━━━━━━༻July 5th, 1728༺━━━━━━

I narrowed my eyes, the spray of the sea hitting me in the face as the ship glided through the water, the sails full of wind. Members of the crew were running back and forth, cleaning the deck or checking the rigging to make sure it was secure. Water surrounded us in all directions, for as far as the eye could see.

"Captain!"

I turned to look at my first mate, Lestat. He was standing at the helm, waving me over. I nodded at the crew as I passed them before climbing up the steps. "What is it?"

"We have almost reached our destination," he told me, eyes flashing red for a moment. "However, another ship is not far off. They may be chasing after the same secret as us. How shall we proceed?"

My eyes scanned the crew. Although they were a ragtag bunch, they were loyal down to their bones and quite fierce in battle. "Continue at full sail. We have to get there first, no matter the cost." I then raised my voice, addressing the crew. "Listen up, men! We will try to avoid a fight if at all possible because the treasure is our top priority. However... if the need should arise, be prepared for war!"

The crew yelled in agreement, thrusting their fists and weapons into the air. The sound of clapping came from behind me and I whirled around, sword drawn. There was no one there.

I felt a tap on my should and whirled around again, but my sword was taken from me in the blink of an eye by a man with brown hair and pale, almost blue, skin.

"Easy, mortal," he said softly, holding the sword out to me handle first. "I mean you no harm."

My men were staring at me with wide eyes, weapons drawn as they awaited my order. Lestat took a step closer to us, eyes trained on the man. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Captain, do you know who this man is?"

"No idea," I whispered back, glancing at him. "Do you?"

"Keith, god of the eastern sea!"

"A god?" My nose wrinkled as my eyes scanned the male. He was quite tall and his pale blue skin certainly set him apart from every other person I've met. He didn't appear any godlier than any other man, though. I hummed, folding my arms over my chest. "I don't believe it."

Keith smiled kindly as he held out his hand. A drop of water appeared against his palm, seeming to float in mid-air as it steadily grew. 

I watched with a quirked brow as the water took on the form of a miniature man. "Is that all you have to offer?"

"Turn around."

I sent him a look of warning before slowly turning, my eyes widening when I did so. Standing before us was a man made of water, towering so high in the sky that it blocked out the sunlight. He crossed his arms over his chest, shaking his head as if in disappointment.

"Well, shit..." I muttered.

"Captain! We're being boarded!"

My head snapped toward the voice. A familiar ship sat before us, its crew swinging across on ropes, their weapons poised and ready. My eyes narrowed at their captain, Jackson, as he stood atop the crow's nest, smirking down at us as if we were mere peasants. 

I clenched my fists as anger surged through me. "Attack!"

The crew screamed loudly as they ran to meet their invaders. Jackson jumped down, his hand grabbing onto a rope which he used to swing onto my ship, landing behind me. I rushed at him without hesitation, our swords clanging together.

"I should've known it was you," I growled, pushing away from him so I could attack again.

He just smirked, easily dodging the attack before making one of his own which I blocked. "Well, I do so love being the bane of your existence!" His foot shot out, kicking me hard in the gut.

I grunted, stumbling backward from the force. I slice my sword toward his leg and he jumped back, losing his footing. His back hit the railing and he winced.

"I won't let you have this treasure, Jackson!"

"You should have thought about that before you went off and started your own crew!"

We rushed at each other. I thrust my sword toward his chest but he dodged, the blade getting stuck in the wood. I tugged at it hard, placing my foot beside it for leverage, but it refused to budge an inch.

"Goddamn it," I muttered.

"Ha! Loser," Jackson mocked, bringing his sword down toward me. I jumped out of the way, kicking his blade with my foot. It shot from his hand, landing below and getting lost in the skirmish as the two crews collided. "I just bought that sword, you asshole!"

I scoffed. "With that quality, you probably took it from a trash pile rather than buying it. We both know you're poor as hell."

"I spent 15 gold on that sword, thank you very much," he shot back with a scowl. "Unlike your cheap ass, who steals them instead of buying them."

