2.1 Embarking on a Long Journey to Civilization

EPISODE 2.1

Embarking on a Long Journey to Civilization

Creed and Aleph began preparing for their journey. Using the leaves from the coconut trees found around the island, Creed fashioned a bag to carry their supplies. He wasn't sure how long they would take to cross the sea, but it's better to pack food as much as possible, just in case.

Then, he also cooked some fish in advance. Meanwhile, Aleph continued to gather fruits and mushrooms for them.

He has one major problem, though. How would they be able to bring freshwater with them if there was nothing to put it in?

Deliberating it for days, Creed started to consider just pushing through the journey without water. They have fruits anyway. They would probably make it through to the island without having to die of thirst.

However, he also considered what if there was nothing in that island opposite them? What if it was as deserted as this one they came from.

Tsk, he said taking his eyes off from the far shore. We wouldn't know if we stay here.

If only there was something he could use as a water container, he said to himself. Man, what a convenient life we had back in my world!

"Aleph is just curious." Creed turned to look at Aleph standing in front of him and looking at their bags. "We packed all of these stuff, but how are we going to get across there?"

"We walk," he said simply.

Her brows knit. "Walk? If you hadn't forgotten, water isn't solid. How could we walk on water?"

He shook his head and looked at her smugly. "We're not going to do a ninja run on the water, silly."

"Then how are we going to cross the sea again? And don't call Aleph silly when you are saying silly stuff like that," she said, then gasped. "Did you finish building the raft?"

Creed shook his head. "Nope. No progress on building at all. And, like I said, we really are going to walk over there."

He stood up and left to gather the tools he made a while back. As he did, he heard Aleph stomping her foot.

"Would you stop making jokes like that? Aleph is being serious!" she yelled after him. "If you won't stop joking around like that, Aleph won't share the fruits she gathered with you!"

After picking up the tools he left atop the stone, Creed sighed and turned to her. "Alright. Do you remember last month when you said sometimes there's too much sand around, but sometimes the sand bar is too narrow?"

Her forehead creased. "Yeaaah?"

"Then, remember what you said that this makes the island seem a lot bigger?" he continued.

"Yeah?" she said, confused. "What about it?"

Creed shrugged. "It's just, you know those things are caused by high tide and low tide, right?" he said. "So, the other day, I tried walking towards that sand bar over there."

He pointed towards the direction of the northwest. Aleph followed his finger.

"And then, I walked and I walked to find out that there's actually a sand bar hidden beneath the water," he said, then smiled. "Which stretches to the direction of the other island."

Aleph's eyes widened in amazement. "Really?" she said in delight. "So, does that mean, the sea around us is shallow enough to walk on?!"

"Yes, but no," he said. Her face fell. "Although there's a sand bar that starts from here."

Creed pointed at where they stood.

"And if my theory is correct, it goes all the way over the opposite island," he continued then pointing to the other beach. "It's a bit narrow, but wide enough to be walked on by two people."

Her mouth fell. "Like a land bridge!"

He nodded. "Like a land bridge." Aleph shouted in delight. "However, we have to probably watch out for the tides. I think we can stop at various points during the day, then walk fast when the tide is low."

"Right," she said. "Do you think the sandbar is still walkable even on high tides?"

"Not entirely sure, but I assume yes. It will be hard to move, though, and we ought to be careful," Creed conjectured. "I mean, if it's like the sandbar around this island, the water level could go up as high as my knee but that's about it."

"Eh?" Aleph exclaimed. "But that's like Aleph's waist!"

"That's the time you would swim," he said, jokingly.

"No fair!" she protested. "W-well when that happens, you have to carry Aleph!"

He nodded. "I could put you inside one of the coconut leaves bag. How does that sound?"

Once again, he was only kidding her but she seemed to take it seriously.

"Fine, as long as the bag is strong enough, so Aleph wouldn't fall off into the ocean," she muttered. Creed laughed heartily at that. "What's so funny?! Aleph is being serious, and Aleph doesn't want to be a shark snack!"

