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Scarlet whistled a cheerful tune as the Mañana crew made their way down to the docks of Grand Bahama. It was late morning and the sun shone brightly, but its rays were calmed by a cool breeze that swept through the streets.

          "Not as crowded as yesterday," Revloc remarked.

          "Nope, people are just starting to open up their shops. I believe its still morning," Yasac stated.

          "Still morning my eye," Ayafre grumbled, "We had to get up so early?"

          "Oh come on! When we got the message from Max man where to find our ship, I just had to go see it!" Scarlet exclaimed.

          "I dunno," Ayafre said with a moan, "I'd prefer a stable bed to a hammock any day,"

          "Quick note, don't wake Ayafre when she doesn't want to be wakened," Yasac whispered to Revloc.

          "Tell that to the one who had to do the dirty work..." Jane interrupted, as she overheard the two.

Jane ran her fingers through some of her very messy hair, almost looking as if she had gotten into a fight.

          "There she is!" Sally cried.

Scarlet screamed and ran to the docks. Sure enough the Mañana was safely anchored in the port. Scarlet eagerly ran up the plank and onto the ship. The rest of the crew followed her with a less than equal amount of enthusiasm. Scarlet rushed to the helm and hugged her wheel.

          "Alright! Check our ship top to bottom and bottom to top," Scarlet ordered, "It looks like they fixed her up a bit but let's get to know this Mañana again so we can get back to Europe!"

The crew obeyed and began inspection and cleaning the ship up, making sure the Mañana had all her parts. Yasac however, strode up to the helm joining Scarlet.

          "Happy?" Yasac asked.

          "Of course!" Scarlet cried, "How does she look?"

          "Well the British had every intention of keeping this ship; they repaired enough to get to this port, maybe even more. We'll see I suppose,"

          "Wonderful, I'd hate to lose...your ship," Scarlet laughed.

          "So you wish to go back Italy as soon as possible then?"

          "But of course, I want the Mañana to be fully functional. We're a good crew but more hands are always welcome,"

          "Even though we came all this way? It might be wise to recruit here for a bit before we go all the way back. I mean I wouldn't want everyone thinking my idea to come to the Caribbean, only lead to crashing and nearly getting us executed,"

          "I see what you're saying but...by the looks of things we will just run into more British instead of recruits, this underground stuff seems a very good deal,"

          "What about Nassau? And we haven't even been to the colonies in the North Country,"

          "Yasac...I looked into Nassau. The British forced all pirates in that area to disband a few years ago, and they would be even worse up north. Didn't you know about all this?"

Yasac paused and looked out to the sun.

          "I...hmm,"

          "What?"

          "Scarlet are you sure this is the path you wish to take?"

          "What path?"

          "Pirating, this underground business, it won't lead to anything good,"

Scarlet bit her lip.

          "I know...I put on a happy face but the reality is there is no better way to make money, my family is enslaved in France, the nobles are getting richer and the poorer are getting poorer,"

          "Pirating...when I met you I figured you were just some noob who thought pirates to be the crux of romantics. Scarlet you're going to have to kill for this underground, death isn't the way to get what you want,"

Scarlet suddenly had a stern face.

          "Respectively Yasac...when I met you I figured you were some washed up creep wallowing in his self pity. I know what I'm getting into Yasac,"

          "No you don't!" Yasac suddenly erupted,

Scarlet took a step back startled.

          "Yasac! You gave me this ship and I be captain! I'm not forcing you to stay but I sure as hell can force you to leave!"

          "What's the matter? You realized that the underground still know that I am captain of this ship, you saw the way they were dealing. They were dealing with me, not some petty girl who wanted to play pirates,"

          "That's enough! Get the hell down stairs and sharpen your sword! I don't give a rat's ass," Scarlet seethed.

Yasac spun around with a frightening look in his eyes. His cloak floated about him like dark wings as a cold wind suddenly blew. Yasac strode down the deck and then to the lower decks. Sally and Ayafre passed him as they made their way up the stairs to the main deck. Ayafre saw Yasac's frightening eyes as he let his hair cover his face and he pushed his glasses far up his nose. The two quickly moved past Yasac and up to the helm.

          "What's eating Yasac?" Sally asked.

          "Who cares, as long as he fights for us it's good enough for me," Scarlet said coldly.

          "You two were fighting?" Ayafre inquired.

          "...Aye," Scarlet moaned, "He's quiet and thoughtful but, he seems to want to control,"

          "I've never seen Yasac angry like that, we saw him burst through that paper wall in the pub and I thought that was Yasac when he was angry. But that was really different, I felt cold as I passed him," Ayafre softly remarked.

