We Might Be A Little Lucky

Through the smoke, he saw movement and ran to it. Welpen was coughing on the ground from the smoke he was inhaling, but didn’t have too many serious injuries.

Ryoko: “Welpen! You’re alive!”

Welpen: “Ahem! I’m okay everyone! There’s too much smoke though. Geez. This shard saved me once again. It created a gold thin barrier around me before the explosion took place. Ryoko, are you okay? You seem fine, hopefully.”

Ryoko: “Y-Yeah. Fine.”

Welpen: “Agh, that was scary. This is a lot scarier than where you came from Ryoko. I’m facing death in the face more than those death games. Saikou, thanks as always for your help.”

An exit opened on the opposite side of the pyramid where they exited to the sun in the sky. They took a second to breathe in the nice fresh air. The smoke and dust still covered their bodies, but the fresh air was relaxing for them.

They continued straight to the next area.

Welpen wondered if Isara was already that far ahead. He didn’t think of the negatives of what could happen.

The next area was not a bridge, but instead, stairs. There was a pattern of white stairs in front of them. After 3 stairs, a small platform formed to walk across back up to three stairs. This repeated all the way to the middle of the waters, where it then repeated that same pattern back down to the next island.

They could see the next island was made of all ash. It was not a pretty sight and it looked like mana lines that covered the middle. There was nothing else on this island, which made them nervous, but getting across was the bigger issue right now.

Ryoko: “Welpen, water we should go. Sword you have protects.”

Welpen: “As much as I want to do that, I don’t have any control over this thing. I don’t want to have to rely on it. I want to do this on my own and if it decides to help, then so be it. Also, I’m too afraid of those monsters in the water. I almost peed my pants…Let’s just take these stairs and see what happens. We’ll go together in case we all fall in together. There has to be some trap.”

Ezra: “If I may suggest, I can carry you all over one by one for this one.”

Welpen: “Ezra?! I forgot you were here. Where have you been?”

Ezra: “There were some issues with people entering the Spirit Realm that I had to take care of. Sorry I couldn’t help out earlier, but I am limited to what I can do without my main body anyways.”

Welpen: “Ah, that’s right. We need to get you your main body back. I will help you with that when this is all said and done. Oh! I need to introduce you to everyone. Guys, this is Ezra.”

Ezra: “Hello everyone. You both look wonderful. I am glad that Welpen has found such friends.”

Welpen rambled on, but Ezra couldn’t help but look at Saikou who Welpen had introduced. This was a new face for her journeying with Welpen and she just wanted to keep an eye on him in case he was not friendly. He seemed different somehow.

Welpen: “–Anyways, Ezra, you can really take us across?”

Ezra: “Yep, hop on Welpen. I’ll take you across.”

Welpen: “What about the monsters underneath? Won’t they attack us?”

Ezra: “I sensed them too. It seems they are attracted to mana. You boys aren’t able to shut off your mana yet, can you?”

Welpen: “No, I didn’t even know I could do that. Let me try. Hmph! Hmph! I-It’s not w-working!”

Ezra: “Hahaha. Welpen, you never fail to make me laugh. I’ll make sure to have a special spot saved for you in the Spirit Realm. I won’t let any other realm take you. Okay, hop on. If they attack, then I will hurry across…They aren’t attacking yet, but it seems to me that these stairs are laced with traps. I think it would be worse to take the waters obviously, but if you cannot sense mana yet, then one wrong move on these stairs and you would be dead.”

Welpen: “Dead?! How?”

Ezra: “I believe these stairs are set to explode. You have to strategically jump over certain ones to avoid them. That would not have been good if I wasn’t here.”

Welpen: “Thank you that you are here. We are struggling with these trials, but when we get to the Infinite library, then we will be good to go.”

Ezra: “Oh honey, these aren’t the trials.”

Welpen: “Wh-What?”

Ezra: “This is just the path to get to the Infinite Library. The real trials start when you enter. Who told you that?”

Welpen: “I just assumed this was it.”

Ezra: “Oh, you poor thing. This path is just to narrow out the weak from entering. Strong people usually can finish this in less than 7 minutes. 1 minute per island. I don’t mean to tell you all that you are weak, but these are just precautions for the Infinite Library.”

Welpen: “So, I’m weak. I’m not strong at all. I would be able to cross this easily if I was. But you know what! I don’t care! I’m not after strength! I could care less that I’m weak. I know that, but all I can do is try!”

Ezra: “You never cease to amaze me. I believe in you. Although, I meant to ask you this back there, but what is that shard on your sword? There is an incredible amount of mana surging from it.”

Welpen: “Ah, a lot happened and basically I found it. I didn’t want to carry it, so I put it on my sword and it saved me a few times from dying on the first 2 islands. Not sure what it is, but it makes my sword look really cool!”

‘Interesting,’ Ezra thought. ‘Why are the monsters underneath not attacking us if there is so much mana coming from this shard? What is it even? Oh, huh? The mana bouncing off of it just disappeared. Is it because we are across the water and on land now? Does it have a mind of its own? Let me see if I can bring Ryoko across what happens.’

It was like Ezra thought.

She brought Ryoko over the water, and the shard across lit up gold again and nothing happened to him or the other boy, when when everyone was across, it stopped its mana flow.

