Chapter 2: New World, Same Obligations

As Nathan watched this tearful reunion, Matthew's grandmother thanked Nathan profusely. Nathan stopped her and told her that there were things they needed to discuss and Matthew knew what Nathan was talking about. Matthew's grandmother invites Nathan into her house and Nathan sits at the dining room table when Matthew's grandmother said that she'll make dinner for the both of them. Matthew was visibly getting more and more nervous as time went on, but Nathan whispered that everything will be okay and there's nothing to be afraid of. When dinner was cooked, the old woman set down three plates on the table and told Nathan to tell her what she needed to know. Nathan said to Matthew, "You know what you need to tell her."

Matthew breathed in and out, that seemed to calm him down and he said to his grandmother, "Glynda, please don't hate me for this but... I'm married to the monster that 'kidnapped' me."

His grandmother looked extremely shocked and worried, talking to herself, "Oh no, now that arachne will come for this town to look for you. Dammit, I should've just looked for you myself!"

"No don't worry, I-I was married to her for six years now... I was just sneaking out to see her and I just got sloppy."

"What do you mean you've been married to that spider woman for six years! Are you insane?! You married a goddamn monster the same year your mother died and you've scared me half to death when you were 'kidnapped' by her! Has the Order taught you nothing that those monsters bring nothing but sorrow!"

"Ma'am, I think you oughta calm down now. You're yelling too much and it could attract the attention of the guards-" Nathan tried to say, but Matthew interrupted him by yelling at Glynda.

"The woman I married brought me the happiness and relief I never thought I could feel after mother died! What makes you the authority of what will make me happy! Nobody did anything when mom died and nobody has even thought about what I was going through when she died! I was stuck doing all the laborious and tedious chores, trying to protect my siblings from our bastard of a father, and I tried to fill the void mom left after she died! It took us two whole years to get to your house when we found out you would take us in!"

"Guys, can I speak right now, it's very important-"

"I'm the only family you have left for god's sake, you can't just sneak off into the night and go to your damn spider whore while I'm on my last few years!"

"Don't you dare call my wife that! I have a family and gods be damned, I'm going to live with and protect my wife daughter, even from you!"

"Cheif Goddess above, you have a goddamn hellspawn now?! You have been led astray, boy. I'm gonna get the Order's knights to purge those monsters you call family and purge you and that dirty drifter of your sinful ways!" Glynda says as she walks towards the door.

Nathan had enough of this and blocked the entrance. Glynda was attempting to push Nathan out of the way and says, "Get out of my way! It's my duty to the Chieftain Goddess to help purge the world of these monsters-"

The entire house went dead silent when Nathan pulled out his revolver and cocked the hammer of his Ranger Sequoia. Nathan was just done of this bullshit and was tired of being interrupted by Matthew and Glynda. He was wearing his entire Elite Riot Gear uniform and lightly pushed the barrel of his revolver to Glynda's forehead. In Nathan's most intimidating voice, along with the filters of his helmet, he said, "I wouldn't go out of that door if I were you. And you wouldn't like what would happen to you if you tried fighting me. It won't end pretty."

"Get out of my way you damn vagabond, that damn flintlock will probably jam when you pull the trigger anyway! If it does, you'll just attract the town guard and they'll put a swift end to you and your sins!" Glynda said with bravado.

"Oh this no flintlock ma'am or whatever backward your people, this is a specially modified Magnum Research BFR that personally tailored for the type of jobs I do on the daily. The BFR is an acronym for many different names, with the official acronym being Big Frame Revolver. It can be called a myriad of things, but the name I personally associate with this weapon is Big Fucking Revolver. Do you want to know what will happen to your frail body if I pull the trigger?"

Nathan felt a little shame from intimidating from this admittedly innocent old woman, but if she wasn't going to listen to reason, she'll follow up on her threats. Intimidation seemed like the only thing that Glynda will listen to when she went completely silent after Nathan that he could shoot down a dragon with confidence and assurance.

