They awoke the next morning and began traveling. They all walked in silence, lost in their own thoughts. Dante’s mind was excited, he could end up dating, maybe marrying Haile; he was hesitant though, what was more dividing than death? Haile thought about her relationship with Hudson, would it all be over, just for her to go right to Dante? Hudson was thinking similarly to Haile, he loved her, what would happen with her?
The first two days went the same: wake up, travel in silence, set up camp, sleep. It wasn’t until the third day when they reached a fork in the road.
They saw a few dozen carts, set up like markets, shouting at every passerby, trying to sell goods. The area was crowded, so many people stood between them and the path they needed to take.
“Well, left road, this shouldn’t be too hard.” Haile said as they approached.
Each cart contained strange items, things none of them had seen before, there were strange looking pairs of scissors, thin knives, cloudy glass balls, strange decks of cards, books with strange covers, what appeared to be wands, colorful dice, and items of the sort.
They walked looking at each cart, amazed by their wares. They slowly pushed their way through the crowd, but after a minute of pushing, they got separated.
Hudson walked slightly off to the left, before trying to push back toward the other two. Dante drifted to the right where a merchant pulled his attention away from the path. Haile kept toward the center of the road, but the crowd was too tightly packed to push through.
Hudson tried to look over the crowd for Haile and Dante, he pushed around hoping to see one of them, but the crowd was too dense. He called out into the crowd “HAILE?! DANTE?!”
Haile barely heard his call and tried to push in his direction. “HUDSON?!” She responded to his call.
After a minute of trying to push through the crowd, they finally reached each other. “You alright?” Hudson asked, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“I’m fine, let’s find Dante and get out of here.”
After a couple of minutes, Dante realized he was no longer with his friends. He looked around trying to find them, being the tallest among them, he was barely able to look over the heads of the crowd. He saw a few people that looked like Hudson, and pushed towards them, one at a time. Another minute passed before they were finally reunited.
“Tight crowd am I right?” Dante joked once they were together.
“Got that right, let’s get out of here.” Haile had to raise her voice to be heard, “Take one of my hands, each of you, it’ll be harder to be separated that way.”
Hudson took Haile’s right hand, while Dante took her left. They pushed through the crowd, holding tightly to each other to not get lost. The crowd was tight, and they pushed and pushed, but no progress was made.
“Ugh, we aren’t getting anywhere!” Hudson remarked.
“What do we do?” Haile asked.
They thought for a moment before an idea came to Dante, “Try and focus on our Threads, maybe we’ll get strength from them.”
“It’s worth a try.” Haile responded with.
They all closed their eyes for a moment, thinking about where each of them had been, and where they are. Hudson and Dante’s Thread was the first to appear, followed by Hudson and Haile’s and finally Halie and Dante’s.
Haile felt the rush of strength given by the Thread for the first time, this was amazing. They started pushing their way through the crowd, if felt like there was no resistance. A minute later they emerged on the other side, back on track to their destination.
“It’s just a hunch, but I think that worked.” Dante said, looking at the two of them. He held on to Haile’s hand until Hudson let go, just so he could experience it for a little longer. It wasn’t his first time holding her hand, he’d done it once before, it brought him the same, peaceful sensation it did the first time.
“Is that the same feeling you got when fighting? That was awesome!” questioned Haile.
“I don’t know about you, Hudson, but that was a little more than when it was just you and I.” Dante responded as they started walking again.
“Yeah, it was, I guess you and I are both closer to Haile than to each other.”
“I was actually thinking of the one thing ‘a cord of three strands is not quickly broken,’ I don’t remember where I heard it, but I think it applies.” Dante said.
“Both may be true.” Hudson added.
“I guess so.” Dante responded.
“I wonder what it would feel like if Amy was here.” Haile questioned. Amy was Haile’s best friend, they knew each other from third grade, they were chaotic when in the same room.
