Instinct kicked in, and Nick’s hand drew his sword. He couldn’t see too far into the swirling gray vapor around him but he could hear well enough. People were shouting from the other ship, alongside the screams and wails of something inhuman.

               His heel struck the wall of the cabin while his eyes scanned above. His heart beat with anticipation, and he felt something ugly stir within him.

               The remaining men on Nick’s boat were in a column, and were completely still. Some lost their grips on the chests they carried, the containers knocking on the wood below. Judging by their shaking legs, they did not expect to have signed up for this. A few started to mumble, and one frightened fellow stepped backwards, away from the others.

               “Don’t move!” Nick yelled.

               A winged shadow dove through the fog above, whirling toward the lone man with talons out. The man’s hands curled up; his face twisted in horror as the monster’s claws hurtled closer. Nick stepped forth, but he knew he wouldn’t make it in time.

               “Igni Sphera!”

               Light illuminated the deck as a fireball slammed into the harpy. The monster squawked in surprise right before the sphere burst in an explosion of noise and light. Nick turned his eyes away. When he looked back, the creature’s burnt carcass fell to the deck, a few feet from its would-be prey. Crystalline cracks appeared throughout the corpse. A moment later, it shattered like glass and vanished into aether. An unsharpened emerald left behind.

               The lone man squeaked and shuffled to the others.

               “Quit standing around, pissing your britches!” Everyone’s eyes turned to Eric, black smoke whistling off the man’s open palm. The rubies on his bracer were glowing red. Without missing a beat, Eric kicked one of the chests open, grabbed one of the glowing mana bars, bit off a chunk, and tossed it back into the chest while slamming it shut.

               “Get the chests back to the ship!” He raised his right hand up. “Igni Amni!”

               A stream of fire belched out, turning fog into steam. The shadows of several harpies who were hiding above, were illuminated as the blaze cut through the vapor. They squawked and flew further up, disappearing beyond the reach of danger.

               Eric’s eyes, turned toward his men, who were still standing around in shock and fear. Fire reflected off his coal-colored irises, stressing the angry and irritated look on his face.

               “Get moving.”

               That seemed to have done the trick, because the men sprung to action, grabbed the chests, and walked across the planks to the clipper.

               “Will they be fine?” Nick said, over the shouting and screaming coming from the clipper. “I have a feeling there are more on the other side.”

               “The rest of the lot aren’t as useless as them.” The stream of fire stopped as Eric closed his palm. The sounds of metallic crashes and explosions joined the shouting and screaming.

               “They’ve been through worse and can handle themselves fine. Damn Adrestans. Good ships but soft damn people.”

               Eric’s right arm reached into his coat.

               “Cover my back kid.” Eric looked at Nick’s drawn blade. “You carry that thing like you know how to use it. You do know how to use it right kid?”

               Nick stepped forward, turning his back and covering Eric’s rear. “I’d say I’m decent.”

               “Let’s hope it is good enough.”

               From the corner of his eyes, Nick watched Eric bring out a black rod. The handle was scrawled with archaic words and scripts in a language long forgotten. His eyes widened as he realized what it was.

               Fire crept off the handle, forging itself into scarlet chain-links. The chains appeared one by one, ending in a red spiked ball that crackled like burning twigs.

               “Is that a spirit weapon?” Nick’s eyes returned to the horizon.

               “Yep, and getting it cost me the eye,” said Eric. Nick could feel waves of heat as Eric spun the blazing conflagration, round and round.

               “Harpies can see your body heat,” said Eric. “Just react to their movements. They’ll be seeing you before you seen them, especially in this weather.”

               “Got it,” said Nick, holding back the excitement in his voice.

               A flurry of squawks drew closer and closer. The ugly thing inside Nick was squirming, even as Nick tried to clamp it down.

               “Get ready,” said Eric.   

               Nick shifted his footing, twisted his body sideways, and held the blade in line with his chest. Just like he did in all those drills. His mind was wide awake now.

               “Here they come!”

               One of the screeching monstrosities dove out of cloud cover in a blur. Nick saw the flare of its talons in the firelight as his own body moved in response. One leg shifted, and he twisted away as the claws swept through empty air.

