Chapter 132: All At Sea

Chapter 132: All At Sea

I was wet, which wasnt surprising since I was in the middle of an ocean. I had no recollection of how I got here. I remembered jumping into a black, swirling void, which probably wasnt the best idea Id ever had.

Admittedly, the alternative was to stay where I was and wait for the spires of Fengarad to blast me into pieces.

I remembered telling everyone to jump. Did they? Judging by the vast, empty ocean surrounding me, apparently not, although that didnt explain what happened to Jenny, whose hand I had definitely grasped before leaping.

One moment I was hurling myself into the void, the next I was floating on the surface of large swells, white spray slapping me in the face.

Im not the greatest of swimmers but I can keep my head above water. In a swimming pool. Ive never been a great fan of the sea as Ive always felt it could quite easily kill me. Every time I opened my mouth to gasp for breath, the sea rushed in. It tasted foul.

I splashed my way around to look in all directions but only saw water and more water. The undulating waves lifted me up and down making it hard to see very far for very long. When I was raised up, all I saw were waves and more waves.

There was plenty of light, although no sun to speak of. The sky was a uniform white, but with no shape. I couldnt tell if it was a very even blanket of cloud cover or a painted ceiling.

Was this Nekromel?I had assumed the Underworld, the home of demons, would be full of fire and brimstone. Perhaps Id been hit by the Fengarad weapon and passed onto the afterlife? Forever treading water in an endless ocean sounded like the kind of punishment a petty God would hand out, and all gods are petty (youre a god, why are you harassing mere mortals?).

Or perhaps this was some other world I now had to navigate my way through. Welcome to Level 2?

Out of curiosity I manipulated my fingers and created a ball of light. At least magic worked the same way here. Not that it would prevent me from drowning.

I spat the salty water out of my mouth and tried not to use up too much energy. Being rescued by a passing fishing boat didnt seem very likely, but I knew nothing of this world so no point making assumptions.

The thought of fishermen did put one idea in my head that I rather wouldnt have swimming around up there, especially not to the theme tune from Jaws.

Sharks might not even exist in this world for all I knew, but if this place was of a similar fantasy-bent as the last place, there were probably far more disturbing forms of aquatic life sharing the water with me.

I lay on my back and stared up at the whiteness. If a large fin was headed in my direction, what good would it do to see it coming? Not like I could outswim it.

As I lay there, bobbing up and down, thinking about whether it would be better to be eaten alive or just let myself drown, a black dot appeared in the sky.

It rapidly grew bigger, swirling the whiteness around it.

The swirling vortex wasnt directly above me and I started swimming towards itmaybe it was a portal out of this place. I stopped when I saw six small objects fall out of the hole. At least, they looked small from where I was. They were, in fact, human-sized because they were people. Or, to be more specific, it was my party. To be even more specific, it was my party including me.

I was seeing myself fall. I was far enough away to make details hard to see, but I didnt need to be able to see faces to recognise myself and the other five members of my group.

It was an odd sensation to see myself from a distance. It was definitely me with Jenny falling beside me and the others just behind.

What I was seeing was what I would expect to have happened after I jumped, but why was I seeing it now? If I had gained a new ability that enabled me to see things from my past, I would say that was a particularly crappy power. Most people can do thatits called a memory. Admittedly, not many people get to see their memories acted out in front of them, but then most people dont need it because they remember it happening.

The strange thing was, it didnt feel like I was watching a recording, I felt like I was watching it really happen. Only, for some reason, there were two of me.

You might expect someone in my position to be all confused and take a fair amount of head-scratching to figure out what was going on, but thats only if the person had never seen an episode of Star Trek or any number of crappy sci-fi shows.

I was seeing us fall through the vortex that had appeared in Chengs castle. I was seeing it from a perspective that should have been impossible.

Uncle Pete had mentioned how the weapon in the spires displaced people. He didnt say it split them into two. Or that it put one of them forward in time.

If it was a form of time travel, then that raised a number of questions. And if youre familiar with time travel from tv shows and movies, youll know those questions all have stupid answers that make very little sense.

No one actually understands how time works, so the explanation is always convoluted bullshit. Quazak particles and geodesic paradox waves? Please go fuck yourself.

I hate time travel. Hate, hate, hate it. Worst trope in sci-fi.

The Starship Enterprise explodes right at the beginning of the episode and what do you think? Oh no, theyll have to cancel the show No. You immediately know its going to be some kind of time-loop. Which means nothing matters.

Whatever happens can be undone. Major characters can die, and then come back to life when the loop is reset. The whole thing is just pointless.

Even worse is when the time traveller forgets to use his ability. If Dr Who fails, he can just get in his time machine, go back and try again. If one of his friends dies, go back and save them. Spill some coffee on your white coat? Go back and dont spill it. The savings on dry cleaning alone would make it worthwhile.

