Father sat in a wooden boat, drifting across calm, murky green waters infested with algae. The boat rocked as it was pushed forward by an invisible force inside this dark landscape. Above him, the sky was completely black, putting an invisible pressure on him; he could see what seemed like mountains off in the distance, but they were too far to tell. The small waves crashed against his wooden vessel, causing it to sway and giving him the thought that he might tip over.
The objects out in the distance continued to linger in his mind as they began to grow, allowing him to make out details. The sky transformed from pure darkness to one of a cave ceiling with stalactites that hung down, seemingly close enough to reach out and touch. Father felt dread towards the circumstances he was currently in; he had no idea where he was, just that he saw a book in front of him, and as it opened, he found himself in this hell.
The boat began to rock with more force, and he found himself unable to stay straight; he had to move in the opposite direction that his vessel swayed, just in the hopes of staying upright. Father continued drifting through the vile waters. Around him, lights began to appear in the distance, along with the sound of water being split by boats. Surrounding him was a fleet, or more like a group of other small wooden boats; most were as dark as the ceiling above them, while others were as dirty and as green as the waters below them.
Father looked around as the boats came closer, each one housing a faceless passenger who wore a black cloak, with what seemed like human skin under the cloak. But the reason Father decided to call them faceless passengers was that each one didn't have eyes or a mouth. They were similar to dolls; they also didn't move or react when the water swayed their boat.
For the first time, Father felt like cursing at the gods; he felt betrayed, but he held back.
In the distance were a few dim blue lights that each huddled around one area. And as Father came closer, he made out that the lights each sat upon the lower jaw of an unknown, gigantic creature that was used as the entrance to an unknown passage. The creature looked like a dragon's skull, which Father had only seen in drawings. It had two large horns protruding from its skull that dug into the cavern's walls, razor-sharp teeth that hung down, almost scraping against the people who entered, and the other set of teeth was under the water, with only the back few teeth on each side being available to see, but that was where blue lanterns resided to light the way. There were four gigantic holes inside the skull, two for the nose and two for the eyes.
As Father passed by the skull, entering a new area, it was completely different from where he had just been. The water glowed with pearlescence, gem-like stalactites hung from the ceiling, reflecting a brilliant and radiant light that didn't have a particular source. Small islands just a meter or so wide grew from beneath the water, but his boat, that drifted with reason, flowed around each stone.
The ride became much rougher as the minutes passed, and the speed at which he and the other ferrys moved began to rapidly increase. The passageway was becoming narrower and forced the vessels to move in succession, causing Father to feel as if he would collide with the others.
Father glanced around, noticing in the front of the congregation, people were disappearing, vanishing before his eyes at an incredible pace. Father continued on, propelled by the rushing water. The cavernous winds whistled off the stone rocks, producing eerie sounds. Father continued on, now one was in front of him; he was the beginning of the line in this moment—then he wasn't.
Father fell down as this was the beginning of a waterfall; he plummeted with increasing momentum, watching as people were falling in front of him and behind him. He yelled internally, clenching the wooden boat, hoping he could use it to propel him back to the surface of water once he landed. He plummeted for many moments, the water slowly approaching. Water was flying everywhere from the consecutive entities that were embraced by its clutch, yet not a sound was made. He then was one of those entities, feeling the water's chilling embrace.
His body was enveloped and sank down, but then he wasn't sinking. His eyes, which were closed, were open, and he found himself in a new area. He was on a dirt path, shackles connected his arms and legs, broken, dirty and ripped rags as clothes that made him unsightly to anyone who dare look his direction, but no one saw his face, everyone in this carcade was moving in an orderly fassion, one step after another, everyone looking forward, peering into the skull of the person they followed.
Father was the only one looking around; to his left and right was a sea of ash that moved in waves as if it were a giant sea. Off in the distance were giant mountains, larger than any he had ever seen, and crimson and ebony animals soared through the air. The air around him burned his lungs every time he inhaled; his lungs felt as though they were becoming solid from the amount of ash he was intaking.
Ahead of him were three crossroads, with an entity in black robes standing at the fork. None went straight; most went left, while every hundred or so went to the right.
Father eventually approached the fork, where the man who was holding a stone tablet stood, without looking up he simply moved his right limb and pointed down the middle fork. Father stood still, not knowing exactly what to do, which seemed to vex the entity. The thing then snapped its fingers, and a loud, animal howl resounded from off in the distance.