          "Don't worry the Atlantic is a long way, we'll just give him some space and it'll be all good," Scarlet said returning to her more cheerful self.

          "Anyway, the ship looks great and Revloc said that he hasn't found anything important missing yet," Sally reported.

          "Excellent, I'm going to make sure my quarters are all in order. Get everyone ready to leave, we'll set sail for Europe by noon," Scarlet ordered.

          "Aye aye!" Sally shouted and leaped down to the main deck and then down the stairs to the lower decks to find the rest of the crew. Ayafre however just stared off into the distance.

          "Aye aye Ayafre?" Scarlet hinted.

          "Oh...sorry I'll," Ayafre started as she began to rush away.

Scarlet caught her by her collar and pulled her close.

          "Come on now speak yer mind," Scarlet said with a motherly voice.

Ayafre blushed and didn't say anything.

          "Alright you, yer comin with me," Scarlet said as she dragged Ayafre down into the captains quarters.

Scarlet opened the door and nudged Ayafre in. The cabin was spacious and had its own table stools and enlargened hammock. Swords lined the walls and along with several of Scarlet's staves. The cabin was well lit with an abundance of candle lamps.

          "Don't mind the swords, their just Yasac's, but he wouldn't let me touch em. Nor would he agree to having them in the hold, nor having them in his room. Something about if we ever sunk he could get to them easier," Scarlet explained.

Ayafre couldn't help but burst into laughter.

          "That's Yasac alright," Ayafre said

          "Aye, a real pain, but funny to have around. But anyway what's bothering you about him?"

          "Well...he's just mysterious is all. We don't know his age his family or even where he was born,"

          "Well we don't know all of that about the rest of the crew,"

          "Yes, but you know what I mean. There's just something about him, like he's hiding something,"

Scarlet nodded slowly, understanding what Ayafre was saying well.

          "Yasac's seen a lot that's for sure, but don't worry about him. At least he's not a thief!" Scarlet said jokingly

Ayafre smiled.

          "True, come to think of it we got a wild crew...even for pirates,"

          "Aye a grumpy scot and his explosion happy bounty hunting sister,"

          "An overconfident...well I guess he isn't that hard on the eyes," Ayafre said with a laugh thinking about Revloc.

          "Just hard," Scarlet said with a chuckle, "Or what about a pair of girl thieves, one a crybaby and the other a weasel," Scarlet joked.

          "Hey now! It's not as bad as a crazed captain who hugs her wheel,"

The two continued laughing and cracking jokes and having a jolly time. While below deck the crew got ready to leave. Yasac sat in his room swinging on his hammock. Revloc entered and placed a small crate under his own hammock.

          "Oh! What you doin in here?" Revloc said, just noticing Yasac was in the room.

          "Whatever..." Yasac mumbled.

          "You got that tone goin..." Revloc stated

          "What tone?"

          "You know, the one you get whenever you were pissed the Spanish made you do what you were told,"

Yasac breathed out, reached over his back and unsheathed his katana. Yasac reached under his hammock into a satchel and pulled out a vial of olive oil. Yasac then removed a handkerchief from the satchel as well and dosed the cloth in the oil. Yasac then began to run the cloth along the blade. Yasac finally answered Revloc.

          "Yeah,"

          "You were hoping to find some clues here?"

          "In the Caribbean? Ya, heh we forgot to say hi to your family,"

          "Oh ya, I'll bet my brothers would have joined our crew,"

Yasac suddenly got quiet. Yasac stabbed the katana into the planks and pulled out a dagger and began to rub the cloth along that blade as well.

          "I sent a letter to Nassau, I'm hoping Tradon will pick it up and send it where it needs to go,"

          "So you were after clues, looks like you got a different lead though. You think we'll run into Yessek in this underground business?"

          "We'll run into something that's for sure. I don't like it though. The underground always did have too many ties to the Yakuza; I don't want to attract attention before we are ready,"

          "So the letter was more about that other trail you're following?"

          "You know... you should really shut up about that already," Yasac snapped.

          "Ok! I know it's a rough subject, I just wanna know when we are goona make another move,"

          "Soon enough," Yasac said as he sheathed his dagger.

Revloc nodded and started to leave the room.

          "Hold on," Yasac said as he dug into his pocket

Yasac pulled out a crinkled bunch of parchment.

          "Take this to Scarlet it's coordinates already drawn up for the route back to Europe. I'm goona sleep for awhile, hopefully my leg will be all back to normal by then,"

Revloc took the coordinates as Yasac laid back in his hammock.

