The sea was beautiful.

Blue, dazzling, beautiful.

There was a beach below us, and another island about two kilometers away. Lots and lots of water in between with no signs of receding.

We came here just before the afternoon. And now it was evening.

“Should we start getting down?” I asked.

Traversing the forest at night was going to be dangerous but we didn’t have a choice. “Yes Friendo.”

Goribo helped me stand, again. He kept helping me even though I didn’t need much help anymore. No, that wasn’t quite true. I could definitely move about on my own but having a shoulder to rely on, in this god-awful forest, was a boon. And so, I was grateful.

Yet… “Go Friendo-” Goribo gave a slap on my back and shoved me forward. He didn’t take a step.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, almost falling over.

“This is it for me Friendo. This is as far as I go.” He gave me a big smile.

“But we said we would get out of here together. You wanted to respect your friends’ sacrifices and-” The words slowed, the words got stuck, the words mellowed as the realization slowly sunk in.

“But I’m one of them now Friendo,” he said, and stripped.

Ah… he doesn’t have one.

He started foaming, and his skin changed a bit of color. “I thought I would make it till morning, deliver you out of this place but… but the transformation is almost complete Friendo… Please, go. Find your parents. Live…” He pulled his pants back up and laughed.

“But Goribo.”

“Live for both- no, all of us,” he said. And I could have sworn I heard others, nonexistent voices.

Ah, I was high again.

“I’ll never forget you.”

“Good bye Friendo.”

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I ran.

I didn’t care about the pain, I didn’t care about the breathlessness, and I didn’t care about the things coming straight for me… I just ran.

I just.

Ran.

***

The forest ended in one fell swoop. Just like it started immediately, it ended abruptly by the shore. Tide had already gone down a fair bit and exposed the beach. If I started walking, I could probably reach the island on the other side. But I’d be getting at least half of my body wet.

It was night, the moon wasn’t out. There was a good chance Sirens- no, there was a guarantee Sirens would stand in my way. I suppose the only reason Goribo was so hellbent on making me take the night journey was because he wanted to personally see me off the island. Sadly, I couldn’t do that.

Given how risky it was to travel at night, I was almost tempted to spend the night here.

However… having seen Goribo’s determination, I didn’t want to stay here, even if it meant going through a sea of blood thirsty Sirens.

Fuck Sirens.

My chest pounded as my feet touched the water. I was barefoot. I didn’t know when or where I’d lost my sandals but that didn’t matter. Right now, all that mattered was how I was going to get across this place.

Burning chest, it hurt….

So far, I didn’t see any bubbles or any movement in the sea. But I could tell, there was definitely something in there.

And like it or not, that something was going to be a pain in the ass. So, I made the resolve of blasting everything with electricity if it came near me, even if that meant frying myself in the process.

Heh, I wasn’t going down without a fight.

Slosh!~

Water dripped and slathered all over me. Waves upon wave crashed into the shore. The once deadly forest was slowly moving so far away. And here I thought it was going to be impossible to get off. Yet, now that I was off, I missed some things. I missed raging, I missed Goribo laughing or trying to eat me. Yeah, it was really hard to part with people you only knew briefly. But it was, what it was.

Roughly a hundred meters into the sea, the sand vanished and corals started scratching at my feet. At this rate I wouldn’t have been surprised if I cut myself and started bleeding. I didn’t know about sharks but the Sirens were definitely aware of my presence. The tide wasn’t going down any more than this, so I had no choice but to keep going. Luckily the water wasn’t that deep, and it never reached higher than my thighs. But I had to walk carefully.

How come there aren’t any snails or shellfish of other kind?

Actually, I didn’t see any fish either. Was it because it was nighttime or-

Sirens are historically known as charmers. And the island itself was a charming station of sorts. Maybe the island was Sirens, and everyone just ‘assumed’ it was-

A sweet scent. Different from what I felt at the island. Unlike the island scent that excited me, this one made me shiver and my heart quiver. It’s inducing fear.

“Hmmm…. Child of men?” Echoing voice.

Mist surrounded me, and clouded my vision.

“Such a rare sight.” Another voice.

“Truly, and so young.”

“So tender.” Something poked at my thigh, vanishing immediately. I didn’t even see the finger.

“Wait, a little boney?”

All the voices were female in nature and I think I had an idea what they were getting ate. Yup, they wanna eat me. Not that I was surprised.

Apparently, everyone wanted to eat me.