The journey to the coast was not easy.
And that's an understatement.
Larry, in his infinite canine wisdom, decided it would be a good idea to provoke a bear. Not a normal bear, because normal bears don't exist in this era. It was a giant bear, the size of a small house, with claws like swords and a temper that, according to Lumine, was "irritable even by bear standards."
What Larry didn't know — and neither did I, until it was too late — was that this bear was part of a pack.
A pack of giant bears.
Three of them.
"RUN, LARRY, RUN!" I shouted as the wolf overtook me at a speed I didn't know he possessed.
Lumine flew above us, her golden wings shining under the sun.
"Sunny! Why don't you fight?"
"They're three house-sized bears, Lumine! I can't fight that!"
"But you're immortal!"
"BEING IMMORTAL DOESN'T MEAN I WANT TO SUFFER!"
The bears roared behind us. The ground trembled with every step. I could feel their hot breath on my neck.
Lumine sighed, stopped in midair, and extended a hand.
A wall of golden light rose between us and the bears. It wasn't a physical wall, but the bears stopped dead in their tracks, as if they'd hit an invisible glass.
"I didn't want to eliminate them," Lumine said, in an apologetic tone directed at the bears. "They were just hungry, I suppose."
"THEY WANTED TO EAT US!" I protested, gasping.
"That's why I didn't eliminate them. They were hungry."
"AND I'M HUNGRY TOO! BUT I'M NOT GOING TO EAT ANYONE!"
Lumine looked at me with a smile.
"Technically, you've eaten animals."
"That's different! They're animals!"
"They also think you're an animal."
I didn't know how to respond to that.
---
The storm caught up with us two days later.
It rained for hours without stopping. The wind blew so hard that the trees bent like reeds. Lightning lit up the sky in blinding explosions of white light, followed by thunder that made my bones vibrate.
We walked along the cliffs to avoid getting trapped in a valley that could flood. Lumine covered us with a shield of light that deflected the rain, but even so, the cold seeped into our bones.
Larry and Lana walked close to us, their fur soaked, their breaths forming small clouds of steam.
"Is the weather always like this here?" Lumine asked, with genuine curiosity, as if she didn't mind the cold.
"I DON'T KNOW!" I answered, shouting over the wind. "I've only been here a few months!"
"I thought you were an expert!"
"WHO SAID I WAS AN EXPERT?"
"YOU! When you said 'I know how to survive in the wild'!"
"That was before packs of bears and apocalyptic storms became normal!"
Lumine laughed. She literally laughed in the middle of a storm that would have killed any normal human.
And for some reason, that made me laugh too.
There we were, an immortal human and a celestial being, laughing like crazy while the sky tried to murder us. Larry and Lana looked at us as if we were idiots.
Maybe we were.
But we were idiots who were having fun.
---
Finally, after more adventures than I can remember — including an encounter with a snake that tried to wrap itself around my legs, a river we had to swim across, and a fall down a small cliff that left my back hurting for hours — we reached the beach.
The beach.
Not a rocky coast like the one we'd seen before. A real beach. Fine white sand that crunched under my feet. Palm trees leaning toward the sea. Turquoise water so clear I could see the sandy bottom even several meters deep.
"This is..." I began.
"Beautiful," Lumine finished.
Larry and Lana collapsed onto the sand, exhausted. Larry snorted, raising a small cloud of white dust, and closed his eyes.
"They're exhausted," Lumine said. "We should rest too."
"You're right," I nodded. "Before venturing into the sea, we need a day. A real day of rest."
And so our beach day began.
---
I spent the morning building a shelter. Nothing too elaborate, just a canopy made of palm trees and wood to protect us from the sun. I used thin logs as posts and palm leaves as a roof, tying everything together with plant fibers.
Lumine helped me with her magic, lifting the heavy posts effortlessly and fixing them into the sand with small spells that hardened the ground.
"Is this okay?" she asked, tilting her head.
"Perfect," I replied. "Now we have a place to rest without the sun cooking us."
The sun was high, and the heat was intense. The kind of heat that makes you want to be in the water.
I took off the top part of my outfit. The tiger-skin jacket fell onto the sand, leaving my torso exposed. I only kept the loincloth around my waist, also made of tiger skin.