          "Your leg still bothering you? Wait you took out the musket ball right?"

          "Don't be stupid, it went all the way through. I'm not so tough as to run around and fight with a piece of lead in my thigh,"

Revloc chuckled and left the room. Yasac removed his coat and took the sheath from the cloak and removed his katana from the planks. Yasac laid back in the hammock and held the sheath and katana above him. Yasac slowly sheathed the sword, remembering how he acquired it.

It was a rainy day as the three boys wandered through the forest carrying the raft and supplies. Kanarf and Ettan walked along a narrow path holding the raft above their heads, doing their best not to ram it into any trees. A waterlogged Yasac straggled behind with half a dozen bags tangled around his neck and arms, which weighed even more in the rain. Ettan and Kanarf stayed mostly dry under the raft.

          "Hey Yasac! Is that the lake just down this hill?" Ettan asked.

          "Should be," Yasac answered.

          "Lake?" Kanarf  remarked.

          "What?" Yasac asked

Ettan and Kanarf set the raft down at the shore.

          "Since when do lakes have waves?" Kanarf commented.

Yasac came up behind them and set the cargo down, and looked out over the vast waters before them.

          "This is the ocean" Kanarf stated, "Yasac did you get us lost?"

Yasac dipped his finger in the water and licked it.

          "I don't get it," Yasac said as he pulled a map from the folds of his sleeves. Yasac opened the map. "No we've been on course, but you're right this is the ocean. My father never specified whether it was the coast or not I suppose,"

Kanarf and Ettan looked over Yasac's shoulder at the map that had a clear black line to a body of water.

          "Wait, the line goes out into the water and then comes back a about a mile to the south," Ettan pointed out, "Why can't we just walk there?"

          "It's odd but I suppose it was a vault at one point, best to follow the map," Kanarf stated.

Yasac folded up the map and slipped it back into his sleeve. Kanarf and Ettan carefully moved the raft halfway into the water, fighting the waves to keep it from beaching.

          "Get the supplies on it," Ettan said to Yasac.

          "Wait...It may be best to leave everything but essentials. I don't know about you but sea rafting isn't too safe,"

          "Essentials being?" Ettan asked.

          "Weapons and a bag of food," Yasac said as he picked up a single satchel of food.

The three grabbed a paddle and pushed the raft into the ocean. They were forced to immediately begin paddling furiously, as the waves were not kind to the raft.

          "A mile to the south?" Kanarf shouted over the waves bludgeoning them.

          "Ya, out here that seems like a lot more," Yasac stated.

The three had a difficult time paddling through the waves to the south, the rain was getting harder and the cousins were completely soaked after a short while.

          "So this is why your father said it would be a hard journey!" Ettan shouted.

          "Yeah, I thought he was getting soft until now," Yasac shouted back.

          "We must have gone about a mile now!" Kanarf yelled, "You see any entrance on the shore?"

          "No nothing!" Ettan yelled back.

          "Wait! Are those...sea caves?" Yasac said pointing to a small sea cave entrance.

          "It's small but that has to be it!" Ettan concluded.

The trio made their way to the cave entrance; the walls shined an odd blue tint almost as if it were glowing. As they got closer they saw the blue light reflected on the walls by the water, as the strange light seemed to be coming from below the water. A wave pushed them into the cave and the raft suddenly jerked and Yasac fell in the water.

          "Yasac!" Ettan shouted.

Kanarf and Ettan searched for Yasac, but even with the strange blue light the cave was quite dark.

          "You'd think he would of come up for air by now," Ettan stated.

          "Unless he hit his head," Kanarf said gravely, "Keep on looking. I'm going in,"

Kanarf stood up and the raft began to sink at his end. Kanarf thought he was careless in his standing up and backed off to let the raft rebalance. The raft however wouldn't rebalance and continued sinking.

          "Kanarf get over on my side!" Ettan shouted.

Kanarf leapt next to Ettan but even then the raft continued to sink.

          "What's going on!" Kanarf yelled.

The raft suddenly cracked and burst into pieces. Kanarf and Ettan were thrown into the water and were pulled downward by a strange suction. As they got deeper and deeper the suction got stronger despite their efforts to struggle. The suction suddenly caused them to spin into each other and continued to spin more rapidly. The vortex sucked them into a small hole in the cave floor and shot them through a tunnel which was apparently the source of the cave lights. The two came out of the tunnel into a bright blue pool of water and the suction was gone. The two dizzily floated in the water completely stunned by the vortex. A hand reached into the water and pulled the two out. Kanarf and Ettan were dragged out of the water and laid on a rocky floor.

