To his dismay, Latori came across Malidy at home and meditating while he was making his way to Hundan’s house.

“What’s up with you, beach bum? Why are you soaking wet?”

“My house was flooded by the storm…” a scowl was plastered on Latori’s face. He averted his eyes away from Malidy’s. A wave of sham , heavier than the currents that were currently demolishing his hut, rode across his body. The stinging embarrassment, like salt water prickling his eyes, felt foreign.

“Wha-Hahaha. That’s hilarious. Why did you think that cave was a good place to stay in for more than a few weeks?” Malidy’s face was beaming with delight, enthralled by the story and on the edge of her seat about what happened next.

“A storm like that has never happened before, okay? It wasn’t a problem until now. Wipe that smug smile off your face.”

“Awww… What? Is Watori getting salty? Are you gonna go weg Mommy Hundan to build you a new wouse?” Malidy curled her fists into balls and rubbed them near her eyes while derisively imitating the vocal pitch of a toddler. Her lips were puckered like she had swallowed juices from a whole lemon, and her eyes imitated the face of a weeping babe.

“Wow, thanks for understanding and consoling me. Keep racking up that karma. I’m sure the spiritfarer or whatever will send you to a real nice place when I’m done with you,” Latori retorted, followed by the click of a tongue.

“Oh, come on, Latori. Have a sense of humor. We’re the ones that are going to have to help you find a place to live. For someone that jokes around all the time, you really don’t know how to take one.”

“HUH? For someone that jokes around all the time? Yeah, because my jokes are funny. I don’t just laugh at other people’s suffering like that.”

Malidy’s jaw dropped in disbelief at the boy’s words. “Please tell me THAT was a joke.”

“Which part? Did I say something funny? Who am I kidding? I’m always something funny. Haha, me.”

“… I’m going back to meditating. You can feel free to join me if you want. Don’t wake Hundan up. He seemed really tired. I think he passed out right when he closed his door.”

There were no early dark blue streaks of dawn on the horizon. Twinkling stars in the sky communicated that the sun wouldn't be up for another two hours.

Latori marched over like a clumsy, second-class battalion soldier to Hundan’s hut; he knocked the mud from the heels of his torn up, multi-refurbished sneakers.

“HUNDAAAAN. Wake uuuup! My house got flooded. Do you think you can make me a new one next to yours?”

Soft groans from the petite man inside could be heard in response to the Latori's obnoxious, ear damage-inducing yelling.

“… Latori..? Is that you? Is it morning yet? Sorry… I was still sleeping…”

Gently nudging his door open, Hundan crawled across the ground and poked his head out. He rubbed his eyes and adjusted his vision. With a vague, blurry outline of where Latori was, he turned towards the boy and politely smiled.

“Yeah, it’s me, your favorite person on the island, am I right?”

“Oh… I’m sorry. I don’t really like choosing favorites. You and Malidy are both great. Excaliburn is my favorite sword on the island, I guess. He’s really interesting to listen to.”

“Wait, you can hear him?” Latori placed his hands on his head and opened his mouth in surprise.

“Yeah… Sometimes. Other times I think he’s only letting you hear him talk because it just sounds like you’re talking to himself.”

“Wait the sword actually talks?” Malidy spun around and broke her meditation position.

“Yup… You’ll probably hear him sometime soon…” Hundan yawned, then opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to moisturize the interior.

“I have a pathological liar on my back at all times, not a damn sword. I wouldn’t be surprised if the prophecy wasn’t even real.”

“Did he tell you that he can only talk to you?” Malidy inquired. She picked up dirt next to her and threw it at Latori, aiming to get it in his shoes.

“Well, no, but he said that the fact I could talk to him telepathically proves that we’re partners.” Latori’s face was turning red at this point. He had never felt so betrayed in his whole time on the island. HIs partner, his unbreakable soul-bound sidekick, his divine sword, Excaliburn, had lied to him; he had lied to him multiple times at this point.

“Pft. It seems like your sword has commitment issues then. We must all be his partners.” Malidy snickered.

