Faris needed money.

This wasn’t anything new of course. He’d been lacking since the day he’d washed ashore this strange land, but this had reached a whole new level. With mission on his mind and Krile in tow, it’d turned his usual mercenary jobs into a distraction he couldn’t afford. Not with Bartz’ safety on the line. So they’d coasted by on the funds he’d built up until then, but that could only last them so long.

So what was a pirate to do? Faris chose the obvious route. Pirating.

It felt good to be back to his old ways. Like a fish back to water or a gull back to salty air. He wanted to laugh at the relief of it -- at his pounding heart and the power at his hand. He’d taken to the life of a Warrior as well as anyone could, but his heart had always belonged to the sea. To the sea and the thrill of violent theft.

And so as Faris approached the last gangway at the dock, he did so with the strength and confidence of the captain he’d once been. The crew had already taken to unloading the cargo, and more than a few of them turned hostile eyes towards him, warning of danger if he didn’t get lost. Faris stopped in front of them, back straight and a fire in his eyes. One of the crew straightened to face him.

”What do you want?” The threat was barely veiled behind the ambiguity of his words. Faris smirked.

”I’ll be taking your gold,” he said. The man recoiled in surprise. ”You’re a lot of smugglers and rogues yourself, selling arms to the worst types. So I’ll be taking a cut of your spoils.”

The men darkened at that and every one of them turned to face him. Their eyes promised death. ”And where did you hear that?”

”You meet all kinds skulking in low places. I’ve not said a word about it. All I’m after is gil.”

The man laughed. ”You.” The man’s eyes trailed over Faris from his hairless cheeks to his tunic to his thin stature nearly half a foot shy of them. ”Well that’s the thing. A threat only works if you can carry it through.”

Faris crossed his arms and laughed loudly. ”You’ve got some brass. I’ll give you that.” He shot them a half-grin. ”But it’s more a warning than a threat. I’m no rat -- it’s not my style. But if you lot don’t surrender, I’ll be commandeering it myself.”

Something wary passed his face before he banished it. ”You think we’ll just hand it over?”

”Aye, if you know what’s good for you.”

There was a long pause. Faris could almost see the gears turning. Faris was too confident for a bluff, and his nearly inhuman strength wasn’t uncommon enough not to guess. But of course he didn’t comply. No man worth his salt would agree to being robbed.

”Get lost.” The snarl didn’t quite mask his unease. He turned his attention back to his cargo. Faris grinned.

”There it is then.” Faris pulled his dagger and held it towards them. ”Your final answer?”

Wary eyes met his blade. He saw a few hands reach for their belts. Greeted by only silence, Faris’ grin widened. ”I’ll make you change your tune.”

He called upon his shard of the water crystal, and in a flash of light, he’d transformed. His blue tunic faded. His scarf elongated into a cape behind him and tinted a vibrant red. His bandanna turned to a matching hat with a feather in its cap. At the end of it all, he faced them with a body full of magic and a sword in his hand.

He made short work of them.

With the crew subdued, Faris put his hands to his hips and leaned over them, exhilaration in his eyes. ”Where’s the captain then?”

***

In the end, they didn’t give him what he wanted -- or at least, not without a fight. He knocked down every one of them, and still the captain wouldn’t talk. So he bellowed his demands again, telling the lot of them that no one left until they handed over what he’d come for. At least, until the truce was pierced by a gunshot.

At first, Faris thought it was a cannon firing into the sea, but then came the sharp bite of metal into his shoulder. ”Why you lousy-!” He gasped through gritted teeth and staggered back, clutching at the wound and the seeping blood between his fingers. ”No-good, gutless-!” The rest of them were on him, brandishing swords and daggers and all other kinds of deadly blades. Faris jumped back, pulling his own sword to block them even as his vision swam with the pain. ”Curs!”

But it was him that was lousy. The devils had been smuggling weapons from the north, after all. What a sorry excuse for a Warrior of Light he was.

