Sunlight streamed down on Aleks’ face as he woke up from his forced slumber. With a pained grunt his hands move to his head in an attempt to quell the drums banging in his skull. His attempt failed as his hands were bound together with coarse rope.

“You look like crap.” whispered the familiar voice of Luke.

Looking up at his friend, he noticed their situation. More than twenty people, a mixture of his comrades, sailors and the villagers, were tied up in the middle of their ships’ deck. The other prisoners were consigned to the oars, rowing for all they worth as a whip cracked in the air. A few of the bearded men that attacked them were walking up and down, ensuring that none of them had any notion to try anything. Quickly looking about he noticed that all of his companions were on deck, almost all of them.

“I don’t see Charon with us, do you think he got away?” Luke asked him in a low voice.

“He’s dead.” Aleks replied, his knuckles turned white.

“How did he die?” Luke asked in a tone of anger tinged with sadness.

“The big guy had me, Charon saw me and charged in an attempt to save me but got stopped by that devil-like bastard.” he said, his eyes welled up with tears as he continued. “ And with his last words he said ‘make your mother proud’.”

Luke clenched his teeth. Charon had been a great man and true friend.”These bastards will pay for what they have done.” he hissed.

One of the men walked past them and heard the hiss, with a swing of his leg he kicked him in the side causing Luke to painfully roll onto his side. Grinning, the man walked away, the other men laughing at what he did.

“We just need to bide our time.” Aleks whispered.”There will be an opportunity for us to break free.”

A week passed by in the captivity of these men. The prisoners had to row their own vessel, guarded by their savage overseers. They followed the longship as it led them past patrols and into the open ocean. They were fed only once a day, sapping their strength and making a possible uprising more difficult as the time passed.

One night, Aleks sat on the deck,shivering from the cold wind and wishing for something to happen. His comrades were passed out around him, their bodies also shivering. The dark sky lightened up. Aleks’ jaw dropped open as a massive bright object fell from the sky. The light caused everyone to wake up. Their guards ran to the side of the ship and stared at the object in the distance as it fell into the ocean.

Flabbergasted they started shouting at the longship ahead of them. After a back and forth of shouting, the ships began to turn in the direction of the fallen light.

Aleks looked at his companions. “What was that?” he asked

“It is a sign.” Ikaros replied

“Good or bad?” Luke asked.

“It can be both.” Ikaros answered.

“It might be the opportunity we’ve been waiting for.” Aleks said.

After sailing for twenty minutes their vision suddenly darkened. The ship’s inhabitants stared into the dark trying to figure out what had happened when one of the prisoners craned their neck backwards and fell over screaming in fear. Following their gaze, Aleks and his comrades felt the blood leaving their faces. A massive body of water dwarfed them, blocking out the nearby stars. Cries from both ships resounded in the quiet night as the wave moved towards them.

“Grab each other and hold on!” Nike shouted as he grabbed onto Ikaros and Thanos.

Following his lead, they braced themselves, helping the other prisoners that could not understand them. With an ominous creak the ship ascended the monstrous wave. Holding on for dear life they grasped onto anything that was bolted down. The incline increased dramatically as the ship climbed the mass of water. The ship began creaking audibly as it pierced through the sound of everyone screaming at the top of their lungs. The vessel was close to ninety degrees when one of the guards lost his grip and plunged past Aleks and into the darkness, some of the unfortunate prisoners joined him. With a cry another guard lost his grip and painfully fell against the mast in front of the companions. A sickening crunch of bones breaking could be heard over the loud voices.

Thinking quickly, Aleks shouted at his companions.”Hold my legs!”

Grabbing onto him they secured themselves while he made a risky maneuver. He stretched to the moaning guard as he grabbed the knife on the man’s belt before stabbing it into his chest, eliciting a pained cry from his lungs. With a shove he tilted the man from his position and he disappeared into the darkness. They barely reached the crest of the wave when the ship started to settle back into a more natural position. Aleks threw the knife to Damon who then hid it in his clothes.

