In the darkness of the abyss. Time was not an issue, although there were minor changes especially when there would be unannounced tremors in the abyss everything remained the same at least for Jubaic who had been watching Simon going around running.

He was happy that the boy could run now but it was just too boring for him, he wished his plans would move forward too… but it's just been a long 3 weeks and Diamelle wasn’t back yet.

Then a familiar feeling made Jubaic stand up on the rock where he was lying.

“Diamelle is back!” but it was Simon who reported what was happening. Although it was dark he could see far. The boy stopped for a while and waved. He was not sure if the woman could see him.

Diamelle answered back with a wave. The boy was happy to see the girl and began running to meet her but he stopped halfway noticing that there was someone together with the lady.

“Simon! No need to be wary, he is a friend!” Diamelle who noticed Simon’s immediate change of demeanor screamed to let him know.

Jubaic landed softly beside Simon and tapped the boy’s back. “His name is Kaibot… he is not human, he would be your new instructor!” the boy looked at him and he smiled warmly as he could.

Simon knew that Jubaic was crazy, and even though he had just met Diamelle she was right in the head and probably the only one that treated him nicely. (My boy’s a simp)

Simon did have some far encounters with the other immortals earlier when Jubaic was gone looking for the metal tumbler. Although those immortals didn’t try to approach him, he felt their malice and his impression of them was really bad.

As Diamelle and the stranger together with her approached, Jubaic and Simon stood still.

“Jubaic the crazy human… long time no see,” it was the stranger who first approached. He was hairy like a human, much better described as a demi-human of half wolf.

“This man’s name is Kaibot, he tried to fight a holy beast before but failed, I read him in the books before but the reason for him falling, here I have no idea,” Jubaic introduced the half-wolf.

“He agreed!” Diamelle smiled at Jubaic.

“I see, so you are going to train the boy right?” the madman's hands a shake but Kaibot slapped his hands.

“I agreed not because of you, it was because of this nice lady here,” Kaibot said showing his teeth nodding at the lady.

Jubaic smiled, there were things that had to be said and things that should not. That smile was dark, a void behind his eyes. The boy could not see it but the two immortals who were standing in front of him saw it but they didn’t back down rather the three smiled at themselves. A chilling sound.

The boy began to notice the change in the air.

“Okay! How are you gonna train our boy here?” Jubaic intention was to break the deafening silence.

“Let’s see first what he got, ready boy? I know you couldn’t move as per Diamelle’s words, but you look better now,” Kaibot smiled showing his large fang. As he saw from afar, the boy was running to meet them.

“Wait! I want to know what happened to the old man first! You stopped on a good part and I had been waiting to hear what’s next,” Diamelle was literally begging them.

“Well the lady asks, I’m also interested in the story, the lady won’t stop telling it to me on the way here!” Kaibot answered and he sat down where he stood.

“Simon, you know the drill!” Jubaic said and he conjured a seat made out of earth. Prompting the lady to sit first.

Simon began moving around in circles, the movement really helped Simon reminisce about his past, after a few laps he was ready to continue the story.

“Is he going to tell the story like this?” Kaibot suddenly interjected.

“SHH!!!” 2x

<--->

The old man and the boy were almost back in the Fisherman’s Village. With the help of a carriage that was going to deliver some supplies to the village.

It was still early morning.

The villagers who saw the carriage afar immediately summoned the chief.

In a few moments, the carriage arrived and parked just at the entrance of the village. A boy and an old man went down the carriage.

Simon was carefully helping the old man who was having a hard time with his knees. Some of the villagers recognized them.

The village chief who came running was surprised to see the two of them.

“No! I don’t want any problems!” the village chief said, it had only been a few days and the two were back again, but what widened his eyes was the old man, he grew really old.

“Simon, help them carry the boxes,” the old man said. He was using his sword to stand up properly.

“Are you okay?” the village chief asked.

“I shouldn’t be even alive… sorry but we need another favor from you,” the old man smiled as he walked closer, he found a good rock to sit by “-But I will let you do your job first, you have to boy to help you.”

Simon was literally lifting the boxes like it was nothing.

“He is really strong!” the village chief commented. He knew that Simon was not a normal boy but he sure was useful in carrying things.