"Matthew has a family now and I don't think much will convince him to abandon them. Are you that devoted to your religion that you're willing to let people burn Matthew at the stake and kill his entire family just because they were unlucky enough to be born the species you hate?"

This seemed to work when she went wide-eyed from this realization and was heavily breathing from fear. The entire house was so quiet that Nathan could almost hear Glynda's rapidly beating heart. Glynda finally broke the silence by saying, "You have three weeks to get out off this island, after that though, I'm telling the guards about everything. I'm so sorry, but I think it's time for you to leave. I can take care of myself now, just go back to your family and leave."

Matthew was shocked but understood and left the house while Glynda into her room to rest. Nathan decided to follow Matthew and talk to him in the forest. "So what are you gonna do now?"

"I've been talking about this with my wife for a while, but I never thought that we would run away so soon. And I don't know how I'll sneak my family onto those boats, I was just thinking I would try to scrounge up any money I could get, but I really have no idea. Well thanks for everything, even if it was all pointless."

Matthew soon walked away and Nathan wanted to walk away from this, but his mind is telling him to help. He wasn't a stranger to smuggling people out of dangerous situations, even before getting Joana and Carlitos. Nathan was debating to himself whether or not he should offer to help, but the thought of an entire family being killed when he could have done something about it would be too much on his mind. Nathan goes back to Matthew's home and knocks on the door. Nalos answers the door this time and Nathan says, "Can I speak with you and Matthew alone. I have an offer for you that can't deny."

Nalos had a confused look on her face but calls her husband to her side and they begin talking outside the cave. When Matthew got out of the house, Nathan began his proposition, "Alright guys, I'm not gonna pussyfoot around what I'm gonna say, I want to help you guys get off this island."

"What do mean you get off this island? Did something happen while you guys were gone?" Nalos asked as she looked at Matthew with a death glare.

"Glynda said that you and your family has three weeks to get off this island before she tells the Order about your family."

Nalos excused herself and took her husband to their room when Nathan suddenly heard screaming and yelling from their room. Even with Nathan's great hearing, the noise was very muffled and he could only assume that Nalos is scolding Matthew for not telling her about this sooner. Darla was trying to listen in on her parent's conversation by putting her ears to the walls. After a few minutes of trying to listen in on her parent's conversation, she starts giggling and says, "Heh, Anus Destroyer. That's a funny word."

Nathan was relatively unimpressed and just wanted to tell them his offer. After they went out of their room, Nathan could see a strange thick wall of webbing inside their room and assumed that this webbing is what they use to muffle their activities. Nalos was still a little angry but has mostly calmed down after she yelled at Matthew for not telling her as soon as he got home. Matthew, on the other hand, was visibly red and asked, "Did you hear all that?"

Nathan decided not to answer that question and just asked them, "So did you guys have any plans on how to get off this island if something like this happens?"

"We've had a plan for something like this, but three weeks is not enough for us to get ready for our plan. We could always just ask if any of the forest monster communities could let us stay with them." Matthew suggested.

Nalos shook her head and said, "Most of the hidden forest villages are mostly not too fond of arachnes, married or otherwise. Even after the current demon lord took over, my kind caused a lot of trouble for the other monsters in the forest. But instead of eating them and their spawn alive, we mostly just steal potential husbands away and... do many naughty things when they get caught in our webs. I would know because I did this a lot before I met Matthew."

Nathan can sigh, "So can I hear what your former plan was? Maybe we could do a few compromises and just change a few things about your plan."

"The mainland is going to be our best bet for safety, but the only way to get there safely is by boat. We were planning on getting onto one of the smuggling ships from The Lost Mamono. They're a Pro-Monster faction and have been known for saving monsters and their families from places that are controlled by The Order. But the prices to get on any of their ships is absurd nowadays. Their current leader is more or less focussed on making money than saving mamono from prosecution."

"I think I might have a way to sneak you all into one of those ships in the port town nearby. But I'll need your permission to do this."

