The man who would become the most feared pirate in the Etherium had just arrived at the doorstep of a Crescentia townhome late into the night.
The imposing stone structure loomed over him, illuminating his tall frame in the light of the gas lantern hanging over the stoop. With long rows of lavish brick homes built up next to one another, the only sounds in the darkness were the rustling of shallow purple bushes against ornamental iron fences and the occasional murmur of the sleeping child in his arms. Though he did wish he had the comfort of some type of weapon, his hesitation and wide eyes weren't exactly from fear. This was but the first task on a long list. Completing it meant much more than leaving a five-year-old to a loving family.
His crimes so far were petty and unknown. His face was not yet something any would recognize. But the name he would choose this night… it was already whispered in distant corners of the Etherium. If the occupants of the house had known this, they certainly wouldn't have opened their door to him.
A light came on inside, illuminating faintly through the ornately stained glass. The child stirred in his arms and buried her cold nose in his chest, so he pulled the dull colored blanket tighter around her and waited with aching joints. The light bounced around inside with muffled voices, and when the heavy door was pulled back, he had to remind himself that these people weren't about to call the constabulary. He was expected in this place.
A couple a bit older than himself pressed past their maid who held a lantern high, looking at him and the girl with a breathless urgency. He normally expected disdain or fear from their level of wealth. Instead, the wife had tears in her kind eyes as she reached out, and the little girl was gone out of his arms so quickly he wasn't quite sure what to do with them after. His hands floated uselessly for a moment as the husband tore his eyes away from the sight to ask him, "Does she have any belongings?"
The man standing on the stoop would choose his name tonight, including the bounty that came along with it. For now, he was a nameless courier. He shook his head at the question.
The husband's proud posture suggested some type of service, probably Navy, and the directness of his stare made him think he would be suspicious of the current situation. Instead, his eyebrows came together and his shoulders dropped as he said, "I don't know your connection to the orphanage. But as a man, I need your word."
His green eyes drifted from the couple and found the little girl's sleeping face amongst her halo of copper coils, swaying gently as the wife tried to keep her comfortable.
"She's truly alone?"
He met the man's stern gaze again, putting his hands in his coat pockets and shifting it closer to his body as the wind picked up and whipped blonde strands of hair against his face. "Her father was murdered, and her mother died in childbirth… She deserves much better than where she came from."
The older man took one second more to read him, making his decision with a handshake.
"Then I thank you for protecting my daughter on your journey here."
With the low creak of the shutting door, the entire ordeal was over in less time than he had spent standing in the doorway, debating whether to knock or not. His arms were empty. His chest was cold. And he was alone.
He stepped back away from the doorway, boots scraping against the cobblestones as he began his journey back out of the residential sector. His destination arched above the non-existent horizon, with the docks and business lights illuminating the night like clusters of stars. The crescent shaped spaceport was for the most part bursting with life and sound and energy, but in this sector, the well-off slept peacefully despite the criminal strolling down the center of their road.
He thought of his list of plans.
Putting down a criminal who deserved far worse than a bullet to the head. Stealing a foreign nation's ship in order to not get shot at the border. Somehow murdering the patriarch of the Etherium's largest criminal family. Possibly convincing a beautiful and sharp-witted woman to run away with him if they survived it all.
It certainly wasn't going to be easy.
"I am surprised no one called the constabulary on the strange man walking through their gated community."
The aforementioned woman's voice startled him from the side of the street where she had been waiting, watching him for a few blocks at this point. Her accent belonged to a group of isles far to the south, but on a diverse place like Crescentia, it didn't stand out too much. Her hood had been drawn up against the cold, but he caught her teasing smile as she lowered it and walked over to him. The wind pulled at her long back hair, and her dark eyes searched his, perhaps to judge how he was feeling considering what he had just done.
"Thank goodness I have the reputable Mrs. Wilcott to escort me the rest of the way," he replied before she could ask anything of him, and they began to walk together towards the docks. "Perhaps I'll appear to be your footman, keeping the lady of the house safe on a late night walk."
She paused, sharp eyes glancing at him and perhaps deciding she would leave the matter be. "You would be a much better valet than a gardener. I have several species of off-world ferns that are on death's door thanks to you." She stopped walking suddenly, and from underneath the large scarf that had been draped over her arms, she handed him a pistol.
As he took it, he realized this was the moment there was no going back from. The woman standing in front of him, dark and cold as she may have appeared, was like a fire. It sparked in her eyes, blazed in her soul, and burned in her mouth with every clever remark she made. Elena had been playing the part of the obedient wife for too long, and the role of obedient daughter for even longer. Tonight, they would both finally be one step closer what they were looking for. She would be free, and he would have half of the justice he sought.
"The ship will be here soon."
"And your husband?" Their quiet voices didn't carry very far in the empty street.
"He will be waiting at the warehouse." She was watching the far end of the street, and at the sound of his deep breath, she regarded with a determined frown as she tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear. "You understand we might not make it past tonight, correct?"
All of their plans that involved the ship, the isles, and the crime lord… It was true. They might end up dead before they even got that far. Aloud, he said nothing, humoring a thought about kissing her before both of their attentions were caught by something else.
The black sky illuminated as bright as day for a quick moment. He felt lightheaded just from the sudden contrast, and while his eyes adjusted, he could hear Elena swearing softly. After a few seconds it faded completely, followed by a boom that rattled his chest. With bright spots dancing in his eyes, he could see that the source of the explosion was a bizarre sight indeed.
From a massive, triangle shaped… rip in the Etherium… fire and debris spilled forth, hurtling towards the spaceport. And, if his eyes did not deceive him, a ship was racing ahead of it all.
.
.
...The man who would become the most feared pirate in the Etherium would disappear from Montressor's spaceport that night. The woman who would become the most powerful criminal in multiple empires would stay behind to cover up a murder. And the boy whose future would get tangled up with both of them had just flown through a portal on a makeshift solar surfer.