"15 gold for a sword is ridiculous. It's a scam, a rip off! Anyone with a brain can see that, which explains why you can't see it," I smirked, folding my arms over my chest. "A smart captain knows that it's stupid to buy something when you can just take it for free. Are you even a pirate, Jackson?"

"You little -" He pulled his pistol from its holster and aimed it at my face but I had anticipated this move, doing the exact same as him.

For a moment, we just stared at each other through narrowed eyes, challenging each other to see who would pull the trigger first.

"Go on, do it," I taunted him.

"You first," he taunted back. "Unless you don't have the balls for it."

"I'm a woman and I still have more balls than you."

"You being a woman is debatable."

A large wave appeared out of nowhere, knocking into us hard enough to knock us to the ground, our pistols sliding across the wood. I sputtered, wiping the water from my face.

Keith was standing in front of us, hands on his hips and a look of disapproval on his face. "You mortals are too destructive for your own good, always so quick to fill our sacred waters with blood when you could just as easily work together instead. You should be ashamed, the lot of you!"

Lightning streaked across the sky, once a brilliant blue now turned black as night. Keith's eyes started to glow a bright teal as he held his arms out on either side of his body, slowly floating up into the sky. Waves pounded the ship relentlessly, knocking several of the pirates overboard.

"Keith, you jerk!" whined Jackson, his body colliding with mine when another wave hit the ship, tilting it to the side. "We agreed not to go too far with our roleplay!"

"Bitch, you tried to kill me," I scoffed, shoving him away. 

"You shouldn't hold grudges, Jen, it's bad for your health. Look, you're already getting wrinkles!"

"Piss off. But for real, Keith, this is -" Rain poured down on us as lightning split the sky again, thunder booming angrily. I had to raise my voice to be heard over it all. "- too far!"

A large whirlpool opened up and the ships started violently as they started to be sucked into its flow. We could only scream and hold on for dear life as we spun around in circles, the speed increasing as we reached the center. In the blink of an eye, both ships were swallowed.

The screen of my PC flashed as my character perished in the water. I leaned back in my chair with a scowl, scratching my cheek. What the hell just happened? Keith has never taken roleplay that seriously before. This man just singlehandedly wiped out half the damn server!

"That jackass. I'mma kill him next time I see him."

━━━━━━༻Meanwhile༺━━━━━━

Keith pushed open his bedroom door, not surprised to find the light turned off. He looked over at his desk, the light of the screen flickering with scenes from the pirate RPG he often played with Jen and Jackson. He had managed to get his younger cousin into the game, as well.

His aunt and cousin were spending a week at his house and the game was the perfect way for the two to bond. He also greatly enjoyed teaching his cousin how to play, though the younger boy seemed to be grasping things much easier than Keith had when he first started playing it.

"I'm heading out to grab dinner, Koo. Don't stuff yourself with potato chips."

Koo's small frame was completely hidden by the gaming chair he sat in. He paused his motion of pulling a chip from its bag, reluctantly pulling his hand back without a chip in tow. "Kay~"

Keith shook his head before backing out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Koo's eyes scanned the remnants of the two ships, just a few pieces of wood floating atop the now calm water. Hundreds of bodies floated amongst the wreckage, slowly disappearing as their players logged off the game or restarted at the closest save point.

A frown tugged at his lips, toes curling and uncurling a few times. It was a nervous habit he had picked up when he was very young and it stayed with him even now. Perhaps he had gone a bit too far, but he'd be lying if he said it hadn't been fun as hell to so easily destroy both teams.

Plus, that's two less pirate crews muddying the beautiful blue waters and that was a definite win in his book. Being the young kid he was, he didn't stop to consider the consequences of using his cousin's main character to do this. All he knew was that his cousin's character was hella stronger than his own and could easily do massive damage to other players.

Koo decided that he liked playing A Sea of Secrets and Gods. It was a fun game, especially with Keith's level 100 sea god. The corner of his lips twitched upward as he spotted another ship off in the distance. Cracking his knuckles, he got to work on destroying them just as he had done to Keith's own friends.

It was safe to say that Keith was soon kicked from the guild he had joined.