Silver

Disclaimer:  Skies of Arcadia is the property of Overworks and Sega. No
profit is being made from this fanfic; it is for entertainment purposes
only.

Notes
This is a "what if" sort of thing; if the first few chapters aren't a 
complete flop, then the fic will span the timelength of the orginal
game. If you, my gentle reader, find the fic 
a)boring
b)asinine by design
c)crappy
then please e-mail me at janeinpodunk@cs.com so I can stop torturing you.

Thank you for your cooperation. :)

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Day dawned on the kingdom of Valua. This event was marked by an almost 
imperceptible lightening of the dark, rain-heavy clouds that hung over
the continent for eternity. A dull grey light filtered through the black
clouds, illuminating the ugliness of the poverty stricken Lower Valua.

All in all, Ramirez prefered the night. At least then he didn't have to 
see the tired, work-weary faces of the inhabitants of the slums or the
stinking heaps of garbage scattered throughout the streets. He could 
simply pretend it wasn't there, and go to sleep. 

Of course, Ramirez could always go to Upper Valua. He'd already been
there, in fact. He was exotic, attractive, bright, talented--all of the
things that intrigued and amused the nobles of the richer area of the
city. It would be simple to work his way into a position of some power...
if he could tolerate the nobles, in which he failed miserably. 

He had thought Nasrad, teeming with greedy merchants unwilling to give
any sort of aid if it didn't make some sort of profit, had been the 
pinacle of moral decadence. Valua had proved him wrong; Ramirez would 
have never thought so many people could be so uncaring, so vapid, so 
thoughtlessly cruel and selfish as these.  Yet they were.

Gazing out onto the filthy streets of Lower Valua, Ramirez knew for a
certainty that he would die if he didn't leave the city soon. He simply
could not continue in this place, with these people, for much longer. 
There was only one problem.  Ramirez had no way of getting his ship out
of Valua.