Dante looked over his mourning friends, powerless to do anything to help them. Once he had died, he appeared in a spirit realm of sorts, he couldn’t be heard, he couldn’t touch anything. For hours he stood there, watching.

“Don’t look over them for too long, it tends to make one depressed.”

Dante looked to his left, there stood the Thread-weaver, he looked back to Haile and Hudson, “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course, that is why you are here.”

“Wh-When we were brought to this world, you told us death was impossible, and yet, I just died.”

The Thread-weaver let out a long sigh, he pulled back his hood to reveal a young looking man, he had short, black hair, and blue eyes. “This is a long story, so please don’t interrupt. My name is Andrew, I once lived in your world, and after I died, I found I had powers to create, powers to destroy, and after a few centuries, I found I could see the future, or potential futures. I examined the life of various mortals, such as yourself, and decided to intervene, lead them on the paths that I deemed best. Truth is, you three were never going to die separated, but as long as Hudson and Haile ended up together, you would never find someone to spend the rest of your life with. I tried to push you three to a world where you ended up with Haile, but it didn’t work, Haile only ever fell in love with you after you died, which is such a shame. So I brought you here, in hopes she would fall in love with you here, but she never did, not unless you died. So I decided to change the rules. If I killed you, she would fall in love with you, and then I could put you back.”

“So this entire world, everything I’ve seen and done, is all because you felt sorry for me?”

“In simple terms, yes. I’ve done many things, seen many more, when it comes to love, I’ve seen old love, young love, tough love, everything. Let me tell you, the love you have for Haile, I have only ever seen once. She never shared your feelings, and you always ended up looking for someone else, but no one ever compared.”

“So what happens now? How long until I go back?”

“I don’t want to just bring you back, it is better if I don’t, they shall bring you back themselves, when the time comes.” They paused for a moment, “Let me show you something, look.”

He pointed up to three small orbs, one floated over the head of Haile, one over Hunter, and one over Dante’s body. Each orb looked like a large marble, about the size of a dodgeball. They were all different shades of blue, with silver swirling inside. Between each orb was the Thread that connected each person normally. Dante and Hudson’s Thread reached towards each other, but couldn’t quite reach.

“I never quite knew what to call them, any ideas?”

“What are they?”

“That is where Threads stay when they are not seen, I'm not entirely certain, but I think the orbs are your soul.”

There was a pause before Dante spoke, “Thread vaults.”

“Pardon?”

“That’s what you should call them, Thread vaults.”

Andrew paused for a moment to think about it, “ Yeah, I like it, Thread vaults. Watch the Threads, something interesting is about to happen.”

Dante watched the three Threads, for a moment, nothing changed. A loud snap filled the surrounding area, catching Dante off guard, he looked back up to see that his Thread that connected him and Haile had broken.

“What the heck?! Does she still remember me then?” Dante said in a panic.

“Shh, just wait, I’ll explain in a moment.”

Dante looked to the only Thread left intact, the red Thread between Haile and Hudson. The dull red began to glow faintly, starting from the edges. A bright white light came from the center, Dante had to avert his eyes, when he looked back, a brilliant white Thread wrapped in an equally bright red Thread stood where the red Thread once was. Dante stood in amazement, it was beautiful to look at. A red Thread began emerging from Haile’s vault, it reached to Dante’s vault, hoping to reach far enough, but it couldn’t make it. The red Thread wrapped itself around the white Thread that already stood.

“Have they-” Dante began

“Broken up? No, not yet, they’ll hold onto each other for a while. They’ll officially break up when you get back.”

“Then how do I get back? I need to get back.”

“Well, you must restore your cut Thread.”

“How do I do that?”

“Go up and try, grab the Threads and pull them together. Focus on getting up to them, and you will be able to.”

Dante looked to the vaults, and began gliding towards them. He wrapped a Thread around his right hand and reached for the other. He reached, extending his arm as far as it would go, but it was out of his grasp.

“Can't reach, can you? Let me give you a hand.”

The vaults shifted slightly towards each other, just enough to reach the other Thread. Dante grabbed onto it and pulled them together with all his might, he pulled and pulled but no change was made. He paused to take a breath and began pulling again, still nothing. Dante let go of the Threads and began his descent to the ground.

Dante fell to his knees, too weak to stand. “I can’t do it, I’m not strong enough.”

“You’re right, you aren’t strong enough, no one is. But let me remind you, in this world, you are stronger with your friends.”

“But the only Threads I have in this world are broken, I don’t have anything to draw strength from.”

“They will not always be broken, wait patiently, and you shall have everything your heart desires. I must go, your friends need direction.”

Haile lay motionless on the ground for hours, crying. Hudson tried to comfort her, but he made no progress.

“Why do you cry, child?”

Haile raised her head to see the cloaked Thread-weaver kneeling before her. “Why am I crying?! HE’S DEAD!”

“He is not dead, he merely rests. He worked hard, and has suffered much, he deserves the peace he has.”

“How can you say that? ‘He merely rests’ HE. IS. DEAD.”

“He is asleep, he shall wake in the coming days.”

“Then tell me ‘Thread-weaver’ how can I wake him?” she asked sarcastically.

“Do you see that star?” He pointed to a brilliant, bright star northeast from them. “It shall watch over you even in the day, follow it, and you shall find one who shall be able to wake him.”

“So he’s not gone?”

