Chapter 14: Halfway There

Unknown Island

Caspian drove the boat aground and was glad that he could drop the anchor with a touch of the lever because he certainly did not have the strength to pull it up by himself.

He started to climb down the ladder on the side of the boat to reach land, but halfway down, his weak fingers slipped, and he fell the rest of the way, landing in the soft sand. A sea wave licked his body, but Caspian didn't mind being all wet.

He rolled onto his stomach and lifted his head, gazing at the narrow strip of sandy beach in front of him and the trees that grew nearby. He began to get up and started to crawl towards the trees. His knees buckled with weakness, his spine felt like gelatin, but still, he walked forward with his eyes fixed on the trees.

They were not just any trees, but fruit trees! The forest in front of him was mixed, deciduous, coniferous trees mingled with fruit trees.

Caspian arrived at the first tree. He didn't even try to reach out to pick fresh apples; instead, he rolled on the ground and started picking up the fallen fruit and immediately started eating them. He didn't care if they were wormy or already half rotten; a man dying of hunger couldn't be picky.

For a few minutes, only the sound of the surf and the sounds of munching filled the air before Caspian rolled onto his back, feeling like he had a full stomach.

Caspian rested first before he felt he had regained some strength and stood up again, hugging the tree and starting to shake it. He began to pick more apples and brought them back on board to feed the rest of his crew. Apples still didn't qualify as a proper meal, but it was a start.

The sounds of munching could be heard again, ending in quiet hysterical laughter and crying. Everyone expressed their joy at survival in different ways.

Caspian was the best off of his crew; the others were too weak or sick to even make it to the beach. He left water and more apples with everyone, which he picked, and set off for the beach again. Now he made it his mission to get more things to eat.

Caspian took a deep breath and headed deeper into the forest. As the treetops closed over his head, preventing him from seeing the blue clearly, and the area around him darkened, he summoned his old instincts back and moved with caution. He knew how dangerous these unexplored islands were. Danger could be at every turn, monsters hidden behind trees, behind rocks, or masquerading as plants. Even the people didn't have to be real people.

He listened to his surroundings; when Caspian heard a sound he couldn't identify, he immediately became alert, but being so alert exhausted Caspian much faster. The energy he had gathered was fading, and he was starting to feel weakness in his knees again. So he stopped and leaned back against a small rock reaching his waist, wiping the sweat from his brow. The sweat was cold, and his face was unhealthily pale.

Caspian looked down at his hand, which was trembling slightly, and could only hope that he wouldn't meet a monster right away because he didn't know how this would all turn out.

He looked up when he heard a rustling sound, and his heart skipped a beat as he looked in that direction repentantly, but then he calmed down again. The sudden movement of the grass was caused by a family of rabbits.

Caspian stared at them, and they stared at him. Caspian had calmed down before, but now he was nervous again. The rabbits were not quite normal. They were all white with red eyes, and the most disturbing thing was that they just stared at him, moving minimally, and their little noses quivering.

***** 

Caspian slowly lifted his hand and wiped the wet corner of his mouth. The rabbits may have looked disturbing, but his mind quickly began to see them as tasty roasts.

He raised both hands in front of his body and made the holy sign with his fingers. He may have given up on his god, but he certainly wasn't ashamed to continue using the powers he had from him. As someone fairly high up in the church, Caspian knew certain secrets.

He knew that what they were using to cast the spell wasn't the power of their god. In fact, it was just a stimulant that helped their bodies sprout their potential. And as they used it more and more, they trained it stronger. The power they used was theirs and theirs alone, and God could not take it away again. Their power grew in the direction they wanted it to. Unfortunately, since everyone initially thought that the power was from God, their powers developed in the same or a similar direction.

Caspian could now only lament silently at how everyone's potentials were being killed in the bud. Why would anyone think of doing things differently when they saw it in their elders? Although Caspian knew this, there was nothing he could do about it anymore because the way he used his powers was already ingrained and constant.