Matthew listened to this offer, but Nalos was a little suspicious of this. Nathan took off his Void Pack and asked to put one of their kitchen stools into his backpack. To say that they were baffled by this would be an understatement, but Matthew and Nalos were curious to why Nathan asked to put their stool into his backpack. They allowed this and watched as Nathan picked up one of the stools from the kitchen and easily put it into his backpack like it was a tiny trinket. They were extremely amazed and asked if this was magic. Nathan didn't know what to say, but it seems that this world has magic if what he overheard was true and said yes. It would also be a lot easier to say that it was magic instead of trying to explain the intricacies of Azuran technology he barely understands. Plus, he actually could be right and this backpack could just be magic.

"As impressive as this is, how is this going to help us in our situation? You can't be thinking of putting Nalos and Darla into that bag... are you?" Matthew nervously asks.

Nathan replies with, "Of course I'm not going to put BOTH Nalos and Darla into this bag. Even with all the ridiculous things I'm able to fit in here, it needs to be able to be smaller than the width of the backpack before it completely dematerializes it. I'm just suggesting that we put Darla into this bag."

"WHAT?! PUT DARLA INTO THAT BAG?! ARE YOU INSANE?!"

"Don't worry, I'm able to put living organisms into this bag, just ask my brain, he'll be sure to give it a five-star review."

Matthew paled and looked like he was about to vomit when Nathan mentioned his brain. Nalos' face looked like a combination of disgust and curiosity. Nathan saw this and decided to take out his still living brain.

"Please don't tell me you're about to get raped again." The brain asks as Nathan pulls it out of the bag.

After a few moments of silence, a bit of shock, and Matthew vomiting in the nearby trashcan. Nalos' curiosity was soon replaced with disgust and she paled white when she a talking brain. The brain meanwhile finally found out that this is a safe area and sighed a breath of relief. Well, as best as a sigh a brain in a jar can muster.

"Thank goodness you didn't take me out just to shock your opponents again. At least they don't armor-piercing bullets that can easily destroy this jar I'm in. Also, thanks for all that if I didn't make it clear! I'm your brain for goodness sake, not a distraction tool to take out at your leisure."

"What sick man would do this? Who did this to you?" Nalos asks as her color came back to her body.

"You know, I don't think you could the people who did this is considered human. Or even a man." Nathan replied, he knew the answer, but still thinks about the strange quirks of The Think Tank.

"My god, it looks even more disgusting up close. I thought I was just seeing things earlier. How are you even alive? I don't even think that even the best mages in the world could survive like this."

"As I said, the people who did this aren't human. They lost their humanity a long long time ago and I was just unlucky enough to be in their way."

"Are they monsters? I know that there are some powerful monsters out there, but I don't even know why someone would do this?" Nalos asked.

"They're much worse than monsters I can tell you that. But enough about them, just ask my brain what you all want to know. Don't worry, he won't bite. In fact, the only thing he'll be able to do to you is saying mean things to you. So unless you have skin thinner than paper, you should be fine."

Matthew and Nalos sighed and they both looked at the brain for a bit. After a few seconds of staring, Matthew asks a question, "What is the backpack like on the inside?"

Nathan's brain sighed and if it had eyes, would look at Nathan with disdain and hatred.

Nathan's brain soon answered with, "Imagine floating around in the darkness, like a baby in a dark womb. It's kind of like that, but imagine five hundred pounds worth of weapons, medicine, equipment, and me floating around with you. That's how the backpack feels like on the inside. Is that all you need to know? As long as your spawn doesn't touch me or any of the various explosives in the bag, we'll all survive and there won't be an explosion big enough to destroy an entire town."

"So... Is Darla well-behaved or prone to touching everything in sight?"

There was nothing but silence between the three adults and the brain. Both parents both sigh in defeat, knowing that there aren't any other alternatives to this and Nalos replies back with, "She's pretty well-behaved and is a fast sleeper. My god, why am I doing this?" She whispers something to herself.

