Joseph loved reading in his childhood. The stories about flying castles, terrifying demons, mighty warriors, and their smart animal sidekicks - he lived through them all, sometimes desperate to jump onto the pages of the book, become a character, see, smell, and feel the same magical places that the heroes always found themselves in, be it by a fate’s call, following their dreams and passions, or even stumbling into one as part of the long adventure.

As he grew older, his time for reading was eaten away by responsibilities. The infinite corridor of the school, college, and work was grey and dull, had no doors on the sides, requiring him to walk forward and forward, leaving behind colorful paintings of knights and witches.

Was he happy to be a hero of the story now? After seeing a man choke on his own blood, getting his own lungs full of smoke and powder, Joe could honestly say to himself, that above all adventures in the world, he would much prefer a comfy bed, a sandwich, and a cup with warm tea inside.

But even then, he couldn’t help, but tiredly grin in delight, when the Captain, a walking tree with a tricorne, with two sabers in his branchy hands, jumped across a gap between the ships, landing near a group of people, who were taken aback by such brazen and reckless action. Followed shortly by a scaled-up black humanoid lynx, who pulled himself up on the side of the ship, before making a superhuman jump across, closer to the Control Room on the other side, pulling a pistol out just before a landing and shooting a poor unfortunate soldier in the head. Some of the Morning Star crew followed them shortly after, into a bloody mess of a fight.

Joseph decided to stay back on his side. No experience in melee combat meant higher chances of being a nuisance. He reloaded a rifle, refilled a magazine to full, concentrated, and shot.

His unfortunate target gagged, being shot through the neck. The nauseating feeling took Joe over; his hands started shaking again. He went back into the cover, forced himself to take a deep breath, and concentrate only on his hands.

That calmed him down somewhat. He took another shot - this time, his aim remained steady. He forced the image of a dying man out of his mind - which didn't work at all - but for now, all that mattered was shooting and reloading, shooting and reloading.

Alchfrid and Xander became a hurricane of death - when one was taking a blow on his sword, another would shoot his assailant point-blank. When Captain cut an abdomen of a soldier, the quartermaster kicked another idiot, who was aiming for Alchfrid’s back, sending poor schmuck flying like a football ball.

The fight didn’t take long. The captain of the enemy ship dropped his weapons first. The rest of his crew followed his example shortly after.

A victory. Short and brutal, but sweet nonetheless.

*****

“Head, or lead! Drop your sticks and sit quieter than a dead mouse! We are taking your cargo! If anyone moves a muscle, I will plunge every single one of you into daemonic flames, rip your eyes out, and feed them to you, while you are still crawling!

Alchfrid’s shouting has reached Xander’s ears. The fight was over, but it never hurt to be on the lookout for a hero. The men of the Threshold were people of pride and tenacity - giving them an opportunity to strike back, even if it seemed like his crew was outnumbering theirs and most of the enemy soldiers were kept down on their knees, disarmed, Xander was not taking chances. He helped his men to carry out some crates of ammo, food, and whatever valuables he could find in the hold. There wasn’t much - the privateer ship crew probably offloaded the loot somewhere before engaging their ship.

The cannon rounds came in handy. Their ammunition reserve was rapidly dwindling - the last month for the roughest Xander has ever experienced, with an unexpected increase in Sumeilien patrols everywhere near major hunting grounds. As a 'bonus', the Empire ships were now able to keep up with Morning Star, forcing them to fight their way out almost every single time.

Xander turned off the ship engine in Control Room. He pulled out a dagger he took off one of the privateers, broke off a handle, and pushed a blade into a gap between a lever and a panel. That would give them enough time to leave before privateers would be able to fly the ship again.

He returned to the deck. The hooks were already removed, except for one. At this point, they were basically dragging the enemy ship with their own. He signaled to Captain to return on their ship, before hook breaks.

They waited until the last of their crew would return to the ship, before jumping back themselves. Xander threw the hook off the board, while Alchfrid gestured to helmsmen that they are free to accelerate.

The 'wyvern' ship has faded into the void. The 'eagle' ship was nowhere to be seen.

*****

“'Hooray' for another day of gore and fire, bloody void…” Alchfrid kept himself from swearing, but Joe heard a resentful tone, coming from him.

Tree and a cat, name a better duo. Still, while Captain sounded a bit tired, Xander was looking just fine. They both approached him, likely intending to walk inside the ship.

“How are you doing, lad? You seem to be falling for that rifle. Are the girls no more to your liking, after feeling a taste of blood? How was it, by the way?”

It took a couple of seconds for Joe to realize, what in the world he was talking about - his hands were still gripping a rifle in a tight hug. He lowered it, before answering.

“Salty…”

Captain shook his head, breaking into quiet laughter. The dragoncat only looked at him in confusion.

“I saw you kill a few of them back there.” Xander turned his gaze to Joe. “You did alright.”

