Violently, the waves fell down upon me like fists of liquid rage. The rowboat swayed so heavily and the sea was so spontaneous it was hard to know when to breathe. Ice cold wind and rain like tiny daggers worked to assault my senses, blinding me in my small moments of reprieve against the waves. I could barely make out the visions of my friends on the boat, John and Serah, desperately trying to protect themselves from the anger of nature.
“Hold on a little longer!” I tried to reassure them, but the elements carried my voice away with little effort. John called out in response but neither of us could hear one another. Although my arms were numb from the relentless cold I raised one as a pointing gesture. The island was almost indistinguishable as the sea and sky melded together in a beaten grey, but it’s silhouette was visible as a small splatter of black in the endless storm. John picked up on my cue and together we plunged an oar into the violent waves in an attempt to steer towards our salvation.
Unfortunately, our combined strength held no meaning to the sea; it felt as though I was wrestling with a bear. The numbness of my body and the pure rage of the sea worked against us and tore the oar from our grasp, flinging it out into the hungry waters. We weren’t foolish enough to let our second oar be taken too. We would have to do what we could to outlast this storm and ensure our boat remained in one piece.
I pushed my hair from my face and looked up to the sky but all I saw was an endless stream of grey; there was no end to the storm in sight. That’s when I heard Serah’s voice faintly, or rather, her scream. As I turned to look at her I saw her eyes wide and her mouth ajar, her body seemingly stopped shaking as she was perfectly still. John was staring behind me but reaching for my arm. Immediately I was struck in the back of the head by a cold, wet and incredibly hard wave of water. I remember falling forward, but then my vision fades to black, and my memory fails me.
Warmth enveloped my body, save for my back which felt tough and cold. My head felt incredible pain and it was a challenge in of itself to open my eyes, when I was able to however, I was forced to close them once more due to the blinding light that lay above me. My arms felt too weak to raise against this light, so I summoned what little strength I had to roll onto my stomach. The ground was tough, but it had some give under my weight. Looking to the side I was able to open my eyes, seeing what seemed to be the coastline of a beach. I saw the ocean looking almost peaceful and tickling the sand that lie on the foot of the beach. I saw my rowboat, overturned and looking heavily damaged, but not unrecoverable. I saw my friends, both lying on their backs, seemingly unconscious but alive.
Serah’s long, blonde hair was dripping wet and resting carelessly on her face. The sun highlighted how her skin almost resembled porcelain in its pale complexion, her wet clothes conformed to the lines of her body, showing her modest and toned figure; she was a woman who lived a life of laborious work. She could stand as tall as the average man yet be twice as intimidating. Next to her lay John, his hair was a deep brown, but considerably shorter than Serah’s. His muscles were a defining feature and they somewhat compensated for his height, or his lack thereof.
I gave a heavy sigh of relief and allowed my muscles to relax. The pain I felt was made somewhat at ease upon seeing my friends. I let my head droop into the sand and let my mind wander once more, disregarding the potential hazards around me; I had little strength left.
I’m not sure how much time had passed before I felt myself being shaken.
“Daniel? Wake up! We need to get moving before we lose the sun!” The rough raspy voice spoke my name and seemed to be connected to the appendage that shook me.
“Huh? John?” My eyes were bleary and my mind fogged, but I was able to recall my friends name as he helped me stand. It seemed as though we barely had a few hours left before the sun escaped behind some mountains. I turned my attention to Serah; she seemed to be exploring the immediate vicinity around us.
“I think it’d be best if we headed north into these woods, that way we can keep the sea to our west and try to find a place to stay,” Serah’s delicate yet mature voice suggested. I had no reason to disagree with her; she was much better at this navigation stuff than me. Now that I could stand I took my first real look at where we had all landed. We seemed to be on a large bend of beach that quickly met with woods, with several mountains prominently displayed in the distance. The strong orange that cued the setting of the sun made the mountains look far more majestic than they deserved to.
“For now, let’s leave the boat at the entrance of the woods,” although the others understood what I said and began collecting our surviving belongings, I couldn’t help but realize my voice must have suffered some damage from all the shouting within the storm. Several brief moments passed and we all held a small bag of our belongings on our sides. We checked to ensure we did a satisfactory job of concealing the boat before beginning our trek into the woods.