“So, Hundan, about that house,” Latori continued. He decided that ignoring Malidy must be the best course of action sometimes.

“Oh… I have a great idea. What if the three of us all live together?” Hundan suggested; he perked up and opened his eyes all the way.

“I wouldn’t mind that, I guess, but I’m not sure how Malidy would feel about sharing a house with two guys.”

“I’ll be fine. It’s not like I have to worry much about things like personal hygiene and the like as much anymore. I’m dead after all.”

“Okay, cool. We’re all on the same page. Since Hundan might need more personal space, maybe we can share a bed, Malidy. I can warm up that cold skin of yours.”

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“Gross, man, I’m literally rotting. Don’t give me that, ‘Oh but it’s just us three here on this side of the island’, either. Even if it was just us two here, I wouldn’t hook up with you.” Malidy closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Even as an undead, it almost seemed like her head was starting to hurt just by being around Latori. While she was alive, she had never met someone that was so insufferable because of how annoying they were.

“Oh, come on. I’m pretty cute.” Latori winked.

Malidy tried her best not to throw up in her mouth. “You’re pretty annoying. That’s what you are.” She responded.

“Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t want to be with someone half-dead and missing a finger, anyway.”

“FINGER-NAIL. I’m not missing a finger. Finger. Nail. Maybe we shouldn’t live together.”

By now, Malidy and Latori were at each other's throats. Any bit of force behind either of them would cause them to bump noses. A muffled sniffle could be heard to the side. Hundan was covering his mouth, and a single tear rolled down his face, tickling and dampening the side of his hand.

“Awh, I’m sorry, Hundan. We’ll stop fighting, okay? I’ll live with you and Latori.” Malidy rushed to Hundan’s side and rubbed his back with maternal gentleness.

“See, Malidy? You’re so mean that you made him cry?” Latori hissed while scratching the side of his head, distressed at the adorable Hundan weeping.

Malidy scooped up dirt and threw it at Latori without even turning or looking at him. She continued to rub Hundan’s back and soothingly emitted a “shhhh” all the while.

***

Work on the cabin commenced immediately. A temporary shelter was made for Latori in the meantime. It was very much like his previous home, but with less attention to the exterior cosmetics; it lacked the decorative pathway and the potted flowers that were around the hut.

The trio worked rather well together, besides the occasional bickering between Latori and Malidy. Malidy used basic earth manipulation to create a flat, sturdy foundation for the cabin to be built on. Dual manipulation was a rarity. Malidy was a gifted prodigy, but her life getting cut short caused all that to go to waste. She would have been a potent defensive mage with her ability to use as well as borrow light and earth magic.

While she was busy at work gathering logs and cutting them up with her enhanced undead strength, Latori and Hundan went into the woods to forage for berries and to check on Latori’s rabbit traps. Under the knowingly false pretense of protecting them both against an unseen threat, Latori performed sword tricks with Excaliburn while Hundan got down on his knees and did nearly all the berry and rabbit gathering. Hundan had a habit of biting his lip and squinting his eyes while mercy killing the rabbits. As each rabbit’s body grew limp his hands, a tiny part of him seemed to die inside.

“Phew, this is hard work today,” Latori proceeded to make small talk while laying down on the grass in a nearby clearing; he was taking his “break”.

Hundan winced as his skin was scratched by the thorns of a berry bush. There was a cache of berries near the center, and the aforementioned thorns were the reason why it was left untouched by animals until now.

“You doing okay over there, Hundan?” Basking in the afternoon sun, Latori relished the cool, forest air; it carried an aroma of earth, wildflowers, and naturally growing herbs. Latori gave into the ever-growing weight at the top of his eyelids and gently shut them.

“Y-yeah… I’m doing fine. I’m just getting poked by some of the bushes…” Hundan responded meekly.

“Yeah, I told Malidy that it’d be a lot easier if she came along with us. Then we’d have two people collecting berries and rabbits. She said that it’d already be two people if I went, but I gotta be ready to protect us, y’know? She doesn’t understand. I’ve been in a few fights, ah… So dangerous, I know. The island can be brutal. That’s why I have to always be ready, right?”

