“ALL MEN ON DECK!!” Captain Iris shouted, “RING THE BELL, GET EVERYONE AWAKE!” A loud bell rang out, signaling sailors to get up. “You four, if you don’t fight, I’m throwing you overboard.”
“We may end up there anyway.” Hudson said, pulling his greatsword off his back.
“Here’s the plan:” Dante said, “we can’t get it to attack itself like with the giants, cut off as much as you can, and hope it peaks it’s head up.”
“Sounds good.” Jocelyn replied, drawing her rapier.
“Then what are you waiting for, get in there.” Haile said, beginning to shoot at the tentacles.
Dante rushed to fight, he leaped up and began jumping between the massive tentacles, slicing as he went. Jocelyn stayed on the ground, poking and prodding when the arms reached down to hit the ship. Hudson sliced from the ground, never letting either touch the ship. After a few minutes, they had cut enough off that it was having a hard time hitting the ship.
The two tentacles retreated back under the sea, they waited, for a full minute nothing happened. Thunder began to roar louder, and rain began pouring from the sky.
“Great, now I’m tired and cold.” Dante said, holding a ready position.
“Is it gone?” Jocelyn asked.
“From the mythology I remember, krakens had the ability to summon storms, so I doubt it’s on it’s way out.” Hudson said.
“So what do we do?” Haile asked.
“We wait, unless one of you wants to go in after it.” Dante responded.
Another minute passed, but still nothing. The entire ship was silent, listening for the kraken. A sailor yelled, they all turned to see him being thrown through the air by a massive tentacle.
Dante began to run to aid him, but stopped, he heard the sound of something large coming out of the water. He turned back around to see the massive eye of the kraken. Hudson rushed forward, slicing and stabbing at its massive form. Two arms and four tentacles reached out of the water, beginning to attack the ship.
Slice after slice, Dante and Jocelyn began to reduce the size of the tentacles and arms. The other sailors were helping too, Captain Iris danced between the tentacles, Ivan slicing with a scimitar in each hand. Several sailors were hit hard enough for Threads to appear.
After several minutes of fighting, most of the tentacles had been shortened to nothing. The eye looked around, seeing it was losing the battle, it slowly began to retreat below the surface. Hudson jumped off of its head, he stood on the railing and watched it disappear below the surface.
“How exciting.” Hudson said, turning to face his friends.
“I didn’t know krakens existed in this world.” Dante said.
“Neither did I.” Haile added.
“I wonder,” Jocelyn began, “Do animals have Threads?”
“Doesn’t seem likely.” Haile said, “Means they can’t die, and I’ve done some good hunting while in this world.”
“Yeah,” Hudson began, “That would force everyone to -” He was stopped, a tentacle reached out of the water, snagging him and pulling him under the sea.
“HUDSON.” Jocelyn yelled, she rushed to look over the banister, Haile and Dante joined her.
They watched several bubbles reach the surface, which slowly came to a stop. They watched the surface of the sea, hoping something would happen.
Captain Iris stepped at their side, “See anything?”
“Yes actually, I see a lot of things, like a Captain who just asked a stupid question, who also should thank me for helping save her ship.” Dante said sarcastically.
“I don’t have to thank you.” She responded.
“I didn’t have to protect your ship.” Dante said.
“Yes you did, I’d throw you overboard if you didn’t, weren’t you listening?”
“You actually can’t throw me overboard, I paid you to bring me to eiselfang, and you would not have done so.”
“Perhaps, if you didn’t help, I guess we’d all be in the sea.”
“Are you going to thank us?”
“Unlikely, I-”
“CAN YOU TWO SHUT UP!” Jocelyn interrupted, “I’m trying to listen for Hudson.”
They went silent. A minute went by and nothing happened. Sailors started returning to their work. A few minutes went by, and the waters remained still.
“The Threads may not recognize he is in a fight, focus on the Thread, he’ll need it.” Captain Iris said, walking away to begin working.