In my case, however, if being able to see things from a different point in time gave me an advantage, I was all for abusing the hell out of it. About time I got some kind of OP ability. I just needed to figure out how to use it to my advantage.

As I watched myselfthe other onefall, I started swimming towards me. This became increasingly difficult as the wind had picked up and the water had become more choppy.

The swirling hole created a funnel of air which was spinning my party like Dorothy and Toto. The water surged upwards in a spout. The mountainside of water presented an insurmountable slope for me. I slid back, was dragged under, enveloped and twisted, then propelled back to the surface. I managed a single, desperate breath of air before being swallowed again.

I was caught in a whirlpool, spinning out of control, unable to tell which way was up. I kicked and clawed at the wall of water, my chest burning.

I broke the surface, thrashing to stay on top of the black swells, expecting to be forced under again. A monstrous rolling wave decided to send me in the other direction. I rose high on its foam crest, away from the twister.

The last I saw of my party were them dropping out of sight on the other side of Mount H2O. And then the water was flat again.

It all disappeared in an instance. The mountainous wave, the tornado above it, the black hole in the sky. One moment they were there, next they werent. The sounds, the buffetting waves, the wild winds, all gone.

And the wave whose crest I was riding was also gone. I hung in mid-air for a moment, able to see far into the distance, able to see no signs of any other person, and then I plummetted.

The water rushed to envelop me once more as I crashed through the surface, the impact painful on my feet and legs.

I travelled down into the depths, to where the light didnt reach and only darkness surrounded me. I kicked and clawed again until finally my head pushed clear of the water, breath heaving from my lungs in convulsive gasps and I sucked down air in a howling gasp.

Once I calmed down and got my breathing under control, I threw up. That much salt water combined with being tossed around didnt make for a settled tummy.

There wasnt any food in my stomach so mostly it was retching and coughing. My eyes were full of tears, my throat was on fire and I had no strength left. I didnt know where I was, just that I was alone. I didnt know where the others were, except that they werent here.

Maybe it wasnt time travel. Maybe I had been pushed into a different dimension, or at least part of me had, and I was just an observer. The others would carry on with their adventures with the real me, and this-me would be stuck on his own in the Twilight Zone.

My options were fairly limited. I could swim in the direction Id seen the others fall and hope somehow they were there, waiting for me, or I could just wait to die. Option two seemed like it would take less effort, which is always a big plus in my book.

Even if I knew the correct direction to swim in, I didnt think the others would be in the water. The way the vortex had popped out of existence had felt like a door closing. They were gone.

What I really needed was a friendly mermaid to give me a hand. Take me to a tropical island where Id train a monkey to be my butler and Id build a car with watermelons for wheels.

I could try to summon a fish to help me, but I was just as likely as to call a passing halibut, and I wasnt sure how much help that would be. Mind you, it would be something to eat, although if the fish screamed like they did in Flatland, then eating it alive would be a traumatising experience for us both.

Of course, what I summoned wouldnt necessarily be harmless. But then, at least if I called the nearest predator to come get me, it would all be over fairly quickly.

Previously, when I used my fish-calling ability, I was happy for it to work on anything in the water. I never tried to summon a specific type of fish. What if I tried to call for a helpful fish?

The concept of helpful fish is probably not that common outside of a Disney movie, but dolphins have been known to help people so if I could contact one

It wasnt like I had anything else to do, so I cleared my mind, took a deep breath and let myself sink under the surface.

There was no sign of life under the water. The depths below me receded into darkness and nothing swam around within my vision. I made a ball of light and tried to send it down, but it kept trying to rise to the surface. It didnt illuminate anything so I let it go up.

If there was something down there, I would have to just hope it wasnt hungry. I made the finger movements to attract fish and tried my hardest to project a desire for help.

It took several hours and just about every childrens ditty I could think of before I sighted land. A beach, uninhabited as far as I could tell, that led to hills beyond which I couldnt see. I did ask Wyndam a number of questions about what I might find on the land, but he didnt seem to know or care.

Having given permission to Wyndam to use the songs I taught him as though they were his ownhe was amazed I would give away such precious ballads as Row Row Row Your Boat and London Bridge Is Falling DownI swam to shore and found myself back on dry land.

When I turned around I saw a solitary tentacle wave from far out at sea.

I stripped off my clothes, which were soaked, and lay down on the sandy beach. The sky was still white, and there was no sun as far as I could tell, but there was a warmth emanating from somewhere that dried me out and did the same for my clothing.

I didnt have any weapons and once again I was without a spoon. I made a mental note to put the next spoon on a chain and wear it round my neck.

After about ten minutes of lying there, immobile, I sat up and looked around. I would have to find something to eat.

I stood up and looked out to sea. I assumed the others were not out there and there was no point waiting for them. And even if they were out there, there was no guarantee they would end up here.

They were on their own and so was I, but I still felt like leaving them a message, just in case. I found some twigs and stones lying about and formed them into an arrow pointing in the direction I planned to take.