Caspian stopped thinking about it and focused on prayer. Normally he could have done without it, but he was too weakened to do it with just a hand signal. His hands glowed faintly, and the light entered the ground beneath his feet as he finished his prayer.

The white rabbits pricked their ears as they sensed something and started to run, but it was too late for two of them. Two roots shot out from the ground, piercing their bodies which were left hanging in the air, swinging on the roots of the trees.

Caspian smiled and made his way towards them. He pulled the dead rabbits off the roots and tied them to his waist. With this, he wouldn't have to continue his exploration any further and could return. At least for today. He turned, and as he looked up, his gaze fell on the rock he had been leaning against earlier.

It was overgrown with lichen and climbing plants, but as he leaned against it, the piece came loose, and now one blue eye with no pupil was staring at him. "What is that..." Caspian muttered and stared for a moment. However, the stone remained as lifeless as before, so he walked over to it and began to scrape away the plants with his hands to clean the stone. Finally, he got a glimpse of an expertly carved female face.

The face was emotionless, and the eye sockets were filled with turquoise with dark blue veining. It gave the statue's face a rather intense look, and there was a clear crystal on the forehead. The entire stone was carved to act as a cloak to hide the face.

***** 

Curious, Caspian tried to poke the edge of the eye with his fingernail, but there was no room. It almost looked as if the entire stone had grown around the gems that represented the eyes.

Caspian decided he'd better stop and started on his way back. But his shoulders were tense; suddenly, he felt like a face in the stone was staring at him.

***** 

As darkness fell, Caspian roasted the rabbits and a few crabs he had caught on the beach. It wasn't much, but he and his crew couldn't overeat, or they would only hurt themselves. Everyone received a piece of meat, crab, and fruit, which was still more than they had had in a long time.

Then he steered the boat away from the island before dropping anchor again. They couldn't keep watch, and he wasn't going to risk anything by boarding the boat during the night, so he increased the distance. After all this, he was very exhausted, so he drank a lot of water and went to sleep. His dreams, however, were not peaceful.

In his dream, he stood on the edge of a village. It was a beautiful village with white-painted houses, and every scent of spring filled the air. Above the entrance to the village, there was a sign that said "Edge of the End." It was a grim name for how cheerful the place looked. Caspian approached and noticed the strange stone with a face standing next to the entrance to the village. In this dream, its eyes glowed as if there was some energy inside.

Caspian felt uncomfortable, but under the watchful gaze of the statue, he entered the village. It was a village of elves, with people walking everywhere, dressed simply but clean, and everyone looking rather cheerful. No one paid him any attention, as they were all engrossed in their own activities. It didn't take him long to reach a square in the middle of which stood a gray statue of a person, wrapped up in a cloak. Then Caspian's eyes wandered over the statue's shoulder to see a great city in the distance, dominated by a large palace in the center.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" A voice sounded beside him, and Caspian jerked. He looked beside him and quickly backed away when he saw the person standing there. It was a woman by the sound of her voice, but her entire appearance was obscured by black paint. She was like a shadow, and the heavy scent of blood hung around her.

"This is how it used to be. A very, very long time ago," the blood shadow said, looking off into the distance towards the city.

Caspian was wary of the bloody shadow but felt no immediate danger. He glanced around the village, then looked off into the distance. In truth, he had never seen such a clean and nice-looking village, especially with so much open, unused space. He could even see whole bare plains in the distance. It really looked like a dream.

Caspian thought before he asked, "Why is this place called the Edge of the End?"

Shadow shook his head. "I don't know. This is the memory of earth, stone, and blood. We can't approach the city in the distance, we can't enter the houses, we can't talk to the people, we can't even understand their language. We can only watch. Watch how beautiful life once was. And watch it fall into ruins." The bloody shadow held out his hand and pointed a finger.

Caspian followed the direction, his eyes widening in surprise as he watched the sky over the city in the distance. Dark clouds appeared out of nowhere, gathering over the castle. The clouds were gathering and expanding, dark to black, and zigzagging lightning flashed within them.