Jocelyn focused on the sea, thinking of Hudson beneath the waves. A red Thread shot through the waves, the faint glow vanishing into the dark waters. The Thread slowly began drifting behind the ship as they sailed. The Thread began pulsing with a brighter light. It began shaking slightly, and then began drawing closer to the ship. In less than a minute, it led directly below the ship. Haile squinted, she could see the end of the Thread. Hudson leapt out of the water, landing on the stern of the ship.
Hudson knelt down and began to cough, water coming out of his lungs. “FIVE TIMES! FIVE TIMES I DROWNED! Oh that sucked.”
Jocelyn knelt down at his side, “It’s okay, you’re back now.”
Hudson let out a grunt of pain, “My lungs feel like they’re on fire.”
“I can’t guarantee this will help,” Dante said, “but take quick, sharp breaths, it should move air over what water is left and help it evaporate faster.”
“Thanks.” Hudson said, “Good news by the way, the ocean is filled with fresh water, we can drink it.”
“Sweet, what happened to the kraken?” Haile asked.
“Drifting to the bottom of the ocean, dead. Fish have probably begun eating it already.”
“You’ve gone through a lot, you want the bed?” Dante asked.
“Absolutely, thank you.”
“Let’s head down then, I’m tired.” Haile said.
Dante helped Hudson down the stairs, and into bed. Jocelyn laid down next to him. Dante and Haile pulled out what bedrolls they had, hoping for some semblance of comfort, they lay next to each other as sleep took them.
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They awoke the next morning, tired and sore. They stumbled upstairs to report to Captain Iris for orders.
“Good morning.” she said as they approached.
“Good morning, captain.” they groaned in unison.
“I’ve thought about last night, thank you for your help last night. I’m not going to have you work today, we should reach Eiselfang by nightfall.”
“Thank you.” Dante said, “I’m going back to sleep.”
“If you would like it, both the rooms next to yours are unoccupied, just so none of you have to sleep on the floor.”
“Nice to let us know now.” Haile said, following Dante.
Hudson filled their waterskins and gave some to Haile and Dante, while he and Jocelyn stayed in their room most of the day. Shortly before noon, Dante got up and climbed into the crows nest, there was already someone there.
“Nice view up here.” Dante said.
“You get used to it after a while, it loses its flair.”
“I figured. How far can you see from up here?”
“About eleven miles.”
“Dang, that’s pretty far.”
“Yes, it’s important to stay on course.”
“Mind if I stay?”
“Not at all.” he paused for a moment, “Actually.” He pulled his spyglass to his eye, he turned to the helmsman “LAND HO! SLIGHT TO STARBOARD!”
Dante looked at the horizon, he saw a faint line of green appear, as trees came over the horizon. Dante looked down to watch his friends run to the front of the ship to see the land for themselves. “Never been on a boat before, morons? You won’t be able to see it from down there.”
“I’ve been on a boat, just not the open ocean.” Jocelyn called back up.
Dante began to climb down the ropes, meeting his friends at the bottom.
“What does it look like?” Hudson questioned.
“Like a forest covered island.” Dante responded.
“Why did you leave me asleep in our room?” Haile asked, hugging him.
“Are you trying to make me feel bad? I just wanted some fresh air. We can cuddle some more if you’d like, it’ll be a few hours till we reach Eiselfang.”
“I’d rather just chill up here.”
Hudson walked up to them, “I just had a random thought, what do sports look like in this world?”
Dante and Haile laughed, “The only sport I’ve seen thus far is pit fighting.” Dante said, “I imagine there are others, but I haven’t seen any.”
The four of them stood around, talking until Eiselfang appeared over the horizon. They walked to the front of the ship to look at it. A thin beach wrapped the edges, merging immediately into a thick forest.
“I’ll have two of my men row you to shore, and you’ll be on your own.” Captain Iris had approached from behind.
A rowboat was soon lowered into the ocean, with all of them in it. “Hold on tight.” One of the sailors said. They began rowing with massive paddles, picking up incredible speed. They were moving faster than the ship they had left, and in no time, they had hit shore. They sailors pushed themselves out once their passengers climbed off.
