Using that brief moment of distraction, Syllian retreated further up. Running as fast as he could away from the tentacles, debris, and water.
"Finch!" Above him, Allen stood beside Helen with a pale face and clenched fists.
"I'm alive!"
Coming to a stop beside them, Syllian looked back at the tentacles for a brief moment as he caught his breath.
"How did you-"
"It doesn't matter." Syllian quickly put a halt to Allen's questions.
Pointing to the broken ship, Syllian spoke on the important matters first.
"It hid from us, number one, which means it wanted to secretly destroy the ship before we noticed. Number two-"
Syllian's tone switched into a raspy, grave voice.
"-we are now stuck here."
The second half was unnecessary, they both knew it without having to say so.
The Adler was in the midst of crashing into the waters in broken pieces, and the tiny cuts littering Syllian's body were proof of it.
The first reason was the important one.
Why did it want to secretly destroy the ship?
Why isolate them on this island?
'Call of The Night, Caller of The Night...'
The clue was there, somewhere.
Sitting down below a tree a distance from the water, Syllian let Helen and Allen watch over the waters and tentacles.
He needed to tighten his bandages.
Removing his tunic, Syllian revealed the grey cloth tightened around his right arm and the warm shirt he stole from someone else beneath.
Peeling off the last layer, his bloodied chest bandage breathed some air for the first in a while.
Folding his tunic, he stuffed a portion of the thing into his mouth, and bit down.
Clasping onto the edges of the bandage, Syllian pulled.
"Urgh!"
He grunted into the tunic as he endured the pain.
A minute later, his clothing was on again with the grey cloth wrapped around his right arm.
"How is it?"
"N-nothing so far." Allen nervously stuttered over his words while looking around.
Helen nodded quietly.
Syllian believed them but decided to check for himself.
In the waters, where The Adler used to float, piles of debris littered the waters. He could see a couple of familiar items here and there with the help of the lightning.
Pshh...
Lifting his hand, Syllian felt the rain.
'A bit stronger.'
Beside him, Allen asked:
"Should we go?"
"Yeah-"
Swish...
A cold breeze splashed over the three of them.
Bewildered, Syllian looked around the island, "Cold wind?"
It was a surprise, the wind on the island was much weaker than in the waters, so the cold wind was an unwelcome change.
"It is just me, or do I no longer feel safe?"
Allen suddenly threw a shellshock at Syllian.
'Safe?'
What was that?
'Since when was the Trial of Ruin safe?'
Since when-
Splash...
Freezing water lightly scratched the soles of Syllian's feet.
-was this island safe?
Inching his gaze down, the boy discovered a small wave of water encroaching on his feet.
Inching his gave up, the boy discovered a wave of water encroaching on the island.
'The Call of The Night beckons all.'
The dark waters were terrifying.
They were cold, freezing, deadly; alluring.
The calm ripples, the peaceful waves.
It drew him in, asking him to embrace it back.
'The Call of The Night swallows all.'
As it drew you in, it embraced you.
Swallowed you.
Drowned you.
And right now-
'The Call of The Night approaches.'
-it was approaching.
The bloody, dripping word returned to his mind.
[Run]
Syllian's hands shot up, grasping the shoulders of the bewildered boy and girl.
Opening his mouth, Syllian screamed:
"Run!"
---
Pulling Helen's hand, Syllian sprinted as fast as the little girl could handle.
Albeit it wasn't that fast, but it was enough.
"What!"
Speaking with each heavy breath, Allen stared back at the encroaching tide.
"Happening!"
Sipping in tiny breaths of hot air, "It's coming!"
"What?!"
Syllian struggled a look at the boy, and spat through his mouth:
"The water!"
Strong winds attacked them from the back, and following this cold wind was the approaching tide of dark water.
Beneath these waters, the tentacles lurked; fall beneath the waters, and only death would follow.
"Just run!"
Slip-
Syllian felt the small hand drop off behind him.
Smack!
Turning back to the noise, Helen had fallen to the ground. Blood dripped from her left leg as she squirmed in pain while holding onto the wound.
"Damn it!"
Pausing his run, he looked at Allen who had stopped running and ordered him:
"Don't stop running!"
Turning his back to the pair without hesitation, Allen ran off into the distance.
Quickly running up to Helen, he picked her up and looked at her leg.
'Not good.'
Grabbing onto Helen's coat, he ripped a piece off with his full power and lifted the section of pants covering her left leg.
A small gash ran through her leg, directly beneath a small mole.
Wrapping her wound with the makeshift bandage, he told her to grit her teeth and then pulled it tight.
"Ah!" Letting out a small scream, she looked up at him while holding back tears.
"Get up." Pulling her up, he watched her wobble for a moment then stand strong.
'Good.'
Holding her hand again, Syllian continued running once more.
The water was right on their heels, the seething darkness wriggling and slithering beneath those waves was slowly swallowing the land.
If they were too slow the land wouldn't be the only victim.
Splash!
At some point, each of his footsteps landed in water.
'It's still light water.'
The real tide hadn't arrived yet.
