The Scarlet Thread Irregulars (Serial Story) — Chapter 4

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12


Chapter 4: My team is ambushed by cryptids and I lose my cousin

Wednesday the 11th of October, 2006 – Shields Crossing, Ontario

“What the hell is that?” Ursula asked. 

“I think ‘Hell’ is exactly what it is,” replied Grant. 

I could tell neither of them had heard the scream through mindspeak, which meant it was Sylvie. “The other group’s in trouble, we’ll look into this place later.” 

Turning to run, I hoped they would follow. 

Al, get over here. I don’t think I can fight this off for much longer. Sylvie’s voice sounded strained but also excited.

Give me a sign as to where you are, I said. The woods were huge, and other than south, I had no idea where they’d gone.

The mosquitoes seemed to get thicker. They buzzed and bit before suddenly disappearing. I attributed it to the dropping temperature. Between the sun setting and moving away from the house, it was getting colder fast. 

A bright pillar of light slashed the sky. Thanks. We’re on our way.

She didn’t reply and a few moments later the light went out. The forest got thicker and I fought my way through until we reached the edge of a cliff overlooking the shore. I almost fell but managed to stop.

“Where are they?” asked Grant between breaths. He needed more running practice.

“There!” Ursula said, pointing at a cave on the rocky beach.

The sunset turned vivid red and a cool wind swept up the river. Just as I was going to argue, a small bear-like creature came out of the cave and started howling. Its jaws opened to a ninety degree angle and froth dripped from its mouth.  

The sound of its howl sent a shiver of fear through me, and just as quickly as it had started, the howl was replaced by the most amazing sound. Like music, love, and warmth had been combined. I wanted nothing more than to go toward that sound. 

I heard Grant swear and felt him try to grab me, but I fought him. I ran straight for the cave, not caring that there was a six foot drop to the beach. I felt the freedom of running on air followed by a fall but not the landing.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up in the cave with the rest of the group, covered in blood, with a massive headache.

Grant stood over us wearing earbuds and brandishing his sword. “Are you okay?” he yelled.

I patted myself down and gave him the thumbs up. He took out the earbuds and gave a deep sigh.

There were three creatures around us. Each had been hacked by a sword, none were moving. 

Seeing the creatures closer up, I recognized the short soft grey-brown fur and the shape of its head. Mostly I recognized the large venom sacks under its neck. “Grant? How did you take out three adlats?” 

Adlats are some of the most dangerous cryptid creatures on earth. They lure people in with their song and then pump them full of venom that both paralyses and heals. They slowly eat a person’s quintessence, their soul, and drain their blood. The older the adlat, the longer they can feed on one person.  

“I put in my earbuds the moment I heard the howl and blasted The Kings of Rock. I tried to stop you from running off that cliff but you fell, and wow were you broken. Like, your legs were both bent the wrong way and I saw you wheezing really bad. Then one of those things bit you, and your legs popped back into place like an inflatable mattress but, like, gross.”

“Gross,” Ursula repeated in a flat voice. “Stick to drawing because your descriptions are terrible.”

Robin gave a little shriek from the other side of the cave and my heart sank until she said, “I’m fine, but I think we’ve found our killers. There are two more bodies back here that are desiccated like the man in the morgue.”

 “Can we sound off?” I asked and each person said their name and that they were unhurt, except for Sylvie. “Sylvie? If you’re dead, I’m going to bring you back and kill you.” I was hoping that if she were unconscious, my voice would wake her. I repeated the same thing in mindspeak in case she was out of earshot.

“Can he do that?” asked Grant with fear in his voice.

Once again deadpan, Ursula answered, “Probably not.”

I got up and gave him a stern look. I reached into my pocket for my phone and found it in pieces. I needed light and summoned my sword. It glowed softly and with a thought I turned up the light. The cave was illuminated, showing me my team, two desiccated corpses, dirt, the hacked remains of the adlats, and lots of blood.

“What happened?” I asked Robin.

