John remained standing in his place, staring with a daze mixed with utter disbelief at the sight before him. Before him lay a completely wrecked vessel—it was the Captain's boat. John recognized it instantly; it was impossible to forget the shape of the ship he had worked on for over a year. But it was not as he had last seen it before the Captain threw him into the water as a scapegoat for the lizards; the boat was shattered, mangled, and its hull was snapped.
John advanced toward it with extreme caution, as if expecting some creature to emerge from the wreckage and attack him. However, as he moved forward, he heard and saw nothing. He inspected it in shock; there were deep scratch marks and savage bite marks. John couldn't guess exactly what had happened; the lizards had attacked it with brutality, but what he found strangest was: how did the boat get here?
This place was a cavern or a cave crafted with professional precision, filled with intricate passages that made it clear to him that these tunnels were not natural. Someone or something had caused them. But his greatest concern was not how it arrived here, but rather: where was the Captain?
John thought to himself: "Could he have been eaten by the predatory lizards? No...
impossible. Where is his corpse then? Even if the lizards ate his body, they should have left the bones." As he inspected the wreckage, he noticed a leathery blue tail beneath the debris. His eyes widened in shock and he retreated, raising his dagger cautiously: "What in the hell is this? Are there still some of them here?" John backed away, waiting for the lizard to pounce, but silence was the only thing he heard. He took a deep breath, took his first step, and moved cautiously. He pushed aside some wooden pieces of the boat to find the lizard's body frozen in place, its head completely crushed.
He breathed a sigh of relief: "Good, it's dead." But his joy vanished as he thought: "I believe these lizards don't travel alone; they live in groups. If I see one, there will be more of them." John swallowed hard and said: "Fine, no time for this. I must get out of here." He turned his head and his eyes filled with happiness; he saw a passage, and at the end of it, a large opening leading outside. The sunlight appeared through it in a golden hue. John moved toward it happily, saying: "Finally... the exit." But he stopped in his tracks at the sight; he saw a landscape of icy peaks, some towering and others low, and hills covered in frost under a clear blue sky. It was morning, judging by the height of the sun, and he heard the sound of cold water and powerful waves crashing against the ice floes and rocky edges. But what made him freeze was looking down; the distance between the cave opening and the ground below was immense. He was over thirty meters above the base of the mountain.
John had thought the cave opening would be his exit to find a way back, but his situation was dire. The height between him and the ground was too great, and even if he tried his old climbing method with the dagger and tying his body with a piece of cloth, it wouldn't work. Climbing up and descending are two different things. Then, the question hit him again as he looked back at the boat: how did the ship get up here? It wasn't logical.
After a few seconds of silence, he heard a resounding scream. John moved his head left and right, trying to find the source of the sound, but he couldn't tell. The passages echoed the slightest noises; if someone sneezed even a light sneeze, these icy tunnels—which were like a giant blue jewel—would amplify the sound loudly. But then John looked near the boat and noticed a red color there. He knelt on one knee and noticed blood droplets; they looked completely frozen, but he knew they weren't very old. He looked up and noticed that the droplets led in a long trail toward a narrow passage about a meter and a half high.
John swallowed hard because he knew in his heart what the source of the blood might be: "I hope it isn't what I think." John followed the source of the blood into the narrow passage. Because of his small size, he could pass through it relatively easily, but the further he went, the more he noticed the droplets turning into larger bloodstains printed on the passage floor. He moved forward until he reached the end of the tunnel, and then sounds like screaming and striking grew louder. John moved with extreme slowness and suppressed his breathing so no creature would hear him.
At the end of the passage, John's eyes widened in shock. A horrific sight lay before him. The Captain was directly below him. The passage was high, and the ground was far below; the height was approximately seven meters. The Captain looked exhausted, with severe bleeding from the abdominal area. His clothes were torn with wound marks, but the strangest thing was that his hands were emitting a blue light.
The situation was dire; before the Captain were dozens of hungry lizards advancing toward him slowly, growling with a savage tone. Whenever one approached, the Captain screamed: "Water Whip Seal!" Water emerged from his hands in the form of a long whip, two to three meters in length. He struck the lizards with it, and the force of the blow separated the bodies of three lizards from one another. John opened his eyes and said: "I didn't know he had..." But his thoughts were cut off by the sound of the Captain's breathing; he was panting heavily. It seemed he had used a great deal of his power.
Despite all this, the lizards continued coming. Ten lizards lunged, and the Captain raised both hands and killed them quickly. Despite their size—resembling large cats with sharp claws—the lizards were still flesh and blood and could not stand against harsh materials, just like humans. But then the Captain knelt on one knee, the whip disappeared from his hands, and he looked at his arm: "Damn it, only three!" The lizards growled as if they had waited for his moment of weakness and lunged at him. The Captain did not surrender; he ran toward the opening he had entered from—the one John was watching him from. But before he reached it, he shouted: "Water Shell Seal!" The ice inside the room melted slightly and formed like a water wall between him and the lizards.
