A boy hums as he and a woman pick up flowers as the heavens pour on them.
Thunder rumbles through the sky, making the boy jolt.
But this makes him look upward towards the sky.
"Ik ik!" as the small, half naked boy shouts while pointing at the sky, the woman besides him then looks at him and points at the boy.
"Hwo Tiz vae e Arn yi" Her tone both stern and caring, as if warning him. But the boy doesn't listen, he moves past the woman and he runs.
"Ik ik!!" As he emphasises while pointing towards the sky. The woman then sighs and turns around.
She's shocked at what she's seeing.
A smoke-covered plane plummets towards the water.
The woman looks horrified as she just repeats "Morentaah! Morentaah!!".
She then grabs the boy's hand and drags him away.
"Sata wold kow whi ti dor" as she says with a determined look on her face as she runs away with the boy and disappears into the wilderness.
A bird flutters it's wings on it's nest on top of a tree. Water droplets and tiny insects scatter into the air.
It then takes off, soaring through the storm filled sky, past the trees.
It's reward? A breath taking view of the ocean—--dark, restless, yet illuminated by a single beam of light piercing through the clouds.
The bird climbs higher, then abruptly tucks its wings, diving towards the sea.
Inside the plane, terror reigns. Screams fill the cabin.
Some bodies are already floating lifelessly.
Others their faces frozen in horror and their limbs stiff as if trapped in rusted armour.
The plane then hurtles downward.
The bird sensing this, then retracts from it's dive and veers away as the plane comes hurtling down right where it was about to dive.
Thunder cracks the sky. Metal groans. The plane smashes into the water, breaking apart on impact.
Inside the plane, water rushes in, blood clouds the wreckage as motionless bodies float.
A muffled thud.
A man is trying to free his wife. Her legis pinned beneath twisted metal, jagged edges biting into her flesh. Blood stains the water, painting it crimson.
The man desperately tries to free his wife as his breath escaping in frantic bursts of bubbles quickly rushing away from his mouth. He shows an expression of grunting while trying to remove his wife's leg.
More blood rushes out from her leg. Blood drifts towards her face.
That's when she realises—no hope of escaping for her, the expression worn on her face wasn't that of desperation or fear, but was an eerily calm one.
It was of contempt. Showing no fear, no desperation.
She reaches out, cupping his face with a trembling hand. He freezes for a moment, his fingers tightening around hers.
She smiles.
Then, she points behind him.
Confused, he turns back—-his heart clenches at the sight he's seeing.
Jason.
A familiar body floats weightlessly, bubbles slipping from his lips. He's drowning.
The man's mind races. He recalls that Jason was the one fighting Eric before the chaos erupted. "How did he end up like this?" he thought to himself.
He turns back to his wife to face her and there she is—--still smiling.
"Go" she mouths.
Pain then twists his features. His face wrinkles, not from age and not from being in the water so long either, but from grief that seeps into his very soul.
One last time, he squeezes her hand. No tears fall—for there's no space for them in the water.
Jason floats weightlessly, sinking alongside the wreckage.
The man then grabs him, kicking off towards the surface.
He moves past broken seats and shattered metal, the weight of Jason slowing him down. His lungs burn. His heart pounds. But he still pushes forward as he grits his teeth.
As they break through the surface of the sea, he gasps, gulping for air as he tries to keep both himself and Jason afloat.
Then, through the darkness, he spots it—-a silhouette on the horizon. An island. Faint, but blocked by rain and wind, but real.
A goal.
Hope.
He grits his teeth once more, holding Jason as he swims towards it. The ocean resists, dragging them back with every stroke, but he refuses to surrender.
He forces his way forward, muscles screaming.
Then a monstrous wave rises behind them as the rain splashes their face and the wind howls in their ears.
It swallows them whole.
Everything fades to black.
For a moment only silence remains, No screams, no thunder, only the rain pouring and the vast raging yet indifferent ocean.
Morning breaks.
The storm had passed.
Sunlight pierces through the clouds, golden beams onto the water—like as if souls are ascending into heaven.
Jason stirs.
His fingers twitch, pressing against something rough and grainy. Sand.
Water tickles his feet, he groans, coughing violently. As seawater spills from his lips, even a strand of seaweed tumbling onto the damp shore.
He forces his eyes open.
The first thing he sees is the vast ocean, shimmering under the morning light. Waves rolls off gently onto the shore, their rage now tamed. As if nothing had ever happened.
He groans again, clutching his head.
"What….. happened?"
Another cough stacks his body, forcing more water from his lungs and stomach. He throws up onto the sand.
He looks disgusted while looking at the damp sand.
Wiping his mouth, he tries to stand—only to stumble.
Arms moving around as if balancing on a tightrope.
He stabilises himself and stops wobbling. He plants his feet firmly into the ground.
He starts walking along the coast, leaving footprints in the wet sad as he goes.
He then remembers everything, the fight, the plane crash, completely everything.
"Antonia!!" As he shouts and then falls to the ground once more.
He grips the moist sand.
"Where are you—i hope… I just hope" as he says while on the ground tearing up.
He then pauses.
"Wait–how did I get here? How did I survive?" As he said with his teared up face in confusion.
"Something hit me—on the head" as he touches his temple region.
"Then I blacked out, then how?" As he seems further into confusion.
He then lifts his hands up from the ground, looking at the imprint they left in the wet sand, he sees that his hands are all dotted around with sand.
He then turns beside him to the left.
He sees something.
Footprints in the sand, not his.
But of another person.
Jason then looks at his handprint once more and then realises.
"So another person survived" as he walks.
"So that means there are more?" As he increases his pace.
"That means that antonia—she might be alive!" As he runs while following the tracks.
Out in the trees, something looks at a confused Jason running.
"Datm otonid" as a man with hatred while he's all covered in mud says while looking at Jason.
As he steadies an arrow on the bow in his hands.
He aims it at Jason as he runs, ready to release the arrow.
—The end of chapter 2—