As soon as Tormacc left the small island he entered the Shard on it disappeared, and if he didn’t know it was there he could have sworn that area was just empty ocean. In fact, the longer he looked, the more he wasn’t even sure exactly where the island was, the barrier surrounding it powerful enough to immediately confound his senses as soon as he exited. It was no wonder the island had remained untouched; with a barrier that powerful protecting it you would need to know it was there beforehand to even try and break in.

Turning back towards the larger island, he put his recent experiences out of his mind. None of it affected his current plans. He still had to find civilization, and he suspected he would find at least some hints on this larger island. The Inerra would need some kind of landmark to find the location of the hidden island after all.

Moving forward into the jungle his senses were soon assaulted with the myriad sounds of life, this new island not nearly as empty as the old one. There were plenty of birds flitting about in the treetops above and closer to the ground were small rodents, their furry forms darting back and forth in the undergrowth. Where there were smaller animals there were bound to be larger animals, and it didn’t take long before Tormacc ran into his first monster.

It found him first, and a loud hiss turned his attention upwards, a monkey glaring down at him.

He thought it was a monkey, but looking closer, he realized it was closer to some sort of chimera. The main body was a monkey, but where the face would be was instead an awkward facsimile of facial features that looked as if they were painted on with red and white paint. It looked like something a child would draw, too large eyes and a large smile that extended too far up the sides of the monkey’s head. It appeared to be leering down at him, but he doubted the monkey could actually see out of its face, and if he had to guess, its actual head and sensory organs were in its tail.

He could see where the tail met the monkey, extending out from its back. But instead of a normal monkey tail, this tail was a snake, complete with a full snake head at the far end with overly large fangs. The snake was what had hissed at him, and it continued to glare at him venomously, its head weaving back and forth. There was a bit of space between them so Tormacc didn’t immediately feel threatened, but from the Monkey Snake’s aura he could tell it wasn’t a pushover, even if he was confident in defeating it.

His new tier five skill Strength Estimation from the bottom section of his Fate Wheel was telling him the monkey was a threat, even if one he could easily deal with. Perhaps if it got the jump on him it could cause him injuries, but in a straight up fight he knew he could defeat it. The problem was if it had friends. Monkeys were social animals, and there was a good chance that Monkey Snakes fell into the same category. Even if the head was a snake, the main body(?) was a monkey. Right now there was no reason to get into a protracted battle with monsters as his current goal wasn’t to farm Essence, so instead of attacking he slowly backed away towards the beach.

The Monkey Snake hissed at him again, and followed him a little ways as he backed away before turning and vanishing back into the jungle. Since it didn’t actually attack him he suspected he had trespassed in its territory, and once he was gone the Monkey Snake went off to mind its own business. It was only a short walk back to the beach, and once he was there he sat down and pulled out a book from his Spatial Bracelet.

While Stella hadn’t been able to give him that much information on the previous Shard, that wasn’t the case for the Sealine Shard. It was mostly a known quantity, and while the islands were known to change, there was often a pattern, and there were only so many monsters that appeared with any frequency. Sure enough, it didn’t take him long to find an entry on the Monkey Snakes.

They were actually called Snake Monkeys, and he had been right with his guess about them travelling in packs. They formed groups ranging from about twenty to sixty, and each group had its own territory. The snake part didn’t usually attack, as it would sit back, extending itself to send the monkey part out like a puppet. The monkey body had high regeneration and sharp, extendable claws, making it a tough fight. If that was all they could do they would merely be annoying, but they also had a second phase.

If the monkey body was destroyed, the snake part would try to escape, as if given enough time it could regrow its other half. To actually kill the Snake Monkeys you had to kill the snake part, which was easier said than done, as while the snake part was cowardly and didn’t usually engage in direct combat that wasn’t to say it couldn’t. When cornered, it would lash out, striking at insane speeds, its fangs carrying a potent paralytic venom that could easily stop the heart of someone without a strong body. Even if you were poison resistant it was still dangerous, as the snake half would continue to pump venom into your body until it’s fangs were removed.

Tormacc was confident he could fight them if he had to, but without knowing how their venom would affect him engaging in pointless combat would be an unnecessary risk. The information Stella provided him with also told him that the only place Snake Monkeys were found was on Snake Monkey Island, which meant he now knew his current location. The only problem was the island tended to move around, so he didn’t know where he was in relation to the rest of the Shard.

