Chapter 8.

Caught off guard, I fell backwards out of the boat into the water and began to sink downward deeper into the ocean.

Below the surface, I turned around and looked into the depths, my eyes were greeted by a sight even more spectacular than what I’d initially seen on the surface. A large variety of different aquatic life. Mollusks, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, sponges, algae, fungi, octopi, squids, starfish, sting rays, crabs, lobsters, turtles, dolphins, sea horses, countless different schools of fish, you name it and you could probably find it here.

If someone called me delusional, I’d definitely agree. Many of the aquatic life I saw normally would never be found coexisting together like this. I doubted my eyes, but somehow, they really managed to peacefully coexist harmoniously around this freaky island.

It really did feel like I’d entered a foreign world that I was never meant to see. It was so different in comparison to the world I’d lived in all my life. There was so much variety that everything exuded an air of mystery to me. Everything here was free to live as it pleased. Sure, they were in a constant struggle for survival, but that struggle somehow looked beautiful to me.

It was that struggle that gave meaning to their life. These creatures took from the environment only what they needed and gave back to it in return. It was a never ending cycle they lived in, but it felt fulfilling watching such a way of life.

Those were my honest feelings.

It was likely the salt in the water, but my eyes felt like they were burning up a bit. It definitely wasn’t that I was so moved I wanted to cry or anything.

Low on oxygen, I turned back around. The surface rippled and distorted the sun and blue sky beyond the water-air border. I was so distracted by nature’s beauty, that I failed to notice the hidden unseen danger I’d become the victim of. My senses had been lowered into a false sense of security, and it was only when I tried to surface that an unseen invisible hand latched onto me.

I felt a stinging sensation around my leg. It hurt like hell, almost like it’d been ripped clean off. It was unbearably painful and when I looked down and finally grew aware of just what kind of situation I suddenly found myself in. Box jellyfish. They were practically the invisible apex predators of the ocean.

I choked up in horror when I registered what had wrapped its tentacles around my leg. I hadn’t noticed it at first because it was nearly impossible to see them when you didn’t focus hard enough. When I scrutinized the environment around me more carefully, I realized I’d been completely surrounded in all directions with no avenues of retreat. I was quite literally boxed in by box jellyfish.

The severe threat of impending death suddenly sunk in. These were known as the deadliest jellyfish in the world. The ocean’s silent invisible killers. They were getting closer to me from all directions. The sting on my left leg was enough to make me understand the horror of these creatures. They were not to be underestimated or belittled in any way, shape, or form. I looked above, but discovered they were littered all across the surface of the water. I was truly trapped.

Nature was scary. I’d only just arrived here, I’d only just entered the ocean for a small instant, just to face the threat of impending doom immediately upon arrival.

Death approached with each passing second. With each moment spent in hesitation, these devils of the ocean further closed the gap between us. I had no time to escape. It was already over.

No.

I couldn't give up yet. I didn’t want to die an undeserved death like this.

But alas, the will may wish for life, but reality was unrelenting. Both above and below, all cardinal directions were barricaded by a wall of invisible killers. My only option was to break through the surface, and hope for the best that I could get back onto the boat by some miracle.

I hurriedly ascended back to the surface in a panic, the more time wasted, the lower chance I’d survive. The first sting on my leg hurt to an unimaginable degree. But it was then that I finally noticed how deluded I was to think I had any chance to escape. My entire body cried out in pain all over.

I looked down at my chest and discovered there were already sting marks all over my body, arms and legs. I just hadn’t felt them all immediately. I’d already been stung many times when I fell into the water, I just never realized it. There were uncountable sting marks everywhere I looked. With how much venom they’d injected into my body, my reaction to it was a rapid one.

I felt my heart constrict tightly. I immediately clamped my eyes shut from the overbearing pain. All the muscles in my body started to spasm violently out of control. The pain was so great that it felt like all the cells in my body were being destroyed one by one. The agony I was in gradually overwhelmed my ability to think.

My heart contracted even more violently. My body curled up into a ball from all of the tense spasming muscles. It felt like a heavy pressure was crushing and squeezing all the blood out of my heart until nothing remained. I’d just barely managed to not breath in water this entire time. But it was to no avail, I’d gone into cardiac arrest beneath the terrifying ocean.

Unable to hold back any longer, I took in a large breath.

“Haaaaaaaah!”

My eyes shot open wide with that deep breath. What I found was a far cry from just moments before.

What… was this?