               The monster screeched, and Nick got both a full glance of its body and a full whiff of its smell. It was covered in feathers, with wings protruding around its arms. The head was humanoid with beady eyes slanted into a permanently mean expression and a beak that protruded out its center. It smelled of seaside rubbish that had been sweltering in the sun for hours.

               Who knew a being of pure aether could look or smell this bad?

               Its talons slammed into the deck. Nick winced, but the wood would hold. He moved in for the counterattack as the harpy beat its wings in a mad dash to escape.

               The wings were mid-flap when Nick’s sword flashed up. Blood sprayed against the deck as a twitching headless torso fell forward. Both blood and carcass vanished in the same style as the last harpy, cracking like glass and evaporating into pure aether, leaving behind a gemstone prize.

               The sight woke something up in him. It wanted more. More fights. More foes to dominate and destroy. More lives to be brought to an end.

               Nick didn’t have time to dwell or clamp down on the disturbing emotions as another harpy swept down from above. Now fighting a battle within alongside the battle without. He dodged and slashed sending another headless torso sprawling to the deck.

               A burst of heat caused Nick to look behind.

               Two harpies veered towards Eric as a third blew up in flames. Eric swung his burning flail the fiery spike colliding with one enemy and blowing up. The other swerved out of the way of the explosion, continuing its course towards Eric. The man raised his arm, and the monster shrieked with glee as its talons struck true, ripping through cloth of his shirt.

               It squawked in surprise however, as its prey remained standing. Beneath the shredded clothes, Eric’s skin glowed red, imbued with fire aether from what was probably years of conditioning.

               Eric opened the palm of his hand on the struck arm.

               “Ignis Amni!”

               The harpy’s screams were overtaken by the scream of fire streaming out from the hand. It enveloped the harpy, consuming the body until its outline vanished under the inferno.  

               When the flames died down, a charred emerald clattered onto the deck.

               The sight drew a mix of awe and envy. A part of Nick urged him to see Eric as his next foe. He wondered whether he would die scre-

               Nick shook his head, as if to physically get rid of the thought.

               “Keep your eyes steady kid!” said Eric as his flail streamed back, ready to be swung.

               More harpies joined the fray. They fought, albeit predictably, as expected of monsters from the Fringe. They dove down in a line; Nick would sidestep and finish them in a single strike. It was rather disappointing, and even the madness in him agreed with the ease at which they fell.

               Then the attacks stopped. Six of them gathered in a circle, just within sight but out of melee range. Nick thought the harpies were about to reconsider what they probably thought as easy prey and retreat.

               That was until they strode in a clockwise formation, beating their wings in a frenzy.

               The air picked up, cold condensation splashing against Nick’s face. His hair and clothes fluttering to one side. He lay down in a crouch, but it wasn’t long until the gust turned to a gale and his feet started to slip away.

               Before he could be thrown off entirely, he grabbed onto the edge of his cabin with one hand.

               The deck began to rock back and forth. Water vapor peppered his eyes. The bestiary forgot to mention this, or maybe Nick wasn’t paying attention. He squinted at the cargo strapped down to the center of the boat. The ropes creaked and some of the barrels and sacks slowly were slipping free from their bindings. Fear mixed with horror as he watched a month’s worth of work about to be lost.

               Nick didn’t see Eric though. Where was-

               A hand whisked up from the other end of the cargo. Eric’s head bobbed up, the few strands of hair on his head whistling with the wind.

               His eyes turned up, narrowing with determination and irritation, and his hands let go.

               Nick watched with horror as he watched the man get flung off the boat.

               “Ignis Amnis!”

               Fire erupted from both of his feet, propelling Eric up until he was level with the harpies.

               He twisted his body; a feat Nick would have thought impossible given his obesity. However, he still did and his arms swept in a single smooth motion to send the end of his flail careening out. The chains stretched longer and longer until it caught and the fiery ball swerved into the flying harpies. There was a rapid succession of six explosions as they slammed against it.