“We were searching the woods when we heard a roar behind us, and then there was this beautiful music. That’s all I remember.”

“No idea what happened to Sylvie?” I asked.

Clifford said, “No,” and then suggested, “What about the tracking spell?”

I shook my head and said, “I didn’t make a packet for her.” We each had a bag with hair from the others. It allowed us to use a tracking spell if one of us goes missing. In general, Gatekeepers don’t have magic like a wizard but we can use some minor ritual based magic.

“She’s your cousin. You share blood. Assuming she’s physically closer than any other relative you should be able to find her,” he explained.  

It was worth a shot. I took my sword and pricked my index finger. Rubbing the blood on my sword, I said the words, “Let me protect my chosen family, let me have the strength to save them, and let me find the one who was lost.” The words weren’t necessary, only the intent, but they didn’t hurt.

The sword swung me around in a full turn and then pointed firmly toward where we had seen the building called “Luc’s House of the Rising Sun.” I was fairly certain that Luc was short for Lucifer and that whatever we were walking into was going to suck.

“Everyone clean yourselves off and let’s get out of here. We’re going to get my cousin and meet the Devil.” I wasn’t a religious man and I didn’t believe in the Devil, but enough people did that an Aetherborn version could be just as bad.

Read Chapter 5 (May 2025)

While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:

The Scarlet Thread Irregulars (Serial Story) — Chapter 3

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12


Chapter 3: My team finishes their pie and wanders the woods.

Wednesday the 11th of October, 2006 – Shields Crossing, Ontario

“Must have been a French Roast,” deadpanned Ursula, her deep voice never betraying the laughter I saw in her eyes.

Sylvie pulled the sword out of the puddle and asked, “Does this mean I’m King of England now?”

Clifford immediately quoted Monty Python, “‘Listen. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.’”

“They based that on us and no, you’re not a king. You’re now a Gatekeeper, a balancing force of the world. We keep magic from going wild and when it does, we clean it up. We are the Knights of the Aether,” I said, trying to make her understand that this was serious.

Sylvie raised an eyebrow and asked, “Do I have to take a vow of celibacy?”

“No?” I replied, not understanding why she was asking.

“Oh. So that’s just a you thing, not a Gatekeeper thing. Great.” She smiled mischievously at me. She always liked to tease me. This was going to be a long mission.

Coming to my defence, Ursula said, “He has Annabel.”

Eyes wide, Sylvie said, “Al, dish. Who’s Annabel?”

“You received a sword during a quest, not after it. That means you need to see it through to gain your full knighthood.” I changed the subject.

She put her free hand on her hip and said, “This talk isn’t over. How come none of you have your swords?”

I held out my hand and willed my sword into it. “You can summon your sword and dismiss it with your will. It can take months of training and even then, some have issues with it.” As I let my sword disappear, I tried really hard not to glance at Clifford. He had the hardest time learning to call his sword. We’d been working on it.

Sylvie took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment and her sword vanished.

“Wow,” Clifford said, looking a little sad.

“I’m a cop in Westmeath. I’ve seen shit,” Sylvie said, sounding way too cool. 

I scoffed and added, “She was in the military, Elmsley special forces, before quitting and joining the police force. She’s been trained to resist magic in multiple ways. It makes sense that her training would come in handy.”

“Actually, my Ronnie’s been training me to use magic items for defence,” Sylvie said, grinning as she mentioned her fiancée.

Looking really uncomfortable, Granny Pie asked, “Can I clean this up or is it religiously important?”

“No ma’am, it’s not holy and l can clean it up for you,” I said and she looked relieved. 

I retrieved the mop and bucket from the shop’s storage closet and I started to mop up the coffee while Pie explained, “There’s been some strange things going on around here.” She leaned in and whispered, “Magical.” When no one looked surprised, she continued, “Normally, the Aether here is really thick, but it’s been thinning, and I can’t figure out why. Things have been bleeding through. Nothing sapient or dangerous, but with Halloween around the corner, I’m not sure that will last.”   

