One Day

[Cocytus]

<p>---------- One day...I will be respected, and words and status will mean nothing stacked against my actions and accomplishments...</p><p>Leithe squatted in a corner in Neriak, a child; he was only thirteen years old. He was hidden behind several barrels in an alley, one hand on an aged cutlass, the other on a pouch, a wallet full of platinum. He kept his breathing steady, so as not to give away his location.</p><p>"I know you are here, little halfbreed." The arrogant teir'dal he'd stolen the pouch of platinum from creeped toward Leithe's general direction, his eyes surveying the scene as he kept his axe at the ready, both hands gripping the haft. A rat scurried between the Dal's feet and toward the barrels a few feet in front of him.</p><p>The rat ran up Leithe's leg and torso and onto his shoulder, squeaking with excitement as he saw a shine come from within the pouch he held. It made a mad grab for the wallet. Leithe cursed and clanked the rat on the head before it scurried away, pained squeaks trailing behind it.</p><p>The Teir'dal grinned, hearing the clanking and the curse. "The barrels...it would have been smarter to run a bit further than that, child."</p><p>Knowing it was useless to try and continue the ruse, Leithe lept out from behind the barrels before the elf could get any closer. He pointed his cutlass at the dark elf, eyes gleaming with malice. "You don't deserve this..."</p><p>Without a retort, the elf lunged at Leithe, swinging the axe horizontally, following through with several swipes. Not daring to try and parry a hafted weapon with a mere cutlass, Leithe chose to only evade, dodging the blows as they came at him and swiping at all openings.</p><p>The elf gave a sudden growl so fierce, it was meant to stun any that might hear it with its ferocity. Leithe blinked, dazed for a moment, and in that moment, came up with a plan... The dark elf took his bait. He swung his axe at Leithe, who only half-dodged it, intentionally allowing it to cut open the flesh of his shoulder. With a single hand, Leithe shifted the pouch and caught it by the draw string, pulling it more tightly closed and tossing it with all his might into the dark elf's face in the same motion. The elf was struck solidly in the face by the force of many platinum coins as he was still recovering from his swing.</p><p>The opportunity presented itself.... Leithe lunged forward and hooked his cutlass behind the blade of the axe and wrenched it out of the dark elf's hands.</p><p>Leithe's hand darted for the wallet as it hit the ground and tucked it under his belt, then dashed away.</p><p>"Someone, stop that ill-bred mongrel!" Said the dark elf, in a rage, moving to pursue, when he noticed that the child had just cut a rope.  It was in that instant that the elf realized...The local blacksmith had left an unfinished blade out back to cool, away from the heat of his forge...</p><p>And before he could curse the boy's name, the rope was cut, and an anvil fell from overhead, hitting the searing-hot blade on just the right spot and angle. The last thing he felt in this world was the sting of his face and skull in agony, as if they were melting.</p><p>---------- One day...I will walk in my Captain's footsteps, and become the greatest pirate in existance...</p><p>Romdao returned back to the Freeport dock and his crew, after they had been docked a few days. The crew policy was "Take what you can and he who rakes in the most is captain, for none shall ever manage to out-plunder Captain Romdao Mirot!" As always, Romdao returned to the ship after selling and trading the swag he had accumulated through their last few weeks' worth of piracy.</p><p>He would return a rich man, richer than the rest of them. They could never beat him. Leithe was always the next closest; however, despite being the first runner-up, there was always a wide gap.</p><p>"One day, Leithe. You'll get there. It'll be you teachin' your own crew what y'learned from Captain Romdao Mirot. Blimey, for bein' a kid, y'do well. You'll be rakin' in more'n I am b'fore y'know it."</p><p>Leithe nodded and crossed blades with the Captain. Once a week, they would always duel, for Romdao was determined to raise the finest pirate the seas had ever seen, perhaps better than himself. The two clanked their cutlasses in a duel, swiping, parrying, dodging, looking for every opening, but Romdao kept finding all the right ones, and eventually beat Leithe again.</p><p>"One day, mate." He grinned.</p><p>---------- One day...I will win her completely, and no longer be a dark secret, but someone she is proud to be with...