The sky was raging over the open sea. One thunder after another struck in the distance as waves as large as ships ravaged the ocean's surface. And in that pandemonium, there was a hidden island with a bay cutting deep into its landmass. That very same bay currently sheltered a dozen ships from that ravenous storm, each of them hailing a black flag. Some of the sailors were still on deck sorting through the most recent loot, and considering how much they could realistically snatch for themselves without getting caught, while most of them were now on land, surrounding the numerous campfire lit around the shore, enjoying alcohol, and the more brazen one even their latest captives.

Among them there was one place that stood out: It was the largest pyre on the entire shore, yet it was quite distant from the rest of the pirates, and only 3 men sat around it. One was a burly giant of a man, so tall that most would suspect he had some sort of inheritance from an actual giant; the second was a much thinner and shorter old man, moreover, he wore an eyepatch covering his left eye as well as a part of a large scar, yet despite his obvious lack of muscle it would not be a good idea to underestimate a sorcerer like him; the last man was middle-aged and plain-looking, in his tunic he almost looked ordinary, the exception was a black tricorn adorning his head.

“How much,” the ordinary-looking man asked, taking a chug from a bottle in his hand.

“Only about 200 gold pieces if we sell through the normal channels, capt’n” the sorcerer answered.

“Bloody ‘ell,” the captain cursed out.

“If we give everyone 1 piece each we will have 60 left,” the caster calculated.

“Fuck ‘em,” the captain chuckled “half a gold each, and we have 130 to ourselves.”

“If we keep cutting their pay there will be a mutiny,” the evoker could only frown.

“Den I just bash ‘eir head in ‘till ‘ei stop,” the giant man raised his fist.

“Even if we can terrify them, it will damage our numbers,” the sorcerer still seemed sceptical.

“The first tiers are just cannon fodder anyway,” the captain said and took another swig.

“Cannon fodder is only effective if we have enough of them,” the man still insisted.

“You worry too much,” before the captain could answer a new voice entered the fray, this time it was female.

“Who ‘ere” the giant man stood up from his stool and looked in the direction of the disturbance, while the other two men were also now on guard.

“Who else but me,” a young woman left the shadows and entered the dazzling radiance of the campfire. Her body was no doubt beautiful in her tight tunic and pants, however, she had a giant scar coursing from her forehead all the way down to her chin, which made her otherwise pretty visage quite hideous.

“I’ll be damned,” the captain exclaimed with laughter “it’s the runaway bitch! And she even got herself a brand new scar.”

“What are you doing here, Leila?” the sorcerer frowned, being far less enthusiastic about their reunion, “Do you honestly think that you can just steal the most valuable thing from the raid and then just come back as if nothing happened.”

“Ye,” the giant yelled in agreement “ya betrayed us!”

“I hope you have a good reason to be here,” the captain was still smiling, but he was already holding a rapier in his right hand.

“Of course,” Leila smiled “I came here to solve your mutiny problem. But first...” she chuckled as she began to untie her tunic.

“Fine,” the captain licked his lips “let’s see what can be done about forgiving you,” he quite bluntly stared at Leila. However, her hand suddenly reached inside the tunic and pulled out a small dagger. With a quick movement of her hand, it flew straight at the sorcerer. Caught off guard the man could only try to dodge out of the way, however, the dagger travelled through the air at abnormal speed and pierced directly into the man’s still healthy eye.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?!” the captain jumped up and got on guard, ready to strike Leila at a moments notice.

“Solving your worries,” she just chuckled again “no mutiny can start if there is already one underway.”

“Cocky!” the man cursed and plunged at her. However, to his surprise she moved far faster than he remembered and with ease avoided his strike, sliding past him. There stood the giant man, holding a giant hatched with both his hands. Without hesitation, he stuck, yet even that blow was easily avoided as the woman placed her palm on his chest before whispering something and jumping away.

“Dodge!” realising what had just happened the captain yelled, however, it was too late. Before the giant man could react a gaping hole suddenly opened in his chest exactly where the palm was previously placed. He immediately fell down to his knees as his heart was destroyed in the process.

“You damn bitch!” the captain yelled again and rushed at her. She once again slipped by his rapier but he was ready for that and used his other hand to strike her with all his might. Yet that attack was caught by the palm of Leila’s hand with relative ease. The captain looked into her eyes with a sudden burst of terror.

“Y-you've reached the third tier!” that was the only way how a mage could have blocked his blow. Now that he thought about it, she couldn’t have gotten on the island by ship in a storm like this. She must have teleported from the land which is not something possible for only a second-tier caster.

“I had to take some risks, but here I am now. Thank you for all your care, captain” Leila just smiled back as her other hand grasped the captain’s throat and rose him above the ground. The man quickly lost his strength and dropped his weapon, “I will be taking over,” she finally said before a loud snap sounded and the captain stopped struggling.

“What’s going on?” the pirates not far away finally seemed to realise that something was off based on all the ruckus, so most of them were now approaching the campfire, only to find the captain and his two mates dead on the ground.

“Mutiny of course,” Leila announced loud enough for everyone to hear and put the dead captain’s tricorn on her own head, “I have decided to take over,”

“Leila!” most of the crowd quickly recognised their former comrade and stared at her for a while. When the amazement abated one of the men stepped out of the crown and exclaimed: “I ain’t taking orders from no woman!” which was met with some cheers from the crowd while most decided to rather watch and see how things turned out.

“Is that so?” Leila tilted her head and raised her hand before she silently mumbled something. The space above her palm distorted and a still-beating heart landed in her grasp. Almost at the same instant the man who spoke up before went pale and collapsed the next moment. With a smirk, Leila looked at the heart which was currently still oozing a lot of blood and brought it to her lips. Crunch, she bit off a junk of the heart before immediately spitting it out.

“Rotten,” she cursed out loud, her lips and a significant part of her face now covered in blood, “Anyone else wants to step up?” she asked, but everyone seemed deeply intimidated, “Good. Then get the ships ready. We are heading out as soon as this fucking storm abates.”

“Where to… captain?” one of the men asked.

“There is a lone Brinewood ship travelling all the way from the tribal lands,” Leila grinned, looking terrifying with her bloodstained visage, “The crew is lacking because of losses, yet they are loaded with treasure. Now get to work!”

And indeed as soon as the storm ended the ships set sail, their black flags waving in the tidal winds.