"What?"
"..."
"Someone pull me out of here before I completely get dragged down," Diana said, wailing.
I pointed to Resita. Resita tched and headed towards Diana.
"Where's this escape route you're talking about?"
Mandana looked at me silently.
"Ugh dumpass, why are you pulling by my neck?"
"So I can pull you out."
" my arms are still outside. You're doing this on purpose you little shi-..."
Finally, Mandana spoke up.
"My father and his crew wandered the seas for generations. That's why they have many religious beliefs related to the sea and things associated with it. They don't get along much because they're derived from different beliefs. The first one is what I mentioned: our reflection in the sea is the same as our reflection in another world. But from the moment we set foot here, the sea water had dried up. That's why we lost the connection to the parallel world that is our own world."
"Wait... I don't understand this parallel world right now. Aren't there 7 seas?"
"Do you think all 7 seas are lined up next to each other and connected? In reality, all 7 seas are connected in a linear way. You can think of an onion made up of several layers. The 7 seas are stacked like the layers of an onion. To get to the next layer, you have to pass through the previous one. The only difference here is that the stacked layers of the world are in a loop, and if you reach the end of the world, you come back to the beginning."
"Okay, so is the idea of the 7 seas derived from your beliefs?"
"No, the 7 seas is a somewhat proven topic. It's the escape routes that have theories derived from our beliefs related to the spirit of Aqua element."
'Ugh! My little hazelnut brain can't handle this.'
"...continue."
"There was a path that some of the crew believed in. A deadly path that caused a lot of slaughter among my companions..."
Before finishing her sentence, she paused.
"...Mermaids usually don't eat humans and try to stay away from them. But sometimes they go hunting. They never hunt at night or in the morning. They hunt in twilight. They only eat a specific piece of human flesh and then bury it. But nobody knows what that piece is. Because it's an ancient secret among mermaids. On the other hand, it is said they have the ability to travel through the seas and dimensions. In a way, all the inhabitants of the sea believe that these two facts are related. And they also believe that..."
She looked back and forth between us.
"Humans can also reach the supernatural power of mermaids."
"Oh my God!" Resita said incredulously.
"They were all turning on each other and tearing each other apart. Some were out of their beliefs... and some out of fear..."
'This superstition does the entellable things to humans.'
"In that chaos, the only thing my father could do was protect me."
She started crying again. She ground her teeth together.
"My father's body was torn apart in front of me. In the end, there was no body part left that hadn't been eaten."
Everyone looked at Mandana with sorrowful faces. Witnessing such events is no small matter. Obviously, anyone in our place would show her pity. But this wasn't the time for that.
'I need to get back to Arina as soon as possible. Her exam is very close; I need to be with her.'
"Is there another escape route?"
Nuka was about to angrily say something to me, but Mandana stopped him.
"There is a route that, in addition to some of the crew, the other passengers tried to find. Resita said that the only thing left from that disaster is the bell tower. Before you, some others entered this place. But they didn't all come together. There were... people your age, and they also had that hawk brooch. Besides them, there were also a few older ones."
"I think they are the ones who ended up here because of the spatial portal. Just like us, who entered here unintentionally because of the portal created by the necklace," Nuka said.
"That group tried to find a way out by locating the bell tower. That's why they packed supplies for their journey and left. They never returned here, so I don't know if they managed to escape or not..."
"Our history teacher always rejected the idea of installing a portal. It was because some students from years before us had teleported to nowhere and we never heard from them again," Rezita said.
"So... then why didn't they come back here? They didn't take supplies for more than a few months," Mandana asked in fear.
"Perhaps they couldn't find their way back... or something happened to them."
Mandana was stunned. She fell onto the sand and held her head in her hands.
"Oh no! What if the man-eating fairies got them?"
"Man-eating fairies?"
"..."
I couldn't deal with their silence anymore, even if it was due to stubbornness.
"Look, girl, stop messing with my nerves."
Mandana looked at me with some fear and uncertainty.
"Sometimes, a bunch of sea fairies with disintegrated bodies, who you wouldn't expect to move, emerge from the soil and eat whatever is in front of them. Many of our people have been eaten by man-eating fairies."
"Oh, those?"
"Have you seen them?"
"Yeah, I saw them going towards the corpses. Of course, they passed by and didn't pay any attention."
"They only attack living people. It's very rare for them to scavenge on the dead."
"Why is that? Why would they do such a thing?"
"I don't know. Do they have any reason?"
"..."
As I pondered, the situation became more complicated than my brain could analyze. But my decision was clear.
"Gather your things; we are setting off."
Rezita, who was panting from trying to pull Diana out, said, "What? Where to?"
I walked towards Diana, lifted her under her armpits, and pulled her out in one motion. Rezita looked at me in shock, which I tried to ignore.
"We're going on a long journey."
"Have you lost your mind?"
"How are you going to find a way out in this desert without a plan?"
I ran my hand through my hair, which was messier than ever.
"We're going after the bell tower."
"You heard what happened to those few before us. Don't be so foolish."
"I say we wait longer; maybe a good idea will come to us."
"I can't wait any longer."
"Stop it!"
Mandana shrieked, and for a moment, I was taken aback.
"Oh my God, what a loud voice."
But Mandana didn't pay attention to my complaints. She was taking deep breaths to avoid crying again.
"You are such a selfish person!"
Well... she wasn't lying. I really was selfish. I had never paid attention to anyone's words throughout my life. Why would I start now?
I stood over her.
"So what do you want me to do? Your food supplies won't last. The ship is becoming a wreck that we can't live in anymore. We don't even know how much time has passed in our own world or if it has. And then you call me selfish? Am I selfish or are you?"
Mandana looked at me, confused. I had known for a long time what Mandana's feelings were. She was as selfish as I was. She wanted to survive at any cost.
"Let's go. Take half of the remaining food with you."
"That's going too far," Nuka said with astonishment.
"Do you expect us to venture into the desert with nothing? We have to find a way to keep ourselves alive, right?"
"Angela... are you really this type of person?"
Nuka looked at me with frustration.
"If you want, you can stay."
"What?"