“I guess we need to go check out the beach and see if there’s anything there,” Sylvie suggested.

At this point I was feeling old jealousies. She was only a few years older than me and lived in different parts of Ontario but I’d always been envious of her. She was better than me at everything, and I mean everything. I fought down the feeling and agreed. 

We finished our coffees, paid, and thanked Pie for help. Shield’s Crossing was a small town, but it was long, squished between Highway 17 and Muskrat Lake. 

We took the Volkswagen van. It was harder to drive than a minivan but easier to repair, as long as you could find the parts. It also allowed for more passengers. I guess we’re just a group of hippy knights. Who am I kidding? We were nerds at best.

We parked in the rowing club’s lot and walked to where the body had been found. Faught Beach was less of a beach and more of an opening in the woods that connected to the lake. No one with any sense would swim there. 

We looked around and found nothing useful. 

“I’m sure he died on the other side,” Robin said.

I looked up at the sky and then at my watch, “Let’s get going. We only have three hours before sunset, and we’re not ready to do a forest search in the dark.”

Sylvie looked confused and suggested, “We can get gear in town.”

I shook my head, “I’m not taking four inexperienced and one untrained knight into the wilderness in the dark.” I’d seen enough weird stuff in the cities. The woods brought out humanity’s weirdest fears and I wasn’t about to be killed by a yeti or killer duck.

The entirety of the other side of Muskrat Lake was thick forest. There were some homes on the shore but they were sparse. The roads were terrible but we made it to a lookout area with two hours to spare.

“We should split up to cover more ground,” Sylvie suggested. 

“Never split the party,” Grant said quickly.

Rolling her eyes, Sylvie said, “That’s only in Dungeons and Dragons. In real life, time is more important. Take these.” She passed out black metal rings.

The ring felt warm and I could feel it was charged with magic. There was the symbol of a tree with a maple leaf on the trunk, the logo of Yggdrasil. “What are these?” I asked.

“Coms. They work like mindspeak but they’re completely secure.” When the others gave her a blank look, she added, “It’ll let us talk mind to mind.”

“Okay fine, we split into two groups,” I started. “Sylvie, take Clifford and Robin, and search south. I’ll take Grant and Ursula and go north. We meet back here in an hour and a half.”

“Yes sir,” said my knights and Sylvie gave me a half-hearted salute.

Searching the woods isn’t the most exciting thing to do. We saw several rabbits, a lot of squirrels, a coyote, and more crows than I’d expected. We also met every damned mosquito in the area. Damn the warm fall. It was normally close to freezing at this time of year, but it had been in the low teens the whole time we’d been here.

As we walked it got hotter until I was considering taking off my leather coat. “Something’s wrong,” I said at the same time I heard a scream in my head.

I was about to turn and run to help my friends when the trees parted and a large three-storey antebellum style mansion appeared. The heat was coming off of it, and there was a large sign in the front that read, “Luc’s House of the Rising Sun.”

Read Chapter 4


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Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises – Characters

The text, "Red Day, Ere the Sun Rises: A Sun Speaker Story" over a red sun.

Characters | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Epilogue


I was told the sheer quantity of characters was a little intimidating. I started to understand as I made this list. Hopefully this will help keep the characters straight.

Hal the Sun Speaker

Hal

Born 825 Post First Earthen Emigration. A prophet called the Sun-Speaker, he gets visions from the god Sol that lives in the sun. He was raised on Venus from the age of ten.

Rose

A doctor who was part of Hal’s crew. She is currently in hiding, raising the future King of Mars with her wife Sofia.

Sofia

Former special forces in the Mars militia, she was dishonorably discharged for saving Hal’s life against orders. The first time she met him, she also beat the crap out of him. She is his former bodyguard.

Gwinevere the Second, High Queen of Venus

As a child, found Hal hiding in the luggage of the royal ship. They dated as teenagers. When he was ex-communicated from the church, she broke all ties.

Princess Lenay

Princess of Venus. She was born with an immune disorder like her mother but both were healed by Hal.