               The wind stopped, and Nick fell flat. Eric landed, causing the deck to reel from his weight.

               “Well,” said Eric, his bare feet sticking out of the ruined leather of his boots.  “Got to say, I’m impressed with how well your little raft held together.”

               Six emeralds clattered onto the wooden planks.

               “Greenwood.” Nick lifted himself up. “Always trust on it to hold up.”

               “Smart,” said Eric. “You holding up okay? Didn’t expect the birds to pull one like that.”

               “No worries,” said Nick as he perched himself back up with the sword, still in awe at the sight he had just witnessed.

               Nick had only read about the bracers, that and the occasional tales told by his father, but the pure display of power he had witnessed was something that could not be communicated in words.

               “Thanks, by the way,” said Nick. “For staying.”

               Eric raised an eyebrow.

               “You had your men leave with the chests but you stayed behind,” said Nick. “You could have left me for the harpies but you didn’t.”

               “Well.” Eric shrugged with his hands and winked. “Think of it as a favor that I’ll cash in later.”

               “When you put it that way, I wonder how many favors I owe already,” said Nick.

               “Eh, don’t worry about it for now. Besides, that mana bar is the only reason I could do all that. Gods, I haven’t felt this young in years.” Eric’s eyes shifted in the direction of the clipper. “It should be over soon.”

               Nick looked up to the clear night sky and the moon, realizing the windstorm had completely removed their previous cloud cover. He followed Eric’s gaze to the clipper.

               The ship was far more impressive now that he could see all of it. However, what drew his attention was the staggered groups of men along its deck, fending off scattered harpy remnants with spears and something resembling a metal tube with a lever at the end.

               “Aether Muskets,” Nick realized. One group of men pulled the levers together. There were flashes of white as energized quartz struck a conducting rod, sending aetherial energy into the gemstone pellets loaded at the bottom of the tubes.

               Ruby pellets in this case because bolts of fire shot out of the tubes toward one unfortunate harpy. Half the shots went wide while the others hit true. These harpies had air attributes, and the fire attribute of the pellets lanced through them like a hot knife through butter.

               The harpy fell, its body disintegrating and its gemstone landing on the clipper.

               If bracers were the invention of the century, the muskets were the invention of the decade. Inaccurate but deadly in large quantities. Weapons that required neither much practice to be used effectively, but allowed a common man to be somewhat a threat whereby before he was but fodder.

               There was another eruption of noise as lines of fire erupted from another group of men, scouring another harpy. Followed by another and another. Spearmen held off the harpies while the muskets reloaded.

               “Like an Imperial Tercio,” thought Nick. The men were actually doing a semi-decent job at imitating the actual military formation.

               “They’re well-trained,” said Nick.

               “Yep. Told you they can handle themselves just fine.” Eric took a fresh cigar out from his coat, lighting it and stuffing it in his mouth. “Took a while to get them to that level. Turns out all that time in the Imperial Army wasn’t such a big waste after all.”

               “You were in the army as well?” It turns out he knew less about Eric than he thought.

               “A different time,” said Eric.

               And here Nick thought he was just some scoundrel who made his living off skirting the law. Well he still was.

               They watched as the men wiped out the remaining harpies from the sky. Cheers of victory soon followed.

               “And where did you learn how to fight like that?” said Eric. “I know that style anywhere, and the only people who- “

               His words were interrupted by a screech, one that sent vibrations rippling through the air.

               Everyone froze and watched as wings rose on the opposite end of the clipper, their span covering half the deck.

               Nick realized why the bestiary didn’t bring up the windstorm the harpies used earlier. It was because that attack wasn’t marked under harpy packs, but under the entry for harpy swarms.

               And a harpy swarm was led by something a step above a regular monster. An aberration.

               The rest of it rose, moonlight glinting off blue-green feathers that covered it from end to end. Its face resembled a human, with a mouth instead of a beak although it had slits for a nose. The monster’s twin talons grappled onto the edge of the ship, cracking into the wooden boards.

               One brave man fired his musket at the creature. Fire bloomed out of the tube, hurtling toward its cheek. The fiery lance disappeared in a puff of smoke, but when it cleared the being looked unharmed.

