Terminus Part I: The Journey There (Draft)

Chapter 43: The Guiding Fog and Septagon Island

 The crew of the Detective Pirates celebrated James' birthday on the twenty-fifth of March, one week after his actual birthday. They reached their destination two months later, on the twenty-fifth of May, just one day after Joneas' birthday. Over the course of their two month journey, they trained and became stronger. Their journey was otherwise uneventful.

Patricia was in the Crow's Nest when they approached a fog. She spoke into a microphone that would broadcast her message all throughout the ship.

"The SS Psychic is now approaching a thick fog. It is advised that necessary precautions be taken."

There, I did my job, thought Patricia. Now they can't get mad at me.

Ahead of them was a fog known to travellers of this part of the sea as The Guiding Fog. Venturing within it is the mistake of many passing ships, as very few ever make it out of the fog. It is believed that the fog guides its victims to Septagon Island, a strange deserted island where people have been known to disappear. Their journey was about to get far more perilous than they would have ever anticipated.

The crew held a meeting to decide their next course of action.

"So if we are to investigate the disappearances, we must first navigate through a fog that is likely to make us disappear?" asked Cameron. "That sounds like a bad idea."

"The thing is, we don't have much of a choice in the matter," began James. "If we let the fog guide us to Septagon Island, we will land on the island and figure out what is causing all of the mysterious disappearances."

"I still stand by the idea that this is a gateway to Limbo," said Brandon. "I'm not sure that Limbo is a place that we want to wind up in. Thoughts become reality in that place."

"We can make it through the fog, that's all any of us should worry about," said Crock.

"I almost forgot that we have a living legend aboard this ship," said Karnilla.

"Wait, the old man is the Crock Turnbull? The one that was killed in combat? I thought that he was a martyr," said Joneas.

"The Global Government wanted to make an example out of me, but I was ahead of their curve. There's more to that story than meets the eye. But that's for another time," said Crock.

With that, the discussion concluded and James gave his crew the order to sail them through the fog. This mostly meant that Crock had to be a vigilant helmsman, as the other jobs aboard the ship were not necessary.

The fog was thick enough to get in a person's eyes if they were not careful. With that in mind, the crew all stayed inside the bridge as Crock steered the ship.

"It's nice to have company while I steer us through this thick fog. You know, I think I've crossed over before..." said Crock.

"What do you mean?" asked James.

"That Limbo dimension, I've seen it. It wasn't very impressive back then, but I suppose it all depends on what you can find. I had to fend off all of my worst fears before I could..."

"We get the picture. It's not a walk in the park," said Cameron.

"Hey, it's been over thirty years, I'm sure things are different now. Maybe we'll find the missing people. Who went missing?"

"A lot of people," said Karnilla. "The Bluebeard Pirates, the Cleft Island Koalas, the Satchanville Copperheads..."

"Yeah, we could have some interesting company."