PROLOGUE

– CHAPTER FOURTEEN –

– CHAPTER FOURTEEN –

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Something jolted him awake.

He sat up, looking at his surroundings. Judging from how high the moon was, it was almost midnight. There didn’t seem to be any monsters around. What had woken him?

Then, he felt a cold, damp hand grasp his shoulder. He shrugged it off and stood quickly, fearful of what he knew was behind him.

Turning, he found himself face to face with a very pale, soggy looking zombie, with glowing blue eyes and a trident in its right hand.

He screamed.

This startled the zombie, and Luke quickly took a few steps back, grabbing his carving tool from the ground and waving it threateningly.

Then, the creature spoke in a very deep, cracking voice.

“Put that down, silly human, or I’ll drive my trident into that thick skull of yours.”

Luke didn’t move. Not because he thought he could fight it, but because he was surprised that this zombie could talk. He’d never heard any noise come out of their mouths, save their pitiful groans.

The zombie started to raise its trident, but Luke quickly snapped to his senses and reluctantly put his tool on the ground.

The zombie returned its trident to its side and pulled a short bottle with a radiant blue liquid inside from a pocket in its tattered coat. It then threw the bottle at him, and before he could react, the bottle crashed against him, the blue liquid splattering on his clothes. Though he expected there to be a mess, there were surprisingly no glass shards nor liquid anywhere.

He worked up the nerve to speak.

“W-what are you going to do with me? What was in that bottle? Why aren’t you attacking me?”

The zombie laughed deeply, the gurgling sound causing Luke’s stomach to turn.

“You ask many questions, foolish boy. You’ll have many answers soon enough.”

With that, the monster stepped forward and grabbed his shirt, tossing him into the water as if he was as light as a feather.

The cold temperature of the water startled him. He struggled to keep his head above the surface, sputtering for breath.

Before he knew what was happening, the odd-looking zombie dove in the water with him and dragged him underneath the surface, pulling him towards the ocean floor with surprising ease.

Luke was terrified. He was scared of zombies as it was, but now he realized he was about to die at the hands of one. His fate was sealed; there was no hope.

Holding his breath, he closed his eyes and awaited his death. The zombie would probably skewer him with its trident any moment.

His lungs burned. It seemed like it was taking forever to reach the ocean floor.

Finally, he felt sand under his feet. He opened his eyes. He found himself standing on the sandy floor, near the kelp forest he’d been to yesterday.

He no longer felt the zombie’s hand yanking him around. He did feel something heavy on his leg. Looking down, he saw the zombie fastening a chain on his ankle. It seemed very old, as almost the entire band was rusted. There was a short stretch of chain links, and at the end was a block of obsidian. There was no way he would be able to swim away with that weight.

Then, the zombie swam away, leaving him anchored to the seafloor.

His lungs were about to burst. Desperately, he tried to swim upward; but the obsidian block prevented him.

Sadly, he accepted doom. There was no escape.

He inhaled, expecting water to pour into his lungs and drown him. But instead, he found that he was able to breathe normally underwater! As he caught his breath, it felt like he wasn’t really underwater. It was strange.

He relaxed a little, taking deep breaths and calming himself slightly. He was still terrified, but at least he wasn’t dead. Not yet, anyway.

While he stood there, he realized the bottle the zombie had thrown at him was a potion of water breathing. There were rumors of magical drinks that gave people special effects going around the village, but of course they were just rumors, he’d thought.

Until now.

He was still in shock at what had just happened. It had all been so fast, he hadn’t had a chance to really know what was going on. He replayed the scenes in his mind. It all seemed unreal somehow, as if it had been a dream. Maybe it was.

He pinched his arm, expecting to wake up back on the grassy beach, safe and sound.

It didn’t work. He still found himself gazing at the kelp forest, each strand swaying as if on cue. This was real- very real.

He had to admit it was fascinating to be underwater, watching the fish swim around aimlessly and the occasional sea turtle glide through the water as if they had wings. Though he was captured by zombies, for some unknown reason, at least he was imprisoned in such a beautiful place. It calmed him somehow.

Suddenly, a school of fish nearby turned and sped away, something having scared them. At first, he thought it was another sea turtle. But soon his theories were proved wrong.

A large- no- humongous shape came into view. Whatever it was startled another group of tropical fish, this time closer.

Luke’s eyes strained to see the newcomer. Panic began to rise again, as if he was reliving the encounter with the zombie. But this time he was even more terrified because he had no idea what the threat was or how to handle it.

Maybe it’s friendly, and I’m overreacting.

The creature drew closer. Now he could make out its body. It was round, like a giant ball, but with dozens of spikes dotting its exterior. A large tail also came into view, with a massive fin on the end propelling the unknown creature forward.

Finally, it was fully visible. It was a very large fish-looking beast, with one big eye on the front. It was huge; probably twice or three times his size. A single pupil darted around, then focused on him. It squinted its eye and protruded its spikes to twice their normal length.

This beast wasn’t here to play around. It wanted only one thing- his life.