</p><p>Leithe stirred from his sleep and lifted himself up, enough to see the entryway of the apartment in Longshadow. That blasted noble again...always that same, persistant one...chasing after his beloved Azaelia. He forced his lips onto her after barging in and backing her into a wall. </p><p>Rage filled Leithe's mind. Jealousy sparked the hate within him, and it flowed freely, but subsided as he heard a loud SMACK!</p><p>Were Leithe really accepted as her lover, he knew...That blasted noble would already been a rotting corpse in the street, by his hand or Azaelia's. They wouldn't have to hold back against such an affront...</p><p>And the "alliance talks" with an ogre that made Leithe's blood boil. How he seethed with such fury, to see the fat one quickly force his lips on his beloved. He drew his sword, holding it firm against the ogre's throat, only to be met by a number of other swords...The ogre's bodyguards.</p><p>And to be removed. Removed, from the presence of his beloved, leaving her to fend for herself against the fat one and the pressure of the guards. He would not have felt such disappointment with her, had Leithe realized that he was kicked out only half an hour before dawn. He thought he'd been out there for hours.</p><p>Oh, the rage that filled him when she told him that his status, his breed, not to mention not being bound to her, though that was heresy anyway, for she was already bound, in a way. Bound to prior commitments - her commitments to the church. To teaching Innoruuk's supposed word of Purity...it all stopped her from being able to demand his presence. From demanding what her heart truly wanted.</p><p>---------- One day, my dreams will not just be dreams. They will be my reality.</p><p>Leithe had dreamed before. Preminitions of the future. Always, he had a plumed captain's hat, a long cloak, and a coat suitable of a famed pirate. Beneath his hat, his favorite bandana. His hair grew long once more, no longer a mohawk, but simply, long and untamed by any blade.</p><p>Captain Romdao and his Stormbreaker crew offered Leithe and his beloved Azaelia passage back to Freeport. They had long since been joined in soul. They'd created a child, though it was hidden away to be kept from danger. Most importantly...They'd vowed to never seperate from each other's presence. They were returning from a long journey to Faydwer, hunting together and claiming the prizes, showing the power of their union to any who might challenge it.</p><p>Leithe stood in the Crow's Nest with Cocyttus, the crew's "eagle-eye". It was raining. Most of the crew was asleep aside from Captain Romdao, Cocyttus, Leithe, and Azaelia. She had stayed on the deck below, leaning against the side of the ship watching Leithe. Catching his eye, she smiled.</p><p>"Ey Cocyttus... I gonna go down ta be w'th Lia again, mate." Leithe muttered to Cocyttus above the sound of the pattering rain, which seemed to steadily be increasing. Cocyttus didn't respond. "Co..." Leithe noticed Cocyttus concentrating on something he spotted through his scope. "What is it?"</p><p>"A giant bat....I think...but why would that be out here? It's coming straight for us." Cocyttus grew more frantic the longer he watched. "I know what that is...That's a vampire!" He pocketted his telescope and quickly drew his bow, loosing several arrows toward the oncoming vampire. Leithe looked at Azaelia and gestured toward the commotion, drawing his sword, which blazed against the darkness, pulsing with energy. He took a firm stance, but then lost his balanced as the ship lurched and changed angles. A Maelstrom formed beneath the ship as the vampire drew closer...</p><p>Cocyttus aimed again at the beast, but hesitated, giving an ill-timed pause. "That thing doesn't have a head..."</p><p>The vampire was quickly upon them. It had shown its true form, a hideous mass of mal-formed, partially rotted, undead flesh, clawed, horned, and winged. It swiped at Cocyttus with one of its claws. With very little room to evade, he jumped above the swipe and worked his way down to the deck, quickly. His bow was caught in the swipe and fell helplessly into the maelstrom overboard.</p><p>"I ain't gonna be chased away so easily...Malkonis." Said Leithe, not entirely sure the beast could hear him. He recognized the beast's unhealed wounds. And even without such identifying marks....There was only one vampire that the Ghosts had actually took the time to behead to show the Freethinkers. Malkonis D'Morte.</p><p>Romdao immediately recognized the nature of the beast from down on the deck. "Cocyttus! TAKE THE WHEEL!" He had slain his share of vampires before, though he'd never seen a greater vampire in its true form. "Where is it...where is it..." He said as he kicked open the chests on deck. "I know it's here somewhere... Aha!" He said with a grin as he opened one, spotting  a familiar powder inside. Quickly, he closed the chest again to keep the contents from spilling and picked it up, carrying it with him. "How convenient!"