<--->

With the village chief’s blessing, he gave them a boat also some ciders, and alcohol at the old man’s request. The same boat he used to sneak Simon closer to the thieves’ ship. The two immediately left as soon as they got the ship. The old man didn’t want to inconvenience the village chief.

“Take care old man!” the village chief waved at them, it was already noon when the two left the Fisherman’s Village.

“Take care too!” the old man waved back while Simon just stared blankly at the village chief. The old man knew that this was the final time he would ever see the chief.

“Boy, how’s the rowing going? Don’t use too much force okay? Let it flow, like how you swim before,” the old man instructed, it was actually the first time for the boy to row a boat.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“I understand,” the boy answered, he maintained a steady pace as he rowed.

“You can steer the boat by playing and changing the direction of your rowing, follow the bank. We will go back to the cavern,” the old man continued his instructions while watching the waters “-We can’t cross the Alimpuyo-an this time, it must be morning.”

“Alimpuyo-an?” Simon repeated the words of the old man.

“It's a straight between the southern edge of frontier and whirlpool islands,” the old man then pointed southwards “-See that shadow of land there?”

The boy followed the direction of the old man’s fingers. “There’s a tall shadow there!”

“That’s the lighthouse, it's on the northern cliff of The Whirlpool Island, it's an ancient building, the lights would turn on in the first sign of darkness and turn off in the first light,” the old man answered, he knew everything about the island.

“Have you been there?” Simon asked.

The old man smiled and nodded. He then set his eyes forward relative to the direction of their boat, the shadow of the caverns was getting closer.

<--->

Alimpuyo-an was an old name for the straight that was between the southern shores of the eastern frontier and the whirlpool islands. Because of the jagged formation of the underwater lands any time of the given day, a whirlpool would suddenly form out of nowhere.

Before there was a village there but was destroyed during a monster attack. It was really long ago and the name of the village has been already forgotten.

The early morning of the day a boat was crossing the waters of the Alimpuyo-an. A boy and an old man.

“Simon! Go a bit right? Right!” although it had been a long time, the old man still knew how to navigate through the dangerous waters. It would take half a day at most to cross this waters.

Following the words of the old man, the boy tried to stream down the boat going to the right. From where they were supposed to head a whirlpool began forming.

“Watch the waters, be familiar with the stream, a small change could mean something but do not stop, you have to keep moving or your boat would be sucked into the whirlpool and get crushed underneath,” the old man kept on schooling the boy in rowing. “Go back to the left!”

The boy followed again.

“If you have nowhere to go do not stop the boat, you can turn around but be sure to do it in a timely manner!” the old man touched the waters, it was still cold, and the boat rocked slowly which meant that the boy was getting accustomed with the rowing and the their ride was actually a good boat.

From afar the old man finally saw a familiar wooden plank. It was a small port that the destroyed village used. It was in tatters and one could see the protruding pieces of wood even afar.

The old man smiled as memories came back to him, he wanted the travel to be faster “Almost there boy!” was a comment of motivation from the old man. In his excitement he almost stood up, he dropped something, a sound of metal tumbling down in the boat but he didn’t care about it.

<--->

The dilapidated port was unusable so the boy had to beach the boat and pull it off the waters as the old man instructed.

“That’s good, let’s go!” the old man said, it seemed that his spirit was back as soon as they landed on the island.

The boy carried the bags and some boxes too, it was light for him. The old man smiled watching him, the boy really had grown. Far from the boy he remembered before.

By the old man’s lead, they walked upwards. There was a path in the ground although it was not that visible because of the overgrown grasses.

“Follow the stepping stones,” the old man muttered. He knew the place, he lived here once in his life… probably the best years of his life.

The two continued walking on the slant going up. In a few minutes, they finally arrived at the village. The old man’s memories flashed when the village was still alive, villagers were still around bustling with activities, enjoying the sun… it was such a place but now it was just a ruined village.

Still, the ruins of the village remained. The old man began walking around, looking at the ruins like it was still in good condition, he could hear the voices of the laughing children and the whispering women. Walking up onto the paved stones and finally seeing the 2 familiar faces, the fact that he had been trying to remember… but it was blank…

“CLANK!!” but it was all a ghost. The ghost of memories faded as soon as the boy accidentally fell down.

“Come on boy! Are you okay!” the old man didn’t even try to look back as he was engrossed in remembering. He was looking into the only building that was still standing. There were holes in its roofs but it was still livable. “It's still here!” the old man then smiled.

