The open chest

"Something's wrong with my phone!"

He barely had time to process Dave's warning, before the feeble light guiding their way flickered and plunged them into darkness. Toji stopped abruptly. His heart was pounding as he nearly lost his footing on the missing section of the bridge. He cursed silently as he realized his own phone was in no better state.

"Let's backtrack. There's no way we'll find the shrine now!" Toji shouted over the roaring wind, yanking the hood of his windbreaker tighter, a feeble defense against the biting rain and the sharp sting of sea-sprayed droplets. His teacher was in an even more miserable state.

Dave nodded, his face etched with worry. "Wait. Over there!" gesturing toward a small hut barely visible through the driving rain.

The shrine was deceptively simple. If it wasn't for the intricately woven coconut leaves that hung around its entrance, swaying defiantly in the relentless wind they would have assumed it was just another hut. Its entrance was barely wide enough to fit them both. Dave lit his lighter, casting a flickering glow over the intricately carved motifs on the wooden door that seemed to dance and swirl like the ocean's currents. It was a homage to the sea—a profound testament to the villagers' deep reverence for the vast and unpredictable expanse of water that both sustained and tested their existence. 

"It's locked." Immediately his fingers roamed across the its surface, searching for any hidden mechanism or clue that might grant them entry.

Dave stepped closer, "Push it harder. Let's give it another try together." 

The heavy wooden door creaked and groaned softly, yielding inch by inch until it finally began to open before them. The howling wind from the raging storm outside gushed into the shrine, snuffing a few candles within. 

Stepping inside, they were immediately greeted by the heavy scent of incense. The distant roar of the storm outside was underscored by the relentless drumming of rain on the roof. At the center of the room, a small, intricately carved wooden boat was placed in front of the altar. A lifeless body lay inside, shrouded beneath a thin white cloth. He bowed in respect to the deceased, then straightened and turned to the other man.

"What a strange custom. They buried the dead in a boat."

"They don't bury them." Dave's fingers lightly brushing the wooden vessel. "They set their dead adrift in the sea before cremation." He stood solemnly with a distant look in his eyes, as if lost in a memory. "The boat symbolizes a safe passage to the afterlife, a vessel to carry the departed across the waters of eternity. The body belongs to the sea, which sustains them throughout their lives. As the boat burns, the wind will carry the soul to its final destination, free and unburdened."

"Strange, you seem awfully familiar with the funeral ritual."

"I read a lot." Dave looked at Toji's skeptical expression. "I really do. Come on. History is one of the subjects that I teach."

"You open a YouTube video and ask us to take notes while napping at the back. It's a miracle all of us manage to pass the final exam." Toji complained. 

"All my students are visual learners," Dave defended himself. " As your teacher–." 

Toji tuned him out and directed his attention to the altar. It was a pile of lovingly placed offerings —seashells of every imaginable shape and color, polished stones, animal bones and fragrant garlands woven from tropical blooms. At the base of the pile lay a yellow cloth concealing something beneath. Slowly he pulled the cloth away, offerings clatter to the floor. Revealing an antique wooden chest underneath. It was surprisingly plain and crafted from weathered wood. A large padlock secured its contents, keeping them safe from prying eyes. Something similar the treasure chests in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.

Dave halted his rambling mid-sentence and gasped, hurrying toward the chest. His voice quivered with a mixture of excitement and disbelief. "It's actually here!" His trembling fingers made contact with the chest, feeling the coarse wood underneath. "It's real." A tear welled in his eye; then trickled down his cheek as he began to cry. "I was beginning to think I was insane." He cradled the chest close to his heart, and a thudding sound emanated from inside as its contents shifted. 

Toji watched in growing concern as Dave's expression shifted into a manic look. He acted swiftly, grabbing Dave's wrist as his teacher reached for a pin from his pocket and began fiddling with the lock. "

Stop!" Toji's voice came out firm, his hand clenching around Dave's wrist. "We're just here to retrieve the chest."

"The shaman won't know." Dave snapped, "Just a peek."

