Floating islands weren't real. That much he learned from his teacher.
So what was this island? How was it floating?
He knew it was a crazy idea. This thing seemed somehow even huger underwater, and Sindbad wasn't exactly on a full stomach or that well rested for such a long swim.
But there was that feeling that nagged at him. That something was wrong.
That feeling would have been right.
Sindbad didn't know how long exactly, but in the end, something caught his eye.
It was when he thought that he almost reached the furthest point of the mysterious land that something glimmered before him.
Sindbad stopped, realizing something was terribly wrong with what he was seeing.
Something moved. Something flicked back at him. Something as black as the night but glimmered with life.
It was an eye.
A large eye.
Sindbad could see his reflection on it.
The boy looked back, the whole structure of the island underneath now made sense to him.
It took only a cautious faint touch to what he thought to be walls of rocks to confirm it.
It was flesh.
This was no island…
It was a whale…
And a large one at that…
A gasp escaped Sindbad, but at the cost of the air he was holding on.
His surroundings vibrated at that moment, and Sindbad looked back at the large whale.
He saw the whale's large mouth split open slowly and he could feel strong currents pushing him forward towards the opening gap.
The whale was about to feed.
And Sindbad didn't want to be around its mouth as it did so.
Quickly, and with all the strength he could muster, he swam back at full speed, struggling against the currents.
He was thankful for how slow the whale was, for the time it took him to open its mouth enough to suck in water and whatever food it might contain, Sindbad had managed to be out of the affected area.
He climbed up to the surface, lungs burning and limbs hurting from how hard he had to thrash to escape.
He pulled himself onto the shore and began coughing violently, his body shaking with every cough as his lungs tried to expel the water that accumulated in them.
When he calmed down and he seemed to be able to get his limbs to move again, he cursed at his own luck as he pushed his hair back.
He was on a large whale.
A whale that might dive down at any moment.
And the currents caused by that act would be the death of Sindbad if he stayed atop it for long.
The boy shook with the realization that washed over him and considered the island again. " Yep, luck had definitely given up on me…"...
✶⊶⊷⊶⊷❍ ☽ ❍⊶⊷⊶⊷✶
The sun had already disappeared as a sheet of darkness covered the world, decked by the bright small light of a thousand or more stars, and the large full moon proudly standing at the edge of the horizon, reflected by the waves of the sea.
Sindbad sat down by a tree bark, holding his knees to his chest in an attempt to keep the warmth from seeping away from him that night after his earlier swim.
He was lucky enough to find a small boulder with a flat surface on which to start the fire. Lighting a fire directly above the whale's skin was ill-advised. He would be thrown into the water before he even could get a chance to fight for his life.
As he rubbed his arms, seeking more warmth, he cursed his own luck openly, and as loud as he could. There was no point in keeping his exasperation contained, and he saw no problem voicing his complaints to the world as much as he could in case it might trigger some kind of response.
Far from that, the world just continued to ignore the boy stranded on a makeshift island, neither granting him a swift death nor extending any kind of rope for him to cling on for dear life.
He was truly, literally, forsaken.
He sneezed as he stared at the dancing flame, the smell of the fish being heated around it at least served to shift his attention from the ever-persistent worries in his mind to the equally persistent hunger in his stomach.
He leaned towards the flat round rocky table and snatched his first fish, wolfing it down eagerly and sweeping the second in no time.
He was thankful for the nights on the ship with very little food, as it made him quite satisfied with what he got.
He also had some drinkable water that could hold until the next day, but more would be needed eventually. That, if he didn't get a lung full of salt water before that.
The waves of the sea continued to slosh over the shore, a rhythmic soft sound that filled the stillness of the night.
Add the occasional cracks and pops from the logs in the fire, and the warmth that slowly began to overwhelm him as the flame grew larger and greedier, and soon the boy's eyelids were as heavy as lead.
He fought to stay awake, but not even the threat of drowning could fight that kind of sleeping spell.
When he opened his again, the fire was reduced to dying embers, and the sky had begun to shift hues from a dark canvas to a light blue one with a splash of crimson at the end of it.
Sindbad stirred, cracking his neck from the uncomfortable position he was in for the whole night.
He stacked a new bunch of wood over the fading ambers, hoping to revive the fire some. Having to struggle again with lighting it wasn't something he fancied.
Then, at the insistence of his grumbling stomach, he strode into the thicket of trees, searching for fruit, and drinking the droplets of water that had settled on the large leaves early in the morning.
As the sun disk rose shyly from behind the sea and cast its light upon the small island, Sindbad took notice of something.
As the light doused the top of the mountain and spread down its jagged rocky face, altering the shadows in its wake, the boy saw one shadow that didn't change along with the others.
It took a few more minutes of squinting at it from different directions that he finally got it.
It wasn't a shadow cast by a ragged edge.
It was a small crack.
And by the size of it, Sindbad thought he could very well squeeze through it.
In order to inspect it further, he approached it.
Maybe it could lead out to the other side.
He had considered climbing over the shortest side of the mountain in search of water, yet knowing that what he was standing on was not an island but a whale thumped him.
It meant that there was no meaning searching.
Still, his curiosity to see the other side got the best of him.
As he reached the foot of the mounting where the crack was located, his eyes widened.
What he had found there was something that gave him a tinge of hope.
Splinters of wood from broken barrels and crates and a large portion of a torn sail.
Sindbad's eyes glistened at his findings and he rushed off to check on them. The reason why these didn't wash away was because they were stuck in between the rocks, he thought.
Sindbad looked up at the top of the mountain as an idea crossed his mind.
These things must have come from somewhere.
What if he could find more of them on the other side?
The wood might not have been useful as it was mossy and one step from falling apart in his hands, but if he could find some useful things, he might be able to make a raft.
It was a tricky choice as there was no guarantee whatsoever that he might find something. And if the whale dove while he was inside the crack, he would for sure perish within seconds, not even able to flail his arms around seeing how narrow it was.
But he was desperate.
The trees and their fruit won't sustain him so long and fishing was out of the window as he did not fancy triggering the whale into thinking he was food.
He needed a solution.
A way out.
And the other side might have what he needed for that.