1 The Lost Being

*Huff, huff*

*Huff, huff* A certain man panted.

"I don't think we can make it." The man shouted to the person on his right amidst the loud noises of the storm. " The storm is too strong. We'll sink before we can even cross that border."

"Yeah" the other person next to him shouted back. " Why isn't the Captain giving any orders? We'll all die at this rate."

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* Thunder ravaged the sky.

The thunder was wild, streaks of lightning filled the dark sky, the wind was howling... swirling the storm, the rain pouring down in torrents, and the waves were as high as the sky.

The ship which was sailing this storm was rocked back and forth dangerously. It had sustained a lot of damage that one might even wonder how it continued to sail.

The hull had cracked and had huge holes through which water gushed in, the foremast and the mizzen mast had long since broken, leaving only the main mast to sail, and the rudder which steered the ship was stuck and could not turn the ship anymore. Men were hard at work pouring away the water which found its way onto the ship.

They were huge rocks poking out of the sea in this storm; unluckily enough, the waves were heading them straight into one.

*CRASH!!!!* the ship collided with the rock. It pierced through the ship's hull and created a huge hole in it.

" AAAAHHHH!!!" people screamed as the impact from the crash threw them away from the deck of the ship. The storm had finally gotten its way. The ship could sail no more and started to sink into the sea, down into nothingness.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

A well-built young man with toned skin and long overgrown brown hair lay unconscious on the beach.

Duncan woke up with a start*Gasp*Gasp*Cough*Cough* He drew in huge breaths and coughed, bringing out some of the water inside him. He lay on the ground for some time, drawing in huge breaths and recovering his energy. His muscles hurt and he felt weak. His clothes were also wet, indicating he was in the sea a while ago and it washed him towards the seashore. He slowly got himself into a sitting position and looked around. He could see the sea waves gently moving along the shore. It was in the morning and judging by where the sun was, it would be around 8:00 am - 8:45 am.

Where was he and how did he get here?

WHAT!, He couldn't remember how he got here. He tried to recall his memories but couldn't remember a thing. Why couldn't he remember? Did he hit his head on a rock or something?

He tried to dig deeper into his head to try and find something.

"AAAAHHHH!!!" he screamed as a searing pain was found running through his head when he tried to dig deeper. He clutched his head as he continued to scream. His voice became hoarse and his throat started to hurt. He was very thirsty. After a while, the pain started to subside a bit. He made a mental note not to try and recall his memories now. He needed to get himself together before he tried anything. Using his arm as support, he wobbly got up and stood on his two feet.

He was first of all hungry, second, he was thirsty, and third, he had no shelter. He needed to find these necessities to be able to survive. He was soo damn thirsty. He looked at the sea as it moved up and down the shore, but he knew better than to drink water from the sea as it will rather dehydrate him instead of quenching his thirst. His mouth was so dry.

Duncan looked around him to see if he could find something. He squinted his eyes and looked around, his vision in this clear weather was great so he saw some coconut trees in the distance.

Coconut trees!

Coconuts were the best thing he could currently get his hands on. The coconuts contained both water and food. It was like killing two birds with one stone.

**HUNGER FRENZY!!!**

A sudden burst of adrenaline sent Duncan running toward the coconut trees. He just hoped that there were a few coconuts on the ground because he wasn't sure he could pluck them if they were high on the tree. He simply didn't have that energy in his current condition.

He searched like a wild animal for a coconut under the trees. Luck was certainly on his side, when he grabbed a hold of one he looked for a way to break it. He took a rock on the ground nearby and started smashing it against the coconut, cracking from a few smashes. Some of the coconut milk was wasted as a result of his haste and carelessness but he didn't care. He used his fingers to pry it open and greedily ate the flesh and choked on it. He dropped the coconut and started to cough. When he was relieved, he continued his search for more coconuts for this one coconut couldn't satisfy a fully grown man like him. He managed to find four more of the coconuts on the ground and ate them. He finally fell full. He relaxed his back on one of the coconut trees' trunks.

