And they sailed.

[High Captain] Alyu Alnorath Eidaen su Bistlevale vos Elios… or just Captain Alyu to most, sat in her quarters going over the losses of the day. Which was the entire fleet, save the Seawrath, but on the bright side the losses were greater on the other side. An entire Teyryn armada had been ripped to pieces with only a few of their fastest ships being sighted fleeing with all speed. It was still a heavy loss.

“The council of Captains will not like this,” her Lieutenant unhelpfully informed her.

“Ya think they’ll be ill with me? No of course not, it’s only an entire trade fleet gone!” Alyu said sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

She knew the ruling body of her homeland, which she was a part of, would be angry but most would quickly realize the truth. Heavily laden cargo ships could never have outrun the 3rd fleet, not without tossing their cargo to the surf. An act that had been forbidden thanks to the nature of the cargo.

“All of ‘em worse than drowned. Just for holds full of ore…” Alyu muttered to herself as she sat the manifests of both crew and cargo of her fleet down on her desk. Inwardly she seethed. She was the cause of that of course but she'd made a decision to take the 3rd out with them.

She waited for her subordinate to finish collecting his things and head to the cabin door but he paused when he opened it. Two of her gunners were waiting with one of her ‘captives’. She used the phrase lightly.

“Daig to see you, Captain,” the Gunner informed her when she gestured for them to speak. She nodded and waved the man inside.

“What can I do for ya Marshall Daig?” she asked as kindly as she could. The reality of the situation starting to settle now that they were away from the threat.

“Captain-”

“You know, Junior Marshal? We should be clear. That’d be the Imperial rank? Not the Federation lawmen, or do I have myself thinkin’ incorrectly,” She asked but shot him a slightly wrathful grin. She knew the difference but she also knew that Teyryns loved their titles. And hated the fact that the Federation had reduced their own Marshalls to mere keepers of the law. It was a petty insult but she saw a flash of annoyance on his face to make it worth it.

“I am a Junior Marshall of the Teyryn-”

“Okay, understood. What can I do ya for Mister Daig?” She cut him off again and watched his face flush slightly from anger. He had answered and she didn’t care to listen to him drone on about his naval pedigree.

“My countrymen. I wish to speak in regards to their treatment. One, in particular, a-”

“A fool that spat in my face and called me a pirate?” Alyu did it again. Though not for her own amusement. That had been an insult to her and the girl was lucky that she wasn’t thrown overboard. Only the laws of Elios had saved her due to technically being a sailor rescued at sea and not a true ‘captive’.

“Yes, Captain. She isn’t very fond of…” he faded off and gestured to her, not willing to say the word. Displaying either intelligence or cowardice.

“Pirates… I’ll let ya know, Mister Daig. We are not pirates here. Not a one. That fleet that you attacked, a trade fleet. Not a soul aboard had ever attacked another vessel and those aboard the Seawrath, never without cause. We’re privateers here, Daig. I’d appreciate that you, as a man of the sea, should know the difference,” Alyu explained and saw him recoil slightly and digest the information. It was the truth, Alyu held a letter of Marque from Elios. A copy of it was displayed proudly on the bulkhead. She got up from her desk and walked around to it, bringing it to the man's attention.

“Privateer? Madam, Privateers no longer exist. And when they did they only attacked other vessels in a time of war,” Daig argued.

“Time of war? Do you not realize that we’re at war? Been at war for two hundred years? Or is there some other consequence of firing on every trade fleet we send out?” she asked incredulously but simultaneously swore internally at the stupid myths and rumors.

“Trade fleets? Those were stolen-”

“They were built in freeport. Don’t give me that stolen shite,” she corrected him. He sat quietly and glanced at the Letter of Marque on the wall, so she continued, “You’ll learn more when we reach the anchorage... Now, what do you want me to do with your little officer?”

“Mercy. That’s all I ask,” Daig said simply. He bowed his head

“She’s already got it. She learns her place aboard another’s ship and she’ll continue to get it,” Alyu told him, “I’d speak to her Mister Daig, else she’ll find herself swimmin’ back to Teyryn.”

Alyu gave him a look to convey her seriousness. Even if her hands were tied. She opened the door for him and soon got back to her task.

And they sailed.