               In fact, it looked furious. The madness within him squealed with joy at the sight of an overwhelming opponent to kill.

               The aberration’s eyes zeroed in on the origin of the blast, its chest rising as it breathed in. Green and blue light, water and air aether, gathered in a crystalized orb in front of its mouth. The group of men realized what was about to happen and scrambled in all directions. A blue-green beam bloomed from the orb, erupting shards of ice across the deck of the clipper. Barrels and crates burst in its wake, their contents freezing mid-air. A few unlucky men unable to escape the onslaught were also fixed in solid ice.

               Other groups fired more shots, doing little but garner squawks of rage from the aberration.

               Panic set in to the men, at their futile attacks. Some cut loose from their formations and ran. The aberration drew its breath, readying another attack.

                It flinched as a fiery ball tied to a burning chain smacked the side of its head and exploded. The gathering aether dissipated.

               “Nobody wrecks my ship!” Eric had vanished from Nick’s boat, appearing at the deck of the clipper. His flail had wheeled back and was spinning for another strike.

               The massive harpy shook its head, sending out another bloodcurdling scream that sent half the men to drop and cover their ears. Eric looked unimpressed, sending his flail through the air, slapping the aberration against the chest with an explosion that sent it reeling. He swung again and again, pushing the harpy back until it tumbled off the edge of the clipper.

               A few of the men cheered, but Eric cut them off.

               “It isn’t over yet!” yelled Eric, spinning his flail. “Gunners get topaz pellets from storage! This thing right there is of water and air. Fire won’t do anything but piss it off!”

               As if on cue, the aberration flew up from the side of the clipper. Its wings sending a gust of wind and droplets of water with each beat. There were a few charred spots along its cheek and its chest.

               “Come here you overgrown chicken!” said Eric. “I’m going to use that core of yours to mop the shitters after you cracked up my deck!”

               It roared at Eric’s challenge, lashing a talon at Eric. He dodged out of its way but the claws crashed into the board, sending splinters flying everywhere.

               “Ignis Sphera!”

               A fireball launched itself from Eric’s hand, sending the aberration reeling but dealing no real damage. The harpy retaliated by firing a bolt of green air aether which Eric dodged.

               A few of the men ran down the deck, probably to grab the topaz pellets their boss was talking about. However, with the collateral damage from the battle, Nick wasn’t sure whether they would make it in time. At least before the harpy would accidentally hit one of the wind engines and knock the clipper out of the air.

               Nick looked at the steering lever of his ship. There were no other harpies in the air, and the aberration had its focus completely on the clipper. He had the goods stowed. He could leave Eric and his men to their fate. Should leave, or at least that was the prudent choice.

               He wasn’t an Innatum like his father or a Nephilim like his siblings or a bracer like Eric. He could do nothing.

               His father’s words hung in the air. “What sort of man are you going to be?”

               Nick clenched his sword, resolve settling in. Sure, Eric and the rest of his crew was a tad unsavory on many fronts, but they were among the few people who knew Nick for who he was. They’ve run favors for each other as comrades-in-arms in the shadowy profession of smuggling.

               They were the closest thing he had to friends, and Nick wasn’t going to abandon them, even for the sake of his obligation. Not when he could still do something.

               His eyes shifted to the glowing emeralds strewn across the deck. Uncut but charged. Enough energy to pull this off.  

               Nick moved to collect the emeralds under the roaring sounds of battle. Gems in hand, he ran to the front of the boat, cutting free one of his conducting cords and unraveling the spellweave cloth. He looked down at the shimmering gems.

               What he was about to try was insane, but it had worked in the past. Once. An accidental discovery from youthful curiosity.

               He tore the bindings off the hilt of the sword, revealing a diamond rested at the center of the guard along with a set of golden letters etched above. OPTIVUS V.

               A sentient artifact weapon, one of the most prized and powerful pieces of reclaimed equipment from the old continent.

               It was inactive and did not answer to him, for they only answered to the blood of their original binders.

               According to books and general knowledge, but not from Nick’s personal experience.        

