With so much coercing, he finally got his fatigue-ridden body to cooperate and move.
His priority was food. Fortunately, he didn't have to look much for that. A palm tree laden with nuts was a few paces from him. It was thin enough that he could shake it instead of climbing all the way up to get them.
A couple of nuts dropped on both sides of him after he gave it a good shake.
The boy pulled out Salah's dagger and began working to pry the fruits open.
It took a considerable amount of time and frustration, but he finally could both drink and eat from them.
It wasn't much, but so long as he got some of his energy back, he would be able to wander around and get more food and water.
As he did so, he discovered three things. First, was the worrying fact that no life could be found around. He was literary on his own.
Second, was that the island was divided by that mountain at its center. Unless he climbed it or swam around its rocky edges, he would not be able to reach the other side.
The last was that, unfortunately, there seemed to be no source of water on his side. While he might content himself with the few fruits he got as food, the lack of water was a pressing matter.
As he sat down, leaning over the bark of a palm tree and eating his humble meal in the shade, he stared at the mountain and was seriously considering heading out to the other side in search of water.
But then it occurred to him that there was no guarantee he would find any on the other side, and he would be even more thirsty and tired.
The coconuts could not quench his thirst so far.
As he looked at the accumulated shells of said fruit, something clicked in his mind and he swept them up. He picked the largest of them and filled it up with seawater.
He then fetched a palm fond and covered the makeshift bowl of water with it, making the tip dip into the other half of the hard shell, and left them in the sun.
He did the same with all the nuts' shells he was in position of and retreated to the shade. " My teacher said it's not the best option, but it's the best next thing I could get for now."
With a nod, he held out a rather long branched he managed to break off from a tree and chipped at its end into a fine point with his blade.
After an hour of work, he ran his thumb over it, feeling satisfied with the result. " Depending on fruits won't keep me alive for long."
He stood up and faced the sea. The lurching waves almost intimidated him as memories of how he almost drowned overwhelmed his mind.
Squinting at his opponent, he cast away his shirt, tightened the tie of his hair, and ran straight to the water, his makeshift spear grasped in hand.
Unlike rivers, where one might get fish without having to wade deeper in, fishes of the sea usually stayed clear off the shores.
Taking a deep breath, Sindbad dove under the water's surface, squinting his eyes as he headed to the deeper parts still.
There, his chances would be better.
It was true.
Not before long, he was met with a school of fish roaming the area peacefully, unaware of the hungry boy over them.
Sindbad's stomach grumbled as he imagined the feast two or three of these fish could provide him with.
He readied his spear and thrust forward.
Unfortunately, water was a fish's territory. They were faster than him down there. Thus, they easily evaded the thrust, and gathered before him again, as if taunting him for his failure.
Sindbad frowned at that and swam up to the surface, drawing deep shaky breaths. " As if I would give up!"
He drew in a lungful of air, and dove back, finding his target still nearby. He thrust his spear again, with the result no different than his first attempt.
Yet, as he continued his struggle with the fish, he became more and more used to the difference between moving on land and moving underwater.
His last thrust managed to scath a fish and it scurried away, leaving a trail of blood behind it.
Sindbad went back up for air. " Yes! Now I got the hang of it!"
With his golden eyes glimmering in determination, he went under again, this time set on getting his haul.
The injured fish was his first prey, being the easiest of them. Yet one fish wouldn't be enough for him. So he swam after the school as they header further still, trying to escape him.
As he followed after them, managing to impale another on the stick, his eyes widened when he realized what was under him.
Darkness.
Utter darkness.
It was what could only be described as the bottomless part of the sea.
Which didn't make sense.
He didn't venture that much from the island.
Did he?
He crested the surface, gulping for air and shaking his head, getting his wet hair away from his eyes.
There it was, the island wasn't that far from him.
By all means, he shouldn't be in that kind of deep water yet.
Not unless that small island was the tip of a mountain underwater, which didn't seem likely.
Intrigued by that, Sindbad dove in to investigate it.
From there, he could see the edges of the island, but they rounded back on themselves like some kind of large ball stretched from both sides, floating on the water's surface.
Piqued by the unfathomable thing he was witnessing before him, Sindbad swam along the edge to better get a look at how it was even possible.
Floating islands weren't real. That much he learned from his teacher.
So what was this island? How was it floating?