Lumine looked at me.
And kept looking at me.
And didn't stop looking at me.
"What?" I asked, suddenly feeling uncomfortable under her intense gaze.
She tilted her head, her red eyes scanning my torso with a curiosity I could only describe as... fascination.
"Your body is quite well-formed," she said, with the same naturalness as if she were talking about the weather.
I blinked.
"What?"
"The muscles," she pointed. "They're well-defined. And your skin has a nice color. Not pale like mine, but... tanned? That's the word, isn't it?"
I felt my cheeks heat up. And it wasn't from the sun.
"That's... the result of training for years," I replied, not really knowing how to react. "And surviving. Running from bears and fighting jaguars gets you in shape, apparently."
Lumine nodded, as if she'd confirmed a scientific hypothesis.
"Interesting."
"You know what's interesting?" I said, trying to change the subject. "That you don't have a swimsuit."
"A swimsuit?"
"It's what people wear to go into the water when it's hot. In my time, everyone had one. For the beach, for the pool..."
Lumine looked at me with confusion.
"Why do you need special clothes for the water?"
"Because..." I cleared my throat. "Because getting normal clothes wet is uncomfortable. And because... moral principles. Again."
"Oh," she said, as if understanding. "The outdoor jewels."
"That's not what it's called! It's called...!" I sighed. "Look, let me explain."
I took a branch and drew in the sand. A two-piece swimsuit. The top, the bottom. Simple, functional, and as modest as could be expected.
"This is a swimsuit," I explained. "Women wear it to go into the water. It covers what needs to be covered and leaves free what can be free."
Lumine studied the drawing carefully.
"I understand," she said.
And then, with a thought, a golden glow enveloped her.
When the light faded, she was wearing exactly what I had drawn.
A white two-piece swimsuit. The top revealed her flat stomach and part of her back. The bottom covered what was necessary, with ties on the sides that added a decorative touch.
Her white skin contrasted with the immaculate fabric. Her silver hair — no, white, her hair was white — fell over her bare shoulders. And her wings... her golden wings opened slightly, as if enjoying the sea breeze.
I stared.
Then I looked away very quickly.
My cheeks were burning.
"Is it okay?" Lumine asked, with total innocence.
"I-it's fine," I managed to say. "It's perfect."
Larry, from the shade of the shelter, let out a series of growls that I didn't understand, but that clearly meant "the human is blushing."
"What did he say?" I asked, though I already knew the answer.
Lumine listened, and a smile formed on her lips.
"He says you're as red as a boiled crab."
"LARRY!"
Larry looked at me with those yellow eyes full of canine amusement.
"I'm going to throw you into the sea headfirst," I threatened. "I swear. I'll grab you by your hind legs, spin you around like a sling, and launch you so far you'll reach the bottom of the ocean."
Larry growled again.
"He says you don't know how to swim well, so you'd drown before him."
"I'M IMMORTAL! I DON'T DROWN!"
"He says saltwater is bad for his fur, so if you throw him, he'll bite your hands."
"He's already bitten my hands!"
"He says this time he'll bite harder."
I sighed, defeated. Larry wagged his tail, proud of his verbal victory.
Lana, who had been watching everything in silence, made a sound that sounded exactly like a laugh. The little traitor.
---
After the swimsuit incident — and my cheeks returning to their normal color — I decided it was time to have some fun.
"I'm going to teach you beach games," I said to Lumine.
"Games?"
"Yes. Things people do at the beach to have a good time."
The first was simply jumping over waves. We waded in up to our waists, and when the waves came, we jumped over them. At first, Lumine didn't understand the purpose, but after the third wave that splashed her completely, she started laughing.
And her laugh was so contagious that I started laughing too.
"Again!" she exclaimed, getting ready for the next wave.
"Get ready!"
The wave came, we jumped, and this time Lumine used her wings to lift herself a little higher, completely avoiding the splash.
"Cheater!" I shouted.
"It's not cheating, it's talent!"
Larry, from the shore, looked at us with an expression that clearly said "what idiots."
Then we played shell hunting. Lumine turned out to be incredibly good at finding the rarest and most beautiful ones. She had an eye for details that I didn't possess.
"This one looks like a star," she said, showing a spiral-shaped shell. "And this one has the color of the sky at sunset."
