FWOOOSH-SPLLLSHHH!
Raphael's body collided with a thick pool of water, sinking beneath the surface in an instant.
His limbs felt like rock, and the liquid burned like acid across his flesh, threatening to dissolve him without a moment's delay.
Currents pulled and tugged at him, dragging him deeper and deeper under the water, forcing his breath to be held.
One minute passed, then two, three, and four, with his eyes bulging and his mouth tensed about to burst open and swallow the poisonous substance that surrounded him.
The boy's vision blurred as his muscles relaxed, succumbing to the lack of oxygen and dooming him to an early fate.
Sucking in the water, the thick liquid made its way into his throat and down through his lungs, tasting like iron and blood.
Each second pulled the darkness of death closer as he began to lose consciousness, fading into oblivion.
Then, out of nowhere, his head broke the surface, coming face to face with breathable oxygen.
"Hhhhk–gghhkk–kfffhhahh!"
Erupting into a fit of coughing, he barely had time to gag up the water he had inhaled before being submerged again.
This time, however, he pushed hard, flinging himself upward towards the surface, and grabbing onto solid rock.
It was slippery, and his grip waned dangerously, but he was safe, for now at least.
Spitting up more of the foul liquid, he finally took a deep breath, tasting the salty tang of sea air enter his lungs.
His mind slowly began to unblur as he stared off into the distance with immense confusion shrouding his face.
"H-How am I…"
Instead of being in a deep underground cavern with a creature of unknown origins devouring humans, he had returned to the coastline where he had first docked.
The white sand glowed in the sunlight with his gold and silver-adorned ship floating off the shoreline ever so carefully.
Even his footprints that lined the beach still covered the land, eventually leading off into the green-grass meadows of the island.
How is this possible? Is this a trick of illusory magic?
Still with his arms wrapped around a stone pillar that jutted out from the ocean, he threw himself forward, plunging back into the waves.
Hurriedly swimming to shore, he stood firmly on the sand, making sure it wasn't simply a figment of his imagination.
Reaching down and taking a clump of the white substance in his hand, he felt as the tiny particles fell from his palms back to the earth below.
What sort of trickery is this? Teleportation magic?
The thought of the strange and near-impossible form of magecraft gave him pause, remembering the only person in history able to achieve such a feat.
Historical records of magic were considered vastly incomplete without mention of such a man who changed the entire world with his spells.
Whether it be instantaneous warping across seas, reviving the dead, or even blessings capable of wounding the divine, he was a master of all.
The greatest mage in history and someone as mysterious as the First Sea King himself, the Magician who had visited the world exactly one hundred years ago.
No. It is impossible that he could still be alive. This must be an illusion crafted by a Dormyrr or worse, a Dormyrr King…
Steeling his resolve, the boy realized that there was only one way to truly discern whether this was reality or merely a faux.
I must return to that village.
His eyes were red with the pain of the burning water still fresh, but even with the suffering that coated his body, he walked forward.
He ran, stepped, and even skipped across the island following the same path he had once embarked on.
Yet as he watched the sun begin to set in the distance, there was still no sign of the horrifying homes that covered the hillside.
There was no end to his escapade, either, as each backpedal he attempted only led him into a loop, farther and farther away from the coastline.
His legs seared with pain, and his head ached and throbbed; however, he continued forward with his resolve pushed to its limit.
Raphael's eyes had glazed over as the sun began to rise, with every inch of his body covered in a fresh layer of dirt.
Still, there was no sign of the homes that he had once entered, leaving him demotivated and depressed.
T-This stump…
Less than a meter away from him sat a thick stump with claw marks etched into its surface from some sort of native creature.
He had passed the landmark nearly three hundred times throughout the night, with each time grinding his mind further into desperation.
This is hell…
Groaning loudly, he lay back into the grass, staring upward at the teal sky that gradually brightened as the sun rose.
The only thing that stared back at him, reflecting any sort of change, was the pristine lunar surface of the moon high above.
For as long as humanity remembered, the stellar body had never changed nor ever darkened as it rotated around the planet.
Nobody questioned its stationary position in the night sky; however, for the first time, Raphael witnessed it darken.
What in the…
His eyes immediately widened, and his head rushed upward, angling itself at a better view of the impossible event.
THUNK!
A rush of pain flooded the boy's skull as it collided with an unknown object, sending him reeling onto the ground.
Clutching his head with his right hand, he turned his gaze around to look at whatever he had hit, anger coursing across his face.
"W-What?"
Raphael's brow furrowed as the image of a magenta wisp floating aimlessly in the meadow appeared before him.
A-Another Dormyrr?
Pushing backwards off the ground, he prepared to summon his staff, attempting to fight the creature even with his minuscule mana reserves.
This is absurd! Another one of these terrors, and in this strange illusion! What the hell is wrong with this island!
As he opened his mouth to chant a word, a painful explosion of agony surged through his head, forcing him to his knees.
"Food… Stop…"
The voice of an unknown being slammed straight into his mind, shattering any semblance of a barrier still active around his brain.
"Fight… No… Trapped… Danger…"
Another string of random words struck the boy who had been forced to the ground and made to listen to a mess of words.
In front of him, the magenta wisp floated closer, forming an illusory shape that reflected someone pulled from Raphael's mind.
The face of his competition, the blond-haired boy whom he had seen fraternizing with the legendary Camilla Buckley before the exam.
He had despised the boy for using his obvious connections in high places to garner an immensely powerful recommendation.
Of course, he had done the same thing, yet, similar to most things in the boy's life, he ignored what benefited him and only focused on what he didn't have.
So as the turquoise-eyed boy's face stared into him, fresh anger burned beneath his calm facade, threatening to burst into reality.
"Inside… Beast… Giant… Volcano…"
This time, as the speech bounced through his mind, the words were remixed versions of memories he had ingrained into his mind.
The time he had gone hunting with his father and caught a beast had been used to say the word beast.
His studies into undersea volcanoes had been spoken in the tone of his teacher, who had perished during an expedition to find one.
Alongside these, various other voices read the other words, some of which he knew, and some were just fragments of people he had likely once known but had forgotten.
Could it be that this creature is doing this? I thought sea terrors below magnitude ten didn't have the intelligence required for human speech…
His thoughts were cut off as another splurge of information flooded his mind in a wave.
"Help… Dead… Together… Despair… Monster… Human…"
Attempting to piece the string of randomized speech together, the boy struggled internally while fiddling around with ideas.
Could it be that it's telling me it's a monster that kills humans? No, that would be foolish…
He paused, remembering an odd fact he had learned from that same history professor who had been devoured years ago.
As the thought dawned on him, another streak of words fell into place, cementing the idea.
"Undersea… Monster… Volcano… Eat… Human…"
It was as clear as the creature could manipulate his memories to read out; however, it was plenty good enough for him to connect the dots.
An undersea monster that eats humans…? No, that's not specific enough… Wait… Could it be…
He froze, looking up at the Dormyrr who was disguised as the blond-haired boy from the exam hall.
Its eyes were oddly human, with the reflection of the white haired boy fitted perfectly in the center.
"Human… Eaten… By… Monster…"