               He tied one cord to the hilt, laying it on the floor and keeping his distance as he dumped the emeralds onto the cloth. Nick took a deep breath, bracing himself for what awaited and grabbed the hilt with both hands.

               The instant his flesh touched the handle, the cloth glowed with rainbow colors as aether drained out of the emeralds, flowing through the rope towards him. The moment it struck the blade, the energy arced around the blade. His entire body felt like it was ablaze and freezing at the same time, yet he held on.

               Channeling aetheral energy with conducting rope like this would have killed a normal person and left a Bracer or Innatum with severe burns. However, after the initial pain, he felt somewhat relaxed, energized almost.

               Strands of rainbow light arced off the rope through the handle of the weapon. A few struck the diamond along the way. Nick thought he could hear a girl shrieking in pain. He had no idea if it was real or in his head or whether the inactive weapon could feel pain at all. However, real human lives were at stake.

               “Sorry,” he thought, no idea if the thoughts transferred that way.  

               The stream of light vanished as the emeralds were exhausted. The sword was enveloped in strands of pure yellow lightning, crackling and raging with thunder.

               His eyes shifted to the battle. Eric was still fighting the aberration, neither side gaining in the battle for supremacy. Ice spikes littered about a quarter of the clipper. Entire chunks of the deck were torn out. No sight of any of Eric’s men.

               The blade would only stay this way for so long. It was now or never.

               Nick took the sword in both hands and leapt across the planks connecting the two vessels, running around ice formations and holes. He ducked behind a crate as the aberration’s wing sent a gale across the deck. Eric hid behind a barrel across from him, sweat glimmering from his head.

               “Eric!” Nick waved his electrified sword to catch the man’s attention.

               “Get it down!” Nick tipped the blade’s point at the aberration.

               He said nothing, but his eyes bulged a bit at the sight of Nick’s sword. He nodded, swerving as a beam of ice destroyed the barrel, he was behind, sending frozen grain everywhere.

               Eric and the aberration exchanged more blows, as Nick strode closer. By the time he reached the aberration’s shadow however, he had caught its attention. A single talon launched down.

               Nick leapt away, right as it crashed into the deck, sending splinters of wood everywhere.

               “I told you!” said Eric. “Nobody, gets away with wrecking my ship!”

               Nick looked up to see Eric hurtling through the air. His flail spun, the chains wrapping themselves around his opponent in a burning embrace. The harpy shrieked and struggled as the bindings snared its wings, causing it to fall. Steam sizzled off the fiery chains as they seemed to slowly melt away.

               Not quick enough however, as Eric pulled down with both his hands, lurching the aberration faster to the ground.  

               Nick leapt up, bringing the electrified blade to meet the enemy’s chest. There was a snap as one of the chains broke, freeing one of the harpy’s legs. The harpy’s eyes went wide at its impending doom, and lurched its talon up in an attempt to take Nick with it to oblivion.

               There was no way he could dodge the blow, not mid-air. Pain ruptured from his chest, but not before the tip of the sword ripped through feathers and flesh. Lightning split out from the blade, and he couldn’t tell apart the shrieking of the aberration from the shearing bolts that rippled through its body. Thunder deafened his hearing.

               The last thing he felt before the world went white was satisfaction from the madness with him, for now.

               ***

               When Nick came to, everything was dark. He could hear fine though.

               “Is he dead?”

               “No, he’s still breathing.”

               “Good Gods. Is he Innatum? Or a Nephilim?”

               “Can’t be. Too plain-looking.”

               “Yep. Also, his hair is black. Innatum and Nephilim do not have black hair.”

               Those last few words irked him. He tried moving an arm.

               “I think he is moving.”

               “Back off from you lousy cowards! Hey kid wake-up!”

               Nick’s eyes lurched open. Everything was hazy. His hands reached up to clasp his face. The air was cold. Every muscle, every bone groaned with pain.

               “I’m alive,” he said.

               “Damn right you are.” A warm hand clapped over his shoulder. “You’re downright crazy you know that.”