Faris forced a laugh even as he barely dodged the blows, barely holding off four snarling men by scrambling back and blocking desperately with the dull end of his sword. His crystal stirred in his panic, and he willed it forward with all his might.

’Change already! Change! Change! Change!’

The light engulfed him. The men recoiled in his moment of weakness, and Faris lept back one more time, clutching his shoulder as armor spread across his body in crimson red. His sword elongated into a wicked spear, and his hat twisted into the form of a dragon. In a second, he stood confident and powerful. This was a form he felt more comfortable in. He bore the strength of a wind drake and the ferocity of one too. His mouth soured into a scowl.

”I’d like to see you try that again, you louts!” Then his scowl morphed into a kind of deadly grin. He spun his spear in his hand and started forward again.

Their bullets glanced off his armor -- a sacred relic of a library long lost. He was vaguely aware of the shouts of the other dock workers and of scrambling feet, but he was too lost in his own adrenaline to care. With the wind his hair and weightlessness at his feet, he couldn’t help a laugh at the thrill of it all.

Piracy was one hell of a ride.

When it was all said and done, he stood confident and victorious on the beach. He spun his spear around again and planted the dull side into the sand. ”I’ll tell you one more time!” he shouted up at them. ”I’ll be taking your gold or you’ll have a meeting with the harbor! Now which will it be?”

ulla

”Or you’ll leave the folks be.”

Faris knew what he was dealing with before he turned to face him. He’d been too brazen. Drawn it out too long. And now word had spread, and with it, the kinds of heroes he’d have fraternized with if true evil descended from the skies. It felt almost strange to turn again him and raise a defiant chin at him, grinning. He’d almost forgotten what it felt like to stand brazenly against the law and bite his thumb at it.

To take what he wanted and be bound by nothing -- that was what it meant to be a pirate.

For the man’s part, he looked as sturdy as stone. There was no fear in his eyes, nothing but grit and a warning. He raised his daggers against Faris, eyeing him over what looked like the barrel of a gun. It’d be a fight then, and a good one at that. Faris pulled his spear from the sand and spun it between his fingers before letting it fall across his shoulders. He tilted his head with a cocky smirk.

”You’ve got no stake in this,” he said. ”They’re harboring dirty money, and I’ll be taking a cut of it.” He glanced back to the smugglers still groveling in the sand. He’d have to keep an eye on them if he didn’t want to get shot in the back. ”I’m after gold, not lives, and I’m not backing down until these louts’ve handed it over.” He shot them a sour look. His shoulder stung with the blow of their bullets, and he felt blood creep down from within his armor. He could still move it fine, but he’d need to switch classes soon if he wanted to keep from going light-headed.

Could he take on this man with a bullet flaring in him like a snake bite? He had no idea, but he’d spoken true. Faris’ pride wouldn’t stand for anything less.

”If you’re after a fight, you’ll get one,” he said. ”So you’d best turn around unless you’ve got the brass of a sea drake and the fangs to boot.”

ulla

”You’re hurt.”

”Eh?” Faris froze, his blood rising to his cheeks. How had he known? Faris’ plate armor covered the wound, and he’d stood as strong as any one. Had he flinched and hadn’t noticed? Was his grip wrong? Faris felt his shock turn to fury as the man went on, dismissing a fight as “pointless” because he wouldn’t go about taking on a “wounded opponent.”

”You lout! I’ve still got plenty of fight in me, and I’ll not turn tail once I’ve lost a little blood! You’re yellow, that’s what you are! Turning your nose because you haven’t the stomach for a brawl!” He shoved his spear in the sand again, stifling a grimace as he readied his stance, put his hands on his hips, and raised his chin in a challenge. ”You’ll put weight behind your words or you’ll stop spouting them.”

The man’s reluctance drove him mad. Faris had told him off, threatened him, barked his challenges, and still the man looked down on him. Faris hadn’t asked him to come, and this ship didn’t mean a thing to him, yet here he was wasting his time and spewing out pity where it didn’t belong. There was such a fire in him that he hardly heard the man’s calls for peace.

