Chapter 22 - Raging River
For the tenth time, he questioned what was wrong with the boars as they chased him adamantly. What confused him was how he could not feel any danger or dread from the mantises, even though they almost killed him.
These creatures were hunting him and he wanted to know why. What had he done? There were those hunting him in the Oxygen High and now there were those black crows and boars. His grandfather and father should know why, but where were they now?
He let the river take him and he even swam forward just to gain distance from the boars behind him.
A handful of splashes sounded loudly ahead of him in the distance, and he felt the danger in them, even if he could not see them.
Fortunately, they were also as helpless as him within the river.
He felt them trying to swim towards him, flowing against the river, but the river was too strong for them to even move a few paces towards him.
He was also glad that even if the current of the river was too strong—it felt like he was dragged like a ragdoll—it was something he could endure. If he maintained this distance, eventually he would reach the sea. He only hoped whatever Mishka claimed that these creatures can't step to the sea was true.
With hope growing inside him, he couldn't help thinking he would survive this night.
Then as if to mock him, the river started to become shallow while the river's current grew stronger as he flowed with it. He could now see some shallow parts on the side but what burst his thin bubble of hope were the outcropping rocks jutting in the middle of the river in the distance.
He swam to his right to avoid it but just behind it, other outcropping rocks welcomed him in the distance. He then swam to the middle to avoid collision with it.
All through his way, he passed batches of outcropping rocks and he did his best to evade it by swimming through the spaces in it.
Then he felt a lump of danger in front of him stopped. One second it was flowing with the river, the next it stopped. He had no time to think about his situation when he saw a boar being held by an outcropping rock in the distance.
The boar, who was trying to wiggle itself out from the crevice it was trapped in, stopped moving and looked at Mill who was coming towards it rapidly with the river.
Mill swam farthest away from it but his worry was for nothing as he passed the boar safely, with it still struggling to get out from that crack of the rock.
He continued flowing with the river for a long time, his surroundings changing from hills, to plain then rocky cliffs. He evaded rocks as he went, till his body started to get heavy. He panted from the exhaustion but he did his best to endure it.
His danger senses also started to weaken as he felt the danger of those behind him gradually weakened. But it could either be his senses weakening or because the boars were dying.
He just passed another rock, when his senses pinged at him with a huddle of danger to his right. It was not on the river but behind the hills. He felt them stop moving and headed towards his direction. After a few seconds, they disappeared from his senses again.
He had just breathed in relief when he noticed a danger in front him snuffed out from his senses. His eyes widened with joy when he noticed that those who were snuffed out were nearer to him, he could still feel those from far ahead. It could only mean it died.
But his joy turned to confusion when another boar died, then another, then another. Almost at the same time, three boars in front of him snuffed out from his senses.
His already cold body chilled, and without hesitation, went to the bank on his left. He swam towards it and was already near it when he saw ahead of him, still far in the distance, a rock formation jutting from the water erratically. There was an outcropping rock nearest to him situated in the middle of the river, after that there were some on the side, but they all ended up with a straight wall blocking the whole river width with only small gaps within it to flow the river. The walls of it though, were full of rock spears—so sharp, long and pointed horizontally at the river—jutting from it abnormally.
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He swam harder to the side but he started to panic when he felt the current was taking him, making it harder for him to reach the bank. He desperately waved his hands to the bank hoping to hold on to something, but it was too far and there was nothing for him to hold.
He passed the first rock and saw a boar skewered in it.
He doubled his effort but he had to get away from the river bank as a spear-jutted rock stood directly in his way. He evaded it and used the current behind it to push him to the bank's direction again.
But it was no use as he still struggled to stop his movement or gained purchase from the bank.
That’s when he saw a tree on the bank a few meters ahead of him with a rope tied to it, with its end submerged to the river.
Without hesitation, he grabbed the water in front of him trying to get the rope. But his face blanched when he didn’t grab anything as he passed it.
His heart thundered in his ribcage as he grappled to the water looking for it. But he grabbed nothing
He had no choice but to swim against the current no matter how it did not do anything.