"Don't worry," he said. "No shark would even dare to eat you."

She smiled. "Of course, Aleph forgot you will be there to protect Aleph!"

"Nah, I mean, the shark would choke trying to eat a fat kid like you," he said again.

"That's mean!" she pouted and pointed at him. "If Aleph gets eaten by a shark, Aleph will make sure to drag you down!"

He laughed and shook his head. "Alright, fair enough. I guess I could carry you. But if I get tired—"

"Don't you ever dare to drop Aleph!" she warned him. Then, she looked at the island opposite them. "Anyway, except for the dropping thing, it's seems like a solid plan and all. But how can we be sure that it goes right up to the island over there? What about if it doesn't?"

"Good question," he said, pointing at her. "But based on my observations on the movement of water, it looks like the land bridge extends all the way to the island. And look at that—!"

He pointed again to the direction of the northwest. Aleph followed. Near the island is a long stretch of a white object that seemed to be placed atop the water.

"That white thingy over there seems to be sand, no?" he said. "It's a visible sandbar."

"Whoa," she said. "If we could've known that sooner, we would've gotten out of here sooner, too!"

Creed sighed. "Well—that's—true."

Aleph turned to him, beaming. "That just made Aleph even more excited! We'll finally be able to get to other places and eat tasty meals!"

However, Creed was quiet for a while.

"Yeah, but we have a problem, though," he said. Aleph's face became worried again. "We need something to hold freshwater, and I can't find any."

"Like a bottle?" she asked slowly.

"Ideally, yes," Creed replied. "Anything would do, actually."

To his surprise, a wide grin spread across Aleph's face.

"Heh heh," she said. "About that, we have no problem."

But before Creed could ask what the kid meant, Aleph ran off somewhere. And when she came back, she was carrying several bottles with all of their corks intact.

She placed all of them near the bags made of coconut leaves.

His eyes widened as he grabbed one and examined it. "Where did you get these?!"

He stared at the bottles as if they were made of gold. For him, those bottles were a symbol of civilization: something he hadn't seen for a long, long time. And it almost made him cry.

However, he wished that the bottle's exterior would be able to show him his reflection. Since he died and got transmigrated for some reason, he wasn't able to see his own face. If he still looked the same like he did in his past life or not, he had no idea.

Though, based on what he had seen on his body so far—blonde hair, which he never had before—there's a pretty big chance his face would look different too.

He was curious what he looked like now.

"Well, Aleph is the best at finding things!" she said proudly. "Sorry if Aleph wasn't able to find a mirror, though."

He snapped at her, red-faced. "What—no—nevermind."

Sighing, he put the bottle down.

"Is there a treasure chest hidden here somewhere?" he said, looking around suspiciously. "Or is this from a ship wreck? Or maybe poor castaways like us who never made out of here alive?"

"Nope. Aleph scanned the island and found no treasure chest whatsoever," she said. "But these are bottles that contain messages. You know, just like what people do when they put rolled paper inside bottles and toss them out to the sea? And the best part is, Aleph kept the messages she found!"

"How is that the best part?" he said. "We literally have bottles. We wouldn't have to use seashells to drink anymore and we could store freshwater as much as we like."

"Yeah, but those could still be useful too, you know," Aleph said, and then fished out the piles of paper from her dress. "See? Aleph thinks they might lead to treasures."

"What you need are maps. Not letters. Anyway, what are they about?" he asked, now interested in the papers. Aleph handed it over to him. He looked at the papers, now with a little more interest than before. Well, these are another signs of civilization.

"Nah, mostly just love letters," she said, shrugging. "But we could use the paper to make airplanes. Or boats."

Creed turned over the paper and saw that some of them still had blank pages. He snickered happily.

"I had no idea that a time would come I would be so happy seeing junk like these," he said in a serious tone. "Come on, let's fill these with water in the springs. By sunrise tomorrow morning, we will start walking. So, sleep well tonight, alright?"