She continued on monitoring everything. She was cautious of any swordsman trying to get to the Infinite Library, knowing that they would attack Welpen for this shard. She also understood Welpen’s pride, but he could cross these islands no problem with the help of this shard. He was risking death for no reason, but the mental fortitude he had was too strong despite his weak nature and weak physicality.

Welpen: “Okay, what are we dealing with now? There are just a bunch of trees and even more water in the middle of this island. Why is there no bridge either? This can’t be the last island. That lady said there were more.”

Beneath them, the island rumbled and the edges of the ground split apart. It slowly started to rise into the sky until it reached high up in the clouds and stopped. They wandered around for a little, testing the water and looking for clues in the trees, but there was nothing.

Nothing attacked them either and Welpen tried to ask Ezra, but she didn’t know anything either.

Welpen: “Hey! Did you guys find anything?!”

Ryoko: “No!”

Saikou shook his head in agreement with Ryoko. Nobody found anything. They were stranded in the sky together on this island that they didn’t know. ‘Great. This is just like that place all over again. I haven’t died yet, which is great, but these games are starting to get me tired. I feel like this is all I’ve been doing for the past couple weeks.’

Ryoko: “Welpen! Something found!”

Welpen: “What?! I’m coming!”

Ryoko had decided to look underneath the edges of the island, not being able to find anything on top, and found a wooden arrow sign hanging off the edge pointing down back to the ocean.

Ryoko: “Jump? We jump?”

Welpen: “No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Nope! Nope! Nope! I am not jumping. That’s going to be my death. Good riddance to me. I love you all. Goodbye. Survive on without me.”

Saikou went over to him and shook him by the shoulders and then dragged him across the ground bringing him back to the edge.

Welpen: “Stop Saikou! I will break that helmet if you don’t let me go! I am not going!”

Ezra: “Welpen. Look at me please. Will you trust me and just jump?”

Welpen: “No!”

Ezra: “Please, Welpen. For me?”

Welpen: “Hmmm…Tch! You can’t do that to me Ezra. Now I feel bad. Fine! I’ll jump first. Watch me as I plummet to the waters and hurt my frail body. I’m a goner. Farewell Clara. Farewell Astro. Farewell parents I never got to meet. Farewell everybody.”

Ezra: “He’s so dramatic, isn’t he?”

They both shook their heads in agreement as Welpen jumped off into the sky. He screamed as he fell further and further down with his eyes closed. He didn’t even know it, but he had already fallen through rings that formed in the sky and his body was transported somewhere else.

Ryoko and Saikou looked down with Ezra and they grabbed each other’s hands and jumped down through those rings too.

When they all opened their eyes, they were in a dungeon where lanterns lit the walls on both sides of them. A boulder came rushing down at them out of nowhere and they all got up and sprinted while screaming down the long hallway.

Welpen: “This way!”

They jumped off to the side in an open area in the wall where they could catch their breath from the shock they experienced. More boulders came rushing down one by one. Ryoko noticed the timing was the same and that there were more sections in the walls up ahead to go into. He told the group about what to do and they continued onwards.

Welpen: “Ready. 1, 2, 3. Go!”

They ran to the next section and repeated this until they got to the last row that continued down into a tunnel. It was dark, but Ezra lit up the area the best she could for them. Welpen’s sword also was able to shine some light up further ahead. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, but smaller goblins attacked them with tiny swords. They weren’t much trouble for any of them even with their limited experience in swords.

Saikou was able to punch them with just his fists and Ryoko pierced them with his bow and arrow. Welpen took care of most of them with Ezra’s guidance. Her vision and words aided him through the dark tunnel to protect them all, although the shard did not light up this time for him.

Welpen: Whoo! I think I got most of them. Look out for more everyone. Who knows what’s ahead of us.”

They moved onwards for a long time until hitting 2 large red doors with golden handles, which they eventually opened even though they discussed it for a long time, scared of what was in there.

A fireplace sat in the back of the empty room with red carpet lining the floor. The fire was lit in a steaming blaze and out of it came dark shadows that resembled humans. They rushed at the three of them and entered their bodies without them being able to stop it.

Memories flooded into their brains and they all levitated in the air with their eyes rolled back. Ezra panicked, but couldn’t do anything. They weren’t spirits, so she could not interfere at all with her powers without killing the three of them and even then, the shadows probably wouldn’t exit.

Welpen, Ryoko, and Saikou experienced flashes of a dark dangerous place full of a void. Nothing existed except space and time. It was just an empty, null, and soulless domain that put fear into their bodies.

The shadows eventually existed and the three of them struggled to breathe. Ezra checked to see if they were okay as they tried to come back to reality.

Ezra: “What just happened? Is everyone okay?”

Welpen: “I-I don’t know. It was just blackness. It was dark and cold. It was frightening. More frightening than anything I experienced with Astro. More frightening than anything here so far or anything on my journey, yet I didn’t even feel in danger. I feel cold. I’m scared–”

Ryoko and Saikou nodded their heads, feeling the same way. The room collapsed apart and outside were clouds that filled the land. Another door was sitting in the middle of the island, but this time it was black and covered in dark purple and white stars. It opened for them and they entered a closed off room of wooden walls nervously. Giant blue stone marbled balls were glued to the ground around the room and a scary sight awaited in front of them.