The seemingly dense forest was sparse inside. It lost its wildness and innocence.
Uninvited visitors left twigs and vines broken, befouling the greeneries with their blood.
Sam looked around and found dead bodies with missing parts hanging by the branches, caught in a snare. Others laid on the floor, and the flies feasted on their carcass.
For hours, the two continued to follow the trail left by the long-haired guy. Sam's bare feet felt every vibration from the green earth.
Tobi suggested that Sam should put on some shoes—leather covering taken from the remains of the dead. Sam did not regret rejecting his suggestion. He thought if those naked men survived on the island, how much more would it be for him? Plus, all the shoes reeked of death; he did not want to give away his position to experienced hunters.
Sam raised his hand for a halt and gestured a hush. He sensed a series of movements to his right, hidden by the undergrowth. When a rustle came, Tobi was quick to fire an arrow.
There was no sound, and the movement stopped.
"What was that for?" Sam said. Disbelief filled his eyes.
"Better safe than sorry, dude." Tobi shrugged his shoulders. "You never know what's in there." He nocked another arrow.
"Stop!" Sam pushed the bow.
"You're crazy, don't get in there!" Tobi said.
Sam inched his way to the undergrowth. The leaves crunched under his careful steps.
He grabbed a stick from the ground and poked the earth before him as a caution against snares. Just like he had anticipated, a wire noose burst out from the bed of leaves and pulled the stick from Sam's hand towards the undergrowth.
Sam brandished a small dagger, the one with a thin stiletto triangular blade, and backed away from the undergrowth.
"I told you!" Tobi said. He felt trapped. The undergrowth was a distraction. He spun with his eyes on the tip of his arrow, standing back to back with Sam.
The first bald head came out, and Tobi fired, but the naked man caught it midair.
"Run!" Tobi dashed, but Sam pulled him back.
"No. We stay," Sam whispered. He did not return the dagger to its belt. Instead, he tucked it between the back part of his pants. His back tingled when the icy blade pressed on it. "Drop your bow. Now."
Naked men came out of the forest; their skin painted in the undergrowth's color.
Sam elbowed Tobi. "We're outnumbered, drop it."
"Dude, I regret running towards you." Tobi finally dropped his bow before raising his arms in surrender.
"Look, they're from a different tribe," Sam said. His inquisitive eyes gazed at their bodies.
There were women in the group. Their mud-covered loose breasts sagged.
"How can you even tell that?" Tobi bit his lip. "All I see are naked people! And if they're a more decent tribe, they'll cook us in a stew. Do you think they can understand us?"
Sam removed the belt and carefully dropped it on the ground while raising his other hand. "We mean no harm," he said while searching for the leader. His eyes stopped on the woman with gray hair and the most layers of wrinkles.
They wielded spears. Lines of blue tattoos ran along on some of the unpainted parts of their necks, arms, and chests. It was how Sam inferred that they were from a different tribe.
One of the men gazed at Sam with caution. He dragged the belt away from him with the tip of his spear.
The oldest woman received it from him, running her fingers through the blade. She smiled at them, showing sharp, crooked teeth.
...
Gagged in a fiber rope, Tobi still managed to make some noise like a squealing pig. He spoke gibberish, making up words with the hope of striking a conversation with his silent captors.
He and Sam were tied on wooden poles carried over the shoulders of the men. Their party was heading towards the western part of the forest.
Sam felt relieved that they tied his hands and feet facing the pole. It was also a good thing that the shirt was long, and the pants were not closely fitted, or else it would reveal the hidden dagger.
They traveled through the forest for hours, and when they reached a clearing, the sky was already orange. Ahead of them were pelt tents where women and children waited with eagerness, like hungry wolves.
Flame crackled in the middle of the rough-hewn settlement. Hunched old men danced around mumbling rituals.
Tobi wiggled from his captors. His joke about the stew seemed to be true.
Meanwhile, Sam calmed himself. He hoped for a civilized tribe, but it seemed that his captors were no better than the first group who chased Tobi out of the forest.
Sam looked around and found children tugging on torn white shirts. Then, in one of the open tents, he found the long-haired guy tied and gagged. "Good!" he thought.
His eyes searched for other survivors and clues. But he found no other bodies, and he could not spot where they hid the weapons.
The oldest woman spoke in a language he did not understand, and his captors untied him and Tobi. They threatened him with spears in case he tried something funny despite the fastened rope on his feet and hands.
Tobi's gag was not removed. One of his captors, seemingly irritated by his endless rumblings, knocked him unconscious with the butt of his weapon when he tried to speak.
Sam closed his eyes, pretending to be tired and worn out.
Someone hoisted him, but the captor's hand landed on the hidden dagger. Sam's eyes flashed open. He head-butted the naked man, who was shocked by his discovery. The two of them fell on the ground. While in midair, Sam already pulled the dagger and untied himself with a flick of his hands.
