The hazy light filled the air. I paddled the kayak a little faster. All I could see was grey fog surrounding me. Creatures bumped into the kayak and it gently swayed. I felt a gentle bump as my kayak jolted, almost knocking me out of the boat. I made my way through the swamp, trees and vines extending out of the water, damp and wet. Something gripped my paddle. Piranhas.

My heart raced as the piranhas gnawed at my paddle, ripping it to shreds. I forcefully pulled the paddle out of the water, but then they began to gnaw in the kayak. I scrambled to move my paddle faster through the murky water. My heart sank into my chest. I didn’t have a paddle anymore. Fear gripped my heart, and I wasn’t just about to stick my hands in the dirty, disease-filled water. I acted as if nothing had happened. I didn’t pull my phone out of my pocket. I continue to flow through the murky water, now increasingly slow. 

My heart began to slow down. The intense heat burned my skin. My hat slid off my head. Something long bumped the boat. And I was taken to somewhere new. A cave, no, more like a cavern. A man, shaggy, dark beard and rustled eyebrows greeted me. He had a fire going, and I was wrapped in a slimy blanket. 

“You’re awake,” he said. 

“Who are you?” I demanded. 

“Don’t worry. You looked like you needed some saving, so I had my eel help you,” he said.

“I was going to get somewhere new, not in here!” I shouted.

“Relax, your destination is just beyond this cavern,” he added.

I got up. Throwing my blanket toward him. He caught as it gracefully fell onto the ground. I walked through the dark corridors of the cavern, before a large archway with pillars was before me. Gates flung open with a cobblestone sign that said New Tower. The tower was right in front of me, it rose up into the air, delicate and intricate designs. 

“Name,” a robotic voice asked.

I stared up at the long, protruding tip of the tower, and I proceeded to tell the robot my name. 



The journey had been completed after all…