"You can keep them," I replied. "I only find broken ones."
"Because you don't look properly," she scolded me. "You have to observe calmly. Not search, but see."
And she was right. When I stopped "searching" and started "seeing," I began to find beautiful shells too.
After shells came crab hunting. That was less successful. A crab pinched my finger — yes, my immortal finger, but it still hurt — and Larry laughed at me again.
"It's not funny!"
Larry growled something.
"He says it's very funny," Lumine translated, also laughing.
"Traitors! All of you!"
---
For lunch, I caught a huge fish with my spear. It was silver and shiny, with scales that reflected the sunlight. I had to struggle against it for several minutes before pulling it out of the water.
"It's enormous!" Lumine exclaimed.
"Enough for everyone," I said, proudly.
We cleaned it on the shore — Larry and Lana watching closely, clearly waiting for their share — and then cooked it over a campfire I lit with a spark of my sacred magic.
While the fish was roasting, Lumine found a coconut. She opened it with a precise cut of her magic — courtesy of her ability to manipulate light — and then used a small ice spell to chill the water inside.
"Cold coconut water!" she announced, offering it to me.
I took a sip. It was delicious. Fresh, slightly sweet, with a flavor that transported me for a moment to my previous life.
"This is perfect," I said.
Lumine smiled, clearly satisfied with her contribution.
We ate on the sand, with the sound of the waves in the background. The fish was juicy and tasty, the fruits we had collected complemented it perfectly, and the cold coconut water was the luxury I didn't know I needed.
Larry and Lana devoured their shares enthusiastically, licking the bones clean.
"This is nice," Lumine said, watching the sea. "Sharing a meal with friends."
"Yes," I nodded. "It's one of the best things in life."
"Did you have this in your time?"
"Yes. People gathered to eat. Families, friends, couples. Food wasn't just for nourishment, it was for sharing."
"I like that idea," Lumine said. "Sharing."
For a moment, the only sounds were the waves and the crackling of the fire.
---
Twilight arrived, painting the sky orange, pink, and purple. The clouds caught fire with the last rays of the sun, and the sea reflected the colors like an infinite mirror.
We sat on the sand, the four of us together. Lumine to my right, Larry and Lana lying to our left. Lumine's wings were partially open, catching the sea breeze.
"Tomorrow we'll go into the sea," I said, breaking the silence. "Really, I mean. Into the ocean. Not just the shore."
Lumine nodded.
"How will we breathe?" she asked, practical as always. "Water isn't like land."
"I was going to ask you that," I admitted. "Can you do something so we can move underwater? Any spell, any technique?"
Lumine thought for a moment.
"Yes," she finally replied. "I have a technique that allows movement in water as if it were land. It removes resistance, the breathing problem, the pressure. It's not sacred magic, it's... a gift. Something my sister gave me."
"Can you share it?"
"I can extend it to those close to me," she explained. "If we stay together, you won't have any problems. You'll be able to breathe, move, see clearly."
I smiled.
"Then tomorrow we'll explore the bottom of the sea."
Lumine smiled back.
"I'm excited," she admitted. "I've never seen the depths. My sister told me there are creatures that glow in the dark. And landscapes that look like another world."
"Then let's go see them."
---
When night covered the sky and the stars began to appear, we prepared to sleep.
Larry and Lana curled up around Lumine, forming a protective circle of fur and warmth. The she-wolf rested her head on Larry's back, and the wolf, despite his rough attitude, didn't complain.
Lumine lay down on the sand, her wings folded like a blanket over her. Her face relaxed, her breathing soft, her lips slightly curved in an unconscious smile.
I stayed awake.
I didn't need to sleep. And someone had to keep watch.
I sat at the entrance of the shelter, my spear by my side and my eyes on the horizon. The full moon reflected its light on the sea, creating a silver path over the waves.
I watched Lumine sleep.
She was beautiful. Not just in the physical sense, though she certainly was. There was something about her, a calmness, a purity, that made the world seem simpler when she was near.
Larry, beside her, was dreaming. His paws moved slightly, as if he were running in his sleep. Chasing something, I supposed. Or running from something.
Lana was completely still, only her side rising and falling with her breathing.
They were my companions.
My family.