I felt like I was floating on a cloud. It was as if I was completely weightless, not just physically, but spiritually too. Was this what it felt like to be dead?

It would be so lame if I already died so soon after coming to this world. Shouldn’t there be some sort of god here talking to me about where I will spend my next life though?

Then all of the nothing around me fizzled out for a brief moment, and with it, the feeling of weightlessness disappeared. Instead, it was replaced with the crushing weight of everything suddenly thrust upon my body, as if I was carrying the weight of the world. And then, just as quickly, the weightless cloud sensation returned.

I could hardly catch my breath before everything blipped out again and the crushing returned. I tried to scream for help but I no longer had a body, so I didn’t have the lungs or mouth to form any sound. It felt like it took longer this time, but everything blipped back to serene clouds again.

What the heck is going on??

When the crushing feeling returned once again, this time it felt more concentrated to my chest. The nothing that surrounded me, suddenly formed into a stunning view of the night sky above me.

Suddenly, I no longer felt like a formless being, and could feel body sensations again. I could feel my fingers and toes, and tried to outstretch them, but they wouldn’t quite respond. There was the gentle feel of a breeze against my nose and fluffy cat ears. My tail felt crumpled beneath the weight of my body on top of it, and it was up against a rough, sandy texture.

My processing was interrupted by the view of a gruff but beautiful wolfgirl face entering my view. But then it didn’t stop entering my view, as it came down on a collision course with my own face.

Suddenly, I gained control of my body and crawl-ran away before the wolfgirl could start eating my head.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” A voice, that I knew I recognized, said.

I blinked, and looked around. My body started to feel like it was mine again. I found that I was surrounded by sand that led down to water that extended as far off as I could see. Behind me were some sparse tropical-looking trees. I realized I was standing on a beach.

Looking back at the dark tan wolfgirl, with the fluffy grey tail, her clothes were drenched, but she was dressed like a pirate. Then, I remembered.

“Laris!” I shouted down to her. “We’re alive! How are we alive?”

Suddenly she began running towards me, no, she was charging at me! I didn’t have time to run or get out of the way. She tackled me and pinned me against a sand dune, her breath hot against my cheek.

What is happening?? Is she just happy to see me or is she about to eat me?

“You bitch!” She screamed in my ear. “You burned down my ship! I should kill you for this.”

She wrapped a hand around my throat and threatened to squeeze. Instead she began pulling me up just to throw me back down, before taking a step back from me. She glared down at me, fury burning in her eyes. I struggled to get back to my feet, and wiped the sand that had caked onto my skin.

Suddenly, I realized that the weight of the world against my chest earlier must have been chest compressions. She hadn’t been about to eat my head, she was trying to give me mouth to mouth! I was sort of amazed that such a gruff looking pirate woman would even know how to do CPR, but I supposed it came in handy on the open sea for situations kind of like this one.

I started grinning. She must like me! She wouldn’t save the life of an adorable catgirl like me if she wanted me dead now, would she?

Why didn’t I let her do mouth to mouth on me?? That would’ve been just like kissing!!

“Stop smiling like that!” She yelled indignantly.

“You saved my life,” I said, holding in a chuckle. “You must care about me after all.”

She stormed up to me, her face only an inch from mine. I thought she was going to attack me again, but she stopped there. Her eyes were level with mine, so she must be squatting a bit.

“Why would I care about a mangy cat who burns my shit?” She snarled. “I only saved you cause it would be bad survival instincts to let you die right now.”

“Ah, you need a hunting partner on this wild, untamed island we washed up on, huh?” I said smugly, still grinning.

“No, but might need some bait.”

I stopped smiling. Was she serious? I supposed it actually wouldn’t be good survival instincts to save me if this really was a deserted island. I would just be another mouth to feed in that case, and food may be scarce. But having live bait would help. Was I really bait?

She shoved me back down onto the sand, and took a step back. Then she erupted into uproarious laughter. Wait, why was she laughing at me suddenly?

“You shoulda seen the look on your face cat!” She said, still laughing. “Ahhahaha! Bait!”

I’m so confused...

“So...I’m not gonna be bait then...?” I asked, hoping she would explain literally anything that was going on right now. “Then why save me if we’re stranded on a deserted island?”

“HA! It’s hardly deserted,” she replied snarkily. “Do you not know your geography cat? This is the isle of Lorentis.”

Lorentis. I tried to pull up a mental map of the world and was surprised that one appeared in my field of vision, much like the status screens.

Oh cool! I get a world map too! I can’t believe I didn’t try pulling this up before...

Lorentis was a relatively small island, roughly fifty miles from the main coastline. We certainly weren’t stranded on a deserted island after all! Lorentis may be small in comparison to the large world map, it had multiple settlements on it, including the small city of Saphon on the northernmost tip of the island, closest to the mainland.

Unfortunately, we were on the southernmost end of the island, so it would be a bit of a trek to get to the city, which was the only settlement on the island to have a port. There was also the matter of money, and...my stomach grumbled just then. I was starving.

I suddenly wondered how long I had been unconscious. Had it been days since the ship had burned?

“Wait, so are you mad at me for burning your ship...?” I asked, suddenly very curious. “It was an accident after all...I didn’t know the barrels were flammable.”

Laris huffed. “It wasn’t according to plan, but you may have did me a favor, burning the ship like you did. They won’t suspect me for it. They likely think I’m dead cause of it. And the barrels were full of whale oil. Very flammable.”

According to plan...? What is she talking about? She had been planning on destroying the ship? Is that why she wanted to see me in her cabin?

“You look confused. Maybe you’re a bit slow cat,” Laris said condescendingly, with a smug grin on her face. “I’ll just clear it up for ya. I was tired being tied down by the laws of privateerin’. They’re not as forgivin’ as it appears, and I’ve always been more of a pirate at heart.”

Truly, I could not tell the difference between the privateering operation she had going at what real and true pirating could be like. This wolfgirl had run a freaking slave ship for crying out loud!

“You were gonna help me out with your thievin’ skills,” she continued. “I had a whole plan for us to stick to. Was gonna share it with ya if you’d come to my cabin like I asked. Instead ya burned my ship and all my shit, so yeah, I’m a bit pissed for that, but what’s done is done.”

That was a bit disappointing to hear. I’d hoped for something a bit more...intimate, from the requested rendezvous. She’d just wanted to use me, and not in the way I’d been secretly hoping.

“Well, what do we do now?” I asked. “How are you going to be a pirate without a ship?”

“Yeah, thanks for that,” she scoffed. “And now, you are going to help me get a new ship.”

Even a modest ship would cost her millions of gold. It would cost thousands more on top of that to hire a crew for even a week. Where would she even begin with a task like that? And how would I fit into that sort of plan?

“How exactly am I supposed to help with that?” I asked.

“By adventurin’ of course!” She exclaimed, seeming genuinely excited. “Consider this the extension to your indentured servitude to me.”

Oh, great. When will I get to be free? I suppose there’s worse people to be an indentured servant to...at least she’s pretty.

“Oh, and here, this is yours,” she said, tossing a bag to me.

I caught it and looked down at it. It was my bottomless bag!

My gold!

I checked my finances screen with excitement, just to be nearly floored with disappointment.

[Gold: 10]

Laris looked back at me with a knowing grin. “Consider it a down payment on my new ship, seeing as ya burned the last one, it’s the least ya can do.”

She winked at me and then began walking on in a northeastern direction.

I stashed my bottomless bag away and began following Laris with a sigh. What else did I expect really? Nothing was going quite my way in this world.