[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=white][b]Location:[/b][/color] Belsia Sea, AW 15 [/right][/sub][/color]

The boy felt the wind whip through his shaggy brown hair and tasted salt on his tongue. The wooden canoe he sat in bounced against the waves; well, it was the best description as Old Man Fionello and his sons had shown it around the town that day. Installed above the “canoe” were pieces of wood and wire and cloth; creating a sort of canopy overhead. They’d called it a “flying machine” to which the boy and the others scoffed at it. Man was born of the earth and belonged there. But when Brio and Marco took the machine into the air off the Belsia Sea, they’d made believers out of everyone there. 

The sight of the ship breaking from the waves, and then taking into the sky had been dramatic. It had truly been [i]magical[/i] for him. He had to try it out. And so, after arguing and fighting with the Fionello family, he found himself sitting in this [i]canoe[/i] behind Brio, the younger Fionello brother. 

“Are you ready, Ludo?” 

He shook his head yes. 

The metal machine above them (an engine powered by those crystal pieces of Silvenite that many of the men of the village had left to mine) roared to life. Air and smoke spat out as it shook the entire vehicle with its motions, and the large wooden propeller in front began to spin faster and faster. They lurched forward, and Ludo felt his stomach sink back from the sudden speed. 

And then they broke from the waves. Ludo’s heart soared as he looked out to see the sea part from the wooden canoe. It was truly magic. And Ludo knew where his destiny lie. 
[hr]

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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=white][b]Location:[/b][/color] Isla de Serpente, Southern Belsia Sea, AW 32 [/right][/sub][/color]

The man smoked the last of his hand-rolled cigarettes, puffing a fine mist of smoke from his mouth. Money had been tight this month, and he knew that with the talk of war in the northern nations, money would soon be even tighter. 

“Ey, Ludocinni,” one of the older men in the bar called to the man in a mocking tone. “How the hell are you gonna pay me back for all that [i]Silverino[/i] if you can’t find work this month?” In the past five years, many of the mines of the coastal areas had shut down, forcing the region to import their Silventite from the northern nations. And after Holsta’s armies had attacked their neighbor Monstu; things were looking worrisome for international trade. 

“I’ll find work,” Ludo responded, though his left hand shook slightly. It had shaken since he was nineteen and received a bullet through his hand while he flew a mission over Karst. He’d nearly been shot down but had somehow crawled along at a low altitude towards friendly territory. Back then he’d been a soldier. He’d believed in his country and what they fought for. Being young afforded stupidity. And while his left hand had been badly scarred and half-functioning, he’d still walked away with his life. The same could not be said for many of his old comrades. 

So Ludo had taken to the seas, flying down into the Belsian Sea, where the free city-states resided among the hundreds of small islands in the gorgeous sea. He’d been born in a coastal town on the same sea, and he supposed the Belisan Sea was as much his nation as old Riccondo was. 

[i]No, this was his home now.[/i] The Serpent Islands snaked around the central area of the sea and had become a major trading hub and tourist attraction in the area; as well as a hub of crime and piracy. That’s where pilots like Ludo were brought in: mercenaries who could offer protection, rescue, or even entertainment when the need arose. But with pressure from the northern nations; and the threat of annexation by Riccondo, people had been more afraid to hire daring mercenaries. Even the local pirates were beginning to suffer. 

Ludo simply looked out the dirty mirror of the cafe, staring out at the glistening sea. It didn’t matter what the politics were, nor did it matter what jobs came. For him, the sea and sky meant freedom; freedom from the problems of land and the problems of men. 

And that’s where he belonged. 

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