41 Rain?

She wipes her eyes and said

"Dad will be sad if you died."

"...."

The same goes for her too. The dark cave leaves the surroundings pretty cold but, this little interaction leaves him a little warmer inside.

"It's your shift... You'll have to watch for 3 hours OK?"

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? You slept for 3 hours leaving me to watch over you! So get your ass up and let me sleep!"

"OK Ok..."

Michael gets up and watches the night sky. the murky water below is starting to decrease and by the morning they should be able to walk out and find help. By now, the fight with the invading pirates must be over. Because the Boniha people disliked lying down, they had to firmly fight off the pirate or perish trying. Since they were too proud to live side by side with pirates on the island.

He looks out into the night sky hoping to see some stars but, to his disappointment, the night sky has been covered up by clouds. Dark and cloudy night. This is not uncommon on Boniha island. Looking at the cloud Michael feels the warmth and a little bit of fear.

pa...

A drop of water fell from the sky. This makes Michael's eyebrows knit in confusion. The drop starts to increase in frequency and soon it turns into rain.

'?'

The Boniha island has certain rules about it. The water level doesn't rise endlessly when it rains but reaches a threshold at some point and rain would only happen 3 days apart no matter what. These rules keep the Boniha island afloat and habitable. However, what Michael is witnessing is rain 2 days in a row.

In his 6 years on the island, this is the first time that it rained 2 days in a row. Thinking to this point Michael's fear rose. The rain could not have come at a worse time. With him and Layla being in the Apex predator territories Michael and Layla can't find any food unless they risk going in the water.

The dark murky water of the Boniha island could hide anything within. Not only due to the island's natural predators but monsters in the sea as well. When the water level rose the Boniha island pond connected to the ocean. When viewed from the outside the island will look like a water dome that has a mountain in the middle with trees decorating the surrounding area.

Michael watches as the rain pours down harder from the sky. There seems to be something wrong with the island.

---

"Where's Layla and Michael?"

Holding his rage, Gurara asks people that have gathered. They're currently in the central hub of the village. It's a big space that could act as a conference room and an emergency shelter. Most people here have been through a hard time. Some were still injured and some got nowhere to go.

They have already chased out the pirate. Without the weird metal monster, the pirate seems to be subpar in combat and easily defeated by the Boniha people.

However, there's still some loss when the village got attacked, some people perish under pirates and houses are burned down. One of those houses is Gurara's. Since his house is tall and they have weapons in it. Make it a prime target for burning down.

"I don't know, I haven't seen a shadow of them when the village got attacked."

"I haven't seen them either."

"Maybe...."

The villager that survive didn't help at all. They all focus on their own thing to care about other people. At the time chaos was common on the island so, they weren't too sure where Layla and Michael went.

Layla's last know location was in the forest. She's been assigned to watch over the southern part of the forest and Michael was last seen running out of Gurara's house but, they don't know more than that since they're focused on defending themself.

Gurara wants to ask the pirate but, Belga executed them all already. Since it's a normal procedure to kill outsiders Gurara didn't think about it.

He put all the evidence together and suspect that the kids are most likely still in the southern part of the forest. Gurara want to rush out and confirm his speculation but, the dark water couldn't be trusted.

Since the waterway is connected with the ocean there's a chance that he would encounter an apex predator of the sea. And fighting with it on a wooden boat is suicide. The old man could do nothing but grit his teeth and wait for daybreak.

"Is it raining?"

"What?"

Gurara peeks his head out the window and feels the water on his head. It's raining two days in a row! This is a bad sign.

----

several hours later

The rain became a downpour and most people is already asleep. The Central hub space fell with cold air from the rain. since there are many people staying in the central hub, they don't have enough blankets. Some have to sleep in the cold rain.

Gurara sits and watches the front door for his shift. The sound of rain rage on but with his acute hearing Gurara could hear something approaching from the water.

'Not too big... and sound wooden... a boat? people? at this hour in the rain?'

Gurara grabs equip his iron gauntlet and prepares for the worse. It's either a pirate or a monster disguised as a human. Throughout the years Gurara has encountered many enemies and one that could sail on Boniha island in the rain at night is definitely not a normal threat.

knock knock knock

The door has been knocked on three times however it sounds as if the knocker doesn't want anyone to hear since the knock is really light. The door pushes open revealing a soak figure that dons a black cloak. A hood covered its face making Gurara really worried.

The figure looks to be only 170cm tall and from Boniha's standards, it's rather short. even girl average around 180cm.

"Who are you!"

Gurara shouts and tries to wake everyone up. Dealing with the threat alone is more dangerous than doing it together, however, no one responds. Gurara realise something was off instantly.

"Where's the sound!"

The rain that has been pouring down didn't make any sound for him. But through the open door, Gurara could still see the rain outside.

"Shhh, don't speak too loudly it will wake everyone up" the hooded figure speak revealing a feminine voice.

"That voice..... H.. Howw?" for the first time in a long time. Gurara's voice is shaking.