The Sea of the Dead

"Fred, you told me that the waters of the Dragon's caves are said to have strange effects. [31142] What sort of effects?"

"I have heard tales of men who were transformed into monsters by the waters, and others who gained a sort of second sight, or were driven mad. But I have never heard tell of men being transported to other worlds or cycles."

"Perhaps some have. Perhaps some of what your people believed to be madness was caused by the fact that these madmen actually came from other worlds or cycles. After all, you took me for a madwoman at first."

"But we were both taken here by the river. That means that neither of us could be in the right world or time. Or perhaps..."

"Perhaps what?"

"It is said that the sacred river Aleph passes through the Dragon's caves." A look of dread was on his face now.

"And Aleph, the sacred river, ran through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea..."

"I know the song, Astra. Almost every nation in Havnheim has legends of it, in some form. And the Aleph does not flow towards the Aryn or the Arden or the Tarel, but rather the...

"The Sea of Justice in the Land of the Dead. Pure souls will float on it, while wicked ones will be dragged to the bottom. You were taken to the Land of the Dead through the River, and I..."

"No. That's not possible, Astra. None of this is true. It was just an underground current..."

"No it wasn't, not with the Labyrinth. I've read the Book of the Dead, Fred. The soul on its journey to the afterlife must pass through first the Labyrinth, then the River, then... I am dead, Lord Frederigo."

Fred was shocked by this. He believed that the soul survived after death, but never imagined that he would ever travel to its home. Though faced with death every day, like a typical youth, he'd fancied he could never die. At least he could return though, unlike Astra. How could it be that a brave and noble and beautiful woman like this one could be cut down by death? It wasn't fair. Then again, death was never fair. But surely she deserved a better death than through a botched magic spell...

"Fred, look," said Astra, snapping him out of his gloom. An inhuman calm seemed to have descended over her. "The bodies are gone."

"I'm not surprised," said Fred grimly. "They must have been an illusion after all. Or a vision of the future. This place, where souls pass after death, is beyond time because time is death. The living who venture here sometimes see glimpses of the future. Perhaps that was one such glimpse. And that explains how the two of us came together. Whichever of our theories was true, the distance that separated us was time, because the alternate universes are said to branch with every decision."

"It doesn't matter. You have to face Death and convince him to return you to your world. There's a quest you still have to finish."

"Yes," said Fred, now bouyed up by courage. "Yes, I'll escape. And I'll take you with me."

"No, Fred. I have to stay here."

"Why? You shouldn't have died like that. You no more deserve to be here than I do. You have a quest to finish, too."

"I can not go back. I do not want to leave my life behind. This feels impossible to accept. But this is the will of the Gods. Who are we to question Them? And besides, my Fred is still alive, and he can carry on the fight against the Dragon's master."

"How do you know he's alive?" sobbed Fred. "He could be already here. This place is beyond time. Who knows what brought us together?"

"Fred, we don't know that. I won't give up hope. And besides, if he is here, I will not abandon him." She tried to be courageous, but there was pain in her voice, too.

Fred bowed his head. "You are right, Astra. I will leave you to your fate. But I will not forget you."

1. Just then, they saw someone or something coming their way.

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