The wind picked up, and there was a taste of oznia in the air. People in the village stopped and pointed at the clouds. Caspian swallowed, feeling that something terrible was about to happen. As soon as he thought of it, he felt the earth begin to shake, and he heard a loud cracking sound, but Caspian stayed steady on his feet and watched the sky.

He saw several spots moving in the sky but could not make out what they were or what was happening from the distance. And he might not have been able to tell even if he had wanted to because his gaze was constantly drawn to the movement of the clouds, which swirled unnaturally. Then, a giant face burst through the dark clouds, burning with blue flames.

Caspian's knees softened, and he fell to his knees at the scene. He wasn't alone; all the people around him fell to their knees as well.

The face in the clouds was both beautiful and terrifying, with a piece of its face missing. The sky became a dark sea of blue flames, and the terrifying face stared with an expression of utter dominance at something below it.

"Ah, my God, oh my God, what the hell is that!?" Caspian felt the pressure on his body even in his dream. The ground was shaking more and more, cracks appearing on the ground, but he couldn't notice. His heart was beating too fast, his mind was chaotic, and he didn't understand what he was witnessing.

Heaven's face suddenly twisted in anger as cracks appeared on the mute, as if perhaps space itself had begun to tear. The celestial creature opened its mouth and said something, and in that moment, the world seemed to fall apart. The earth ripped apart, the sky cracked, and a wave of blue fire shot out into space.

"Ah!" Caspian shouted, covering his face with his hands. At that moment, he sat up abruptly and fell to the ground.

Caspian lay on the ground, covered in his own sweat and trembling. It was only after a while that he finally realized that it had all been a dream, or rather a vision of the past in his dreams.

After a while, he relaxed, and his heart calmed down. However, he couldn't get the scene he had seen out of his mind. He had no idea who the entity was, probably another god, but he had never seen, experienced, or felt such a presence. The bloody shadow said it was a memory of earth, stone, and blood. How long ago did this happen? Were the gods once like this?

He looked out of the window, and the sky was already bright; dawn would come soon. Thanks to sleeping and also eating, he felt better today. He would probably need a few days to fully recover, but he knew he would get there.

He went out on deck and steered the boat towards the island again. As he stepped down onto the sandy beach and looked up, he shivered.

A stone face with blue eyes stared at him from the nearby edge of the forest.

***** 

Peril Harbor

Hellcage calmly returned the gaze of all the Wendigo, who were still gathering themselves from the vision he had given them.

"This is an ability my Liege has granted me," Hellcage replied lightly after a moment, satisfied with the Wendigo's reaction.

Marik looked at Hellcage as well, thinking of his own mark that he had received from Liege but still hadn't used. The kids could look like real kids now, Ellar had grown legs and could suck the souls out of people, so what did Marik get? Hellcage had explained it to him, but Marik couldn't really imagine. He was getting curious.

Everyone was silent, waiting for Hellcage to start explaining.

"I have devoured many creatures. Wendigo not excluded. I can summon their memories, their history. I guess you could say I'm a historian of sorts in that regard."

"Historian?"

"Devoured?"

Jelen repeated the first word, while Marik repeated the second. Hellcage looked at Marik, who looked concerned.

Hellcage laughed softly. "Marik, I think you already know I'm not a good being. In my time, I've even devoured entire nations. They used to call only one being Demon, and everyone knew who they were talking about."

Marik was a little shaken by this. Naturally, he knew that Hellcage wasn't entirely nice, after all Hellcage had made it clear how easily he would destroy him if Marik gave him a reason. But he had no idea how bad it was. However, he also wondered how Liege had tamed someone like him.

"How do we know it's all true?" Kailam spoke up.

Hellcage turned his attention to him and shrugged. "I think you must know yourself. As far as I can tell, your own instincts reacted to it on their own. Or do you intend to continue to ignore your nature?" Hellcage pointed his walking cane at them.

"I understand the circumstances. Why things have become the way they are. Why humans, creatures had to reshape and adapt. I understand. But I can also say... I hate it." Hellcage again revealed a disturbing smile on his dark face.

