(Sound of ocean)
It had been more than an hour since he started floating on the ocean, his body resting on the surface as if lying on his back, drifting aimlessly wherever the waves carried him.
"The pen! Looks like I lost it while swimming for my life back there."
He sighed, disappointed. Nur felt the exhaustion settle deeper into his bones. The water, relentless, had begun to prune his skin after so long.
"I don't have a way to get out of here," he muttered. "I've lost the pen... the one I could have used to stab myself awake."
He stared at the blue sky, where clouds drifted and floated gracefully, as though performing a dance to cheer him up.
But his eyes, filled with hopelessness yet again, turned hollow. "What should I do now?" he mumbled.
"Will I find a shore if I try swimming with everything I've got?" he wondered. His frown deepened as weariness clawed at him. His eyelids grew heavier. A dark thought crept in, whispering, What if this place is like those endless spaces—a world with no boundaries, only water?
"It'd be better if something came from the deep sea to swallow me whole," he thought grimly. "Maybe I'd wake up then... and if not, at least this pathetic life would end once and for all."
His eyes fluttered shut for a moment, his body still drifting. In that brief darkness, he saw shadows—Taliah and Miel.
"How did I end up in this miserable state?" he thought, bitterness cutting through his despair. "Now that I've lost the pen, I don't have a way to..." His voice trailed off. "No, it's not that I don't have another way. It's just... terrifying."
The memory of drowning flashed in his mind. "I've tried before, but I couldn't hold on..." He sighed, disgusted at his own lack of resolve.
The shadows of Taliah and Miel lingered in his thoughts. Their presence stirred something within him. Determined, he steeled himself. Drowning is better than floating aimlessly. At least it has a chance of ending my misery—or maybe it'll get me out of here.
Taking a deep breath, he dove.
He swam toward the ocean's depths, his body fighting against instinct and terror. The darkness beneath him was suffocating, a dreadful abyss that taunted him with both the fear of death and the unknown.
His lungs burned as he pushed himself further. It was choking him, the pressure growing unbearable. But he clung to his resolve.
Just as his consciousness began to waver, something caught his eye—a shimmer on the surface of the water above. It radiated brightly, reflecting the sunlight in a single dazzling spot.
What is that? he thought as his vision blurred. It's... curious. But the effort to swim back up felt impossible. His body was giving in.
(Sound of ocean)
(Sound of seagulls)
Keow... Keow...
The blue sky greeted him again. A mountain of clouds floated on the horizon, their reflection rippling on the water.
Nur opened his eyes, gasping softly. "Huh!?" The familiar sound of seabirds filled the air.
For a moment, he questioned everything. "What happened? Did I fail?" he muttered, letting out a heavy sigh as he floated on his back.
But the scene was oddly peaceful. The ocean's rhythmic waves and the cry of seabirds felt almost like a dream—like a summer vacation spent lounging on the deck of a luxurious boat.
He turned his head. That same shimmer he had seen before was still there. It sparkled, calling to him.
"Aah... that. Let's check it out," he said, his curiosity winning over his fatigue.
Swimming toward it was no easy feat for the unathletic Nur, but somehow, he managed.
And then, in the vast unknown ocean, it surprised him—his pen. The same pen Taliah had used. The same pen that had stabbed his thigh once to wake him up.
It floated on the surface, radiating brilliantly.
The pen was beautiful—a black handle adorned with elegant silver engravings. It was a twist pen, the kind where the top had to be turned to release the writing point. On the twisting part, a small crystal sparkled—a diamond-like gem that glinted under the sun.
The reflection he had seen earlier had come from that crystal embedded in the pen,
While he was busy reeling from the shock of getting his pen back, Nur suddenly noticed seagulls flying overhead, their cries piercing the air.
"Keow... keow..." they sang, the song of the ocean.
The once lifeless world—this illusion—was now beginning to birth life.
Oh... I didn't notice there were seagulls before, he thought, blinking rapidly.
But then his thoughts shifted, and unease crept in. Wait... if there are seagulls and this illusion—or world—is starting to come alive... then—
Suddenly, he felt it. The water beneath him began to vibrate.
His heart thudded violently against his chest, each beat faster than the last. His ears began to itch, an eerie sensation that made him panic. The once tranquil ocean felt ominous now.
The sunlight still shone brightly above, but the water around him was growing darker. Far off in the distance, he saw a storm brewing—a swirling mass of dark clouds creeping closer, swallowing the horizon.
His breathing quickened as dread set in.
Nur grabbed the pen tightly and tried stabbing his thigh again. He hoped to wake himself up, to escape this nightmare, but this time, the ocean resisted him. The water pushed against his movements, making it nearly impossible to stab with the same force as before. It was as if the ocean itself was stopping him, refusing to let him harm himself.
Gritting his teeth, he didn't give up. Again and again, he tried, the sharp pain searing through his thigh.
And then, beneath the water, he saw them.
Shadows. Rising.
From the deep emerged a terror unlike any other—sharks. Their sleek bodies sliced through the water with menacing precision, their presence radiating fear.
One of the ocean's apex predators.
The nightmare of anyone with thalassophobia.
The once lifeless and beautiful ocean had birthed life, and that life was now becoming Nur's nightmare.
Panic consumed him. Desperately, he pushed the pen harder against his thigh, willing it to pierce through. The pain was excruciating, but the fear of what was coming was far worse.
Finally, the pen broke through his skin, stabbing deep into his flesh.
The immense pain tore through his body, his mind barely able to process it. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't.
The fear of what awaited him—the thought of sharks tearing into his flesh, torturing him until death—was unbearable.
Blood began to seep out, staining the water around him. The once clear blue now swirled with crimson, an ominous invitation to the predators circling below.
The sharks had surfaced. Their fins broke the water, cutting through the waves as they circled him like vultures waiting for their prey.
Nur's heart pounded as his blood mixed with the ocean. The water turned a sickening shade of red, and he began to lose consciousness.
Finally, he thought. Maybe this will be the end.
But the sharks weren't about to wait.
One surged forward, its jaws clamping down on his right arm. The pain was indescribable, shooting through his body like fire.
Another tore into his belly, ripping flesh as if it were nothing.
And then, they came in waves. One after another, the sharks attacked. Flesh was torn, his body becoming a feast for their hunger.
Nur, still clinging to the last threads of consciousness, could feel it all—the tearing, the burning pain, the utter helplessness.
Tears welled in his eyes, but they were swallowed by the ocean, blending into the blood-stained waters around him. He wanted to cry properly, to scream, but even that was denied him.
It was as if fate itself wouldn't allow him the release of his emotions.
His body began to sink, dragged down by the weight of his injuries and exhaustion.
Deeper and deeper he fell, the darkness below swallowing him whole.
...