Travel was slow, Dante requested they not rush to the dorway using their Threads, he wanted to enjoy the scenery. The cliff began to descend leading to a long beach. The mountains disappeared behind them, leaving a forest in its place. Songbirds sung to whoever listened, squirrels ran about searching for their hidden acorns. A road pulled out of the forest, running alongside the beach. Days began to draw by, they would occasionally pass carts along the way, carrying goods to trade. They would always ask how close they were to town, they started at two weeks, slowly dwindling their way down to a few hours. One quiet afternoon, the city finally came into view, all they could see was a wall with a gate that blocked their path. They approached to find two guards stationed at the entrance.
“Halt! State your name, state your business.” One of them called out. They wore well crafted breastplates and helmets, with minor leg protection, they each held a spear in one hand, and a shield in the other.
“I am Hudson, these are my friends: Haile, Dante, and Jocelyn. We have come to look for means of reaching the island of the coast.”
“The island is empty, what causes it to be your destination.”
“We heard from the barterers-of-death that there is a door there that will lead us to the gate.” Hudson responded.
“Very well. RAISE THE GATES!” He called above him. “Follow the main road, it will lead you to the docks, there are inns in that area if you need a place to stay. Welcome to Eiselwin.”
“Thank you.” They all said, passing into town.
The town was busy, the road was lined with various carts and stores. People ran to and fro with various bags or boxes of fruits, vegetables, meats, and the like. The crowd was loose enough for them to slowly push their way through, they all had experience having gone to public school. Guards were stationed at almost every corner, always in twos or more.
They kept following the main road until they finally reached the ocean. There were dozens of boats ranging from small fishing boats, to large vessels to transport goods across the sea. There were sailors running all about, carrying various forms of sailing supplies onto ships, or unloading ships. There was a man who stood on a raised platform giving orders to the sailors, Dante decided to approach him.
He was in the middle of giving an order when Dante approached, “You, bring that crate to the Morning bird, make sure Captain Iris knows you’ve delivered it! Oi, you need something?” he said, noticing Dante.
“Yes actually, I need to charter a ship to an island, it shouldn’t be too far.”
“Which island?”
“I’ve heard it was once part of this continent, but broke off.”
“Eiselfang? Why there’s nothing there!”
“It will be a one way trip, we can pay rather well.”
“Ah! There’s the seller. I’ll find someone for you. Do you have a place to stay where I can contact you once I find you someone?”
“Not yet, there will be three others that join me, though.”
“Four total? I can manage to find someone. I’m a fan of the billows restpit, head there, they have good rooms and good service. Whom shall I address the news of finding you a ship?”
“Dante, I look forward to hearing the word.”
“I’ll deliver a letter when I get you a ship, off you go now. OI! DROP THAT CRATE, THAT IS TO VALUABLE FOR A RUNT LIKE YOU TO BE CARRYING!”
Dante walked back to his friends, “Well, we’ll be getting passage, and I’ve found a place to stay until our ride is ready.”
“Well let’s go get rooms then. Where we headed?” Jocelyn responded.
“The billows restpit, I think I saw it on the way here, c’mon.”
It took a bit of walking, and asking a few people, but they made their way to the billows restpit. They walked into the front door, the room was well decorated, with a dark wooden floor, well crafted tables and chairs, a large sandpit in the middle, and a bar across the room. There were many patrons in the bar, they all paused and looked at the newcomers who had just entered.
“Welcome the the Billows Restpit.” Said the man behind the bar. “What can I get you four?”
“We need a place to stay for a while.” Hudson responded.
There was a pause, before everyone began laughing. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but we have a tradition here, anyone newcomers who want a room, have to fight in the pit.” he said, gesturing to the sandpit.
“I don’t have the option to fight, do I?” Dante whispered into Haile’s ear.
“Nope. I don’t particularly want to either.” Haile responded.
“How are fights run? Who would I be fighting?” Jocelyn asked.
“Your choice, one on one, two on two, three on three, or all of you. Just as long as we all get a show. I usually fight, but you can choose anyone in the bar.”
