Max has spent his whole life being treated like he didn't matter, used as a cover up for a plethora of crimes. Max is finally released from the claws of his mother; confused, barren, raw. Max is forced to find a way to come to terms with the mistreatment he'd grown comfortable within, he gets himself an apartment, his first job, and starts to make some friends. Every time something looks up for him, another thing starts to go wrong, his life falling apart. Forcing himself to wake up again, and again, Max learns how to give meaning to his life.

When Alistair Melek gave his life to the sea, various degrees of things changed. For starters, his love for bloodshed was amplified. Bolder. He was drawn to the clash of a sword, blood spilling below the floorboards, like a moth drawn to a flame. And this love was damned to spread through his crew as some treacherous disease, claiming any and all who joined. But he knew this was the price he'd pay. The price for the sea itself. So when his crew completes another standard loot and pillage from a merchant ship, he allows his men a bit of fun. He liked to give them an audience, rounding up those who didn't fall victim to the blade during battle, and forcing them to beg for their lives. To prove how much they really wanted to live. Alistair had ruled the sea for some years now. Killed thousands, maybe tens of thousands. Destroyed hundreds, maybe thousands of vessels. And yet, each feeble human was all the same. There was not one man he threatened that didn't beg for their lives with all they had in them when faced with the wrong end of the sword. Each feeble human was always the same. Or so he thought. And yet, he also thought that this would be a standard job. A treat for his men after a night of good work. But this particular survivor, the one with long white hair and dead-looking eyes... He wasn't a merchant. He couldn't have been. More importantly, there was no hesitancy when Alistair asked the fairly built man whether he wanted to live, and the man replied with a simple no.