Hammer and Faith: The Battle of Shipwreck Way

The bubbling and boiling of the water was the first thing he noticed. It wasn't like any sound he had heard before, at least not in his own world. He had known that the ocean was a noisy place, though it had never bothered him. But this... this was different.

"I wonder what's going on," Wilberto said aloud to himself. He glanced around the area, searching for some sign of activity. There were no other people nearby, so he figured that whatever it was, it probably wasn't dangerous. As long as it didn't get too close, he wouldn't mind taking a look at it.

Wilberto made his way down to the shoreline, leaving his horse behind in case there was trouble. Soon after reaching the water's edge, he spotted a disturbance in the surface of the water, with bubbles rising up to the surface from deeper within the ocean. Cautiously approaching the edge of the water, he peered into it and discovered that there were indeed creatures within the water below, but they were unlike anything he had ever seen or even imagined before! The creatures seemed to be living in some sort of large dwelling on the ocean floor below; they appeared to be exiting through an opening at the top of a small hill which then drained back into the ocean through another large opening at its base.

"I must try and talk to these people," Wilberto decided out loud again. He slowly began to remove his heavy armor and weapons until all that remained was his loin cloth and boots. "If I go into their home wearing all this stuff I might scare them off."

He then dove into the water and began swimming toward one of the entrances to what looked like a dwelling carved out of rock beneath the ocean floor. The closer he got, however, something didn't seem quite right. Something about this place just felt... wrong somehow. There was an ominous feeling about this place that Wilberto couldn't quite put his finger on; almost as if it was *watching* him as he approached. When he finally reached one of the many openings leading into this strange underwater village, something about this place struck him as familiar... Familiar yet unfamiliar at once, like some sort of memory from far in Wilberto's past or maybe even from another lifetime altogether... As soon as this thought crossed his mind, however, it was gone again just as quickly-- erased from Wilberto's consciousness altogether by sheer force of will! For why would such an idea enter Wilberto's mind? It made absolutely no sense whatsoever!

Finally entering one of these strange homes built into the ocean floor beneath his own kingdom of Shipwreck Way (for he could now tell that that is where he was-- it looked very much like an old town near where his family used to live), Wilberto proceeded inside and began making his way toward what looked like a doorway leading further inward still. Reaching this doorway at last (after having passed through several rooms) he pushed open its large wooden door and stepped through into what turned out to be another large room inside that first house with more doorways leading into other rooms beyond that one! Now finding himself in what appeared to be some sort of central courtyard-like area with two other houses seeming to surround him on either side and yet another lead upward toward what seemed like a portal in what appeared to be a ceiling or perhaps even a roof above him-- Wilberto stopped dead in his tracks! A chill ran down his spine as a loud booming voice echoed throughout this entire undersea "village"-- seeming to emanate directly from every single wall surrounding him at once! It echoed over and over again until finally dying away into silence once more! Suddenly finding himself surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of people staring back at him blankly (though none spoke), Wilberto realized that they all seemed to be looking straight up at...