Jocelyn turned to the group, “I’ll fight one on one, none of my Threads will be in danger, we’ll be fine.”
“You sure?” Hudson asked.
“Yeah, it’ll be fun.” She turned back to the room, “I’ll take you on then, how’s the winner decided if there are no Threads to cut.”
The man hopped over the bar, “Whoever beats the other person to the point they can’t stand anymore wins. What’s your name, little miss?”
“Jocelyn Moreno. And you?”
“Conor Rose. Prepare to fight, Jocelyn.”
Jocelyn drew a rapier from her side, and stepped into the pit. Conor opened a box beside the pit, and pulled out a longsword. Jocelyn waited for a moment for the rush of the Threads, before realizing she wasn’t going to get one. Conor rushed towards her, making a large swipe at her stomach. Jocelyn doged backwards, the sword barely made contact, enough to cause blood to trickle from the wound. Jocelyn used the opening to swipe to Conor’s neck. He used the momentum of the sword to move back, causing the swipe to miss entirely. Conor grinned, and made his second swipe, he aimed for Jocelyn’s chest, she went to doge below the swing, but she was too late, she had moved her neck right into the swing of the sword. The sword dug three inches into her body, and she fell to the ground.
“JOCELYN!” Hudson called, rushing into the pit, he knelt down, and picked up her body. She wasn’t breathing, there was no trace of a heartbeat. “No, no, no, wake up buddy.”
Hudson waited for a moment, very slowly, the large gash in her neck began to heal from the deepest point, to the skin. There was no trace of the wound, they all waited.
Jocelyn took a sharp breath in, opening her eyes, “Did I win?” she asked sarcastically.
“Well, we can get rooms at the very least.” Hudson responded.
“I am never doing that again.”
“I wouldn’t let you.”
Conor approached and held his hand out, “A chime per room, per night, how many are you taking?”
Dante and Haile walked into the pit, “Are we doing guys and girls again?” Haile asked.
“Yeah, that makes sense. Here you go.” Hudson responded, placing two chimes in his large, meaty hand.
Conor threw the money into his pocket, and pulled out two keys. “Very well, here you are. First and second on the right. Breakfast starts at eight.”
“Thank you.” Hudson took one key, and handed the other to Haile. He stood and helped Jocelyn to her feet, “You alright?”
“Better now, but it still stings a little.” She said, rubbing her neck.
“Makes sense, let’s get some drinks, and call it a day.” Hudson said. They all sat in a booth, and had some drinks together. Eventually, they all went up to sleep, they were greeted by two large, soft beds; a large wardrobe (that would end up unused); and a small, complimentary vial of cheap perfume.
----------------------------------------
They all awoke the next morning, feeling energized for the day ahead. They ate breakfast, while discussing plans for the day.
“I don’t know if we’ll be getting a ship today, we should find something to fill our time.” Dante said.
“Do we just want to walk around town and hope we find something cool?” Jocelyn asked.
“Unless anyone has any better ideas, yeah, that’s the plan.” Hudson said, halfway through a large plate of scrambled eggs.
“I’ll ask Conor if he knows of cool things to do when he comes to grab our plates.” Haile said.
“So once we get word, are we just hopping on a ship and heading to Eiselfang? Is it that simple?” Jocelyn asked.
“I imagine not, but what other option do we have?” Hudson responded.
“The witches told us the doorway is in the center of the island, so we should find an estimate of how large Eiselfang is.”
“Okay, we go to a library, find a map to get a rough shape of Eiselfang, then find something fun to do.” Dante said.
“Sounds good.” Hudson responded, “Did he give you an estimate of how much the ride would be.”
Dante shook his head, “He did not, I should have asked.”
“Well, let’s count how much we have, so we know.”
Dante reached into his pocket to grab the coin he had, to find it wasn’t there. “Did you guys grab the coin out of my pocket when I died?”
“No. That’d be a little messed up. Is it gone?” Haile asked
“Yeah, I guess there’s a respawn price.” Dante said jokingly. They all stared at him, “Yeah I know, I play too many video games.”