Sam lunged towards the oldest woman; his eyes feared no death. The tribesmen were a beat too late to stop him.
The dagger and spears stopped an inch away from their intended targets.
Sam was good at pretending. Outside he looked calm like he had already claimed many lives at such a young age, but deep inside, his intestines squirmed. He had never taken a life before and had no intention to do so. It was just all a bluff, but a dangerous one.
His brown eyes smiled because his guess was right—the tribesmen could not afford to lose their leader for his life.
The air tensed that even the dancing old men and children stopped in their activity. They did not dare to make a move, afraid that Sam would push the dagger.
"Ralash," said the tribe's leader, and the men withdrew their spears, but not their murderous gaze. They backed a few steps.
"Would you really dare to push it, child?" said the leader in a daring tone, shocking Sam.
Sam did not withdraw the dagger. "How?" He could not reconcile how an old woman from an unknown island could speak his language.
"Because we came from the same world," she said. The blue marks on her body glowed, and her wrinkled skin rippled until they became smooth and free of dirt.
Sam's eyes widened. A young and beautiful woman stood before him, naked for all his eyes to relish. It was his first time to see such an image that could stir his slumbering desires. His knees buckled; he backed a step away from her.
Meanwhile, the members of the tribe bowed on their knees. They worshipped the woman like she was some goddess.
"Who are you?" Sam demanded. He finally withdrew his dagger and backed a few steps more before running towards Tobi, who was still unconscious.
"Follow me," said the woman. She sauntered towards the biggest tent with no care at all like a free wind.
Sam did not want to leave Tobi, but what else could he do? He took the risk and followed the woman inside the tent. Everyone gazed at him, especially the long-haired guy. He was amused by what Sam had pulled off so far.
The tent smelled of coconut oil and wool.
Sam speculated that the woman was not a native of the island. White shirts and black pants were folded in a corner like some memorabilia of examinees, and a pile of weapons lay on the other side. He even spotted the long-haired guy's saber.
"Sit," the woman said. A brown wool robe already covered her torso, to Sam's dismay. She pointed at a collection of rags made from torn clothes and tied in ropes to form the rough outline of a chair. "What's your name, child?"
"Tells me yours first, and I'll tell you mine," Sam answered, making sure not to let his guard down.
The woman smirked. "You remind me of someone..."
Her eyes twinkled with a tinge of sadness, and there was a sense of longing in them. "Samira Sinclaire. But in here, I am called Dathrai Darcuna, or in our language, the Grande Dame of Death."
Sam nodded with a slight frown; he did not believe everything she had just said. "I'm Samwise Stein. I was sent here as part of the Isekai Institute's examination."
"I know." Samira pursed her thin lips. Her ears pricked when she heard Sam's name, and interest sparkled within her deep scarlet eyes. "For I was once like you. No wonder why you remind me of someone."
"What do you mean?" Sam's thick eyebrows furrowed. "And if you're one of us, why are you working with these wildmen? The thing you have just pulled off... Is that what they call Gifts?"
"Believe whatever you want, but I'm here to protect you and the others. And Gifts? I call them curses, child. They rob you of your humanity." Samira paced around Sam with a piercing gaze, scrutinizing him. Her long and slender fingers brushed through his black hair.
Sam's scalp and the other parts of his body tingled. But he was helpless from the sensations that made his temperature rise.
"So, what are you now?" Sam asked. He gulped; the hairs on his arms stood, and he finally lost his cool. He was melting. "A-are you a monster? Do you eat the examinees you catch?"
"I was once like you, Sam," Samira said with a sigh. "I was a naive girl back then just wanting to escape our world and become a Sojourner."
She moved away from him and stood before an altar at the end of the tent. It displayed two skulls: one contained oil while the other held blood. "And me, a monster? Maybe. But no, I and the others don't eat human flesh."
"So how did you end up here?" Sam stirred in his uncomfortable seat.
"Was it fifteen or twenty years ago? I've lost track of time," Samira said.
She held the skulls and gazed at their content. "At the very center of our world, an island rose from the bottom of the sea. It contained something that changed the course of our race—a portal to other worlds.
"The World Government commissioned the Five Great Nations to join forces and study the strange place. But they kept its location a secret from ordinary people. They called the newfound island, Isekai, and that's where they started the Institute."
Sam listened with deep interest. The Institute's location was one of the pieces of knowledge he had searched from countless books but could not find. No wonder why. But if the historical records were correct, the Institute had started ten years ago.
"I was an assassin who worked for the Nation of Shinjo. They commissioned me to be a pioneer for the said exploration—"
"Wait!" Sam stood from his chair. "I'm looking for my father! He's also a pioneer!"
"Hm. What's the name of your father?"
"Solomon."
Samira dropped the skulls. Oil and blood mixed on the ground. "Solomon Stein, that bastard! He never told me he has a son!"