As he was about five meters away from the nearest wall of rock spears, he felt his arms touch something rough and coarse—and he immediately grabbed it.
It was the rope, and he held tight on it.
His flow stopped just as he was a meter away from the nearest spear. He felt his heart thundered so loud in his chest, while he quivered in breathing. He survived.
He immediately pulled himself to the bank using the rope.
He had just reached the shallow part of the river when the boars following him flowed within his sight, flowing with the river in front of him.
They stared at him and squealed softly as they passed. They tried to swim in his direction but they were already dragged by the current towards those abnormal outcropping rock formations. He heard crunching noises, followed by squeals from the boars as they were stopped by something even before they reached the nearest spike.
Mill felt chills on his body when the boars’ life, five in total, snuffed out abruptly after hitting the wall, skewered by the rock spikes in it.
He checked the walls again, and seeing it while stationary made him realize they were too abnormal to be natural rock formation.
They were too sharp and too thin, almost in perfect cone shape, and long. They were clearly man-made.
He saw another tree from the other bank and it also had a rope tied to it with its end in the river.
This should be an intentional trap made by no other than the Dabomens. For what, he didn’t know. But this rope should be a precautionary measure in case someone accidentally fell in the water.
There were other creatures skewered in it and he was confused upon seeing less boars than he estimated, instead there was a creature looking like a huge dog, a monkey creature and a creature with feathers all over its body.
Feeling the ache in his body, he dropped to his bum and panted, water dropping out of him to the ground.
He was drenched all over and his body felt cold. He took off his shoes and poured the water inside it to the ground.
His body was full of ache, wounds, and bruises that all he wanted to do was to close his eyes and never open them again.
He looked towards the direction of the sea and he was glad that it was within sight, just amongst the bare trees from the distance. He only had to trace the side of this river and he would reach it in a few minutes of walking.
Too exhausted to stand up, he crawled towards the tree behind him, laid his head on its trunk and closed his eyes.
He did not want to move. He just wanted to stay like that.
Despite unintentionally drinking liquid from the river, his throat thirsted for water and his stomach panged with food.
He regretted not eating during the feast. If someone right now presented him with raw meat, he would eat it without care. He could even think of eating the bark of the tree behind him.
He laid his right cheek on the bark, smelled it and closed his eyes.
“Aghh—!”
Mill woke up with a start. He looked around him to look for his surroundings and his head focused on the sound of fighting coming from somewhere in the direction of the central mountain. Amidst the sound of the raging river, he could hear some people shouting in the distance, accompanied by clanging noises of metal, and explosions.
That was not what woke him up though. It was from something nearer.
He looked towards the river and was taken aback to see that the bodies piled up on it had tripled from the time he slept. Amongst them were human bodies.
The moon was currently sitting on the summit in the sky, making it easy for him to see the river and the bodies. He recognized some Dabomen bodies in it, but most of them were altaworlders based on their clothes.
Their bodies were skewered from different places jutting from one side of their body to the other.
He blinked at the sight, feeling nothing inside. He should be mortified with the bodies but all he felt inside was exhaustion.
His vision turned into a gray haze and he knew he was in that state again.
His hunger had already numbed and his head felt heavy.
He stood up and wobbled for a second. He regained his balance then began walking beside the river towards the sea in the distance.
He walked without urgency and in a slow pace like he was not on a dangerous island where some creatures were trying to hunt them. In fact, he wanted to meet them.
He clenched both of his fists as annoyance, impatience, and dislike rolled all over his body. He felt it not just in his gut, but on his feet walking in the ground, his drenched socks, the wind caressing his face, his hungry stomach, and every injury he had. He felt it in every part of his body.
He was aware of what was happening and how his state was turning, but he did not care, and he meant it. The state felt normal for him.
Though he always took extra care when he was in this state, especially when he was with others—with his sisters or with his friends— but he was on this wretched island instead. He recalled what he experienced and it invoked anger inside him.
He was angry. He was very angry.