"Fine, but how are we going to sneak Nalos onto the boat? I doubt she'll be able to fit one leg into your bag." Matthew says but instantly regrets it when Nalos weaved something behind her back and made a whip out of webs. She then looks at Matthew with a strange sadistic lust in her eyes and asks in a polite and somewhat threatening tone, "What are you trying to imply darling? Are you trying to say that I'm fat?"

Matthew soon had his eyes wide open and knows when Nalos calls him 'Darling', then it's farewell to any dignity and bravery he had left for the entire week. Matthew soon says blushing and extremely scared, "Well I guess it's getting late and we should probably get to bed. I'll turn in for the night and we'll discuss the rest tomorrow."

Nalos soon smiles to herself and gives Nathan a pair of ear muffs and grabs him a spare blanket. Nalos and Matthew soon retreat to their room and close the door behind them. Nathan sleeps on the couch and if what he presumes to be true, puts on the ear muffs and takes his helmet off. He sometimes regrets having very good hearing, since he could vaguely hear muffled moaning. He feels sorry for Darla for being born with such lustful parents. Nathan also wonders if all monsters are like this and simply thinks of how much money these monsters could make if they worked in Gomorrah.

...

Nathan woke up as the light from one of the windows shined onto his face. It was a pretty rough night for him, but he was able to sleep through Nalos' and Matthew's activities just fine after the third hour. Nathan still wonders how a man could yelp at such a high pitch. He shakes his head and waits for the others to wake up. Darla was the first to wake up and come out of her room, looking very tired and very drowsy. Looks like she's not a light sleeper, it also doesn't help that her room is right next to her parent's room.

Nalos and Matthew also came out of their room, with Matthew going to the kitchen and Nalos carrying a few luggage bags with her. She walks up to Nathan and asked, "So how are we going to sneak me in the ship anyway?"

"We're going to use this," Nathan says as he pulls out his Stealth-Boy. "This device will turn you invisible and we should be able to sneak you in. Just make sure not to use it most of the time we're on the ship. It'll give out nasty side-effects if you stay invisible for too long. Only use this if there any people besides us that's going to find you."

Nalos takes the device and Nathan shows her how to turn on and off the Stealth-Boy. After a press of a few buttons, Nalos turns completely invisible. Nathan also says, "I also don't need you and Matthew having sex on that ship. You guys were loud enough to make me hear all your moaning even with the ear muffs on. Can I trust that you guys can keep it your pants while we're on the ship?"

Nalos grumbles to herself but realizes that her entire family will be killed if they get discovered. She agrees to these terms and checks up on Matthew to tell him about everything Nathan told her. Nathan only sees Matthew nod and he continues getting breakfast ready for everyone. After a while, breakfast was served and Nathan was invited to eat with them. Nathan of course accepted since who would turn down free food right? He also didn't see Matthew put anything weird inside Nathan's plate and accepts it.

Breakfast was just leftovers from last night and it tasted pretty good. It ain't no New Vegas cooking, but it was serviceable. Nathan thinks that living in the Lucky 38 turned him into those uptight New Vegas folks. Before he came to the Mojave Wasteland, dishes like the ones on The Strip was only something that people could dream of. And ever since he got rid of those cannibals in the Ultra-Luxe, the food quality of New Vegas has drastically improved. Looks like not eating human flesh is healthy for you or something, crazy right?

After breakfast, the adults were packing up their things. When they were all done packing up, there were three bags of luggage in total. Then it came to the part Nathan has been dreading ever since he came up with the idea. Convincing Darla to go inside his Void Pack. She wouldn't be going inside the Void Pack right away, but when a strange man is going to put you inside his backpack, it would be a good idea to let her know beforehand. Nathan also took out his brain and it surprised everyone that Darla didn't find it strange. She actually thought it was cool and was asking Nathan's brain all sorts of questions.

Darla was also given the chance to go inside the Void Pack and test out how Darla will get in and out. After a bit of squeezing around, Nathan closed the Void Pack and reopened it, showing that Darla completely disappeared. Nalos and Matthew were freaking out until Nathan reached into his Void Pack, did a little snap, felt a little pull on his arm, and voilà! Darla suddenly reappeared like a rabbit from a magician's hat. The parents sighed a breath of relief and began getting ready to travel to the port town.