          "Good to know this wasn't just a dream," Yasac said as he stood above his two companions.

Kanarf tried to speak but began to vomit furiously. Yasac quickly turned Kanarf off his back and onto his side and did the same with Ettan. Kanarf finished exhausted.

          "Ugh, my head feels like mush," Ettan said with a pained moan.

          "No, you're head is just laying in my vomit,"

          "Ick!" Ettan said and quickly sat up.

Ettan suddenly gagged at his quick motion and placed a hand on his chest.

          "Ugh, where are we?" Kanarf said still dazed.

          "The vault, where else? That blue light was caused by whatever power that created the vortex," Yasac explained.

          "What are you talking about?" Kanarf asked.

          "Of course! Yasac how did you know about that?"

          "My father said that this vault was using an experimental method to keep hidden, and there was an experiment that used some kind of suction to create a whirlpool. Apparently whatever powered that frighteningly strong suction overloaded and that's why this vault exploded all those years back," Yasac explained.

          "Ahh," Kanarf said with a nod.

The three looked around the dark cave. Rubble was everywhere and there was a pitch black layer of burnt rock that covered the whole cave.

          "These rock pieces are huge, the whole ceiling must have collapsed," Ettan speculated.

          "Well, let's take a look around. That's what we came here for," Yasac stated.

          "How do we traverse this? It's completely black, we even have black walls," Kanarf said.

          "Heh, more importantly how do we get out? It's in my experience maelstroms only go one way," Ettan commented.

The three looked at each other disappointed.

          "We'll look for a way out too," Yasac said confidently.

The cousins slowly groped around making sure to keep a hand on each other's shoulder. Yasac led the way feeling all around him.

          "This is crazy," Kanarf stated, "I never, OW!" Kanarf shouted and fell over.

Ettan gracelessly caught him in the dark and Yasac whipped around unable to see the two.

          "You guys! What happened?" Yasac asked franticly.

          "A rock is what happened, let me go first," Kanarf explained.

          "A rock? But I never hit it," Yasac stated.

          "That's cause you're a short little rat!"

Yasac gritted his teeth at the insult.

          "Are you asking for a challenge! Get up and get over here!" Yasac shouted angrily.

          "I am up! Where are you!" Kanarf shot back.

          "Uhh, not sure where I am actually," Yasac confessed.

          "Whatever," 

          "Fine, your life has been spared,"

          "I..." Kanarf started.

          "You...you're an idiot?" Yasac continued.

          "No, over there...it's...I can't make it out clearly, but its light,"

          "Go that way then, we'll try to be right behind you," Ettan said.

The other two held on to Kanarf as he tried to make his way to the light source. They came to what felt like a wall.

          "I can't see it anymore," Kanarf stated.

          "This...it might be blocking your view," Ettan explained while feeling a large piece of rock in front of him.

          "Try and climb it," Yasac suggested.

Kanarf felt for something to grab and found a little crack to fit his fingers into. Kanarf continued this until he found himself on top of the rocky wall. The other two attempted to follow suit but had difficulty, so Kanarf helped lift them up.

          "Wait, there it is, I can see it too!" Yasac exclaimed.

A ways in front of them was a pedestal under a beam of light extending from the ceiling. The light seemed extremely bright in the void of the cave.

          "That must be the way out!" Ettan shouted.

          "Carefully, if we got on top of that rock, we must be at a higher elevation than the ground. Which means we could fall," Kanarf stated.

          "Anyone notice how our voices don't echo in this cave?" Yasac inquired. "Must be a lot of rubble around us that we can't see."

The companions carefully journeyed across the rubble to the pedestal. A few yards away from the pedestal Yasac suddenly gasped.

          "What?" Kanarf asked.

          "There's...a sword in it," Yasac murmured and rushed over to the pedestal.

          "Yasac! Where did you go! Did he fall?" Ettan shouted.

Yasac suddenly appeared at the pedestal in the beam of light. Upon the bright white pedestal was a katana in a black sheath with bronze dragons under the cloth wrappings of the hilt. Yasac reached for the sword but then noticed a rope hanging down from where the light came from.

          "You guys! I think this is the way out!" Yasac exclaimed, beckoning them over.

Yasac tugged on the rope making sure it was tied. Yasac looked back down at the sword. Yasac reverently picked it up. Yasac suddenly realized this wasn't the first time he had seen this katana.

          "It's..." Yasac started.

Ettan and Kanarf appeared behind Yasac looking on at the sword in his hands.

          "It's what?" Ettan inquired.

          "It's my father's sword, the key to Erebus," Yasac said amazed.