“Well that puts a damper in our funds.” Hudson said.
Hudson pulled out what he had left and began counting. Haile tossed in her chime from working, and Jocelyn threw in three chimes. “Thirty-eight chimes, two behhlo. I don’t think that’s enough.”
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“We’ll ask while we’re out.” Dante said, “Sucks, I lost what I had.”
“Yeah, we should ask first, and if we need more, we should try and find some work.” Jocelyn said.
“Sounds good.” Haile said. Conor began to approach to gather plates. “Conor, could you give us directions to a library?”
“Uh, yeah, go left out the door, go for about two hundred feet, make a right and it’ll be fifty feet on the left.” Conor responded.
“Any fun things you recommend we do while we’re in town?” Haile asked.
“There’s a science museum in view from the library, they have some pretty cool things there.” He had finished collecting plates.
“Thank you, we’ll check it out.”
“No problem.” Conor said, leaving them be.
“Well, I guess we have some things we can do now.” Dante said.
“Let’s get going, in case we need to work.” Jocelyn said.
Dante led them back towards the docks, to where he talked to the sailor yesterday. He stood on the same raised platform, giving orders like he was yesterday. He noticed Dante’s approach.
“Ah, hello Dante, how can I help you?”
“I was wondering how much passage is going to cost, turns out my funds have mostly run dry.”
“There were a few who said they’d be willing to take you, it depends on how well you want to sleep, and if you’re doing any work on board.”
“I’m fine with working, my friends are as well. We would like to sleep in actual beds, as opposed to the floor; but beyond that, anything works.”
“Alright then, that makes this simple, the morning bird is making a trip past the island, and can drop you off on the way. It'll run you forty chimes if you’re going to be eating with the crew.”
“I think we have rations, so how much would that take off?”
“Only a few, but I can’t give you an exact number.”
“I think that will work, thank you.”
“My pleasure, she departs tomorrow near noon, I’ll include the details in the letter to you.”
Dante walked back to the group, “We have a ride, and we should have just enough, providing we feed ourselves. We still have rations, yes?”
Hudson nodded, “We have about a week of rations, and some meat we preserved along the way.”
“There may be some game on the island, we should have plenty.” Haile added.
“Then let’s get to the library, we’ll figure out more from there.” Jocelyn said.
“Sounds good.” Hudson responded.
After a few minutes of walking, they made it to the library. It stood very tall, and very long, a large overhang was in the front, supported by four massive pillars. There were people walking in and out, many of them wearing similar looking robes. Each robe had “Eiselwin Academy” stitched onto the back. They walked in the front door. There were about twenty isles formed by bookcases that reached fifteen feet high. Above them they saw a balcony that ran along the outside perimeter. Dante could make out tables on the other side of the library, where many students sat studying. There was a front desk where about a dozen people sat, some helping students find the material they searched for.
“Good morning, welcome to the Eiselwing Library of Science and History, are you students at the academy?” The librarian said when they approached the desk.
“We are not.” Hudson answered.
“Very well, is there something I can get for you?”
“We are looking for information about Eiselfang, maps, history, anything really.”
“That can be provided, if you are not a student, one of our inquisitors will have to stay by your side as you study. Are you all a group?”
“Yes, but we may divide to look for more information.”
“Alright, wait here, I will assign an inquisitor to each of you.”
A moment went by where they stood there, admiring the library around them. It seemed every shelf was completely full of books, no space was empty. Four young women approached the group. Each of them wore matching light green robes, with their hair pulled back in a loose bun.
“We are your inquisitors. What knowledge do you search for?” One of them asked.
“We wish to know more of Eiselfang.” Hudson responded.
“Ah, a mysterious place. Follow us, let us find what you search for.”
They were led down one of the isles on the right, one grabbed a ladder and slid it with them as they walked. They were a little more than halfway down, when they stopped, one climbed the ladder and pulled three books off the shelf. They were then brought to the tables, where they sat down to look over the books. The first was titled The Heart Shaped Land, the second Eiselfang, and the third was an atlas.
