After spending over a year travelling around this island, Gregory and I were in need of a break. In order to relax, we decided to stay for a few days next to Gregory's big collection of stones and shells. I would like to call it something more specific but I still could not make heads or tails out of it after a year.

A few days after we started relaxing there, I was sitting on the cliff overlooking the ocean when I heard an enormous sound. It sounded like a roar but at a distance and volume that made the thought ridiculous. I thought it might have been the sound of a volcano erupting or a bomb going off in the distance. That is until I looked in the direction of the sound and saw flames. You might think I am not being very descriptive here. That is not it. There was literally nothing but flames in the sky. The tops of the taller trees were on fire and it was suddenly stiflingly hot.

There had been a small mountain in the distance. When the flames cleared, I could see it now had a giant lizard head and was moving in our direction. I know I have been harping on about how big all of the monsters are on the island of death but this thing was hundreds of meters tall. It unleashed another bout of flames from its mouth. This time I could see that the flames stretched for kilometres. This was insane. Since when did anything grow that big. Surely, Godzilla wasn't going to come out of the water next? Most importantly, why was the behemoth coming our way?

At this point I noticed something that made me extremely excited and seriously worried at the same time. At the edge of my vision, I saw a boat sailing out of a cove and towards the open ocean. It looked a bit like a Viking long boat levitating a meter or so above the ocean. The boat was a welcome sight as it appeared to be manned by humanoids and I was ecstatic about finally seeing people after so many years.

The problem was this boat was obviously carrying a huge egg in the middle of the open boat. Angry lizard thing, giant egg, oh seriously! So there were humanoids in this place. Apparently they were crazy if they were going to steal an egg from that mountain but they still existed. Would have been nice to know before now. However, it also made it pretty clear the rampage over there was not going to end before reaching where Gregory and I were.

As I was contemplating the boat in the distance, countless monsters started streaming out of the forest in a veritable stampede and jumping into the sea. I saw them doing this for kilometres in every direction. It seemed that moving mountain was something nothing wanted to mess with. I could definitely understand that but I was not sure they had the right idea so I turned to Gregory.

"Will your poison work on that mountain?"

*Shake*

"Think we can hide from it?"

*Shake*

"So we are running then?"

*Flip*

I looked into the sea filled with agitated sea monsters greedily chowing down on all the land based monsters who were escaping the calamity overcoming this part of the forest by swimming away.

"Can we just run along the seashore you think?"

*Shake*

"I don't suppose you have any bright ideas on how we are going to survive in that ocean?"

*Shake*

"But you still thinking our chances are better in there?"

*Flip*

"I get to go to all the best places..."

And with that we both too off running and jumped into the ocean. Gregory took his log with him. He seemed really attached to it. We were fleeing for our lives and he still remembered to grab it. Priorities my friend, priorities! We can find logs anywhere. Well, we could so long as we were on a land with trees. Which seemed like it shouldn't be that difficult to find. Sure we were falling into the ocean right now and swimming away from the only land we have ever known but I am sure we won't need a log. Just because it was both food and a floatation device for him, does not mean he should have stopped to grab it.

I wanted to complain at him but I was a bit preoccupied with yelling. I did just jump off of a thirty meter cliff. It was one of the braver things I had ever done. Expecting me not to react at all is just silly. I was not screaming like a little girl. I was yelling from excitement. I definitely was not terrified by a little thing like a thirty meter fall. I had lived in this jungle for years. Nothing so miniscule would effect me. I was definitely not afraid of heights. I had never climbed the trees in this jungle because Gregory always volunteered. It wasn't because I was afraid or anything.

Hitting the water stung but was a relief as it stopped my life from continuing to flash before my eyes. Because of the giant lizard chasing us, not from the fall. As we started to swim, I noticed a few things.

I apparently still remembered how to swim after all of these years. I was part of the swim club back on Earth and could do all of the basic strokes. However, I hadn't swam since coming to this world. Apparently, it is like riding a bicycle. You never forget. That is good. I honestly had not even thought of it until I was already swimming so I was very glad that worked out.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Gregory was busy pushing his log from behind while doing his own swimming. If I tried to help I knew my curse would act up but I did feel a bit odd when I looked at him pushing that big log through the water while I only had to keep myself going. The worst part was that I had to work hard just to keep up. Gregory was moving at a positively crazy clip.

Gregory started moving away from the cliff in a straight line but I called out to him to go off on a slight tangent so that we were swimming in the same direction the boat sailed off to. I had no idea what was out here but presumably those sailors did. We would head in the same general direction and hopefully find land. Well land was definitely going to be needed but I was also really looking forward to finding people. People was really what I wanted to find all this time. Finally I saw them and they up and left without even noticing I existed.

I thought we were going to have to fight off waves of sea monsters as soon as we entered the water but it turned out not to be the case. There was a plethora of bigger and tastier looking food all around us. The monsters streaming out of the forest were seeming endless. The sea monsters were not going to waste their time on a log and a small, if very fatty, morsel.