“Mhm, I trust that you’re going to protect me, Latori. Thank you.”

“Oh, well, I… Of course.” Latori blushed a bit, taken aback by Hundan’s sudden display of appreciation.

“I think we’re done. I got a lot of berries from this last bush. Are you ready to go back?” Hundan dusted off his knees and closed the pack containing his haul.

“Yeah, we can head back now. Come on, Ex, let’s go. I’m almost falling asleep over here.”

Latori shifted all of his weight to his upper half and then proceeded to acrobatically jump up onto his feet.

Ambling back towards the construction site of the cabin, he began humming an improvised melody that he assumed was symphonic. The tissues and bones within him synchronized the sound to create a reverberating symphony. To onlookers, the crunching of leaves, birds chirping and feeling from the noise, and Latori’s humming were a one-man cacophony.

Hundan didn’t mind. Even if he did, he was too polite to say anything. He just straggled behind a bit during the stroll to pick up any berries or nuts they may have missed earlier. He strapped the pack holding the rabbits to his back to free his hands.

After an hour of walking, Latori and Hundan noticed familiar landmarks. They were almost back to where Malidy was. The rest of the way was a fifteen minute walk at most.

Hundan’s breathing broke into a shallow mess. Freezing sweat precipitated out of his pores. The basket of berries and nuts hit the ground. Hundan looked at his body and saw that his whole body was trembling, like it was exposed to a snowstorm. ‘What’s happening to me?’ he thought. The forest dared not to make a single noise. Even the susurration of the wind fell silent.

Latori coughed; it echoed throughout the forest. He then continued his humming, the only sound of life within a mile. Without a care in the world, he continued walking.

With shaky hands, Hundan picked up the basket and looked in Latori’s direction. Hundan started hyperventilating at the sight he was met with.

“Latori… Look in front of you…” Hundan squeezed out between breaths.

Latori looked back at Hundan and tilted his head out of bewilderment. What was he talking about? He then spun back around and was even more confused at the sight he was met with. At a glance, it seemed like a scarred, thin, white tree, at least that’s what his mind was telling him. Between some of the fresh gashes on this “tree’s” flesh, there was blood-like “sap” oozing out of it. The tree’s body diverged off at the bottom into two thick pieces of flesh on each side, with long black “roots” at the end of the white flesh. The branches… The branches were also interesting to him. There were four large appendages that branched out into ten separate, thin, long branches–five on each appendage. The branches could have easily been mistaken for long-claws. Had this been anything but a tree, the sight might have scared the boy. Latori had heard no noise, though, and the tree sat unmoving. He felt bad for Hundan for getting spooked at a unique, mutated piece of nature.

“What’s wrong? It’s just a tree, Hundan.”

“Look… Up…” Hundan murmured, on the verge of tears. His eyes didn’t break their focus for a second on whatever was standing in front of Latori.

Latori looked up slowly. He followed the “tree’s” neck. It seemed to bend and curb, like the stringer of a scorpion. It was long, pale, and filled with bite-marks that resembled canine teeth. What Latori was met with when he looked directly above him was the last thing he was expecting. Over his head, he could see a wolf carcass. It was limp, fresh, and dripping blood.

Peeking over the carcass were pitch black humanoid eyes, with tiny, almost invisible white pupils. Dark bags from weeks without sleep circled the whitish gray irises like a hypnotic pattern. The human head of the “tree” had black matted hair that would run all the way down its lengthy neck had it not been stuck with mud, dirt, and liquid onto the skin.

The peeking head stared at Latori, and the branches began to seemingly get closer to the boy. The wolf’s body brushed past Latori, and it created a thud as it hit the ground. Under those once-peeking eyes was a stingray-like mouth, drenched in blood. Its large, jagged teeth fought for space within their home. A small tongue ran across the lips of the mouth, savoring the red syrup. Still silent, the “tree” formed a smile.