The beach was riddled with broken pieces of old, rotten wood. In the forest, there were stone platforms, with piles of wood on top. The further into the island they walked, the less and less they saw. After an hour, there was nothing, it was just the forest.
“This place is so eerie, I don’t like it.” Hudson said.
“Would you like to know why it’s like that?” Haile asked. “There’s no birds, no sound, the only thing we’re hearing is the noise we make, as well as the faint waves of the ocean.”
“The book never mentioned anything about wildlife, I guess there is none.” Hudson responded.
“Well, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about it for long, look.” Jocelyn said, pointing in front of them.
A rough, cobblestone path was laid out ahead of them, it twisted through the trees beyond their eyesight. After following for a few minutes, the forest opened into a massive clearing. Several posts stood up out of the ground, with long piles of rocks nearby. Large slate areas were laid out inside the outline laid out by the rock piles, covered in moss. They walked forward, a broken fence outlined a large, overgrown garden. They continued forward, looking at the area surrounding them. As they continued, they began to notice patterns in the locations of these fallen structures, it seemed very geometric, like each rock was placed intentionally.
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“Bingo!” Haie said. Everyone followed her gaze, to see a singular door.
They approached, there was no slate on either side, no rock piles, nothing. The door was made of a dark wood, surrounded by a stone frame. There were symbols carved into the stone on each side of the door. The doorknob was made of a dark metal, carved with similar symbols, with a keyhole above it.
“Anyone have a key?” Dante asked.
“I do.” Hudson and Jocelyn said at once. They looked at each other, perplexed.
“I got this one fighting the giants.” Hudson said, pulling out a large, iron key.
“Me too, but mine is cooler.” Jocelyn said, hers was slightly smaller, but made of silver with gold lining.
“Hudson’s matches the door though, give it a shot.” Dante said.
Hudson walked forward, and placed the key into the keyhole, he turned it until he heard a large click. The key turned to ash in his hand, and the door creaked open. Hudson pushed the door the rest of the way open. Inside was a purple and blue expanse, that reminded them of space.
“It worked.” Hudson said. “Let’s go.”
Hudson took a step back, and leaped through the door. He drifted forward, weightless. Jocelyn followed; Haile stood at the edge of the doorway, before Dante pushed her in, then jumping in himself.
The door shut behind Dante. They continued to drift forward, into the endless expanse of nothing. After a moment, they began to drift together, before gravity began to pull them down, or was it up?
Their feet hit a stone platform, it felt like they were still moving, but there was nothing, everything stayed still. Giant stone walls began to appear beneath them, like they were coming out of a thick fog. They formed complex patterns, these were no walls, this was a labyrinth.
They continued moving towards the maze, before they were lowered beneath the peaks. The platform finally stopped, they were on a stone floor, surrounded by a fifty foot tall labyrinth. They were in a square chamber, with an entrance on each side, about 7 feet wide.
“Pick a path, one for each of you.” A deep voice called out from above, it was the Thread-weaver.
“We must separate?” Haile asked.
“Yes, thus is my challenge.”
Dante kissed Haile on the cheek, before choosing a path, standing at the entrance. Hudson and Jocelyn kissed briefly, before each of them chose a path. Dante across from Jocelyn, and Haile across from Hudson.
“Enter your way, find your own path. These paths do not intersect, you will be alone until you find the exit.”
They began to walk into the maze, a loud crash rang out behind them, they turned to see a stone wall, they were trapped.
Hudson broke into a light jog, following the right wall. Jocelyn walked, keeping to the left wall. Dante walked aimlessly, hoping to find the exit, same as Haile.
For hours they walked, nothing changing, this place was designed to confuse them. Dante just kept walking, taking turn after turn, reaching an occasional dead end. Haile did no better than Dante, she kept walking, reaching nothing. Hudson’s systematic approach kept him from traveling in circles, but he hadn’t found anything. Jocelyn kept going, always moving, hoping for the best.