The Captain said: "Yes, this will give me time." He pulled a rope from his clothes, made a knot, and threw it toward the opening, hoping to catch onto something and climb to escape. His first throw fell quickly: "Damn it!" He threw it again and failed: "Curse it! Just catch onto something!" He looked behind him; a large number of lizards were trying to penetrate the barrier. He said: "Good, I have only ten minutes, otherwise I'll be their meal." He threw the rope and pulled; it was taut! His eyes widened with joy: "Yes... yes! Finally, I'll survive!"
But then his eyes bulged as he looked toward the passage. John appeared, holding the rope in his hand, looking down at the Captain with total coldness. There were traces of anger and disgust on his face. The Captain said in a hesitant voice, disbelieving what he saw: "J... John? Is that you?"
"Yes, Captain. It's me," John said in a cold voice. The features of fear vanished from the Captain, replaced by a wide smile. He said loudly, in a mix of fake joy and tension: "John! Oh, dear John! You don't know how happy I am to see you alive and well!" John did not speak; he looked at him with a cold face. The Captain said: "Listen, I know what you're thinking, and I'm sorry for what I did. But believe me, I had no choice. Y... you understand, right?" The Captain continued to look at John as his last chance for survival.
Then John spoke: "Yes, I understand perfectly, Captain. You wanted to survive. You did what you had to do to survive. It's a natural thing." The Captain smiled in disbelief: "Oh John, I knew you would understand!" He grabbed the rope and wanted to climb. But the moment he grabbed it, the rope went slack. He raised his head and said: "John! What are you doing? Hold the rope so I can get out! What is wrong with you? Have you not forgiven me?"
John laughed coldly: "Forgive you? Who said I forgave you? It's true I understand your situation and that every living being wants to survive no matter the cost, but..." John's tone turned furious: "Do you think I would give a filthy, drunken old man like you another chance so easily, you bastard? You threw me to my death directly without hesitation!" The Captain froze in his place, knowing he had to convince him because time was running out and the barrier wouldn't hold much longer. He said in a terrified, panicked voice: "J... John, listen to me, my boy. I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry. I was wrong. Just help me, and I will become better! In every fishing trip, I'll give you two fish... no, three! Listen to me, I promise! Please don't let me die!"
The Captain continued throwing offers at John, pleading with him while tears streamed down his face. He screamed loudly, but John remained silent. Then the Captain's tone turned angry: "You little brat! After all I did for you! I was the one who took you in when you wanted work! I am the one who taught you how to survive, and this is how you repay the debt? Help me out now!"
At that moment, the Captain heard the sound of the "Water Shell" barrier cracking behind him. The lizards increased in number and aggression; it was only a matter of time before they broke the barrier and lunged. The Captain screamed: "Grab the rope now! There's no time left! Why are you doing this? Yes, I made a mistake, but I apologized and promised to compensate you! What... what do you want? Tell me!"
John sighed and said in a cold, calm voice: "You know, Captain? Do you remember the first time we went fishing? You told me an important rule: the mistake isn't the problem; the problem is hesitation. Hesitation is the reason many people die. Those are your words, not mine. These are the lessons you taught me. At the moment we escaped those lizards, you were hesitant, and that is the reason for your death now. You hesitated, but I will not."
The Captain's eyes snapped wide. He knew in his heart that John had made his decision and that this place would be his grave—a grave without soil. The Captain screamed: "John, you son of a bitch! Get me out right now or I'll—" He didn't finish his sentence. The barrier shattered, the lizards poured through and lunged at the Captain. The sound of the Captain's screaming lasted for only two seconds, then total silence.
John turned and walked away so the lizards wouldn't attack him if they saw him. After some time, he could hear the sound of flesh being chewed, bones breaking, and the shrieks of the lizards. He remained seated. Then his body began to shake, and a tear or two fell from his face. He did not scream or weep bitterly. Even though he had left the Captain to die because he betrayed him, in the depths of John's frozen heart, there was a spark of affection toward the Captain. John saw him, in a way, as a mentor or someone to learn from. He was like... like a father to him, something John hadn't known since birth.
An hour passed and the sounds ended. John raised his head and advanced with extreme caution. Before descending, he brought a large block of ice and placed it in the narrow opening. Then he descended. The sight before him was gruesome. The Captain's corpse was completely mangled; hardly any flesh remained, and even the bones had not escaped those lizards. They were chewing the meat and the bones. John couldn't even recognize the Captain's form; even corpses during decomposition aren't like this.
John descended to the location of the Captain's body and took a closer look. With every glance, he felt a strange sensation in his stomach. He took a deep breath, turned around, and vomited violently. The sight of a mutilated, dead human body was something new to him, and the smell was the worst thing John had ever smelled in his life. John sighed as he wiped the vomit from his mouth. He stared at the Captain's body for a while, then looked around and found many small holes; it seemed the lizards had exited through them after digging with their sharp claws.
John decided to head back. He grabbed the Captain's rope and threw it up, catching the block of ice he had placed, and pulled the rope to ensure its strength. He wanted to climb, but a faint light hit his eyes. He turned and found something shining in the Captain's pocket. John approached the body and found, in one of the torn pieces of clothing, a metal necklace. In it was something resembling a blue jewel. Its shape was beautiful and dazzling, with strange engravings on it. John placed the necklace in his pocket, looked at the Captain, and said:
"I forgive you, Captain. You have paid your debt to me."