"Things don't always go how you hope, don't you think lad?" a burly man wearing a raggedy old set of pirate wear said to the boy beside him.

"The gales have shredded the sails to thousands of pieces, the mast isn't gonna hold out much longer either, and the rest of the ships falling apart. If I knew better id say God had it out for us with the sheer power of this blasted storm. In the end, I guess ill be able to retire with the rest of the crew finally; we were getting too old for this anyway."

Looking out into the stormy seas, the man mutters "to live by the sea and to die by the sea."

Looking out of the window of the Flor de la Mar replica into the stormy seas the boy murmured "One thing is for sure, the ship won't be able to hold on for much longer, at least I got you to wear that ridiculous pirate costume in the end."

As if hearing the boy's resignation thunder roared, and the wind howled a cry of triumph calling forth the waves once more overturning the ship and invading the cabin with a salty fury. Looking out into the raging sea, the boy bitterly smiled as the water swallowed him.

*******************

An unknown amount of time past in perpetual darkness

So it seems like I've died, huh? Its a lot darker than I thought it would be.

interrupted from his musings by a rough aged voice, Euan jumped back in surprise or at least tried to. "Welcome to your consciousness boy, and no, you're not dead yet."

"Is it you God?"

A little amused with his guess, the voice replied to Euan, "No, and neither am I the devil either if you were wondering."

Relieved and a bit disappointed Euan looked around into the darkness "Then who are you? You're able to talk to me inside of my consciousness so you must be at the very least somewhat powerful."

"Powerfull yes, but enough chitchat boy, I've come to give a talentless human like you a boon."

"A boon? what for?"

Smiling "Of course to survive the Slandbar of Atugre child."

"Slandbar? why would I nee-"

A light began to appear in front of me "Survive, grow, and learn. As you struggle to surpass those of Atugre, you'll discover many things and possibly obtain the ability to leave, good luck and goodbye. "

"wait! don't just throw me into some Atugre and leave me after some pep talk!"

After a few minutes of pointless namecalling and complaining sighing Euan looked down towards the only other thing in here, a swirling ball of light.

They say curiosity killed the cat, but on the other hand, it's also what made Columbus famous.

Steeling his nerves, he reached out to touch the ball of light only to be met with the light dissipating, revealing an ancient-looking grimoire. The faded intricate designs along the cover and clasp made of a dark goldish material gave the grimoire an ancient air; the most surprising part was the title printed in obscure gold symbols, although being an unknown language the symbols were still understandable.

Euan... Hahn? Why my name?

Why is my name here? And more importantly, why am I able to read this?

Unlatching the book he was greeted with more dark gold unknown yet comprehensible symbols alongside an illustration of himself naked.

[Page 0

Race: human

Name: Euan Hahn

Rank: unranked

Enhancements: none

Aether: none

Boon: The Bestiary

Description: a human by the name of Euan Hahn. As he has yet to obtain any Aether Euan Hahn is still an unranked human despite being given The Bestiary by a higher existence.]

Browsing through the list of symbols, his focus landed on the third line.

Unsure what it meant by rank he instinctively blurted it out.

"Rank?"

As soon as the words left his mouth a much smaller set of symbols appeared under it.

[Rank-A classification of the realm an individual or object is at, usually by their power or the amount of Aether they contain or able to control. Note that a higher rank may not mean being stronger than someone with a lower one as strength is only one of the many categories used]

Raising an eyebrow at the convenience of that, he looked down to the next thing on the list.

"How does it go again... Enhancements?"

[Enhancements-An evolution to an area, be it a reinforcement of its current abilities, a different path, or a new ability altogether.]

"that makes things a little bit easier, what about Aether?"

[Aether-What holds all things together]

"well, that was almost no help. how about The Bestiary?"

[The Bestiary-A bestiary created by a powerful existence, it currently accompanies Euan Hahn as his boon.]

Sighing in disappointment at how little information he received for the last two questions he closed the grimoire hoping to figure out how to leave only to be overwhelmed by a blinding light.

Somewhere on an island, a boy lay soaking wet in the sand.