Toji's grip tightened and he looked straight into Dave's eyes. "No." he growled, stern as steel. His teacher flinched, Toji had never spoken to him in that tone before.

"Okay," Dave relented, raising both arms in surrender. "You don't really buy into all that superstitious stuff, do you? The world's not going to end just because we open a box."

Out of the blue, Ann burst through the door. "Thank God. You guys are here!" Her words came out in short breaths. "I can't find Jack. We were walking. I heard a splash when I turned around. He–, he was gone." She caught Toji's elbow from behind him and turned him around, urging him out of the hut." Hurry up! We need to find him."

The distraction was all Dave needed to open the chest. 

Immediately, an eerie and sinister feeling enveloped Ann. For a moment, she feared she had gone blind. A suffocating darkness spilled from the chest, threatening to engulf everything, including the essence of light itself. It emanated from a round, purple fruit adorned with strange swirls. 

"A looming calamity," she whispered, feeling the weight of history and suffering pressing down on her.

In the darkness, she heard distant cries of battles and anguish. She felt the scorching heat of raging fires, and even caught a fleeting taste of sweet cherry pies. It was as if the fruit had unlocked the floodgates of time itself. Ann couldn't shake the feeling that he had unleashed a malevolent force that would irreversibly alter their lives. With a growing sense of dread, she realized the fruit possessed a will of its own, an insistent desire to return to the fabled land of the four kings. They were mere pawns in its grand design, manipulated tools in the gears of destiny.

In stark contrast to Ann's unease, Dave erupted into manic laughter as he swiftly grabbed the fruit out of the chest. His eyes widened and gleamed with an almost feverish excitement. 

"The sea is calling me back home !" 

Toji cast him a disapproving glance, tinged with something almost akin to pity. There were times when their teacher would act weird and speak words that made no sense. Secretly, he thought Dave might be growing crazy. "A fruit ?" his brows furrowed skeptically. "All those fears over a fruit ?" Unsatisfied, he looked inside the chest, hoping to find another artifact more worthy. But the chest was empty except for markings etched into the wooden surface. 

"Gold D.Roger ?" 

He sighed heavily, some folklore just doesn't live up to its reputation. "Dave, put it back inside once you're finished with—whatever you wanted to do with the fruit." 

Toji hurried to the door, gaze briefly settling on Ann, who remained transfixed by the peculiar fruit. "Hey!" He snapped his fingers in front of her face, jolting her out of her trance. "I'll look for Jack. You stay here and keep an eye on Dave. Don't let him eat the weird fruit, it could be poisonous." Ann nodded weakly.

A sudden, chilling gust of wind swept through the shrine, its invisible fingers tugging at the cloth that covered the lifeless body. The fabric billowed, then fell silently to the floor, revealing what lay beneath. Everyone froze. Waya, the shaman was lying peacefully in the boat. Instantly, all the candles in the shrine snuffed out, as if the shadow had been summoned to conceal the revelation. In the oppressive darkness Toji could have sworn the shrine was crowded with human-shape forms creeping towards Dave. 

"Leave it here," they wailed. 

"Please don't take it away," they cry out in tiny, chittering, birdlike voices. 

"The cursed thing must never leave this place!" They implored, their ethereal forms flickering like spirits bound to their sacred duty.

Outside, the thick, ominous clouds that had obscured the night sky began to gradually disperse, yielding to the faint, feeble rays of the impending dawn. The sea, once a tumultuous and raging force, now succumbed to a newfound calmness. As these slender beams of light penetrated the darkness, the ghostly apparition retreated to the shadow, their cries barely above a whisper. 

In the distance, voices echoed, shouts filled with anger and heavy footfalls that shattered their stupor. Jack came rushing toward them, his breath ragged, and his clothes stained with blood. "We need to get out of here!" he panted, desperately trying to fill his lungs with air. "I don't know why, but these people are beyond furious," he managed to say between gasps.

"They're shooting arrows and spears at me!"

Dave's eyes sharpened with a sudden clarity that contrasted sharply with his earlier state. In a swift and decisive motion, ordered them out of the shrine. "Let's steal a boat and get out of here."