It began to get cold, was night falling? Could night fall here? They began to get hungry and thirsty, Hudson being the only one with supplies. Dante lay down, too hungry to carry on. Would he be left here? He knew he’d come back after death, but would he still be hungry when he came back? Haile sat down against a wall, very hungry. Little did either know, they lay on opposite sides of the same wall. Dante began to think about his adventure here, he thought about Haile. No, he would continue on, he had to. He forced himself to his feet, and continued walking. Haile sat for a few more minutes before continuing.
Hudson kept jogging, occasionally stopping to drink some water. After his third pause he stopped, cursing under his breath, he had all the food and water. It was too late to give out supplies, he had to hope they’d make it. Hudson looked up at the walls, massive as they were. “Find your own path you say?” Hudson pushed off the wall, and began to scale, bouncing from wall to wall, reaching towards the top. After a few moments of climbing, he had hit the top. He ran back towards the opening, hoping he could find his friends from there.
Hudson ran towards the chamber, jumping over the gaps when necessary. He made the final jump that would put him on the walls of the chamber, his body hit something, and he fell into the labyrinth one again.
“Clever, but not what I meant when I told you to find your own path, try again.” The Threadweaver stood before him. “I will provide your friends all they need, they will not starve.”
Hudson lay on the ground, what he would give to have any of his friends. He thought about Jocelyn, how was she faring?
Jocelyn just kept walking, turn after turn, nothing ever changing. Her mind began to drift to her friends, she thought about Hudson.
A red line drifted through the maze, connecting Hudson and Jocelyn. They both immediately began to follow it. A few moments passed before the Thread led them to a dead end.
“Jocelyn?” Hudson asked lightly.
“Hudson? I can hear you!” she responded.
Hudson walked forward and placed his hand on the wall. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, little hungry, but I’ll be fine.” She walked up to the wall. “Is there a way past this?” she asked
“I climbed onto the top of this maze, but the Thread-weaver told me I was cheating, and forced me back into the maze.”
Jocelyn pushed against the wall, hoping something would happen, she closed her eyes and pushed with all her might.
The wall began to shimmer faintly. A silver line appeared on the top of it, it began to lengthen, as the wall unweaved itself. A minute later, Jocelyn fell forward into Hudson, pushing him to the ground.
Hudson began to laugh, “You did it.” He said, almost sarcastically.
“Now we get to walk together.” Jocelyn said, beginning to smile.
“Then let’s get walking.” Hudson said.
Dante kept wandering, his mind as lost as he was. He was so hungry, he hadn’t eaten since shortly before they got off the Morning Bird. Dante looked down at his right hand, he no longer had his rings anymore, he thought back to them.
----------------------------------------
It was nearing Christmas. This past summer, Dante had met the most beautiful girl in the world. Last week, he had tried to tell her how he felt, but she didn’t catch on, so he wrote a handwritten letter to her, which wouldn’t arrive for a while. He wanted something to remember her by, he would buy a ring. He found a website that sold glow in the dark rings. These rings didn’t just give off a faint, green glow; no, you could choose a color, and it would brightly glow that color, so he got one. He wore it always, and every time he thought about it, he would think about her.
----------------------------------------
As Dante’s mind began to drift, so did Haile’s. A red Thread snaked its way through the maze, leading them together. It led them to a dead end, as it had with the other two. Dante walked up to it and placed his hands on it, feeling its surface, it was cold, solid stone. Dante closed his eyes and focused, he felt the Thread-power surge through him, he walked backwards, and ran to the wall. With all the strength he could muster, Dante punched the wall. He had dug a few inches into the surface. The rock wall was breaking - no, it was tearing. He punched again, and again.
Haile heard the strikes from the other side, “Dante? She called out.”
“Haile?!” Dante called, pausing his strikes.
“Are you punching the wall?” she asked.
Dante was quiet for a moment, “No…” He didn’t try to disguise the lie. “It’s somehow working though.”
“You find the strangest solutions for things.” Haile said, beginning to punch the wall herself.
Strike after strike, the wall began to tear. Pieces of a silver Thread-like substance drifted upwards. Haile pulled back for a large strike, he first made contact, and instantly the entire wall turned to the same silvery line, and drifted out of view.
