Cyd walked gradually into his favorite bar, the Carp bar. The streets around him were filled with a large maze of stores. Many a night he would have to ramble home drunk from the maze of shops. During this period of late night drink he bought a large amount of stuff that he didn’t need and didn’t want. He almost always bought candles or knifes while he was drunk. He almost wondered if it was worth it.

The Carp was rather plain on the outside, with its brown walls and Arabic sign of a fish on the front, but on the inside there was a beautiful rug. The rug had a large gem stone pattern in the center. The gem looked to be cut in a seven-sided cut, which went great with the overall shading of purple over the red. More towards the outside of the rug was flowers and vines in an pattern that fooled the eyes into believing the floor was much deeper than on the jewel. Even further still, were boxes showing great scenes of battle.

But Cyd didn’t care. A place to eat and drink was all he needed. He sat down on the rug, and reminisced. He wondered why he came here every night when he could go to someplace much closer. It suddenly became stunningly obvious to him. His platter of fish came with a sensational smell. “Yum” he thought to himself. There was another reason he came to that restaurant. This place was near the ocean, and there was always a sad sailor ready to tell his story. Cyd looked to the corner of the rather large rug. A man, about six feet tall and skinny as all hell, sat by himself in the corner of the rug, facing the wall, as if this man didn’t want to be seen. But he looked to be the most looked at thing in the room because of his long brown hair and long white beard. But what really attracted attention was his long brown hair was stained with blood.

As Cyd approached the strange man he felt a feeling of remorse and death. He had a feeling that what the man had to say would change his life. He thought to himself if the life he had was good enough. He questioned the life he had been living up to this point and asked himself if he should change. If this feeling was true, his life would be forced to change dramatically. He figured that this man was here for a reason. If he was going to ignore the man, he thought he would regret this day for the rest of eternity.

He could feel the man’s sorrow and the man’s need to reach out to someone. This is what convinced Cyd to speak with the man. The man’s voice was heavy with hate and detest for Cyd and anyone interrupting his drink. “Wot would you like, my friend?” Cyd hesitated to answer. The man’s voice quieted a little “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. I just had a bad day. Bad year really. But before I talk to you, can you tell me why you’re here?” Cyd raised an eyebrow and looked down onto the rug. “I’m here to listen.” Now the man’s interest peaked. He said in a kind, almost sarcastically nice, voice “Listen to what my good boy? To the sole ramblings of a seaman?” “No.” replied Cyd. He raised his head up a bit. “To listen to the sound of waves hitting the beach. To listen to the fish being hauled up onto the boats. To listen to all and to listen to you. Everything has a story to tell.” “Ain’t that the truth.” The man’s eyes darken. “Alright.”

“Thee tale started aboard the fishing vessel, The Timber.” The man sighs. “You sure you want ter know?” Cyd nods his head. “Alright then. If it ter make you happy. I was aboard the timber. I was up at night with my friend, Donald. He an’ me were on the portside of t he deck. He told me ‘Reg, how long til land?’ Then I said.” The man paused. “Wait. Before I continue, Can’t I ask but one question?” “If it will continue the story, yes.” “Ok. Tis but a simple question. What be your name, good buddy?” “My name is Arnold.” “I don’t believe you. You don’t look like an Arnold. I knew an Arnold once.” The man’s green eyes flashed and became glazed. He dazed of into the nowhere for a little while before he came to. “Oh. Right. Where was I? I was aboard the Timber, portside of the main deck, with my buddy, Donald. He said ‘when will we reach land, Reg?’ To which I replied ‘When the sunrises two days pass.’ I remember it was dark. Dark as pitch in fact, then all of a sudden, a light shot out of the side of the bow. Him and me ran to the bow and looked towards the water, where there was a rather frightening sight. Are you sure you want to go on?” Reg knew the answer before Cyd nodded. “Fine then. I’ll continue.” Reg said in an odd, almost melancholy voice. “We both looked down to find a set of long hooks inside the hull of the ship. But then the strangest thing happened. The ocean opened up into a gigantic chasm as far as the eye could see. I looked over to Don. It looked like the eyes could have fallen out of his head. I imagine I didn’t look much better I s’pose. Anyway, the small ship went into a free fall. Me an’ Don went overboard. Never have I seen so much water fall though a space. But the most fascinating thing ‘append as we fell though space.”

You could tell he was getting excited and more nervous. It was getting late now. All the other patrons had left. “The walls were covered with long green stems, green as me eyes, and green as the walls themselves. The stems though, they could have been priceless if I could of gotten one. The stems themselves held balls of liquid. As the liquid caught the light, the glowed with the colors of rainbows. Orbs of grand liquid. It was truly amazing. Eventually as we were falling, the stems, the water, and the orbs all turned into lines. We watched as the ship edged towards the walls. Blam! The ship, she was trapped to thee walls! It was ‘round this time we saw the bottom. Don was yelling at me, his eyes full of fear. He turned to the walls. He himself stuck to the walls 50 feet off the ground! It was amazing. I did hit the ground. There was a tier in the centre of the tube. Must have been 20 feet circle. I aimed and was thankful I did. Bounced right back upwards a little. Then back. Then up again! It was rather fun, but I had better things to do, like get Don off the wall. Then he called ter me ‘get me off this wall’. Well I couldn’t. I called back ‘How?’ ‘Use your sword.’ He yelled out of desperation. Now, I forgot all about the ship and the men aboard the ship. If I wasn’t damned to see bout thirty ground men fall out of the sky! Well, two was fortunate enough to land right next to me. Well I should say that. One was fortunate. The other landed on his neck. Broke darn into two. I asked the more fortunate man. ‘Wot happened?’ he stuttered back at me ‘Th Th the boat. They all dead. Us lucky few were awake an' were warned by the sounds of the gushing ocean. Th Th hggghh’ then the fortunate man staggered backwards and darn fell off the edge. Then.”

The man never uttered the last words. A hooded figure walked into the carp. He had a deep salty smell and only one eye shown out of cloak. The man was holding his chest, which a handle was sticking out. The hooded figure took a hold upon the handle and ripped out a rather thin and long blade of his chest with a large squish. The blood now poured out everywhere, including the rug, the walls, and the figures own robe. Reg’s legs jolted up, as if he saw a ghost, and franticly began to try to rip though the walls. The figure tossed the deadly dagger towards the man. Reg’s eyes widened as the blade was forcibly pushed through the back of his head. Reg fell with a thud, a thud that would stay with Cyd forever. The figure then proceeded to attempt to take the blade back out of his victim. The figure turned his eye to Cyd. Cyd stood silent. The figure walked towards Cyd, cleaned and handed him the blade of his victim. The blade itself was very beautiful indeed. The blade itself had a sharp point, almost too sharp. The length of the blade had a gem by the base, and several holes, which corresponded with the gemstone. The figure said, “Take this blade as souvenir and forget what you just saw today, priest.” The figure turned and walked away out of the carp. Cyd looked and turned away, looking for where the service was. They stood in disbelief of what they just saw. Cyd looked around at the waitress and said in low tone, “You people look like you need a drink.”