It was the first time Simon had seen the old man like that.

“We will be staying here for a while, let’s clean this house!!” the old man said as he tried to open the door.

“Crash!” but as soon as he inserted any force it collapsed down.

“Damn… of course it's made out of wood! Let’s go boy!” still the old man didn’t back down and just entered anyway.

…

Before nightfall, Simon had already cleared the house, and the old man using the scraps of wood had begun making fire.

The 2 story house was old, with weathered wood and walls overtaken by creeping greenery. The house was elevated by stones, it featured a veranda made out of sturdy wood. It was a perfect spot for naps and hanging out. Inside, the staircase cascaded beautifully, still strong and usable. In the middle was a hearth on the top of it was a hole that passed up into the roof to exhaust smoke where a canopy was situated to protect the hole when it rained. The roof, woven from dried coconut leaves, was intertwined with etched vines.

“It's still too cold! We will need to patch up the roof tomorrow-” the old man spoke, then Simon landed a stone he found near the beach, it was a good stone to be used for cooking. “-Oh! I forgot, we don’t use that inside here but it's already here!” the old man was really in a good mood.

“Old man… you are really acting very weird!” Simon suddenly said.

“Is that so? I’m just happy that I’m back in this place, in this house,” the old man answered as he began unpacking the meat of the Wyrm.

The boy didn’t really care as soon as he heard the sizzling sounds of the meat.

<--->

The village in The Whirlpool Island was really cold, the winter was almost at its end but every day the village would still be covered in freezing fog. Still, the old man was on the roof fixing the holes, and patching the insulation. He was lucky that there was still monster wool on the second floor that could be used. He also found some good stuff there, even a wine.

He sent the boy to clear up the wells that were filled with rocks, that was a few hours ago.

“Old man! It's clear!” the boy shouted from below.

“See that scraps of wood in front of the house? Clear it on the other side!” the old man gave another task to the boy. The boy didn’t ask questions and followed.

In the afternoon the old man went down the well, he found a shovel behind the house, and he dug a bit of the well turning it into a basin. It was muddy so he made the boy take some stones to be paved in the well. The old man knew how to make the well. The stones would make the mud stay in shape while the water accumulates on the higher level, and the dirt would come down.

In a few while after double checking the make of the well he went out. The boy was already practicing flow. The fields that he told Simon to clear were already finished.

“Let’s have some dinner!” the old man said.

…

Another day passed and in the early morning, the two were on the northern cliffs, just near the ancient light house, the two were fishing. The old man found some fishing road while he was patching the 2nd floor yesterday.

They used bugs as bait.

“Simon, remember this, be careful in eating these sea creatures, you’ve probably seen me prepare and cook them right?” the old man said, rhythmically pulling the fishing rod.

“Yeah, we ate it during our boat trip,” the boy just nodded reminiscing with a blank face.

“Some of them might have parasites inside them… you must properly cook them, you don’t want those little shits eating your gut, remember okay?” the old man continued teaching the boy.

“I understand,” the boy muttered while gulping. He remembered he had already eaten so much of the sea creatures.

The old man’s rod began tugging “Caught one!” the old man said and he immediately stood up grabbing the fishing rod firmly.

“Watch carefully! Pull the rod if it slacks! And watch the tension or it will break!” the old man was the master of the rod, he learned so much from the best.

In a few minutes, the fish was already out of the water, and the old man rapidly spun the mechanism of the line to pull the fish up.

“Whoa!!” the boy excitedly clapped his hands as the old man pulled up the fish.

“Boy! Your rod is moving too! Hold on to it!” the old man warned the boy as he took the fish by its mouth. It was a tuna.

Simon immediately held on to his road but as soon as he began pulling the line snapped “NO!!” a crushing scream from the boy.

“Damn you idiot!” the old man complained. He checked the rod… in the least, the mechanism was not broken.

The boy was a bit brokenhearted but the old man still wanted the boy to learn how to properly fish.

“Don’t worry about it, it's still repairable, let’s do this fish first!” it was comforting words from the old man, rare coming from the old man.

The boy just nodded, the old man then pointed near the head of the fish. “Insert your knife here to kill it!”

The boy followed no questions asked.

Tonight they would be dinning on the fish while the other parts would be dried.