Soon they reached the edges of the Brakens. A wide archipelago of more than a thousand isles split apart by great reefs and never ending whirlpools. Underwater forests of stone and old corral that would shred any ship and schools of sharks, jellyfish, and other dangerous sea life. To many seamen, it was like looking at death but to Alyu. It was home. A safe space that only her people had ever fully mapped and learned to navigate after centuries of trying to escape.

It was a blessing and a curse in many ways. Her people had descended from the numerous fleets and errant ships that had braved the isles in centuries past only to run aground. Stranded there forever.

A terrifying idea that grew and hardened into a resolve. A resolve that led them to explore the unconquered isles and build a nation of their own. A drive to tame the wild land. A self-sufficiency that made them completely free of all others. A determination to risk their lives in order to find those few sacred paths that led from the heart of the archipelago to the sea…

Captain Alyu gave the surviving Teyryns a chance to see their magnificence before ordering them below deck to be blindfolded, their ears muted, and then fed enough liquor to make them puke. They’d be forced if they didn’t indulge willfully. No outsider would ever know the path they would take.

She smiled as she took the wheel and started calling out orders to her crew. Each was a far better sailor than any man or woman she’d ever met. They reacted almost instantly, she didn’t even have to use a Skill to achieve the effect.

Of course, that was the measure of a Freefolk sailor. Any who didn’t listen or hesitated weren’t tolerated. They’d be thrown into the hold and never step foot on a vessel again as soon as they were back at port. Their course would bring them between the three devils, massive ship eating maelstroms of the deep. Then through a maze of stone that the largest vessels couldn’t even try. Finally through the mist itself… And those were just a few of the risks along their route.

Although, it wasn’t the actual mist but a corridor where it didn’t spread, followed by a tunnel of sorts. They took that route because even her people feared that wall of white if it approached. They’d only cross its route through certain points that they knew the mist avoided, even if they didn’t know why those areas were safe.

Alyu stared ahead and soon caught sight of the first of many dangers. The three devils sat in an expanse between a group of isles. Massive cliffs of water shifting slightly in the sea, pulling everything in towards them.

“Madam Sulka, get your boys to the rails and get those ropes in. Get ready to call out!” Alyu ordered but thankfully her crew was ready to execute.

See there was a trick to the three devils. Get too close to them and they’d pull you in without a path wide enough between them to safely traverse. So you didn’t look for the safe way, you looked for the smart way.

“Pullin’ to starboard, factor o’ three knots!” Sulka yelled to Alyu. The Captain shifted the wheel to adjust her course slightly.

That was the trick, you needed to navigate between the great whirlpools, constantly adjusting your course so that they fought over you while you sailed right on through. It was like balancing on a shifting beam a hundred feet above a tank of coastal crocodiles but with the right ship and the right crew, it could be done. With the perfect ship and an experienced crew?

Alyu grinned as another report was called out. Debris ahead, a collision could push them too far one way, she had to adjust the course just right in order to immediately correct it and get back on the beam before they fell. She loved the challenge.

And they sailed.

“Get the damn wind outta the sails and drop that shore boat, oars in the water!” Alyu called out as they approached their last hurdle.

It was just her luck. They arrived at the mist crossing as the mist was actually crossing. A wall of white stood before her with a perfect half circular tunnel cutting through until it reached a similar half circle cut through the isle ahead.

Alyu idly wondered while her crew worked what it was about that stone tunnel that kept the mist at bay. She was of course forbidden from ever finding out. The council having unanimously decided again and again that the crossings were to be left undisturbed rather than risk a curious boat captain damaging whatever was providing the effect. But just because she voted in favor of protecting them didn’t mean that she wasn’t curious.

“Boats in Captain! Oars out, ready to dive inta the mist!”

“You have it Sulka. Give the order,” Alya said and gripped the wheel.

“Row! Row! Row…” Sulka bellowed to the crew at the rails with long oars, loud enough that even the shore boat pulling them from the bow could hear. Each and every iteration of ‘row’ was joined by the thump of a drum to ensure that everyone kept in sync with each other. Now was not the time for one half of her crew to push themselves harder than the other. They didn’t need to turn in the placid waters that always surrounded the mist. To do so was an uncertainty. Alyu couldn’t even say it was a death sentence, no one knew what happened to those that crossed that threshold.

“Go forth brave sailors,” she muttered as they entered the pathway. An honorific said to those handfuls of ships and crews that had dared sail into them willingly, hoping to one day escape and bring the mist's secrets to the people of Elios, “And come home.”

No one ever did but still, people took up the challenge, once every decade or two. The call to adventure was worth it to some but it was the reward for many others.