As I walked over the hills that bordered the beach, ahead of me there was a vast grassy plain. There were no buildings and few trees, but I did stumble across a track. It was clearly made by some kind of vehicle, the two parallel ruts suggesting wheels, but whether that meant people or beasts or something with wheels for legs, it was impossible to tell.

I was used to travelling along endless roads, not knowing where they were leading me. I chose a direction at random and set off. The biggest piece of wood I could find was a rotten branch about the length of my arm. Not the deadliest of weapons, but it was better than nothing.

I kept an eye out for signs of life but saw nothing. Not just a lack of people, but also birds and animals. There was an empty, barren feel to the place which was a bit depressing. On the plus side, fewer critters meant fewer things trying to kill me.

Still, I was getting quite hungry and even some berries would have been nice.

My first sight of something other than grass was a hut I spotted after about an hour of walking. Even from a distance, its square shape gave away that it was a constructed building of some kind. I felt both apprehensive and relieved.

If this was Nekromel, the Underworld Uncle Pete was so scared of, chances were the inhabitants were not going to be pleased to see me. But there was no reason to believe Peter. He could be wrong and this place could be full of wonderful, warm people full of hospitality.

On the off-chance this wasnt the case, I approached the building in a crouch, staying low in the long grass.

The hut wasnt very sophisticated in its construction, no more than a shack really. There was a door and windows on the side. There was no activity, but voices drifted out of an open window.

I crawled on all fours until I was under the window and listened.

Dont be so upset, said a female voice. These things happen. Sometimes the one you think youre meant to be with isnt the one. Me and your father, we were lucky. We knew right away. We both felt the same, we wanted the same things.

I know but The speaker sounded like a teenage boy.

No, no buts. If she isnt willing, then thats an end to it. You cant force someone to have feelings for you. I know it hurts but it wont forever.

But I love her, the boy insisted.

And she dont love you. End of story. Understand?

There was a noise that sounded like a reluctant acceptance. It was a surprisingly normal conversation between a mother and her son, or so it seemed. I hadnt actually seen the speakers, so they could turn out to be hideous demons. But demons with normal family issues.

Now then, said the female voice, what you need to do is take your knife and find Jerala before she can tell anyone she broke it off with you. You may not belong together, but thats no reason for everyone else to know. Kill her quick and hide the body in the old gorge.

So much for normal family problems. These people were monsters, whatever they looked like.

What you doing? said a voice behind me.

I turned to find a small child, human in every way as far as I could tell, staring at me.

Oh, hey, I said, trying to sound friendly and unthreatening.

The kid just stared at me. He was wearing a sleeveless leather jerkin making him look like a tiny hard man. His hair was shaved, giving him a big, round Charlie Brown head. He couldnt have been more than four or five. He reminded me of Attica.

My names Colin. Whats your name?

Get away from him! the womans voice screeched from behind me.

I stood up and turned around. The woman was leaning out of the window with a large cleaver in her hand. She had a gaunt, stretched face, but looked like a normal human female.

Who are you? What do you want?

Nothing, I said. Im lost. Really, I dont know where I am. I dont mean you any harm.

She eyed me suspiciously. How long were you out here? What did you hear?

Nothing. I didnt hear anything. It didnt sound very convincing.

A teenage boy came running around the side of the shack carrying an axe. Normally, I might try to convince them to help me, but having heard their conversation, I didnt think there was much point. Better to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Dont let him get away, said the woman.

The teenage boy shifted the axe to an upright position and approached me.

I raised my hands and let off a bright white light, blinding both him and the woman. I turned to run and was met by an intense pain in my midriff.

The small boy had stabbed me with a dagger. I felt it go in cold and then a burst of heat filled my body and my senses.

The kid had his jerkin open and the inside was lined with knives of various sizes.

My legs crumbled under me and I fell to my knees. Another blade sliced into my heart. The pain was excruciating. I couldnt breathe. My vision narrowed to a thin corridor, then to a point.

The kid drew another dagger and stabbed me again, but I didnt feel it.

I always thought death wouldnt be that big a deal for me. Like going to sleep, you lose consciousness and its over. Sure, the manner of death was a concern, but the actual ending of life was something that was going to happen whether you liked it or not. Freaking out about it wouldnt make a difference.

I was wrong. It was terrifying. The darkness wasnt just closing in, it was coming for me. I wanted to scream but I had no voice. I wanted to run but I couldnt move. From the edges of my mind came laughter. My own madness? Someone waiting for me?

Absolute blackness enveloped me.

There was a roaring sound. Then a rush of air. A warmth squeezed my hand. I opened my eyes.

Below me was a rapidly approaching ocean. I looked to the side. Jenny was beside me, her hand in mine. Over my shoulder, I saw the others looking terrified.

I was falling, but I was alive.

I love time travel. Love, love, love it.

Author's Note: Welcome to Book 5. Schedule is three days a week, Mon-Wed-Fri.

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