“What do you mean th-” It then hit me. We had forgotten about our ship back to Oxford!

“Wyvern, we have to go see if it’s still there!! We might have a chance.” Calypso told me urgently.

“I’ll tell everybody, figure out which way we need to go because I honestly, frankly have no idea where we are at the moment.” I explained to Calypso.

“Gotcha, friend.” Calypso replied with a nod of his own.

“Kaden, Sorren.” I began, hoping this would go as I hoped. “Uh- we need to get back to the docks. I am afraid we may have um… missed our ship home.”

“OH- I completely forgot!” Kaden slumped down.

“So did I-.. sorry ‘bout that mate..” Sorren reached for the back of the neck sheepishly.

“It’s alright, we just need to get back as soon as we can.”

Icho had turned to me and was listening, I directed my attention to him.. I hoped he wouldn’t be mad.

“Icho, our ship was supposed to leave earlier so we need to go back to the docks to see if it is still there- We may have missed it. Please inform your mother on how lovely her pastries are and that it was lovely to meet her. I hope to see her again sometime in the near future.”

“That’s alright! Glad you were able to visit us and hope you come back soon. I’ll miss you.” Icho replied.

“We might be back, you never know!” Calypso chimed in. I nodded.
We waved to Icho and walked off, quite quickly, almost a run, towards the docks to see if our ship home was still there.. But a feeling I had told me otherwise. It was now starting to get dark.. Ish. I started to run full-on, I needed to get there. I didn’t know how the docks worked here, when the next ship would be or if British ships came here often.

We arrived at the dock shortly after, I jogged up to one of the workers who was surprisingly still here at this hour. He seemed taken aback to see me.

“Aye there, what can I help ya’ with?” His accent was familiar.. Australian.

“Did the ship from Oxford leave already?” I asked, completely out of breath.

“Sorry, mate.. It left about an hour and a half ago. There should be one again next week? About that.” He said. It was like a slap in the face.

“Thanks..” I trailed back to my group of friends, waiting in a huddled position a bit behind. They were seated in the grass.

“So?” Sorren looked up at me.

“He said it left about an hour and a half ago.. And that there will not be another ship going or coming from Oxford for at least another- week.”

“What?! A week?!” Kaden exclaimed. I nodded.

“We could go back to Icho and explain to him and his mom what happened?” Calypso offered.

That seemed like a reasonable solution I figured. We stood and trailed back into the village, retracing our steps back to his mother’s bakery despite it being partially dark outside.

When we arrived, to my delight, she was cleaning the counters of the bakery. I could see her through the windows of the shop yet when I tried to open the door, it was locked. Calypso started to tap on the glass gently.

“Mrs. Icho’s Mom!” He shouted.

The woman turned and looked at us, her expression surprised and concerned. She snatched a small bronze key off of the counter and unlocked the wooden door.

“Boys! What are you doing here? I thought you went on the ship back home after exploring the marketplace with Icho. That’s what he told me at least!” She questioned.

“We forgot about our ship home, it was supposed to leave earlier. We were just at the docks and the person working there explained to us that the ship had left just about two hours ago and that there wouldn’t be any ships for about another week. However he didn’t seem so sure about his estimation..” I explained to her, pondering what her reply to me would be.

“Oh gosh..” She heaved a sigh. “I’m sorry about that. Fortunately for you, my husband, Icho’s dad, owns an inn here in town, very close to our home. You can stay there for all the time you need and I will make sure he takes care of you..” She paused and was seemingly counting how many of us there were in her head. Calypso giggled. “Four. Yes, four.” She concluded.

“Thank you, it is very much appreciated that you would do this for us despite you barely knowing who we are and where we came from.”

“Say, ma’am.” Sorren slid in. I hoped he wouldn’t say something stupid. “Would you like our help tomorrow in your lovely bakery? I think it’d be fitting for you to allow us to stay free in your husband’s inn.”

She arched an eyebrow, seemingly surprised at the Australian boy’s offer. “That would be great, I appreciate the offer. I promise that it won’t be too hard. Icho will most likely be here tomorrow since he doesn’t have school tomorrow.”

We all, coincidentally, nodded at the same time. Icho’s mother trailed back into the shop, letting us in as well and finished cleaning up then closed up the shop. She walked with us to the inn where would be staying for, in all honesty, I didn’t truly know how long. She opened the wooden door, similar to the one she had at the bakery, I found it quite pretty and artistic. There was a large boxed-in desk that a man was standing behind, shelves were labeled and keys hung on small hooks in the tiny boxes.

“Marina! It is quite late, I have been waiting for you.” He exclaimed.. Well at least now I knew her name.

“Love, you know I have to clean the bakery up every night. It takes a bit sometimes. Icho found these boys from Europe and took them around the village.. But their ship home left without them. Do you have a room for them currently?” She explained.

“Well.. of course I do.” He nodded, looking at all four of us. “Might want a bigger room for four people..”