          "The key to the Vault of Erebus?" Kanarf said astonished.

          "What's it doing down here?" Ettan wondered.

          "This rope, did my father bring it down here?" Yasac inquired.

          "Well, we can find out later, let's follow this rope," Ettan stated.

Ettan leapt onto the rope and began to climb. Yasac tucked the sword into his belt and followed Ettan up the rope, and Kanarf continued after him. They continued to climb until they found themselves ascending out of the cave and into a dirt tunnel. Ettan made it to the top and climbed out. Ettan looked around to see himself surrounded by trees and grassy ground. The sun shone through the trees as they dripped remnant rain. Yasac and Kanarf climbed out of what appeared to be an abandoned well.

          "Where are we?" Kanarf inquired.

          "Out of that cave at least," Ettan stated, "Yasac? Do you think that sword is the reason your father had to investigate the vault?"

          "It has to be...but why? This sword was promised to Yessek, the eldest," Yasac explained.

          "What if he wanted you to have it in secret?" Kanarf remarked.

          "I guess, but why?" Yasac asked.

          "Well we don't really know I guess, it's just speculation that your father was the one who hid it there," Ettan reminded.

          "We can ask when we find our way home. Yasac tell me you still have our map, maybe there's a landmark we can try to find...assuming we didn't come out off the map," Kanarf stated.

Yasac pulled a dripping soggy map from his sleeve. Yasac opened it and looked it over.

          "Well, my dad sure did want me to have this sword," Yasac said with a laugh.

          "Why do you say that?" Ettan questioned.

          "On the map...I was wondering what it meant before. There's a drawing of a well and a smiley face beside it," Yasac said amused.

The other two looked at the map in disbelief.

          "Your dad has a strange sense of humor," Kanarf stated.

Yasac set the sheathed katana back on the floor, and ended his reminiscing. Yasac then noticed the ship was moving. Yasac looked around and then took off his glasses and set them on his chest. Yasac rubbed his eyes and stretched his neck out. He let out a sigh and laid back in his hammock. Yasac reached down to the floor and felt for his coat. He reached into the coat and pulled out his antique pistol. Yasac played around with the pistol, turning it around in his hands. Less fond memories plagued Yasac mind as he turned the pistol in his hands. Yasac let out a slow sigh. The hairs on Yasac's arms began to rise and he shivered. Yasac's breathing increased as he turned the pistol faster, until Yasac began panting and shivering more violently. Suddenly Yasac angrily threw the pistol away onto the floor. He quickly turned towards the wall in his hammock and shut his eyes tight. Eventfully Yasac fell asleep, but a few hours later Yasac began to thrash around in a reoccurring nightmare.

The Boston Fall was thrown about the ocean as it exchanged cannon fire with the enemy ship. The sky was dark and the ocean darker, lightning cracked the sky as smoke rose from the two ships. The enemy ship locked grappling hooks into the bulwarks of the Boston Fall and pulled the two ships together. The enemies swarmed onto the Boston Fall. Yasac became trapped on the helm. Yasac fought furiously, until a volley of enemy fire assaulted the helm striking Yasac and everyone including his enemies around him. Yasac blacked out and found himself alone at the feet of his enemies. A large man picked Yasac up by the collar and shook him as those around him began to beat him. Yasac wearily looked up at the man to see a terrifying head with white hair and sharpened teeth. Yasac screamed but coughed up blood. Yasac realized those around him were similar. Each having darkened faces that he couldn't see clearly save the bright sharpened fangs that extended from the darkness of their faces. Those around him began biting and feasting on Yasac's flesh. The large demon holding Yasac began to punch Yasac in the face. Yasac's glasses were crushed and fell to the floor. Yasac tried to scream in pain as those around him began tearing bits of flesh from his body, but Yasac only coughed up more blood. The large demon began laughing hysterically, his large sharpened teeth horrifying Yasac as they moved up and down. Yasac then saw the demon's red eyes glowing so bright Yasac could see his reflection. Yasac tried to look away but blood began to pour down his face, the rain and the sea all turned to blood. Yasac's heart nearly stopped when he heard the sound of a pistol cocking. Yasac saw through the blood to see a pistol barrel aimed at his face. Yasac coughed up more blood until he began to suffocate in the blood. Yasac suddenly closed his eyes and felt the pistol being shoved in his mouth. Yasac suddenly fell backwards and opened his eyes.

Yasac looked around to see that he had fallen out of his hammock. Yasac was breathing hard and his heart raced. He tried to speak but was too out of breath to muster a word.

Keyword: Yasac

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