“This first one tells the history of this continent, as far as the myths go. The second may hold more specific information as to what you require. And the third has any maps you may need. If you need anything more, let us know, we shall watch until we are needed.” They stood in a line a few feet from the table.
“Well, let's each take one, I guess, I’ll take the atlas.” Dante said. “Can I get some parchment or something so I can copy down a map?” He asked one of the inquisitors.
“Of course, one moment.”
“I’ll take Eiselfang” Hudson said.
“I guess I’ll take The Heart Shaped Land” Jocelyn said.
“I’ll give you a hand, Dante.” Haile said.
They all began reading, enough parchment was brought for Jocelyn and Hudson as well. Dante made a rudimentary copy of the map of Eiselfang, including its dimensions. Eiselfang has a similar shape to a teardrop, though it always appears upside down. While looking around the atlas, Dante and Haile found why the book called the land ‘heart shaped.’ The main continent was semi-triangular, with rounded corners, and the top center dipped slightly, making it appear slightly like a heart. With Eiselfang not being a part of the continent, it ruined the picture slightly, it would be a better heart had it not broken off.
Hudson began reading about Eiselfang; for centuries, many people had tried to colonize it, but each city was torn apart by a force that remains unseen. Along many of the coasts, you can still find rubble of a fallen city, but no such rubble exists in the forest that covered the island. There were many theories as to the origin and form of this force, but none of them could be confirmed. There was a section that told of a doorway that stood from a colony long forgotten. As far as the book was concerned, the doorway stood no purpose, one could open it and walk through it and nothing would happen.
Jocelyn’s book began telling of how the Thread-Weaver created the world. It began when the world existed as a singular line that flew through the empty universe, which would later be known as the first Thread. The Thread-weaver built for himself a loom, and using the Thread, he weaved a perfect world. He created the first man and woman, and as time went on, people began to fill the world. One day, one of the men fashioned for himself a sword, and with it, he attacked his brother. The brother died, and the Thread-Weaver said to himself ‘never again.’ The Thread-Weaver constructed the first Threads, he gave them to protect the lives of men. Time passed, and man lived in near harmony, cities began to form, and great leaders arose. Until Daratos and Emflou arose, they became obsessed with power, and began to conquer the known world. They ruled with an iron fist, keeping all for themselves. The Thread-Weaver would not have it, he found two that were pure in heart, and he weaved for them a Thread above all others, he had created the Golden Thread. With it, the heroes defeated the Tyrants, and then departed to a far off land, their names left forgotten. The Thread-Weaver saw the Golden Thread as good, he would make another, so he turned to begin weaving, but he found that he had used up the first Thread creating the Thread of gold, there would never be any more he could create. To this day, it is said the Thread-Weaver plucks stars from the night sky in order to weave more Threads for the likes of man.
Near the time the owners of the Golden Thread disappeared, rumors began to spread of people brought into the world by the Thread-Weaver. They came, bringing trouble wherever they went, and then disappeared off the face of the world. They always told of a gate they had to get to, people began telling others they had found the gate, but none ever told of its location. It has been centuries since the owners of the Golden Thread vanished, nations have risen and nations have fallen, and no complete record of the gate exists.
“I’ve finished, I found some interesting things that may help.” Hudson said.
“I’m just double checking my map, but I think I’m done.” Dante said.
“All I got was a history lesson, although cool, not very helpful.” Jocelyn mentioned.
“Alright, we’re good.” Haile said, standing and closing the atlas.
“We’ll take those, I hope you learned well.” The inquisitors collected the books, one stayed to escort them out, while the others went to return the books.
“Do we owe anything for our visit?” Hudson asked.
“No, all knowledge here is free for the public, we are happy to provide materials for you to learn.” She responded, leading them to the front door.
“Thank you for your help, this was very useful.” Haile said once they reached the door. The others followed suit saying their thanks.
“It has been my pleasure, enjoy your day.” She turned to return to her work.
