We didn't run into any other turtles quite the size of the first, for after all a predator of that magnitude cleared an area around themselves. However we did meet several smaller versions, half or less the size but still dangerous. These we sent away with a barrage of cold, something they both understood and disliked. After all, a cold blooded animal such as a turtle couldn't really function if its body got too chilly.

Who knew, with magic being real there was a non-zero chance that there was a bigger turtle still, one on whose back we lived. I personally doubted it, but it would be ironic in the extreme if we indeed lived on such a creature. Perhaps one day I'd figure out both a camera and a way to get it high enough to look. A joke like that could take centuries to make come to pass though, so I wasn't holding my breath.

It wasn't until our first month into our journey that we saw our first sign of people, which was saying something, as we were moving at a rapid clip. There were buildings ahead, but no movement among them, no people going to or fro. All three of us shared a look of concern as we approached, for this was certainly not normal. In almost every village we'd found so far there were people around, spotters that picked us out well before we made it to the village proper.

The village itself was seated upon a hill above the waters, two long almost sandbar like protrusions sticking out and meeting at a wide angle. There was a little outgrown place looking almost like a dock, trees molded to stick out where boats might land, but there were no boats here. Small bays lay barren where people could have brought canoes or other small boats.

We pulled up along the side of it, the front of our raft bouncing against the clearly unnatural trees as we tied off with some vines.

“Where are they all?” Chien asked.

“I don't know, but something's up here. Stick together, and keep your eyes open for danger.”

With careful steps we moved towards the nearest structure, a small hut. There was no door, in most places that was normal enough, but what we found inside wasn't. The beds were still in place, though clearly rotting, their boughs and leaves used for a mattress old, weeks, perhaps months gone. A few baskets of poor make were here and there, and tools of much the same, older, more worn ones.

Finding nothing of note we moved on, each house the same, devoid of people, abandoned some time ago. Everything was arranged in a circle, and that was the only reason I didn't fall into the central fire pit. This place was organized much like my home village had been, with houses grouped around a large area for fires and sitting, shared meals, and stories.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Justin?” Isha asked as she saw me looking at it, plants had grown into the little hole in the ground, leaving the stones covered with leaves.

“Let's finish looking around, then we'll talk.”

I'd calmed a bit, and so long as we didn't see any trees with CROATOAN written on them I figured I'd remain so.

“This place is creeping me out,” Chien said after we'd finished up, he'd been silent for most of this, looking around jumpily.

“What do you see?” I asked.

“Empty houses, abandoned it looks like,” he said, and Isha nodded along.

“I don't like it,” she added.

“What don't you see?” When both of them looked at me with confusion I added on. “No food, no bodies, all the tools look like old ones, not the favorites of whoever made them, no toys for children, no boats either. Haven't even seen a sign of fighting.”

“You think they went on their own?” Isha asked.

“Yes, but why? The land here doesn't look too different from what we've seen elsewhere. There's plenty of game to hunt, and while I don't really know the plants they would be eating I'd guess there's enough of those too.” Both of my companions nodded, seeming uncomfortable at that too.

“They're probably the furthest out right?” Chien asked.

“Close to if not,” I agreed.

“Well, then maybe they pulled in for some reason. If a better spot opened up they could? And the coastal villages said they'd not seen anyone in forever.”

“But that wasn't odd either,” Isha pointed out.

“We'll have to wait until we see the next village, if there's another somewhere around they'd know.”

Agreeing we set back off, there was no real reason to stay here.

One large bonus to this place though was that there were clear inroads and out-roads, places where the water was just a bit deeper, the path through the swamps a bit wider. It pointed us in at least the right direction if we were heading deeper in.

Through following those paths, and a bit of luck two weeks later we found another village. However it was as the first, empty and long abandoned. A week after that another, also devoid of life. We all began to dread seeing any hills sticking above the water, any signs that there may have been life. The mystery ate at our minds and into our dreams, making us stir from our sleep in the night.

If we'd found a forth village without any people in it I might have called the whole operation off, scared of what might have caused such a depopulation, but to our luck we didn't find such a thing. No, in what had to have been the largest spot of dry land yet we found a sprawling cadre of homes, figures visible walking about. We even saw a boat or two out on the water, spears in hands showing they were fishing.

People waved, perking up and calling as we approached, a few pointing us to their own little landing area. However I noticed that it too seemed to hold less boats than I'd expect, even if some were out working for the day.

“Welcome strangers, you're lucky to have caught us before we finished packing our things, heading inwards?” asked one of the locals as he came to meet us.

“Yes, from far off though, where is everyone?” I inquired. “We've seen nothing but abandoned villages for weeks.”

If there was one thing I loved about elven society it was that linguistic drift was almost zero. With crotchety ancients demanding others spoke as they did and the fact that we could live theoretically forever everywhere we went speech was intelligible. One only need to look briefly at British linguistic history to know that wasn't a normal thing on Earth.

“Oh I see, well come sit with me and I'll tell you what you need to know.”