The Thread-weaver chuckled, “No, child, he shall return soon.”

Haile wrapped her arms around the Thread-weaver, “Thank you.”

“May your Threads guide you.”

Haile fell to the ground, as the Thread-weaver vanished.

Hudson placed his hand on Haile’s back, “Let’s stay here for tonight, we’ll begin traveling tomorrow.”

Hudson and Haile lay together to sleep, in the middle of a field, near the cold body of their fallen friend.

They awoke the next morning, it was a cool morning, with clear skies. They looked to Dante’s body to find it wasn’t there, in its place was a necklace with a blue crystal and a letter. Haile picked up the letter and began reading

Haile and Hudson,

I give this to you to relieve you from the burden of carrying the body of your fallen friend. You shall find his body at your destination. The world itself mourns the loss of your friend with you, be at peace, for the time is near when you shall complete my challenge. May your path be easy and your steps light. Keep this necklace safe, it protects the souls of the fallen, it also has a little surprise built in, you’ll know what I mean when it happens. The fourth Thread is near.

Creator and god,

The Thread-weaver

Haile picked up the necklace holding the crystal in her hand, it was warm to the touch. She gently placed it around her neck, she looked down at the crystal, it began glowing faintly.

Haile looked northeast, to the star that lingered in the sky still. They began walking towards it, how long they’d be traveling, they did not know. Haile shared the letter with Hudson, letting him read over it, and showing him the necklace.

Every day they walked, and walked, following the star, the field seemed to go on forever, and every day they seemed no closer to their destination. After a week of traveling, as night drew close, they came upon a small house with a garden. Hudson knocked on the door, they heard some shuffling from inside, before the door creaked open.

A young woman stood in the door frame, she had long, sun bleached hair, with blue eyes that glimmered with the setting sun, she stood slightly shorter than Hudson. She wore a tank top with torn blue jeans, both were exceptionally dirty. She spoke in a soft tone, “Can I help you?”

Hudson froze for a moment, she was pretty. He managed to speak after a moment, “I was wondering if we could stay here tonight, we’ve been traveling for a few days now, and have made little progress.”

“Oh, of course, come in, come in, I’ll start making tea.” She held the door open for them to enter.

The house was well organized, there was only one room which held a kitchen, fireplace, a decently large bed, and a table. She filled a kettle with water and placed it over the fire.

She began putting up her hair, “Have you eaten dinner yet? Should I prepare something?”

“We have not, thank you. If you’d like help, I’m a rather good cook.” Hudson responded.

“I’d love help, I’m not much of a cook myself.” she responded, “Where are my manners?! My name is Jocelyn, it’s a pleasure to have you here.”

“Haile.” she simply said, walking forward to shake her hand.

“Hudson, pleasure to meet you.” he said, doing the same

“Well, Hudson, if you’d like to prepare something, I can show you what I have, it’s mostly vegetables from my garden, but I think I have some meat.”

“Sounds good, I’ll get started.”

Jocelyn opened a cupboard and pulled out an assortment of vegetables, she opened a different one and pulled out a small slab of red meat.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have a whole lot, will this do?”

“This will be fine, I’ll make it work.” Hudson said, as he began preparing dinner.

Jocelyn turned to Haile, “Please, sit, make yourself at home.”

Haile took a seat at the table, “May I ask, why do you live in such a secluded area?”

“I’ve actually lived here for several years -at least I think so, I didn’t start counting until about a year ago. This may sound strange, but I was actually brought into this world by the Thread-weaver, I come from a distant land called ‘America’” she made a small arc in the air with her hands.

“As in The United States of America?!” Haile responded, leaning forward in her seat.

“Yeah, so I-wait, how do you know about the US?”

“Hudson and I were brought from the US to start an adventure here.”

“There is no chance that is a coincidence, the Thread-weaver planned this.”

“Most likely. What has happened since you got here?” Haile said.

“Well, I fell into a field one day, I stood up and my boyfriend was there with me. A figure in a green cloak appeared and was like ‘hey! Complete my challenge, find the gate!’ and he gave us swords. We went to a nearby town where we found out about some giants, we went, fought them, and won. We were told to follow a star, but my boyfriend wanted to go back to town and visit a cute girl he met there. Either way, we broke up, and I started following the star, but it felt like I was making no progress, so I set up a home to live out the rest of my life.”

“Our story is rather similar, but there was another-” Haile paused, finding it too hard to continue.

Hudson continued for her, “We came in a group of three, but we lost one along the way.”

“What do you mean you lost one?”

Hudson stopped cutting carrots, he let out a sigh, “He’s dead, one of his Threads was cut while we fought the giants.”

“I thought cutting Threads just got rid of memories?”

There was a pause, before Haile chimed in, “I thought so too, apparently we can bring him back, but we’ve barely made progress towards that. The Thread-weaver told us to go to the star, and we’ll find answers there.”

“How long ago did he die?”

“A week ago.” Haile said, looking into the distance.

Jocelyn placed a glass of tea in front of Haile, “Drink, it helps. How did you two -three I guess- meet?”

The rest of the night was filled with stories of times passed. Haile told about how they had all met, the story of how she and Hudson started dating, and stories in between. Jocelyn had stories of her own to tell, stories of her friends back home, and the trouble they got into, the fun they had. It was a laughter filled night. Dante watched from beyond death, laughing with them, hoping stories would be told, and wishing to tell some of his own.