Thomas the sixth, Ruler of Mars

King of Mars being raised in exile on Earth. He was kidnapped as a child by the Venetians.

The Assassin

Suzie (AKA Helena)

Former assassin with the Maidens of Antichthon. Hal helped her uncover the corruption in the organzation and she joined his crew as his new bodyguard. They eventually developed feelings for each other and are now dating.

Samantha

The assassin trainer from the Maidens of the Antichthon. Disgraced, she was tortured and implanted with cybernetics and sent to fight in the arena. Hal healed her and the expelled cybernetics became their own person. Currently both are in charge of the The Mederei Alpha, a former gladiator ship which is now a home for refugees.

Seren Plentyn and the Secret of Hokulua Station

Seren Plentyn

An adventurous twenty-something archeologist and linguist. Member of the Children of the Stars.

Captain Jan Ng

A stern but fair life-long miliary soldier. They are the captain of the MOAS (Mother of all Suns) Warship Ennill.

Annie Musa

Wife of Seren and ace fighter pilot. Annie is sarcastic and loyal. Member of the Children of the Stars.

Mother of All Suns

The last remnants of an ancient civilization downloaded their minds into a great machine. Its power source was a sun and that sun’s consciousness merged with the people.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to my Funeral

Janet

Plutonian who discovered the secret to eternal youth. Despite looking 18, she is a brilliant doctor and scientist.

Adric

Computer and engineering genius. Helped free Callisto from mob rule with his hacking skills. Currently the engineer on Hal’s ship, the Hey Sunny.

Travis

A Mercurian pilot. Hal served as a medic on his ship. To save his life, Hal had to leave him on a pirate ship to be tortured.

Caro

The system’s strongest telepath and precog. Former member of Hal’s crew currently living on Xanthus.

Gladiators in SPACE!

Henrick Al-Mer of the house of Mers

Royal instructor to the kings and queens of Mars.

Aly

Martian-Barsoonian adviser to the King and former leader of his people.

Diamond Stars and the Galactic Heist

Diamond Stars (AKA Garnet)

Former Black-Sun operative who went rogue. Current incarnation of the Robin Hood style character Diamond Stars and captain of the Revenge. Also a recent Sun Speaker of Sol.

Onyx

Doctor on the Revenge. Boyfriend of Diamond Stars.

Sphene

Younger sister of Onyx. Weapons expert and gunner on the Revenge.

Ghost Ship Robinson

Fry

Ex-soldier and mercenary. Died on the Robinson

Hoff

Ex-soldier and mercenary. Bioscience expert on the Hey Sunny.

Teddy

Former engineer on the Hey Sunny. Died on the Robinson.

The Suns of War

Nessa Muldune

Captain of the ISS Galahad. She’s a Feline Martian who has a strong love for her crew, knowledge, and justice.

Alexandre Crowley

Senior science officer of the ISS Galahad. He’s a Serpant Tyrite who values logic over emotion.

Tanya Brook

Lieutenant weapons officer of the ISS Galahad. She’s a Sapian Martian. She’s tall, muscled, and looks like she’s been in plenty of fights.

Em Frechette

Master Sargent and communications officer of the ISS Galahad. They’re a Sapian Tyrite. 

Peri Anson

Doctor of the ISS Galahad. He’s an older Sapian Martian. His interest lies in his crew and their health above all else.

Bart Shelby

Lieutenant and pilot of the ISS Galahad. He’s Canine Arisian with plenty of years as a fighter pilot.

Arzure Pendreicht (Zuri)

Head Engineer of the ISS Galahad. She’s a young Sapian Martian, the reincarnation of King Arthur, and a Sun Speaker for Sol.

See How They Run 2022 – JenEric Movie Review

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film See How They Run.

Story

The story tries really hard to be clever and referential while still respecting the genre. It’s not a spoof or an homage, but some sort of clever combination. The great thing is that it works on all levels. Everything is laid out in the intro narration and I was still pleasantly surprised.