“Well, I’m still hungry, but at least I have you.” Dante said, hugging Haile.
“You too? Let’s get going, let’s try and do the same for the other weirdos.” she said, beginning to walk with Dante.
A few more hours began to pass, and they all became weary, so they slept. Hudson and Jocelyn had the bedrolls, and slept with some semblance of comfort. Haile and Dante were forced to sleep on the cold stone floor. Dante gave Haile the hoodie so she would stay warm, and they snuggled together, and slept.
The next morning, if you could call it morning, came. Dante and Haile awoke to see a small meal, laid out on the ground before them. They sat and ate what they had, it was very filling for what little was there. Two large waterskins sat with the meal, they would do well today. Hudson and Jocelyn woke and ate some of the rations they still had left.
They stood up and got back to walking, Haile and Dante focusing on the Threads always, hoping the others would do the same. Almost a full day passed before Hudson stopped walking.
“You alright?” Jocelyn asked.
“How did neither of us think, we need to get the other two.” He said.
“Yeah, that’d be a good idea.”
They both began to focus. Two white Threads wound through the maze. They all followed it. They ran for an hour before reaching a stone wall, the dead end they were looking for.
Dante and Haile reached it first, both began to strike at the wall. They stopped very quickly after they started, their fists aching, they couldn’t punch their way through this one.
Hudson and Jocelyn arrived, “Who do we have the pleasure of meeting here?” Hudson called.
“It’s Dante and Haile.” Dante called out. “Are both of you there?”
“Yeah, let’s get through this wall, shall we?” Jocelyn called out.
“We already tried, it didn’t work.” Haile said.
“Well maybe this one is different than the last one.” Hudson suggested.
“Most likely, what’s your plan?” Dante asked.
“I have no idea, the last one mostly unraveled itself.” Hudson said.
“So let’s try things until something works.” Jocelyn said.
“I was about to suggest the same thing myself.” Haile said.
Haile drew her bow and shot at the wall. Dante sliced at the wall with his katana. Hudson punched at the wall, not knowing it had already been tried. Jocelyn walked up to the wall, and gently lay her hand on it. A silvery line appeared next to her hand, she grabbed it, and began to pull. Hudson noticed what she did, and followed suit, the same happening for him.
“Gently place your hand on it, then pull at the Thread.” he called out.
“That makes this simple.” Dante said, following the instructions.
After a moment, they were all pulling at the Thread. The wall began to shrink. After a minute, the wall had been pulled apart, and the group was back together.
“How did you losers fare?” Dante asked.
“I fell fifty feet after trying to climb the walls, that was fun.” Hudson said.
“Nice.” Haile said.
“Which way do you want to go?” Jocelyn asked, “I don’t really think it matters.”
“It doesn’t, let’s just go this way.” Dante said, walking past Hudson and Jocelyn.
“Works for me.” Hudson said, following him.
Hours passed, they continued walking. They grew tired and slept, then continued walking. Days passed, they continued walking.
“Do we want to try using Thread-power, it worked to get us to the witches.” Hudson suggested one day.
“Probably a good idea.” Dante said, “Are we all just going to pick a direction and start going?”
“Yeah, follow the right wall, we’ll get out eventually.” Hudson said.
“Sounds good. If all of the Threads follow the same path, it’s likely that path will lead to the end, so follow it.”
“Dante,” Hudson said, looking at him “if I beat you out, you owe me a favor.”
“If you beat me out, I’ll buy you Wendy’s when we get home, or the reverse if I win.” he responded.
“Deal.” Hudson said, taking off.
“What a weirdo.” Dante took off in the same direction, electing to follow the left wall.
Jocelyn and Haile went back the way they came, Jocelyn following the right wall, and Haile following the left.
The maze was massive, they ran for hours, working their way to the outskirts of the maze. Haile and Jocelyn ran towards the center room. Once they passed it, they were on their way to the exit.
Dante pushed with everything he had, taking left turn after left turn. He wouldn’t let Hudson beat him.