</p><p>Leithe swiped at the beast, quickly weaving a combination of slashes and stabs to keep the creature at bay atop the now-damaged crow's nest. But even when he landed blows, it was as if the vampire felt no pain. After Leithe's initial volley came one of the vampire's own. It attacked so swiftly and violently, he barely had time to counter. After a successful parry, Leithe gave a short laugh, "Haha!" and stabbed the creature's wings, binding it to the ship. The vampire gave a roar from an unseen mouth as its wings were destroyed and rendered useless, and seized Leithe by the neck, lifting him off his feet.  Leithe began to choke under the force of the mercilessly grasping claw, until he was tossed into the air and slashed violently across the neck. Miraculously, he landed below, on the ship's tilted deck, not falling overboard. His hat was lost in the fall as it flew off of his head.</p><p>Azaelia cried out with concern as Leithe landed next to her, quickly kneeling at his side. She looked over his wounds as Leithe gurgled and began to fade. "Hold on, love..." She murmured to him as she weaved her hands across the gash in his neck, healing and sealing it back up. Leithe coughed and looked at her with a warm smile for a moment before looking back up. The vampire was shrieking with anger at its damaged wings atop one of sail masts.</p><p>"Found somethin for you, mate. Convenient it's rainin, ey?" Romdao said, grinning at Leithe and holding open a chest. What was once a powder now looked more like mud. It could only get so wet in the chest if intentionally left open.... "Silver dust. Well...I dunno if you'd call it dust now, but y'know what I be getting at..."</p><p>Leithe nodded and took up his sword again, dipping the tip of it into the silver and drawing it back out. A thick coat of muddy silver now coated the tip. The vampire's body was poised for another strike as it bent its knees atop the rear sail's mast.</p><p>Azaelia's brows furrowed with determination. She would not see that creature do anymore damage. She weaved her hands, quickly chanting another spell, delivering her Verdict upon the Vampire. A giant hammer of white light appeared before the vampire and struck it with an unworldly force, severely weakening it. It moaned as it staggered in place, utterly stunned.</p><p>"I'll take it from ere..." Leithe said, grabbing one of the shrouds leading up to the crow's nest. He waited only a moment, feeling the power of the maelstrom beneath the ship, and using its momentum to aim as he swung on the rope and aimed his sword directly at the vampire's heart. Leithe missed on the first pass, but had just enough momentum to swing around and land on top of the same sail the vampire was. Without  letting go of the rope, Leithe stepped forward, planting his foot firmly down and timing it with his thrust. He pierced through the vampire's heart - a direct hit. The vampire burned and smoldered, turning to ash and fading away.</p><p>The ship lurched as the maelstrom beneath it began to lose power. Leithe lost his balance, and knowing better than to be so high on a ship in such a situation, he used the rope to return back to the deck.</p><p>"Haha! Well done, mate!" called Captain Romdao as the maelstrom dissipated. "I be impressed. Cocyttus! I hear the crew stirrin', go tell'em they'll be surrenderin some swag t'me for not scurryin' faster, but they can go on back t'sleep."</p><p>Romdao shook his head as he eyed the contents of the chest containing the silver mud. "Ah, this won't sell too well. Oh well, t'were for a good cause." He sat it back down and took the wheel back.</p><p>Azaelia approached Leithe, embracing and kissing him firmly as he landed back on the deck again. </p><p>"Mm, definately glad ta be back on th' deck." He grinned at her, running a hand through his own hair, not used to his hat being gone. All he had on was his favorite bandana.</p><p>"Leithe...your hat. What happened to it?" Azaelia looked around without loosening her embrace.</p><p>"Oy! Lose somefing?" Called Romdao from the wheel, running a tongue across his teeth. He picked Leithe's hat up and tossed it to him. "We'll be'n Freeport by sunrise. Feel free t'use the Captain's Quarters t'night mate; you've earned it."</p><p>"Thank ya, capt'n!" Leithe gave the Captain a thumbs-up and returned his gaze to Azaelia as he placed his hat back on his head. She was grinning at him.</p><p>"Let's go inside, then, love." She smiled, pulling him eagerly inside. Perhaps she wanted more than to just get out of the rain...</p><p>Leithe awoke the next morning and climbed from the bed, tugging on his coat and leggings. His beloved awoke shortly after. He smiled at Azaelia as she hid herself beneath the covers.</p><p>"Bout time we visit home, eh, love?" He winked and looked out the window toward Freeport.</p>