That night. That REAL night, they had sailed into the eye of the storm while Aspen held the shield up. This time Drackenn made them sail the opposite direction. He had decided that if he could find a solution that would lead to her living, then he would truly be able to blame himself for making the wrong decision. He was also holding onto hope that there was a possibility of saving this version of his wife.

  Last time they had waited the storm out in the eye and after an exhausting night, it finally broke. Relief spread through the ship until they heard hundreds of thousands of death-filled screeches from above.

  It had been something that Drackenn had never seen and had never saw again, but that once was enough. A massive flock of undead birds blocked out the sun. It was as if the storm returned except it was raining rotting birds. They were all different types and had been overcome by some disease. After death it was clear their corpses were somehow being controlled by something evil.

  They had fought hard and taken out quite a few of the birds. The problem was keeping them down. After minutes they would be reanimated and then moments later they would be diving down for another attack. The only way to keep them down was complete annihilation which Drackenn was the only one capable of that on board.

  Aspen had gotten in her stance and put life shields around every person not securely down in the ship. After having a constant shield up during the storm, her health points were only at half. That still should have been enough to outlast this new threat. What they didn’t account for was the birds spreading their decay.

  Drackenn was too busy blasting birds away to notice that creeping dust slowly covering the hull of the ship. He screams at himself inside every day that he should have noticed. Anyone would have thought it was simply the remains of the undead being annihilated above. That’s what his wife thought. They only realized when it was too late.

  The rot continued to spread at an increasing speed until it ate through the wood of the ship. One hole was enough to cause panic. Two was enough to sink the ship. It wouldn’t have been if the class chosen weren’t busy dealing with the birds above.

  When they all noticed that the ship was taking on water it was too late. Aspen darted down the stairs to save the kids of her best friend who entrusted her to take them across the sea. Three little girls no older than ten. She busted down the door of the cabin they were supposed to be in, but instead of their warm smiles, she was met with three piles of rotted dust.

  Something snapped inside her at the sight. Anger filled her until it boiled over. Her shield and the shields of everyone still alive turned a dark red and they could hear the fast thumping of her heart all around them.

  She jumped with every bit of force she could muster, and it broke her through the deck of the ship. The power sent her straight into the air right into the center of the undead flock. Rage had blinded her and in turn her shields turned opaque. No one she was protecting could see, but in return the shields truly were impenetrable.

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  At this point, Drackenn knew something was terribly wrong with his wife. He could hear her heartbeat beating faster than he thought possible. His shield had turned solid, and he couldn’t see anything. His attacks were useless. Normally the shield would allow friendly attacks to exit the shield. Something terrible was happening and he was useless.

  Aspen took in the rotting flock around her. They noticed her presence but were still focused on dive-bombing the people below. Her people. The ones she had sworn to protect and that was enough for her to do something she swore she would never take advantage of.

  The flock was shades of grey with a horrific stench permeating the air. A second later it was a crimson red. Aspen had produced a life shield around every single undead bird. She didn’t care about her health points. She wanted vengeance and to protect those still alive. This was her most potent skill. The ability to trap enemies in a life shield and drain them while crushing them into nothing. Normally this attack would give her health points back as the enemies perished. The problem was these were undead birds. There was no life to take.

  Drackenn’s life shield popped like a bubble. Sunshine came raining down on him. He looked around and there was nothing. No undead. No ship. No Aspen. Only three of his crew survived and they were in bad shape. This was the hardest part for him because he had no idea what happened. One moment he heard the heartbeat of his wife and then there was silence before the shield popped. His only conclusion was she was dead, except he wouldn’t accept that.

  The next few years were spent searching the ocean for her. Any sign of her. Maybe she passed out and the waves carried her away or maybe one of the birds survived and took her. A million possibilities raced through his mind pushing down the fact that she died.

  He spent all his wealth hiring anyone with a tracking class or a sensing class, but they all came to that same conclusion. That was how he came into agreement with the Wave. They would not be pirated if they helped him scour the bottom of the ocean for his wife or her remains. In the end they too found nothing.

  His class progress stalled, and he became a shell of whom he once was until six months ago when the pirates started to gather to end this threat. He knew Aspen would want him to help protect the innocent people being slain daily. It was in her name that he took the mantle of Pirate King and brought the biggest armada anyone had ever seen together. Sadly, this action also ended in death.

  That was the reason he knew the answer to the lock so quickly. The death of his wife had gutted him. Hollowed him out until there wasn’t a desire to advance. Of course it was what he needed to overcome, but was that even possible? She was his life. His reason to progress. How do you overcome losing your purpose?

  This time he decided to make changes and see if they could avoid the flock of death. Maybe they could wait out the storm and have a peaceful few days to port where they had planned to end up. The little girls of his wife’s best friend would end up in the arms of their grandparents as it was intended and his wife would get the happy ending that she deserved.

  The only problem with his plan was the fact he had become accustomed with over and over again in his life. Something that even the System hadn’t found a way to fix. Death is and will always be inevitable.