Hudon kept going, hoping his path would lead to an exit.
Haile rounded a corner, to find a dead end, or so it appeared. At the end hallway, was a glowing doorway. She ran through it, into the next chamber.
The red Thread in front of Dante quickly shifted, it led to a new path. Dante decided to follow it. He wound his way through the labyrinth, following the Thread, before he ran through a similar glowing doorway.
When the second Thread shifted, Hudson knew he should follow the path. Two white Threads led Hudson through the maze. Hudoson rounded a corner, and saw the third glowing doorway. He walked forward, and placed his hand through, he felt a quick pull, and he was in the next chamber.
Jocelyn began to follow when Haile’s Thread shifted, running faster when Dante’s led her the same direction. She found the glowing door right as Hudon’s Thread shifted. She walked through.
Haile fell into a cage, suspended in the air. She looked around, three other cages hung not far from hers. She sat down as one of them rattled as Dante appeared inside it.
“Hudson owes you Wendy’s.” She said.
“Where are we?” He asked.
“Not a clue, I haven’t been here for very long.” She looked around, it appears to be a large cave, stalactites reached down from above, poking into her vision.
They heard a quick yell, and turned to see Hudson in one of the cages.
“Evening.” Dante said briefly.
“Darn it, how’d you beat me?” Hudson said, looking at Dante.
“Dunno, dumb luck.” he responed.
“How did we end up here?” Hudson asked.
“How the heck would we know?” Haile responded.
“Fantastic, more mysteries.” Hudon said.
“It’s not all bad.” Jocelyn chimed in, she was standing in her cage. “At least we’re all here.”
“How did you make it? Everyone else made a lot of commotion coming in.” Haile said.
“I just casually walked through the glowing portal on the wall, it’s a lot simpler.”
“So what now, we could probably bend the bars and escape.” Dante said.
“On the contrary.” came the Thread-weaver’s voice. His voice surrounded them, it was everywhere. “These bars are designed to be resistant to Thread-power, you will not bend them.”
“So are we just stuck here?” Hudson asked, sitting down.
“Of course not, my challenge is not over yet, but I have saved the hardest part for last, and I like to take time to make sure you’re ready.”
“So I can take a nap?” Dante asked.
“If that is what you require to be at full strength. Eat, drink, then you shall face my last challenge.”
A table appeared before them, with a large meal on top. They all ate quickly. They waited a while for their bodies to digest the food.
“Are you ready?” Came the Thread-weaver again.
“Whether I am or not, you’ve been more than fair.” Dante responded, standing up.
“As sure as the sun shines, I am ready.” Hudson said following suit.
“Boys are so dramatic.” Haile said under her breath, she and Jocelyn stood up.
“Very well, let us begin.”
The bottom of the cage fell out from beneath them, they began falling. Down and down they went, getting faster and faster. A light came into view, a marble floor lit up beneath it. The floor rushed towards them, they were about to strike it when they came to a stop. They were placed gently onto their feet.
They stood in a massive hallway, leading hundreds of feet ahead. A red carpet was laid in the center, pillars on each side. They began walking. The carpet was twenty-five feet across, the pillars fifteen feet wide and a hundred feet tall, past the pillars was an extra ten feet on each side.
“Welcome,” Came the Thread-weaver's voice, booming, and loud. “to the gateway. This is the home of the gate, the connector of your world and mine. Once you pass the gate, you will be home; but first, you must earn your right to be home. This is my challenge.”
The hallway opened into a large room. In the middle of the room stood two figures, each in brilliant armor, with no helmet. One held a sword in his right hand, the other held one in his left. They appeared like a mirror of each other, everything exactly the same.
“These are my champions: Sylvanus and Serena. Let me show you what great challenge you face.”
The figures turned around. A woman stood on the right, with long, black hair. A man on the left stood tall, with short, red hair.
A crack of lightning was heard, between the two figures appeared a brilliant Thread, it was almost too bright to look at, even at this distance.
Between these figures, was a Thread of gold.