Patching up his wound? Getting a pint? Faris barked his laughter. ”Are you daft?” He leaned towards him, head tilted and eyes serious. ”If you’re talking law then you’re one who bides by them. I’ll not be having a pint, and I’ll not be lowering my guard either. I’ve got my own hand on the helm, and I’ll not be steering off course!”

The man’s eyes fell somewhere to the side, and Faris glanced over to see a line of guards waiting timidly at the harbor’s edge. His eyes narrowed. ”You dirty-! You were buying time!” He grabbed his spear and lept backwards, landing behind the smugglers all disarmed and cowering. It wasn’t a move he liked to take, but he needed the distance in case the tides shifted for the worse. He glanced again towards the guards. He could mow through them like nothing, but he didn’t want to get them involved if he could help it.

Which left only him and the man before him. But with the guards waiting on the eaves…

”Have it then, you gutless lout! They won’t be handing their gil over with the law lurking about, and I know better than to plow ahead when the winds’ve changed!” Faris spun his spear around to face him. ”If you tail me, we’ll be trading blows. So take your win and go if you know what’s good for you.”

With that, Faris lept with the natural flight of a dragoon. The sand dampened his jump, but it was more than enough land him on a stony outcropping some forty feet high and twenty distant. His steely boots clacked against his perch as he eyed the smugglers and the law below. Something twisted inside him and he cursed, fist clenched on his spear. He’d needed that money and he’d done it all right to get it! It wasn’t some brute robbery, no hostages, no theft. Just a bit of justice on a band of men with more blood on their hands than water! And now he’d leave with nothing at all because some self-righteous lout thought to stop him.

Faris eyed said lout over the edge. How long could Faris keep up his search without the means to keep him and Krile afloat? Well, when they were aching and cold on the road, Faris would know who to blame.

He gripped at his shoulder and winced. ”Gutless cur,” he hissed through grit teeth. With his adrenaline fading, he’d need a potion or white magic before long. ”I’ll not be taken so lightly next time...”

ulla

Just as Faris was taking his leave, there was a clash of metal on stone, a flash of light, and the man lurched to life about a foot from Faris’ face.

”Son of a-!” There wasn’t time for words. Faris stumbled back so fast he nearly fell over, swinging his spear hard at the side of the man’s head on instinct. Once he’d regained his balance, he gave another swift leap backwards for distance and gaped at the man before him.

He stood at the edge of a cliff -- the edge of a cliff twenty feet high at that. He hadn’t jumped, hadn’t climbed. Could he teleport? Faris grit his teeth and grabbed at his shoulder with his unarmed hand, breathing heavily from surprise.

The question wasn’t how he’d come after him, but why? Was he planning on arresting him after all? Had he changed his mind about that fight or (Faris’ stomach dropped at the thought) had he taken such pity on him that he’d determined to care for Faris no matter what he said about it?

His jaw clenched. The no-good, condescending piece of-!

”I told you, didn’t I? That if you came after me, we’d be trading blows?” Faris spun his spear to face him, ignoring the sharp pain in his shoulder and the dizzying haze that came with it. He hadn’t expected to follow through on that threat so soon, but he wasn’t about to take it back now. ”I’m a man of my word, and I’ll not be taken lightly!”

With that, he dashed forward, feinting to the side and then jumping at the last second to catch him off guard. There was no point in fleeing. No point in hearing anything he had to say. If the man could teleport then jumping away would do him about as much good as swimming from a shark’s fin, and only a dunce would believe he’d come peacefully no matter what he said. The man was working with the law. He’d seen Faris holding up a whole ship’s worth of smugglers, and he’d charged after him instead of letting them part ways. Backed into a corner, there was only one path for Faris to take -- fight.

The wind whistled through his hair. It pricked cold against his cheeks in a way he’d have found invigorating if his blood hadn’t burned with anger. In hardly a breath after his launch, Faris spun his spear towards him and thrust himself straight down.

ulla