Marik was beginning to understand the significance of that creeping smile. It was an angry smile.

"You were once beautiful creatures. Natural in all that is your own. What you have become is completely unacceptable. Fortunately for you, my Liege is the most benevolent entity that has ever existed. He accepts everyone without distinction, helping them become who they want to be and who they are meant to be. All followers of my Liege are completely free and happy." Hellcage spoke with utter faith in his voice and a heart of fire.

Marik could feel the enthusiasm from him as well, but he couldn't help sounding too much like deceptive propaganda. Marik knew that Hellcage said he wasn't exaggerating, but didn't he realize how fake it sounded like that? He looked at Wendigo, and as he thought, they looked doubtful. Marik wished he could hold Hellcage back, but he couldn't do it in front of strangers.

"But I take it your... Liege is weakened now, isn't she? So what chance does she have against the other gods? If we reveal ourselves, we will be hunted." Kailam spoke again, his mind still on what he had seen. He didn't take too kindly to Hellcage's enthusiastic words, but the history he had seen didn't leave his mind.

Hellcage paused and considered his answer before nodding his head. "Direct confrontation is not possible at the moment. But she is well hidden, and even so, she won't be easy to deal with. And naturally, you won't have to hide if you go to our End of the World city."

Jelen blinked her beautiful eyes and frowned. "End of the World? What kind of name is that?"

Hellcage slammed one end of his staff violently on the ground. "Our city. Our home. This is the End of the World. It's a place where you can live completely free."

Jelen had her doubts too, but the words about living without hiding made her heart race.

"What about eating people? Isn't anyone going to mind that?" She asked next.

"Do you think you're the only one in the world who eats people? We have our ways of making sure of that, you don't have to worry about that. Besides..." Hellcage was calm again, leaning his body forward as if to get a closer look at them.

"Who says you can only eat humans?" He asked.

All the Wendigo were momentarily taken aback. Kailam scrunched his chin before he realized it.

"In that memory. They were talking about hunting game... so.... but that's not possible. We tried eating animals and fish. This didn't work." He shook his head.

Hellcage sighed. "You can't really eat fish. But animals are something else. You can eat them too. As far as I know, pigs are or were your favorite."

Kailam shook his head again. "I say we tried."

"And I thought you were the smart one. Now you're acting like a fool." Hellcage countered. "With today's limited resources, you think trying once or twice can overcome hundreds of years of habit and thought? If you have to get used to a different diet again, you need a steady supply, which is not possible here. Dear Kailam, this is not a question of what you can or cannot do, but a question of lack of resources and a matter of psychology."

They all fell silent again in surprise.

"If you believe for generations and your entire life that you cannot ingest something, your mind will react to it. If your mind tells you that you can't, your body will react that way, even if the opposite is true." Hellcage sighed and nodded his head to confirm his words.

"In Wendigo lore, they originally ate mostly animals. Then humans came along, started killing off the animals, and there was a time when the Wendigo had a shortage of food. So they started hunting humans. Why not? You're only remotely similar. To you, humans were just animals too."

The Wendigo were shocked, from what they had seen and how Hellcage had explained it to them they were slowly beginning to believe that it might actually be possible.

"Good. So... let's say you're right. Can you tell us again... what happened between us and the butterfly people?" Kailam pondered this for a moment, but now he wanted to ask what he was most interested in.

"How should I know?" came the unexpected reply from Hellcage.

The hall remained silent for a moment because up until now Hellcage had acted like he had the answer to everything, so no one was expecting this.

"I've only been in this world for a little while. While we slept, history flew by, and I have no way of knowing what happened yet. But what I can say is that your races once lived in symbiosis. You were like brothers and sisters," Hellcage revealed to them, but he didn't say out loud that he already had some suspicions. Given what he had learned from Marik about how Poppy Island was discovered and what happened to the Butterfly People, he had a hunch.