"Aaahh" He heaved a sigh of relaxation as he stretched his body. He felt so refreshed after getting something to eat. He planned that after relaxing a bit, he would go explore. But the reality was so cruel but it was his mistake. Resting under a coconut tree was a very bad idea. What if a coconut decided to fall? Well, a coconut on the palm tree he was sitting under decided to do just this. The height of the tree was about 45 feet. Duncan who was under the tree and was resting was oblivious to all this until it hit his head.

*POW!* The coconut slammed on his head, knocking him out there and then.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Urgh" Duncan grunted as he opened his eyes. "What happened," he thought " and why does my head hurt so bad." whilst rubbing his head. He realized that there was a huge bump on his head. He looked around to see if he could find what caused this and that's when it came to him. He was sitting under a coconut tree what did he expect? He bitterly laughed inside. Well on the bright side, he got all the rest he needed.

Judging from the sun's level, he must have been unconscious for at most two hours. He looked at himself. His clothes were ragged and tattered, and he had bruises all over his body. He was a huge mess! On this island getting new clothes was out of the question. Just what on earth happened to him? Now wasn't the time to be thinking about all that. He needed to find shelter to spend the night. Sleeping outside was dangerous, no one knew the dangers which lurked around.

Currently, there were four paths he could take, which he considered only two relevant. A huge forest lay in front of him, and behind him was just pure sea. Going to the forest with no prior knowledge about that place is dangerous. Heading for the sea, well that would be very stupid. He would have to swim for a very long time to be able to find something and he didn't know how long he would have to do that, so he put both of these options out of the equation

The paths which remained were either to his left or right. He had a bit of a problem here. He could either go left or right along the shore, so which was safer? He couldn't determine this so he randomly chose the right one. So he started to move rightwards to see whether he could find something. Who knows? maybe he would come across a village or something. But who builds a village directly beside the shore? But well he would still just check and see whether he could find a marking or structure he could use to track a settlement. He was sure it would be a long journey and he would need some food.

Exploring was a long, hard, tiring, and scary adventure. He was going to love it. But first, he needed to carry some food for his journey. He made a simple bag with some vines and made it such that it won't tear from the weight of the coconuts and they also won't slip through the holes.

He removed the mesh from the coconut to decrease its volume and weight. He packed them up and placed them in his bag. He didn't want to strain himself from the weight so he took only a few of the coconuts. By the time he had finished all this, the sun had shifted a little bit from the center of the sky.

It was now time to start a wild adventure. He put a chewing stick in his mouth to refresh his awful breath and slung his bag over his shoulder.

~Time to begin~

He started walking towards the east(the direction he chose) along the seashore. Maybe he could find something, he hoped so anyway. After some painful hours of endless walking, climbing rocks, and jumping, he found nothing but just more rocks trees, and sand. What else did he expect though? A huge mansion filled with welcoming people, delicious food and drinks, and a place to rest?

*Sigh* He needed to focus, he couldn't lose hope. He didn't think that he would find anything else on the shore though, but it wouldn't hurt to try a little bit more.

There's nothing on this shore! He had walked for God-knows-how many miles but still found nothing. This was just a waste of energy, but he was happy that he did it anyway since it removed any lingering thoughts of refuge on the shore.

Duncan looked around him. There was the sea, splashing against the rocks. *Sigh*, so peaceful. It helped calm his mind and keep him straight. He turned to look at the forest that he was so trying to avoid.

It seemed that there were no other choices. No way he's going to spend the night here. He needed to set a camp and get some fire. The sun was warming him now but won't continue to do so in the night and he needed to set camp to protect himself from danger.

So the decision was made. Duncan would now go to the forest. But he needed to consider some things first before blindly jumping into the forest. He won't go very deep, no, that was too dangerous. Just the outskirts of the forest would do.

He wondered if any dangerous creatures that he couldn't handle were present in the forest because in due time he would need to go deeper and deeper into the forest.

He was sure people existed deep in there because;

He could feel it,

Something was calling him,

He was sure it was something great,

Something very very great.