Following The Firegulls

Minos would never stop his journey, his ambition and drive was unquenchable. While he couldn't explain this sensation, he knew it was impossible for him to stop. As long as there were things to be done, he would do them.

So even though he felt a little bad for the siblings, he wouldn't stop, not for anyone. With his resolve steeled, he pulled out his tracking talisman to see where the firegulls had gone.

They had begun gathering near the edge of the island, as if they were ready to take off at any moment. Minos knew his time was running short, so with his full speed he burst towards Volcamie Ports to get to his boat.

With his tremendous speed, it didn't take much time to reach the port. Unanchoring his boat from the wooden pier, he used the large paddle to take towards the vast seas.

Just by looking out, he could occasionally see some firegulls soaring through the sky as they cawed loudly. He rowed his boat deeper into the Endless Seas as he waited patiently for the flock of firegulls to begin their migration.

The flock in the sky got denser as time passed, and soon enough an especially large firegull flew out, cawing loudly.

Its caw seemed to be a signal, and all the other firegulls cawed back in response. As if the entire flock had come to an agreement, they began flying out into the Endless Seas.

Minos began rowing with all his strength, trying to keep up with the birds. Unfortunately the boat simply couldn't keep up, but Minos was already prepared for this, hence why he tagged a few of the firegulls with tracking talisman's.

Using the talisman as a guide, Minos headed farther into the vast seas. It didn't take much time for Volcamie Island to disappear completely from his view.

Minos originally thought the journey would be a short one, but as the days passed, he realized his estimations were completely off.

It had already been three days since he began rowing, and the piece of sea he was currently in was completely unidentifiable using a regular map. Using his perfect memory, however, he managed to update the map as he traveled.

The tracking talisman could ultimately only track within a certain distance, hence Minos had to make sure he was moving fast enough or he'd lose the firegull's trail and this whole trip would be rendered useless.

Because of that, he had to use pretty much every moment rowing, only sleeping in quick ten minute bursts.

The sun rose and set in tedium as Minos spent everyday rowing patiently, not having much time to do anything else.

The days would be torturous to anyone else, but Minos managed to stay patient throughout the journey. His heart nature had long since metamorphosed ever since he went fishing with the Salt Breathing Tribe, so he could deal with the boredom easily.

Two more days passed as Minos rowed, the action long since becoming muscle memory. His eyes were beginning to shut as he was about to drift off into another power nap, but just before he closed them, he noticed the tracking talisman at his side.

The red-dots that had been moving non stop since day one, finally halted. They began circling on top of the talisman paper as if they had found what they were looking for.

Minos quickly shook away his tiredness as he realized what just happened. With a renewed burst of vigor, he began rowing at full force.

An island with a massive volcano soon appeared over the horizon, and Minos could see the firegulls circling the island. There were multiple flocks flying around, as if it was a grand gathering of firegulls.

'This must be the island where they mate.' Minos thought to himself as his boat finally reached the island's sandy beach.

Jumping off, he used his tremendous strength to lug the boat onto the sand so it wouldn't drift into the sea. After making sure it was secured on the land, he headed into the island.

The most special thing about the island was naturally its volcano, however compared to Volcamie Island, the volcano here seemed much more inert.

The volcano on Volcamie Island was usually spewing out gasses, but the volcano here was empty, not expelling anything.

Minos was curious as to why the firegulls, who preferred heat, would choose to mate on an island with a dead volcano, but they soon answered his question.

The flock began moving, with the firegull kings taking the lead. They began diving head first into the dead volcano, disappearing, as if they had just been swallowed by a massive beast.

Minos watched in wonder as the firegulls dived into the volcano's opening. It didn't take much time for all the firegulls to vanish within the volcano, leaving the island desolate once more.

The firegulls didn't seem afraid at all of the potential heat within the volcano, so Minos decided to follow their lead.

Curling his fingers inwards like they were claws, Minos began stabbing his fingers deep into the volcano wall as he slowly climbed towards the top.

The mountain was incredibly steep, but with Minos's strength and endurance, the journey was relatively simple, and it didn't take much time for Minos to reach the top.

