“No... no that’s not right.” Ed muttered, annoyed at the crudely made face in front of him. He waved away the face, pulling the threads back into his body as he laid back on the hammock. Swinging back and forth, he tried to figure out where he’d gone wrong.

What am I doing wrong? I’ve been trying to make that snake’s face for hours and I still can’t get it right! Taking a moment to relax, he quickly through himself back into it.

He pushed a bundle of threads out of his chest, and quickly morphed them into the shape of a human. Using his hands, Ed slowly whittled away at the threads, shaping them to match the appearance of the man in his memory.

Lacking the ability to add colour, Ed focused on shaping the details to perfection. He thinned the threads down as much as possible and wove them into interlocking scales running up and down the body.

Phew. Just the face left to go. Satisfied with what he had done so far, he began to work on the delicate details of the face. Now for the difficult part.

Ed plucked on the threads, pushing and pulling them into shape as he slowly formed a crude facsimile of a face. Learning from the mistakes he had made over the past few hours, he worked his was inward. Starting with the broader structural features, before getting into the smaller details. He ignored the weird sensations coming from his threads, now already more than used to it.

As if sketched into the world, an almost perfect replica of the suspect was formed. Ed’s hands dropped to his side, as he stared in satisfaction at his hard work. It was difficult work, but he had learnt from his mistakes. He could tell that there was a long way to go, but he somehow knew that it was a skill he would eventually master.

Not wanting to destroy his creation, he focused his mind on keeping the threads rigid. All the while he sunk back into the hammock, taking a well-deserved break. He stared off into space, slowly falling asleep as the hammock swayed back and forth.

~

Knock knock knock.

With a sigh, Elaine sat her cup of tea down on the table before looking up at the door.

“Come in.” She called out.

Pushing the door open, Wilfred entered the room and bowed to Elaine.

“It has been over twenty-four hours since the suspect was thrown in the dungeon. There has been no news of anyone making any moves since his capture, so it is most likely that he’s the one we’re after.” Reported Wilfred.

“Good. I want to be done with this nonsense. Let’s go see what he’ll tell us.” She said while rising from her seat.

Leaving the room, the two made their way to the nearest entrance to the dungeon. Weaving their way through the dark corridors, Wilfred led Elaine all the way to Ed’s cell. Turning around the final corner, he found guards crowding around the cell, all pointing their weapons at the person inside.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Noticing the princess, one of the guards stepped back to inform them of what was going on.

“Stay back your Highness. An unknown figure has appeared in the cell and is currently staring at the suspect.”

“And when did this figure appear?” Wilfred asked.

“A few hours ago, at the least. The suspect seems to be asleep and unaware of what’s happening.” The guard said.

“Interesting. Let me see.” Elaine commanded.

Both Wilfred and the guard hesitated for a moment before acquiescing, knowing that she wouldn’t back down.

The wall of guards split open, creating a gap for Elaine and her butler to walk through. All the while, they kept their weapons trained on the figure.

Sloth. Staring at the black and white figure standing in front of her, she immediately guessed that they were from the Sloth circle. “Show yourself!”

~

Ed had at some point drifted off to sleep. But while he was resting, a portion of his mind was dedicated to maintaining the shape of his threads. The same thing had happened when he fell asleep last night, so he knew that he could sleep peacefully.

When he slept with his threads active, he found himself in the void again, and could sense everything that was happening around him through the threads. He watched as the guards stood outside his cell for hours. Thankfully, he was still able to rest while all of this was going on.

“Show yourself!”

Hearing Elaine’s voice, Ed was relieved that there was finally someone important he could talk to. Opening his eyes, he sat up in the hammock and turned towards Elaine.

“You’re Highness.” He jumped out of the hammock and bowed to her. I need to be careful here, best to placate her with some etiquette. She is royalty after all.

Immediately, the guards pointed their weapons at him. They then began to hesitate, unsure of who to point their guns at. Some of them shifted their guns to point at the monochrome figure, while the majority kept their aim focused on Ed.

Elaine sized Ed up, staring between him and the other figure. “Explain yourselves before I gut the two of you.”

Ed took a deep breath to relax himself before speaking. “You’re Highness, you’ve made a mistake. I am not the person you were after.”

“Are you saying that my information is wrong?” She asked coldly. It felt like the entire room froze over, as the situation became very tense.

“Not at all. What the oracle said was most likely true, you’ve just caught the wrong person. I just so happened to be walking by, and entered the café because I was hungry. The person you’re looking for escaped when you threw me into the van.”

“How do I know you’re not making this up?” Elaine asked.

Ed brought the hammock back into himself and turned the figure around to face everyone. “This is the person you are after. You should have planted surveillance cameras to watch over the area, right? If you look at the footage you’ll be able to find that this man had been watching the café the entire time that you were there. I believe that he is the person you are after.”

Under Elaine’s command, all of the guards pointed their guns at Ed, and prepared to fire. “You’re lie is too easy to see through. How would you know all of this if you were just walking by?”

“Wait! Just check the footage. I promise that I’m telling the truth.” Ed said hurriedly.

Elaine turned to her butler and whispered something into his ear, who then walked off. “My butler is going to check if you’re telling the truth. Just know that your life is hanging by a thread.” She threatened.

Ed sighed in relief, knowing that the hardest part was now behind him.