Snake Monkey Island was one of the more dangerous islands in the Sealine Shard, and there was little of value on it save for the venom of the Snake Monkeys. That venom was very enticing for some people though, so there were semi-regular trips to the island of groups trying to harvest the venom, either for their own purposes or to sell. If Tormacc wanted to get off the island and find civilization he only had to wait for one of those groups to show up and hitch a ride back.

With a goal firmly set, he started to off down the beach, making his way around the island. If the information he had was correct it was actually fairly large, the island a long snake-like landmass that would take him a few days to walk around. His current plan was to traverse the edges of the island, as the Snake Monkeys tended to avoid the beaches, and if a hunting party was on the island there should be a ship docked somewhere. While some people travelled the Shard sans boat, using some sort of water vessel was much more common.

The salty breeze washed over Tormacc as he walked along the shore, taking his time to enjoy the scenic view. He was sure he would have plenty of things to focus on in the future so he wanted to take some time to enjoy the feeling of the sand between his toes. He couldn’t be completely sure that he hadn’t seen a beach before, but it was certainly the first time since he entered The Tower, and the soft whoosh as the waves washed over the tan sands was unbelievably calming.

The area seemed to resonate with him, and he suspected it had something to do with his water attunement. The Sea spoke to him in a way nothing had before, and it almost felt like if he whispered his love for the ocean it would whisper right back to him. He very much wanted to dive right in, but he knew there would be time for that later. Enjoying himself on a walk was one thing, but he didn’t want to actually relax until he knew he was in a safe environment and had found civilization.

While the Sealine Shard had plenty of islands dotting its vast expanse, the real dangers lay underwater. Sea monsters roamed the Shard, and even “normal” fish could be dangerous if they were present in enough numbers. To that end, ships in the Sealine Shard usually had special monster-repelling features installed on them, as even if the crew was able to fight off whatever sea life attacked them, chances were the ship couldn’t do so quite as easily. While it was possible to create a ship that could fend off even the strongest of sea monsters, creating a repelling feature was much cheaper, and also much more efficient if you wanted to get to your destination in any reasonable time period.

Because of that, Tormacc expected to either find no one, find a beached ship, or find a Snake Monkey hunting party. Instead, he saw a man sitting on the beach staring out at the ocean, his clothes tattered and torn, his appearance practically screaming shipwrecked. From a distance, the man looked completely Humen, but as Tormacc got closer he noticed a few small scales dotting his neck and the sides of his head. The man was shirtless, his skin tanned under the mid-day sun. He had a small pile of the fruit that Tormacc had eaten earlier sitting next to him, and he was munching on them forlornly as he stared out into the waves.

The man looked rather young, maybe only a few years older than he was, and while he knew he should consider the man a threat until he knew otherwise, it was hard to view that sad figure as a threat to anyone. The man looked like a puppy left out in the rain, his scraggly beard unevenly poking out of his face and his curly hair unevenly matted to one side. He was the very definition of the word bedraggled, sitting on the beach just staring out into the ocean, appearing to be mourning his fate.

“Hello there, everything all right?” Tormacc said as he got into comfortable speaking range. He was surprised the man hadn’t noticed him before, as he was doing nothing to hide his presence, but perhaps the man was in worse shape than he first thought.

The man turned, looking around as if lost. Then his eyes seemed to come back to focus and he saw Tormacc. He stared, mouth hung wide open, before jumping up and running over.

“I’m saved!” he said. “I thought I would never make it off this blasted island! Please, good sir, can you and your group give me a ride off the island? I’ve been stuck here without a boat for weeks!”

“I’d be happy to help you,” Tormacc said extending his hand. “My name’s Tormacc.”

“Lysander,” the man said, shaking his hand vigorously, seemingly clinging onto it as if he thought Tormacc would disappear if he let go. “So, where is the rest of your group? What kind of ship do you have? I haven’t eaten a real meal since forever! You must have a cook, right?”

“Um, I think you might be mistaken about a few things,” Tormacc said. “While I’m happy to help you, I entered the Shard on this island. I don’t have either a boat or companions.”

Lysander visibly deflated. “No boat?”

Tormacc shook his head.

“No group?”

Tormacc shook his head again.

“Food?” By the last one Lysander sounded so pitiful it was hard not to feel sorry for him.

“Yes, I have food. Why don’t I prepare some and get you some proper clothing and then we can discuss how to get off this island.”