As Nathan and his escortees walked through the dark forest, the entire family and Nathan hears even more buzzing from the canopies. Nathan groaned in annoyance and took out his LMG and began firing at the shadows in the canopies. The deafening sounds of his weapon made his escortees hold their hands to their ears to try and muffle the noise. The Hornets from the canopies soon fled from the noise, with Nathan hear one of them shout, "Run! It's the Soulless One!"

Nathan was glad he didn't need to fight off those damn wasps again. Nathan soon checked up on the family and gave them earplugs just in case Nathan will need to use his guns. They looked a little mad that Nathan didn't warn them earlier and should've given them the earplugs beforehand. Nathan apologized and they began walking towards the port town.

It's been very quiet in the forest and for once, Nathan is relieved from the silence. For Matthew and his family, however, they're a little worried about the lack of noise in the forest. Nalos was thinking that the wasps would be swarming Nathan right about now, but whenever they walk by any wasps buzzing in the canopies, they never attacked. The silence was very unnerving for everyone and Nalos became suspicious of Nathan.

After a few hours of roaming around the deathly quiet forest, they finally found the port town and Nathan gave Nalos the stealth-boy. She turned it on and was told to keep to the shadows and dark places. The daylight could make the invisibility shimmer and a good eye can notice that someone is invisible. Nalos reluctantly agrees and sticks the edge of the port town walls. Nathan also put Darla into the bag and just hoped that she won't touch any of the explosives in his bag.

The town's name was called Cullfield and was founded by an explorer named Captain Culler. The town itself looks imposing. With its ash wood rooftops, bamboo walls and majestic fjords, Cullfield has an intriguing atmosphere. The heavily armed guards were patrolling the town and Nathan could see why. If this town was attacked by even a small band of bandits with good weapons, this town could easily be razed to the ground. Plus those ancient looking walls looks like a single bullet from Maria can easily send the entire wall crumbling down.

Nathan and Matthew walked down the cobblestone road and when they get to the market place, they see many people advertising for their items. There was even a guy that was selling potions made from Mermaid Blood and he said that it'll make you live even longer. Nathan didn't believe it and ignored all the bullshit that these people were advertising. I mean, people were selling potions made of the blood from mermaids that'll make you live longer and arrows stolen from a cupid that'll make people fall in love.

As Nathan and his escortees walked to the port, there were many transport ships going to the mainland, which was called New Gale and many other continents. Some of them were Zipangu, the Mist Continent, the Yellow Waste, and the Snowflake Iceplains. Nathan walked up to the person who was selling tickets to the ship that's going to the mainland and bought tickets for New Gale. Nathan was also able to afford a nicer room for him and Matthew for an extra five gold coins.

Nalos was able to sneak onto the ship easily thanks to Nathan's Stealth Boy and they were able to sneak into the room Nathan bought. Darla was taken out of the backpack and was surprisingly okay and said that she's been hearing a strange voice in his bag. It would call out to her, always telling her not to touch anything and scolding her for trying to touch the strange weapons that were named weird things like guns, grenades, and most strangely of all, a strange green ball called a mini-nuke. Nathan was extremely relieved that his brain stopped Darla from touching such dangerous weapons.

The room they were able to get from that Premium Ticket that Nathan bought was a pretty big room. Well, big enough for Nalos, Matthew, and Darla. Nathan would decide to explore the ship and said that he could go weeks without sleep, so a cold night just walking around on the deck won't be so uncomfortable. Before he left, Nathan taught Matthew and Nalos how to hide Darla into his backpack in case someone decides to check up on them. After that, Nathan soon left to explore the ship.

Nathan spent most of his time on the deck, just looking out into the pristine and sparkling blue ocean. Just the entire color palette of the ocean looked a lot brighter than what he was used to. Now, Nathan explored a lot of the American Wasteland while he was part of his old bandit clan, but the most vibrant places like Virginia doesn't even compare. He realizes how dull his world was and strangely felt happier as he looked out into the distance.