Using his strength to fling himself up from the edge, he landed softly on the rim of the volcano.

He couldn't help but look back and appreciate the view from high above, however most of his view was occupied by blue empty seas.

Turning back, he looked downwards towards the volcano. The firegulls were perched on the sides of the volcano, and occasionally a pair of firegulls would take to the sky and begin fighting.

It seemed they were brawling for mating rights, but whatever their ritual was didn't really concern Minos. He ignored them as he began heading deeper into the volcano, using jutting rocks as landing points as he jumped from one to another.

The firegulls soon noticed Minos, and began cawing loudly in a threatening manner. Unfortunately for them, their threats were useless to Minos, which he ignored as he headed deeper into the volcano.

The firegulls seemed ready to get violent, their loud screeching caws reverberating through the hollow volcano, but seeing Minos quickly disappear deeper into the volcano, they began calming down.

Luckily the firegulls didn't get violent, or else Minos's journey would have been much more annoying.

The area became darker as Minos headed into the belly of the beast, and he eventually had to pull out a trusty shining talisman. It had been a while since he used one of these, and he couldn't help but feel nostalgic.

With the shining talisman guiding his way, Minos headed even deeper. The bottom of the volcano soon led into a dense jungle of snake-like tunnels that traveled in all sorts of directions.

It was akin to a maze, with all tunnels leading back towards the volcano, however where these tunnels themselves went, was a mystery.

Traveling through each tunnel independently was naturally impossible given how many there were. However with that conclusion, Minos found himself hitting another wall.

He couldn't help but think back to the riddle, hoping there was some sort of hint that may tell him where to go.

'Betrayed and broken, a volcano waiting for eruption. Destruction to rebirth, onto sandy shores, and deep into tropical jungles. Treasures, through certain measures, as light as feathers. Each word in the riddle seems to be paired with another, for example betrayed and broken, volcano and eruption, destruction and rebirth. Does that mean anything?'

'Sandy shores and tropical jungles, treasures and feathers? Does it mean anything or am I overthinking. If taken in the most literal way, there are five pairs, does it mean I should take the fifth tunnel?'

'But even that doesn't really tell me much since I wouldn't even know where to begin counting the tunnels. Any of these tunnels could be the fifth since I don't even know which one is the first…'

Once again, Minos found himself hitting a wall. Using his split souls, he began thinking of the riddle through multiple different perspectives, and as the wrong answers were filtered out, Minos seemed to get closer to the truth.

'It was the firegulls that led me to the island, so maybe the real answer lies in them?' Minos thought to himself.

With no other ideas, Minos headed back up the volcano. After a quick search, he found a sole firegull that was far away from its peers.

Why exactly it was separated from the other firgulls was another question Minos didn't bother to answer. Taking advantage of its loneliness, Minos snatched it before it could react.

The firegull began cawing loudly as Minos held it in one hand. Minos quickly shut its beak with two fingers, bringing the bird to a silence.

The bird squirmed violently in Minos's hand, but he ignored its struggle. Soon, he brought the firegull back down towards the dense intricate tunnels.

Using a few two-moon earthwall talismans to seal the roof, Minos tossed down the firegull, forcing it to choose a tunnel. The bird also seemed to realize its circumstance, and as if it already knew the answer, it chose a tunnel almost immediately.

Minos chased after the firegull as it flew down the tunnel. The walls began restricting inwards as the bird and man traveled deeper into it.

Soon Minos began crouching as the tunnel got more narrow, and eventually the crouch was reduced to a crawl.

The firegull also lost its ability to fly in the tight space, forced to walk awkwardly. The two began moving in silence, as if they had come to terms.

The rugged rocks on the walls began digging into Minos's flesh, leaving cuts and lacerations on his skin. He ignored the pain, maintaining his crawl speed as if nothing was happening.

Fortunately for Minos, the torture soon seemed to come to an end, and a dot of light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

Eventually Minos reached the dot of light, and using all his strength, he pulled himself out of the tight hole, falling out of the tunnel onto a mound of grass. As he stood up from the grass, he couldn't help but be shocked by the world that greeted his eyes.