“Do you ever wonder if we’re going to be stuck here forever?” Latori asked his sword.

“I highly doubt it.” There was a bit of hesitance in Excaliburn’s telepathy.

“Hey, I caught that.”

“Hm?”

“Nevermind. I mean, the prophecy didn’t mention us leaving this island, did it? What if the adventure is supposed to come to us? Eh… There’s that giant sea monster, though.”

Latori spoke aloud as he mimicked the pose of The Thinker. He sat on a washed up barrel near the shoreline. Jagged wooden planks, soggy biscuits, a ship steering wheel, barrels, and someone’s decapitated arm were all littered within a few hundred feet of him.

Something small and rectangular in the corner of the boy's eye caught his attention.

“Whoa, look at this, Ex,” Latori turned to the sword and presented a soaked, brown booklet with a worn spine. On the front cover, the words “Captain’s Logs” were painted in gold. On the first page, the name “Rumore Liung-Draken” was scrawled in blue ink.

“Damn, we struck gold with this. I’ve always wanted to read a captain’s log. Maybe I was in the navy in my previous life. That doesn’t sound that fun, though. And it wouldn’t make any sense as to why I was so out of shape when I came here. Wanna hear me read one of the passages?”

Latori lifted up each mushy page and carefully turned them. One careless movement could rip the pages right off.

“If it pleases you, you can read them aloud.” Excaliburn responded with a hint of amusement.

“Okay, okay listen to this one."

Day 49 on the Rentic Ocean. SOMEONE from food storage didn’t report our lack of jerky and bread and SOMEONE ELSE from the commerce team didn’t haggle enough, so we ended up with less supplies than we expected. It looks like we’re going to have to drink our own piss once again until we reach the closest port. We’ve been lost at sea for a while now because our last navigator was made to walk the plank after he drunkenly punched and threw up on me, the honorable captain of The Daring.

Okay, I might have been the one to toss the mate overboard, but he deserved it. What I won’t take responsibility for is my first mate hiring a prostitute in town to be our new navigator just because he “fell in love” after one shag. This boy can’t even navigate the direction of his life. A prostitute, now a pirate? How is he supposed to guide our ship? Signed by Captain Liung-Draken.

Latori paused for a moment before clearing his throat.

“Um, that was interesting, I guess. Not what I expected. How about a later log, then? Let’s see here..."

Day 14 on the Danzhu Ocean. As we were attacked by a neighboring pirate ship, I hid under my desk in the captain’s cabin and shit my pants when-

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"Alright, I think I’ve had enough of reading this for now. You?”

“Yes, I think that should suffice…”

“I’ll take it home with us just in case we get bored. A little bedtime reading doesn’t hurt.”

Greedy hands snatched up trinkets and preserved food supplies as the boy combed the beach. While walking along the shore, he came across a corpse that was still intact. He stabbed Excaliburn into the ground and sprinted over to the object of interest.

The corpse wore a blue stitched coat with fancy embroidery. On the back of the coat, the word, “DARING” was stitched on. The dirty white pants and the brown boots on the corpse were in relatively good condition still. The corpse’s face was sunken into the sand. Its long, shoulder length black hair was matted over its face by the sand and salt water.

A golden watch on the corpse’s left wrist caught Latori’s eye. The minute and hour hands on the watch were encrusted with small diamonds.

“Nice watch. I’ll be taking that. Thanks, matey,” Latori said as he walked up to the corpse and kneeled down to grab the wristwatch.

Without warning, the corpse’s hand reached up and grabbed Latori’s arm with an iron grip.

“Ah.. AH. AHHHH WHAT THE HELL? HEY, LET GO!” Latori screamed in fear.

The corpse’s grip tightened into an iron grip. The undead man lifted his head from the sand to display the most stomach-churning face. The friction against the sand and underwater debris had already peeled its face right off. Despite missing eyes, nose, and lips, the corpse was able to look at Latori and unleash an unsettling, gurgling groan.

“EX. EX, HELP ME.”

“You fool. You left me over here on the sand.”

In a desperate attempt to break free, Latori bit the undead’s hand and ripped rotting flesh from it with his teeth. Realizing his mistake, he spat it out on the sand and vomited all over the ground. He began kicking the undead’s arm and body repeatedly all the while shrieking in terror.

The boy reached out to his sword and willed with all his might that the sword come to his aid.

“Please, come on. Show me… Show me why you’re called the DIVINE SWORD EXCALIBURN!”

Latori willed the sword to come to his side. The sword tilted slightly in his direction. Latori smiled confidently and let out a “Heh”. He closed his eyes and meditated. “Excaliburn, come to me,” he told the sword in his head.

“Stupid boy. That was the work of gravity. Get over here before that undead starts making a meal out of you.”

Latori started to sniffle out of embarrassment and fear. With all of his strength, he started whacking the arm of the undead with his fist. The undead pirate wailed as it tried to pull itself closer to Latori’s leg for a fresh snack. Even with its arm broken, the undead’s grip didn’t falter. Latori’s immense strength from his time on the island wasn’t enough to get rid of it. He scrambled to get the stone knife from his pocket, but it slipped from his hands. The boy stared at his sword with sad, puppy dog eyes and silently pleaded.

“Fine, fine. I will lend you some of my power, boy.”

A streak of hot pink flames manifested on the ground between Excaliburn and Latori. The flames engulfed Excaliburn, and the boy’s irises changed their color to match the flame.

Excaliburn flew to Latori’s hand. As if on instinct, Latori spun his sword then swiftly punctured the undead’s head turning the whole body into ashes. Only the clothes were left behind.

“This is divine fire. It only burns undead. It is yours now.”

The flames quickly evaporated after the undead was slain. Latori walked over and snatched up the golden watch left on the sand.

“Hehe. Mine now.”

“Latori, are you listening?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m listening. Thanks for saving my ass, partner. I appreciate it. Why the change of heart, though? Thought you wanted me to get stronger on my own.”

“I did, and you have. I also could not stand how pathetic you looked so I decided to give you a hand.”

“Wow… Thanks.”

“Forget about that, though. There is a necromancer on the island with us.”