               “Did we-Did we win?” Nick blinked a few times, and the world sharpened back into focus. He was laying on the deck of the clipper, surrounded by the gaunt figures of men. Their faces painted with concern and two others he hadn’t inspired from others. Awe and fear.

               “If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be talking right now.”

               He turned behind him to see Eric standing over him, shaking his head. Eric offered his hand and Nick grabbed it, hefting himself up.

               “You know the number of people who’d take on an aberration like that, without being a Bracer or Innatum, exists on one hand. You’re the only one I know who not only lived, but actually did the deed.”

               Nick laughed. He tried to take a step forward, but stumbled. Eric leaned over to catch him.

               “Whoa,” he said. “Slow down there.”

               Ice, splinters, and ruined cargo littered the deck. However, Nick’s eyes were drawn to a rigid gemstone the size of his torso. Green and blue swirls simmered under its etched surfaces.

               “An aquamarine,” said Eric. “Big one too.”

               Not just any regular gemstone but a mixed one. That would bring quite a tidy sum in any market in the world. If only he had the time.

               Nick suddenly remembered.

               “Time,” said Nick. “What is the time? How long was I out?”

               “I don’t keep a watch on me kid,” said Eric. “Although I think one of the boys might have one on them…”

               Nick reached into his pocket, pulling out his watch. The glass was cracked and the hands were busted and charred. He realized he had it in his pocket when he pulled the stunt with the emeralds and the conducting rope. Damn it.

               “Just half past eight,” one of the men said.

               That put a spring in Nick’s foot.

               “I have to get going.” He turned around to where the deck of his boat strode along the clipper, still connected by a few planks that didn’t fall away from the windstorm. Nick pulled free from Eric’s grasp, taking an uneasy step forward.

               “Hold up there kid.” Eric held him back by the shoulder. “What about the aquamarine? You deserve some of that. That thing is worth nearly as much as- “

               “Keep it,” said Nick. “I can’t do much with that thing, not without drawing unwanted attention.”

               If he lugged a rare gemstone like that in his town, let alone all of Vislanda, he’d draw the unwanted attention of every single constable in the country.

               “Very well then.” Eric let go of him, raising an eyebrow. “Not that I would ever say no to a prize like that. Going to need it to fix up the deck that aberration smashed up.”

               “Consider it a gift.” Nick stepped across the planks, and hopped back onto the deck of his boat. He turned around to face Eric and his men. “Probably will pay for a few favors that I owe.”

               “Eh, fair enough.” Eric rolled his eyes, then turned toward his men. “What are all of you looking at? We got work to do. Smith, go check the stern. I don’t want any more harpies sneaking up on us. Bell…”

               Eric’s voice drowned out as Nick went to inspect his own boat. The cargo strapped to the center of the room looked relatively undamaged, save for a few splinters chipped off the barrels. He fastened the ones that were almost loose from the windstorm back in place.

               Men drew back up the planks that connected their ships as Nick kicked away the brakes that kept his vessel in place. The deck rumbled, and the boat slowly drifted away from the clipper.

               “Also, kid!”

               Nick turned his head to see Eric toss a sheathed blade towards him from the clipper. Nick caught it, and swore. He couldn’t believe he almost forgot it.

               “Keep that thing safe!” said Eric. “Only twelve of those exist in the world.”

                There was a pause before he added.

               “If I knew you were Valdric Thunderfury’s son, I would have treated you a little different.”          

               “That’s because I am not,” Nick thought, but he only nodded.

               “Why you want to go be a reclaimer makes a bit more sense now,” said Eric. “Also, one last note of advice. You’re going to need friends out there. Remember, even the Paragons and the Eight Companions had each other.”

               Nick just smiled back. “I work better alone.”

               “That is precisely the problem,” said Eric, blowing out another plume of smoke. He raised his right arm, the one with the bracer on it, crossing it over his chest in the old greeting among reclaimers. “Take care of yourself out there.”

               Nick replied in kind. “Will do.”

               The boat had drifted far enough for him to turn without colliding into the clipper. Nick, raised the steering lever down, causing it to swerve down and gain speed.

               Hopefully, he wasn’t too late for dinner.