[b]CHAPTER 1[/b]
[u]10 YEARS LATER[/u]


It was not meant to be.  Whatever the reason, Dalious knew she was gone.  Instead of dwelling on what could have been with Sybil, he instead focused on what was.  The pirate and his new crew were all wanted dead or alive by the Empire.  So they sailed east to dissapear.

In ten years time, the war was over.  The Imperials won, claiming much of the continent and many lives.  King Reol Hilden still rules the kingdom of men, and in his eyes, there has been a decade of peace.  In reality, thousands are in poverty throughout Dunarlae, slaves are constantly being bought and sold, or thrown into the arena pits.  The elves and the dwarves remain quiet from their kingdoms, neither of their plans known amongst the imperials.  King Hilden is left freely to rule over mankind however he sees fit, and only his family or the rich feel the benefits of such a way of life.  

To the east of the king's sea, Dalious and his fellow pirates have made quite the name for themselves, still sailing with the sparrow.  Throughout the years, they have turned from mercenaries to monster slayers.  Many towns and villages they sailed to were infested with some kind of monster or creature.  

Such as the giant krakken monster that infested the seas near port Duhill.  Its presence in the port's bay was an extreme nuesance to the villagers.  No goods could be sold because the river boats transporting the supplies would get destroyed.  Not even the guardsmen would dare enter the sea, but when word of the krakken came to Dalious and his crew, they accepted the challenge.  Using cannonballs from the sparrow, they kept the massive beast at bay until Dalious shot a whale spear into the thing's heart.  Which was oddly located in its' face and was just simply a lucky shot.

"Ah, I hate the smell of squid," Armuille said.  Armuille was one of the two Muleki, or cat-folk, in the group.  His fur was all black with gold patterns within.  The other Muleki was Bernen, the younger and more brash of the two.  His fur was orange and black, resembling the tiger.

"Smells delicious to me," Bernen added.  They were standing before the corpse of the krakken, the townspeople yelling with cheers from the shore.

[color=steelblue] "Get ready, mates," [/color] Dalious told them.  [color=steelblue] "We're about to make a lot of gold."[/color]