Score: 1

Characters

The main detective characters are clichés brought to life. They’d be almost boring if it wasn’t for the quality and charm of the actors. Unfortunately, that doesn’t apply to the whole cast, which is populated by a checklist of quirky film noir characters.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

The dialogue is a combination of period and modern and was a little jarring at times. It was however very clever and well thought out.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The director and cinematographer must have been big fans of Hitchcock and Anderson. It mostly worked as a mashup, but lacked originality and felt a little forced.

The music was strong but unmemorable.

Score: 0.5

Fun

This movie was a mystery lover’s good time. All the adults loved it, but the kids found it slow and talky. I will re-watch this one.

Score: 1

Overall

An excellent homage/comedy to the mystery genre, Christie in particular, and a fun movie. Its odd directorial choices are held together by the impressive acting from the leads.

Final Score: 3.5 Stars out of 5

 Clue – JenEric Movie Review

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 1985 film Clue.

Story

The story is fun, fast, and witty. Part of that is necessity to cover the dangling threads of story. As a mystery, it’s severely lacking. As a comedy, it’s pure gold.

I was happy to see they didn’t automatically paint the supposed gay character as evil. If anything, he was the least evil of the group. However, the “real” ending having him say he was going home to his wife sucked, although I know they had to do it for ratings reasons.

Score: 0.5

Characters

Using the Clue board game names with their own special zany character traits. Each is just silly enough to be likeable and murderous enough not to be.

The characters are quite boring, but the impressive actors manage to make them interesting.

Score: 0.5

Dialogue

This has more banter, quips, and witty dialogue than an entire season of some sitcoms. Some are good, some are bad, and a lot of them fall flat, but the sheer quantity ensures that there’s something for everyone.

Score: 0.5

Visuals and Music

The cinematography walks the line between camp and brilliance in the best possible way. The set is exquisite and the costumes are fantastic.

The music is simple but perfectly well used. Lots of nods to other mysteries and spy films.

Score: 1

Fun

This movie isn’t going to make you think super hard and it’s not so dumb it seems smart, it’s somewhere in the middle. Combined with the amazing cast and wonderful jokes, it’s a fun movie to watch. Everyone was enthralled except the 3 year old who was bored. The 6 year old did say she wished there was more time to try and guess the murderer.

Score: 1

Overall

Fast and funny this is a classic homage to the game and mystery films in general. It’s not a good mystery, but the comedy and the cinematography more than make up for it.

Final Score: 3.5 Stars out of 5

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – JenEric Movie Review

How This Works – Read Other Reviews

Hello Cinephiles,

Today we’re talking about the 2022 film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.

Story

It follows the same structure as Knives Out, in which the first half of the movie plays out like a traditional mystery and then it rewinds and shows us more from another point of view. The layers are excellent and even though I guessed the murderer before we saw a murder, I still very much enjoyed it.

Score: 1

Characters

The vapid archetypes of the main characters makes me sad at how many real life examples of them there are. They are played perfectly. Janelle Monáe is fabulous.

Score: 1

Dialogue

Daniel Craig’s accent is much more consistent in this movie and his aphorisms are subdued. My biggest complaint about the dialogue would have been how utterly filled with bullshit all the speeches by the main “disruptors” are. But that is a feature showing their characters and works despite grating on me.

Score: 1

Visuals and Music

The locations, costumes, camerawork, and editing are superb and visually stunning. This is the first non animated or superhero movie I wish could have seen on the big screen.

The music, both score and diegetic music, is picked perfectly to accentuate the story.

Score: 1

Fun

I love mysteries. My favourite being And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, which this movie borrows a lot from. It didn’t feel derivative, but more like an homage.

The 6 and 3 year olds didn’t like it, but the rest of the family did.

Score: 1

Overall

The movie’s plot is just like it’s namesake, lots of layers, pretty, and fairly clear what’s inside. A brilliant take on both modern life and the mystery genre.

Final Score: 5 Stars out of 5*


*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.