“How exactly did we make it to the island anyway?” I croaked, the intrigue on my face clearly showing.
“We fought the storm for hours after you were knocked out, it was a miracle you didn’t fly off the boat!” Exclaimed John.
“After some time had passed and we were convinced we would succumb to those slippery depths, the storm decided to stop just like that, as quick and sudden as flame to the wind,”
“That storm had been chasing us for a day and a night. It leaving so suddenly was like a blessing from the Mother Goddess herself,” Serah pitched in.
“You don’t actually believe in that horse-crap, do you? Did you hit your head too?” John held his finger up to his head and twirled it in a circular motion.
“Of course not, but you can’t deny that what happened was nothing short of a miracle,” Serah’s statement was met with a chortle from John as they both began to bicker amongst themselves about superstition. I smiled contentedly, as much as those two would argue, they were close friends and even a fool could see that.
After a few hours of walking, we decided to take a short break. The journey had been unforgiving to us and we hadn’t eaten a real meal in days. I pulled my water skin from my bag and took a few generous gulps before setting it back down. Even water hurt my throat to swallow. I took the time to more closely examine what of my belongings had survived: a few silver and copper pieces, some rope, three wax candles and my hunting knife. Disappointment encompassed me for a few moments, losing personal belongings wasn’t unknown to me, but it was still an unpleasant feeling.
“I’m pretty sure there is a settlement toward the base of the mountains, further inland, I can see lots of lights and smoke,” noted Serah who, at some point during my personal crisis, had climbed a fairly large tree.
“Let’s get going then. If we stop one more time I’m not sure I’ll be able to stand again,” wheezed John as he pulled himself up off the ground.
“How far?” I asked, limiting my words to put as little strain on my throat as possible.
“We will be deep into the night before we arrive, perhaps an hour or two if all goes well,” grunted Serah as she plopped down from the tree. She puts on a serious face, but she was clearly as fatigued as the rest of us.
“Tch. If all goes well? Are you trying to invite havoc to our laps? You know not to jinx things like that,” John had furrowed his brow and, in his annoyance, he let some of his accent slip through, one he had supposedly lost years ago. John was part human and part dwarf but, for personal reasons, he was ashamed of his lineage. Serah and I only knew of this because we were all childhood friends. Serah simply rolled her eyes in response, hauled her bag onto her back and began the tedious walk. John muttered something under his breath and followed suit. I raised myself from the floor, much to my own chagrin, this took me a few attempts and I almost fell behind the pack. All I wanted was a hot meal and a warm bed, this isn’t the adventure I had envisioned when we departed almost a week ago.
Truthfully, I never wanted to depart at all. Due to circumstance unforeseen, most of my village was forced to flee, carrying no more than we could fit onto our backs. A War had been raging on for years in a neighboring country, one of the powers in this war, the Crusceus Kingdom, decided that our small country would somehow hold a strategic advantage, limiting the access of their enemies. This forced all of us who had lived there to scatter or to take up arms and inevitably die. How was a small village supposed to hold up against an army? Me, John and Serah were all lucky enough to have owned a small boat for fishing. That is what we used to escape before being caught in that vicious storm. Serah had brought a map on her escape which we used to point ourselves towards the islands of Skerat, a hub for fishing and trading. One could only hope that we did not fall too far from our target path.
“Oh thank goodness!” John’s booming voice broke the silence and pierced my haze. We had come upon a large dirt trail, likely used for trade, more importantly we were at the edge of the woods and only a few moments away from reaching what seemed to be a reasonably sized town. We all found ourselves new energy as our eyes lit up and we picked up our momentum straight for the town.
“I really hope their bathhouses are free,” Serah chirped.
“Oh, I’m sure there’ll be people paying just to join you!” John guffawed at his own insinuations. Serah seemed to totally disregard his statement as her eyes were locked to the town. We finally reached the entrance in which a generously sized wooden sign read ‘Welcome to Dormenthus’. Accepting the invitation, we all graciously entered the town and headed for the nearest inn.
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