Running through the path of dead leaves, Syllian double-checked on Helen.
Tired and in pain, the girl was still somehow keeping up. She was tougher than he expected her to be.
"Almost there!"
That shout was for both of them, running for so long wasn't so easy with his injured body. He was weak in the first place, so that didn't help either.
Breaking through the layer of trees, Syllian felt the pressure of the rain heavily increase. The strength of the winds rose by a notch, and the incoming waters crashed with weight.
His ears had mostly recovered already, and listening to the storm...
Knowing that there was nowhere to run but up...
Was terrifying.
'This is just as bad as-'
Crackle-!
A soft bolt of lightning thundered down far away from his location, but Syllian caught a glimpse of something.
It wasn't clear at first.
He couldn't quite tell it apart from the void-like waters.
But, when his eyes realised what they were laying witness to...
To the existence...
There, below the waters...
Syllian's mind blanked out.
What?
Was?
Tha-
Th-
Clatter.
Clatter. Clatter.
Clatter. Clatter. Clatter.
Syllian flicked his head back forward, the foot of the statue and the stele were in sight now.
And that which should not be seen was no longer in sight.
Not be seen...
Seen?
Did he see something?
---
Sprinting around to the back, the others were in view now sitting around a campfire.
'Why aren't they-!'
It was too dark below the cape, they couldn't see the approaching waters.
"Fin-!" Crude noticed the incoming Syllian and was about to wave him over with a stern look, but then he saw the look on his face.
Theon stopped preparing the food and looked at them too.
One by one, they all saw the incoming pair.
Allen was sitting beside them attempting to explain the situation, but they clearly weren't buying it.
'How did they not hear the ship getting destroyed?!'
Maybe only Syllian knew how urgent the situation was, as for convincing them to follow him before the water attacked them and made them realise the gravity of the scenario...
Forget that, this was a Trial of Ruin.
Running up to the camp, Syllian shot towards the flask placed beside his makeshift bed.
"Is it true?"
Beside him, Orland tried to ask the panicking boy a question.
But the boy completely ignored him.
Picking his flask of water up, Syllian gave them just one word.
"Run!"
And ran for himself.
Pacing up to the protrusions at the back of the sandals he looked at Helen and asked her, "Can you climb?"
She nodded.
"Good."
When Syllian placed his right hand onto the first little ledge, Crude finally caught up to him while asking:
"Did it actually get destroyed?! Is the water rising?!"
Syllian pulled himself up, "Yes.", and started his climb.
Pulling his body was simultaneously easy and difficult, easy because he weighed very little, and difficult because he was naturally weak and heavily injured.
Behind him Helen began her climb; Allen and the others had made the decision to climb as well.
Most of them didn't know the severity of the situation, but it was better to move first and think later.
Slowly climbing around the sandal, Syllian carefully gripped onto each connecting ledge.
One little slip of his fingers or feet, and it would be over.
A few minutes later, they reached a platform big enough to fit them at the top of the sandals.
Thankfully the statue only looked completely smooth from afar, up close they could find plenty of gaps, holes, ledges, and platforms to stand on.
The statue was more than large enough to accommodate them.
Resting his back on the ankles of the foot, Syllian caught his breath. Helen and Allen also regained their breath.
They had to run from the bottom of the island to the statue, then climb the damned thing.
It wasn't easy.
"What's going on guys?" Riley walked up to them alongside Orland and Crude.
Only Danny and Theon sat a little ways away, there wasn't enough space for all of them to stand side by side.
Syllian spoke through his rough breathing:
"Look down."
They looked at each other, sighed, or shrugged their shoulders, Riley even shook his head.
Riley, the impatient one of the group demanded more, "Just explain-"
Rumble...
The grey material beneath them vibrated slightly.
Pshh...
Sharp, frosty droplets fell from the sky, dancing through the air and around the cape of the statue, landing on their faces.
Sensing the change Riley turned his focus away from Syllian.
Then, they snuck up to the ledge, careful not to fall; and looked down.
Swish...
Waves of water crashed into the bottom of the sandals, and lit by bolts of lightning, swarms of tentacles could be seen approaching the statue from the bottom of the island.
They slithered and rippled, gouging a path through the island.
No.
It wasn't the bottom of the island anymore.
It was just the ocean now.
CRACKLE-!
Another lightning bolt struck the waters, agitating the tentacles slightly, but not enough to incite a horrific response.
The storm was returning.
The tentacles were returning.
And there was no Adler.
Only the statue.
"Fuck..."
"We're so dead!"
"Heavens!"
"What fucking heavens?! This is hell!"
Each reaction was different, but at the core of it, they all knew what this meant.
It was over for them.
They could only climb the statue.
Even if the waters didn't get them, hunger would.
No matter the method, the only outcome was death.
But.
Perhaps...
...The Mistress of The Night would grant them salvation.
'Yeah...'
'Hoping to be saved by others?'
'Hoping for a way out?'
'Hoping? In this situation?'
Syllian looked at the swarm of approaching tentacles.
"Hope is a poison slathered with desire..."
A poison no one could escape.