And so I walked.
Step after Step.
Sinking deep in the sand by the weight of my loot.
Step. Step. Step.
An empty landscape, devoid of life or sights.
Step. Step. Step.
The light turns again and again.
Step. Step. Step.
A single shadow passes by, too high for my sight.
Step. Step. Step.
A feeling fades into existence.
Step. Step. Step.
Something was missing from my monotonous journey.
Step. Step. Step.
But I couldn't find the reason for the discomfort.
Step. Step. Step.
The ground slowly seems to slope up.
Step. Step. Step.
Until something new appeared.
...
In the distance, just visible through the watery curtains.
Like an oasis in the desert, it draws me closer.
And the outline turned into a shape.
And the shape turned into a wreck.
Another ship.
But...
This one was barely more than a mound of wood.
Destroyed until not even its keel remained intact.
And so I did what I do best.
Loot.
...
It took time but searching the entirety of the wreck was satisfying and exciting, even though it didn't prove to be profitable as the only loot I found was a... Box? It's rectangular and the size of my hand but it seemed to have neither a lid nor key and seems to be made from black stone.
Anyways I stuffed into my barrel and continued my travel.
Step. Step. Step.
This time my parting was much easier, probably because there was nothing left.
Step. Step. Step.
...
Since a short while, I saw a long shape appear along the horizon. And now I can finally make out what it is. A long cliff a few hundred feet high and stretching across one side to another farther than I can see.
With my barrel, there is no climbing that.
I take my time to inspect the cliffside's rocky and surprisingly lifeless face. Sharp edges and spikes make the climb hard even without any baggage.
So instead I walk along its side.
...
After travelling for some time again I come across a kelp forest. Lush green and movement all around. Small critter and fish were already visible.
Moving through it I inspect everything as slowly and thoroughly as possible, using my harpoon as an improvised shovel or machete when the need arose.
I found many interesting beings, but none as strange as the fish on the Sunken Reef. Deep in thoughts, I stride through another section of the forest.
At that moment I suddenly feel and see the kelp around me move strange, like they were pushed by a current that i didn't perceive.
But whatever it was it came and went within moments. And didn't return even after a while. So I continued my exploration.
I got to a clearing in the forest where the sandy ground was replaced by pure rock. Its bluish colouration and obsidian like texture with golden and silver streaks looked stunning. I stayed still and looked for quite some time.
Then I started to poke around with my harpoon to find some kind of lose part I could take with me. I wasn't disappointed as I found a chunk the size of an orange that I could pick up easily. But as I stared at it for a long time felt like something I could hear something within the stone, a broken tune. And it made me really sad.
So I sat down with the rock in my arms and gently rocked it back and forth while trying to hum its tune.
Lights waned and waxed a few times until I finally got the tune just right. just different enough to harmonized and fill the tunes missing parts.
And then I just hummed its tune. Again and again.
And so it changed, minuscule but with every repeat, it changed and...
...healed.
I hummed hundreds of times maybe even thousands, but it was all worth it when I heard a tune broken no longer, not from me but the stone I picked up.
And then. It moved?
A few cracks formed on a small area of the rock. And expanded before two larger pieces of the rock, still just barely as big as my thumb, moved outwards.
It's two legs that shielded its tiny body previously, now moved outwards and revealed a few smaller legs, a pair of tiny periscope eyes and a pair of jaws, all parts wiggling around as if they went stiff from not moving so long. I turned it around gently to let its feet rest on my palm. Surprisingly it didn't struggle nor run away. It just sat there, staring at me.
A tiny, fancy hermit crab.