After about thirty minutes of exploring the ship and even getting a few drinks from the bar, there was a commotion on the deck and people were out pointing into the distance. One of the passengers shouted out, "Gods Help Us! The pirates are attacking!"

When Nathan went to the edge of the ship, he saw two different ships firing at each other. A large and more elegant ship that had a pristine white flag with the Order's emblem at its center was firing mortars and cannonballs at three other smaller ships in the distance. These ships were a lot smaller and had tattered and used up flags from other ships. Nathan could tell that these flags were old since he could barely see the faded out emblems of other ships.

The ship that Nathan was turning around in the other directions, hoping to find a safer passage away from the skirmish, but the passenger ship was soon hit by a volley of cannon fire from the Lost Mamono. One of the other ships began pursuing the passenger ship and everyone on the ship was panicking. Nathan ran to his room to check up on the family he was supposed to protect. When he opened the door, Darla was nowhere to be found and Nathan could see the shimmer coming from Nalos' stealth boy. "Is everyone alright? Did any of you get hurt?" Nathan asked as soon he opened the door.

Matthew replied with, "Yeah, as soon as we heard the commotion on the deck, we decided to hide. Darla's in that bag and Nalos is hiding with that magic device you gave her."

As Nathan was getting something out of his Void Pack, Darla popped her head out of the bag and asked, "Is it okay to come out now?"

"Not right now, but I need to stay inside this bag until I come back and say it's okay." Nathan soon took out his Light Machine Gun and Katana from the bag. "Alright, just keep hidden and stay safe. I'll see what I can do to make this stop. I told you all I'll get you to the mainland safe and I intend on keeping that promise!" Nathan shouted before dashing out of the room, accidentally bumping in a girl that was wearing a hood. Nathan had no time to apologize and ran towards the deck.

The ship was already in chaos when the Lost Mamono already got onto the deck. A pirate was about to slit a sailor's throat open, but Nathan took aim with his sniper rifle and the pirate's head soon exploded into tiny little gibs and Nathan helped the sailor up. The sailor thanked Nathan for saving him. Nathan began going to work on the pirates, shooting massive holes into their bodies with deadly aim and accuracy.

Most of these pirates were very unorganized and just rushed the sailors in groups of three. It made it easier for Nathan to telegraph their movements and kill them easier since they were just swinging their swords like madmen. Nathan realized that mowing them down won't stop them from rushing him and the other civilians. Nathan soon remembered what Cannibal Johnson did to those raiders and decided to do a graphic display of brutality. He took one pirate from the neck and soon ripped out his heart. Nathan then began to shout something out into the sky as he held the heart up to the heavens.

"Ares! Give me the strength I need to purge these scumbags from the face of this world!" Nathan was just spewing out bullshit and thought nothing of it at the time. He just thought that he would make himself look like a religious nutbag and it'll scare them off. Nathan knew that he was combining a mixture of Aztec and Greek mythology and knew that his brain would berate him for that later.

Suddenly, the black storm cloud began brewing and everyone was freaking out at this point. Thunder was crackling in the skies and a bolt of lightning soon struck Nathan. The pirates were stunned to see the spectacle and Nathan was glowing in a dark red aura. Nathan looked at his body and felt... powerful. He felt a bloodlust surge through him and he threw down his weapons and decided to go all out on these bastards.

The pirates in their perspective thought that they were fighting a Hero from the Order. More importantly, a Hero that worships Ares, the God of War.

"Retreat! They got a Hero protecting them! We can't take him-"

SLICE!

Nathan didn't even wait for the pirate to finish his sentence and sliced his head clean off. The other pirates soon retreated back to their own ship, but Nathan won't allow this attack to go unpunished. He might've repelled their attack, but he needed to make sure that they won't ever do it again. He soon followed them onto their own ship and swung on one of the ropes on the passenger ship. The pirates were panicking since they didn't think a Hero would follow them back onto their ship. Nathan threw a grenade which made a large hole in the ship, exposing many stolen treasure and people from their previous raids.

