The sun shone brightly, and the sea looked endless. Arix paddled the boat forward for about two hours and finally rested a bit while Tarin and Elena took command.

  “It’s so hot,” Lyra leaned against the side of the boat and looked up, eyes closed and arms spread.

  “Couldn’t we have gotten a bigger boat?” Jace was also lying on the boat’s floor.

  “Every expedition group gets the same boat. And we have to manage with this too.” Tarin replied while paddling the boat forward with all his strength.

  Arix looked behind to look at everyone and turned around again to face forward and look at the endless sea. He could not see the land yet but he believed it was close, as they were traveling for three days already.

  “We can go for a swim to clear our minds.” Elena was looking at Lyra, smiling and paddling the boat forward on the other side of Tarin.

  “Can we?” Lyra's face lit up. She sat up on the boat, her mouth open and her eyes wide with excitement.

  “No, you can't,” Arix replied, not even looking at them, staring at the sea in front of him.

  Lyra’s smile disappeared, and she leaned back against the side of the boat.

  “He is right, we don’t know if this sea is dangerous or not. We can’t take risks.” Tarin turned sideways to look at the water beneath the boat.

  A long silence followed afterward. Jace was already asleep in the boat.

  Arix kept staring at the sea as if he was searching for something. After a while, still refusing to turn around, he finally broke his silence, “So why do you want to leave Island Tarin?”

  Tarin looked at Arix and stopped paddling. After a moment he replied “You don’t have to know about it right now.” He looked down in the boat and started paddling again.

  Elena turned sideways to face Tarin, “We are a team now. Knowing about you will only help our expedition go smoothly.”

  “I will tell you when the time comes.” Tarin raised his voice, refusing to look at Elena or anyone and paddling even faster than before.

  Lyra was staring at Tarin during this conversation. She then turned to Arix and inquired him, “What about you Arix, why did you leave the Island?”

  Arix turned around looking at Lyra, “I want to find my father. And also find new land so we can settle somewhere less crowded.”

  “But how can we settle in the new land when it’s filled with monsters?” Lyra leaned forward a little, her eyes narrowed and her eyebrows raised.

  Arix turned his gaze to Elena, “We have to kill all those monsters then.”

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  Elena nodded and kept paddling. Lyra leaned against the boat again. Jace woke up after a while and stretched his arms and legs out. He then looked all around him and stood up in the boat. “How much further do we have to go?” he asked while squinting as he looked ahead.

  Nobody replied. A loud roar came from ahead. Elena and Tarin stopped paddling and looked up, Lyra stood up in the boat. Her gaze fixed above head, her mouth open and eyes wide. Arix looked up too.

  They saw a creature flying toward them. Its wings were spread, it had a big beak and claws bigger than anything they had seen before. It went right past the boat, roaring again.

  “Woah.” Lyra stretched her words looking up at that creature. Everyone was silent for a while. Tarin was the first to sit down again and start paddling. Elena still stood up, looked down at Arix and others, “How are we going to kill that monster?” Her eyes widened.

  Arix looked down toward Elena and replied “We will find that weapon Vaelor was speaking about.”

  Lyra and Jace looked down too and sat in the boat again. Lyra, breaking her silence, “I hope this monster doesn't come back.”

  Jace said with a smirk on his face, “Huh, we will just trap it with something and then kill it. Not hard at all.” His arms were crossed, his chin slightly raised.

  It was already night when they finally saw land. The first thing they saw was a forest. Large trees stood right at the shore, larger than any they had seen on the Island. It was dark and they could not see much further than some starting trees.

  They left their boat on the shore and went deep into the forest. They chirping of crickets and sudden gusts of wind echoed from all directions.

  The sound of cricket was foreign to their ears. They were walking one behind the other. Arix was at the front, Elena and Lyra followed him. Jace was a little behind them and Tarin was behind everyone looking both ways for any movement.

  A black raven came and sat on one of the tree’s branches, from where it could see the whole party. Its eyes were red for some reason. Staring at the whole group he made no noise, not even his wings were making any kind of sound.

  Elena was first to notice this creature, she got curious and shouted pointing toward the raven, “Look, it’s some kind of creature.”

  Lyra closed her eyes and leaned against Elena’s back and whispered “Why is its eyes red? It looks scary.”

  Arix looked at the bird and said in a calm and normal voice “It doesn’t seem to attack us. We should move forward.”

  Tarin kept staring at the bird for a moment, then moved forward with the group, his greatsword held on his back.

  The raven kept following them from afar, close enough for everyone to see it, but far enough that if someone attacked, it could fly away to safety.

  After a while, Jace, pressing thighs together, stopped and hissed in a low voice, “Wait guys, Nature’s call.” Then he went a little deeper into the forest so no one could see him.

  Everyone halted, sighed, and waited for Jace to return.

  Jace closed his eyes and started to relieve himself, whistling softly. When he finished, he opened his eyes and saw a giant body standing in front of him.

  The giant was standing still, its eyes were closed, yet its face carried a calm, gentle smile. One of its hands was raised, held in a posture of blessing, the other held a staff. Its posture was relaxed.

  It moved forward a little. Jace’s eyes widened, and sweat broke out across his skin. His mouth hung open. He tried to back away, but he fell to the ground.

  “He– hel— help!” Jace screamed with everything he had.

  His voice reached Arix and the others. They looked at his direction and started running toward him.

  But they were too late. Giant was already holding half of Jace’s body with one hand, while the other held the same staff. Jace’s mouth was wide open.

  Jace’s other lifeless half was lying on the ground. Upon seeing it Lyra screamed to her top of the lungs. She froze in her place.

  Tarin shouted, turning around “Run.”

  Elena and Arix turned to run. Arix looked at Lyra, frozen in place, staring at the monster with her mouth open. He grabbed her and shouted, “We have to run, Lyra.” Then he started running in Tarin’s direction, away from the monster. Elena followed him.