Chapter 55 - The Haunted Island
After refreshing himself with water from his canteen, Luke donned his cloak and continued his journey towards the island. As he drew closer, he realized it was massive, complete with mountains. This was no mere island.
Reflecting on it, he found it quite curious to be literally walking to an island.
Does it still count as an island if I'm walking to it? This can hardly be called a sea I'm walking on; I can sit down and touch the bottom... ignoring the fact that this sea is a giant Veil to another terrifying ocean.
As he neared the island, Lucan sprinted the last stretch with all his remaining strength. Splashing water everywhere, the young man in black finally reached the island amidst the vast, shallow blue sea.
"My god! Finally..."
Luke collapsed to the ground, laying on his back and looking up at the blue sky.
"I made it."
He sighed, allowing himself to close his eyes, but quickly reminded himself that he was still in the Oblique World... or rather, a card within the Oblique World. So, he stayed alert.
One thing he noticed was the tall palm trees laden with coconuts.
"Coconuts?" he said in disbelief.
These were only in old movies from the 23rd century!
Desperately, he tried to climb the tree, gripping it with his hands and bracing his feet to hold on. He even pulled out his knife to try and get a grip as he attempted to climb. In the end, it didn't work.
Falling to the ground, he stayed there. The physical and mental exhaustion, along with sleepiness, were overcoming him. He had no strength left, especially after fighting for his life to resurface from the shallow sea during the crater incident.
At least there was one good thing from that near-death experience: while struggling to reach the edge of the crater, avoiding being sucked in, and amidst the desperate lack of air, he managed to stay intangible after emerging, escaping the current.
It's progress... staying intangible without holding my breath is an achievement I made these past few days. Now I just need to figure out my limit. Before, I had a barrier which was how long I could hold my breath; now I just have to manage my prana consumption... I wish I could just sink into this ground and sleep intangibly inside it. That would be the safest way to rest...
Looking up, he realized for the first time that he was in the shade, protected from the sun. He felt happy but was too exhausted to celebrate.
"I'll get that coconut... but not now."
Luke gave in to sleep and dozed off.
After a while, his mind was filled with racing images: sand dunes, ruined cities, and then him, alone in a strange place.
A noise came from the forest, and a startled Luke jumped up. Even while sleeping, he was on alert. It was reckless to try sleeping in this world, but he had done it sitting in the shallow sea... if he had to weigh it on the scale of recklessness, this would win. But he was always on alert; his sleep had been light for a long time due to... life experiences.
What? Where?
The noise came from the dense forest stretching beyond the beach towards the mountains. Luke dared not enter, at least not while feeling so tired and weak. As he looked around, trying to find the source of the noise, he summoned his hammer, ready for anything.
The leaves rustled within the forest, the sound of branches breaking echoed. Staying alert, Luke moved a bit away from the forest to avoid being surprised by anything jumping out.
Creek.
A branch snapped to his right, deeper in the forest. Luke quickly turned in that direction, staying on guard.
Creek
Another branch broke to his left.
Creek
A branch broke somewhere between the other noises, and the bushes began to shake.
Something's coming!
Creek... creek... creek
More branches snapped.
Whatever it is, it doesn't care about making noise. Haven't they seen me? Should I hide?
It was too late now.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the forest.
"No fucking way…"
The figure emerged, slightly hunched, looking around with its mouth open. When it saw Luke, it stood upright and raised its hands, clenching its fists. The figure was tall for a human, pale... very pale, actually, it was... a skeleton.
"Shiiiiiiit!"
I just got here!
Looking around, he saw two more skeletons emerging from the directions where he heard the branches breaking.
"Look what we have here... hello?" Luke tried to communicate, but the skeletons didn't seem very friendly.
One of the skeletons threw a knife at Luke, catching him off guard. The knife hit his shoulder.
"Damn it!" He screamed in pain as the knife pierced his shoulder. The skeleton moved quickly, and he hadn't expected that.
Another skeleton pulled an arrow from its quiver and aimed at him.
"That's... that's not fair."
Jumping to the side, he dodged the arrow that nearly hit him. As he got up, the skeleton in the middle pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. The skeleton landed on top of Luke, its jaw open, staring at him.
'AAAAAAARGH!'
Okay! That was scary.
His hammer had fallen to the ground. He drew his knife and stabbed the skeleton.
THIS BASTARD DOESN'T HAVE ANY FLESH FOR ME TO STAB, JUST BONES! FUCK!
Throwing the skeleton to the side, another arrow flew straight at his head. Luke rolled backward, activating his intangibility and passing through a tree. The arrow hit the tree as he rolled to the side.
For a moment, he found it bizarre seeing himself lying on the ground while intangible, with a palm tree passing through his body.
It was this or let a flying arrow pierce my brain... I figured testing the mortal option wasn't a great idea.
Standing up, he ran to grab the hammer but was pushed by the skeleton that had thrown the knife. Falling some distance away, he noticed his knife had also fallen to the ground.
One of the skeletons picked up his hammer.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
The skeleton with the hammer charged at him. At the same time, another skeleton held two knives in its hands—the knife it had thrown at Luke's shoulder, now pulled out, and the knife Luke had used on the other skeleton.
With those two skeletons running at him, he tried to summon his torch but barely dodged another arrow.
The skeleton armed with two knives threw them both, forcing Luke to dodge while avoiding a swing from the hammer-wielding skeleton.
"I'm such an idiot!"
He dismissed the hammer from the skeleton's grasp. The skeleton stared in disbelief at its empty hands, looking around for the missing weapon, only to have its skull smashed by a reappearing hammer. Luke sent the skeleton's head flying and then shattered its body with another blow as it ran after its head.
Another arrow flew towards him, but Luke saw it coming and dodged. Just as he was getting his bearings, the second skeleton with knives lunged at him. Luke threw himself backward, hitting the ground hard, and rolled to his feet, narrowly escaping the skeleton's slashing blades. The skeleton shrieked in frustration as it missed its mark.
"Fuck! How are you even making noise?"
Luke shouted as he struck the skeleton repeatedly until it fell apart. Glancing at the remaining archer skeleton, he was suddenly tackled by another skeleton.
"Another one?" He struggled to his feet as the skeleton tried to choke him.
Looking around, he saw the pile of bones reforming.
"You've got to be kidding me! You can rebuild yourselves!?"
"Ahhhhh,"
A scream was all the response he got. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the knife-wielding skeleton magically reassembling, its bones flying back together. The archer skeleton walked over to a tree to retrieve an embedded arrow.
Guess that bastard's out of ammo.
As he was being choked, he managed to push the skeleton away and activated his intangibility, sinking into the ground.
The skeleton pounded the ground in confusion, unable to reach him.