Andrew pulled his arm back, but not quickly enough to hide the tremor in his hands. "I'll go," he said, the words tumbling out before he could process them. "I'll go tonight. I have savings. I can buy a boat. I can—"
"Stop!" The old man barked a laugh, a sharp, ragged sound like tearing canvas. "You think you can walk into the Dragon's maw alone, boy? You think nature cares about your savings?"
The stranger shook his head, his expression turning grave. "The Emerald Throat eats the lonely. It feeds on isolation. You go alone, and you will become fertilizer before the sun sets on your first day."
Andrew blinked, the adrenaline cooling into a hard lump in his stomach. "Then what do I do?"
"You build a pack," the old man said, his eyes narrowing. "You find the others. The broken ones. The hungry ones. You need a shield, a sword, and a compass. You need people who are suitable for a journey that ends off the edge of the map."
He reached into the deep folds of his tattered coat. Andrew braced himself, half-expecting a weapon. Instead, the man produced a bottle.
It was small, made of vintage glass that seemed to ripple like water under the bar lights. It was sealed with heavy, dark wax, and inside, suspended in nothingness, was a tightly rolled scrap of parchment—an old note, yellowed with age.
The old man slammed the bottle onto the counter. It didn't shatter; it rang like a bell.
"This," he whispered, tapping the glass, "is your key. The map lies within."
Andrew reached for it, mesmerized by the way the light danced through the imperfect glass.
"Ah!" The old man slapped his hand away. "Rules, boy. The Throat demands respect."
He leaned in close, his voice dropping to a deadly serious whisper. "You do not open this here. You do not open it on the plane. You do not open it until your boots are sinking into the sand of that island. Do you understand?"
"Why?" Andrew asked, his gaze fixed on the sealed note.
"Because the journey changes the destination," the old man said cryptically. "Crush the bottle only when you arrive. There is a gift waiting inside, wrapped in the map. But if you break the seal early... the gift turns to ash, and the path closes forever."
He shoved the bottle toward Andrew.
"Take it. Find your crew. And pray you're crazy enough to survive what you find."