CHAPTER: XLII: Alive

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   The flowing currant of the ocean gently moved around my emerged legs.

The rippling waves lapped around my raw torso.

Most of the bleeding had ceased to run down my back, but every now and then, I could still feel drops of blood trickling down my spine.

Although it had been so long since I had food and water, that I might have imagined it.

The only thing keeping me alive was the measly plank that I was currently holding on to.

I was drifting in and out of consciousness and could not discern hallucination from reality.

One minute I would be dragging myself ashore on some dreamy island, or finding myself back home, but it would always end up the same. I would always find myself back in the ocean, drifting with the waves.

Occasionally I would hear the roar of dragons overhead, but maybe my mind was making that up too. I really don't know.

It had been two days since I had last felt something firm beneath my feet.

Nothing had come to devour me, and I did not drown. Somehow, I was alive. I don't know how I didn't slip off the board I was gripping on to when I fell asleep, but I did.
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Ripples in the water jolted me awake. This was not the normal quiet, lazy flow of the currant around by legs.

With every disturbance in the water, my surroundings seemed to grow quieter. Although, the only sound around me in the first place was the gentle lapping of little waves. Now even the water seemed to silence itself in fear of what was beneath the surface of the ocean.

My heart was pounding in my ears like drums before an execution.

I climbed on top of my plank as best I could to hoist my vulnerable body away from the dangers that lurked under the seemingly peaceful water.

I was now straddling the board, and attempting to curl my legs underneath me.

I had no idea what lurked beneath me, but I bet it was hungry.

Then I saw it, a large grey fin breaking through the surface tension of the water.

It circled around me, as if it was teasing me; as if it was reminding me how defenseless I really was.

Another fin popped up a little ways behind it, obviously its tail fin.

Calculating the distance between the first fin and the last fin, and adding distance for the head, I would say it was about twenty feet long.

We had heard about these creatures back on Valkayda but I had never, in my wildest dreams, thought that they would be this gigantuous.

Looking for some sort of weapon, I frantically frisk myself. I pat every inch of clothing searching for something, anything, to defend myself with.

At last, by some miracle, my fingers wrap around the could surface of my sharpened metal spoon hidden in one of my pockets. I did not even remember smuggling it, but I was elated that I had.

I twirl it skillfully in my fingers a couple times to get comfortable with its weight. Then, I perfectly balance myself on the plank so I can focus more on killing the beast and less on falling off.

I hold my makeshift weapon in an attacking position, and get ready for the shark to pass under me.

Sure enough, it did as it made a lunge to attack my vulnerable legs. Before it could even open its mouth, a jammed the sharpened spoon as hard as I could, into the back of its head. Not deep enough to kill it, but definitely deep enough to cause it a good amount of pain.

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