Nathan made note of that area later, but his New Vegas greed couldn't stop him from swiping a few gold coins before rejoining the fight. He began his assault on the remaining pirate crew and began clearing the deck of the ship. His loud and booming weapons was all that could be heard. Monsters were dropping left and right as he mowed down these damn pirates into Hell. After he cleared out the deck. Soon after all the pirates have been killed, his deadly rage and strength had worn off and he went back to normal. He went back down into that hole he made and began freeing the prisoners that were in cages.

They were all running out into the deck and were soon picked up by the passenger ship's crew. Nathan meanwhile was finally sating his greed by filling his pockets with all the loot he could carry. As he explored the ship however, he couldn't believe what he saw and was stunned. An actual living mermaid in a large tank. But something was very off about this one. She looked unconscious and her tail fin had a tag that said 'Mermaid #31'. He explored the area and saw jars of blood, along with several other corpses of mermaids that looked like they've all died of blood loss. Notes were on the walls on how to drain these mermaids of their blood and warnings not to mix the blood.

He looked through the cabinets and saw bottles marked with numbers like #21, #16, and #9. He soon found empty jars that were labeled #31. The mermaid soon woke up and was in this pleading stance. Nathan couldn't understand what she was saying since she was underwater. He knew what she was saying, he didn't even need to hear what she was saying to know. He took one last look around the room and took out another grenade. Nathan knew that there weren't any explosives here and felt like this would be a safe spot to blow another hole in the ship.

Nathan took his grenade threw it across the room and blew a whole at the bottom of the ship. The area was soon filling up with water and he soon took the mermaid out of the tank and carried her into the water. She looked grateful and had a tearful look on her eye. Nathan soon dived into the ocean and swam out into open water with the mermaid. As the ship was sinking down into the deep depths of the ocean, the mermaid took off Nathan's helmet and kissed him. Nathan wanted to panic and knew if he couldn't get out of here, he'd drown.

Nathan's chest tightened the longer he kissed the mermaid but didn't have the will to fight back. The kiss was just so sudden, but strangely euphoric. Suddenly, Nathan felt like he could breathe and the mermaid stopped. He was miraculously able to breathe underwater and he heard the mermaid speak to him.

"Thank you, kind stranger, for saving me from those pirates. They kidnapped my friends and I a few weeks ago and they began draining my friends of their blood. As you saw back there, I-I was the only one left and the last one they were going to drain."

"Why did they kidnap you? What would they gain from draining you of your blood?"

"Our blood is valued by everyone because of its amazing ability to expand your lifespan. Lately, however, there have been more and more people exploiting my species because of our blood. Normally our blood would be given to our husbands so that we may live long lives with our loved ones. I must return to my family now, they must be worried sick about me. Can you come with me? I bet my parents would love to meet my savior."

"I'm sorry miss, but I have a family that I need to get to the mainland safely. They're a monster-human couple with a kid and I can't in my right mind abandon them right now. Especially with the recent attack and the fact that I'm trying to smuggle them on the passenger ship I was on."

The mermaid looked disheartened but understood. "O-Okay, but can I at least know your name?"

"My name is Nathan Riggs, explorer, mercenary, and courier."

"Nice to meet you Nathan, my name is Echo. I hope that you'll have a safe journey to New Gale and I hope we'll meet again."

"Thank you Echo, uh... swim safely I guess?"

Echo giggled and both of them went their separate ways. The clouds have all but disappeared when Nathan resurfaced and everyone on the ship welcomed back their hero. Some were ecstatic that a Hero was here to protect them from the pirates who dare raid their ship and asked Nathan to tell stories of his adventures. Nathan laughed to himself and began weaving a tale of his adventures. There were little embellishments here and there. And Nathan kind of had to tone down a few things, either too graphic for the children or too bewildering for the audience to believe. Nathan could only hope for safe travels from this point on.