Father tried to cover his ears, as did most who stood behind him, but his limbs, which were all tied with chains, didn't allow him to raise his hands above his chest. Off in the distance, from the middle path, a large dog-like creature approached. Its maw opened, revealing sharp, disgusting yellow teeth that could easily pierce the skin of any creature that stood in its path. The back few teeth were similar to a human's molars. The animal's stomach was small, hinting as though it was starving for food, yet its limbs were muscular
The animal stepped forward, picking up Father by his clothes and dashing forward down the middle path. The path transformed from dirt to pristine black marble. A palace was in view, made of the same marble, onyx, and obsidian, and other ebony materials. It was menacing, and once he entered, he found himself on a straight that stood between many statues of unknown creatures, each was bizarre and frightening, causing Father to look away and cower in fear despite the past struggles he had gone through.
At the end of the palace stood a throne, a throne as large as a mountain with a creature sitting in the middle. The creature was shrouded in darkness, and then a booming voice filled Father's ears.
"Fate has already marked the hour of your arrival—in one year's time. Now begone, Human. This place has business for the living."
The creature reached out with its gigantic finger that was easily the size of a house, then flicked Father, causing insufferable pain to radiate through his body. He flew like a ragdoll through the air, crashing into a mountain that was fifteen kilometers away (~9.3 miles). Father coughed up blood before awakening to his true self, the one back in the library. But even this version of him also coughed up blood; he choked on it, but Tasim, who was the other to awaken first, quickly came over and healed him.
"Get that leg looked at."
"I will," Father said coldly, trying to get over what he had just gone through.
Then Anemone and Astrape joined the world of the living, their dazed expressions vanishing.
"Looks like we all went through something," Tasim remarked as he covered Father, who was obviously trying to hide his pain from Anemone.
"I don't know what happened to me, I felt like-like I was watching a god. His swordsmanship was beautiful, his smithing was extraordinary, and he was-" A faint blush filled Anemone's cheeks. "-so handsome."
Astrape stepped forward, her hands shaking as if she were the one who fired those hundreds of arrows. "I was in the body of a man, a leader, whose marksmanship was spectacular, and his drive was also amazing. I wish I could be like him." She said, trying to raise her trembling arms but failing.
"What about you two?" Anemone asked out of curiosity.
"I'd rather not say," Tasim responded.
Father stepped forward, almost falling, but Tasim stepped up and helped him stay standing. "I don't know. It was dark, water was rushing around me, then I met a man on a throne who said something to me." His voice trailed off as he remembered the terror he had just witnessed, his eyes falling towards the ground.
"Are you okay, Father?"
"I-I don't know, young one. I just need a moment."
Father's legs trembled as he went down to one knee, then sat down against one of the bookshelves' sides, his breathing becoming heavy as the colossus continued to fill his thoughts.
"Just call for me if you need help, I'm always here."
"Thank you, young one." His voice became too quiet to hear as he muttered beneath his breath, "Though I may not be much longer."
"What was that, Father?"
"Nothing, I'm just gonna rest for a moment."
Astrape's hand clutched Anemone's shoulder as she used all her might just to move her arms. "It will be okay, trust him, and we have Tasim as well if we need." She said, offering a soothing smile.
Anemone looked at Astrape, feeling more relaxed already.
"You both go get those ten scrolls on that table, and I will see if anything is wrong with Father."
Astrape and Anemone made themselves over to the desk that seemingly belonged to the librarian or owner of this library, and studied at the pile of scrolls. The scrolls were well kept and pristine as Anemone untied the string from one and opened it.
A rush of knowledge rushed straight into Anemone's brain; the depiction and runic language didn't erase from the scroll, meaning that this was a multi-use scroll.
'A spell to imitate animal sounds? I love it.' Anemone tied back up the scroll as Astrape began to speak.
"Anemone, are you sure we can just open them? Shouldn't we get a diviner to look at the scrolls and say what is inside?"
"Oh yes, thank you for bringing it up, but I believe this is multi-use as it is still inscribed."
"May I see it? If you wouldn't mind."
Anemone handed over the open scroll, and Astrape glanced at it, then her body rattled slightly as the information was put into her brain.
"A spell to mimic animals? I could make a bird call, wow, that sounds so fun!"
Anemone felt rude interupting her amazement, but she cut in, "Would you mind if I store the scrolls in my ring?"
"No, go ahead," Astrape said as she was lost in thought about what she could mimic.
Tasim bent down to Father, who was sitting on the ground, his back against a bookshelf, with his eyes closed. "You need to buy a spatial ring, store a medicine inside, and keep it applied."
"I know, I shouldn't have left the medicine."
"Don't do it again, or it could put your life in danger."
Tasim leaned down, glancing over at Anemone who was speaking to Astrape, then put his hand directly onto Father's calf where the wound was, and began to heal. He felt his mana deplete rapidly as Father groaned in pain even more, the pain radiating through his body as he ground his teeth together.
Father eventually was healing most of the way, and was helped to stand, still clutching onto the bookshelf he was near.
"Young ones, let's go."