And it was a reward unlike any other that Elios could offer. Unlike what the rumors said, there wasn’t a tyrant king on the throne of Elios. Nor was it a [Corsair Admiral] that led… In reality, the throne sat bare. The ultimate reward for any Captain that led his vessel into the mist and returned because the people of Elios would be led by no one lesser.

But since no one ever returned, Alyu viewed it as a simple, dire statement. Elios would never have a king and any foolish enough to try could off themselves if they wanted it that bad. It was an impossible task, like walking on the moon, but some still tried and their bravery was still worth honoring.

The crew stared out into the walls of white, careful not to let even their oars get close. It shifted and spun around them as the faint breeze from the passing ship upset the calmness of the air but it never entered the path. It swirled around them as they rowed to the sound of Sulka’s drum but her call to row wasn’t present, nor was any other word spoken. The mysterious beauty of the mist bringing them all to silence.

It wasn’t until they passed the section of the path surrounded by the mist and entered a cave that Alyu heard a sound. Her own voice, “Bring Mister Daig to the deck.”

She watched as the crew livened up having passed the danger and soon enough the Teyryn officer was standing on the dark deck, looking up at the cavern around them.

It wasn’t the reason she’d called for him. Not to see the end of the route but as they exited the cave she could see his jaw drop and imagine his eyes wide.

–

“Dead Kraken Anchorage…” Daig said with a bit of reverence in his voice. There was no doubt that it was what he was seeing…

It was an enemy port but he was a man of the sea, there was no way for him to look at what he was without being impressed. Whether it was the pirates- privateers, whatever they were… Whether it was them or not that brought it down…

He had been called to the deck from the cramped cargo hold to find them deep below the earth with a light at the end of the tunnel. Once through the light, he blinked, looked around, and nearly died at the sight. Not many sailors ever saw what he laid eyes on and most that did, didn’t live long.

“Killed by the first founders of Elios,” Captain Alyu explained as she walked up beside him. He glanced at her but his eyes were ever drawn back to the sight of the massive cephalopod beak lying in the surf. The giant maw of an even more massive monster that had once lived. Between its points he could see a ship sailing into it, the beak towering above their sails. And beyond the faint outline of shore buildings and a city rising up the hill even further. All protected from the ravages of the sea by the leviathans remains. The Legendary class leviathan had died and its hard chitinous mouth had fallen into the water creating a secure harbor beyond.

“It’s a sea wall…” Daig said, somewhat dumbfounded at what he was looking at.

“Not just a sea wall…” He looked over at Aylu and saw her smirk before walking back towards her helm. He watched her go but again turned to look at the sight before him. Walking across the deck as the Seawrath’s crew laughed at the look on his face but he didn’t care.

“Gods!” Daig exclaimed as they entered the space between the points and he looked up at the towering structure only to have his eyes drawn to the inside. Protected berths and docks lined the inside with towering wooden structures connected by bridges that rose up in the shadows of the beak. It was warehouses, shops, and houses. Some looked like they were attached to the top of the beak, dangling down, others stood half submerged. They weren’t ruins in the water, he spotted a being swimming out of one to swim along the docks nearby. A woman…

At first, he thought it was merfolk but when she pulled herself up to the dock he saw that her lower body looked like a seal, not a fish. It was covered in short oily hair that disappeared as she sat and kicked her lower half, the seal like bottom splitting into two human like legs as the water flew off her. After she stood and pulled her dress down to cover herself and walked barefoot into the buildings beyond. He had never seen a being like that before. Or even heard of one.

After that, his eyes were drawn to the other denizens of Elios… Humans, more sealfolk, lizardfolk, elves, dwarves, halflings… even a minotaur carrying a crate down the docks that looked like it should have taken four strong backs to even lift.

Daig had never seen so many different races at the same spot. Could it be they were all descendants of the ships that had been lost? Ones from every race, nation, and continent?

The buildings were sprayed with salt but well made and on the shore… the city proper? Buildings carved of marble and coral lined the streets, tall towers rising up the hillside with wide, well maintained roads… it wasn’t as large as many cities but he could see it was far from the dark alleys and dilapidated buildings from the few stories on the myth of Elios.

“Mister Daig, May I be the first to welcome you to the capital of Elios, Freeport,” Alyu called out behind him.

Pirates or privateers, the distinction didn’t matter… the myth was at least partially wrong.