The entire Threshold was black. No stars, no sun, just absolute lack of light with only rare flashes of lightning here and there, without actually brightening anything up, but themselves. The darkness was most certainly unnatural.

Then the world before the ship broke. The cracks were spreading through the space, just as blinding as an actual Sun, purple in color. Joe shielded his eyes, cursing, as the image of the light falling down on him came back with a vengeance.

“Watch out, rays!! Power on top!”

The unfamiliar voice was giving orders. Helmsman, probably. Xander and Pat were there, but the quartermaster was only staring at the window, without trying to take command of the situation.

Joe quietly walked closer to Pat.

“What is happening?” He whispered.

Pat answered quickly and quietly.

“We got caught by a Tearing.”

The poor ship was struggling to maneuver past the deadly environment, taking hits from surrounding lightning left and right. Joe heard a long “peep” sound coming from the control panel. The arid, who was controlling the shields, swore.

“Top and left are almost out!”

Morning Star barely made it through the forest of lightning, sharply turned to the side, dodging opening midair crack of destruction, and went full-forward, when left shield finally gave out under pressure, breaking down. Joseph heard a long loud noise on the panel.

Still, as frantic as the situation was, the helmsman and crew were relatively calm. Swearing, sure, sweating - definitely, but helmsman’s voice never faltered, the orders were followed instantly and without a single mistake.

Joseph was envious. Of course, they had mountains of experience, but he really wanted to contribute in a meaningful way.

The color of the void itself changed from black into purple. The ambience became brighter, but stars and sun were still gone. The lightning was no more, the rays nowhere to be seen. But purple fog-like ambient remained, enveloping the restless little ship with its veil.

“We took a couple of hits there… but I guess the worst is behind us-”

“Xander!” Helmsman shouted to quartermaster.

The Threshold wasn’t letting them go just yet.

It started raining. Raining literal fire.

In five different directions.

Now that was something Joe would never be able to see in his world. The rays were impressive already, but the wild dance of flaming tears on the glass (thankfully, reinforced, and protected by the short edge above) was weirdly soothing.

“Kon’jar curse you, Xander, I told you to be silent… how many times before? Every single time - I swear, this daemonic void hears you the moment you open your maw.”

“Sorry, Theo. I remember.”

“No, you scoundrel, you don’t. You just proved it with that brazen bile you just blurted out.”

Xander put his hands up and didn’t say anything.

Fortunately, the deck wasn’t made out of wood, so a fire couldn’t start, but watching literal droplets of it fall on the floor was… unnerving.

“So, what do you think of experiencing your first Tearing, Joe?”

Xander asked that question, unexpectedly enough. He wasn’t even looking at him, too, staring outside.

“Looks fun. Looks very dangerous.”

The quartermaster then chuckled.

“Fun, he says… An advice for the future. Never stay outside during Tearing. Never ever. Understood?”

“Makes sense… never to stay outside during a Tearing.”

Xander nodded. He turned his attention to the helmsman.

“Theo, what do we have?”

“A huge bowl of rat piss. This one doesn’t want to end, it seems. I see no land around us.”

The fire rain was dying down, but then the faraway lighting returned on the right side. Theo cursed.

“The lightning doesn’t move closer…” Xander scratched his head.

“Which means there is island somewhere nearby. Eyes on the lookout, any blasted piece of the land will do!”

“Like that one?”

Pat turned to the helmsman and pointed behind himself. In the brief flash of light, Joe saw the barely noticeable outline of what looked like a forest on the horizon. How in the void did Pat ever notice that?

“Nice eyes, scout! Full turn left, full ahead!”

As the island was coming into full view, the purple fog was getting brighter and brighter. The stars and sun were gone still, but now it was closer to dark evening, rather than full-on impenetrable night. Joseph saw the edge of the land hanging above the void. The forest on it was pretty tall, easily higher than eight meters on average. The land was coming closer and closer, revealing an island that was stretched way beyond their sight. Joe looked down, but the lowest edge of the floating piece of earth was somewhere beyond his vision.

The ship stopped in a half a kilometer away from the island. The lightning was still firing off in a distance but wasn’t daring to come any closer.

Joe glanced over the forest. He noticed something very odd.

“That can’t be normal.”

“Nothing is normal in Threshold.” Pat’s voice came from the left side. “But I actually agree in this instance. I’ve never seen this effect before.”

Even Xander was staring at the forest, dumbfounded.

“Black leaves and ashen trees, that look completely dried… No flowers, or grass... In four years I’ve never seen anything like that before. This is very concerning. The island isn’t on any of our maps, right, Theo?”

“Asking me, Zan? It doesn’t look like anything I know. We’ve been thrown through the fucking wringer just now, and until Threshold calms down, we are not leaving. Might be at the edge of the Praeryne itself for all we know.”

“Praeryne?”

“The mystical Plane of Vrigherqhuaihon, Deity of Power, Corruption and Grotesque. Just a myth, probably.”

Joe was more impressed with Pat’s ability to even pronounce this name without stuttering even once than he was interested in some mythical faraway place of a corrupting god. Probably wasn’t the wisest thought, since he had seen Ailuros literally vanish, which meant that at least some kind of magic was existing in this world. Who knew, maybe it was somewhere out there. In fantasy stories, at least, the places that everyone thinks are imaginary and never existed usually have a solid chance of ninety percent of being real…

“How do you pronounce that so easily?”

Pat smirked but didn’t say anything.

“So what’s the plan, quartermaster?” He turned to Xander instead.

The dragoncat pulled out a spyglass.