“So we have a map, we have information on the doorway, and the creation myth apparently.” Dante said, “You want to head to the museum then?”
“Sure, maybe we’ll find something cool.” Haile said.
“I hope so, science is fun.” Jocelyn said.
The museum was even larger than the library, it contained a section of local wildlife, which was the same as back home. There were large siege engines, sections on botany, and biology, and astronomy, and geology; but most visitors gravitated to the section labeled ‘Threadology.’ Inside there were demonstrations of the raw strength Threads give -which was called ‘Thread-power.’ Above was a large weave of Threads, pulled together to form a slight image of a cloaked figure in the center. To their right, a large model of a Thread, dissected to show it’s parts. There were several strongman games, designed to test the limits of your Thread. There were various machines that could power themselves on the power of Threads. There was a small room that broke off further down on the right, they walked towards it.
There was an employee standing outside it, who spoke to them before they entered, “This is a place to honor the golden Thread, please be respectful.”
They entered and the noise in the main room faded away. There were various paintings along the wall picturing two figures in gleaming armor, a golden Thread connecting them, rushing towards two figures in black, terrifying armor, in between them stood a Thread as black as the night sky, below was a plaque that told that this black thread seemed to choke out the light from a room, it brought fear into the hearts of all who watched.
On the opposite side of the room stood two glass cases, four figures stood guard over them, inside were the four helmets seen in the paintings. The black helmets were large, and menacing, above them were labels for their fallen owners. The other two helmets were simple, but beautiful; they shone like silver, with gold accents. Above them was a golden sign that read:
A world of evil we called our home
A world that was not our own
We called out to god on high
That the tyrants would fall and die.
He found two who kept their hearts pure
Through trials did they endure
To them was given a Thread of gold
To defeat the rulers with hearts so cold
On mountain top did they fight
At the darkest time of night
The Thread of gold their only avail
Its might did prevail
The rulers did fall
They had lost it all
In prison they now lay
For their sins to pay
The heroes of our story
Did not accept any glory
Instead they ran
Their name not known by any man
“I’ve always enjoyed poetry.” Dante said.
“Are these their actual helmets, or recreations?” Jocelyn asked one of the guards.
“These were found next to the chained bodies of Daratos and Emflou. Yes, these were once worn by the owners of the Golden Thread.” He responded.
“They look so beautiful, yet so simple.” Haile said, raising her hand and placing it on the glass.
“Yes; no one has claimed them as their work, it is assumed the Thread-Weaver himself built them.” A guard chimed in.
“Have they ever left their case?” Dante asked, “Despite their importance, it seems a shame to keep them locked up.”
“Every year there is a festival here to celebrate freedom, this year will be the 432nd anniversary.”
“How long until the celebration?” Haile asked.
“Five months.”
“We’ll be long gone by then.” Dante said.
“We allow people to hold them as long as they are unarmed, if you give us your weapons, we can pull them out for you.”
“Absolutely.” Haile said. she collected the weapons of her friends, and gave them to one of the guards.
Two guards picked up the glass case, and the other two gently picked up helmets, they turned them around so they faced away from them, and held them out to hold. Haile took one from the hands of the guard, it was light, she turned it around in her hand, there was lettering on the back, but it was in a script she didn’t recognize. Jocelyn picked up the other, doing the same, it looked identical, the only difference being the lettering on the back. She began turning it back so she could look at the front, and it slipped from her hand, she reached out to grab it but was too short. There was a grey blur as one of the guards caught the helmet.
“Please don’t drop these, they are irreplaceable.” he said as they began to put the helmets away.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.” She said, very embarrassed.
“It’s fine, but these are vestiges of the past, they must be treated with respect.”
“How did you catch that so quickly?” Dante asked.
“Simple, Thread-power.”
“Can’t you only have that power during fights and when your Thread is visible?”
“There is a way to have access to some of the power while keeping the Thread hidden, it takes practice. It’s actually a requirement to guard over these helmets.”
“Cool, this was nice, thank you.” Dante said.
“My pleasure.”
After a few hours of walking around, they returned to the billows restpit.