The others were becoming boring. Spark spent his time with his goddess, or practicing fighting. Ever since he got his younger body back, he spent all of his time away. I didn't usually get along with Mot, so I stayed clear of him. He was always gardening anyway, and didn't want to be bothered. He always seemed to be uneasy, and would yell at me if I got anywhere close to him. A mid-life crisis perhaps? He was too young for that.

Even the little girl, going on eight, had a more interesting life than I did. She was constantly hanging out with Mianite, exploring the realm and learning to fight. I'd have to fear her eventually. She was becoming too powerful.

I had already traveled around a lot of the world, but it seemed to be mostly composed of old bases and nightclubs. Not that interesting when there was nobody to go to the nightclub with. The only thing I hadn't explored was the line of pirate ships in the sea. I figured I'd travel to Aethoria and ask Redbeard about it.

"I could show you around," he said with a shrug. "It gets awfully dull here. I haven't gone on a real adventure in two years." He smiled at me suddenly. "Ya know, the man Jericho was the first of the heroes to join my crew."

"Was he?" I tried to sound excited, even though I didn't want to have anything to do with my alternate self. "Then I guess it's only fitting that I should go out to sea as well."

The pirate loaded the ship with TNT-firing canons, just in case. He stacked chests with food, fishing rods, and drinks. I was delighted to find that the ship even came with a hot tub, a touch that had apparently been created by Jericho. I guess that's one thing I could give the man credit for.

Skipper was in a great mood until he unloaded one of the chests and pulled out two fishing rods. "Oh. I remember these." He leaned against a wall and examined them, his eyes full of pain. "The fishing rods of CaptainSparklez and Capsize. This was their little inside joke." He sighed and looked out on the water. "They fell in love in this very spot, just a few years ago." He seemed lost in memory.

This wasn't the time to be upset. "That's... nice. Do you think we could set sail now?" Call me rude, if you want. I was just impatient to see the world, you can't blame me.

He snapped out of his reverie. "Oh, of course. Just stand by, I guess. I'll steer the boat." The ship lurched upon him touching the wheel. "Just, ah, don't expect me to be great at steering."

I already felt sick. "I thought you had sailed before! You're a pirate!"

"I'm the skipper, matey. Capsize was the one to steer. I just, well, sat to the side and got drunk. It's no wonder I was replaced by Sparkly-boy."

I didn't like the sound of that, but I went with it. Once the ship had started, the ride was smoother. I leaned over the side of the boat and watched the water flow on either side of us. It was pretty, and calming to watch. I could feel all of my anger rise off my shoulders and fly away with the breeze. I should have done this much sooner.

After an hour or two, he spoke up for the first time. "We're approaching Ianarea, the place where the gods grew up. Ianite sort of claimed the land later, which is why it's now named after her. Grab some chests will you? I want to drink a bit while we're here."

I did as I was told, and we exited onto a cute little dock on the outside of a purple town. As I got closer to the buildings, I saw that it wasn't as nice as I had thought. There were gaping holes in the road, and some of the houses were missing entire sides. It seemed like someone had bombed the place long, long ago. I could see the remains of kitchens peeking out of the ruins, and it saddened me. What had happened here?

"People are cruel," Redbeard sighed, taking a swig of some rum. "Bombed the place. Capsize and I grew up here also, did you know? We were born learning to follow Ianite, and we've been loyal to her ever since. It's such a shame that everything she loves ends up leaving." I felt a pang of pity for the goddess, even if she wasn't my god. Nobody deserved this.

"Oh," I said, since I wasn't very good at giving comfort. "That's terrible."

He nodded as he finished the bottle of rum. "Want something to drink?"

"No thanks," I replied. "I'm gonna go explore this place, okay?"

"Sure." He took another bottle from the chest. Deciding to just leave him to it, I headed down the broken path. Some of the houses had signs on them, saying things like "House of Bluebeard and Greybeard" and "House of Capsize and Redbeard". Rubble and debris covered the ground. It was sad that nobody had bothered to clean up the place since it had been destroyed.

I explored the small town until the sky was beginning to dim. I headed back to where Redbeard was packing up his chests, and we climbed back onto the ship.

"Did ya enjoy yourself?" he asked as he put the chests back in place.

"Yeah, it was nice to see something new. Although the state of this town is quite depressing," I answered. He nodded in understanding, and turned the ship around. We were off, heading back to the main land.

I hadn't tried the hot tub out yet, so I did. It was nice and relaxing, especially with the orange sky above. I'd have to do this more often. It was much nicer than staying with the others. The ride went smoothly for a while, but then I started to feel it jerk back and forth for no reason.

"Redbeard?" I called. "What's going on?"

"N... nothing, matey," he answered. His voice sounded slurred, and alarm filled my mind. How much had the guy had to drink?

"Redbeard! Stop the ship!" I yelled, leaping out of the hot tub. The air felt like icy needles, pricking my skin, but I didn't care.

"No! I... I've got this, Jericho. You just sit there." The ship continued to lurch, and I almost fell over trying to get to him.

"My name is Jeriah! JERIAH! What are you doing?" To my relief, I saw the dock in the distance. I attempted to pry Redbeard's fingers from the wheel, but his drunk self wasn't having any of it.

"Ye stop that right now! RIGHT NOW! I'll get yer sorry bum if you don't stop!" He tried to kick me in the leg, but he was too sleepy to have much of an effect. He leaned to one side to try to get the wheel away from me, but all it did was shove the boat to the side with an extreme amount of force. I felt the floor sliding from underneath me. THE WHOLE BOAT WAS TIPPING.

"Redbeard! We're going to die!" I screamed as the ship started to sink. I desperately tried to spin the boat back around, but it was too late. I couldn't save anything else on the boat, but the least I could do was help Redbeard.

"Die..." he said slowly. "Capsize is dead." He fell over suddenly, which was kind of a good thing, as he finally let go of the wheel. I grabbed hold of his hand, pulled him to his feet, and jumped off the sinking ship.

I wasn't an expert swimmer, and it was a thousand times worse when dragging Redbeard along. A piece of wood from the ship had fallen off and was floating along, so I pulled it closer.

"Redbeard, put your hand on this, okay? You'll make it to shore like this. The shore has Ianite, remember? You can make it." He blinked a few times, then grabbed onto the wood. I swam as fast as I could to the shore, and collapsed onto the sand, out of breath. "Redbeard, kick your feet! You'll propel yourself over to me." He started kicking, but they weren't powerful enough, and he was barely moving.

"I think... I had too much to drink," he realized suddenly, and stopped trying to swim. I let out a furious sigh and dove back into the water. Holding onto the other side of the wooden plank, I used my remaining energy to get both of us back to the land.

"Redbeard, can you walk? I need to get you some help," I said desperately. In response, he passed out on the sand. Since I didn't have any other options, I lifted the pirate up in my arms and carried him over to the priest's house.

What a fool I was.