Kailam accepted that answer. Their history with the Butterfly People was long and not friendly. He assumed they had always been enemies. That was what history said. Now they found out that wasn't always true. So what happened? It seemed there were mysterious white holes in their history.

"Can you leave us alone for a moment?" He finally asked. Hellcage had no problem; he stood up and walked out of the hall with Marik.

Marik turned to Hellcage as the door closed behind them.

"Maybe you shouldn't praise our Liege so... fervently. People don't put much faith in things that sound too perfect," he pointed this out to him.

Hellcage patted him on the shoulder. "It can't be helped. I can only speak the truth when it comes to our Liege. There's no way I can gloss over or tarnish her greatness."

Marik sighed. Maybe he should just let it go. Hellcage is simply unstoppable when it comes to their Liege. He could talk about her for hours and hours just on the subject of how great she was.

"Okay. Whatever," Marik gave up. Instead, he asked, "What do you think they'll say?" He glanced back at the door.

Hellcage straightened his back and shoulders while he drew his staff closer to his body in a proud gesture. "Naturally, they'll agree. Even if they don't completely believe things, they only have two options. To stagnate and fade away, or to grasp hope. Which do you think is more appealing?"

Marik didn't even have to think about it. "Hope, of course."

Hellcage smiled proudly at him. "Of course."

***** 

A few hours later, several masked groups were chasing each other through the night streets. They crept past houses, avoiding both people and lights.

Small groups of two or three were all heading to one place, a deserted street on 22nd Street.

Hellcage cheerfully greeted another group of Wendigo. They gradually and in small groups, so as not to draw attention, moved into their house to pay their respects to their Liege.

Marik felt a little cramped because even though the house was quite large, cramming that many people inside was not easy.

The Wendigo talked quietly amongst themselves, but their voices sounded slightly excited. They didn't seem to have done anything that interesting in a long time.

Marik looked upstairs where two siblings were playing with Wendigo children their age. They were playfully chasing each other, with one running around while holding Dali's head up with their hands, and the other chasing them. Dali's headless body tried to join the game, but it looked more like it was wiggling drunkenly.

Marik didn't spoil their fun, but it did look weird.

Ellar pushed his way through the crowd to Marik, looking excited. "Everything is ready. We're ready to begin."

Marik nodded and turned his head toward Hellcage, who was chatting casually with the heads of the Wendigo families.

"Hellcage, we're ready to begin," he announced in a raised voice.

Hellcage turned his head toward him and waved his hand. "Then get to it."

Marik was impressed and pointed a finger at himself. "Me?"

"Yes."

"But Hellcage, wouldn't you be more appropriate? As our senior?" Marik sweated nervously.

"You can handle it," Hellcage waved a hand dismissively and turned away from him.

Marik understood that Hellcage was serious. He was supposed to lead the others? Damn!

Marik took a deep breath, rubbed his forehead, and then weaved his way through the Wendigo to reach the back of the altar. He stood next to it and looked around. The nearest Wendigo noticed him and turned their attention to him, but the others continued to talk.

"Echm!" Marik cleared his throat nervously, but it didn't help.

"Excuse me?" He tried again. Marik thought that if they were all humans, he would have a lot more confidence. He shook his head at himself and collected himself. He clapped his hands loudly. "Listen up, everyone!" He called out loudly.

It worked, and the Wendigo crowd fell silent, focusing their attention on Marik.

"I am Marik, and today I will lead your initiation to our Goddess of the Unwanted and Forgotten. Line up properly so we can get started," he motioned, and when he finished, his adam's apple jumped on his neck.

The Wendigo obeyed him, and they began to move so that they were all standing facing the altar. A tiny blue flame flickered faintly in its center.

"Now, everyone, bow your heads and close your eyes. In your minds, think of the blue flame, call upon the name of our goddess, and wish to become her followers. Your call will be answered," Marik said this seriously, but when he saw the others closing their eyes, he scratched his head hesitantly. In the back, he noticed Hellcage, who raised his hand and gave him a thumbs-up.

The blue flame showing on the altar began to burn stronger.

