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She slept in the sea when she got tired and resumed her trip after she woke up. When she was thirsty, she drank rain water and ate fish when hungry.
Joan did not know how long she had to live like this.
At first, she had been trying to track time. However, after she had missed one or two days, she gradually lost the track of time and finally gave up. She had no idea how long she had been swimming aimlessly in the ocean. Perhaps, it had been more than half a year now.
Joan almost burst into tears at this thought. In fact, she had cried numerous times, but her tears merged with the seawater and became a part of the ocean.
She was so tired.
So tired indeed.
Even when she was asleep, she could not totally relax on the surface of the water, otherwise ospreys and other animals would come to eat her. Even if they could not gulf her down, their pecks were sharp and painful. Also, she could be seen by Sea Ghosts and those ship-like monsters.
Joan had actually encountered them many times during the past few months.
Every time she had been scared to death.
Fortunately, she had always managed to shake them off, despite that sometimes she got additional wounds during the escape.
There were many cuts in her beautiful scales that His Majesty spoke highly of. The skin exposed in the air turned white. As she had been in the water for so long, some wounds started to decay. What was worse, some parastic worms had found her as their new host and nested in her wounds. It was excruciatingly painful to pull them off the body.
Now, her body, which had never been pretty, became even uglier.
She missed the soft bed in Neverwinter and Wendy’s arms.
She also missed the peaceful life there.
Although there were a lot of fishes in the ocean, she had to eat them raw. She used to do that all the time, but now, she somehow could not get used to the fishy smell lingering between her lips.
She wanted to eat the barbeque chicken wings made by Lightning.
Then Joan again cried. She kept swimming as her tears trickled down.
How long did she have to swim before she returned where she came from?
She swam much faster than most fishes.
She was even faster than His Majesty’s
Snow Wind
.
The time she spent in the water could allow her to have five round-trips from Neverwinter to the Shadow Islands. However, why could she still not see her destination?
His Majesty said that Earth was round. Could he have lied to her?
If His Majesty had indeed lied, she would swipe his face with her scales if she got such a chance in the future!
But she had to first get to Neverwinter…
Joan took a deep breath and encouraged herself. She reminded herself that she must not give up and must return to her friends!
Joan began to produce a series of
Ya
sounds over the sea.
A moment later, she heard her echoes,
Ya, ya.
A little shocked, she traced the echoes. It was a gloomy day today. A thin veil of mist permeated the surface of the ocean, and she could only see things within a few kilometers, just like the Shadow Islands when water went down. Since there was nothing at the front, Joan swam in that direction for another half an hour or so and finally spied something black loom against the mist.
It looked like… a rock on the surface of the water.
Joan’s face lit up.
She knew that many tiny little things on the ocean were actually huge. Like the rock floating in the water, it must be enormous as well. Since it reflected off sounds, it could be a giant mountain. If there was a mountain, there should be lands.
Was it a part of the Impassable Mountain Range?
Joan suddenly had a lot of strength. She picked up her speed and swam as fast as she could toward the black silhouette. Water splashed all over her.
As she got closer, she saw the black
rock
more clearly.
It was indeed a mountain, but at the foot of the mountain was not the port of the Western Region but a flat island. The rear of the island was connected to a vast land. Since the land was so far away, she could not see it clearly.
But anyway, this was a land, which was better than nothing.
Joan pulled herself together and stepped onto the beach.
It was not until then that she noticed that this island was probably even larger than the biggest Searing Flame Island at the Fjords. Except for that verdant mountain, it was as flat as a pancake.
In fact, the island was actually a meadow.
Unlike the deserted islands she knew, this island seemed to be protected from the erosion of wet sea breezes and harsh weather. Grass grew underneath her feet, and occasionally, there were a few flowers. Joan did not understand why a secluded island like this, which could be easily destroyed by a seaquake, could be so vibrant and full of life. As the island was surrounded by the mist, it gave her a feeling that she was on a fairyland.
Joan turned her flipper into legs and walked slowly toward the center of the island.
Gradually, she saw some stone tablets. At first, she paid no notice to them, but later on, she found these tablets, although different in size, were neatly laid out.
The closer she was to the center of the island, the more tablets she saw. In the end, the tablets formed various circles that became denser and denser, as though they were encircling something.
She somehow had seen a similar scene before…
Joan crouched down at one tablet and studied it carefully. There were patterns on it, but she was not sure whether they were arbitrary patterns or some unidentifiable and indecipherable messages. To Joan’s surprise, these stones looked quite old, but they were not dusty at all as if someone was cleaning them on a regular basis.
Was someone living on this island?
After walking for another few minutes, Joan was suddenly frozen to the ground.
In front of her lay an immense pit, whose diameters might be several kilometers. The pit was not only fathomless, but its mouth was smooth as well. Apparently, the pit was not caused by the collapse of the ground. The tablets encircled the pit and formed rings of
ripples
.
Joan dimly thought of something. She stared up at the sky and saw the Bloody Moon peep through the hazy mist. For some reason, she felt that the Bloody Moon in the sky would fit perfectly in the pit on the ground. They looked almost identical. She even had a strange idea that the Bloody Moon would probably fill up the hole if it fell off.
Hello.
Just then, a beautiful voice came from behind and startled her.
Ya —
Joan screamed and stepped a few paces back before she slumped against a tablet.
The owner of the voice seemed to be frightened too, for she was silent for a while before she asked tentatively,
Well… are you alright?
Joan then discovered that it was actually a very pretty young woman. She was wearing a white dress, two strands of black hair cascading to her chest. Her graceful act of demeanor really impressed Joan. The woman looked a little confused as well. For a moment, she was not sure whether she should come forward to comfort Joan or keep observing her.
Ya, ya.
Joan wanted to ask who she was, but she could only produce some inarticulate sounds. As she had not talked to anyone over the past half a year, she again lost her communication ability.
Incredibly, however, the woman understood Joan. A little sorrowful, she replied with a smile.
Me? I’m just a guardian who’s trapped in here.