Cresting the wave they saw the longship in front of them, sliding down at preposterous speed. The ship followed, causing them to brace once again as they sped down the wave. They went so fast that Aleks’ hair pressed flat against his scalp as the wind rushed past them. When they reached the bottom of the wave they slowed down to a reasonable speed. Their remaining captors secured their charges, ensuring that none of them had their bindings loosened. With a shout from one of them, they hailed the longship. A while later they arrived next to the ship. Some of the longship’s men joined the larger ship replenishing the low numbers.

Aleks glanced at his friends.”The time will come, not now.” he whispered, getting nods from them as a response.

After the monstrous wave, a few smaller waves arrived which they easily crested, solidifying the fact that something huge had fallen into the ocean. Like a rock falling into a pond it sent out ripples, except these waves were just thousands of times bigger.

In the distance they could make out a rock-like structure jutting out of the water. It easily reached a hundred meters in height. When they neared it they could make out an opening in it with blue light glowing from it’s entrance.

“By Poseidon, what is that?” Horus gasped. The rest could only mutely stare at the strange view in front of them.

The rock was steaming from heat as the ships approached. They stopped in front of the cave entrance. Their captors were also mystified at the rock and discussed the situation. After reaching some kind of conclusion, they decided that exploring it would be the best option. With the longship being more agile, it closed in on the rock and anchored a few meters away. From their vantage point, Aleks had a limited view of what was happening. After a while, the men on the rock returned to their ship and they sailed back to them. The inhabitants of both ships conversed a while and the big man, which Aleks presumed was the leader, barked an order.

A few of the vikings undressed and stood in their small clothes, then jumped into the water with an axe in hand. They were strong swimmers and before long they reached the entrance of the cave where the blue light was originating. An hour passed before they came back, frowns on their faces. A discussion took place where the leader looked disbelieving at first and then came to a decision. With a lurch the longship began moving into the cave.

“This is our time, ain’t it Aleks?” Luke asked.

“It might be a trap.” Horus said.

“Yes, let’s wait a bit first.” Aleks replied.

A few hours passed until the longship returned from the cave. A voice carried over the distance.”Snorri! Get that ship over here!”

Aleks turned to look at his companions who, like himself, were frowning. “You guys also understood that?” they nodded, still unsure that they heard correctly.

The man that was addressed shouted back, but they could not understand a word he was shouting.

“What kind of sorcery is this?” Nike asked.

“We’ll find out in that cave.” Aleks said with curiosity in his eyes.

A few shouts came from the men aboard and Aleks and his friends were forced to sit at the rowers benches. He took up an oar and started to row with the rest, making their way to the cave. As they neared the longship, the large man stood at the stern with a grin plastered on his face.

“You won’t believe this men! This is the greatest discovery since Ragnar found the Saxon lands!” the man bellowed.

“By the gods, we can understand him.” Luke mumbled.

After hearing the man on their ship speak again, they still couldn’t understand a word he said.

“You’ll see Snorri, follow us into that blue light. It will answer your question.” the large man replied.

Deeper into the cave, the blue light became more apparent as it lightened the way. No animals or insects could be seen inside, leaving dark rock as the only view they had. A few minutes of following the longship passed when they saw a sight never seen before. The watery path had turned into a large cavern and the origin of the blue light could clearly be seen. Two large pillars with indecipherable runes etched onto it pulsed blue, and stretched between them, was a large blue light extending beneath the water and rising forty meters up in the air. It was humongous.

The longship went ahead as they continued to stare in wonder. When it reached the blue light it went through it and disappeared. At this time everyone’s jaws hung open. Snorri barked an order that Aleks interpreted as ”row” and they lurched forward, following into the blue light. As they reached the light ,Snorri hesitated, then ordered them forward.

Aleks pulled on the oars as they rowed forward. The prow of the ship entered into the light leaving him unable to see anything further than the light ahead as it advanced on him. With another pull on his oar he closed his eyes the moment it came upon him.

Slowly he opened his eyes, and immediately it widened as his expression turned from caution to wonder.