“I think you two would be unstoppable, you two could take out the US government back in the real world, where you have no Threads.” Dante said, chuckling at his own joke.
“I think you’re right, she is-” Haile stopped, a young man and woman stood before them, blocking the path. They were both about Haile’s height, the man wore a camo coat and cargo pants, and the woman wore tightly fighting jeans and a t-shirt. The man drew two katanas off of his back, and the woman pulled out a bow and nocked an arrow.
“You just came from the crossroads, didn't cha? Most people who go there have coin to spend, cough up!” The man demanded.
“I don’t think that will be necessary.” Hudson drew the greatsword off of his back, and took a ready stance. Dante and Haile followed suit.
“I don’t think you understand, we aren't giving you the option.” The woman said, “You have two options: A. cough up or B. lose your memories.”
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“I think I like the third option,” Dante responded.
The woman tilted her head, confused, “What third option?”
“This one.” Dante said, he flew forward with incredible speed, his feet barely touching the ground. In but a second he made up the 50 feet between them. He engaged the man, and quickly began overpowering him.
The woman began to shoot at Dante, but had to stop quickly when Hudson began to charge at her. She was fast enough to dodge most of his swings, but she couldn’t land a hit of her own.
Haile drew her bow and began firing at the woman. Each arrow flew directly where she intended, she landed her first three with ease. The woman began to use Hudson like a shield, putting him in between her and Haile, so Haile had to stop her barrage.
Dante’s sword danced through the air, the man nearly powerless to stop him, he landed slice, after slice, and remained unscathed.
Hudson kept swinging, but each swing was either blocked or doged. He kept pushing in, staying on the offence. After a few dozen swings, the woman moved backwards to dodge a swing at her stomach, her foot caught a stone on the road, and she bagan falling. Hudson used this opportunity and landed a large slice across her chest and stomach. Hudson watched as what appeared to be blood fly from the cut, but instead, dancing in the wind, was a brilliant red Thread. Hudson made a cut for it, his blade making contact, but he could not push through.
“STOP!” The man cried out. “We surrender, just please, leave the thread unscathed.”
“What reason do we have to believe you?” Dante asked, placing his sword to his neck.
“You don’t, but please, I can’t lose her.” he fell to his knees and tears began forming in his eyes.
Dante kneeled down and looked him in the eyes, “I don’t want to cut your Thread, I doubt either of them do either, but you can’t just mug people on the street.”
“I understand, it’ll never happen again, I swear! Just let us go in peace.” The man begged, Hudson sword still resting on the Thread.
“I’ll let you go, take this and start a life without fighting.” Dante placed ten chimes in his hand. “Go in peace.” Dante stood, sheathing his sword as he began walking, “Halie, Hudson, let’s leave them here, we have a long road still ahead.”
Hudson and Haile ran to catch up with him, Hudson reached first and looked at Dante, “Why did you show them mercy, we had them!”
“I once knew someone who did much more than just save my memories of someone I love, he saved me, I shall do the same for others.”
Haile finally caught up, having heard Dante she added, “He did the same for me, we humans have a knack for needing his help.”
Hudson looked embarrassed, he knew who they spoke of, he’d been saved by the same man. How could he forget?
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When night came they set up camp. Between the crossroads and the fight, they were back to normal. They were joking, laughing, and having a good time. It was a relatively warm night, there was no need to hide under blankets overnight. They slept nearby to each other. Dante was the last one awake, he looked up at the stars, they weren’t the same stars from back home, they were unique to this world. Before sleep took him, he lightly placed Haile’s hand in his, and closed his eyes to sleep.
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Hudson was the first to awaken, he waited patiently for Haile and Dante to wake up before he moved. While he waited, he watched Haile sleep, she looked beautiful, so peaceful as she slept. He thought back to the prediction made by the Thread reader. It felt obvious to him, they were going to break up, and she was going to end up with Dante. He would get over it, he’d gotten over girls before, eight others to be specific. Getting over them sucked, for all of them. After the last one, he never wanted to love again, he was done; Haile came at just the right time, she taught him to love again, and he truly did love her. One of his ex’s called him a stepping stone, many of the others never talked to him after they broke up, and one told him he would never measure up to anything, he hoped breaking up with Haile would be easier.
