle appeared around the ship in the ocean. Hikari was the only one surprised as the others continued preparing for battle. In an instant they all disappeared from the ocean and teleported to where Eva was.