***** 

End of the World

Caila didn't have a chance to wait for Zenobe, Lambert, or Opera. Her mind was suddenly shaken, and she had to return to the dark space where several voices were calling out to her. The moment of confusion was replaced by joy as she realized what was happening. She began to answer.

It didn't take long for cracks to appear on her body, one after another. Her head, shoulders, arms, they all cracked and began to crumble.

After a while, Caila opened her eyes, and a blue light began to shine through the cracks.

"Hmp!" Caila made a light sound, and all the pieces of stone were blasted away from her with an invisible force. Her fiery blue eyes glowed in a straight hood, and a smile spread across her face.

Slowly, she raised her hands and began to touch her body. Unfortunately, from the waist down, she was still trapped in stone, but that didn't matter. She turned her head enthusiastically, even managing to lean over and see behind her.

"Hahaha! Wonderful! I'm almost free!" Caila took advantage of the fact that she was alone and exclaimed happily, waving her arms in the air.

The sleeves of her cloak slid down, and she saw the gray to purple skin of her skin. Curiously, she began to inspect her hands.

"So am I dead or am I not? This body is strange," she commented while poking at her own hand.

***** 

Meanwhile, other people were waking up in the city.

There were cracking sounds in various parts of the city as statues cracked and released their long-time guests.

Zenobia and Lambert, who were returning, stopped and listened to the sounds of cracking, which were soon followed by cries of surprise, shock, and then joy.

"Our Liege seems to have become a little freer again," Zenobe said. Lambert cocked his head to the side. "But it knows quite a few people." Zenobe clapped her hands in excitement. "It's finally getting lively again!"

Thudthudthudthud

Clinkclinkclinkclink

They both heard a sudden running sound like something heavy running and clinking like a bag of coins as it did so. They both turned around only to have a golden color flash before their eyes. Zenobe felt something rush past her until the wind caught her clothes and hair. Zenobe blinked and looked beside her to where Lambert should have been, but now he was gone. She turned around only to see a large golden pig's butt moving away from her.

Lambert was suddenly thrown into the air, he was so surprised that his expression didn't have time to change before he landed in the arms of the golden beauty who was speeding down the street on the big golden pig. "Lambert, darling!" The golden-haired beauty's voice sounded sweet, she was a two-meter tall woman with golden hair, eyes, and golden armor who had a half-mechanical giant golden pig as her partner on which she raced wildly through the streets.

Lambert's expression finally changed, but it wasn't one of pleasure, more one of annoyance. "Get away from me, you weirdo." He said before pressing his hand to her face and pushing her away from him.

Elsewhere, in one house, a dark shadow crept towards a large mirror. A weak-looking stick that remotely resembled a hand reached out and touched the surface of the glass, which rippled like water, and the dark shadow quickly entered the mirror.

In the mirror, the shadow quickly took form, and the figure stood up. It turned to reveal a young man in a tattered cloak with bright, ghostly blue eyes and dark skin that had bright spots on it resembling distant stars.

"Ah. That was close," the man said in a youthful voice, then leaned out of the mirror frame and looked around for a moment. Then he turned his back to the room. "Mom?" he called, and walked away from the mirror to find her.

A strange figure in a straw-yellow suit, a blue tailcoat, and a tall hat was shaking off the dust in the harbor. His skin was all green and hairy, resembling seaweed. His face resembled a frog rather than a man, and he had protruding sharp teeth and large red eyes with a flattened nose between them.

He carefully dusted off his clothes, but when he saw the empty harbor, his face twisted unhappily. "What? Where are my ships?!" he exclaimed while clutching his disheveled hair.

Suddenly, the little butterfly boy with the golden gag in his mouth sat up, awakened by the noise, the voices, and the laughter.

His wings had sprouted from his back, and he was soaked, but that didn't matter at the moment. Instead, he stared in confusion at the two girls who were laughing and dancing on the surface of the sea while swan wings flapped behind their backs.

It occurred to the butterfly boy that maybe he had died and was now in heaven.