“Thank you sir for letting us stay here.” I said abruptly.

“No problem, young man. Sorry about the whole situation that is going on right now.”

“It’s fine. Not your fault.” I shrugged, hoping he didn’t truly feel guilty..

“Alright, Marina, can you take them up to the room? Show them where a bit of things are while I bring up some of the things they will need here in their stay.” He asked, already starting to gather a small wooden crate full of things. The only thing in the crate I could identify was soap.

Marina took us up two staircases, the inn was very cottage-like and was mostly dark wood, red carpets and every door looked the same as the one we came through to get inside. There weren’t too many windows that I could, but I did guess there would be one in the room. She led us into one with a small gold plate on the front that said ‘38.’ There were 2 large beds, a couple of bookshelves and as I suspected, a large window. Overall, it was quite nice.

“This is very aesthetic and cottage-like.”

“Thank you, I hope you find it comfortable here. If you need anything, just let my husband know. He is usually at the front desk, or somewhere in the lobby.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Icho’s Mom!” Squeaked Calypso. She nodded with a short smile as she walked out, Sorren gave her a quirky thumbs up.

“Welp.. uh. I think I’ll sleep on the floor.” I commented and settled down in a corner.

“I call the cool looking couch!” Sorren yelped, dashing over to the sofa.

Kaden and Calypso looked at each and shrugged, settling down each in one of the beds. I folded by arms and leaned back a little against the wall and closed my eyes, heaving a sigh.

I opened my eyes and I was laying on a.. Wait a mushroom? Where was I? Standing, I started to explore. The place was covered in seemingly bio-luminescent plants, large mushrooms 5 times the size of me and other peculiar things. It was night time but it was so bright in the area, I couldn’t truly tell. The pathways were stone, lined with small rocks and the grass or.. What looked like grass was purple. Flowers in interesting shapes and sizes were everywhere, where in the world was I?

“Follow.. The light.” A raspy voice said. I jumped.

“What light?! There is light everywhere!” I called out.. I was scared.

“Follow.. The light.” It repeated. Then a bright yellow-colored light appeared in front of me. It swirled around me and then took the shape of a cat. It was glowing.. And only still a light. It had no fur, details, eyes, just a shape.

“Follow.. The light.” It said again. Why did it keep saying that?! Then in an instant, it ran away. I chased it and it took me to a large waterfall. The water was a light green, not contaminated, swampy green, but brightly colored and neon looking.

“Step.. into.. The water.” It said, turning to me. It had transformed back into a ball of light. I stepped in, I was about ankle deep in the green substance. It felt like water but.. Had an interesting feel along with it.

“What are you? What do you want from me and how did I get here?” I questioned it.

“I.. am a creature.. That dwells in this place. Come, explore with me.” I swayed to the side and drifted away, I followed it.

“Be.. cautious..” It paused and said.

We continued to walk around the place, it was now brought to my attention that this was a cave with such a dense amount of plants, ivy and moss, it just didn’t seem like it. I wondered if I could get out.. By going through the wall. Maybe it was hollow behind the plants. I stepped inside and found my suspicion to be true, hollow. I tried to step out again but.. I was trapped. I was boxed in. I then started to sink into the floor, my heart raced and I tried to pull my legs out. Nothing was working! The stone wall was taking me down, I screamed for the creature yet it didn’t appear, I was now half way sunken into the wall.

“Wyvern!” A different voice shouted, it was.. Calypso?

“Calypso?!” I called back.

“Wyvern, wake up!”

I couldn’t call back anymore, my face was in the wall and then within an instant, I was full engulfed. I jumped and opened my eyes. In front of me was Calypso.

“You were having a bad dream.” He said.

“Oh thank goodness-” I heaved a sigh and slumped my shoulder down. “What time is it?”

“About 8:30 AM.”

“Oh. We should get to Marina’s bakery then.” Calypso nodded in reply.

I was now realizing no one else was in the room. Maybe they had left already? I didn’t question. I got ready and then walked out the door with Calypso, waving to Marina’s husband on the way out. I peaked at his name tag that said ‘Jonas.’ At least now, I knew his name. We walked out and people were already out and about, it was decently busy for this time of day. I looked around, pondering what else the day would throw in my path. The answer to that question, I didn’t know..

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Hello! Thank you for reading chapter seven of Voyager! Hope you enjoyed and let me know if you have any feedback! I post a chapter of a story every day if you would like to read more! Links below are other chapters. :) Have a blessed day!
Chapter 1: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/voyager-chapter-1/
Chapter 2: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/voyager-chapter-2/
Chapter 3: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/voyager-chapter-3/
Chapter 4: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/voyager-chapter-4/
Chapter 5: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/voyager-chapter-5/
Chapter 6: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/voyager-chapter-6/
Chapter 8: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/voyager-chapter-8/
Chapter 9: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/voyager-chapter-9/
Chapter 10: https://www.planetminecraft.com/blog/voyager-chapter-10/