It was probably closest to a compliment he would ever get from this guy, but Joe was fine with that. Quartermaster walked past him to the door.

“Alch, I’ll be in a Hold in you need me.”

And so, he was gone.

“A rough morning, huh? It’s just a small skirmish, see. Sometimes, you have two 'wyverns' on each side, while small flies block you way forward and backward, and then you have some Tearings too… Say, how do you feel?”

“Fine, I think… just tired a bit. Also, I think I need something for this rifle, to hold it…”

“You really fell in love with her, huh?”

“She had been more useful, than most relationships in my life.” Says he, who never had any girlfriend whatsoever.

Alchfrid chuckled.

“If you need a scabbard, I think there are some in the Hold. Or just take a couple of belts off the corpses, and slap them on. Oh, wait, we just tossed them off…”

“Pretty morbid.”

“Is it?” Joe could swear that all six eyes were focused on him at the moment. “We take whatever we can in the Threshold. Besides, we keep keepsakes for their families. This is the best one can do, anyway - we don’t have time to bury them. And keeping them on a ship… Roth will murder me on the spot if he ever spots a dead body anywhere on a ship.”

Joe recalled a conversation in a medical room.

“Wait a second… doesn’t doctor like to… experiment?”

Alchfrid nodded.

“He does, but first, it’s a secret. An open secret among the officers, but not a crew. Only a handful of them are aware.”

Joe wasn’t going to lie to himself - it was quite nice to feel special at this moment.

“Second, Roth tries his best to keep a ship clean. No bodies where they don’t belong. Bad for hygiene, he says.”

“I see.”

They both fell into silence. Joseph was looking into the void, enjoying the calming view of the colors flowing into one another. The Threshold was beautiful - hard to believe, that just half an hour ago people were trying to kill him, and he shot several of them in return.

The memory completely ruined his mood, but Joe was glad that it did. He never thought he was capable of taking someone else’s life. During a gunfight, he was able to push his doubts away - only for them to come back in full force now.

Just an animal, indeed…

To distract himself, he turned to a Captain. How in the world was it possible for a literal tree, tall and white, dressed in a black-red uniform, to breathe, walk around and talk? Not to mention, slice his way through a group of armed thugs so casually, so efficiently, without a hint of hesitation…

Joe recalled a brief scene from a fight. Captain blocked a sword of one soldier, letting it slide off while cutting the neck of another with a swift slice. Without stopping, he pierced the first one straight through a back, using him as a shield, while blocking a pistol shot with his left saber.

“You have quite a look on your face. Afraid of me?”

“A bit.” He was.

Alchfrid chuckled, mockingly shaking his head in disappointment.

“And here I thought we can have a beautiful relationship. Leave a fear for the enemies, anyone on this ship is a brother to me! We don’t accept freeloaders, but it is a reasonable trade-off, don’t you agree?”

“Sounds reasonable. Captain, can I ask for a favor?”

“Heh. Aren’t we progressing a little too fast for that?”

“We are, but If you can humor me for a moment…”

Captain waved his hand.

“Just a joke. What do you need?”

Joseph looked around him. All he saw was an endless colorful void. He saw faraway shining stars, he saw a sun behind Captain’s back - now white and bright, though for some reason he wasn’t blinded by it at all. His thoughts went back to the past, to the small town he was living in, to his coworkers (friends?) he was often berating for under-performing (then shared drinks with them all the same), to the mysterious white light coming to Earth like a meteor…

What actually happened at that moment? Joe wasn’t sure if he would ever find an answer to that. But if there was an answer in this world, however improbable the chance was, then exploring Threshold was his only bet. Learn about the people, races, and countries. Learn about the creatures that could inhabit such a place, about mysteries that were hidden behind a veil. This world was hostile - the words he heard and encounters he experienced were proof enough.

Alchfrid was still waiting for his answer.

“Captain, I want to learn how to fight like you and fly a ship.”

Six eyes were staring at him. Captain let out a weird gurgling sound.

Then he laughed. And he kept laughing, getting louder and louder.

“Wahaha! Really?! Me?! To teach?! You?!!”

Joe was patiently waiting. Finally, Captain calmed down enough, though he was still chuckling to himself for a while afterward.

“That was worth a good laugh, lad… It took us a good dozen years to reach the top of the hill you are seeking to climb on. Me, Xander, Ralf, Roth… and that’s only the ones you know. You seem to have a head on your shoulder - why would you seek to learn from me?”

“I want to explore Threshold - to figure out what happened to me. I only came to know four of you by now, and you, Captain, is the only one who I can really ask, who has the skills and experience for a task.”

The piercing gaze he was rewarded with has nailed Joe to a deck, making him unable to move. He was completely sure that Captain was actually looking into his soul.

Surprisingly, it was the Captain who turned his eyes away first.