It also helped that all of us land lubbers seemed to decide there was safety in numbers as the various monsters that were deadly enemies on land were surprisingly peaceful while swimming and sometimes turned the tables on the sea monsters by cooperatively attacking back. Of course, there was a limit to how successful these activities were ever going to be. We were designed to be on land while the sea monsters were predators of the sea. Now that we had entered their domain very few of us were going to be able to leave. Gregory and I tried to ignore the chaos around us and just kept swimming. No good would come of paying attention to what was happening around us.

I definitely envied the countless birds who could just fly away. They had their own troubles initially as the flames released by that humongous lizard would roast them out of the air if they flew too high. That said after they made it a ways out into the open ocean, they were basically safe. I saw Gregory looking at them with longing and glaring at his wing stumps in annoyance.

While it was anything but relaxing, time passed. Hours went by before I knew it and the sun started to set. I looked around and realized that there were only a few monsters still swimming with Gregory and I. Most of them seemed to have fallen behind or been eaten.

It was at this point that I realized as well that there had not been an attack in a while. As we got away from the island, the sea monsters seemed to get fewer, smaller and weaker with every passing hour. Eventually, there were none attacking us. Once I noticed this, I started hoping that maybe our island was special and we would not have to swim through another gamut of sea monsters before we could get to another land. There were not enough monsters left to distract very many sea monsters. Gregory was amazing but I didn't think even he could protect me from hordes of sea monsters.

Instead there seemed to be another problem, the various monsters were not used to swimming and were starting to get tired. Our fellow swimmers were sinking below the waves one at a time and not coming back up. Some had tried to use Gregory's log as a floatation device but he was having none of that and stung all those who came near.

However, Gregory and I were also getting tired. Eventually, I just lay there using my fat body to float while Gregory lay on my chest. The waves kept us moving up and down in a soothing manner and I honestly wanted to stay this way forever. The only problem was that I knew if I fell asleep, I would not be able to keep floating. I had never been so glad to be so seriously overweight before. Floating is really, truly amazing. I wish I had been able to do this before. I was definitely going to have to try to do this more often. Especially when it is night and there is a sea of stars above me to stare at in awe. The gods of this world got at least one thing right. The stars here are just as beautiful as those on Earth.

By the time we finished resting, we were alone in the sea. I am not sure what happened to the other monsters. I like to think they kept swimming but I was a bit too distracted to notice really. The log drifted a ways away while we were floating there but it was still in sight and the rest we were able to get from floating for a while was essential.

Gregory and I swam again until we had to rest and then we floated until our stamina recovered enough to keep going. We repeated this all night and for most of the next day.

Gregory seemed worried about me but I kept telling him that we would find land soon. I was on my last legs so I may have been repeating myself a bit. I was not delirious, just intent on relieving Gregory's worries. Though it would be best to just forget about my attempted explanation of what happens to people who are lost at sea without water. Somehow it included coconuts, the co-efficient of friction, and how thirsty I was. Pretty sure Gregory just didn't understand it. I'll dumb it down for you next time Gregory!

The people on the boat had come from the direction we were swimming in. In order to even find that mountainous lizard they must have spent a while searching. No one would go a great distance just to raid an egg. So we just had to swim a bit more before we would get to land. I calmly ignored the small voice in my head that was insisting on reminding me about how far the Vikings sailed for their raids. Things like currents pulling us off course or winds pushing them in a slightly different direction were also thoroughly ignored as fake thoughts.

As the day wore on, the time I spent floating increased and the time spent swimming was getting less and less. I woke up several times to a mouthful of seawater as I accidentally fell into the trance I needed instead of sleep. Gregory tried to help by pinching me awake but it felt more like a tickle so he was not able to accomplish much.

In addition to being exhausted, I was starting to suffer from the elements. The water was cold. At first I was fine but as time wore on the cold started to seep into my bones. I was pretty sure hypothermia wasn't far off. Paradoxically, the sun was also getting to me. The glare and the light left me badly sunburned. Luckily, my hair provided some shade but I was still in bad shape.

At one point as the sun was moving toward the horizon, Gregory starting jumping about on top of my chest. When I asked him what was going on, he started pulling my hair in the direction we had been swimming all this time. At first I saw nothing but more waves. Then I got up the energy to push myself up above the waves if only by a little. With the extra height, I could see land! We were saved!

With a burst of enthusiasm I started swimming for all I was worth. Of course, the problem was that while we could see land it was still quite a ways away. Luckily, the tide was coming in so by the time my energy was completely used up the current slowly pulled me onto the beach.

Stepping, well crawling really, onto land after so long at sea was one of the most moving experiences I had ever had. The exhilaration only lasted for a few seconds but it was intense. Immediately after I was deep in a trance and there was going to be no waking me for a while.