“I see no one on the slide… Forest looks empty too. No signs of Navy, or Hrothgar Voidlers… Black leaves are something else, though.”

“Could be worth our while. I might take some with me.”

Xander lowered the spyglass.

“You want to go out there?”

Pat shrugged.

“Sure, why not? Might as well hunt for food and look for normal water.”

“Is pure and clean water not to your liking?”

Pat cringed and stuck his tongue out as if he was vomiting. Theo and arid in charge of the shields made the exact same gesture.

“It’s unbearable, and you know it, Xander. It’s useful for extracts and showering, true, but for drinking it is outright atrocious. And there are zero useful elements in it; it’s literally empty.”

Xander surrendered without much of a fight.

“You are right. But under no circumstances I am letting you go out alone. I’ll gather some people.”

Pat then glanced at Joseph, who was just standing there and listening to their banter.

“I wonder… say, you are good with guns, right?”

Joe was stuck in confusion. But then gears in his head started spinning.

“Wait, you are asking me to go with you?”

The rat-faced bastard grinned.

“Chickening out already? You were so high and mighty earlier when Ralf was passing by. You wanted to learn how the world works too, no?”

Pat got him there. Joe looked at Xander, asking for his permission.

“Questionable choice of a partner… but I’ll allow it. You’ll need an experienced hunter if you want to get food. I’ll handle this. Also, just in case, I’ll send some guys from the strike team your way. Go grab backpacks and whatever else you need from the Arsenal, get provisions, take a dump, ask the doctor for some supplies and meet me in a Boat Deck. You will be flying out in an hour.”

“Wait, I don’t get a say in this?!”

Both of their excited glares almost burned Joe alive on spot.

“If you are that much of a fragile flower, maybe it can’t be helped…”

“You can stay, but you’ll come with me in a Hold. I need to do some heavy lifting, and I was just looking for someone to give me a helping hand…”

“Now that’s just blackmail. I didn’t say I wasn’t going, but could I at least tell my opinion?”

“Man makes sense, Zan. You just threw him onto a frying pan, not even giving a damn what he thinks. That’s not how things go here. You, of all people, should know better.”

Quartermaster covered his eyes with his hand after the grouchy voice of helmsman reprimanded him.

Thank you, Theo. I owe you one for this.

Xander scratched his ears. He lowered his eyes under the attack of pressuring stares and exhaled, acknowledging his defeat.

“True, I hadn’t been fair… Well then, Joseph. What is your take on this?”

Joe didn’t really want to rub it in, as Xander genuinely looked guilty. It felt good, but he was no monster to kick a man down. Although to be fair, this man did just volunteer him without his permission…

You agreed to it yourself, dumbass.

“Not an opinion, but a couple of questions. What is usually there to expect and what should I arm myself with?”

Quartermaster put his hand on the back of his head.

“The usual… wild animals of all sorts and kinds, secret pirate hideouts, hidden military outposts, maybe an undiscovered settlement... some anomalous monster or a Mage with a daemon on a leash, I have no idea. This island is new, so be prepared for absolutely anything. You have a rifle, two pistols, and a sword, pretty good for a start. Take some bombs and ammo. Blunderbuss would be too heavy to add to your arsenal, so stock up on consumables. Take a lighter too.”

“I’ll take a blunderbuss and lighter, no need to worry about that,” Pat interjected. “Medicine’s on me as well.”

Xander nodded in acknowledgment.

“Then that’s settled. Get moving, lads.”

*****

Ralf was listening to their explanation. After it was done, he nodded, without saying much, walked to the corner, and lifted up lids of crates that were placed there.

“Take what you need, but remember about mobility. The backpacks are on the hook near the wall.”

“Which are these?” Pat leaned over one crate to look inside.

“Shrapnel. These are smoke, and these orange ones are filled with liquid fire. Don’t inhale smoke from any of these, it’s full of toxic waste.”

Joe picked up one of the bombs. It was round and small, fitting in his palm. It had a pin, surprisingly enough, but a fuse was part of the bomb itself, and not detachable, unlike on modern hand grenades. And of course, the only safety was a small copper hook, that was barely keeping holding onto a pin, looking like it was ready to snap at any moment.

“Yeah, that doesn’t look safe.”

“Just don’t put them near pointy parts. Or don’t shake them too much. They are safer than you think, but, of course, folly always finds a way.”

“So no putting them in backpacks, then?”

Ralf scratched his short beard.

“If you are going for a nice, peaceful stroll, then by all means.”

A peaceful stroll it was probably not, so Joe had to settle for pockets. He carefully placed two of each into different pockets, checking them several times to make sure they don’t fall out, or, even worse, bump into each other. Thankfully, the uniform had more than enough space for all his needs.

Ammo, check. Pistols and rifle loaded and ready - check. Scabbard holds rifle tightly, check. Sword, check. No tip near bombs.

Ralf prepared them some small packs of cooked meat, with potatoes and cheese. Pat received a blunderbuss and a lighter. The lighter wasn’t small, it was resembling a wider spray can with a metal sprinkler on top. When Pat pressed the trigger, the stream of fire burst out of the long thin barrel.

“Kon’jar curse your blind ass, watch where you point this bloody thing!”

Pat immediately put it back on a table.

“Sorry, Ralf, I was just checking.”

“Checking, he says… this whole room is a powder keg! Do you have mush for brains, or you never learned what safety means? I swear, you intellectual types only know how to press buttons and whisper some sweet words to Emperor’s ears… You done here? Then take this saber with this blasted thing out of here, and move it. I need to talk to Joe.”

Pat grabbed the offered items and, nodding several times in regret, walked out of the Arsenal, bum first.