Haile began stirring, after a moment she opened her eyes and stretched her arms out, accidentally hitting both Hudson and Dante lightly. She looked at Hudson, who smiled at her. Dante began waking behind her. Dante sat up before stretching, he looked to Haile and Hudson, who both turned to meet his gaze.
“That was probably one of the best nights I’ve had here.” Dante said, still trying to get fully awake. “You two ready to go? If we hurry, we may hit the cave today.”
“Sounds like a plan, let’s get out of here.” Hudson said, as he sat up.
Haile yawned before standing and looking at Hudson, “You sound rather awake, nice night?”
“I’ve actually been up for a while, just laying there watching the clouds. I actually woke up in time to catch the last bit of the sunrise.”
“Imagine waking up early, the last time I saw the sunrise was at camp.” Dante joked while packing up what little they had. One summer, they all attended a week-long camp. One of the more popular events was called mission impossible, where you were woken up at three or four in the morning, you then had to run around campus without being seen by staff who were driving golf carts. The last time they woke everyone up later than usual; they finished just in time for the sun to peak over the mountains.
“Yeah, I was also a little tired from the fight, I must have missed three dozen swings.”
“Well, we can make fun of you for it once we get on the road.” Halie said, kneeling down to help Dante.
They finished packing and continued their trek, the cool morning air blew over the fields and hit their faces. Various birds flew overhead, it must have been early spring, because a large flock of geese were flying north. Dante spotted some songbirds flying over the field, he couldn’t recognize them though. Hudson pointed out an eagle flying with a fish in its talons.
As the hours drew by, a forest began creeping its way to the left side of the road. Shortly after noon, it took a stand lining the side of the road. They were led towards the left into the forest by the path. Most of the trees were budding, it must have been spring. They heard the sound of rushing water as the sun began setting, and golden light filled the forest. The source of the sound of water was quickly found, as they found a large brook that cut across the path. There was a stone bridge that crossed the brooke, before it stood a sign which read:
The Peacekeeper’s bridge
Built and maintained by the
owners of the long forgotten
Golden Thread
“So the golden Thread isn’t just a myth then.” Haile said once she read it.
“Maybe, but if it exists, whoever has it hasn’t been doing their job.” Dante added.
“How do you know that?” Hudson asked.
“Look at this bridge, it’s old, it’s falling apart.” Dante motioned to the bridge.
“Strange, let’s go then.” Haile began walking again, Hudson and Dante followed.
Dante looked down and began talking, mostly to Hudson, but Haile also heard, “I wonder if I’ll-we’ll come back to fix that bridge, the lady did tell us we may one day own this ‘golden Thread’”
“It ain't happening.” Haile interjected, “If we get that Thread, we’re going to go home, I don’t want to come back to fix a darn bridge, it ain’t gonna happen.”
They continued walking for a few minutes before they set up camp. Over the course of an hour they took turns walking back to the stream to wash themselves off. Haile was the first. Hudson started a fire for everyone to dry off next to.
Part way through Haile’s turn, Hudson and Dante heard her call out to come and help her. They looked at each other briefly before taking off to get to her. One they got to her they found her dragging the corpse of a deer towards the path.
“I found this fella wandering through the woods, figure we’ll be eating well tonight.” She looked at them and waited briefly. “Well don’t stand there, help me pull her.”
Once they got it back to the fire, Haile finished field dressing it, she then passed it to Hudson, who began cooking it. Haile went back to the stream to clean off. Dante went after she returned, so Hudson could finnish cooking. Hudson waited until after they ate to go wash off. They ate, and slept.